Small Decisions Produce Big Results

As Pastor Terry mentioned, my name is Clay Stewart. I'm the high school pastor here and my wife and I serve as the youth pastors at the Refuge. And as you can see, we just got back just last week from Movement Student Conference. And God is moving in the midst of our students in such a powerful way. And we're so blessed to serve that ministry and to lead Movement Student Conference as well.

And just a quick, shameless plug. If you feel the stir of God to come and co labor with us to invest into a generation, man, it is so fruitful. God is moving and I promise you only want to pull your hair out like 10% of the time. Okay.

Now it really is such a privilege to serve as the youth pastors. It's a privilege to lead Movement Student Conference. That's our fifth year of the conference. And we see God show up in such amazing, powerful ways every single year. And so, you know, we're praying that God would allow that momentum to be stewarded and carried in a generation and that lasting change would come as a result of that.

So I'm excited to preach the word this morning as well. I feel like this has been a word that I've had in my head for a while. Actually, as soon as I was asked to preach, it had this word kind of pop into my mind because I was reading where I'm going to be preaching out of today. But just before we get into the word, I want to just thank and honor my parents. As Pastor Terry said, our lead pastors, my folks are taking some much needed time of rest this month just to recoup and to rest themselves.

So with them, I kind of have to force them. We have to force them to do that because they're non stop go all the time. So hopefully they're actually doing that. But I know that they're watching online. So mom and dad, we love you.

We honor you guys. I'm always blessed to be able to preach the word of God. Thankful for the pulpit. I think I preached for the first time like four years ago or five years ago or something and have been preaching since then. So I'm thankful for this pulpit and hopefully heresies don't come from it.

In Jesus name, amen. All right. Praise God. If they do, you call me out because that's what the church is for. All right.

Well, speaking of my parents, I love and honor them. I didn't always make it easy on my parents growing up. I know that comes a shock to many of you guys because of what a model Christian I Am. But I didn't always make it easy on my parents. And I was the middle child.

Any other middle childs in the room? Come on, middle childs. You're wild and reckless probably too. That's amazing. I lived up to the stereotype of being a middle child, and I just was a very passionate kid.

I had a lot of big emotions and my wife can tell you that. Thank God for a godly wife who can put you in your place where you need to be. Amen. Amen. Well, I just have found that to be the case in my life that I just.

Growing up, especially when I was 12, 13, 14, through middle school and then into high school, I found myself as a really passionate kid with a lot of big emotions, growing really resentful towards church, towards my family because of what they represented towards God. And I just entered a rebellious stage in that point in my life where I caused my parents a lot of trouble. I never remember, or I'll never forget. One time there was this movie that came out and I actually really looked and racked my brain to try to figure out what movie this was, but I couldn't remember. I wish I did, but there was a movie that came out around that time in my life when I was in 8th grade or possibly freshman year.

And it was a movie that all of my friends had seen and were talking about. Does anyone else have FOMO in the room? And you're willing to admit that fear of missing out? All right, I'm a kid that had fomo. I still have fomo.

Like, when people are doing something, I want to be there. My wife's the exact opposite. She's like, everyone's doing their own thing and I'm good to do my own thing, but I'm like the exact opposite. I'm like, you know, when I'm on vacation with the family and I hear everyone else stirring downstairs, like, I have to get up and I have to go be a part because I don't want to miss out on what's happening. So I remember feeling that as a 14 year old, as a freshman in high school, because there was this movie that came out and all my friends went to see this movie.

They were all talking about it at school. But here's the problem with the movie. The movie was rated R, all right? And I don't know how you ran things in your house, but in our house, a freshman in high school wasn't allowed to go see a rated R movie. We didn't really tolerate rated R movies.

We didn't watch rated R movies as a family. And so when I saw the rating of the movie, my heart dropped a little bit because I knew that there was no chance in the world that I was going to see this movie. But I remember driving down the road with my mom. I was in the car, she was driving to Target. And I remember working up the nerve to ask my mom to go see this movie.

There was some friends in the church as well, and their parents had allowed them to go see it. And so I felt like I had my angle. I was like, if they went to see it, then I'm good too. I can go see it. So I remember working up the nerve and developing the courage to ask my mom, and I asked her, and she asked me.

