Out with the New, In with the Old | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson
by Chad Erickson
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: 2 Kings 16:14, 2 Chronicles 28:24, 2 Chronicles 29:16, 2 Chronicles 29:18-19, 2 Chronicles 29:1-7, 2 Chronicles 29:15-16, 2 Chronicles 29:18-19, Acts 3:19, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Acts 2:38-40, Luke 15:10

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/chad-erickson--out-with-the-new-in-with-the-old
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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the second Kings chapter 16 and verse 14 I got to as you're turning there I got to meet just the John Stones brother Johnstone's parents are here with us this week they were here Wednesday and they're here again this weekend so good to meet you all what it what an honor it is amen don't we love the johnstones around here I couldn't die I just couldn't even put into words and tell them how much I love their son daughter-in-law their grandchildren they have been such a blessing here God we got people that are on vacation I got to mean I can't wait to talk to you some more got to meet you just just briefly if this is your first time at First Apostolic thank you for making this your place of worship first ever saw church I know your Bibles in your hands but can you kind of bang your Bible or bang your hands together maybe you got a a device you can put under your arm come on make them feel well come aren't you glad that we have guests here with us at First Apostolic amen second Kings chapter 16 verse 14 it says this and he and we're speaking of King ahaz he's the king of Jude at the time he brought also the Brazen altar which was before the Lord from the Forefront of the house from between the Altar and the house of the Lord and he put it on the north side of the Altar and allow me to interpret this very quickly for you what he pretty much did is this wicked King shoved the Brazen altar in Solomon's Temple off into the corner second chronicles 28 and 24 this is the same story that's found in the Chronicles this is an ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem and in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods and provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers however if you turn one chapter over to verse to chapter 29 of second chronicles thank God the story gets better because now we're talking about King ahaz's son Hezekiah and it says he in the first year of his reign in the first month opened the doors of the house of the Lord and prepare them same chapter verse 16 says and the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord and the Levites took it to carry it abroad into the brook Kidron and there's another translation that says that they threw them into the Kidron Valley I'm gonna explain that in a few minutes Verse 18 says then they went into Hezekiah the king and said we have cleansed all the house of the Lord and the altar of burnt offering with all the vessels thereof in the showbridge table with all the vessels thereof moreover all the vessels which king a has in his Reign did Cast Away in his transgression we have prepared and Sanctified and behold they are before the altar of the Lord that's the preface of the story I'm looking forward to preaching this in your hearing out with the new in with the old out with the new and in with the old before we pray today let's remember pastor and sister Carpenter they are uh they're preaching a a service for for Pastor Paul in Carmel Indiana I just pray that God would give them safe travels in the morning coming back to Maryville let's pray over this message Father we love you we're so grateful oh God Lord that you've given us your word and you've given us something Lord God that even throughout the Old Testament we can read it Lord and we can apply it spiritually into our lives today in our dispensation Lord I I'm thankful Lord God for your word Lord help me to preach the word help me Lord God to to give to these great people and let them receive what you have given for me to receive today for this message God I'm just going to believe it's going to be anointed it's going to be received Lord I just believe your word will be obeyed today and responded to and I just can't wait to see what you're going to do in this altar this morning in Jesus name and Lord God bring up pastor and first lady home safely tomorrow in Jesus name come on if you agree with me put your hands together come on can you give him love can you give the Lord praise and glory in honor in this place today and you may be seated I read an article the other day entitled the most beautiful abandoned places in in the world and I've given our team a few pictures of really just absolutely beautiful buildings and I can't even call them Billy show that first one this one is in Spain this is the Ken Frank station uh it has uh behind it it has the most beautiful Majestic mountains and and this is hundreds and thousands of square feet of of train station that's in Spain and it still leaves a majestic impression it was once one of the most frequent train stations in Europe and in the second largest it was the second largest one at its time its constructions in 1928 and it was closed this great beautiful Majestic train station was closed when a French Train derailed headed into the station and it's been it's been abandoned ever since it's just you can you can go there today and you can see This Magnificent structure and it has been abandoned the second the second picture this is in Japan and and sister Masa I'm gonna I'm gonna butcher this but I I think it's hachijo Royal Hotel it's located in the lust Japanese island of Hachi jojima I don't see her that's okay I should probably correct me the the Hachi Joe Royal Hotel was once the country's largest Resort and for whatever reason the this French Baroque architectural just exposed against the Moss and overgrown trees it sits to this day abandoned and then one more the Burj Al bavis of Turkey the the Burj al-babus was a resort it was supposed to be a European inspired Escape filled with 732 Chateau Villas construction began in 2011 but the locals were against the project and additional legal and financial was led to a halt in the construction and what's left is an eerie fairy tale-like Ghost Town true this article had over 25 abandoned structures listed in every single one of them there were some cities that had been abandoned there were there were churches that had been abandoned and I went from from one to the next and I thought that this is amazing but but not one of them can compare with the structure called Solomon's Temple when this King ahaz barred the doors and shut down the temple of God the cost of this building let me just give you some fun facts about Solomon's Temple but the cost of this of this building in today's economy would have been up to six billion dollars King Solomon had hired 3300 Foreman who would manage this construction project he had he had Builders out out of tire in Phoenician artists that came