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the word of God he sent greetings Brethren from Pangasinan in the Philippines and we are very happy to have to stay here and to minister God's word to you and I praise the Lord for inviting us and also extending the invitation to my family when my family heard that we are going to Australia and invitation also was give an unto them extended to them they were very happy and thank God for that and even they burst into joy and singing please turn to Acts chapter 3 verse 6. this was the joy of my wife and my son when they heard that they also uh going with me we have this song we are singing in the children's ministry which uh says Silver and Gold Have I None but such as I have gave which as I have give ID in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk the song goes this way I'm not sure if I am able to sing it properly but just allow me to praise the Lord the song goes this way [Music] but such as I have I give thee in the name of Jesus Christ of NASA wrath rise up and walk that was the song but they tried to change it so my wife says Silver and Gold Have I None but I have ticket to Australia she is very very shy about it so she equated the ticket to Australia as silver and gold well for us there of course we are godza servants we are not interested in silver and gold we do not enrich ourselves there but we serve the Lord we help the people and prioritize God's work but the song of my wife was a reflection of how happy she is to stay and to be with God's people here in Australia and with you so praise the Lord for that so thank God that they are here they're enjoying my boy also asked me daddy is Australia cold and then he said I said yes it's very cold there when we when we arrive and then he said praise the Lord I will enjoy it there so thank God and by the way pray for them in the September they are going also to Korea until December and they will spend time there with the grandparents and my wife's parents before we will look the Lord up before we will learn from God's word let us look to the Lord in prayer let's pray gracious Heavenly Father we how we thank you for the great work that thou has given unto us thy Work is not only situated in one place thy Work is not only limited to a few but thou has given us global evangelization the world is our mission field and thank you Lord that thou has brought us here thank you also Lord that thou has used Bethel BP church here in Melbourne in Australia that they might be able to support the work in other places such as Myanmar and even extend the help in Cebu oh Lord God the Father indeed we are brethren in Christ thank you that thou has given them resources that they can also be a blessing to others oh Lord God our Father without thy help we may not be able to have wisdom that we may not be able to even extend thy kingdom but we praise you that thou has provided thou has sustained us and not only with physical blessings but all the more especially and even better with spiritual things because what will we do with this physical blessings when in fact our life will not change our life our full of sin and miserable there are many things that money cannot buy and spiritual Things Are the most that we need thank you Lord for the Brethren here for persevering in faith I know it is not easy there will be many struggles everywhere God's people are struggling perhaps maybe of different things but I thank you that thou has sustained them help them as we learn from Thy word today from the life of a small character in The Bible the life of abhishai she was he was a nobody he was just a simple soldier of Israel a simple servant and yet he has been used by God that I can say that if without him David could have died oh Lord God our Father we pray that every Christian will not think that they have no place of service in the vineyard how small it is the Lord has prepared every Christian a place to serve a place to minister and a place to be used by our Almighty father I pray that all of us will be willing and always ready to serve the Lord in Jesus name we ask and pray my dear friends please turn your Bibles to uh second Samuel chapter 21 as what we have read this morning our meditation for today is entitled thank God for abhishai as I have mentioned in my prayer there are many things that we have misconception about the church I would like to share to you two things for this message the misconceptions about the church first misconception is that the leaders of the church especially the pastor do not need to be encouraged that as the leaders of the church this misconception is cause and will tell us that since they are the man of God they are the leaders of the church they must be strong that as leaders of the church they do not need our help that is a misconception second misconception that I would like to um share to you is this that one of the greatest mistakes of a church member can make is to think that they are not important or cannot be an asset to the church that they say oh I am just a lowly person I have no education or maybe I am just poor or perhaps not confident in speaking or if I see my weaknesses then I cannot be used by God in any area of the church so that's why I will just stay in one corner when the worship service will finish I will just go and walk away and don't talk to people because I am so inferior with my brethren these two misconceptions my dear friends are very very bad and I hope and I pray that we will not uh even um accept or entertain these misconceptions again turn your Bible to second Samuel chapter 21. hmm first that we will see about or we will hear about abhishai is in second and first Samuel rather verse 26 we shall turn there just uh previous book in first Samuel we will see the availability of abhishai this is the first instance where we see his name first Samuel chapter 26 verse 6. we will see his availability verse 6s then answer David or rather we will go first to verse 5 and David arose and came to the place where Saul had pitched and David beheld the place where solely and Abner the son of nerd the captain of his host and soul lay in the trench and the people pitch around about him then answered David and said to ahimilek that he died and to abhishai that's the person the son of Zariah the brother or tuchu AB saying who will go down with me to Saul to the camp and abhishai said I will go down with thee I will go down with thee David was talking to his Soldier including that one person named ahimilek and he said who will volunteer and will go to A Dangerous Mission with me without further delay without further asking the details without further um giving details to abhishai and how dangerous was the mission of course they knew that the mission would be dangerous and that is to go to Seoul the first thinking of abhishai was to eliminate Saul because he might be thinking that we will go there to uh to destroy the king because first in the first place David was now anointed to be the next king and as we know Saul was a wicked King immediately volunteered without even considering that it was a dangerous which of course he knew about it who would go against the king when the king is there of course many soldiers will be surrounding him and will be protecting him and you will go against the king of Israel and later when they went there even abhishai was very very keen and very very happy to be with David and told David so David shall we now destroy or hurt or kill King Saul but David as you know said we cannot touch the Lord's anointed oh how good it is my dear friends in the church when there is someone who will stand with you that all he need to know is that the person that the Lord has appointed is leading them and when the person is assured that the chosen man of God is the one who he is following or how we wish we have someone whom we do not have to tell all the details who sometimes we do not have the time to tell all of these instances and