WEBVTT 00:00.110 --> 00:00.650 Amen. 00:01.110 --> 00:03.390 Okay, we're in Deuteronomy chapter 7 this morning. 00:03.890 --> 00:05.270 Look down at your Bibles in verse 20. 00:05.410 --> 00:05.470 It says, 00:33.850 --> 00:43.290 This morning I want to preach on the advantages and dangers of incremental changes, the dangers 00:43.290 --> 00:46.030 and advantages of incremental changes. 00:46.210 --> 00:50.950 Christians can often underestimate the impact that little things can have in their spiritual 00:50.950 --> 00:55.750 lives, in their lives in general, a church, a family, an individual Christian. 00:55.750 --> 01:01.610 However, the Bible over and over and over again constantly emphasizes the power that little 01:01.610 --> 01:04.690 things can have over a period of time. 01:04.830 --> 01:07.050 Now, you stay in Deuteronomy chapter 7. 01:07.150 --> 01:09.830 I'm going to read to you from Proverbs chapter 30 and verse 24. 01:09.950 --> 01:10.130 It says, 01:10.270 --> 01:14.290 But there before which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise. 01:14.930 --> 01:19.370 The ants are as people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer. 01:19.890 --> 01:20.930 Verse 26 says, 01:21.070 --> 01:24.610 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make their houses in the rocks. 01:24.910 --> 01:28.830 The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands. 01:29.250 --> 01:33.570 The spider take its hold with their hands and is in king's palaces. 01:33.730 --> 01:35.070 What are the passages trying to teach us? 01:35.350 --> 01:40.850 It's trying to show us the impact that little things can really have over a long period 01:40.850 --> 01:41.490 of time. 01:41.570 --> 01:45.670 And make no mistake about it, nobody becomes spiritually strong overnight, right? 01:46.050 --> 01:52.250 Nobody becomes spiritually mature, have arrived overnight over a matter of months and even 01:52.250 --> 01:53.530 over a matter of years. 01:53.950 --> 01:57.690 Sometimes it takes decades to reach spiritual maturity. 01:58.190 --> 02:00.350 It happens little by little, right? 02:01.070 --> 02:05.590 Also nobody becomes a spiritual destruction or spiritually destroyed overnight. 02:06.030 --> 02:08.510 It happens little by little, okay? 02:08.870 --> 02:14.130 Oftentimes both spiritual growth and spiritual decline can happen incrementally, which is 02:14.130 --> 02:19.490 why it's important for us not to underestimate the importance of incremental change. 02:19.490 --> 02:25.890 And this morning I want to give you three things that are three advantages to the incremental 02:25.890 --> 02:30.910 growth, but I also want to give you three dangers to changing incrementally as well. 02:31.350 --> 02:36.090 Now you're in Deuteronomy chapter 7, point number one in this sermon is don't underestimate 02:36.090 --> 02:39.050 the little that God does in your personal life, right? 02:39.550 --> 02:44.650 The little growth that you experience over the weeks and months and years, don't 02:44.650 --> 02:45.470 underestimate that. 02:45.550 --> 02:48.370 You're like, oh man, I've been a Christian for like this entire year. 02:48.370 --> 02:53.210 I got saved two years ago, five years ago, and I just feel like I just don't know enough 02:53.210 --> 02:57.110 or I haven't reached the maturity that I would like to reach, reach that point that 02:57.110 --> 03:01.370 I really want to be at, but don't underestimate the growth that you have experienced though. 03:01.930 --> 03:08.490 Because growth, especially spiritual growth, happens little by little over a process of 03:08.490 --> 03:08.750 time. 03:08.810 --> 03:09.450 What am I talking about? 03:09.690 --> 03:12.490 I'm talking about the process of sanctification, right? 03:13.030 --> 03:16.070 Where God cleans us up little by little. 03:16.070 --> 03:19.010 He adds virtue to us little by little. 03:19.170 --> 03:22.170 He removes the bad habits little by little. 03:22.310 --> 03:26.850 It happens incrementally, and when you look at yourself 10 years down the road, you'll 03:26.850 --> 03:29.810 see that you're a completely different person than when you first got saved. 03:29.890 --> 03:31.390 Of course, if you stick it out, right? 03:32.030 --> 03:34.030 Now let me make a disclaimer here. 03:34.090 --> 03:35.910 I'm not talking about salvation, okay? 03:36.490 --> 03:38.570 Salvation is not an incremental thing. 03:38.730 --> 03:39.730 It's not a process. 03:40.150 --> 03:42.830 It's not something that happens little by little. 03:42.950 --> 03:44.650 Salvation happens in a moment, okay? 03:45.070 --> 03:49.310 As soon as you believe on Jesus Christ, you place your faith exclusively upon Him for salvation, 03:49.950 --> 03:50.870 you have justification. 03:51.650 --> 03:52.970 You have eternal life. 03:53.250 --> 03:54.590 You have the forgiveness of sins. 03:54.870 --> 03:56.010 It happens in a moment. 03:56.390 --> 03:57.550 That does happen in a moment. 03:58.090 --> 04:01.930 And there's a lot of people out there that think that salvation happens over time. 04:02.130 --> 04:04.650 Well, you know, you have to repent of your sins. 04:04.810 --> 04:06.610 You have to learn God's word. 04:06.770 --> 04:08.090 You have to go to church. 04:08.410 --> 04:11.130 You have to do all these things in order to obtain salvation. 04:11.130 --> 04:15.290 But here's the problem is that salvation is described as a gift. 04:15.810 --> 04:17.730 And a gift is something that you don't deserve. 04:18.050 --> 04:19.650 It's something that you cannot earn. 04:20.030 --> 04:25.030 Therefore, it's impossible for us to try to work our way to salvation since it's already 04:25.030 --> 04:27.370 been bought for us through the blood of Jesus Christ. 04:27.850 --> 04:32.150 For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, that not of yourselves. 04:32.450 --> 04:35.630 It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. 04:36.070 --> 04:38.990 And we never want to assume that people just know that, right? 04:38.990 --> 04:42.270 We never want to assume, because there's a lot of people out there that know that you have 04:42.270 --> 04:46.290 to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation, but there's one element that's missing from that 04:46.290 --> 04:46.730 and that's what? 04:47.410 --> 04:47.890 Eternal security. 04:48.390 --> 04:50.130 The belief that you can never lose your salvation. 04:50.850 --> 04:53.150 And I'm telling you right now, there's people out there that believe you have to 04:53.150 --> 04:58.130 trust in Jesus Christ, but because they miss that one particular element, that one factor 04:58.130 --> 05:02.170 that they can never lose their salvation, they'll never be saved because eternal security 05:02.170 --> 05:02.910 is the gospel. 05:03.710 --> 05:06.810 In fact, here's the thing is that, you know, yesterday we were out in Mexico 05:08.090 --> 05:13.570 and we're preaching the gospel and I spoke to two people specifically that, you know, 05:13.730 --> 05:18.510 one was a Jehovah's Witness and the other one was going to some non-denom type church 05:19.310 --> 05:22.910 and I'm preaching the gospel to them and it kind of gave me this look, right? 05:23.010 --> 05:26.910 As I'm explaining eternal security and what the Bible says about salvation that you 05:26.910 --> 05:30.350 can't lose it and they're just kind of like looking at me and I'm like, what are they 05:30.350 --> 05:30.730 going to say? 05:31.030 --> 05:33.810 You know, they're just kind of looking at me critically and I'm like, what are 05:33.810 --> 05:34.590 they going to come up with? 05:34.710 --> 05:35.510 You know, I've heard it all. 05:36.290 --> 05:40.790 And I kind of ask both of them, this is separate times, by the way, I asked them, 05:40.850 --> 05:43.050 I said, are you confused about something? 05:43.190 --> 05:45.070 Is there something that's not making sense to you? 05:45.510 --> 05:48.550 And this is what both of them said in separate occasions. 05:48.650 --> 05:51.230 They both said, I've actually never heard this before. 05:52.490 --> 05:55.490 They're like, this is the first time I've ever heard that you can never 05:55.490 --> 05:58.810 lose your salvation and this is the first time anyone has ever shown me 05:58.810 --> 06:01.490 from the Bible that you can never lose your salvation. 06:02.310 --> 06:04.930 They're like, this is a foreign concept to me. 06:04.930 --> 06:05.850 I've never heard that before. 06:06.950 --> 06:08.530 And then you said, what did you do? 06:08.650 --> 06:12.230 I just doubled down, you know, started showing them more scriptures because 06:12.230 --> 06:15.610 faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God and I'm just giving 06:15.610 --> 06:19.670 them the scriptures and the girl was just in tears and, you know, she ended 06:19.670 --> 06:20.590 up getting saved, right? 06:21.110 --> 06:22.730 And the other guy ended up getting saved as well. 06:22.890 --> 06:24.210 The Jehovah's Witness ended up getting saved. 06:24.850 --> 06:28.110 And they're just like really thankful that salvation is a gift. 06:28.390 --> 06:28.590 Why? 06:28.790 --> 06:32.590 Because their whole entire life, at least the time that they spend in 06:32.590 --> 06:37.250 their churches, they believe that salvation was a process, that it was 06:37.250 --> 06:40.610 done little by little, not realizing that they can literally have it at that 06:40.610 --> 06:40.810 moment. 06:40.930 --> 06:44.550 In fact, the Bible specifically says, the word is nigh thee, even in 06:44.550 --> 06:47.790 thy mouth, that is the word of faith, which we preach unto you, that if 06:47.790 --> 06:50.770 thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, believe in thine heart 06:50.770 --> 06:52.330 that God has raised them for the dead, thou shalt be saved. 06:54.410 --> 06:58.290 And so, you know, obviously, someone can spend a lifetime seeking 06:58.290 --> 07:01.090 the truth, but once they come to the saving knowledge of Jesus 07:01.090 --> 07:03.390 Christ, it happens in a moment, you understand? 07:04.330 --> 07:07.490 You know, and, you know, not all stories are like that, by the way, okay? 07:08.070 --> 07:10.470 You know, there's some stories that are just like tear jerkers, it's a 07:10.470 --> 07:13.630 great experience, it's beautiful, it's great, but then you have other 07:13.630 --> 07:15.410 weird stories, it's just like people are not good. 07:15.610 --> 07:17.870 You know, I talked to this guy yesterday, he was like laying on 07:17.870 --> 07:22.470 the grass, and his name was Henry, and in fact, JC also ran into him. 07:22.730 --> 07:24.650 And I tried to give him the gospel, and he's just like, oh, 07:24.670 --> 07:26.470 that's easy, he's like, I'm never going to die. 07:27.650 --> 07:28.430 I'm like, really? 07:29.610 --> 07:31.130 He's like, yeah, I'm never going to die. 07:31.470 --> 07:32.430 He's like, let me explain to you why. 07:33.330 --> 07:35.610 I'm like, all right, he's all back in 2000. 07:35.910 --> 07:36.790 I'm like, oh, man. 07:37.910 --> 07:40.530 And then he started going through this elaborate story, right? 07:40.630 --> 07:44.550 Just this really elaborate story about, you know, 80s music. 07:44.950 --> 07:46.910 It's just, and I'm just like, get to the point. 07:47.630 --> 07:49.950 So, he wouldn't get to the point, he's just saying that 07:49.950 --> 07:53.110 he had visions and heard of voices, and I'm trying to 07:53.110 --> 07:54.710 give him verses, but he's just not willing to listen. 07:54.770 --> 07:56.930 So I said, you know what, I got to go, you know? 07:57.330 --> 08:00.110 Here's the invite, here's the verse, I got to get going. 08:00.370 --> 08:01.310 He's like, no, no, no, don't leave. 08:01.390 --> 08:02.370 I want to talk to you some more. 08:02.950 --> 08:04.770 But the guy's just wasting my time, you know? 08:05.250 --> 08:06.530 So I was like, no, I got to go. 08:06.610 --> 08:09.690 I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me, you know? 08:10.010 --> 08:12.370 So I started walking away, and he's still laying down. 08:12.470 --> 08:14.450 He's not looking at me, and he's just like, 08:14.550 --> 08:16.330 don't forget me, you know, and this is all in Spanish. 08:16.690 --> 08:17.610 He's like, don't forget me. 08:18.170 --> 08:20.470 He's like, when you hear the wind, it's me. 08:26.300 --> 08:27.540 That's the kind of stuff you run into 08:27.540 --> 08:28.380 when you're out there, you know? 08:29.460 --> 08:33.280 And sure enough, Augusta when came by, 08:33.400 --> 08:34.740 and I was reminded of that guy. 08:35.240 --> 08:36.800 Not because I believe it was him, 08:37.320 --> 08:38.780 just because he said that, you know? 08:40.140 --> 08:43.380 The point that I'm making is that salvation is not a process. 08:44.640 --> 08:46.520 But sanctification is a process. 08:46.680 --> 08:49.040 And what is sanctification is God working in you 08:49.040 --> 08:50.760 both to will and to do of his good pleasure. 08:51.420 --> 08:53.100 And that happens over a period of time. 08:53.340 --> 08:54.940 But it does require for you to put in 08:54.940 --> 08:55.860 some effort to that, right? 