Big or Small, Few or Many, No Problem (Jake Enns)

Our sermon title this morning is big or small, few or many.

No problem to us. It can be, and often is, a

problem. Mark Twain is credited with

having come up with this line. It's not the size of the dog in

the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

Problems and challenges in life are given.

They just are. There's no one who goes through

life without facing some kind of a challenge, some kind of a

struggle. But the responses from people

are vastly different and how they go through struggles and

challenges. Some people, it takes a very

small problem, a very small struggle, and they give up, they

leave, they just go away. They just turn and run.

Other people. It doesn't seem to matter.

No matter the size of the problem or the size of the

obstacle, they just don't give up.

It all comes down to how a person approaches an issue or a

problem. So when we are up against a

problem, whatever problem we may face, we need to ask this

question. What's our focus?

What is it that keeps us going when we face problems?

Or what keeps us from giving up? Do we focus on the size of the

problem or the size of the end goal that keeps us going?

Is it loyalty to A cause? Is it commitment to a person, to

a principle that keeps us plotting forward?

And at the end of the day, it does come out who we are in

terms of how we approach things. The good thing is every one of

us can grow. We can grow in our commitment,

in our character, in our resolve to maturity.

We can grow and also our perceptions can change.

Do you know that big problems are like big opportunities?

Big rocks can be objects over which we stumble and fall at the

same time. Big rocks can be like stepping

stones to higher ground or get across the stream with dry feet.

So next time we get stuck in traffic, instead of getting

upset and angry, rather think, what kind of opportunity is

this? I'm talking to me here too.

Or next time you go through a morning drive through and on the

way to work in the mess up your order, instead of getting

impatient, rather think, OK, what is this person going

through? The list of opportunities is

endless. It's infinite.

Our attitude toward problems influences how we move forward.

Too often people have fear when challenges come and difficulties

arise. And they respond negatively.

If fear in a person's life qualified a person for

disability, many people would qualify for disability.

So often it is not the circumstances to stop people.

It's their own fears and their worries that prevent them from

doing what they should be doing. Today we want to go again into

the book of Judges. Continue our sermon series in

this book and we will see how God can do big things with

little things. When fear is eliminated, when

fear is removed from the equation, everything changes.

We will see where the problems are, big or small, it doesn't

matter. You see, with God, small does

not mean little, weak does not mean powerless, and many does

not mean strong. I find it inspiring to read

stories where the little guy wins, where the week comes out

on top, where the proud have to concede and be humbled.

There are many, many stories in history where this has happened,

where the underdog comes up against impossible odds and

wins. I know you've watched sports

games where that happens. There are many stories of people

in life who are dismissed and passed off as insignificant.

There's no consequence. They don't matter.

Only later in life to come back and become key players in the

stage of life we can. There's many, many history

stories like that. I won't mention them, but could

mention many in our scripture passage today.

In the book of Judges, we will see how one tiny little army

conquered a massive horde. A huge army of soldiers.

The odds could not have been greater.

The Midianites had taken control over the people of Israel.

Now, of course, Israel had sinned and disobeyed God and

followed after idols and abandoned God.

God gave them over to be oppressed by these evil

Midianites, and they have pressed Israel for seven years.

God had removed his protection and given them over to these

Midianites. But then the people of Israel

repented, or they cried out to God.

They, they, they were not very good at repenting by the way,

but they did in some ways. And then they cried out to God

for rescue. And God listened.

He was merciful. He chose a man to rescue his

people and he chose this man Gideon, who didn't think he

qualified. He didn't measure up.

He came from the wrong crowd or from the wrong tribe and so on.

And God was firm. No, you're going to do the job.

And God did the impossible with the impossible.

Let's read Judges chapter 6, beginning verse 33 in your

Judges 6 · chapter mention

Bibles or your devices. Judges chapter 6, beginning

Judges 6 · chapter mention

verse 33 to 7, verse 8. We'll go through these passages

one at a time. Then all the Midianites and

Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together, and

they crossed over and camped in the valley of Jezreel.

But the spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon.

Then he blew the trumpet. Nearby Azerites gathered behind

him and he sent messengers through all Manasseh who also

gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher

Zebulun, Naftali and they came up to meet him.

