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Amen, all right, the Song of Solomon, chapter two, and look down at verse 15, it says, take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. And the title of this sermon this evening is the little foxes that spoil the vine. The little foxes that spoil the vine. What this is stating right here is that when you have a vineyard or a place of vines where there's grapes and fruits, you know it's often not necessarily a natural disaster that can destroy the entire thing, often it's the little things that can pick at it and over a period of time can destroy the entire vineyard. And in this case we see that it's the little foxes that can come in and little by little eat up the vineyard, eat up the fruits, eat up the grapes, and ultimately over a long period of time destroy it. And so that's a good principle for us to learn just in life in general that the little foxes can spoil the vine. It's the little foxes in our life that can really destroy our lives. It's the little foxes, you know, the beasts, so to speak, that can infiltrate our church and over a period of time destroy our church. It's the little foxes within your family, whether it's compromises as far as what kind of entertainment you have in your homes, you know, what you permit, what areas you compromise in that can often destroy your vine. Now, go with me if you would to Luke chapter 16, Luke chapter 16, it's the little character flaws that can spoil the vines of success. You know, we often focus on the bigger picture which we need to do that in order for us to endure, in order for us to endure afflictions and keep going forward, we need to always look at the bigger picture. That bigger picture is made up of small little pictures that make up that big picture, okay? And often we don't recognize that although the bigger picture is important, it's important for us to keep in mind the character, the discipline, and the small things of life that make up that big image, that make up that big picture. The little details that are left unfettered or unattended can destroy your ministry, it can destroy your family, your marriage, et cetera. In fact, the Bible tells us, you don't have to turn there, Proverbs 6 verse 10 says, get a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall thy poverty come as one that travelth and thy want as an armed man. You see, someone who is lazy, for example, someone who is slothful, they don't want to become poor, they don't want to be as someone who is in poverty, but the fact of the matter is, is that is the end result of someone who does it little by little. A bad decision today, a little bad decision tomorrow that accumulates to a week, that accumulates to a month, that accumulates to a year, will ultimately end up in poverty. Why? Because it's the little foxes that will spoil the vine, little laziness, a little lack of character. Look at Luke chapter 16, we'll see this principle here. And really the message today is this, hey, the little things matter. The little things in life always matter. Don't undermine the little responsibilities in your own household. Don't undermine the little responsibilities that you have as a father, as a wife, as children, as an employee, as a church member, don't undermine the little things that are important because they make up the big things in life. Look at Luke 16 verse number one, this is the famous parable of the unjust steward, and it says in verse number one, and he said also unto his disciples, there was a rich man which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods, and he called him and said unto him, how is it that I hear this of thee, give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward. So what do we see here? We see an employee working for his boss, and he was a bad employee. He wasn't being a good steward of the responsibilities that he had of his boss, and what does the Bible say? That the boss came down and said, hey, you're fired, is what he said. Thou mayest no longer be steward, say it's just modern terms would be, you're fired, you're out of a job, you're not being a good employee, you're done, and look what it says here in verse number three, then the steward said within himself, what shall I do? For my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship. I cannot dig to beg, I am ashamed. So instead of looking for a job, instead of going out there and working skillfully with his hands, he makes these excuses and he says, I can't dig. What does that mean? He's lazy. He's slothful. He's lazy. Why? Because he's not even willing to work with his hands and dig, and it says there, to beg, I am ashamed. So what's another characteristic that he has? He's proud, you know, and look, as men, we have to seek a job, but when we get to a point where we need help, that's why it's good not to burn bridges with our family members. If you need help, go find help, but don't be so proud that you would not be willing to ask help of your family and those you have not cut ties with, but here we see that he's too lazy, he's too proud. Verse 4, I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lords debtors unto him, and said unto the first, how much oweest thou unto my lord? And he said, a hundred measures of oil, and he said unto him, take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. This is a shady guy. By the way, he's not taking the fifty and bringing them to his boss, his former employer. He's not taking the fifty and giving it to his former boss, he's taking it for himself. So instead of working hard, instead of being humble and asking for help, he's becoming conniving, he's becoming an even worse steward, and he's stealing from his boss. Look what it says in verse 7, then said he to another, how much oweest thou? And he said, a hundred measures of wheat, and he said unto him, take thy bill, and write four score. So we see again, he's going to another one, and he's taking more money. You know, this goes to show us that the Bible tells us that an unjust balance is an abomination unto the Lord. What does it mean to have an unjust balance? It means to not be honest in business. We're to be fervent in business, providing things honest in the sight of men and in the sight of God. And he received that this unjust steward, because he was fired for being a lazy employee, decides to steal from his boss to make ends meet. And look at verse 8, and the Lord committed the unjust steward, because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are in their generation much, excuse me, generation wiser than the children of light. Now he's not commending them, because he's like, man, you've done a good job. It's more like he's, this guy's conniving. This guy like just straight conspired to basically steal from me, and took advantage of the business that I had here. Verse 9 says, and I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. So now that verse, verse 10, takes on a brand new meaning, doesn't it? Because we see here that that verse is in context of the unjust steward. What do we see? When the steward was unjust with his boss, even without his boss, he's still being unjust. This goes to show us that a person who is unjust in one area of employment will be unjust in another area of employment. No matter how much he complains about his boss, no matter how much he complains about his wages, he's still gonna be unjust. Why? Because at the