Thank you for listening to this message from
LifeHouse Church. Before you sit down, turn to
somebody, give them a high five. Tell them it's
good to see you at LifeHouse. Come on. If you're
online, it's good to have you as well. You may
be seated after that. Well, how many know this?
It only takes a little bit of something to change
a whole bunch of something, right? Just a few
drops of a little bit of something, of the little
thing. will change everything. Y 'all are going
to be distracted just watching that swirl, aren't
you now? Just a little thing can change the entire
thing. It really can. Just adding the one thing
can change the sum total of everything. Putting
the little thing in can actually make it a thing.
Anybody ever have something become a thing in
your life? Anybody know what I'm talking about?
Just a little bit of the right thing, just a
little bit of the wrong thing. can make a whole
different thing. And it's the little things that
can mean really everything. It's true. Many years
ago, when I worked in the elevator industry,
many, many, many years ago, I was actually, the
company that I worked for, they were called in,
they were independently hired to come in and
investigate an elevator accident that took place.
This took place at a warehouse in Western Pennsylvania,
in the northern part of Western PA. And there
was a lawsuit that was pending because of this
accident took place. And I happened to be brought
on as an expert witness to go and determine.
why this accident took place. Apparently, one
of the employees went to open a manual elevator
door, a freight elevator door, and went to step
inside. And when they pulled the door open, they
stepped inside. There was a problem because the
elevator wasn't there. They opened the door.
They went down multiple stories, broke many bones.
There was a lot of fall -related injuries that
took place in their body. And at that time, I
was serving as a master mechanic and a department
head for the company that I was working for.
And I got called in to do the investigation.
And once I arrived, they took me into this little
warehouse, this old warehouse, and they moved
me back to this. corner where the elevator was
at. It was poorly lit. There was this area, and
it was a very old elevator. And it didn't take
me long to figure out that when I got there and
started looking at what took place, there was
one little tiny mechanism on the door interlocking
system that was worn. It was worn just a little
bit. And I'm telling you, I don't know if you
can see my fingers, it was that much. that was
worn away. And just with that little bit of wear,
that little thing that took place, an employee
came up, pulled the door open in that dimly lit
area, plummeted down almost three stories, actually
was three stories, hit the elevator pit and was
injured. And that person's life changed forever
because of just a little thing. A little thing
can make the difference. A single word can change
the course of your life. It can carve out a new
future for you. A simple word can take you or
cause present difficulty beyond belief, right?
One small repetitious change can mean all the
difference in going forward in my future. One
small repetitious change can change my path and
take me to a place I never wanted to go to. And
Jesus taught us just how powerful the little
thing can be in our lives. If you have your Bible
this morning, I want you to turn to Luke chapter
13. We are sliding out of the book of John. And
this morning, I want to park in the book of Luke
just for a little bit. Luke chapter 13, verse
10. And as you go there, I'm going to pray over
our ears to hear the word of God, our hearts
to receive the word of God. And I'm going to
pray over these invitations. We have these balls
up here. This is the green. This is for you to
invite. And this is the salvations that have
taken place at LifeHouse. And you say, well,
why pray over these? the same time. It is the
word of God in your ears that lodges in your
heart and in your mind that you share with someone
else that's going to make the difference in somebody's
life. Amen. inviting them into the kingdom. So
Father, thank you. God, as we look into your
words, we turn to your word. God, I pray that
today, God, you would move in our hearts, our
minds. God, that our ears would receive. God,
that it would be written in the flesh of our
hearts. And Lord, that it might change how we
are, what we do, and what we speak to others.
And God, we pray over the invitations that have
gone out. Lord, for those to come to church,
those to come to know you. And God, we praise
you and give you glory for the salvations that
have already taken place. And we thank you in
the matchless name of your son, Jesus. Amen and
amen. Luke chapter 13, verse 10, and it says
this. Now he, it's talking about Jesus, was teaching
in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And
behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of
infirmity 18 years and was bent over and could
in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw
her, he called to her and said to her, woman,
you are loosed from your infirmity. And he laid
his hands on her and immediately she was made
straight and glorified God. And the ruler of
the synagogue answered with indignation because
Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. And he said
to the crowd, there are six days in which men
ought to work. Therefore, come and be healed
on them and not on the Sabbath day. Then the
Lord Jesus answered him and said, hypocrite.
Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose
his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead
it away to the water? So ought not this woman,
being a daughter of Abraham, who Satan has bound,
think of it, for 18 years, be loosed from this
bond on the Sabbath? And when he said these things,
all his adversaries were put to shame, and all
the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things
that were done by him. This is the front story
before we get to the little thing. This is the
story that Jesus unfolds or takes place before
we get to what Jesus is going to talk about with
the little things. Jesus is preaching. He's teaching
in the synagogue. And what happens is he sees
a woman who comes in who is bent over. She's
had an infirmity. She's had a sickness. There's
some kind of degeneration that's taking place
maybe in her spine. We don't know. The word of
God doesn't really tell us. But she is bent over.
And for 18 years, she's been in this condition.
I saw these kind of things in the hometown where
I grew up. I grew up in western PA in a small
town where it was coal country. And it was miners
and steel workers that primarily worked there
when I was young. And I remember seeing old timers,
old timers when I was a kid. It's probably my
age now, right? But they were old timers and
they had worked in the mines, these small mines,
and they were bent over. They would walk down
the street like this from being in the mines
for so long. And it was heartbreaking to see.
Jesus sees her, stops in the middle of his teaching,
stops in the middle of his message. He interrupts
himself. He lays hands on this woman and heals
her. She stands up straight for the first time
in 18 years. And what are the rulers, right?
The religious leaders of the synagogue do? These
holy men who are in a holy establishment, do
they celebrate? Do they get excited? Do they
praise God? No, they complain. Jesus, you worked
on the Sabbath day. Jesus was not out building
a house. He was not carrying a load of wood.
He did not open a business. He wasn't working
at a factory. He didn't clock in. He wasn't breaking
the Mosaic law. He laid hands on a woman who
had been crippled and in this debilitating condition
and heals her. And Jesus begins to rebuke these
guys, right? He calls them hypocrite. How many
of you just like want to say something sometimes?
Jesus just would, right? Hypocrite, right? And
he says, any of you, any one of you, if you had
your donkey or your ox, you would loose it on
the Sabbath and lead it to get drink or get it
to food, right? And you don't want me to lead
this woman to healing? And once he straightens
out these leaders, once he exposes their shame,
once he unfolds all this and the crowd rejoices
with this woman, Jesus immediately launches into
two small parables about the little things. It
matters where things are in scripture. In Luke
13, 18, the very next verse, it says, then he
said, what is the kingdom of God like? And what
shall I compare it? It's like a mustard seed.
Say mustard seed. How many of you have ever seen
a mustard seed? They are a tiny, tiny little
thing, right? It's like a mustard seed, which
a man took and put in his garden. And he grew
and became a large tree. And the birds of the
air nested in its branches. And again, he said
to him, to what shall I liken the kingdom of
God? He said, it's like leaven, which a woman
took and hid in three measures of meal till it
was all leavened. Jesus immediately speaks about
the little things. He starts talking about some
small things. And you got to ask yourself the
question, why in this moment, when this is all
taking place, when this woman gets healed, why
would Jesus go right into this? Why would he
say this, right? Because Jesus is teaching this
crowd that it is the little thing that can make
enormous difference in your life. It is the little
thing that will change the whole bunch of something
in you. It is the tiny seed that's put into the
ground of your heart that will grow into something
massive. It is the little leaven that is placed
inside of you that will infect the entire lump.
He's not just having to talk about gardening
or baking of these things. He's using it as an
analogy. He's talking about a spiritual law that's
in place. Just kind of like laws of nature are,
so are their spiritual laws. And he's talking
about it. It's the little thing, just one drop
of something. Something deposited into my head,
something deposited into my heart, something
that drops into my soul can change all of me.
It really can. One drop of dye, right, changes
it all. A little something will change your lump,
all right? Look at your neighbor right now. You've
been waiting all day to do this. Say, hey there,
lumpy. Come on, hey there, lumpy. Tell them a
little leaven will change your lump, okay? Tell
them, right? A little leaven's gonna change your
lump. It will. A little yeast in the dough. will
make the bread rise. A little seed in the ground,
it's going to grow into something inside of you.
A little pride, a little jealousy, a little hatred,
a little sin will infect the entire thing, right?
A little of the kingdom of God injected into
your spirit, into your soul will begin to transform
life into you. Your light will begin to come
into you. A little bit of something is going
to change everything. It really will. My grandmother,
Used to make the fluffiest bread on the planet.
