Sunday Evening Worship Service

what an honor and a privilege it is for me to be here for this graduation ceremony it is certainly a privilege to be able to be back at the First Apostolic church and to be here with all of you wonderful people what a beautiful assembly what a beautiful church and a beautiful Legacy and I want to say to Bishop and sister mcul Pastor Mark and sister Jamie MC pastor and sister Whitley and pastor and sister Anthony MCU how thankful I am for their friendship and Leadership and to all the staff and faculty of the apostolic Christian school as well as the student body and uh the seniors and also the kindergarten graduates I want to say how thankful I am for you all and congratulations on your great achievement I am certainly thankful to be here and uh these I I was mentioning to uh to Pastor Mark MC a little bit ago that uh these kind of events are are the most difficult thing to preach um I preached in Africa to 65,000 people and I'm more nervous now than I was then and uh but uh I am so honored to be here and I do feel like I have something to say and uh I am excited about uh about being in the house of the Lord with you tonight and I was moved by the Legacy parents and one of the things that I thought about I remember almost all of them when they were in uh middle school and and uh going way back and uh I preached here first in uh 1990 in the fall of 1990 and you know some people come into your lives and they're there for just a moment and then they're gone and then sometimes God brings people into your life and they stay in your life the good news is I won't be around forever the bad news is I'm still in your life and so it's an honor and a privilege to be here I'm going to go to the book of 1st Samuel chapter 14 it's my custom to stand and honor the reading of the word of the Lord and if you're able to then I would appreciate that many years ago as I started preaching as a teenager and into my 20s as an evangelist and then a young Pastor for most of my Ministry the hardest task that I had was trying to get people to let go of their self assurance enough to realize that they needed God but in the last few years my toughest task has changed my hardest job as a pastor is to get people to believe that there's not so bad that God could love them it's been a fundamental shift in the mentality of our culture [Music] and so tonight I have a little thought on my heart I want to preach to you and then I want to get out of the way and continue to celebrate these graduates 1st Samuel chapter number 14 and verse number six and Jonathan said to the young man that bear his armor come and let us go over unto the Garrison of these uncircumcised it may be that the Lord Lord will work for us for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few then we'll drop down to verse 14 and we'll read three verses and that first Slaughter which Jonathan and his armor Bearer made was about 20 men within as it were and Halfacre of land which a yoke of o might plow and there was a trembling in the host in the field and among all the people The Garrison and the spoilers they also trembled and the earthquake so it was a very great trembling and the Watchmen of Saul and giba of Benjamin looked and behold the multitude melted away and they went on beating down one another verse 14 says that Jonathan and his armor bear slew 20 men in a half acre of land 20 men in a half acre of land and I want to talk to you for a little while tonight about a Halfacre of Victory a Halfacre of Victory God I thank you for this congregation and for this school and this church I thank you Lord for every graduate their families that have invested so much and Lord Jesus I know that I am a bit player tonight in what's really happening here the advancement of Godly young people into their world to make a difference and God I pray for every graduate I pray for every family member and I pray for every guest and friend that has attended tonight I ask you by the name of Jesus Christ to help me speak something from your word into the mind and heart but especially into the spirit of every individual under the sound of my voice confirm your word with signs following in Jesus name and everybody said amen God bless you you can be seated tonight in our modern measurement an acre of land is 43,560 Square ft about the size of a football field now we have many modern means by which to measure land but in ancient days they didn't have the technology that we have and so they had to think of ways to standardize measurements the Old Testament in one of the verses we used for text said that they measured Land by how much a yoke of oxen might be able to plow in one hour it wasn't an exact measurement it wasn't an exact science it was affected by how big or fast your yoke of oxen may be it was affected by how sharp your plow share was or how hard Rocky or hilly your land was along with other geological features it makes it difficult to know exactly how big an acre of land was however we know that it was not the 43,560 square ft that we measure by today the nearest we can tell from ancient sources is that from an ancient Roman source and another from an ancient Egyptian Source the Roman acre was less than 2third the size of a modern acre containing 28,800 Square ft an ancient Egyptian acre was slightly larger coming in at 29,185 FT the quiz will be held at the end of the ceremony it was probably impossible to say exactly how big an acre was but we know that it appears that it was around 29,000 Square ft this is important because the Bible uses this