So far so good, things are working out, but he's not ready

yet. Let's read verse 36.

So Gideon said to God, if you will save Israel by my hands, as

you have said, look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the

threshing floor. If there is due on the fleece

only and it's dry on all the ground, then I shall know that

you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.

And it was so when he arose early in the next morning and

squeeze the fleece together. He rung the dew out of the

fleece, a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God, do not

be angry with me, but let me speak just once more.

Let me test, I pray just once more with the fleece.

Let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground

let there be dew, and God did so that night.

It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the

ground. Let's begin verse Chapter 7.

Now verse one. Then Gerald Bail, that is,

Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose early, and

encamped beside the well of hard, so that the camp of the

Midianites was on the north side of them by the hill of Mora in

the valley. And the Lord said to Gideon, The

people who are with you are too many for me to give the

Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claimed glory for

itself against me, saying, My own hand has saved me.

Now therefore proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying,

Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn.

And departed once from Mount Gilead.

That's where they were stationed.

And 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.

But the Lord said to Gideon, The people are still too many.

Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you

there. Then it will be that of whom I

say to you, This one shall go with you, the same shall go with

you. And of whomever I say to you,

this one shall not go, with you the same shall not go.

So he brought the people down to the water.

And the Lord said to Gideon, Everyone who laps from the water

with his tongue, as a dog laps you, shall set apart by himself.

Likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.

And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to

their mouth was 300 men. But all the rest of the people

got down on their knees to drink water.

Then the Lord said to Gideon, by the 300 men who lapped, I will

save you and deliver the Midianites into your hand.

Let all the other people go, every man to his place.

So the people took provisions and their trumpets in their

hands, and he sent that all. He sent all away, all the rest

of Israel, every man to his tent and retain those 300 men.

Now the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

Let's stop there. It seems to me if I had been

Gideon and God had said he was going to do that, maybe we would

one of a third test or a fourth or a fifth.

Maybe I said I would have said, OK, I'm not doing it.

That's just not possible. Anyway, that was the case.

The first thing we want to notice here is that God used an

insignificant man who had a small faith.

We talked about that last Sunday already.

So here are the Midianites, vast a number beyond belief.

Size was on their side. We've all heard the phrase

bigger is better. We're born with it.

We inherit this from birth. Just look at 2 little children

playing and you put 2 toys on the floor, one large toy and one

small one. They both want the large one.

That's how we're wired. This mindset goes through life.

We trust in size, we trust in strong, we trust in big and God

took that away. God does not work that way.

With God, size and numbers don't matter.

What is relevant with God is faith, trust, courage,

commitment and loyalty. We see in getting He now

believes God. Twice God has answered him.

He's he was hesitant. He he was reluctant.

He wasn't sure. And when he did trust, God said,

OK, we got you in line now. OK, but your army's not right.

It's too many. Since when's an army too big?

Every general, every president, every dictator, every king one

size. And God says no, no, no, we're

not going to do it that way. He knows God has chosen him to

lead the battle. He's been commanded to take on

the Midianites. So he asked for a sign.

He gets the sign. Remember where Gideon was

threshing wheat last Sunday? We talked about it.

He was threshing wheat in the wine press.

Where is he putting the wool out to?

See if God's going to answer. He's putting the wool out on the

threshing floor. He had a threshing floor.

He's got a wine press and a threshing floor.

The threshing floor is in the wide open space, and he wasn't

threshing wheat on the threshing floor because it was a wide open

space and the Midianites would see him and might come steal.

The wine press was obviously kind of secluded or hidden.

It was small, and there he was thrashing out his grain, hoping

it wouldn't be stolen. But he's putting this fleece out

where? OK, God's going to answer this

way. And God did.

If God, God, if you're going to be with me and conquering this

vast army, let the fleece be wet and the ground dry.

And it was. So a bowl of water came out of

that fleece and getting it twice, the fleece wet and the

ground dry, and then the ground went and the fleece dry.

And he had a good army, not bad a 32,000 men, but it was small

in comparison to what the Midianites had.

And for Gideon, he would have to make do with his small little

army. It was about 4:00 to 1:00.

Not quite, just a bit different in Chapter 8.

