======================================================================== IT'S JUST A LITTLE THING by Alan Martin ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of being faithful in little things, focusing on the significance of attitudes, actions, and words in our daily lives. It highlights the need to be mindful of our speech, attitudes, and relationships, aligning them with God's mercy and grace. The message underscores the impact of small attitudes of pride, judgment, and unmercifulness, urging listeners to seek God's forgiveness and emulate His kindness towards others. Topics: "Faithfulness in Small Things", "Aligning Attitudes with God's Grace" Scripture References: Luke 16:10, Matthew 5:17, Revelation 22:18, 1 Corinthians 4:1, James 5:9, Ephesians 4:29, Titus 3:1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of being faithful in little things, focusing on the significance of attitudes, actions, and words in our daily lives. It highlights the need to be mindful of our speech, attitudes, and relationships, aligning them with God's mercy and grace. The message underscores the impact of small attitudes of pride, judgment, and unmercifulness, urging listeners to seek God's forgiveness and emulate His kindness towards others. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Luke chapter 16 verse 10 says this, he, and this is the New American Standard Bible, I like this particular translation, I read the Koine Greek, so when I look at different versions this seems to be the best expression here of the Koine Greek. Some of the versions say he who is faithful with very little will be made, but it's not a future tense, it's a present tense, they're both present tense, he who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much. The same faithfulness he gives to little details he's going to give to great details. He who is unrighteous in a very little thing is also unrighteous in much, it's just you are what you're doing. So I thought, little things, what little things Lord are you desiring for me and us as a church to focus on? Well Jesus mentioned a little thing in Matthew chapter 5, Matthew chapter 5, 17 through 19, Jesus says, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets, I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest little letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. And whoever then annuls one of the least, these little commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called little or least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, he adds, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And these thoughts occurred to me, you know what man-made religion is? Man-made religion is when men decide what is and what is not relevant. What is and what is not pertinent. What is and what is not weighty. Whereas true religion, true faithful religion is men who tremble at every word. Man should not live by read alone, but by every word. But when men decide this is important and this is not, that's how man-made religion gets formed. You know, both the old and the new covenant, as they were being completed, as the book of the law was being completed, the Lord said something to Moses. As the New Testament comes to a close, the angel of the Lord says something to John on the Isle of Patmos, and they're very similar. We should think about it and gain wisdom and understanding from it. When Moses was finishing writing the book of the law, the Lord instructed him to tell the people, whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to or take away from whatever I tell you. Don't become the editor. You're not the editor of your Bible. What God says, he says. And we are to receive and cherish every word, seek to understand it in its context. The angel spoke a very similar word to John on the Isle of Patmos as the book of Revelation was coming to a close. In Revelation 22, 18 to 19, the angel says, I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. You know, it tells me in both both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, this I can understand that God is going to deal with men according to their attitude towards his word. If a man trifles with God's word and decides this is relevant, this is not, becomes the editor, God will deal with him a certain way. And the man who trembles at his word, every word is to be heard, cherished, received, honored, followed. God will dwell near that man, even though he lives on high, he will make his presence known to that man. So my encouragement was let us be faithful in even the least, the smallest of God's commandments. That faithfulness will transfer over into becoming faithful with even the greater things. Jesus used the word again, little again, and it comes in the form of least, but here in Matthew chapter 25, verse 40, do you remember the parable of the sheep and the goats? Where the nations are assembled and he separates them like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and and the sheep he places on his right and the goats he places on his left and the sheep represent the righteous and the goats represent the unrighteous and the sheep are brought into the everlasting joy prepared from the foundations of the earth to enjoy all the full promises and blessings of the father and the unrighteous on the left are told to depart into everlasting condemnation. This is what both of them were addressed in regards to dealing with the least, the little things. And the king will answer and say to them, to those of the right, to the righteous, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it unto me. You know, you wonder whether someone saw the Lord, how they would be, how their, how their posture, how their countenance, how their words, how their, how their, their motivation would be. And then you see, and then you see this other thing, this other person, you've got an attitude towards. Will you deal differently with how you would deal with the Lord Jesus than you would deal with this? The righteous evidently didn't make that distinction. They would have, they treated the least in