Voice of the Nazarene 12-14-25

Voice of the Nazarene 12-14-25

Transcript

Unknown: 0:00

Ray, coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene a week by week, venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our pastor, Reverend Ray La Salle and the voice of the Nazarene

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 0:17

became heroes and got into the great chapter of the hall of faith, and enlisted in that in the 32nd verse is the name David. Now we talked about Abraham and his altars and Enoch and his example. We dealt with Joshua and his journey. And last week, talked about a sermon from from Samson, and there's so many others, but we were going to close down and move into the Christmas time this next Sunday. But here's David, and in First Samuel 1717, you'll pick up some historical content. Then Jesse said to his son, David, and they're in a war Israel's in a battle with the Philistines. He said, Take now for your brothers. He Jesse had eight sons. David is the runt of the litter. I don't know if you caught it, but it talked about him having a Rudy complexion. It's not a Jewish complexion. And if you'll study, historians, most all claim that his mother was not the same mother that the other eight brothers had, and so he didn't look like them, and Jesse tried to distance himself from David, and his brothers didn't care for him at all, but God's got a great sense of humor, doesn't he? Sometimes he bypasses who we think that he would choose and and he finds somebody that he gets all the glory from their life. And he said, Take now for your brothers an effort of this parched corn, these 10 loaves, run to your brothers at the camp and carry these 10 cheeses to the captain of their 1000. Look how your brothers fare, and take their pledge. Now, Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines. And David rose up early in the morning and left his sheep with a keeper, and took and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the trench as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle. Now, today, I want to look at the disciplines of David. I'm kind of bypassing his life and some of those happenings, but I want to look at some, as far as I'm concerned, real discipline in the life of David. You know, small things in the long run, really matter attitudes our talk. Little things really matter in building our character. Back in the early 1900s there was a ship built bigger than any had ever been built. It took up two and a half football fields in length. It was just set out on a maiden voyage. It was called the Titanic, and it would leave Southampton, England and set sail for New York Harbor. This is back in the days before sonar and radar. And as that ship was pulling out, it carried 2240 passengers. Something happened on April 14, 1912, that ship hit an iceberg. Now they had advertised it as the unsinkable, but it wasn't. It was sinkable. Now, when it hit that iceberg, 90% of the iceberg was below water. Only 10% was above the water line, and out of the 2240 passengers after hitting that iceberg, 1500 approximately lost their lives. Now what should have happened being they didn't have sonar, they didn't have radar. They had a crow's nest way up high, and there would be someone that would go up there and take binoculars and look out ahead of the ship and spot any dangers that might be in the ocean water. Now there was a sailor by the name of David Blair. His job was to carry the key for the locker that contained two sets of binoculars, he would unlock it, take the binoculars, go to the crow's nest, check out the direction in the front. And he was taking that maiden voyage and of the day before they rescheduled him and put him on another ship. And. And he forgot to give the key to anybody on the Titanic. So when the Titanic was out in the ocean and cruising along up ahead, was that iceberg humongous, and nobody was watching for it, because nobody had a key to get in the locker, to get out of a set of binoculars and see the danger ahead, and that one little small key costs 1500 people their lives. Can I say again? Little things really matter. Young couple got married, they were in love, and they on that first night after they were wed, he turned and asked her, he said, What is it about me that drew you to me? He said, Was it my muscular body? Now I didn't ask Jan that after we got married? And she said, No, it wasn't well. He said, Was it my vivacious personality that just won me over to you? She said, No, that wasn't it either well. He said, could it have been my good looks? She said, No, that wasn't well. He said, What was it about me that you fell in love with she said, Well, I'll be honest with you, it was your mind. He said, my mind. She said, Yes, it's the little things in life that count. Am I going too fast? There it went. Some claim the greatest coach in basketball history was John Wooden. I know this much. In a 12 year period, he won 10 national championships. If you talk about an unusual coach, he won with his team 88 consecutive games when the new season was about to start, he had gathered the team together and and he had a hard time trying to herd him into the locker room. They all wanted to go out on the floor, they wanted to shoot baskets and they wanted to dunk the ball and they wanted to dribble, and they wanted to compete with one another. And he said, Everybody to the locker room, sit down on the bench. He said, I want to talk to you about some little thing that you're going to overlook that's going to cost us games. And they all sat there staring at him, and he said, I want to talk to you about how to put on a set of socks. He said, If you don't get your socks on, right? You're going to get blisters on your feet, and we're going to lose games. You understand, it's the little things in life that matter. I would, to God, some folk would just figure out what a tooth toothbrush was, and just brush their teeth faithfully. You know, a little string, if you use it right, you can floss your teeth and get rid of bad breath. It's the little things. You may not think it's important, but it very, very important. 