Apostolic Lighthouse
Things That Are Better Left Alone - Bro Sampson
Well, I got about an hour and a half this morning of notes. No, not really, I got just a little thought that could mature into something big that I'll try to keep it short and sweet outside of the league. But the Lord just been dealing with me and I looked at a caption of Scripture here the other day, and this thought just kept burning over and over in my heart and in my mind and in my thinking and man, I'll tell you something, the devil's working on the church. It's the devil working on the church, God's trying to work, but the devil, he's working. And I understand the Lord, he'll work, but who'll let him, hallelujah. Sometimes we want to go our own way, we get our own ideology mixed in with what we were going to want to do and the will of God and what God wants us to do. I've been there, I've suffered for that, I've suffered immensely for seeking my own way. Not only me, kind of like Jonah, brother Mather Lea, he wasn't the only one that suffered. So it's around him, we're suffering because of his disobedient, and when battle talks about when one rejoices, we all rejoice when one weaves, we all weep, by the words we share in those conditions that they're going through. A lot of times it's Job, Job, Job loss, Job loss this, Job loss that, and Job's wife spoke so foolishly and, but Job maintained, and Job, Job, Job, but Job's wife was right there, Job's wife saw their family tragically taken out all at once. Job's wife was there as she began to witness all of their wealth being taken away, all of their cattle, all of their livelihood, they lost everything. Job's wife was there, Job's wife suffered through his trial that he was going through. So if you're here today and you're going through things, you feel all alone, you're not alone. Hallelujah, for one thing the Bible said if God be for us, who can be against us, Hallelujah. And there's a lot of opposition out there, but we just, remember that Mather Lea was talking in the prayer room before everybody started coming in and got to talking about just maintaining the faith, being steadfast in the faith. You get steadfast in the faith and you're unshakable, you're unmovable, but you don't know, Brother Simpson, yes, I do know, every one of us has got a story to tell. Every one of us has been through trials, every one of us has been through trouble, but the thing is, it's like in 2 Corinthians 7 and 14, and we've read it all over, I preached about it not too long ago, I call it the many facets of forgiveness. The stages that you go through for true repentance, and it just gives it all to you here in the internet shell in verse 14th of 7th chapter of 2 Chronicles, it said, "If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, humble, pray, seek, and turn, turn from their wicked ways, then I'll hear from heaven, and we'll forgive their sin, and I'll hear, heal their land." Hallelujah, man, what more could we just stay in the faith like, Brother, it's God, I believe what you said right there in 2 Chronicles 7 and 14, but I want to tell you something, but sometimes it's humble, hard to humble, and you notice he put that in there, you just got to humble yourself, but don't even start praying till you get humble. One passage of Scripture talked about, "If you ain't right, you got odd and you're hard against somebody when you come to pray, and you bring your gift before the Lord," and he says, "You just will leave that right there, get up, go get it fixed, go get it right, get all the animosity, get the hatred, get the envy, get the strife, out of your heart towards your brother, and then when you get all that fixed, then you come back and you pray to God and you start communion with God. You start having a relationship with God, but until you do that, he plainly said, "He's not going to accept what you're offering, and not going to give you what you're requesting because they're sin between you and the blessing." Sometimes we beg for mercy, but mercy requires repentance, repent and be humble, and that's what it takes, and sometimes we have trouble, you know, doing this, but we're dealing with the generation, and man, just so many preachers over just the last, just yesterday, just walking or Friday, walking through Silver Dollar City, I met one pastor, said, "I've lost half of my church, half of my church, a good man, we just lost half of his church." I met another lady, and I just assumed it, well she came up to us, actually, y'all look like penny-cost, so yeah, we are, and got to talk, and well, wound up, I knew her pastor down here in Arkansas, and we talked a little while, and she said, "Man, really hold him up in prayer, he's lost five families," I thought, "Man, what's going on in the church, and I can just go on and on with stories that people are just quitting the church and leaving the church." And I thought, "Man, where's that stickability, where's that?" You know, before I started pastor, and I went to one church for 39 years, just on the verge of 40 years, the same church, and I know there's situations, I know there's things that happen, but man, what, you know, just something, and I talked last Sunday about me playing the tambourine, and somebody said, "If you're going to play that thing, why don't you play it in beat?" Another person came up and said, "Yeah, you're out of beat all the time." I know a lot of people that would quit the church over that, they would, they'd get their feelings hurt, either learn to play in beat or lay it down, you know, that's just the way it is. But if you can't play, don't get it, the Bible said, "Play skillfully." I wasn't playing, I thought I was, but I don't guess I was, but I just laid it down, but you know what, I'm still here pastoring today. I came right back, got into pulpit, and that was several weeks, months back, and I'm just act like nothing happened, and just going on preaching the Word of God, living for God, fasting, and praying, being faithful to God, man, you just, I can't dwell on that. I just want to talk to us, this is more than some things, things that's better left alone. That's what I want to talk about just a little while today, and I'm going to, I'm going to go to Isaiah 59, I'll start at the first verse, Isaiah 59 verse 1, "Behold the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear." If you're not touching God, there's something between you and God, and that's the thing you don't want to leave alone, that's the thing you want to critique, that's the thing you want to perfect, that's the thing that you want to work on, it's not shortened, God will hear you, but you're going to have to do like we talked about in 2 Chronicles, you're going to have to humble, and pray, and turn, and repent, and God's going to hear you, it's neither is his ear heavy, that he cannot hear, my prayers are not being answered, sometimes we just get so frustrated, man, I was in the tractor the other day, and I was trying to brush hog brother Winkler, and man, they were so