Next time. By the way, next Sunday we won't

be preaching on this topic. We have a guest speaker coming

next Sunday. So next Sunday will be one off

sermon on something else. But when we go through chapter

8, verse 10, we'll find out that the Midianites had a standing

army of 120 thousand soldiers, almost 4, four times the size of

Gideon's army. So Gideon had a very tiny little

army and God says that's too big.

And it seems to me I would have argued with God and said, no

God, I need more men, not fewer. His army was 32,000 men.

But then God starts chiseling away what he has.

First they the idea is OK, if anyone of you scared to go into

battle here, just go home. A lot of guys breathe a sigh of

relief. OK, good.

We don't have to fight. And only 10,000 remain. 22,000

left. I think if I had been Gideon, I

might have wanted to leave too. Gideon does not want those who

God does not want, those who fear to go into battle.

God did not want Israel to get the idea that these 32,000 had

won a great victory. There's another principle at

work here as well. And we often don't read this and

I think it's important that we do.

So this morning I'll read another passage out of the book

of Deuteronomy, chapter 20, verse 1 to 8.

Deuteronomy 20:1–8

And this gives us gives us a perspective of how Israel was

supposed to conduct warfare, which they were commanded,

commanded to do in those days. If you want to turn in your

devices to your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse 1

Deuteronomy 20:1–8

to 8, and I'll just read this. This is these are the words of

Moses when you go out to battle against your enemies and see

horses and Chariots and people more numerous than you, do not

be afraid of them. For the Lord your God is with

you, you who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

You know there's a history part again, verse 2.

So it shall be when you are on the verge of battle that the

priest shall come, shall approach and speak to the

people. There's the pastor involved and

he shall say to the people here, O Israel, today you're on the

verge of battle with your enemies.

Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid and do not tremble

or be terrified. Notice those 4 qualifying words,

faint, frayed, tremble, terror. Don't be that.

Verse 4. For the Lord your God is he who

goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save

you. Then the officers, the general,

so to speak, they shall speak to the people saying, what man is

there who's built a new house and has not dedicated it?

Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the

battle. Another man dedicated.

Also, what man is there who's planted a vineyard and has not

eaten of it? Let him go and return to his

house, lest he die in the battle.

And another man eat of it. And what man is there who has

betrothed to a woman who's not married her?

Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the

battle. And another man marry her.

These are just physical things. Then there's there's one more.

This is the big one, the verse 8, the officers shall speak

further to the people and say, what man is there who's fearful

and faint hearted? Let him go and return to his

house lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.

If you're scared, don't go. There's other reasons not to go.

If you just if you just got married or you want to get

married, you just have a built a house, just planted a vineyard,

OK, You don't have to go to battle.

You can go and eat the fruit of it first, get married first, or

dedicate your house. If you're afraid, then don't go.

These were instructions. Serving the army was important,

but it was not the priority. Number one thing.

You see, fear is contagious. It's like a virus.

You can catch it. You know how sometimes people

are afraid and they need others to be afraid to?

You know, I'm scared. You scared too.

It's terrible. And pretty soon it spreads.

Remember the story of the 1012 spies?

Ten were scared and two were not.

Those 10 scared spies scare the whole congregation of Israel.

The end result? 40 years more wandering in the

desert. People who are afraid are often

a hindrance not just to themselves, but to everybody

else too. God is not a God of fear, and we

never find God focus on size or numbers or strength to get the

job done. It's always about faith and

courage. And here is a case in point.

So Gideon's army, he starts with 32,000 men.

Gideon says everybody who's afraid can go home, 22,000

leave. Now it's 10,000 against this

massive army of 120. God still not satisfied.

So he chisels away more down to 300 men.

This is unbelievable. Think about it.

And now it's a ratio of 400 to 1.

From a military standpoint, this is suicide.

What chance of victory do 300 men have against an army of

120,000? It would literally take a huge

miracle to pull this off. Let's just pause for a moment.

Do you sometimes face 400 to one odds it's not going to work.

A chance of 400 to one it's going to fail.

Remember, with God's size doesn't matter, numbers don't

matter. Maybe you feel like Gideon.

You don't have the faith you should have.

You doubt and you've asked God for signs.

