The Smaller You Are The Better Your Chances

0:01 For those of you out there who feel like you're too small, too insignificant, not big enough, not smart enough, not good enough, not handsome enough, not pretty enough, not tall enough, not short enough, not black enough, not white enough, or whatever your not enough is, this message is for you. I'm going to read a passage, just a couple of verses, uh, four verses to be exact, from Mark 4:es 30 through 33. It says, "And he said, where unto shall I liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth. But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh

0:48 greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches." so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it. And with many such parables spake he the word unto them as they were able to hear it. He said the mustard seed is the smallest seed. I I I really wrestled with what I was going to call this Bible study today. I was going to call it like the smaller the bigger. I was going to call it um the mustard seed mountain mover. I was going to call it um small seeds big harvest. But I decided to just call it me and the

1:34 mustard seed because all of us have a me and the mustard se seed story. And one of the things that blows my mind, it doesn't matter whether I'm reading in the Old Testament, whether I'm reading in the New Testament, it just doesn't matter if I'm reading the books of the prophets, if I'm reading in the books of Psalm, it doesn't matter. It shows me over and over and over again how God often used small things to make a very very big difference. And so a lot of times what happens in us is we feel like our less thanness disqualifies us. But I submit to you that our less thanness is one of the things that actually pre-qualifies us

2:21 because God often used the smallest person or the smallest object or the smallest idea to make the biggest difference. Man, I remember when I was a child feeling like I was invisible sometimes and the rest of the time wishing I was invisible. Can I get a witness? And and it's so interesting how intimately familiar we are with the things that are missing in our lives. We are more intimately familiar as children and sometimes even as adults. We are more intimately familiar with what's missing in our lives oftentimes than we are what's present in our lives. And

3:09 because we're so aware of what's missing, we're afraid we're afraid somebody's going to find out what's missing. And so we spend our lives hiding our less than other people lest they point it out and figure out that they don't like us as much as we don't like us. Well, so this parable of the mustard seed is a parallel because a parable is a parallel story. It's a story that goes alongside a principle that teaches us a lesson. And Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. And the parable of the mustard seed is a

3:54 parallel of life. How little things make big differences. I could quote Warren Wearsby as I've often done. Any fool can count the number of seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed. I can go all the way back to the book of Judges. And I can think about how the Midianites, the scripture says that the Midianites when they came to spoil Israel, they were like grasshoppers that covered the earth. He said they and their camels came in and just they just consumed all the

4:40 spoil and they they oppressed the children of Israel. And the Israelites prayed out to God. And God said, "Okay, I'm going to redeem you." And the angel of the Lord comes to Gideon and says, "Hey, Gideon, you mighty man of valor." Gideon like, "Who me?" "Yeah, I'm going to use you to deliver your people from the Midionites." He said, "No, no, no, no, no. You got the wrong guy. You got the wrong guy. You got the wrong guy. I can't deliver my people from the Midionites. My family is a very poor family and I'm the least in my family. You can't use me. Oh, that's exactly why I called you.

5:25 See, God wants to work in the lives of people who aren't creditthirsty and they don't want the credit and they don't want the attribution for the things that God does in their lives. God said, "I'm going to use you because you're small. I'm not going to use you in spite of the fact you're small. I'm going to use you because you feel insignificant. I'm going to use you because you come from a poor family and you come from the smallest tribe and the poorest family in the smallest tribe and you're the poorest brother among the brothers that are poor. You're the least and I'm going to use you to deliver my people from the hand of the Midionites. And then when he got ready to use Gideon, he had like I don't I don't remember how many it was. I think 24,000 men. God said, "Nah, nah.

