Sunday Morning Worship & Word | Pastor Anthony “There’s Hope in the House!”
by Anthony McCool
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Psalm 73:1-3, Psalm 73:16-17, Exodus 20:2, 2 Chronicles 29:30, Proverbs 16:33, Psalm 73:14

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

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I welcome each and every one of you to Sunday morning worship at First Apostolic Church all those tuning in with us online as well and by means of radio and television we welcome you the same all those on our live stream right now it's awesome to have you tuning in First Time guest uh what an honor it is for us to have you here we love you so much uh my opinion might be a bit biased but it's objective at the same time I think this is the greatest congregation on the face of this Earth and I'm honored to serve alongside with the absolute best amen I also welcome my mother-in-law here with us today I love her so much and will be forever indebted to her for giving me life lovely and perfect wife and our two beautiful children put this down in your notes and invite somebody next Sunday is our back to school Revival Sunday with Pastor Devin Acres from the stello church chap he's from Chapel Hill North Carolina area and that we're going to have a great time in the Lord if you have your Bibles turned with me to the Book of Psalms we're going to begin reading in chapter 73 we're going to read verses one through three and then 16 and 17. 73 1-3 16 and 17. if you would stand with me for the reading of God's word 73 1 States truly God is good to Israel and this is the psalmist asaph writing and we'll talk about him more in just a second even to such as are of a clean heart but as for me States my feet were almost gone my steps had well nigh slipped for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked when I thought to know this it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God then understood I their end I want to minister to you for a few moments this morning and hopefully you will Overlook the inadequacies inadequacies of the speakers see I can't even say inadequacies but I want to minister you on the topic this morning There's Hope in the house there's hope in the house would you pray with me right now over this sermon mighty God we thank you Lord we thank you for allowing us to enter into your house for giving us a sanctuary to come together to lift up your name and to worship father in these days these last days this is not a place that your people take for granted this is a Holy House a house for people to come to when they're hurt a house for people to come to when they're broken a house for people to come to when they have a need father in this house we lift up your name Jesus Christ on a high today and collectively together we come to worship that great name and father by faith as we just sang About My Father by faith as our approach this morning as we entered in that we believe just by our presence alone that there is hope in this house Lord that's our acknowledgment and that's our declaration today we thank you and praise you if you believe the Lord heard your prayer why don't you give him a hand clap of praise and you can be seated the psalmist says have said my steps had well nigh slipped it's not good to lose your footing and when going to his right which is unusual [Music] football season maybe in the NFL whether they're cutting back up the field or trying to make a first downright just made a great play and see the end zone no adversary there just on second ago that Dynamic cutback ability but he loses his foot now one of the things that is kicking a game winning field goal only to have [Applause] my feet have well and I slipped I had the privilege in 2019 to travel to the Holy Land and I got to go with a bunch of pastors of pastors from a lot of different denominations and then there was some pastors from the upci as well and one of them that we we know now he's preached for us several times since then but it was Pastor Jason Staton and he had he had just preached youth congress in Indianapolis and this may have been one of the largest Gatherings of Oneness Pentecostals ever so I saw him and I you know I wanted to impress him as well as the other pastors when you get to those holy sites uh you know maybe you you add a little bit of extra knowledge and sneak a preach and in any of the questions that that are asked you know and but you just want to you want to impress and the way those tours work you you go from one site to another and all of your days are planned out and the the on the first day that First Sight we went to was Mount Carmel and this for all you Bible readers are you know is where Elijah stepped foot in the midst of all of these Bell worshipers he was the the only one and he reigned fire down from heaven proving that he served the one true God and not even just that he he trashed talked the enemy he he accused them of that their God was sleeping and and he even poured water on the altar in the midst of a drought doing everything he could to provoke and just show how great a God it was that he served and this was the first place that we went and you know how epic it was and I had my Safari coat on and some Chacos you know and Mediterranean Breeze just blowing you know I was you know some couple thousand years later there here I am you know Elijah this he repaired an altar and called upon his ancestors and the the god of Israel and fire rained down from heaven you know how how awesome now I get to to walk in the footsteps and you know maybe be a modern day Elijah you know buckling my my shoes up and and of course at each stop there's some concessions because