All right, let's go ahead and find ourselves a hymn book and stand. All right, good to see the teenagers on the front row again. Amen. We had a song request this morning. It was Edna's favorite song. Edna Mae Stoudemire is page 426, Throw Out the Life Fly. 426. 426. Throughout the life I've not crossed the dark way, there is a brother who saw what should stay. Somebody's brother, Throughout the lifeline, someone is sinking today. Throughout the lifeline, throughout the lifeline, someone is sinking today. Number three. Throughout the lifeline, today through our men, sinking in anguish we can never mend. lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is taking you away. Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline. Someone is taking you away. Number four. Soon will the season of Throw out the lifeline and save them today. Throw out the lifeline. Throw out the lifeline or someone is in your way. Throw out the lifeline. Amen. You may be seated. We have a special here tonight, Sister Adlee Russell. Come ahead, hon. Come ahead. Bless her, Lord. This is my father's world, and to my listening ears, all nature sings and round me winks the music of the spheres. This is my father's world, I rest me in the thought Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas, His hand the wonders wrought. This, this is my Father's world, Oh, let me ne'er forget. Although the wrong seems all so strong, God is the ruler yet. This is my Father's world, That's good, amen. Let's all stand and take our handbook. 272. The solid rock. 272. is not in righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest faith, but only believe on Jesus' name. On Christ the solvent rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. ♪ In darkness dwells His lovely face ♪ ♪ My rest for His unchanging grace ♪ ♪ In every eye and stormy air ♪ ♪ My anchor holds with heaven ♪ ♪ On Christ the solid rock I stand ♪ ♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪ ♪ All other ground is sinking sand ♪ ♪ His blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, my blood, ♪ When he shall come with trumpet sound ♪ Oh may I then in him be found ♪ Dressed in his righteousness alone ♪ Faultless to stand before the throne ♪ On Christ the solid rock I stand ♪ No other ground is sinking sand You may be seated we can now dismiss The nursery if we have if we have any amen Let's go ahead and take our Bibles. That's good. I think we're gonna keep the kids out here tonight, aren't we? Amen, they're used to they're used to seeing me preach. Anyway, if they start falling asleep or something I'll just you know, make them stand up and You know, we'll dance or do something. Amen, and some of y'all to Rod's like don't do it. I Let's take our Bibles turn to the book of Song of Solomon, the Song of Solomon, chapter 2. Oh, I need to turn my mic on. This weekend has been a real blessing, to say the least. It's been real good. The Lord has spoken to me on some things that I needed to hear from Him on, and it's just been real good. It's been real good. And I just want to thank you, the church, for, you know, people came up and said, well, thanks, Marnie, for and Pastor, for putting this on. You put this on. You people, you are the ones who put your hand to the task and the work. And you ladies who did all the cooking and the preparing and all the cleaning and washing, you were always doing something. And I greatly appreciate you. You help this to be a real blessing. So thank you very much for that. The Song of Solomon, chapter two. Let's pick it up in verse eight. The voice of my beloved, behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young heart. Behold, he standeth behind our wall. He looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake and said unto me, Arise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, and the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, and the time of singing of the birds has come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with their tender grape give a good smell. arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. O my dove that art in the clefts of the rock and in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice. For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is calmly. Verse 15, take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. Pastor, will you ask the Lord to bless the evening? Dear Lord God, it's good to be in this place here tonight, God. It's good to be, Lord, amongst believers. Lord, it's good to be in church. Lord, I pray that you'd show up here tonight, God. Lord, I pray that you'd show up in this message. Lord, that you'd speak to each and every one of us. Lord, it's been good to be here for this meeting, God. I'm sure I speak for many of us, Lord, when I say that you've been very good to us this weekend. And Lord, I pray that you continue to be good here tonight. Lord, I pray that you'd speak through your man. your word through him to us. These things I pray in the sweet precious name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen, amen. Looking at our text back here at verse 15, it says, take us the foxes, the little foxes. Now this word take here, it means to capture. The word here is still used the way that we use it today. It means to take someone on in like a game, take on another adversary, to take them on. It says, take therefore, take us the foxes. And then you look down, I want you to notice there at the end of the verse, verse 15, it says the tender grapes. The tender grapes, now something that's tender is easy to cut, easy to chew, it's sensitive, it's easily injured or damaged. And I just want to point out some things about or that I've noticed in my life since I've been saved and I'm sure you've seen it too in your life and your Christian walk with the Lord where we have a great meeting like this and it's good. And the Lord's dealing with you about some things and it's just good. But oftentimes we tend to focus on all those little foxes. little things, those little things that bother us that are a blemish. You ever go by a field? I've seen this before, it was a big field. You know that's what I like about the Midwest. They've got all the rolling hills, and this time of year it's beautiful through here. But you'll see a big open field, a big pasture, and there will be a dead cow out there. And it's beautiful, just this big open field, and the grass, everything is beautiful. But your focus is on that dead cow. And it's such a small, minute thing compared to the big vastness of all that you've seen. And you're right, and that trip that day might be an hour long trip going to Kirksville or somewhere, and all you can think about, yeah, I seen a dead cow on the way to Kirksville. But you forgot about the red and the trees, and the orange, and the hills, and how beautiful everything