much dust, I couldn't even see the brush hog coming up the fence line, I had to keep kind of waiting till the death settles, so I could go on, and I just started praying and talking to God, seriously, out loud, God, we need rain, you said you'd hear our cry, you'd hear our, you know, we can ask, I said, I'm not asking a hard thing, but God, we don't need it, even if it's not in the forecast, we can have rain, and man, I just felt with a surety that we were going to get rain, and even looked at the forecast, man, there's a 30 or 40 percent chance of rain, and man, it was coming down on us, a cold front moving in, I thought, man, this grass is going to take off, and these cattle are going to really pick up, and I woke up Thursday morning, and I read the brethren, it was saying north of I-44, but I just prayed, God, I know, I know, you can just sit, drop it right on down on us, I got up, I don't think we got one drop of rain, and I, man, my spirit got perturbed, I'll just tell you, I got Lord, I prayed, I fell, and it didn't come, and it was me wanting my way, and I needed, he knows that I need rain, but after I kind of pouted around for the kind of like Jonah when the worm ate his gourd vine down, and God didn't do just exactly what he wanted him to do and what he went out and prophesied was going to happen, he couldn't look at all the good that he done, he couldn't just leave it alone, God, okay, you turned, when's the last time you heard of somebody going and preaching, and go ahead and sit down, I'll read it here a little bit, but when the whole city, when you went and preached somewhere, and you go to the park and preach a little bit, you'll get one or two or three, and you go out and knock doors, but Jonah converted the whole city, I mean the cattle down without, the pets down without, the babies down without, can you imagine the crying and wailing that was going on for three days with children not eating for three days, but they got the attention of God, but Jonah he wouldn't content with just leaving that alone, he had to dig into some stuff that wasn't going to suit him, and a lot of times that's what the trouble is in the church when you lose half your church or you lose, it's not that there's good preaching, I know these people, they preach holiness, they preach, and it's not just these two I talked about, it's all over, it's going on, it's like an epidemic that's going through the apostolic ranks right now, churches at one time were 800 or down to 200 or 300, 400 people, lose more, when where everyone is here they've lost more from their congregation than what we even have in our congregation as a whole, what's going on, what's stirring up people that just, you know, five families would just get up and walk out of the church, what's causing that, let's just read down and deal with some stuff in here a little bit, he said his ears not heavy that it cannot hear, but what he's telling them here, you're iniquities, you're iniquities, it's what's separated you between you and your God, look at iniquities, that word takes in a collection of sin and wrongdoing and a lot of things that it takes in and we won't go into all of that today, but that's, there's something between you and God, I even questioned God, all I asked for was rain, that's all I asked for, but all I had to do was just think a little and think maybe God's just asking you for patience and trust and I'm believing him, and I look at the forecast, I just, I kind of see what's coming, I see 30, 40 percent promises, we was sent in Canton, Texas, eating dinner, looked out and before we could eat dinner it rained almost three and a half, four inches of rain right there and I thought, man, I know we got some of this at home for sure, never got a drop, sometimes God just kind of teaching us humility, sometimes we need to get desperate, sometimes we just need to humble on down, sometimes we need to take inventory, we need the elder used to say a checkup from the neck up, what's going on up here in this brain, God, I preach your well back, what's wrong with your thinking, what are you thinking doing this, carrying on all of this sin and then expecting God to move, but he said, your sins, your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that you will, that he will not hear, for your hands are defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness and nobody's calling for justice, nobody's saying, hey, we can't do that, no, don't do that, that's not right, hey, let's, we can't do this, nobody's calling for that, but you, you let somebody dig up a little bit, you let somebody come and tell you, you can't play the tambourine where they hate and then your feelings get all up on your shoulder, you get the pooch mouth and you go over and you find somebody else that's disgruntled and you start talking about it and how you've been done wrong and it's no big deal to me, but I'm just using me as example, I could dig some of the cases out that I know, but you start, they talk about birds of the feather that flock together, I mean you start, you start sympathy hunting, you start looking for somebody, well not feed your ego, but to feed that sympathy devil that's working on you and you can find people in the church and you work on that and then you find another, I remember how when the, we had a big split one time when somebody talking about whether Jesus could have sinned or not and man, this one got to talking, this one got to talking, they got to work in the congregation, but you know what, it was me and two or three others, they never said one word to us, this thing was almost at the exploding point before I even knew what was going on, I went to the elder, I said elder, what's going on, he said well I just found out, man they were building up, I mean they, this deal, this deal got serious, but they get to talk to them on there, they'd be working at the same workbench or they'd be working a, you know, beside, beside doing whatever on church projects and I'd hear these little questions going on but I had no idea but you know what, they avoided Brother Samson, I never found out, they never come to me, you know why, because I would have took it straight to the elder, I'd have got this thing, I'd have nipped it in the bud, hey this thing's about the splitter church, we can't splitter church, we're trying to build a church here, we're trying to build a church in a school that our kids can go to, families can come to and they can feel comfort and they can feel loved and I know right there and I feel, I just don't feel like I fit in, you don't fit in, you won't get involved in nothing the church does, you won't come to anything they have, you won't pay your tithes, you won't give an offering, sure you don't fit in, and God has no pleasure in them that hold back, there's no pleasure, God is not pleased with that, God loves cheerful givers, that's not just your financial ties, your offering, and that is part of the government of the church, that does what make this thing happen, that's