Before we open God’s word I’d like to give you an update about our work in the Philippines and with Robin our Bible worker. As you know we’ve been sending shipments of literature to the Philippines for some time now. In fact, we just sent a shipment of six cases of books and tracts just a couple days ago, which totally depleted our literature fund, so please keep that in mind as you think and pray about what you can do to help us continue to support this project.

Robin has been faithfully distributing the material we send and in some ways it’s a bit discouraging because so few people will read and accept it on the spot, but this has always been the case wherever literature is given out, but we’re told that truth filled literature should be scattered like the leaves of Autumn, nonetheless. Even though we know most people won’t accept the truth right away, many, we’re told, will trace their first convictions back to the reading of our literature, and so the work goes on.

I’ll just take a couple minutes to read you a few excerpts from some of the emails I’ve received from Robin lately. He says, “Last Sabbath, I went to visit our sister who helps us with the distribution of our literature. We had a great time together listening to one of your recent sermons. She’s 74 years old I guess, and she lives alone. Please pray for her that God would continue to give her strength to do the work. Please also pray for this psychology student who I met at the school in San Pablo City. We’ve been discussing about the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation together and she’s really interested. She asked me questions and that opened the opportunity for me to share with her the present truth. She has a great testimony, was born and raised in the Catholic Church, but about a year ago, she was converted to an Evangelical church, I can see that God is leading her little by little to the great light and hopefully she’ll continue to do so as she discovers more of the truth.”

Then Robin says, “Oh Pastor Jack, I can see how the enemy works nowadays. As the Bible describes the condition of these last days, most people, especially the young ones, are becoming ‘lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God’, and because of that, it seems that they’re no longer interested to hear anything about the word of God. May the Lord open up their minds to see the danger they are daily exposed to.”

Then he says, “Regarding our on-going literature distribution, I’m so happy to let you know that my friend, a sister from another municipality is helping us with the literature work. (This is the same sister he mentioned earlier I believe) She lives alone and has been a retired teacher, and it’s been her passion to be involved in the ministry. In less than a month, she was able to distribute no less than 500 pieces of books/booklets. Praises to God! My promise to her is that I will keep on supplying her with all the literature she would need. She’s reaching out to her community with the present truth and it’s been a great blessing to both of us to work together. Let’s continue to pray that God would abundantly bless us so that we can still work while it is day.

“It seems that days, weeks, and months are passing so fast. And with this, I thank God, our time of waiting for the Lord’s coming is almost over. But it is sad because the world doesn’t seem to care. People are so occupied with the cares of this world as if everything is going well. It is discouraging for me sometimes, but I always keep in mind that our work is just to share the warning message and it’s up to them whether they will accept it or not. Our only consolation is the Lord’s promise that we are not laboring in vain and that He will not let His word that comes out from Him return to Him void.” And I say amen to that.

I know many of you are praying for Robin and I would ask that you  continue to pray for him and the dear sister that’s helping him get the truth out, and please remember also that we need to continue to support them with literature, especially now that Robin has someone to help him. I don’t know how many of you have done door to door work, but it’s very encouraging to have someone to work with and pray with when doing that kind of work. And so, please pray for this project, and I thank you so much for your past support. Eternity alone will tell what these efforts have accomplished, but until then we must watch, and pray, and work.

I’d like to begin my sermon today with a Scripture reading from Mark chapter 10 and then we’ll zero in on just one particular aspect of this story. Cindy and I read this story about a month ago in our devotions and I was struck by something I felt was extremely important, and so I share it with you this morning, but before we read, let’s ask for the Holy Spirit to be our teacher.

Mark 10:17-22, “And when he (Jesus) was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, one thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved (or distressed. In other words, He went away miserable, why?): for he had great possessions.”

The fact that this rich young ruler came running and kneeling down before Jesus says several things, doesn’t it? Even though he was a ruler of some kind, he was also in desperation and didn’t care what others thought about humbling himself before one who many considered to be from the common working class, a carpenter turned preacher. He had a question that was bothering him terribly, and Jesus’ answer caused him much sorrow. After all, he was young and had his whole life ahead of him and he just couldn’t bring himself to trade a life of ease and self-gratification and influential power to live in poverty and hardship the rest of his life. I’m sure he had plans for his future, but it didn’t include self-sacrifice and doing things God’s way, and this should be a lesson for young people today who may  be thinking the same way as this young man. And by the way, there are many older people who think this way as well, because they haven’t learned much through their lives, but what a lot of grief it would save in the end if young and old alike would make a more intelligent decision than the rich young ruler made.