He's giving you signs and you still doubt.

Maybe you know what you should do according to scriptural

principles. You don't question that, but you

just have no idea how this is going to work.

You need more than you have. You don't have what it takes and

you're scared. Let's remember this.

The God of Gideon is still our God today.

He hasn't changed. He's not gotten old and he's not

slowed down. He's not run out of ideas.

He's got resources. What he wants us to do is give

ourselves to him to be his vessel, and he's going to use us

for his glory. However that works out, it's not

for us to decide. If we know what God wants, then

the best we can do is simply surrender.

Trust him. So Gideon now has the small

little army. Just 300 men is told to get the

job done. You know how many 300 people is

what fits in this sanctuary? We have 330 chairs.

You know how big the city of Windsor is, but 230,000 give or

take, but half the size of the city of Windsor.

Imagine army the size of half the city of Windsor and the army

the size that fits in this congregation.

OK, you now go and take him down.

Would we not be scared? Well, we read how God did it.

Let's look at what God does with this tiny little army equipped

with the strangest of equipment. They take on and fight this

massive army. Well, actually they don't fight

as you know the story. Let's continue reading Judges

Judges 7 · chapter mention

Chapter 7 verse verse 9 and on the the scripture passage.

Well, and there it's correct in my notes.

It's wrong. It happened on the same night

that the Lord said to Gideon to him, Arise, go down against the

camp, for I've delivered it into your hand.

But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with

Pura your servant, and you shall hear what they say, and

afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against

the camp. Then he went down with Pura his

servant, to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp.

Now the mediates, the Amalekites, all the people of

the East were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts.

Locus is the verb is the word to describe this size.

And their cameras were without number as the sand by the

seashore in multitude. And when Gideon had come, there

was a man telling a dream to his companion.

He said, I've had a dream. To my surprise, a loaf of barley

bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and it came to a tent

and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent

collapsed. Then his companion answered and

said, This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon, the son of

Joash, a man of Israel. Into his hand God has delivered

Midian and the whole camp. And so it was when Gideon heard

the telling of the dream and its interpretation that he

worshipped, He returned to the camp of Israel and said, Arise,

for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.

Then he divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put a

trumpet into every man's hand, with empty pictures and torches

inside the pictures. And he said to them, Look at me

and do likewise, watch. And when I come to the edge of

the camp, you shall do as I do when I blow the trumpet, I and

all who are with me. Then you also blow the trumpets

on every side of the whole camp and say the sword of the Lord

and of Gideon. So Gideon and the 100 men who

were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the

beginning of the middle watch just as they had posted the

watch. And they blew the trumpets and

broke the pictures that were in their hands.

And the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pictures.

They held the torches in their left hands, the trumpets in the

right hands for blowing, and they cried the sword of the Lord

and of Gideon, and every man stood in this place all around

the camp, and the whole army ran and cried out and fled.

When the 300 blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword

against his companion throughout the whole camp, and the army

fled to death. Acacia towards Zerira, as far as

the border of Abel, Mahola and Tabith, and the men of Israel

gathered together from the NAFTA lie Asher and all Manasse and

pursued the Midianites. Then Gideon sent messengers

throughout all the mountains of Ephraim, saying, Come down

against the Midianites and seize from them the watering places as

far as Beth, Barra and the Jordan.

Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and seize the

watering places as far as Beth, Barra and the Jordan.

And they captured 2 Princess of the Midianites, Orab and Zeb.

They killed Orab at the rock of Orab and Zeb.

They killed at the winepress of Zeb.

They pursued Midian and brought the heads of Orb and Zeb to

Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.

The Midianites were subdued. They would no longer oppress

Israel. They would no longer come and

steal everything from them. They had been beaten.

Big victories come through small ways.

If it had depended on Gideon's little army each taking a sword

and shield and going against the Midianites and with a 400 to one

ratio, yes, that would have been a challenge.

Difficult and possible, we could say.

Again, God does not always operate in normal ways.

We see in the story that God actually made it very easy for

Gideon's 300 men. God used the different strategy

to overthrow the Midianite army. God used the Midianites

themselves to self destruct. God used panic, fear and

confusion. If there's one thing nobody

wants, it is panic, fear and confusion.