She said, well, what movie do you want to see? And I told her the movie. And then, you know, the question that followed that one, what's it rated? And I passed over the rating as quickly as I could to get to the fact that some of my other friends had gone to see it. I said, well, it's rated R. But so and so went to see it, and their parents let them have it.

Their parents let them go watch it. And so therefore, it's fine for me to go do that. So it's really not a big deal. There's not really anything that bad in it anyway. It's just.

It's rated R because of this and this, and that's why their parents let them go see it. So I think it's fine. And my mom was like, well, no, we're not gonna go see that. You're not gonna go see that because you're 14. You're not gonna go see a rated R movie.

As she should as a great mom, right? But I, being as persistent as I was, continued to ask. And every time she'd tell me no again, it made me even angrier hearing her say no. And what you need to understand about me is that I'm a loose. I was a loose cannon as a kid.

What I thought in my mind, I said, and that wasn't a good thing many times. And so I remember getting so frustrated with my mom. And, you know, again, she knew I was a loose cannon. So there was a lot of things that I said to my mom that just rolled right off her back. I tried to get a rise out of her because I was the type of kid I was, and I couldn't do it.

And so there were very few times in my life that I remember actually hurting my mom with my words and and making her angry. And this was one of them. I continued to ask. She continued to say no. And it got me so frustrated because all my friends were talking about it, that at one point, I reared back in the car and I said, mom, you're just being religious.

Well, you know when you say something and you wish that you could, like, pull it back instantly right after it comes out of your mouth? That's the feeling I had, because my mom's eye. My mom's eyes widened, her brow furrowed, and I saw a look of rage and of hurt come over her like I'd never seen before. And it was in that moment that I was like, I shouldn't have said that.

And it's the rise that I thought I wanted to get out of my mom, but I didn't really want in reality. And let me tell you, I got laid into in that time, probably more than any other time that I can remember with her. And here's what my mom was trying to instill in me. I realize this now as an adult, but I didn't realize it as a kid. It wasn't just that the movie was rated R, and that's why she wasn't letting me see it.

In other words, it wasn't just the rating of the movie. That's the reason she said no. What she was trying to instill was that it was about the principle of making an allowance for things that have no business in the life of a believer. That I didn't understand at the time, but that was the principle behind why she said no. It wasn't just about the rating of a movie.

It was her trying to get me to understand that if you make an allowance in one area in your life as a believer, then you're bound to make allowances in other areas as well. Similarly, my dad had a college professor when he was in college, he was studying. And that professor was an older gentleman. And my dad would tell this story of this college professor. He would take his stack of tests when he would go pass out tests, and he would walk the pathways in between the rows of chairs, and he would put a test on each student's desk.

And as he was doing that, he would say, now if you'll cheat on this test, then one day you'll cheat on your wife. And it used to make my dad so angry, used to be like, how could he possibly say a sentiment like that? Because the two are not even close. They're not even related. There's no way in the world that I would cheat on my Wife, even if I cheated on this test.

But again, the principle that this college professor and that my mom was trying to instill was this, that it's actually small decisions that produce big results. See, we think that big results are produced by big decisions, big actions, but in reality, it starts much smaller. And that's the main point in sharing these stories with you. It's actually the main point in my sermon today is that small decisions produce big results. So the title of my sermon that we're gonna get into here is called the Little Bit.

I wanna talk to you this morning about the Little Bit. We're gonna jump into Scripture in Galatians in just a moment, but let's pray. Invite the Holy Spirit to come rest here in this place as we do. Almighty King of Heaven, we love you today. And I thank you, Lord, that your presence is accessible to us, God.

That we can come before you and that we don't have to go through a priest, God. We don't have to come through some other means of sacrifice. But, Lord, scripture tells us we can come boldly and confidently before you. And we know that it's by way of your shed blood on the cross that we have access today to come before you. God, I thank you for your word that is living and is active, God.

And I pray, Lord, with a desperate cry, God, as I pray over myself many mornings, Lord, that you would cause your word to produce its full effect in our lives, God. That you would not leave one seed unharvested, God. But that today, Lord, as the word of God goes forth, God. That it would produce transformation in our hearts, God. That it would lead us into freedom today, God.