you know when you're proving God's sovereignty you don't want to get too fatigued you might need something to drink or maybe a pretzel or something and and inside the corridor where the concessions was was was too uh restrooms a men's and a women's restroom and and the the lobbies uh the restrooms actually had a Lobby on each side and there were so many people because there's multiple tour groups going on there were so many people that the the doors of the the lobby wash your hands area if you will was open to both and there was just a a bottleneck of people with the with the line going almost to the door and it was a really tight space and uh and it even began to rain so everybody uh was in there all of these different tour groups all of these different pastors the you know the legacy of Elijah right there you know God did this miraculous work right outside there and uh so this is my turn to to go in and I I took one step into that lobby area of the restroom and I flat out lost it lost my feet out from under me the the paper towel console I tried to grab onto I better be careful here I'm going to do it here I tried to grab onto it and I ripped it completely out of the drywall it was so bad that nobody laughed oh I would rather them have left it was so bad that nobody laughed and they were coming to to check on me man I don't know if I had a concussion and Pastor Staton was the first one of course I was like why couldn't he be outside or something and he got down over the top of me and he said how many gods are there and I said well I think I'm seeing a 20 I see two of them right now but he he helped me up and and you know the irony these thousands years later where Elijah with God's help called the fire down from heaven and it wasn't a a a a neighboring Kingdom or you know false gods or Idol worshipers that took me out but just a little bit of Pine-Sol is all that it took and the way those tour groups work it did smell nice in there but the way those tour groups work you you see the kind of the same people from stop to stop because everybody's on the same schedule and the rest of my trip I would see people kind of make eye contact with me kind of look over and at first I'm like they're probably looking at this cool Safari coat you know I'm they probably think I'm just from here you know and the rest of the trip and then they nudged their neighbor and you could just kind of read their lips I guess they they think they were glad I was okay but my feet had well knife slipped and yes this can happen in the physical oh so fast but it can happen in the spiritual as well the psalmist Asif said I know truly God is good to his people he said I have a relationship with you I I serve you I'm faithful to you I believe on you but right now I can't hear anything from you I I knew because the all around sliding there are real difficulties in my life there's real tragedy taking place right now and I'm at a low Point father I'm at the point where I'm needing to go seek some direction and I I'm at the point where clinically I I don't know what I would be diagnosed with but Lord I need to hear from you right now and I can't hear a thing and Ace of said Lord why me I I'm a psalmist I'm I'm dedicated I just listed out all of my list of qualifications I'm I'm called and I'm Chosen and I'm separate I live a consecrated life I I write all of these beautiful prayers I write all of these beautiful songs King David the man after God's Own Heart he's got some Psalms in there that really I came up with but he took credit for but why why am I having to go through this and I look over at those that are less dedicated I look over at those that don't serve God like I do and there are not faithful and have no relationship with you and it seems that everything's going well with them yet I am the one having to deal with this and adverse situations we're tempted sometimes to ask the question where is God we are not alone in this for the psalmist who the psalmists who who would who would write about the God they serve hung the cosmos into existence so that God they serve Reigns throughout the heavens he's the captain of the Heavenly Army All of This Magnificent descriptions of the God these serves now asked why are there so many inequities that exist and why are you so silent when I need you the most Ace of was a wonderfully talented psalmist and obviously devoted to God but he struggled with inward doubts and questions and according to his observations it seemed The Godly suffered adversity while the wicked seemed to enjoy prosperous times and one Psalm he said oh God why hast thou cast us off forever what if then anger smoke against the Sheep of thy pasture where your sheep where your are Shepherd and why are we having to experience this Psalm 73 traces the struggle and the Victory of Asif during a time of severe test of his faith and like Ace if we may go through a period when confusing questions plague us and like Ace if we find our answers only in the presence of God ironically the challenge to Ace of Faith came because he believed God was good he he knew God was good he he served in the temple he he was the chief singer he he wrote all of these songs he he knew that God was good had he not believed in the loving sovereignty of his Lord he probably could have sloughed off his confusion he might have theorized that the almighty was indifferent to the needs of his people or worse he might have concluded that God was unfaithful to his Covenant promises but asaph knew God was Israel's God the psalmist was certain God had chosen the Hebrews and had delivered them miraculously he had grown up reading the book of Exodus and he was very familiar with Exodus 20 and 2 I am the