Wednesday Night Bible Study
by Billy McCool
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: Bible study
Scripture: Joshua 24:1-14, Joshua 24:15, Joshua 24:16-17, 1 Kings 18:21, Judges 17:6, Jeremiah 6:15-16, Proverbs 24:21, Exodus 23:2

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/billy-mccool--wednesday-night-bible-study-95
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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and praise the Lord everyone we greet you tonight in the wonderful name of the Lord Jesus Christ that high and holy name the name that is above every name I told Pastor McCool I'll try to do better with these children I'm partially responsible for some of their behavior uh but you get to a certain place you forget all the rules and regulations and have to be reminded one of the one of the Fondest Memories Fondest Memories and funniest memories I've had brother Jason Lambert's son Ryan he uh had somehow got up on the platform with the old church and and I hadn't even noticed it but his father brought him up on the platform where I was and and made him apologize I didn't know what was Paul apologizing for I said go ahead go ahead Paul apologize to Bishop McCool and with his head bowed down and he apologized for jumping off of the platform and I said well you're you're don't worry about that's all right you're forgiven with that he turned and took a big leap off the plane [Laughter] that will live in my memory as a as a absolute golden memory and but the the scolding it just ruined him he just been in church his whole life sangs and plays just does everything he can the work of the Lord and I praise the Lord for it so very much what a great church family we have and it is so good to see each one of you here in this service tonight so many times I I look out over the audience and folks that I know so very well but at that moment their Name Escapes me and I I say this we welcome everyone and you are our our church family are you ready to get back into the word of the Lord tonight all right we are studying the subject tonight as for me and my house that's a very familiar story but it is worth looking into again analyzing and seeing what it means to us and Joshua chapter 24 you will find our lesson tonight and uh our Focus verse is Joshua 24 15. and if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood are the gods of the amorites and whose land you dwell but as for me in my house we will serve the Lord let me make a point here I serve the Gods on the that were on the other side of the flood this is not talking about the Deluge in the day of Noah it was talking about the Red Sea was called a flood and it was referring to the Red Sea not Noah's flood but he said whether the gods your father served the other side of the flood are the gods of the amorites and whose land you dwell but as for me in my house we will serve the Lord now the the truth about God in this lesson tonight is God wants us to remain firmly committed to him I don't know who authored the the statement that the difference in a normal person and a genius is one that can maintain their goal and their attempted excellence and I think it's something to be thought about it's very important for us to understand how important it is to stay committed I I really was touched as I read uh Pastor Anthony's document or just a portion just a little portion and and last Sunday night and or Sunday morning whichever it was it said did I ever think of quitting he said every day every day and that that resonated with me and I'll walk with God there's not a one of us are tempted somewhere along the line to say to ourselves this is it worth it I might as well quit we all have pity parties we all have emotions that you've heard of folks I don't know where the saying started but it's as long as I can remember he woke up on the wrong side of the bed I don't know whether that means on the top side of the bottom side of the right side of the left side but sometimes you just wake up and you just feel great like you could just beat the whole world and there's other times you wake up you don't know why you feel the way you feel but you you it's they they they say that the weather has a lot to do with it and the the pressure in the atmosphere drops and and it affects it affects your bones and I used to kind of think of selling the old folks talked about that they were changing whether they're they can tell it's going to change because their bones starts aching well uh uh one of the brothers in in the church years explained that to me and it made sense and uh brother edgell and he said we're at the bottom of an ocean of of air and there's a pressure and when the pressure drops uh this it it does have an effect on your body I'm not here to give you a lesson on in medicine or stuff like that but I'm talking about don't let normal ups and downs affect your spiritual life being an evangelist evangelizing for many years I've been in revivals and and uh it turned off a low pressure area where it would become a low pressure area it'd be rainy or it'd be cloudy and it'd be gloomy and and I've seen folks oh there's something wrong and that the devil is sure fighting us tonight Terry you could just feel it well it wasn't the devil fight and then the weather changed and you felt bad and I don't I hope you don't think I'm being too carnal with my explanation but to be able to judge between what the devil is after you and when you feel bad if you've got a headache and your bones ache that