would take your Bibles with me and turn to the book of Zechariah. Book of Zechariah. It is a joy to be in church this morning. It's good to be in church just about anywhere and it's good that we have the freedom to be able to come to Sunday morning service, Sunday night, Wednesday night or any time the church doors are open. I remember growing up in church, and I'm so grateful for growing up with a family that taught you to go to church. And it was never really a question or a thought of perhaps maybe we should or should not go, but yet it's Sunday, that's where you go. And there's a downside to that in the sense that it can become just routine, and that you don't think much of it. But when the routine is something you're conscious and aware of, and the reason why you do it, it's super important. And it's a small thing, but it is an important thing that we go to church and we meet with the people that God has asked us to be a part of the body of Christ, and we do what God has called us to do in that body of Christ. I want to read a few verses this morning in Zechariah chapter number 4, and we're going to look at the first few verses, starting with verse number 1. Zechariah 4 and verse 1. The Bible says, And I said, I have looked, and behold, a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof, and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. I'm gonna stop there for just a moment. If you know anything about the book of Zechariah and being a minor prophet, not minor in its importance, of course, as I've heard many times before, but minor in its length. It's actually the longest of the minor prophets. But Zechariah is a book not only of forth telling about God and things that are relative to that day, but also prophecy. And if you're familiar with the prophecy of Zechariah, here he's talking about the two witnesses that'll be during the tribulation. And many believe that, of course, to be Elijah and Moses, or some believe it to be Enoch or some others. I'm not here to speak on that this morning, but we're going to continue reading in verse number four. It says, So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me, he answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, nor by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace, unto it. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hand shall also finish it, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you." I'll pause just another moment, and this is simply Zechariah writing here, prophesying about Zerubbabel leading the children of Israel back into the land and to begin rebuilding the temple. And then it says in verse 10, My title of the message and the specific aim for this morning I'd like us to key in on is in verse number 10, that first question. It says, For who hath despised the day of small things? And the title of my message is simply, The Importance of Small Things. If you would, let's begin with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank you this morning We thank you for meeting in church and having a service where we can sing songs and we can, Lord, give you honor, praise, and glory. We thank you for the time we've taken apart to study the word of God. And Lord, I pray that you'd please fill me with your spirit this morning, be with our hearts to be receptive, and be with us throughout the rest of today, Lord, as we hear the 10.30 a.m. service and also here for the 6 p.m. service. Fill our hearts, Lord, and fill us with your spirit. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. In Zechariah 4.10, Zechariah being that minor prophet in the Old Testament, teaches us a very, very most important unusual lesson in all the Bible. The Jews have been carried away to Babylonian captivity and 70 years have passed and now it is prophesied that Zerubbabel is going to lead Israel back to the land of Israel and they're going to begin rebuilding the temple. And just kind of way of timeline, that happened about 536 B.C., and it was only done or worked upon for about two years, and then after that it was stopped, so about 5, roughly 34 B.C., and it was not then continued again until underneath the reign of Darius, and it was continued in 520 B.C., and then finished four years after that, so 516 B.C., roughly. And so we have the children of Israel going back, rebuilding the temple, and I think if you were going to relate any type of particular lesson to us today, it would be very simply this, that no Christian, no child of God, should ever underestimate the importance or neglect the importance of small things in his or her life. Small things are very important. And they are, no doubt, more than likely, the most important things that can often be very big things, things that God has in design for us. I'd like to give you this morning, just by way of beginning, three reasons why we should not neglect or really look down upon or despise, as the verse says, small things. Three reasons. Number one, first of all, God does not despise small things. It's a pretty good reason, isn't it? About as good a reason as any. We shouldn't despise small things because God does not despise small things. We often sing the song, which you're probably very familiar with, little is much when God is in it. Labor not for what? Wealth or fame, but there's a crown if