1954 Walt Disney was asked about what made disney world so great. He said it all began with a mouse. It's the little things that make a difference. It's a trial by the mile. It's hard by the yard. And somebody said it's a cinch by the inch, because it's the little things. Now, David is who we're going to study about for a moment today, nobody like David. He became the greatest king that Israel would ever know. He conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites some 3000 years ago. He funded Solomon's temple. Not everybody can raise funds, but David could. He never built the temple. His son, Solomon, built the temple, but Solomon couldn't fund it, like David could, and he raised $21 billion I think if anybody had somebody donate you$21 billion I think you could build a temple. I'd like to have a shot at it, although it's above my pay grade. He wrote 75 Psalms. He fought 66 battles in his life, and never lost a battle. The only man in the entire Word of God that it says that David is a man, after my own heart, that's what God said in Acts 1322, he said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, which shall fulfill all of my will. And I want you to know that David did great things. He did exploits. But get this, there was a reason why, because the little things in his life. Mattered, and he took time to do those things. Three things I want to point out to you today that I believe are very important. It's from the life of our hero, David. And the first is small things prepare us for bigger things. Israel's battling with the Philistines. There's two mountains with the valley below the Philistines are on one side, the Israelites over here on this mountain. And in between is the Valley of Elah. And coming down is a gigantic man, somewhere around 10 and a half to 11 and a half feet in height. He was a giant. Now you got to understand the Philistines were giants. And there was a reason they were giants. They inbred to have huge stature. He created deformities, but they were giants. And he was big in size, very intimidating. And He came down, and he shouted with a roar, I want Israel to send out a champion. Send me a man, somebody to come out against me, and whoever wins their side becomes the conquerors. He said, send me out a man. And all of Israel shook. They were frightened. Even King Saul, head and shoulders above all the other men of Israel was frightened to death. Now, Jesse had eight sons, three of them were on the battlefield. And he said to David, the run of the litter, take the cheese and the bread down to your brothers who were battling. They were battling. They were trembling and shaking. They were scared to death. And David goes down there. When he arrives, he sees this giant, and he hears this giant trying to intimidate Israel. And he hears Goliath say, send me a man. David said, I'll go. And he was just a boy, 17, not a man. He was a boy, and he heads out across the battlefield. And it so got the giant that the Bible said in chapter 17, verse 42 that he disdained him for he was but a youth. Now David wasn't too concerned, because it wasn't going to be hand to hand combat. He was going to use a slingshot. You can have a little distance when you got a slingshot. And somebody said he's too big to kill. No, he was too big to miss. And so David brought him down with a with a slingshot. But what I want you to see the reason God put him in this position to battle the Giant was because he was faithful to take the cheese and the bread to his brothers. He did the little things nobody else wanted credit. Fact the matter, his brothers made fun of him. You're just a carrier of bread and cheese, you watch over sheep. You say, Pastor, I'm just doing trivial things in my life, and they really don't matter. Well, maybe you think you're bigger than that, but listen, you really don't know that it doesn't matter, because God may be putting you into a position so that you can prove yourself so he can give you bigger things. And somebody said, do what you can with what you have where you're at, and God will take you and not leave you where you are. And we've missed it. Folk. God never said that we'd be successful. He didn't tell us to be popular. But God said to all of us, Be thou faithful unto death. Do you remember that big doors turn and swing on little hinges? Big, big doors of opportunity, but they're on small hinges. What I'm trying to say you've got to excel in your present assignment if you're only looking for the big moments in life, and you're sitting back here, not doing anything, preparing for it. You won't be ready for them. Big doors swing on small hinges, and people that you may not even know may be watching your life, and they're looking at you, and they're realizing you're too big for the position you're in, and you need to be elevated to another position. David never waited for that giant right where he was in the early periods of his life. He defended the sheep, he killed a lion, he killed a bear, and he didn't wait for the world to watch. We just did a series on Joseph, and Joseph didn't wait to become