Lord that God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt he knew who God was he had a relationship with God he knew that he had brought them out of bondage and unquestionably he had sung with enthusiasm of Jehovah's conquests in behalf of his people of Israel and asaph had been reared to believe the almighty blesses the righteous and punishes the ungodly what then was asif's problem what then was plaguing the oh so talented oh so faithful also set apart psalmist mind it's the same thing that I deal with in the same thing that you deal with the individual who rise is the highest becomes susceptible to falling the furthest we must be cautious and yes I believe in exuberant worship I believe in leaping and clapping and jumping every day is not going to be camp meeting Friday night every day will not be Azusa Street every day is not going to be that that one moment where it seemed like there was just a rushing Mighty River of the Holy Ghost that that just washed over me and sometimes we can be so high and live in such a state of you know I'm the head and even in our Pentecostal experience that that we can we can create this myth within our minds that nothing ever tragic is going to come to us and if it does then it's some kind of indication of my lack of faith and that couldn't be further from the truth he said but as for me my feet were almost gone and my steps had well and I slipped even though we are fully forgiven of our sins there may be lingering moments of pain and regret yes God allows the scars to remind us of our healing but they also are an indication of our past not everyone will appreciate or understand how our lives have been transformed unkind words we have spoken are actions that we have planted can come back and return to us and can haunt us in the pre in the now we may have left a long trail of debt in a lot of different areas in the dust behind us or our physical or even mental health can suffer because of different circumstances in our life it's the taxing Affairs of everyday living that our faith usually is tested how we try to reconcile with this question every day can we shoulder our responsibilities now that we are Christians professing joy and victory our task may be no lighter than they were before some days might be the most stressful day that I've ever had there may be unexpected problems that challenge our faith and times crisis can shake our emotions sometimes we find it difficult to pray or even to focus on the things that we know need to be done and unwelcome thoughts can crowd into our Consciousness threatening to destroy our very peace of mind having just declared the goodness of God as if admitted I I nearly lost my direction he almost fell into a deep and dangerous Chasm that threatened to destroy his relationship with God spiritually speaking he came to the very brink of ruin this is a psalmist now this is a a levite set aside this is the man next to to God's Own Heart next to the king of Israel all the influence all the accolades all of the resources being in the presence as a psalmist the place we go for Joy the place we go to open up service the place we go to fight our Giants the guy who wrote this said my feet were almost gone my Albert Barnes commented that the word slipped in the original Hebrew means poured out indicating his position was like water poured out instead of being something solid and firm we can pour so much into others we can pour into our family and we can pour into our ministry and we can pour into our work where we ourselves can find our self-empty and the Ace of Envy the foolish and if you would give me a little bit of latitude when I say foolish he envied those who may have not put forth the effort that he did he envied those who weren't as faithful as he was or hadn't done all of the things that he had done and he he said I'm the one that set apart I'm holy consecrated faithful I've done all these things yet I'm having to experience this hardship this doubt this weariness this very low place in my life these these things that are just plaguing my mind why am I having to be the one to go through this when it seems that if I didn't serve you at all I would have a much better life and he didn't particularly blame others for his own weakness he simply just stated that he had almost fallen backwards if not in his actions certainly in his attitude he had taught it he had confessed I envied those who were prosperous even though they were not living by Your Word asaph was a levite set aside for Sanctuary service not only did he hold a leadership position in David's choir but 12 of the Psalms 50 73-83 are attributed to him and as I mentioned earlier maybe he influenced David on several more second chronicles 29 30 states that during hezekiah's Reign Levites were commanded to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David and of ice of the Seer ministers can fall and sometimes do prophets may rise and in times of human weakness go spiraling down faithful people of God saints of God can stumble because of the pressures of life we know little evasive's personal life but maybe Financial loss or public criticism or serious illness may have just rung out his words of Anguish like clothes run through a ringer overwhelmed by personal difficulties the perplexed and demoralized singer is that I just kind of stagger on unsteady feet my the foundation around me is shaking and I was at one time you can you can read what I wrote just a few passages later I I was up here with a song greater than the angels and now I'm down here questioning is it even worth it why am I even doing what I am doing and God I'm praying out to you I've been faithful to your word and I can't hear