to help build he he had a hundred and fifty thousand Canaanite Builders and he had 30 000 Israelite builders it took these over a hundred eighty thousand construction workers it took them seven years to complete the Temple of Solomon think about that now we got some builders in the house so you all got some great Crews I know but we're talking about a hundred and eighty thousand workers took them seven years to complete This brilliant edifice set that the bronze altar was some 30 square feet by 15 feet high the braze of labor was 15 feet in diameter and eight feet deep in in a set upon 12 bronze ox and the the golden altar of incense was a magnificent piece of work the five candlesticks to the north side and five golden candlesticks to the South Side the the five tables of show bread on the North side the five tables of show bread on the South Side this golden Ark of God that rested behind the great Veil even the Queen of Sheba she she saw the the temple and she made the famous statement the half has not been told at this dedication of this Grand edifice King Solomon head priests and and over 220 000 oxen were sacrificed a hundred and twenty thousand sheep were burnt upon the altar as a sacrifice to God I'm telling you this was the most unbelievable structure ever built so my question to you is this what happened between King Solomon and nine generations of Kings later when ahaz walks into the scene and decides that he can just bar the doors and no longer have sacrifices in this Great temple well I'll tell you exactly what happened for for even even a Forester named babodium could figure this out we uh my family we went to um went to Grandfather Mountain in in Boone North Carolina this week and we decided to take our kids on a fall break where maybe we could have some some education and learn a few things and so uh we went into their nature center and my wife and I were walking in and we looked up upon the wall and there was there a saying by this Forester uh that my wife quickly said you better take a picture of that because that's going to preach and I said Not only was going to preach it's going to go with what I'm already working on this weekend but this is what babo the Forester said he said in the end we will conserve only what we love we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught let me say that again because you don't have it in front of you in the end we will conserve only what we love we will love only what we understand and we will only understand what we are taught now I understand that the Forester he was talking about conserving nature but his wisdom can be applied to anything worth conserving follow me with this he even with all his Beauty and his magnificence Solomon's Temple was nothing more to King he has than a structure taking up space in his capital city follow me with this because here if you don't get this you're not going to get anything else that I'm going to preach this morning because there's sometimes things that God puts in our life and we've got to look at it through God's eyes or it becomes just a distraction in our capital city we only conserve what we love we we only value what we love we only hand down to the Next Generation what we love if we don't love the house of God if we don't love having the spirit of God dwelling inside of us let me tell you something we're going to trade it for whatever is most convenient at the moment I'm going to preach about our very Wicked King named King ahaz he he oh God despised him he was wicked in the sight of God he loved pagan gods he loved he loved sacrificing that at Pagan shrines and and he loved to do the things of the pagans their their sex gods and and all the things that they did with their idols and here he is he's found himself far from God God's upset with him and God said okay you can act any way you want to act but I refuse to defend you from the enemy so sure enough the enemy comes in and he got he got attacked from the North and the South he got attacked from every direction and he instead of going into the temple to find a way and say God help me God forgive me God make my way straight God help me out of this mess God I've got I've got hundreds of thousands who are being killed in My Kingdom I've got those that are being taken captive by the enemy instead of him saying God what do I do now what should I do now do you know what he did he went into that same Temple and he stole all the silver and the gold out of the Temple he went into the safe places he went into the storehouse he went and got those those golden goblets that that Solomon had made for the temple he went and got that the silverware and the instruments that they had used the beautiful silver and gold and he stole it out of the temple and he brought it to a pagan king the king of Assyria and he said it was Pride money he said if you will protect my people and protect my land he said I'll give you all this gold in all this silver hmm here he has no respect and and he totally devalues the house of God it meant nothing more to him than just a backup plan and a bribe to a neighboring Army for protection he didn't enter the temple he didn't say God help me he just said God what can I take out of your temple oh we better not get so accustomed to this house that we're in this morning that we lose our reverence in our respect for it and I apologize this morning I may get emotional uh well I don't apologize because let me tell you something I've given everything in my life to this house that we're in today this is the place it means much more to me than just a beautiful structure I thank God that God has given us 80 000 square feet and he's given us Beauty and in the city speaks of in the community leaders speak of it and we've got a mayor that tells us he's proud to say that it's in his County I'm thankful for that but that's not why I appreciate the disappearing that we're in today oh let me tell you something there's so much more than just my Sunday morning routine or or my Sunday night routine this is so much more than my Wednesday evening routine this is so much more than my favorite music genre or my favorite Sanctuary choir or my favorite worship this is more important to me than just my favorite people or my favorite preachers or my favorite Pastor let me tell you something this place is my life this place is my identity oh you may be seen because I know some of you are some of y'all got one eyebrow up looking at me like well I thought you served god well I do serve God but this is what represents God to me this is the sanctuary that's not just the name of the room we're in this is a sanctuary this is my place of hope this is my place of healing this is my place of restoration this is where I come when I'm hurt this is where I come when I'm hungry this is where I come when I'm sick it's become my identity and listen listen by no accident is it my identity it's on purpose I've created a dependency to this house oh listen I'm about to preach and I'm about to reveal to you something that I I've done and it's not an accident brother barryack it's on purpose