When Your All Seems Small

to settle for me the other Ferdick. I'm just kidding. I know you love me too, and I count it such a privilege every time that I get to teach on this stage at Elevation. So I'm recording this message here to a small group of people, but many of you are watching this message as we're celebrating Mother's Day weekend. And Mother's Day is such a happy day, but for so many we can't ignore the fact that it's also

a difficult day. And what I love about our church is how we take the opportunity to celebrate all women on this day. To me, Mother's Day is a day to celebrate the beauty in God's creation of the woman. He put a nurturing, mothering heart in each one of us, whether we have children or not, whether our children are still with us or not, And together, as women, we are able to contribute to our church and to this world in a unique and special way. So can we

take a minute to celebrate. Find a woman near you and tell her you look thinner. So, speaking of looking thinner, have you ever experienced one of those moments where your kid's honesty was like a slap in the face. You know, they really know us, well don't they. We think we know them, but they really have us pinned too. So I had one of these moments recently. Abby came home from school. And Abby is one of those kids too

who tells you everything about school and my boys. They like, I get nothing from my boys, but Abby, I get it all. So Abby is in her you know, talking talking, talking, and she goes mom. Monday is the bubble test, and my teacher said that we need to go to bed early so that we can get plenty of rest. And she also said that we need to get up and need a big breakfast like pancakes and bacon, so that we won't be hungry during the test. And then she said, and I thought, in my mind, I don't think my

mom's going to do that. At least she had realistic expectations of her mom, right. Being a mom often comes along with feeling underappreciated and unqualified, constantly feeling like I'm never enough, I can ever do enough, we can never be enough, I can't take you enough places. But as I was thinking about this message and preparing and praying about what I felt like God wanted me to say, I started to think, Wait, like, that's not just moms, that's all of us. That's called being a grown up.

That's life, and we all struggle with those feelings. And how about this one. Do you ever struggle with the feeling of does this really even matter? One time, we were in a restaurant with another pastor. My husband was preaching at this pastor's church, and he was taking us out to dinner and they had a reservation, and so we're standing in the entryway of the restaurant and nobody was attending to us. Nobody asked us, you know, how

many people were in our party or anything. And the hostess wasn't in the hostess stand, but there were people buzzing around, so we all just kind of stood there for a few minutes. And this particular pastor, I'm not going to tell you who he is, but he's really loud and has a really boisterous personality. I know that doesn't even narrow it down for you, because that's like pretty much every pastor. And you could tell he was getting frustrated, and all of a sudden, he just yells,

I mean yells at the top of his lungs. Does anybody even care that we're here? And I was like, oh my god, but have you ever felt like that? Does anyone even care? Does this even matter? Does it

even matter? Would I do? I just I wonder that so often that things like does it matter that I try so hard to provide healthy food and a neat house I mean not a perfect house, but a neat house and clean clothes for my family, when I mean three out of four of my people would just soon eat junk food and live in complete Squalor does this even matter what I'm doing? Like maybe when you do a project at school and you give your all just

for a great does it even matter? Or a report at work Does it even matter if I show up to volunteer at elevation? There are hundreds of volunteers. Do they really need me? Am I really making a contribution? Do you ever feel like you gave your all but it probably didn't even matter. We all long for significance in our lives. We want to know that what we are doing will be worth it. And that's what I want to talk about today. So I want to jump

right into our scripture and get started. We're going to read a passage of scripture in Luke, starting at the very end of chapter twenty, verse forty five, and I'm going to read the whole passage to you. So here we go. While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogue and the place

of honor at banquets. They devour widows houses and for show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely. As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the Temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins, also known as a widow's mite. Truly, I tell you, he said, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she

had to live on. The title of my message today is when you're all seems small? Yes, look at your neighbor and ask them, does your all seem small? Have you been enjoying pastors' messages on savage Jesus. Savage Jesus. I can't even say it, savage Jesus. I really I think this is one of my favorite sermon series that we've ever done. I know I say that every time, but I really mean it this time. I've been reading the Bible differently. I've been seeing Jesus not just as

the calm and compassionate Jesus. I've been seeing his savagery too. Is that a word? Savagery? And I hope that when you read your Bible that it's not just on Sundays, that you're reading it in between Sundays, not because it makes you some sort of a better person or a better Christian, but because God wants to speak to you personally through his word. Okay, that's totally not my message,

just like a little little side thought. But as I've been reading through the Bible, and I've been looking at Jesus's teachings in the Bible, you often find him saying this phrase. You have heard it said, but I say, and throughout the Scripture, we find Jesus challenging what we value, Okay, And that's where we find him in this story. He's warning the decide that the Pharisees have their values all messed up. And this woman who gave the smallest, most

