This sermon introduction discusses the story of how a kite flying contest led to the construction of a bridge across the Niagara gorge, symbolizing the idea that small actions can lead to significant outcomes.
On November 9, 1847, a civil engineer named Charles Ellet Jr. was commissioned to build a bridge across the Niagara gorge. The question, of course, was when and where and how do you get the first cable across an 825-foot chasm with 225-foot cliffs on either side? Enter Theodore Graves Hullet, a local ironworker who suggested, get this—a kite flying contest. No kidding! It was a 15-year-old boy named Homan Walsh who won the $10 cash prize for flying the first kite across the chasm. The day after that flight, a stronger line was attached to that kite string. Then a rope. Then a cable consisting of thirty-six strands of ten-gauge wire. It would become the world’s first railway suspension bridge, strong enough to support a 170-ton locomotive.
It all started with one kite string, and it always does. Do not despise the day of small beginnings. If you do little things like they’re big things, God will do big things like they’re little things. If you have a Bible, you can meet me in Zechariah 4. We’ll unpack Habit #4—fly the kite.
Let me shoot straight. I know people who say they’ll give more when they make more. Listen, I love you but I’m not buying what they’re selling. If you aren’t generous with a little time, talent, and treasure, you won’t be generous with a lot. Generosity always starts right here, right now. I know people who say they’ll serve more when they have more time. Yeah, no! You don’t find time. You make time. I know people who say they’ll step up when the big opportunity presents itself. I beg to differ. Not if you aren’t seizing the small opportunities that are all around you all the time.
How you do anything is how you’ll do everything. If you’re faithful with a little, you will be faithful with a lot.
Zechariah 4:6. Let me set the scene. Zerubbabel is the leader of the remnant that return to Judah with a God-sized vision—rebuild the temple that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed in 586 BC. Half a century later, the Lord says to Zerubbabel as Zerubbabel looks at the ruins. It’s not by might nor by power, but BY MY SPIRIT saith the Lord.
Let me go first. Without the Holy Spirit, I am below average. Anybody else? But God doesn’t call the qualified. God qualifies the called. And the good news is this. With the help of the Holy Spirit, you can do anything. Why? The Holy Spirit is the x factor. The Holy Spirit is the difference between the best you can do, and the best God can do. Let me let you in on a little secret. God wants to do things in you and through you that are beyond your ability, beyond your resources, beyond your imagination.
Why? So, He gets the glory! How? By His Spirit.
“What are you, mighty mountain?” There comes a moment when you stop talking to God about your mountains, and you start talking to the mountains about your God. That’s one way we flip the script, Habit #1. You declare His power, His grace, His peace, His love, His glory, His goodness, His healing. You don’t deny the obstacle or the odds. You confront the brutal facts, but you do it with unwavering faith. You exercise your authority as a child of God, as a follower of Christ, as a citizen of this thing called the Kingdom of God.
Every prayer has to meet a two-fold litmus test—it has to be in the will of God and for the glory of God. If it’s not, it’s a non-starter. If it is, look out.
I have no idea what mountain is staring you in the face—the mountain of anxiety or addiction or anger. The mountain of injustice or unforgiveness. The mountain of depression or frustration or fear. It might even be a mountain range. That is when and where I fall back on what I know for sure.
He is still the God who makes sidewalks through the sea. He is still the God who makes the sun stand still. He is the God who turns water into wine. He is still the God who moves mountains.
If you’re taking notes, jot this down. Testimony is prophecy. What does that mean? Pretty simple. If God did it before, He can do it again. If God did it for me, He can do it for you. Why? He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
“Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way. It will become a level plain before him!”
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