“No one can do everything but everyone can do something.”
Sermon Title: DORCAS: A LADY FULL OF GOOD WORKS
Scripture Text: ACTS 9:36-43
Sermon Series: FINE PRINT: HONORING THE LESSER-KNOWN AND CELEBRATING THEIR FAITHFULNESS
Sermon Notes:
ACTS 9:36-42 NASB
36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did.
37 And it happened at that time that she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upper room.
38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him, “Do not delay in coming to us.”
39 So Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.
40 But Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
41 And he gave her his hand and raised her up; and calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.
42 It became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43 And Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.
“That night I left with the impression that everyone was valued because everyone was valuable. It takes a lot of people to create a success.”
John Maxwell
“The church is not built on the gifts and talents of a few but on the sacrifices of many.”
ACTS 9:36 NASB
36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did.
ACTS 9:39 NASB
39 So Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.
Dorcas/Tabitha = “gazelle”
“No one can do everything but everyone can do something.”
I. RISE ABOVE YOUR LIMITATIONS
“There were many things she could not do but she did what she could do.”
REFLECT / APPLY: So what’s on your hand?
II. VALUE FAITHFULNESS EVEN IN THE LITTLE THINGS
ACTS 9:36 NASB
36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did.
TITUS 3:8 NASB
8 This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.
EPHESIANS 2:10 NASB
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
“Don’t ever belittle the little things that you can do because in many cases, it is the small things that occupy the biggest part in people’s hearts.”
“Don’t wait for the perfect time to start doing good.”
“Follow through what you started.”
“A little thing is a little thing. But faithfulness in the little things is a great thing.”
J. Hudson Taylor
REFLECT / APPLY: What little thing has God given you that you can be faithful with?
III. LIVE TO LEAVE A LEGACY YOU WANT TO LEAVE BEHIND
A LEGACY CAN BE:
- Possessions that we place in the hands of others.
- Principles we lived that carry on beyond our lives.
- People we have influenced whose lives are better off as a result of knowing us.
ACTS 9:39 NASB
39 So Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:25-26 NASB
25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
REVELATIONS 14:13 NASB
13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
“Most of us don’t get to choose when or how we’re going to die; but we can decide how we’re going to live and what we’re going to leave behind.”
An old man going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide.
Through which was flowing a sullen tide
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way;
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build this bridge at evening tide?”The builder lifted his old gray head;
– The Bridge Builder –
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followed after me to-day
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been as naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”
REFLECT / APPLY: What kind of bridge are you building to those who follow behind you?
“No one can do everything but everyone can do something.”
- Rise above your limitations
- Be faithful even in the little things
- Leave behind a legacy that points to Jesus.