08:56.440 --> 08:58.540 The sanctification process is lifelong, 08:59.080 --> 09:00.740 but if you want to yield, 09:00.860 --> 09:02.660 if you want that to yield the results, 09:03.320 --> 09:05.200 the blessings, the maturity, 09:05.480 --> 09:08.260 you have to do your part by reading the word of God, 09:08.760 --> 09:11.420 being in church, and allowing yourself 09:11.420 --> 09:12.560 to be filled with the Holy Spirit, 09:12.760 --> 09:14.200 walking in the Spirit so you don't fulfill 09:14.200 --> 09:15.380 the lust of the flesh and so forth. 09:16.220 --> 09:17.300 Now let's look at an example here. 09:17.420 --> 09:18.740 Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse 22. 09:20.040 --> 09:22.100 The Lord is speaking to the nation of Israel 09:22.100 --> 09:25.200 regarding the inhabitants of the land in Canaan land. 09:25.780 --> 09:27.200 And he's specifically saying like, 09:27.240 --> 09:30.060 look, there's the Hittites, the Gurgoshites, the Hivites. 09:30.500 --> 09:32.280 These are all greater than you. 09:32.860 --> 09:34.120 They're more powerful than you. 09:34.200 --> 09:35.900 They're greater in number than you. 09:36.620 --> 09:39.580 And so they are kind of worried about this, 09:39.660 --> 09:43.700 which is why he specifically says in verse number 17, 09:43.880 --> 09:44.980 if thou shalt say in thine heart, 09:45.420 --> 09:47.420 these nations are more than I. 09:47.780 --> 09:49.200 How can I dispossess them? 09:50.220 --> 09:51.240 He's basically saying, 09:51.320 --> 09:52.120 when you look at these nations, 09:52.220 --> 09:53.000 you're gonna think to yourself, 09:53.000 --> 09:55.580 this is a very daunting task. 09:56.060 --> 09:58.400 This seems like a very difficult thing to do. 09:58.820 --> 10:00.360 We're supposed to drive out these nations. 10:00.560 --> 10:01.940 How in the world are we gonna do that 10:01.940 --> 10:03.100 when they're greater than us? 10:03.560 --> 10:06.680 Now, how do we compare that to God working in us 10:06.680 --> 10:08.000 in the process of sanctification? 10:08.380 --> 10:10.340 You know, we can look at all the commandments of the Lord, 10:10.780 --> 10:12.500 all the things that we have to overcome, 10:12.900 --> 10:15.760 all the bad habits, all the false ideologies, 10:15.940 --> 10:17.600 maybe the strongholds that we have in our life. 10:17.760 --> 10:18.600 And we can think to ourselves, 10:18.880 --> 10:20.440 like, how am I gonna be able to dispossess this? 10:21.000 --> 10:23.020 How am I gonna be able to grow out of this? 10:23.180 --> 10:24.760 How can I reach spiritual maturity, 10:24.860 --> 10:26.220 have so much to work on? 10:26.540 --> 10:30.020 I'll tell you how, little by little, inch by inch, 10:30.180 --> 10:33.620 day by day, week by week, year by year, 10:34.020 --> 10:36.600 you will be able to dispossess the old man. 10:37.220 --> 10:38.320 He says in verse 22, 10:38.500 --> 10:40.640 and the Lord thy God will put out those nations 10:41.360 --> 10:45.380 before thee by little and little. 10:45.500 --> 10:46.660 And I do want you to notice that it says 10:46.660 --> 10:49.660 that the Lord will dispossess them, right? 10:50.420 --> 10:54.220 Because it's God ultimately who allows us to overcome 10:54.620 --> 10:57.900 the desires of the flesh, overcome false ideologies. 10:58.200 --> 10:59.480 I can do all things through Christ 10:59.480 --> 11:00.240 which strengtheneth me. 11:01.060 --> 11:02.520 But the main thing I want you to notice 11:02.520 --> 11:03.440 is the fact that he says, 11:03.760 --> 11:05.900 I'm gonna put them out from before you 11:05.900 --> 11:08.300 by little and little. 11:08.440 --> 11:09.560 Now, obviously God can just come 11:09.560 --> 11:10.420 and just wipe the entire, 11:11.200 --> 11:13.000 wipe all the Canaanites out of the land, 11:13.100 --> 11:15.320 just in one swipe, no problem, right? 11:15.760 --> 11:17.580 But he specifically says that he's gonna do it 11:17.580 --> 11:18.800 little by little, why? 11:19.240 --> 11:19.960 Look what it goes on to say. 11:20.960 --> 11:23.240 Thou mayst not consume them at once 11:23.660 --> 11:27.460 lest the beast of the field increase upon thee. 11:27.600 --> 11:28.500 So he specifically says, 11:28.760 --> 11:31.300 I'm not gonna let you just overcome them all in one shot 11:31.840 --> 11:33.280 because then there's nothing left to do. 11:34.340 --> 11:36.060 There's nothing else left to do. 11:36.380 --> 11:37.400 You know, the Christian life, 11:37.520 --> 11:39.320 the reason God wants us to work 11:39.320 --> 11:42.140 on our lives spiritually little by little 11:42.140 --> 11:44.100 is because it gives us something 11:44.100 --> 11:46.060 to obey each and every day. 11:46.580 --> 11:48.640 If you just came with batteries included, 11:49.020 --> 11:50.680 as soon as you got saved, there's nothing to work on. 11:51.300 --> 11:52.780 There's nothing you have to work on. 11:52.960 --> 11:53.940 There's no prayer needed. 11:54.420 --> 11:55.960 There's no Bible reading needed. 11:56.280 --> 11:58.600 There's no having to learn how to preach the gospel, 11:58.880 --> 12:00.220 how to learn your biblical roles. 12:00.320 --> 12:01.420 There's nothing to work on. 12:01.520 --> 12:02.360 But you know what, in the Christian life, 12:02.420 --> 12:03.420 there's always something to do. 12:04.300 --> 12:05.100 You can never say, 12:05.180 --> 12:06.420 well, I've already apprehended, 12:06.580 --> 12:07.420 I've already arrived, 12:07.760 --> 12:09.180 I already know everything there is to know 12:09.180 --> 12:10.840 about the Christian life about the Bible. 12:10.840 --> 12:11.160 But why? 12:11.440 --> 12:13.400 Because there's always something left to do. 12:14.480 --> 12:16.480 You know, it's like your vehicle, right? 12:17.220 --> 12:18.880 Once you fix one thing of the vehicle, 12:19.040 --> 12:20.620 like something else breaks down, right? 12:21.080 --> 12:22.620 And then once you get that fixed, 12:22.760 --> 12:23.740 then there's something else that's breaking. 12:23.840 --> 12:25.080 Then you have to work on something else. 12:25.300 --> 12:26.680 Well, that's kind of how the Christian life is. 12:27.160 --> 12:28.640 Once you fix one part of your life, 12:28.660 --> 12:30.120 there's something else that needs to be worked on. 12:30.420 --> 12:31.120 What does that show us? 12:31.400 --> 12:32.920 It shows us that the Christian life 12:32.920 --> 12:36.360 is something that's done little by little inch by inch. 12:36.460 --> 12:38.120 Go to Exodus chapter 23, if you would. 12:38.440 --> 12:39.260 Exodus 23. 12:39.260 --> 12:40.700 As you're turning there, 12:40.760 --> 12:42.240 I'm gonna read you from Philippians chapter one 12:42.240 --> 12:43.160 in verse number six. 12:43.660 --> 12:44.340 The apostle Paul, 12:44.600 --> 12:46.060 stating here to the Philippians, 12:46.960 --> 12:48.960 being confident of this very thing, 12:49.680 --> 12:51.880 that he which has begun a good work in you 12:52.380 --> 12:55.300 will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. 12:55.860 --> 12:56.580 Now let me just say this, 12:56.680 --> 12:57.960 is that that promise is true 12:57.960 --> 12:59.680 even if someone doesn't work on themselves. 13:01.920 --> 13:03.560 That promise is true 13:04.020 --> 13:07.300 even if that person chooses not to go to church, 13:07.720 --> 13:08.700 not to read the Bible, 13:08.700 --> 13:09.880 not to do good works. 13:10.120 --> 13:10.980 You know the Bible's telling us here, 13:11.280 --> 13:13.480 Jesus will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. 13:13.920 --> 13:14.680 And what does that refer into? 13:15.300 --> 13:17.560 Well, when it comes to this matter of salvation, 13:18.460 --> 13:20.540 justification happens at the moment we get saved. 13:20.900 --> 13:21.880 We believe on Jesus Christ. 13:22.520 --> 13:24.240 Sanctification is a lifelong process. 13:25.260 --> 13:27.300 Glorification is when God redeems 13:27.300 --> 13:29.320 our corruptible bodies to become sinless. 13:29.720 --> 13:30.020 Okay? 13:31.140 --> 13:32.480 And here's an easy way to explain it. 13:32.880 --> 13:34.240 Justification is when we get saved. 13:34.400 --> 13:36.620 Sanctification is a lifelong process. 13:36.620 --> 13:38.000 Glorification means, 13:38.300 --> 13:40.480 no matter what happens to the process of sanctification, 13:40.680 --> 13:41.340 we're still saved. 13:42.160 --> 13:44.820 Why? Because God will glorify the body one day. 13:45.060 --> 13:46.340 Not because of anything that we've done, 13:46.420 --> 13:48.540 but because Jesus will perform it 13:49.220 --> 13:50.460 until the day of Jesus Christ. 13:51.500 --> 13:53.900 He's promising to resurrect us. 13:54.100 --> 13:56.380 He's promising to regenerate our physical bodies. 13:56.760 --> 13:59.160 He's promising to glorify us 13:59.160 --> 14:00.780 and resurrect us in the last day. 14:01.520 --> 14:02.780 And so you say, well, 14:02.900 --> 14:04.360 then what's the point of even trying then? 14:04.360 --> 14:06.700 Why should I even want to be sanctified? 14:06.940 --> 14:09.340 Why should I even try to read my Bible 14:09.340 --> 14:11.560 and live a godly life and do all these things? 14:12.300 --> 14:13.360 Why should I even put into effort? 14:13.500 --> 14:13.960 I'll tell you why. 14:14.080 --> 14:15.160 Number one, because we love the Lord. 14:17.180 --> 14:19.700 And we should desire to obey the commandments of the Lord, 14:20.060 --> 14:21.420 but also because of the fact 14:21.420 --> 14:24.280 that there's earthly consequences to your disobedience. 14:25.000 --> 14:26.180 So yeah, it's true. 14:26.540 --> 14:27.600 Yeah, after salvation, 14:27.980 --> 14:30.680 you can just live a completely just godless life, 14:32.040 --> 14:32.920 fornication, drunkenness. 14:32.920 --> 14:35.360 You have the free will to do so, absolutely. 14:36.220 --> 14:37.380 But hold on a second, 14:37.540 --> 14:39.460 that doesn't mean that there's no consequences 14:39.460 --> 14:40.540 to those actions though, 14:41.240 --> 14:44.320 because there's earthly consequences to your sin, 14:44.660 --> 14:46.100 this side of eternity. 14:46.540 --> 14:47.380 The Bible tells us, 14:47.680 --> 14:48.380 whom the Lord loveth, 14:48.540 --> 14:51.720 he chasteneth and scourgeeth every son whom he receiveth. 14:52.260 --> 14:54.460 So that should be a motivator 14:54.460 --> 14:57.520 and incentive to you and I to live a godly life. 14:58.560 --> 15:01.720 You know, to be sanctified and live holy, 15:01.720 --> 15:03.920 even if we don't get that perfectly done, 15:04.020 --> 15:04.700 this side of eternity. 15:05.240 --> 15:07.060 Because at least we avoid 15:07.540 --> 15:09.120 the destruction of sin, 15:09.640 --> 15:10.180 this side of eternity. 15:10.420 --> 15:12.540 But also, we wanna live sanctified lives 15:12.540 --> 15:14.320 because of the fact that we want God to use us. 15:15.220 --> 15:17.820 If a man therefore separate himself from these, 15:18.280 --> 15:19.420 sanctify himself from these, 15:19.700 --> 15:21.220 he shall be meat for the master's use. 15:21.940 --> 15:22.420 In other words, 15:22.600 --> 15:23.840 if you live a sanctified life, 15:24.140 --> 15:26.100 you become a vessel in the hands of God 15:26.100 --> 15:27.420 to preach the gospel, 15:27.580 --> 15:28.520 to get other people saved, 15:28.780 --> 15:30.620 to make a difference for eternity 15:30.620 --> 15:32.700 and in turn, that produces blessings. 15:33.360 --> 15:36.800 We want to avoid the consequences of our actions 15:36.800 --> 15:40.440 but we also want to experience the blessings of the Lord. 15:40.700 --> 15:42.780 This all happens in the process of sanctification. 15:43.400 --> 15:44.220 But let me say this, 15:44.460 --> 15:46.220 if you choose to do nothing during this time, 15:46.360 --> 15:47.480 glorification is always there 15:47.480 --> 15:49.020 because Jesus will perform it 15:49.020 --> 15:50.940 until the day of Jesus Christ. 15:51.720 --> 15:53.680 We will experience the redemption of our body. 15:54.040 --> 15:54.740 The Bible tells us, 15:54.840 --> 15:55.800 in whom you also trusted 15:55.800 --> 15:57.700 after that you received the knowledge of the truth, 15:58.020 --> 15:59.100 the gospel of your salvation 15:59.100 --> 16:00.740 and whom also after that you believed, 16:01.000 --> 16:02.560 you receive what the Holy Spirit of promise, 16:02.920 --> 16:04.760 which is the earnest of our inheritance 16:05.240 --> 16:08.460 unto the redemption of the purchase possession. 16:09.060 --> 16:10.440 What is the purchase possession of this body? 16:11.780 --> 16:13.480 So God has purchased your body 16:13.480 --> 16:14.460 at the moment of salvation 16:14.460 --> 16:16.460 but he hasn't fully redeemed it 16:16.460 --> 16:17.700 until the resurrection comes. 16:18.920 --> 16:20.060 So what's the point here? 16:20.140 --> 16:22.760 The point is that God has to work on you 16:22.760 --> 16:23.400 little by little. 16:25.300 --> 16:27.780 But he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. 16:27.880 --> 16:28.960 I'm gonna read one more verse here 16:28.960 --> 16:30.280 before we get into Exodus 23. 16:30.660 --> 16:31.800 Proverbs 4, 18 says, 16:32.020 --> 16:35.820 but the path of the just is as the shining light. 16:36.340 --> 16:39.420 The shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 16:40.240 --> 16:42.300 You know, one thing that as a saved person, 16:42.460 --> 16:44.040 if you remain faithful to the things of God, 16:44.160 --> 16:44.920 things just get clearer. 