6:12 We ain't doing this. We ain't doing this." No. Gideon, you got too many people. You got too many men who are getting ready to go down to this battle, and I'm not going to do it like that because if I do it like that, see, y'all going to think y'all did it. I want y'all to know I did it. >> And God said, "Here's what we going to do. Take them down. Have have the men drink some water." He said, "Everybody who bows down to the water and laps up water like a dog, you leave them here. But the ones who use their hands and bring the water up to their mouth, take those men with you." They went down from thousands of men fighting men who were going to fight to 300. Lord, we going the wrong way. No, we're going the right way. We're going to apply the mustard seed principle to your life. And I am telling you, there are things about yourself right now as an

6:59 adult that you don't like because somebody made fun of you about it as a child. And you you're still hiding from the name those kids who can't even find you on Facebook called you when you were a child. You're still hiding from the assessment that your first grade teacher or your third grade teacher or if you're a boy, probably your fourth grade teacher told you you weren't smart. And so you're hiding from the stupidity label that somebody put on you and you're still believing it 40 years later, 50 years later, and you're hiding from that because you think you're not enough. I am here to tell you that God is looking for some people who are small, who are

7:45 insignificant, who don't have all of the ability because he's going to apply the mustard seed principle in your life and use you to do something great if you will yield what little you have to him. Isn't it fascinating that when Jesus was speaking to the multitudes and the people were hungry and he made them sit down, he didn't he Jesus said, "Let's feed these people." Andrew said, "Well, wait a minute, Lord. 200 penny worth of bread, a year's wages, not enough that we can go out and buy food and feed all these people. Make them sit down." Jesus said, "There is a lad here that

8:33 has three small loaves. Three small fish and two loaves." Three, three loaves, two fishes. Three loaves and two fishes. Two fish. There's a lad here. He's got a little lunch. There's a little lad with a little lunch. He didn't say there's a Michelin chef here. He didn't say there's a five-star restaurant owner here. He didn't say there's the owner of Publix is here. The owner of the grocery store is here. The owner of the market is here. He knows. He said there's a little lad with a little lunch. God uses little things. Why? Because big things let their big ego get in the way of a bigger God using them to do something big. Can I get a witness?

9:19 The parable of the mustard seed is a parable of life. We see it over and over. Moses couldn't talk. I'm going to use the guy who I'm going to use the guy who can't talk. That I'm going to use him to lead the people out of bondage. God uses little things. The question is not are you big enough for God to use you. The question is, are you small enough in your own eyes for God to use you? Jesus said about John the Baptist of men that were born of a woman and I don't know another way to get here. He said of the men that are born of woman women I there's not risen a greater than John. That's what Jesus

10:06 said about John the Baptist. You know what John said about John the Baptist when he saw Jesus? He said, "He must increase. I must decrease." See, what we want to do is we want to say, "Okay, God, here's what I need you to do. I need you to increase me." And God said, "This ain't that. This ain't that. This ain't about you increasing. This is about you decreasing and me increasing." And so, it's a parable of life. It's a parable of leverage. The principle of little things is a parable of leverage. God uses small things to make a big difference. When the children of Israel chose their first king, who was it? >> Saul. And what was the what was the what was the attribute that Saul had that was so different than everybody else in

10:52 Israel? He was taller and better looking than every He was tall, dark, and handsome. I know that some of you are thinking, "But the Bible didn't say it was dark." You're going to have to just read longer and go study. Go study. I'm not talking I ain't talking about the Bible on TV. I'm talking about the Bible in the Bible. Okay? So, he was tall, dark, and handsome. Okay? And they chose him. And guess what he did? When he disobeyed God, Samuel tells us why he disobeyed God. Samuel didn't tell us, but he told he told Saul. He said, "Saul, when you were little in your own sight, when you were small in your own sight, didn't God use you to rock great victories in Israel? But now you got so

11:38 big for your britches. God tells you to do something. You don't even do what he says. And God has chosen your neighbor who is better than you. Well, not only was his neighbor better than him, his neighbor was smaller than him. Because when David got ready to fight Goliath, Goliath was about 10t tall. What's 10 feet tall mean? Three feet taller than Shaquille O'Neal. Imagine somebody so tall they pat Shaquille on Neil on the head. What's up little? What's up little bro? That's a giant. He was so big he had six toes on each foot and six fingers on each hand. Why hands that big? Need six fingers. Gi Goliath was a giant.

