Don't Sleep On The Lampstand | Bro. Alex Mason

Praise the Lord, I got his worthy.

Glory Oak. Who is like the Lord, There is

no one. Who is like the Lord, He's

strong and mighty. Who is like the Lord?

There is no one. Stand up and give him some

praise. Give him some praise.

I love. Love you Jesus, Amen.

Glorify His. Name stand with us.

Tonight, Amen, at the House of the Lord.

Amen. Brother Alex Mason going to come

and minister to us this evening. We appreciate him and Sister

Grace and baby Piper. We've been to a spring

conference this weekend and that's not just like going on a

weekend vacation. They were working while they

were gone and the Masons and such had meetings after our

services required them to stay there longer and such.

And I just told him, I remember when I did that and I'm thankful

for him, even thankful for them. Amen.

That it involves work. Their hands are in a lot of

places, the work of the Kingdom, Amen, both here and in our

district and such. And so we love and appreciate,

Amen, the time, their energy, and the best that they give of

themselves. Amen to those various rose,

Amen, and places, Amen. Will you just, Amen, give a wave

of offering to the Lord? Right now I feel His presence

still here as a brother Mason comes just a wave of offering

into the Lord, Amen. Thanking him for His

graciousness and His goodness. I love you, Lord.

I love you, Lord. Hallelujah, oh Lord, your mighty

oh, we give you praise today. Hallelujah, Jesus, Hallelujah.

Jesus. He is good all the.

Time He is good. Amen.

Thank you for your faithfulness to the House of the Lord today.

Pastor is correct it it is a little tiring some days I coming

from me if you know me and many of you.

Do if I? Say I'm tired.

I'm tired. I woke up from a nap this

afternoon and I've been dealing with a headache.

So I don't know if that's just just nature or if that's

spiritual. So we'll just deal with it and

go with it. But we're going to turn to First

Samuel 3. Thankful for pastor and his

wife. Love and appreciate them, all of

their support and love. Very thankful.

Thankful for my parents. I I have the pleasure of serving

with them in the Indiana district and I, I I.

Greatly enjoy that we. Have a good time and I also love

serving with my wife. She is, she is just a

powerhouse. She wouldn't say it, but I I'll

say it. I have the microphone most of

the time. I do have the microphone and

it's kind of nice. But I love and appreciate her

and all that she does and all that she endures, whether

through me or just the fact of being pregnant.

She does a fantastic job. I know she may not feel like,

oh, I'm not doing much. I'm not a mother yet, but I'm

like, you're you're yeah, you're growing a human.

You're doing a lot. You're doing a great job with

it. So, so I love and appreciate her

so much. I'm going to.

Read a a few verses and I'll have you seat seat be seated.

Lord help me and then I'll I'll keep I'll keep reading verse

one. Says in the child, Samuel

ministered unto the. Lord before Eli.

And the Lord, the word of the Lord was.

Precious In those days there was no open vision.

And it came to pass that at that.

Time when? Eli was laid.

Down in his. Place and his eyes.

Began to wax dim that he could not.

See. And the air of the lamp of God

went out in the temple of the Lord.

Where the ark of God was. And Samuel was laid down to.

Sleep. I'll stop there.

For a moment and we will pray God I.

Ask you just to. Move in this place today, Lord,

Let your will be done, Lord Anointing Lord your servant

tonight, Lord that you. Were just to touch me whatever

needs to be spoken tonight God, I ask you just to move Lord,

that you would intervene Lord as a willing vessel.

Lord, I give myself unto you touch your people tonight Lord

prepare hearts and minds as a planting ground for your word

and we will not fail to thank you and praise you in Jesus

mighty name. I pray and everyone said.

Amen. Amen.

You may. Be seated tonight I'm going to

preach on. This subject Don't sleep on the

lampstand, don't sleep on the lampstand.

I'm not saying don't sleep in the sense of I'm.

Sleeping on the lampstand? Don't sleep.

On it as in being a little bit numb A.

Little bit numb. So continuing on and our our

reading here, I'm going to continue with verse 4 and it

says that the Lord called Samuel and he answered here am I and he

ran to Eli and said, here am I for thou callest me and he said.

I called not. Lie down.

Again. And he went and lay down.

And the Lord called yet again Samuel, And Samuel rose and went

to Eli. And he said, Here am I, for thou

didst call me. And he answered, I called not my

son, lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet know the

Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.

And the Lord called Samuel again the third time.

And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I, for thou

didst call me. This is my own interpretation.