the same way they would have treated the Lord. And he said, come blessed of my father, enter into the joy prepared for you. But to those on the left, the goats, then they themselves will also, he said, depart from me. Then they will answer. They didn't, they didn't get it. When do we see you hungry or thirsty or stranger or naked and sick or in prison and did not take care of you? Then he will answer them. But truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it under me. These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. There's another place. Jesus used the word little Luke chapter 19 verses 11 to 27. I'll read the passage while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So he said, a nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return and he called 10 of his slaves and gave them 10 minus and said to them, do business with this until I come back. But his citizens hated him and they sent a delegation after him saying, we do not want this man to be a reign over us. Well, the man went away when he returned. After receiving the kingdom, he ordered that the slaves to whom he had given the money be called to him that he might know what business they had done. The first appeared saying, master, your minor has made 10 minus more. And he said to him, well done, good servant, because you have been faithful in a very little thing. You are to be in authority over 10 cities. And the second came saying, your mind, a master has made five minus. And he said to him, also, you also are to be over five cities. And another came saying, master, here is your minor, which I kept and put away in a handkerchief. I was afraid of you because you are an exacting man. You take up what you did not lay down and you reap what you did not sow. So the master said to him, by your own words, I will judge you. You worthless slave. Did you not know that I am? Did you know that is that I am an exacting man? Then why did you not put my money in the bank and having come, I would have collected it with interest. Then he said to the bystanders, take the minor away from him and give it to the one who has 10. And they said to him, master, he has 10 minus already. I tell you that everyone who has will shall be given more. But the one who does not have even that which he has shall be taken away from him. And then Jesus finished the parable with something very few people even remember. But these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence. The reason I give this parable is the last statement is one of those things many are tempted to take away. Many are tempted to just take that right out of their Bible. I don't believe that about Jesus. And you know what we do so consciously? We assign that kind of statement to some. In our mind, we picture some foaming at the mouth, fundamental preacher yelling and trying to scare the hell out of people. Now that man would say something like that, but not Jesus. Jesus wouldn't say, bring those who didn't want me to be king and slay them right in front of me. You know what we're doing? We're editing. We're editing who we think Jesus is. Do you worship Jesus? Do you agree with him that he he's wise to do that? The book of Proverbs, you're encouraged by your pastors and your Sunday school teachers to read the book of Proverbs. Do you know what the Bible says that the first thing that a wise king does when he takes the throne is he clears the wicked from his kingdom. The first thing a wise king does. And here, Jesus is expressing the wisdom of God, and some of us would edit that out because it makes us uncomfortable. And it's just a little thing you're doing, you don't even realize you're doing it. It's just it's just something that you're not even conscious of, I don't believe. It's just I have in my notes that individuals who do this, they're sincere, they just have a concern and they even love the Bible, they believe that the Bible is true. They just simply have what I'm going to call a little trouble with that concept of Jesus being that harsh, just have a little trouble with that. So it's going to be easy to put that out of our mind and say, I don't really believe that's going to be. I really don't believe that. Hell is going to be eternal. I don't really believe in eternal punishment. Why? Because it's the Bible doesn't say it or it makes you uncomfortable. Just a little thing, how faithful will you be with a little? A little thing. Paul uses the term little. I like this perspective of himself. You know, he saw himself as little. Remember King Saul in the Bible? Saul was the first king of Israel. You know, when the Lord made him king. It says when he was little in his own eyes. You know, when the Lord rejected him as king. When he had grown quite a bit, could handle what what needed to be done, he just took it upon himself and did it. So Paul's attitude about himself says a lot about his character. I find this in First Corinthians chapter four, verses one through seven. Where Paul tells the Corinthians, remember, he was dealing with them like they were carnal because they were claiming to be followers of Peter, followers of Paul or followers of Apollos. We don't have such men today. Today, we have men who follow Calvin or follow some guy named Arminus. I don't even know who he is. But or I follow this or I follow this or I follow this preacher or I follow this person. It still happens in our day. And those who claim to be a follower of a man need to read this passage again in Paul. Let a man regard us in this manner as servants. The word servant here is not doulos and the regular word for doulos and servants is not here. It's huperratos. You know what huperratos was? Huper is under and ratos is this. What am I doing? You remember that you picture those guys in the slave ships where some guys go home and they're just all they're doing is rowing. That's what Paul literally is telling the Corinthians. You just need to look at me as someone who's simply rowing my row. I'm doing what I've been asked to do, commanded to do. Men should regard us as under rowers of