Sunday Evening Worship Service

I would call your attention to the Book of Exodus the 23rd chapter Exodus 23 we're going to read four verses for our text Exodus 23 beginning at verse number 27 the Lord speaking to his people I will send my fear before thee and I will destroy all the people to whom Thou shalt come and I will make all thine enemies turn to their back turn their backs unto thee and I will send Hornets before thee which shall drive out the hivites the Canaanites and the Hittites from before Thee I will not drive them out from before thee in one year lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply against thee by little and little I will drive them out from before the until thou be increased and inherit the land for a few moments tonight I would speak to you on this subject when God works little by little when God works little by little let's pray savior I love you God thank you for your presence that we have been enjoying tonight Lord I Thank you for the freedom to worship I thank you for praisers and worshippers who unashamed lift their hands lift their voice voes and send their praise to you now God receive our praise tonight reward it with your blessings Lord feel the need of every individual in this house we thank you we praise you and we love you in Jesus name we pray amen amen Lord bless you you can be seated if we examine the book of Exodus from chapter 20 through chapter 23 where we read up to verse about 25 you will find in the beginning of chapter 20 of Exodus you'll find the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses to direct God's people But after those Ten Commandments if you take the time to read the remaining verses and chapters you will find a laundry list of common sensical instructions of dos and don'ts that allowed the people of Israel God's chosen people who had been promised the promised land you'll find these common sensical instructions on how to proceed Now understand they had experienced great Miracles they had experienced some of the most amazing things when they were delivered from Egypt they saw the Red Sea parted and they walked across on dry land they had experienced a mighty Army of pharaoh pursuing them only for God to allow the sea to close back in and drown Pharaoh's Army they had been led by a CL L by day and Fire by night they had been experiencing so many amazing big time Miracles if you will the kind of things that would make the headlines but now God is giving some instructions to them and he's promising them some things he said I I'm going to take care of you getting you into the promised land I got you out of bondage you're wandering through the Wilderness and there's going to be a time that you're going to come up against enemies and and you don't even know how to deal with having the promised land yet and he said here's what's going to happen he said I'm going to send fear before you everybody's going to be afraid of you I'm going to destroy anybody that comes up against you I'm going to make your enemies turn their backs on you that means they're saying Feet Don't Fail Me Now they're after me they're running and then he said I'll send Hornets before thee and he made this statement he said I'm not going to do this all at once he said it's not even going to happen within a year well tell me about it you know the rest of the story it took 40 years for them to get where they were going a lot of that was because of their Direction you know Moses was in charge he's a man he wouldn't stop ask for Direction no that's not what happened but the real truth is a lot of their Disobedience caused them not to have Direction but God also knew that this people even in their Newfound Freedom were not capable of truly possessing the land that he had promised them and it was going to be a little by little advance and he was going to do some common sensical things for them that didn't make headlines it wasn't going to always be dividing the sea and a pillar of Fire by night there were going to be some little things that would have to take place on their Journey so this is how we arrive at our text but I've got news for you we even today sometimes feel like that only time a miracle Miracle takes place if it's an advent of Epic Proportion sometimes we as God's people if we aren't careful aren't observant enough patient enough or thankful enough to realize the little blessings and the little victories that God does for us sometimes on our journey that he's given us sometimes we want to extol the big things and we will but sometimes I need to just thank him for another day I want to thank him ca he woke me up this morning I want to thank him that I was in my right mind I want to thank him that he started me on my way I want to thinking that I've got a job to go [Applause] to no big deal no headlines no fire and smoke but there's some little things you see we are however very quick to give the enemy credit for the smallest bit of adversity Story Goes one lady got up testified said I want to tell everybody the devil's been after me all day long praise His holy name summer just so willing to any little thing that takes place give the devil a bunch of credit they'll almost read with Glee The Song of Solomon when it said take us the foxes the little foxes that spoil the Vines for our Vines are tender grapes yet we fail to thank the Lord from some of those little things that we're taking for granted every day that he's providing for us our freedoms our families our opportunities God's doing something for me every day it doesn't always have to be this Monumental thing just thanking for the little things the big stuff will come soon enough many times we magnify the enemy and his henchmen and we're quick to give Satan Satan's little problems credit rather than acknowledging God's just working little by little sometimes I need just a little blessing I need a little Victory please don't take this as bragging I'm 65 years old I'm too old to brag but when I was high in high school