Sunday Evening Worship Service

thank you praise team Lord bless you you may move to your seats again we say thank you for being here in the house of the Lord tonight I want to get right into the word if you would be so kind to join with me if you have your Bible or your tablet whatever device you might be using uh to follow in script scripture with us I want to take you to the book of 1st Samuel the 17th chapter the first book of 1st Samuel the 17th chapter and we will begin reading at verse number 25 1st Samuel 17 beginning with verse number 25 and the men of Israel said have you seen this man that has come up surely to defy Israel as he come up and it shall be that the man who kth him the king will enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel and David spake to the men that stood by him saying what shall be done to the man that kth this Philistine and taketh away the reproach of Israel for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the Living God the people answered him after this manner saying so it shall be done to the man that kth him and elab his elder brother heard when he spake unto the men and iab's anger was kindled against David and he said why camest thou down hither with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness I Know Thy Pride and thy naughtiness and the naughtiness of thy heart for Thou shalt come down that thou mightest see the battle and David said what have I now done is there not a cause is there not a cause a few moments I would speak to you on this subject maintaining the cause maintaining the cause let's pray Jesus I thank you for the wonderful spirit that we've experienced already this house today and tonight Lord for the many mighty works that you've done for the Miracles that have been wrought Lord the prayers that have gone up the praise that's gone up and the blessings that have come down but Lord now speak to us through your words not of my lips or my voice but what your word would have our hearts upon what you have sent us for all this we're grateful thankful in Jesus name we pray amen maintaining the cause in our text to give us a bit more insight and The Narrative of the story a young David has been tasked by his father Jesse to take food and Provisions to his older brothers who are serving under King Saul in Israel's Army he is perplexed when he shows up to the battlefield to find a stalemate between Israel's Army and the Philistines if you read and go back and read the previous chapter and the verses just before our text you'll find that the Philistine Army was on one mountain Israelites were on the other Mountain there was a valley between and and Goliath the story that all of us who've ever been to Sunday school are well aware of of David versus Goliath is defying God's Army Saul and his leadership defying everything about it so David instead of finding aggress an aggressive Battlefield he finds basically a staring contest two armies peering across a valley at each other he begins to ask questions and when he asks questions what's going on his older brother elab begins to question his motives he begins to rebuke him before because he feels he has ulterior motives that he just showed up wanting to see the battle he wanted to see a fight and true that's what he hoped to see but he wanted to see a victory and he had an assignment to come and provide Provisions for his brothers and those who would be with him Jesse had well stocked him with Provisions for his family so David was dealing with agendas fear jealousy and suspicious attitudes for some reason Saul and his army had a owed fear and indecisiveness to now deter them from their cause and David asked the simple question he said is there not a cause why aren't you fighting was what he was really saying is there not a cause why are you having a staring contest with the Philistines is there not a cause as I begin reading more about it and begin to reexamine this story once again you can see what was happening the men of Israel had been deterred from their cause not from or because of a God that they served but instead they had been distracted by what they could see because the first thing when David began asking questions they said have you seen the man and you know many of us in our walk with God find ourselves distracted from the cause that we have because we see something that seems Invincible at the time we see a situation we see an adversary we see a problem that seems bigger than than our cause now I began asking myself the question as I read this once again what was the cause what were they really into it with the Philistines over what was it about well if you look at 1st Samuel 17 beginning with verse number eight you will find the cause in the words of Goliath it said he stood and Cried unto the armies of Israel and said unto them why are you come out to set your battle in a ray why do you want to fight am I am not I a Philistine and ye servants to Saul choose you a man for you and let him come down to me if he be able to fight with me and to kill me then will we be your servants but if I Prevail against him and kill him then shall ye be our servants and serve us and the Philistines said I defy the armies of Israel this day give me a man that we may fight together think about it just a minute when we lose sight of the cause when we fail to maintain the cause that's been set before us the enemy can set the parameters the enemy can set the rules and suddenly he will create a situation that seems impossible to win now think about it just a minute the Warfare of that day was hand toand combat yeah there were probably bows and arrows used but the the weapons of the day was swords and shields hand to hand combat Spears in a hand- toand combat War who would