end of the day, it's not the boss, it's not the job, it's the employee. It's the character. And look, all that starts with the little foxes, right, the spoiled divine, okay? If therefore, verse 11, if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you've not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own. But the principle we see there is that in order for God to entrust us with the true riches, we need to be faithful in the little things. We need to take serious the small things in life. We need to make sure we're taking care of that which is least esteemed. We need to make sure that we understand that the little things matter. And that the little foxes can spoil the whole vine if you don't take that into consideration. The principle that we see here is that a person has been unjust in the least of the responsibilities. You can't count on that person, or you can count on that person to be unjust in the biggest of privileges. Go with me if you would to James chapter three, James chapter three in your Bibles. You see the test of a man's character is not found when he has been exalted. The test of a man's character is not seen when he's exalted, but rather it's seen when he's abased. Let's see if you do right when everything goes wrong for you. Let's see how godly you are when everything turns on you. Let's see how godly you are and how much of integrity you have when things aren't going your way. That's the test of a man's character. That'll show you if the little things are important to him. That'll show you if the little things are important to her. Why? Because at the end of the day, integrity says that the little things always matter whether regardless if someone sees it or not. You see, someone who's exalted, someone who doesn't care about the little things only cares about what other people see. The person who cares about the little things worries about what god sees. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. I don't want to be counted as faithful in much. Even when it comes to our rewards in the millennial reign, the amount of cities that we're going to rule over, the amount of rewards that we're going to get is based upon our faithfulness in this life. I want to rule over 10 cities. I want to rule over El Mani, amen. I want to rule over Monterey Park and Montebello. I want to rule over these cities, but that's going to take me being faithful in the little things. And that goes for everyone. Let me say this, that a little sin unattended and unconfessed can end up destroying your life. The little foxes can spoil the entire vine. And you can work hard at producing fruit and winning people to Christ and bearing fruit and discipling people and doing great things in the sight of God. But if you have unconfessed sin in your life, if you allow the little foxes to get into your life, guess what? That's going to spoil your entire vine. How many people do we know? Look, throughout the years that I've heard of pastors or Christians who started off well and they end up bad, why is that? Because they didn't attend to the little foxes in their vineyard. Something was taking place in the background, something was taking place behind the scenes and they weren't taking care of those little foxes. They weren't shooting those little foxes that are coming to the vineyard. You know, they weren't capping those little animals so they don't touch the vineyard. They're just letting them roam free. Oh, it's just a little fox. Yeah, but over a long period of time, it can create a lot of damage. Sin does that. Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, cost you more than you want to pay, okay? And at the end of the day, we need to make sure that on a daily basis, man, we're examining ourselves to make sure there's no sin in our life that could be unattended or unconfessed, you know? And don't take it lightly. You know, don't take it lightly, well, I'm just going to take care of this next week or I'm just going to stop doing this, you know, tomorrow. No, do it today. Fix it today. Kill that fox today. Go hunt that thing down today. Modify the members of your body today. Why? Because the little foxes will spoil the vine, and it's easier to just neglect something if you put it off until tomorrow. Well, I'll just start reading my Bible tomorrow, then you're not going to read it. Well, I'll just start praying tomorrow, then you're not going to pray. Well, I'll just start doing X, Y, and Z tomorrow, you're not going to do it. You need to do it today. You need to determine today, and look, I'm not saying that if you haven't read your Bible, you're like, man, I'm going to read 50 chapters tonight. That's too many foxes. That's a lot of foxes. Okay, why don't you just try to hunt one fox down? Why don't you read one chapter? Get one, get a little victory today. Okay, and whet your appetite so that tomorrow it's easier to read two chapters. And then after that it's easier to read three. Don't try to just bite off more than you can chew. Okay, and remember, it's the little things that matter. A little chapter here and there goes a long way. Okay, whereas if you want to bite off this entire chunk, you're going to get discouraged. If you try to hunt all 50 foxes and you get none, you're going to get discouraged tomorrow. And guess what, you're going to keep putting it off and keep putting it off and keep putting it off. Hunt one fox at a time. Okay, the Bible tells us a little leavened, leavened at the whole lump. So just a little sin that you allow into your life. Or how about this, a little sin that we allow into the church. You know, I'm thankful that our church stands for church discipline. It stands for 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It understands the importance of not allowing leaven into the church because I've seen it personally in my own life through the churches that I've been through where they allow just a little bit of sin. They tolerate just a person involved in fornication. They tolerate a drunk. They tolerate, you know, a covetous person, whatever it may be. And what happens? The church just becomes this smorgasbord of sin, cesspool of iniquity. But that takes place over a course of many years because they allowed sinful people to remain in church. Look, we're all sinners, but we're talking about sinful people in context of 1 Corinthians 5 are the extortioners, are the fornicators, you know. And let me say this, when you don't exercise church discipline on people like that, it's harder to get them out when you actually decide to get them out because they've been there for so long. And all of a sudden you just flip and say, hey, now you've got to go, whoa, you've kept me here for so long. You've allowed me to stay here for so long. It's harder to get rid of sin when it becomes insurmountable. I'm sure it's easier to get rid of one fox than 10 foxes in a vineyard, you know. But if you allow it to procreate, if you allow it to stay, you allow it to build and grow, it's going to become a problem. And look, in our church, we're not a perfect church, we're not a perfect people, but we want to make sure that we maintain integrity that when sin enters into the church and we know about it, that we do something immediately about it, okay. Now let me just explain again, it's like, you know, if you say to me, so how do we get church discipline if I'm involved in sin? Let's say, for example, you're involved in