to explain everything that we need someone who do not have to bring up to speed up with all the current situations that sometimes the work in the church just need to have a fast decision because if we delay there will be some problems that will arise or some not uh good results someone whom you do not have to explain everything someone that you can trust to go with you and help you someone that is eager to serve and fight without even knowing the plans and the details what he need to do as what I have mentioned is make sure that it is God's will actually that is the only way that we need to know my dear friends is this God's will is this the right path that the Lord wants us to thread or to go then we know no need for details no need for plan just go for it because that's what we have sang this morning oh Zion haste God's work must be done in his everyday people are dying souls are being reaped by the devil and we need to at least tell them about the savior are you all available to serve the Lord are we all available to support the work of the lord well not all might be preachers will be sent but you have your own individual Duty and opportunity that is the availability of abhishai in Philippines we have this common uh practice and I think it's really true that when we go for uh like for example vacation or we have plans to do the longer we plan the more that it will be delayed or sometimes canceled but most of the time the instant uh planning then when we said oh all of us are ready all of us are here so what will be the plan when one person will say okay we go and do these things and then instantly that plan will come to pass my dear friends is the same also with God's work sometimes yes it's good to plan so that we might be able to to maximize our experience with God's work but there are times that there is no need to plan there are times that we need to be available immediately and this was abhishai do you remember here another person was uh invited by David but only who responded to the invitation of David only this person named abhishai we returned to second Samuel and we will see our second point which is his awareness his awareness in verse 15 second Samuel chapter 21 verse 15. this is now the time wherein they have war with the Philistines and you know the Philistines really hated David in what uh instance of course we know the time when the Philistines having a war and when David was such a young boy he defeated Goliath the champion of the Philistines and really that cap into the mind of the Philistines and they are fighting the nation of Israel and much more they wanted to take revenge with their hero the hero was Goliath that even here in our passage the name of Goliath was not forgotten do you remember there in verse foreign 19 and there was again a battle in God with the Philistines where Ali Hanan the son of the game Bethlehem might slew the brother of Goliath that the same Goliath was the one that David slew when he was a young boy and Goliath was such a national figure in Philistine area and now they are fighting look at their the awareness of abhishai again abhishai was not even a general the general or the the leader of David's Army was juab But there again in verse 15 moreover the Philistines had War had yet War again with Israel and the event went down and his servants with him and fought against the Philistines and David wax faint while they were fighting David was accustomed to fighting with the Giants with Philistine Leaders with Philistine best army and of course the the Philistines will try to Target the king because once the king will be slayed or the king will be destroyed or at least the king will be decapitated then the Army will be very very discouraged and they will run away we have seen that in the Battle of David and Goliath that after David defeated Goliath they all ran away in fear the Philistine Army and here the giant whose name was fought David and you see abhishai was there close to David he saw that while fighting David became very very weak maybe perhaps of the most of the strength was gone maybe perhaps of tiredness maybe perhaps all of these struggles was caused by this Relentless War with the other countries he was close enough to David to see him when he was fainting Abhishek positioned himself to a place where not so near to David but at a distance with David he knew what was going on to David was struggling he knows something was wrong because he knew David very very well he have observed David very very well and he has been with the battles with David for a long time that's why he knew David he had a good relationship with his King and he knew when there is something wrong with David he can tell he was not near but yet in a Striking Distance you know what my dear friends the giant even when he was fighting he thought that he killed already David he thought that he destroyed David and he was a very very happy he rejoiced already in his heart sometimes my dear friends in our struggle with the church in our struggle with the church leaders in our struggle within ourselves with sin how many times that in the church the man of God is waxing faint because somebody in the church is acting more like a Philistine than an Israelite what I would like to say my dear friends sometimes because when our pastor our preachers our deacons will rebuke us and will tell us that what we are doing are wrong and we need to change because this is what God wanted us to do nobody wanted to be [Music] rebuke that is by experience in the Mission Church in Gethsemane in the Philippines when I rebuked the person the person will Rebel because of Bride and you know what my dear friends when you rebelled against God the person whom God has given to you to lead you and to support you and to teach you God's word and you show your unhappiness to him this will wax him he will faint and even he will be very very discouraged and all of these things my dear friends when it all sums up it will be a weakness of Spirit to the person sometimes we act like as if we are philistine rather than an Israelite when God's people according to God's word teaches you and it will not suit your thinking the supreme authority must be God's word you know what my dear friends just like David he had so many things to do he had to plan for the for the church or mean for the country have planned for in a sense the religious practices they have to plan on how to defend that territory he has even to plan for his family that to the point David was a failure in his family maybe perhaps first he has sins and second maybe we are so busy with the Affairs of the nation that God did not cite him as a good father Yes a man after God's Own Heart as what we will learn in the Youth Camp a man after God's Own Heart but never cited us a model father that's how busy he is and then this problem of War will add up to him and he is becoming tired and when he was very very tired and seems like he was cold went into the rescue he went into the rescue thank God that abhishai was aware and perceptive he didn't go on hearsay he knew David firsthand he didn't really like to tell him how David was doing because he saw it for himself he knew it he was there he was observing his King the generals where joab where maybe perhaps fighting his own battle but you know what abhishai was fighting his own battle maybe perhaps he's also uh having a sword fight with another Soldier and yet his eyes was not totally removed from the King that when the King was getting tired and tired and maybe fell down who knows because the giant the Philistine giant thought that David was dead maybe perhaps David fell down and then abhishai was already to rescue his King was the was abhishai only the only person around that area I don't think so there may be a lot of soldiers beside David even nearer to David but it was abhishai who was having an eye for the king my dear friends I hope and I pray that we will also look after our church leaders