Adam did that to us a long long time ago so the truth is God wants us to remain firmly committed to him in our marriage when you're newly married or you're in your courtship I mean you're so excited and it's uh it's such a delight and then later on you know you you need to maintain something because it's a right to maintain it not because you feel like doing it but because it's your your obligation and then when you go to buy an automobile or a house or anything else on time and and you sign a contract it it don't mean that you're going to pay that bill every month if you feel like it it means that you're going to lay aside you've already counted the cost and you know that you're going to set aside a certain amount of money and it may not be pleasant but you're going to do it because you're obligated to do that some of our men in this very Church um you don't feel like getting up at four o'clock in the morning going to starting up an old diesel truck and let it warm up when it's cold you'd much rather lay there and but there's an obligation you've got a family to take care of and you've got a financial situation you've got to maintain so what we're talking about we we remain firmly committed to our god when we turned our life over to him the truth for my life despite past victories I must continually commit myself to the Lord regardless of and you've heard him and tell of so many victories and and miracles I've seen but that's things of the past and I can't just I sure I want to remember that and let it inspire me but I've got to realize that every day is not going to be that way I never took the fight seriously those somber words former heavyweight boxing champion Iron Mike Tyson came several weeks after arguably the greatest upset in the history of professional boxing around 30 000 fans crammed into the Tokyo Dome the Bell clang and two Hawking men began to Pummel each other the crowd anticipated Tyson to fight to a resounding defeat of a relatively unknown boxer named James Buster Douglas as the rounds added up the crowd and critics realized something was wrong and the tenth round are relatively unknown Buster Douglas defeated a battered and staggering iron might by knockout after The Knockout Tyson to the to the canvas for the first time in Tyson's story career the boxing world was stunned but the defeated heavyweight champion realized it was his own fault quote I was out of shape more or less Tyson said in the New York Times article in March 1990 I let myself get too heavy before the fight I lost 25 pounds in Japan the last month before the fight it was too much I fell into sloppy habits Douglas beat an out-of-shaped guy who didn't prepare properly Mike Tyson's defeat teaches us a little about human nature over time we tend to stop doing the things that led to Our Success we may get sloppy in maintaining what led us to Our Success dieters often find it to be true through hard work willpower and discipline people lose weight then little allowances are made that lead to reduced discipline gradually the weight begins to creep back into the frame dieting is an ongoing battle similarly consider how many marriage relationships fail due to spouses who fall into sloppy habits the selfless loving attitude and behaviors they exhibited early in the relationship give way to criticism apathy and selfishness it's the same with our relationship with God Samson found out the hard way what happens when you forget the fundamentals of living in the favor of God like Iron Mike Sampson was a heavyweight champion in his own right he was mildly used of God to lead and defend against the enemies of God but over time he too fell into sloppy habits sloppy habits a lack of self-discipline and ignoring key fundamentals always lead to failures what a story we had just heard now I take my license from the Apostle Paul who referred to the Grecian games the sporting events of his name and he likened it to our walk with God they've been running race run all I keep under my body and bring it under subjection blessed by myself after having uh have uh I've saved others but my own self he said I I I've become unfruitful you can uh forget about your daily walk with God your daily prayer life and and I myself become a Castaway if you don't realize you got to keep it up you don't just get up and go to work and you get that early morning job first week it's all right but but you don't quit when you start I I would the old the old pillow monster right brother Gary my brother used to say the old pillar monster grab me and help me you go ahead because it's the right thing to do now they had just they had seen some of them In This Crowd was still alive if they were contemporaries of Joshua they remember the Red Sea and and most all of them remembered the crossing of Jordan and the the building of The Monuments with the 12 Stones and it was fresh on their minds but they no more had crossed over Jordan and God had given them the mighty victory of the walls falling down of Jericho but now then they began to forget where they came from and what God had done for them and they began to get sloppy now now I I I'd like you to listen carefully and understand what I'm saying the the people of God we as the people of God we are similar to the children of Israel that were traveling from Egypt to the promised land the promised land which is exactly what the the name indicates it was the promised land and when they got over in the Promised Land all the Miracles they experienced uh even before they left Egypt