fornication, okay. You're involved in fornication and you know you're going to get kicked out, you come talk to me afterwards and you say, Brother Mejia, I'm involved in fornication. I won't immediately kick you out. I'll give you an opportunity to repent. I'll say, okay, well obviously, because that person's obviously going to, if they're coming to me telling me these things, they're obviously telling me because they want a solution to that. So I'll tell them, look, you hear your choices. You can either repent, stop fornicating and stay in church, or if you feel like you're going to continue to struggle with this, then yeah, you need to leave. Or you can get married with the person that you're with if they're a believer, okay. If they're not a believer, I don't recommend that you marry them at all, okay. But that's the purpose. That's what we want to do, okay. As soon as we find out about it, we do things because the little things matter. Hey, our little members can cause the biggest destruction as well. Look at James chapter three. What do I mean by our little members? I'm talking about your tongue. Your tongue can cause a lot of destruction if you're not careful. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. And look, I want to use my tongue for death if it's towards these reprobates and these false teachers and false prophets, if it's for false doctrine, if it's for false religion, if it's for those things, people who hate the Lord, I want to make sure that my tongue is just destroying those people. But when it comes to other Christians, people who are saved, who have maybe fallen into sin or maybe are not to the level that we are at, so to speak, they haven't been in church very long. I want to make sure that I'm very kind and patient and not killing them with my tongue. Look what the Bible says in verse number one. My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. So do you want to measure yourself to see how mature you are? Ask yourself this week, how many people have you offended? Just in casual conversation. That kind of tells you your level of maturity. Because it says there, for many things we offend all, if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. It doesn't mean he's sinless, it means he's complete, it means he's mature. And able also to bridle the whole body. So what is the Bible telling us here? If you have the character and the temperance to bridle your own tongue, God says that you probably have the capability of controlling your entire body. Because the little things matter. The little tongue matters. The little tongue can cause a great destruction, but if you're able to keep that tongue from evil, guess what? You're probably the type of person that can control your entire body. Verse three says, behold, we put bits in the horse's mouth that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth. I mean, think about gossip. How much destruction can gossip cause? He said, she said, when nothing is even true. By the way, the Bible doesn't use the word gossip, it just uses the word railing. Railing is another form of gossip. Because you're stating things that aren't true, and you're stating them as though they're facts. That can cause a lot of destruction. And typically, men gossip, but women have a tendency to gossip too. More so than men. Amen? Amen. All right, thank you. Thank you back there, Brother Mark. Because it's true. Why? Because sometimes women are idle. And if they have nothing to do, guess what? Then they begin to run their mouth. And in this day and age, how do they do it? Through social media? You know, through social media? Because they're not staying busy. They become what? Busy bodies is what the Bible says. Look, I'm not against social media. Social media is great. And you know, I tell everybody, last week I backslid on social media. I was on the comments section, I was like, freakin' reprobate. I'm just getting on everyone. But here's the thing, we all have to be characterized by that though, right? Where you're always on social media, you're never in the Bible. You're never taking care of your responsibilities. A little fire, a little fire can kindle a great amount of problems. Look at verse six. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and seteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. Man, I mean, how bad is the tongue when God compares it to hell? You know, the Bible says hell and destruction are before the Lord. That means that our tongue can cause destruction, tear people down. You know, there's an illustration that they used to share in my old church, where like, I don't remember how the whole story goes, so if you know this story and I'm telling it wrong, don't tell me afterwards, because then you're going to ruin it. But basically, you know, this guy was just slandering this pastor, you know, slandering this pastor, telling all these rumors, which ended up not being true. And they ended up meeting, and the guy said, hey, I'm really sorry about all those rumors that I spread about you. You know, I thought they were true, but they weren't true. And he said, I forgive you, but let me just teach you something. So he took a pillow, a feathered pillow. You guys know where I'm going with this? You know, the old eye of years, you know what I'm talking about? And he took him to this bell tower, right, and he's just like, man, what is this guy going to do? And he pulls out a knife, and he's like, oh, man, this guy's going to kill me. And he begins to tear the pillow with the feathers, and he just starts letting them out. And they all start flying all over the place. He goes, can you do me a favor and just collect all those feathers? And the guy said, oh, that's impossible, how am I going to collect all those feathers? He goes, well, that's like your gossip right there. I'll forgive you for everything that you said, but the damage has been done. Me trying to correct your gossip and how you destroyed me and all these things slandered me, is like you trying to collect all those pieces of feathers that are flowing out there. The damage has been done. You know, and that goes to show us that we need to make sure that we think before we talk. Obviously, sometimes we're hasty in speech. I'm the same way. You know, when we just, we talk, but we don't think about what we say. But the fact remains is that if we put more thought into what we say, we can save ourselves from a lot of drama, a lot of soap opera, if we just watch what we say. Hey, I mean, in marriage, right? Watch what you say to your spouse all the time. You know, if you're hasty in speech, if you're hasty to just blurt out whatever, you know, you need to be careful with that. Because the tongue, death and life are in the power of the tongue. And you can hurt your spouse. You can deflate the ego of your husband, believe it or not, you know, shake that bush, cook that chicken, bake that chicken. You know, you can deflate the ego of your spouse. You can undermine the leadership of your husband, which is not something that you need to do. Why are you going to discourage your encourager? Why are you going to discourage the leader of the home of your children? Why would you do something like that? Oh, but he's just, you know, X, Y and Z. Will you marry him? So why are you telling me that? Tell yourself that. You're the one who married him. Knowing these things and vice versa. Don't discourage your wife. Don't say things