you can win it if you go in Jesus' name. Not my own, not other people's, but in His name. Little is much when God is in it. It's a very familiar song. There's all kinds of songs and choruses we sing that emphasize that very important truth. I often think of the young children's song that often we might sing with them, and it is, read your Bible, pray every day, read your Bible, pray every day, and you'll what? Grow, grow, grow. And that's the truth. Those are small things, but they are very, very important things. You see, as a Christian, if you don't read your Bible and pray every day, you're not going to be as close to God as you want to be. Simple things, we should know this, but it's vital and it's important. I think of examples in Scripture, how this promise and this truth is set forth. You think of the man Moses. Moses is one of my favorite Bible characters. And of course, Moses is in the wilderness, and he's a shepherd at this time, and he has a shepherd's staff, and he has flocks, and he's met by the Lord in the burning bush, and God calls him out and says, I want you to serve me, Moses. And of course, Moses makes excuses and reasons why he can't. But then, of course, God looks at Moses and says, what is that in thine hand? And he says, this is a shepherd's staff, and God says, if you just give me what I ask, the small things, I'll take it, I'll use it, and I will bless you, and I'll bless whatever it is I've asked you to do, beyond what you can think. And what is it known after that, God calls that shepherd's staff, the rod of God. See, it's amazing when it comes in God's hands, what it can become, if you just give God the small things. He became known as the rod of God. I've often thought of my other favorite Bible story, the story of David, and of course specifically about Goliath. Goliath was a giant and supposed to be, according to the Bible, about nine feet six inches tall. That's pretty tall. Of course, we know in real life, we know small Paul. Paul Young, probably the tallest person I've ever met or stood next to. And I took a picture one time and posted it online. It was pretty dwarfing, I tell you. I almost didn't post it, but I looked like a pretty small person. But, you know, there's big people. We've known pretty tall people in our time. I mentioned this last week during chapel, Andre the Giant. Pastor Townsley's mentioned he's met Andre the Giant. Supposed to be about 7 feet tall, 7 feet few inches. And I told a little story. how I was watching an interview once, and this man was telling a story about his children. He was gonna be, I guess, in some film with him, and he told his children, I'm gonna be in a film with a giant, Andre the Giant, and they were all excited. They were asking him all kinds of questions, and all inquisitive. They didn't care about their dad's part in the film, they just wanted to know about Andre the Giant. And they kept asking questions and asking questions. So finally he thought, maybe I'll introduce my daughters to Andre the Giant. So he brought them to the set, and so Andre the Giant, he said, was sitting down, in a chair or somewhere outside of his trailer, I guess. And when Andre the Giant was sitting down, he kind of looked pretty normal, but, you know, a little taller than usual. And as soon as the girls kind of came around the corner and he kind of stood up to meet them, you know, he just kind of stood up seven foot tall and these little girls just kind of froze. Like that, you know? And he thought, oh, maybe they're a little intimidated. And all of a sudden, before you know it, one of the small ones just lets out a terrible, ah, just a scream, you know? And then before you know it, after a few seconds of that, the second one starts screaming, and then they just, whoo, they just run away, you know? And this man is now all embarrassed. He's thinking, oh man, I'm sorry, Andre, you know? And he just says, it's okay, boss. You know, that's kinda how he talked. And can you imagine living like that? But he was a pretty tall guy. He was pretty immense. And you have Goliath, nine feet tall, and this little boy David. who uses a slingshot of all things. Now, when I go, if I'm gonna defend myself and my home, I'm probably not going to use a slingshot. I probably would probably destroy everything else in my house and never hit the person that I'm trying to defend against. A slingshot would not be my first choice, but a slingshot is what David used, and he chose five small stones, and it only took how many stones to kill the giant? One. Why? Because God used it. God used this stone. Man, David in a slingshot's a good story. I often think about Samson. God gave Samson mighty strength that came from God. It wasn't Samson's strength. And he used something as small as a new jawbone of a donkey and slew thousands of Philistines. You see, it's kind of key if you look through Scripture, God likes to use the small things to work His ministry and to do things that God has called us. And it's often different than the way humans comprehend things. We think the bigger the better, right? The more grand the better. Sometimes that's our way of thinking. Of course it's been marketed that way nowadays with all the different types of marketing that go into our brains. But the truth of the matter is God uses the small