God slew all the firstborn of Egypt and all those who had the blood applied to the doorpost or the lens of their house God spared them where he said when I see the blood I will pass over you and then when they started out they were lit like Cloud by day and Fire by night and the priests that they had the Ark of the Covenant and that Ark went before them and they went into a Wilderness they had never been before but God LED them when they needed water God gave them water out of a rock when they needed food God allowed Manna to come from heaven like like uh frost on the ground every day now you stop and think about that sometimes we I hear people say if I could just see some of the Miracles that I've heard about if I could just they saw Miracles every more morning they saw Heavenly cornbread they saw Heavenly wafer from Heaven on the ground but yet it didn't take very long for them to forget that and begin to and when they got into the the country of heathen and they saw how the Heathen worship it's Unthinkable but they were actually influenced by those around them and you and I have got to be very cautious if we aren't careful as we travel from Earth to Glory we're going to see an awful lot of changes in our society uh I've heard so many reports about the pandemic of what a tremendous change it's made in the lives of people number one I stood right here and preached to an empty building for weeks the the rules were that we could not have over 10 and on congregation and by the time we got the PA set operators and just uh the skeleton staff we had that 10 and we would preach to an empty building well a lot of people were at home and thank God they could listen on the internet if they were internet equipped and internet savvy and but the danger of that folks got used to staying home you couldn't even get together with your family you couldn't go to a restaurant have a family get together and you you were not allowed to to have over 10 people in in one group and we experienced so many things that that changed our life and since then they say that sometimes I believe that I heard that the statistics says up to 50 percent of the people that stopped going to church because of the rules and the pandemic never started back again now we certainly do believe in in the online service I'm talking to people right now online in this city and around the world and I appreciate you watching I appreciate each one of you but remember this the Bible said for sake not the assembling of yourselves together and and you need me and I I need you every one of us after the day of Pentecost they went day to day from house to house having Fellowship one with another and it's very important that we stay in touch and stay in fellowship with each other it was Jesus himself that said go out of the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be full God wants every seat still we need to be here Wednesday night we need to be here for every every service and and let it strengthen us to live for god let's look back at the scripture again in verse 1 of Joshua 24 and Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to sheesham and call for the Elders of Israel and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers and they presented themselves before God the heads of their tribes the heads of their families they Joshua gathered all of them together and he said to the people thus saith the Lord God of Israel your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood an old time even Terror the father of Abraham and the father of nakura and they served other gods and I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood and led him throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac now Joshua felt that needful to remind them of where they came from now now I don't want to live in the past and you'll hear me tell about the the tent meetings the dirt floor the the flat roof basement church and the concrete and on and on alone you'll hear me talk about that but it's only to remind you of where we came from but if we're not careful we'll say oh I miss those little crowds we used to have and it was it was like a family and and I remember the time that after church we could invite the whole church to our house we'd I we I remember called a Cas Walker ham and that's baloney and and that's not a caddy saying I want to say I'm talking about showing up alone but uh there there was a a meat packed and we can make sandwiches we can gather and and a lot of folks miss it and they they'd like to have that look we're all gathering together just to have a picnic that was a sideline thing and we must not desire to go back to that I'm so glad we've got a church that we need a building large enough to take care of them it's not like it once was it's not like it once was that that we could that we could have our little little gathering we're together out here and I I'm long I told sister McCool the other day we drove in the parking lot I'm longing for the day that I drive up and the ever parking place is full we've got 238 parking places and I'd like to see every one of them full I'd like to see this building full and that's why we've built as large as it is because it's our mission to win the world and this is what Joshua was a reminder them of even though they've seen all the greatness of God yet they were being influenced by idolatry and we're seeing that in this very day in which we are living uh we that have testified of all the great blessings of Pentecost getting the Holy