that will hurt your wife and damage your relationship with your wife. Why? Because if everyone's turned on you, the only one who's going to be there to back you up is your wife. But if she's discouraged and she's bitter towards you because you said X, Y and Z, you know, then you kind of just played yourself. We need to make sure, but look, it goes both ways. So don't, you know, I see a lot of elbows right now. It goes both ways. And at the end of the day, the way we can, you know, abstain from that is just watch what we say. Okay. Watch what you say. Hey, watch what you say to your children because you can discourage. You can provoke them to wrath. You can discourage your children. Okay. Look, you know, I've been in homes where, you know, everything under the sun is said to the children. You stupid, you know, little punk or whatever. It's just like, man, you know, and that's a lack of self-control. You need to make sure. And I say children need to rebuke, they need to be reproved, they need to be corrected, but in an appropriate manner where they don't get discouraged or they don't harbor bitterness towards their mom and dad. Okay. That's important. The Bible says in verse 7, for every kind of beast and of birds and of serpents, of things in the sea is tamed and has been tamed of mankind, but the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison, therewith blessed be God, even the Father and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed as blessing and cursing, my brethren, these things ought not so to be. Now, look, I curse false prophets all the time, but they don't count because they're already cursed of God. So I'm just cursing someone who's already cursed of God. You know, you're saying that, but you curse, you know, so and so. Yeah, because they're already cursed. I'm not going to just jump the gun and curse someone who's not already cursed. You know, obviously that's sinful. Go with me, if you would, to 1 Samuel chapter 15, chapter 17, but what is the sermon? You know, we need to make sure we take care of that little tongue, that little fox that can create a massive amount of destruction in our lives, okay? You know, don't be hasty in speech. Don't just blurt out everything that comes to your mind. Make sure you put, and this is something that I have to repeat like every couple of months because this is important. This is something that I have to work on where it's just like you want to say something, but you don't say it for the sake of not destroying people, okay? And look, sometimes you just have to hold it until afterwards. You notice that when you're angry, you say what you want to say, but you don't necessarily say it in the right way. Sometimes you have to wait a little bit, maybe sleep on it, meditate upon it so you can figure out a better way of saying it because at the end of the day, we want to resolve issues, not add fuel to the fire, okay? But the little foxes spoil the vine. It's the little things that matter. I'm going to read to you from 1 Samuel 15, you're in 1 Samuel 17, talking about David it says, and Samuel said, oh, excuse me, speaking of Saul, it says, and Samuel said, when thou was little in thine own sight, was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? See, Saul obviously ended his life bad. He committed suicide, and we've been talking about him for thousands of years, and unfortunately he's a proverb and a byword in our mouths. He's been used in sermons to signify and symbolize someone who did not finish their life well, but he started off well, and why did he start off well? Why was he anointed the first king of Israel? Because he was little in his own sight, and what happened? God exalted him to be the king of Israel. That goes to show us that the equation is this, hey, that which is little is important because ultimately it will become something that's big. So it not only works for obviously negative things such as taking care of those little sins, but it also goes to show us, hey, if we do the little important things, they will amount to something that's very good and very big as well. Look at 1 Samuel 17, verse 27. And the people answered him after this manner, saying, so shall it be done to the man that killeth him. And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men, and Eliab's anger was handled against David, and said, why camest thou down hither? And with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and thy naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. And David said, what have I now done? Is there not a cause? And he turned from him toward another and spake after the same manner, and the people answered him again after the former manner. So let me explain what's going on here. Obviously, there's a war. This is the chapter of Goliath. David, what is he doing? He's taking care of the little things, taking care of the sheep, doing what his dad tells him to do. And in fact, his dad tells him, go bring lunch to your brothers. He didn't say go kill Goliath, he said just go bring lunch to your brothers. Look at verse number 30, excuse me, verse number 30, let's see, 32. And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with the Philistine. And Saul said to David, thou are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep. And there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock, and I went out after him and smote him and delivered him out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, go, and the Lord be with thee. And Saul armed David with his armor, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head. Also he armed him with a coat of mail, and the rest is history. Why? Because he ended up killing Goliath. But you know where it started, doing the little things, taking care of the sheep? He took care of his father's sheep, and what happened? He became the shepherd of Israel, taking care of all the sheep of Israel, because he was faithful in that which was little. See a lot of men desire to do great exploits for God, have a position of importance of leadership, but they want the product without the process. They don't want to take care of the little things, like being a servant in church, being a servant, serving people, serving your leaders, serving your family. That's what's important. The little things matter, and if you don't take care of those little foxes of pride, those little foxes of anti-humility, where you don't want to humble yourself under the leadership of someone, when you don't want to help other people of selfishness, it's going to spoil the vine. You're not going to get those things. David took care of the sheep, and in fact, was he protecting the sheep from Goliath? No, he was protecting from the lion and the bear, and he handled the lion and the bear, and that was his resume when he came to fight Goliath. He's like, look, I'm not just some novice who doesn't know how to do anything. I took care of my father's sheep. I delivered the sheep out of the paw of the lion and the bear. I protected them, and so these are my credentials. I wonder how many guys in here who want to be pastors are actually working on their credentials right now. As far as you being a servant, as far as you fulfilling your role as a church member of Faithful Word Baptist Church, that's important. The little things matter. Take care of those little foxes of laziness, of apathy, of whatever it may be, because it's going to pay off in the