16:46.000 --> 16:47.060 Things become more clear. 16:47.560 --> 16:48.760 They become understandable. 16:49.260 --> 16:50.140 The more you read the Bible, 16:50.240 --> 16:51.180 the more you understand it. 16:51.460 --> 16:52.220 The more you go to church, 16:52.280 --> 16:54.120 the more you'll get from the preaching of God's word. 16:54.440 --> 16:55.740 The more you serve God, 16:55.740 --> 16:57.820 the brighter the light becomes 16:58.200 --> 16:59.180 of your understanding. 16:59.500 --> 17:01.620 But it happens little by little. 17:02.080 --> 17:04.380 Look at Exodus 23 and verse 29. 17:05.380 --> 17:08.420 This is another portion of a parallel scripture 17:08.420 --> 17:09.800 to what we read in Deuteronomy 7. 17:10.440 --> 17:10.640 It says, 17:25.740 --> 17:27.780 So what's the purpose of God working in us 17:27.780 --> 17:28.580 little by little? 17:29.100 --> 17:29.560 Spiritual growth. 17:30.280 --> 17:32.300 We need to grow spiritually 17:32.690 --> 17:35.340 and sometimes we as Christians are not ready 17:35.890 --> 17:37.240 for certain things in the Christian life. 17:37.620 --> 17:38.580 Certain truths, 17:39.120 --> 17:41.240 certain actions, certain responsibilities are just not ready. 17:41.440 --> 17:43.800 It's called spiritual immaturity, right? 17:45.060 --> 17:46.780 But the more God works on you, 17:47.060 --> 17:48.340 the more he does it little by little, 17:48.440 --> 17:51.080 the more you're capable of understanding these things. 17:51.440 --> 17:53.820 And let's just use a practical example here 17:53.820 --> 17:54.960 of reading the Bible. 17:55.920 --> 17:57.980 You know, I've read the Bible over the last 20 years, 17:58.300 --> 17:59.500 but I'll be honest with you, 17:59.600 --> 18:01.740 I know more now than I did when I first got saved. 18:02.380 --> 18:04.740 When I first got saved, I read a cover to cover 18:05.240 --> 18:07.360 and I didn't understand a large portion of the Bible. 18:08.060 --> 18:09.480 It just went over my head. 18:09.880 --> 18:11.600 And it probably goes over your head too 18:11.600 --> 18:12.360 when you're reading it, 18:12.620 --> 18:13.580 because that's just normal. 18:14.040 --> 18:14.400 But you know what? 18:14.460 --> 18:15.840 The more you read the Bible, 18:16.200 --> 18:17.140 little by little, 18:17.680 --> 18:19.700 the more you allow the Holy Spirit 18:19.700 --> 18:21.280 to minister unto you 18:21.280 --> 18:22.800 through the reading of God's word 18:22.800 --> 18:23.560 that you're given attendance 18:23.560 --> 18:25.000 to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, 18:25.000 --> 18:26.760 the more you will understand. 18:27.960 --> 18:28.960 But it takes little by little. 18:29.320 --> 18:31.560 You know, get away from this microwave Christianity 18:31.560 --> 18:33.220 where you just wanna know doctrine 18:33.220 --> 18:36.480 and all the deep things of God overnight, okay? 18:36.900 --> 18:39.480 This drive-through microwave society, 18:39.840 --> 18:41.060 why don't you actually take the time 18:41.060 --> 18:42.760 to read the Bible over a lifetime? 18:43.640 --> 18:45.320 Well, I saw Instagram Reel 18:45.320 --> 18:46.900 where I just learned everything that I need to know 18:46.900 --> 18:47.940 and now I'm spiritually mature. 18:48.020 --> 18:48.480 No, you're not. 18:50.020 --> 18:51.240 You know, if a man thinks himself 18:51.240 --> 18:52.420 to know anything, he knows nothing. 18:53.380 --> 18:56.000 And so it's important for us to recognize the importance 18:57.020 --> 18:58.920 of growing little by little. 18:58.980 --> 19:00.060 Good or Deuteronomy chapter eight, 19:00.300 --> 19:01.180 Deuteronomy chapter eight. 19:02.360 --> 19:03.220 Like, I don't understand. 19:03.660 --> 19:05.120 You know, if God wants us to be mature, 19:05.780 --> 19:07.760 why doesn't he just mature us right away? 19:08.600 --> 19:10.560 Like, if that's his will for our lives, 19:11.420 --> 19:13.300 why, you know, if that's what he wants from us, 19:13.360 --> 19:14.940 if that's what he's commanding us to do, 19:15.080 --> 19:17.160 to grow in grace and in the knowledge 19:17.160 --> 19:18.540 of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, 19:18.960 --> 19:21.560 why doesn't he just kinda instill it within us 19:22.100 --> 19:26.260 and remove the bad desires all in one swipe, 19:26.660 --> 19:28.620 add all the godly virtues in one swipe, 19:28.880 --> 19:29.880 why doesn't he do that? 19:30.060 --> 19:31.780 Well, look at Deuteronomy chapter eight and verse one. 19:33.160 --> 19:34.640 It says, all the commandments which I command thee 19:34.640 --> 19:37.220 this day shall ye observe to do 19:37.220 --> 19:38.660 that ye may live and multiply, 19:38.860 --> 19:40.000 go in and possess the land 19:40.000 --> 19:42.140 which the Lord swear unto your fathers. 19:43.000 --> 19:45.160 And thou shall remember all the way 19:45.660 --> 19:47.960 which the Lord thy God led thee 19:47.960 --> 19:49.280 these 40 years in the wilderness. 19:49.760 --> 19:50.740 And I want you to notice this. 19:50.740 --> 19:54.500 To humble thee and to prove thee 19:54.960 --> 19:56.980 to know what was in thine heart 19:56.980 --> 20:00.140 whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no. 20:00.600 --> 20:02.780 So he's saying, look, I could have brought you 20:02.780 --> 20:05.180 to the promised land really quick. 20:05.520 --> 20:06.840 And obviously, you know, they disobeyed 20:06.840 --> 20:08.300 and therefore they had to want it for 40 years. 20:08.520 --> 20:09.480 But why 40 years? 20:09.680 --> 20:11.060 Well, he's specifically saying here, 20:11.260 --> 20:13.820 I'm doing it in order to humble you 20:14.280 --> 20:17.160 in order to prove you, to test you 20:17.160 --> 20:18.560 to see if you're willing 20:18.560 --> 20:20.220 to keep the commandments of God or not. 20:21.080 --> 20:23.800 You see, the reason spiritual growth takes a long time 20:23.800 --> 20:26.640 is because we come into the Christian life proud. 20:28.520 --> 20:28.840 Okay? 20:29.240 --> 20:31.500 We can, you know, have pride, 20:32.540 --> 20:34.160 arrogancey, thinking there was something 20:34.160 --> 20:35.000 when we're really nothing. 20:35.380 --> 20:36.080 You know what God has to do? 20:36.160 --> 20:36.900 He has to humble you. 20:37.820 --> 20:39.440 He has to abase you. 20:39.920 --> 20:41.980 He has to knock you off your high horse 20:41.980 --> 20:43.580 because in order for him to use you 20:43.580 --> 20:44.900 he can't use proud people 20:44.900 --> 20:46.200 because God resisted that the proud 20:46.200 --> 20:47.280 would give it grace into the humble. 20:49.260 --> 20:51.120 So he says, I'm doing it to humble you. 20:51.280 --> 20:53.500 I'm doing it to prove you, to test you 20:53.500 --> 20:54.940 and I wanna know what's in your heart. 20:55.460 --> 20:56.520 Why are you in church? 20:57.340 --> 20:58.780 Why are you serving God? 20:59.280 --> 21:00.460 What's the intention behind it? 21:00.500 --> 21:01.640 What is the motive that you have 21:01.640 --> 21:02.720 behind the things that you do? 21:04.280 --> 21:06.560 And I want you to experience hardship. 21:08.000 --> 21:10.480 And look, folks, make no mistake about it. 21:10.840 --> 21:13.920 As a Christian, the Christian life is not a bed of roses. 21:14.840 --> 21:15.780 It's a beautiful thing. 21:15.980 --> 21:16.540 It's awesome. 21:16.920 --> 21:17.380 It's great. 21:17.380 --> 21:18.440 I wouldn't trade it for the world, 21:18.680 --> 21:20.740 but there's a lot of trials and tribulations 21:20.740 --> 21:22.380 and difficulties in the Christian life. 21:22.960 --> 21:24.900 You know what God allows those things in our life? 21:25.240 --> 21:27.040 To see if you're willing to keep the commandments 21:27.040 --> 21:28.180 during those times or not. 21:29.180 --> 21:30.480 It's easy to keep the commandments 21:30.480 --> 21:31.320 when everything's going good. 21:31.920 --> 21:34.060 It's easy to serve God when everything's going great. 21:34.320 --> 21:36.040 It's difficult to do when everything's hard. 21:37.420 --> 21:38.460 And he wants to see, oh, 21:38.660 --> 21:40.220 when this person is going through a hard time, 21:40.340 --> 21:41.240 when they're being humbled, 21:41.460 --> 21:42.500 when they're going through a trial, 21:42.680 --> 21:44.140 when they're going through sicknesses, 21:44.420 --> 21:45.980 when they're going through cancer, 21:45.980 --> 21:47.620 when they're going through death, 21:47.940 --> 21:49.340 when they're going through financial woes, 21:49.500 --> 21:51.500 are they going to keep serving God? 21:52.260 --> 21:54.920 Are they going to keep the commandments yes or no? 21:55.880 --> 21:57.760 He wants to see if you're made out of substance. 21:59.160 --> 22:00.360 Because make no mistake about it. 22:00.420 --> 22:03.120 Many Christians don't really finish their course. 22:04.500 --> 22:06.560 They're saved, but they don't finish the course. 22:07.660 --> 22:09.260 They're on fire one moment 22:09.260 --> 22:10.560 and then the next moment they get humbled. 22:10.680 --> 22:11.240 You know what happens? 22:11.340 --> 22:12.060 They leave church. 22:12.440 --> 22:13.740 They get out of the will of God. 22:14.040 --> 22:15.300 They go back to the world, 22:15.300 --> 22:16.580 back to their lifestyle. 22:17.280 --> 22:18.840 You know, they keep their salvation 22:18.840 --> 22:19.820 because salvation is a gift. 22:19.940 --> 22:20.620 But let me just say this. 22:20.980 --> 22:22.520 They lose out on all the blessings 22:22.520 --> 22:23.680 that comes with being a Christian though. 22:25.020 --> 22:26.100 And they fail to test. 22:27.160 --> 22:28.180 They fail to test. 22:28.960 --> 22:30.760 There's a lot of people who were in the wilderness 22:30.760 --> 22:32.200 that didn't make it to the Promised Land. 22:32.760 --> 22:33.880 Because God tested them, 22:33.940 --> 22:35.500 he proved them and they died in the wilderness. 22:35.940 --> 22:36.840 You know, one thing you don't want to do 22:36.840 --> 22:38.120 is die in the wilderness. 22:39.240 --> 22:40.780 Die a backslidden Christian. 22:41.180 --> 22:42.400 Die outside of church. 22:42.700 --> 22:43.900 Die outside of your Bible. 22:43.900 --> 22:45.520 Die outside of the service of God. 22:45.580 --> 22:46.400 You don't want to do that. 22:47.620 --> 22:49.280 So just be reminded that the next time 22:49.280 --> 22:50.740 you're going through a difficult time, 22:50.860 --> 22:52.060 you're going through a trial, 22:52.660 --> 22:54.800 that's not an indication that you need to quit. 22:56.340 --> 22:58.200 And say, well, I need to take a break from church. 22:59.000 --> 23:01.260 I need to take a break from just this Christian life. 23:01.640 --> 23:03.980 I need to just go live a Godless life for a little bit. 23:04.220 --> 23:05.640 Just get my fix real quick. 23:06.620 --> 23:08.960 I need to just go drink and smoke 23:08.960 --> 23:10.080 and run with those that do 23:10.080 --> 23:11.440 and then I'll come back when I'm ready. 23:11.600 --> 23:11.780 Wrong. 23:12.260 --> 23:16.080 The test is there for God to see what are you made of? 23:18.500 --> 23:20.020 Are you going to keep the commandments or no? 23:20.120 --> 23:20.700 He said in verse three, 23:33.420 --> 23:35.560 So he's saying, you know, 23:35.700 --> 23:37.380 when they went through those trials in the wilderness, 23:37.820 --> 23:38.680 God was still with them. 23:39.340 --> 23:40.640 God still provided for them. 23:41.140 --> 23:43.640 He gave them manna because he wanted to demonstrate 23:43.640 --> 23:44.700 that he was still there. 23:45.480 --> 23:46.100 And you know what? 23:46.160 --> 23:48.000 Let me just remind you that when you're going through a trial 23:48.000 --> 23:50.040 and God's working on you little by little, 23:50.400 --> 23:52.020 you better make sure you pay attention 23:52.020 --> 23:53.920 to the things that God is doing in your life 23:53.920 --> 23:56.480 and stop magnifying the things that you think he's not. 23:57.580 --> 23:59.140 Oh man, I'm going through a trial. 23:59.320 --> 24:00.140 This is so hard. 24:00.280 --> 24:01.700 Why is God doing this to me? 24:01.920 --> 24:02.480 What do you mean? 24:03.240 --> 24:03.920 Why are you whining? 24:04.900 --> 24:06.460 Look at all the things that God has done. 24:06.920 --> 24:08.320 Look how much God has blessed you. 24:08.840 --> 24:10.740 Look at the spiritual manna that you've received. 24:11.200 --> 24:12.120 Look at all the provision. 24:12.400 --> 24:13.600 Look at all the blessings that you have. 24:13.860 --> 24:15.840 Look at the silver lining in those things. 24:17.140 --> 24:17.540 Okay? 24:18.420 --> 24:19.220 He even said in verse four, 24:26.400 --> 24:26.800 that 24:31.220 --> 24:33.440 So he's like, take all these things into consideration 24:33.860 --> 24:34.880 but also remember this. 24:35.360 --> 24:37.220 You know, just as a father whoops his son, 24:37.820 --> 24:38.940 I'm whooping you too. 24:40.480 --> 24:40.920 Okay? 24:41.840 --> 24:43.920 And we need to have a different perspective 24:44.340 --> 24:45.500 on when God chastens us 24:45.500 --> 24:47.040 and not think, oh man, 24:47.160 --> 24:48.840 God just must be really mad at me or something. 24:49.560 --> 24:50.860 Well, he's our heavenly father. 