you know that was back when they had dinosaur parking and all that stuff you know you Stone and not really but it was close I'll use brother Gino Magnus uh statement G brother Gino Magnus said the older I get the faster I used to be when you retell it you know that's right but something happened with me I when you're when you're this size Brun don't get you much but I could run fast I was pretty pretty quick a foot and I was in a gym class and in the gym class back then you had dress out for gym and I did not wear shorts that was my conviction I didn't say that was my church's conviction that was my conviction I didn't blame it on the church that was my conviction and I I told the coach I'll dress out I'll I'll wear sweatpants and I'll do anything you want me to do so uh coach said well as long as you participate that's fine so uh this particular gym class that I had at West High School the coach that was over the track team at West High School was also the PE coach and one quarter that we were in they did track and fill during the P class and he lined us up and raced us and he put the timer out there we went out on the track and and uh I did pretty good apparently because he approached me he said mcole have you ever thought about running track I said coach I appreciate it but no that's just not something I'm wanting to do he said well now what's the problem he said do I need to talk to your parents about it I said no coach I said that's that's my decision I said I'm committed to to going to church and I don't I I I I have nothing against Athletics but I said I I'm not going to run track well time passed we went through the whole school year and the last day of school they used to have a thing at our school called field day some of y'all remember that y'all had dinosaur parking too didn't you and field day came out and uh every body in each Home Room was going to compete against other Home rooms so our home room was competing against another home room and uh so M we want to sign you up for something okay so they signed me up to run the 100 yard dash and so we got out there and the whole school's out you know last day of school having a good time and this coach I can still call his name but I'm not going to he was running the track deal and I'll never forget it I had on my tennis shoes my blue jeans and we had to go sign a sheet and then go down to the start Finish Line where they and he was at the the finish line and was sending us down to the start line and he said to mul those track guys that's in this Heat's going to smoke you in your jeans was exact words he said I said coach you're probably right so we went down they fired the gun I don't know where it rated in alltime track I don't care I just was able to outrun the other five guys that was in my heat and to me at that time that was the greatest little Victory to confirm to me that I was doing what I was supposed to do I'm not trying to be smart SM about that and I I'm not saying I was all that fast but I was fast enough that day let me tell you sometimes God's going to give you some little victories in your life that'll keep you reminded that you're on track you're doing the right thing if you'll trust in him if you'll have honesty and integrity on your job if you'll be someone that's dependable on your job it will pay off there'll be some little victories that don't seem like much but it'll open some doors for you someday hear me I declare that we should give God more praise for little blessings and little victories you see God knew how to use little things in scripture in Matthew 15:34 I need not go through all the details of the story simply to say this and Jesus said to them how many loaves have ye and they said seven and a few little fish now they were getting ready to serve a banquet of over 5,000 Jesus had the power at the blink of an eye at the knot of his head he could have had fish and chips for everybody I mean he but he said no I'm going to take some little something and I'm going to prove myself once again sometimes if You' got just a little something if you got a few little fish to give Jesus if you've got a little prayer if you've got a little offering of sacrifice if you've got a little commitment he'll take it and make a big miracle out of it Jesus knows how to use some little things to do some big stuff in your life right in First Kings we read the story of the Widow who was facing starvation and the loss of her children First Kings 17:12 and she said as the Lord thy God liveth I have not a cake but a handful of meal and a barrel and a little oil in a cruise and behold I am Gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son that we may eat it and die and Elijah said unto her fear not go and do as thou Hast but make me therefore a little cake first he said if you'll make just a little sacrifice sure big things happen big opportunities come along but some times God just looking for somebody by faith say I'm going to give all I got it's just a little cake it's not much it's it's a little effort he said make me a little cake first and bring it unto me and after make for thee and for thy son and for thus say the Lord God of Israel the barrel of meal shall not waste neither shall the cruise of oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the Earth and she went and did according to the sa of Elijah and she and he and her house did eat many days in the barrel of MEK wasted not neither did the cruise of oil F according to the word of the Lord which he spake to Elijah just make a little sacrifice we sometimes are looking for a big miracle when all the time God's working little by little need I remind us again when we got just a little bit of a discount on bricking this building what God did when when when we were needing to Brick the building and and all of a sudden $2 a brick was a retail price and they said hey I mean they walked to the door we didn't call anybody we didn't invite a brick salesman for crying out loud he showed up at the