I have intentionally I've lived my livelihood is connected to this house my wife is connected to this house my children are connected to this house my friends are connected to this house if I leave this house tomorrow I have nothing I have nothing if I get hit with a stupid stick in the head and decide tomorrow I'm done I'm leaving guess what I'm leaving everything I have behind because I have nothing without this church I have intentionally connected myself to this church you say oh brother Erickson you better come up with a plan B because you just never know when might happen I tell my plan B is I'll be living on the streets because my wife ain't gonna follow me out here because I connect you to the church my children aren't going to follow me out of here because I I've connected my daughters to the church I ain't got no more paycheck it's intentional because of my love for the house of the Lord is this I don't want no plan B I don't want no other option I don't want to one day wake up and say you know what I might have it better out there I might have a I can just close the doors of the church house I can just borrow the door I've got Gods in other areas I've got shrines in other areas I'll just go up to other high places and hilltops and that's what the king said he said I don't need this Temple no more God help us as parents God help us as a father so God help us to to to get ourselves so entwined with this house of God that we cannot become untwined with it this place is just a temporary time filler for you if this place is not conserved if you will in the future generations of your family let me tell you something oh my God I want my great great grandbabies to know exactly where the house of the Lord is I want the doors to always be open for them I am going to create an atmosphere for them right now in 2022 now listen 15 20 30 45 years from now 2022 is going to sound like ancient times but I'm still going to believe there's gonna be a house of the Lord that's ready to receive my children it's ready to receive my grandchildren my great-grandchildren I couldn't help but look over at the Bryants I couldn't oh I love you brother and sister Bryant I'm so thankful for your family I'm so thankful for your children and your grandchildren and now your great-grandchildren but if it wasn't for you tying yourself to the house of God making sure the bus route making sure those buses were charged making sure those buses were ready for Sunday morning if it wasn't for you my friend there would be pews empty in this church where your grandbabies and great grandbabies and your children would not sit today but because you tied yourself into the house of God because you made sure that your love for the house was more important than anything else your children are here today worshiping alongside of you today King it has he had no respect for the temple he didn't value its worth he didn't conserve what was in the temple because he didn't love the temple and he didn't love it because he didn't understand the purpose of it apparently there have been too many generations of wicked Kings his father and his grandfather and his great-grandfather all these kings in the eyes of God they were Wicked and obviously he was never taught the importance of the temple so therefore here we wake up and we find out that we have a king that looks at the temple as just another place to worship another God and he began to ask the question why worship and sacrifice animals at an ugly plain ordinary bronze altar and apparently King has he thought that Temple Furniture needed a little upgrade oh yeah he he thought that that this ugly Brazen altar needed needed a little upgrade the furniture when he walked in the temple looked around and said man I'll tell you what tell me you did a good job with building this thing David David was actually the architect he thought King David my forefather you did a great job designing this thing he said Mom I tell you what the furniture in this place is lousy kind of reminds me of a story because things trigger my mind last October about a year ago my wife decided you know what we need a Furniture upgrade said our living room furniture we just you know it's his time it's time it's time for an upgrade says something to her mother about it her mother said I'll tell you what you go pick it out you go order it she said this could be this would be a Christmas present from from me and your father I said get go get you go get your couch of Love see get you an ottoman whatever just just go go go order it by Christmas time we thought by Christmas time 2021 we're gonna be sitting on our new couch enjoying Christmas dinner in the house they said well because our shortest is it's probably going to be March I said March Yeah March okay well I guess it if we got to have this set honey I guess we'll just have to wait to March I got good news yesterday the last piece was delivered to our house for Christmas 2022 we got a new furniture set foreign to the king he looks at this Brazen altar this this altar of bronze and he thinks to himself this is just not cutting it apparently there needs to be an upgrading and he replaced the altar of repentance with this new and improved Ultra I'm going to tell you about it because because he was he was a worshiper he he was a very free spirited he was very superstitious type person and he would try out different gods and he would go to different places and worship and so when he went to Damascus to to meet with this king who he was given the Temple's gold and silver to wouldn't you know it he comes into Damascus and he sees the pagans worshiping around this great Altar and he thought to himself I'll tell you here's an upgrade we need for the temple back in Jerusalem and so he sends the blueprints back to the priest and he says I want this altar to worship God to worship the he said the god of my fathers isn't that interesting he he said I want this this this is where I want to sacrifice he said I'm sick of a plain and ugly and mundane I want something that's beautiful and lovely to look upon I want in the house of the Lord something that gives me joy when I walk in some of you know I'm going with this but there was no accident that God's altar that he gave the plan for there there's no accident that it wasn't a pretty lovely beautiful altar oh his halter was very plain his halter had been burnt with many fires his halter was black it was charred it represented death oh there was no Beauty in death and so there was no reason to have an attractive altar the design was on purpose it only had one purpose and that was to make sacrifices the shedding of innocent blood death the burning of Flesh oh let me tell you something if God meant for us to enjoy the altar of repentance when we walk into his house he would have put gold he would have had them lay it with gold all across and all around but that was not the purpose of the altar we remember even the Tabernacle the people were lined up to bring gold and silver in jewels to Moses and Moses said hey we got enough you all go home y'all remember that story