And that is what was on the battlefield.

On the battlefield, people need confidence, courage and boldness

and strength. Those are the qualities that you

have to have. But these guys, they're now had

fear. There was no confidence.

Gideon had his share of fear before, but through the signs

and things that God revealed himself to him, he now with only

300 men did the impossible. When he went down to the camp,

that was the final stamp of proof that he needed.

He'd come in secret and listen to them and they one guy is

telling the other how he had a dream and get seen a barley loaf

tumble into the camp and knock a tent over.

And the other guy says, oh, that's this guy, Midian, son of

Joash. God's given this whole camp into

his hand. So Gideon had become actually a

bit bit famous by now. Gideon had become well known.

We don't know all the activities, how much time

elapsed between tearing down his dad's altar to bail and getting

together the armies. We don't know how much time

elapsed, but word got around and so he was known.

Even the Midianites had heard about him.

We don't know all the details, but now Gideon knew.

And it says he worshipped. Now he trusted, now he had

confidence, now he believed. And God used it.

And God was going to use Gideon, his simple means of going around

the camp, standing guard, blowing trumpets, smashing the

pictures, lighting the sky up. God was going to use fear in the

hearts of the Midianites to self destruct them.

So Gideon now was the fear generator for the Midianites.

Fear has amazing power once people allow it into their

lives. First Gideon had it, a lot of

his soldiers had it, but the ones who were with him, they

were now confident. Now the Midianites had it, they

were scared and they fought each other.

Just imagine it, one commentator mentions that this would have

happened about maybe the the watch that they talked about

that would have happened about 10 A 10:00 PM at night.

Maybe the Midianite soldiers and their overconfidence, this mass

army and only Israelites small little army.

We got this. It's only a matter of cleanup.

That's basically what this amounts to and have no idea

what's going to happen in a little while.

Maybe they were fast asleep, we don't know.

But then suddenly with no warning none whatsoever, there's

this loud blast of trumpets, 300 trumpets all blowing at the same

time. Then these torches appearing out

of nowhere lighting up the sky and then this loud shout the

sword of the Lord and of Gideon. If you and your bed sleeping and

that happened outside your on your street somewhere, we would

be scared to imagine it quiet peace and the next thing bedlam

the sharp piercing blast. Soldiers startled, jumping off

their cots, grabbing for a weapon, stumbling out of tents,

frantically trying to make sense of things, fear in their faces.

We're under attack. We're under attack.

Verse 22 reads the Lord said every man's sword against his

companion throughout the whole camp King was doing nothing

except blowing, shining his torch and blowing his trumpet.

The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.

It's all he had to do. God was doing the work.

All that he had to do was make noise, shine lights.

That was it. God took care of the rest.

What difference does this story make for us today?

Maybe you're facing a situation that is impossible, living under

circumstances that feel like Midianite oppression.

You've cried out. You need help and you're afraid.

The best thing we can do is learn from these stories.

Totally give ourselves to God. Keep doing what we know is

right, but do not let ourselves be guided by fear or worry.

God will bring His will to pass, and yes, we may suffer, but in

the end God will work His will. There's many countless stories

through time where things looked hopeless only for the tide to

turn. Maybe at the last moment the

weak overcame the strong and the strong were even self

annihilated. God does not need size or

numbers or power to work as victory.

God can use the small, the insignificant, the weak and the

powerless. We see in this passage how God

used a small, simple little army of 300 to throw this massive

Midianite army to confusion, to fear and self destruction.

And after that initial shock alarm, there was panic and fear

and killing each other off and they start to flee.

And we don't know how much time elapsed and all of this of

obviously the night wore on, the sun rose in the morning and the

army's taking flight and heading off away from Israel.

Gideon sends word out to all these tribes.

Come on guys, they're running, they're fleeing and they went on

the pursuit and took them down. It tells us verse 32 and 23

rather that men of Israel, NAFTA and Asher, all, they came and

they pursued the Midianites and they even capture some of the

Princess, and they killed them and brought their heads as proof

of accomplishment. You see, courage begets courage.

Dictators know that. Dictators know that courage

begets courage, but they also know fear begets fear.

That's one reason why dictators try to keep their people in

fear, under oppression and control.