24:51.780 --> 24:52.740 He loves us. 24:53.120 --> 24:54.500 He'll never leave us nor forsake us. 24:54.820 --> 24:56.120 And sometimes we just need a whooping. 24:57.280 --> 24:58.300 You need a whooping. 24:59.280 --> 25:00.220 You need a spanking. 25:02.040 --> 25:03.640 You need to be chastised. 25:04.200 --> 25:04.460 Why? 25:04.460 --> 25:06.360 Because sometimes we do stupid stuff. 25:07.440 --> 25:08.460 Sometimes we disobey. 25:08.620 --> 25:10.120 We have wrong ways of thinking. 25:10.520 --> 25:10.840 You know what? 25:10.920 --> 25:12.280 God doesn't want you to destroy your life. 25:12.360 --> 25:13.040 So you know what he has to do? 25:13.120 --> 25:14.620 He has to spank you back on the path. 25:16.340 --> 25:18.580 You know, a massive hand from the sky 25:18.580 --> 25:20.360 is not gonna come and slap you across the face. 25:20.560 --> 25:25.220 Although that would be great for some Christians. 25:26.900 --> 25:28.500 Sometimes he just might chastise you 25:28.500 --> 25:29.940 by just destroying your finances. 25:31.400 --> 25:32.280 Destroying your job. 25:32.760 --> 25:33.620 Destroying your health. 25:34.060 --> 25:35.480 Trying to get your attention. 25:36.300 --> 25:37.840 Like, hey, hey, hey, just let you know 25:37.840 --> 25:38.820 I gave you all these things 25:38.820 --> 25:40.300 and I can remove them at any given time. 25:41.500 --> 25:43.300 To humble you, okay? 25:44.200 --> 25:45.660 Go to Matthew chapter 13, if you would. 25:45.740 --> 25:46.640 Matthew chapter 13. 25:48.280 --> 25:49.800 Matthew chapter 13. 25:52.140 --> 25:52.800 What's the point? 25:52.960 --> 25:55.960 You know, God works in you little by little. 25:56.440 --> 25:57.560 There's no need to rush. 25:57.740 --> 26:00.320 Now, don't take this the wrong way either, though. 26:00.380 --> 26:01.580 Don't misinterpret what I'm saying. 26:02.420 --> 26:04.640 Just because I'm saying that God works in you little by little 26:05.180 --> 26:07.300 doesn't mean that you should be lazy either, though. 26:08.440 --> 26:10.840 You know, you've been coming to church for like a year. 26:11.420 --> 26:12.660 You've been coming to church for like five years. 26:12.780 --> 26:13.620 Still don't read your Bible. 26:13.840 --> 26:15.200 You're like, oh, God's still working on me, brother. 26:16.080 --> 26:18.220 Just little by little, not trying to rush anything. 26:18.960 --> 26:19.920 Why aren't you soul winning? 26:20.100 --> 26:22.500 Nah, you're just little by little, okay? 26:23.500 --> 26:25.440 Why are you, you know, fill in the blank? 26:25.660 --> 26:28.660 Oh, God's just working on me, you know? 26:29.360 --> 26:32.020 You need to make sure that you go all in, okay? 26:32.440 --> 26:33.600 You need to make sure that whatever 26:33.600 --> 26:36.620 that hand, find it to do, do it with thy might. 26:36.920 --> 26:38.580 Make sure that you become a fisher of men. 26:38.900 --> 26:40.060 Make sure that you put in the effort 26:40.060 --> 26:42.520 to start reading your Bible every single day, 26:42.720 --> 26:43.780 that you're going to church, 26:44.060 --> 26:45.460 you're doing what you're supposed to do, 26:45.720 --> 26:47.760 and then let God make up the difference. 26:48.340 --> 26:50.520 Because you'll notice that when you put in the effort 26:50.520 --> 26:52.520 to do these things, it doesn't really make a difference 26:52.520 --> 26:54.920 until God makes up the difference. 26:55.780 --> 26:58.020 Then you realize, like, it's God who's working in me. 26:58.020 --> 27:00.960 I need to make sure that I do my part as well. 27:01.080 --> 27:02.640 Look at Matthew 13, verse 31, 27:02.840 --> 27:04.740 it says, another parable putting forth unto them, same. 27:05.320 --> 27:08.880 The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, 27:09.360 --> 27:10.880 which a man took and sowed in his field, 27:11.460 --> 27:13.680 which indeed is the least of all seeds, 27:13.820 --> 27:17.400 but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, 27:17.980 --> 27:20.400 and become of the tree so that the birds of the air 27:20.400 --> 27:23.400 come and lodge in the branches thereof. 27:23.460 --> 27:23.920 What is that saying? 27:24.260 --> 27:26.760 It's saying, don't underestimate the little things. 27:27.640 --> 27:30.400 Just because you have a little growth this year, 27:30.700 --> 27:32.020 a little growth this month, 27:32.320 --> 27:35.080 over a period of time it makes up 27:35.080 --> 27:37.040 a major difference in the long run. 27:37.500 --> 27:38.760 You need to recognize the importance 27:38.760 --> 27:41.840 of reading a little Bible, being in church, 27:42.620 --> 27:45.160 going out and preaching the gospel every week, 27:45.440 --> 27:47.280 making sure that you're incrementally 27:47.280 --> 27:50.600 becoming better each and every year. 27:50.920 --> 27:52.140 Don't underestimate that. 27:52.460 --> 28:02.700 Go to Matthew 20, Matthew 20, Matthew 20. 28:02.700 --> 28:07.420 Now along with that, it's important for us to recognize 28:08.900 --> 28:11.920 that we need to be little in our own sights still. 28:12.560 --> 28:14.240 Because God works in you little by little, 28:14.340 --> 28:15.840 but sometimes people recognize 28:15.840 --> 28:16.900 that God is working in them. 28:17.040 --> 28:20.160 They're like, God is using me to get a lot of people saved, 28:20.320 --> 28:23.180 to bring people to church, to change me, 28:24.300 --> 28:25.960 and you still need to make sure 28:25.960 --> 28:27.700 that you have this view of yourself 28:28.260 --> 28:30.320 that you're not all that you're cracked up to be. 28:33.080 --> 28:33.680 That's important. 28:34.760 --> 28:35.460 What do I mean? 28:35.660 --> 28:36.000 Stay humble. 28:37.400 --> 28:41.380 You know God uses people, He blesses people, 28:41.820 --> 28:43.480 and there's a danger in that sometimes. 28:44.400 --> 28:46.780 And the danger is that the vessel, 28:47.400 --> 28:49.260 the person being used allows themselves 28:49.260 --> 28:51.380 to become proud, arrogant, 28:52.020 --> 28:54.540 and thereby disqualifies themselves from being used. 28:55.260 --> 28:58.400 So if you want to continue to be used of God, 28:59.160 --> 29:01.920 be little in thine own sight, okay? 29:02.720 --> 29:04.100 Be a humble individual. 29:04.300 --> 29:06.300 There's no room for pride in the Christian life. 29:07.360 --> 29:09.160 And look, you're like, man, 29:09.420 --> 29:11.680 I feel like God has used me greatly this year. 29:12.060 --> 29:13.260 He's blessed me tremendously. 29:13.860 --> 29:15.280 You better stay little in your own sight. 29:15.840 --> 29:18.600 Let another man praise thee and not thine own lips, right? 29:19.320 --> 29:20.620 Make sure that you recognize 29:20.620 --> 29:23.760 that at the end of the day, yeah, God has used you, 29:24.040 --> 29:26.680 but if you want God to continue to use you, 29:26.680 --> 29:29.380 you need to have a little view of yourself 29:30.300 --> 29:31.700 and recognize, you know what? 29:31.800 --> 29:33.380 At the end of the day, it's because of God, 29:33.620 --> 29:35.080 it's because of my church, because of my parents, 29:35.220 --> 29:37.720 because of the people who've invested in me, 29:37.880 --> 29:39.520 and at the end of the day, you know, 29:40.080 --> 29:40.980 it could all be taken away 29:40.980 --> 29:42.360 and God can stop using me tomorrow. 29:43.240 --> 29:44.680 Keep having that attitude 29:45.300 --> 29:47.660 so that God can continue to use you, okay? 29:47.920 --> 29:49.220 Look at Matthew 20, verse 25, 29:49.360 --> 29:51.500 but Jesus called them untoms and said, 29:51.980 --> 29:53.500 you know that the princes of the Gentiles 29:53.500 --> 29:55.160 exercise dominion over them, 29:55.680 --> 29:58.320 and they that are great exercise authority upon them, 29:58.720 --> 30:01.100 but it shall not be so among you, 30:01.500 --> 30:03.420 but whose server will be great among you, 30:03.740 --> 30:04.900 let him be your minister, 30:05.500 --> 30:07.280 and whose server will be chief among you, 30:07.580 --> 30:10.000 let him be your servant. 30:10.040 --> 30:12.520 We live in a society that just wants to mug everyone. 30:13.920 --> 30:14.180 Right? 30:15.340 --> 30:15.560 Right? 30:16.200 --> 30:16.280 Right. 30:17.240 --> 30:18.840 You know, all these young people, 30:18.920 --> 30:19.800 they just want to mug, 30:20.020 --> 30:22.020 and if you're old, don't just tune me out. 30:23.440 --> 30:23.840 Mug? 30:25.400 --> 30:26.740 What does mug mean? 30:27.980 --> 30:29.660 Just tune me out if you're older, 30:30.140 --> 30:31.580 like me, I'm old too. 30:31.940 --> 30:33.420 I just know this because I have young people in my church. 30:34.020 --> 30:35.760 You know, they just want to mug, 30:36.200 --> 30:37.500 they just want to look impressive, 30:37.920 --> 30:40.500 they want to be able to be praised by others, 30:40.640 --> 30:41.920 be recognized by others, 30:42.180 --> 30:43.400 be able to flex on others, 30:43.580 --> 30:45.520 but that's not necessarily a Christian virtue though. 30:46.400 --> 30:48.680 That's not something that God actually esteems 30:48.680 --> 30:50.240 as being a godly virtue. 30:52.200 --> 30:52.520 Right? 30:53.000 --> 30:53.800 Right, Jen's ears? 30:55.620 --> 30:56.800 Like, I don't know, you know. 30:57.700 --> 30:58.720 Really, the only one who mugs 30:58.720 --> 30:59.920 is the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. 31:01.620 --> 31:04.120 If any man glory, let him glory in the cross, 31:04.320 --> 31:05.080 that's what the Bible says. 31:06.000 --> 31:07.940 Okay, not glorying himself and his capabilities, 31:08.620 --> 31:10.500 and you know, their looks or whatever. 31:11.280 --> 31:12.380 You know, the Bible tells us here 31:12.380 --> 31:13.500 that if you want to be chief, 31:14.180 --> 31:14.960 if you want to mug, 31:15.280 --> 31:17.780 if you want to be someone of reputation, 31:18.340 --> 31:19.120 someone that God uses, 31:19.120 --> 31:20.160 then you have to be a servant. 31:21.180 --> 31:23.240 You have to have a humble attitude, 31:23.780 --> 31:25.200 a humble disposition, 31:25.660 --> 31:27.640 and not be someone who's arrogant and proud 31:27.640 --> 31:29.040 because God resists the proud. 31:29.700 --> 31:30.740 He will humble you, 31:31.120 --> 31:33.160 and look folks, you know, especially young people, 31:33.340 --> 31:34.120 you're like, well, you know, 31:34.960 --> 31:36.120 that's just my thing, I like to mug, 31:36.280 --> 31:37.220 I just want to make sure I mug, 31:37.400 --> 31:38.500 I want to make sure I just look better 31:38.500 --> 31:39.060 than everyone else. 31:39.380 --> 31:40.560 You know what's going to end up happening to you 31:40.560 --> 31:41.060 because you're a Christian? 31:41.380 --> 31:43.180 God's just going to humble you 31:43.580 --> 31:45.480 in front of everyone who you want to impress. 31:46.480 --> 31:49.120 And you're going to experience a very embarrassing moment. 31:49.800 --> 31:50.740 It happens all the time. 31:52.300 --> 31:54.680 Because he knows what it takes to humble you. 31:55.420 --> 31:57.760 And just as much as you esteem the opinions of others 31:57.760 --> 32:00.420 and you want others to just think very highly of you, 32:00.740 --> 32:02.580 God can just turn the opinion right around 32:02.580 --> 32:04.580 and shame you in front of everyone else. 32:04.760 --> 32:06.140 And then you know what that does, that humbles you. 32:06.500 --> 32:08.500 But at least he, you know, keep you usable though. 32:09.500 --> 32:10.540 You're like, well, I don't want that. 32:10.680 --> 32:11.140 Then be humble. 32:12.060 --> 32:13.040 Then be a servant. 32:14.300 --> 32:16.320 Then stop speaking highly of yourself. 32:17.880 --> 32:18.780 What's the point here? 32:18.880 --> 32:21.280 The point is, is that don't underestimate 32:21.280 --> 32:23.340 the little that God does in your life 32:23.340 --> 32:26.740 over a period of weeks, over a period of days, 32:26.940 --> 32:29.020 weeks, months, and even years 32:29.020 --> 32:31.500 because it can accumulate to something great in the long run. 32:32.360 --> 32:35.180 Okay, it's important to be little in your own sight 32:35.180 --> 32:36.480 but also recognize that the little 32:36.480 --> 32:39.240 that God does in our lives amounts to great things. 32:39.520 --> 32:40.920 And don't despise the small things. 32:41.360 --> 32:44.680 In Zechariah, God was rebuking the nation of Israel 32:44.680 --> 32:47.120 because they were reconstructing the second temple. 32:47.740 --> 32:49.080 They were making the second temple. 32:49.620 --> 32:51.320 And the people of Israel were just kind of like, 32:51.800 --> 32:53.140 this is not as impressive. 32:55.080 --> 32:57.160 Because Solomon's temple was way more impressive, 32:57.740 --> 33:00.400 physically speaking, but the second temple 33:00.400 --> 33:04.400 was not visibly impressive. 33:04.860 --> 33:06.620 And it says in Zechariah 4, verse 10, 33:06.620 --> 33:10.340 for who had to despise the day of small things? 33:11.060 --> 33:12.940 God's saying like, why are you despising 33:13.840 --> 33:18.120 how small this temple is, how small the house of God is? 33:18.320 --> 33:20.720 Don't you realize that this is the house of God 33:20.720 --> 33:23.580 where the Lord Jesus Christ is gonna actually walk through? 