Sunday Morning Worship Service
by Anthony McCool
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Luke 22:19-20, Exodus 17:14, Joshua 6, Joshua 4

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/anthony-mccool--sunday-morning-worship-service-45
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Come on and lift up your praise in this house. Oh, we believe, God. We believe. Would you make that proclamation with your praise for just a moment? If you believe, why don't you confirm that with the words that exit the lips of your mouth? If you believe this morning, why don't you confirm that by the waving of your hands and adoration to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Say, "Father, I believe that miracles have not ceased. Father, I believe that the chains that I walked in with this morning can be broke through the authority and the power of the name of Jesus Christ. Would you put your hands together one more time and keep that same spirit as you make your way back to your seats and you can be seated across this house. I welcome each and every one of you this morning to First Apostolic Church. all of you in here and everybody tuning in online, we welcome you just the same. And let me say I want to first off this past week I need to take just a second and say thank you to all of our volunteers, all of our coaches, all of our teachers for the tremendous uh job that you did this past week and in the months leading up to our national apostolic Christian school uh competition uh and this great church body as well uh for for the investment in the students of Apostolic Christian School. And uh we know just by looking across this platform this morning and looking at all of the different ministries, not only within the the walls of the church, but the the church in the careers and the vocations of many that have gone uh through the school uh for your efforts and uh focusing on this past week at NACSC. Thank you all so very much. And Apostolic Christian School was the overall top medal winning school. I say that ju just with the enough pride or the least amount of pride just to still get me into heaven, whatever that looks like. Five of the overall top 10 students came from ACS. And our own [name redacted] was the recipient of the National Apostolic Christian School Honor Society Award. And we we say congratulations to her and all of those students. I want to say special welcome this morning as well from Little Rock, Arkansas, Miss Olivia Connor. Let's give her a great big hand. Honored to have you here, Brother John Parton. Uh let's give him a great big hand. Honored to have you also Laura Green, Marll, and Marz Williams. Let's give them a great big hand. And then we have some very special, everybody's special, but just some, we'll call them VIPs this morning. Uh, from Nashville, uh, Brother Brandy, Sister Sean, their family celebrating a graduation from Pastor Batson's church. I know they recognized already, but Pastor Batson sent me a a message during church. So, I I I told him, I said, "Let me get the mic, and I'm going to do it again." But we we want you all to know what an honor it is to have you all with us. Please tell the great church there in Nashville hello from us. And uh it's it's so great to have you all with us uh this morning. And let me make this quick announcement. This upcoming Thursday, the 29th, FAC serves event. Um many of you know, but this entire complex here is a twostory complex. Okay, we got our elevator in and the the stairs uh structure now where they're in functional use and we are starting the steps to get in our upstairs here of this building. So, I'm excited about that. And we're having a special project on this Thursday, just an overall cleaning project to prepare and prep for the next steps as we move in up there and just have more space uh for us to do a lot of different things. So, we're excited about that. But remember this upcoming Thursday, the 29th from 5 to 8 and we'll have a great time uh doing that. If you have your Bibles this morning, um, I'm glad. And my key text is not in my notes, so I'm going to have to look it up real fast. Um, Luke 22:19. There it is. Luke, the Gospel of Luke 22:19. And if you all could, just to be completely transparent, um, put that on the screens for me, that would be fantastic. Just a smooth transition here, so you have no idea what's going on. There it is. And he took bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them. I'm sorry to all the Bible quizzers that I don't have this memorized. Forgive me. And gave unto them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me." Everybody say, "In remembrance." in remembrance of me. I'd like to speak to you for a few moments this morning on the topic. And I do have this written down. The echoes of yesterday, the path to tomorrow. The echoes of yesterday, the path to tomorrow. As Pastor Mcool spoke about a few moments ago, this Memorial Day weekend, and we celebrate the great courage and bravery and honor that allowed us the opportunity to be where we are at on this day. So, we focus on memorials. And I want to speak to you for a few moments this morning on memorials and their purpose and what they are to us. Memorials exist to first off remind us because in our fastpaced everchanging world it's easy to get caught up in the present moment consumed by the immediate demands of our lives. I mean we're we're on the run. We're in the the fight for our life. Uh, statistics and estimates say that we check our phones 144 times a day. Somebody just lifted their phone up right now like I'm uh looking at them. I'm not That's once every six to seven minutes. I've already done that twice, I guess, but I'll put my key text in next time. The average work week in the United States is 47 hours a