A minister wore a carnation on his lapel every Sunday morning.
• He never gave it much thought until one day after church,
• A visiting boy about ten years old asked him if he could have it.
• The minister handed it to him and asked him why he wanted it.
• The boy said that his parents were divorced the year before, and he went to live with his mother,
• But when she remarried, her new husband didn’t want him around so they sent him to live with his dad.
• Within a month, his dad said he was too busy to raise him and sent him to his grandmother to live.
He told the minister that his grandmother takes care of him and feeds him and buys him clothes.
• The boy said the reason I want the flower, is to give to my grandmother for loving me.
• The minister at this point could barely keep the tears back, but told the boy that he didn’t want the carnation.
• He said that for a reason that special, he needed a bouquet.
• So he told the boy to go up front and get the big bunch of flowers in front of his pulpit and give them to his grandmother.
• As the boy smiled and turned to go the flowers, and the minister heard him say,
“What a wonderful day – I asked for one flower and got a whole bouquet.”
How often do we brighten up the lives of others with special acts like this?
• Or maybe a better question is, how often do we look for these kind of opportunities?
• What I want us to look at today is that each one of us can make a tremendous difference in other people’s lives.
• We don’t have to be rich / especially talented. All we have to do is be loving.
• No matter what our circumstances, we can make a positive difference in other people’s lives.
The first question that we need to answer is
1 WHY SHOULD WE TRY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
• There are several reasons we should try to make a difference in other people’s lives.
• But one of the most important reasons is that the world actually depends on it.
• Can you imagine a world where nobody cared about anybody else?
• Can you imagine a world where nobody tried to ever help anybody else?
The world we live in depends on people helping people.
• We depend on the world giving food / To help when there is a Tsunami or a gigantic earthquake.
• We depend on the world to help when one nation unfairly attacks another, such as when Iraq invaded Kuwait.
• We would never survive if people didn’t try to help each other.
• Without compassionate people, this world would collapse into absolute satanic chaos.
We should also try to make a difference in other people’s lives because
• It makes such a wonderful difference in ours when we do.
• We are never told how the Good Samaritan felt after helping the man alongside the road,
• We don't know how Paul felt after he helped deliver the money to a church in Jerusalem,
• But I would think that both felt very good.
There once was a teacher who asked her third grade class to draw a picture of something they were thankful for.
• She was sure that alot of the underprivileged kids in her class wouldn’t really have anything to be thankful for.
• But when the drawing were turned in, there were pets and drawings of the children’s families,
• But one in particular got her attention. It was a picture of a hand.
• She wondered if the child was drawing a parent’s hand or maybe even God’s hand.
• When she asked the little boy whose hand it was, he said,
• “It’s your hand, Teacher, because you are good to me and you care for me."
Just like this little boy, we can always find something to be thankful for
• And there is always somebody in our lives that we can help,
• If we would just care enough to look for the many opportunities that exist.
As much as people need others to lend them a helping hand,
• There is one thing needed even more.
• People need somebody to reach out to them with a hand filled with the love of Christ.
• There is no better way to strengthen your heart than to lift someone else up in the love of Jesus.
We are talking about helping people.
• Think for a moment about all the neighbors you have had over the years
• And what kind of people they were.
• We knew some of our neighbors and We didn’t know others,
But when you think about all the chances you had to help your neighbors throughout the years,
• How many can you really remember helping?
• Some people say you shouldn’t get involved in other people’s lives,
• But I disagree
• We don’t want to be nosey, but we can, and should, offer our help.
Another reason we need to reach out to help in Jesus’ name
• Is because we are expected to by God.
• In MATTHEW 28:19 Jesus tells us to “Go, therefore, and make disciples
• To me, that means that we are expected to reach out to others and make a difference in their lives;
• To make a difference for God,
• Because if we will introduce others to Christ,
• He will make a difference in their lives.
Jesus didn’t say to go and be happy.
• He didn’t say go and make money.
• He didn’t even say go to church and then go home.
• He said Go and make disciples.
• The word disciples means one who embraces and assists in the spreading of a teaching.