And out of bondage, God. That it would deliver us from chains, God. And it would allow us to walk in the freedom that you purchased. And today, God, I say, I love you, I bless you. Make sense of anything, God.

And allow me to be removed from the equation. Holy Spirit, minister your heart to people through your word. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen.

So Paul points out this principle that I'm diving into this morning In Galatians, chapter 5, verses 7 through 9. So if you have your Bibles, you can flip there. If not, it's going to be on the screen behind me. But before we read that, here's the context. Paul is addressing some false teaching in the church in Galatia.

There were those amongst them in the believers there in Galatia that were teaching that salvation was accessible through circumcision. In other words, they were teaching the body of Christ there in that church at that time, that they could achieve salvation through following the law. And so Paul calls out this false teaching and he says, what we're getting ready to read together. Before we read, would you just stand with me to honor the word of God as we read it this morning, we're going to pick up. In verse seven, it says this.

It says, you are running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn't God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. Then he says this. This is the verse I want you to key in on.

It says, this false teaching is like a little yeast that. That spreads through the whole batch of dough. Gonna read that again. It says, this false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough. We're gonna dive into that a little more together.

But before we do, let's make these declarations like we do every week. They'll be on the screens behind me as well as we do. Ready? Go. I will hide this word in my heart that I might not sin against God.

This word is life to my body and health to my bones. I will be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. And I am confident of this that he who has begun a good work in me will complete it. In Jesus name, amen. You can be seated this morning.

Now, this passage that we just read is referring specifically to false teaching. And it's one of the metaphors that Paul uses that I actually really have been spoken by the most. But he also uses the same metaphor to describe how sin affects us as well. He compares it to leaven or yeast that spreads through a whole batch of dough. And we see him use this metaphor to Describe Sin.

In First Corinthians 5, 6, Paul is calling out the Corinthian church on some sin that's in their midst. And he says, this you're boasting about. This is terrible. Don't you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? See, there he uses the metaphor again.

That sin is like yeast or leaven that spreads through a batch of dough. And here's the principle we learn and that I'm hitting on this morning from Paul's metaphor, it's this. That sin never starts out in its fullest form.

Sin never starts out in its fullest form. What do I mean by that? I mean that people don't just wake up one day and feel this temptation from the enemy and decide, today I'm gonna Be an adulterer. People don't just wake up one day, feel the temptation from the enemy, and decide, today I'm gonna become an alcoholic who beats my kids. People don't do that.

Today I'm gonna become a drug dealer. Here's what actually happens. It's that there's a progression that happens along the way. And things lead to other things. To the point where someone finds themselves in a dark place like that.

Because sin never starts out in its fullest form. Here's the truth. It starts in small little decisions that create footholds our lives. And it doesn't take much. I actually have this visual up here for you guys because I want you guys to actually see what Paul is referring to.

So I have up here this right here, this cracker looking thing is actually a piece of unleavened bread. So this is bread that has no yeast in it. This, in the metaphor that Paul uses, is what we can picture in our minds as a spotless believer, all right? Someone who has not been made impure by false teaching or sin. Paul describes it this way, and this is what it looks like.

I know it doesn't look like a whole lot, right? This doesn't pop into our minds when someone talks about a loaf of bread. But this is what unleavened bread looks like. Now, what I have here next to it is a piece of bread that has yeast in it. All right, this looks like way better than that piece I just held up, doesn't it?

But this is what bread looks like that has yeast in it. And here's what's crazy about the process of bread making. Now, I don't really know a whole lot about that. So if I get this wrong, my crunchy granola moms in the room don't come for me, okay? But I know enough to know that here's what's true about the process of bread making.

It doesn't take much yeast at all to go from this to this. In fact, I was told in between services that it actually takes one to two tablespoons of yeast to go from what we see here, unleavened bread, to this. And the same is true of sin in our lives. It doesn't take many allowances to sin to become something entirely different than what you thought you were. See, these two things don't even look similar.

You couldn't even tell that this is bread unless I just told you right now. But the reality is, it doesn't take much at all in our lives to see ourselves become something that we don't even recognize anymore. And we see this progression, I think, described by James. In James chapter one, verses 14 through 15. It says this temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.