was. Those little things really mess things up, don't it? because we focus on those little things. You know, I'm pretty talkative, and I get to know most of you. You are my people. You speak my language, as the preacher said. And I get to know a lot of you personally, and talking to you, and knowing some of the things you're going through, and some of the things you face. And just talking to you some this weekend and the last few weeks, I know some of you are facing a hardship. sickness. This weekend, there's I've talked to some of you said there's been a few disappointments. For me, there was a disappointment this weekend. I wanted somebody to be here that wasn't here. And there's a few of you that was the same way. There was somebody you wanted to be here that wasn't here. There was something going on at home. That was a little fox. There was something going on with a family member that was a little fox. There's something going on with the finances, that's a little fox. I'm not talking about a big thing. You know, there's, there's, and some of you got big things going on. There's cancer, there's death, there's loss, there's divorce, there's broken, and there's big things. But oftentimes those little things that really trip us up are those little foxes. And we tend to focus on those little foxes. You know, this week we put a lot of energy into this weekend. I just want to encourage you out here tonight, don't focus in on those little foxes, but deal with those foxes. Why? Because those are the ones that spoil the vine. What did the text say? It said those grapes, what did it say about them? They were tender. They were tender. You're not as tough as you think you are. You're not as tough as you think you are. There's some things, some of you tough men, that little girl of yours can cut you and hurt you. That boy of yours, he can cut you, he can hurt you. It seems like a little thing to most people, but it hurts, it's tender. That husband of yours, he can cut you, he can hurt you, it's tender. That grandchild, that friend, that coworker. Why? Because we tend to be tender. I'm not gonna tell you to toughen up. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's hard. But I just want to encourage you about those foxes, about seeking the Lord's face, Lord help me with these foxes. Help me with these little things. You know as we, later on in the service, depends on how long this thing goes. I don't think it's going to go real long. But if there are some testimonies, you know what I just want to just home us back in on what's important and the blessings. Let's start forgetting about, let's forget about that dead cow out in that field, alright? Can't we just say, do you see that red tree, that red blooms, do you see that red, that tree looks like it's on fire, how orange it was, how beautiful it was. Let's focus back in on the blessings of the Lord. Hadn't He been good? Hadn't He been good to bless you and to give you health to stand and to allow you to be in church on a Sunday night despite those little foxes? So I just want to preach at you a little bit, maybe think about some of the things as we're, as I'm preaching here tonight, just to consider some of those blessings, some of those things that the Lord's maybe tonight as we close out, we can take a few testimonies about just some of the things the Lord has done. Let's forget about some of those foxes, but deal with them, but deal with them. The first thing I want to look at tonight about a little fox, what is a little fox? A little fox can be a careless tongue. A careless tongue around Christians. A careless tongue around Christians will spoil your vine. A careless tongue. Turn over to Psalms. Look at Psalms with me. Psalms 52. Psalm 52, pick it up in verse 1, "'Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy love and kindness, according to Thy multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight, that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest.'" I don't know why I read that because I want to read chapter 52, but you needed those five verses anyway. Go to chapter 52 verse 1, "'Why boastest thou thyself in mischief?" See that's one of those little foxes right there just show up, I'm going to roll with it. It's all right with me. So, Psalms 52 verse 1, "'Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth continually. The tongue devises mischiefs like a sharp razor working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good in lying rather than speaking righteousness." Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. A careless tongue around Christians will spoil your mind. You know what's a blessing to me is to see Jeb and Judson here tonight. These were my first junior church kids right here. When I started in the ministry and I got to preach to kids for the first time, these were my guys right here. And it's a blessing to see them in church here. I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to look at you. But I'm thankful to see them here tonight. It's good, it's a blessing. But when I started in the ministry, I was young, and I was all fired up, and I was ready to go, and I wanted to have that jab every once in a while. You know, a preacher wants to get in and really just shock them, you know, and just clap the pulpit and wake them up. And I would say things carelessly, and loosely, and foolishly. And you know what? The Lord has had to sit me down and says, you better tame that little fox, that little deceitful thing there between your jaws, that tongue. Well, you heard about Brother So-and-so. Yeah, I heard, too. What did you hear? Why do you want to tell me? Why are you even asking about So-and-so? Why don't you say, I'm praying for So-and-so. My son's tonight. My son was arguing with Brother Lucky's boy. Bradley was arguing with him. And Bradley came up to me, and hey, he's asleep, ain't he? Amen. Good. He came up and arguing with Joshua, thank you, Joshua. And he said this about Joshua. Joshua said this about me. I said, well was that true? He says, no. I said, he said, Bradley held his hand out like this like a preacher said, him in the wong. Him is in the wong. He is in the wrong is what he was saying. Him is in the wong. And he put his hand like this. Him is in the wong. I said, well it's okay, it's okay. And Bradley then said something, just a very condemning thing that came out of his mouth that said, now son, is that right? I said, if he's done wrong, couldn't you pray for him? May the Lord help him to be right, if he's wrong. Joshua's a good kid though, I don't think, he's a good guy, he's on my team. But you know what, why don't you be quick to pray for somebody as we are to point out the fact that they're wrong. Because sometimes you ain't always white. You know what? A careless tongue around Christians, it will spoil your vine. You need to watch