Bible Sermons Online

Posts Tagged ‘Old Testament’

1. Handling The Little Things

Luke 16:10 (NKJV); He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Are you a detailed person? Details determine your destiny. Take Moses for example. He was told to lead the people out of Egypt and he is a man given to details. Four times the bible says (two times in the Old Testament and two times in the New Testament) that Moses built the tabernacle exactly down to the very exact details God wanted. Moses was a man given to details. King Solomon was chosen to build the Temple of God. When Queen Sheeba went to see the Solomon Temple, she saw the details and the beauty. Her heart became opened to God. She saw the quality materials used to build the temple, the way the food was prepared, and everything was neat and tidy. She saw the orderliness and the way the priests ministered to the people. She saw the sharpness in the way the people dressed in the house of God, even the staff around Solomon. You can say who cares how I dress on Sunday to church. Slobby dress means slobby attitude and slobby church. We dress well for His glory as we represent God. Queen Sheeba was so overwhelmed by what she saw that her heart was opened to God. We want people to see Christians dressed well, behaved appropriately, a sense of excellency around us and that draw them to us.

What is excellent? Excellent is the attention given to the details that leads to superior performance. The way you handle the little things in your life and how you are pay attention to details will lead you to superior performance and promotion will come your way.

Let me give you an example. Your boss told you that he has to entertain a very important client. Your boss told you to arrange for lunch and the presentation for him. When the day of the meeting arrived, you forgot to inform your boss the venue of the restaurant and the time of the lunch booked at the restaurant. Then when you remembered, there was not much time for the client and your boss to head down to the restaurant as it was at the other end of town. Lunch was late as you failed to factor in the lunch time traffic to travel from one end of the town to the other end. Your boss and the client finally arrived at the restaurant late and hungry. All that was fine and the client was not upset. But at the restaurant, you found out that the client was a Muslim and you have arranged for non-halal food and pork. The client was forgiving and he said that he would have something else. After lunch, everyone make their way back to the office. Before the presentation, he asked for a cup of coffee with sugar and milk. You went to the pantry and you realized you ran out of sugar. But never mind, there is still a bottle of milk in the refrigerator. You poured the milk for the client. The client had a sip and said that the coffee tasted of spoilt milk. You took a look at the bottle of milk and realized that it has expired. I’m not sure about the client but if I am him, I would definitely not give the business deal to the company. Do you think the boss will promote such staff or even let alone retain such a staff to work for him? Not for very long, I am very sure.

A good and steady staff is one who can work under no supervision and is not required to be checked upon. Can you work without any supervision? If your boss has to check on you time and time again, and end up doing your work, then expect no promotion.

2. Money

The effort to pay attention to detail is a reflection of your attitude in life. God watches how you handle money, too. This includes whether you are able to meet what you promised to pay out, the pledges you make, your tithes, and etc. Are you a person who keeps getting into debt? God says that if you handle money well, he will give you the true riches from glory. A good steward of money and resources given to him by God, will receive more from God – Matthew 25:14-30. But if he does not manage them well, even the little that he has will be taken away from him. How you handle money in your daily life will determine how much power from heaven you are going to receive and carry in your life.

3. Think Of Others First

How do you treat people’s possession? Do you borrow and never return it? Do you take care of things you loan from other people? How do you treat the loved ones of others? How do you treat the loved ones of your boss? How do you treat your boss’ vision and dreams? Do you steal his visions and dreams? Do you try to compete with it? Do you try to destroy your leader’s dream? When you fail to put others first before you, treasure them and lust after what is not yours, you will never receive the glory and power of God in your life. A life of servanthood is not to envy and crave after what is not yours but to serve with a willing heart.

2 Peter 1:5-11; But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

When a businessman sets out to start a business, he does not plan to open shop for only 1 year and then closes it down. Neither does one enter into a marriage and plans to end it in 5 years’ time. No one in their right frame of mind will start a new venture in life or career with the plan to let it last for a short period of time and then calls it quit. When we plan, we plan to build. When we build, we build to last.

The bible says that if we take God’s words and put it into our lives, we will not fall or stumble easily. However, if our lives are not productive, then we need to access ourselves and ask whether we are focusing on the right thing. If the focus is wrong, it is important to take a step back and ask God what is really important in order to refocus ourselves back on the things that are productive, fruitful and crucial. Simply put, we need to focus on the right thing and we need to change.

The bible has lots to say about being focus. Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the things (i.e. food, clothes) we need will be added unto what we already have. Jesus was teaching the disciples not to focus on what they should eat and wear but to seek first the things of God and His righteousness. This refers to the right kind of mindset and values we hold in our lives. As we seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness, Christ’s mindset and His values will be part of our lives, too. Hence, it is critical we focus our mind on spiritual things for our lives to have a turnaround. For example, if you are a businessman, it is better to focus on giving your best to serving the customers rather than on the competitions, watch what they do and retaliate.

The bible illustrates an example of a rich young man who approached Jesus and asked Him what he needed to do in order to be saved – Matthew 19:16-22. He obeyed the Ten Commandments from his youth days but he knew not what else was missing for him to attain eternal life. When he was told to sell all he has, give to the poor and follow Jesus, the young man walked away sad. He was unable to give up his earthly possessions. For this rich young man, he focused on the commandments for the sake of obeying it. He did not understand the spirit behind the Ten Commandments. To him, the commandments were just a set of law to obey. He failed to understand that the spirit of the commandments is to love God and people. If the young ruler understands the spirit behind the commandments, he would have gladly given up everything to love the poor and follow Jesus. He focused on the need to obey the law of the commandments and not the spirit behind the commandments. This does not last for eternity. Instead, we are to focus on things that will last for eternity whether we are in business, working for others, studying, and etc.

What then should we do in order to ensure that everything we do, we build it to last for eternity? The disciples heard Jesus’ reply to the rich young man. Jesus knew their thoughts and their lack of understanding – Matthew 12:25. He said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. Desolation means brought to nothing. The devil is not afraid of many people going to church but he knows that he can break the church into fragments and divide the people of God up. When the church of God is divided and fighting among themselves, they cannot be united as one. They cannot build anything as one united force that will last for eternity. Neither can the church as an individual build anything to last for eternity if the heart is divided between things of God and things of the world.

Does this mean an end for the church of God? No. In the church, there must be something that bind all the families of God together and not be divided. It is the place of agreement. The place of agreement is the place of power. God knows the strategies of Satan and He has a plan in mind for the families of God. Through the bible, the word of God, we learn about values taught by God in the Ten Commandments (Old Testament, Exodus 20:1-17) and the two great commandments mentioned by Jesus (New Testament, Luke 22:35-40).

Please go to Sermon Alive to look at Part 2 to Part 6.