if that was the plan he could have very well laid that thing over with brilliant gold but that was never the plan oh my God the purpose of the altar is to be an ugly place of death but here we have a king who doesn't love the house of God because he doesn't understand the house of God he doesn't love the altar because he doesn't understand the altar so while he is in Damascus he sends these plans back to the high priest and let me tell you something I want to get this out of the way because I'm talking about out with the old and in with the new and and I'm talking about how this how this King brought new things into the church and please please please follow me with this I think it's obvious that we're not against having new things in the house of God I I hope it's obvious by now huh the technology is not a problem because the technology has nothing to do with the altar it has nothing to do with the doctrine these are just ways that we have where we want to attract and and we want to cause people who are watching online to be interested and we want to share the gospel with others and get the gospel out of this church that's that's the only reason why we have Iowa's cameras and and while we have the correct lighting and and the right temperature of lighting and we have the right colors and lights that are hitting in the right places that's why it has nothing to do when he brought this new altar into the temple of God it had nothing to do oh with lights and and Beauty because already let me tell you something Solomon had already spent six billion dollars on the building beautiful cool new age that was already done Simon's Temple already had all that covered what was being done right here by King ahaz was he was changing the purpose of the Temple yeah he was changing the purpose of the Temple and so he thought to himself if I have something that's better looking I can cause people to do more sacrifices I can get people to come in here but let me tell you something the real problem right here was not even the king the problem was the high priest the problem was the high priest had one job the job of Uriah the high priest was to set up the the spiritual welfare of the Kingdom that's that's what his job was it was his job to to oversee everything that happened spiritually in the Kingdom so here we have a king who was just out of his mind he he didn't understand what worship was didn't understand he who he was supposed to even worship but here we have a high priest whose responsibility was to protect the people and protect the spiritual health of the Kingdom he had one job but the Bible says that before the king even got back home to Jerusalem he already had the thing built and in place in the temple so we have the king the king comes walking in he's like man this is also this looks just like the Pagan altar that I saw in Damascus this is amazing this is brilliant this is exactly what I need and so the king he said I'll tell you what this ugly Brazen altar we can push this into the corner because we no longer have a lot of purpose for it because we have the new and improved we have this new furniture we have this beautiful we have this beautiful altar where now the people can come and they could be proud to come into the temple and give their sacrifices you see King a house he wildly experimented with religion not just of Judah but he wildly he he experimented all over his world and he tried everything that he could try he was addicted to to sensationalism sensationalism and I'll tell you what sensationalism is sensationalism is defined as presenting information in a way that is an intended to provoke a public interest and excitement at the expense of accuracy they said it more time is presenting information in a way that's intended to provoke public interest and excitement but it's done at the expense of accuracy and he says I'm not gonna I'm not gonna get on a soapbox and and talk about churches allowing things in and and doing things like the denominal world I'm not going to get on that soapbox because anybody that has any sense understands understands what's happening in those situations and those circumstances but King ahaz the wicked King oh the wicked he was wicked in the sight of the Lord he was trying anything he could to bring excitement to something that didn't need him to bring excitement to instead of relying on anointing instead of having a Pastor Lee Cook up here and singing Under The anointing he was looking for ways to entice people and excite the crowds without the anointing oh friend I don't know about you but I never want to trade anointing for anything I don't want to trade it for talent I don't want to trade it for better singers better musicians let me tell you something I'm sure we could hire the best of the best in this place people that can sing far better than me people that get preach far better than our preachers but let me tell you something if you do it at the expense of anointing if we wake up one day and all we have is a hired singers and hired preachers and oh my God let me tell you something it's Pastor appreciation month I'm thankful for a pastor that's not a hireling I'm thankful for a student Pastor it's not a hire leaner I'm thankful for a Kids Quest Pastor that has our children out back it's not a Harley they are anointed men of God who say God I don't care what the world's doing I don't care what the church world's doing I don't care what the charismatic movement's doing I don't care what tbn's doing I don't care what the mega churches are we're gonna be anointed and we're gonna preach the Living Word of God sensationalism it's all he was looking for something something new something improved well here's the deal because of the way he was he locked up the temple shut the doors board the doors of the most beautiful building ever to be built lamps went out fire died out showbridge stailed incense lost its savor the Bible tells us that Kinga has died and he was not even buried with the other former Kings of Judah he was buried somewhere else had a shortened funeral God said we are we are not going to celebrate this life just put him in a grave over here don't even don't even honor him with the other kings however somehow this King had a son named Hezekiah that he did not turn out like his father did matter of fact I don't even really understand how he turned out like he did or maybe I do maybe it was the authorization observation of his Wicked father yeah they taught him all he needed to know about the house of God maybe it was him saying whatever daddy did I'm gonna do the express opposite of that maybe it was him watching his father serve the God molik he watched his father as his father placed maybe a couple of his siblings and cause them to pass through the fire and sacrifice his own siblings in the fire yeah that's how Wicked he was maybe Hezekiah saw that and thought to himself the last thing I'm gonna do is be like my father it's sad to say Pastor Lee it's sad to say oh that you could be one of two parents you could either be a parent that your children want to be like or