Ghost speaking in tongues we've seen Miracles we've seen many baptized in Jesus name through the years but still after all of that some can still lose sight of who we are what we are and start being influenced by the world I took your father Abraham all right and I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau and I gave unto Esau malcia to possess it but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt into Egypt I sent Moses also an Aaron and I plagued Egypt according to that which I did among them and afterwards I brought you out and I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you came unto unto the Sea and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with cherished and Horsemen Under the Red Sea and when they Cried unto the Lord he put Darkness between you and the Egyptians and brought the sea upon them and covered them and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt and you dwelt in the wilderness a long season he was reminding them of what they had experienced I am I preached a message uh I've got it in my notes um uh I I think it it was uh keeping the main thing the main thing talked about the Church of God Grill and and I talked about Israel on their way to the promised land and where they came up against the Red Sea now they had plenty experience in building roads and building because for 400 years they had built roads and buildings for for a pharaoh on the Egyptians and and uh when they came up against the Red Sea and the Bible talked about there was certain Gorge there was a high wall they couldn't get there's no way around it there's no way over it or under it and they could have very well been satisfied what lets us make us a Red Sea uh Resort here and I did a little imagining and I said you know uh baby instead of having the Red Lobster they could have the Red Sea a seafood place and they could have uh uh Moses sister beating the tambourine in the in the cafeteria and and they could have tours out in the wilderness and and they had a place where you could buy gifts you could buy shoes that last for 40 years grow with your foot and or whatever but God didn't see fit to let them do that he put Pharaoh on the trail Pharaoh did them a greater service by chasing them than than anything he could have done because when they saw Pharaoh coming they began to get down to business with God and God told Moses says stretch that Rod out over the sea and it did and the Sea parted and when they crossed over then pharaoh and his men they started after them and God allowed the Red Sea to collapse now that I've seen a lot of great things but I've never seen that happen now if somebody say meet us out here at Gay Street bridge and we're gonna we're we're gonna command the word and and the Tennessee River is going to stop flowing I'm gonna go one side is going to stay up and then again boy that'd be but would that make folks believe it would for a while but they very soon forgot it and now Joshua is having to remind them of what God had done let me tell you something folks as as much as you know about God some of us has been in the the church so much of our life I got the Holy Ghost when I was seven years old when I was 11 years old beg your pardon and I've seen God but I've got to be reminded time and time again to keep me refreshed and keep me on fire for God I need to go to church every time this church I need the fellowship I need to hear preachers like we heard Sunday night I I need to hear the word of God to keep me on fire for God oh Hallelujah well where are we now notice what he reminded them of I brought you into the land of the amorites which dwell on the other side of Jordan and they fought with you and I gave them into your hand that you might possess their land and I destroyed them from before you then balak the son of so forth king of Moab a rose and warned against Israel and sent and called Balaam and the son of eora to curse you but I would not hearken and development therefore he blessed you still so I delivered you out of his hand and you went over Jordan and came to Jericho in the winter of Jericho fought against you they MRIs the prince of Rights the Canaanites the high tide said the gizraits and the highlights and the jebusitis and I delivered them into your look what look what Joshua was telling these folks why would he have to remind them of this I'm telling you that to tell you this you have to be kept reminded of Acts 2 38 Acts 2 4 you have to be reminded that without Holiness no man shall see the Lord the word hasn't changed and the man of God Peter said I'll keep you in memory of these things though you already knew it I've got to keep you reminded yeah now let's want us to remind them and I said Hornets before you would stray them out of before you even the two kings of the amorites but not with thy sword nor with thy bow no the the amorites God said I'm not going to let you drive them I'm not going to give you victory over them with your sword just just hold on I'm gonna I'm gonna send in the Air Force and he said in the the Hornets and drove them out with Hornets and did you know what the Bible tells us and and I'm not sure that uh if it's in the same instance but he would not drive the the enemy out and one day because it said you can't take care of the land the lamb will grow up the animal the the lines of that I a little the Bible said he draw them out little by little because they couldn't handle the big success if God did it all of a sudden are you hear me are you hear me I'm paraphrasing