prime minister. No down there at potiphar's house, he worked so faithfully that Potiphar put him over everything in the home. When they put him in prison, he was so faithful and little things there they put him over the entire prison, and I read this week about the. Parable of the talents. And that first servant, he hid his talent. He thought, this is beneath me. I'm ready for bigger things, and I'm not going to waste my time. I'm just going to bury it for right now. I'm going to wait for the big things to happen. The second servant, who was given five talents, he sold that talent, invested his talent, and because he did, God said, because you've been faithful over a little, I will set you over much and so small things prepare us for bigger things. Now, before I begin pastoring, I was an evangelist for 23 years. Preached all over the country. Can I say to you, I'd rather preach right here at B and C than any camp meeting or any church that I know of in the nation? I think this is the most unusual church. I think the church is a whole lot better than you might even realize. I think we get so used to things we don't realize what we have. And I'd rather be here and and than any place else. It's amazing to me, the opportunities that God has given us, just the live stream alone and the people that watch live stream the television outreach, its impact the radio outreach. We're on at least two stations as a ministry of this church, and the podcasts are incredible. Podcasts means that people can watch the services later, a month later, two months later, a year later, and it's always out there. And they can watch, and it can change lives, and they recommend it to others to watch. But you know, I didn't start at B and C level. When I started preaching, I preached all over. I preached in some little hole in the wall, places you wouldn't believe. Little crowds. I've stayed in roach infested hotel rooms. The wife that I married, there's no way she would go with me to some of the places that I've been, no way I've been in camp meetings where they put me in little, old, musty smelling cottages. And I'm just simply saying, If God can use you in the small things, He'll prepare us for bigger things. All you've got to do is be faithful in the little things, and God will give you larger and I say to every mother that's here, be faithful raising that child that you're raising that little boy, that little girl, grandparents, be faithful to that little grand kid of yours that runs up and throws his arms around your neck. Remember everything you say and everything they see, that's what they're going to be become. Be faithful. Here's the second thing that I saw as I read this account of David, small things prove our character. God will take the small things and out of that, he'll prove our character. Somebody said, This guy got a great sum of money and it ruined him. No, it didn't ruin him. It just simply revealed his weaknesses. Are you there? Somebody else said that guy patted him on the back and bragged on him and ruined him? No, it didn't ruin him. It just revealed the weakness of his character. God uses small things to prove our character, and when David was 15, he was anointed to be a king. But what happened? When did it happen? When he was 3015, years passed before he ever became the king of Israel. Now Martin Lloyd Jones, who was a doctor, that became a preacher, he said, this the worst thing that can happen to a man is, if he succeeds before he's ready. It's the worst thing that can happen if you become successful and you're not ready for it, you're gonna it's gonna blow you away. And get this folk God uses small things to prove our character. David's anointed me King 15 years of age becomes king at 30 because his character was not strong enough to handle the responsibility. So what you're doing now might seem small, but God may be developing you and character in you, and when reputation meets character out there on the street, if it doesn't recognize each other, you're going to be in trouble. God's building character. You say, Well, I don't understand what I'm doing, where I'm at, well, I do. God is simply building character in you. And maybe God couldn't trust you with money, maybe God couldn't trust you with. Somebody bragging on you, because it would go to your head. Maybe God couldn't trust you with authority, because you can't follow anybody else. And if you're too big to follow, you're too small to lead. Just talking to you, he's anointed at 15. But what happened over the next 15 years? Well, I'll tell you on eight different occasions. There was a man by the name of Saul that tried to kill David. Eight occasions. He's continually guarding his back and trying to flee, upsetting this old guy that's angry with him and jealous of him. Eight occasions, and people can kill your influence by belittling you or lying on you. How did you handle that? Well, let me tell you a story. David was in a cave on one occasion, and he's hiding out. There's a battalion. There's a great army of Saul hunting him down in the mountains. And the Bible said 600 men sought out David, men who were in debt, men who were discouraged, and men who were in distress, just a red tag, bunch of followers, and he's hiding in this cave, and the army comes up, and Saul tells us, men, I need to relieve myself. They said, Well, there's a king or a cave, and you can go in there for privacy. And when he got in there, he did not dream that back in the dark was David and some of his men. And the men whispered to David, now's your chance. You can kill Saul. You can get even, even with Saul. And David