Sunday Evening Worship Service

praise the Lord God bless you and you may be seated and we greet you tonight in that wonderful all powerful lovely name of Jesus I couldn't help but think many many years ago when brother Bobby and I were um 11 years old we started preaching fulltime and it seemed to be somewhat of an attraction and we had a minister from up North he wanted to be our manager and and he was a great great help to us incidentally and he took us to a Nashville Tennessee rented the uh Goa not the Goga Tabernacle the the with the original Tabernacle where they started the grand opera and uh he he got around to the business people and made an appointment with Bobby and myself to speak at the Optimus Club this preacher's wife she wanted us to appear as young as she could because that would seemed to be a greater attraction we were 11 years old and very small for our age and she took us downtown and to a department store and she started looking at little white suits very pretty suits except for one thing they were short-legged they were knee britches and you talk about two uh country boys two Farm boys being horrified thinking of putting on those white suits with short pants and coming out and preaching Bobby got behind a post over I said Bill no no no no he was making franic signs to me and finally convinced her that that wouldn't be appropriate for us and the her her husband he was a very great promoter great preacher great pastor and he coached us on how to approach the congregation because we were going to be uh stars of of Nashville and uh he got us an appointment with the Optimus club that we were to speak to the Optimus Club some of the richest businessmen in town and he coached us on how to act and how to make a good presentation and and all that and so of course here we were 11y old right off of the farm right out of between the cotton rows and um so Bobby said that with that's all right we'll we'll we'll be careful we'll do it right and so when we went to that Optimus club and all those businessmen were sitting there looking at us and Bobby went first and he stood up there and I thought he started out so well he said Mr chairman and gentleman of the Optimus Club of Nashville Tennessee I'm just like the lightning bug that backed into the electric van I am delighted to be here so I guess I can borrow his words tonight after 70 some odd years actually 68 years uh in this church I am delighted to come before you once again and be a part of this program it starts in the family and indeed it does we started this this morning and our title is and was now when all this was finished and that's a that's an ominous title what are they talking about when all this is finished well I went into details today to try to tell you what had happened the Kings had led them wrong and uh there was a split up because riabal the son of Solomon who inherited the kingship when uh he was getting ready to be coronated uh he called the old men together and wanted advice and they gave him their advice if you'll be uh kind to these folks and speak good to them they'll Ser you the rest of their life and he said well you go away in three days come back and I'll tell you my decision and he called his young friends together and asked them what they uh should what he should say the older men said if you'll just speak kind to them and they said your father was a a very hard man and uh he put a heavy Yol on us and chastised us and if you'll just lighten the load a little bit we'll serve you the rest of our life but the young men came in behind them and said don't listen to that said you need to step out there and tell them who's boss I'm using my own words now and tell them that your daddy laid heavy yolks on but you're going to lay heavy your yolks and he chastised you with whips and I'm going to chastise you with with scorpions and you need to step out there and hold up your little finger and say you think my daddy was a bad man my little finger is thicker than my daddy's loin well when he said that uh the the men went away and they said we have no part in David's inheritance and about that time there was a a man waiting in the wings his name was Jobo he got to GA with a crowd of dissidence and uh he said to them we can't have anything to do with this and so he split the kingdom now remember what I said this morning uh the Bible says that let me read it to you again a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver and I want to start right there tonight we've given you a little background now the J Jobo they split the kingdom took 10 tribes and started out the the Kingdom of Israel became uh the kingdom of Judah and Israel and they were at war with one another years and years and years after all because someone failed to use the right tone failed to use good words and and and they split the kingdom Proverbs said a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver and I want to talk just a little bit and getting started I'm going to take my time not meaning that I'm going to take a long time but I want to to let you know just what my heart is feeling and what I'm trying to say it's Parts in the family there are things that we need to to say to our spouses and I first of all need to say that everything the Lord has done for me every accomplishment that I have ever had if I've had any at all that lady sitting right down there sister Betty Jean cook mul is greatly responsible for it she's been by my side through thick and thin the hard times when we lived in a house trailer with no restrooms in it when we had to go to service stations every day to use the restroom she was with me when we had no money and had to pull up poles that they' rais pole beans on break them up to use it for firewood in South Knoxville 1116 Valley and i' never heard her complain one time but she's been by my