These desires give birth to sinful actions, and when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. See, here James describes this process again. It's never birth in its fullest form. Sin starts with something. It starts with a desire, small, little, seemingly insignificant.

That sin then becomes that desire in us, then becomes temptation, right? James lays this out for us. Once temptation comes, desires from that temptation give birth to sinful actions. And when that sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. See, because the enemy doesn't just want to make you have a bad day.

Satan just doesn't want to ruin your mood for an afternoon. The Bible tells us in John 10:10 what the enemy's plan and intention is in our lives. It says that the thief comes to steal, to kill, and to what, to destroy. So he doesn't just want you to have a bad day. He wants to rob you of what God has written over your life.

And the only way he can do that is if we make allowances for him to develop footholds along the way. And that's why James paints it as clear as day for us in James chapter one. We have to understand that sin isn't birth in its fullest form, but it starts in little, small decisions. And I believe that we see this portrayed really well in the life of Samson. Now, just to give a disclaimer, when I was asked to preach about this before or asked to preach this Sunday before movement student conference, immediately I felt this stirring to preach about Samson's life.

Then when we were at movement student conference, one of our guest speakers named Jacob Peterson told me that he was planning to preach on Samson and actually preach much of what God had been speaking. So it was confirmation for what I needed to share. But to give you some context about Samson, many of us know Samson. But Samson, according to scripture, was someone that God raised up as a deliverer of Israel. And Samson had supernatural strength.

It's kind of what he's known for, right? When you read him in the children's stories, talks about how strong Samson was. Samson was what we call a Nazarite. Meaning when you think of Samson, you probably think of long hair, right? That was part of the vow.

And I think most people, when they hear Samson, think about another name with Samson. And that name is Delilah. See, but here's the thing about Samson is that most people hear that and think instantly of his downfall with Delilah. But Samson's sin issue didn't start with Delilah. It actually started with a vineyard.

And we're going to look at that together today. But Samson, it's important for you to know that he was set apart from birth to be a Nazarite for his whole life. This is what we see in Judges 13:5. An angel appears and speaks to Samson's mother. And the angel says this.

You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and his heir. His hair must never be cut, for he will be dedicated to God as a Nazarite from birth, and he will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines. So this verse specifically mentions cutting the hair, right? Which is what we think of when we think of Samson's story and his downfall with Delilah. But here's what else we know that it meant to be a Nazarite according to numbers, Chapter six.

Couple of things that we know. Number six lays out the specifications, qualifications of being a Nazirite. And here's what it says. We know that to be a Nazirite meant three things. Number one, that they could not eat or drink anything from the vine.

Number two, a Nazirite could not go near a dead carcass. And number three, a Nazarite could not cut their hair. All right, so Samson, being a part of the culture of Israel and having the scriptures available to him and his family and his people would have very well understood the qualifications that he was to abide by. Samson knew that there was a call of God on his life and that there was a standard that he was supposed to live in because of that call. And this is kind of where we see Samson's progression of sin take place.

I think Samson makes three mistakes leading to his downfall that we're gonna look at together. Three mistakes. Number one, the first mistake that Samson makes is that Samson flirts with the forbidden. Now, the context to the scripture I'm gonna read for you is that Samson, before Delilah, sees a young woman in the town of Timnah, which was not his hometown. It was somewhere he had to travel to get to from his hometown.

Samson sees a young woman in the town of Timnah and decides that he wants to take this woman for his wife. So this meant that he had to travel to get her. This is where we pick up what I'm going to read for you. Judges, chapter 14, verses 5 through 6. It says this.

So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the. There we go. Came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now, to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. And the spirit of the lord came mightily upon him.

And he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat. There's that supernatural strength that we hear about. Though he had nothing in his hand, but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. Now, when I read that, here's the question that I have for Samson. If Samson knew that one of the qualifications of being a Nazarite was not to eat or drink anything from the vine, why would he go through a vineyard to get to this town?

See, this is the first mistake I believe we see Samson making. Samson flirts with the forbidden. Samson doesn't say that he's going to go eat the grapes of the vine or drink the grapes of the vine in this vineyard. But there was something in Samson that was drawn to the idea of just being around something that he couldn't have. So he didn't actually break the Nazarite vow.

