God Rewards Small Acts of Service

There is so much in the Old Testament that if we read carefully and not in a rush to read the Bible that we will get otherwise we can miss. For example, what we heard today, do you know who's the first person in the Old Testament who was filled with the Holy Spirit? Which we speak so much about spirit filling on the day of Pentecost that all the apostles were filled. But the first person who has specifically written that he was filled with the Holy Spirit is what we just heard in Exodus 31.

Not about a preacher but of a person who worked with his hands. Bezalel. I have filled him with the Holy Spirit and wisdom and understanding to you know stitch the curtain and stitch designs on it.

You need to be filled with the Spirit of God for that and he's the one person about whom it's written a second time in Exodus 35 and it says in verse 31 he was filled with the Spirit of God a second time and there's something I like about it this man Oh Aholia sorry Bezalel and it says when he was filled with the Spirit of God Exodus 35 he has put it in his heart to teach the others see a lot of people who have a tremendous skill don't want to teach others because they say then people won't employ me but this man was so filled with the Spirit of God that he wanted to teach the other sailors and I can't tell you how to do it I work myself out of a job that's fine his heart was God's tabernacle must be built I don't want to get any credit I don't want to be known as the great specialist everybody has to come to me I'll teach other people to do the job that's the mark of a spirit filled man he's not seeking honor for himself and the other thing we see here in Exodus 31 was in verse 2 I have called Bezalel the son of Uri the son of Hur so when I think of the son of Hur Bezalel was the grandson of Hur you read about Hur in Exodus 17 it's an interesting story how when Amalek we heard about it when Amalek came to fight against Israel and Joshua went out to battle and it's interesting even though Joshua was very skilled and all those people were good warriors the victory did not depend on them the victory depended on Moses standing on the hill and raising his hands and then Moses would get tired he'd raise his hands up and it says in Exodus 17 11 whenever Moses held his hand up Joshua would win the battle it's a picture of prayer a prayer can affect a victory you know Moses held up his hand Israel prevailed but he got tired and put his hand down the enemy prevailed you believe that happens today somebody who was lifting up the hand for someone dropped it got tired of praying for somebody or for themselves or for their children or something Israel prevailed and then there was this guy called Hur along with Aaron in verse 12 they said Moses hands were heavy so they took a stone and made him sit down and Aaron and Hur two people held up his hands Hur was just standing up there holding up his hands and until the Sun set he kept holding up his hands and Joshua verse 13 overwhelmed Amalek these things are written to teach us the tremendous power it's not just battling and knowing how to deal with the situation it's that man of God or you can be an ordinary person like Hur holding up a hand in prayer and I thought about you know when Bezalel the guy who constructed the curtains in the tabernacle I sometimes use my imagination when I read the Bible it's a very good thing to do I encourage you to do it I thought of Bezalel when he's a little boy going up to his grandfather Hur saying grandpa I heard Moses did mighty things for God preached and did miracles flip the Red Sea can you tell me something you did for God what can he tell his grandson I just held up his hands what a small thing but Israel's victory depends on that he doesn't have much to boast about to his grandson you may not have much to boast about in your life to your children and grandchildren but if you are holding up somebody and nobody knows your name you're doing a great work for God don't ever forget that sometimes we think it's only the great prophets and all who are doing a great work for our think of what Jesus said Matthew chapter 10 Matthew chapter 10 he said was 41 if you receive a prophet in the name of a prophet you'll receive a prophets reward imagine in the final day some ordinary guy coming up I'm getting a reward of a prophet and I said where where did he prophesy he never prophesied anywhere he just welcomed a prophet into his home and welcomed the message of a prophet into his life do you believe Jesus words will be fulfilled that he gets the same reward of that prophet standing there I believe it I believe it'll be exactly like that then that guy who just received a prophet is going to get to receive the prophets reward because most people reject a prophet the world is the Christian world in the world I found through the years they reject prophets but here's one guy who decided in humility to receive a prophet he gets the prophets reward and something even simpler than that forget about a prophet if you give because the prophets are so rare you don't find prophets are everywhere so it's you may not find a prophet but what about those guys who don't find a prophet I'll tell you there's something else they can do can you find a little child somewhere was 42 you give a little child a cup of cold water you get a reward in the final day how difficult is that to help a little child maybe cross the road or do something to teach teach a little child something about the Lord or even a cup of cold water it's amazing how God who sees everything in the universe takes note about what somebody did for a little child maybe in the church hall in some way you helped a little child keep your eyes open brothers sisters to do the small things to hold up somebody's hand to give a cup of cold water to somebody especially little children those are the ones who very people neglect so you don't have to look for the prophet look for the little child children are plenty prophets are rare and so we have this exhortation in Galatians it sort of sums it up in Galatians 6 you know whenever we use the word you will reap what you sow it's usually a threat of judgment you did that wretched thing you're gonna reap what you sow you tell our children you will reap what you sow be careful and it says here in Scripture in Galatians 6 verse 8 the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life so we do reap what we sow it says there God is not deceived a man will wear seven will reap what he is sown but out of the two possibilities one is reaping because I did something wrong and I reap judgment for it and the other is I do something good verse 8 you saw to the Spirit and you reap eternal life generally speaking our mind things reaping what we saw usually our mind things of judgment but here it speaks about reaping eternal life and it says here therefore what shall we do don't get occupied with the guy who's reaping what judgment for what he's done let us nine not lose heart in doing good it's not concentrating on the judgment part brother sister you can reap something for eternity just by doing good holding up somebody's hand who's praying you're not a great prophet like Moses but he just hold up his hand or giving a cup of cold water to a child let us do good because in due time we will reap if we don't get tired of holding up that hand or passing out that cup of water so then verse 10 this is the verse I wanted to show to you verse 9 and 10 let us never lose heart in doing good because we will definitely reap in due time if you don't get tired of it tired of doing good it's very easy to get tired of doing good nobody's noticing you nobody's talking about you nobody talked about her it's just the name comes once or twice in the Old Testament that's about it they talk about Moses Moses Moses Moses all over the exodus but her once or twice does it matter that your name is eventually once that is let us not lose heart in doing good because we will reap one day if we don't go weary so then this is the verse I want you to see while we have opportunity we're not gonna live forever life will soon be over for all of us one day or the other we don't know how long our life is but while you have life and while you have opportunity let us do good to all people especially to the household of faith I wish we could keep that as a motto for our life we're not gonna have opportunity all the time but whenever you get an opportunity to do good to someone it doesn't matter if he's a household of faith or not to all people means somebody who's not a household of faith some stranger let us do good the Christian must be known as one who seeks to do good to help somebody in some way not with any aim of even converting him just let's do good to all people especially to those of the household of faith and especially the person a child of God there's a lot we can learn dear brothers and sisters remember let us not lose heart where's nine in doing good and while you have opportunity let us do good to all people do good because life is short we don't know when your life will be over