side she's been a comforter she's been a encourager and I want you to know I and all of us in this church owe a great dead of gratitude to that lady right down there you may hear a little bit more of this a little later on when we were in that house trailer with no restroom in it we didn't have the money to put in a septic tank we were living in brother McKenna's yard we'd found a used a 42 foot uh chair house trailer 8 foot wide but we never got the money to put in a septic tank and right in the middle of all of that this strong encouraging lady got very sick and I panicked because she was always so strong and always standing by my side and encouraging me but she was throwing up getting pale seemed to be losing weight a and and I just I didn't know what to do here I was uh in a new town no job there was no job picking cutting in this part of the country that's the only thing I knew how to do and one day she went up to Sister McKenna's house and says sister mckenny I think I'm poisoned she said I'm throwing up I'm sick every day sister mckenny wise older lady she smiled and she said yes honey I think you're poisoned too said you need to go see a OB doctor and be checked to see if you're pregnant and she did out of all the things I thought I didn't need was a baby under those conditions but Mark Anthony was on the way and he was telling us he was coming ready or not at that time I almost panicked and by and by when I took her to the hospital and they they they brought him out and showed him to me I said is that mine he said that's yours I said are you sure you you're not mixed up I've heard of babies getting mixed up no I thought he was too pretty to be mine he I just well little did I know that God was giving us a future Pastor for First Apostolic church and and I thank God for our pastor Pastor Mark and sister Jamie M they deserve a great big hand of appreciation he's known all over this country as a gentleman everybody loves him and respects him a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver things we should say to our spouses such as thank you you sure look nice tonight that was a great supper honey do you know we sat down to a table for a wife that's slaved over a hot stove and sometimes we're worse than a pig we don't even grow up to say thank you you should never get up on that table without saying honey that was a great supper well she picked something I didn't like well you like it better than mud pies don't you it's got to be good compared to something you need to tell her how much you appreciate her you see a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver and and there are things that we need to tell them that they look nice and because they do mine looks so nice to me every time she steps out she's striking to me well then there are times they want something want a pair of shoes and and if we're not careful we'll go get that pair of shoes and say there they are I hope you're happy now you kill the whole thing yeah the whole thing if you throw it up to you've been B I guess you're happy now so and so forth do you like what I'm D Dr dressing again tonight yeah I guess so it looks better than what you wore last week some of the things that you don't need to say you need a a a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver I've been carrying a little thing around in my Bible um I don't know where I got it but it's a cute little card and it says 14 little ways to say I love you and let's go over those 14 ways to say I I love you number one hold hands no matter how old you are say I love you every day write notes for your special someone to find stop right there I've got a little 19 Cent notebook in my curio at home it's a 19 Cent book but it's worth $110,000 for what she wrote in that little 19 Cent book she tells me she loves me she talks about my Ministry she talks about me being true to my faith my the ministry and so forth and it is so so valuable that's my wife for you poor forget mistakes you and I we don't need to think about uh the mistakes we make everybody makes them number five forgive words spoken too soon all of us sometime or another sticks our foot in our mouth and say the wrong thing be quick to apologize when you say the wrong oh it's so hard to apologize but listen it would be so much better to say to your husband or to your wife honey I'm so sorry I was wrong I made a mistake forgive me and then the recipient of that apology don't say I'll think about it you've done it again be quick to forgive plan time alone together focus on things you like about each other oh my there's so many things the song I wrote she's a beautiful lady she's in her 80s but she still seemed like 20 to me words can explainer and said there's none other like her I forgot the words but I say that I can't even explain words uh Charming Beauty fails to describe her but see I I'll love her through eternity you the more you tell your loved one you love them the more you do love them and we sometimes after we get on in years in our marriage we'll St stop saying these things the old man and old woman was driving down the road and she said honey you used to tell me you love me why don't you do it he said I told you I loved you when I married you if anything change I'll tell you about it that's a pretty bad way to approach it do not expect Perfection try to be the person of your dreams support each other through life's challenges say thank you everyone needs to be appreciated send emails that say I love you take walks together hug and kiss every day and I like that one a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver now then what I've tried to do in this uh teaching I've tried to show what got Israel on the wrong track they had poor leadership and they created a situation that unkind words were spoken let me go back to a couple of things second