door and said hey I I've got some brick here you want to buy them Bishop said how much are they he said they retail for $2 brick he said if you want them we'll sell them for 25 cents a brick that's just a little discount God sometimes is going to do a little work in your life to do some great big stuff if you'll just keep trusting in Him keep believing stay faithful let him do a little something in your life tonight oh [Applause] Hallelujah a little bit of favor with a building inspector who knows some of the very things that we despise and curse sometimes a little delay in the traffic may have prevented a catastrophic accident that you would have been in the middle of God sometimes doing little stuff that we get upset about and all the time he's been looking out for us day after day after day thank him for the little things little by little he's doing something for you [Applause] Hallelujah some of us the only prayer we can pray is oh God let me win Publishers Clearing House giveaway and I'll support the church may be just a little tithe little offering that God wants to bless and show you when it seems impossible financially that he can take the little bit that you have and bless you because of your faithfulness this is why Joshua would have to reduce an army of 32,000 down to 300 before God could work he had to reduce that Army to a little size in Man's eyes but notice in our text God said this to the people of Israel he said I'm going to send hornet to protect you Hornets I looked up a hornet the average Hornet full grown is 2.2 Ines long you know I if he' been talking to me I'd have been more like Lord couldn't you send something a little bigger than that I Lord could couldn't you couldn't you you know hurt of elephants pride of lions Hornets but a readed as an all stinging wasps Hornets can sting multiple times they do not die after stinging a human as is typical of worker honeybees as Hornets Stingers are not Barbed they also bite and sting at the same same time God knows how to use some little things to get you a victory if you'll trust in him he can send the most annoying thing to your enemy to tear them up he said I'm going to send Hornets 2.2 Ines Hornets like many social Wass can mobilize the entire Nest to sting in defense which is highly dangerous to humans the Hornets alarm Theron is used to raise alarms of the nest attacked to identify prey it is not advisable to kill a hornet anywhere near the nest as they their distress signal can trigger the entire Nest to attack material that comes in in contact with the Theron such as clothes skin dead prey or Hornets must be removed from the vicinity of The Hornet's Nest perfumes and other volatile chem chemicals can be falsely identified as Theron by hornets and trigger an attack he said it's not going to take a year it's little by little but he said I'll send Hornets in front of you he said I will stir up a Hornet s if I need to to defend you now I read some of the Bible commentators do not all agree on if this was a literal Hornet that this could have meant a figurative statement that he would stir up trouble I'm confident whatever God did whether it was real Hornets or trouble when he needed to drive out the hivites the Canaanites the Hittites he could stir up a hornet's nest it was a swarm that would it wasn't a bunch of bumblebees it wasn't a bunch of carpenter bees it wasn't a bunch of honey bees it wasn't even spelling bees I don't know if they could spell or not he sent something that was so annoying and so consistently troubling to the enemy that they were willing to give up their land so God's people could walk in he said I'll stir up something small but I'll make it big enough that it'll drive out the enemy sometimes if we're not careful God's working on something little by little and we try to get out ahead of him he said it may not may not happen in a year remember I believe it was Zachariah said for who ha despised the day of small things God throughout scripture use little things and little people sometimes let me remind you of another story in 2 Kings the 5th chapter verse 5 it said and the king of Syria said go to go and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel the king of Syria's sending one of his great men to Israel and he departed and took with him 10 Talons of silver 6,000 pieces of gold and 10 changes of rment and he brought the letter to the king of Israel saying saying now when this letter is come unto thee behold I have therewith sent non my servant to thee that thou mayest recover his leprosy the king of Syria is sending his great military leader non to the king of Israel said I I he's something about healing over there and I want him to be recovered from leprosy and I'm sending this offering and it came to pass when the king of Israel had read the letter that he rent his clothes and said am I God to kill and to make alive and this man that send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy wherefore consider I pray you and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me the king got all excited the king of Israel said this is a set up he's given me ano an impossible assignment sent name in here with Leprosy and wants me to heal him but verse eight says this and it was so when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes that he sent to the king saying wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes let him come now to me he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel I want you to notice here the confidence between the conventional civil thinking of a king and the spiritual Supernatural thinking of a prophet he wasn't being cocky but he was being confident he wasn't confident in himself he was confident in the God he served Elisha said bring him on I'm not worried about him picking a fight he's going to know that there's a prophet of God in Israel send him our way the king felt threatened and was suspicious the prophet saw an opportunity for a little healing and a little blessing so