12:28 And David said, "I'll fight the giant and I'll kill him cuz my covenant that I have with my God is bigger than that giant." You know what Saul said to David? "You can't go fight him, man. You are but a lad. You're a child." And he has been a man of war from his thou art but a youth. And he he was a man of war from his youth. He's been killing people since he was a child. Well, I mean, y'all are having a reaction to that. But do you understand that that's what Hamas does right now? They train children to kill people. They're training them for that. They sing songs about it. They teach them

13:13 about it in school. They they grow up wishing for the opportunity to grow up and kill some Jews. They learn that in school as children. He was a man of war from his youth. That's what it means. He was trained to kill people as a child. And you're a little child. You're a little kid. Saul said, "Don't do it, man. You're too small." The fact that David was so small was his leveraged advantage. David said, "Man, I ain't worried about this giant." He said, "I was tending my father's sheep, and a lion came and took one of my father's sheep, and I chased that lion down, grabbed him by his beard, and killed him, and took my daddy's sheep back to my sheepfold." A

14:00 bear came, did the same thing, killed the bear, too. That's how I know I am not a David. If I was a shepherd and a lion came and got one of my father's sheep, Mr. Lion, you want some salt, some pepper, you want some soy sauce? What you need, bro? I'm No, a You know how No, I'm not chasing a lion down to save a sheep. But David did. Why? Because David realized that his responsibility as a shepherd was to the sheep and his responsibility as a son was to his father. David said, "This giant, he's going to be like one of them." Now, little David is getting ready to fight big Goliath.

14:47 You got to understand, Goliath is so big, the entire military ran and hid from him for 40 days and 40 nights. That's a big joker. Have you seen how big this dude is? >> Yeah, I saw how big he is. That ain't a ain't got nothing to do with that. The scripture says David took five smooth stones out of the brook and the giant that everybody else ran from, David ran towards. And he took a little stone in his little hand of this little man and he ran towards this giant of a man who was making fun of him because he was so small. And David was running and

15:33 slinging, running and slinging, running and slinging, running and slinging. And when he got close enough, he let that thing go. Stone hit him right in the middle of the forehead. And the scripture says the stone sunk in. David had some force behind that sling. Goliath, it hit him so hard that Jo fell on his face to the ground. You know what it says next? But there was no sword in the hand of David. He ran, stood on Goliath's back, took the sword from Goliath's sheath, and severed that giant's head. Who did that? A boy, a youth who just slew a man of war from his youth.

16:21 And then the Israelites pursued the Philistines. It's so fascinating. It's a little off topic, but it's fascinating. The deal that Goliath made was this. Send me a man that I may fight against him. If I kill your man, you have to be our slaves. If your man kills me, then we will be your slaves. Our man killed their man. They didn't become our slaves. What' they do? They ran. Why? Because they weren't people of their word. They were people of the they were people of the war. It's a parallel leverage lesson. It's a parallel It's parallel to life. It's parallel to leverage. It's parallel to lessons. What lessons? Look in the little unsus suspecting places for the

17:09 answer to your big problems in your life. Do you remember the story of the widow in 2 Kings chapter 4? She comes to Elisha. She's she she tow up from the flow up. How do I know? Because it says there cried a certain woman of the sons wise of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha saying thy servant my husband is dead and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord and now the creditor has come to take unto him my two sons to be bond me here's Elisha she comes knock on the door banging on the door Elisha comes to the door my husband died we borrow some money I can't pay back to get my kids they coming to get my kids you know Elisha said what do you want me to do about it he said what shall will I do for thee? Tell me what hast thou in the house. Why

17:55 did he say that? What what do you want me to do about it? Because Elisha was teaching this woman a lesson. He said he was telling her to expect more from herself than he she does from other people. What shall I do for thee? Then he said, tell me what hast thou in the house. Why do he say tell me? He's saying express yourself. You've told me all about the problem. You've told me nothing about the solution. You know why? She hadn't thought about the solution. Just like this woman in this story in 2 Kings chapter 4, we we are so obsessed with the problem. We've not taken any time to think about the solution. >> He said, "Tell me, what do you have in the house? Tell me what solutions have you come up with? I'm crying to you."