Timothy 3:16 all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine reprove correction instruction and righteousness and 1 John 2:16 says for all that is in this world now notice this all now that that don't mean part everything that's in the world here it is the devil tries to tell you all the good great things for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world and the world passes away remember those things are going to pass away James 3:16 for where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work now here we go where there's confusion where there's envy and strive there is confusion and not a few evil works but every evil work this is why the Bible said behold how good and how pleasant it is Brethren to dwell together in unity for where envy and strife is there's confusion and every evil work that's why the devil wants to get a a little Strife going among God's people if he can do that he's going to have every evil work now going back to our lesson now when all this was finished what was finished here's what was finished all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah and break the images in pieces cut down the Groves and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah Benjamin Ephraim manasse until they utterly destroyed them all and we got a hold of that this morning to point out what utterly means complete and total carried to the utmost point of highest degree absolute and total we covered all of that now then let's go on with that same passage of scripture to see what happened when when they started doing what God told them to do and let's follow along after that back in the same 2 Chronicles chapter 31 and we're going to start at verse two we started out with all the bad now then we're going to talk about the good and Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests the levit after their courses and every man according to his service the priests and levit for burnt offerings for peace offerings to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord now what that is meaning he he got his spiritual leaders together and this had been let go and till it was almost no more and he be to set everybody in their place everyone had a position to to play and to take care of and he said the Levites and their course every man according to his service the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord he appointed also the king's portion of his son substance for burnt offerings to it for the morning and the evening burnt offerings and the burnt offerings for the Sabbath and for the new moons and for the set Feast as it is written in the law of the Lord even the king says I've got to do my part as well as you we're going to we're going to get back to where we were before we started this foolishness of idol worship because of those before us that led us wrong and I'm going to do my part let me tell you something the man of God has got his part to play the Usher's got his part to play the singers has got their part to play we've all got a job to do and we need to do it and thank God this church has got a great Army of folks that's doing the job that God called them to do I I uh I ran across the scripture the the other day saw was building God a house and as he was building the house the Bible said he got the king of Haram and uh his men were uh skilled in cutting uh uh Cedars Cedars of Lebanon and he Solomon said because we don't know how to do that and then in another area he got Stone squares men that were skilled in knowing how to to take a stone and not just a lopsided but to square it exactly right that it would fit in the building now this may sound unimportant but it was extremely important let me tell you something you've got a job to do that nobody else but you can do it God has given every person a talent and you've got something to do and I want you to know it's to be appreciated and you need to appreciate what God has called you to do and what he has tell talented you to do I look around right now and I see from our ministry to our technicians our our our lighting uh people uh brother Derek Daniel is an absolute Genius of what he does we've got other folks up there doing all of these things and I see there's there innumerable I can't tell you all the many things that's going on in this church how fantastic it is moreover he command commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord whoa they had got so far away from God they had quit taking care of their leaders the Levis and Priests and they had to leave the priesthood and go get them a job and work like everybody else but that took away from their time to minister let me tell you said God's got some men that he set aside that they need to be set free from the burden of of finances so they can read and study they said in the the New Testament when the widows were being neglected the men of God said it isn't meat that we leave uh the word of God and serve tables seek you out seven Men full of the Holy Ghost and of good report that we may appoint over these things God's God some great men of God that's qualified that's leading this church they study they pray they fast and they're working for new programs things our our cameras our cameras are are are and sister M she's a camera addict uh she she's got that on her iPad and and she knows when the children come into school she knows what's going on here and what's going on there and we watch our grand great grandchildren come in and sit down and we see and and we just sit there and Marvel of all the things that's going on let me tell you something God is in this place it starts in the family and we've got a family church First Apostolic is a CH is a family church now it says U as soon as the Commandments came abroad the children of Israel brought in abundance now the the the the the Hezekiah begins to