a thing job in the midst of terrible suffering wondered why he had been born Gideon asked the angel of the Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befalleness why is all this happening if you're truly with us Jesus shortly before his death on the cross in his Humanity he said my God my God why hast thou forsaken me Elijah who I talked about earlier on Mount Carmel you keep reading you talk about an extreme High Calling on fire down from heaven repairing the altar of his ancestors trash talking Idol worshipers few chapters later he says he no longer wants to live that display it only lasted for a little bit and he said I'm the last True Believer God told him to go to Mount Horeb this is where God spoke to Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments this is where God spoke by means he showed a mighty display of wind and a thunder and earthquake and a loud booming voice a magnificent display of God's power and Elijah trying to get in God's presence went to that same place and probably thought God's going to answer me just like he did Moses he saw exactly what I did in the midst of the false prophets I I was down a little bit but now I'm going back to where Moses was where the god I served shook the Earth and sent smoke and talked in a loud booming voice and we read that Elijah just a few chapters later went back to that place and the wind came and God was not in the Wind and the Earth shook God was not in the midst of it fire rained but still he couldn't hear God and some translations and you know the story it says and then he heard a still Small Voice some translation said that he heard just Audible silence there he was downtrodden went to God's presence to get an answer and reiterated all of these his heartache and still nothing you go on to read that Elijah just crawled up in a cave and begin to weep and God I know you're faithful but I'm still not hearing anything from you God I know that you're a deliverer and he just began to weep and provide for me Lord once again like I thought I was coming here just like my ancestor Moses I thought you were going to answer me with a mighty Display of Power you're the source of my joy but he just crawled up in a cave still no answer the perceived absence of God will humble it will test it will make you evaluate what you're doing it will separate the faithful from the phony and it will strip you of your agenda and it will reveal the truth and in the midst of the prophet who was so exuberant a few chapters earlier who was up here at the top a few chapters earlier God does her work different this time than he did the last time and he meets that a prophet while he's curled up in a cave he says Elijah I see you here and he asks him again why has Thou come here and Elijah you have to give it to him even though he was downtrodden even though he had experienced the very depths of Despair in his life he asked God once again and then God gives him direction for his next mission in the Book of Esther there's one there's something that requires careful consideration it has perennially befuddled interpreters since the book's composition still today it generates puzzlement Esther is one of the only two Old Testament books it's the one of only two Old Testament books that never mentions the name of God the other Song of Solomon the word God is absent from the text of extra what are we to make of this does it all mean all the seemingly impossible coincidences and reversals of the book are actually the result of blind chance and look does it mean the Lord had abandoned his people in Exile and left their continued existence up to a simple throw of the dice though the word God is absent from the Book of Esther his Direction protection and deliverance Are Not absent he did not abandon his people or his promises the Book of Esther is shot through with faith that God is directing human Affairs even in the Pagan Court of Persia Mordecai's famous question is more than anything else a statement of this faith in God's ultimate control over human events Barry Webb wrote in five Festival garments he said God is present even when he is most absent when there are no Miracles when there are no dreams Visions no charismatic leaders no prophets to interpret what is happening and not even any explicit God talk he is present as a deliverer in many ways Esther is the converse of Exodus whereas in Exodus God's Deliverance is accompanied by Mighty Miracles and wonders and Esther God works subtly behind the scenes as it were to accomplish his will and to protect his people a classic example of Divine Providence we serve a God who not only can shake mountains and dry up oceans but also with equal Effectiveness can direct political appointments and thwart evil government plots in many ways the Book of Esther may be seen as an exposition of the proverb the lot is cast into the lap Proverbs 16 33 the Lord is cast into the lap but it's every decision is from the Lord first Samuel tells us God is Not restricted in how he can save or deliver whether by many or few God does not abandon us listen to me this morning God does not abandon his people because we question his ways and if you're human and you've got blood pumping through your veins he will find yourself in the depths of Despair at one point or another will you will you where you will question why God is working the way and that he is and sometimes it will seem like you can't feel his presence at all but he does not banish us from his presence in our difficult moments Ace of wonder what reward he should receive for keeping his life pure and abstaining for sin and for us who really make a a bold statement in our lives to live in a communal Covenant to be