• Certainly we embrace the teaching of Jesus,
• And if we do, we are called and expected to assist in the spreading of that teaching.
• And that is the best way of all in which to help someone else.
So, to sum what I have just said up, we should try to make a difference to others
• Because – the world depends on it,
• it makes us feel very good,
• and God expects it.
The second question we need to answer is
2. WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
• Look through the Bible.
• The people who made a difference weren’t people with great talent / knowledge or anything else.
• They were just everyday average people like you and me who were honest and sincere.
I have heard it said that to work for God, you have to be F.A.T.
• That stands for FAITHFUL, AVAILABLE, and TEACHABLE.
• A lot of Christians are faithful in their belief that Jesus is the Son of God and our Savior.
But not all of those Christians make themselves available to help others.
• The truth be told, many Christians don’t let themselves become teachable,
• Because if they did that, they would have to be open to new ideas,
• And to be able to change some of their ideas, and they won’t do it.
But for every one of them,
• I believe there are many more who will do all that is necessary to reach out to help others.
• Others who live a life of Godly love.
• That is what all of us are supposed to do.
You’ll find that many people actually resist trying to help others
• Because that means they would have to get up and go, / get up and do.
• That’s okay, because many of the people in the Bible who helped - resisted first.
• Look at Moses. He tried his best to keep from going to Pharaoh. (Elab)
• But when he finally did what God told him to do,
• Look at the tremendous impact he made for the Lord.
• God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. What did he do?
• He got on a ship and tried to go the other way!
• And when he finally did what God wanted
• An entire city was saved.
• Peter was chosen to be Jesus’ disciple, yet out of fear, he denied that he knew Jesus.
• But Peter was given another chance and became a very strong doer of the word.
You may think you aren’t qualified.
• Paul, who probably brought more people to the feet of Jesus
• More people than anyone else was not an eloquent speaker.
• We see how feeble Paul’s qualifications were
1Co 2:3 I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling.
1Co 2:4 And my message and my preaching were very plain. I did not use wise and persuasive speeches, but the Holy Spirit was powerful among you.
• Billy Graham almost quit early on because he lacked confidence in his abilities.
• Now we can look back and see how many people he has introduced to Jesus.
We have to realize that God doesn’t call the qualified,
• He qualifies the called.
• He wants you to work for Him.
• If you refuse, somewhere, someday, your going to pay the price for your decision.
• And it doesn’t matter how big a laundry list of excuses you come up with,
• None of these excuses are going to be valid.
• But if you do His work, you’ll reap a reward better than our minds are able to understand.
King David was a man after God’s own heart,
• And he was one of the greatest difference makers in the Bible,
• But he started off as a lowly shepherd;
• He was so unimportant that his own father forgot to mention him
• When Samuel came looking for the King of Israel.
Look at Mary.
• A simple and young peasant girl.
• Absolutely nothing outstanding about her,
• Yet, God chose her to carry the Christ child.
• Look at the difference she made.
In fact, look at the differences all these people made.
• None were qualified.
• None were overly smart, rich, / talented, or anything else.
• But they did have one thing in common.
• They all had a heart that loved God and wanted to serve Him.
Too often, we aren’t available to work for God
• Because we are very comfortable people, and in our comfort,
• We expect God to come down and let us work for him in the way we want,
• Or to put it another way, the way we find most comfortable.
• And This isn't how God works,
• God expects each one of us to make a sacrifice.
• He wants us to sacrifice our comfort zones so that we will have to depend on Him.
In 1 CORINTHIANS 1:27-29, we see why God wants to use all of us.
1Co 1:27 Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful.
1Co 1:28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important,
1Co 1:29 so that no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
God is love and the most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love.
• It’s by loving, that we are most like him,
• So love is the foundation of every command he has given us; ‘
• The whole Law can be summed up in this one command;
• ‘Love others as you love yourself.’
God uses people like us.
• Has God used you to touch others?
• Will you let God use you to help others?
• If you want Him to, He will,
• But you have to be willing to let Him.
INVITATION