And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.

Therefore Eli said unto. Samuel, go lie.

Down, and it shall be if he called thee, that thou shalt

say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.

So Samuel went and laid down in his place, and the Lord came and

stood and called at the other times, Samuel, Samuel.

Then Samuel answered, Speak for thy servant Heareth.

So we have Samuel here living, living here amongst the temple,

and we have Eli. And Eli I'm sure is like, man,

let me sleep. What is wrong with you?

Go back to bed. I didn't call you.

They did it 3. Times and then he's like.

Wait a minute. There's something going on here.

There is something beautiful about the story of Samuel and

understanding the that him growing up around the things of

God. He is growing up around this

special. He's he's knowing he he knows

how to find his way to the altar.

He knows the layout of things and and you know, it's even in

our own. It is beautiful to see to be

able to see a child be able to grow up in the church.

It is beautiful to see them growing up around the things of

God. And not everyone has the

blessing of being able to have that opportunity, but they they

grow up and they grow up around the things that God they know

where the altar is. They know how to quote

scripture. They they know hearing songs and

feeling the atmosphere and being a part of a move of God.

There is blessing in it and there is heritage in it.

And, and some of us, we were raised, we were raised around

the proverbial lampstand, if you will.

We, we learned the right words. We, we, we know when to clap.

We know when to lift our hands. We know when to say Amen.

And we were taught how to serve, how to minister, how to be

faithful to the House of God. And I thank God for that.

I thank God for MyHeritage. I thank God that I was one of

those few that was able to experience that.

And Samuel here is in the House of God and he's living amongst

all these things. And I thank God for every prayer

meeting that we were brought to. I thank God for the rallies and

the church camps and the NY CS and the fill in the blank.

I thank God for that. I thank God for every altar

call, every tear that I have shed because I have been brought

up around the House of God. Now I don't want this to not

resonate with someone that hasn't grown up in church.

So let me let me clarify that that also comes around to the

sense of growing up as a child of God being or be be

reacquainting or acquainting yourself with the familiarity of

the House of God. That is still applies.

It just so happened some of us were blessed enough to be here

as a young child and be brought up all right.

So I don't want to, I don't want to miss being misunderstood.

This all applies. But those things matter.

They they have shaped they, they shaped me.

They shape you. They they put something in your

spirit that the world cannot erase.

But if we are not careful, that once thing that amazed us can

become something that we sleep through.

What once had stirred us to tears, hands became a background

noise. What What once made our hearts

burn with desire has slowly become normal and routine and

common. Without even realizing it, we

can find ourselves lying to the very thing that could change our

lives. And we are asleep.

And that's exactly where Samuel was.

He was in the right place. He was in the right atmosphere,

in the right temple. But he had the wrong response.

It is a dangerous thing to get so used to the presence of God

that we would start sleeping through it.

It is a dangerous thing to be so close to the fire and yet be so

cold. It is a dangerous thing when you

are near the altar but not tuned into the voice that's speaking

at the altar. And it happens, I think, very

well, it is happening in our generation that people are

asleep. We know the language, we know

the songs, we know the scriptures, we know how to

shout, how to dance, how to lift our hands.

But sometimes we've been around it so long that we've start to

lose all, we've start to lose the weight of it.

We start to fall asleep right next to the lamp stand.

And that's where Samuel is right now.

And if we reread in I'm going to read it in the NSA B.

If we reread the first 3 verses, it helps describe in a in a good

light of verse 3. From where KJV you thinking just

like did it? Did the lamp go out?

It says in verse 3 of NSA B it says and the lamp of God had not

yet. Gone out.

And Samuel was lying down in the tip of the Lord where the ark of

God was. So when we read the KJV, we

think the air of the lamp had gone out into unto, but that's

that's not saying that it had gone out.

It is not yet. It may be it's flickering, but

it's still, it's still there. The light is still there.

So don't be misunderstood by the KJV language that that's why

it's good to use other translations.

It's good to look at definition and find out because if you were

just to read down this you would have thought, well, mighty God,

the lamp has gone out. No, the lamp.

Is still burning. The lamp is still there.

And so during this time, though the word of the Lord was rare,

the visions were few, and it was difficult.

The flame was flickering. It was flickering.

It was it was a darker time in the lampstand.

The golden Candlestick that had stood inside the temple.

It was a symbol. It was a symbol of God's active

presence. It was fueled by pure oil.

It was commanded to be burned continually.