separated from this world in our actions and in our appearance and in the places that we go and the things that we put before our eyes and our in our manner of speech we can ask ourselves is what I'm really doing worth it because my God why would I be the one that has to deal with this if I'm trying to live according to your Covenant it really seemed to him his efforts had come to not as he said for all the day long I've been plagued why am I having to deal with this catastrophe why am I having to deal with this incomprehensible situation that has taken place and my family why have I been plagued and chastened every morning the cleansing Ace of sought needed to run deeper than he could have ever truly imagined he could not fully cleanse his own heart and nor can we only the Lord can purify a person's heart praise team and musicians please come what caused the psalmist what caused the psalmist to re-hear from the crumbling precipice of misperception what caused him to be able to put that next step out in front of the other we may not know exactly how the transformation of asif's Mind took place and with full transparency there are things that happen to the people of God there are things that happen to our world collectively that I do not have an answer to I can empathize but I can't truly empathize within every affirmity that the people of God go through but I know one who can and that is the job of the church and of all of us as ministers and we may not know exactly how asif's mind transformed we may not know exactly how or how long it took sometimes it takes longer than what we can even imagine but we do know where it took place at the psalmist wrestled with the gigantic not of questions he thought he could never unravel until until he said I went into the sanctuary of God he had all of these questions he had all of these dilemmas all of this catastrophe was taking place in his life and I I can't put an explanation of how his mind transformed but I can tell you where he began to get answers I can't tell you where he began to get peace I can't tell you where he began to get soulless and that is when he went into the house of almighty God and he said then I understood I wonder if there's a witness out there this morning I wonder if there's a testimony that would stand up right now and say hey I was going through a real dark time in my life but I'm proof right here that you can make it because I just kept coming to his house it took more than one service it took more than one altar call I was at a low point and I didn't know what to do I didn't have the answers but I know where that I needed to go [Applause] just remain standing perhaps it was the joyous singing of his fellow Levites that awakened his understanding perhaps a reader in the sanctuary began to quote some verses that just began to stir Ace's heart remember maybe he maybe it was a the psalmist heart that reminded him of God's goodness whatever the circumstance Divine Mercy Drew Ace of near to God and unquestionably the singer's repentance Drew God to him Asif discovered the presence of the Lord within the sanctuary he found a new peace and purpose and we see an Abrupt change in his Outlook he said then I understood as I mentioned earlier I can't empathize with your infirmities but I know who can and his name is Jesus Christ and I want you to know today that whatever you are going through there is hope in the house I can't tell you how he's going to do it I can't tell you how long it's going to take but there is hope in the house and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross has the power not only to forgive but also to remove every single transgression even the weight of those that are against you and I want you to know if you have health problems there is hope in the house if you have mental health issues there is hope in the house if you're overcoming a past situation where 90 of the time you have Victory it may have taken place a long time ago but even after you're publicly professed life of Victory and joy it still comes up and creeps into your mind from time to time I don't know how but there's hope there's hope in the house maybe you're out trouble processing some different feelings over some things There's Hope in the house maybe you're having trouble finding work and life balance There's Hope in the house maybe it's with your friendships and the familial There's Hope in the house maybe you're still struggling with some failures or maybe even after you've been baptized in his name and forgiven of your sins and received the Holy Ghost you made some mistakes there is hope in the house maybe you've poured out into your family you've poured out into your workplace you've poured out into your friends and into your ministry maybe you're dealing with some just catastrophic events in your life hope there's hope there's hope in the house oh Jesus oh let somebody hear this word this morning what a difference one powerful church service can make in our lives it can transform our thinking from Stony unbelief to vibrant Faith from Dreadful air to magnificent truth one service in the sanctuary one visit to the prayer room change daysf's perspective he suddenly saw how blessed his life had been it doesn't tell us just all of a sudden everything got better but he says he had enough strength just take another step maybe it was when the strings started to play the keys began to go or maybe the singers began to sing and the the words and all of this this the anointing and preparation just came together and it just pierced his heart maybe it was a greeter out in the lobby that just said hey my brother it's good to see you I hope everything's going all right it could be a kind