said, No. How can I touch the Lord's anointed and be counted guiltless now? Do you know what I've learned? Folk God builds our character in how we respond when people are not kind to us, even when it's on Facebook. Have you ever noticed some of the battles you see on Facebook, people calling each other names and asking for a fight. I'm convinced that Facebook never made the lame to walk, but it certainly has taught the dumb to talk the stuff they say. You say, Well, I'll just get on Facebook and I'll get even I'll say some mean things about them, or you can say, well, I'm I'm big enough I can do something to them. Well, can you be big enough not to do something in anger? That's the big issue. And here's what I know, small things will prove your character, and small things will destroy you more in this area than in any other area, if you're unforgiving, but if you'll be forgiving and you'll be kind and you'll let things go, God can use you look if somebody's done you wrong, don't stop and say, I'll get even with them. Fact, no matter, why would you even want to run with a person that's always hurting you? Why do you want to get even you're better than that. God didn't make you to be like that. And here's the third thing, small things pile up. Now the Bible says in Proverbs, Solomon talking, he said, The ants are a people not strong yet. They prepare their meat in the summer, and I look at those little ants that I'm amazed at what they can do when they get together. That tells me, if you and I begin to work together, it's amazing what we can do. I've watched video clips of them building bridges and and where they couldn't get across. I mean, just connecting to one another and the other ants use them as a bridge. I've got a little video clip. It's old, and it may not show up plain, but let it give you just a little glimpse if they'll run that clip, you see the worm and look at them latch together and become like a dozer, moving that big old worm, little ants. 27 seconds of this clip I meant for it to be 28 is second it's first. Kings Two. David is dying. He calls in his son, Solomon. And these are his last words to Solomon. He says, Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die, and he charged Solomon, his son, saying, I will go the way of all the earth, and we will, I'll have your funeral, or somebody will have mine. We're all going to die. He said, Be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man. Now listen, you can either be a man or you can be a boy, but you can't be both. And David once. His son Solomon, to step up into manhood, to become a king and to be a real leader. And he said, keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes and His commandments and His judgments and his testimony, as it is written in the Law of Moses, thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest and whether so ever thou turnest thyself that the Lord may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, if thy children take heed to their way to walk before me in truth with all of their heart, with all of their soul, there shall not fail. Thee said, he a man on the throne of David. He's saying simply, Son, do what you can with what you have, where you're at, and God will not leave you where you are. He'll give you an increase if you'll be the man son, because if you do the right things, he's saying, God will compound things in our life. All those little things will begin to pile up, and God will use them to advance his kingdom. You say, Pastor, am I making any difference? Well, I should hope so. Now I've got my phone with me. You don't mind me taking a call right now? Do you somebody's got to take it? I really do have a call. My wife's calling, but I'm not going to answer. Could you bring the house lights down? There you go. Now, this is my little light. This little light of mine. I'm going to let it shine. You got a light? Can you light up your light? Now I know you got a light. You already were texting during service, some of you. So you've already got it out. Can you hold your light up? You know what we're doing? The dark room is suddenly having a light here and there together, bring the lights back up. Thank you. You're part of the sermon. Take part of the pay. Just tell Bev to pay you something. But when we all get together, we begin to turn our light on. It lights up a darkened room. Listen, you'll never know the impact of your life. I don't think we'll know till Judgment Day. I don't think we'll know how much light that we may have shared with somebody that made a difference, an impact. You've heard the story about the starfish. The ocean waves were coming in and washing up 1000s upon hundreds of 1000s of starfish on the beach. The hot summer sun was beating down on the sand, and starfish are dying all up and down the beach, and a little boy, walking with his daddy, picked up a starfish and threw it back out into the ocean, and he picked up another and threw it and another and threw it. And finally, the dad said, you can't save them all. He said, Dad, I know I can't, but I can save this one, and he threw it out of the ocean. And you and I may not save the whole city of Osiris or Crawford County, but together, we can save this one, and we can save that one, and we can help that little marriage that's falling apart and get them to start coming to church and getting their lives together. We can make a difference, and we can make an impact.

Unknown: 28:20

Father, thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with B and C's pastor. Ray la salle. For more information regarding B and C, visit Bucyrus nazarene.org, you.