I'm sorry if your grandma did, but my grandma
was better, okay? She just was, all right? She
made the greatest bread on the planet. And she
did it like every grandmother before her. She
put yeast in the dough. And I remember my grandmother,
even though she had arthritis in her hands, she'd
be working that dough with her fingers, and she'd
be rolling, and I don't even know what all she
did. I didn't even care. I was just getting ready
to eat it, right? And she was working that yeast,
and she was working the dough. And then she'd
put it into a pan, and she'd go find a warm spot,
sometimes in a window with the sunshine, somewhere
maybe near an oven that was on. Somewhere where
it was a little bit warm. and that thing would
begin to rise. It'd begin to expand, right? It
would magically transform, and it would bake.
And then when she'd put it in the oven and bake
it for just the right amount of time and bring
it out, it was warm. Y 'all getting hungry? I'm
getting hungry. And we smothered butter all over
that thing, right? It was a thing. Just the smallest
amount of yeast. would transform that lump. It
would grow, it would expand. The religious leaders
that Jesus put to shame, as he taught and as
he healed and he called hypocrites, it was the
little thing that infected their soul. A little
sin. We don't know if it was selfishness. We
don't know if it was pride, if it was jealousy
of Jesus. We know that was the case in some other
places, right? Somewhere along the way, the thing
that consumed the lump began to push out to the
surface. And instead of the love of God shining
forth for this woman that was healed, there was
no compassion, right? Compassion was gone for
this woman. A woman bent over, walking in, bent
over for 18 years. Zero compassion. They probably
didn't even see her. It removed every bit of
empathy that might have been within their selves.
Nothing was there. They didn't even see her.
And I'm in trouble if the enemy drops a little
something in my spirit and robs me of that kind
of compassion. I'm in trouble when I can't see
people anymore because it's one thing that the
enemy dropped into my spirit and my spirit started
to go dark. I started to get to it. That's what
happened to these guys. That's how it works with
you. That's how it works with me. One drop of
jealousy jacks all of you up. One smidge of smug
pride in your life will harden all of you, not
just a piece of you. A little bit of hatred,
and it gets disseminated, will inflame every
ounce of your being. It will inflame it. It is
the little thing. And Proverbs 4 .23 says this.
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines
the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk.
Stay away from corrupt speech. Look ahead and
fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out
a straight path for your feet. Stay on a safe
path. Don't get sidetracked. Get your feet, right?
Keep your feet from following evil. He starts
off with guard your heart. Guard your heart from
the little things that will mess you up. Avoid
the perverse conversation. How many of you have
ever got into a conversation and by the end of
it, you knew it was perverse? I'm not saying
perverted, perverse. You get into a conversation
and it just goes south, right? It ends up into
gossip. It ends up into this, you know, just...
You know, somehow you started off right here.
And by the end of the conversation, you talked
about everybody in a negative way. You just run
everybody into the ground. And he starts to head
into a perverse direction. And it begins to get
within you. You don't walk away refreshed. You
don't walk away, you know, better in the kingdom
of God. You're just angry when you walk away.
And I'm not talking about truth. I'm talking
about perverse things. It says, man, avoid the
perverse conversation. The word of God says,
look straight. ahead. Sometimes glancing at the
little thing for too long is going to mess you
up. It's going to get in your spirit. You got
to think about what you're looking at. You got
to think about where your eyes are fixed on.
Look straight ahead. It seems like, and I'm not
telling you to be paranoid. I don't ever believe
in that. I don't believe, paranoid is fear, fear
-based thing. God never calls us to be fearful,
right? But we should think about what we're looking
at. When we look at the little thing that we
know can mess us up, you need to turn your eyes
and get away. We need to be intentional. Say
intentional. That's way different from paranoid.
You need to be intentional. The word of God says,
mark out a straight path. Figure out ahead of
time if you're going to walk near the little
thing that's going to mess up your lump. Figure
it out ahead of time. Map it out. GPS your life
before you start walking down a path of life.
Most of the time when we're walking through life
and we're just taking it as it comes, right?
We didn't think about where we're going. We didn't
think about what we're going to look at. We didn't
think about what we're going to say, what we're
going to do, all the little things that can come
in and affect me. We're just going to cruise
and thank you, Jesus. We'll just hit it as we
go. Sometimes you need to map it out. How many
know if you don't map it out, you get lost? Amen.
