Sunday Morning Worship Service

well glory lord bless you i'm going to let you make your way to your seats we greet you in the precious name of jesus so good to see every one of you in the house of the lord on this sunday morning we welcome all of our guests who are joining us online thank you for worshiping with us i want to say a special welcome to any guest first time guest or returning guest that we might have here this morning i want to say a special welcome to lori smith this is a guest of sister becky flannery lori we're honored to have you worshiping with us could we welcome her with a clap offering of appreciation any other guests that i might have a might not have a guest card from you we welcome you just the same and we thank you for worshiping with us i am overjoyed my cup as we figuratively say is full and running over what a blessing thank you for your giving thank you for uh understanding that god is rewarding us and blessing us to advance to advance the ministry of reaching the lost i couldn't help but think as bishop was telling you about pastors appreciation month i do so appreciate and thank the saints of god for your faithfulness through the years i guess my catchphrase that i probably use way too often about the role that i have i feel that i am blessed to be able to glean from fields that i didn't plant but i feel it's my responsibility to continue to increase the yield of the field we're supposed to grow we're not supposed to stand pat and just be satisfied with where we are we've got to continue to grow and by that i'm not talking about numbers of people necessarily but i'm talking about in the quality of reaching the loss whether they're here in this assembly in our community or around the world through missions through our outreach and ministry through apostolic christian school i i just begin in my mind uh thinking about what a week at first apostolic church an apostolic christian school and happens to stall at kitty academy's like early on monday morning at 6 30 in the average week there will be our staff coming in to begin a new day as parents begin to bring their kids they're paying us to keep their kids and we can tell them about jesus isn't that awesome we're we're providing child care in our community what an outreach what a ministry our child care teachers they're telling from two-year-olds on up till it's time to go to kindergarten how to know jesus as they as we get to care for their kids about 7 30 8 o'clock apostolic christian school staff starts showing up and then there's a mad rush from between 8 and 8 30 as students begin to arrive at apostolic christian school oh i haven't told you this as of this year we have the largest enrollment we have ever had at apostolic christian school [Music] i think that deserves a clap offering of praise thank you acs staff for all you're doing you'll walk through this building that will be from child care teachers to our elementary teachers to our high school teachers and students all working together i'll see uh sister betty back in the kitchen getting prepared for lunch time we have to eat in shifts uh i'll see brother hudson walking around as our our maintenance uh works in our building and this happens every day every day by wednesday we'll get here for wednesday night worship in the word bible study our bishop will teach us this past week on thursday i got i had the privilege of driving a bus to gatlinburg uh we took i don't know how much this number is we took a slew of kids to the aquarium on thursday and there were there were kids and orange apostolic shirts everywhere they just about took over the aquarium on thursday and then got back in town just in time to fuel the bus up and get it ready so brother russell could take over and the high school went to nashville to uh the capitol and to the parthenon and had fellowship on friday and here we are on sunday morning that's just the average week at first apostolic church what a blessed ministry we're a part of incredible incredible and god is continuing to reward your faithfulness we are supporting the world missions field we're supporting missions america through the assemblies of the lord jesus christ god is doing mighty work and that's because you're faithful giving and i know that god's going to continue to reward you for your giving i want to take us to the word of the lord this morning i will be cognizant of the time but i want to call your attention to the book of first chronicles the 21st chapter i give honor to pastor whitley in his absence he's ministering in the great state of michigan today praying for him first chronicles the 21st chapter we're going to begin reading at verse number one and satan stood up against israel and provoked david to number israel and david said to joab and to the rulers of the people go number israel from beersheba even to dan and bring the number of them to me that i may know it and job answered the lord make his people a hundred times so many more as they be but my lord the king are they not all my lord's servants now to understand that he's saying what do you need a number they're all god's people why then doth my lord require this thing why will he be a cause of trespass to israel going back to verse 1 for a title it said that satan stood up against israel and provoked david i want to talk to you this morning concerning provoked by satan provoked by satan let's pray savior i love you god i'm grateful for the opportunity to carry your word i thank you for this precious precious congregation of people who are here today pray that your word would minister to every one of us lord talk to me talk to my heart speak to every one of us to make us better servants in your kingdom for all this we're grateful and thankful in jesus name we pray amen provoked by satan i hope today you will listen to scripture and maybe even mentally if not physically jot down a few vocabulary words if you don't know the meaning i'm going to give you some definitions as we move through our message or lesson today but that word provoke to provoke what does it mean to provoke the dictionary definition says it means to incite to anger to incense to stir up on purpose to excite to angry annoyance to irritate to aggravate or exasperate that's what it means to provoke i guess the example that comes most readily to my mind is the masters of provocation are children children are experts at knowing how to provoke each other sly looks invading one's personal space irritating touches annoying metally melodies whispered under their breath right now most of you it brings on a bad memory if somebody goes you know what that means you didn't learn that after you turned 21. you learned that