It was a visible reminder that the fire of heaven had not gone

out, even when leadership may have failed, even when visions

were rare, even when people were blind to it.

The lamp still was lit, the fire was still there, the presence

was lingering, and a voice was still calling.

Samuel was lying right next. He was lying in the atmosphere

of the very thing that could change his life.

He wasn't sleeping in the streets, he wasn't running in

the roads, He wasn't even, he was sleeping in the temple.

And I have to imagine the glow of a lampstand as he's walking

back and forth, back and forth to Eli, passing the glow of the

lampstand. Or it's being somewhere you can

see that little flicker. He is in the right place.

He's close enough maybe even to feel the warmth, but maybe he's

just numb enough at the moment that he's not hearing the voice.

Can I tell you tonight that you can be close to that presence

and still miss the voice? You can be at the altar and

still be absent in the spirit. You can be around the fire and

still have those cold hands in the frozen heart.

Samuel wasn't a bad kid. He wasn't living in rebellion,

he wasn't running, he wasn't doing anything wrong per SE.

He was ministering before the Lord.

He was faithful, he was consistent.

But he was asleep when he should have been listening.

Now, yes, he woke up, but again, he went somewhere else.

And that's where familiarity can kill our sensitivity.

Just because we've been around the lampstand doesn't mean we're

awake to what the lampstand. Just because we've been in the

house doesn't mean we're hearing the voice.

Paul even said it and that it would happen.

And he said in second Timothy 3 and five having a form of

godliness, but but denying the power thereof from such turn

away. They know the form, they know

the language and the motions, but they do not have the oil,

they do not have the power. They did not have the fire.

Jesus said it in Matthew 1115. He that have ears to hear, let

him hear. Everybody's got ears, but not

everyone is tuned in. Everybody.

Everybody's in the building maybe, but no one is receiving

the call. You can be sleeping under that

glow of that lamp and still miss our moment if we're not awake.

When the call comes, God says Samuel.

Samuel hears and he does not recognize it.

He so he jumps up and the first thing he does is go to Eli.

Here am I Eli probably groggy, wakes up and he says I did not

call you go to bed, go back, go back to sleep.

And again Samuel and again Samuel runs here am I and Eli

says, boy, go back to bed. And it happens again, Samuel.

Here am I and Eli says son, I swear.

But then. But then Eli had a moment and

he's like, wait a minute, there's something going on.

There were 3 * 3 missed recognitions here.

Samuel wasn't hearing correctly, and he was interpreting.

He wasn't. He was interpreting this

incorrectly. He mistook the voice of God for

the voice of man. We hear conviction, but we blame

it on emotion. We feel the pulling of the

Spirit, but we chalk it to atmosphere.

We since the nudging of God calling our name, but we run to

human solution instead of heavenly answer.

I thank God that He is merciful enough to call again.

Psalm 103 and eight says the Lord is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

Even when Samuel had missed it the first time, God did not stop

calling. Even when Samuel ran to the

wrong voice, God did not stop calling.

Even when Samuel didn't know what was happening, God did not

stop calling. God did not quit on Samuel after

the first mistake, after the second mistake, after the third

mistake, and He's not going to quit on you either.

He has been knocking, He has been calling, He has been

stirring your spirit in the late hours, and yet you still are

asleep. I think of that, and I think of

Revelation 320 of Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into

him, and I will Sup with him, and he with me.

He was knocking, He was knocking.

He was he was desiring some relationship with Samuel and

Samuel did not recognize it. He is knocking when you're

distracted. He is knocking when you're busy.

He is knocking when you have become numb.

The question is, are we going to take the time to be sensitive to

it? We're all busy.

We're all distracted. We have plenty of things to do,

but the question is, is are we taking the time to allow Him to

speak? Isaiah 3021 says thy ears shall

hear a word behind these saying this is the way walkie in it.

Even when you don't recognize his voice, he still recognizes

you. He has not forgotten you.

The question is, is have you forgotten him?

Because the call is too important.

The call is too important for him to forget.

He is not going to forget you. The purpose is too great.

The time is too urgent and he is going to bring, he's going to

keep coming to you. The question is, is, are you

going to meet him? You're in the atmosphere, you're

in the right place at the right time, and yet you're still not

meeting him truly. But the lamp won't burn forever.

Samuel heard the call. The fire was flickering, the oil

was still burning, but it wasn't going to last forever if if

there was not going to be a successor, if there was not

going to be someone that continued on in this fire, this

flame, so to speak. The lamp stand was still

shining, but maybe only for a little while longer.