week. One in three adults get less than seven hours of sleep per night. The average screen time is over seven hours per day. Like there's no way, right? And then well, don't look now. Just at least once every seven minutes, I guess. Number five, only one in four people take a real lunch or they skip it entirely in the name of efficiency. We we find ourselves racing towards the future, chasing dreams, chasing ambitions. And at times, especially in our multitask focused screen timed world, we can take very little time to reflect on the past. The past is not merely a collection of events that had faded into history. It's a reservoir of lessons, experiences, and defining moments that shape who we are and guide our journey forward. This is where the significance of memorials come into play. Memorials in their various forms serve as powerful reminders of the past, helping us connect with our history, honor those who came before us. the bishop spoke about in the early days of uh going out and to preach the the hardships and uh all of the factors that were set against them. but uh with God's help guiding step by step. And those stories remind us that the same God who worked in his life as a young boy, as a sharecropper in southeast rural Missouri is the same God who can meet us where we're at today. and these testimonials, these memorials, the echoes, if you will, of yesterday that resonate in the present, offering us guidance and inspiration as we navigate the path to tomorrow. They're not simply memorials are not simply about just preserving history. They're about shaping our present and our future. They provide context. They provide purpose. They provide meaning and a sense of continuity that anchors us in this constantly changing world. They remind us of our shared values of our heritage and the principles that guide our lives. And by understanding and focusing in and not just going through the motion of when we think of memorials, not just going or performing a ritual, understanding the power of memorials, we can unlock their potential and how they transform and how they serve for our lives. and they can strengthen us as a community of church believers and draw us ultimately closer to God, giving us clarification and illumination in the trials and the situations and the uncertain questions that we face in our lives. In the Old Testament, God frequently instructed his people to establish memorials. These memorials were a reminder of his presence, a reminder of his power, a reminder of his covenantal promises. These memorials served as tangible expressions of their faith and gratitude, helping them to remember God's faithfulness in times of both triumph and in darker times of tribulation. One such memorial is found in the story of Moses and the Israelites battle against the Amalachites in Exodus 17. As the Israelites fought Joshua being the army general, what a mighty general that would be to have Joshua the head of your army as they fought in their physical strength. We read that Moses stood on top of the hill praying and interceding with his rod with the staff of God in his hand. And when Moses raised his hand, Israel would prevail. But if he lowered his hand, the Amalachites prevailed. Aaron and her supported Moses's arms to make sure that he kept that rod held high because that was the ultimate key to success. And the meaning throughout this passage is you can have all of the physical attributes and strength and the greatest militaristic forces there is. You can have all of the talents and all of the resources and every tool at your fingertips to combat whatever opposition you are facing. But you can only get to a certain point. And it takes the power, the petition of prayer and God to intercede as well. You can't do it by your strength and your power or your might. It takes God as well. And the Lord said unto Moses, "Write this for," it says, "a memorial in the book." You need to have the people remember this be before they get too confident in their abilities. Please know that it's more than your just ability to achieve victory. It takes intercession and getting a hold of God in your situation as well. And it says, "Rehearse it in the ears of Joshua." Joshua being the next one in the hierarchy, next one in the lineage, passing that testimonial memorial down to Joshua. For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalecch under heaven. As long as you'll remember God in your situation, you'll have victory. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovani, which means the Lord is my banner because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalecch from generation to generation. And this is a covenantal promise that we see in the Old Testament. And God says, "Make this very instance right here a memorial. Rehearse it in the ears of the next generation. pass this story down from generation to generation. If you want victory in your life, you're going to have to have God intercede. It was the reminder that the Israelites victory was not due to their own strength or skill, but God's intervention. In our own life, we often face battles and challenges and struggles and obstacles that can seem insurmountable. But just like the Israelites, we might be tempted to rely on our own strength and abilities to overcome these challenges. However, the altar, the memorial of Jehovani reminds us that true victory comes only through God's power. And we must acknowledge God's hand in our successes, recognizing that he is the source of our strength, wisdom, and courage. We can create our own altars in our lives and moments of reflection and gratitude where we acknowledge God's role in our victories and give him the glory. It's not a passive activity. It's not something that I stand idle by, but it's me making the