Sunday Evening Worship Service | (5.8.2022)

somebody getting praise [Applause] come on somebody getting praise there's no one like him there's no one like him come on clap your hand somebody give him praise because there's no one like him he's matchless in all of his ways amen do you believe that he's good he is good has he been good anybody in this house has he been good to you when you didn't deserve it he's been good somebody clap your hands one more time unto the lord tonight you can start making your way back to your seats as you're doing that grab your phones or your bibles or devices and we'll go to judges chapter number 13 as you're turning there we opened up tonight and we had praise team rehearsal and practice and then for the third week in a row we baptize somebody from p-i-a again tonight i think we should get a little praise for that three weeks in a row we have baptized somebody from pia one lady first lady three weeks ago she just keeps bringing people every week and they preach and they pray and they praise and god moves all it takes is one all it takes is one person to bring another person and another person another person and revival begins to break out and i think that is what the lord wants us to do right here and i'm so thankful for what they are doing in pia and all across the sanctuary let's give sister stacy george and the kids quest choir another hand they did an awesome job tonight [Applause] amen and have you enjoyed this beautiful scenery all day today gonna give brother derek daniel and his team a great big hand i love the flowers and all of that it looks so so amazing and what a great day we've had today let's go to judges chapter number 13 as we've been celebrating moms today i want to try to look at one mother in the bible and see if we can emulate her faithfulness in our lives today let's go to judges chapter number 13. we'll begin reading at verse number one we'll read throughout this text tonight so we'll just start here at verse 1 of judges chapter number 13. this first verse is important because if you don't understand the context or the setting the rest of it doesn't really make sense so first one the children of israel did evil again in the sight of the lord and the lord delivered them into the hand of the philistines forty years okay verse two and there was a certain man of zorah of the family of the danites whose name was manoah and his wife doesn't say her name and his wife was barren and bear not and the angel of the lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her behold now thou art barren and bearest not but thou shalt conceive and bear a son verse 4 now therefore beware i pray thee and drink not wine nor strong drink and eat not any unclean thing for lo thou shalt conceive and bear a son and no razor shall come on his head for the child shall be a nazarite unto god from the womb someone say from the womb and he shall begin to deliver israel out of the hand of the philistines tonight i want to talk to you about a nameless mother a nameless mother right where you are sitting let's pray together the lord would speak to somebody's heart from his word father we thank you for a great day we thank you lord for the time of fellowship and visitation with our families we thank you for your sweet spirit that has been here all all day since the moment we've unlocked the doors and to our service today in pia and even now well i pray god that your word would go forth and be see that would find good ground and that would bring some for 30 and 60 and a hundred fold in their lives help us god to see faithfulness in the life of this nameless woman in jesus name we pray and everyone set amen one more time once you clap your hands unto the lord today [Applause] a nameless mother mother's day is a time where we honor our moms and celebrate who they are and what they've done for us like other holidays perhaps we should honor and celebrate our mothers more than just once a year for mothers play a very important role in our life more than just one day russell moore who was at one time the president of the ethics and religious liberty commission of the southern baptist convention wrote a couple of years ago he wrote this and i quote him why do dying men call for mama that's the question i've been pondering for months since reading a line in an atlantic monthly article about what we can learn from the last words of the dying surveying how many of the dying used similar words often invoking childhood and family in their final moments the author quoted a hospice nurse from a german magazine about how there was in this nurse's experience a common factor among the dying men with whom she worked almost everyone is calling for mommy or mama with the last breath from the moment you were conceived to the last moments of your life and everything in between mothers have been very influential for you there are some very interesting stories about mothers throughout the bible we could probably name several prominent mothers in scripture such as eve and sarah and hannah and mary the mother of jesus but there are many other mothers in the bible whose names are not given such is the case of samson sampson's mother was simply known as the wife of manoa though she more than likely had a name scripture does not reveal it to us she may have been nameless but in her short story it reveals that she was faithful she was a faithful mother and she proves