what helps acclamate this building, that's what pushes, puts fresh water in the toilets, that you can flush and use in water to drink, like I said, acclamated environment, that's part of the church government, that's where it goes, that's part of it, but when you begin to hold back because you're aggravated about something, you're mad about something that the preacher preached, you're aggravated that somebody else plumb across the church, you hold back on God, you won't get involved, you won't pay, you won't do, and you start holding back, and when you start holding back, and you're all you're waiting on is somebody to come up and say, what's going on brother, what's going on, let me tell you what's going on, the very thing that you've been waiting on, the question that you've been waiting to ask, it's not that you're right and the spirit drew them to you, it was your pooch mouth setting over and your head long enough to put a bridle on, that anybody in the world could walk by, not even in the church until something's wrong with you, what they ought to say, it's what's wrong with you long head, what do you got the pooch mouth for when they begin to spew it all out, you begin to say, well you know we serve a great God, we serve a good God and He's give us a great church, and we can build a great body here if we can get this thing worked out, it's not near as bad as you seem, Elder, why don't you just gird yourself up, the old Elder used to say pull yourself up by your shoe laces, get up, get up, humble yourself and pray, let's have a church service, let's have a good fellowship after church and let's build an environment that people that God would be pleased to dwell in, he don't like isms and schism, he don't like trouble in the church, your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness and nobody calls for justice, nobody pleads for truth, they trust in vanity and then they speak lies, they conceive mischief and they bring forth iniquity, see he just keeps dealing with iniquity, sin and wrongdoing and you go look it up, it just several abbreviations or definitions for it, they conceive mischief and they bring forth iniquity, the Bible said, and we'll read it probably here in a minute talks about feet that swift to run, quick to get into mischief. Verse five, I want to deal with this just a little bit, five and six, but verse five really, this is what caught my attention, I remember the O elder probably 40, 40 years ago by the swindle at the home church preaching about cockatrice eggs, I never forgot that, cockatrice was kind of a Greek mythology, but it had a body like a two headed dragon, it had a head like a rooster and its bite was very, whoever it bit in Greek mythology that it had the capability of petrifying them, they turned hard as, hard as stone when they were bitten by this viper, they turned cold and hard when bitten by this viper, he said they hatch cockatrice eggs and they weave the spider's web, he said edith of their eggs diet and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper, their webs shall not become garments and either shall they cover themselves with their works, their works are the works of what, iniquity and the act of violence is in their hand, they weave the spider's web, in other words they, they think they're putting a cover, they think they're putting a camouflage which you can see right through the spider's web and God is looking down and he's looking at them and he's looking through this transparency, they're putting forth the effort to pray and they're putting forth the effort to call it out and God, where you at and when we need you and all of the promises that you made and now look at the mess that I'm in and there's really no repentance or just really a lot of grumbling and a lot of accusation and just kind of you can hear criticism in their prayers later on in this chapter but they hatch cockatrice eggs, this Greek mythology talked about when it's this dragon-like creature laid these eggs in the dust and when they laid them there a lot of times people would you know they would step on it and when this egg was hatched in this Greek mythology it came out a monster, a dragon and it would come out and it would bite and people would turn cold stone cold in this Greek mythology and so they begin to work and they hatch this egg, they lay this egg, they plant this seed, oh and you can hear it, I'm telling you something the best thing you can do when somebody comes to you with negativity about the church, about the pastor, about a fellow saint, about the building, about the parking lot about the climate, it's too hot, it's too cold and if you're not careful I used to have a boy that worked and man he wanted to talk, I'm sure he cost me thousands of dollars over the years that he worked but he wanted to talk and I would say come on boys, let's talk, let's go, let's go, let's go, but he channel hopped, he'd go from one thing to another and so helped me if I'm not standing here pretty soon he would come up with something that would catch my attention, whether I was disagreeing with it or something and he or whatever but I'd look up and he'd have me in a conversation and I'd look around and everybody else standing around to see who's right or wrong and this thing's costing me $70, $80 an hour standing there while this guy finally got my attention, I'd say hey we'll talk about that on break, let's go to work, it would be very long here, did you hear about such and such, did you and it would catch your attention and he just worked that just the way that he was, well there's people like that in the church, they're always dissatisfied about something, it's too loud, it's too low, it's too slow, it's too fast, too hot, cold, fast, slow and they just search around until they finally find somebody that they can find a place to so lay the egg and sow the seed, what a good Christian would should say, would look around and say that's about the most preposterous thing I ever heard in my life, why are you even dwelling on that, is this what you said around in your time, that's what you need to say, a lot of times we're gentle and we'll just kind of agree and smile and go on, well the egg didn't fertilize but they're going to find some place that what they're sow on will become fertile and he that eateth of their eggs dieeth and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper just keep dealing with it, just keep gossiping, just keep being a busybody, you'll find somebody that'll listen, you'll find, it's just like the devil going to and fro secret whom he can devour, he'll try you, if you're prayed up he'll move to the next one, he's going to find someplace that he can dwell, but what it's telling us here, he that eateth the eggs dieeth and then when you start crushing them, we're going to take care of this situation, that's God, when I'm done everybody's going to know and you keep crushing those eggs and you keep multiplying the monsters and they keep coming out and devouring and poisoning