long run. Go to Matthew chapter 18, Matthew chapter 18. You know, Saul was little in his own sight, but then it all got into his head, and here's the thing. We need to make sure we remain little in our own sight. You know, recognize that, you know, they used to teach us that humility is recognizing that others and God are responsible for our success, you know, giving credit to others for the areas in our life that we have succeeded in. When it begins to become about you and how you accomplish all these things, then at that point, you have a tendency to become proud. You know, obviously, we have to put in the effort, put in the work, put in the study, put in all the work to do these things, but to remain humble, we need to recognize other people as responsible for our success as well, okay? And of course, God. Matthew chapter 18 says in verse number 1, at the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called the little child unto him and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily, I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So what does it say in there? When we humble ourselves, we become the greatest, okay? Go to Luke chapter 22. I'm gonna read to you from Matthew chapter 23. Verse 10 says, neither be ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ, but he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. It's interesting how God's economy is, how his system works. He's like, if you wanna be exalted, then you gotta be abased, you know? If you choose to exalt yourself, I'm gonna abase you. You know, a lot of people, you know, have a tendency to praise themselves, talk about their own goodness and their own accomplishments, but that's not how you get exalted. You get exalted by remaining humble. You get exalted by becoming a servant. Think of Jesus Christ, the greatest servant, and yet God has given a name above every name, right? Look at, what do I have here in Luke 22? Verse 24, and there is also a strife among them. Which of them should be accounted the greatest? This is the disciples. I mean, picture where they're at right now. Strife means they're fighting about this. They're like, no, I don't wanna be the greatest. Didn't you see how many demons I casted out? You know, didn't you see how many people I wanted to the Lord? You know, they start striving about who's gonna become the greatest. Verse 25, and he said unto them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors, but it shall not be so. But he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief as he that doth serve. You see, what should characterize us as Christians is service, being a servant. We're not here for people to serve us, we're here to serve others. We need to have this attitude that we're all servants of the Lord. And how do we serve the Lord? Well, serving others, okay? Seeking to be a blessing to others. And look, this comes with maturity, and I gotta keep working on this. Well, we need to make sure that we're not just thinking about ourselves. We need to make sure that we think upon others. And guess what? That's gonna inconvenience you. I'm not saying that being a blessing to others is just like finding dandy roses and daisies and it's just gonna be great. No, it's an inconvenience. It's gonna cost you money. It's gonna cost you time. It's gonna cost you your resources. But guess what? That's what being a servant is. You're serving others. And you can't expect to be a leader. You can't expect for God to exalt you if you choose not to become a servant. You gotta become a servant. It's important. Look what it says, for whether is greater, verse 27, he that sitteth at me, or he that serveth, is not he that sitteth at me, but I am among you as he that serveth. We know that Jesus Christ is the greatest servant. Now go with me if you would to 2 John. So we're talking about the little things. And this sermon is simply for us to evaluate ourselves and to basically realign our thinking and say, hey, the little things matter. I gotta make sure that I'm focusing on the little things. You know the sermon I preached, I don't know, last week or two weeks ago, about being 10 times better. You know what we're looking at? We're looking at the bigger picture of the year, 2019. But guess what? Within 2019, there's this thing called months. And within these months, there's this thing called weeks. And within these weeks, there's this thing called days. Within these days, there's hours and minutes and seconds. And our success of 2019 will be determined how we use each and every one of those slots of time. How what we do each day, what we do on an hourly basis, what we do on a monthly basis, that will determine the overall success of our year. We're not here to just talk about being 10 times better. That's the big picture. But putting actions into systems, doing things on a daily basis to make sure we gain that success is what's important. Because you know what really stinks is when you finish off the year and you had a bunch of goals and you didn't reach any goal. You're like, man, I had all this vision, I had all these goals, I wanna do all these great things. Yeah, but here's the thing, you never change anything different that you're gonna do every day. What did you do every day to reach that goal at the end of the month? What did you do every month to reach that goal of every quarter? What did you do every quarter to reach the goal of the finality of the year? Nothing. Therefore, we gotta realize it's the little things that matter. Now here are a couple points, nothing profound today. But this is important because in order for us to succeed overall, we need to make sure we take care of these little foxes. Let me say this, number one is that the little doctrines matter. When I say little doctrines, obviously all doctrine is important. But when I refer to little, I'm referring to the basics are important. And before you become this just expert in all these deep doctrines, get the basics first. Nothing wrong with the basics. It is said that John Wooden, who's probably burning in hell today, I don't know. Who knows who John Wooden is? Anybody know who that is? Okay, I see that hand there, thank you. John Wooden is a basketball coach. College basketball, right? It is UCLA. Oh, anything else? I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. It is said that John Wooden, who's a basketball coach, was one of the best basketball coaches out there. And he led a lot of successful teams and all these things. But one of the reasons why he was so successful as a coach is because he majored on the basics. It is said that when the season started, or before the season started, when he would train his basketball players, he would literally spend an entire day or session teaching them how to put on their shoes, how to tie their shoes, how to put on their socks appropriately. You're like, oh, that's stupid. But here's the thing, don't think that's stupid because those are the little things that matter. You know, and the same person that says that's stupid is the same person that says, yeah, we already know about salvation. We already know about these basic things of Bible reading and prayer, but how are you doing on those basics? How are those little foxes doing? You know, so we need to make sure that we never undermine the basics of doctrine. Look at 2 John, verse 7, it says here, for many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an anti-Christ. Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. For he that biddeth him God speed is a partaker of his evil deeds. This is a very basic teaching, right? Whoso confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh, this is a deceiver and an anti-Christ. You would be surprised how many Christians permit false teachers and false prophets to come to their house all the time. I'm gonna show this Jehovah's Witness, you're actually a partaker of their evil deeds when you do that. Yeah, but I'm gonna show them all these verses and I'm gonna debunk them and I'm gonna show, you know, I'm gonna disprove them from their own Bible. That's not what the Bible says you should do. And that is a basic teaching. You say, what do you do when they come? I rebuke them sharply. I freaking yell their head off. And I'm not joking. I had a guy come to my house, wanted to teach me how God is a woman. That's the first thing that came out of his mouth. You know what I did? I screamed his head off. I kicked him out and told him to get the hell off my property, that's what I told him to do. That's the first thing that came out of his mouth. He said, hi, my name is so-and-so, I'm from the church of whatever, the devil. And he said, I wanna talk to you about how God is a woman. And I said, I'm a Baptist and I have zero interest in what you're gonna say and you're a heretic, you're preaching heresy, and I want you to get off my property now. And he said, you're a Christian, you're talking about that? Yeah, well, I guess this is the first time you ever ran into a Christian then. I was like, you want me to repeat it? And I just screamed his head off, rebuked them sharply and slammed the door in his face. You should have invited him, maybe, you know, he wants to learn the truth. He's ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. If this guy's propagating false doctrine, that's his full-time job, he's a reprobate. Take it to the bank, he's a reprobate. But that's a basic doctrine. Second John, which is a small book, the primary teaching of that is, hey, don't receive these people into your own house. Yeah, but I got all these apologetics and stuff, like, fool you with that. Rebuke them sharply, tell them to get the hell off your property, and move on. But see, if you're not, see, all these people who have all these apologetics, they're majoring on the big doctrines, right? They can't even get something as simple as this down, where it's like, don't even bid them Godspeed. Oh, they're just lost, you know, we need to, you know what, they need to stay lost. Hebrews 5, he needed to get lost. Hebrews 5, 12 says, for when, for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you. Again, go to Hebrews 5, sorry, Hebrews chapter 5. You know, it's good to have a strict doctrinal policy in our church, but we don't compromise on any single doctrine. You know, obviously, there are certain doctrines that we can disagree on, there's certain doctrines that we can maybe even debate about or whatever it may be, just say, hey, you know, I believe this is what the Bible says about end times or this passage of scripture, obscure passages that are not very clear. But at the end of the day, that which is crystal clear, that which we know to be true in the Bible, we ought not to compromise on. These are the little foxes, the compromising little foxes that can spoil the whole vine. And all across America, you have independent fundamental Baptist churches who have allowed the little foxes into their church of compromise and tolerance, and because of that, now their church is just a buffet of different doctrines, false doctrines. They got the repent of your sins guy here, the one saved, always saved here, the Calvinist here, the Pentecostal over here, it's just a smorgasbord of kumbaya going on in there. You know why? Because they allowed the foxes into their church. Okay, hey, the little doctrines, man, all you guys talk about is like salvation. Yeah, that is like the most important thing. You know, getting someone saved and showing them what the Bible actually says about salvation, that's important. Hebrews 5 verse 12 says, for when you time, excuse me, for when, for the time you ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belonging to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. I remember I talked to a person who's been saved for years. And you know, I talked to this person, I believe he's saved, I honestly believe he's saved. And I've heard his testimony as far as his salvation testimony, it's clear, but within the last couple of years, he's gone into false doctrine. He's older, he's gone into false doctrine, and I believe he's just being led astray with a lot of false doctrine. And I remember him saying, you know, there's people out there that come up with good arguments like about maybe you can lose your salvation. He's like, I don't believe you can lose your salvation. But he's like, what do you do with the first like, they that are done to him, the same shall be saved. That's cake, buddy. Are you serious? That stumps you? You know, you need to go back to the basics. You need to go, you're unskillful in the word of righteousness. If something as elementary and basic as that would stump you, you don't know what to say. I understand if there's like a parable, you know what I mean? Within the book of Matthew, that's a little obscure. You know, you may stumble at that. But when someone brings you down, you're just like, yeah, I don't know what to say. And you've been saved for years, you're unskillful in the word of righteousness. Now Hebrews 5, that's what that says right there. And then it rolls into Hebrews 6, verse 1, look what it says, therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on into what? Perfection. What is perfection? Maturity. So in order for us to mature, we need to get the basics down is what that's saying. Because once you have the basics down, then you can move on to perfection, okay? Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, basics. Doctrine of baptisms, basics. Laying on the hands, basics. And of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment, basics. And this is what we would do if God permit. So we see here that the little doctrines, they matter. The basic doctrines matter. The Bible says in Philippians 3, verse 1, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you. I mean, Paul the apostle was pretty grounded in deep doctrine. He knew some pretty deep doctrine, but even he told the Philippians to write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. See, it's safe to repeat the same things over and over again when it comes to the basics. Number one, because sometimes we forget. Number two, there's always new Christians coming to our church and people who don't know the basics, okay? Now go with me if you would to, let's see, go to Nehemiah chapter 6. So the little foxes of false doctrine can spoil the vine. A little tolerance, a little compromise, a little, you know, just kind of taking it easy on doctrine can spoil the entire vine, okay? We don't want that. And you know, we need to keep our ear to the ground if we hear false doctrine in the church. And I'm not talking about something that's minuscule, something that doesn't concern salvation, you know, but when people start teaching weird stuff, you know, you need to come tell me, you need to tell other of the brethren, we need to make sure