particular measurement as a critical fact in the story that our text presents to us tonight in the scriptures we read about a man with all the natural ability that you could ask for his name was Saul he was the king of Israel he was tall he was strong and by all accounts a physical specimen the Bible described him as head and shoulders above all the men of Israel Saul had a ability but greatness is not merely ability greatness is ability plus anointing and desire expressed through action Saul had ability but Saul had lost his anointing and he had no desire so the Philistines attacked Israel and Saul was lounging under a pomegranate tree anointing comes comes with prayer and discipline desire is the expression of passion and it is by the most basic of descriptions desire is merely the want to soul is resting under a tree with ability but no desire no anointing and no action and the enemy has attacked while Saul is lounging 1 Samuel 14 and2 says that Saul carried under the uttermost part of giba under a pomegranate tree which is in migron and the people that were with him were about 600 men the Bible said he was in the uttermost part he was on the brink or the border the outskirts The Edge he was on the outskirts of a Place known as migron which means the precipice or the cliff so Saul has positioned himself on the outskirts on the edge of the precipice his life being lived on the border and the brink of a walk with God close to the edge is no way to achieve greatness but there's another problem with living in the uttermost part on the edge on the precipice is you never live there by yourself you always affect others and in this case there were 600 others with Saul living on the edge these were soldiers Warriors an army of God but on the edge because they leader was on the edge please listen to this point very carefully tonight you can live on the spiritual outskirts if you want to but where you position yourself will not only affect you it will affect the others around you you never go to the Edge by yourself you always take someone to the edge with you Saul lived on the edge and carried an entire army with him you are an influencer of someone and you will call somebody to either live on the outskirts of a walk with God or live in the middle of God's will Saul had ability Saul had potential but Saul had no desire and no passion to live for God the Bible tells us in Hebrews 10 and 24 it says let us consider one another to provoke one another to Good Works that word provoke mean means to incite or Inspire to push to prod our mentality should be how can I incite Inspire push and prod my brothers and sisters my friends and family to get closer to God and to serve him I do not want to live my life on the edge of spirituality I don't want to live on the outskirts of a relationship with God may I tell you it's my considered opinion that the problem in our modern culture is that for too many generations too many so-called Christians have lived on the edge of religion instead of finding themselves in the middle of God's Will and so Paul said let us consider one another when I live my life when I make my decisions where I decide what I'm going to do let me make those decisions considering those around me because I do not live in a vacuum and I don't only affect myself can I go a little bit further I I've always said an Apostolic preacher needs to preach by feel and when I feel hungry I quit preaching and I had a feeling coming on verse 24 let us consider one another to provoke unto to provoke unto love and good works and then it ends with a colon not a period the thought is not concluded at the end of that sentence it carries on to the next verse so how do I provoke somebody else to love and good works not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another so much the more as you see that day approaching the author inspired by the Holy Ghost directed the people that were listening that the best way to provoke other people to love and good works is to come to church together that's right your worship matters your involvement matters you matter and you can provoke others to live a life that makes a difference now if I was at home in Mississippi preaching to the congregation I Pastor I would continue into verse number 26 and and I would tell them for if we sin willfully After we receive the knowledge of the truth and that I didn't associate skipping church with sin but the author did but since I'm not preaching in Mississippi I won't preach that tonight influence one another to good works by coming to church and it indicates that to fail in that way is to sin willfully may I tell you tonight that you have greatness within you but you need to get in action if your greatness is going to ever come out because greatness is not just a potential that's inside but greatness must be activated and released now on Germantown Parkway in Memphis Tennessee my daughters we live about an hour outside of Memphis in North Mississippi both of my daughters were born in Memphis Tennessee and there is a New Balance store on Germantown Parkway in Memphis Tennessee New Balance at that time made some of the best running shoes on the market since then I've had Runners tell me they're not that great but uh but that's not what New Balance told me so I was driving by and I saw that store I was driving by on my way to a restaurant and saw the store got under conviction and decided I would go to the store after lunch and so I went in the New Balance store and I told them I think I need to start running and get in shape but I'm concerned that