Show Me the Receipt
by James Wilson
November 30, 2021 · First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Matthew 13:44-46

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/james-wilson--code-orange-revival-6
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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praise the lord everybody y'all doing all right this morning yeah everybody awake you should have had at least some some better sleep today than you did yesterday okay cool cool all right i i uh i got a little bit more sleep than i did sunday sunday night as well so i'm feeling good i'm i don't know i might do backflips or something today i don't know i don't know actually i better not try that because that might be really bad actually are y'all gonna help me preach today okay i need i need a little bit of help i can't i can't do it by myself i need your help today and uh i'm just excited about what god's going to do i want to again say what an honor it is to be with you all honor your leadership the mccools the whitley the entire team here is such a tremendous honor for me to be here with you all um i tell you what why don't you turn to your neighbor and just give him a high five oh that was lame like i thought i was gonna hear like some pow you know like some guys that was really weak you have me really concerned all of my guys i'm just really okay okay all right fellas do you guys high-five like that will you play basketball i hope not i hope not guys that you know somebody hits a nice buck and you're like good job what come on guys man i was thinking about coming to the basketball game tonight i don't know anymore though i don't know amen matthew why don't you turn to matthew i believe it's chapter 13 matthew chapter 13. and uh yesterday i preached about the price that jesus paid for us and jesus paid a price for us that we could not pay on our own there is no way that you and i could pay the price for our sins amen there's no way no matter how much money we have no matter how much talent or ability that we have no matter how good we are or aren't none of us have the ability to pay the price for sin but there is something that we must pay the price for and that's what i want to talk about today about what you and i must do in response to what jesus has done for us if we truly want to be everything that god has called us to be it can't just be god paying a price the bible says it this way that we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto god which is our reasonable service the bible lets us know because he paid a price it's reasonable for us to pay a price so with the help of the holy ghost i want to preach kind of on that in a second and i'll hold hold my title just for a moment matthew chapter 13 and we'll start reading at verse number 44. jesus is speaking here to a group of people and he says again the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure somebody say treasure anybody ever dream about going on like a treasure hunt huh man you know what i'm talking about like just going out to a field somewhere and finding a bunch of treasure and it's all sparkling you know what i'm talking about man yeah gold i heard that yes some gold the bible says the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field the which when a man hath found he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that fuel again the kingdom of heaven is likened to a merchant man seeking goodly pearls who when he had found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and bought it i want to preach with the help of the holy ghost on this title today show me the receipt turn to your neighbor and say show me the receipt show me the receipt amen why don't you just throw your hands in the air one more time and let's pray together god we thank you for your presence we thank you for your spirit for your anointing that's here lord i pray in the name of jesus christ that your power and that your presence would speak to us in this place have your way o god we empty ourselves of ourselves and we pray in in the name of jesus that you would speak to us speak to our hearts speak to our minds lord let there be a transformational power of your presence in this room today we give you praise we give you glory for it in jesus name and everybody said amen clap your hands one more time and you may be seated [Applause] how many like candy in the room wow that was lame are you guys awake this morning okay okay all right okay i thought i would have some people that would say they like a little well you know what for those of you that don't like candy just chill out on this next part who likes starbursts anybody like star right there okay there you go that's some starbursts kitkats anyway i like kitkats there we go right there boom okay cool cool cool kitkats now this one i know nobody likes it how many likes how many like snickers huh huh y'all aren't convincing me enough huh make some noise if you like snickers in the room okay there you go boom right there whoo man look at that right there kit kat anybody [Applause] man and i got one more snickers one more snickers yo that was a pick six right there my my guy just now some of you are wondering what in the world does this have to do with what brother james is talking about let me tell you i'm glad you asked one day i was probably about nine or ten years old and i had gone into a grocery store and uh you know they positioned the candy very strategically in the grocery store and uh we were down to the end of that uh shopping trip it was just my mom and i just having a little mother and son time and we get to the cash register and you know how you do kids you're like oh mom can i have some candy please and she's like no james you can't have any candy you've had too much candy today i'm like oh man no i haven't i've only had like five she's like no you've had enough candy you need to eat some vegetables yeah exactly that's what i did i was like oh nobody wants to eat vegetables but you know what i did listen now now don't do this this is the bad part okay while my mom wasn't