All throughout this week, God has had the two messages this morning and this afternoon prepared and ready in my heart as we prepare to go into our week of revival services. I've mentioned to some that it just seems like, and just when I seem like we're right there, God, it just seems like we back up 10 steps. But I said, boy, it just feels like we're just right there on the cusp of, in a good way, something happening for the Lord. And you get right there, and then it seems like you back up, and you just, okay, Lord, I wanna get back to there. And asking the Lord to be able to help us and prepare our hearts. 1 Corinthians chapter number five, if you found it and you're able to, let's stand together for the reading of the word of God. We're going to jump in here at verse number 6. I'll give the context of the Scripture here in just a few moments as we look at it. But 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse number 6, the Bible says your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness. but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters, for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother, Be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner with such in one, know not to eat. But what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within. But them that are without, God judgeth. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. It comes back to verse number six, this phrase, know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. And I'm gonna preach just for a little while this morning on take care of the little things. Take care of the little things. Let's have a word of prayer, then you can be seated. We'll get into the message. Father, we love you. Lord, thank you so much for the presence of the Holy Spirit of God. Lord, as much as we rejoice that you are almighty and unchangeable, you are the same yesterday, today, and forever. But Lord, that also means that, Lord, we ought to purge out the old leaven. And Lord, we ought to take care of these little things that are in our lives. Lord, I pray that you'd help us today, speak to hearts, and Lord, I'll do my human best, but filled with the Spirit of God. And so, Lord, would you use me this morning in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. You know, big things are just made up of a bunch of little things. You say that's a pretty profound statement. I'm just letting that, I'm pausing for effect right now. Here in the passage of scripture, we're introduced here to leaven, or as yeast, as many will call it today. I'm gonna get a little help here for just a moment, in just a minute. Did you know the average size, and I've got some here, Do you know the average size of a grain of leaven or yeast is about three to four micrometers, or one thousandth of a millimeter. The little packets that you buy in the store, now right here I have, and you can't tell, there's eight of them on my hand. You can't tell. You can't see them. Little packets you buy in the store contain about seven grams of yeast. Now, let's put that in perspective. We're gonna look at that. I know people here use yeast on a regular basis. Leaven. Do you know that two milligrams, the big topic today in America is the fentanyl that's coming across the border. Do you know that 0.2 milligrams of fentanyl is considered a lethal dose? Of counterfeit pills that were tested, 42% of them had anywhere from 0.02 to 5.1 milligrams, and it's 2 milligrams that are lethal dose. And so that 5.1 is more than double the lethal dose that's found. Now, if it's 5.2 milligrams, in a little packet of yeast is seven grams of yeast that's there. You say, Pastor, why are you getting at this minute? He says here, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. It's the little things that matter. If I were to ask right now, and please don't put your hand up, I did almost hand out three by five cards so that you could answer this privately. If I were to ask you right now, just for this past week, did you read your Bible more than five minutes per day? or did you pray for more than two minutes per day just in the past seven days? Oh no, pastor, I actually have a, and it's so wonderful, I have a verse of the day that pops up on my phone and I get my devotions. I wonder what the answers would be. And then we say we're right with God and we're taking care of the things that God wants us to take care of. It's the little things here that matter. And if I would ask you how many little things in your life would add up right now, you say, well, that'd be pretty easy to count. So here's what I'd like to do. I'm gonna take this and put it right here. And one of you three young men, rock, paper, scissors for it, but come on up here. All right, it's Joshua. Would you do a favor for me while I preach? And would you just count those? Go ahead and pour it right out on the table, but don't lose any. You say, Pastor, why are you having him do that? You say, that's impossible. But why does the Bible say then to purge out, therefore, the old leaven if we don't even know that it's there? Now, I want to share a few things with us as he begins to, don't lose that. Here you go. You want to use this to separate it out? There you go. Okay. Now pay attention to the message though. I want you to see