a long time ago i don't know if kids are made with that melody in them it usually is an attempt to get a reaction of anger from a peer or a sibling or sometimes even a parent because children can even provoke parents you know the adults in the situation you know from the back seat you hear he's touching me and we as brilliant adults make bright statements like well don't anybody touch anybody and a few moments later you hear he's looking at me she's looking at me don't anybody look at anybody wasn't that an intelligent remark and then you know what we ultimately resort to doing saying i'll turn this car around like that's going to fix something and of course some of us i mean we're math majors we're accounting experts we can solve complicated math equations we can balance complex books and we reduce ourselves to saying i'm going to count to three trying to deal with provocation but apparently provocation is one of satan's major devices to cause us to sin let me get it straight with everyone satan cannot make you sin because if he could he would satan would just walk up and say oh boy you're going to sin today hey lady you're going to sin today satan can't make you sin he can tempt you he can find your human weakness and your fleshly frailties and he can provoke you through anger into sinning we all have a choice and are ultimately responsible for our own actions ephesians 4 said this in verse 26 be angry and sin not let not the sun go down upon thy wrat on your wrath and you know what verse 27 says neither give place to the devil i've got news for you the enemy comes in he will provoke you in anger if you aren't careful you give him a place right beside you it doesn't matter if you're at the table you're in the checkout line or you're in a traffic jam if you'll let him he'll sit down right beside you he'll provoke you and you'll sin ecclesiastes 5 1 says keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of god and be ready be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifices of fools for they consider not that they do evil be not rash with thy mouth let me read that again be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before god for god is in heaven and upon the earth therefore let thy words be few here's you another vocabulary word the word rash the word rash means displaying or proceeding from a lack of careful consideration of the possible consequences of an action what is he saying scripture uses words that it means don't pop off at your mouth so quick satan wants to provoke you to say something you shouldn't say to promise something you shouldn't promise to declare something that you shouldn't declare that passage goes on to say for a dream cometh through the multitude of business and a fool's voice is known by the multitude of words sounds like we need to dream more and talk less to me when thou vow us to vow unto god defer not to pay it he said don't promise stuff to god that you're not going to follow through with for he hath no pleasures and fools pay that which thou vowed better it is that thou should not bow then that thou should bow and not pay now many think this is strictly a statement about financial arrangements god i promise i'm going to do this and we should follow through with the promises we make to god financially but we take other vows too don't make marriage vows if you're not going to stay true to your mate for your life those are vows that you shouldn't make but don't get married if you don't stan plan on being married to that person the rest of your life it's a vow you're taking now i realize y'all aren't running the aisles right now everybody you know nobody's gonna get run over if you decide to run right now don't make baby dedication vows if you're not going to keep your child in the house of god and teach them to fear god don't make service vows oh god if you'll you'll let me do this and let me do that i promise i'll he said better is it that thou should not vow that now should it bow and not pay verse 6 says suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say thou before the angel that it was an error where of should god be angry thy voice and destroy the work of thine own hands we're identifying how the enemy provokes us to sin ii corinthians 2 11 said lest satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices let's understand when we start finding ourselves provoked in life many times the enemy's working the enemy is trying to destroy your good name the enemy's trying to get you to do something that you will forever regret with this in mind let's look a little bit deeper into how satan provoked david david allowed it to happen it said that satan stood up against israel he stood up against the people that david was keen over the people that david loved and he provoked david to number israel the bible doesn't give the specifics of how he provoked david so i can use my imagination just a little bit maybe it was that david's wife went to the queen's socials of the adjoining countries and she was the only one that didn't know how many subjects they had in their kingdom david it's not fair the queen of this country they know how many people they've got the queen of that i don't know i can imagine maybe david went to the king's general conference and all the other kings could tell exactly how many subjects they had in their kingdom you know what kind of chariot are you driving and how many subjects do you have in your kingdom and david said i don't know how many we've got it's not stated how and why but david was somehow prodded provoked into taking a census that god didn't want to happen you might ought to ask yourself the question today how does satan provoke me because he tries to provoke us all so many times it's some small thing the song of solomon 2 15 said take us the foxes the little foxes that spoil the vines for our vines have tender grape a missed handshake a failed visit a forgotten name a perceived inequity well i'll just quit going to church i'll just take my family away from the house of god because i'm provoked by some little little itty-bitty teeny-weeny subject and some supposed slight that the enemy is magnifying in your eyes it was probably some relatively small thing that provoked david into violating god's command not to number the people i've been even asking myself the question because you start rationalizing things sometimes why wouldn't god want david to number the people in the first place what harm would that do i've heard bishop tell that one of the greatest things that ever evolved in first apostolic church was when we stopped having one of those big wooden boards up on the wall that had last week's offering and last