“An Ocean in a Drop” By Bob Heirtzler November 19th,
2017
Good
morning church. What a
beautiful, bright—Is it sunny out there now? It's about seventy out,
right? Its
seventy somewhere, right? But, I'm thankful to be here today. That
song, “Give
Thanks,” I have been singing it every morning, when I wake up. Give
Thanks.
You'll catch me singing in the hallways at work. Give Thanks. I don't
care who
hears it; it doesn't bother me. I can't sing; can't carry a tune, but
it is a
joyful noise unto the Lord and I'm thankful for that. So,
the title of my message is,
“An Ocean in a Drop.” And, you've heard in the past, or you've heard of
a drop
in the ocean. Today, it's an ocean in a drop. And, my Scripture for
today is Psalms,
one-oh-five, verse one. Psalms 105:1
O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon
his
name: make known his deeds among the people. And,
the three points I am going
to make out of this today: Point
one is, "Giving Thanks to
God in Every Situation,” in every situation. Number
two is, "Calling on
the Lord.” Point
three is, "Hide It Under
a Bushel, No!” An old Sunday school song we sang years ago. But
the first section is giving
thanks to God in every situation. Point 1: Giving
Thanks to God in Every Situation A
couple of Saturdays ago, I went
down to the lake. Right before I start work, the company is right in
the middle
of four or five lakes, big complex where I’m at, and I always go there
about an
hour before I start work, for my meditation and prayer for the day, for
the
week, just to be thankful for what God has done for me. And you know,
God asked
me, “So what are you thankful for?” And I said, “For giving me another
day.”
And God said, “I'm not going to accept that generic answer from you;
you've
already been up for three hours. What are you truly thankful for?” And
I
thought about it, because I knew the next words out of my mouth better
be
straight from the heart. And, you know, I said, “God, I am very
thankful for my
eyesight. I can see Your creation. I can see the beauty of the flocks
of birds
in front of me. I can see the leaves changing colors. Much more than
that, I
can see Your Spirit move among the people and see the needs of others,
and I
never want to lose that sight. And God just comforted me that day from
that
point on. I went in to work and it was a blessed day. So,
my first Scripture today is
the blind man that was healed in John, chapter nine, starting at verse
one. I
tossed around this story a few times. I was talking to Arman earlier
this week,
I said the story was in, then I tossed it out, then I put it back in,
then I
tossed it out, God said put it back in. I said, “Okay, God. So, there's
got to
be a reason for this story,” I said. It says in verse one: John 9:1-3
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man
which
was blind from his birth. And his
disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his
parents,
that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but
that the works
of God should be made manifest in him. God
picks the people that He calls
to our ministry. We don't. It doesn't matter what our background is or
what we
are. When God cleans his up and we get baptized in Jesus, name it's a
fresh
start for everybody. We can't pick or choose. There's congregations out
there
they pick and choose. But, I thought about brother Parrish this week,
he was a
black Muslim, and how God changed his heart. But I imagine there's
people that
saw and said, “You know what? no way that guy is going to change.” But
they
didn't know God the way we know God, that God can change. And we've got
people
from different walks of life here, how God met us right where we were
at,
whatever that time was, and got a hold of our hearts and we followed
His, His
baptism in Jesus name, and when we came up out of that water,
everything was
changed. And I thought about here, and we’ll continue on with the story
in
verse four: John 9:4
I must work
the
works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no
man can
work. Parrish
stole my thought there and
said about the rapture of the church. It's about over, right? John 9:5
As long as I
am in
the world, I am the light of the world. So,
when the Trumpet sounds, that
light will lift off. We will all go home to be with Him, one day,
inside the
gate. John 9:6-7
When he had thus spoken, he spat on
the
ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the
blind man
with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,
(which is by
interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came
seeing. Now
he can see. He's no longer a blind man,
now he's a seeing
man, you know? Amen? The story goes on, and says the Pharisees were
questioning
him about what was going on, but he still maintained his story that he
was
healed by God. When we change in God, people will doubt what's going on
around
us. “No way God changed your life, they doubt the power of God.” But we
hang on
to the truth because we know what God did for us. The Jews? They didn't
even
believe he was blind, so the story goes on that they went to the
parents. They
said, "Yeah, he was born blind. You know, go ask him; he's of age.”
When
God gets a hold of our heart, and we give thanks to the one who did it,
it's
recognizable everywhere we go. it doesn't change. And,
I like the history note here in verse
nine, thirty-two; it says: John 9:32
Since the world began was it not heard
that
any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. The
first time it's ever happened,
you know? When God does something that so powerful that you will never
forget
it. A church man will always give praise to God in every situation.