33:25.020 --> 33:27.260 So what is greater, the first of the second temple, 33:27.320 --> 33:28.140 the second temple. 33:28.460 --> 33:30.280 The first temple was very elaborate, 33:30.460 --> 33:31.620 it was beautiful, it was great. 33:31.940 --> 33:34.740 The second temple physically was not as impressive 33:34.740 --> 33:36.800 but spiritually it was far more impressive 33:36.800 --> 33:38.900 because God actually walked through that temple. 33:39.720 --> 33:41.980 You know what, you have God in you, the hope of glory. 33:42.840 --> 33:45.440 And we should always emphasize far more important 33:46.300 --> 33:48.900 the virtue of the heart, right? 33:49.960 --> 33:51.460 Though our outward man perished, 33:51.520 --> 33:53.320 yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 33:54.060 --> 33:55.720 And you know, you may have your 20s to mug, 33:55.860 --> 33:57.100 but you are gonna turn 30. 33:58.460 --> 33:59.820 You will turn 40. 34:00.720 --> 34:01.880 You will turn 50. 34:01.880 --> 34:04.320 And in fact, some of you are 20 looking 30 already. 34:06.220 --> 34:09.280 Some of you are 20 with the 40 year old hairline. 34:11.540 --> 34:13.580 So there's not much to mug there now, is it? 34:15.160 --> 34:15.360 You know? 34:15.800 --> 34:19.240 And so, why are you saying that, just to shame us? 34:19.460 --> 34:21.620 To demonstrate that the outward man perishes. 34:23.020 --> 34:24.820 That the hairline perishes. 34:25.620 --> 34:28.120 That the Norwood Reaper comes for us all. 34:29.820 --> 34:30.300 Okay? 34:31.180 --> 34:32.140 Oh, but hold on a second. 34:32.340 --> 34:33.420 Let me give you some hope though. 34:34.000 --> 34:36.020 Yet the inward man is renewed day by day though. 34:37.060 --> 34:38.460 The inward man is renewed. 34:38.680 --> 34:40.660 If of course you're actually growing in the Lord, 34:41.100 --> 34:41.880 you're reading the Bible, 34:42.340 --> 34:44.660 you're living a godly life and so forth, okay? 34:45.780 --> 34:48.240 Little by little, don't underestimate the little 34:48.240 --> 34:50.420 that God can do in your personal life. 34:50.480 --> 34:52.520 Look at Luke chapter 13, if you would, Luke chapter 13. 34:53.420 --> 34:54.520 I must hasten here. 34:54.740 --> 34:55.980 I spent a lot of time on that first point. 34:56.220 --> 34:58.280 Point number two is that don't underestimate the impact 34:58.280 --> 35:00.020 that a little preaching can have. 35:01.020 --> 35:04.440 Don't underestimate the impact that just a little preaching 35:04.860 --> 35:06.020 can have on you. 35:06.300 --> 35:07.500 Now, why is that important? 35:07.640 --> 35:11.180 Well, because you may be tempted to just miss church. 35:11.360 --> 35:12.380 Well, it's just one Sunday. 35:12.680 --> 35:14.640 But don't underestimate what one service can do though. 35:15.240 --> 35:17.560 Don't underestimate what one sermon can do. 35:17.920 --> 35:20.720 With one little preaching can do in your life, 35:20.840 --> 35:22.120 it can make a major impact. 35:22.540 --> 35:25.260 But also don't underestimate the little preaching that you do. 35:26.120 --> 35:27.660 When you're out there preaching the gospel, 35:27.660 --> 35:29.080 you can make a major impact. 35:29.660 --> 35:31.520 Look at Luke chapter 13, verse 21. 35:32.240 --> 35:35.320 It says, it is like leaven referring to the kingdom of God, 35:35.980 --> 35:38.720 which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal 35:39.340 --> 35:40.860 till the whole was leavened. 35:40.900 --> 35:42.420 So he's specifically saying, Jesus is saying, 35:42.980 --> 35:45.180 that the kingdom of God is like leaven, 35:45.300 --> 35:46.860 which is kind of strange to us 35:46.860 --> 35:48.680 because we associate leaven with sin 35:49.200 --> 35:50.680 and that's definitely a connotation. 35:50.760 --> 35:52.000 But in this particular context, 35:52.480 --> 35:56.420 he's asserting that the word of God is like leaven as well. 35:57.120 --> 35:57.600 Okay? 35:58.320 --> 36:00.360 And it says like a woman takes this leaven, 36:00.700 --> 36:02.820 she places it into three measures of meal 36:02.820 --> 36:04.140 and then what does it end up doing? 36:04.280 --> 36:07.120 It ends up spreading till the whole is leavened. 36:07.140 --> 36:09.180 So even though you put a small amount of leaven 36:09.180 --> 36:10.460 into that meal, 36:10.880 --> 36:13.340 the result of that is that it spreads throughout 36:13.860 --> 36:15.260 the entire meal. 36:15.440 --> 36:16.460 Look what verse 22 says. 36:17.140 --> 36:19.300 And he went through the cities and villages 36:19.900 --> 36:22.340 teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem. 36:22.500 --> 36:24.820 So there's a reason why verse 22 follows up verse 21, 36:24.820 --> 36:26.340 the context and the content 36:26.800 --> 36:27.640 is because he's saying, look, 36:27.840 --> 36:30.140 a little preaching can make a big impact. 36:30.500 --> 36:31.300 And then what does he do? 36:31.420 --> 36:33.380 He goes throughout the villages and towns 36:33.860 --> 36:34.840 preaching the word of God. 36:35.440 --> 36:38.780 He's like that leaven being spread throughout Jerusalem, 36:39.000 --> 36:42.620 spread throughout Israel, spread throughout Judea. 36:42.940 --> 36:43.400 What is he doing? 36:43.540 --> 36:44.440 He's spreading the word of God 36:44.440 --> 36:46.220 and ultimately it made a great impact. 36:47.000 --> 36:47.600 And you know what? 36:47.720 --> 36:48.880 Let me just say this is that, yeah, 36:48.980 --> 36:51.500 our church is small, okay? 36:51.920 --> 36:52.760 I don't think our church is small 36:52.760 --> 36:54.700 but in comparison to what people say about our church, 36:55.000 --> 36:56.380 oh, this is a small church. 36:56.680 --> 36:58.900 Yeah, but don't underestimate the impact 36:58.900 --> 37:00.800 that we can make through the little preaching that we do. 37:01.920 --> 37:02.180 Okay? 37:02.560 --> 37:03.580 I mean, this year alone, 37:03.760 --> 37:05.860 we're about to hit about 8,000 salvations. 37:07.540 --> 37:08.660 Oh, where are they at? 37:08.940 --> 37:09.280 Home. 37:10.320 --> 37:11.240 Some are here. 37:12.260 --> 37:13.340 Some are in Mexico. 37:14.260 --> 37:15.620 A ton of them are in Belize. 37:16.700 --> 37:17.500 All over. 37:18.460 --> 37:21.640 And I've learned that people who typically criticize that 37:22.120 --> 37:24.280 are typically churches that don't do 37:24.280 --> 37:25.720 any evangelism whatsoever. 37:26.580 --> 37:27.500 And that's a fact. 37:28.680 --> 37:32.420 You know, they have a church of 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 37:32.420 --> 37:33.380 but they don't evangelize. 37:34.440 --> 37:35.920 The pastor doesn't evangelize. 37:35.980 --> 37:36.840 He doesn't go soulning. 37:37.420 --> 37:39.320 And if they do any type of mission strip, 37:39.420 --> 37:41.680 it's like they wanna dig a well or something like that. 37:42.360 --> 37:44.520 They wanna dig a well and give bread 37:44.520 --> 37:49.720 and give water and give all these temporal sources 37:49.720 --> 37:50.800 to the people who are there 37:50.800 --> 37:52.680 rather than actually giving them 37:52.680 --> 37:54.320 the fountain of living water. 37:54.900 --> 37:56.740 The bread of life, right? 37:58.200 --> 38:00.140 Don't underestimate the impact 38:00.140 --> 38:01.700 that a little preaching can make. 38:02.120 --> 38:04.780 You know, 8,000 souls in one year is pretty good 38:06.100 --> 38:07.700 considering our little church. 38:08.640 --> 38:09.760 You know, why? 38:09.920 --> 38:12.120 Because of the fact that God can take that little leaven 38:12.120 --> 38:14.880 place it into a measure of meal in Belize, 38:15.200 --> 38:16.840 a measure of meal in Mexico, 38:16.840 --> 38:19.280 a measure of meal in the city, 38:19.600 --> 38:22.680 in Orange County, in Anaheim, in Los Angeles, 38:22.940 --> 38:25.440 in whatever area and it just spreads throughout the years. 38:26.900 --> 38:27.040 You know? 38:27.420 --> 38:28.460 And again, let me say this. 38:28.800 --> 38:29.840 You know, if you think, well, you know, 38:29.920 --> 38:31.360 I just don't know if that really works 38:31.360 --> 38:32.500 just like soulning like that. 38:32.640 --> 38:33.160 Have you ever done it? 38:35.840 --> 38:36.600 You ever done it? 38:37.140 --> 38:39.180 Well, no, I just think it doesn't work. 38:39.400 --> 38:40.780 Well, don't knock it till you tried it. 38:42.140 --> 38:44.120 And all we're doing is literally following 38:44.720 --> 38:47.560 the example and template of the Lord Jesus Christ 38:47.560 --> 38:48.160 and the apostles. 38:49.240 --> 38:51.800 And look, 12 disciples went out to preach the gospel 38:51.800 --> 38:53.080 and look, and here we are. 38:54.700 --> 38:58.780 It sounds like a little can have a big impact 38:59.960 --> 39:02.920 over a span of 2,000 years, okay? 39:03.480 --> 39:05.380 The point being here is don't underestimate 39:05.380 --> 39:06.360 the impact that you can make. 39:06.640 --> 39:07.920 Now, the way you can apply this is 39:07.920 --> 39:09.580 maybe you're a person who has not yet 39:09.580 --> 39:11.100 learned how to preach the gospel in our church. 39:11.900 --> 39:13.280 You think to yourself, well, what difference 39:13.280 --> 39:15.460 can I make as a member of this church? 39:15.820 --> 39:17.280 You know, I haven't learned. 39:17.640 --> 39:19.140 I just don't think I can make a big difference. 39:19.260 --> 39:20.500 You can make a huge difference 39:20.940 --> 39:23.820 because you shouldn't underestimate the power 39:24.320 --> 39:26.940 of the gospel in the hands of an individual 39:26.940 --> 39:27.760 who's preaching it. 39:28.280 --> 39:29.500 Open your mouth boldly to make known 39:29.500 --> 39:30.300 the mysteries of the gospel. 39:30.620 --> 39:32.180 Don't come to First Works Baptist Church 39:32.180 --> 39:34.260 just to learn the content 39:34.260 --> 39:35.580 and the preaching of God's word. 39:35.840 --> 39:37.480 Learn how to communicate it yourself. 39:38.540 --> 39:42.520 You should participate in the ministry of reconciliation. 39:43.260 --> 39:45.200 You should learn how to communicate the gospel 39:45.200 --> 39:46.520 so you can get your friends saved, 39:46.840 --> 39:48.180 so you can get your family saved, 39:48.480 --> 39:49.540 you can get your neighbor saved, 39:49.560 --> 39:51.260 or just complete total stranger saved. 39:52.700 --> 39:54.380 I just don't think I can make a difference. 39:54.460 --> 39:56.080 Then you're underestimating the impact 39:56.080 --> 39:58.100 that you can make really, okay? 39:59.440 --> 40:00.260 And look, little by little, 40:00.520 --> 40:01.480 as we're going to Mexico, 40:01.840 --> 40:03.320 just small groups preaching the gospel, 40:03.460 --> 40:06.340 we've seen at least up to 500 souls saved. 40:07.480 --> 40:09.500 And that's only going out there for like two hours. 40:10.080 --> 40:13.380 A small little group, 500 salvation, it's great. 40:14.240 --> 40:16.080 It's a lot, that's 500 people, we're not gonna go to hell. 40:18.020 --> 40:19.320 Don't underestimate that. 40:20.260 --> 40:21.840 Now let's get into some other things here. 40:21.980 --> 40:22.960 Go with me if you would to, 40:23.740 --> 40:26.140 go to Hosea chapter seven, Hosea chapter seven. 40:27.060 --> 40:29.300 Let me just breeze over this third point real quick. 40:29.740 --> 40:30.960 And that is don't underestimate 40:31.640 --> 40:33.980 the importance of being faithful and little. 40:34.660 --> 40:37.380 Okay, being faithful and that which is little. 40:38.000 --> 40:40.140 I'm gonna skip the story in Luke chapter 16 40:40.140 --> 40:41.240 with the unjust steward, 40:42.080 --> 40:46.580 but the point is in Luke 16, the Bible tells us, 40:47.420 --> 40:48.680 in verse 10, he that is faithful 40:48.680 --> 40:50.840 and that which is least is faithful also and much, 40:51.220 --> 40:54.980 he that is unjust and least is unjust also and much. 40:55.140 --> 40:56.560 It's important for us to recognize the importance 40:56.560 --> 40:57.480 of just being faithful 40:57.480 --> 41:00.420 and the little responsibilities that you have 41:00.420 --> 41:03.600 and then God can use you in the greater ones. 41:04.060 --> 41:06.100 I'm gonna skip actually a lot of stories here. 41:06.180 --> 41:08.640 Let's get into some other little things here. 41:09.040 --> 41:12.480 Don't underestimate the dangers of the little things either. 41:13.320 --> 41:15.760 You know, doing righteous works little by little 41:15.760 --> 41:17.040 over a period of time 41:17.040 --> 41:19.100 can yield some pretty incredible results. 41:19.620 --> 41:21.660 Preaching the gospel just a little here, 41:22.000 --> 41:23.580 a little there over the years 41:23.580 --> 41:26.140 can yield thousands and thousands of salvation. 41:26.700 --> 41:29.060 Reading the Bible a little here, a little there. 41:29.060 --> 41:31.080 Reading the Bible 15 minutes a day 41:31.080 --> 41:32.720 will help you to finish the entire Bible in a year. 41:33.540 --> 41:36.720 You know, being in church, growing little by little 41:36.720 --> 41:38.080 will have a tremendous impact, 41:38.300 --> 41:40.320 but let me also say this, 41:41.120 --> 41:43.360 a little sin here and a little sin there 41:43.360 --> 41:47.360 will also bring major destruction to your life as well. 41:48.180 --> 41:49.940 And just as much as people underestimate 41:50.700 --> 41:53.320 the power that a little good virtue can have, 41:53.540 --> 41:56.140 they also underestimate the impact 41:56.140 --> 41:58.020 that a little sin can have in a person's life. 41:58.440 --> 42:00.080 Well, it's just a little fornication. 