non came with his horses and with his Chariot and stood at the door of the House of Elisha and Elisha went out and bowed down and said oh great no Elisha didn't even go out to see him said hey servant he said go out there and tell non to go jump in the river well that's the mrv the mul revised version he actually said and Elisha sent a messenger and said unto him go and wash in the Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shalt be clean and non was raw he was upset said he was angry he was mad and he went away and said behold notice this I thought that's a problem when we think we know how God needs to do something when we think this is how it's going to happen if God's going to accomplish a miracle but non was wrought and went away and said behold I thought he will surely come out to me stand and call on the name of the Lord Lord his God and strick his hand over the place and recover the leper you see non wasn't worried about a healing as much as he was a big event he wanted a grand production he had expectation of smoke and fire and a grand statement and a grand booming voice and suddenly boom his leprosy was gone you see sometimes we're expecting miracles to be this great big display when all the time God's looking for a little obedience go dip in the Jordan seven times just a little obedience just willing to follow some instruction God let me be more willing to humble myself before you whatever you call me to do rather than looking for some Grand and glorious production just a little humility a little obedience well you know the story after non got over his temper tantrum one of his servants said look if he' had told you to go to a clean River You' have done what he said if he' cast his hand over but he said You' to just try what he said do non went and dipped seven time in the Jordan on the seventh time he was cleansed but we're talking about when God works little by little who did God use to get this going in the first place I told you about the Kings and their interaction but let me take you back to the beginning of the story just a moment 2 Kings 51 says now non captain of the host of the king of Syria was a great man with his master and honorable because by him the Lord had given Deliverance unto Syria he was a mighty man of Valor but he was a leper and the syrians had gone out by companies and brought away captives out of the land of Israel a little maid and she waited on non's house or non's wife and she she said unto her mistress would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria for he would recover him of his leprosy and one went in and told his Lord saying thus and thus say the maid that is of the land of Israel the testimony of a little Maid would bring a about a great man's healing what are you saying preacher sometimes we view our status in life with the power of God that we should have to affect others you don't always have to be in charge to have a witness sometimes you may be the lowest on the totem pole as an employee but God will open some doors for you to be a witness if you'll just let him use you you don't have to worry about your status he took a little maid and said I'm going to let a testimony take place that a great healing can take take place oh [Music] Hallelujah remember if your boss or your superiors are lost you have the healing that they need you don't have to be in charge to have spiritual influence or to have a testimony well let me draw toward a close let me warn you he works little by little but don't ever get little man Sy Bishop preached about zakus today boy Bishop sure described him as an honory fell and he was right and Luke you can read the whole story I'll paraphrase when Jesus passed through Jericho zakus it said he was the chief among publicans however honory the Republicans would get he was the worst one of them all he was the chief among the publicans and was rich most likely his riches had come from collecting taxes more than they needed and being a cheat and a one who used the leverage of the law and the knowledge of the law to achieve his status but he heard Jesus was coming the Bible said he sought to see Jesus you would be surprised if you just pay attention how how many honor people would really like to see Jesus if we'll just present Jesus to this world there's some folks that's been doing some ugly stuff that have been living some nasty lives but if we'll just have Jesus here they'll want to see Jesus he went up in the sycamore tree when Jesus passed by Jesus looked looked up saw him said come down cuz I want to go to your house he made haste he came down and he received Jesus joyfully there's always someone to criticize everybody else around his fellow publicans I would assume when they saw it they murmured it said and said he started talking about Jesus said that he has gone to be a guest with a man that's a sinner and when Jesus got to zakiah house and he said unto the Lord Lord behold the half of my goods I give to the poor now you can read this as him bragging but if you really read it carefully I believe he'd just come to a decision that's what I'm going to do he said Lord the half of my goods I'll give it to the poor and I if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation I restore him for fold he didn't say I've already been doing that I think he' made a decision I'm fixing to do that you see when Jesus shows up he'll change folks zakus had this little man syndrome that he was going to collect and he was going to be the chief Publican he was going to be as bad as he could be but when Jesus came to his house suddenly he started being a giver instead of a taker he started wanting to make good what he had done in the passed for Jesus you know had he had that not been the case there would have been no reason to call him a sinner right had he already been doing those things and Jesus said unto him this day is salvation come to this house for as much as he also is a son of Abraham for the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost musicians get ready I want to tell you God's got some little things for us tonight Ezra said and now for a little space Grace has sh been showed from the Lord Our God to leave us a Remnant to escape and to give us a nail in his holy place that our God May lighten our eyes and give us a little Reviving in our bondage a little Grace and a little Reviving I need a little Grace every day can't think I'm too holy we're still Bound by the bonds of Flesh I need a little Reviving in the Holy Ghost I need a little Grace and you know what else we need continually Isaiah said this Isaiah 28 Whom Shall he teach knowledge and Whom Shall he make to understand Doctrine then that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast but precept must be upon precept precept upon precept line upon line line upon line hear a little and there a little and then he said for with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to his people you know if you're going to understand Doctrine you need to get into the meat of the word you know where you get the meat of the word it's a lot of times being in Bible study on Wednesday night and letting the word be taught to you young folks being involved in all those classes that are meant for specific age groups groups going to camp meetings and conferences and Revival hearing a little preaching over here hear a little pastoral advice over there hearing this taught hearing that taught within the framework of the church you get a little here and a little there and suddenly it starts making the grand picture come into Focus ladies going to ladies com conference I I weigh my words carefully but I I I had a pastor who had contacted me who had taken the pastorate of a church that had gone in a I'll just call it in a left Direction and he said I I don't know the first steps I I I I want to think bring bring things back to Center I told him I said well bro it's not going to happen all at once but I said you know what you need to do I said you need to get your people fellowshipping with other Apostolic folks you've become isolated go to take your young folks to National youth convention take them to rallies and conferences I get your church family get them to come to camp meeting go to General Ministry Conference get your ladies to go to ladies conference get your men to go to Men's Conference and let them start getting a little here and a little there and suddenly they they start finding that path and that direction that they needed to be in for then the power of the Holy Ghost can take place with stammering lips and another tongue will I speak to my people and ultimately I say this if you want a little blessing from God you need to make God bigger than anything else if you'll make God big in your life everything else will suddenly become so small the psalmist said it this way oh magnify the Lord with me let us exalt his name together stand with me you you know what was happening in the service earlier they started singing I just want to speak the name of Jesus over every heart in every life for I know there is peace I wish I knew all the words like they do but then they saying I speak Jesus now remember remember I'm saying shout Jesus for my family shout Jesus in the streets shout Jesus over every situation you've got suddenly when you start magnifying Jesus in your life oh Hallelujah I feel the Holy Ghost in This House right now when you can start making Jesus big he can start blessing you in the little things and and he can start defending you with little things against the big trials oh magnify the Lord with me Hallelujah let us exalt his name that's what we've been doing exalting the name of Jesus I don't know someone's in the house tonight you may just be needing a little blessing and this was the message for you to hear somebody may be needing a little renewing in the Holy Ghost and there may be somebody that's needing to give a little forgiveness to [Music] somebody you need to take a little step by faith tonight to step out here in just a moment and come around the Altar and start magnifying Jesus above that situation start magnifying Jesus above that problem we used to sing faith faith faith Just a Little Bit of Faith before that we sing have a little talk with Jesus and make it right let me ask you to do this whatever you have need of would you step out with a little faith tonight gather around for a season of magnifying Jesus would you Magnify Him in your life whatever you're facing whatever situation you're dealing with with would you come magnifying Jesus and let him take some little things and accomplish great things in your life hallelujah [Music] hallelujah sing [Music] [Applause] [Music] it sing it now [Music] [Applause] yeah I speak that [Music] name [Music] Hallelujah speak that name right now speak that name over this situation you know the health situation I speak Jesus over my health right now I speak Jesus over my help right now you know my financial situation I speak Jesus I speak Jesus H you know that relationship that needs to be healed I speak Jesus over it right now I speak Jesus over my family I Call On You Jesus touch my family oh Hallelujah is power healing it's [Music] healing your name is Shout [Applause] [Music] Hallelujah Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus [Applause] hey break it right [Music] now [Music] Hallelujah say [Music] it Jesus in the I speak Jesus for my family hey hey yeah Jesus shout shout Jesus from the mountain Jesus [Music] [Music] in now would you lift your hands and give him a little praise give him a little bit of Praise right now Jesus I Praise You Jesus I praise you for every Victory I praise you for every accomplishment oh hallelujah hallelujah would you go from this place tonight expecting a little Victory tomorrow expecting a little bit of accomplishment tomorrow day by day he's going to be with us in our lives Lord bless you would you greet you brothers and sisters you are dismissed in Jesus name Hallelujah for