Small Steps To Making Big Moves: Faithfulness

Look the 16th chapter, verses 10 to 12, the New Living Translation.

If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.

But if you are dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities.

If you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, you will trust the true riches of heaven.

And if you are not faithful with other people's things, why should you be trusted with things of

your own? By all before breakfast, milled red kings will go here. Good morning.

It's another week on Bible before breakfast and today we'll begin with a short series

called Small Steps for Making Big Moves. Now, I realize that most people want big change,

big results, big big truths. So, when we talk about making big moves, people immediately

jump in and think about how to do the really great things. But if you've walked with God long

and off, one of the things you learn is that God usually begins with something much smaller,

faithfulness in little things. Look 16, verse 10 says, the one who faithfully manages the little

he has been given will be promoted and trusted with greater responsibilities.

If you are faithful to manage the little that you've been given, you will be promoted and

trusted with greater responsibilities. But says that those who cheat with the little they have

been given will not be considered trustworthy to receive more. God rarely gives large assignments

to people who ignore small responsibilities. The Kingdom of God grows quietly, seed by seed,

step by step, choice by choice. A little here, a little there, line upon line,

precept upon precept. God moves quietly, bit by bits, brick upon brick. We often crave for big

opportunities while neglecting small disciplines. But in God's system, little is always the training

ground for large. Let's take a look at King David in the Bible. Everyone knows King David as the

great giant slayer. In fact, sometimes we talk about King David as if he's the only one who slew

giants. In those days, after King David had taken down one giant, the Bible records many of his

mighty men taking out giants. The glad had siblings. But we have preached about David,

slaying Goliath so much that people often forget that before that he simply guarded sheep.

Now, to be honest, that sounds insignificant. I mean, unless you're preaching about

something like what I'm talking about, you usually will focus on how great it was that his

loop Goliath. But you see, it was those lonely fields, those quiet times out with the sheep,

the backside when nobody was watching, when nobody was aware, when nobody knew who he was,

it was those lonely fields that prepared him. In those lonely fields, David himself gave a

testimony that he fought lions. He fought bears. He practiced courage when nobody was watching.

So by the time Goliath appeared, David wasn't suddenly brave. No. In fact, his brothers teased him.

They were almost irritated by the fact that when David appeared, asking questions.

They thought he should be at home taking care of his few sheep. Trust me, David wasn't suddenly brave.

David had gained experience from the little things. He get experience by fighting lions. He said,

when a lion would come and take one of the sheep that I was watching from my father,

I would go after it. I would strike it and then I would take the sheep from his mouth.

David didn't run when the sheep was taking. And they were quite some.

So if one was taking, David may have been able to run for his life, but David went after the lions.

He ran towards the lion. He ran towards the bear. Are you surprised then that he ran towards

Goliath? He had practiced. Now, your current assignment may feel small, but let me tell you something.

Heaven is watching. And this infativeness that I'm talking about is not only in church,

because sometimes we think that when God is watching over our lives, is only concerned about what

we do in church on Sundays. The truth is God is watching every detail of your life.

Interestingly, the parable that Jesus told where this scripture, just before this verse of

this scripture, Jesus was talking about a certain businessman who called his business manager

where he had hired and told him to give an audit and an account of how his business had been run.

Now this guy had kind of mismanaged the business and the guy knew that it was almost impossible

to hide what he had done. So he decided to build on the relationships that he had built through

the time of running the business and did some quick favors. Now Jesus, even though he wasn't

encouraging us to be sly, but he said something that was profound. He said the children of this world

are why they are in their own dealings and the children of light. These people knew how to

man-made things. So Jesus wasn't just interested in what you do in church on Sunday. No, Jesus

was interested in little things. Faithfulness that looks like keeping your word, finishing it

task and finishing it well, showing up consistently, honoring commitments when you make your promise,

do your best to keep that promise. When you offer to do something, do it well. Don't do it like

it's not your business because it's not fully your assignment. I've often seen this play out

when I go to stores to buy things and the owner of the business is not there.

The staff sometimes mismanaged the business. They rude to customers. They sell things at

exorbitant prices. They steal, they cheat, they lie and they have this attitude of I will be more

hard working when I start my own. I will be better at treating customers when they are actually

my customers. I remember working into a store one day and as I walked into the store, I was about

12 noon. It wasn't open. It was many years ago and I was about to walk away until I looked into it.

It was a supermarket of some sort, a mini-mart and as I looked in through the

bogglery proof over the door, I realized that it was open but there was someone asleep on the floor

and so I knocked on the gate making sure that it was loud enough to wake whoever it was

because what I wanted to buy I could see through the bogglery proof and then the person raised

a head and said, what do you want? I could tell it was not her business. I could tell that at the end

of the month she would take her salary and she would take you home but because it was not her

business, she assumed that she would do better when it was her turn. I pointed at what I wanted. She

got up reluctantly and as she moved, I saw an open Bible beside her on the floor on the mattress.

Now I know that that person may have been praying for things to change, for how to get into a breakthrough.

For big things to begin to happen, maybe you are like that praying for big moves this much.

Listen, big moves often begin with quiet consistency. Small obedience in little things is what

opens the door for bigger things. Today I pray that God will help you not to despise small

beginnings. I pray that God will teach you to be faithful with what is already in your hand

and that God will shape your character in the hidden places so that when bigger opportunities come,

you will be ready in the name of Jesus. Good morning, what a wonderful way to start your day.

Bible before breakfast with Nildred Kingsley of Congo.