and then there's a coldness that begins to sweep over, according to this you get stone colds, you get heart gets cold, your heart, oh I'm telling you something today, some things is better off left alone is it true, well it may be true but leave it alone, what did God say, look the workers come in and say man it's near harvest and that's when that was the way of the tears, they looked just like the wheat, they came up with the wheat, but when they matured out, when the wheat was maturing the tears begin to take on a different look, they said we got to go in there, we got to get the tears out, the master said no, leave them alone and when the harvest comes, I'll take care of it, it'll all come out in the wash as the ocean said and then at harvest time come they thrashed out the tears, got them out just like our combines today man, you can go out there, there'll be a lot of everything growing in those fields, but when that thrashing takes place you climb up there and that hopper, it's just almost pure wheat, oats, soybean, corn, whatever it is, because the gleaming took out everything else and the good seed remained, but they began to stir this thing just like 30 years ago when this crazy question came up, I saw a strong church divided, I saw a strong fellowship divided and go separate ways and that's the way the devil works because in division if he can stir up division it'll work, the bible said well there's division, every what? every kind of an evil work when the division gets in, so you see that nest and you begin to crush, you begin to crush those eggs, you know what? they come out of viper, a spite, now a viper has curved fangs and man he's vicious, he'll come after you, you ever start up a water moccasin, a lot of water snakes, now they'll get around and go, but you just fool with that water moccasin long enough and he'll be in the boat with you, he'll come after you, they're temperamental and that's what the bible described these eggs as a viper but one of the phrases and one of the definitions used, a viper is a spiteful or treacherous person sometimes my wife tells me you got a tongue sharp as a razor blade you need to mellow out, you got a sharp tongue you know sometimes we just need to mellow out, the bible said that's the cruelest thing that there is can't be tanged, you get it down over here it's like there will whack them old deals you play you know you hit it here and it's up over here and you drive yourself crazy trying to smack them things in the head as they pop up, it's almost the same way as there's a church cock-a-try sag here, one here, one here, one here, they're back here, up here on the platform in the pulpit a lot of times that's how you can lose half of your churches because your attitude in the pulpit well we could just leave it alone, let the pastor, let God, let the spirit of God handle it I've over the last two years, I've watched so many things transpire in this congregation and I see good people, strong people that I just let God, love of God, work it out, work on him God, work on him God, work on him God and one night they walk in or one day they walk in and things are different sometimes we want to take it into our own hands if it's not running like we think it how to go I want the favor of God, I want miracles, I want blessing, I'm not you know I don't want to just talk about prosperity but I believe God's people can have that if we have the favor of God now you're not going to sleep till 9, 10, 11, 12 o'clock and come to the then try to come on the job God's going to bless you when according to your several ability you're going to have to get up you're going to have to show him your your your willing you're worthy of his favor but I do believe in miracles I do believe in blessings but sometimes there's something there that's hindering at what's what's hindering church growth have we got a nasty cockatrice eggs are we upset with the school upset with the church upset with leadership in the church did you come to the pack did you come to the leadership did you go to the teacher or did you go around and put you out several nest eggs of cockatrice eggs before you got to the teacher sometimes when you bring your mess to leadership you've got it so far out of control it's a consuming fire and what could be handled in about five ten minutes of counseling takes weeks to mend because we've stood around and we've needled it and we bugged it and we punched it and we pushed it until we've got such a stink startup that nobody wants to be be around nobody got don't I talked to a man the other day he's talking about his church and how enthused that his boys were and how they was enthused about going to church but he said it used to be do we have to go to church we don't want to go to church well I don't want that kind of church I want people when they say man it's church time let's go to church let's go worship let's go praise that's a kind of environment we ought to have but don't let it go don't stand around with your fellow saint your maybe get with your family and go to stomping on cockatrice eggs and hatching them out and the vipers begin to come out they begin to work and attitudes get flared and families split up churches split up fellowships split up because somebody won't leave something alone somebody won't pray I don't have time this morning to go into the corn sheller story completely but my dad kept sand sun stay out of the barn leave the corn sheller alone that thing was so intriguing it was so interesting that I'd every chance I got I would sneak in there and turn that crank and let it go and it just sat there and keep going a little while met it you know for a five-year-old at five six years old I think it was about five that thing made some interesting noises and all them gears turning and man making that noise in there and I was intrigued by that one day I got too interested in it and I as I was cranking it I got to watching him gears going around and another one going around this way and this so I just put my finger on it was letting my finger just kind of bob over the cogs of the gear as it spun around well it got kind of slow so I was just going to stop it completely and it took my finger right on down and stopped with my finger right in the middle of them two years now being disobedient that's what got me in the mess to start with I wouldn't listen you've seen sometimes people will say their marriage status where they work and then they get on down where they went to school and I've seen so many said graduated from the school of hard knocks well that's Brother Sampson and there I'm screaming I'm disobedient I've caught in my act of disobedient I can't lie about it I can't I can't connive I can't get out of it when the thing just said the lie is a present helping the time of trouble abomination in the eyes of God I was in trouble hallelujah and I was hung there and so you know what you do at five years old when you're in excruciating pain you scream just as loud as you can scream and man when