Luke 13:18-19

A mustard seed is one of the tiniest of seeds. It is only slightly larger than a grain of sand.
But a mustard seed contains something a grain of sand does not: Life. It grows into a beautiful mustard plant. Mustard plants can grow to be over eight feet tall.

Jesus challenges us to understand that like that living seed, His Kingdom is alive and although often starts small, it grows very large as well.

In 1924, Kitty Suffield wrote a song titled Little Is Much When God Is In It. Kitty was the pianist at a small church in Ottawa, Canada. The pastor had a teenage son who had a great singing voice but he was shy and lacking in confidence; besides what good would come from one boy singing a song. But Kitty encouraged him to offer his gift to the Lord. That boy’s name was George Beverly Shea, who grew up to sing to millions at the Billy Graham Crusades. Little is much when God is in it.

In the scriptures little becomes much when God is in it.

God tells Gideon he has too many warriors to do battle against the Midianite army
after winnowing them down from 32,000 to 300, God gives the victory. Little is much when God is in it.

I Kings 17 tell the story of a widow who because of a severe drought is down to her last bit of flour and oil. Elijah asks her to use the little she has left to prepare him a meal. And when she does, God provides her sustenance until the drought ends. Little is much when God is in it.

A little boy offers Jesus five loaves and two fish which in the hands of Jesus end up feeding over 5,000. Little is much when God is in it.

Jesus started with 11 disciples on the Day of Pentecost, one of them (Peter) stepped up to the plate to witness and by the time he was finished the Kingdom grew by 3,000 people! Little is much when God is in it.

When you as an individual or we as a congregation offer what we have to God, He can make much of it.

In my home church, there was a lady (I can’t recall her name), who for years cut and saved and used coupons to save a little money on her groceries. That is not the big thing. The big thing is, every penny she saved went into a mission fund. She was one of the biggest supporters of missions in that church. She would come into the church office and say to the secretary, Marvel Smeltz, “Marvel, I saved $5.00 today on groceries.” We knew what she was going to do. Little is much when God is in it.

When we, as a congregation, Gather to Scatter some of those little things we do; paint a train or a swing-set or a porch, block the roads, pick up yard signs or the beach after Polar Bear, raise a little money for the Fire Dept., God takes those little things we offer Him and makes a Kingdom impact.

I met Alan Robbins a few years ago after I joined the local Lions Club. Every winter for eight years now, Alan heads up the Polar Bear. He took notice when a few of us from CrossPointe began volunteering. He took notice when he began to hear about us painting trains and playground equipment. One Sunday he and Vanna decided that they had better check out this place. So they did and guess what – they have been here ever since. They decided to join last year’s Disciple class and grew by leaps and bounds and are now in Disciple II. This past Thursday after class Vanna was talking to Annie and me about how before last year she didn’t know anything about the Bible. She had heard of this guy named Paul and some people known as Corinthians but who the heck is Paul and why should she care about some people that lived 2000 years ago. But earlier that evening, she was talking to her sister about her faith.

At our last Lions meeting, there were several of the group who hung out after the formal meeting to talk (much like we do). I was talking to Dave Young and Alan was within earshot talking to someone else. I wasn’t paying attention to his conversation, but my ears did pick up on him saying to the person he was talking to, “I guess we’ll have to ask Jesus.” Little is much when God is in it.

When we leave here to go to the town hall and shovel some stones into a truck little will be much because God will be in it.