Come on. There wasn't one man in the house raised
his hand. Not one. Right? It's you two guys.
All right? If you don't map it out, think about
what you're going to say. Think about what you're
going to look at. Think about the environment
you're walking into and what it's going to mean
to you. Map that thing out. And the last part
of that scripture said, don't get sidetracked
with the little things. If Satan cannot take
you down with a frontal assault, do you know
what he'll do? He'll get you sidetracked with
the little things. He'll get you messed up in
the little things, and the enemy will take out
your feet. You're the lump. I hate to break it
to you today. And it's the little thing that'll
take you out, lumpy. I'm the lump. It's the little
thing that's going to take me out. God has always...
been serious about removing the leaven from the
lumps, the little thing. You can go back to the
book of Exodus. In Exodus 12, verse 14, it says,
So this shall be to you a memorial, and you shall
keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your
generations. You shall keep it as a feast, as
of an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall
eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall
remove the leaven from your houses. For whoever
eats leavened bread from the first day until
the seventh day, that person shall be cut off
from Israel. How many know that's pretty serious,
right? That's what the word of God says. On the
first day, there will be a holy convocation.
On the seventh day, there shall be a holy convocation
for you. No manner of work shall be done on them,
but that which everyone must eat and only may
be prepared for you. So you shall observe the
feast of unleavened bread. This feast actually
crossed over with Passover. They happened almost
simultaneously. For on the same day, I will have
brought your armies out of the land of Egypt.
Therefore you shall observe that day throughout
your generations for an everlasting ordinance.
God gives an ordinance to Israel. This is back
in the Old Testament. back when he brought him
out of slavery. And he tells him, I want you
to observe seven days where you don't eat any
bread that has leaven in it. You're going to
take out all the leaven. It's going to be all
flatbread, right? It's going to be matzah is
what the terminology is used. It'll be matzah.
And you want to do, and I want you to do this
for a couple of reasons. God said, I want you
to do this because first of all, I want you to
remember that I brought you out of slavery. When
Israel had to leave and flee from Egypt, it was
such a quick thing that took place, they didn't
even have time to put leaven in the bread and
let it rise. They needed to bake on the fly because
they were leaving slavery. They were getting
out. Secondly, the Bible says that yeast is like
leaven, or leaven is yeast, and it causes fermentation
and spreads rapidly throughout the bunch. Because
of this, it is frequently used to illustrate
sin. sin or malice. God was saying, get all this
sin. It was symbolic, right? Every year they
would have the feast of unleavened bread. Get
all the yeast out of the house. How many know
this is the temple of the Lord? Get all the yeast
out of the house, right? Get it out of your food.
And third, It was looked at as purity. When they
set up the temple, they would bring unleavened
bread in as a representation of purity and sin
that was removed. God has always been serious
about the little thing that we let in. Remove
the little thing that will rot your soul. Remove
the little thing that will shift your gaze right
from Jesus to something else. Remove the little
thing that will pull on your heart. Remove the
little thing that will change your lump. Not
for the better. Come on, amen? Remove the little
thing. Now you might be thinking, Pastor, you've
hit that pretty hard. Okay, we get it. But how
do I do that? How do I keep the little thing
out of my lump? What's that look like? How do
I keep the leaven out of my lump? How do I keep
the little things that can mess up my life, that
can mess up all of me? Well, Jesus said it in
the passage that I read. I'm going to reread
Luke 13, 18. He says, then he said, what is the
kingdom of God like? And what shall I compare
it to? It's like a mustard seed. which a man
took and put in his garden and it grew and it
became a large tree and the birds of the air
nested in its branches. You want to keep the
lump pure? You want to keep it right? This process
works both ways. Be careful what you're putting
in, right? Keep the sin out. But the other side
of this is put in the mustard seed of heaven.
Put in the mustard seed of God, and it'll produce
the right things in your spirit and in your heart.
It works both ways, right? It flips both ways.
If you add a little heaven instead of yeast to
the lump, You're gonna produce trees of righteousness.
It works both directions. If I can give you a
picture of what I'm talking about here and maybe
how to see this, you're either gonna add a little
bit of heaven into your life and into your heart,
or you're gonna add a little bit of hell to your
lump, okay? It's gonna be a little bit of heaven
or it's gonna be a little bit of hell, whatever
you're bringing in, one of the two. When I was
growing up, They preached a lot about heaven
and hell in church, actually on a regular basis.
I heard one person say they attended a Catholic
school, and one of the nuns taught on heaven
and hell like she lived there, okay? And I think
they were referring to hell, all right? Heaven's
a real place. It really is. It's where God dwells.
And hell is a real place as well. These are not
metaphoric destinations that it talks about in
scripture, right? These are real locations. These
are things that we have to consider after this
life. And why did they preach on heaven and hell
so often when I was a kid? Because they realized
that all of life is a heaven and hell issue.
I don't know if you realize it, but at the end
of all this. Everything we got going on, when
you draw your last breath, there's one or two
destinations you're going to land in. One's either
going to be heaven or the other is hell. And
this time that we're spending on this earth,
whether God gives you 50, 60, 70, 30, 80 years,
whatever it is, 90 years, is infinitesimal compared
to all of eternity. It's going to look like a
small dot. And the rest is a heaven and hell
thing, right? So every time you're going to look
at the little thing that's going to come into
your lump, you need to ask yourself, is this
a little heaven thing coming in? Or is this a
little bit of hell coming into my life? I know
that sounds terribly simple, but it's terribly
clear, right? It's effective in filtering out.
What am I letting in? You know, what am I planting
into my life? What is this turning me towards?
Is this turning me towards life and light and
Christ? Or is this leading me towards torment
and the father of all lies? Right? We like to
play in the gray. We like to think it's not that
black and white. But at the end of all of it,
it really is that black and white. There's no
final destination of gray out ahead of us. You're
not going to die one day, draw your last breath,
and land on some fence that's somewhere in the
middle of heaven and hell. Not going to happen,
right? There's not a gray fence out there you're
going to land on like, hope I fall on the right
side. Hope this all works out. It's two distinct
destinations. And it's the little thing that
we let into our life that's either going to be
a pro -heaven thing or the little thing that
we're going to let into our life that's a pro
-hell thing or vice versa, one of the two. It's
a filter. It's a way to filter what's coming
in. Filters are screens. that are given to us
to sort things out. If you're going to filter
something, right? If you got a colander or a
filter that you use in the kitchen, you pour
stuff through and you want the good stuff to
go through and you get all the junk or vice versa,
right? You either filter out, if it gets macaroni,
you pour it in and you wash out all the impurities
that go out the bottom, all the macaroni sludge,
I call it, will go out the bottom and then you
got the macaroni or vice versa. You might want
to filter out the garbage and let the liquid
go through. So you just use the liquid, but there's
a filter. that takes place. They do the same
thing in car engines. You get your oil changed,
and you go get your filter changed, and in that
filter, what happens is it takes out all the
contaminants in your oil, right? Anything that's
going to cause destruction to your engine so
you don't come back to the dealer and you got
a $6 ,000 repair, all right? Are there any mechanics
in the house that are going to look at it? Come
on, bring it on, right? Phil, I see you back
there, brother. All right? You know, and it'll
wreak havoc. But the filter also lets the oil
through. And the oil is what keeps your engine
running. You know, I looked this up just a little
bit, and I was going to try to impress you. There's
this thing in oil that actually goes through
the filter. It's part of the oil. It's called
ZDDP. Put that name up on the board. Can anybody
pronounce that for me? Thank God. I couldn't
either, okay? It is the primary anti -wear additive
in motor oil. It chemically bonds to the metal
surfaces under high pressure, creating a microscopic
sacrificial layer that prevents metal -to -metal
friction. It's the little thing that keeps your
engine running like a kitten, man, just purring
down the road. It's the heaven that you, when
you're driving in your car, gets you to where
you need to go. It's the little bit of heaven
that gets through the filter, right? And all
the junk gets filtered out. It's really, that's
what we're talking about here. Let me take you
to Matthew's account of what Jesus said. Because
Jesus actually, right, the gospels or synoptic
gospels all wrote these things down. A lot of
the things the same that Jesus spoke. But there's
something in Matthew's gospel that we want to
add in here. It says in Matthew 13, 31, another
parable he put forth them saying, kingdom of
heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took
and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least
of all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater
than all the herbs and it becomes a tree so that
the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.