18:40 >> Yeah, but I'm not the solution to your problem. If I'm your father, I'm not the solution to your problem. If I'm your brother, I'm not the solution to your problem. If I'm your husband, your wife, your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your your business partner, your employer, your employee, I am not the solution to your problem. What have you done to fix it? Tell me what you have. I don't have anything but. It's often the thing that you say after you say, "But I don't have anything but." It's the thing that comes after you say, "I don't have anything but." That is often time going to be the answer to your problem. Thine handmade hath not any thing in the

19:25 house save a pot of oil. I don't have anything but a pot of oil. Huh? She came to Elisha looking for an offering, but he didn't give her one. He gave her some optimism. She came looking for an offering, but he didn't give her an offering. He gave her an opportunity. She came looking for an offering, but he didn't give her an offering. He gave her some options. And sometimes when you're looking for a hand out, the thing you need more is a hand up. >> You need somebody to show you who you are. You need to show somebody to show you those little bit of resources you have are enough if you do the right thing with them. The very thing that she discounted was the very thing that God was going to use

20:11 to save her. The principle of the mustard. We see the parable of the mustard seed. We we see the principle of the mustard seed. What's the principle of the mustard seed? Jesus said the mustard seed is the smallest seed, but it produces the biggest crop. What do we learn from that? Small seeds produ small things multiply produce big dividends. Small things multiplied produce big dividends. So you mean I can take a little that I have? I I really believe this. So I don't know if any of you have ever played Robert Kiyosaki's cash flow game. One of the greatest phenomenons of that game. If you've never played it, I would re I'm not promoting Robert Kiyosaki's game. I'm not getting any affiliate commission for that. I'm just saying like I I started playing that game with my children when they were in elementary

20:57 school and junior high school. And the biggest phenomenon in that game to me is the less money you're making in the game, the easier it is for you to get out of the rat race. >> It's easier for a janitor or a secretary to get out of the rat race in that game than it is for somebody who's a doctor or a lawyer or an airline pilot. I think the same thing is true in life. The smaller like people who make less money, it's easier for them to get out of the rat race than for people who make a lot of money. Why? Because people who make a lot of money have a lot of expenses that go with that money they're making. The scripture says, "When riches increase, so do they that consume them." So, one of the most important things you can do while your income is small is

21:43 don't spend every dime out of every dollar buying stuff that makes you look rich because the stuff that you're buying that makes you look rich will keep you from ever becoming rich. Small things multiply and make big pay big dividends. Small things can make a big difference just like David's little stone, the lad's little lunch. Start looking around at what little things you may now you may like. I'm I'm relatively rich. You know, wealth is relative, right? The more wealth you got, the more relatives you got. What's up, cuz? Can I borrow some money? Okay. Okay. Just want to make sure y'all paying attention. Right. So, I'm relatively rich, right? If I'm walking down the street and I see a penny on the sidewalk. Now, you might

22:29 step over it, but I'm picking it up. Step over a penny. And I And here's here's what poor people think. But it's only a penny. But here's what rich people think. How much can that penny be worth invested in the right investment over time? Not to mention, there's a message on every penny. You know what it is? In God we trust. Far be it from me to step over an opportunity to be reminded that I'm supposed to trust in God, not the money. But in another place in Matthew chapter 17, Jesus tells the story about or not Jesus doesn't tell the story, but there's a story about the

23:14 disciples trying to cast out a demon. They couldn't cast him out. And so Jesus cast out the demon. And then the disciples said, "Why couldn't we cast out the demon?" He said, "If you have the faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, be moved and carried into the midst of the sea, and the mountain's going to move." It wasn't that their face with faith was too small. It was that they didn't have any faith at all. Jesus was telling, "You didn't you couldn't do it because you couldn't believe you." And it's so interesting that it wasn't that they didn't have their faith wasn't big, wasn't big enough. They didn't have any faith. They did not believe they could cast out the demon. Why? Jesus said right after that, this kind