but I can find you the scripture when because it's there but what I'm saying there's some things God's not going to do instantly for you and me but he's going to let it happen a little I'm going to keep on praying and keep on seeking the face of God and a little by little God drove them out because had he done it all of a sudden I couldn't maintain the lab I couldn't take care of it some folks can't take care of the blessings of God did you know that some well I'll get to that shortly but let me tell you something Even in our marriage ceremony it's in in the vows we say do you promising and sickness in health and poverty and wealth a lot of folks can make it through poverty a lot better than they can make it through wealth they can make it through Health they can make it through sickness better than health it keeps them praying and seeking the face of God but when they get everything and and this is what Joshua was as I've studied this and and time and again they had been given lands they didn't plow cities they didn't build Vineyards they didn't plant that it just gave it to them now the Bible Jesus told the story of the prodigal son he went to his father and said give me the portion of goods of fall of to me now when he had spent all the Rosemary famine the problem was he got what fell to him you don't appreciate what Falls to you like you do the things that you work for and it he gave them all those and it fell to him and when it fell to him it didn't take him long the statistics are uh many widows uh their husbands die well all winners or husbands die don't they and um if they leave them large sums of money and this and according to statistics the great majority of those no matter how much money they're left with how much land it's gone within two years they don't know how to handle something they did they didn't get make themselves and let me tell you something if we aren't careful we will not know how to appreciate this blessing that we got through some of the old-timers that fought the devil and they went through persecution some of them gave their lives and we have got what fell to us we've got what failed to us let us not let it go well let me get on and I've given you a land for which ye did not labor and cities which you build up and you dwell in them for The Vineyards and the olive yards which ye planted not do you eat now therefore fear of the Lord serve him and sincerity and then truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt and serve the Lord can you do you hear what I'm reading he said put away here they were still carrying their own Idol gods after God had done all that he had done for them he said put them away has God not done enough for you of you to see that he is God put him away and serve the Lord and then he gave them a challenge and he gave them an example and we preachers need to remember that we need to give a challenge but we also need to give an example after we give the challenge if it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve he gave them a challenge can you imagine it somebody thinking it evil to serve God can you imagine these people that seen all the miracles of god we're influenced by the the idol God Molech that a big old a stove a big old furnace with a pot belly that a big butt and they they worshiped him by pitching their babies in that fire and some people could actually be influenced by that and are we surprised at the way some folks do today and their effort to serve God and I'll let you fill in the blanks and if it seemed evil and you to serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood are the gods of the amorites and whose land you dwell but then he said but as for me and my house we're going to serve the Lord oh Hallelujah oh so if it seems evil you to serve God if it seems too too hard to be Holiness if it seems too rough to stand for the truth if it stands too straight to to dress holy and godly and and and in a humble and a forthright way and if it's be that be that as a man as for me I'm going to serve God you're not going to see me out here preaching my pajamas as long as I've got clothes to wear you're not going to see me out here with my knees out of my britches you're not going to see me out here trying to act like some of the rock and roll singers and the the way they carry on with their bunch of junker at dressing just as ridiculous as they can with their hair every color that they can be covered and I'm not going to try to be like them as for me and my house we're going to serve God I still believe in all of us hold us without which no man shall see the Lord I still believe in holiness give him a hand clap praise if it seems evil and to you to serve the Lord choose you go and make your choice if you want your picture to come out here with these Bridges let it all cut out and his legs showing and then like a big so he can fit in man I'm getting two I'm getting too rough now I I see that I but you turn on and you don't know whether you're listening to a rock and roll show or whether you're listening to a church service you don't know those that's uh that skipping and hopping the way they look at the way you don't know where the witch crowd they're with Joshua said you could do that if you want to but as for me and my house we're going to serve God [Applause] oh Joshua gave them a challenge and an example a similar challenge was made to Israel by Elijah First Kings 18 21. and Elijah came into all the people and said how long halt ye between two opinions when