what's taking place in 1 Corinthians chapter number 5. It starts off, and he's speaking to the church here, and there's actually sin that's in the church. And the Bible says in verse number one, it says that the sin, the fornication that is there, that it should not so much as be named among the Gentiles, the end of verse number one, that one should have his father's wife. And so there is sin that has taken place in the church. And he comes down to verse number six, where we started reading, and he says, your glorying is not good. Now we would look at this and say, okay, you have a man that is having an affair with his stepmother in the church. And then Paul says, don't you know that a little leaven, I'm thinking, okay, that affair taking place is not just a little leaven. we would say, hey, that's a pretty big deal of what's taking place here. But I believe what Paul is saying here is that it is symbolic of a bigger issue that is evident inside that church that they are willing to overlook that sin because of all the little sins that are there in people's lives that they're not willing to get rid of. And so when we look at take care of the little things, there's three areas that I'm gonna look at. First of all, in 1 Corinthians 5, we are looking at the little sins in the church that need to be taken care of. Now, he says that we ought to be able to keep the feast in verse number eight with old leaven, that not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with sincerity and truth. And I thought, Lord, would you convict our hearts? And I could very easily this morning just go ahead and start listing off a list of sins. Now I know they're in your life because the Bible mentions them and nobody that's here is perfect. And you could start listing off sins and you're gonna hit something that's in my life. But how many of us have ever said, I condone that. Now we won't say that. but yet it gets so prevalent, and we start having those in our lives, and just the tiniest, will I mess up your count if I take this one? The tiniest of one that we say, listen, now, Nate, can you see that? You can't see it? You can't see it? Then it doesn't matter, does it? You still see it? I just flicked it off, okay, I got rid of that one. Hey listen, we say all, but nobody sees it, so it doesn't matter. Now hold on, he still said it's the little leaven that leaveneth the whole lump. It's that little bit that we hold on to and say, well, it's not that big. It's not seen. It's not affecting everything. How many know that just take a few pinches and usually about two, two and a half little teaspoons in an entire lump of dough to be able to permeate through there and to be able to use it for baking. And you say, I didn't put that much. Has anybody here ever put more than enough yeast inside? And maybe you forgot how many you'd put in. And then you're saying, Hey, This thing's overflowing. I didn't mean for it to get that big. Hey, listen, there is little sins that are in lives. And listen, can I encourage us? If we are going to take care of the little things, we better be taking care of the little sins that is in our lives. Stay away from known sin. You say, well, it's a little bit, might not kill, but it will damage. it will make a difference. When they started giving the statistics, and I've sat down and talked with folks, and they start telling what all is entailed, and even some, listen, just upon the head of a pin is a lethal enough dose of fentanyl. You know what I almost did, but someone would take it and drink it, and I'd be in trouble. If I just took this little glass of water right here, and I just put one drop of arsenic in it, and then offered it and said, who wants to drink it? It's amazing when you know that it's there, what are you up to? 330, you haven't even started yet hardly. Okay, and you still have that, that's enough, you can go be seated. Who wants to keep doing that? Now listen, there's more attention put into that right there. And I'm gonna say this, how many were kept an eye on him while he's counting? He's homeschooled, he made it up to 330, that's a blessing. Okay, now listen, there are more people that just paid attention to him sitting here counting these little tiny pieces of yeast than we have about little sins in our own personal lives in a long time. And that's, listen, he's got just as much in there, it's not even poured out yet. And we say, listen, it doesn't matter. Hey, it's just a little sin. That little bit's not gonna make a difference, but you pay more attention to him counting that, which is what we're really good, by the way, as at watching someone else count the sin in their life and not paying attention to the little ones that are in our lives. Do you know what big sin is made up of? Big sin's made up of just a bunch of little sins that just keep piling up on top of each other. and we'll sit here and go through a week of Sunday and preaching every night. And I know, listen, it'll be a wonderful week. Brother Gravy will get behind the pulpit. He'll wax eloquent. He'll preach. I'm thankful for it. He'll convict my heart. He'll speak to our church. I'm thankful for it. but we'll turn around and walk out, not once deal with that little sin that we've been holding on to, and not giving it over to the Lord, and not