Parrish mentioned
this morning again about, in every situation that we're in, give
thanks.
Whether we are having a bad day, a good day, or a trying day, whatever
the case
might be, always give thanks to God, amen? Why? Because people take
notice. My
second point calling on the
name of the Lord. Point 2: Calling
on the Lord I
am going to have a Brother Ed
come up and read. Luke chapter 18 versus 35 through 43. The story’s
about
restoring the sight of a blind man. Brother Ed, Luke eighteen,
thirty-five
through forty-three: Luke 18:35-43
And it came to pass, that as
he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side
begging: And hearing the multitude pass
by, he asked what it meant. And they
told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.
And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy
on me. And they which went before rebuked
him, that
he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of
David,
have mercy on me. And Jesus stood, and
commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he
asked
him, Saying, What wilt thou that I shall
do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight:
thy faith hath saved thee. And
immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God:
and all
the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God. Amen.
Thank you. Verse thirty-nine
is what we’re going to hover on: It says when they went to rebuke him,
he cried
so much more louder. “Oh, son of David, have mercy on me.” He didn't
let
anything stop him from getting his blessing or his healing that he
needed. Last
week, I was thinking about a couple of weeks ago, Parrish did a
demonstration
in front of us about he was Elijah praying, and he told the servant to
go. And
the seventh time? What did the servants see on the seventh time? Do you
remember? A cloud the size of a man's hand. But, I'm pretty sure if he
came
back and didn't see anything else, Elijah would have kept praying until
there
was an answer. Sometimes we've just got to keep praying through. Satan
will try
to stop us, “Yeah, it ain't gonna happen.” That's when you got to pray
harder.
That's when you’ve got a seek God in the middle of the night on your
knees, praying,
and seeking, and talking, and moving forward. Because Satan is going to
try to
stop everything we try to do, you know? Now, Satan didn't have any
trouble with
us before we got saved, he was kind of happy with us. Now we've got the
power
of God in our life, he does everything to try to stop it. Another
mentioned point
was, don't let anybody belittle us, around us, what God has done for
us. We
know what God did for us. We know what God—we know what obstacles got
moved,
and we know what God healed or what didn't get healed. We know what
prayers—how
God answers prayers. Sometimes, “No,” is an answer, because there's
something
coming, better. Does that make sense? And, also, calling on the name of
the
Lord, I was harboring about Ananias: There's a story that he went to
talk to
brother Saul, and he told Saul, “Receive thy sight.” We know the story
that he
was blinded, he got knocked off his beast, and he couldn't see where he
was
going, so Ananias was sent to talk to him, he called him brother Saul
because
he knew that God had already prepared the way for him. He
says, “Now why tarryest thou?”
I'm in Acts, twenty-two, twelve through sixteen, but I'm on sixteen: Acts 22:16
And now why tarriest thou? arise, and
be
baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Jesus’
name baptism; that's the
beginning of all things, great things.
11:14 And
then my last point here is: Point 3: Hide
It Under a Bushel, No. “This
little light of mine, I'm
gonna let it shine.” Is that how the song goes? “This little light of
mine, I'm
gonna let it shine. When Satan tries to blow it out, I'm gonna let it
shine.”
And, then, “Hide it under a bushel? No, I'm gonna let it shine.” Does
that make
sense? Because we've got to let everybody know what God has done for
us. Does
that make sense? I asked Brother Ed to read again, and Acts, chapter
three, one
through eleven. I know it's lengthy, but, Acts, chapter three, verses
one
through eleven: Acts 3:1-11
Now Peter and John went up together
into the
temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a
certain man
lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the
gate of
the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered
into the
temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple
asked an
alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said,
Look on
us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something
of them.
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have
give I
thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
And he
took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet
and
ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and
walked, and
entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising
God.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God: 0 And
they
knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the
temple: and
they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened
unto him.
And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all
the people
ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly
wondering. Amen.
Thank you. So, this forty-year
old guy, do you think he was quiet about his healing? No, he was not,
he was
leaping and praising God. He did not hide it. And they said people took
notice.