Had this young man made the right choice that day, just think, he could have been chosen as one of Christ’s disciples, but he made the wrong decision and lost his opportunity to inherit eternal life, and when he wakes up in the second resurrection, he will realize as never before what a bad choice it was.

I’m not going to go into detail about the fate of this young man for choosing riches over a life of sacrifice, but I would like to consider the fact that Jesus told this young man that only one character defect was enough to cause him to be lost for all eternity. He lacked only one thing Jesus said, Just one, and that was enough to keep him from inheriting that eternal life he inquired about. He could have had the assurance of salvation that very day, in fact, that very moment, but he chose another path, realizing full well that he was giving up something eternal for something temporal, but he did it anyway. Like many of us, he wanted to be able to have his cake and eat it too, but it was made plain to him that he could not do what he wanted to do and do what Jesus wanted him to do at the same time. It had to be one or the other, and unfortunately he chose the other.

So as you consider the fate of this young man, I want you to ask yourself the question, what is it that I lack? As people go, only one character defect is pretty good, because most of us probably have more than one. But it’s just as true today as it was 2000 years ago, that full surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ is a must if we would find what this young man was looking for, but forfeited for a life of selfish ease. Just think about the dilemma he found himself in for a moment. He was rich! More than likely he had been all his life, and with all that that entails, and now he was being asked to give all his money away and become a poor man. What would you do if you were told the same thing? Would you be willing to become poor by helping the poor, because that’s what Jesus was asking him to do. Jesus put His finger upon the one defect in his life and he wasn’t willing to let go, and I pray that the Holy Spirit will put His finger upon our defects this morning and that we will be willing to give up whatever the plague spot is in our character, because it means eternal life or eternal death to us.

Did you know that the Lord may very well ask us to do the same thing He asked the rich young ruler to do in the very near future in order to sustain His cause? It’s true. Let me read you something from Early Writings, pages 56, 57, It’s very eye opening. “Houses and lands will be of no use to the saints in the time of trouble, for they will then have to flee before infuriated mobs, and at that time their possessions cannot be disposed of to advance the cause of present truth. I was shown that it is the will of God that the saints should cut loose from every encumbrance (that is, cut lose from a load of useless stuff we don’t need, or things that would impede our progress in walking the narrow way) that the saints should cut loose from every encumbrance, before the time of trouble comes (that would be before probation closes and not wait until it’s too late), and make a covenant with God through sacrifice. If they have their property on the altar and earnestly inquire of God for duty, He will teach them when to dispose of these things. Then they will be free in the time of trouble and have no clogs to weigh them down. I saw that if any (that means everybody) if any held on to their property and did not inquire of the Lord as to their duty, He would not make duty known, and they would be permitted to keep their property, and in the time of trouble it would come up before them like a mountain to crush them, and they would try to dispose of it, but would not be able. I heard some mourn like this: ‘The cause was languishing, God’s people were starving for the truth, and we made no effort to supply the lack; now our property is useless. Oh, that we had let it go, and laid up treasure in heaven!’ . . . I  also saw that God had not required all of His people to dispose of their property at the same time; but if they desired to be taught, He would teach them, in a time of need, when to sell and how much to sell. Some have been required to dispose of their property in times past to sustain the Advent cause, while others have been permitted to keep theirs until a time of need. Then, as the cause needs it, their duty is to sell.”

I think of men like William Miller, Joseph Bates, James and Ellen White, and many others who sacrificed everything to see God’s cause prosper, and even during New Testament times there were men like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. These were men of means and influence and they left this world poor men. And then during the Reformation there was Martin Luther, and also Huss and Jerome and others who were burned at the stake. Because of their leadership abilities and influence they could have lived a life of selfish ease if they went along with the devil’s program, but no, they gave everything to see the gospel go to the common man that they might become rich in Christ.