be the easiest Target to spot it wasn't a little guy like me I promise you the easiest Target to spot would have been Goliath but you see Goliath had so intimidated them with his words and they had so lost vision of the cause that they had they allowed the enemy to start setting the rules for fighting you know all Israel saying man he's too big to hit David was saying he's too big to miss let me tell you sometimes the enemy will step in in a situation when we ought to be maintaining the cause now here's here's what the cause really was why were they fighting for who was going to be a servant who was going to serve the other let me tell you we're in a battle every day as to whether we're going to be Servants of sin or Servants of Christ and if we aren't careful we'll allow sin to set the rules the P the parameters and set the boundaries and set the rules for war I'm here to tell you Satan I'm going to remember my cause I'm not going to be deterred from the cause that's been set aside I will not become a slave to sin you see the fear of what you see can't deter you from your cause could I ask we the church today is there not a cause do we really know what our cause is let me see if we still know our cause our goal is our goal is our goal is that's the cause that I thought we wanted to have the finest Church in the community I wanted we I thought we wanted to have the best choir that could possibly be I thought we wanted to have a great Christian School and Child Care Center I thought we wanted to have excellence in Apostolic Athletics I thought we wanted to have the greatest ushers and greeters I thought we want to have the greatest technicians I thought we wanted to have the best even maintenance and joral staff we want all of those things but that's not our cause those are tools to maintain the cause those are jobs and those are opportunities that God has given us to be Soul winners never mistake whatever you do in the kingdom of God let it be a soul wining tool I honor the folks who get over here early on Sunday mornings on Sunday night who are preparing praise and worship music and songs I honor those who come and open the building up early those who stay late and lock the building after the rest of us have headed home those who maintenance the building those who take care they're Soul winners never mistake the job that you do in the kingdom of God it's being a soul winner Christian coaches if your number one goal is to be victorious in athletics you've lost sight of the cause our cause is still to win souls as we minister to our children greeter if your idea is well I get to be out of church and shake a few folks hand and I I've got such a magnanimous personality everybody's going to love me when I shake their hand you've lost side of your goal musicians singers if it's it's about wow I am so talented I'm so special what a singer I Am what a musician I am listen to How Great I can lead praise and worship listen to How Great I can harmonize listen to all I can do on my instrument we've lost sight of the cause a cause defined is a principle an aim or movement that because of deep commitment one is prepared to defend or Advocate let me tell you David knew what the cause was it was whether the entire Israel family would be servants to the Philistines or not that's the cause he was fighting for he said have you lost sight of the cause are you afraid are you fearful have you been redirected you see acts 1 and8 said ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be Witnesses listen when you get Holy Ghost filled you're going to have a goal of winning Souls you're going to be a witness you want to tell other folks about what you've experienced you want to tell other people about what God's done for you you're going to have a personal testimony you see once you realize what the cause is then it is important to know how to to maintain the cause in First Kings the 8th chapter verse 44 it says If thy people go out to battle against their enemy whether soever Thou shalt send them and shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which thou has chosen now there was going to be conquests in this day and time these conquests were examples because there was a a need for the conquest of the enemies that would come against Israel and toward the house that I have built for thy name he said you got to pray first and said then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication and maintain their cause you see not only should we have a cause we need to maintenance our call we need to take care of our cause the the idea of maintenance is really important I I looked up that ter to maintain and I found three different definitions one said to keep in an existing state to repair the next said to sustain against opposition or danger and the third said to carry on to continue in you see the simple example of why do we change the oil in our vehicle that's called maintenance to give the engine long life why do we tighten loose screws that holds everything together to keep things from wobbling and and coming apart why must we have consistent and strong prayer lives that's maintenancing our spirit that we can keep our minds right listen it's more than an a good saying for a marquee sign outside of church that seven days without prayer makes one week we a k you got to be talking to the Lord all the time that maintenances your spiritual strength why should we read the Bible regularly why should we be ha faithful to the house of God don't wait till something catastrophic starts happening and then start praying you need to already have a prayer life with God I remember Bishop telling the story of a a little church that was in the path of an apparent tornado coming and the church family