looking out the corner of my eye i saw it my favorite candy bar there it was the golden package the twix and it was laying right before me and you wouldn't believe it but that twix began to talk to me grab me eat me take me home with you right i was like hey man hold on bro now the problem is i don't have any money he's like it's okay just take me so you know what i did i was like all right bro now listen you can't tell anybody i'm gonna take you go home now you're not gonna live very long i mean you might not make it home actually so you know what i did while nobody was looking i took that twix and i put it in my pocket and i stole it i stole the twix and i went home i had it in my pocket and when i went home i opened the top drawer of my of my dresser and i took that twix and i put it in that drawer and i slammed that drawer shut and i didn't tell anybody because i knew i knew that if i told my mom that i stole that twix i would be in a huge amount of trouble but you know what moms just have this kind of six sense type thing you know they just know you ever done something before that you shouldn't do and your mom just looks at you what you do you've done something i don't know i don't even know what but you've done so i can see it in your eyes what have you done boy i was in my room just chilling having a good time acting like i hadn't stole anything all of a sudden my mom james what's going on i said what do you mean what's what's going on i mean uh a lot is going on went to school today had a great time we went to the grocery store had a little father mommy mother-son time had a great time i didn't steal anything but um yeah it's just a great time she said what do you have in your drawer right there drawer nothing i mean i have something in the drawer i have like ties it's my tie drawer she said james opened the drawer i said oh no no no no you really don't want to do that mom really it's just probably not a gut just open the drawer son i don't know how she knew i opened the drawer and there it was that golden twix she said james she said son did you steal that i said yes ma'am i stole it she said son you cannot steal things she said this is a trend that that could be very bad like do you understand what you can go to jail if you begin stealing things you can you can you can go to jail you can mess up your life this is not a habit that you need to create and so you know what she made me do she made me go back to the store this is the most humiliating thing some of you are probably your mom's probably made you do this she made me go back to the store with that twix up to this really tall counter okay this i'm to this day this counter is bigger than me it's like eight nine feet tall and there was this big lady just looking over the top of it i remember i'm like man this lady about to knock me out she was standing there my mom said go ahead tell her tell her what she did so i had to look up at that lady and i said miss i just i was in here earlier and the twix started talking to me told me to steal it and i stole it she said james she said that is a very bad thing to i mean she began to scold me she began to tell me everything that was wrong with what i just did and that day i learned very very quickly that the best things in life most of the time are not free but if you want something out of life most of the time it's going to cost you can i tell somebody in this place if you want to have a relationship with jesus it's not something that you can steal it's not something that you can take for from somebody else it's not something that mom can do for you it's not something that dad can do for you it's not something that you can just get under the table but if you want something awesome and great from god you must buy it yourself you must pay the price yourself what i'm talking about is something greater than a little twix greater than a snickersbar i'm talking about salvation i'm talking about the kingdom of god i'm talking about living with jesus forever and if you want that you can't just steal it you must buy it [Applause] and then i also around the same time they begin doing this thing at walmart i noticed that around this time at walmart they began doing this this thing or or maybe it was i just noticed it then but you know what they started doing at walmart whenever people walk out do you know what they would say to them hey sir can i see your receipt show me the receipt i'll be getting ready to walk out hey can you show me the receipt can you show me that everything that you have you've bought it you've paid for it walking out the store hey sir can you show me the receipt here's my simple question for every single person that is in this room under the sound of my voice i've come with a very simple word from the lord today for every single student under the sound of my voice can you show me the receipt that you've bought this thing for yourself i know your mom might be in church i know your dad might be in church maybe some of you your parents aren't in church but maybe you have a friend that's in church a friend that loves god but can i tell you you're not gonna go to heaven because your friend has a relationship with god you're not going to go to heaven because your mom or your dad has a relationship with god but you're going to go to heaven because you yourself have taken personal responsibility for your salvation to say god i'm going to buy this thing i'm going to buy this thing i'm not going to wait for somebody else but i'm going to take hold of this thing for myself [Applause] can you show me the receipt can you show me that you spent time in prayer can you show me that you spent time fasting and seeking the face of god can i tell you nobody can do this for you nobody can buy this for you nobody can pray prayers at night when there's nobody else around for you nobody can do what you can do you yourself must buy the truth the bible lets us know the kingdom of heaven the kingdom of heaven it's like a man a man who goes out and finds a treasure hid in a field can you imagine that this was a real scenario can you imagine how crazy