Small Things, Big Impact Part 1 – One Thing

Zechariah 4:6, “…“This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies (NLT).” In other words, the temple’s not going to be built in a way that any person can get credit for, but it’s going to be by my what…? “…by my Spirit…” Here’s the thing: You can try to change and you can try in your own power. And you can make some incremental improvements by your own power. But…if you’ll tap into a power greater than that which you possess, if you tap into the power of the Holy Spirit, here’s what God guarantees: God’s POWER is made PERFECT in your WEAKNESS (2 Corinthians 12:9). It is not by our effort, not by our might, not by our power, but by His Spirit.

God can help you TRANSFORM. You can try your BEST all day long to make all your changes and still FAIL. But when you tap into the Spirit of God, there is a strength beyond what you can muster up on your own. Before you even attempt to do what God puts in your heart, God knows what the result would be if we SURRENDER to the power of His Spirit.

Zechariah 4:10 will encourage some of you, “Do not despise these SMALL beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand (NLT).” You’ve got to start somewhere. And God rejoices to see you be FAITHFUL in the SMALL things. One of the challenges we often face: We look at people and we see their HIGHLIGHT SCENES and we IGNORE their BEHIND THE SCENES.

“Look at David . He was a man after God’s own heart. He took down Goliath. I want to take down my giant.” But we forget that he was faithful for years in the field, tending sheep. And whenever a wild animal would come up, he would run off the prey or he would kill them to protect the sheep. What lesson can we learn? We should learn to be FAITHFUL with the SMALL things so God could TRUST us with the BIG things.

There’s a book entitled “Wooden on Leadership.” It was about John Wooden, one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. He coached for U.C.L.A, ten NCAA titles, seven consecutive titles. He brought the players in, didn’t run drills, didn’t run sprints, didn’t practice free throws or passing. The very first practice consisted of sitting down, putting Page 4 of 6 your socks on and putting your shoes on very, very carefully. Because, he found that no one ever thinks about how you put your socks on, and therefore, you get blisters. And he made a very important point that we’re a team that cares about the details, because the details matter. In fact,

John Wooden said this: “It’s the little things that are vital. Little things make the big things happen.”

Our thoughts are important because our THOUGHTS become WORDS, our WORDS become ACTIONS, our ACTIONS become HABITS and our HABITS create a DESTINY.

When you focus on ONE THING, it’s amazing what you can ACCOMPLISH.

The words “ONE THING” in the bible. They’re actually a fairly common phrase. King David, in the Old Testament, was known as a man after God’s own heart. Do you know what one thing he wanted, above anything else? He said in Psalm 27:4, “The ONE THING I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple (NLT)” That’s it. If your number one thing you desire is to be in God’s presence, guess what you could be? You could be described as man or a woman after God’s own heart. There’s power in focus.

Paul, in the New Testament, who was the greatest apostle of all time. As a Christian, he faced massive persecution. He was beaten, shipwrecked, left almost dead, snake bitten, he was hungry, he was stoned many times. And you know what he said? Rather than saying, “Oh, I’m going to be embittered about my past. Oh, it’s been so hard. You wouldn’t believe how mean they are to me. Oh, they persecuted me all the time.” You know what he said?

He said in Philippians 3:13, “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this ONE THING: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead (NLT).“ Folks, Don’t let your PAST define your FUTURE. God has something more for you and for me. So this one thing I do, I let go of all that, and I’m moving forward because God has something else for me. When you FOCUS on one thing, it’s amazing what God can do. On the other hand, sometimes when you MISS your ONE THING, you could MISS LOTS OF BLESSINGS.

Luke 10:41-42, ”41 My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over ALL THESE DETAILS! 42 There is only ONE THING worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

 In Luke 18, Jesus encountered a very wealthy, successful, young business person, and this guy wanted to follow Jesus and be on His team. Luke 18:22 – “When Jesus heard his answer, he said, “There is still ONE THING you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me (NLT).”” He’s like, “Hey, I want to be on your team.” The guy went away sad because he was unwilling to do the one thing that would change his life.

 It’s amazing what a life of focus can actually bring. It’s often the small things that no one sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.