tell folks now then we got to go one step further and as soon as the Commandment came abroad the children of Israel brought in abundance the first fruits of corn wine and oil and honey and of all the increase of the fields and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly and concerning the children of Israel and Judah that dwelt in the cities of Judah they all also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the Lord their God and laid them in heaps you know what a heap is uh they laid them in heaps and the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps and finish them in the seventh month three four five six seven back long uh uh getting finished of preparing the heaps and when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps they blessed the Lord and His People Israel then hezeki questioned with the priest and the Levis concerning the heaps and Azari the chief priest of the House of zadok answered him and said since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord we have had enough to eat and have left plenty for the Lord ha blessed his people and that which is left is this great store Give the Lord a hand clap would [Applause] you you you you see what happens when people begin to follow the lord in God's plan then Hezekiah commanded to prepare Chambers in the house of the Lord and they prepared them and they brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things Faithfully over Which con Levi was the ruler and Sham his brother was the next now let's go to Malachi chapter 3 will a man rob God that's a question mark will a man rob God now that's a that's a Stern sad shocking statement will a man rob God yet you have robbed me but you say wherein have we robbed thee in tithe and offerings now here we go we're talking about some great and wonderful things but there's also some treacherous territory if we're not careful we'll slip into he said because you have robbed God in tithe and offerings ye are cursed with the curse for ye have robbed me even this whole nation bring ye all the the tithe into the storehouse and there that there may be meat in my house and prove me now here with sayith the Lord of hosts if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it for I will now watch this it's not always how much you make it's how much you lose it's there's old saying is going up I used to hear that a a woman can shovel more out the door with a spoon that a man can shovel in with a coal shovel that's if she's uh spin too much on food waste food waste things well the man is also in that same category it's not always what you make it is what you waste and F there's more to this and I will rebuke the devour for your sake the things that would devour your finances because you're true to God with your tithe and offerings he said I will devour I will rebuke the devour and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground neither shall your Vine cast her fruit before the time in the field saith the Lord of hosts and All Nations shall call you blessed for you he shall be a delightsome land sayith the Lord of hosts now God has promised if I'll give him the tithe he's going to supply my needs but now then they had failed to do what God had told them to do he said but your words have been Stout against me sayith the Lord yet you say what have we spoken so much against thee ye have seen said it's vain to serve God and what profit is it that we've kept his ordinance now I say it's vain to serve God when I can stay home and not go to church and and and not think anything about it I'm saying what good is it to it's vain it isn't vain it's a tremendous blessing to go to the house of God and fellowship with the people of God and that we have walked mournfully before for the Lord of hosts and now we call the proud happy yay they that work wickedness are set up yay they that tempt God are even delivered then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name and they shall be mine sayeth the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him then shall you return and discern between the righteous and wicked between him that serves God and him that serveth him not now hagga 16 and 7 says ye have sown much and bring in a little you eat but have not enough you drink but you're not filled with drink you clothe you but there's none warm and he that earnthenecklace happen to folks that don't follow the discernment of the spirit of God now I told you this morning I was going to show you something that U if a a 30y year uh mortgage on a home and many folks uh have that type mortgage and I told I was going to show you something U about this and and if brother Derek can show it on the screen for me right right now uh large enough that that that you can read it and let me let me show you what we are are talking about now this I got this from uh uh I think this was regions and uh it's a a mortgage bi-weekly mortgage calculator now you see this using the accelerated biweekly payments also redu is your total interest payments from $2,574 to $165,900 this is a total interest Savings of $35,000 you're not spending $1 more but by if you make arrangements with the bank to pay bi-weekly not pay a bit more than you're already paying but you pay bi-weekly you save from 30 years your your note will come down and you'll pay it off in 25.4 years and you will save a total amount of $ 35,6 [Music] 74 now does that sound very interesting to you to cut almost five years off of your house payment and save $35,000 uh if if that isn't a a good deal I don't know what but you got to uh uh manage your business that you can pay bi-weekly you're not spending a dime more now another thing did you know that everybody drives a used car there's nobody that drives a new car because once you drive it off of the showroom it's a used car and it'll lose a lot of money