Christ, stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it's recognized of stewards that one be found trustworthy. But to me, it is a very little thing. That I may be examined by you or by any human court, in fact, I don't even examine myself. For I am not conscious of anything against myself, yet this doesn't make me innocent. It is the Lord who examines and judges me, therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things in darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts. And then each will have his praise from God. Now, these things, brethren, I have applied figuratively to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that you may in us, you may learn this not to exceed what's written so that no one will become arrogant in behalf of one over another. What are we doing if we esteem one man over another? We're being children. We're being carnal. We're not recognizing that anything, any man we respect has come to know, how has he come to know that? To the grace and mercy and the goodness of God, it did not come from his own character or qualities is God's mercy, because Paul said, for who regard you as superior, what do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? And then he adds, a little leaven leavens the whole lot. You know, a little pride, a little comparing ourselves to someone else and and just a little bit of thinking, I am sure glad I'm not like him. I'm sure glad I went to school. I'm sure glad I know better than that. And someone should teach him how to dress. That person needs to learn how to bathe. Just little, little attitudes, little leavens of pride, little assumptions that you are something, that you are somehow a little better, a little smarter, a little more than those ignorant people. Wish someone could learn them how to talk. Just it's little. But these little attitudes are leavened. And here's what we don't come to grips with. We believe it's just a little area that does not hinder our ministry. And I'm telling you, it affects everything you think, everything you say, every time you preach, every time you teach, every time you walk in the door of the church, you are affected by every little carnal attitude you hold. You may not be aware of it, a lot of people have stage four cancer and they're not even aware. Your blood sugar can be about to call you to go into a coma before you even realize it's going on. Little attitudes of pride, comparing ourselves among ourselves. Do more damage than we're aware of. And I am so grateful that the Apostle Paul saw himself the way he did, I'm nothing, I'm nothing but an under rower, don't boast in men, doesn't it make sense why Jesus says don't call any man teacher, don't call any man master. There's no man who's learned anything on his own. No. Everything we know, everything we understand, our father in his mercy has enabled us to come to know. There's no reason to boast about it just to be grateful for it. You know, we all know the saying, don't we? Well, let me back up. Oh, yeah. Little attitudes. Leavened by pride. Poison relationships, relationships, there are relationships even in this church that are poisoned. You know what they're poisoned by the attitudes you're holding towards one another. Just a little attitude, you think you're being cordial, you're nice, you shake your hand, you smile. But you got that little attitude. Yep, there goes sister so-and-so again. Now that's brother, that's brother so-and-so, that's the way it is. Yeah. You know what these little attitudes do? They damage true spiritual fellowship, they divide churches. And most seriously, they unconsciously deny Jesus the sole authority as judge. Only Jesus is worthy to judge. You're not worthy to judge another. And this is what James meant. James understood it. In chapter five of James, he says this, he warns self-appointed judges. And of course, the only place that most of us sit as a judge is in our heart and our thought. We sit judging. We have our opinions of this brother and this sister and this person, we've got our opinions. But this is what the Lord Jesus, or through James, had to say to self-appointed judges, therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it until it gets the early and the latter rains. You to be patient, strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain, brethren, against one another so that you yourselves may not be judged. You know what you're doing when you're complaining about someone else? You're bringing judgment on yourself. I'm going to say that again, go ahead and complain to me about another person. And you are bringing judgment upon yourself. Do not complain, brethren, against one another so that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. Here's what I want you to picture the next time you feel in your wisdom and knowledge that you can adequately tell me or someone else about that person, what they're doing. Jesus is standing right there. Watching you do his job. And who you decided to sit in my seat while I was out, huh? You decided it was time for the judgment. You're not going to wait. The Lord has put the judgment at the end, it's appointed in the man wants to die and after this, the judgment, but you they're still alive, you decided it's going if you can judge them now. You're taking the place of the Lord Jesus. You're putting yourself in his seat to judge. It's OK if it's a Democrat, though. Well, no, it's OK if it's a Republican, I forgot, I got that confused. It's OK if they disagree with us, right? I mean, we don't judge our friends, just those other people, just the wackos. Yeah, this is the same book, these little attitudes, I'll say this, it says at the end of this passage of Jane, we consider the blessedness of those who have endured. You've heard of the endurance of Job and seeing the outcome of the Lord's dealings. What was the outcome of the Lord's dealings? But what do we know? What was the end of Job's life? What happened at the end after his terrible sufferings? Most of us remember that he was all of his riches were restored. That's not what James is talking about here. At the end of Job's dealings, he prayed for his friends. And the Lord had mercy upon them and forgave them all. And they had done nothing but made his life miserable. But Job suffered long through it. And right before everything was restored to him, he showed mercy to his friends and he prayed for them. Wow. That's the example we need to learn from. These little things, these dangerous little things, I'm using one right now, a little thing. Didn't James call it just a little member of the body? But full of deadly poison. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by such a small little spark. Wow. And yet what is the tongue? These great ships are driven, even though it takes a powerful wind to get them moving. All it takes to steer them is a tiny little rudder. Right. See, even so, the tongue is just a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a force we've talked about that. The tongue is a restless, evil, full of deadly poison. With it, we bless our Lord and father. And with it, we curse men. Now, he's not saying it's possible. James is describing something he's observing. I see it all the time. Lord, we thank you. We thank you for so and so. Don't do that. Get over it. Lord, we bless you, bless you. Pastor, you see what she's doing again? There they go again. You see what you're doing? Oh, bless you, Lord. I bless you, Lord. I bless you, Lord. But we have to live with people. Ministry would be great if it weren't for people. What a ridiculous statement. What did God send his son to the world for? Just with this tongue, we are supposed to bless God and bless people. Not manifest poison and attitudes and say things that spark controversy and ignite attitudes in other people. So despite it's so little, it can be so damaging. And that's why Paul said this. I believe it. It's one of those every words that I believe. I'm trying to believe it even more, but this is one of those every words. Ephesians chapter four, verses twenty nine to thirty two. Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth. How many of us take that seriously? You never let an unwholesome word. Now. Can I clarify something? A lot of times we don't reckon recognize how unwholesome something is because we simply think it's accurate. But they are like that. They do do that all the time. So you don't recognize it's unwholesome because you think you're accurate. I'm seeing what I see. I know what I know. Oh, so that makes it wholesome because it's factual. You want the Lord Jesus to be factual about your sin. You want him to tell it like it is what he sees about you. If the Lord did that, none of us would be here. Unwholesome. So what makes something unwholesome? Let's let's let's read on. Let no unwholesome. That's you know what it would take to let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth. You know what it would take? That would take a pretty tight rein, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? You know what the Bible says? That if any man considers himself religious and doesn't keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. So, yes, to to not let any unwholesome word come out of your mouth would take an extremely tight rein. And I encourage every one of us to weigh everything before we say it. Because man will give an account on the day of judgment for every idle word spoken. Unless we choose that that's just one of those little things we don't have to worry about. We're under grace after all. It's all under the blood, not our we're not going to be held accountable for what we say. Or is that adding to or taking away? Let no unwholesome word proceed forth from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander be put away from you. Every one of those things is damaging to other people. Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, damage people along with all malice, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you. Our relationship with every other person needs to be exactly like the Lord Jesus's relationship with us. That's what it needs to be. That's how Christianity works. So we are to get rid of, okay, get rid of every ungracious, unmerciful attitude towards other men and women. The Greek word for unwholesome is sapros. It's where we get the English word sap, sap that runs. And it was used by our Lord Jesus to describe two types of things with bad quality. A sapros tree, a bad tree. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit. And what a bad tree, what's the end for a bad tree? They're cut down, thrown into the fire and burn. Every bad tree is cut down, thrown into the fire and burn. It's also used of bad fish, sapros fish. The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet thrown into the sea and pulled to the shore and it gathers fish of every kind. And the good are gathered into baskets. And the sapros, the unwholesome talkers are thrown away. If I were you, I would not ever, ever, ever let any unwholesome word come out of your mouth ever again. And if you have not put a tight rein on your mouth now, resolve in your heart. I will not sin with my mouth. I'm yielding my mouth and my tongue as an instrument of righteousness to God. And my tongue will only be used to do God's will to say God's words in his way to produce his blessing and his grace for others. And I repent from speaking my own words, my own opinions, leavened by my own attitude and pride. Lord, have mercy upon me a sinner. I just recommend that that's a position that we take. You know, we all know the saying. I'm back where I almost jumped in my notes. We all know the saying one bad apple. You know how it does, right? It's just that rotting area. We have a food ministry. So I deal with cases of fruit all the time. And because most of the time the fruits given to us is because it's not being good enough to go to the store. So we open up a case of apples and there's this one little apple that's not quite firm and it's kind of soft and all the ones around it. If you if you don't get it out of there, you let it stay in there. Everything that comes contact with that