to all of us what it takes to be devoted to god devoted to our families and devoted to their well-being and to their future in spite of her remaining unnamed in scripture she was a woman of faithful endurance unwavering commitment and so tonight whether you are a veteran mother a newly christian mother or a mother in waiting or perhaps you just need a little bit of encouragement i want to let this nameless mom be our guide tonight verse 1 says in chapter 13 the children of israel did evil again the sight of the lord and the lord delivered them into the hand of the philistines forty years there was a man verse two a certain man of zorah of the family of the danites whose name was manoah his wife was barren and bear not and the angel the lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her behold now thou art barren embarrassed not but thou shalt conceive and bear son manoah's wife was in the company of other great women who suffered from barrenness bible readers are familiar with sarah rebecca rachel hannah and elizabeth how disappointing it must have felt to not have children when jewish culture plays such a great emphasis on childbearing many have had to taste the bitterness of disappointment manoa's wife must have felt like she too had been overlooked but it should be noted that god had not overlooked her bareness for an angel the lord appeared unto her and relayed a message that she was already familiar with yes she's barren but the lord knew she was barren you may feel as if you have been overlooked but your trouble is not forgotten god knows your condition and your current plight he knows what you're facing right now he knows of the prayers you have prayed the psalmist says in chapter 56 and verse 8 thou tellest my wanderings put thou my tears into thy bottle are they not in thy book god records every prayer and he records every tear that you have shed god has not overlooked you nor are you forgotten it's just a matter of time before your prayers are answered it's just a matter of time before god commissions your miracle and your angel don't stop praying don't stop believing don't stop being faithful but position yourself for a meeting of divine i wish somebody was hearing me right now god hasn't forgotten you he's been recording it and you're on god's calendar you might be in the waiting room but the nurse is about to call your name and bring you in and say it's time to see the miracle somebody say man sarah may have been weeping due to her bareness but god turned it into laughter with isaac hannah may have been troubled over her lack of a son but she prayed until god moved on her behalf elizabeth may have been empty in the twilight of her life but god filled her in her womb with a spirit-filled preacher just in a moment you just don't know that's why you can't miss church you can't afford to miss church you don't know when your angel's going to come you don't know when your answer's going to come you don't know when god says here i am he might just show up on a wednesday night he might just show up while you're out in the lobby talking on wednesday night you better get yourself in position for your prayer to be answered it's not time for you to back up it's not time for you to become apathetic it's time for you to say lord if it be your will i'm ready for it and i'm getting ready for you too [Applause] somebody say amen you may not know why you've been going through what you've gone through you may not know why you're going through what you're currently going through but you can trust in this promise romans 8 28 and we know that all things work together for good to them that love god to them who are called according to his purpose somebody say amen she was barren but god knew her condition now he he showed up to her but she just she just wasn't wandering through life rather she was a dedicated woman she was a dedicated woman verses four through five and seven and thirteen i'm going to read these now therefore beware i pray thee he tells her drink not wine or strong drink and eat not any unclean thing for lo thou shalt conceive and bear a son no razor shall come on his head for the child shall be a nazarite unto god from the womb now let's stop here for a moment when god gave the outline and the principles of those who would be a nazarite it was first of all their decision it was up to somebody whether or not they wanted that type of devotion in their life if someone decides to become a nazarite here's what they are to do but not samson he doesn't have a choice in the matter he's to be a nazarite from the womb can i tell you this as a picture of a new testament believer we don't have a choice in whether or not we're going to be holy when you are born again of the water and of the holy spirit you are born into holiness from the womb you don't have a choice you don't have a say in the matter when you're born again you are born again in the womb of the church and when you come out you're going to be holy that was for free it wasn't in my notes still true so samson is to be a nazirite conditions of the nazarite is this he is not to have any razor come upon his head he shall be a nazareth unto god from the womb and he shall begin to deliver israel out of the hand of the philistines but he said unto me this is what she's saying thou shalt conceive and bear a son now drink no wine nor strong drink neither eat any unclean thing for the child shall be a