yes I know we are busy with our life we are busy with taking care of our family taking care of the needs of the family taking care of our uh businesses work or whatever the Lord has given to us that's good because the Lord tells us that we must take care of our family if we do not take care of our family we are worse than the infidel but don't neglect your church leaders don't neglect just a simple um simple uh greeting or just a simple SMS or message or email to tell and encourage your leaders is good enough your leaders do not really need like every day you go to their house or ask them to go out or whatever they know you know they are also busy but just a simple Pastor how are you praise the Lord for seeing you through this week and it is not only about the pastor not only about the church leaders but also for every church member that we must be our brothers keeper take care of one another not to gossip not to learn the new and the latest news about people's life but just to let them know I am here and I want to encourage you we must be aware my dear friends of our brethren our fellow Believers our fellow co-heirs in Christ see abhishai here was very very aware the next that I would like to teach you is his Allegiance his alidians in our text abhishai didn't abandon David when he needed help the most and instead of turning his back on David and trying to replace him or finish him off he stayed with him yes I know that David was not perfect we know that but you know what he didn't follow David because he was a perfect man David was not a perfect man abhishai knew that he followed him because he was God's anointed he had seen David in his prime and he was see seeing David in his weakest point David was human he made mistakes but abhishai didn't expect David to be a superhuman and when he saw him waxing faint he didn't use that as an opportunity to take advantage of him as I have mentioned earlier when people are rebuked when people are told what they are doing are wrong they get angry that is normal because the Lord has given us emotion but you're the action to it is crucial you can get angry who said that we cannot get angry but are we reacting to destroy or to the build the faith isn't it true that even Jesus get angry but Jesus said be angry but sin not the Lord has given us this beautiful provision of emotion because this emotion also will lead us and will guide us but the problem is this emotion also can lead us to wrong things use this emotion to love and not to hate and to take care of God's people that when we have this emotion and we get angry we will suppress this anger and tell that we must change that is his awareness thank God that abhishai was aware and he was very very perceptive in his uh way that he will deal with his King he didn't use this opportunity that the king will be destroyed and I don't care about him I am not a Brother's Keeper perhaps in the church it may be that when we get angry that when we are rebuke we think bad things about the person who rebuke us and most often than not that is Pastor that is the preaching of God's word this is very funny my dear friends because when the pastor whoever he is whether it's me that was of my experience in in my church in Gethsemane weather Reverend Paul or whoever the pastor because he will just preach God's word and the people thinks that the preacher is directing his preaching to them and they are the person who is preaching is against them but in fact the pastor do not know about your sin he is just simply talking and expounding what God has given to him through the Holy Scripture but the people who think that they are personally being attacked by the pastor and most often we have this thinking that be careful when you turn your back I will have my Revenge maybe perhaps we are not told but maybe perhaps because of of uh sometimes changing or the or differences in opinion maybe abhishai had a very very bad discussion with David because remember when he was there in first Samuel chapter 26 when he wanted to destroy Saul David told him to stop in that episode abhishai was thinking that what she he was doing was correct was logical what it was about to do was to help the king because during those times Saul was still the king and when Saul will be killed David will be inaugurated as the king and to his thinking he might be giving David a favor but David said do not touch the Lord's anointed let the Lord deal with him and this is also a good way for us in the church a good learning let the Lord deal with the church leaders whether they are wrong is not for us to tell let the lord judge him he was aware and yet he knew and he was always ready he may have a big disagreement with David and yet he supported his King abhishai my dear friends was not even a national figure or a popular name in Islam maybe perhaps some of you have seldom heard about this name but he had a big role in Israel sometimes my dear friends those people who are working silently those are the people that we need to solve more need to give credit the persons who operate the PA system the persons who do the menial task here in the church those are the ones that also need to be encouraged and after that even abhishai was not didn't even require that his work will be recognized that is a beautiful picture of a Christian whatever we do if it is not recognized by our by our church members by our pastor is even better because what does the Lord tells us if you are not recognized in this world your heavenly father will surely give you the reward which person you want to reward you a person your pastor your church members well the praise uh give you high praises for that or Jesus Christ will tell you well done my good and faithful servant didn't really ask to be recognized but what he did was Pure service to his King the Lord's anointed I saw him waxing Faith he didn't use this as an opportunity to take advantage or destroy him David my dear friends had experienced a lot of things a lot of hurt in his life David had been chased for years by Saul but yet he didn't look for any opportunity the Lord has given him opportunity but he didn't took it as the Lord's way to destroy Saul Absalom also stole the throne from him and he had to turn the hearts of men A man also named Sheba turned the hearts of every man in Israel away from David and it was abhishai my dear friends that David turned to to help minimize the damage that he will not be killed fourtly my dear friends we will see his assistance when he saw that David was waxing faint in verse 19 and there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines where the son of the game might slew the brother of Goliath the staff of those fear was like a Weaver's beam and there was yet a battle in God where was a man of great stature that had on every hand six fingers and every foot six stools 4 and 20 in number and he was also was born to the giant the war was still continuing And yet when he saw that David was fainting he ran immediately he didn't wait to be asked he didn't wait to be drafted he didn't wait that David will call him abhishai help me or anyone help me David didn't even have the strength to call upon help but abhishai jump at the chance to help and assist David in our church to me personally I do not want to call people and ask people to help because I truly believe and I really also want that the person will volunteer because sometimes the precaution will be this that when you ask the person to do this to help or for example in the camp to lead the camp most often than not the person will just be forced or will just say uh okay so okay I will do without the heart to do it but if the person will volunteer himself that means he's willing to do it just like here in abhishai didn't waited to be called he wanted to help David and while they were in the cave with Saul and now he wanted also to help David you remember there in the cave David hold him back maybe he might have thought that oh he hold me back during those time and then after that now I will also hold back my help to him personal grudges but abhishai do not have that some of us were very very uh willing to help and yet the church leaders will decide maybe this is not yet the time for you or