you could be a parent that your children are saying whatever I do I will not be like that oh I don't know about you but I want my daughters to look at their daddy and say that's the kind of person I want to be that's the kind of character I want to have I want to be spiritual I want to be oh I want to be tied to the house of God I want everything that I do to be centered around God's house so Hezekiah comes along Hezekiah comes along and he says I'll tell you what we're going to do in the first year did y'all catch that in the text in the first year in the first month of his Reign he said the first thing we're going to do is we're going to open up the temple of God we're going to unbar the doors we're going to make sure we're gonna make sure that anybody that wants to Worship in the temple is allowed to get into the temple but I want you to follow in second Chronicles chapter 29 I I've got to read this because there's so much here that you've got to see that there's no way that I could tell you or recite it to you but Hezekiah began to Reign when he was 5 and 20 years old and and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem in his mother's name was abijah the daughter of Zechariah and it's interesting that it even mentioned his dad I don't know why and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that David his father had done or his forefather had done he in the first year of his reign in the first month opened the doors of the house of the Lord and he repaired them and he brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together in the East Street and and he said unto them hear me ye Levites sanctify now yourselves and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers and carry forth the filthiness out of the Holy place for our fathers have trespassed and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord Our God and have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs also they have shut up the doors of the porch and put out the lamps and have turned burned uh not burn incense and or offered burnt offerings in the Holy place under the god of Israel verse 15 says and they gathered their Brethren and sanctify them and and came according to the the Commandment of the king and by the words of the Lord to cleanse the house of the Lord verse 16 he says and the priests I'm gonna slow down here because it's so important the priest went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it and brought out all the uncleanness and that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord and the Levites took it they took what they brought out and carried it abroad into the brookhedron Verse 18 then they went into Hezekiah the king and said we have cleansed all the house of the Lord and the altar of the burnt offering with all the vessels thereof and the showbread table with all the vessels thereof moreover all the vessels which king a has in his Reign did Cast Away in his transgression we have prepared and Sanctified and behold they are before the altar of the Lord and I hope my title is beginning to make sense now see these new priests they begin to cleanse the temple and they started setting these Pagan unclean things that the king ahaz had set up they began to form a garbage pile in the courtyard of the temple you gotta with your mind's eye you got to visualize this with me they they started bringing out those idols and bringing out those gods and they started dismantling that new that new altar that ahaz had had the the priest assemble and put up they brought it to together they started piling it up and then the command was have the Levites have the workers that are in the temple have them take this rubbish garbage heap and take it and I I looked up the Kidron Valley because I I thought this was very interesting that they mentioned Kindred kendron Valley here and let me tell you something about the Kidron Valley it was a ravine east of Jerusalem leading to the Mount of Olives traditionally identified by Jewish Christian and Muslim religions as the valley of decision it was a place of final judgment it was known as the valley of death the word Kidron comes from a Hebrew word that destroy describes an ashy dark color the color of sackcloth in sackcloth you know was a was a rough cloth made of hair that in many cases was worn by those who were in sorrow or those that were mourning and so they looked at this area it was a steep valley into this Ravine it was called the Kidron Valley and this was the place where every time Israel was got right with God every time they cast out the Pagan Idols the idols were always taken from the temple of God and were cast Over The Edge into this Ravine called kittren and it was a place of death it was them saying we're no longer going to serve these Gods we're casting them out we're putting them to death if you will this was more than them just throwing them into what we would call a landfill this was them making a statement that the things that were in the temple that didn't belong in the temple were now at a place of death they were being thrown into a ravine of death somebody shout amen because I believe you know where I'm going with this because I know that we tend to focus on baptism and Holy Ghost in feeling as the most celebrated of the Plan of Salvation because these are the two steps that benefit us the most let's be honest when we're baptized in water in his name it puts us into Christ and when we receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost that the spirit baptism it puts Christ inside of us and that's a beautiful thing nothing like the feeling of having sins washed away and there's nothing else like the feeling of having the spirit of God living inside of us who wouldn't want those two things to happen but it's a whole lot different because there's actually a first step to that Plan of Salvation that Peter gave us on the day of Pentecost and that is simply we've got to First repent but repentance is hard to do unless you love what God has given you for a temple follow me with this listen I know it doesn't seem like there's a lot of benefits they're emphasized with repentance but I never want to downplay repentance because oh my God it's not the holy ghost that makes you walk right talk right give right live right oh no it might help you do those things but God doesn't make you do anything it's repentance that causes you to do those four things it's when you make it about face and you say God I'm sorry for everything that I've had cluttering the temple come on somebody Paul said what know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Lord call somebody in this place today if you've never repented of your sins I got news for you it's not just a one-time feeling sorry or a one-time sorrowful act but it's a daily Paul said I died daily every day Paul said I've got a throw things out of the temple I've got to throw them and cast them into the valley of Kindred if I'm gonna live for God my temple must be pure because I want to walk right I want to talk right I want to live a repented lifestyle I don't want to be who