nazirite to god from the womb to the day of his death samson's holiness begins in this nameless mother samson is to have an example before he's even born she will have a son and she is not to drink any wine or strong drink not to have any or touch any unclean thing and so the demands for samson begins with manoa's wife the condition of having a son came with the price of keeping herself undefiled now modern day mothers are taught not to drink alcoholic beverages illegal drugs or into or to indulge in smoking due to the fact that it could harm and addict the baby to these substances but this was not the point of the command god's command went beyond the child's health and reached his spirit i wish we would get our kids so addicted to holiness from the womb that it begins [Applause] don't you pray it might get addicted don't you fast it might get addicted don't you read the scripture it might get addicted that's what we should be getting our children addicted to from the very moment they're conceived i've come to preach tonight samson's consecration did not begin at his birth it began at his conception samson's example of holiness would come from his mother and notice that it would begin before he would be born can i tell you many times parents try too late to give their children an example of consecration and holiness it's too late when they're in kindergarten it's too late when they're in high school to give a child an example of what it looks like to serve god begins before they're born you better talk listen to me young young marriage before you have a child you better talk about how you're going to raise your kids you better make up your mind that's why you just don't marry any old frank that's why you just don't marry any old any old sally you gotta you have to be lined up spiritually that as for me and our house we're going to church on sunday morning we're going to church on sunday night we're going to church on wednesday night we're going to camp meeting we're going to conferences we're going to pray it's too late to talk about that after you have a child you better talk about it before you even get engaged what church are we going to go to you better have that figured out before you say i do it's too late after then samson's consecration did not begin at his birth but at his conception manoa's wife was like a myriad of other mothers who had sacrificed anything for the well-being of their children how many mothers have laid their dreams upon an altar so their children could could succeed she lay aside her own comfort and freedom for the sake of her child and his future you're not hearing me you're not hearing me you're not hearing me how many mothers have forgotten their own comfort so their children could be comfortable to manoa's wife this was a small sacrifice for her son i'm barren i'll do anything i want a son so bad you tell me what i got to do and i'll do it if i have to walk through fire if i have to walk on hot coals i'll do it tell me what i've got to do because he is to be a deliverer and deliverance begins with me israel's in darkness israel is an idolatry and a deliverer's coming it starts with me what if you knew your child's purpose before it was even conceived you would make up your mind right now i'll do anything what if what if what if an angel are you listening to me tonight what if an angel came to you and said your son and your daughter to be is going to be a millionaire here's what you've got to do where do i sign can we have two have two millionaires and the lord's come to you and given you a promise of eternal life i don't know about all that hole in this stuff brother nature impending on my freedom and there's a dark world who needs a deliverer we need to stop living for ourselves and start living for others and realize it might cost me my comfort it might cost me some freedoms but i believe there's a greater purpose i wish somebody was hearing me oh lord jesus [Applause] samson's mother was dedicated to her own holiness and to her son's holiness oftentimes the parent is dedicated to seeing their children be holy and overlook their own holiness i've seen parents rather have their kids be a reckless child of the devil than see them be more holy than they are i'm not going to raise my kids away my mom and dad raised me you're here right you're not addicted right you didn't maybe you didn't have it so bad you can be seated stop running please stop calm down brother nate hurry up hurry up roast from this afternoons still out can i tell you this i tell you this we need to be an example to our children we need to be more dedicated than a than they are samson's mother was dedicated to serving the lord and dedicated to making sure that samson was also dedicated to the lord samson needed an example and it wasn't going to come from a priest or a prophet i'll let the pastor do it i'll let the sunday school do it i'll let the apostolic christian school do it no manoa's wife it begins with you you have a responsibility to train up your children the way that they should go it begins with you not simply telling them do as i say not as i do oh lord jesus help me right now the home is the birthplace of holiness church is not the only example a child is just to experience holiness and godly commitment it is the home that will guide and teach i have seen time and time again what the church crucifies the home resurrects god gave the command first to some to samson's mother and then to simpson how could samson be holy if he didn't know what holiness looked like the culture israel was incapable of teaching sampson let me tell you something public schools are not going to be able to teach your kids how to serve god i'm for public schools i went to a public school that's fine but if you have a christian school like i wish i had when i was a kid like we have right here i'd sacrifice i'd eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches i'd drink water and i'd have my child an apostolic christian [Applause] why i want these teachers teaching my kids about god holiness [Applause] i want sister philippia i want sister kathy i want sister sandy i want sister debbie i want sister eve give it to me you know why these are the examples i want my daughter to see i wish i was preaching better i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'll give my notes to one of these good preachers here culture's incapable of teaching our kids how to be holy there's there is gone this world is as far gone as we've ever seen it and why you would send your kids away for six hours and then get them in all kinds of other extracurricular activities and getting get them here for one and a half hours and you barely do that brother nate talk about that jealousy stuff that was a lot better last week talk about that other stuff don't talk about my home and how to raise my kids yeah you'll say that when i'm sitting in an office with them and they're texting stuff snapping stuff tweeting stuff what all right all right all right all right all right i see how it is tonight i see how it is so she was not just a dedicated woman she was a devout woman so manoa took a kid with a meat offering and offered upon a rock unto the lord and the angel did wondrously emmanuel and his wife looked on for it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar the angel of the lord ascended into the flame the altar manila and his wife looked on it and fell on their faces to the ground the spiritual climate in israel was cold israel's indifference to the lord led to their bondage god allowed the children of israel to be put into the hands of philistines for 40 years the book of judges shows that when israel backslid they would be put in bondage by an enemy they would cry out to the lord and he'd raise up a deliverer they'd be freed then the cycle would start all over again the story of samson ends the cycle for israel does not cry out for god to help them they don't cry out to god at this moment they don't do it again but what god needed was a devoted father and a devoted mother thankfully there was a couple that had not turned themselves to idolatry thankfully there was a family at home who kept on praying thankfully there was a marriage who kept on believing and trusting in god the world may be growing darker and the church may be growing colder but the lord always has a people who are devoted samson's mother was such a woman not only was she dedicated she was also devout while israel was bowing down a false idol she was building an altar and offering sacrifices if samson's going to be strong his mother not only needs to be dedicated to a particular lifestyle she needs to be a worshiper you know what i've seen i've grown up in this you know what i've seen as a as a member of a church and as a pastor i've seen people do this preach it hard preacher you can't preach it hard enough for me come on get that clothes line out and tell them how to live and then they work when we start the worship service they do this preach it hard pray chat not hard enough for me kick them in the shins shuck that corn and then we start to worship and they don't do nothing you see they like the law but they don't like the spirit they like the law but they don't like grace let me tell you something you've got to be devoted to the lifestyle but you also need to be a prayer warrior and a worshiper it's not just having a form of godliness but it's also having the power we need the power with the form we don't just need to show our kids how to not cut their hair and wear skirts all the time we need to show them how to be worshipers show them what it means to be up i wish somebody was helping me right now i wish somebody said listen i'm not going to stand back i'm not going to have my hands down and folded i'm going up there with my kids and i'm going to show them how to worship if it's my song or not my song if it's wednesday night or sunday morning ask for me and us i remember i remember sitting with my mom in church and she'd hit me pow get your hands up pal open your mouth and sing you're not going to come here and just stand we're going to worship you know what we need some moms and dads to say hey turn off the phone get off your ipad and get your hands up and praise the lord you can do that at home you can do that at school if you want to but here in the house of god we're going to worship in here don't just tell them how to dress show them how to worship show them how to pray show them how to give show them how to be devout [Applause] show them don't just expect them to know how to do it show them how to do it there are too many people who live a particular restricted lifestyle but they don't build altars they don't have altars of prayer and worship and joy bless god i'm gonna dress this way and everybody's gonna know how unhappy i am about it great great look