paying attention, because it's just a little one. And everything looks great, we're thankful for the final loaf of bread that comes out, and put some butter on it, put some honey on it, and add in there and everything, but listen to the little details that went into it. We sit in the sin that's in church and in families. He mentions this a second time. We won't take the time to turn over there, but in Galatians chapter five, I will, because I'm going to read that. Galatians chapter number five is where he makes the statement again about leaven. And it's not dealing with little sin that is in the church's life or an individual's life, but it's talking about false doctrine that has made its way in. In Galatians chapter number five and in verse number seven, here's what Paul said to the Galatians. He said, ye did run well. Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you, that's not of God, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Here's what Paul's saying to the church at Galatia. Who taught you that? Because that didn't come from God. And I'm not sure who you're allowing in, and you may say, pastor, I get so tired of you talking about my little pet app over here, or my little pet praying over here, and on and on and things in my life. Now listen to me. Paul's saying, I don't know who taught you that, I don't know who brought you into that, and who's educating you on that, but that didn't come from the one who called you. And then he makes a statement, a little 11, 11 at the whole lump. What if, outside of sin being allowed into life that we don't deal with, and I believe every one of us, if we'd be honest here this morning, and we could start right here with Jacoby, go ahead, tell us one sin that's in your life. I'm just kidding, don't do that. Parents are listening. No, every one of us, if we'd be honest, we could go right down the row, start right here, go every row and we'd all admit, that there's something in our lives. And we know that, then why don't we purge it out? then why don't we get rid of it? And then he comes over to Galatians, and it's not a matter of sin that's there, but there's false doctrine that's creeping in. And they're being taught things, and what Paul is saying is, listen, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. And you say, well, what about this doctrine that's coming in, and this little bit? Why do you think there's just some things I say over and over and over again to protect that we are not heading that direction? Because listen, I don't want it coming through the doors unless they're teachable to be able to learn what the Bible says and not follow false doctrine. It used to be a day, and I've talked to this with Pastor, Brother Randy King for about four years now, we've had this same conversation about how much it is. It used to be, and listen, I'm not saying you need to blow up my phone now with booking meetings. It used to be that if there was a question about the Bible, okay, here's what they do. They would text the pastor, call the pastor, or talk to him at church and say, pastor, I need to sit down and talk. I got this question about the Bible and I need clarification on it. You know what's happening today? What does Levin do? And Google it. And the number one authority today is the first page of Google that comes up. And I'm saying, Lord, we gotta be careful about doctrine that comes in, a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump, listen, of sin that is allowed to be in lives that we don't deal with it. Oh, it's just a little bit over here. Now listen, this would not, I'm gonna step out on a limb here. Can you see how much is in there? You might not be sitting in the back. Let me ask you somebody that knows Bacon more than I do let me ask Jocelyn or Rebecca if I ate all of that right there with that hand would that hurt me if I if I just Okay, I'd probably feel it a little bit later, okay, okay, so if I took that that's not gonna kill me is it How many would take that same amount of arsenic right there and go ahead and swallow it? How many of you saw that sitting there and it was a drug bust downtown that you take that last little bit of fentanyl right there and say, oh, that's not gonna hurt me? You say, oh no, I wouldn't do that. How dangerous that is. But hold on. A little leaveneth, leaveneth the whole lump. What is it for that little sin that we know is there and say, oh, that's not gonna hurt us. I need to get that out, that little bit of false doctrine. I know they're not right on this, but I just love how they speak over here. And we just allow that in. And what the Bible is teaching us, listen, that little bit of leaven, that is just a, I mean, just a pinch of it. What he counted right there, you wouldn't even be able to see if I pinched what he has right here. Wouldn't even be able to see it. You say, oh, it doesn't matter then. Doesn't matter. No, that little bit. Now, may I remind us too that that little sin that is held on to is still the sin that the Lord Jesus Christ died for? still the sin that he paid for, that he rose from the dead to be able to give victory over, that little bit of leaven, that sin that was creeping in, in 1 Corinthians 5, that doctrine that was creeping in, we better be taking care of the little things. You know