things. God glories in using the smaller things in life to accomplish His will. I often think about the lad and the five loaves and two fishes and God feeding more than 5,000 people. What a wonderful miracle that is. Probably one of my favorite miracles. And that God accomplished such a feat with a little boy who just gave everything he had. He didn't hold anything back. He didn't say, I'll keep one fish and one loaf for myself so you can feed everyone else. He gave everything. And that's what God likes us to do. He wants us to give it all to him. God wants your small things. Whatever you got, he'll take it, he'll use it, he'll multiply it for his honor and his glory. And I have a note here, and I think it's important. I think it's important that we do not ever look down on small churches. Small churches. Now, the Lord has blessed us here at Central Baptist Church. We have, on a really good day, you know, before the COVID incident and things, we've had quite a crowd of people filling up this auditorium. What a wonderful thing that is. But there's a lot of small churches. And there's a lot of places which I believe that not a lot of people know much about, but they will one day in glory be well known. because of the hard work and the sacrifices of so many pastors, preachers. There's churches so small they can't have staff. They just have the pastor, and the pastor does it all. The pastor will lead the music. He'll sing the special. He'll preach the message. He'll give the announcements. He does it all, every service, every time. If he's sick, no one does it. And so there's men who sacrifice and do things with families and pray over families and meet them in the middle of the night. Of course, any pastor that loves his people does those things. And there are people we never know about that they'll be blessed in heaven because of how they've worshipped the Lord God with their life. It's small things. And I've been blessed in my life, praise the Lord, to hear many great preachers in my time, and I'm thankful for it. But really those preachers that I've heard who become popular or dare I say famous amongst Christian people who preach well, people love to hear, I would say the majority of them, as far as I know their testimony, there's nothing really much about them. It's really about who God is and why they preach. It's because of who they're preaching about and it's those small things. But let's not look down on small churches. I'm thankful for small churches and I'm thankful for the young people that come from small churches. The second reason why we should not neglect small things, first of all, it's because God does not despise small things, but secondly, because the neglect of small things can cripple our testimony for God. So not only can small things be important in terms of helping us in our Christian walk, but small things can also hinder us from doing bigger things in our Christian walk. So not only do we need to be careful about what we do and do the important small things, but also be careful about the bad small things. They can cripple our testimony. If you would, turn with me to Song of Solomon real quick. Look at chapter number two of Song of Solomon. Read just a verse here. Song of Solomon, chapter number two. And look at verse number 15. Song of Solomon chapter number 2 verse 15 it says, Song of Solomon. Solomon here is pointing out a warning and he's mentioning about these little foxes. You notice he says specifically little foxes. And if you knew anything about the foxes in that time or what they do, the bigger foxes, which foxes aren't really large, but the larger foxes would be tall enough to be able to reach and eat the grapes off the vine. And then the little foxes who were too small, they couldn't quite reach. You know, you get a little child who can't quite reach. So what do they do? They kind of go for what they can. So the little foxes will gnaw and eat at the vine, the roots, and destroy the vine. And really, I think this is a wonderful application for us to help illustrate and understand a lot of Christians have a lot of little foxes gnawing at the root of the vine. And guess what it can do? It can kill the vine. And most Christians today have these little foxes gnawing in their spiritual life at these roots. And it might be the little fox of an unforgiving spirit. It could be the little fox of a bitter spirit. It could be the little fox of slander or gossip or perhaps maybe covetousness. If we really think about those little foxes that can gnaw at our lives and ruin our testimony, they're never really big things to begin with. They're always small things that if we're not careful, we should never underestimate the small or little foxes in our lives. I often think about the example of Cain and Abel. We heard about them briefly last week. And Cain's offering and Abel's offering. And Cain's offering was not acceptable in the sight of God so he was jealous. What did he do? He killed his brother Abel. And so he allowed something that was small to become great and killed his brother Abel. Now I don't think you would have asked Cain early on and asked him, would you like to kill your brother Abel? I don't think he would have said, oh I'd love to. But the jealousy that grew within resulted in something that perhaps maybe he never