maybe you should consider this what is our reaction should we just say next time you closed me out you didn't ask me to do what I wanted and now that you need my help you will call me is that our proper attitude no my dear friends let go of whatever grudges or whatever um discouragement or whatever the things that you were not in agreeable with your leaders Let It Go and serve the Lord in the present just like abhishai he was there and ever ready to help and give his assistance to David abhishai had followed David's leadership and trusted David with that decision that when he told him not to kill or to hurt Saul he just submitted unto it even if he did not agree with David in our church life is the same we might not agree with the church leaders we might not be able to understand or comprehend the death of the seriousness of the issue what is our common response should we bad mouth our leaders or just keep our mouth shut and said they are God's appointed leaders we just have to submit unto it of course I can understand that there are also leaders who are abusing their power that the Lord has given unto them that case is really different but the case here is when you know that your leaders are Godly and following God and they are they have given their life in service to the Lord then follow them wholeheartedly even if you do not understand or comprehend the decision his assistance his assistance towards his King why is abhishai so important look at verse 17. verse 17. suckered him and smote the Philistine and killed him then the man of David swear unto him saying Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle that thou quench not the light of Israel I want to point you in the last part of it that thou quench not the light of Israel the people saw that David was about to die that the people saw that David was about to to be slaughtered by the Philistine Giant but they said now David that this happened from now onwards you will not go out to war with us I know David that you wanted to lead your army I know that you wanted to lead us in battle but from now onwards you will not be in the Forefront you will just be maybe perhaps in the middle or behind leading us you can still lead us that's no problem leave the fighting to us we can fight the Giants we can fight the Philistine as what is proven here until uh verse 22 that they have killed how many for Giants when we return my dear friends back to the fighting of Dave and Goliath the Israelites were very very scared of the high intimidating them when they saw Goliath wow they were very very scared but here they became giant slayers they told David David leave the fighting to us we can do this but your role as the light of Israel those are the things that we cannot do the light of Israel what does that mean because the phrase means that because of David they are united that because of David they have a king that they are fighting for David that David us their leader was the one that God have appointed them that they will be in that battle it was David who recruited them it was David who trained them it was even David who gave them Liberty because do you remember if not because of David long long time during the time of Goliath day became slaves of the Philistines I know that you know that the requirement there or Goliath said okay give me your Champion I will fight with him when your Champion will win we will be your servants but if I will win the champion of Philistines will win then you will become our servants but being Servants of philistine was ah didn't happen all because of David that's why he was told that you are the light of Israel and it was David who coined the phrase is there not a cross is there not a cause to fight and to serve the Lord it was David who gave them confidence and now before they were scared of giants the word of God I believe has given us this account until verse 22 to tell us that now they have the confidence to fight Giants but who showed them the way to fight the Giants David in the church sometimes we are so very very depressed and sometimes we do not have confidence in our God in our service and to him but it is the church leaders who will tell us why don't you serve here why don't you do this and when we have problems we go to our leaders and ask for advice they are as if the light of our life just like David in Israel the light of Israel they didn't treat David like ah you are old already you are already useless they didn't treat David like that but they said David please don't go there because if you will die we will have no reason to live as a nation they were fighting giants because of David they were not quitting the fight they planned to keep on fighting notice the words there in verse 17 Thou shalt not no more go out with us to battle you cannot go out be the reason why Israel need to fight when we are also engaged with spiritual battles hope and I pray that we will also defend our leaders don't put them whenever the person will say who yeah our pastor or that Pastor or this person yeah last time he do this and he was not good and then you will find out the problem and say yeah that's true that's true and even this church leaders not even the past or even your Deacons we must look for one another we must help one another and we must fight together not to destroy when our leaders will be tired our most blessed and the best way that we can do is first we will fight the battle for you you rest first and guide us here give command and recuperate your pastor is weak your pastor is sick Pastor you just saw this I will take care of all of these things and then you become an abhishai to him I hope many pray my dear friends that we will not only think of our personal things we will not only think and be focused and just look unto our family when after the service talk to people in college ask for prayer item because you will never know that the person is struggling take care of one another just like abhishai he didn't abandon his King let's pray gracious heavenly father thank you for instruct instructing us today though our role in the church is small though our role in thy kingdom will never be recognized just like abhishai after he was he helped David and killed the enemy he kept quiet even those who told them who told David not to lead the Army again in fighting not in the Forefront it was not even abhishai but different people just did his work quietly and he just faded in the scene all because his purpose is to serve his King to serve the Lord through his anointed I pray that every brethren will have this kind of attitude it does not matter whether people will know our name our name is useless our name will not be there forever our name will be forgotten whatever we do in this world after two or three generations our name will fade away but what will remain will be the effects of serving the lord the effects of following the Lord I pray that thy Work will be our priority that thy Work will always have the Precedence in our life yes we need to take care of our family that's true and it is Noble but thy Work is the one who will guide us to the light and I pray to the leaders will of this church will be preserved from the words of the devil the devil wanted to destroy the church because once he destroyed the church there will be no light post the word of God will not be proclaimed and when the word of God will not be proclaimed there will be chaos there will be individuality there will be no Christian Fellowship I pray O Lord that you will preserve this church thank you that thus far thou has helped them so because of this church we are learning God's word because of this church we are learning to be United there might be many struggles but as long as we are one in following the Lord and we will follow we will be in the right path life may not be smooth sailing but indeed being a Christian it is like that but in the midst of the storm we can still smile we can still follow the Lord because the most important thing is the presence of God help us Lord to take care for one another give us the courage give us the ability give us all the necessary gifts that we might be able to render our service and today Vineyard in Jesus name we ask and pray thank you

