Sunday Evening Worship Service by Mark McCool October 17, 2021 ยท First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN) Kind: sermon Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:7-10, John 20:20-22, John 20:29, Isaiah 55:8-9, Numbers 22, 1 John 4:11-13, 2 Kings 6:8-17, 2 Corinthians 5:7, 2 Corinthians 4:18 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/mark-mccool--sunday-evening-worship-service-194 Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ i'm going to let you move to your seats but if everyone would stand for just a few more moments i welcome all who are joining us the first apostolic church and there are many of our church family i know have already been mentioned but roger i want to say happy birthday to you buddy i think he deserves a great big hand i love you [Applause] happy anniversary brother ron sister sherry dunn i think they deserve a great big hand brother ron told me he's been happily married 30 years and said sherry about four i'm just repeating what he said y'all see don't tell me something unless you expect me to repeat it i welcome all of you tonight if this is your first time at first apostolic church we welcome you and we we're honored to have you worshiping with us i welcome back home many of you who have been on the scheduled for our county fall break glad to see you back in the house of the lord that we have a few that their work situations make that a little different and they just headed out today so those of you who are tuning in online it takes us a couple of weeks to break but i'm glad you're getting back in the swing of things and good to see everybody back in the house the lord i welcome everybody back we've had several who have been fighting illness and dealing with some health issues and i'm glad to see every one of you back at the house of the lord as well tonight i want to call your attention to the book of first corinthians the second chapter now i want to make one statement first of all what an awesome message i got to hear part of it and had to listen to the rest of it later but what an awesome message we heard from pastor whitley this morning was that not incredible i never thought of thomas as being a man of faith but he explained it to us more perfectly today and i would also tell you this after the service was over i showed my notes that i had been preparing that i'd sent to our media team of scriptures that i would be using tonight and there's part of my message all i need to say is ditto i can shorten the message a whole bunch because brother whitley already went there he just preached it better than i could but uh god knew that we were in tune and in touch so uh when i talk about thomas tonight uh i am not i'm not copying but i believe we're getting a a affirmation from what the lord would have for us and i promise you i also will not be lengthy i heard a story here this past week of a gentleman who was well educated and had accomplished much in academia and he decided that he would make himself available to speak at some of the prominent universities and he decided the way he was going to do it he was going to prepare using the letters of the university and he was asked to speak at yale so he gave the first letter y and he spoke about a half hour gave the next letter a and spoke another half hour folks were getting uncomfortable he spoke on l and still took another half hour and e which made his presentation nearly two hours long so after his lengthy presentation he went to the president of the university and said i am not afraid to be critiqued would you tell me how i did he said well you did good but it was a bit lengthy [Music] he said well i guess i'm doing it better than i did last time because he said i spoke at massachusetts institute of technology well i may not preach to first apostolic church i'll just preach to fac tonight okay but i hope you'll stay with me until i finish what the lord would have for me okay and i know you will do that because you always do first corinthians the second chapter we're gonna begin reading at number seven first corinthians two verse number seven but we speak the wisdom of god in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which god ordained before the world unto our glory everybody remember god had plans for us before time began which none of the princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not have crucified the lord of glory but as it is written i hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath entered into the hearts of man the things which god hath prepared for them that love him but god hath revealed them unto us by his spirit for the spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of god for a few moments tonight i would speak to you on this subject the things which god has prepared yet unseen let's pray savior i love you i am so grateful for your precious presence that we feel here lord once again i stand in awe of all the things that you have done for us and are doing for us god i thank you for the many many talents and abilities that you've afforded first apostolic church family lord for the sincere faithful servants of god who have served you so many years lord with their faithfulness with their loyalty with their abundance of giving lord i thank you for every first and new individual in this house lord for their desire to be in this place god i pray that you would touch us all with your word let us receive what you'd have us to in the name of jesus we pray amen lord bless you you may be seated the things which god has prepared yet unseen there are a few sayings in our vocabulary that intimate how much we depend on the things that we see we have several sayings that back that up seeing is