insignificant gift really truly gave more than anyone else. And so today I want to look at this passage of Scripture and I want to challenge your thinking. When you feel like your gift doesn't matter, like you're pouring out your heart and soul into your job, or into your marriage, into a relationship, into your family, into your kids, and it feels like just a drop in the bucket, I want to challenge your thinking. Maybe you're valuing the wrong thing. I want you to consider that God is way more

concern about how you do something than what you're actually doing. Okay, now I know what you're thinking. Wait a minute, didn't Pastor Stephen just tell us a couple of weeks ago that we don't need to know how. Yes, he did, and we're both right. Okay, he's talking about how in a context of faith. And by the way, if you missed that message, it was called let the Dirt do its work, my favorite message of the year. I know they're all my favorite, but no, that one was really

my favorite message of twenty eighteen. So you've got to go back and watch it. But Pastor Stephen is talking about how in the context of faith today, I want to talk about how in the context of like the way in which you do something. Okay, God is way more concerned with the way I do something than he is with what I'm actually doing. Okay, don't worry if

you're a little bit confused, it'll all make sense. We're going to take a closer look at this passage of Scripture, and as we look at it, I want to point out to you three earthly values that Jesus came to challenge. Okay, are you ready? All right, let's look back at verse forty five Jesus said, or Luke tells us. While all the peace people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, I just have to stop right there. I love how Luke is giving us this picture of Jesus, and he

knows that all these people around are there. But he said it to his disciples kind of like when I say to my husband, like, I know my kids are within earshot, and so I say to my husband, I swear, if these people don't start picking up their crap, I'm going to start throwing it in the trash. Okay, see, Jesus use that device too. He was talking to his disciples. He knew that everyone was listening, so he took this moment to say this to them. Beware of the teachers

of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. You see, here's the first thing I want to point out to you. We value appearance, but God values attitude. I love to throw birthday parties for my kids, and I mean, I really get into it. I don't know why I never even asked my kids if they like it. I mean, honestly, if one of my kids said they wanted to have a birthday party at one of those

jumpy places. I'd be like, are you sure, because think of all the things we could do. So in the past twelve years of my motherhood, I've thrown a lot of birthday parties and I just like really get into the theme. So whatever my kid is into, we're going to have a birthday party with that theme. And I particularly get into the snacks. I don't know. I go on Pinterest and you know, search Shark birthday party and come up with all the decorations and whatever. So I

love the snacks. One time Graham had a Batman birthday party and so we had poison ivy punch to drink. And one time Abby had a Rapunzel party, and so I went on Pinterest and found this recipe where you take a hot dog and then you braid the crescent roll dough over it to make it look like a braid. It probably looked more like a Pinterest fail, but we were gonna eat braids at that birthday party. I get

into the decorations and the games and everything. Okay, And again I really don't know why, but it's just fun to me. Okay, So just whatever do what's fun to you. But there have been a few birthday parties over the years where I have failed. And no, I'm not talking

about the Rapunzel braid fail. And I'm also not talking about the time that Abby had a panda party and so I thought it would be really cool if we hired a face painter to paint, like you know the face painters at Caroin's and your face looks so cool. It was like to paint panda faces on the girls. And about midway through the party, my husband leans over to me and he's like, they kind of look like

the eighties hairband kiss. Okay, not that failure either. The failure that I'm talking about is the times where I was doing something for my kids and I was fussing at them at the same time, like stop eating the cheese off of the cheese tray. This is for other people. And you know, don't stop punching the balloons. I bought the balloons for them, but I'm so obsessed over the way that it looks, and get out of my kitchen. I'm trying to throw a party. Can't you see it's funny,

But it's not funny, you know. There have been so many times where maybe I've posted something on social media that made it look like everything was awesome, but in reality, I am yelling and fussing. If you don't say cheese, I'm gonna take the phone, I'm gonna smash it, and you're never gonna play Fortnite again. And I'm like Happy Easter from the Verdige. We live in a day that is ultra focused on appearance. And there's nothing wrong with

caring about the way that you look. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. But when you use appearances to cover up what's really going on in your heart, that's when you get into trouble. One time, Jesus in the Book of Matthew was talking about the Pharisees and he called them whitewashed tombs. He said, on the outside they're beautiful, but on the inside they're full of dead bones. Jesus came that we might have life. He doesn't want me to

be walking death, walking bones. But if I'm hyper focused on the way that I appear, God can't even get to the inside of me. He can't even get there and minister to that part of me and work from the inside out like he wants to. If I'm always covering everything up, and always concern about how I appear, how my family appears to others. I think I'm stepping on some toes, So let's get back to her our scripture. I'm stepping on my own toes, all right, So I'm

gonna start over again in verse forty six. Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around and flowing, and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at the banquets. They devour widows houses. See here, I find that we often place value on importance, but God values integrity. The Pharisees are running around seeking the seat of importance. Meanwhile they're

devouring what little a widow has left. Whenever I get a chance to teach at our church, I always like to highlight a woman. Now. I know I've said this before, but Pastor Steven, you know, he's a man's man. He's got his speak muscles, and he likes to teach about