I used to be see here what happened was simply this at first they got all of the garbage they got all these Idols they got all these Pagan ritualistic things and they made a pile and the Levites took that pile and they got rid of the pile and they threw it into the valley of death but that's not where the cleansing ended because then the priest had to get in there and they had to start cleansing what was left inside the house of God and not only cleansing but there had to be a time oh there had to be a time of recommitment of consecration there had to be a time when they started to form new goblets of gold to replace those that have been given away by the king they had to make new utensils to replace those that had been given away is anybody thankful for Restoration in this place that you could come into the house of the Lord and even things that have been given away so he said oh he said there's stolen from you you could come into the house of the Lord and say God I'm coming to clean up the temple I'm coming to make some things that form some things that I once lost I want it all back the priest began to cleanse oh today listen I I really feel like the Lord wants wants me to focus on repentance because I I believe if I could just get one person to repent in this place I I believe your life could be changed forever so many times we get so enamored we had five in the water last Sunday we had we had 10 get the Holy Ghost the week before that and we start tweeting about how many got H2O I hope we don't do that I see some tweets like that how many guys spirit filled all excited about numbers I just got a question how many people repented because listen there's no reason to wash out the temple and cleanse the temple if you first don't get the Pagan stuff out of the Temple you can't wash away sins that are still in the temple you've got to come and cleanse the temple once those things have been taken out once repentance has taken place once there's a people that says we are dying out to these Idols we're dying out to these things that have drawn us away from God once that happens then then Peter said after you repent the next thing you got to do is be washed is go up into the water of baptism and get your sins remitted that means get them removed from you there's no reason to get sins removed if you're planning on going right back out and sinning again I tell the story to our to our kids I'm ever telling back in Chapel Services years and years ago I Was A Bachelor till I was 28 and I I got to tell you man my kitchen sink at times it smelled like there was dead bodies in the house I had stuff in my kitchen sink dear God it was growing hair but thank God I had a garbage disposal so sister Brian I would stuff stuff down in there and turn that thing on man I thought that was so cool this is back when we first started getting these garbage disposal things you know except one day it stopped working and being The Bachelor that I was I was hardly ever home I just kept on stuffing stuff down there and it never occurred to me that it's got to go somewhere and if you think those dishes smell bad there is no two-year-old carton of milk that smelled any worse than what was going on in my conversation but I told the kids this I said you know what repentance is stopping putting stuff down the disposal when it ain't working yeah first thing you gotta do is stop doing it but then you got to figure out a way to wash that stuff down but there's no reason listen if you're not gonna wash it down you might as well just keep on doing it it already smells it's going to keep on smelling but oh that's where baptism comes in because when you get whoo the power when you're baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of your sins and we already got one to be baptized this morning I was already told we already have one to get baptized when you're baptized in the name of Jesus I'm talking about the one who shed his blood for you the one that tied on a cross for you who gave his life for you when you give that name called over your life in baptism and you go down and you're buried with him and you come up a brand new creature you're brand new old things are passed away behold all things no everything becomes new you don't smell like you used to smell you don't do the things he used to do you don't hang out to places you used to hang out you don't go to those bars you don't go to those nightclubs you don't go to those movie houses and and watch things that my God would make somebody blush I'm telling you something right now in Jesus name when you go down in his name and you come up a new creature it's the best feeling you've ever felt because you know without a shadow without everything every bit of baggage you have been set free Acts 3 and 19 says repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord First Corinthians 6 19 what know he not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God and ye are not your own for you are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are gods but here's here's the good news once you've mentioned about facing you you've decided you've made up your mind that I'm gonna I'm gonna stop living like I've been living and I'm gonna stop doing what I've been doing and now I'm a different person I'm a change listen let me tell you something back in the day the old-time preacher wouldn't even baptize a person until they saw fruits of repentance it's true now we went through a phase where we would baptized everybody anybody come on come on we'll give you a free bicycle just come on get in this water we'll put you down the water and I'm not joking that's we really did that block parties and stuff and it was a fad it went through and and trust me because some of y'all like on will are you planning on baptizing something before you know well number one I'm not God and I can't judge a person if they've repented or not only God knows then so by faith that they have repented we're going to put something down the water today follow me right there but that's just that's that's that's my heart how the forefathers are preachers how they felt about repentance it was not just something he didn't he didn't come down and just repeat after a preacher Lord forgive me Lord forgive me Lord I'm sorry Lord I'm sorry it wasn't like that it was changing the lifestyle because then that made it possible for God to wash that lifestyle out and when you wash that lifestyle out all of a sudden there's room for something to take its place all of a sudden out with the new in with the old you can bring that altar back into its rightful position which is right between the entrance in the Holy place and you could put that altar because just in case you might not know that was the altar of sacrifice that that's that was a type and Shadow of repentance that was death they would slit the throat of The Oxen or they would slit the throat of the sheep and they would let it bleed out and they would put their body up onto the Altar and the fire was already there and the fire would consume that animal and that smell that Savor would arise