GOD USES LITTLE THINGS: Victory God's Way 9-15-24

GOD USES LITTLE THINGS: Victory God's Way 9-15-24

 

INTRODUCTION

 

God uses little things - dust, a staff, etc.

 

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.”

         Hebrews 11:1-2 NIV

 

“Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in. “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.” 

 

Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves. 

 

When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam. The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?” “We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.” Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?” He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.” They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said, “Swear to me that you won’t kill me yourselves.” “Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. 

 

As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. 

 

Then Samson said, “With a donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey’s jawbone I have killed a thousand men.” When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi. Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi. 

 

Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.”

         Judges 15:1-20 NIV

 

I.  PROBLEM - How will God deliver His people?

 

“Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.”

         Judges 13:1 NIV

 

         A.  God's people are not what they should be

                      1.  No question of perfectionism

                      2.  They "did evil in the eyes of the Lord"

 

““When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

           2 Chronicles 7:13-14 NIV

 

         B.  God's servants are not what they should be.

                      1.  Our life situations

                      2.  Our imperfect lives

 

The Bible is full of real and imperfect people. Noah was a drunk; Abraham was too old and a liar; Sarah laughed at God’s promises; Isaac was a daydreamer; Jacob was a liar; Leah was ugly. Joseph was abused; Moses had a stuttering problem and a short fuse; Miriam was a gossip; Gideon was afraid; Samson had long hair and was a womanizer; Jeremiah and Timothy were too young. Naomi was a widow; Job went bankrupt; David started off too young, then his armor didn’t fit, then he had an affair; Solomon was too rich. Elijah was burned-out and suicidal; Isaiah preached naked; Jeremiah was depressed; Jonah ran from God; Amos’ only training was in the school of fig-tree pruning; Hosea’s wife was a prostitute. John the Baptist ate bugs; Martha worried about everything; the Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once; Peter denied Christ; the disciples fell asleep while praying; Thomas doubted; Zaccheus was too small; John Mark was rejected by Paul; Paul himself was too religious, plus, he was a murderer, as were Moses and David. And of course, Lazarus was dead!

           Pat Cook, Sermon Central, May 16, 2005.

 

How do you need God to deliver you?

 

II.  SOLUTION - How does God want to use you?

 

          Samson - God's tool to use

 

           A.  He wants to use your life.

             1.  Imperfect

           2.  Incomplete

 

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

           2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV

 

           B.  He wants to use you!

                      1.  YOU

                      2.  Now

 

In Dayton, Ohio, attorney Derrick Farmer gave a motivational talk to at-risk teens. Derrick is 48 years old and has been an attorney since 1999. Now, what was unusual about this event was that it was picketed by 30 Dayton police officers. Why? When Derrick was 16 years old, he committed the brutal murder of a civil-rights activist and a Dayton police officer as the trigger man in a jewelry store hold-up. But something happened in Derrick's life. He gave his life to Christ. In the world’s culture, you understand why it would seem absurd that Derrick would be lecturing to teenagers about right living. But we come from an upside-down, countercultural perspective. God uses people just like Derrick.

           Tim Smith, Sermon Central, March 17, 2011.

 

“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

           Acts 4:13 NIV

 

           C.  He wants you to grab the donkey's jawbone

 

What does God want to do through you?

 

III.  SYNOPSIS

 

“And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.”

         Hebrews 11:32-34 NIV

 

         A.  God’s people are not what they should be.

         B.  God’s servants are not what they should be.

           C.  God wants to use your life.

           D.  God wants to use you!

 

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”

           Psalm 51:10-17 NIV

          

CONCLUSION

 

God uses little things to make a big difference.

 

A group of men were carrying on a friendly conversation. One of them remarked that he had learned to be especially careful about small things. "Would you believe," he said, "that a little thing like a pair of socks changed the entire course of my life?" "I can hardly believe that," replied another man. "Well, it’s true! Once I planned to take a trip with some of my friends on a canal boat, but two days before we intended to leave, I injured my foot while chopping wood. It was only a small cut, but the blue dye in the homemade socks I wore poisoned the wound, and I was compelled to stay at home. While my friends were on their journey, a powerful preacher came to our town to hold revival meetings. Since I didn’t have anything else to do, I decided to attend. The message touched me deeply, and as a result, I surrendered my heart to the Lord. Afterward I saw that I needed to change my life in many ways. New desires and purposes took hold of me. I determined also to seek an education, for I trusted that this would enable me to live more usefully for my Lord." The man who made these comments was none other than the former President of the United States -- James A. Garfield!

           Paul Fritz, Sermon Central, May 20, 2002.

 

God's people need delivered.  God will provide deliverance.  God wants to use you.  Will you pick up the jawbone?

 

"God's best gift to us is not things, but opportunities."

           Alice W. Rollins, author

 

INVITATION

 

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins     and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.