David and bars and battles and savage Jesus. And how many of you were here when he did the series on Elijah called work your window, and one day I want him to do a series all on women of the Bible and call it some really feminine like glitz and glitter. That was the best I could come up with. I tried, really already to come up with something better that he might have come up with. But leave the creativity to him. He can just get started with glitz

and glitter. Okay. Anyway, So the woman I want to highlight. Do any of you know the story of Rebecca in the Book of Genesis. So Rebecca was the wife of Isaac, the mother of Jacob and Esaul. Remember another sermon series that my husband did on Jacob called Death to Selfie. That was years ago. I don't know how many of you were here for that. When you talked about the Bowl of Beans, and I love that series too, say

I told you they're all my favorite. Okay. So what you might not know about Rebecca is the way that she came to be the wife of Isaac. Now I don't know about the men, but ladies, we like to hear how people got together, you know, So say, so how y'all meet? If you ask Rebecca that question, she would say, well, it all started with some camels. So that interesting for you. I want to read to you part of Rebecca's story found in Genesis chapter twenty four.

So in this chapter we have Abraham. So you know, you have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so Abraham was the father of Isaac, and he wanted a wife for his son from among his own people. They were living in the land of Canaan, and he did not want his son Isaac to marry a Canaan Nite woman. So we went to his servant and he said, I'm going to send you back to my people to find a wife for Isaac. Okay, So we find in Genesis chapter twenty four Abraham's servant has set out on a journey

and he's taken along with him ten cammebls. Here's where our campbell's come into the picture. And when he finally arrives into the town of Nahor, he praised this in verse twelve, Lord God of my master Abraham, make me successful and show kindness to my master Abraham. See I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, please let your jar down that I may have a drink, and

she says, drink, and I'll water your camels too. Let her be the one that you have chosen for your servant, Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master. So here comes Rebecca with her jar, and the servant approaches her, and he says, please give me a little drink from your jar. And what does she say back to him? Drink, my lord, she said, and quickly lowered her jar to her hands and gave

him a drink. After she had given him a drink, she said, I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink. So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all of his camels. Now you're probably thinking, I don't know what this worry about Rebecca and camels and this weird tradition of sending someone off to find a mate for I

don't what does this have to do with integrity? Okay, it has everything to do with integrity, because did you catch how many camels he had with them? He had ten? Okay, this man has just made a five hundred mile journey with ten camels. Okay, watering his camels was not a small task. These are not puppy dogs that you just put a little bull down for. Okay, listen to what I read this one man say about this event. He said, a gallon of water weighs eight pounds. A thirsty camel

can drink up to thirty gallons of water. There were ten camels. You do the math. Okay. This man was not important to Rebecca. Okay, she did not know that her future husband was writing on these camels. Okay, literally, but she had integrity. Integrity is who you you are when you don't think anyone is looking. Okay, and God blesses integrity. In Luke sixteen ten, one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible, a verse that has really

ministered to me throughout my adulthood. It says one who is faithful in the little things is also faithful in much And as I was studying for this message and thinking about that verse, and I started reading it over and over again, and I had this revelation. See, I had memorized that verse wrong. I thought that the verse said he who is faithful in the little things will be made faithful over much. But that's not what it says. It says one who is faithful in little things is

also faithful in much. I was reading the verse like a promise, you know, Okay, God, if I'm faithful in the little things, then you will entrust me with more. But this verse is not a promise. It's a principle. Okay. A promise is I will never leave you nor forsake you. There's nothing contingent on it. I will never leave you nor forsake you, God tells us. But God doesn't make if then promises because he will never allow me to reduce him down to a formula. God doesn't work that way.

It's not like, okay, God, if I water these camels, you're gonna bring me my man. I mean, wouldn't that be nice if we could just reduce everything down to and if then this is a principle. And because it's a principle, it can become my pep talk. Okay. So it sounds like this, Holly, if you can't do the small things, then you'll never be able to handle the big things. So I wake up every day and I hear my kids fighting in the kitchen, for the like

one millionth time, and I think, here come my camels. Well, I care for my household if no one else thanks me, because it's my calling. I don't need to be acknowledged every time I unload the dishwasher. I mean, if that's what you're waiting for, you're gonna die waiting. Okay, But can I just do these simple things that God has called me to because He's called me to them, not because I'm waiting for somebody else to pat me on the back and say good job, Holly. No, that's not.