that door barn door flew open and my dad come in there give that thing a little bit more of a crank and took my finger right on through the old school of obedience and when it come out the other side I was very obedient for a few hours anyway hallelujah that thing it hurt but I'd have been way better off to have left it alone left it alone and here they are they're they're hatching these and they're crushed and they're breaking them out and they're breaking out into a viper and the more they fool with it the more trouble is coming up the more danger it presents people that are being affected by it are getting cold turning to stone and you look at them across the congregation and you can see everybody that stepped on one of those eggs the coldness I'm not moving you're not moving me sister Samson if you sing for two hours my feelings has been heard I didn't get what I want they didn't give me the recognition that I wanted you know it amazes me one of the phases is set a viper in your that's a viper in your bosom you ever heard that statement that's a viper in your bosom what is that brother Samson that's a person who betrays those who love and have helped them and they'll turn on them that's the viper in your bosom and you see that in the church man just just recently I thought we had an event here at the church I thought the turnout was great but Caleb I thought I looked around I thought everybody involved it was amazing at the work that went forth and today are stoned cold toward the church because they didn't feel like they got the reception that they should have got who hatched that kind of a mentality who's striking out with that kind of mentality I thought it was a success I thought everybody worked I thought everybody got involved I put a lot of money out it you know myself didn't say nothing about it I want no recognition for it then we hatched these and then then we caused such a we're so different acting in the church and opposed it that we don't even come around the church after they've worked and done and gave and counseled and loved one day you get a text how much they love you how much they appreciate you and the next day they won't even talk to you in this church you know why because they set around and they think and they hatch and even though it's a myth it's so true what the prophets talking about here you hatch it when you need to leave it alone at the age of nine years old we rented a house from Tom Farmer that was brother Tommy Farmer's dad up Bluebird Lane that was one of the first places that we'd lived when we moved to Missouri in 1964 I learned a valuable lesson and I thought about this today when I thought about it's better off left alone and I found an old building just outside the dill and it had some chicken bo- roost boxes in it nest for chickens to legs and I was just a little kid nine years old since I run I'm in there fooling around and I find a nest full of eggs I thought well I'm gonna I'm gonna get these eggs and throw them against a tree or maybe a car or house I don't know but I just knew that I was gonna get in that nest get those eggs and have some fun and I touched the first egg and when I went to pick it up it was so rotten it exploded in my hand I'm telling you about it just it was hot and these things they had gas built up have you ever smelled an extremely rotten egg and when I picked that up sister Tammy that thing exploded and I just oh and just from stirring that nest if I'm lying I'm dying one egg popped another one popped then just the concrete repercussion off one of those rotten eggs this whole nest had been there I don't know how long but they just started that jumped off all over me it's stunt horrible when you happen to pack water and draw water from the well those kind of situations ain't good it ain't good in any kind of a situation that was horrible it stunk nasty and I was wishing oh god I would I'd never went in that building I wish that never got a hold of that well that's how it is people just they just fool with with these things and it's just a it's just something waiting to be hatched it's just somebody sitting there in their egos waiting to feed on what you break out of this situation that's going on in the church leave it alone leave it alone let God work it out encourage them that's what they need to hear encouragement don't jump on their bandwagon for sympathy and pity they used to tell me on the job you come in moaning about you know cutting or smashing whatever and then say if you're looking for sympathy it's in the dictionary and I won't use their phrase how they used it but it's in the dictionary between this word and this word and that's where you'll find sympathy you know in the church we have to say man brother let's pray about that I can see this thing will take you down this thing's working I just pray about that let's get over it I don't think it's as bad as I know a little bit about what you're talking about I don't think it's that bad I think it's something we can survive I think we something we can get over and pray through and fast over and make it through and it won't pull you out of the church the church is what we need this is what the prophets dealing with here he he he's fixing to deal with this superfluity mentality this attitude nobody repenting nobody's fasting nobody's travailing they're just grumbling and griping they just came out of captivity and their disobedience is what put them in captivity what was it 400 years in captivity they're just coming back they're trying to get started things ain't working we're relatively new church in a new building uh in in a new community have we had struggles yes it takes a while man brother Adam moved here and brother Aaron then moved here it was it just took a few years for things to line out now they got all the work that's that that they can do but it when you it's just it takes a while what are you talking about brother Samson sure it's not going to be the smoothest we're learning in this thing together but let's work together I don't quit when it don't go my way when a lot of y'all don't pay me I just keep on working you know who I counsel the most people that struggle in ties oh brother Samson are going to hear it over I don't care if they hear it they need to get a hold of theirself they need to leave stuff alone and just pray and worship God and if you can't get along with nobody come pray worship God and go home but leave stuff alone don't just keep stirring it up don't try to get the stink on everybody in the church from the repercussion of what you're going through I'm going to drag people out of the church family out of the church all I hear is how good it was where I used to be how good it was what used to be we we was involved in this and we was involved with that and we're involved with this and I'm looking at you now and you ain't involved in nothing and then you get mad and grumble if somebody don't treat you just right get involved be a part of the church leave the junk alone and get on