are we going to make up our mind who we're who we are are we Jesus name one that's Pentecostal Holiness folks or are we not [Music] Glory come on come on how long are you halted between two opinions it's one thing for the church to get worldly and another thing for the world to get churchy and you can't tell which is which and this may be a long on the Rough Side tonight but I'm going to tell you something with all the love in my heart and just because I'm kind of yelling and and splishing and spratting and spitting it don't mean that I'm not saying this with love we must not be influenced by this world to be like the world and Elijah came and to all the people and said how long Hachi between two opinions if the Lord be God follow him but if bailed and follow him and the people answered him not a word they didn't say a thing if they'll be God then serving God's God then serve him and he proceeded to call them all together to build an altar put a sacrifice on it have 450 Prophets a bail said now then fellas have a go at it the god that answered by fire that's the God we're going to serve and they got out there and they screamed and hollered and begged and pleaded and danced and shouted and even got stones and cut their flesh trying to get bail to answer them and nothing happened and Elijah got out there maybe he's asleep cry a little loud babies on the vacation and did a little little uh what kind of talkies that they're doing in the what trash talk yeah a little little Trash Talk and um see I'm not the only one that talks trash [Laughter] I don't mean to be talking trash talkers seriously I don't but I I really I really do want you people here to understand me and believe what I'm saying I died I do want you to and I want you to believe that I love you I want you to believe that what I'm saying is not because I'm kept up and just want to shout at you but I want to I want to tell you what I think it takes to go to heaven when the Bible said the wholeness for thy which no man shall see the Lord now that's not just dress and you can have a dress and drags the floor and have a tongue just about as long and it's just a long tongue and a short dress as one's just about as the other preacher what have you been drinking what is Sister McCool been feeding you anyway judges 17-6 in those days there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes you talk about a horrible situation there's one of the most ridiculous and horrible things that um when when this this took place uh there they did what was right in their own eyes and this man put his servant out to a ungodly crowd that that miserably uh unmercifully treated her till she died and and the man said we can't put up with this I cut her body into different pieces and sent a piece of her body to every tribe in Israel said this is what's going on and that day that there was no King and every man did that which was right in their own eyes said this is what we have come to this that we've allowed such evil says uncut well what are we doing today that sounds terrible but did you know today for we people who believe it's wrong to murder little babies in the womb even in the process of being born did you know we are being painted as the bad guys we'd rather have that name Pro choice a woman's got a right to do what she wants to with her own body let me tell you something the Bible said your body is not your own it belongs to God your body is not your own it belongs to God my body is not my own my body is belongs to God Jeremiah 6 15 and 16. were they ashamed when they had committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush now what does that mean what does that mean they were not ashamed of their meanness they were not ashamed of the lewdness they were not ashamed of their Ridiculousness they were not ashamed of their vulgar and behavior and neither could they blush man you couldn't tell the story bad enough that making them you couldn't dress in such an ungodly no wake listen if we're not painting the picture of this present generation if folks can act behave where they then call themselves a musician if they want to and seemed like to be uh not all musicians of course but there's some the most ridiculous they can be the most ungodly now who was it told me just today was it this is Ashley that the reason one of the recent Awards ceremonies the religious songs it was so scandalous what they were it was until they hunting one of the award shows uh and they were promoting this it's bad when you don't know whether you're a man or a woman it's bad when they're presenting a society now this may be a little a delicate but let me tell you something God made them Adam and Eve he didn't make them Adam and Steve he made them Adam and Eve he made a man to be a man and a woman to be a woman amen the Bible says does not does not nature itself teach you to go and let medical men mutilate one's body to try to change it from a man to a woman or a woman to man you talk about a a an abomination ah were they ashamed when they committed Abominations and they they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush therefore they shall fall among them that fall at the time that I visited them they shall be cast down saith the Lord thus saith the Lord stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the Old Paths let me do it slow thus saith the Lord stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the Old Paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls but they said we will not walk there