considered but was done. How many times we've ever done anything in our lives and thinking this is not a big thing, it's a small thing and we allow ourselves to do it, yet it's sin and yet it could develop to something greater, leads us to a place we never expected to be. How many times has it done that? I would dare to say even in my life, many times. And how many times have you ever treated somebody maybe perhaps wrong? Little foxes gnawing at our life. And we treat somebody perhaps wrong. Maybe somebody does something and, you know, well they need to be forgiven or ask my forgiveness. And so I'm going to treat them poorly until they forgive me. Well, that's poor thinking. Perhaps maybe you should forgive them first and treat them the way that they ought to be treated, as Christ would treat them, rather than treating them poorly so they can treat you right and then you treat them right. That's not how it works. The Bible teaches, be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. So that person that treats another person wrong because they're unforgiven, oh, they're going to ask for forgiveness, I know it. I'm going to treat them this way. Who knows, that could develop into something much more long-lasting than just a simple one time, not going to forgive them. And who knows, you think, boy, I could never do anything like murder. I don't think Cain did either. And yet, we oftentimes neglect what greater sin can come from small sin. 1 Corinthians 5.6 says, "'Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?' James 3.5, "'Even so the tongue is a little member, a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth.' You must not neglect the little things in life because they will cripple and destroy your testimony." Little things can let you get into big trouble. Big trouble. I'm sure if you were to ask my parents, had I ever been in trouble, they would probably tell you many stories. Maybe couldn't fill them all in in one evening. You'd have to come back for sequels. However, praise the Lord, we're all sinners saved by grace. And God forgives if we confess our sin. You think of simple examples like a little spark of light igniting and becoming a great fire. Never intended perhaps to be big. but yet something small creates something big. A slight decimal place or decimal point out of place on a specific prescription can be lethal, but yet it can also be very helpful if put in the right place. A little sting from a scorpion, as the saying goes, can bring a lion to its knees. And of course, as we've known from the past year, I thought about this, what havoc and problems that one germ can cause a pandemic and be coronavirus. And not just people that get it and being sick, of course, but the things it causes from others and the shutting down of things and churches struggling and other things. It can create big problems. It's the same in the Christian life. We allow small things. Oftentimes we heard in the Putting Your Life in Order series Pastor did years ago. And it's a very important thought. The devil doesn't want a foothold, he wants a toehold. Something small. Something he can grip onto and keep. but we have to give it to God. We need to confess our sin. Not only do we need to not neglect small things because God does not despise small things, and not only because they can lead to crippling things in our testimony if we neglect them, but also thirdly because many times it is the little things of life that feed unbelief and doubt and ties the hands of God. It's a very powerful thought to think that we can tie the hands of God, but it's truth that's pointed out in Scripture, that without faith it is impossible to please Him. Without the right kind of faith in God, we can't do what God wants us to do and to accomplish. If I were to give you again the background of Zechariah here, Zechariah in verses 1 through 10 specifically, Zerubbabel is sent back to Israel from the Babylonian captivity and is charged with returning to rebuild the temple. And the people were discouraged. Imagine that. People being discouraged. And the people say, after a couple of years of building the temple, we can't do this. This is not possible. We can't do this. We're not capable. You can't use the small things. But yet, Zechariah's writing here and telling them, Zerubbabel started it, he's gonna see it finished. It will be completed, notice in verse number four it says, or excuse me, verse number six. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, not by might nor by power, nor by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." God says, it's not going to be by you, it's going to be by me using you, your small things. Verse 10, who hath despised the day of small things? And the temple is finally completed in 516 BC. You see, it's easy to get discouraged. And of course, the children of Israel, probably out of almost anyone else in scripture, we look back so many times, how they get away from the Lord and they come back to God. And from our hindsight vision, we can be very critical and say, look how many times they forget about who God is and they neglect who God is. But we do the same things, perhaps maybe not as large, but they begin small. They begin small. You think of the 12 spies, the 10 bad, and the 2 good. What did they say? Lord, we're too