what it says back in the prophets, I believe it's Ezekiel, that says, you know, it's the little foxes, that spoil the vines. How many have already been thinking about that verse since I said take care of the little things? The little foxes come in. You ever walk in, try to pick something, and it just seems like it's eating off down low wherever the little foxes could be able to get to? Come in and spoil all of that. You say, ah, it's that low-hanging fruit. It's the little things that come in that will destroy, because you know big things are just a bunch of little things all put together. I thought, Lord, if you'd help us to take care of the little things in our lives. Do you know what it is now? And I don't know how many times that I've had to keep remembering this, whether it be on a hike, whether it be on a day, my wife and I for over, coming up on 26 years now, and have said, you know, let's just get through this weekend. You know how many times we've said that? Okay, if we can get through revival and get through anniversary dinner, okay, there's a little bit of a lull for a couple days till something else comes up, and let's just get through this, get through this, get through, been saying it for 26 years now. But I've also thought about going on a hike. Do you understand this? Listen, longest hike we've ever done is 21 miles. You say, man, that's a big hike. Do you understand that all that was, was just a bunch of little steps all put together. And do you understand the greatest failures and the greatest successes are just a bunch of little steps that have just all been put together to get to the final result? Whether it be with doctrine that's creeping in, whether it be with sin that's creeping into lives and just saying, listen, I need to take care of these little things. It's not, and I pray it's not, the sin of 1 Corinthians 5 is an affair that's taking place in the church between a man and his stepmother. Now listen, to the best of my knowledge, that's not the sin that's taking place in Granite State Baptist Church, to the best of my knowledge. He said, boy, aren't you glad that's not taking place? Yes, I'm thankful for that. But what about all the little things? And do you understand what was taking place here? He said in first Corinthians five, it's commonly reported. Wasn't even a secret. Hey, this is taking place. Whole church knew about it. Nothing was being done about it. Your glorying is not good. You better take care of the little things before they become big things. A little leaven. But then listen, it's not all bad in the Bible about taking care of the little things. It's not all bad talking about the little sins that will creep in. It's not all bad with just talking about the little bit of doctrine that will come in and make a difference. But do you understand even over in Luke chapter number 16, that even Jesus said, he that's faithful in the little things, that's a good thing. We'll be faithful in the greater things. I found out over and over and boy, I've had this on my heart all week long as I look down through here and I say, Lord, there's been times in my life that listen, I'm ready to shoot for the moon. You ever been there? Hey God, I'm ready to shoot for the moon. Put me out there. I'll be a missionary to the moon and go get whoever's up there. Okay, I'll be a missionary. That's where I'm shooting for. But then I realized this Mike, I hadn't even read my Bible that day. And I'm thinking, Lord, put me over here. I didn't even spend time in prayer that day. I'm thinking, hold on. Now, if I can't take care of the little things and faithful in the little things of my life that God has given to me, why would I expect he's gonna give me great big things to be able to take care of? And if I can't deal with the little sins that's in my life, why would I think there's gonna be great victories over here when I can't even take care of the little things? But I thought, Lord, here's what I want to do in my heart and life. Here's my goal. I want to get up today. Mission accomplished so far. Get up today. Open up my Bible. Spend some time with the Lord. You say that's just a little thing. That's where it's going to start. And then you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to try to have the first conversation of the day with my wife. without arguing. You say, that seems like a little thing. Hey, little things, you do that every 10 minutes. Guess what? Before you know it, you've made it all day without arguing. You say, what made the big deal? All the little things throughout the day. And I thought, you know, I'm gonna be faithful in these little things of just getting up every day. Do you know what's made the difference? Now, I think it was Don Andrews sent this to me a couple years ago about faithfulness to church. What in the world is faithfulness to church ever do? I can't remember what he preached two months ago. How is that good for me? Let me ask you something, how many remember what someone made for you for dinner 14 days ago, halfway through the day? Nobody remembers? Maybe newlyweds. Oh, it was the greatest thing I'd ever eaten. No, you say, I don't remember what I ate 14 days ago. Okay, but guess what? If you hadn't have eaten faithfully, you might not be here today. You say, what's the