starts to decay as well. And honestly, I'm going to say it again. Every little attitude that we walk in these doors with every attitude in our heart. We take home. It's in our marriage. It's at our job. It's in our church. It's while we teach. It's while we preach. It's while we pray. It's while we is whatever we do. Everything is leavened by it. We're deceived that it's not that bad. It is that bad. We're just not aware of it. And just because we're not aware of it does not mean it's not having its detrimental effect. A little comment, a brief conversation can and will have a dynamic effect for the good or bad. A little attitude towards that you allow in a place in your heart towards another. A little irritation, a little disrespect affects every area of the spiritual of the spiritual life of the person who holds it. So I'm just going to ask you point blank. Is there anybody here? You've been critical about. You've made comments about. You've pointed out what you dislike about to anyone else. Out of the overflow of your mouth, your heart has been revealed. You have leavened and you are leavened entirely by it. And God in his mercy is giving you a chance to see it today. Before it does any more damage, it already has done damage. Before does anymore. And this is that sobering part where we're at. A person who begins to comprehend how much they are affected by a little leaven is going to develop a heart like David. You know what I mean by that? The man after God's own heart. You remember what he prayed? So, so aware that something lurking in the heart could affect him. He said, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my heart. Know my past. See how I'm walking and see if there be any, any wicked way in me. Any at all. And I'm just asking us to let God search our heart to see if there is any attitude. Any pride. Any self-acclaim. Any boasting. You know, there is a picture. That God gave us about the seriousness of this. In the old covenant. You understand if you, if you're familiar with the scripture that the writer of Hebrews says that all the things that were in the first covenant, all the things in law, what they were is types and shadows of the good things that were coming. The realities are found in Christ. But there God gave us a type in a shadow in the old covenant about the seriousness of Lebanon. The first of every year was to be the month of Passover. Passover was the beginning of every Jewish year and we know what Passover was Passover was a celebration that God instituted the feast in the law that would allow the people to remember. It was the Lord who redeemed you from the land of slavery. So the 14th day of the first month of every year. They were to celebrate prep Passover and the very next day the feast of unleavened bread began where for seven days. They were to not eat a single thing with leaven in it. Entire time and to prepare for the feast before the day began. They were to take the yeast out of their homes. They were to be yeast free fasting from yeast entirely a full seven days in it. The picture is something Paul saw the picture. Are you following me? If you know your if you know your Bible, you know where I'm going in first Corinthians chapter 5 verses 6 and 8 Paul said you're he was talking to this church. You had divisions among them the Corinthian Church. You're boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens a whole lump of dough clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump just as you are. In fact unleavened for Christ. Our Passover has also been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast not with old leaven nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth unleavened bread. How many of you are bakers? How many you love to bake especially bread that break? Okay, you bakers and you know this those of you who love to bake bread, you can describe what yeast does when you put it into your dough. What is yeast do when you put it into your dough? It puffs it up. It literally causes a gaseous reaction and it puffs the dough up. You know what the Bible says knowledge? Puffs up. That's what it does. That's the danger. Can I can I share with you? The danger about you is that you know something. That's not the good thing. That's the dangerous thing. Knowledge puffs up. That's why some who've been here the longest and been in the Lord the longest have more leaven than some that are just brand new. Because they don't know any better. They're just glad to be here. They're just glad to be a part of the family. Well, well brother or sister so-and-so 40 years into faith have all kind of leather all kind of attitudes because all the stuff that they know. And I know I'm being facetious. But I'm just trying to make us aware. That's kind of why Jesus said except you become like a little child. Let's start over. It's just a It's dangerous. And I have this note to myself. I'm convinced that the danger of leaven is greater than we realize. Not only does a little leaven affect our attitudes that come from what we think we know not not only does it affect our hearts towards others. But that same little leaven that same little attitude of knowing can actually affect our relationship with God. How so? What does the Bible say? God opposes the proud and he gives grace to the humble. So if we are allowing ourselves to think I know and therefore somehow because I know I'm able to this categorize or make a judgment or make a decision or make a remark about someone else. It is affecting your relationship with God. And a loss of intimacy a loss of fellowship will gradually produce a loss of sensation and feeling. Kind of like you're when you're you're sitting down. You don't realize it. You cut off the circulation to your leg and you don't know what do you stand up? Oh, my leg would just sleep. It can happen unconsciously. I'm simply trying to make us aware of it. To make us conscious of it. The danger is real. It's there. And there's grace even for that. Now, why would God? Change in his attitude towards us. Why would you do that? Let me just remind you what