to heaven and that was the sacrifice to God but it took something that was sinless it was not that sheep's fault it was not the oxen's fault the Bullocks falter it was not there it was the fault of The Sinner however it was the altar oh it was the altar that sat right in the very center you couldn't get to the labor of baptism unless you first saw walked up to the altar you couldn't get into the holy place there was no table of show bread or there was no altar of incense there was no candles you could not get anywhere until you first came upon the Altar and you said God I'm sorry for everything I've done for the past year or I'm sorry for everything that my life has done I've gotten in some situations God I know I shouldn't have got into I I've had some things cluttering my temple that I know should have been caught in my temple thank God for the good old altar that Moses brought in into the Tabernacle thank God there's some things that never need to change let me tell you something the doctrine will never change the Bible says that Jesus the same yesterday today forever his ways are the same they were all the way from Genesis to Revelations to today I want you to know our Doctrine is sound we serve one God his name is Jesus anybody's thankful you've been baptized in the name that's above every other name oh just in case you're new around here I'm going to read my favorite scripture in the whole Bible Acts chapter 2 and verse 38 it says then Peter said unto them he had a bunch of people that had just crucified the Christ they had just crucified the Messiah and here they are saying what in the world are we gonna do how can we save ourselves he said you can't save yourself but this is what you can do he said you've got to repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost it doesn't stop there for the promises unto you and to your children and to all that are far off even as many as the Lord Our God shall call it doesn't stop there and with many other words did he testify and exhort sane save yourselves from this untoward generation don't you know Hezekiah that there's gonna be there's gonna be fathers there's gonna be there's gonna be kings that are going to come before you who are going to do crazy crazy things but I'm so thankful that in your generation you can turn some things around that the past generation messed up I'm looking out as students how I'm looking out at adults today who your parents didn't live right your parents didn't walk for God your parents didn't live for God but you can turn things around that your parents decided to do in their life you can say but as for me and my health we will serve the Lord I'm Gonna Save myself from this on a toward a generation somebody give God praise in this house today I feel the holy ghost wonder well up inside of somebody matter of fact why don't you stand your feet and just begin to clap your hands and lift up your voices huh come on somebody say God I'm gonna repent God I'm gonna live a daily lifestyle of repentance I refuse to be her who I've always been foreign you repent cleanse the temple and then go back to King Hezekiah and the priest said we've done it we threw out all the stuff that was paganistic and ungodly we got rid of the things that came before God in our lives and now we brought the correct altar back in position again they said what do you want to do next and King Hezekiah he simply said bring in the sacrifices we're going to open the doors wide he said matter of fact I'm going to give everybody instruments and we're going to worship God before the altar now I don't know if that excites you but it excites me because it says I believe it says they took the instruments of David you may remember the Bible talks about those 4 000 instruments that David made for the people in the Tabernacle of David to worship God to worship god with remember that they took those same interests somehow in that Temple those instruments had somehow made it through every one of those kings and the Bible says they took the instruments that David had made and began to rejoice and thank God and begin to give God praise oh my God that's why we always begin our services with worship because I'm not going to ask God for something before I give him something I'm not going to competition him and start begging him for things that start telling what I need I need this and I need that when I haven't given him anything yet so in the house when we come into the temple when we come into the Tabernacle we come into our sanctuary of worship the very first thing we do is as we begin to give God praise and we begin to exalt him and we get our musical instruments and we begin to play musical instruments unto the Lord and sing praises of joy and sing praises of exaltation to our God and then King Hezekiah said come on bring in the animals bring in we're about to make sacrifices uh in tens of thousands of animals came into that place and they began to sacrifice her and give praise to God and let me tell you something that was the greatest form of repentance did everyone need it I don't know I know there was one king that led them and a priest that led them the wrong direction I I don't know who needed to repent but everybody got in on the repentance which tells me this just like Paul made the statement I Die daily he said this is not a one-time thing this is not a I was saved when 1984 January 4th and back then I remember repentant that it's not a one-time thing every single day we gotta say God there are things in my temple that I'm not proud of come on now I like how pastor says that he says fold up them angel wings and listen come on come on because give me good Baptist and not or something laughs things inside my temple made my motive hasn't been always pure maybe when I posted that Facebook post maybe it wasn't pure motives yeah I was trying to get at somebody little things in the temple missed a lot of church lately because other things have taken the place of church ah little things in the temple now listen I know we got one to be baptized but if nobody nobody's filled with the Holy Ghost today I'm just going to be honest with you I want you to be I'm gonna be honest with you though if I could just get one to repent if I could just get one person I don't know how many people 600 some I don't know how many people are in here just one single person would say I'm getting ready to clean out my temple I've lived this way too long I've been in this condition too long if just one person just one person would say God I refuse to have these Idols in my life any longer I'm not even talking about great sins I'm not talking I'm not even talking adultery I'm not saying anybody hears murders somehow I'm not talking about great Commandments being broken I'm just talking about those little idols and those little things that people set up in their life in their Temple and they maybe they don't even realize they're there and the temple becomes desecrated because the fire has gone out and maybe the instance of prayer is no longer going up maybe the candles stick the light has blown out and