He was still doing what was asked of him. But I believe the first mistake that we make as believers oftentimes is that we try to see how close to the line of sin we can get without crossing it. So Samson goes through a vineyard to get to Timnah, and this lion attacks him, and he kills this lion. Now, Samson understood he wasn't to eat anything from the vine. He was not to consume any product from the vine.

And yet he still chose this path anyway. Now. Now, I'm from a household where a meal wasn't complete unless dessert was had. Anyone else from a household like that? Come on, my fellow sweet tooth lovers.

Now, what you have to understand is that I'm a huge sweet tooth, okay? And it's not like some of y' all live by this. Like, oh, moderation's fine. And you know what? If you're a saint, who can live by that?

That's amazing. But, like, when I say I'm a sweet tooth, I'm basically a crackhead about sweets, okay? If we're putting it honest. And Sam knows this to be true of me. Sam has called me very disciplined, which I'm not sure that I actually agree with.

But in some areas, she would say I'm very disciplined. When I get around sweets, I fall apart. I don't know what happens to me. I become a different animal. I'm not proud of it, okay?

This week, I ate more homemade ice cream than I'm proud to admit. But when I get around sweets, I just can't Help myself. And so, like, once the door is open a little bit, there's none of this moderation stuff where I'm from. Like, when the door's open, it's wide open, baby. There's no hindrance to the amount of sweets I'll eat if I'll just allow myself a little bit.

And so I know that whenever I go around my mom's for the holidays, that if I don't decide in my mind that I'm not going to eat something before I go, that the floodgates are gonna break loose in that household and I'm going to have a really hurt stomach after I leave the household. Okay? So I have to make a decision to not even go close or get around the suites at the family function or else things are going haywire. And I've known that about myself. And I think that the same principle can be applied here in this scenario.

If Samson knew that he wasn't to get around or eat or consume the. The product of the vine, why was he even in the same space as it? The Bible doesn't say that there were other roads or paths around it. This is some creative liberty here. But here's what I do know to be true.

It's that this decision to take this path ends up coming back to bite him. And we're going to see that in this second point as we move forward. But listen, don't we do the same things in our lives? Don't. Don't we get as close to the line as possible without crossing it all the time?

We make allowances for little things in our lives that we don't feel like are a big deal. We say things like, well, there's nothing physical happening between me and this other person, so it's not really a knock against my marriage. I'm just. Maybe it's not that big of a deal if my eyes linger a little too long on that person or on my phone, right? Well, it's not that big of a deal if I sleep over with my boyfriend or girlfriend.

We're not gonna do anything. It's just really late. I don't wanna drive home. We start toeing that line, getting close to it. It's not a big deal if I don't tell the whole truth to a client because everybody in the business does that.

Everyone kind of bends things and tells little white lies. It's not that big of a deal. Come on. Cheating in this class, that's not a big deal? Listen, I cheated all in high school and I would have sworn up and down that there was nothing wrong with it.

But we start making little allowances like that. And we find ourselves in that same space that that professor gave the advice that he did to my dad and the rest of his classmates. He made little allowances. He's pointing out the fact that cheating on a test opens doors and pathways that lead us to making greater decisions, to cheating on things that have more stake at stake. So it's not that big of a deal to cheat, because everyone in my class does it.

We begin to make little allowances for things in our lives. And I think we see from Samson's story as we continue to move along. We can't flirt with the forbidden. We can't get close to the thing that we know we have no business being around. Because it's only producing temptation.

Second thing is this mistake Samson makes. Number two is that he's drawn to dead things. So you remember that lion from the vineyard. That Samson probably had no business being in anyway. That he kills on the way to Timnah?

Watch this. Judges 14, 8, 9. After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of a lion. Of the lion that he had killed. The same one that he had to kill on his way to get his wife from Timna.

Because he chose to go through the vineyard. The Bible says he turns aside off the path to see the carcass of the lion. And watch this. Behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. And he took some of it in his hands and went along eating.

When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. Why? Because they knew what that angel spoke to them. That he was to be a Nazarite.