your words. Watch your words. What does it say there in the text? Devises mischiefs. You know what that is? It is a device that is sly like a fox. The little foxes, they are slick. They can go under places that you wouldn't think they can get into. They can climb over things. It is amazing what they can do. They are little acrobats. They are one of the only, one of God's creatures outside of a person that will taunt a predator that's after them. They will go up to a cow or to a wolf or something and taunt them and run close to them to get them to chase. They like a chase. You know what that tongue likes? It likes a chase. That thing between your jaws likes a good chase. It likes to get in the last word. It's like it tries to pull something out of somebody. Try to watch that little fox. Some of you will slice a fox, just slip something right in there, and then you can justify it. You know what, I've heard some people, some of you are very brash. I've heard some of you be real tough about what you say about somebody. Well, it's the truth. Just because it's the truth don't mean you're supposed to tell it to somebody. You better watch how you tell the truth. This is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And if you use this deceitfully you can send somebody off to Hell. You can send somebody off to a divorce. You can send someone off to despair, and depression, and loss. With what words? And how you handle those words? Deceitfully as Lil' Fox. You know sometimes we'll grab a verse and we'll run with it. You better be careful how you handle those verses, Lil' Fox. will spoil your vine." Psalms 12 verse 3 the Bible says, "'The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things.'" Proud things. Flattering lips. Over in the Proverb of the Day, look at Proverbs 15, I was looking at this this morning, Proverbs 15, Look how it starts off and this kind of, well it showed me that the Lord wanted me to say something on these things. I was asking the Lord this morning, Lord what do you want me to say? Well right here in verse 15, I mean chapter 15 verse 1, a soft answer turneth away wrath. A soft answer? You say, well it's the truth. Well you can be softer about it so you can turn away wrath. But grievous words stir up anger." You hear people say, they'll stir up something, that's what it is. They get that from the Book. Why? From grievous words. Verse 2, "'The tongue of the wise, ye of this knowledge, are ripe, but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.'" Sometimes just open our mouth and it's just like we vomit it up. Some of the things people say, my goodness. Some of the things we say. Some of the things we say in the right environment. Well, so and so, they know what's going on, so if I say this, I want to see how they respond to it. You know, it's funny how we are. We're some kind of creature, you know it? I look in the mirror, I was like, you monster, what are you up to today? Everybody all right? Today you seem a little tight. Everybody's all right? Good. I'm glad you are. You know, we hear the saying, sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt. Oh, yeah, they will. Oh, yeah, they will. Some of you are still bitter about something someone's called you or said about your family 10, 15 years ago. Somebody came up to me and said something about one of you one time, and I said, oh, that's nothing. Oh, that's nothing. I know something bigger than that. You know what they did one time? And I was like, oh, oh, wait a minute. That was you. sticks and stones. Our tongue is small but it can break up a marriage, it can bust up a church, it can damn souls, it can deceive the innocent, it can falsify facts, it can start wars. Words. But what is it? It's just a little thing. You know this week you ought to watch the little things that come out of your mouth. The way you say them, the way you handle them. The little things. You know, sometimes, you know, this sounds rough, but sometimes it's good for you to shut up. My dad, that was one of the pieces of advice I took from him when I started venturing out to go get a job. He told me, he said, son, he says, the best, because my dad run a business, and he had a lot of people that worked under him, and he hired a lot of people. And he says, what a lot of people are looking for in an employee is something like this. They want you to be able to come in, do what I'm told, and shut up, and not complain about it. You know, sometimes you just need to show up and do what you're told. I'm not talking about from the preacher or me or what the Lord told you to do. You don't have to open your mouth about everything. You don't have to utter everything you know about something. danger in a careless tongue." What does it do? It harms the brethren. It hurts them. It hurts them. You can hurt someone's reputation. Turn over with me to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians 4, 29, "'Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.'" Man, hasn't he forgiven you of some stuff that you've done? Man, but we can hold it against the brethren. You can hold it against that spouse. You can hold it against that loved one. danger in the careless tongue." What does it do? It harms the brethren. There in verse 29 it says, that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Ministering some help to them. Some of you are hurting. Some of you are going through some things you need some grace. Has God been gracious to you? Can you minister grace unto the hearers? someone in this room they need some grace. They need somebody to have grace with them. What does it do? It harms the brethren. It hurts your testimony. Look there in verse 31 of Ephesians there chapter 4, let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Put those things away. I remember I was working at the Hyundai plant in Montgomery, Alabama, and I came out to the truck. It was a long 12-hour shift. I was tired. And I go out there to the truck, and I can look at my truck from a distance as I'm walking up to it. The backside is kind of leaned down a little bit. And I get over there, and my tire's flat. I mean, that tire's flat. I was thinking, I just worked 12 hours. I'm tired. Now I've got to change a tire. And yeah, I said tire. And I get out there, and I'm trying to get that tire, because it's underneath the truck. You know, they put them underneath the back of the truck, so now the truck's already low. And I get out that stinking thing. You put in that thing, and then you put another thing on that thing. Y'all know what I'm talking about. Don't look at me like that. Then you stick the thing in that thing, and you turn that thing. Well, when I stuck it in that thing and turned that thing, nothing happened. It was tight, so maybe I'm going the wrong way. Maybe it's lefty, loosey, righty, tight. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a Korean. I don't know. And I started to turn the other way. Me and Strip, it's that truck I sold the rod. He knows I messed it up. Anyway, I could never get that thing to work. I got under there with a hammer, and I was kicking, and I was mad. And I was just fighting that thing. And I was just rough and mad. And a guy came up to me. I didn't know who it was. He just came up to me. He says, hey, man, can I help you? I doubt it. That's what I said to him. I said, I doubt if this piece of junk, and I'm just mad and just grabbing it, and just rough and mean and getting under there and kicking my tools and stuff like this. He said, Brother, calm down. He said, Aren't you saved? I'm like, Who are you? How dare you? He said, Well, I work over in the other department over there, and they told me, and I heard about you. They said you're a Christian over there, and I figured I'd come over and help you out. I said, Oh, God. And I was like, oh, you know, he just heard me just being mad about this and kicking this around. Hey, praise the Lord. Yeah. You know, trying to keep a better attitude. Someone's always watching. Watch your words. You know what? You want to be a benefit to somebody. They're watching. They're watching at work. You know what they're doing? They're watching me. They're trying to figure me out. You know what they're doing? They're listening to my little words. These little ones here. I watch the words that come out of my mouth when I'm back there in that junior church, because some of these kids have told me some of the things I've preached they remembered from years ago. And the Lord has used those words to benefit them in their growth. And you better watch your words because the Lord to use your words. You know, a thing about my father-in-law, he travels around a lot and he goes into places and he'll witness the folks and he'll talk to folks and but he doesn't stay very long and they don't get to see him for very long and stuff. They only hear the words that come out of his mouth. And so he's like a walking Bible and he'll go and he'll preach to him and talk to him and witness to him and stuff. And but you know why they never see really who he is. So he has to watch his words when he goes into a place. Do you ever consider that, watching your words, how you talk, you go in there for gas? Like, I've been waiting 10 minutes. I've been over here forever. Oh, y'all overcharging folks for this now, I see. Last week there were two for a dollar. No complaining, watch your words. I remember we were at a restaurant one time, and a gal spilled my drink, and it went all over my leg. It ran down there, and she was expecting me to be mad about it. I said, it's all right. I said, I drop stuff all the time. I said, I probably would have spilled it on myself. I said, it's fine, and it's all right. You know what I did? I gave her a big old tip and a gospel tract. You know what that did? That shocked her. You know what she did? She read that gospel tract. Be careless. You know these are just little things, little things that you know, but it's those little things that spoil the vine. Secondly, an unthankful disposition toward the Church will spoil your vine. An unthankful disposition toward the Church will spoil your vine. I said unthankful, I didn't say a hatred for the Church. people come to church all the time. They don't hate the church, but they are unthankful. They don't consider this place. And I think we heard a great deal about that along those lines we were talking about the body of Christ in the local church here this weekend. It was some good stuff. What is your disposition toward the church? How do you feel toward the church? Let's turn over to the book of Hebrews real quick. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. I know I'd be in a mess without you. I need you folks. You know, all y'all think y'all need a pastor. Every one of y'all think y'all need that guy. He needs you. He needs your encouragement. He needs your faithfulness. unthankful disposition toward the church, it will spoil your vine. Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse 23, Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. You know, that's why we're here tonight for. We're here to provoke one another. We're here to provoke one another unto love and to good works. When was the last time you provoked one of the brethren to do something for the Lord? I find you very provoking, some of you. The preaching I've heard this weekend was very provoking. There are some things I'm planning on starting to get right come tonight. Come Monday morning, when I heard the preacher speak this weekend, I said, Lord, that's what I want to do Monday. You say, why Monday? Because that's when that thing shows up. What those little foxes. Those little foxes. unthankful disposition toward the Church will spoil your vine." What does it do? It causes you to cheapen the things of God. An unthankful disposition toward the Church will cause you to cheapen the things of God. You'll think very little of attendance. Very little of preaching. It's not that, oh, I can pull up preaching. Like the preacher said, everybody listens on YouTube, or Twitter, or whatever, or Facebook, and all that stuff, you know. But an unthankful disposition toward the Church will cause you to cheapen the things that are God. The greatest gift that God has ever given the Body of Christ is the Church. That's a great gift that we have, to be able to come in and get around the brethren and get provoked and get encouraged and pray with the brethren and see that they need you and you need them. I'd be in a mess without you guys. I'd be in a mess without this place. You know, I was teaching the kids about two weeks ago, I preached a sermon on what is the church. And I had all the kids tell me first, well, what do you think the church is? What is the church? Well, it's the building. It's where we come to church. It's where we pray. It's where we do this. I said, no, you're the church. You're the body of believers." I said, if this place burned down tomorrow, would we still have church? They said, absolutely. They said, yeah, we'll still meet together. We can still pray. We can still encourage one another. We can still have preaching. I said, then we can still have church. So that's the strength of the church. You can't blow it away with a hurricane. Amen. You know what it is? When you get away from God and get away from God's people, get away from church, it will cause you to start cheapening the things of God, thinking little of it. What else does it do? It causes you to become complacent to the danger. that once you stood ground on and says, no, we're not going to do this, you tend to slide back a little bit, and it's not as bad. You know what backsliding is? You know, you think that sliding backwards is