I. His Availability II. HIs awareness III. HIs allegiance Iv. His assistance

START

The Word of God, He sent greetings, brethren, from Pangasinan in the Philippines, and we are very happy to have to stay here and to minister God's Word to you. And I praise the Lord for inviting us and also extending the invitation to my family. When my family heard that we are going to Australia and an invitation also was given unto them, extended to them, they were very happy and thank God for that. And even they burst into joy and singing.

Please turn to Acts chapter 3, verse 6. This was the joy of my wife and my son when they heard that they also are going with me. We have this song we are singing in the children's ministry which says "Silver and Gold Have I None but such as I have gave which as I have give ID in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." The song goes this way. I'm not sure if I am able to sing it properly but just allow me to praise the Lord. The song goes this way, [Music] "but such as I have I give thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." That was the song, but they tried to change it. So my wife says, "Silver and Gold Have I None but I have a ticket to Australia." She is very, very shy about it. So she equated the ticket to Australia as silver and gold. Well for us there, of course, we are God's servants. We are not interested in silver and gold. We do not enrich ourselves there, but we serve the Lord, we help the people, and prioritize God's work. But the song of my wife was a reflection of how happy she is to stay and to be with God's people here in Australia and with you. So praise the Lord for that.

So thank God that they are here, they're enjoying. My boy also asked me, "Daddy, is Australia cold?" And then he said, I said, "Yes, it's very cold there when we arrive." And then he said, "Praise the Lord, I will enjoy it there." So thank God. And by the way, pray for them. In September they are going also to Korea until December, and they will spend time there with the grandparents and my wife's parents. Before we will look to the Lord up, before we will learn from God's word, let us look to the Lord in prayer. Let's pray.

Gracious Heavenly Father, we, how we thank you for the great work that thou has given unto us. Thy work is not only situated in one place, thy work is not only limited to a few, but thou has given us global evangelization. The world is our mission field, and thank you, Lord, that thou has brought us here. Thank you also, Lord, that thou has used Bethel BP Church here in Melbourne, in Australia, that they might be able to support the work in other places such as Myanmar and even extend the help in Cebu. Oh Lord God the Father, indeed, we are brethren in Christ. Thank you that thou has given them resources that they can also be a blessing to others. Oh Lord God our Father, without thy help, we may not be able to have wisdom, that we may not be able to even extend thy kingdom. But we praise you that thou has provided, thou has sustained us, and not only with physical blessings but all the more especially and even better with spiritual things because what will we do with this physical blessings when in fact our life will not change, our life full of sin and miserable. There are many things that money cannot buy and spiritual things are the most that we need. Thank you Lord for the brethren here for persevering in faith. I know it is not easy. There will be many struggles everywhere. God's people are struggling perhaps maybe of different things but I thank you that thou has sustained them. Help them as we learn from Thy word today from the life of a small character in the Bible, the life of Abhishai. He was a nobody, he was just a simple soldier of Israel, a simple servant, and yet he has been used by God. That I can say that if without him David could have died. Oh Lord God our Father, we pray that every Christian will not think that they have no place of service in the vineyard. How small it is, the Lord has prepared every Christian a place to serve, a place to minister, and a place to be used by our Almighty Father. I pray that all of us will be willing and always ready to serve the Lord. In Jesus' name, we ask and pray.

My dear friends, please turn your Bibles to Second Samuel chapter 21. As what we have read this morning, our meditation for today is entitled "Thank God for Abhishai." As I have mentioned in my prayer, there are many things that we have misconception about the church. I would like to share with you two things for this message, the misconceptions about the church. First misconception is that the leaders of the church, especially the pastor, do not need to be encouraged. That as the leaders of the church, this misconception is cause and will tell us that since they are the man of God, they are the leaders of the church, they must be strong. That as leaders of the church, they do not need our help. That is a misconception. Second misconception that I would like to share to you is this, that one of the greatest mistakes of a church member can make is to think that they are not important or cannot be an asset to the church. That they say, "Oh, I am just a lowly person, I have no education or maybe I am just poor or perhaps not confident in speaking or if I see my weaknesses then I cannot be used by God in any area of the church so that's why I will just stay in one corner when the worship service will finish I will just go and walk away and don't talk to people because I am so inferior with my brethren." These two misconceptions, my dear friends, are very, very bad and I hope and I pray that we will not even accept or entertain these misconceptions again.

Turn your Bible to Second Samuel chapter 21. Hmm. First that we will see about or we will hear about Abhishai is in Second and First Samuel rather verse 26. We shall turn there just previous book in First Samuel, we will see the availability of Abhishai. This is the first instance where we see his name. First Samuel chapter 26 verse 6. We will see his availability. Verse 6, "Then answered David," or rather we will go first to verse 5, "And David arose and came to the place where Saul had pitched and David beheld the place where Saul lay in the trench and the people pitched around about him. Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee."

• beheld the place where solely and Abner the son of nerd the captain of his host and soul lay in the trench and the people pitch around about him then answered David and said to ahimilek that he died and to abhishai that's the person the son of Zariah the brother or tuchu AB saying who will go down with me to Saul to the camp and abhishai said I will go down with thee I will go down with thee

David was talking to his soldier, including that one person named Ahimelech, and he said, "Who will volunteer and will go to a dangerous mission with me?" Without further delay, without further asking the details, without further giving details to Abishai and how dangerous was the mission, of course they knew that the mission would be dangerous and that is to go to Saul. The first thinking of Abishai was to eliminate Saul because he might be thinking that we will go there to destroy the king because first in the first place, David was now anointed to be the next king and as we know, Saul was a wicked king. Immediately volunteered without even considering that it was a dangerous, which of course he knew about it. Who would go against the king when the king is there? Of course, many soldiers will be surrounding him and will be protecting him and you will go against the king of Israel. And later when they went there, even Abishai was very, very keen and very, very happy to be with David and told David, "Shall we now destroy or hurt or kill King Saul?" But David, as you know, said, "We cannot touch the Lord's anointed."

Oh, how good it is, my dear friends, in the church when there is someone who will stand with you, that all he needs to know is that the person that the Lord has appointed is leading them and when the person is assured that the chosen man of God is the one who he is following. Oh, how we wish we have someone whom we do not have to tell all the details, who sometimes we do not have the time to tell all of these instances and to explain everything that we need someone who do not have to bring up to speed with all the current situations that sometimes the work in the church just needs to have a fast decision because if we delay, there will be some problems that will arise or some not good results. Someone whom you do not have to explain everything, someone that you can trust to go with you and help you, someone that is eager to serve and fight without even knowing the plans and the details, what he needs to do as what I have mentioned is make sure that it is God's will. Actually, that is the only way that we need to know, my dear friends, is this God's will? Is this the right path that the Lord wants us to tread or to go? Then we know. No need for details, no need for a plan, just go for it because that's what we have sung this morning. Oh, Zion haste, God's work must be done. And His, every day, people are dying, souls are being reaped by the devil and we need to at least tell them about the Savior. Are you all available to serve the Lord? Are we all available to support the work of the Lord? Well, not all might be preachers will be sent, but you have your own individual duty and opportunity. That is the availability of Abhishai.