42:00.580 --> 42:01.800 It's just a little alcohol. 42:02.400 --> 42:04.500 It's just a little gossip, a little slander, 42:04.620 --> 42:05.460 a little backsliding. 42:05.780 --> 42:07.600 You'll be surprised what that does 42:07.600 --> 42:10.520 to you incrementally over a period of time. 42:11.340 --> 42:13.580 Now look at Hosea chapter seven, verse eight, Ephraim. 42:14.200 --> 42:15.700 He hath mixed himself among the people. 42:15.900 --> 42:17.280 Ephraim is a cake not turned. 42:18.860 --> 42:20.900 Strangers have devoured his strength 42:20.900 --> 42:21.840 and he knoweth it not. 42:22.440 --> 42:23.280 And I want you to notice this. 42:23.720 --> 42:25.880 Yay, gray hairs are here 42:26.340 --> 42:30.600 and there upon him, yet he knoweth not the Bible says. 42:31.740 --> 42:32.360 Now what is it saying? 42:33.640 --> 42:35.920 It's saying that Israel is being influenced 42:36.300 --> 42:39.640 little by little by strangers, foreigners, 42:40.180 --> 42:41.440 but he doesn't recognize it 42:41.440 --> 42:42.880 because it's kind of like gray hairs 42:42.880 --> 42:44.260 that are coming up here and there. 42:44.440 --> 42:45.620 You know when you get one gray hair, 42:45.680 --> 42:47.840 you don't really notice it, right? 42:49.160 --> 42:49.820 You guys know where I'm going. 42:50.420 --> 42:51.540 You know, you get one gray hairs, 42:51.720 --> 42:52.440 it's just like, oh wow, 42:52.520 --> 42:53.740 I just got a little gray hair there. 42:54.620 --> 42:55.660 Pluck, right? 42:58.060 --> 42:58.860 Denial, you know? 43:00.760 --> 43:03.300 And then, you know, after a while, 43:03.440 --> 43:04.320 you just don't notice it, 43:04.560 --> 43:06.000 but then someone comes up to you and says, 43:06.540 --> 43:07.600 wow, you're great. 43:08.460 --> 43:09.020 Is that really? 43:10.000 --> 43:10.380 There you go. 43:10.760 --> 43:12.600 And then you know, you see yourself in the mirror like, 43:12.680 --> 43:13.880 oh man, I do have a lot of grays. 43:14.240 --> 43:16.880 They came upon me, not overnight. 43:17.920 --> 43:19.020 It happened little by little. 43:20.120 --> 43:21.940 Now you say to yourself, well, I'm not really great. 43:21.940 --> 43:23.660 Okay, let's use another example then, 43:23.960 --> 43:24.900 regarding hair. 43:27.600 --> 43:29.640 I got your attention there, huh? 43:30.680 --> 43:33.420 You know, some people lose it overnight, 43:33.720 --> 43:35.180 but some people lose it little by little. 43:36.000 --> 43:37.440 It's just little by little. 43:37.600 --> 43:39.020 It just trickles, it just starts falling off 43:39.020 --> 43:39.620 little by little. 43:40.020 --> 43:41.640 The point is that, you know, 43:41.960 --> 43:45.480 before you know it, you're bald, right? 43:46.420 --> 43:47.700 Or before you know it, 43:47.980 --> 43:48.940 you're just completely gray. 43:49.660 --> 43:50.340 What happens? 43:50.340 --> 43:54.060 It happens over a period of time and you don't know it. 43:54.180 --> 43:54.480 But you know what? 43:54.480 --> 43:57.300 That's exactly how sin works, my friends. 43:58.380 --> 43:59.900 Just one little gray hair there. 44:00.320 --> 44:01.600 You're like, oh, you know, you pluck it out, 44:01.800 --> 44:04.280 but then you don't die your hair. 44:04.800 --> 44:05.920 You don't check it. 44:06.160 --> 44:06.620 You don't do anything. 44:06.800 --> 44:08.340 And then all of a sudden it's just like, boom. 44:09.000 --> 44:10.000 A full set of gray hair. 44:10.840 --> 44:12.200 I'm not getting on you if you have gray hair. 44:12.260 --> 44:13.020 I got gray hairs, okay? 44:13.400 --> 44:14.780 This is an illustration from the Bible, 44:14.820 --> 44:15.480 so don't get offended. 44:16.040 --> 44:17.140 I'm getting a bunch of looks here. 44:19.280 --> 44:20.000 You know what? 44:20.160 --> 44:21.600 It's good that you're going gray, amen? 44:22.540 --> 44:24.940 Gray hair is a virtue according to the Bible. 44:25.280 --> 44:26.580 It communicates wisdom. 44:26.980 --> 44:27.220 And you know what? 44:27.260 --> 44:29.220 There's nothing wrong with getting old, my friends. 44:29.780 --> 44:32.500 We live in a society that is just of whores getting old. 44:32.900 --> 44:34.240 They don't want to grow old. 44:34.500 --> 44:35.640 They don't want to be an unc. 44:35.920 --> 44:36.300 But you know what? 44:36.320 --> 44:37.680 That is a virtue according to the Bible. 44:38.280 --> 44:38.840 It's a virtue. 44:39.600 --> 44:40.680 People just want to stay. 44:40.840 --> 44:43.380 I just want to stay young forever young. 44:44.240 --> 44:46.200 I want to be, you're not gonna be forever young. 44:48.240 --> 44:49.480 I'm gonna give you the harsh reality 44:49.480 --> 44:50.380 since you gave me that look. 44:51.160 --> 44:53.780 The reality is this, you will go gray-headed, 44:54.080 --> 44:55.680 you will wrinkle, and you will die. 44:59.840 --> 45:00.200 Yup. 45:00.880 --> 45:03.200 That's why it's good not to get tattoos. 45:04.620 --> 45:05.700 You know, you shouldn't get tattoos 45:05.700 --> 45:06.760 because the Bible forbids it. 45:07.760 --> 45:09.020 But you shouldn't get tattoos 45:09.020 --> 45:11.680 because you get a butterfly 45:11.680 --> 45:13.780 and it becomes a pterodactyl after a couple of years. 45:15.160 --> 45:15.540 You know what I'm saying? 45:16.380 --> 45:18.580 You know, you get like some sort of animal 45:18.580 --> 45:20.660 becomes fossilized later on or something. 45:21.500 --> 45:23.180 You get a butterfly, it becomes a moth. 45:25.760 --> 45:27.380 Like, oh man, I don't appreciate that. 45:27.480 --> 45:28.000 That's what happens. 45:28.240 --> 45:29.040 We grow old. 45:29.340 --> 45:31.060 There's nothing wrong with getting old, my friends. 45:31.800 --> 45:33.240 You know, embrace it. 45:33.400 --> 45:34.900 I'm not saying don't look your best 45:34.900 --> 45:36.160 at your age or whatever, 45:36.540 --> 45:39.900 but you know, we got too much plastic surgery going on. 45:40.180 --> 45:42.920 Too much, you know, all these things 45:42.920 --> 45:44.140 that people want to do to reverse. 45:44.140 --> 45:46.740 You want to reverse the aging process, 45:47.000 --> 45:48.740 get saved, and then you have the resurrection. 45:49.440 --> 45:51.020 And you'll live forever more. 45:51.580 --> 45:53.060 How about that, okay? 45:53.720 --> 45:56.140 And so, that's what you get for giving me those looks, 45:56.260 --> 45:56.340 amen? 45:57.680 --> 45:59.100 I have no problem with getting old. 45:59.160 --> 46:00.100 I think it's great to get old. 46:00.980 --> 46:02.620 You know, in fact, I remember as a kid 46:02.620 --> 46:03.580 wanted to get older. 46:04.140 --> 46:05.080 I wanted to grow up. 46:05.780 --> 46:08.380 But we have a new generation that just despises it. 46:08.480 --> 46:12.280 They just, oh man, I'm 25, I'm getting so old. 46:15.220 --> 46:17.540 Well, yeah, you may look a little older or whatever, 46:17.640 --> 46:18.840 but that's not the wrong with that. 46:19.080 --> 46:19.880 Maturity is great. 46:20.840 --> 46:21.660 Maturity is great. 46:22.060 --> 46:23.820 You're like, oh, are you scared that you're getting old? 46:23.960 --> 46:25.680 No, I'm happy that I'm 40 years old. 46:27.140 --> 46:27.860 Okay, why? 46:27.980 --> 46:30.340 Because I've already lived, I spent my 20s and 30s 46:30.340 --> 46:33.220 serving the Lord, just giving it all I got. 46:33.680 --> 46:35.440 I get to pastor a great church. 46:35.860 --> 46:37.140 And you know what, the older I get, 46:37.280 --> 46:37.980 the more I read the Bible, 46:38.120 --> 46:39.900 the more I understand, the more maturity I have. 46:40.780 --> 46:42.560 And not, you know, invest my time 46:42.560 --> 46:44.500 in vain things that mean nothing. 46:45.160 --> 46:46.300 Because let me just tell you something. 46:46.940 --> 46:48.380 You know, you can do everything you can 46:48.380 --> 46:50.060 to try to stay and look young, 46:50.380 --> 46:52.760 but in 100 years, we all look the same. 46:53.160 --> 46:55.680 We all look the same. 46:56.320 --> 46:58.560 It's the bag of bones, okay? 46:59.560 --> 47:00.020 If that. 47:00.920 --> 47:03.120 The point is, you know, don't underestimate 47:03.940 --> 47:06.300 the power that sin can have. 47:07.020 --> 47:09.820 It comes up here little, there little, 47:10.280 --> 47:11.300 and before you know it, 47:11.620 --> 47:13.060 if you're not paying attention to it, 47:13.120 --> 47:15.060 it can destroy your life like it did with them. 47:15.440 --> 47:17.180 Go with me, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 24. 47:17.360 --> 47:17.860 Proverbs 24. 47:19.940 --> 47:21.420 Proverbs chapter 24. 47:25.320 --> 47:26.320 Proverbs chapter 24. 47:26.760 --> 47:28.660 Hey, a little neglect in the Christian life 47:28.660 --> 47:29.660 can produce great ruin. 47:30.720 --> 47:31.500 A little neglect. 47:31.660 --> 47:32.660 Look at Proverbs 24 verse 30. 47:32.760 --> 47:34.660 I went by the field of the slothful 47:34.660 --> 47:37.300 and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding. 47:37.480 --> 47:38.780 Verse 31 of Proverbs 24. 47:39.460 --> 47:42.300 And lo, it was all grown over with thorns and nettles 47:42.300 --> 47:43.660 had covered the face thereof, 47:43.900 --> 47:45.940 and the stone wall thereof was broken down. 47:46.520 --> 47:48.480 Then I saw and considered it well, 47:48.960 --> 47:51.040 I looked upon it and received instruction. 47:51.480 --> 47:53.500 Listen to this, yet a little sleep, 47:54.280 --> 47:58.140 a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, 47:58.560 --> 48:00.600 so shall thy poverty come as one to traveleth, 48:00.800 --> 48:02.480 and thy want as an armed man. 48:02.860 --> 48:03.360 What is that saying? 48:03.660 --> 48:06.200 A little compromise here, a little compromise there, 48:06.200 --> 48:09.000 a little laziness here, a little laziness there 48:09.000 --> 48:13.740 will affect you in a major way in the long run, okay? 48:14.320 --> 48:16.920 Don't allow yourself to become neglectful in your Bible read. 48:17.120 --> 48:18.300 Well, you know, I miss my Bible today, 48:18.640 --> 48:20.140 I'll pick it up tomorrow, just pick it up tonight. 48:21.800 --> 48:23.580 You know, oh, I miss church this morning, 48:24.280 --> 48:25.800 or I miss church this morning, 48:25.840 --> 48:27.480 so I'll just make sure I get there the following week. 48:27.600 --> 48:28.020 Come tonight! 48:29.680 --> 48:31.760 Don't allow yourself to become neglectful 48:31.760 --> 48:32.620 in the things of God. 48:33.180 --> 48:34.760 And your spiritual disciplines, why? 48:34.760 --> 48:36.680 Because it only takes a little bit 48:37.140 --> 48:39.600 for you to compromise and make excuses for the next time. 48:40.820 --> 48:42.000 The less you read your Bible, 48:42.440 --> 48:44.020 the more excuses you have, 48:44.200 --> 48:45.480 why not to pick it up again later on? 48:46.140 --> 48:47.420 The more you miss church, 48:48.140 --> 48:49.980 the easier it is to miss more church. 48:50.860 --> 48:51.600 That's a fact! 48:52.580 --> 48:53.600 Look, I know what I'm talking about. 48:53.920 --> 48:55.420 You miss church one week, 48:55.980 --> 48:57.040 you know, you may have the discipline 48:57.040 --> 48:57.780 to come the following, 48:58.480 --> 48:59.520 but I'm gonna tell you right now, 48:59.760 --> 49:01.200 you miss Thursday, you miss the following, 49:01.300 --> 49:03.300 it's just easier to keep missing and missing and missing. 49:03.820 --> 49:06.180 Well, they got the live stream. 49:06.300 --> 49:07.320 I could just watch the live stream. 49:07.800 --> 49:09.500 I could just watch the live stream, I'll be fine. 49:09.820 --> 49:11.420 That's just a little compromise here, 49:11.820 --> 49:12.940 a little compromise there, 49:13.740 --> 49:14.760 a little neglect here, 49:15.160 --> 49:16.080 a little neglect there. 49:16.360 --> 49:17.380 And I'm just telling you right now, 49:18.180 --> 49:21.400 Satan doesn't just come with one strike. 49:22.500 --> 49:24.040 He acts like a matador. 49:25.820 --> 49:28.460 It's death by a thousand wounds, right? 49:29.180 --> 49:31.040 It's just one knife after the other, 49:31.160 --> 49:32.020 one knife after the other. 49:32.020 --> 49:34.660 One compromise here, one compromise there, 49:35.160 --> 49:36.540 one neglectful day here, 49:36.760 --> 49:38.120 one day of not reading the Bible here, 49:38.320 --> 49:39.400 one day of not going to church here, 49:39.480 --> 49:40.420 before you know it, you just bled out. 49:41.800 --> 49:43.020 He plays the patient game! 49:44.600 --> 49:46.180 Now look, if you're a new Christian 49:46.180 --> 49:47.280 and you're still learning, 49:48.540 --> 49:50.320 you know, keep learning, right? 49:51.080 --> 49:52.580 It's hard sometimes for newer Christians 49:52.580 --> 49:55.180 to learn these spiritual disciplines, makes sense, 49:55.460 --> 49:57.840 but if you've been a Christian for quite some time though, 49:58.540 --> 50:00.000 and you know this already, 50:00.000 --> 50:02.280 you can quote the verses on church attendance, 50:02.620 --> 50:03.740 you know what the Bible says, 50:04.020 --> 50:06.680 then you know better, okay? 50:07.100 --> 50:09.200 Stop making excuses as to why you're not in church. 