at my age I'm going to hurt myself if I'm going to do it I want to do it right and so they put me on a machine and I took my shoes off I stepped on the machine they pressed the button and two feet came up on a screen and it had yellow red blue and green areas the red areas where where my feet were putting the most pressure there was a lot of red there wasn't very much green this the they pressed the button and the screen made a recommendation for an insole for my feet so they went and they got the right soul off the shelf and they brought me the right soul once my soul was right now I know I'm not making I'm not making a uh a hermeneutic mistake I'm not likening that to the s o l I understand I'm not I'm not making a hermeneutical malpractice tonight but they got my the right soul and then they moved on to the right shoe they asked me some questions they pressed some buttons on the screen and and with the help of this computer and the specialist that they're not salesmen they're Specialists the New Balance computer picked out a show a shoe for me the shoe was known as the at tread here's what the the the the the computer says about the at tread now I'm standing on this thing barefooted and it says the at tread outso provides unmatched grip on virtually any terrain while the dinosoftlabs and by the time I left I had the right shoe I had the right Sole and I had an empty wallet but I had a box under my arm with the at Treads and I was going to be ventilated breathing dinos soft midso I was ready I got home and my wife said what did you do I said I bought the at tread running shoe so I can get myself in shape and she rolled her eyes at me she's 5 foot tall I'm scared to death of her I put the shoes in my closet in eight years I've not ran one time without action it's wasted it doesn't matter how nice the paragraph sounds it doesn't matter how wonderful the characteristics of the at tread shoe is with all of its benefits and with all of its potential sitting in a box in a closet is no way to get the best out of an at tread and Saul with all potential is under a pomegranate tree all the potential and all of the ability but no action and no movement and so he might as well not have ever been The Head and Shoulders above everyone else he is Head and Shoulders above everyone else did no good for anyone but the Bible said that there was a man named Jonathan the son of Saul and he had a young man to bear his armor came and they went to the Garrison of their enemies the Philistines and Jonathan said let's go over there for it may be that the Lord will work for us for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few I like what he said it may be in other words I would rather die trying than live laying around and so the Bible said they got up and God began to move for them and Jonathan and his armor bear the Bible said in verse 14 they slew about 20 men within as it were a half acre of land which a yoke of oxen might plow 20 men killed by two it's good but it's not a war deciding Victory winning a Halfacre size of land is not an earth shattering Conquest in the annals of military history a Halfacre Victory is nothing according to Google the nation of Israel has 238.5 billion square feet I calculated the percentage of a half acre at 14,500 ancient measurement out of 238 billion and it's 0.00000000 6% statistically insignificant basically the average size of an American front yard I've gone through all this trouble to illustrate how small the victory of Jonathan and his armor bear really was they won a front yard's worth of land while it's impressive for Jonathan and his armor bear to defeat 20 men and a half acre it's barely a blip in regard to the significant action that it would take to win an entire War it seemed strange on its own Merit to include this little story in the Bible a half AC of Victory what good does a Halfacre of Victory do what difference does a Halfacre make out of 238.5 billion square feet the characters involved in this particular story Jonathan and his armor bear are not terribly significant to the Bible story they are bit players in the grand scheme of the Old Testament the armor Bearer has no Real historic IAL importance his name is never even known Jonathan is at best a secondary character in the stories of Saul and David a bit player yet God chose to inspire the author to include this short story in the Bible of a Halfacre of Victory God had a purpose beyond the armor bear in Jonathan because the armor bear and Jonathan and not even the Philistines are the main characters in this story in this story God is the main character this story is about him his power and how he works and what God values this small action of a Halfacre of Victory did not mean to show the prowess of Jonathan and his armor Bearer it was intended to show the greatness of God to illustrate an important principle in his word remember that nothing happened while Saul lounged under the pomegranate tree when God did nothing when Saul did nothing God did nothing but when Jonathan won a measly Halfacre of land it got God's attention a small victory by any military measurement however in God's eyes it wasn't small because it represented one man doing all he could do giving his best and reaching for as much as he could a Halfacre to a general is nothing a Halfacre to an army is nothing a Halfacre to a nation is nothing but if a Halfacre is the best you can do to God it's enough when Jonathan and his armor bear got up and did the best they could do God got up and did what only God could do the Bible said that upon winning