Sermon Tone Analysis

OPENING

Back on the first Sunday of January we had a Church Membership Ceremony where several came forward to join the church.

If you recall, as part of that ceremony, we reviewed a Statement of Faith, or a list of our core beliefs.

And one of those Statements covered what we called the Mission of the Church.

I want to take a look again at that statement:

The Mission of the Church: We believe that the Church is the Body of Christ and is made up of all believers who have been saved by faith in Jesus Christ and that every believer is an integral part of the mission of the Church which is to (1) worship God, (2) evangelize the lost by spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, (3) build and edify the body of Christ, and (4) meet human needs with Godly love and compassion.

Now each of these is included in our overall mission of “Knowing Jesus and Making Jesus Known.”

And we have covered the first three areas in some way, shape, or form in previous messages: Worship, Evangelism, and Discipleship.

So today, in the final message in this series, we are going to focus on area no.

4: Outreach.

The title of today’s message is “Small Church - Big Heart.”

In other words, we might be small in number compared to some churches, but we don’t want to be only measured by the number on our attendance record, but we want to be measured by the size of our heart.

And so, in addition to Worship, Evangelism, and Discipleship, we want to be known for our Outreach into the community and meeting people’s needs with Godly love and compassion.

And as we continue to grow spiritually and numerically, as we grow from a small church, to a medium church, to a big church, we also want our giving and outreach ministry to grow exponentially.

SCRIPTURE

MESSAGE

Wall’s Pharmacy

It was December 1931.

Ted and Dorothy Hustead had bought a small drugstore in the town of Wall, South Dakota.

People had warned them that this was Godforsaken country.

The truth is, there were only 326 people who called Wall home and most, if not all, of them were poor.

They were a farming community and most had either been wiped out by the Depression or drought.

Business at the drugstore was almost non-existent.

But Ted and Dorothy were determined to make their little store successful.

So they set a goal of five years.

If within five years, their store hadn’t grown, then they would consider whether to continue, or sell out and move on.

By the time the summer of 1936 rolled around, not much had changed.

They were still barely getting by.

There were only a few months remaining in their five year trial.

So it was decision time.

What were they going to do?

One hot afternoon in July, Dorothy left the store to Ted and went to put their two children down for a nap.

An hour later Dorothy came back in the store.

Ted asked, “Too hot to sleep?” Dorothy said, “No, I’ve been laying there listening to all the cars passing by on Route 16A and I think I have an idea how we can get all those travelers to come to our store.”

Dorothy asked Ted, “What do all those travelers really want after driving across that hot prairie?

They’re thirsty.

They want water.

Ice cold water!

We’ve got plenty of ice and water.

Why don’t we put up some signs on the highway telling people to come here for free ice water?

I even made up a few lines for the sign: Get a soda…Get a root beer…turn next corner…just as near…to Highway 16 and 14…Free ice water…Wall Drug.”

Over the next couple weeks they made signs.

Each phrase of Dorothy’s poem went on a 12”x36” sign board.

Ted and his son went out one weekend and spaced the boards out along the side of the highway so people could read them as they drove by.

Before they finished putting up all the signs, people had already started showing up for their free ice water.

For hours they struggled to keep up with number of customers that were coming into the store for free ice water.

Free ice water turned into orders for ice cream cones and other items.

Almost instantaneously, Wall Drug was on the map.

Today Wall Drug is a thriving tourist attraction.

More than 2 million customers pass through their store every year.

All because Ted and Dorothy had the vision, and one God-inspired idea, to take something they had plenty of, and give it away to people who needed it.

Something as simple as free ice water was the catalyst to their eventual success!

Ted Hustead later wrote this: “Free ice water.

It brought us Hustead’s a long way and it taught me my greatest lesson, and that’s there’s absolutely no place on God’s earth that is Godforsaken.

No matter where you live, you can succeed, because wherever you are, you can reach out to other people with something that they need!”

That’s really what this message is all about today.

Reminding us that God has given each and every one of us something that someone else needs.

And His Word encourages us to give.

God is a giver.

“For God so loved the World that He gave...” Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve and to “give His life as a ransom for many.”

If we’re truly focused on “Knowing Jesus and Making Jesus Known,” we are going to have a heart of giving too!

The Principle of Sowing and Reaping

In our Scripture text from Luke 6, Jesus says that His blessing toward you is directly proportional to your willingness to give it away.

“With the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

In other words, what size measuring cup are you using to pour out blessings to someone else?

If you’re using a 1/4 cup, you can expect God to measure your blessings in 1/4 cup increments.

If you’re using a 5 gallon bucket, you can expect God to measure your blessings in 5 gallon increments.

This is God’s Economic Plan.

The more you are willing to use the resources that God blesses you with to bless others and further God’s Kingdom, the more He entrusts you with.

Paul puts it this way:

The message in these verses is very clear.

If you sow a little bit, you will reap a little bit.

If you sow a whole bunch, you will reap a whole bunch.

God responds in proportion to our faith.

And the level of our faith is measured in our willingness to use the resources God has blessed us with for His glory.

Let’s pause here and talk about the dimensions of giving.

Up to this point a lot of you have seen nothing but dollar signs and $20 bills flying out of your wallets.

Money is certainly involved in giving, and financial giving is very important, but it is not the only type of giving.

We also give of other resources like our talents, our abilities and our time.

Time is actually a more valuable resource than money.

And when we are willing to give of our time to others, to have a meaningful conversation when they’re lonely, to give them a word of encouragement when they’re down, to prepare a meal when they’re hungry, to work on a project around their house when they are physically unable, or any number of other things, we are fulfilling Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves and fulfilling the spirit of giving.

True giving, whatever it is, must come from your heart.

It is not about what you give, it is about how you give it.

It is not about the amount of your gift, it is about the size of your heart.

Stop looking at the glass half empty.

Don’t focus on what you see is your inability to give and just simply be faithful with what God has given you.

Look at what Jesus said about the poor widow:

Small things can make a big difference.

Remember, if Jesus can take a couple fish and a few loaves of bread and feed 5000 hungry men plus their wives and children, God can take every mite, every penny, every dollar, every minute, every hour, every meal, every word of encouragement, every hospital visit, and multiply it a million times over!

Don’t place limits on what God can do through you by sowing sparingly instead of bountifully!

It’s not what you give, it’s how you give it.

The widow woman gave out of the abundance of her heart.

It wasn’t the amount she gave that was important.

It was about the fact she was willing to give everything she had.

And notice that nobody forced her to give.

She gave because she wanted to give.

Paul said, “God loves a cheerful giver.”

If you’re going to moan and groan about it you might as well keep that $5 bill in your pocket.

Because it is not going to do you any good.

But if you give cheerfully, I don’t care if all you have to give is a single plug nickel, God sees your heart and He will honor your faith and He will bless you with what you have need of according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus!