It's the Little Things - Pastor Kipp Penrod

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

Luke 13 · chapter mention

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

Luke 13:10

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

Luke 13:10

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,

Exodus 12:14

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

Church. We pray that you were impacted powerfully

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