word from a brother or a sister it could be God's word go forth it could be the joy of just being together in God's house I I can't give all of the explanation of how it transformed transformed him I I don't know the specific utterance or event that took place but but what I do know I I do know where it took place it can be a song or a word that the Bible says exhorting one another in the New Testament they would greet each other by saying Maranatha meaning the Lord's coming soon it could be the encouragement of a brother or sister saying hey you can make it hey I I used to deal with this same stuff and we're going to go through this together mistakes happen troubles come it's not a lack of your faith just keep coming to his house keep coming to his house he's going to continue to give you strength and as I mentioned at the beginning of this service sometimes we can be in his presence and it's like a river of the Holy Ghost that just comes over me and I I leap and I and I run and I shout and I exclaim loudly the name of Jesus and exclaim loudly the victory that I want to take place in my life but sometimes I'm like Elijah where I just gotta curl up in a cave and say God I've got my cup could you could you give me some Manna just to get through today could you get could you fill this up so I could take one more step because I know that my troubles are not going to be just be immediately over but but Lord I I believe that with your help and your guidance I think I believe things could just get a little bit better right now than they were yesterday I believe I could get some more joy in my mind I think I could get some more peace in my mind if everybody would bow their heads at this time [Music] you see the people that have a assembled into your house different needs all across this place some standing in the gap for somebody else some people completely empty some people needing healing some people needing provision some people needing an answer some people dealing with past regret some people dealing with things that they had no control over but it took place on them it is no fault of their own yet they still carry guilt and still carry shame God I ask for your hand of comfort Lord I ask for your hand of peace Lord I know it may seem in the faithful walk that we I can't hear from you but Lord we know that you're truly going to reward our faithfulness we know that you're going to see us and meet us in the depths of our Despair and father we hold our cups out to you today Lord we hold our Earthen vessel out to you today just to fill us up one more time could you fill me up one more time as I pray this prayer I want to open the altar up to someone right now for whatever the need is and I want you to symbolically bring that Earthen vessel forward right now whatever the need is and say God I've been asking some questions in my life God I've been dealing with some dilemmas in my life God I've been dealing with some heart in my life but Lord I'm asking you to fill me up this morning one more time I don't know how but I know where I don't know how long but I know where I don't know what it's going to look like but Lord I know where to go and I don't have anywhere else to go would you fill me up one more time there's hope in the house There's Hope [Music] for this [Music] remember [Music] my whole life [Music] from the beginning [Music] thank you they have my heart this morning please understand my heart this morning I would never accuse us of this great church of this going through the motions but sometimes we can we can get in just a kind of a habit we're at altar call it'll kind of be my thing and kind of my space and area the reason the reason there is power in this house Craftsmen May build churches of wooden Stone and decorate them with Oak and fine fabric but only God's presence can sanctify a building only the Lord can truly create a sanctuary a holy place now we know that when Jesus came to this earth he would say it's Emmanuel God With Us guess what we we have the Holy Ghost living inside of us we have Emmanuel God With Us and we are to be Emmanuel God With Us to this world and we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together so we can come together to build each other up to absorb one another to encourage each other to take each other by the hand and say hey we can make it through this together I wonder at the close of this service if each and every one of us could make a concerted effort right now A concerted effort to find a brother a to find a sister and lift up their hands in prayer you don't have to know the specifics of the need you just need to know that you're encouraging your brother and your sister and we're going to pray collectively together with one voice calling on the one God and I believe that he's going to bring peace and comfort let's pray right now oh Lord pray where you can hear yourself free almighty God we believe there's hope in the house God I pray for my brother I pray for my sister Lord you see the needs in their daily walk you know all of the things that are taking place in their family you know all the things that are taking place at their workplace Lord you know all the things that they may struggle with or that might Place their mind mighty God we find Victory today in Your Name Lord we seek Joy today in Your Name Lord we might not know how long it will take but father we're declared we know where to go and God we're believing that you're going to change our mindset today we believe you're going to bring us peace today Joy today love today healing today forgiveness today reconciliation today Lord we know that there's hope in the house Mighty God's equation and we thank you yes Jesus Christ