Nothing scares dictators more than the idea that the people

under their control might one day refuse to bow to their

demands. And the dictator is never

stronger than the oppressed people allow him to be, because

once they say no, his power is gone.

He can kill his oppressed people, but he cannot control

them if they refuse to be controlled.

There's many, many stories through history where people

have simply refused to bow the evil.

Not violently, just refused. One story that I know of, I know

many, but the story of the nation of India, its

independence from Britain under the leadership of Mahatma

Gandhi. He was a non violent man, used

the non violent approach to bring about independence for

India. The means he used not killing,

just refusing to bow to unjust laws.

It's an interesting story to follow if you read it and

there's many, many stories I could talk about something

that's much closer to home in the in the US.

Remember in the 50s or 60s I believe it was the story of Rosa

Parks and the Montgomery boycott of the buses.

Powerful story. Yes, sometimes people die in the

process simply by saying no I won't do this and they can get

killed. But in the end, evil always self

destructs, and the oppressed may not even see it, to live to see

it, but the records show it. A story in the Bible that I know

of that comes to mind is the story of Daniel, his three

friends in Babylon, prisoners of war, young, full of life, but

taken prisoner. Their lives meant only very

little in the King's big scheme of things, but he liked them.

God give him, gave them favor in the King's eyes.

And repeatedly they were promoted, but through very

difficult challenges where they stood faithful.

Toward the end of Daniel's life under King Darius, he was

promoted. His fellow government employees

or workers were jealous. They came up with a foolish law

that, well, we want to get rid of Daniel.

The only way to get rid of Daniel is if we can get the king

to sign a law. Nobody can pray except to the

king. And knowing that Daniel would

not obey that law, well, Daniel refused to obey that law.

They got him thrown the lion's den.

Daniel's faith held strong even though he ended up among the

lions. King was very sorry and been

disappointed what he had allowed himself to be tricked into

couldn't sleep. The next morning he goes to the

lions, then calls out Daniel's alive, he hasn't taken out.

Then this very king who made that law says, OK, you guys, you

tricked me. You wanted Daniel dead and in

you go. And they all died by the lions

with God. Evil always loses.

Maybe not today, but it loses. It will not stand.

Evil has a limited lifespan. Holiness is eternal.

Here in today's story of the story of Gideon, Gideon has now

become the deliverer of his people.

Of course, it was God who did it, but it was Gideon who was

the vessel. Not perfect.

He struggled with his faith, but he learned to rely on God.

And God proved faithful. You see, God does not look at

the size of the problem, the number of people.

God is looking for men and women who are surrendered.

We're all in for him. So let's look at our lives

today. I don't know all of your

personal struggles that you may be facing.

What I do know is where I can point you to, and that's to

Christ. Maybe there's some Midianites in

your life you can't dislodge and get rid of.

Maybe you have lived a life of fear for so many years and

you're bowing to the pressure of fear and control.

The same God that rescued the people of Israel can rescue us,

can rescue you. The first thing we need to do is

let go of fear. We need to be rescued from the

fear of our enemies, fear of what people may think of us if

we follow Jesus. Fear of what people will do if

we don't go along with them, free from the fear of what

others will do, even if we do the right thing.

We do not know what all the struggles are that God will

allow into our lives, but we do know how it will end, that we're

promised. In Zechariah chapter 4, verse 6,

Zechariah 4:6

we read This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel.

Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit says the Lord of

hosts. With God, it does not matter

whether big or small, fewer many to God it's no problem.

With God, all things are possible.

So I want to encourage us this morning, today, not to give way

to fear. Have courage.

Face the circumstances of life with courage, with boldness and

strength. You and I, we serve an eternal

living God who will reign in eternity, and we with him, let's

pray. Lord, thank you that you saved

us. You sent your Son to die on the

cross for our sins. For all who repent and believe

you are their Lord and Savior. Our destiny is sure.

We may struggle here now for a time, but we rest assured that

you're with you. There's no turning, there's no

night. We're secure.

We ask the Lord that you'll help us to seek you, worship you, and

serve you. You call us the faithfulness.

The outcome is in your hands and in your hands alone.

We thank you, Jesus. In your name we pray.

Amen.