was all praying and said three young men who had not wanted to darken the doors of the church ran in the back door and ran to the Altar and was pushing people aside trying to pray so the Pastor said hey guys wait your turn God's waiting on his regular customers don't wait till a catastrophic situation takes place before you develop a prayer life you need to maintain your walk and your talk with God every day talk to him commune with him then when Trouble Comes you've been maintenance you're prepared for every situation maintain the cause make sure that you hide the word of God in your heart he said my word if I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee I'm glad to assist folks search and research from time to time for Bible questions as a pastor you'll sometimes get those calls but you know there's some questions you ought to have the Bible in your heart and the word in your heart that you can answer yourself there's some things that when you're faced with a situation that scripture needs to be coming to your heart needs to be coming to your thoughts and Minds because you've hid his word in your heart maintenance your study of the word don't wait till a major catastrophe to come back to the house of God be in the house of God all the time but the second definition of maintain was to sustain against opposition or danger we should maintain the house of God let me explain 1 Chronicles 2626 and 27 says when shilei and his Brethren were over all the Treasures of the dedic ated things which David the king and the chief fathers and the captains over the thousands and hundreds and captains of the host had dedicated out of the spoils won in battle they D they dedicated to maintain the house of God they had a maintenance program when God gave them victories they reinvested it into the house of God some do not realize the importance of maintaining the house of God please understand now I speak in a spiritual sense I'm not just talking about changing light bulbs and bathroom tissue yes we want this place to always be maintenanced physically but sadly I see too many that look for a good opportunity and a good excuse to miss being in the house of God now I I'm not preaching tonight and spitting all over you and sweating bad but I hope you'll hear what I'm saying we can develop an attitude that man I've got a really good excuse to miss church tonight I won't feel guilty anytime I see someone who has that spirit and attitude I always think of the brother down in Mississippi that got up and testified he said I've been so sick he he said I felt too bad to miss church he said I wanted to be here that's where my healing was that's where my Provisions are you see we need to be looking for excuses to be in the house of God not to be out of the house of God and to miss the house of God I may as well do it while I'm preaching do you know you can be in the house and not be in the house I said you can be in the house and not be in the house you know there's a there's a parable in the Bible about the Lost coin coin got lost in the house coin wasn't in the yard coin wasn't down the street coin was in the house the house had to be swept in you know when we have church and you're here at church you ought to be in church we got a lot of stuff going on we got classes that are upstairs we've got classes that are next door we've got youth classes we've got p180 uh uh we've got we got adult's class we've got Nursery class and there's folks and and attendant that work in that and they're doing exactly what they're supposed to but sadly the church can develop lobbyists preacher are you preaching for from inspiration or information I'll tell you I'm preaching from a little bit of both we've got 40 some security cameras around this building that we have security staff that looks over the safety of us and they have to give of their time while we're enjoying church or should be they're checking up on things and sadly every once in a while I have to get a report of this one and that one they stood around the corner halfway through service talking about something must have been mighty important to miss being in the house of God whoop Hallelujah preach it brother M tell it listen when we're in the house we ought to be in the house this is a little pastoral preaching right now you need to be in this place don't find yourself lobbying don't find don't find yourself looking for an excuse oh I've heard that stuff before I've been you need to hear it again and again and again you need to hear the word you need to hear Bible study you need to hear preaching you need to be involved in worship I've heard it before who's watching you who's your kids watching who whose example are you you can forget the cause and not maintain the cause we need to be in the house of God when the word is preached we need to be in the house of God when worships going on you're going to need it sometime okay I'll quit meddling and get back to PR no I won't you see if we become the narcissistic Christians it's all about me and my versus we and he we can find ourselves not maintaining our walk with God because we had a Personal Agenda that was more important than being sold winners and being part of the church you know there will be events that take place that you personally may not be involved in we we'll have weddings that everybody's invited to we'll have funerals and you know there will be funerals that take place brother Jones that are connected to the Church saints that in their latter years wanted to be in the house of God they're no longer able if we aren't careful it will only be about things that we know and things that we do versus the church we'll come to ACS graduation if one of our kids are graduating but don't expect me to stay 