Another parable he spoke to him, the kingdom
of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took
and hid in three measures of meal till it was
all leavened. All these things Jesus spoke to
the multitude in parables and without a parable,
he did not speak to them. They might be fulfilled
what she's spoken to the prophet saying. I will
open my mouth in parables. Now catch this. I
will utter things kept secret from the foundation
of the world. When you read these parables of
Jesus, there are secrets in them that are kept
from the foundation of the world. Jesus was telling
a secret when he told these parables. It's the
little things that'll get you. It is the little
things, right? The little hellish thing that
will infect the entire lump. It is the tiniest
heavenly seed that will produce growth and strength
and power and godliness in your life. Be militant,
militant about the things, the little things
that come into your lump. Be militant. Be militant
as you look at things. Be militant as you scroll
social media. I don't know if you know this or
not, but I read this this week. When you scroll
social media, right? We all do it, right? We
just stare at our phones, right? The glow. Or
if you're really good, you just do it with your
thumb and look out of one eye. Pretend you're
listening to somebody. But I don't know if you
know this or not, but your brain has the capability.
In 10 to 15 milliseconds, you can pick up images.
Okay? MIT studied this. They actually came up
with the number 13. So in 13 thousandths of a
second, your mind can see an image, process it,
and internalize that image. In 13 thousandths
of a second. So I want you to do something, just
so you get a little hold on this, about the little
things that come into your life. I want you to
say this with me. 1 ,001. Ready? 1 ,001. That
was one second. Say it again. 1 ,001. Over seven
images in that amount of time, you can process
in your brain the little thing. Seven images
while you're scrolling. In 1 ,001, actually a
little more than seven, your brain will process.
We are bombarded with little things. It's either
going to be yeast or it's going to be heavenly
seed. And I know I've been on social media a
lot of times. There's a lot of yeast on there,
man. All right? There's a lot of sinful stuff
on there. And you're saying, are you against
social media? No, I'm saying you need to pay
attention to all the little things that are coming
into your head. You've got to pay attention to
what you're processing. You've got to be intentional
in what you're looking at, right? Worship team,
if you'd come. I love this quote by Bruce Barton.
Bruce Barton was a politician way from the past,
but he said this. Sometimes when I consider what
tremendous consequences come from little things,
I'm tempted to think there are no little things.
All right? The men that Jesus called hypocrites
ignored the little things that crept into their
spirit. They were left with no compassion. They
were left with no joy for healing, no empathy,
no recognition of God's handiwork and what God
was doing. What will you leave with this morning?
What have the little things done to you? I believe,
I'm a big believer in this. I'm a big believer
that the gospel should have handlebars. And let
me explain that. You should be able to grab a
hold of it and ride whatever you hear. It should
work in your life, amen? the gospel. And this
morning, I want to really give you some practical
steps that you can take with you. And if you're
taking notes, just keep taking notes yet. We're
getting ready to close, but you need to hear
what I'm saying. What are some practical steps
to make sure that I got the right little things
coming in and not the wrong things? First of
all, I got to ask myself the question and be
honest, is this a little bit of heaven or is
this a little bit of hell? And the little thing
that's coming towards me or I'm walking towards.
Don't fool yourself. Do not lie to yourself,
right? Pornography is a bit of hell. Be honest.
If you've got a problem and you're struggling
with pornography, go find somebody that can help
you walk out of that. Help you with that addiction
because it will eat you up. It will consume you,
right? Gossip, social media, toxic relationships,
you know, these are things. You've got to start
being honest with yourself. These are these little
things in my life. Are these good or are they
not good? Or are we planting seeds of heaven?
right? Bible study, groups, man, church, Christian
friends, anywhere you can. You're hearing worship
music, a little bit of heaven getting dropped
in your spirit. Be militant. That's number one.
Ask yourself the question. Number two is this.
Consult the one who's an expert in picking out
the little bit of heaven and hell in our lives.
You want to wade through what you think is the
gray? You need to get the Holy Spirit involved.
We are not experts at picking out the little
thing. I don't know if you know that or not.
John 14, 25 says, these things I have spoken
to you while being present with you, but the
helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will
send in my name, he will teach you all things
and bring to your remembrance all things that
I said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give to you, not as the world gives, but what
I give to you. Holy Spirit is the helper. We're
not always so good. at picking out what is heaven
and hell in our lives, right? Young people, I
want you to hear me. I want you to listen to
me right now. That guy or that girl standing
in front of you that you think you want to date
could be a little bit of heaven, could be a little
bit of, I think you get the point by now. Right?
We can't see the future. I cannot look into somebody's
heart, neither can you. You might think you know
their heart. You need the Holy Spirit active
in your life. You need to be walking in the Spirit
so you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. That's
what the Word of God says. You need to walk.
You got to have the Holy Spirit listening. You
got to be listening for His voice. You got to
be calling on God so that you can, so He'll tell
you. Man, there's the written Word of God and
then there's the revelated Word of God that's
going to come into your life. And He'll let you
know. He'll teach us. The Word of God says He'll
teach you all things. Revelation. He'll teach
it to you. It's practical step number two. Do
not do this on your own. You will fail. Don't
do it on your own. And then the third one. You've
been wondering all service, what's this for over
here, right? Third one. And the final one. Worship
team, you can begin to play. Third one. Put a
little more of that in there. The blood of Christ.
1 John 1 .5 says, this is the message which we
have heard from him and declare to you that God
is light and in him is no darkness at all. If
we say we have fellowship with him and walk in
darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another and
the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses
us from all sin. We need to apply the blood of
Christ. to the little things in our lives. The
little things that are messed up, right? I learned
a long time ago, I cannot clean myself up. That
is above my pay grade. I don't know if you know,
it's above your pay grade. I cannot clean myself
up. I can't do it. The little thing that's messed
up, the little thing that's down there hidden
somewhere, and I think it's not affecting the
whole, and it really is, I need him. And it is
the blood of Christ that washes us clean. It
is only the blood of Christ that will remove
it from your life. You will gravitate back. You
will want to slide back and grab a hold of. You
need the blood of Christ. You need the Holy Spirit.
And you need to tell yourself the truth about
the little things. Because the enemy will mess
you up with the little things. We all see an
attack coming, right? If somebody ran in through
those back doors right now and they were carrying
a machete and they were running and screaming
down the aisle, I would be running that way,
okay? Because they're probably coming for me.
I can see that. But it's the word that somebody
speaks when they walk by you that you either
bring it into your soul and your spirit or you
reject it. They can lodge in there and change
everything. Amen? It's true. Church, if you'd
stand. So I'm going to put the last slide up
there. Ask yourself. Ask yourself. The little
things. Is this a little heaven coming into my
life, or is this a little hell right in front
of me? Consult Holy Spirit. Ask Him. What is
this before me? What is this? It looks gray to
me. I'm not sure. I don't know what it is. I'm
not sure what they are. Ask them. And apply the
blood of Christ on a regular basis to all the
little things in your life. Get clean of the
mess. And if you're struggling with that, can
I tell you something, church? He brings us together
in the body of Christ. We all struggle with sin.
Different sins, different people, different sins.
The struggle is real. Until we get rid of this
flesh one day and we're in heaven with God, there's
going to be struggle. If you're struggling with
something, find someone, a mature believer that
you can connect with and begin to help you walk
through that. You can get free. You don't have
to bow to the little thing that keeps getting
you over and over again. You don't. Otherwise,
the blood of Christ wouldn't be effective, right?
But I'm telling you, it is. You can get free.
You can get free. You can get clean. So here's
what we're going to do. We haven't done this
in a while. And if you're new, just stand real
still and keep your head down and pretend nothing
else is going on. But I want you to get in little
groups and begin to pray. And here's why. Because
all of us deal with the little thing. All of
us got those little things, right? So what you
do, just find a couple people you might know,
you might not know. I'm not going to ask you
to do anything weird. We're just going to pray
together. Go ahead and just get in a circle right
now. Circle up somewhere. It can be a square
or circle. And I want you, I just want you to
pray for one another. We all need to be aware.
Of the little thing. We all need to be vigilant
about the little things. So I just want you to
begin. I want you to pray for now. If you want
to, you can talk about the little things. You
can talk about the things that get you. And then
somebody can pray specifically. But however you
want to do it. Maybe I guarantee you in your
group somewhere, somebody's got, somebody likes
to pray out loud. Just go ahead and let them
do that. If you don't, that's okay. Father, we
thank you. God, I thank you. God, as they pray
right now, I pray that your hand would be upon
them, Lord. God, and direct them in Jesus' name.
Come on, worship team. message from Lifehouse
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