small. There's giants in the land. We're grasshoppers. We can't take the land. What did he do? They wandered. They did. They wandered for 40 years in doubt and despair. Forty years. Don't let our human weakness paralyze our faith. Our faith. God delights in using small things. If you really just think about it for a moment, how great God is, and how insignificant we are, and how God can use someone like you or me. It's astounding, but God does it, and He'll do it over, and He'll do it over, and He'll do it over again. In a few weeks, we're willing, like Pastor said, to have our missions conference. Probably one of the most exciting times in my life growing up was Missions Conference. Getting to know missionaries and seeing where they're going and their burden and places where they're going to be worshiping and showing others Christ, what He's done for them, starting churches, other people getting involved all over the world, God's plan. And it's going to be exciting. I hope you'll be here. I hope you'll listen online if you can't. But Missions Conference is a wonderful time because you get to see people who give their lives for something that's greater than them, and they're just small people. That's all that they want to do. They go where God calls them. Not only do we have some reasons why we should not neglect small things, but let's look quickly, and I'll be done, some lessons on small things. I'm going to give you three of them. First of all, in God's sight, the best way is to be little. The best way. Not necessarily in the physical sense, although I'm thankful God has made me who I am, even though I'm not very tall. I'm as tall as God wanted me to be. Although I'm the tallest one in my family, it's kind of discouraging, but I won't think about that. I'm tall enough. I'm not thinking about the short, you know, ugly, praise God he uses all those things, amen? But yet, God also is talking about, he's talking about the spiritual sense. Not in big in self, Not big in pride, not big in our humility, not big in our own conceit. See, God delights in using those who become little before Him. There's a wonderful axiom, a self-repeating or self-taught truth that is taught over and over again in Scripture, and that is in order to go up with God, you must first come down. We've seen that little chorus from the verse. Jesus must increase, and I must decrease. He becomes larger, I become small. So it's so important that we realize this truth, because God wants to use us, but we cannot be used unless we are small. 1 Corinthians 1.27, but God has chosen the foolish things to confound the wise. The small, the simple things, God loves to use those things. God will only use you if you're humble. before Him. Psalm 51, verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. not despise. Zechariah 4, verse 6, I read earlier, not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. If I think about why I'm here this morning, why I'm preaching to you, it's because Brother Boyle asked me. Yes, he did, but he asked me for a reason. Why am I here? Am I here because of myself? I certainly need preaching, but why are you here this morning? What's your purpose? What is God accomplishing through you? What is He accomplishing through me? It's greater than us. It's bigger than us. It's God's plan. I'm talking about being little on self and big on the Holy Spirit. You know, if you look at the requirements for pastors and deacons in Scripture, I think the most important qualification, if you look, is that of being filled with the Spirit. You know, a lot of those other qualifications almost take care of themselves if you're just filled with the Spirit. And preachers and pastors and deacons and trustees, you know, they're not nothing special in themselves other than the fact that they've been chosen and particularly set apart for that ministry. They're just people. I remember years ago, my dad speaking to a lady after church and said, we're all sinners. Oh, pastor, no, not you. You're not a sinner. Well, absolutely I'm a sinner. There's nothing I can do to speak to God on your behalf. Man can't do that. You speak to God directly because of who he is and what he's done for us. You think about the creation. I think it's an amazing thought. The older I get, the more I appreciate these simple things. And you think about birds singing. God never uses the big birds to make music. Has anybody ever heard an albatross sing? Or an ostrich? They just look funny. Anybody heard a flamingo sing? Or is flamingo a bird? Is that an argument still? I don't know. How many have ever heard a big bird sing? I've never heard a big bird sing. It's always the small birds, the sparrows, the robins, the cardinals, the blue jays. It's amazing how God's design, it's a wonderful example how he creates something beautiful with the small things. God delights in using little Christians. They go, I don't have much, I can't do a whole lot. That's okay, God doesn't want a lot, he just wants the little. Second thing we can learn is that new converts are little things, they should not be despised. Converts are little things. New Christians should not be despised. Turn with me if you would to Matthew chapter 21 real quick. Matthew chapter 21. Look at verse number 16. Very familiar verse. It's amazing when you