believing believe your own eyes i saw it with my own eyes your eyes don't lie you saw it for yourself trust your own eyes what you see is what you get etc a lot of sayings that we have about seeing however we also recognize there are some things which we cannot see yet we experience them and we trust in those things that we can't see i've never seen pain but i felt it i've never seen the wind but i've enjoyed a cool breeze in my face but i've also seen the destructive power that wind can have in a tornado or a hurricane i've never seen cold but i've had a chill i've never seen heat but i have sweated profusely from my brow i've never seen electricity but i sure trust in every morning when i flip that switch that the light's going to come on i've never seen cell service but if i've got five bars i figure i can call around the world and i've never seen an aroma oh but when sister jamie wears woman by ralph lauren have mercy lord i didn't see it but the aroma got my heart and i remembered who that is i've never seen a radio signal but i don't hesitate to flip on my radio but our text said i have not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the hearts of man we haven't seen it we haven't heard it we can't even with our intellect our hearts if you will think of what god has prepared for everybody that loves him if you love jesus you haven't seen all the things he has for you you haven't heard what he's going to do you can't even imagine it in fact i probably named my message improperly i probably should have said if you love the lord you ain't seen nothing yet i'm here to tell you if you love jesus you haven't seen all he has for you yet but he's got special things in store for those who love him but you see many attach no value to the things they cannot see or touch when it comes to the things of god too many of us adopt the thomas attitude that we heard brother whitley speak a little bit about in the beginning now again in being a little bit defensive of thomas remember the other disciples had seen jesus and had experienced jesus but it's still thomas fault that he wasn't there a little aside jumper rabbit you know a lot of times if you just be there that's half the battle if you want god to do something for you just be where he is if you want to experience the power of the holy ghost just show up where he is and and you'll see some things if you want to keep your job it'd be a good thing to show up and be there on time and i hadn't stopped meddling i'm still preaching but it said jesus stood in their midst and said unto them peace be unto you jesus presence brings peace into your life and when he had so said this is in john 20 verse 20 and when he had so said he showed unto them his hands and his side then the disciples were glad when they saw the lord then said jesus to them peace be unto you as my father sent me even so i send you and when he had said this he breathed on them and said unto them receive ye the holy ghost notice the two things that happened in particular in jesus presence there was peace and number two there was empowerment if you'll stay in jesus presence he'll give you peace in your life and if you'll get empowered with the holy ghost you've got what it takes to live a happy life they were glad when they saw his wounds but you know the story you heard it wonderfully today but thomas one of the twelve called didymus was not with them when jesus came you know what that tells me thomas didn't have peace and he didn't have power yet and he had to go through all of those things that we talked about again today of hearing from everybody else how great it was to see jesus to the point he got so defensive he said unless i see the nail prince unless i put my hand in his side i will not believe thomas was having a problem accepting the unseen all thomas could do is say i've got to say it to believe it and yes you heard it today after eight days of a peaceless time jesus showed back up he walked through the door and jesus said to him peace be unto you and he told thomas he said touch my wounds see the the wounds in my hands put your hand in my and thomas said my lord and my god jesus said to him thomas because there has seen me thou has believed blessed be day that have not seen yet have believed let me tell you tonight if you want to have peace in your life and empowerment you've got to make up your mind it's not what i'm going to see it's what i know about jesus i don't even have to see it to believe it because our texts told us one more time that he's gone away i have not seen earth not hurt neither has entered into the hearts of men i can't even imagine the greatness that god is preparing for me can i trust god when i don't see him praise team in the choir sing that sometimes even when i don't see him he's working even when i don't feel him he's working he's never stopped working but we too often try to get god to be our servant and do what we want rather than let god work in our lives by believing and trusting in him isaiah 55 8 said it this way for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my way saith the lord many times if we don't see it we're telling god here's what you ought to do god god here's what you need to do instead of saying lord i trust in you lord i give all i have unto you i love you and i know you're looking out for my best interest i can't see what you're doing for me but you're working he said for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts god's doing things we can't even see just believe he's preparing some things for us that we don't even understand first apostolic church let me tell you god's got some things in store for us if we'll keep loving him and we'll keep trusting him we can't