Samson knew that what he was doing was prohibited. See, Samson now has broken his vow as a Nazirite. It's not even that he's gotten near something that would cause him to break his vow. Now Samson has interacted with a dead thing. He's touched a dead carcass, which has sullied his vow as a Nazarite.

See, here's what I was drawn to as I was reading this scripture. This principle here. That there's no honey to be tempted by in the first place. If he hadn't gone near the vineyard at all.

If he doesn't go near something that's forbidden, no lion attacks him. And that means that there's no carcass to be distracted by and to find honey in. See, here's the truth of sin. One allowance of sin always leads to another. Samson, seeing how close he could get to the line without crossing it, caused him to step completely over the line and cross it.

Many people think he broke his vow with Delilah. But in reality, he actually broke his vow before that.

Now, Jacob Peterson, when preaching this message, brought out a point from this that I was so stirred by. He said this. He said, it's so easy for our flesh to. To find something sweet in something that's dead. This is what we do with sin.

That pornography addiction that has held us captive that we know we shouldn't get anywhere near. In a moment of weakness in our flesh, we begin to see the sweet thing on the inside of something that's dead and dying. We feel the momentary pleasure, or we feel that momentary gratification, as scripture calls it. And that's the honey in the middle of something that's dead. And we don't realize that we're taking something from a source that is killing us.

See, we have to serve notice to the enemy and say that his hand is overplayed, that we understand his strategy. And we can't continue to be naive as a body of Christ and go, oh, how did I end up in this place of sin and bondage? How did we end up there? It's because we got as close to the line as we could. And we treated holiness like an option.

How did we end up there? It's because we toed the line so much that now, all of a sudden, we've fallen over the other side of it. And yet we're wondering, how did we get caught in this place? Right? We forget the sting of our sin because of the momentary pleasures that we find from it, not realizing that that sin is killing us.

The last mistake that Samson makes. Number one, I said, he flirts with the forbidden. Number two, he's drawn to dead things. And number three, he sacrifices his source. Judges 16, 17, 20.

This is what Samson is commonly known for. Here it says this. Finally, Samson shared his secret with her. My hair has never been cut, he confessed. For I was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth.

If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me and would become as weak as anyone else. Delilah realized he'd finally told her the truth. So he sent for the Philistine rulers. Come back one more time, she said, for he has finally told me his secret. So the Philistine rulers returned with the money in their hands.

Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap. And. And then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. In this way, she began to bring him down, and his strength left him. Then she cried out, samson, the Philistines have come to capture you.

When he woke up, he thought, I will do as before and shake myself free. And then we read one of the saddest sentences in all of scripture, and it says this. But he didn't realize that the Lord had left him.

Now, I know Samson's story gets told because of the mistakes that he's made. And just to be clear, Samson goes on to cry out before God and be redeemed at the very end of his life. But it's not after, or it's not before having his eyes gouged out by the Philistines and ultimately dying just after crying out for redemption. So the reality is that there's forgiveness for our actions, but our actions produce consequences. And Samson learned the harsh reality of this statement because he was redeemed.

But the mistakes that he'd made, his willingness to make allowances for sin, his willingness to accept that small decisions really didn't mean anything in the long run anyway. His willingness to compromise led him to a place of destruction. And here's the truth of Samson's story. The tragedy of sin doesn't start with Delilah. It starts with a vineyard.

And we have to ask ourselves, what are the vineyards in our life? What are the things that God has said, you have no business going near, son. You have no business going near, daughter. And yet we're seeing how close we can get and how much we can toe this line with that area, that thing in our life that God has forbidden. And we have to ask ourselves, so that we don't make the same mistake Samson did, what are the vineyards in my life that I'm trying to get?

Clear that I'm trying to get near? Because it's not just enough just to say. Just to say, I'm not gonna eat what I shouldn't eat. But as we see in Samson's life, the proximity that he chose to be into the forbidden thing allowed sin to develop a foothold in his life. See, it's foolish to know the things that we're susceptible to and yet still go near them.

You know yourself. I know myself. I've shared some of my story here from the stage. And I battled pornography addiction. I battled sexual immorality as a teenager.