50:10.540 --> 50:11.700 Be in the house of God, 50:11.820 --> 50:13.560 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together 50:13.560 --> 50:15.180 as the matter of some is, you know, 50:15.280 --> 50:16.560 and so much the more the Bible says, 50:16.660 --> 50:17.420 exhorting one another, 50:17.620 --> 50:20.320 and so much more as you see the day approaching. 50:21.040 --> 50:22.600 And I get it, it's a battle sometimes 50:22.600 --> 50:24.840 to just fulfill spiritual disciplines, for sure. 50:25.860 --> 50:27.360 If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. 50:28.260 --> 50:29.720 If it was easy to read the Bible, 50:29.720 --> 50:30.640 easy to go to church, 50:30.780 --> 50:31.940 easy to win souls to Christ, 50:32.280 --> 50:33.200 everyone would be doing it. 50:33.280 --> 50:34.740 You know why we don't have the masses doing it? 50:34.740 --> 50:35.860 I'll tell you why, because it's difficult. 50:37.820 --> 50:40.720 But a little neglect can produce great ruin. 50:40.840 --> 50:43.000 By much slothfulness, the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 10, 50:43.400 --> 50:45.420 by much slothfulness, the building decayed, 50:45.520 --> 50:47.040 and through idleness of the hands, 50:47.360 --> 50:49.280 the house dropped it through. 50:49.440 --> 50:51.800 Turn with me if you would to songs of Solomon, 50:51.980 --> 50:53.500 chapter two, song of Solomon, chapter two. 50:55.420 --> 50:56.420 So there's, you know, 50:56.500 --> 50:58.580 there's a point in making sure 50:58.580 --> 51:00.860 we don't allow ourselves to slip spiritually. 51:02.100 --> 51:03.700 And let me just give you some advice. 51:03.960 --> 51:05.940 If you didn't read your Bible today, for example, 51:06.760 --> 51:07.940 I'm assuming in a crowd like this, 51:08.020 --> 51:09.620 it's probably someone who didn't read their Bible today. 51:10.020 --> 51:11.740 It's just normal, okay? 51:12.440 --> 51:13.320 If you didn't read your Bible, 51:13.420 --> 51:14.760 and let's say you have a goal of reading 51:14.760 --> 51:18.160 like five chapters a day or 10 chapters a day, 51:19.340 --> 51:20.580 don't do this out of guilt. 51:21.380 --> 51:24.300 Well, tomorrow I'm gonna double it, okay? 51:24.760 --> 51:27.160 I'm supposed to read five chapters every day, 51:27.160 --> 51:28.360 so tomorrow I'm gonna read 10. 51:28.880 --> 51:30.680 Or if you read in 10, it's like tomorrow I'm gonna read 20 51:30.680 --> 51:33.640 to just make up for the 10 that I didn't get through. 51:33.920 --> 51:35.420 Don't do that, just pick it up again. 51:36.500 --> 51:39.560 You don't have to overcompensate, okay? 51:40.020 --> 51:41.740 If you didn't read the Bible, then you know what? 51:41.920 --> 51:43.200 Spend a couple minutes after service, 51:43.280 --> 51:44.540 just pick up the Bible and just read it. 51:45.840 --> 51:46.940 Or when you go home, 51:47.080 --> 51:48.380 spend a couple minutes and just read it. 51:49.000 --> 51:52.000 You don't have to have this divine ambiance, 51:52.720 --> 51:55.520 you know, where there's the morning mist is there, 51:55.980 --> 51:57.620 and you just feel like God's presence, 51:57.820 --> 52:00.960 just read the Bible, just read it. 52:01.280 --> 52:03.720 We have too many theatrics in Christianity today 52:04.140 --> 52:09.080 where people want all this great Instagram ambiance 52:09.080 --> 52:13.200 and environment and the whispers of the word of God. 52:13.980 --> 52:14.860 Just read it. 52:16.060 --> 52:18.640 You said, I read my Bible at the breakfast table 52:18.640 --> 52:20.440 with all my kids screaming and yelling. 52:23.140 --> 52:25.080 Say, why, because I got six kids 52:26.120 --> 52:27.400 and I got to read my Bible 52:28.240 --> 52:30.380 and there's not a quiet place in the entire place. 52:33.240 --> 52:34.560 So you say, what do you do? 52:34.760 --> 52:37.160 I'm just, you know, I just take it as a time 52:37.160 --> 52:38.060 to learn how to focus. 52:39.920 --> 52:41.500 I'm learning how to lock in, right? 52:41.680 --> 52:44.380 Just learning how to focus and read and something like, 52:44.580 --> 52:46.880 dad, look at this, dad, I drew this. 52:47.120 --> 52:48.780 And I'm just like, oh, it looks great. 52:48.780 --> 52:51.280 I'm just like, all right, let me work my leave off out of here. 52:51.860 --> 52:53.320 You know, you just gotta do what you gotta do. 52:53.720 --> 52:54.740 Gotta make it happen. 52:55.880 --> 52:56.380 Make it happen. 52:56.700 --> 52:58.180 And look, folks, if I can do it 52:58.180 --> 52:59.600 with six kids yelling in my ear, 53:01.360 --> 53:03.440 you singles can do it with nobody yelling in your ear. 53:04.860 --> 53:06.180 It's not hard at all. 53:06.860 --> 53:08.780 Hey, you young parents could do it with two kids. 53:09.900 --> 53:11.000 Can do it with one kid. 53:11.900 --> 53:14.300 And if you're not, then shame on you, okay? 53:14.660 --> 53:16.320 There's people, I guarantee this people in our church 53:16.320 --> 53:19.820 with five, six, seven children, okay? 53:20.160 --> 53:22.600 And I promise you they read their Bibles every single day. 53:24.120 --> 53:24.640 Why? 53:25.020 --> 53:26.980 Is it because there's just something special about them? 53:27.200 --> 53:28.280 No, they're just disciplined people. 53:28.800 --> 53:30.200 And they recognize the importance 53:30.560 --> 53:32.640 of not allowing themselves to slip. 53:34.020 --> 53:36.780 Gotta make it happen, no matter what, okay? 53:37.880 --> 53:39.680 Look at Song of Solomon chapter two, verse 15. 53:40.260 --> 53:44.000 Take us the foxes, the little foxes 53:44.000 --> 53:48.780 that spoil the vines for our vines have tender grapes. 53:48.860 --> 53:50.040 This is a great concept here, 53:50.480 --> 53:53.160 explaining that a vineyard can be completely destroyed 53:53.760 --> 53:56.460 by the little foxes that you allowed into the vineyard. 53:57.460 --> 53:59.400 And the little foxes can represent sin, 54:00.140 --> 54:03.820 represent bad habits, things that just are left unchecked 54:03.820 --> 54:04.660 in your Christian life. 54:05.320 --> 54:06.900 And he says it's the little foxes. 54:07.020 --> 54:08.480 It's not necessarily the big storms. 54:08.860 --> 54:12.720 It's not necessarily the rain, the monsoons. 54:12.720 --> 54:15.360 It's not the tornadoes. 54:15.460 --> 54:16.700 It's not whatever. 54:17.240 --> 54:19.460 You made some great storm that comes 54:19.460 --> 54:20.220 and destroys the crops. 54:20.380 --> 54:20.740 You know what it is? 54:20.900 --> 54:22.440 Sometimes just the little foxes that come in 54:22.440 --> 54:24.120 and just eat it up little by little. 54:25.660 --> 54:28.440 Your little compromises will eventually destroy 54:28.440 --> 54:29.280 your entire vineyard. 54:29.640 --> 54:30.720 That's what the Bible's telling us here. 54:31.720 --> 54:32.760 And how do we apply this? 54:32.840 --> 54:33.440 Well, how about in church? 54:33.900 --> 54:35.760 You know, in church a little leaven 54:35.760 --> 54:36.740 can leaven the whole lump. 54:37.340 --> 54:37.920 You know what that means? 54:38.220 --> 54:41.360 It means if we allow a little sin into the church, 54:41.860 --> 54:43.020 it'll destroy the entire church. 54:43.780 --> 54:45.100 And this is why our church, 54:45.240 --> 54:46.500 listen to me for those of you who are new, 54:47.100 --> 54:48.700 is gonna freak you out. 54:50.000 --> 54:53.360 This is why we practice church discipline in our church. 54:54.340 --> 54:55.480 So what is that? 54:56.280 --> 54:57.340 Church discipline, what is that? 54:57.960 --> 54:59.120 We spank our church members. 54:59.340 --> 54:59.720 I'm just kidding. 55:01.940 --> 55:03.840 Although that wouldn't be a bad idea, amen. 55:08.620 --> 55:10.260 You know, what is church discipline? 55:10.260 --> 55:12.940 It means that we excommunicate 55:12.940 --> 55:14.520 unrepentant people in our church. 55:15.280 --> 55:16.360 Not for any sin. 55:17.100 --> 55:18.400 Because we're all sinners, no one's perfect. 55:19.240 --> 55:21.600 But there are specific sins that the Bible talks about 55:21.600 --> 55:24.480 in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Matthew chapter 18, 55:24.780 --> 55:26.900 that if a person commits and is unwilling 55:27.520 --> 55:29.920 to repent of it, they have to be thrown out. 55:31.560 --> 55:32.340 Such as what? 55:32.640 --> 55:33.880 Well, here are one of the biggest ones 55:33.880 --> 55:35.700 because there's a list of them, 55:35.800 --> 55:37.940 but quite frankly many of them, you know, 55:37.940 --> 55:40.660 is not very common or prevalent within churches in America, 55:41.260 --> 55:43.280 like idolatry for example, okay? 55:43.840 --> 55:45.880 One of them that is prevalent is fornication 55:45.880 --> 55:47.020 and or drunkenness. 55:47.980 --> 55:50.040 So if people are fornicating in the church, 55:50.100 --> 55:54.060 meaning that there's a couple that's together, 55:54.340 --> 55:56.380 they're not married, they're living together, 55:56.520 --> 56:00.780 they're fornicating, they have to either repent of that 56:00.780 --> 56:03.260 by getting married, oh what a horrible thing, 56:04.460 --> 56:06.340 separate or they gotta find a new church. 56:06.440 --> 56:07.080 They can't come here. 56:08.060 --> 56:10.720 Because 1 Corinthians chapter five specifically says 56:10.720 --> 56:12.600 that fornication is not allowed 56:12.600 --> 56:13.680 in a local New Testament church. 56:13.940 --> 56:14.160 Why? 56:14.460 --> 56:16.500 Because a little leaven leaven at the whole lump. 56:16.720 --> 56:18.540 You look at churches where sin is just prevalent, 56:18.820 --> 56:20.760 there's all types of pedophiles, perversion, 56:20.960 --> 56:22.140 all this disgusting filth. 56:22.280 --> 56:23.020 Let me tell you where it started, 56:23.380 --> 56:25.140 not correcting the fornication in the church. 56:25.760 --> 56:27.500 It started with the little leaven 56:27.500 --> 56:28.800 that was allowed into the church 56:28.800 --> 56:30.960 and because the pastor is such a weakling, 56:31.260 --> 56:33.380 he's not willing to exercise church discipline, 56:33.640 --> 56:35.300 he just allows sin into the church 56:35.300 --> 56:38.460 and it becomes a smorgasbord, a cesspool of sin. 56:38.960 --> 56:40.000 And it destroys lives. 56:41.300 --> 56:42.740 That's why there's all kinds of controversy 56:42.740 --> 56:44.920 within the church, that people don't like the pastor, 56:44.980 --> 56:45.960 that people don't like each other, 56:46.220 --> 56:47.960 there's pedophilia, there's fornication, 56:48.260 --> 56:49.620 there's all kinds of sin going on 56:50.100 --> 56:51.840 because no discipline is being instituted. 56:52.900 --> 56:54.940 Well, I just think if you do church discipline, 56:55.100 --> 56:56.040 you're gonna scare people away. 56:56.560 --> 56:58.120 We should, it should scare people away. 57:00.160 --> 57:02.360 Yeah, get what I'm saying, 57:02.360 --> 57:04.580 you gotta change the way you think there. 57:05.300 --> 57:07.060 Do we really want people in church 57:07.060 --> 57:10.360 that just are flaunting fornication, drunkenness, 57:10.420 --> 57:11.120 and all manner of sin? 57:11.220 --> 57:11.880 Absolutely not. 57:12.380 --> 57:13.460 Why even come to church? 57:14.880 --> 57:16.440 We come to church because we wanna grow. 57:17.400 --> 57:19.760 We wanna go to church because we wanna be more like Jesus. 57:21.900 --> 57:24.260 You know, not to come and flaunt sin 57:24.260 --> 57:26.280 and just be involved in adultery, 57:26.900 --> 57:28.460 fornication, and even drunkenness, folks. 57:29.400 --> 57:30.740 So you say, what do you mean by drunkenness? 57:30.740 --> 57:32.380 Meaning, if people drink alcohol, 57:32.560 --> 57:33.500 they can't be in our church. 57:34.380 --> 57:35.300 Plain and simple. 57:36.200 --> 57:38.820 And we mostly say alcohol, but this applies to, 57:39.000 --> 57:41.800 you know, weed, any type of drugs. 57:42.600 --> 57:46.180 If they are participating in recreational drugs, 57:46.280 --> 57:47.060 they can't be in church. 57:48.080 --> 57:50.360 You say, well, I drank yesterday. 57:50.740 --> 57:51.200 Well, repent. 57:52.000 --> 57:53.260 And you can keep coming back. 57:54.080 --> 57:54.600 Pretty simple. 57:55.520 --> 57:58.340 And look, why wouldn't you wanna repent of drunkenness? 57:59.180 --> 57:59.860 Alcohol sucks. 58:02.080 --> 58:03.580 Alcohol destroys your life. 58:04.920 --> 58:05.840 You say, really? 58:06.320 --> 58:07.860 My cousin just died two weeks ago 58:07.860 --> 58:08.660 of cirrhosis of the liver. 58:09.300 --> 58:10.180 It killed him. 58:10.940 --> 58:12.200 38 years of age. 58:12.800 --> 58:14.820 And he died because of cirrhosis of the liver. 58:15.580 --> 58:18.440 You're like, yeah, but I don't drink that much. 58:18.760 --> 58:21.380 Oh, remember, the sermon is little by little. 58:23.220 --> 58:23.920 Just a little. 58:24.920 --> 58:26.420 And I'm sure he didn't drink that much 58:26.420 --> 58:27.060 when he first started. 58:28.300 --> 58:31.980 But it's little by little and it ended up killing him. 58:33.100 --> 58:34.920 And I'm sure he thought he wasn't gonna die. 58:35.020 --> 58:36.520 I'm sure he thought he was gonna go to the hospital. 