imagine what he's going to do i'm not around here to sit pat and say i'm satisfied with where we are god's got special things for us i can't doubt or i'll do without i got to believe and receive what he has for me well let me repeat another passage from the word that shows you that sometimes god is working in the unseen when we don't have our lives where they should be i'll give you a bit of background the king of moab over in numbers 22 was looking to hire a priest to curse israel he had seen the power of israel and the numbers of israel and he said i need a priest that can prophesy against him and he tried to buy him a priest there was a priest named balaam and he sent princes to balaam said i want to hire you to come and i need you to uh prophesy against israel said they're covering the earth they're they're outnumbering us and with moab's needing a curse from god on them balaam said i won't do it i'm not going to show up so the bible says i'm paraphrasing in numbers 22 the early verses i paraphrased because it went on and the he sent more honorable princes and said oh please come and then he sent treasures money silver and gold and and balaam was so firm he said no i i i won't do this but every time they would send somebody to him he would say no but then he would go pray said god are you sure i should say no [Music] it's kind of like when your children come to mama and say can i do this and mama says no and then they go to daddy and say well can i do this and daddy says no and they say oh please with seven e's in it and they ask and they ask and they ask and finally you know what god said he said go i've told you no but go but as soon as he went god had said now i need you to not say anything until i tell you what to say but verse 21 says and balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his ass and went with the princes of moab and god's anger was kindled because he went god told him he could go after the multiple questioning but as soon as he went it said god was angry and the angel of the lord stood in the way for an adversary against him his path was blocked by an angel but there was one slight problem he couldn't see the angel now he was riding upon his ass and the two servants were with him and the ass saw the angel of the lord standing in the way and his sword was drawn in his hand and the ass turned aside out of the way and went into the field and balaam smote the ass to turn her into the way this was a female beast so we'll call her jenny that's what he got jax and jenny so this was a jenny so jenny turned and ran out in the field but the angel lord stood in a path of the vineyards a wall being on this side and a wall on that side and when the angel and when the beast saw the angel of the lord she thrust herself into the wall and crushed balaam's foot against the wall and he smoter again and the angel of the lord went further and stood in a narrow place and there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left and i'll paraphrase and when jenny saw the angel of the lord she fell down under balaam and balaam's anger was kindle and he smote her with a staff we're talking about some unseen things of god and the lord opened ginny's mouth and she said and to baal what have i done unto thee that thou has smitten me these three times would that not get your attention it wouldn't mind i mean this isn't mr ed for crying out loud and i dated myself oh you young folks don't have a clue but three times this fateful beast of burden this jenny has gone out of her character she ran out in a field she wouldn't go forward and she crushed his foot against a wall now she finds herself in a passage that there's no way out and she just crouches down and he begins to beat her with the staff and she turns around and said what have i done unto thee man god does some things sometimes that we don't understand we don't understand the unseen but it's a shame when a dumb beast can see more than the man of god can see let me tell you sometimes god has to do some mighty things that we we get out of his will and we feel like we know it all and all the time he's trying to redirect our path and he's trying to give insight but this prophet was blind to the things of god because of his disobedience and balaam said unto jenny because thou has mocked me i would that there was a sword in my hand for now i would kill thee now there's only one thing worse than having a dumb beast talking to you and he that's talking back to it and jenny said to balaam am i not thy beast upon which thou has ridden ever since i was dying and hadn't i always been faithful haven't i always done what you have asked me to do since you've owned me was i ever want to do so unto thee did did i ever step out of line and he said hey well that's not the way he said it but i'm not sure he wasn't speaking beast now but can you imagine this conversation going on because someone had refused to see what god had in their way verse 31 says this then the lord opened the eyes of baal there are some of us sometimes need an eye-opening experience we can be so disobedient thinking we're holy and god needs to open our eyes and let us see there's destruction and there's something protecting you some of the disruptions that we have some of the roadblocks that we face are caused by our own disobedience and there are also some hindrances that are for our protection and we curse the very things we need to see god in and say god this was all for your glory let me tell you sometimes you're going to find some difficulties in life sometimes there's going to be delays that you think that oh i just can't understand why i'm facing this in my life god may have the road blocked on you for a purpose could i simplify it