24:00 goeth not forth but by what? Prayer and fasting. Well, if you understand the significance of prayer and fasting because when I'm praying and what I'm fa when I'm fasting, what I'm doing is I'm turning I'm squatchching physical appetites. I close my eyes so I can hear better. I don't eat so cravings and the the the cravings of the flesh are squaltched. Why? It makes it easier for me to listen to the spirit when I'm not listening to all the voices in my flesh. They didn't have any faith. But he said if you have a little bit of faith, you don't need a ton, just a little bit, little bit of faith, you can move mountains. So we see the we see the parable of the mustard seed and we see the principle of the mustard seed. There are three practices of the mustard seed that I

24:47 want to bring to our attention today. Number one, the practice of mustard seed. Being small is not a good disqualifier. So what's the lesson in that? Stop hiding. Some of you like you're hiding the very gift that God put in you that you're supposed to use to edify the body of Christ, but you're not doing it because you think you're not good enough. You think you don't matter. You're not educated enough. You're not talented enough. You're not gifted enough. You're so worried about the people who will judge you that you won't even bless the people who wouldn't. Can I Can I Can I >> Stop hiding, Gideon. Stop hiding,

25:33 Moses. Stop hiding. It's time to come out of the desert. You're hiding from a lie that Satan used one of the people he had influence on to get you to believe when you were little and you're holding on to it. Let it go. I'm Hey, I'm going to tell you something now. I I am I am I'm an introvert. I know that's hard for y'all to believe, but I'm an introvert. I operate as an extra extrovert because operating as an introvert wasn't it wasn't going very well. So, but I'm an introvert. If I go somewhere and I'm in a room and it's not my room, I'll sit in the back in the corner and just take it all in. Like I don't I don't want to I I don't think of myself as a big deal. My own is here. Yeah. And Right. Okay. So I don't I'm

26:18 not looking for accolades. I'm not looking for attention. I'm happy not to have any. Right. If I'm in a room like this room, obviously I'm the one who's doing the thing. So y'all are looking at me. I guess I just have to deal with it. Right. But I'm not I'm not that guy. I'm not that guy who craves attention. When I was little, I was such an introvert when I was a child. Like I was so withdrawn. I hated my name. I hated the fact that I walk with a limp. I hated I like I didn't want people to notice me. I was different and I hated the difference that I was. I don't hate it anymore. I just embrace it. The thing that you are hating on is a gift.

27:03 The difficult past or the difficult present that it's a gift that God is using to turn you into the person that he can use for his purposes. Stop hiding. That's practical lesson number one. Stop hiding. Being small is desirable, not detestable. Like John the Baptist said, "He must increase, I must decrease." You are living in a very dangerous place if you need people to believe great things about you. >> Like why do you need people to believe anything about you? Isn't what God knows to be true about you enough? >> You're going to but I don't want them to misunderstand me. No. Here's here's how it works. Here's

27:48 pump the brakes. Here's how it works. If you do something that matters, they are going to misunderstand you. that comes with doing something that matters. So you can either keep hiding and don't do anything that matters and be totally not misunderstood or you can do something that matters and let the misunderstanders misunderstand you and the haters hate you. It is what it is. Being small is desirable. John the Baptist said he must increase. Why must decrease? Do you know what that means practically? That means God's will has to become more important to me than my will. And serving other people must become

28:34 more important to me than serving myself. Why? Because Jesus said, "How you treat people who have nothing to offer you is how you treat me. And as much as you've done it unto the least of these, you've done it also unto me." So how you treat people who how you treat people who have you you can gain who can who have nothing that you can gain from that's how you treat Jesus which means all of us are supposed to be on a journey of in honor preferring one another but instead we're on a journey of getting others in honor to prefer us