In the Philippines, we have this common practice and I think it's really true that when we go for, like for example, vacation or we have plans to do, the longer we plan, the more that it will be delayed or sometimes canceled. But most of the time, the instant planning, then when we said, "Oh, all of us are ready, all of us are here, so what will be the plan?" When one person will say, "Okay, we go and do these things," and then instantly that plan will come to pass. My dear friends, is the same also with God's work. Sometimes, yes, it's good to plan so that we might be able to maximize our experience with God's work but there are times that there is no need to plan, there are times that we need to be available immediately and this was Abhishai. Do you remember here another person was invited by David but only who responded to the invitation of David, only this person named Abhishai. We return to Second Samuel and we will see our second point which is his awareness, his awareness in verse 15, Second Samuel chapter 21, verse 15.

This is now the time wherein they have war with the Philistines and you know the Philistines really hated David. In what instance of course we know the time when the Philistines, having a war and when David was such a young boy, he defeated Goliath the champion of the Philistines and really that cap into the mind of the Philistines and they are fighting the nation of Israel and much more they wanted to take revenge with their hero. The hero was Goliath that even here in our passage the name of Goliath was not forgotten. Do you remember there in verse 19 and there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath, that the same Goliath was the one that David slew when he was a young boy and Goliath was such a national figure in Philistine area and now they are fighting. Look at the awareness of Abhishai again.

Abhishai was not even a general, the general or the leader of David's army was Joab. But there again in verse 15, "Moreover the Philistines had war had yet war again with Israel and David went down and his servants with him and fought against the Philistines and David waxed faint while they were fighting." David was accustomed to fighting with the giants with Philistine leaders with Philistine best army and of course the Philistines will try to target the king because once the king will be slayed or the king will be destroyed or at least the king will be decapitated then the army will be very, very discouraged and they will run away. We have seen that in the battle of David and Goliath that after David defeated Goliath they all ran away in fear. The Philistine army and here the giant whose name was fought David and you see Abhishai was there close to David he saw that while fighting David became very, very weak maybe perhaps most of the strength was gone maybe perhaps of tiredness maybe perhaps all of these struggles was caused by this relentless war with the other countries he was close enough to David to see him when he was fainting.

Abhishek positioned himself to a place where not so near to David but at a distance with David. He knew what was going on, David was struggling. He knows something was wrong because he knew David very, very well. He had observed David very, very well and he has been with the battles with David for a long time. That's why he knew David. He had a good relationship with his King and he knew when there is something wrong with David, he can tell. He was not near but yet in a striking distance.

You know what, my dear friends, the giant, even when he was fighting, he thought that he killed already David. He thought that he destroyed David and he was very, very happy. He rejoiced already in his heart. Sometimes, my dear friends, in our struggle with the church, in our struggle with the church leaders, in our struggle within ourselves with sin, how many times that in the church the man of God is waxing faint because somebody in the church is acting more like a Philistine than an Israelite?

What I would like to say, my dear friends, sometimes because when our pastor, our preachers, our deacons will rebuke us and will tell us that what we are doing are wrong and we need to change because this is what God wanted us to do, nobody wanted to be rebuked. That is by experience in the Mission Church in Gethsemane in the Philippines. When I rebuked the person, the person will rebel because of pride. And you know what, my dear friends, when you rebel against God, the person whom God has given to you to lead you and to support you and to teach you God's word, and you show your unhappiness to him, this will wax him. He will faint and even he will be very, very discouraged. And all of these things, my dear friends, when it all sums up, it will be a weakness of spirit to the person.

Sometimes we act like as if we are Philistine rather than an Israelite when God's people, according to God's word, teaches you and it will not suit your thinking. The supreme authority must be God's word.

You know what, my dear friends, just like David, he had so many things to do. He had to plan for the church, or mean for the country, have planned for, in a sense, the religious practices. They have to plan on how to defend that territory. He has even to plan for his family. That to the point David was a failure in his family. Maybe perhaps first he has sins and second maybe we are so busy with the affairs of the nation that God did not cite him as a good father. Yes, a man after God's own heart, as what we will learn in the Youth Camp, a man after God's own heart but never cited as a model father. That's how busy he is. And then this problem of war will add up to him and he is becoming tired and when he was very, very tired and seems like he was cold, went into the rescue, he went into the rescue.

Thank God that Abhishai was aware and perceptive. He didn't go on hearsay. He knew David firsthand. He didn't really like to tell him how David was doing because he saw it for himself. He knew it. He was there. He was observing his King, the generals where Joab where maybe perhaps fighting his own battle but you know what, Abhishai was fighting his own battle. Maybe perhaps he's also having a sword fight with another soldier and yet his eyes were not totally removed from the King that when the King was getting tired and tired and maybe fell down who knows because the giant, the Philistine giant thought that David was dead, maybe perhaps David fell down and then Abhishai was already to rescue his King.

Was Abhishai only the only person around that area? I don't think so. There may be a lot of soldiers beside David, even nearer to David but it was Abhishai who was having an eye for the king. My dear friends, I hope and I pray that we will also look after our church leaders.

Yes, I know we are busy with our life. We are busy with taking care of our family, taking care of the needs of the family, taking care of our businesses, work, or whatever the Lord has given to us. That's good because the Lord tells us that we must take care of our family. If we do not take care of our family, we are worse than the infidel. But don't neglect your church leaders. Don't neglect just a simple greeting or just a simple SMS or message or email to tell and encourage your leaders. It's good enough. Your leaders do not really need like every day you go to their house or ask them to go out or whatever. They know, you know, they are also busy. But just a simple, "Pastor, how are you? Praise the Lord for seeing you through this week." And it is not only about the pastor, not only about the church leaders, but also for every church member that we must be our brother's keeper, take care of one another, not to gossip, not to learn the new and the latest news about people's lives, but just to let them know, "I am here, and I want to encourage you." We must be aware, my dear friends, of our brethren, our fellow believers, our fellow co-heirs in Christ.