board live for God God ain't never done nothing to you they used to talk about there's too many hypocrites in the church why yeah there's hypocrites in the church that's why we're here we're trying to get help we're trying to do better but I'm going to come to church and I'm going to go to heaven with those it's going to heaven in the hypocrite ain't going to make it uh and they're not going to be affected by the hypocrite the elder would say well yeah there probably is but set your measure and stick up beside me measure me not everybody else just leave it alone let's get on board let's go their webs shall not become a garment you can spin and work and labor all you want but you're never going to make anything that'll that'll cover and it's not especially your sin is not going to be covered neither shall they cover themselves with their works of inequity and the act of violence is in their hand listen to this their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood sometimes people jump on situations they get on the bandwagon and they don't have a clue back in the frontier days let's go west some of them just jumped on and went for the adventure little history on the ucon man uh due to false reports that news uh men were were putting out men that wouldn't even make that make it up the trail because when you get there you had to have I think it was either I think 800 pounds of provisions because the state of Alaska was had panicked because uh there's going to be a famine there was such an influx of people they were coming in on barges and boats and wagons and uh and walking and horses and then when they got there it was nothing like that was portrayed to them uh uh through the news that was transferred to them people that didn't know how to ride a horse they never owned a horse they they were the guide told us about the the nickname of this they named they named this valley dead horse valley they never fed it they never watered it they just worked it until it fell over and then looked at it wondering what what the world's wrong with it reminds me of a story my dad told that some kids uh they were in the canal in the water uh to water crops with and they got to ride in this little had a little pony and they made a raft and they got this pony out there and in this big pool of water and they was riding that thing around they were having the best time of their life they were laughing and giggling and riding and riding and riding and pretty soon the little horse just turned belly up they couldn't figure out what in the world they just they rode it until they killed it and that's the way some people are in the church they get a hold of something and they run with it and they work on it and they promote it until it kills the church and usually kills them and affects all their children their thoughts of iniquity waste in a destruction in the past the way of peace they know not there's no judgment in their goings why don't you just stop sometime and take inventory why don't you just stop sometime before you jump on the bandwagon and your tongue starts wagon and you judge the situation a little bit and talk to god about it don't just we're going west hey take me along too there's a lot of hardship no judgment in our goings they've made crooked paths who so ever goeth in their their end shall not no peace therefore as judgment far from us we wait for light but behold obscurity have you found them praying anywhere through this situation you know they're just getting into everything they can get into it and then wondering why god's not blessing them could be what you're doing on social media what guy why god ain't blessing you so many times you can scroll through there i'm more what do they call it a stalker is it what they call it a stalker i don't but i'll just kind of go through and just kind of see what my little sheepies are doing stalker and young but are always well you'll see one of my friends i don't usually say anything i hate it when that happens i'm not much to say anything i just seen 12 posts in the last two weeks but they're not one to say anything but this deserves to be talked about and then they'll take to somebody on facebook they won't call them on the phone but they'll tear them up on facebook and boy for somebody that don't hardly ever say something they are so profound and crucifying and criticizing people just not me to usually say anything but at a friend one time he smoked and he had started talking and pretty soon he had reached for that pocket when he got that thing out and got it in got it lit and got it in his fingers and started started flipping it i can see him today flipping it you knew you was on a roll you was fixing to hear some stuff yeah what broke you from facebook brother samsung one little episode one time i just i shared probably one of the best thoughts i ever seen but i didn't read into who shared it before brother and send me a text he said brother samsung you share this i said yeah he said you need to read on down a little farther i opened that thing happened i looked at it and i thought oh god how do i get this off of here i didn't even know how to get it off had it but man i shared something what he was saying here was good but the rest of it back here had a lot of profanity in it and i thought dear god the other one was somebody talked about you know sometimes if you're going to come to our church you're going to get right before you get here you get changed you don't come in here you come in here looking like a saint a god or you don't come here and then it and it talked about another one there was two or three deals but one said come as you are and let god change you and i like that and i've been practicing that i'm gonna let god do the work the bible said if he don't do the work our labor is in vain there's a lot of people in here today that i could have rained on but you know what they changed and then another one behind them seen that they had changed and you know what they said if they can do it i can do it and so she laid down some stuff just because somebody else and god doing the work because i never hounded one time on the situation but god done the work if he doesn't do it so i shared that man come as you are let god change you and almost instantly it's like this guy he's a stalker too i guess but he clearly there as soon as that came up i think that was the only the like second or third thing i'd shared and i got reprimanded i can't believe that a man of god would post something like this was almost like i was a postate or something i'm sitting there trying to figure out what did i do and then naturally i'm getting mad at this guy then i wanted but i didn't because i usually don't say anything then i didn't say anything i just left it alone but i could have got on there and i could have got multiple brothers that we've talked about that and they've seen that they've seen the situation they've come to he said man but Samson was what was the deal there i said i don't know elder i'm