58:36.820 --> 58:38.160 Everything was gonna be hunky-dory. 58:38.540 --> 58:39.280 He'll bounce back. 58:39.380 --> 58:40.220 But you know what ended up happening? 58:40.320 --> 58:40.800 He ended up dying. 58:41.540 --> 58:44.040 In fact, he was doing really well for a couple of days. 58:45.000 --> 58:46.300 His organs stopped bleeding. 58:47.060 --> 58:49.240 It took him off the dialysis machine. 58:50.200 --> 58:52.320 And, you know, the doctor said, 58:52.360 --> 58:53.680 oh, it looks like he's doing better. 58:54.100 --> 58:55.020 That was on Saturday. 58:55.260 --> 58:55.700 Sunday, he died. 58:58.040 --> 59:00.120 But do you really think that happened overnight? 59:00.360 --> 59:02.840 No, it was little by little is what it was. 59:03.480 --> 59:04.260 It's all it was. 59:05.720 --> 59:08.080 So are you still mad at me for saying 59:08.080 --> 59:09.800 that you can't come to church if you don't drink alcohol? 59:10.900 --> 59:12.960 Folks, you know, for us to exhort people 59:12.960 --> 59:15.000 not to drink alcohol, we're doing you a favor. 59:16.160 --> 59:19.000 There's absolutely no benefits to drinking alcohol. 59:19.500 --> 59:21.080 Aside from the fact that it's a sin in the Bible, 59:21.200 --> 59:21.980 and yes, it's a sin, 59:22.320 --> 59:24.020 regardless of what the Roman Catholics say. 59:24.020 --> 59:27.140 Or these other non-denominational churches 59:27.480 --> 59:28.540 that claim that, you know, 59:28.640 --> 59:30.020 oh, a little wine for their stomach's sake. 59:30.140 --> 59:30.620 It's called juice. 59:31.540 --> 59:33.860 Even doctors have come out and said, 59:34.840 --> 59:36.900 in recent years, we were wrong. 59:37.000 --> 59:39.080 There's actually no medical benefits to alcohol. 59:39.860 --> 59:41.240 Whatsoever, it's just toxic. 59:41.740 --> 59:42.360 It's poison. 59:42.680 --> 59:43.680 It'll destroy you. 59:44.060 --> 59:44.820 Don't do it. 59:45.740 --> 59:48.800 It can't even help you even just a little bit. 59:49.560 --> 59:50.880 There's a reason the Bible calls it 59:50.880 --> 59:52.080 the poison of dragons. 59:52.760 --> 59:54.260 Because that's exactly what it is. 59:54.940 --> 59:56.900 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red 59:56.900 --> 59:58.060 when it give it this color in a cup 59:58.060 --> 01:00:00.040 when it moves itself aright, the Bible says. 01:00:00.360 --> 01:00:01.680 The Bible says don't even look at it. 01:00:02.540 --> 01:00:05.280 And look, just do an overview of alcohol in the Bible. 01:00:05.600 --> 01:00:08.060 The vast majority of passages dealing with alcohol 01:00:08.060 --> 01:00:08.920 are all negative. 01:00:09.760 --> 01:00:10.060 All negative. 01:00:11.380 --> 01:00:13.680 Like what about, didn't Jesus turn the water into wine? 01:00:13.780 --> 01:00:15.540 He turned the water into juice. 01:00:16.720 --> 01:00:19.500 Wine in the Bible is used interchangeably with juice. 01:00:20.100 --> 01:00:23.060 The point that I'm making here is, 01:00:24.080 --> 01:00:25.640 alcoholics, people who drink alcohol 01:00:25.640 --> 01:00:27.040 are not willing to stop, it can't be in church. 01:00:28.480 --> 01:00:30.180 But that's being judgmental. 01:00:30.320 --> 01:00:31.180 I know it is. 01:00:33.240 --> 01:00:34.240 Yes, exactly. 01:00:35.280 --> 01:00:37.420 Yeah, and it's supposed to motivate you 01:00:37.790 --> 01:00:39.300 to repent of drunkenness. 01:00:40.180 --> 01:00:42.320 Because if you esteem the things of God, 01:00:42.680 --> 01:00:44.900 if you esteem church, if you esteem 01:00:45.540 --> 01:00:47.000 fellowshiping with God's people, 01:00:47.000 --> 01:00:49.840 then it should motivate you to stop drinking alcohol. 01:00:50.940 --> 01:00:52.860 But you know what, I'm telling you right now, 01:00:53.220 --> 01:00:55.000 I'm just telling you, it's just better to be sober. 01:00:56.260 --> 01:00:57.380 So variety is just better. 01:00:58.080 --> 01:00:59.580 I don't know about you, but I just don't, 01:01:00.100 --> 01:01:02.440 throwing up is just not, it's kind of gross. 01:01:03.840 --> 01:01:05.220 Got the stuff in your nose. 01:01:06.640 --> 01:01:08.980 Waking up with a major hangover. 01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:11.280 Is that really that cool? 01:01:13.280 --> 01:01:16.080 Destroying your liver, getting man boobs, 01:01:16.080 --> 01:01:18.920 all kinds of like things that you get from alcohol. 01:01:20.720 --> 01:01:21.760 Need I say more? 01:01:23.960 --> 01:01:26.880 You know, it sounds like it's just beneficial 01:01:26.880 --> 01:01:28.260 to not drink alcohol. 01:01:28.740 --> 01:01:30.960 Bible says be sober, be vigilant. 01:01:31.760 --> 01:01:33.280 Yeah, but that doesn't mean you can't drink alcohol. 01:01:33.660 --> 01:01:35.780 You can't be sober if you're drinking alcohol. 01:01:36.300 --> 01:01:38.120 Plain and simple, okay? 01:01:39.520 --> 01:01:42.000 Point is here, folks, we cannot allow 01:01:42.000 --> 01:01:43.700 a little leaven into the church. 01:01:43.700 --> 01:01:46.180 We cannot allow a little compromise, 01:01:46.520 --> 01:01:48.760 a little fornication, a little adultery, 01:01:49.180 --> 01:01:51.220 a little drunkenness, a little railing, 01:01:51.480 --> 01:01:53.700 a little extortion, a little idolatry. 01:01:53.800 --> 01:01:55.940 Why, because it'll destroy the entire church. 01:01:58.920 --> 01:02:03.360 It's amazing what an impact a little thing can have, okay? 01:02:04.160 --> 01:02:05.320 I'm gonna stop right there. 01:02:05.420 --> 01:02:06.360 So what's the point of the sermon? 01:02:06.460 --> 01:02:07.820 The point is simply this, you know, 01:02:08.020 --> 01:02:09.560 little things matter. 01:02:10.960 --> 01:02:12.980 Don't underestimate the little Bible that you read, 01:02:13.920 --> 01:02:15.320 the little amount of church that you do, 01:02:16.240 --> 01:02:18.440 because you know what, it'll help you in the long run. 01:02:18.860 --> 01:02:20.240 The little changes that you make. 01:02:20.580 --> 01:02:22.900 Folks, if an airplane was going to one destination 01:02:22.900 --> 01:02:25.540 and it even changed the degrees just slightly, 01:02:25.740 --> 01:02:27.200 it'll end up in a completely different place. 01:02:28.820 --> 01:02:30.800 That's how much of an impact little things can make. 01:02:31.780 --> 01:02:33.080 And you know, you may be sitting there thinking, 01:02:33.680 --> 01:02:36.660 I just don't see myself growing that much, you know, 01:02:37.200 --> 01:02:39.040 by just implementing these small little things. 01:02:39.040 --> 01:02:40.840 Yeah, you won't see them in the long run, 01:02:40.960 --> 01:02:41.840 but let me tell you right now, 01:02:42.060 --> 01:02:43.460 you won't see them in a short term, 01:02:43.560 --> 01:02:45.020 but in the long run, you will see it. 01:02:45.920 --> 01:02:47.820 Here's the last illustration I use and I'm done. 01:02:49.920 --> 01:02:50.980 Cutting weight sucks. 01:02:52.700 --> 01:02:53.960 Losing weight, man. 01:02:54.880 --> 01:02:56.380 It's just, it's a drudgery. 01:02:56.900 --> 01:02:58.600 Everyone gets to eat fun food 01:02:58.600 --> 01:02:59.780 and you're just watching them. 01:03:00.600 --> 01:03:01.880 And you're just like, man. 01:03:02.740 --> 01:03:04.580 You know, and it really sucks 01:03:04.580 --> 01:03:06.080 like the first three, four weeks. 01:03:06.780 --> 01:03:08.220 Because you don't see any change. 01:03:09.580 --> 01:03:11.260 Scale doesn't, sometimes it goes up. 01:03:13.460 --> 01:03:15.220 Sarah changed the batteries on these things. 01:03:15.540 --> 01:03:17.000 Like, what's, man. 01:03:17.880 --> 01:03:19.740 And then you look in the mirror and you just see no change. 01:03:20.500 --> 01:03:22.420 Still fat, you know. 01:03:23.080 --> 01:03:25.780 And you're just caloric deficit 01:03:25.780 --> 01:03:27.620 and then you're just, you're eating 01:03:28.740 --> 01:03:31.720 like just a small child, you know. 01:03:32.640 --> 01:03:34.240 And it's just miserable. 01:03:35.340 --> 01:03:36.680 And then a couple of weeks go through 01:03:36.680 --> 01:03:37.760 and then you start getting weak 01:03:37.760 --> 01:03:40.200 and it's just like, it just sucks, okay. 01:03:41.520 --> 01:03:42.940 But you don't really see the difference 01:03:42.940 --> 01:03:44.240 until like 12 weeks in. 01:03:45.640 --> 01:03:46.740 And that's kind of interesting 01:03:46.740 --> 01:03:48.340 because there comes a point when you're cutting 01:03:48.720 --> 01:03:49.720 that you don't see a difference 01:03:49.720 --> 01:03:51.400 and then from one day to the next is just, 01:03:51.560 --> 01:03:52.300 boom, it just changes. 01:03:53.200 --> 01:03:54.520 You just drop like a lot away 01:03:54.520 --> 01:03:55.880 and you're like, oh, something does look. 01:03:56.080 --> 01:03:57.820 And then people are like, hey, you don't look fat anymore. 01:03:59.980 --> 01:04:02.060 Hey, or they'll say, you don't look fat. 01:04:02.480 --> 01:04:06.460 You lost some weight, you know, they don't view it 01:04:06.460 --> 01:04:09.040 until long after it takes time. 01:04:09.200 --> 01:04:11.240 But the problem is sometimes people, when they cut, 01:04:12.220 --> 01:04:14.440 they're cutting and then they don't see results 01:04:14.440 --> 01:04:16.360 in three weeks, so then they just binge on pizza 01:04:16.360 --> 01:04:18.560 and they just kill, they're like, ah, it's not working. 01:04:18.760 --> 01:04:20.040 I'm just, I'll start on Monday. 01:04:22.560 --> 01:04:24.040 That's the most common phrase, right? 01:04:24.760 --> 01:04:25.560 I'll start tomorrow. 01:04:26.620 --> 01:04:28.520 Well, they don't realize tomorrow will never come. 01:04:29.620 --> 01:04:30.660 It's just not gonna come. 01:04:31.080 --> 01:04:33.800 And then tomorrow comes and then you're just like, 01:04:33.800 --> 01:04:35.820 oh, Tuesday, Tuesday's a better day. 01:04:36.780 --> 01:04:38.240 And then, you know, Tuesday comes, 01:04:38.360 --> 01:04:39.880 something comes up, you're stressed, you gotta eat, 01:04:40.480 --> 01:04:41.980 you know, oh, you didn't get a chance to do it. 01:04:42.040 --> 01:04:42.980 You know, there's all kinds of excuses 01:04:42.980 --> 01:04:44.040 we come up with why we eat. 01:04:44.180 --> 01:04:47.580 I don't eat excuses, but we, you know, okay? 01:04:49.700 --> 01:04:51.080 But here's the thing, the point is, 01:04:51.080 --> 01:04:53.560 is that when you lift, when you're losing weight, 01:04:53.880 --> 01:04:57.000 it takes time and you don't really see results 01:04:57.000 --> 01:04:59.760 until like weeks on into the cut. 01:05:00.200 --> 01:05:02.440 And that's basically how the Christian life is. 01:05:02.660 --> 01:05:03.420 You say, how so? 01:05:03.800 --> 01:05:06.520 Well, the Bible says, to lay aside every weight 01:05:06.520 --> 01:05:09.000 and the sin which doth so easily beset us. 01:05:09.840 --> 01:05:10.800 But you know what that happens 01:05:10.800 --> 01:05:12.840 over a long period of time, sometimes? 01:05:14.200 --> 01:05:17.580 Shedding off the old man, getting rid of the old habits, 01:05:18.060 --> 01:05:20.820 the old ways of thinking, we have to allow ourselves 01:05:20.820 --> 01:05:23.680 to grow, but in tandem with that, 01:05:23.780 --> 01:05:25.180 we need to make sure, listen to me, 01:05:25.520 --> 01:05:31.080 that you don't allow new bad habits in little by little. 01:05:31.720 --> 01:05:35.340 As a Christian, grow out of the old man, 01:05:36.720 --> 01:05:38.380 grow into the new man, 01:05:38.740 --> 01:05:41.860 but don't invite other old man habits into your life 01:05:41.860 --> 01:05:43.320 either little by little. 01:05:43.940 --> 01:05:47.100 When you do, destruction will follow. 01:05:47.240 --> 01:05:48.760 Let's pray, Father, we thank you so much for your word. 01:05:49.220 --> 01:05:50.520 Help us as your people to continue 01:05:50.520 --> 01:05:51.460 to grow little by little, 01:05:51.920 --> 01:05:54.720 not to rush anything more than the Christian life, 01:05:54.720 --> 01:05:55.840 but just pace ourselves. 01:05:56.520 --> 01:05:57.920 The Christian life is not a marathon. 01:05:58.900 --> 01:06:00.700 It's a long distance race. 01:06:01.740 --> 01:06:04.380 And I pray that, or it's not a sprint, it's a marathon, Lord. 01:06:04.860 --> 01:06:06.880 And we're not trying to finish over night, Lord. 01:06:06.980 --> 01:06:08.820 We're trying to finish over a long period of time. 01:06:08.960 --> 01:06:11.360 Help us to finish our course with joy, 01:06:11.760 --> 01:06:12.860 that at the end of our lives, 01:06:12.920 --> 01:06:15.040 we can look back and know that we did our best, Lord, 01:06:15.160 --> 01:06:16.260 to live a sanctified life, 01:06:16.380 --> 01:06:17.800 to grow in the knowledge of the word of God, 01:06:18.220 --> 01:06:20.180 to win as many souls as we possibly can. 01:06:20.900 --> 01:06:23.320 And I pray that also you help us to be conscious 01:06:23.320 --> 01:06:25.760 of the fact that just a little sin 01:06:26.300 --> 01:06:27.600 over a long period of time 01:06:27.600 --> 01:06:29.600 can bring major destruction. 01:06:29.800 --> 01:06:31.120 And I pray that you bless us as we go on our way. 01:06:31.320 --> 01:06:32.000 Bless the baby shower. 01:06:32.160 --> 01:06:32.920 We love you and we thank you. 01:06:33.300 --> 01:06:34.420 Pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.