29:23 that's the The whole point the whole point is I'm supposed to make you the one that's special in every relationship that we have friends, family members, business relationship. Like I'm a I'm a business owner. So my client is the reason. I'm not the reason. I'm the facilitator. and my friend um this um Arthur Brooks a guy I found on YouTube and he's an author and he he teaches he teaches a class on I think something like love and gratitude at Harvard University at Harvard Business School dude's brilliant

30:09 in his book he said we have two kinds of friends we We have real friends and we have deal friends. He said deal friends are the friends you have because you can do a deal with them. He said real friends are more like useless friends, right? You're not friends with them because of something you can get out of. You're just friends with them because you're friends with them. But if you think about it, that makes sense because Jesus called us friend. Greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. You talk about useless friends. Jesus had some useless friends. Which

30:54 ones? All of them. All of us. If Jesus didn't need us, but loved us so much to not just live for us, but to die for us, how dare we go through life looking out for number one. My job is not to look out for number one. My job is to look out for number two, three, four five six seven eight 19. That's my job. In honor, preferring one another. Look not every man on his own things, but look every man also on the things of others. That's what the scripture tells us to do. Wait, how can you say you love God whom you haven't seen, but you hate your brother whom you have seen?

31:40 Yeah, but I just can't stand them. Okay. How you treat people is how you treat God. That's the point. I don't want to be bothered with them. Well, then you don't want to be bothered with God. Is that too real? But but I don't have anything to offer. No, you have something to offer. You just don't. You don't think it matters. So, you're deciding for the people that you were sent here to serve that you're not going to make it matter. >> It is time for all of God's people who are the light of the world to show up and shine. And just because darkness hates light doesn't mean we're not supposed to shine. Amen.

32:25 >> In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him. Without him was not anything that was made. In him was the light of men and the light shined in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. But the light didn't say, "Because the darkness can't comprehend me, I'm going to stop shining." this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. So, I guess the last practice of the mustard seed is this. Being small is not the same as playing small. In fact,

33:12 I got to be small so I can play big. And the smaller I am, the bigger I can play. Look at David. David was small, but he played big. I love the story in John chapter nine. Jesus says, "As Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from his birth." That's such that's so beautiful. Like you could just stop right there. as Jesus passed by. In other words, he was on his way somewhere. And I know you got a lot to do. I know you're busy. You got stuff. You got stuff on your calendar, on your

33:57 schedule. But you ain't busier than Jesus. He was passing by. And guess what he did? He saw a man that was blind from his birth. What does that tell us? He saw a man who couldn't see him. Guess what? I am that man. You are that man. You are that woman. Jesus was on his way. He was already doing stuff. But he saw you when you couldn't see him. Now the disciples ble bless bless their hearts

34:42 because sometimes even though they were in the ministry and they were the closest to Jesus sometimes they just didn't get it. They asked Jesus who did sin this man or his parents that he was born blind. Now, every time I read that, I think to myself, I want to say to these guys, the man is blind. He ain't deaf. He heard him say it. Who just sent this man for they it it's bad enough that they're talking about a blind man, but they going to talk about his mama?

35:27 What? Here's what Jesus said. Neither did this man sin nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in his life. So the man was born blind for this moment. For this moment. See, the man was born blind because God was making room in this little blind man's life for a very big miracle. In fact, it was one of the biggest miracles. In fact, may have been the biggest miracle to date when Jesus did

36:13 it. Because here's what they said. Since the beginning of time, it's never been the case that somebody who was healed, who was born blind, You say, "My man, what are you saying?" I'm saying that little itty bitty place in your life that you're hiding cuz you think it's not enough. That little itty bitty place, teeny tiny teeny tiny place in your life that you hiding. That is the space in your life that God wants to fill with something magnificent. and do something so big that the only person who can get credit

36:59 for it is him. So my question for you is is this. Are you big enough to become smaller so you can play bigger? If you are, the smaller you are, the better your chances of being used by God. I hope this message blesses you in ways that you've never contemplated and it'll cause you to reconsider some of the stuff that you've been hiding so that you can go and let your light shine before men. God bless you.

37:45 Stay blessed by the best and we'll look forward to seeing you in the next video. Bye for now.