when you but you can save an awful lot of money I've said I'll I'll never buy another uh uh new car because I can save so much but now that's not all my best investment that I have is going to the house of God and adopting Malachi's financial plan for my life for Malachi said bring ye all the tithe into the storehouse and prove me here with sayith the Lord if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing there shall not be room enough to receive now the other fellow that will not tithe will not give God his his portion he's putting money and he's putting it in bags and don't realize there's a hole in the and it's just dropping out I have you heard folks said I don't know what happens to our money I don't we make this I don't know where it goes well it's going into a bag with holes in it because I'm not giving God what belongs to God and what I what I need to do is to arrange myself and say God I am going to to give you uh what you have what you what I owe to you let me do that now let me go back to the to the uh Book of Malachi again and show you what God is doing he said then they that feared the Lord and spake often one to another the musicians you can get ready we're going to have worship service here just a little bit then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance we like to talk about God said he would take our sins and cast them in the depths of the sea and would remember them against us no more yet those who follow God's plan the Bible says then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name and they shall be mine sayith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him let me tell you something God's got a book of remembrance that he's writing down in every person that stands faithful to the Lord you may you may think that God's overlooking it you know what God called you they may call us holy rulers they may call us Goose jabbers but you know what God calls him he said in that day when I make up my Jewels oh that's what we're talking about tonight when we follow God's plan and we get back to where we supposed to be we now become a thing of remembrance for God and he said they're going to be mine in that day when I make up my Jewels right now we we every one of us has got cameras hanging on our side I think I've got 5,000 pictures on my I got so many C pictures I can't find what I'm looking for most of the time but we look we got we got pictures of of our grandchildren of every age I've got I've got a a picture of uh Ashley when she was just a baby I got a picture of Ean when she was still in the hospital her mother crying for joy and kissing her I've got a picture of all let me tell you something God has got a book and he said look here look here what's look look here what's Sister Hall did look here what brother so and so look here what so they didn't think anybody was watching this oh when they went to church on a bad night when they didn't feel like it when they was too sore to get out of bed yet they came to the house of God look at here here somebody that they they gave an offer when they didn't feel like they could afford it God said I've got a book of remembers and here it is I'm written it down and he's going to remember you hallelujah we're you just stand to your feet with me right [Music] now at this at this time I want us to think of this we've talked about all the bad things that actually happened because leaders led the people of God as sty but when they came back and they started doing what God Said for them to do and and here came the the king and here came the and they said what what's the B pile of groceries doing over here where did this come from where did they oh they said since the people started paying their tithe oh you to see out back we've got a lot Barn lot of oxen and and calves and animals we've got all kind of sheep and and and they got more than they knew what to do with because they followed God's plan because they followed the Lord's plan and he said and they shall be mine sayith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son now then I want God's jewels to gather around and let him look at you as a musicians get ready I want all the God's jewels to come forward and we're going to worship Our God and let him see how much we love him as we worship God in this service tonight oh he's going to bless you he loves you he knows who you are he knows your name he knows what you're going through and God's got a tremendous blessing I want you to I want you to think about what God I want you to think about God thans of you you're his Jo yes yes yes yes yes yes yes hallelujah hallelujah forever his kindness is forever yes his kindness is forever forever forever your kindness is forever your is forever your [Music] mer love him you're his je you are his jewels you're his [Music] treasure forever you are good Hallelujah Oh Glory you are is [Music] hallelujah your kindness is forever I want just a moment I want just a moment when they possessed canaan's land the promised land when they had been delivered from Egyptians bondage and when they took the promised land they begin to divide up the countryes this belongs to this tribe this one to that tribe and that one to that tribe and this belongs to you and this belongs to you and then God said as for me my portion is my people oh you could have Fort Knox you could have all the gold you could have all the oil in the ground but God said that as for me my people is my portion as forever or his Give Him worship right now God says I don't want your gold and silver I don't want your oil I want your diamonds but what I want is my people as for my portion my portion my portion is my people worship Him hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah are good you are good you Mery is forever you are good you are good you are good and your mercy is forever