And what about Jesus Himself? He gave everything! He didn’t even have a place to lay His head. He said foxes have holes in the ground to live in and the birds of the air have nests, but I have nothing. He gave even His own life that we might have a chance to live forever in the beautiful place He left, only to be abused at the hands of His professed people. He didn’t have to do it, but He did. He loved us enough to live a life of poverty and die a shameful death that we might be an heir of salvation and inherit everything He had before He came down to this sin cursed planet. And we can never do enough to repay the debt we owe to Him, but we can say, “Lord, all I have is Yours, and I lay it all upon the altar of sacrifice, and if You will show me my duty as to when to cut lose from the things You’ve entrusted me with, just tell me, and I’ll do whatever You say.” This is to be our attitude in these last days friends, else we may be among those who will lament that they didn’t let it go when the cause of truth needed it most. And I’ll tell you something, if we are not spending quality time each day with the word of God and inquiring about when to dispose of the needless stuff we may have, we won’t be sensitive enough to the convicting power of Holy Spirit when He’s trying to tell us what to do.

You know, we may have serious health issues, or heavy burdens to bare, or a half dozen other things, but at the same time it’s a blessing to be alive at such a time as this, isn’t it? Even though we have to live during a time when sin runs rampant and getting worse by the day, we can be thankful that we can have a part in hastening the Lord’s return as it says in 2 Peter 3:12. I believe all the prophets and reformers and Advent pioneers would have loved to see the last scenes of this earth’s history draw to a close and for the prospect of seeing the Lord come in the clouds of heaven as we have today, don’t you? This is what Jesus told His disciples about those who lived before them, and the same holds true today.

In Matthew 13:17 Jesus said to His disciples, “verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them”, and I believe this same desire lives in the heart of all true Christians today. And so, we should be thankful this morning that our eyes can see and our ears hear things that many others have desired to see and hear, but were not able.

I had a friend tell me once that if everything he could do during his whole life time could bring Jesus back to this earth just one hour sooner, it would all be worth it. And just think, if we all could add another hour to that, it would actually amount to something, wouldn’t it? If we really want to see Jesus come, we ought to be ready, right now, to do whatever He says, or perhaps sell something we don’t need to help fund some worthy missionary project.

In Luke 10:42 Jesus told one of His most ardent followers that only “one thing is needful, (and this is what the rich young ruler lacked): and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” That good part is sitting at the feet of Jesus and learning of Him. If we do that every day, we won’t have to say, “what lack I yet”, and we won’t have to say, “oh, I wish I had let it go when the Lord asked me to sacrifice for His cause and for my own character perfection”, because to be in Christ is to lack nothing. In Colossians 2:10 it says we are complete in Him. He’s the only One who can remedy our character defects, but we have to cooperate with Him to make the work of perfecting a Christlike character a success. That’s our part.

In the devotional titled God’s Amazing Grace, page 319 it says, “It is in accordance with the divine plan that we follow every ray of light given of God. (Every ray! Not just in matters of Bible doctrine, but in matters of the health principles we’ve been given in the Spirit of Prophecy) Man can accomplish nothing without God, and God has arranged His plans so as to accomplish nothing in the restoration of the human race without the cooperation of the human with the divine. The part man is required to sustain is immeasurably small (and that means that God’s part is immeasurably large, doesn’t it?), yet in the plan of God it is just that part that is needed to make the work a success.” What is that one small part? It is the cooperation of the human with the divine by following every ray of light given by God. If we do that, God will do the rest. That’s His promise.

Doesn’t James 2:10 say, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law (that’s what the rich young ruler claimed to have done), and yet offend in (how many points?) one point, he is guilty of all.”

Now when the rich young ruler was told he had to keep the commandments in order to inherit eternal life he said, “all these have I done from my youth”, but had he really? No. Like many people today, he was mistaken. He was violating the first commandment at least, because he had another god before the true God, didn’t he? His riches were his god, his idol, and he didn’t want to give it up. “Anything else Lord, but not my money, please!” And because that was his weak spot, Jesus gave him no other alternative if he would be saved, but he turned his back on the Lord and went away in a miserable state of mind, a state of mind that money could not fix, and you know, I doubt if he ever had another happy day after that, because in the back of his mind there was this fearful dread of the future when he knew he would be called to account for the bad decision he made that day, and this story is recorded so that we don’t make the same mistake.