week's attendance record attendance and record offering he said because that tended to eventually become a monument to every time you didn't meet that you were being a failure there are sometimes numbers shouldn't matter just being in god's will ought to be what we're excited about sometimes it doesn't matter how many it matters are we in god's will and doing what god told us to do [Applause] why wouldn't god want his people to be numbered well it could have been that he knew david in his humanity would either become one of two things either he would become overconfident because of the numbers that he had or he would become insecure when god told him to go to battle because he didn't think he had enough the reason god does not always answer your prayers the way or in the time frame that you think he ought to is maybe he's wanting you to trust in him a little longer instead of knowing the numbers and the outcome sometimes god says just trust in me i'm going to do the work in my time and it's going to be the right time if you hadn't got your answer yet keep on praying keep on believing god's still working forget the numbers just obey god you see the love of god will prevent provocation first corinthians 13 4 says charity which is love suffereth long and is kind charity envieth not charity vaunteth not itself is not puffed up doth not behave itself unseemingly seek him not her own is not easily provoked and thinketh no evil when you've got the love of god in you when the devil tries to provoke you with some silly little something the love of god will spring up he's i'm not going to let that make me do something wrong oh that that might have been intended to be offensive to me but i'm not going to get offended well look for the best somebody didn't shake my hand well they're too busy don't worry about it they were they were greeting somebody else they didn't say hi to me don't worry about even if they intended it to be so if you've got the love of god and you satan can't provoke you i'm talking to somebody today too many of us are looking for drama in our lives there are too many who thrive on drama looking for controversy looking for an excuse to get a little thing to get our feelings hurt but you see david gave in and he took a census and the bible says in first chronicles 21 7 and god was displeased with this thing therefore he smote israel the nation began to pay for the leadership's provocation and david said unto god i have sinned greatly because i have done this thing but now i beseech thee do away the iniquity of thy servant for i've done very foolishly david was quick to repent and realize he had done wrong but there was a price to pay for his sin of disobedience for verse 9 says and the lord spake unto gad david seer saying go and tell david saying this saith the lord i offer thee three things choose thee one of them that i may do it unto thee there is a price for disobedience david was given these three choices so gad came to david and said to him thus saith the lord choose thee either three years of famine or three months to be destroyed before thy foes while the sword of thine enemies overtake thee or else three days the sword of the lord even the pestilence in the land and the angel of the lord destroying throughout all the coasts of israel now therefore advise thyself what word i shall bring unto him that sent me now think about it god gave david opportunity to choose a three-year famine on the land three months at peril at the hand of man or three days of pestilence at the hand of the lord humanity would say oh i don't want the lord punishing me he's too powerful think about that god could punish in three days more than any could other could do but david also knew a merciful lord moms and dads have you ever in your parenting knew you were going to have to meet out some type of discipline but because you are a loving father a mother there was mercy in your discipline david knew he was serving a merciful god he knew that oh three years of famine wouldn't affect him even though he had sinned because his substance as a king would take care of him he knew that man has no mercy mankind if he had three months at the hand of mankind's sword he was in big trouble with all the people but he knew even though god would be in charge for three days that god was a merciful god aren't you thankful that even when god has to give us some type of discipline for what we've done he says i love you i'm your father i care about you i'm a merciful god let me tell you today if satan's provoked you to sin don't turn to man don't turn to earthly devices say god you're the merciful god i put myself in your hands i guess i would pause and tell our media folks i didn't give you a couple of scriptures that i felt the lord gave me early this morning when you think you've got all your message together and then something else comes along i don't always get to the media folks so y'all just hold on because god being our father and we being his children should be our example of good parenting skills did you know that ephesians 6 1 says children obey your parents in the lord for this is right all the mom and dads want to dance now tell my kids that again hallelujah children obey your parents and the lord for this is right but that should have been the end of that chapter as far as many of us are concerned honor thy father and mother which is the first commandment problem oh hallelujah keep on going preacher that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth boy that that's that's wonderful parenting advice thank you pastor tell all of us letting my kids know they're supposed to obey because it's right and they're supposed to honor me it's there but verse 4 comes along and says and ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath don't make your kids mad in correction but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the lord here's two more vocabulary words what does nurture mean it's the process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something we apostolic christian parents have a responsibility to nurture our kids not provoke them to wrath yelling screaming demeaning and denigrating your children are not great parenting skills i need to be caring and encouraging encouraging their growth but you don't know remember how the message started some of us need to be the adults in the room more often in dealing with our children now again this is not something that makes everybody want to run to the altar but i hope someone will hear me today because some of us struggle with these type of things anger will build up inside of us and the first one we take it out on is that child that god has given us care for