you actively moving backwards and stepping backwards. No, you just being idle will cause you to backslide. I was, Will's putting in a stovepipe. Where's mom at? She's back there watching the kid? Okay, well I was going to let her pick on me tonight. She would have got a laugh out of it. Anyway, we were putting in the stove. I'm horrified of heights. I'm scared. If I stood on this right now, I'd be shaking. I couldn't do it. I'm scared of heights. Anyway, Will's putting in the stovepipe for my wood stove, and mom, she went and got the tractor, and she had me up in the bucket, and I was up on the, you know, I was scared to death. Rod, he'll laugh at me. You know, I don't care. I'm chicken. You say, oh, Arnie, you're chicken. Yeah, that's me. I don't want to fall. I ain't scared of falling. It's that slap that you do when you. You see this head? It'll bust wide open. Anyway, I was up there putting on that stovepipe and stuff, and I had my boots on, and the top of the house was kind of dusty. And I was just standing there, and I'm putting on that pipe, and I'm doing this thing right here. Eeeeee! And I look down and I'm slowly sliding backwards. Eeeeee! And my heart spluttered, I don't know, I don't know, I want to die. And I turned around, my mother-in-law thinking she's about, you know, she's laughing. I see her in the tractor in the cab, she thinks it's funny. And I'm thinking I'm about to die, and I'm just like, eeeeee. What was I doing? I was just being still. I was just being still, hanging out, wasn't trying to move backwards, but I was idling. unthankful disposition toward the church, it will spoil your vine. Why? Because it will cause you to be complacent to the danger. Well, I'm not going back to the places I was going. I'm just chill right now. Just let me chill for a while. You're sliding backwards. You're moving. You're not being idle. You're moving. You're unthankful. An unthankful disposition toward the church will cause you to be callous to the needs of God's people. When you can't shed a tear over a lost soul, or a hurt brother, or a loved one that's lost, it calls you to be callous. That's the scariest thing, I think, of that happening to me. I think that's the worst thing that could happen to me, is become callous to things that God has interest in. Be callous to those things. 1 Peter 1, verse 22, 1 Peter 1, verse 22, "'Seeing ye have purified your souls, and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfringed love of the brethren, that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.'" It says that unfringed love. What is that? That's sincerity. That's wholeheartedly. That's heartfelt. That's a genuine feeling. It's an absence of hypocrisy or any falsifying embellishment or exaggeration. It's something real. When last time someone told you about someone that was hurt or a brother, and we get these prayer requests for children over the group text, we'll get a prayer request over an accident, a car accident. I remember a few months ago, and somebody brought it up this weekend, that young girl that was kidnapped in Africa. How did you respond to that? When someone's mother passed away, how did you respond? Did it, did it just, oh, that's, I hate to hear that. Or did you break for him? Can you be broken for someone other than yourself? Out of love and care and not just out of woefulness, but out of love for him. It's just a little thing, just little foxes, just little things. I'm not talking about big things tonight. but they'll spoil your vine. Just an unthankful disposition toward the church and God's people. You know, there's a lot of brethren. I don't know why folks ain't in this church tonight. You know, it blows my mind that there's a lot of people in this community that believe the King James Bible is the Word of God, but they won't come into this door. They have their reasons. But one of them is they have an unthankful disposition toward the Church. If you really and truly, I believe, consider what the Lord has given you as a gift, given you a church, and a book, and a pastor that loves you, and a place you can go to worship and hear the truth just right across the plate, and you don't go for some reason, I believe you've got a problem. what is that? It started off with a little fox, just a little thing, just a little thing. You know what Paul says about the church? He said about one church, he said, if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and give them to me. You know what? He valued the church. He valued God's people. And lastly, A stagnant relationship with Christ will spoil your vine. A stagnant relationship with Christ will spoil your vine. Look at John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Verse 1, After these there was a feast of the Jews, and the Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. And these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, haught, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water. Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. And Jesus saw him lay, and knew that he had been now there a long time. In that case, it saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? That's a good question. Jesus could have just made them whole, but the Lord asked them, do you want to be made whole? Will you be made whole? Will thou be made whole? That's a good question for you. Who told you to wait on the moving of the water? Can you show me a verse of Scripture that where it says, well you know I'll start going and I'll get on board and everything when the Lord shows me something, when something really comes up and I see a real need. I'm just waiting for the troubling. Who told you to wait for the troubling of the water? What are you waiting on? You know what that guy did? He laid there and waited for the troubling of the water. What are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? A stagnant relationship with Christ will spoil your vine. What is something that's stagnant? It's unhealthy. You think of something that's stagnant, you think of a pond of water that hasn't had any flow into it, and nothing's really flowing out of it, it's just stagnant. We have a pond on our property, and I walked over to it, me and the boys, and we got over to it, and it's stagnant, man. There's some critters, there's skaters, and yes, I said skaters. That's all around, I gotta tell y'all sometimes, because y'all look at me like y'all don't know the words I'm saying. Like I found it. That's right, Sister Brenda, I found it. But what did it have? It had skeeters in it. Why? Because it was stagnant. You ever let your relationship with the Lord just kind of grow stagnant or not really doing nothing? We're just kind of taking it easy. No, don't take it easy. You need to have some flow coming in and some flow going out. You know what that is? Talking about purging yourself