people must have thought this man was the bible says he finds this treasure in a field and the bible says he sells everything that he has i can imagine this man goes and starts he has a boat he he goes and he sells that boat and and he has a home and he begins to sell that home and maybe he has a smaller field another field that has nothing in it and he goes and sells that feel and sells everything that he has people were probably looking at this man like he was crazy like bro what are you doing you're going and selling everything that you have for this little there's nothing in this field but that man understood yes you might not understand what's in this field but i understand what's in this field and what is in this field is more valuable than anything that i have on my own can i tell somebody the world may not understand why you're buying what you're buying the world may not understand why you're doing what you're doing but can i tell you it does not diminish the value that is in the field you need to make up your mind no matter what the world says no matter what the world does i will buy this truth bible says he bought the field selleth all that he had and buyeth the field because the truth of the matter is if you ever want to do anything great for god it's going to cost you oh but i want to do great things for god but i want to keep living the way that i'm living i don't ever want it to cost me i want to do great things for god but but i don't ever want to have to sacrifice anything i don't want to have to sacrifice some friends that are a bad influence i don't want to have to sacrifice some people in my life that that really aren't great and really are do i want to do something great for god but i want to keep doing what i want to do can i tell you if you want to do something great for god it's going to cost you there's no way that you could do something great for god and it not cost you everything come on somebody not just a little bit not just a little part of your life not just a little piece of your life but the bible says that he sold everything he had could i tell somebody if you want something from god it will cost you everything not just a little part of your life but every part of your life can you show me the receipt i want god's hand on my life but can you show me the receipt i want i want to be used of god in an incredible and powerful way that's great that's awesome i'm thankful for all the things that you desire to do but can you show me the receipt if you want to do great things for god you've got to spend time in prayer you got to pay the price with your prayers you got to pray the price with your consecration you got to pay the price with your fasting and your time spent in the word of god can you show me the receipt a few years ago when god began doing against some things in my ministry and in my life on a more public level i began to get offers and different things that were thrown my way but here's the thing about when you buy something when you buy something and you pay precious money for it or you give everything that you have for it it cannot be easily taken from you see here's the here's here's the thing that i believe some of you so easily can allow truth to slip through your fingers because you have not paid a price for it do you understand why bishop mccool is who he is because he's paid a price for it see some of us it's just a flippant thing because we've just been in and around all of this so we think this is just normal this is just the way that it is but can i tell you the reason why bishop mccool and pastor mccool and brother whitley and brother anthony can i tell you why they get so passionate about it because somebody had to pay a price for this thing can you imagine if you bought a brand new let's say your dream car and somebody came up to you and was like hey man can i can i just have that for free or imagine if they came up to you that dream car and they took a key and they began riding all over that car how would some of you act man y'all would lose your no now don't act like y'all went that crazy some of y'all y'all would go crazy go cray-cray why because you paid a price for it and you're not going to let anybody or anything touch what you have paid a price for it's valuable to you because you put blood sweat and tears into that thing here's the reason why some of us so easily give up on truth so easily give up on what god has for our life because we've never really paid a price for it it doesn't really mean anything to us but what god is sending me to preach to every single one of us today is that if you'll begin to pay the price for what god has for your life can i tell you there will be something that will be instilled in you there will be something that will be put placed on the inside of you that would say i don't care what the world does i will not give this up i will not throw in the tower this is precious to me because i paid the price for it [Applause] i want you to stand stand all across the room i'm coming to a close during this time i had many people that they came to me and i had one particular guy and he said he said james he said it's really awesome what you're doing right now i said your music is doing really great and a lot of people a lot of people are starting to know about you and a lot of people are starting to listen to your music he said you have so much potential there's just so much that you can do you said but here's the truth of the matter i'm just going to be real plain with you he said some of the stuff that you're doing you know some of the things that you do and some of the things that you stand for they're really old-fashioned really antiquated i'll be honest with you ain't nobody got time for how serious you are with your relationship with god nobody nobody nobody's gonna do what you're doing so in order for you to reach more people you're just gonna have to give some of that stuff up and i remember something welling up on the inside of me because you see the truth of the matter is this about your age about 15 16 17 years of age i did i hadn't bought it