If it's if it is, if it's flickering, you have to imagine

that something's going to change quickly.

Something's going to happen. And if Aunt Samuel had stayed

asleep just to lingle longer, I have to imagine what if the

flame ended up going. Out.

What if it, What if? What if the Spirit had departed

from that place? The moment would have passed and

the time would have been over. Leviticus 24 and 2 even

commanded the priests to bring pure oil so the lamps would burn

continually. Continually.

It was. It was the priest job to tend

the fire, to check it, to fuel it, to keep it alive.

But in Eli's day, that fire was dying.

And if Samuel had stayed, that stayed there longer and he had

just decided to stay asleep, no matter how many times it's after

the fact, no matter how many times if he just decided to stay

asleep. Cuz you hear when you're in a

house. And around here, we got a lot of

old houses, right? If you hear the creaking in the

blah, blah, blah, if you got up every single time you heard a

Creek in your house, you would not sleep.

And so we would be none to it. And that's probably the same.

What could have happened with Samuel?

Samuel could have just kept hearing it like, whatever,

whatever. If he's he says, he's not

calling. OK, Eli, you're not calling me.

Good joke. All right?

I'm not falling for it this time, Right.

He could have. He could have.

The lamp would have gone out. Presents would have lifted.

And a moment passed, right? Right.

We cannot assume that the lamp. We cannot assume that the

opportunity will always be there because there will be a day

where we will no longer have that opportunity.

We will no longer have that opportunity to come to the horns

of the altar and and grab a hold of heaven.

We will no longer have that opportunity, and it may be too

late. We cannot assume that we can lie

back down one more time and still have time to respond.

Paul said it in Ephesians 514. Awake thou that sleepest, and

arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Wake up while the flame is still burning.

Wake up while you have a chance, while the oil is still flowing,

because time is over the essence.

You don't have time to fall asleep one more time.

There is not enough time to do that.

Proverbs 6 and verse 9 through 11 says, How long wilt thou

sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy

sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little

slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep.

So shall thy poverty come as one that travaileth, and thy want as

an armed man. A little more sleep, a little

more delay, a little more postponing of the call of God

may just be to your your detriment.

And you wake up and you find that the lamp has gone out.

What if, what if Samuel had woke up and realized that the lamp

had gone out? And then Eli, he was waxing old?

What if that was the day you wake up and find the whole world

has changed, the window has closed, voice has moved on.

Do not risk it. Do not gamble it.

Do not gamble the call of God on your life on.

I will do it when it is most convenient for me.

Yeah, so many, you know, you have the the classic trope.

And I try to tell students all the time.

Do not wait until oh, I'll wait till I have a job and blah,

blah. Or I'll, I'll wait till I'm 18,

I'm an adult. Then I'll start, you know,

serving God correctly and and doing all that.

It's too late by that point and you haven't created a habit of,

of, of anything. You haven't created a habit of,

of reading your Bible. You haven't created a habit of

coming to church consistently. You haven't created a habit of

fasting. You haven't created a habit of

having a relationship with God at all in any assemblance.

And you allow different external factors to affect you.

You are too far gone by the time you're an adult.

It's too gone. It's too it's too late.

The question is, are you going to turn around and go back to

what you have known, go back to what you even grew up around, or

are you going to let the light? Run out when Eli.

Realizes it. If you hear it again, don't run

to me. Say right where you are.

Speak. Lord, thy servant heareth.

The next time Samuel hears that voice, he doesn't run the

comfort or familiarity. He doesn't run to a man.

He stays still and he positions his heart and he says, speak

Lord, your servant is listening. And from that day on, Samuel

didn't just serve the temple, he served the voice.

He didn't just minister before men, he ministered before God,

the Bible says in First Samuel 319 it says and Samuel grew and

the Lord was with him and did let none of his words fall to

the ground. Everything God put in Samuel's

mouth came to pass because Samuel didn't just hear the

word, he obeyed the word. He didn't just encounter the

presence, he was shaped by it. He didn't just get close to the

fire, he he carried it inside of him.

The lamp is still burning, but will we wake up or will we stay

asleep? At the lampstand.

It's here. We know that it's a semblance of

of His spirit. We know that when we come here

that He is present. We're in the right place at the

right time, in the right atmosphere, and yet we still let

moments pass us by for familiarity purposes, for the

purpose that we think that oh, I still have however many years

XYZI still have tomorrow. We're not promised tomorrow, but

somehow we still think I still have tomorrow.