like you've been baptizing lemon juice my best god i ain't got my hair cut and i got my skirt on but ain't no my nobody's gonna know i got the joy of the lord i'm just doing this to make sure my pastor knows i'm doing it you're not doing me a favor with that sour sap attitude i want to see somebody at walmart say praise the lord sister praise the lord brother how you doing i i'm going through it but the lord's still good he's still good he's still good i love him i got a smile on my face he paid my bills i got clothes on my back shoes on my feet i got a roof over my head it's the joy of the lord is my strength somebody said even if you don't like it say amen all right tori claimed his own conversion followed years of his mother's prayers he would say later oh men in their desperate hardness of our hearts we often trample our mother's teaching underfoot but we find it very hard to get over her prayers samson had an example of dedication but he also had an example of devotion hell has an awful time thwarting the prayers of a mother and i know because i wouldn't be here hadn't i been for her praying for me i wouldn't be here had it not been for a mother who was praying for me when i didn't feel like living for the lord and i was as far away from him as i could possibly be but my mother was praying i may have forgotten her teaching but i could never i know when she's praying for me i can feel it she would say this i'm going to pray that the lord put rocks in your bed remember that you ever hear that i don't pray god put rocks in your bed so you don't sleep at night with conviction you know what i'd wake up in the middle of the night afraid that i would go to hell because i was so far away from god you know what because i had a mom who was praying for me she was showing me a way to live and a way to pray and a way to worship [Applause] lord have mercy for it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar that the angel of the lord has sinned in the flame of the altar manoah and his wife looked upon it and they fell on their faces to the ground but the age of the lord did not appear to manoa and his wife and noah knew as an angel of lord and manoa said to his wife we're gonna die we're gonna die around here because we've seen god but notice the wisdom of a mother but his wife said unto him if the lord were pleased to kill us manoa he would have not received the burnt offering and a meat offering in our hands neither would he have showed us all these things here's a dedicated and devout woman but she's also very wise a mother's wisdom is so invaluable no matter what age you are you have been acquainted with a mother's wisdom the angel appeared unto her she went to her husband and told him about it manoa prayed he said lord if this woman's right let me see that angel too i want to see it too and he's scared he's scared out of his mind oh he's going to kill us now oh can you believe this he's going to kill us and she said no not so not so he's pleased with us and her wisdom comforted him you know we need some wisdom in our families we need some wisdom in our homes wisdom to comfort those who are afflicted comfort those who feel very afraid in times like this noah's wife wasn't anxious she wasn't worried she was wise musicians come now listen i'm drawn to a close quickly samson is a very famous individual in scripture most of us could tell his stories we could talk about his victories and certainly we could talk about his feats and his failures but his victories listen to me can be traced back to his home god's anointing came upon him due to the fact that his parents were consecrated manoah's faithfulness and his wife's holiness played a major part in samson's victories samson could be thankful that god had endowed him with such power but samson could also thank his parents for giving him a living example of how to be strong in a spiritually weak culture i've said it before i'll say it again my mother is my hero i can't think of anybody and i've had some great men in my life who have impacted me but nobody has impacted me more than my mom my life was greatly impacted by hearing my mother pray and worship was she hard on me absolutely but you know why she's seen something that i didn't see she was hard on me because she knew something was greater for me i didn't understand it i fought against it a lot of times but i knew she was right she's still right and i even hate to admit that sometimes but i've watched her you don't know her story like i know her story she is a hero of the faith her faithfulness and holiness in the face of a great adversity gave me hope she lived in things that i couldn't even begin to fathom but she'd take me and my sisters to church and she'd pray and she'd worship she knew there was something greater than the present circumstances you know we tend to overanalyze people's failures with pop psychology there's a tendency in wanting to place the blame of people's poor choices upon their upbringing and this may be why god gives us such a great glimpse into the life of samson's mom and dad samson couldn't blame his home for his failures his mother and father were godly and raised him according to god's commands samson could be thankful that his parents example played a part in his victories but samson listen to me now could not blame his parents for his failures chapter 14 lead us to believe that his parents kept telling him why can't you find