quite yet but about 15 or 16 years old at an altar at a youth camp somewhere i made a decision that i wasn't going to have what my parents had any longer i wasn't going to rely on what mom and dad had but i went down to the front of that altar and that day i bought it for myself i made up my mind i don't care what anybody else does i don't care what anybody else says i have found the pearl of great price therefore i will pay a cost for it and that day as he began to tell me those things i said bro i don't know who you think i am what you think i'm about to but i've come to tell you i will never with the help of god by the grace of god i will never sell what i have i have brought this truth i have the receipt there's too much blood sweat and tears into this too many nights i've prayed for this too many nights i've cried to god for this and i will not sell it [Applause] because when you've bought something you're defensive over it when you brought something you're protective over it when you bought something you'll get mad for somebody trying to steal it from you come on young person i'm telling you in this room you need to make up your mind to buy bye bye lift up your hands all across the room i want you to begin to pray i want you to begin to cry out to the lord because some of us in this room we're being tempted we're being lured away and the reason why it's so easy for us to just relinquish what we have is because we've never truly bought it but god is issuing god is issuing right now an opportu an opportunity for us to come to the front of this altar to lift up our hands and to say god i'm gonna buy this god i'm gonna get a hold of everything that you have for me the kingdom of god is precious to me the kingdom of god is worth more to me than my money it's worth more to me than people liking me it's worth more to me than fame and notoriety but this is precious to me i wonder right now if he would come to the front with lifted hands and i wonder if you will begin to cry out to the lord in this place come on all across this room lift up your hands some of us need to make a fresh commitment to god a fresh commitment to everything that god has for us all across this room right now can i tell you how you buy let me tell you how you buy you buy by obeying the plan of salvation found in acts 2 and chapter 38 you need to first repent because when you repent here's what you're saying you're saying god all the things that i used to do all the things that i used to say the voices that i used to listen to that would tell me that i can't live for you that i shouldn't live for you this pearl of great price is not worth it everything that they're preaching is not worth it can i tell you what you do when you repent of your sins you make up your mind to go away from every one of those voices and turn towards the lord jesus christ in complete surrender so right now all across this room i just want you to begin to lift up your voices and i want you to begin to pray this is how you're going to buy the truth this is how you're going to buy that field right now by lifting up your voice and praying and repenting before the lord come on all across this room i want you to lift up your voice come on it's worth it it's worth it to buy this truth it's worth it to buy this truth come on oh come on students oh come on i want you to begin to cry out to the lord in this room [Music] come on is this worth more to you than anything in this world come on if it is i want you to begin to pray some of you have been praying and asking for god to give you a once in a generation anointing but can i tell you if you want a once-in-a-generation anointing you must pay a once-in-a-generation cost if you want a phenomenal anointing you must pay a phenomenal cost if you want an incredible anointing there's an incredible cost come on it's time to show the receipt that you purchased this lift up your voice right now and pray would you come on lift up your voice and pray right now would you [Music] come on you're not gonna walk out come on just like i couldn't walk out of that store without purchasing it you can't walk out of with this of this place with an anointing without purchasing it you must have the receipt come on you can walk out of this place with a phenomenal anointing from god without paying a price for it you must buy it come on somebody it's time to purchase it [Music] oh yeah [Music] [Applause] that's it guys that's it guys that's it somebody just cry out to the lord [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] i gotta believe oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i'm not turning back [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] through until [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] my [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] won't you pray for somebody come on the holy ghost is here won't you just find someone to pray with come on don't don't don't waste this moment pray for somebody pray for your friend pray for your neighbor right now i'm gonna pray for somebody let's be participants and not spectators today well the holy ghost is moving this morning we've got time let's pray for somebody we heard from the lord let's buy the truth and sell it now come on if you want something that's going to cost you something come on pray for somebody in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name in jesus name jesus oh god help us today help us today [Music] in jesus [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] why don't you lift up your hands come on lift up your hands all across the sanctuary lift up your hands for a second and just talk to jesus say lord i want that but i want that i want that it might cost me something the lord i want it and i want it i want it i want it i want it i want it jesus i want it lord oh the lord is moving today the lord is moving today oh hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] why don't you clap your hands real loud today come on clap your hands come on clap your hands make a joyful noise unto the lord [Applause] hallelujah hallelujah [Music]