All through my teenage years, there was a passage of scripture that stood out to me one time in the midst of that battle. I was reading in Proverbs, chapter 7, and the Bible describes this scene for us where there's this naive young man. That's what the Bible calls him. We don't hear a name, he's not given a name. And the Bible says that there was this immoral woman in that town and that on one particular evening there was a group of guys, one naive young man in particular, that was crossing the street near the house of the immoral woman.

And God arrested me in that moment and pointed out the fact that if this naive young man doesn't cross the street near the house, that the room to sin and fall into sin is much, much decreased compared to him going near this house. But the story goes on to tell of this naive young man being drawn in by this immoral woman. And the Bible describes it like a bird that's flown into a trap.

See, small decisions to make allowances for sin. Your willingness to go near the door of the house, your willingness to go near the vineyard, your willingness to feel like just a little bit of yeast or a little bit of leaven won't actually affect you. Small things like that will always produce colossal results that lead to destruction. I know that's a tough word, so here's the hope in it. On the flip side of that coin, small decisions to do what's right produces big results in us.

That's not a word that's popular because most of us just want the instant gratification. Most of us want the story that we see on Instagram of the person that preached the gospel and saw thousands come to Christ on a college campus. Most of us want to be the ones giving the prophetic word and seeing people respond to Jesus. Most of us want to feel like we're already living in the place of freedom. But in reality, it's small decisions to stand for what's right, to do the things that we know we're supposed to do, that allows us to be transformed into the image of Christ.

There's power in the little things, even if you don't feel like it's making a difference. Keep waking up to read your Bible. It's renewing your mind. Keep praying for that prodigal son or daughter God hears. Keep evangelizing because seeds need to be sown and laborers sent into the field.

Keep praying and crying out for a move of God in your generation because God heart is moved by the prayers of his people. Keep doing the things that you feel like aren't making A difference why? Because Scripture tells us that at the right time there will be a harvest produced in us and through us that'll advance the cause of Christ in the earth. Listen, keep going. Don't quit where the enemy comes in and tries to sow lies that what you're doing doesn't actually matter.

Keep standing for righteousness in your family, even if you feel like it's making your kids hate you because one day they'll thank you for it. Keep sowing godly principles into your marriage. Keep sowing godly principles into your kids, because one day it will produce a harvest. Listen, the same way that small allowances for sin produce destruction, small choices to stand for righteousness and to go towards the Lord produces great results in us. It's like going to the gym.

No one goes to the gym and expects to see progress after a week. And some may even give up at that point, because they don't. But in reality, it's showing up. It's being consistent, it's being willing to clock in and say, I'm here to do this because it gives me life. And at some point progress is observed.

And it might take a little while, but listen, it's not out of a place of striving just to white knuckle it and put your head down and grind through it. It's out of a place of total trust in God's grace to produce a harvest if you keep going. What does Revelation say? It says to the one who endures that he will grant him to sit on his throne with him.

So don't allow the enemy to come in and sow lies, but remind yourself. Luke 16:10. If you're faithful in little things, you'll be faithful in large ones. But if you're dishonest in little things, you won't be honest, with greater responsibilities. And when you start getting tired of doing the little things, Galatians 6:9.

Let's not get tired of doing what is good for at just the right time. We'll reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up.

So I believe the Lord wants to do two things here in this room today. Number one, I believe the Lord wants to bring freedom for some of you who have found yourself trapped in cycles of sin. Some of you have resonated with toeing the line, only to find yourself in a place that you never thought you'd be. My dad had a saying he used to say all the time, and that was this, that the enemy will take you to places you thought you'd never go. He'll keep you there longer than you ever planned to stay.

And it'll cost you more than you ever thought you would pay. And today's the day you say, hey, I'm done with stepping towards the enemy. I'm done with making allowances for sin in my life that's led to bondage. Today is the day of freedom for you. That's the first call.

Second call is this. For those of you that have been sowing seed. You've been standing for truth and righteousness. You've been doing the things that you know you need to do, and yet you're feeling like none of it matters. You're feeling like you want to give up.

I believe God desires to empower us with supernatural endurance to continue to run the race. I believe that today in this service, there's a weight that's going to be lifted off of some of you who've grown weary in doing good. And God is going to put wind in your sails to allow you to keep pressing forward with him.