conscientious effort to do everything within my power to go out and fight. Whether that's counseling, whether that's getting and managing my finances in a certain manner, maybe that's me picking up another job, maybe that's making me a concerted effort to get my family into the house of God. That might make me uh sacrificing in different situations. But Joshua represents the fight in our lives. And Moses, that memorial represents that you do every single thing that you can do and then have God anointed and intercede with the work of your hands. The walls of Jericho are a mighty memorial to God. found in the story of Joshua 6. We know the story of Jericho. The Israelites crossed the Jordan and on their way to the promised land. Then their first task was to conquer the city of Jericho. This was a heavily fortified city that stood right between what God had promised them. God instructed Joshua to lead the Israelites in a unique and seemingly absurd really if you look at it battle strategy. But for six days they were a march around the city once a day with priests carrying the ark of the covenant and blowing trumpets. And on the seventh day there were march around the city seven times. And at the sound of the long blast of the ram's horn, the people were to shout and the walls of Jericho were to fall down. And they did. And we've preached about that. And that gives us faith and hope. And I'm for all of those things. But I point out to you not today the unorthodox battle strategy or or relying in uh on God and having faith in the midst of this uh kind of questionable request though there's time for that. But after the walls fell down after the walls of Jericho miraculously collapsed and the Israelites were able to conquer the city. What a what a time of victory, if you will. The confetti, you know, after after a team wins the Super Bowl or a championship, the confetti's raining down and their on their head and they're all celebrating one another. This was probably the atmosphere after the walls fell down. God gave a specific instruction. He said, "Don't take one thing from it. Everything in this city is to be destroyed. God then declared a curse on anyone that would try to rebuild this city. There was to be no shrine sit here. The ruins of Jericho. The absolute destruction and absence of anything there was the memorial to God. The absence of walls was to be a constant reminder of the destruction that comes when God's commands are ignored. In our own lives, it's crucial that we do not rebuild Jericho's by repeating past mistakes. Rebuilding Jericho can represent a temptation to romanticize past mistakes. I was with a a group of students one time on a trip and there was a there was a gentleman there uh we'll just call him he was in his midlife but he kept sharing stories with the young men about before he came to God and he'd he'd get around him and kind of nudge them and he'd like you know this is BC boys BC like before he came to Christ and he would romanticize and uh tell the boys in such a um kind of a a braggadocious manner about things that he was involved with. And I remember thinking this is so unhealthy. I I'm not talking about giving testimonials of what God has delivered you from. But I I'm talking about being cautious with what we reveal that what God has delivered us from in a manner from which we rem romanticize it or or or somehow uh give it some kind of acceptability to someone around us. Bringing up old wounds in relationships. Rehashing forgiven sins. The destroyed walls are a reminder not to allow past failures to define our future or to repeat those behaviors in our lives. This also applies to our interpersonal relationships. We must avoid the temptation to rebuild old walls of resentment, old walls of bitterness, old walls of unforgiveness. If we have forgiven someone for a past transgression, we must not continually bring it up or hold it against them. If you look at statistics on the marital relationship, one of the most common causes of marital disputes is a spouse bringing up past transgressions in the heat of an argument. And what that is, it's a another brick of Jericho being rebuilt. You've got the the promised land out into the distance. And God has done something amazing in your life. He's delivered you from sin. He's delivered you uh from all of these things in your past. But then when you forget, you start putting a a little romanticizing of, you know, when I was doing this, here's a here's a brick or I I get mad at this person again. Let me let me tell you what I what I know about them. Or in the heat of of a relationship, uh, I get angry and I just want to get back at that person and then I'll spew this vitual out. And God's got a a promise for us of harmony and and unity and our ultimate calling of working together to reach lost souls and we can stay in a bitter conflict interpersonally either within our family or within our friends or in our workplaces. Oh, not being able to do what God has called us to do. And then our kids hear it and somebody else hear its and we just snowball effect on down. When God said uh you're building a shrine here, you're you're rebuilding Jericho. It's utter destruction is the memorial. One of the most poignant memorials in the Old Testament is the account of the stones taken from the Jordan River in Joshua 4. As the Israelites prepared to enter into the promised land, they had to cross the Jordan River. And God miraculously parted the waters and allowed them to cross on dry ground. And after crossing, God instructed Jose, excuse me, God instructed Joshua to have 12 men representing one from each tribe take 12 stones into the middle of the river where the priests had stood, where the the priests had stepped out in those mighty waters where with every step that