even this much you may get caught by a traffic light but you start cursing figuratively traffic control in knoxville i can't believe i got caught by this and that guy in front of me he waited too late and he he wouldn't let and who knows it may be may have been god's divine will that your path was blocked had you been 30 seconds earlier you could have been involved in an accident oh preacher you're sounding all ominous and scared let me tell you god works in our lives even when we don't seem he's working even when we don't hear him he's working even when we can't imagine what's happening before you start blaming everything on the devil sometimes god's working in your life to delay you and prevent you from utter destruction [Applause] don't be afraid of some of the hindrances if you'll love god and you'll stay in his will and do what he's called you to do if there's a delay say god i'll take that delay open my eyes let me see what's blocking my path because i've got news for you god is real no matter what you see i said god is real no matter what you see first john 4 11 said beloved if god so loved us we ought to also love one another no man hath seen god at any time i haven't seen him but i've seen him work i haven't seen god but i felt his presence i know he's working if we love one another god dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us hereby know we that we dwell in him and he and us because he hath given us of his spirit holy ghost filled believers those of you who have repented of your sin been baptized in jesus name filled with his spirit walk in a holy life acceptable for him understand even though you don't see him he's doing something for you he's looking out for you every day [Applause] let me give you one more scriptural account let me remind us of what happened with elisha and geheza his servant in second kings 6 8 and again i'll paraphrase just a little bit the king of syria had come against god's people and he ward the bible said he ward against israel and he took counsel with his servants saying in such and such a place shall be my camp what was happening to paraphrase again what was going on elisha the prophet was giving advanced intelligence information to the king of israel and every time syria would try to set a trap and try they got advanced intelligence information and they would avoid the conflict let me tell you the spirit of god in you will give you discernment let me say that again i mean too many of us are wanting somebody else to tell us what god has for us your holy ghost feel and god gave you some gray matter between your ears he'll help you make some good decisions if you'll trust in him and love him he'll help you discern between good and evil he'll help you discern between a good bargain and someone trying to take you to the cleaners as we say he'll give you guidance and he was this prophet elisha was giving advanced information so the king of syria began to consult with his experts he said we got to do something about this he said we need to go find that prophet that keeps giving this inside information and we need to deal with him verse 11 of second king six says therefore the heart of the king of syria was sore troubled for this thing and he called his servants and he said unto them will you not show me which of us is for the king of israel he said i got a spy amongst us we've got to figure out what's going on and one of his servants said none my lord o king but elisha the prophet that is in israel telleth the king of israel the words that thou speakest in thy bed chamber but it's pretty hard to set up a trap when the lord's revealing to israel what's coming so the king of sirius he said i'll fix that he said go and spy where he is that i may send and fetch him and it was told him saying behold he is in dothan therefore he this is speaking the king of syria sent he thither horses and chariots and a great host and they came by night and compassed the city about we're going to take care of this leak right now we're going to take care have you ever felt like you were surrounded i have it's gonna feel like the enemy is surrounding but i've got news for you if you'll open your eyes you're going to find something else out when you feel like you're surrounded if you're a servant of god and you're doing god's will it said and when the servant of the man of god was risen early and gone forth behold a host compassed the city both with horses and chariot and he and his servants said unto him alas my master how shall we do gehazar the prophet looked out and he saw that dothan where they were was surrounded with horses and chariots and he came back in ringing his hand said what are we going to do now what are we going to do now man sometimes you feel overwhelmed in your life sometimes it feels like you're surrounded another song comes to mind that praise team sings it may look like i'm surrounded but i'm surrounded by you when the enemy thinks he's got you surrounded sometimes there needs to be an eye-opening experience and the prophet said fear not he said cool it gaza fear not for they that be with us are more than they that be with them hazel look one two one two so you know in today's vernacular guys that said us one teacher what what's going on you got a mouse in your pocket what how's our number large and elisha prayed and said lord i pray thee open his eyes that he may see and the lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots a fire round about elisha if you're in this house tonight and you feel like the enemy has surrounded you i'm praying that the holy ghost will open your eyes if you've been trusting in him if you love him you've been keeping his commandments i'm praying god will open somebody's