He was that guy that was sitting at the gate. A notable miracle has
happened to
that day. I
know that's back, 2000-plus
years ago, but still, miracles still happen today. They're still
healings that
go on today. There’s still answered prayer. There are still things that
God
just gives us. It's not a fairy tale or a philosophy book; it’s the
word of
God, which is still alive, among us, today. You know? It says in Acts,
chapter four,
verses fourteen through sixteen: Acts 4:14-16
And beholding the man which was healed
standing with them, they could say nothing against it. [Something
did
happen, you know?] But when they
had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among
themselves, Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that
indeed a
notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that
dwell in
Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. They
know. When we came out of
that tank of water, they knew that there was a change in our lives. We
gave up
all the old habits, and started new ones. We gave up our old lifestyle,
and
gave it all to God. And, now, God is teaching us every day. I'm up in
the 50’s,
and I'm still learning something from God every day. That’s not a, “the
end.”
The end is when the Trumpet sounds, which we heard today is when it's
over. That
notable miracle kind of
reminded me of Red’s message on the vault of memories. Remember he had
it last
week? God has done something for us, all these years, or, you've been
around
for whatever length of time, there's notable things that happened in
your life
that you can reflect back to what God has done. King David, for
example, “Hey,
I killed the lion and the bear; I can take out this giant.” Same
scenario as
with us. “Hey, God took care of this and this for me; I know he can
take care
of this for me.” Amen? When
I got saved, the power of God
just moved in my life and changed everything about me. I stood up at
the Helm Club
on the Navy base and said, “You know what?
I can't do this no more. God told me to knock it off.” And
the next day
I got baptized in Jesus’ name. And, I used to drink since I was ten
years old.
You know? It was part of my life. And, God took the whole desire out of
me and
I have not touched it for thirty-eight years now. I have not touched it
at all. When
my hand got caught a machine
back in 1988, I lost my three fingers. Of course, this one they
couldn't find.
But the thumb died. It was a Sunday night. The doctor said, “We're
going to
have to remove your thumb.” You see this thumb? “Yeah, we have to
remove it,
and there's some procedures we have to do. We made a decision, what it
was.” Next
morning, five thirty AM in the morning they looked at my thumb. My
thumb was
alive. And, they wrote on the charts, “Miracle from above,” because
they had no
explanation for it. My
dad had cancer. They said they
couldn't get all of the cancer out of him. And, when they went to check
again,
all the cancer was gone. They wrote on his charts, “Miracle from
above.” And,
there’s stories after stories among the saints right here in this room,
about how
God restored us and healed many things. It could be healed something
physically,
something spiritually that God has healed. Or, give us the ability to
endure it,
because, sometimes, like Paul had that thorn, we might have a thorn to
keep us
humble before God. That might be the way it is, you know? And,
as I'm closing here, you are
probably wondering what the title is all about, "An Ocean in a Drop.”
So,
my scripture again, with Psalms, one-oh-five, verse one: Psalms 105:1
O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon
his
name: make known his deeds among the people. The
points we went over is: Giving
Thanks to God in All Situations, Calling on the Lord, and, point number
three, Don't
Hide It Under A Bushel, no. So, what are we thankful for? Are we
thankful
enough about our baptism in Jesus’ name that we share with others about
baptism
in Jesus’ name? Are we thankful for the blessings in our lives that we
show
others what God has done for us? Are we thankful for the ministry that
God has
called us to that we invite others to our ministry? You know? We had
services
in the YMCA, basements of houses, living rooms, we rented the gym, and
God's
got something better for us coming. You
ever hear that expression, “A drop
in the ocean?” That's a picture of the ocean. To be more specific,
that's a
picture of an ocean drop under a magnifying glass. You can tell there's
a lot
of life there. There's a lot going on, in one drop. The reason I'm
saying we're
an ocean in a drop is because if we put a magnifying glass on us, there
would
be so many blessings on our lives, and so many things going on that God
has
done for us, that not only, but to a point where—I’ll read what I wrote
down:
We may never realize how much we affect other people's lives by the
testimony
we have, that live around us, even those we have never met, but heard
about us
and what we did, and we may never know the effects that we had on their
lives
until we get to the other side in Heaven. If God tarries is coming for
another
100 years, they're going to hear stories of us being passed down
generation to
generation, how the Saints of old stood firm on the ground. It's up to
us what our
part is, starting now. You know? And,
my closing closing thought. I
have one more closing closing thought. A close friend of mine, of my
family,
really, said, always reach out when God puts something in your heart.
You never
know when a stranger may need a bit of kindness to get him or her to a
better
place. And, I'm going to ask brother Arman to come up, to continue on
with the
message, and let's give God a praise.
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