just a easily half acre of land in verse 14 that in verse 15 the Bible said there was a trembling in the host in the field among the People The Garrison the spoilers and the earthquake God shook the whole earth because somebody took a half acre of land god moved the entire Earth because one man took a half acre of land I'd like to tell the graduates I'd like to tell everyone in this building that God does not require you to shake the Earth he ask you just to affect your Halfacre he doesn't ask you to shake entire the entire nation he asked you to affect your Halfacre he doesn't ask you to change the whole world just affect your Halfacre and if you'll do the little bit you can do with your life then God will shake the world the best that God can do one small action one person doing the best that they can just a Halfacre of Victory I can't speak for everybody here I can speak for myself there have been times when I felt like everything I could do is at best insignificant that when I've done everything I can and tried my very hardest at best maybe I was only able to save my own front yard all of my effort all of my ability isn't enough to matter in the grand scheme of things until God looks down and God sees the little bit that I can do and then God steps in and uses it to shake the entire world and when God shook the world the enemy fled because of the actions of a Halfacre of land I remember when I was graduating high school I felt the pressure of my entire future felt like every decision what I'm going to study where I'm going to work all every decision I made felt like it was lifechanging and Earth shattering and then soon I began to feel like what difference does my life even make what can it matter and then I realized that if I'll give my Halfacre to God and I'll do the best that I can then God can shake the whole world I know I've preached it before maybe you've heard me preach it somewhere I don't know if you have or haven't if you're like me you might have heard it and forgot it but when you look at the Bible and I'm coming to a close a musician can prepare when you look at the Bible and you see the supernatural you see the Miracles in the scripture a miracle always has two components a natural component and a supernatural component it's a cycle that's so evident in scripture and it's so foundational to the biblical experience that it's difficult to miss repeatedly when the Bible character needed something Supernatural they in vated the Miracle by first doing something on their own accord something very natural Noah built an ark and God saved his family Abraham went to Canaan and God gave him a legacy Isaac was faithful Jacob wrestled all night J Joseph Dreamed a Dream Moses simply said let my people go and he didn't say that very clearly Miriam sang to a to a Barren desert Joshua marched around Jericho Caleb claimed a mountain and Gideon broke a pitcher Samson fought with the donkey's Jawbone David picked up five Stones Jehoshaphat merely worshiped Hannah dedicated herself to the Lord Elijah built an altar a widow borrowed vessels Elisha went to zarap Hezekiah prayed Daniel Prayed Shadrach mesach and Abednego refused to give away their convictions Ezekiel prophesied to a valley of dead bones Jonah preached to Nineveh people at the wedding of Canaan filled water pots Mary and Martha ordered a stone to be rolled away Peter stepped off of a ship a woman touched the Hem of His Garment lepers walked to the priest disciples launched out into the deep barus cried out for Sight jaras went and Found Jesus and his daughter was raised from the dead a prodigal went home and was restored a woman with the spirit of infirmity stood up and God healed her a lame man looked Paul and Silas sang at midnight Phillip baptized Paul shook a serpent into the fire over and over and over when a human did something very natural God did something Supernatural so God does not require the supernatural of me God requires me to do only what I can do and do the best that I can possibly do can God save me if I just give my best yes God can save me if I give my best what will I do about my life I'm going to try to conquer my half acre I can't do more than that I'm just going to do what I can do and if I'll do what I can do then God will do what God can do and so here we are tonight in this graduation and I look at these seniors as they are exiting Apostolic in school and I'll tell you the only way you can change your world is to change your Halfacre and if you'll have an Halfacre of Victory then God can do something great through your life and with that I ask God tonight by the authority of your word Lord I ask you to bless this congregation I ask you Lord in the name of Jesus to move on every man and woman and young person that's under the sound of my voice those who feel overwhelmed by their enemy those who feel conquered by their circumstance those who feel like their best effort is insignificant and unable to change anything I pray God that when we walk out of here that you will give us the confidence that if I can just change my Halfacre of land then you'll do something Supernatural and so God I give you my Halfacre tonight I know it's not much I know in comparison to other people's victories I know it's not that significant but God I'm giving you the best that I can tonight and God I'm asking you for a Halfacre of Victory as our eyes are closed and our hands are lifted can you just thank the Lord that he doesn't require you to do the supernatural he only requires you to do the natural as superbly as you can God bless you tonight