In Philippians 3:8 Paul said, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of (how many things?) all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” The apostle Paul didn’t want to hang on to even one thing that would cause him to miss out on heaven, because he knew that one thing is all it takes.

In Mark 10:28, after the incident with the rich young ruler and the fact that the disciples could hardly believe what Jesus told this young man, they said, “who then can be saved?” If it takes just one character flaw to be lost, “who then can be saved?” And do you remember what Jesus said? He said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.” Whatever our weak spot is, God can fix it if we let Him, if we do our immeasurably small part.

In Signs of the Times, May 20, 1903 we’re told that “God often brings people to a crisis to show them their own weakness and to point them to the Source of strength. If they pray and watch unto prayer, fighting bravely, their weak points will become their strong points.” Have you experienced that? I can think of many destructive things I used to enjoy before I allowed Jesus into my life, and now I don’t want any part of those things. Why? Because He gave me a new heart.

Speaking of those who have become new creatures, Steps to Christ, page 58 says, “The things they once hated they now love, and the things they once loved they hate.” I can testify that these words are true, and I hope you can too.

When Peter said, “who then can be saved?” we’re told in Christ’s Object Lessons, page 394 that the disciples “realized that they themselves were included in the solemn warning, and in the light of the Saviour’s words, their own secret longing for power and riches was revealed.”

Remember when the disciples were arguing among themselves about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? They all wanted a position of power, they all wanted to have riches, and here, like the rich young ruler, Jesus points out their own character flaws. That’s why Peter said, “who then can be saved?”

Jesus wanted His followers to know that a rich man, that is unwilling to use his riches to help others, cannot enter heaven, and that his wealth gives him no title to the inheritance of the saints. It’s only through the unmerited grace of Christ that any man can find entrance into the city of God. You see, God knows what your besetting sin is just as surely as he knew the rich young ruler’s, and His words to him are a message to us. We must decide between Christ and the world. If we choose Christ, we must deny self, take up the cross, and follow him. Jesus says to each one of us, “withdraw your love from earthly treasure. Follow me, and you shall have treasure in heaven.” And here’s the point, Christ does not ask us to follow where He has not led the way. He was rich, but for our sake He became poor. He left the heavenly courts, and came to this earth to share the poverty of the poor and the toil of the common laborer. And so, as always, He doesn’t ask us to do anything that He has not done.

Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.” With that statement Peter wanted to know what their reward was going to be, and Jesus told him that they would receive way more than they had given up to follow Him, in fact, 100 times more! When you look at it that way, giving up one character defect for a hundred fold increase in blessings, that’s a pretty good exchange, isn’t it? The problem is, we have to wait for it, and many people have a hard time with that, because they want their reward now, today, but we have to have the patience of the saints, don’t we?

The question is, can we, like Peter, say we have left all to follow thee? or is there something we’re holding on to that would keep us from inheriting eternal life? Is there just one thing that is so important to us that we would be willing to forfeit eternal life for? The question almost seems ridiculous, doesn’t it? And yet the majority of professed Christians will do that very thing, because only the few will be saved in the end.

With some, that one thing might be what they love to eat that they know they shouldn’t. Can you imagine forfeiting heaven because of a particular article of food? And yet appetite will be the downfall of many. In fact, that’s what started the whole sin problem in the Garden, isn’t it? With others it may be lightly regarding the Sabbath. With still others it may be not returning a faithful tithe, and the list goes on and on. Whatever it is that might be keeping you from surrendering all to Jesus, I can assure you that compared to eternal life, it’s going to look very small when we wake up from the sleep of death to realize what we’ve given up. May it not be so with any of us.

In 1 Corinthians 10:21 Paul said, “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.” In other words we cannot have a divided interest, we can’t partake of the broken body and shed blood of Christ and then go and partake of what the devil has to offer. It’s got to be one or the other.