that we talk about this because this is important, the basics are important. Now not only that, but the little disciplines matter as well. And I already hit on that, but I want to talk about it a little, some more. The Bible says that he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And when I talk about the little disciplines, I'm talking about just Bible reading just in general. I hope you're following the Bible reading schedule this year, okay? And look, January's not done if you felt that you can still catch up. It's hard to catch up if you're already in June though, okay? That's going to be kind of hard. You have time to catch up now. Don't neglect, don't finish 2019 and not read, not finish the Bible, okay? We're going into year two of our church, amen? May it be said that in year two, you've read the Bible at least once, okay, if not twice or whatever goals you may have. Prayer, how about prayer? Don't neglect the discipline of prayer because here's the thing, prayer is an expression of our faith. When we pray, we're depending on God. So how much do you pray? That goes to show you how much do you depend on God. Yeah, but I'm already working, I provide for my family already, we already got the food on the table. Yeah, but how do you know, you think you're going to have that tomorrow? You think you're going to have that next week? How about you pray and ask God to continue to help you to provide for your family, okay? Praying for one another. Church attendance, that's a discipline. It's a discipline to get your rear end out of bed and come to church. Oh, but my nails hurt, you know, or whatever. It happens, thank you. It happens. It takes discipline even to do that. You know what? Coming to church three times a week, that takes discipline, but you know what, it pays off in the long run, okay? How about having discipline at your workplace or how about punctuality? Hey, punctuality is important. What is punctuality? Being where you need to be on time, and guess what on time means? It means early. So if church starts at 10.30, you know, being on time is not 10.30. Being on time is like 10.15. Being on time is like 10 o'clock, okay? Is this, am I stepping on people's toes here or what? Everyone's like, hey man, hey, that's good. Hey, punctuality is a small thing, but it's an important thing, okay? It shows that you value other people's time. That's what punctuality is because you come to church early, hey, you know, you come to your job on time, you should come to church on time, but it shows that you're esteeming the time of others. Don't be characterized by being late all the time. Look, if you're dying, be late. Okay, if you get in a car accident, be late. If you're projectile vomiting, stay home. You know, obviously things come up where we're late, whatever it may be, there's a car accident, but when there's a car accident, a funeral procession every single week, and you know, you're running out of gas every single week, and things like that happen every single week, then that's not just an event that takes place every single week. That's just you don't have punctuality. You're not esteeming the small things, the little things. If this little thing bugs you, what I'm telling you right now, that goes to show you that's something you need to work on. If you're gnashing at me with your teeth, if you're sneering at me right now, then that's the little thing you need to fix, okay? Punctuality. Should I keep going on this? This is good, right? Punctuality is very much an important aspect. Man, I remember, like, my father-in-law was big on punctuality, and he would embarrass you as a staff member if you were not on time. He's just like, hey, is your watch working? It's like, oh, yeah, you know. Why? Because it's important. It's important to be on time. And look, sure enough, I'm going to be late, like, next week or something like that, but at the end of the day, I'm not saying you can't be late every once in a while, but for the most part, you should not have the stigma of being late. Punctuality is important. And look, don't, this is how you can work on not being late. I'm going to park it right here. This is how you can work on not being late. If you want to be at church at 10.15, which is early, plan to leave. Plan how much time it takes to get to where you need to go, okay? And put within that slot at least 30 minutes. So that in case, you know, the funeral procession comes, the car accident comes, you still make it on time. You see what I'm saying? You know, it's like, well, you know, I have this time right here, and if I just, you know, get out of the house at this time, yeah, but you're planning for condition, like, the perfect conditions. No traffic, no rain, you know, all the stop lights, all the lights are green, no cars in the freeway. Look, especially if you have kids, you really have to plan, because kids, I mean, my kids, they know that they have to poop at the very last minute before we leave church, and they're going to make the worst mess right before we leave for church, right, Sarah? You know, my daughter, she's like, of course you're going to just defile all your clothes, your church clothes. We got to change you again, just like at the very, we pick her ready to go, it's like. And then she just smiles like, yeah, that's right. It happens. You know, obviously we can't plan for that, you know what I mean? We just say, oh, you little booger, you just have to do it. Plan, look, plan your Sundays. Plan to show up earlier to church on Sunday. And where does that planning start? Saturday night. You know, where does that planning start? How about this, iron your clothes on Saturday night. I know that's a novel thought. I know that's a novel. You know, they're like, iron? What's that? You know, in Spanish, it's called plancha, you plug it in, and it makes your clothes not look like a road map, okay? You hang your clothes, look, this is what I do, have my wife hang my clothes, I put my socks there, my shoes there, so I don't have to think in the morning what I have to wear. It's just like, boom, there it is, put my socks, boom, boom, boom, ready to go, okay? I know that's kind of foreign, but it's necessary because I want to make sure that everything is taken care of by the time I get to church. Okay, I'm not like, oh man, what should I do? Hey ladies, that'd be a novel thought too, amen? What dress should I wear, you know? I wore this five weeks ago, I can't wear this again, whatever, you know? Have everything ready so you can be punctual. The little things matter, okay? All right, I'll get off of that. Hey, the little safeguards matter as well. What are safeguards, standards? Nehemiah 6, 1 says, for everyone, excuse me, now it came to pass when Sambalah and Tobiah and Gesheph the Arabian and the rest of our enemies heard that I had builded the wall and that there was no breach left therein, though at the time I had not set up the doors upon the gates, that Sambalah and Gesheph said unto me, saying, come let us meet together in some of one of the villages in the plain of Ono, but they thought to do me mischief. So they said here that there was no breach. What is a breach? It's an opening. You see, in order for an enemy to infiltrate a city, they weren't going to go through the main doors. They had to go around the city to find a breach. So when we talk about the little things, we're talking about the little breaches as well. The little safeguards that we put, we make sure, spiritually speaking, that we go around the city of our family, of our church, of our personal lives, and make sure that we seal up all the breaches. How do we do that? We make sure we set up standards in our personal life. Look, standards are not to be imposed upon another person, but we should impose standards upon ourselves. Why? To protect ourselves from ourselves. Protect ourselves from our flesh. Protect ourselves knowing full well that we're weak, that we can stumble at any time. If we're not careful, we need to make sure that we make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof by sealing up the breaches. And lastly, go to Colossians chapter 3. I'm out of time. The little tasks matter. The little tasks. And this is at work. This is at church. Of course, we're talking about context of church. Doing the little things matter, because the Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 9, 10, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whithersoever thou goest. Look at Colossians 3, 22. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fear, and God. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. So what is it telling us here? You know what helps us to do the little things, the little tasks? If we recognize that we're doing it for the Lord. If we recognize that we're doing it as unto the Lord, it helps us to fulfill those little tasks in a big way. Men at work, make sure that you're doing the little things at work. If you want to get promoted, if you want to be successful, do the little things that no one wants to do. Women keeping the home, do the little things. Like what? Teaching the little children. Don't just put them in front of a TV and put them in front of whatever to teach them. You make sure that you do your due diligence to teach those little ones. Why? Because a little teaching here, a little teaching there, ends up being an education for a lifetime for them. A lot of what they learn, what they remember later on in life is what they learn as a little child from their mother. Children obeying your parents in the little things. Take out the trash, take it out. Obey your parents in the Lord for this is right and you're sowing seeds for the future. You want to be this great father and great husband and great leader, well how are you as a son? How are you as a daughter to your parents? Because you reap what you sow. If you're some spoiled little brat who doesn't want to listen, who wants to just mouth off to their mom, mouth off to their dad, that's exactly what you're going to produce when you get older. That's the kind of children that you're going to produce in your personal life. Oh yeah, but it's going to be different for me. No it isn't. You produce after your own kind. You're going to raise a spoiled little brat like yourself if you don't take care of those little foxes today. Take care of that little fox of being a little jerk. Take care of that little fox of being a little selfish little punk. Take care of those foxes today so that in the future you keep your vineyard. You have a fruitful vineyard. I was not perfect growing up. Obviously I didn't grow up in a Christian home. You know I got saved later on in life but you know my mom whooped me so you know I was kind of forced to obey amen. But you know we were just taught to always respect our parents. You know I'm thankful that I did so because you know I want my children to respect me. I want my children to reverence and respect me and obey me and I can rest assured that I did that for my mom, I did that for my father, and I can go in with a clear conscience knowing that I did those things so I can expect that of my children. And look if you're here sitting there like man that's not me then change today. Go back to the first point. Fix that little fox today. David was obeying his father. All right I'll take lunch to my brothers even though his brothers are like rebuking them and getting on him. He was just obeying his dad and what ended up happening? He ended up slaying Goliath. You know because he was at the right place at the right time doing what needed to be done. Servants in church hey how about this picking up trash here in church amen. Hey if you say well how how should we work on this like about you know should we like you know you know should we deputize someone to be the trash picker upper? I deputize you to be the trash picker upper. So this is what you do as you're walking in the church and you see a piece of trash you saw it throw it away you just step to the left a little bit pick it up and you throw it away okay. You know organizing if you see things are unorganized in here take the initiative and take care of it. Well not me not me I'm just I'm here for the preaching of God's word. Well the preaching of God's word is telling you to organize if you see something that's unorganized. So there you go okay perfecting your talents okay if you have a talent if you have a skill perfect it. Spend time in the little things so you can perfect that which you already know. Let's have the house of God be an excellent place to come to okay hey how about this greeting one another. You know when new people come to church the little things count saying hi to someone being kind to one another. Don't just isolate yourself or go to your little clique make sure you go out of your way to greet the new people in our church and get to know them okay. I see people you know they go to our new people and I know it's the same people all the time they always go to the new people to make sure that they're taken care of that they're saved and you know that they get the gospel that they're being greeted that they know who they are. I appreciate that that shows a lot of selflessness on the part of those people and we need to make sure that we when new people come in it's not like you know you know all right well that's a new person no go to them shake their hand get to know them be friendly to them those are the little things that matter okay. Fellowshiping you know and so on and so forth hey praying for one another that's a little thing that matters. I hope you pray for one another you know if you see a need and you can't fulfill that need yourself you should pray for that need to be fulfilled okay. What's disturbing today is simply this you know if we don't take care of those little foxes in our life they're going to spoil the vine they're going to destroy the vineyard they're going to destroy your life. Make sure hey let's be ten times better you know as far as the bigger picture is concerned but we need to make sure that we're capping those little foxes that are threatening to destroy our vineyard. Amen. Spire heads and have a word of prayer. Father we thank you for your goodness Lord we're thankful for your word and thank you for the examples that we've had in our personal lives that have taught us these principles. I pray God that you'd help us to discern these little foxes that may creep in into our personal lives or even into the church or whatever it may be. Maybe it's not a sinful fox but maybe it's something that can deter us from being more effective for you. And I pray God that you'd help us to discern those things and to rid those rid ourselves of those foxes so that we can have a fruitful vineyard for thee. We love you so much and we thank you and we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.