10 minutes after and practice with the choir if I hadn't got anybody in the graduation we're going we're going on vacation that night we're going to set home you see there's a good of the whole church there's a good that we're now again I'm not talking about maintenancing the brick and the mortar and the roof I'm talking about we are the church and if we aren't careful we don't maintain the events let me tell you the flip side of that many many times at the beginning of the year I've got families in this church they want to coordinate their vacation schedule so they don't miss camp meeting they don't want they don't want to miss anniversary Services they don't want to miss special services that have scheduled why because they understand it's for the good of everybody they want their family they want their kids they want the success of the church to be maintained job said though he slay me yet will I trust him but I will maintain my own ways with him make sure you develop ways that helps maintain your relationship with with God and with the church you see your circumstances may change but if you've maintained the cause the circumstances will not change you job later on in job 2 and three God pointed finger as an example to Satan at job and said hast thou considered my servant job that there is none like him into the earth a perfect and upright man one that fearth God and issth Evil and still he holdeth fast his Integrity although thou movest me against him to destroy him without cause if you maintain the cause you won't question the cause when it feels like you're under attack oh I've seen folks with health issues or folks that have Calamity today in my conversation with brother Atkins he said brother mol he said yes we do need prayer for all the situations he said but more than anything else he said I want you to help me pray for all of those folks who are disappointed in this time time he said because there will some that will say God why would you let this happen to us brother Atkins reminded me of the battle that he faced a few years ago with covid he was in the hospital and the doctors frankly were giving very little hope for six days he was in the Intensive Care a very difficult difficult situation ation and someone asked him said brother Atkins did you ever pray why me brother Atkin said no said I prayed Why Not Me job's attitude wasn't why me Lord he said why not me he maintained his Integrity let me tell you you may face trials you may face test but if you've already settled it in your mind and you've maintained the cause in your life no trouble no trial no health issue no financial distress will deter you from maintaining the cause that I'm going to be saved and I'm going to be a soul winner oh Hallelujah you need to maintain your good works Titus 3:8 said this is a good this is a faithful saying these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which believed in God might be careful to maintain good works these things are good and profitable un unto all men it's never wrong to do good you know in today's vernacular some say I want to be bad it's good to be bad I remember reading a story several years ago about a Rising pop star who was looking to uh get his name even more known in the secular world and his agent he told this in a one of those tellall books his agent told him that he needed to on purpose get arrested for possession of drugs so he could get rid of his good guy reputation and have a bad boy reputation let me tell you I don't want a bad reputation I want a good reputation I want to Aspire to do good things in the kingdom of God no matter the CR criticism might come I want us to do good things to maintain good works it's never wrong to do good and finally I would mention this musicians get get ready the term maintain defined was to carry on to continue in Colossians 1:23 said if you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you have heard which was preached to every creature which is under Heaven whereof I Paul am made a minister continuing in the faith man I'm thankful for new converts but I'm also thankful for those who have continued in the faith their faces in this Sanctuary who have continued in the faith for 40 and 50 and 60 and 70 and 80 years in the faith not wavered once didn't have to have a backsliding episode didn't have to get out out and come back in they've maintained the cause they've continued grounded in faith not moved away First Apostolic church we as a body must continue in the faith there will be Temptations to vary or water down the doctrine of salvation so we could be molded in the denominal world's image there will be challenges that tells us to change standards of Holiness of Lifestyle but Jeremiah said it this way thus sayi the Lord stand ye in the way and see ask for the Old Paths where's good way walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls and I wish it stopped there but sadly it says but they said we will not walk therein What a Sad answer just stand in the old ways now does that mean we will not improve no does that mean we will not use the latest technology no does that mean that we will not advance with every way possible man I I was amazed Pastor Anthony we were getting ready we're preparing for that offering next week he said if you'll give me just a little bit I've got a a way that uh folks can give online to this cause that we have that's a little bit different than the way we used to take an offering say you got a dollar say Amen got a five say hallelujah if you got 10 say Glory Hallelujah you got 20 whoop we'll shout nothing wrong with that that's the way we built this place but God has given us new opportunities but it's the same given spirit it's got to be the same attitude we've got a