In 1 Corinthians 11 it says those who eat and drink in an unworthy manner at the Lord’s Supper, eat and drink damnation to themselves. Why? Because they have a divided heart. They treat the sacrifice of Jesus as a common thing, not realizing the sacredness of having a saving relationship with the Lord and having loving obedience.

We need to take the admonition of Paul seriously in 2 Corinthians 13:5 when he said, “Examine yourselves to see if you be in the faith”, and Ephesians 6:16 says the most important part of the Christian armour is the shield of faith so we can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and it takes our cooperation with God to strengthen that faith so it’s strong enough to withstand the temptation to yield to that one besetting sin that will keep us out of the kingdom of God.

Steps to Christ, pages 32, 34 says, “Sin, however small it may be esteemed, can be indulged in only at the peril of infinite loss. What we do not overcome, will overcome us and work out our destruction. . . Even one wrong trait of character, (that’s what the rich young ruler had) one sinful desire, persistently cherished, will eventually neutralize all the power of the gospel.”

Oh friends, we really need a new heart, don’t we? because the stony heart we were all born with is full of sinful desire; that’s all it has. Even if it’s a small sinful desire in our estimation, it’s more than enough to bring about our demise. Adam and Eve thought that eating the forbidden fruit was a small matter, didn’t they? but that small matter was the transgression of the law, and it separated mankind from God and opened the floodgates of death and  woe upon our world.

Review and Herald, January 31, 1888 says, “What reason have men for thinking that God is not particular whether they obey Him implicitly or take their own course? Adam and Eve lost Eden for one transgression of His command; and how dare we trifle with the law of the Most High, and frame deceitful apologies to our souls? We do this at a terrible peril. We must keep all the law, every jot and tittle; for he that offendeth in one point is guilty of all. Every ray of light must be received and cherished, or we shall become bodies of darkness.”

Do you see why the Spirit of Prophecy is rejected today by so many Adventists? It strikes at the very heart of the problem, doesn’t it? You can’t read the Spirit of Prophecy without being convicted that you need to change. Either that or people get so upset with it that they choose to ignore it or say things like, “Oh, that was for her day, but today things are different.” But friends, the truth is the truth, and truth never changes, and that’s why God never changes.

In so many ways the church of today has moved on in its progressive path and barely resembles the Advent movement of yesterday, does it? My daughter saw a quote on Facebook the other day and sent it to us, and here’s what it said, “When a church changes their values to match current culture they’re no longer following the Bible, they’re following the lost.” And that pretty well sums it up, doesn’t it? Let me read it again. “When a church changes their values to match current culture they’re no longer following the Bible, they’re following the lost.” That’s why the denomination has been planting celebration churches and using  contemporary Christian rock music for the past 30 plus years; that’s why the standards have been lowered in the dust; that’s the reason for the new theology of salvation in sin. When a church does these kinds of things, they’re following the lost and therefore God can no longer use them to promote the truth for these last days.

And so, we need to understand that a progressive church is following the lost, and what do I mean when I use the word progressive? The word progressive can mean moving forward in a good way, or improving, or advancing rather than retrograding, but today it’s pretty much the opposite. The progressive movement today is going morally backward and advancing the devil’s agenda, and we should recognize it as Satan’s way of insinuating himself into our lives and into the very fabric of our society.

As the country goes, so goes the church, is a true saying. The progressive movement today is a movement where just about anything goes, and that we should be accepting of the LGBTQ community, or people who just live together without committing to a lifelong marriage relationship, or who choose to kill babies in and out of the womb, and where evolution is taught as a forgone conclusion in the classroom, and throwing the US Constitution out the window, and we know where all this is leading, don’t we? It’s leading to a hatred for those who believe in the God of the Bible and religious freedom, and it will eventually lead to persecution over the day of worship and a death decree. That’s what’s really behind the liberal progressive movement that has been going on now in America for the last 75-100 years. You see, the devil has been in the creeping compromise business for a long time and it will all come to a head very soon now, and we shouldn’t stick our heads in the sand and think that things are going to get better or that the progression will continue to move slowly for a long time yet, because we’re told that the last movements will be what? rapid ones, and we can already see that things have happened very fast over the last few years.

