The attitude of so many in the world and so many worldly believers today is: Size equals success. (“If it’s bigger it must be better.”) Some believe that size and wealth equate to God’s blessings. That is not always the case. The devil will give the world what it wants in order to draw it to him. Remember what the Lord said to the church at Smyrna in Revelation 2:9: “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) . . . ” And to the church that said it was “rich, and increased with goods,” and in need of nothing (Laodicea -- Revelation 3:17) He said thou “knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked . . . ” And, many feel that if you are small you can’t do much for the Lord. Some would look at Bethel and say, “You’re not very big. You don’t have a lot of people. What can you do in this world?” Even some who are members of our sister churches, when they move to this town, will not even consider visiting here, preferring, rather, to visit a larger church because the “larger church” “has more to offer me and my family.” (They don’t know what they are missing.) Sadly, this seems to be the attitude of so many “church attenders” today. Well, for the record let me just state, you DO NOT attend a church for “what it can do for you.” You join and attend a church for what YOU can do FOR THE LORD in and through it. A New Testament church is a place of service, not a place to be served! Why should size matter (unless you’re just trying to “get lost” in a large group of people) if the church is: One of the Lord’s true churches, and if it is, preaching and teaching the Word in Spirit and in truth? The “bigger is better” attitude is what has hurt so many small churches, especially in our fellowship. I have known of people who would drive miles from home to attend a “larger church” and pass smaller ones which were just as much the Lord’s and just as spiritual as the one they were headed to along the way. And then those same people will ultimately wonder why the smaller church finally had to close her doors. I will tell you why. They couldn’t get workers. They couldn’t get families with young people (because the other church provided entertainment for their children). (What's wrong with growing and building your own youth group?) They couldn’t get people who weren’t on “fixed incomes” who could support the church financially. (Usually it's the older members, whose income may be limited to retirement or Social Security, who will stay with the church even as she grows smaller and finally non-existent.) See, what most “believers” in America want today is a work that is already built instead of being used of the Lord to build up a work that is faltering or to build a new work. Neither will I let preachers off the hook. I have known men who would not consider pastoring a small church. Maybe they felt they were too big, too important, or too good of a speaker to “waste” their time with a small church. It’s possible that is why some churches have trouble getting a pastor or getting a pastor who will stay. And therein, I believe, lies part of the problem for us -- not for believers in general, but for Bethel. If we are not careful we will consider ourselves small and insignificant. I remember Bro. Mike Pournoy saying that we tend to have a “small church” attitude and that we need to get rid of that. He didn’t mean for us to lose the closeness we have as a church or our love for one another but to get rid of the attitude that says, “We’re not much, and we can’t do much.” Just consider this: God populated the earth with just eight souls (Noah and his family). Israel went into Egypt as a family of 75 but came out a nation of about 2 million. Goliath didn’t consider David to be much, but who won that fight?  What about Gideon’s army? Reduced from 32,000 to 300! Jesus started with just a few – Peter, Andrew, James, and John . . . and others were added so that some estimate that the church at Jerusalem grew to as many as 10,000 members (or larger). We need to be reminded of I Corinthians 1:26-29: “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.” Our text names 4 things that are small and yet mighty at the same time (WISE = intelligent, skilful, artful.) They are:

  I. THE PREPARATION OF ANTS -- VS. 25.

 II. THE PROTECTION OF THE CONIES – VS. 26.

III. THE PRECISION OF THE LOCUSTS – VS. 27.

IV. THE PRESENCE OF “SPIDERS” – VS. 28.