Jesus said. And forgive us our trespasses. Take say it with me and forgive us our trespasses. And we know he said to lead us not into temptation delivers from evil the line is a kingdom the power of the Lord forever and ever for if you do not forgive men their trespasses neither will your heavenly father forgive yours in other words, you mean not forgiving someone else affects God's attitude towards us. Remember the remember the parable of the unmerciful servant? Who had been forgiven the great debt and he went out and he found a fellow servant and old him a small debt. And it in fellow servants saw what was happening were grieved and they went and reported it to the master and the master call back the servant who had had his debt canceled and called him back and reinstated the debt and cast him into prison till he pay it all. So his attitude toward a fellow servant changed the master's attitude towards him. So is it possible? Did we stop being gracious towards others? Our father will withhold his grace from us. I think so. I think it's possible. So let me just finish I need to finish and try to follow me in this everything. We know and understand we have come to know and understand because of one thing. Because of God's mercy and patience while we were learning God is being merciful and gracious and patient and kind to us the entire time. Forgiving us our sin being long-suffering withholding his judgment the entire time. We're learning. This fact must become the foundation of all of our ministry and communication with others. God called the sinners. God called us to repent. God called us. He told us made it clear the things we were doing wrong. But he did all of that to give us grace to be merciful. To show us kindness to lead us to repentance. We need to have the same heart and attitude. Anything we see in someone else anything we recognize that they lack or that is wrong with them. We need to be able to see that through these lenses. God has been merciful to me. I must see where you're at and what you're doing through the mercy. I have been receiving from God. I can see it is wrong. I can see it is wicked. I can speak to it, but I had better be filled with mercy. And be it had better be full of grace so that I can speak the truth in the same kind of love for them that my Heavenly Father has for me. I think this is the heart behind what Paul wrote to Titus in chapter 3 and I'll close with this. This is what Paul wrote to Titus remind the people to be subject to rulers to authorities to be obedient. To be ready for every good deed to align. No one to be peaceable. Did you notice it to malign? No one that the Greek word is blessed. They will not to injure anyone blessed. They will means to hit to injure with speech. Not the blasting anyone. To be peaceable gentle demonstrating meekness towards all men. Meekness is the root idea of meekness is restraint demonstrating restraint. So let me give you an example. Let's say I see a brother or sister doing something wrong with an attitude there with a habit. Whatever it is. It's wrong. I need a restraint. I need a restraint. What is that restraint? I need God has been merciful to me. God has suffered long with me. God has been gracious to me. God has forgiven me that restraint needs to be wrapped around what I'm seeing. And Sam. Because he goes on to say demonstrating meekness towards all men for we also were once foolish. Disobedient deceived enslaved to various lust and pleasure spending our life in malice and envy. Hateful hating one another but when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared. He saved us not on the basis of these which we have done in righteousness. But according to his mercy by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. We poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. So the being justified by his grace. We would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement and concerning these things. I want you to speak confidently so that those who have believed in God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men but avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law for they are unprofitable and useless worthless. So can I say something? Please don't give your opinions about the covid vaccine and or not please stop speaking about Democrats and Republicans. Stop it. Keep your opinions to yourself. And if someone's trying to talk to you about them walk away. It's not wholesome. Stop having opinions about what you you see you do in people's lives and being uncritical and remember something. If our father were not extremely patient with us. Long-suffering kind and full of grace and mercy. We'd be in serious trouble. And all Jesus is asked isn't this what he asked the one he gave one commandment only one commandment was given by our Lord to his disciples. A new commandment I give unto you. What's the commandment? That you love one another as I have loved you. And every moment every time we were learning we were gaining understanding. We were beginning to know we were beginning to see anything. We have come to by God's grace and mercy. We have come to through God loving us suffering long with us bearing with us being patient with us being kind towards us. And that is the way we are to be with everyone. We are to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect. He is kind to the wicked and the ungrateful. He sends his reign upon the just and the unjust. There is no room for boasting. Anything any of us no one understand. It is God's mercy and grace and kindness that made that possible. Nothing about ourselves. And if we keep that in mind in our dealings with one another the entire purpose and focus of our life. Will to be to bless others like the Lord has blessed us and that will produce reproduce good fruit. May the Lord have mercy and help us understand these things. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/Otnw6tY3fyE.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/alan-martin/its-just-a-little-thing/ ========================================================================