still trying to trying to figure this thing out one man told me he said now he's he's crazy he don't know he's crazy but he's crazy well he's crazy but i just left it alone because i felt like this is situation is better off leaving it alone and sometimes we can just have that ability god i'm going to put that in your hands i'm going to leave this situation alone god and i'm going to let you take care of it we keep waiting for light and brightness that all the time we're stomping in the cockatrice nest and we're producing vipers i just crushed one egg i just all i did was give my opinion in your opinion was like throwing dead pine needles on the fire or gas in the fire we grope for the wall like the blind and we grope as if we had no eyes we stumble at noon day as in the night what's wrong with us children of the light and we're being affected by all of this stuff that ought to be left alone just leave it alone but we wind up doing what we normally don't do paul said when i do good evil was present with me and the good that i would have done i don't do it i wind up not doing it because evil was there and evil over overpowered the good this is what paul you need to read that sometime read it real fast it's kind of a tongue twister but what he's saying if evil is present and there's a gap for it to get in it's going to get in and the good that you do you don't do it when you normally don't say anything when evil begins to work you start saying things and then that good that you would have done it don't turn out so good it turns into a viper and a lot of times comes back to bite you but he said she said that they said we all we roar all like bears and then we mourn sore like doves we look for judgment but there is none for salvation is far off from us our transgressions are multiplied before the and our sins testify against us what's working against you today what's in your life what do you pilfer and with it you can't leave alone what's working on you what's working on your attitude what's working on your spirit you harbor and hatch until these things are birthed and when they come forth or they're vipers they're poisonous i just stepped on one egg like brother samsung all i did is wretched and got one and it exploded and then they just all began to pop and explode and when that spirit gets a hold of you then it's out of control for our transgressions are with us and as for our inequities we know them you know what's separating you between you and your god you know why five families got up and left one pastor because he started preaching holiness he said you know i loved them they're leaving me that man the blood was going to be on my hands if i didn't tell him and he told them one family began to work on another family and another family began to work on another family just leave it alone and line up if it's a hindrance lay it down departing away from our god speaking oppression and revolt conceiving uttering from the heart words of falsehood and judgment is turned away backwards and just to stand a far off for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter yet truth fellith and he that departed from evil make us himself a prey just next time something gets started in the church you make a stand tell you where i stand i stand with brother samsung you know what you're going to become a prey you're going to become a target he's a goody two shoes he thinks he's better than us no he is smarter than you are because he's not getting involved in in your criticism of running the church down running the school down when they're doing everything they could on on on a on almost no budget at all given it everything they got but before the next nine months is over there'll be some of the most criticized people in the world and some of you will jump on the bandwagon give me an egg let me crush it you know what peaches talk about now you know who the biggest sinner is in the fellowship now is the pastor that stands up and proclaim proclaims truth holiness and separation from the world and name sin he's the most targeted person in the congregation but i want to hear about prosperity and i want to hear about wealth and healing and joy ever more well what you're wanting to hear is what the flesh wants the lust of the flesh the pride of life the lust of the eye man yeah you can build a church you can build a church on prosperity you can build a church when all you talk about you come here you're going to be blessed you're going to be prosperous and you're going to make will be wealthy and make money you're going to drive cars like you've never and you hear this almost every sermon that they preach but they're preaching exactly what the flesh wants and feeds on that's the lust of the eye the lust of the flesh and the pride of life and it feeds on that and they'll build a multitude of thousands in one service and never preach salvation the flesh doesn't want to hear about separation the flesh wants the new car the new house the big job the money in the bank the fame the fad the fashion that's what the flash wants i'm not a hard-nosed preacher but i think you know i think we have a fair standard of holiness i think you can go so far you look sloppy but i don't think anything's wrong with the middle of the calf that's fair for everybody if you're short tall thin heavy whatever middle of the thigh that that that'll work that won't work middle of the calf middle of the calf i've just been to brents and i've seen so many in the middle of the thigh i was starting to think that's the standard but i mean holiness and indecency and separation from the world man a plan of salvation being baptized in the in the name of jesus christ repent of your sins just be in say just being happy just being thankful to live for god the calum and some of that let's build a new church let's get out of this town let's let's get farther away from our home church i said you know that that's a good idea and when we did that you know he said i just want a nice place for our children to grow up and our our our to you know to be a uh an icon maybe in the community not with pride but be something that somebody would want to come and be a part of but we can't build because there's so many people that get disgruntled they won't get involved and they want to criticize everything that's going on around them just get involved don't quit the church i get aggravated i get upset but i don't quit the church i come back the next week i come to midweek service i just come i just come to church i think this is the church is the church is where we find help this is the church where a place where we can repent this is a place where we can be come up to god standard and to the standard in the flesh makes itself a prey if he stands for righteousness and the lord saw it and it displeased him and there was no judgment where's our judgment and he saw there was no man we need men today that'll just stand up and take leadership and say hey are you against women no i'm against Kamala Harris if you're