little stuff of being faithful in church do? You know something, it's just a spiritual meal, a little meal here, a little meal there. And you know something just keeps you going so that you're not spiritually famished. And so a little bit, a little bit, a little bit, just taking care of the little things. Oh, there's no great benefit to it. I wonder if you'd be where you're at spiritually today if you hadn't had all them spiritual meals for the past 20 years. And for some, you can tell you haven't had all the spiritual meals for the past 20 years that you think you've had. Haven't been taking care of the little things. You know what it is in a marriage that eventually breaks down? Little things. There's not too many that will sit in my office and say, my wife just had an affair. My husband just had an affair and cheated on me. There's not too many that will sit in my office and say that. You say, what do you do if they say that? Well, I thank the Lord that they're both sitting there together. That's first step, okay? But I'll back it all the way up. Keep backing up, keep backing up. You know what usually ends up there? All these bunch of little things. And finally, all the little things all put together is just a great big thing. What was it that made it? I can't put my finger on it. Just a bunch of little things. See that? You didn't even see it. You blinked, it didn't even hit you. Just a whole bunch of little things that all pile up. I'm saying, Lord, you help us take care of the little things. Now listen, that's in taking care of sin. That's in taking care of false doctrine that may be creeping in. But on the positive side of it, take care of the little things in our service for the Lord. If we can't be faithful in the little things, how can we expect God to say, You know, I was dreaming 11 years ago, and someone asked me this, do you ever think you'd be here at the 11-year mark? They asked it last year at 10 years, and look what all God done. I said, no. I said, I honestly, in my heart and mind, I said, I didn't think we'd be here, gone through three building projects, getting ready for another one. I said, just doesn't seem like it stopped. I said, just over and over. I said, no. I said, doesn't, I didn't think that. And someone said in your full time at the church and just be able to devote your family and your energy and everything into the congregation, I said, yeah. Someone told me one time, they said, don't expect God to pay a million dollars for a 10 cent job. And I said, I'm asking the Lord, take care of the little things, he'll take care of the big things. I gotta get up tomorrow morning and do what I know I'm supposed to do and what is right and let God take care of the big things. And I need to look at my heart and look at my life and say, Lord, is there a little sin? Is there a little crevice here that I haven't handed over that I haven't gotten right? Then, Lord, I'm going to hand over that little sin so it doesn't become a big sin. And asking the Lord to be able to help us take care of the little things. Now, some of y'all are going to get mad at this point. Some of y'all are saying, do you know the cost of yeast? Absolutely not. There's still seven of them on there. You can count them. Okay. Melissa, you okay? Does that even make a difference? You don't even know it's on you. It's on the floor, I can see it. Now listen, it's all the little things. You keep throwing it over there though, it's gonna pile up. The statement was made in Sunday school this morning in relation to peace, that we think we can just keep sweeping things under the rug. Oh, it's just a little bit. I'll just keep sweeping it under the rug. I think so many times if God tried to get into our front door of our lives, we've swept so much under the rug that He'd trip coming in the front door. We just keep sweeping it under the rug. What would you think if you came in here and the place looks so beautiful? Thank you, Melissa. Thank you, Jody. Thank you for all the cleaning and everything, but you come in here one Sunday and this thing's about two feet higher. Everything's spotless, though, but all they did is take it and sweep it under the rug. What would you think? Well, someone's not dealing with it right. Why don't we purge it out and throw it out instead of just sweeping it under the rug? Why don't we say, hey, it may be a little thing, but I'm going to take care of this little thing before it gets to be a big thing. But then in our service for the Lord, why don't we say, you know something? I'm going to take care of this little thing. And that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be faithful right here that what I say may be a little thing God's given to me. Let God take care of the rest of it. Take care of the little things. There might be sin in your life, might be false doctrine, or it might be a lack of faithfulness to the little things that God's given to us, service after service, day after day. Yeah, I'm not the Christian I'm supposed to be. How's your Bible reading? Well, you know, it could always be better. How's your prayer life? You know, it could always be better. Yes, it could. So let's take care of the little thing. Let's take care of it. Do something about that and ask God to be able to take care of the big things.