eyes and say i'm not surrounded god's got this i've got the numbers i'm going to win this thing because jesus is on my side i'm not surrounded the enemy is surrounded hallelujah first corinthians or rather ii corinthians 5 and 7 says for we walk by faith and not by sight second corinthians 4 18 says this while we look not at the things which are seen but that the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal it's in our human intellect but the things which are not seen are eternal aren't you thankful that god has a plan for us eternal in the heavens we don't see all the direction praise team get ready matthew henry made this statement none so blind as those who will not see god wants to open your eyes to a bright future god wants to open your eyes to successes in your life but it again it begins with the simple understanding of the text i have not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the hearts of man the thing which god hath prepared for them that love him do you love jesus tonight do you really love the lord or or do you see that relationship as him being nothing more than a spare tire that you try to call on in your life in emergencies do you have a deep desire to love jesus and even though you can't see what your future is he has it in his hands verse 10 said but god hath revealed the unto us by his spirit you cannot perceive spiritual things unless you are spiritual as long as you look through carnal eyes there's things you won't see there's some things that can only be understood in the spirit some of you right now are enjoying the fruits in your life of living a younger life walking in the unseen but knowing god's working some of you didn't know how you would be where you are right now some of you first came to the house of god your life so destroyed your marriage on the rocks your existence seeming hopeless but you loved jesus enough that you said i'm going to put myself under your authority i don't i don't see 30 years down the road when i've got children and grandchildren faithfully in the house of god i i can't see on down the road and i could see some of my grandkids down here shouting and dancing and worshiping the lord but you know what a long time ago i made a decision there's some saints that have been walking this way a long time that you made a decision a long time ago i can't see it but god i'm trusting in you god i'm believing you you are the example you're the one that can tell somebody else don't give up right now don't feel like you're surrounded keep serving god keep loving god he's got something special for you hallelujah stand with me right now it said but god hath revealed them unto us by his spirit i'm praying for a spirit not of information but i'm praying for a spirit of revelation for someone tonight somebody needs it revealed to you that god still got this god's still in control quit worrying quit worrying about what your future is god's got this [Music] just love him for the spirit searcheth all things yay the deep things of god you want some deepness in god love him trust him the psalmist said this about the deep things it said they that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters first apostolic church i'm just determined that we're going to have more than a rowboat experience [Music] i'm just determined that first apostolic church we're gonna have more than a two paddle canoe [Music] i want to be a great ship that does things in deep waters there's a lot of stuff takes place place in deep waters you've got to have a sound ship there's going to be storms there's going to be winds but they that go down to the sea and ships that do business in great waters these see the works of the lord and his wonders in the deep you can't get in deep waters unless you're willing to go out and see the wonders of god see the storms to walk by faith we're going to keep stepping out this church has been built on faith it started out by folks stepping into deep waters when it looked like they had nothing we can't stop we've got to keep going we've got to step out in some deep waters minister in places we didn't know we could minister do things we didn't think we were capable of doing it's not about us it's not about self-adulation but i want to step out i want revelation i don't understand how it's going to happen i don't know the specifics but jesus has this [Music] if you want to do things in deep waters i'm asking you to step out tonight make your way around this altar say god i'm trusting you in my personal life i'm trusting you for the ministry of our church i want to do things in deep waters i want to see the wonders of the deep we haven't seen it we haven't heard it we can't imagine it [Music] but you ain't seen nothing yet i said you ain't seen nothing yet can we lift our hands and love the lord [Music] god [Music] you never that is who you are [Applause] [Music] you never you never stop [Music] you never stop working they daughters [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] hallelujah do you know jesus do you know him as your promised keeper hallelujah hallelujah first apostolic church we're going to keep walking by faith i thank you for being a church of faith-filled workers who do step out by faith we're not afraid to do the things that god calls us to do he's going to equip us he's going to empower us he's going to be our waymaker in every situation thank you thank you for trusting in the lord i would remind us all this coming wednesday night is a special time for worship in the word as bishop mccool teaches bible please be here don't miss it remember all of the announcements that have been made lord bless you i'll see you wednesday night you're dismissed in jesus name shake hands