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Tag: gospel

  • Small Steps, Big Kingdom: What Beavers Teach Us About How God Grows His Church

    Aerial view of world'slongest beaver damn - small steps produce big results

    The beaver is famed for being an industrious builder. Stick by stick, twig by twig, packing with mud as they go, they close off waterways. It’s all accomplished in small steps.

    According to Parks Canada “The world’s largest beaver dam is visible from space in satellite images. It is almost 800 meters long from end-to-end, and holds back run-off water from the Birch Mountains in the southernmost end of Wood Buffalo National Park.”

    The front of the actual dam runs approximately 775 meters in length. The entire perimeter of the dam area is close to 2000 meters. The surface area is approximately 70,000 square meters. The pond formed by the dam is probably one meter deep, which means it would contain about 70,000 cubic meters of water.”

    There is one major lodge on the site, which means 4-8 beavers. This likely took 40 years and multiple generations to build. That’s an incalculable number of small steps.

    It reminds me of the way Jesus built his church. The kingdom grows in small steps. It’s spread person to person, one soul at a time. Why the Lord chose to do it that way is a mystery to me. Surely there must have been a more efficient option.

    Yet somehow it makes sense. 

    God’s kingdom often begins in ways that appear small, weak, or unnoticed, but through His power it grows steadily and accomplishes His purposes.

    He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is the largest of the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” Matthew 13:31-32

    Ordinary people, like you and me, spread the gospel. We grow the kingdom step by small step. 

    Before the day of Pentecost, Jesus’ ministry had produced about 120 converts. There was a miraculous supernatural harvest on that day, but typically it’s spread one-to-one.

    From humble beginnings, now over 2 billion people claim to be followers of Christ. We know that figure includes many who are not true believers, but person by person and generation to generation, the small steps have paid off.

    As a believer, you are part of something much larger than you can imagine. Keep taking those small steps of faith and obedience. Incremental change over time yields huge transformations.

    Keep sowing and growing. The harvest is plentiful. Lets do our part.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God) 

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    SUMMARY:

    Just as beavers build the world’s largest dam one twig at a time over generations, God’s kingdom grows through small, faithful steps — person by person, soul by soul — from 120 disciples to over 2 billion followers of Christ.

     

    KEY POINTS

    The world’s largest beaver dam stretches nearly 800 meters and took an estimated 40 years and multiple generations to complete, built entirely through countless small, incremental actions.

    Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed — the smallest of seeds that grows into the largest garden plant — reflecting how God’s purposes advance through what appears weak or unnoticed.

    From 120 converts before Pentecost to more than 2 billion today, the gospel has spread one person at a time, reminding believers that their small steps of faith and obedience are part of something far greater than they can see. 


    You might also enjoy “Busy beaver, another helper” and “God is closer than you think.”

  • He Left the 99 Behind — and He Was Looking for You 

    He Left the 99 Behind — and He Was Looking for You 

    Night time urbam scene with man with flashlight - text He left the 99 to find me

    There’s a familiar story in both Luke and Matthew’s gospels. If you have been churched any length of time, you’ve heard sermons on it. Even non-Christians have often heard the story. It’s about a shepherd who has 100 sheep, but he left the 99 behind to go and find one lost sheep.

    So He told them this parable, saying, “What man among you, if he has one hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:3-7

    For most of us, it’s become so familiar that we think, “Of course he left the 99 behind, that’s what Jesus does.” We might not ever think of it at all.

    It’s actually quite amazing to have the shepherd care that much for the one lost sheep.

    What we fail to truly personalize is the fact that he left 99 behind to find me and you. Think about that for a moment. The LORD loves you and me so much that He came searching for us while we were still lost sinners and His enemies. I mean. Who does that? Apart from Jesus, no one!

    Luke goes on to record Jesus’ parables of the widow searching for her lost coin and the lost (prodigal) son. Jesus is making a point: He cares for lost people.

    It’s more than something we can infer. Jesus said it directly.

    For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10

    That is incredible love. It is an astonishing mercy. You and I both know we have no merit on our own to deserve salvation. We know we can never earn it by our works.  We would be forever lost if it weren’t for the fact that he left behind the 99 to find me and you.

    When we truly grasp that truth, not just with our minds, but deeply into the fiber of our souls, it fills our hearts with joy. Ever struggle, every temporary inconvenience ought to fade into nothingness with the joy that He saw we were lost and came to find us.

    Joyfully praise His holy name. Give thanks for His perseverance and love.

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    SUMMARY

    Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep reveals a God who doesn’t wait for the lost to find their way home — He leaves the 99 to search for the one. That one is you, and grasping that truth personally transforms every struggle into joy.

    KEY POINTS

    The shepherd leaving 99 to find one lost sheep pictures the extraordinary, personal love God has for every individual sinner. 

    Jesus didn’t just illustrate this love in a parable — He declared it outright: “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” 

    When we move this truth from head knowledge to soul-deep conviction, it produces a joy that puts every trial in its proper place.


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