wondering about that but i'm not against women i married one she helped me get to where i'm at today but sometimes it's got to be a man just got to stand up and he wondered that there was no an assessor she several years back got in a big lawsuit over an accident and we went to meet with the people and this went on for a while year or two and three i don't remember exactly but when we went to meet we didn't meet with trekking executives and the state was brought into this thing the highway was partly to blame and whatever but so in between these two or three parties a man walked in he said i'm mr so-and-so i'm your mediator sometimes we need a mediator you know who that mediator is Jesus Christ between God and man but we need somebody to say hey let me just let me go talk to him let me see if that's really the way it is i never saw my elder he told me about one time he tried it but when trouble sprang up in the church and he knew that there were several men coming against him they wanted to have a meeting and he said we'll do it and God spoke to him you better not do it so you know what he began to do he began to go to him one at a time and see what the problem was and when it come time for a big meeting there's just about one or two back there with the cockatries eggs in their hand wanting to hatch them and it came to not we need a we need a mediator it's talking about an intercessor here you know what an intercessor is we need to learn the power of intercessory prayer leave these other problems alone and just learn how to make intercession what's intercession read about Abraham God was going to destroy destroy Sodom and Gomorrah he had a family member involved there but Abraham's righteousness came up before God he's just looking for a man brother Adam Abraham the Bible said he was a friend of God and he said I can't destroy this city without telling Abraham what I'm about to do and the Bible talks about went and Abraham they begin to talk to Abraham and I've been through it before let me kill the fatted calf and let us draw water give him something to drink make some bread well you know today it wasn't the time of microwaves all of this that Abraham was doing was taking time because he was in the presence of God the elder used to say never travel too fast when you're passing beautiful scenery Abraham thought man I am in the presence of God what can I do to maintain this to keep it here man how how often is it that God comes by and visits you personally it's been rare for me that I just felt a presence come into the room and a piece and begin to weep and sob and to bow my head reverently and Abraham's doing everything that he can to keep God there he's he's cooking bacon bread and maybe heating up the oven that takes time and and killing and and skinning and fileting and whatever they done drawing water to keep the presence of God there but when the Lord's fixing to leave he said I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do and Abraham I'm going to destroy Sodom 80,000 men and boys alone I'm destroying them now this wasn't a Noah in the art field God made up his mind I'm doing it now and Abraham begin to make intercession what number did he start out with was a hundred or fifty or something and and the Bible said when you read that Abraham was yet again before the Lord so that wasn't the first time Abraham had made intercession he's there again he's making intercession and the Lord said yeah I'll do it and the Lord agreed so quickly he's passionate he's merciful and Abraham thought whoa he knows evidently he knows so he starts downing the you know decreasing the numbers if you can find I think what was it down to 10 10 righteous if you find 10 righteous out of 80,000 just men and boys not women and girls God said I'll do it I don't want to grieve you Lord but here I am again I'm praying about this situation he was humble he was working God was working with him isn't it amazing when you've got the favor of God and he's given you favor and you're fulfilling your end of the bargain bargain and and you're asking for things of the kingdom he said it's his good pleasure to give it to us but he wants our soul to prosper as we prosper he wants our soul to prosper a lot of times the more money you see people make the less they come to church but Abraham's making this intercession God was will and plumb down to 10 I believe if if he had asked for one I believe he would have done it but some reason he stopped at 10 thinking out of such a oh lord a metro area of the size of this we can find 10 with no problem but it wasn't there but he did spare a lot and his daughters but he was he made intercession and he brought salvation unto lot and his daughters and it sustained him where he put on righteousness as a breastplate the helmet of salvation upon his head and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak and according to their deeds accordingly he will repay for fury to his adversaries recompense to his enemies to the islands he will repay recompense they're going to fear the name of the lord from the west his glory from the rising of the sun when god comes on the scene you're going to be so thankful you're going to look back and you're going to say I'm thankful that I left that alone I'm thankful I got that out of my heart I'm thankful that I didn't let that bother me tell you something it ain't about prosperity it's about making this flesh uncomfortable like brother Charlie Wickliffe when he told his leg and the elder wouldn't let him evangelize his leg was swelled up so big and he come out of that office he wanted to preach and evangelize so bad and he walked a lot of the places that he went and tears was running down his eyes brother clapper then he looked at his leg and he pointed I was standing at the back of the church and he told that leg he said you line up to the word of god you line up to the word of god I've got to preach flash line up to the word of god brother Charlie never had enough mentality could he couldn't read money couldn't read his own name he couldn't read the bible he had somebody read it to him but he'd save more souls than brother Samson will probably ever get into an altar but he said line up to the word of god you want to talk talk to yourself and say self why don't you line up why don't you get a love for holiness why don't you get a love for faithfulness why don't you get a love for your fellow brother or sister in the church and you won't talk about him you won't run him down you'll get a love for him you'll have what it takes to go over there and encourage them in the time of trouble instead of saying that's what they deserve I knew all the time they didn't have and I knew all you're doing is bothering a bunch of rotten eggs it's going to break forth in stink and cold heartedness and a viper coming out and not just human if he gets to latch on to everybody in close proximity in effect I'm telling you today leave it alone talk to god make it her session today stand to your feet today without you.