See Abhishai here was very, very aware. The next thing that I would like to teach you is his allegiance, his allegiance. In our text, Abhishai didn't abandon David when he needed help the most. And instead of turning his back on David and trying to replace him or finish him off, he stayed with him. Yes, I know that David was not perfect. We know that. But you know what? He didn't follow David because he was a perfect man. David was not a perfect man. Abhishai knew that. He followed him because he was God's anointed. He had seen David in his prime, and he was seeing David in his weakest point. David was human. He made mistakes. But Abhishai didn't expect David to be a superhuman. And when he saw him waxing faint, he didn't use that as an opportunity to take advantage of him. As I have mentioned earlier, when people are rebuked, when people are told what they are doing is wrong, they get angry. That is normal because the Lord has given us emotion. But the action to it is crucial. You can get angry. Who said that we cannot get angry? But are we reacting to destroy or to build the faith? Isn't it true that even Jesus got angry? But Jesus said, "Be angry but sin not." The Lord has given us this beautiful provision of emotion because this emotion also will lead us and will guide us. But the problem is this emotion also can lead us to wrong things. Use this emotion to love and not to hate and to take care of God's people. That when we have this emotion and we get angry, we will suppress this anger and tell that we must change. That is his awareness.

Thank God that Abhishai was aware and he was very, very perceptive in his way that he will deal with his king. He didn't use this opportunity that the king will be destroyed and I don't care about him. I am not a brother's keeper. Perhaps in the church, it may be that when we get angry, that when we are rebuked, we think bad things about the person who rebuked us. And most often than not, that is the pastor, that is the preaching of God's word. This is very funny, my dear friends, because when the pastor, whoever he is, whether it's me, that was of my experience in my church in Gethsemane, whether Reverend Paul or whoever the pastor, because he will just preach God's word and the people think that the preacher is directing his preaching to them and they are the person who is preaching is against them. But in fact, the pastor does not know about your sin. He is just simply talking and expounding what God has given to him through the Holy Scripture. But the people who think that they are personally being attacked by the pastor and most often, we have this thinking that, "Be careful when you turn your back. I will have my revenge."

Maybe, perhaps, we are not told, but maybe, perhaps, because of sometimes changing or differences in opinion, maybe Abhishai had a very, very bad discussion with David. Because remember when he was there in 1 Samuel chapter 26, when he wanted to destroy Saul, David told him to stop. In that episode, Abhishai was thinking that what she/he was doing was correct, was logical. What he was about to do was to help the king. Because during those times, Saul was still the king. And when Saul will be killed, David will be inaugurated as the king. And to his thinking, he might be giving David a favor. But David said, "Do not touch the Lord's anointed. Let the Lord deal with him." And this is also a good way for us in the church, a good learning. Let the Lord deal with the church leaders. Whether they are wrong is not for us to tell. Let the Lord judge him.

He was aware, and yet he knew, and he was always ready. He may have had a big disagreement with David, and yet he supported his king. Abhishai, my dear friends, was not even a national figure or a popular name in Israel. Maybe perhaps, some of you have seldom heard about this name, but he had a big role in Israel. Sometimes, my dear friends, those people who are working silently, those are the people that we need to so more need to give credit. The persons who operate the PA system, the persons who do the menial task here in the church, those are the ones that also need to be encouraged. And after that, even Abhishai did not even require that his work will be recognized. That is a beautiful picture of a Christian. Whatever we do, if it is not recognized by our church members, by our pastor, is even better. Because what does the Lord tell us? If you are not recognized in this world, your heavenly father will surely give you the reward. Which person you want to reward you? A person, your pastor, your church members, who will give you high praises for that? Or Jesus Christ will tell you, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." Didn't really ask to be recognized, but what he did was pure service to his king, the Lord's anointed. I saw him waxing faith. He didn't use this as an opportunity to take advantage or destroy him.

David, my dear friends, had experienced a lot of things, a lot of hurt in his life. David had been chased for years by Saul. But yet he didn't look for any opportunity. The Lord has given him opportunity, but he didn't take it as the Lord's way to destroy Saul. Absalom also stole the throne from him, and he had to turn the hearts of men. A man also named Sheba turned the hearts of every man in Israel away from David. And it was Abhishai, my dear friends, that David turned to, to help minimize the damage that he will not be killed.

Fourthly, my dear friends, we will see his assistance. When he saw that David was waxing faint in verse 19, and there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where the son of the game might slew the brother of Goliath. The staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. And there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature that had on every hand six fingers and every foot six toes, four and twenty in number. And he also was born to the giant. The war was still continuing. And yet when he saw that David was fainting, he ran immediately. He didn't wait to be asked. He didn't wait to be drafted. He didn't wait that David will call him, "Abhishai, help me," or anyone, "help me." David didn't even have the strength to call upon help. But Abhishai jumped at the chance to help and assist David.

In our church, to me personally, I do not want to call people and ask people to help. Because I truly believe and I really also want that the person will volunteer. Because sometimes the precaution will be this, that when you ask the person to do this, to help, or for example, in the camp, to lead the camp, most often than not, the person will just be forced or will just say, "Okay, so okay, I will do it," without the heart to do it. But if the person will volunteer himself, that means he's willing to do it. Just like here in Abhishai, he didn't wait to be called. He wanted to help David. And while they were in the cave with Saul, and now he wanted also to help David.

You remember there in the cave, David held him back. Maybe he might have thought that, "Oh, he held me back during those times, and then after that, now I will also hold back my help to him." Personal grudges. But Abhishai did not have that. Some of us were very, very willing to help, and yet the church leaders will decide, "Maybe this is not yet the time for you," or "Maybe you should consider this." What is our reaction? Should we just say, "Next time you closed me out. You didn't ask me to do what I wanted, and now that you need my help, you will call me?" Is that our proper attitude? No, my dear friends. Let go of whatever grudges or whatever discouragement or whatever the things that you were not in agreeable with your leaders. Let it go and serve the Lord in the present. Just like Abhishai, he was there and ever ready to help and give his assistance to David. Abhishai had followed David's leadership and trusted David with that decision that when he told him not to kill or to hurt Saul, he just submitted unto it even if he did not agree with David.