and having the Lord come in and doing something fresh. That's something coming in and something going out. Having that continually flowing. I remember seeing that one time because Dad had us used to go down and change out the water trough. Me and my little brother, You know, we couldn't there was one we had down there He says we'll go out there and clean it out so they can have clean water and stuff and we went down there So we can't flip it over. He said yeah, you can't just flip it over and we couldn't do it And he says well just go go put the hose in it and let it run for a while They'll push some of that that stuff out of it We watched that he put that hose in there and turned it on and as it filled up some of that Hay and that grass and stuff the horses had dropped in there slowly. It started falling over the edge and That water was coming in, that fresh water was coming in, and that debris and that stuff was slowly pouring over the edge. You know what? Continually coming to church, continually being faithful, continually in prayer, continually witnessing, and that stuff coming in, it'll help the stuff get out. You say, well, how do I get this stuff out of my head? How do I get this stuff out of my head? Put something in it. Put something that's right in it. You know, I remember people talking about, you know, I want to meditate so I can get this stuff out of me and all this stuff. I'm like, no, you need something in you. You need some Jesus in you to push something out of you. You need something in you. What is something stagnant? It's unhealthy. It's unhealthy. It's not good. It's unmoving. It's unmoving. When your relationship with Christ is unmoving and stagnant, that means nothing is coming in, and nothing is going to go out. It's unsatisfying. It's unsatisfying. But that unmoving there, I remember, it's been several years ago, Rod, he threw us for a big trick. He told us that he was going to drain out a pond. Do you remember that, Rick, when he told us that he was going to drain out a pond, that we needed to bring baskets and stuff to catch all these fish that was going to come out of it? You remember that? Anyway, we all show up, you know, a bunch of people excited. We're going to catch all these fish. It's going to come out of this pond he's about to drain. There was, what, a turtle in that pond? We drained that thing, and we just watched, and we waited with our baskets. And after about an hour, we're like, ain't no fish in that pond. But something funny happened while we were down there. While we were down there, Ian, Sister Maggie's boy, Ian, he walked around the pond, and some of the boys were just goofing around. Well, Ian went a little further into the pond, and that poor feller, he got stuck. He was stuck in that muck, and he couldn't get out. And I was watching him, and poor Rick. Rick has a big heart, guys. He went over there and hollered at him to get out. But he didn't get out. So Rick decided he was going to step in there and get him. got stuck. And all of a sudden we all found new reason to be there, because we were all being, we forgot about there not being any fish in Rod's pond. And so, we're watching Rick. Do you know what happened? He got stuck. The thing about the Christian life is if you stay stagnant too long you'll just get mucked in and you'll get stuck in a rut. There are some Christians I've talked to in this town that for one reason or another, they're just stagnant. They're not really doing that. They're not going forward. They're not going backwards. You know what? They're stuck in muck and something filthy. You know, he finally got that boy. It took a lot of work. It was hard, but he couldn't get out on his own. He had to have somebody help him. You know what you need to do? You need to get a hold to the Lord. Lord, come pull me out of this muck. Come pull me out of this meth, this meth, mess. Or meth if necessary, whatever it is. We'll turn to one more place and we'll be done. Look at judges. Judges chapter 15 Judges chapter 15 Look at verse 1 and it came to pass But it came to pass within a while after in the time of wheat harvest that Samson visited his wife with a kid and said I will go to my wife and to this chamber, but his father would not suffer him to go her father would not suffer him to go in and Verse 2, and her father said, I've verily thought that thou hast utterly hated her, therefore I gave her to thy companion, and not her younger sister fairer than she. Take her, I pray thee, instead of her. And Samson said concerning them, now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them displeasure. Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took firebrands and turned tail to tail and put a firebrand in the midst between the tails. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines and burn up both of the stalks, and also the standing corn, and also the vineyards, and the olives." You know I think about this The question is, you know, why 300 of them? Why 300 of them? Because little foxes are just little things, but you keep adding more little foxes, more little foxes, more little foxes, just these little things. What do they do? They just burn down all the good when you don't deal with the little foxes. You know what, you're gonna need the Lord's help this week and in your Christian life. Lord, help me. It's these little things that are just crushing me. Lord, help me. And if you don't deal with those little foxes, they're gonna spoil your tender grapes, those things that are precious, those fruit. What was this? It said it was a time of harvest. So what happened? It was a great loss. It was a great loss. You know, like I said, after a message like this, the or the whole weekend, anyway, of messages we got, you know, the devil is going to come in tomorrow and he's going to let loose a little fox. You're going to get a text tonight. What is going to be a little fox? Just a little fox. And it's going to try to spoil what the Lord has done for you this weekend. How are you going to handle that little fox? You're going to let it run. I'll just let it go. It's just, you know, this is just how it is. I hate how it happened. I hate this happening to deal with those things. You got to deal with those things. And have the Lord, Lord, help me. Lord, help me. And like I said here tonight, you know, I try to focus on because it's me. There's somebody didn't show up this weekend. I wanted them here. And what I did, I focused on just that little thing, that little fox, just that little thing. And you know what? I miss the beauty of which the Lord delivered unto us this weekend. I'll miss it. I don't want to miss it. I don't want to miss the good stuff, because I'm so focused on those little foxes, those little things. So I'm going to pray here and kind of close out, but also if there's somebody here that just want to give a testimony of something the Lord's done for you this week, let's try to bring that back and focus on some of these blessings that we got this week. Let's go ahead and pray. Lord, I love You. I thank You for the services this weekend. And Lord, I pray that, Lord, this would be a benefit to some of Your people here tonight. Lord, we thank You for Your blessings. Lord, for Your mercy, for Your provision, God. Lord, for the words that were spoken. Lord, the words that were preached and the provoking this weekend, God. And Lord, the exhorting, Lord, and the edifying, Lord. And Lord, to sing praises unto you, and hear some of these songs I haven't heard in a long time, and these specials, and people, Lord, crying at the altar, and Lord, people being excited for you. And Lord, we thank you for just being so good. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen has anybody here, you know, we got some times anybody have a Testimony just I just want to say something the Lord's done for him sister Elena My brain doesn't process take out those wavelengths of light that I can't process. Back when I was diagnosed, I didn't know it, but so much work that the Lord had to put in had to go into it, and I can see that now. If Ms. Whitney hadn't thought of putting those overlays and talking to a friend that she made down in Pensacola. If that lady hadn't gone into this certain field of profession that she went in, I would have never known. Amen. Things had to line up. Amen. Lord, she's been really good. Amen. Praise the Lord. We got anything? Anything else? Pastor? I've been blessed this week, seeing so many good things. I love just seeing all the young people running around. It's just a little particular. I'm thinking of some things that we talked about before the meeting even started, just having some peace and patience, and just relaxing a little bit. Just, man, the more I relax, the more patience I have. I just love seeing these young people. some of these kids that, you know, the lucky family. And then I'm seeing, you know, seeing kids that have been in our church for a long time, my own kids, and they're all just intervening with them. They're just having a great time. Seeing, you know, seeing Easton and James sitting on the front row. Amen. And seeing these young men sitting on the front row, everything that they're getting a chance to get. Just the good, clean fun that was going on between services. It's just good to see young people have a heart for the Lord again. You know, this morning, you know, seeing this church filled up with not, I mean, I was more than blessed to have the folks from Overly and everything, but man, this place was filled with local people this morning. It was a great blessing to me, just the scene, just the excitement. And to me, it's a testament of just the faithfulness that it's taken five years. And I'm excited to see what the Lord will do in another five years when he tarries. And I pray that he tarries. But boy, if the Lord tarries and we take good care not to let the little fox have spoiled the vineyard down here, and just watch over these little ones. And I'm just overly blessed with what a good church, what a good ministry, there is going here, and the fruit that has come out of it, and the hard work that's put in all the time, and not only prayer, it just... This church has been abundantly good to us. I'm just so thankful to be here. And I'm thankful for the preaching. Brother Paul's message on the local church. Amen. Amen. I just get so many things. I just, I'm blessed by all the sermons. I was a great, you know. Amen. Dad? Yeah, I think I already told you this. I was up there in Michigan, and it was a river there, and there's a young guy that comes with us to him, He was kind of, you know, nah, you know, yeah, sure. And then I got to the truck park, and I went inside, and the plant foreman says, who are you? And I says, I'm the guy that's got Jesus Christ on the Lord's finger. This young guy, he needs me. And of course, the whole plant, then we had to talk after the plant manager said, I don't like that. Amen. Amen. Be bold. I mean, you're out there and when the Lord opens the door up, they don't bother. Amen. Who you are, please go to our Savior because that's what it's all about in this life. Amen. That's good stuff. Amen. We got anything else? Brother Paul. It's just like, thank y'all for having me out here. It's a blessing. It's a good meeting. Thank you, brother, for inviting me. I had a lot of good fellowship. I got this, thank y'all for the charity, a place to stay. The food was excellent, delicious. And I think over there, Paul talks about 1 Corinthians 16, that the household is the fondest thing. I guess there's a few other names there that I can't pronounce. But he talks about they refresh his spirit. Amen. And I always think it's awesome how different people all around Asia Minor over there in that area. No matter where he went, I'm sure they had different cultures and different things too back then. And, you know, here I am. It's a blessing. I don't get to go out to a whole lot of churches. It's a blessing just coming, you know, eight and a half hours over here. But you know what? We got the same foot. We got the same savior. The same savior. Just good fellowship. Just good, clean time. It was very refreshing. And thank you guys. I appreciate it. The whole meeting. And thanks, Brother Barney, for thinking about us and inviting me over here. Appreciate it. Amen. Amen. Amen. Anything else, Brother Asa? Yeah, I'm just thankful for this weekend. I think it was really good. I think the music was just off the charts. Amen, amen. Auditorium was full and the singing was going. I thought it was solid soul and just prepared for the message. And then we just had a bunch of knocking out of the park messages. Amen. Amen, amen, amen. Brother Rod. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Got anything else? Any of you young people? What's lit a fire in my heart, I know that. So my heart's on fire for the Lord right now. Amen. Amen. Amen. I'm just thankful for everything, and preaching, and everything, Whitney, and everybody that's been so hard at work. Yeah. And it was fun to see all the kids running around, excited to be in church, excited to be here. Didn't want to be. Amen. Amen. Brothers, say it. Those guys are my favorite gentlemen. Thank you for the names. But you know, the church is a little pillar. The church is a pillar. But on early bits of our situation here, I think with my present thing going on, and the prayer in the prayer room, man, I fall over. I couldn't even pray. But I used to give to the Lord. He's just really soft and really shy. You know, he got saved here a couple BPS's ago. You know, my whole family's here. That's just really heartwarming. I definitely feel like, do this. See your family here, see them. You know, I'm going to come back and stay the night. You know, I'm like, I'm like, you're the first night, you know what I mean? You come back, when you come back, you know, you got to bring serenity. I mean, we just got a little team of people there. I mean, it's just great to have these young people here and see that all work. And I'm hoping, you know, I'm hoping you come back. I hope these folks get to come up here. It's just very important. Just keep building. I never, I told you 15, 20 years ago, I've never been in this place. I told you I've been a liar, you know. I'm glad, I'm glad I wasn't a liar. I'm here now, I love you. Amen, amen, amen, amen. I'd just like to thank you all for welcoming us. I don't want to get emotional, but me and my wife, we'll be back home. We'll get to talk about something just how good it's been. We've only been here two weekends. We just can't wait to get back to the front. Amen. We're ready when he is. And I just want to thank y'all for being so welcoming. Thank the Lord for just showing us where he can build us. Amen. Amen. I love you. I know that. I love your family. It's just amazing how sometimes we get to thinking, why am I going through this, Lord? Or why don't I have this? Or why is this happening? But the Lord gives you what you need when you need it. And I really feel like, for me and my family, we've really gotten what we needed over the last few months. Amen, amen. I've had four or five folks in this room come up and say, we've got to get those luckies up here. I was like, I'm trying. But the Lord said, I'm going to get these luckies up here. So amen. So just be praying. The Lord guides and opens and shuts and Amen. It's a lord. I got two brand new puppies. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Anything else? That's been good. Good stuff. I don't want to just shut the door if somebody's got something else. I'm just thankful for the spirit of this church. Amen. Amen. Anything else? Anything else? Well, I mean, we've been here nine years now, and so I will literally travel all over the world, and I've been to, I don't know how many churches this night, and I've been trying out different churches, all growing out of it. And then, you know, when I went to college at PCC, and, you know, we had a different preacher coming almost every day, you know, during the week. And it's just, I've been to so many churches, and it's not, you know, and maybe it's, you know, and the local church is so important, but it's just, like, this isn't, this is home. You know, and this is, this is my family. And I don't, you know, I never feel like there's this tension or, you know, like we're all friends. Amen. Everyone here, you know, and we're all, everyone's so welcoming and like, and, you know, we're all going through different things and we've all gone through different hard times and I think, you know, just you guys have, I know especially love about our family and I was talking to Sarah about some stuff and about, you know, how special our church is. And I, I believe that with my whole heart, how special this, all of you, all of you all are, because we couldn't have been found through all the things our family has gone through without you guys. Amen. Amen. We got all, we got, What's nice is everyone's all together. We got Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. That's why we're here. Amen. It's a good thing that we have a good time. Amen. We got the right captain running things. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, anything else? when we were talking about this being a home. I searched for a long time, dabbled in a little bit of this, a little bit of that. There was so much something, man, I thought I didn't know what. And the very first time I came here, I still knew that this was where I needed to be. Not in any other direction as I did in some other guys. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. It's good. All right. Amen. Well, maybe we'll get Amen. I'll be happy to go home to see the king with all you tonight. Amen. That'll be the meeting the next meeting I want to see. All right. All right. We'll, we'll close in prayer. I just want to, uh, you know, we'll just remember to pray for the luckies as they're be traveling home. I think you're leaving about four in the morning. So be thinking of them, praying for them as they travel south. And, uh, also brother Joe fall as he traveling back east and just, uh, prayers for him. He's leaving in the morning too. So just, uh, uh, remember these folks here traveling. All right. Pastor, will you close this out in prayer? Lord, thank you for just being in everything that has gone on, Lord, through this whole thing. Lord, the safety that you supplied in getting everybody here. Lord, as far as we know, Lord, the safety that's been supplied, getting folks home, Lord, we're gonna continue to give safety. Lord, the safety out just in all the facilities and those types of things. Lord, you just had your hand in it all. Lord, especially the preaching, God. Lord, thank you so much for the men that came, the messages that you put on your heart, Lord, the things that you've given us. Lord, I'm so thankful for this church. Lord, just in the heart of these people and all the love that's in this place. Lord, the love of the brethren, God. do is just to love one another. And Lord, I'm thankful to serve in a place that makes it easy to love the brethren. Yes, Lord. And Lord, we know that, Lord, wherever you are, Lord, wherever you're, whenever you're blessing, Lord, wherever your presence is, Lord, where you've met with us, Lord, where you've been with us, Lord, where you've answered prayer, Lord, where you've comforted us, Lord, where you've drawn nines, Lord, to contrite heart, Lord, where you've answered prayers, Lord, where we've bonded together, God, over hardships and trials and tribulations, Lord, where we've wept together and rejoiced together, God, a place where we've seen souls saved and we've seen folks get right and families draw close to you. Lord, there be no better way to close out this meeting tonight than just to hear those words and take us on home. Amen. Lord, we keep the meeting right on going. Amen. Oh, Lord, if you tarry, Lord, help us to face tomorrow, God. Lord, did you give us boldness? Did you give us strength? Lord, did you help us to not be short-tempered, just knowing that the meeting is over? Lord, help us to be wary of the little foxes. Lord, help us to not have little vines be spoiled. Lord, help us to, Lord, be aware of the devil trying to get a foot pulled in here or there. Lord, so following can spoil revival. Lord, help us to guard our hearts. Lord, that we may continue just to rejoice in you. These things I pray in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. Amen, God bless you, good night.