Little Things

A couple announcements. One is a pastor friend of mine, a dear pastor friend, Daryl Sternberg, he passed away this week from a heart attack. He had been battling cancer a while. His funeral, or at least one of the memorial services, because he's from Davie, Florida, but he's been working over here in Fort Myer Shores. It's going to be in Bethlehem off of Palm Beach Boulevard next Sunday, correct? Is that right, Helen? What time is that again? It is actually a funeral. It is a funeral, and it will be at what time? It will be, visitation begins at 2, and the service at 3. And he'll be followed by a luncheon. All right. By the ladies of Bethlehem. Yeah, and they cook out there, let me tell you. Oh, yes, they do. So just for you all to know, some of you may know him. He was heavily involved in Mission Haiti, part of the board, and worked with Helen for many years. And I put it that way, Helen. Many years. Yeah. He worked with you, not you worked with him. So let's pray for them. I think we need to pray for our nation right now, too, because this week was not one of our better weeks in terms of how we handle conflict, differences, and resorting to violence does not make any sense. Especially from a biblical Christian world viewpoint, violence is not the answer at all. Today, the passage is, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord our God. We're going to look at that, how small things do make a big difference. Let's pray. Lord God, this day is yours, and we are yours, too. And oh, God, right now our nation is reeling, I think, from three different instances of hate and violence and issues around that. And we're being torn apart in many ways, Lord. And we ask for leadership, Lord, from you. And through our leaders, Lord, somehow you bring healing and wholeness, rather than division and hatred. And we pray, Lord God, that you would do that. And that your church, your people that are in every society, in every culture, in every town, in every village, in every city, Lord, that your people would exemplify how we could speak truth and speak love at the same time. And how we can serve one another, love one another, to love even our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us. So even people who disagree with us. And Lord, somehow that we exemplify how to live in a pluralistic society, in a society with many ideas and competing things going on. So right now, we just pray for healing. We pray for your work to be done through these grieving situations. We especially lift up, Lord, the Jewish community right now in Pittsburgh. And that horrid act of terrorism and violence, Lord, we pray for your healing touch. We pray for much more beyond that situation, that we have an open dialogue about how to handle these things, Lord God. We lift up this series, Lord. And we lift up our area. And we pray, Lord, for the small things in our life that are going to make the big difference. And you're into smallness, Lord. And you're into things that unconventionally really work and change and transform. And we thank you for that. And so bless our time as we study your word this day. In Jesus' name, amen. We're looking today at Zechariah 4, probably a book of the Bible you may not read that often. He's one of those minor prophets, one of these little guys in the Old Testament. But he has a powerful word for us today. And I mentioned a portion of it. And I'll explain what he's saying here a little more in this sermon. But let's read Zechariah 4, verses 6 to 10. Then he said to me, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the topstone amid shouts of grace, grace to it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. What a name, Zerubbabel, right? We'll talk about this a little more, what this means. We're doing today, we're launching a series called Small Things, Big Difference. Contrary to what most people think, it's the small things that no one sees that often result in the biggest difference that everyone really wants. I'm going to say that again. It's often the small things that no one sees that result in the big things that everyone wants. And today, we're going to look at it. A lot of people think it's the flashy things, the big things, the things that bring about change. We're going to take it by force, by power. Everything's going to change as a result. And even in Christianity, I think we get a lot of people getting confused by big, flashy, intense things. And people confuse, in Christianity, intense experiences with a deep, intimate relationship. That itself could be...