they took, the waters begin to separate as they held on to the ark of the covenant and the promises of God with the promised land out in the distance in their future. But they had a calamity and a a river of uncertainty right in front of them. But they took step by step by faith. And after they crossed, God commanded them to make a memorial from every tribe. So you can share this testimonial with your family and and pass this down when they cross the Jordan. When the grandkids ask, when the great grandkids ask, "Hey, what are those stones there for?" That's where God delivered us. That's where God made a way when there was no way. Yeah. The my my my mom and daddy before me were they they weren't able to cross, but I was able to cross. I I was able to break this family curse. Uh I was I was able to bring healing and uh the and capture the promise for my family. And that's what that represents. It was a reminder of God's faithfulness to his promise. He had promised to take them to the promised land and he provided a way. The stones of the Jordan River remind us that God is still in the business of performing miracles. He's still able to make a way when there seems to be no way. But we, like the Israelites, must be willing to take a step out in faith, trusting that God's going to provide in our lives. We might face insurmountable obstacles. We might face financial difficulties. We might face challenges within our health. There might be relationship turmoil around. But and I I might get overwhelmed and I I might get discouraged wondering how are these ever things or how am I ever going to overcome these challenges? But I got to keep my eye on the promise. I got to keep my eye on the prize. I got to know that no matter what's around me, every step that I take, God's going to part the waters. I might look five or six steps down the road and it and there's not any clarity there. But if I can just take one more step, if I can just take another step, I believe God's going to part the way and make a way where there seems to be no way. God communicated his covenantal promises, foreshadows of his omnipotence, messianic prophecies through prophecies through the memorials he established in the Old Testament. We also have the Sabbath day, the Passover feast, the ark of the covenant. All of these were reminders of God's power. These were cues and and different hints of knowledge to the great and vast power of the God that we serve. And as we get to the New Testament, we see all of these promises, all of these feasts and memorials and these times that were to sit down and acknowledge, times of celebration, times of lamenting to uh uh giving o and knowledge to the things that God has done and to the generations before and as Josh as God told Moses re rehearsing from generation to generation. We find ourselves in the New Testament. Jesus in the moments before going to the cross sitting around the table with his followers. In the gospels, we read that on the night before his crucifixion, Jesus gathered his disciples for the Passover meal. Find it appropriate that they were celebrating a memorial while establishing a new one. During the meal, he took bread and gave thanks and he broke it and he gave it to his disciples saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after the supper, he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." Jesus instructed his followers to continue celebrating the Lord's Supper as a memorial of his death and resurrection. And it would be a constant reminder of what Jesus had done. Paul writes, "For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you." The Lord Jesus on the night before he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body. Do this in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. The Lord's supper, as we call it, and some faith traditions call it the eukarist, or you'll hear it even uh referred to sometimes as taking uh communion. It's a it's it's an it's an act of community of remembrance. It's a memorial of what took place for your sins. The body that was broken for your situation. It's more than just a symbolic act. It's a powerful reminder of the sacrifice that Jesus made to us on the cross. It's a time to reflect on our sinfulness and our need for forgiveness, our need for a savior. It's a time to express our gratitude for God's mercy and grace. It's a time to re recommmit ourselves to following Jesus and living according to his teachings. The bread represents Jesus body which was broken on the cross. It symbolizes his suffering and sacrifice for our sins. By its partaking of the bread, we are reminded that Jesus took upon himself the punishment that we deserved. And as the praise team sang earlier, he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. And by his stripes we are healed. And when we do this in remembrance of him, when we make shadows, when we make decisions in the shadow of the cross and remember the resurre the crucifixion and the resurrection. It pulls into remembrance what he did for us. The wine representing Jesus blood which was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. It would symbolize that new covenant that God has made with us through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus blood, we are cleansed through all unrighteousness and reconciled unto God. It's not just a memorial of Jesus death and resurrection. It also is a memorial of all of the Old Testament memorials. It's also the conclusion of all of the covenantal promises that we looked at in the Old Testament. In Jesus Christ, all of God's promises are fulfilled. He would be the ultimate Passover lamb whose blood saves us from death. He's the bread of life who sustains us on our journey. He's the living water who quenches our thirst. When we remember and