a girl in church why can't you find a girl in church we take you to all the israel-like camps all the israelite festivals can't you ever find you a girl there got to go to these philistines go read chapter 14 verse 3. he goes what we've done everything we took you everyone you still can't he couldn't blame his parents for his failures he couldn't blame his parents for not giving him a holy example samson's problems were directly the result of his own decisions certainly there are innumerable cases of people's childhoods being less than ideal i could be such a one alcoholic father mean temperament smoked himself to death i could have bee i could do that i could use that as a crutch and use that as a crutch for bad decision making but i also had a mother who did the opposite of all that and would not let me be infected with that type of mentality and she would remind me that over and over again my bad choices and mistakes can't be blamed by my dad or my mom are you hearing me i'm going to ask this question i heard pastor jerry dean in our marriage retreat a couple of years ago say this he said when are you going to get over it when there's some people in this room you're in your 50s and 60s and you're still blaming your poor choices on your parents they're long gone when are you going to get over it when are you going to get rid of the excuses of why you can't live for the lord at some point when is your win at some point you're gonna have to get rid of the excuses samson you can't blame your dad and your mom for doing what you've done stand with me she's nameless but she's faithful faithful despite her disappointment faithful in her dedication faithful in her devotion faithful in a dark dark sinful culture we live in a culture today brothers and sisters that do not appreciate obscurity social media has ripped off the facade of obscurity and put everything out in the open it's about how many followers you have on twitter and instagram it's about how many friends you have on facebook how many likes your page or posts can get i'm certainly not diminishing these things i've certainly used them as myself but however some feel as if they aren't recognized then they aren't making any difference but ask manoa and samson if this woman of faith made a difference in their lives ask israel if this nameless mother made a difference for them they couldn't name her perhaps they couldn't point her out but she made a difference without being famous can i tell you this obscurity is not an obstacle to faithfulness whether or not the world knows the good you are doing or not does not mean that god isn't taking inventory of your life there's only one name that is worthy of glory and fame and it's not yours or mine that is jesus christ our task is to do everything in the name of jesus christ for one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess the one with the name that saves i wonder if somebody would just slip up their hand right now i don't know if you're in the place of disappointment like manoa and his wife were but i want you to know that god sees your circumstance perhaps you're a mother and a father listen to me now i feel the holy ghost at this very moment and you felt like you you failed as a parent because your kids aren't serving the lord at some point they're going to have to make up their minds and serve the lord you did what you could and the comforter is here to give you peace and comfort knowing that you did everything that you could you did everything and his word says and sometimes kids just make their own decisions be comforted knowing that you lived it before them that you showed them the way god's in control and if you raise them in the way they should go when they are old it doesn't matter the time of the day they will return and they will come i want somebody to know you may have lived it and they may be gone but they will and they can come back maybe somebody's just fighting obscurity and feeling like no one sees you but i want you to know that god sees you come on how much you pray right now to pray right now there's somebody who needs some encouragement maybe there's some there's some young young married you need to make up their mind here's how we're going to here's how we're going to raise our kids we're going to raise our kids according to the word of the lord it starts with us it doesn't start with them it doesn't start in the church it starts with us maybe somebody right now who's going through that moment feeling like i just don't know what to do or how we'll do it i want you to know that if you put god in it it will direct your steps come on won't you pray right now come on there's some people coming up at this moment there's some others who'll come up some encouragers right now let's come on some sons of consolation who will come and pray with those who are in need of this very moment let's open up these altars come on would you come come on would you come right now as they begin to sing come on there you might be nameless but you can remain faithful endure persevere come on persevere he's going to come he's going to answer the prayer he'll help you he'll help you come on come on mom come on dad make up your mind make up your mind this is how i'm going to live this is how we're going to raise our kids this is the atmosphere that we are going to set this is the environment that we're going to have we're going to raise our kids this way