God is so into integrity. What I'm doing when nobody else. When I think nobody else is watching, you never know who's watching because because the servant was watching Rebecca the whole time. Can I do the project at work without needing my name to be put on it? Can I give my best to something that I know my name's never gonna go on? Can I study for the European History test that seems like I don't know what I'm ever gonna need this? Why don't I just cheat? No?

Because integrity matters. Camels build my character. Okay. Now, when I say that Jesus values integrity over importance, it doesn't mean that I don't mean to say that it's bad to be important. It doesn't mean that it's wrong to desire a promotion. What I'm simply saying is if you don't have the character, you won't be able to hold the promotion. Jesus ministered to important people and unimportant people all the time because it wasn't a thing of who's

important or who's unimportant. He could see past their exterior and into their hearts. And in our passage, Jesus is saying to the disciples, hey, guys, beware of those who seek the seat of importance, because that will never make you happy, that will never fulfill you. I wish that you could hear the Holy Spirit speaking through me, whispering to you today this one thing. Little things don't lead

to bigger opportunities. Little things are the opportunity. That's my opportunity right here, this person right in front of me that God has put in my path, This is my opportunity. All right. Finally, to my favorite part, when I look back at the passage one more time, pick up where we were. They devour widows' houses and for show, make lengthy prayers, and then we'll skip down to the very end where Jesus says, all these people gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty,

put in all she had to live on. You see, we often value show, but God values sacrifice. Jesus looked up and he saw all all the wealthy people putting their gifts into the offering, and he also saw this woman put in all that she had, all that she had to live on. God doesn't care about the size of your gift. He cares about the size of your sacrifice. And what's a sacrifice for you may not be a sacrifice for me, And what's a sacrifice for me may

not be a sacrifice for you. And if you think that I'm talking about money, then you've missed the entire point of this sermon. Yet. I mean, sometimes it is about the actual gift that I bring to God. But there are times when I offer a sacrifice to God and it may not look like much to you, but God knows, and God sees. He knows what I have going on, He knows the troubles that are in my heart. And God sees when you sacrifice your personal time to

provide for your family, God sees that God. God sees when you're driving your kids around like you're their freaking uber man, right because he whispers to me, one day, they're not going to need a ride from you. God sees when you give your weekend to volunteer at your campus. He sees that. He sees your sacrifice. If you're a teacher who actually cares about your students, God sees that. And you may never know what God will do with

your sacrifice. You may never get to see that. But when you give your all, I promise you, when you give your all to something, that's when God rolls up his sleeves and he rubs his hands together and he says, now that's something I can work with. That's what he wants to work with. He did it with the little boys lunch, just a little kid offering his lunch. He did it with the widow's oil. How much oil do you have? Just a little bit? And what can God do with your little bit? What a David? I defeat

Goliath with a couple small stones. I really hope and I pray that you're encouraged by this message. I don't want you to feel discouraged. I don't want you to feel like oh, I've been valuing all the wrong things. And it's not a message to overwhelm you. My prayer is that this message would be a reset for many of us, for myself included, who have gotten our hearts just set on the wrong values. The beautiful thing about Jesus is that he only needs one small cry from us.

Do you remember just a few chapters before this story, the woman with the issue of blood, and Jesus is going to heal Jyrus's daughter, and he's walking through a crowd and he stops and he says, who touched me? And the disciples are like, uh, Jesus, it's crowded. Everybody's touched you. You know, like if we're in the Disney World, we're going to the parade. We we're like, stay close to me, guys. Okay. So Jesus is the crowds are

crying around me. He says, who touched me? And and it's and it's this woman, Because he says, no, no, the power went out of me. Somebody, somebody touched me. Jesus celebrated her tiny bit of faith, her tiny reach, and he healed her. And then he said to her, go in peace. What I want to do is. I want to pray and ask God to seal this word on our hearts. Jesus not only wants to to heal you today. Does he not only wants to to reset

your values. He wants to refocus your mind on the things that he values so that he can restore your peace. Some of us wonder, why why don't I have any peace? Well, it's because my heart is set on all the wrong things. So let's pray and ask God to just really seal this word on our hearts. God, we cry out to you today. We thank you that all we need to do is have a mustard seed of faith, just one word, just one prayer to you, and you hear us, and

you respond to us. And I pray that you would help us to see all of the things that we're chasing after that are the wrong things, and open our eyes to see the things that you value. We ask God, that, as your word says in tewod Corinthians four eighteen, that you would fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, because what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. God, we ask that you would do this in our lives today. We love

you so much in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org. Slash GiB and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.