R1 Piping Hot Priorities – A Day of small beginnings In 586 BC the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and rendered the temple unusable. About 70 years later the Jewish people started coming back to Jerusalem and to the broken-down temple and the broken-down walls of the city. The Jews were disheartened and defeated and were living in survival mode until people like Nehemiah and Ezra came along and, through the power of the spirit, motivated the people to rebuild the city and the temple. The project was huge but was not touched for over 20 years. And then God sent a couple of prophets to motivate the people. Part of the message of the prophet Zechariah was simply for the people to get busy. Here is one thing that he said; Zechariah 4:10 Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin… Sometimes we forget that the greatest things happen because of small beginnings. Small things. The idea of small things, little things, is literally all throughout the Bible. Listen to something Jesus said; Luke 16:10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. The path to greater things and bigger things starts with handling the smaller things and the insignificant things with faithfulness. Riverside had some small beginnings. But Riverside is also ready to step into some bigger and bolder things. Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.” 6 The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you! Matthew 17:20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible. The disciples at first asked Jesus how to increase their faith. “How do I get more faith?” It’s a great request! “Give me more faith. God, I want to see you do more. How do we get more? How do we get to do what Jesus did with that kind of confidence?” What is it about mustard seed faith? Is this the quantity it comes in? If we just look at the definition of faith scripturally speaking, then we see…. Faith is some kind of a substance that can move a mountain. And faith is some kind of a seed that sets the mountain moving event into motion. Faith is something that obviously enables a God sized thing to happen right before our eyes. How do I get it? Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word (rhema) of Christ. Faith comes from God, it is given to us, in order to glorify God. Faith comes when we have heard from God. That means that when we hear from God, God is telling us something he wants to do. Faith is a fresh new word from Jesus. Faith is my conviction that something invisible will become visible. Faith is my belief that what is not established right now will be established by an establisher! Faith looks at nothing and sees something. Faith tells me that what isn’t – is. Faith tells me that what won’t – will. Faith tells me that what couldn’t – can. Faith tells me that what shouldn’t – shall. Faith tells me that what can’t be – will be. Now what’s interesting is Jesus talks about the size of faith. He talked about mustard seed sized faith. I think he’s pointing to the fact that faith starts small. It just starts as a fresh word from God in your heart. Every cool Bible story tells of something impossible always starting small. It starts out as a mustard seed. Story of Abraham… The Story of Moses… The story of Riverside… What is God asking you to do right now? Are you still in a place where you are able to hear fresh new words from Jesus? Let’s see what GOD can do! Pastor Brian Harrell