We postpone call, We postpone getting right because we think I

still have time. But do you?

But do you, John One and Five says in the light shineth in the

darkness, His light and the darkness comprehended it not.

The light is there, the light is here, but are we not

comprehending it? Are we not understanding it?

Are we not taking the time? Because we are a Society of

people that everything has to be instant.

Microwaves weren't fast enough, So what did we make?

Instant cookers, Air fryers. I love my air fryer though.

But we did. We made those because it wasn't

quick enough. How can I make this faster?

I need it now. And yet we have done that.

We try to instant cook a with a move of God to the point that we

have conferences and and we have all of these great revivals and

all this stuff. That's that's all good.

But we we stick to that schedule so tightly that if anything

happens, Lord forbid there be a move of God, we do not enough.

In my opinion. I am guilty of it.

I found myself more often lately being more just present in

prayer than even talking. We we get so we get so caught up

in I have to say this or I have to do this.

And sometimes by the end of the prayer, we give all of the we we

blurred everything out and there may just be the voice over here

wanting to actually speak, but we have just decided, all right,

I need this, this, this, this, this, or bless, bless these

people here, these people, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Thanks guys, bye. If prayer is supposed to be a

two way St. just like a relationship, then maybe

sometimes we need just shut up, be quiet, stop.

Because I think sometimes, even if I'm not hearing.

Thus sayeth the Lord, this is what you need to do.

I may not hear that Lord bless you if you do, but sometimes he

may just put something in your heart, put something in your

spirit and print something on your mind.

Maybe, maybe there just may be something that you're missing

because you're deciding to rush through all of it.

I got to get all this done. And here's all my To Do List of

what you can do for me. God, and I'm going to move on.

And he's just over here. He's speaking, but we've already

left. And the question is, is, are you

going to wait? Are you going to wait till the

opportunity is right for you? Or is he going to have to stop

you? Is he going to have to stop you

in your tracks? Is something in your life going

to have to change in order for him to get your attention?

Don't think it's by accident. That's things happen when you

were you're going about your day and and everything you just

start to why did that happen? Aggravate me and you blame it on

you blame it on the devil, right We always classic oh slew fight.

But could it be that the Lord may just be trying to get your

attention? Could it be that you're trying

to go throughout and just go through the motions and do

everything the the right way and the way that you, you know it to

be and you're not taking time to entertain.

You're not taking time to entertain his presence so much

so that he starts to try to get your attentions with some of

these things that you start to blame on Satan and Satan's over

there. Like, are you serious?

I could do it, but that's not me.

Now he, he deserves everything he gets, but it's still funny.

But God may want to get your attention.

The question is, is are you going to allow him to speak it

or is he going to have to change your life in order to get your

attention When he speaks, don't run to man.

Don't go back to your comfort zone.

Stay still, lift your hands, lift your head.

Speak. Lord, Your servant is listening.

I wonder if we could stand tonight as music comes.

Have you gone through the motions?

Has it gotten, has it gotten stale for you?

Then maybe you need to come back, come back to familiarity

with him and relationship. Have you, have you gone so far

as to the point of it? It's just, it's just the usual.

Have we allowed ourselves to become numb when the we're

literally? In the right place at the right

time. In the right atmosphere, we are

all guilty from it, from of it from time to time.

The question is, is will we wake up and realize it or will we

miss the moment? Will we miss the time frame?

Will we miss the opportunity? So much so that we have gone.

It has gone away from us and it is turned.

We have been turned away from God so much that he's no longer

there, that the moment has then passed.

God, I wonder, I wonder what I can do to take moments and

listen to your voice. You're speaking, but am I

listening? God, convict us today that you

would speak and we would take the time to listen.

These altars are open tonight. Lord, if you feel, if you feel a

longing to come back, maybe it just so happens that you've been

going through the motions, come back to familiarity.

The the lamp stand is still lit. The moment's still here.

The opportunity's still here. Are you going to answer and say

Lord, speak. Your servant is listening.

God, I have gone through seasons in my life where I have gone

through the motions and I have not taken the time.

I have not taken the opportunity and I have missed you speaking.

I have missed it because I was so caught up in what I needed to

do, so caught up in all of the day-to-day.

God, have I missed things that I could have.

I could have gotten closer to you.

I could have gotten answer from you, but I was too focused on

what I need. I was too focused on what needed

to be done. Oh Lord, help us not to fall

asleep. Not fall asleep.

Fall none to the lampstand and to your voice.

Oh Hallelujah.