partake in remembering what Jesus has done for us, we're remembering every single miracle that God performed in the Old Testament, summed up in that man, Jesus Christ. We're remembering his faithfulness. We're remembering his power. We're remembering his love. and we're embracing the new life that is available through his broken body. The travelers on Emmas post resurrection were in such agony. They felt defeated and there was such a shadow on their day. They begin to converse with one another and they were in an unhealthy conversation. They they weren't building each other up with faith. They were talking about all the tragedy and all the turmoil that had taken place. But then a stranger met them. They continued on and the night grew longer. They were uncertain of what the next day was going to hold. All of their faith and hope and time had been in this savior and now there was there was nothing. But we read they invited that stranger in for dinner around the table and it says as that stranger begin to break that bread said I've seen those hands I've seen those hands somewhere before and it says the savior reminded them it was revealed in him that Those same hands breaking bread at my table on this tough day are the same hands that fed the thousands. Those are the same hands that rose a little girl from the grave. Those are the same hands that healed blinded eyes. Those are the same hands that can part the waters. Those are the same hands that can bring healing in my situation. Just stand with me. Sometimes we're always looking for smoke and mirrors and a sign. And I shouldn't be derogatory and I'm not trying to be negative. God can show up in a mighty display of power. So don't purposefully misinterpret me what I'm saying. But Jesus laid out what we need to do every single day for us to remember, for us to realize what he wants to do in your life. The greatest thing you could do is say, "Lord, I want to have a relationship with you. Lord, I want to invite you to my table." Because when I begin to remember what you've done, when I have that intimacy of what you've done, it gives me faith in the present because I remember all the miraculous in the past. Oh, when I call out on that name Jesus, oh, it gives me strength in the battle. When I call out on that name, Jesus, I'm not going to rebuild anything that you've delivered me from. When I call out on that name, Jesus, I begin to look at that memorial of the stones and whatever I'm facing. Oh, I see the promise out in the future, but the Jordan is at high time. I don't know how I'm going to be able to cross, but God just said, "Take another step." and the water begin to part. How about take another step and the water begin to part? Tell about the good things from generation to generation. Oh, I've seen those hands somewhere before as Jesus was revealing himself to the disciples. I think I would have kind of been like Thomas. I want to see him. I want to feel him. And notice when Jesus revealed himself, this was a glorified body. I don't know about you, but if I was going to have a glorified body, I'd probably pump it with some testosterone, steroids, maybe some Botox or or something. Hope I didn't just kill the sermon there. But I'd come back looking like a my my depiction of a mighty warrior king, you know. But Jesus comes back and says, "Thomas, fill my hands." Those holes are there. They they're still there. I want to have intimacy with you. I I want you to realize what I've done for you. Yes, God can show up and perform in a miraculous display of our perceived power. But he what he's wanting to tell you this morning is say remember remember the cross. Remember my body broken. You need healing. Well, my stripes, my stripes bring the healing. Uh you need deliverance in your body. My my body was broken for you. I need something new in my life. I've got good news. There's a new covenant where his mercy and grace are new every single morning. And no matter what you've done in your life, there's forgiveness. When you come to an altar and say, "Jehovani, Lord, I've gone as far as I can go. You're my banner. I need you to show up right now. I want to open this altar this morning. [Music] Maybe you need you've done everything you can in our f like our first memorial, but what you need is for God to intercede in your situation. This represents the fight. You're doing a good thing. You're on the battlefield. You're you're brave. You're strong. You're doing everything right. But you need to say, "God, I need you with me. I need you to show up with me. I I need my hands lifted up high. I I need to intercede and get a hold of you. Second, I want you to make your way to this altar. If you're struggling with a Jericho in your life, God's delivered you from some stuff. God's conquered from some stuff, but you find in your flesh find in the works of your hands that you're starting to put bricks back down to rebuild Jericho. Next, maybe you're faced with an uncertain situation. There's a Jordan River that lies and flows heavily in front of you. You see what God wants to do for you. You see the promise out in the distance, but you don't know how you're going to cross. I wonder if you take a step by faith to the altar this morning. And I believe God's going to continue to part the waters and show up in your situation. And finally, as a community of believers, I wonder if we could lift our hands right now and say, "Thank you, Jesus." Because when you call on that name of Jesus, Jehovani, the 12 stones, the absence of Jericho, all of that power, every single covenantal promise is summed up in that name that's high and lifted above every other name. deliverance, healing, provision, wonder working power, chain breaking power. When I call out on that name, Jesus, would you pray right now?