In our church life is the same. We might not agree with the church leaders. We might not be able to understand or comprehend the seriousness of the issue. What is our common response? Should we badmouth our leaders or just keep our mouth shut and say, "They are God's appointed leaders. We just have to submit unto it." Of course, I can understand that there are also leaders who are abusing their power that the Lord has given unto them. That case is really different. But the case here is when you know that your leaders are godly and following God and they have given their life in service to the Lord, then follow them wholeheartedly even if you do not understand or comprehend the decision.

His assistance towards his king. Why is Abhishai so important? Look at verse 17. "Suckered him and smote the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swear unto him, saying, 'Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.'" I want to point you in the last part of it, "That thou quench not the light of Israel." The people saw that David was about to die, that the people saw that David was about to be slaughtered by the Philistine giant. But they said, "Now, David, that this happened, from now onwards, you will not go out to war with us. I know, David, that you wanted to lead your army. I know that you wanted to lead us in battle. But from now onwards, you will not be in the forefront. You will just be, maybe, perhaps, in the middle or behind, leading us. You can still lead us. That's no problem. Leave the fighting to us. We can fight the giants. We can fight the Philistines, as what is proven here, until verse 22, that they have killed how many four giants."

When we return, my dear friends, back to the fighting of David and Goliath, the Israelites were very, very scared of the height intimidating them when they saw Goliath. Wow, they were very, very scared. But here, they became giant slayers. They told David, "David, leave the fighting to us. We can do this. But your role as the light of Israel, those are the things that we cannot do." The light of Israel. What does that mean? Because the phrase means that because of David, they are united. That because of David, they have a king that they are fighting for. David, that David, as their leader, was the one that God have appointed them that they will be in that battle. It was David who recruited them. It was David who trained them. It was even David who gave them liberty. Because do you remember if not because of David, long, long time during the time of Goliath, they became slaves of the Philistines? I know that you know that the requirement there or Goliath said, "Okay, give me your champion. I will fight with him. When your champion will win, we will be your servants. But if I will win, the champion of Philistines will win, then you will become our servants." But being servants of Philistine was ah, didn't happen all because of David. That's why he was told that, "You are the light of Israel." And it was David who coined the phrase, "Is there not a cause? Is there not a cause to fight and to serve the Lord?" It was David who gave them confidence. And now, before they were scared of giants, the word of God, I believe, has given us this account until verse 22 to tell us that now they have the confidence to fight giants. But who showed them the way to fight the giants? David.

In the church, sometimes we are so very, very depressed. And sometimes we do not have confidence in our God, in our service, and to him. But it is the church leaders who will tell us, "Why don't you serve here? Why don't you do this?" And when we have problems, we go to our leaders and ask for advice. They are as if the light of our life, just like David in Israel, the light of Israel. They didn't treat David like, "Oh, you are old already. You are already useless."

They didn't treat David like that. But they said, "David, please don't go there, because if you die, we will have no reason to live as a nation." They were fighting giants because of David. They were not quitting the fight. They planned to keep on fighting. Notice the words there in verse 17, "Thou shalt not no more go out with us to battle." You cannot go out and be the reason why Israel needs to fight. When we are also engaged in spiritual battles, I hope and pray that we will also defend our leaders. Don't put them down. Whenever someone says, "Yeah, our pastor or that pastor or this person, yeah, last time he did this and he was not good," and then you find out the problem and say, "Yeah, that's true, that's true," and even these church leaders, not even the pastor, or even your deacons, we must look out for one another. We must help one another, and we must fight together not to destroy. When our leaders are tired, our most blessed and the best way that we can do is, first, we will fight the battle for you. You rest first and guide us here, give command, and recuperate. Your pastor is weak. Your pastor is sick. Pastor, you just saw this. I will take care of all of these things, and then you become an Abishai to him. I hope and pray, my dear friends, that we will not only think of our personal things. We will not only think and be focused and just look unto our family. When after the service, talk to people, in college ask for prayer item because you will never know that the person is struggling. Take care of one another just like Abishai. He didn't abandon his king. Let's pray.

Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for instructing us today, though our role in the church is small, though our role in Thy kingdom will never be recognized. Just like Abishai, after he helped David and killed the enemy, he kept quiet. Even those who told David not to lead the army again in fighting, not in the forefront, it was not even Abishai, but different people. Just did his work quietly, and he just faded into the scene all because his purpose is to serve his king, to serve the Lord through his anointed. I pray that every brethren will have this kind of attitude. It does not matter whether people will know our name. Our name is useless. Our name will not be there forever. Our name will be forgotten. Whatever we do in this world, after two or three generations, our name will fade away. But what will remain will be the effects of serving the Lord, the effects of following the Lord. I pray that Thy work will be our priority, that Thy work will always have the precedence in our life. Yes, we need to take care of our family, that's true, and it is noble. But Thy work is the one who will guide us to the light. And I pray the leaders of this church will be preserved from the words of the devil. The devil wanted to destroy the church because once he destroyed the church, there will be no light post, the word of God will not be proclaimed. And when the word of God will not be proclaimed, there will be chaos, there will be individuality, there will be no Christian fellowship. I pray, O Lord, that You will preserve this church. Thank You that thus far, Thou hast helped them. So, because of this church, we are learning God's word, because of this church, we are learning to be united. There might be many struggles, but as long as we are one in following the Lord, and we will follow, we will be on the right path. Life may not be smooth sailing, but indeed being a Christian, it is like that. But in the midst of the storm, we can still smile. We can still follow the Lord because the most important thing is the presence of God. Help us, Lord, to take care for one another. Give us the courage. Give us the ability. Give us all the necessary gifts that we might be able to render our service and today Vineyard in Jesus' name we ask and pray. Amen.