So no, there is no small sin, no little transgression. Sin of any degree is unacceptable to the God of heaven and to the holy beings that dwell there. They don’t want heaven ruined again. They’ve been through that once and the result continues on to this day down here, and it will  until this current heaven and earth are no more. God’s going to make it all new again, and if we want to be part of it, we have to be made all new as well, not sometime in the future, but today! We don’t want to be like Governor Felix and tell the Holy Spirit to go away until a more convenient time, because today is the day of salvation, isn’t it? Today if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

This idea that we’re going to sin until Jesus comes is a fallacy, friends, and if we are fooled by that, we are not going to be ready, plain and simple. It’s true that many professed Christians are going to sin until Jesus comes, but every one of them will be eternally lost. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, and those who don’t stop are going to pay that penalty. If we come to the conclusion that we can’t stop sinning, as is a popular belief today, even within Adventism I’m sorry to say, then we forfeit the sacrifice of Jesus in our behalf, because He is not only our substitute, but He is our example as well. Jesus is the Pattern Man. 1 John 3:1 says, “when He shall appear, we shall be like Him”, not become like Him, we shall already be like Him when He comes, and if we are like Him, how can we not be victorious over sin as He was?

As we wind down I’d like to end by reading several short statements from the pen of inspiration beginning with the Paulson Collection, page 93 where it says, “There is just one thing the Lord calls for, (notice, just one) and that is, for every man, minister, or physician, or lay member, to confess his own sins. Each one will have a hard battle to fight with his own perverse self.” And that’s where it’s at, isn’t it? We don’t have to be worried about everyone else’s sin, we have enough to be concerned about with our own defects. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”, and 1 John 5:1 says, “all unrighteousness is sin.” And so we must not continue in sin of any kind, and the power is available to all who make a full surrender to Jesus, because through the power of the Spirit, He is able to change the desires of our sinful hearts and make it a delight to do His will, and when it’s a delight, it won’t be too difficult to accomplish.

Testimonies for the Church, volume 6, page 265, ”We need to guard against the first deviation from righteousness (so important); for one transgression, one neglect to manifest the spirit of Christ, opens the way for another and still another, until the mind is overmastered by the principles of the enemy. If cultivated, the spirit of selfishness becomes a devouring passion which nothing but the power of Christ can subdue.”

Adventist Home, page 403, “Who can know, in the moment of temptation, the terrible consequences which will result from one wrong, hasty step! Our only safety is to be shielded by the grace of God every moment, and not put out our own spiritual eyesight so that we will call evil, good, and good, evil. Without hesitation or argument we must close and guard the avenues of the soul against evil. Every Christian must stand on guard continually, watching every avenue of the soul where Satan might find access. He must pray for divine help and at the same time resolutely resist every inclination to sin (that’s our small part). By courage, by faith, by persevering toil, he can conquer. But let him remember that to gain the victory Christ must abide in him and he in Christ.”

Letter 47, 1894, “Oh, that the people of God would consider that by one wrong action on their part a blot is made in the history and experience that nothing but the blood of Christ can wash away.” And I pray that we will all have those sins washed away before it’s too late, or before one wrong action will send us careening down the wrong path to multiple sins. There may be time now to recover, but we don’t want to play around until it’s too late.

The Desire of Ages, page 313, “If one sin is cherished in the soul, or one wrong practice retained in the life, the whole being is contaminated. The man becomes an instrument of unrighteousness.”

Well, by now I think you get the point, there are no shortcuts to heaven and there is no sin that is small in God’s estimation, and so I’ll close with one last quote from the devotional titled In Heavenly Places, page 226. “It is the little foxes that spoil the vines, the little neglects, the little deficiencies, the little dishonesties, the little departures from principle, that blind the soul and separate it from God. It is the little things of life that develop the spirit and determine the character. Those who neglect the little things will not be prepared to endure severe tests when they are brought to bear upon them.  Remember that the character building is not finished till life ends. Every day a good or bad brick is placed in the structure. You are either building crookedly or with the exactness and correctness that will make a beautiful temple for God.”

I want my life to be a beautiful temple for God, don’t you? Let’s pray that God will help us.

Sermon in pdf  JUST ONE THING