see a new Christian who comes to know Christ and realizes what it is that they've been able to do because of what God has done for them. And the enthusiasm that a new Christian projects. It's wonderful. I gave an example once that I was interviewed Pastor Harvey Sumner and I can't remember the extent of the interview or what exactly all the questions were. It was for school and one of the things we talked about was winning someone to the Lord. And he said, there's nothing like it. And all the things in ministry, telling someone else the gospel and having them know and understand the truth and accept Christ as Savior, it's just the most wonderful thing in all the world. Someone who becomes a Christian. And their enthusiasm, I hope that none of us would ever be guilty of killing the enthusiasm of a newborn Christian. Because see, it's oftentimes that Christians who've been Christians for a while can quench the spirit. And we can often say, oh, I was like that once. I once had that enthusiasm, but it's over now. That ought not to be something to rejoice about. We ought to take from them that enthusiasm and remember that it is a wonderful thing. We ought not to despise new converts. Thank God for young Christians. They want to be in church all the time. You know, you almost can't keep them out. They want to be here for every service. People oftentimes, I've heard it so many times, people said, my family thinks I've joined a cult because I'm not required to go. I just want to go. You're always going to church. You're always giving your money. You're always giving your time. Why? Because of who God is and what he's done for me. And I can't help but want to worship. I have that ministry of reconciliation. Thank God for young Christians. And thirdly, the thing we can learn is not only should we not despise new converts, new Christians, but God only saves those who are willing to be little. Don't you realize that if you've accepted Christ this morning, that you came to a place when you realized that you were nothing and God is everything? And that there is nothing by your merit or your power or anything that you can do to save yourself. You are doomed, but yet God made a way. Matthew 18, just a few pages, just a page over. Matthew chapter 18 and verse number 3. The Bible says, "...and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted and become as..." What's the next two words? "...little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Man, he made it so clear and plain. You cannot come, you cannot be converted unless you come as little children. We can learn a lot from little children. You see, little children never question the miracles of the Bible. You teach a young child about the miracles that God performed, Peter walking on the water, parting the Red Sea, feeding 5,000 men and more, and they believe you. I remember I had the opportunity years ago when we were starting a church in Willimantic, and I got to teach junior church. And I was only in high school, but boy, what a great experience that was. And you teach some of these kids, and they're just soaking it all in when they're behaving. They're soaking it all in. And they're taking it in. And boy, they'll go home and they'll tell us, boy, did you hear about what happened at Sunday school today? Boy, the Lord parted the Red Sea and they walked over on, the teacher said, dry ground. And yet it's often the adults that have more trouble believing the miracles. Well, there must have been a reason, you know. The children don't come back with an answer and say, well, you know, Brother McKeever, didn't the moon have a certain weight and pull the tide and the waters parted and, you know, they walked over on kind of a shallow area? Nope. They just believe what you tell them. If you have the simple childlike faith, that's all you need to be saved. Little children never question the authority of the Bible. They never question miracles. They have a simple faith. Not only can we learn that for ourselves to understand how simple it is to accept salvation, but also just in the Christian life. Keep it simple. Not complicated, but simple. The devil loves to make things complicated, but yet God is simple. We think about the things we should not despise, that God loves little things, that we should not neglect new Christians, and that to be a Christian we have to become small first. We think about those reasons why we should not despise small things that I gave. Because God does not despise small things. Because despising small things, neglecting small things can cripple our testimony. And thirdly, because many times it's the little things that can feed unbelief and doubt and cause us to tie the hands of God. What about us this morning? Are we guilty of any of these things? I think if we were honest this morning, I think we'd probably have to say there are many times that we've neglected the small things that God has given us or provided us with, or those things that He's kept us from that we thought, this is a small thing. I can do this. This is just a small thing. This is okay to do, when yet it's sin, and we need to ask God to help forgive us and confess our sin. How much more can we do as a church, Central Baptist Church, if we just give God the small things in our life? Let's bow our heads in prayer.