where once you had Revelation you can't feel God any longer I was just one maybe two maybe three people would find themselves on this Altar and just begin to cry out and say God help me foreign church family I wish we had a perfect church I wish I wish I believe we had a perfect church but I know we don't but come on is there somebody is there Hezekiah in the house he's gonna say I'm gonna unstop the door I'm gonna fix the very things that are broken in the house of God I'm gonna believe for restoration Lord the various things that have been stolen out of my temple I'm gonna believe for restoration I'm gonna believe for healing I'm gonna believe this morning Lord God you're gonna Heal Me Mind Body Soul in Spirit come on I know I know this is a hard message to respond to I know it is because we're all we're all dressed up and we're all in our Apostolic suits and dresses I know this is a hard message to respond to but I wish somebody would just respond and say God I'm gonna let go of this Pew in front of me huh I'm gonna walk down to the altar not to pray for somebody else come on man give me a cop out sometimes uh come on not to pray for somebody else God but I'm gonna come with a heart of repentance I'm gonna come and say God it's me standing in need of prayer I refuse to be who I am I refuse to be who I was but oh God I want to be a new creature in you Jesus I want to be a new creature come on We're not gonna sing we're gonna sing in just a few minutes but not yet come on I believe there needs to be a little more response than this God help us God help us God I've had things in my life oh God I want to get out oh God I have things Lord God that are hidden in the corner sword of my temple Lord I want to get them out God I want to shed them Lord God I want to cast them Lord God into the valley of Kidron Lord God I want to I want to cast them off Lord God oh foreign come on come on come on come on I don't want to cheerlead you in this I don't want to cheerlead if I've got to tell you to repent if I'm going to make you feel bad if I if I've got to tell you that everyone has sin and false if I've got to tell you that it's not going to do anything for you if you don't realize yourself that you've got to repent it's not going to do anything for you oh my God oh God walking away come on come on look over your life take inventory of your life it's probably the very people that stand back and think they don't need to repent they need to repent the most oh God I'm sorry God I'm sorry God I'm sorry God please forgive me Lord God I've fallen short I've missed the Mark I've made mistakes God if I wasn't in this microphone Lord God I would I would name them all for you Lord God but you know what they are oh God I'm leaving behind I'm casting it out I'm cleansing it oh God I'm on my hands and my knees God I'm cleansing my temple right now oh Jesus name I want to get back to where I used to be take me back to your Lord when I first believed take me back lord God to your Tabernacle Lord God oh take me back to the old Brazen altar Lord God take me back lord God to the ugliness Lord God of repentance the sacrifice oh God for the sins oh God that I've committed here oh come on come on come on oh he's in this place come on he's in this place you gotta make a decision I'm not asking you to apologize I'm not asking to apologize to God that's not what I'm asking for it's gonna be a lifestyle change It's gotta be a change in your thinking process in your Paradigm of thinking it's gonna be a change where you say God I will do differently Lord God the things that I've messed up I I'll fix the things Lord God how can I build up those things I'll replace the things that I've lost in my life oh God oh yes yes yes yes yes I want to dedicate myself I want to rededicate myself Lord daily prayer weekly fasting oh God I I rededicate myself oh God a consecration oh God on a daily basis oh God I want to read and study my Bible like never before oh God I dedicate myself to you Jesus foreign oh yes come on won't you repent and I'll start to give him praise in the house come on now we get now we're going to praise and now we we're bringing the instruments of David now we get begin with a thankful heart to say oh thank you Jesus for remission thank you Lord God for removal thank you God I feel free I'm free free at last free at least thank God Almighty I'm free at last oh no more pondage no more sin oh come on right now let's begin to celebrate the facts if you've been born of the water in the spirit begin to celebrate thank you Jesus thank you Jesus I want you I've got to have you Lord I give my life to you Jesus yes foreign yes I do I worship I praise you I glorify you come on if you repented now come on now throw your hands up and just give God praise he was ever meant to stay at the altar the altar was just the very first step you're not to remain at the altar come on walk through now walk through the lever oh thank God oh regeneration thank God for cleaning us oh for washing us white as snow for purifying Ahsoka come on thank God thank you for the blood thank you for the blood of the Lamb thank you Jesus thank you Jesus yes now come on walk into the holy Place walk into the holy Place huh oh let the word of God Minister let the word of God minister to you I'll let the sweet Aroma are from the ultra events sister come on smell the great smell great savior of Jesus thank you Lord thank you Jesus thank you Lord we bless you in the house we praise you in the house we glorify you yes Holy Spirit oh rest upon us in this place in the holy of holies let your Holy Ghost fall let the Holy Ghost fill this place oh God come rest upon us come on let there be a prayer yes yes you are the Holy Spirit Come rest upon me your only one come on Holy Spirit Come and rest let's go that's coming on come rest on us upon us oh God let your Holy Ghost feel us oh God foreign oh come on every hand lift it in the house yeah yes you are one more time seeing the Holy Spirit come rest Luke chapter 15 and verse 10 says likewise I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth gotta help us out this joy in the presence I know there's joy in the presence of the Lord today come on one more time just give him love give him praise thank you Lord God for a church God they will respond to your word God I thank you for a church body a church family oh God who's Tethered to this place Lord that's Tethered to your house oh God Lord that everything Lord God every bit Lord God the very identity of the families of this church Lord I believe are Tethered to your house Lord God bless them Lord God lord as we meet again tonight God as we come together once again tonight to worship you to praise you and to hear and respond to your word Lord God keep us safe today Lord God and we'll give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus name clap your hands unto the Lord if you love him and if you love his house hallelujah amen you're dismissed in Jesus name make sure you tell of our guests find a guest and let them know how glad we are they're here today God bless you in Jesus name