that we can nurture oh they're going to get on your nerves that's that's kids i've got to teach them in the nurture and admonition the act or action of authoritative counsel or warning you're the authority i'm going to tell you four more times and then you're in trouble you've already relinquished your authority you just waited your daddy gets home you know what you just said mama i can't handle this daddy's got to do all the disciplining and i want you to notice i'm careful to use the word discipline [Music] and correction we should never punish our children we should correct our children oh it's quiet in here i know you're just listening you're taking to heart what i said about listening in the house of god colossians 3 21 said fathers provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged if your children never hear a kind word from you if your children always know that mom and daddy's first reaction is going to be to yell and browbeat suddenly they're going to be discouraged there's an encouraging way to correct your children there's an encouraging way as the authority in their life to bring them up in the house of god to sadly in the world we live in we will have folks come into the house of god you can tell that their children are unchurched they haven't been taught even social graces of how to behave in a public place and all of a sudden the mom and dad who have not been teaching these things in anger and personal embarrassment will take it out on the child please hear me today i'm telling you something is going to make some better appearance and bring on another generation of better kids if we'll follow what the word of the lord says we need to correct our children we need to teach our children we need to be the authority and the counsel and the warning in their life it's time to learn a new rule of provocation hebrews 10 22 says this let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water musicians and praise team come let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised let's turn something on the enemy let's turn something on satan let us let us consider one another what does that mean stop being selfish and thinking about yourself so much and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works if i'm going to be provoked let it be something that provokes me to i'm going to give more i'm going to praise more i'm going to worship more i'm going to care about others more rather than provoking to anger let me be provoked to love into good works notice verse 25 it's in this chronology not by accident not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another so the much more as you see the day approaching we exhort each other man we're going to have church tonight we're going to have church wednesday night we're going to have fall festival friday we're looking for excuses opportunities for us to get together not to be separate because we're the people of god we love each other we're provoking each other to be soul winners stand with me for if we sin willfully after that we receive the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifices for sin if you are easily provoked let me try to provoke you to love to good works to coming to church to soul winning did you know some fear speaking to others of cool i can't i can't go out and and meet folks that's not in my personality i i have a hard time uh being a witness or inviting folks just well let me show you where you might ought to start romans 11 13 says for i speak to you gentiles inasmuch as i am the apostle of the gentiles i magnify my office now paul is making it clear that i'm ministering to some folks that at one time were thought you couldn't minister to the gentiles [Music] he said if by any means i might provoke to emulation them which are my flesh those that are closest to me who are your flesh your families your flesh did you know we have a responsibility [Music] to evangelize our families man if you can't talk to a stranger you've got family you can talk to and he said to do this if by any means i may provoke to emulation one more vocabulary word emulation means an effort to match or surpass a person or achievement typically by imitation paul said i hope i can provoke all of you to act like me to be a soul winner find a soul winner and act like them when you're dealing with your family find someone that's not ashamed of the gospel say i'm going to emulate them i want to be as good if not a better soul winner than them he said by if by any means i may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh and might save some of them this is a call today to be provoked to the love of god in your life this is a call today make no commitment that you will not keep but i asked you to commit today to say i'm going to have the love of god in me i'm going to reach my family i'm going to reach the lost those that i can touch that no one else can i want to reach today if you want to be a soul winner if you have someone in your family that you would like to reach i want us to in a season of prayer come forward today and say lord give me opportunity to win someone to you would you make that promise give me opportunity to witness to somebody if you'll make that promise to god he'll make it available would you step out there's somebody you can win today with the love of god be provoked to god's love hallelujah sing for us seen many searching for answers far and away but i know we're all searching for answers [Music] [Music] who you are [Music] in all of your ways [Music] you are perfect in all of your ways to use [Music] is [Music] [Music] would you love jesus just one more time would you love him just one more time savior i love you savior i pray that i would be provoked to good works today savior up thank you because you've given me the opportunity to love you've given me the responsibility of my children you've given me the responsibility and lord let me have your love permeating from everything that i do that i might minister to my family to the lost and bring them in i praise you lord i thank you in jesus name we pray amen and amen first apostolic church thank you for being a loving church family thank you for being provoked to love i encourage you to be here tonight prayer time at six o'clock all choir and musicians please notice choir and musicians five o'clock choir that's 30 minutes earlier than normal for you because we're learning a new song beginning a new song choir five o'clock musicians five o'clock prayer time at six main evangelistic service at 6 30. join us tonight let's have a great time in the lord you're dismissed in jesus name greet each other as your personal protocols afford you the privilege to do