and now when he said seek for the Old Paths we've repeated this and one more time and I think you understand I'm not asking to go back to the 10th Revival days other than we'll only have a Tent Revival or can't meet him for a short period of time that'll be all right but I don't want to go back to a flat roof basement church I don't go back to a church that's got dirt for I would be glad to if that's all we had if the day came that this building was gone it was taken from us and we had nothing else we I I could go back to a dirt floor but that's not what I'm talking about when I'm talking about the good way see and ask for the good way see and ask said where standing in the way and see and ask for the old past where is the good way and walk therein and you'll find restaurant but they said we'll not walk therein Proverbs 24 and 21 says my son fear of thou the Lord and the King and medal not with them that are given to change now this is what Joshua was dealing with are you force awake I I hope I I hope I haven't uh frightened you tonight well maybe that's not bad but uh you're listening to a man preach from the bottom of his heart from his soul um metal not with them that are given to change uh he was not talking about the changing of buildings we're not going to go back to kerosene lamps we're not going to go back to cold stoves we're not going back to uh the old fans and do away with our air conditioning we're not going back to the day when we had to yell and didn't have a PA set this is not what it was talking about the good way this is the good way to have a microphone that I can speak into and fill the house and it's great that we've got the the modern method that we have our method changes but our message does not change amen and when people start meddling with the folks that's always giving the change you know you don't know what they were last year or year before and then what they're going to be next year change always change changing the doctrine his his word he said my word is forever settled in heaven the word don't have to change they wouldn't have to have an ecumenical movement uh conference ever so often get together and see what we're preaching's right we don't have to change our Doctrine we'll we'll do what we can to propagate the gospel all right quickly back to my scripture because we're headed to close quickly verse 16 and the people answered and said God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods what a difference in these people than the people that didn't answer Elijah are those that wouldn't answer Jared that answered Jeremiah by sin will not walk therein no wonder Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet for the Lord our God here it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage and which did those great signs in our sight and preserved Us in all the ways wherein we went and among all the people through whom we passed among all the people through whom we passed out keep on pointing to mind it's the people through whom we pass if we are not careful that will influence us we can be enforced by the crowds we'll look what so-and-so look here the Bible said to follow not a crowd to do evil Exodus 23 and 2 I believe it is put it on the screen if you can find it right quick Exodus 23 and 2 my mind is remembering right see what Exodus Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil now there is something about a multitude that everybody wants to get in the crowd a sister McCool and I used to kind of get a chuckle and and yet I want to go out to buy sometimes we'll buy a big lot of things for to give away for the church on Christmas and whether it be a a can of popcorn or a little box of candy or whatever and folks got to seeing us and by and by here they would come and they'd start grabbing it off of the shelf and and they never wanted than anywhere they thought there's something special and they had to get in on it and then later on you can go to the and you'd find that product we'd gone through and said we'd like here would be a box here that and if we're not careful we will follow a multitude the big crowds a crowd attracts a crowd you let the Styles change and it it comes through like like a whim following up Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil neither shall thou speak in a cause to decline after many to risk judgment just because a whole lot of folks believe something or a spouse or something don't you get behind remember this Jesus was crucified in a most democratic manner the pilate gave them the choice who do you want to be he thought by all means if you put put Barabbas a murderer out there and Jesus that had done nothing but good open blind eyes raised the dead healed the safe he thought surely now his wife had told him that night said I had to dream about this man said don't don't don't don't don't do wrong now and he washed his hands cause and cultural Basin and water and he said what you want and they said release Barabbas but crucified Jesus you cannot follow a multitude to do evil would you stand your feet with me I'm right on time it's uh 8 45. praise the Lord father we thank you for your goodness and mercy Lord I Thank you for the Blessed word of God I pray that I pray that we presented it in the way that you would have it presented father don't let us ever present it in a an acceptable manner but may we see our need to follow you and not be influenced by this present world but continue on the ways of God that we may win the world for Jesus Christ we pray amen