Sunday Evening Worship Service
by Mark McCool
October 10, 2021 · First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: 2 Chronicles 15:1-15, 2 Chronicles 14:2-7, Exodus 23:13, Exodus 23:24, Exodus 34:14-16, Hebrews 4:14-15, Ephesians 4:11, 1 Timothy 3:1-7, 2 Timothy 2:23-26, Isaiah 59:19, Deuteronomy 22:5-8, Isaiah 55:6-7

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/mark-mccool--sunday-evening-worship-service-206
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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i'm gonna let you move to your seats i realize we've done a lot of things i give honor to all those who deserve honor but i feel like preaching right now so i want you to just stay with me hold on i want to get into the word of the lord how about it calling your attention tonight to the book of second chronicles the 15th chapter ii chronicles the 15th chapter i'll give you a moment to turn there i again say welcome to this service also to my family so good to see sister angela and sister connie here love you all this is family these are home folks that live in louisiana and i'll put it that way good to have you all here tonight lord bless you second chronicles the 15th chapter begin reading at verse number one and the spirit of god came on azariah the son of oban and he went out to meet asa and said unto him hear ye me asa and all judah and benjamin the lord is with you boy wouldn't that be good news to hear that the lord is with you while you be with him and if you seek him he will be found of you but if you forsake him he will forsake you notice verse 3 now for a long season israel hath been without the true god without a teaching priest and without law for a few moments tonight i would speak to you on this subject there are some things you just shouldn't live without let's pray savior i love you god i thank you for a mighty move of the holy ghost that we are experiencing tonight thank you for the works that have already been done the miracles that will be testified to the deliverance the oppression that has been released tonight because of your move god now pray that your word would sink into our hearts tonight and we would be filled with the fullness of all you'd have us to receive the name of jesus we pray amen and amen there are some things you just shouldn't live without washington post monday october the 5th 2021 that's this past monday facebook apps slowly came back online monday following a prolonged global outage one of the largest disruptions to the social media sites billions of views to billions of users in years facebook instagram whatsapp and messenger were unreachable for hours for many users who instead saw a spinning wheel on their apps that never loaded the outages caused widespread chaos for those who use it for communication particularly for what's app users globally as well as companies and people who rely on the site to conduct business quote facebook instagram whatsapp and messenger are coming back online end quote chief executive mark zuckerberg posted late monday quote sorry for the disruption today i know how much you rely on our service to stay connected with the people you care about end quote there are some things that you just shouldn't live without i realize there are some among us that probably needed a prayer line and are still suffering withdrawals for the hours that you had to interact with humanity rather than be on facebook we'll pray for you i hope you recover in fact there were many who wanted a governmental investigation because they felt that you shouldn't be without social media i've got news for you you can't live without it in fact there's a lot of things that you can live without if you'll be honest with yourself but i'm also here to tell you there's some things that you shouldn't live without in our text the prophet azariah at the moving of the spirit of god begin to speak to ace of the king of judah understand this history asa had begun to reign over judah after his father abijah died his father had led judith into idolatry and as soon as asa began to reign the bible says this about him ii chronicles 14 2 it said and asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the lord his god and notice what he did he took away the altars of strange gods the high places and break down images and he cut down the groves and commanded judah speaking of the nation of judah the tribe of judah that he was leading along with the tribe of benjamin to seek the lord god of their fathers and to do the law and the commandments also he took away out of all the cities of judah the high places and the images and the kingdom was quiet before him in other words it was peaceful and he built fenced cities in judah for the land had rest and had no war in those years because the lord had given him rest therefore he said unto judah let us build these cities and make about them walls and towers and gates and bars while the land is yet with us because we have sought the lord our god we have sought him and he have given us rest on every side so they built and prospered let me tell you tonight before you can do what you should do in god there are some things that you may need to get rid of that you shouldn't have they took away the strange gods they break down the images and groves and they built some walls and they had no wars there's some things that you can live without if there's anything that's standing between you and god if there's anything that has become an idol to you if there's anything or any way of life that you've started idolizing and making it more important than god you can get rid of it you don't have to have that [Applause] it's apparent that asa had seen his father's compromise with idolatry and false gods and had discovered for himself that that was not the path to a quiet kingdom it's great to win great battles but it's also better to have protection so you don't even have to fight some battles it's great to have a time of peace let me pause and say this sometimes there are some walls of protection that we can build in a time of peace that will prevent some wars and battles later on moms and dads while you're at peace you've got little ones now i know it may not seem peaceful at home sometimes but let me tell you when you can influence them when there's a time that you can influence your children there's some walls of protection that you need to teach them rather than tearing down the walls and standards that god has placed to protect them i see too many moms and dads that are tearing down walls instead of putting up walls of protection oh that's not so bad i know the church says this but yeah that's not all that bad let me tell you walls that you tear down now may make your children vulnerable when a time of war comes you need to build some walls of protection some standards of protection if you will [Applause] god even gave ace of victories because of his actions in chapter 14 asa and his kingdom judah however had not completed their restoration the tribes of judah and benjamin were divided from israel they had fought among themselves and asa now was re-establishing judah as a god-called people the prophet azariah reminded asa of israel's real problem he simply said this there's three things that israel has been living without for a long season israel had been without the true god without a teaching priest and without law there were some things that they should not have been living without let me tell you you don't need to try to live a life without the true god in your life exodus 23 13 said it this way and all things that i have said unto you be circumspect that term circumspect means to be careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences it said and make no mention of the name of other gods neither let it be heard out of thy mouth there are some things that we make gods by the way we talk about them let me tell you don't glamorize a sinful past to your children amen don't have a revisionist history idea of how great you would have been but you gave it all up to serve jesus let me tell you you didn't give up anything that wouldn't have destroyed you eventually if you're serving jesus you're on the right path there's no greater life and there's no greater direction don't send your kids the message that you would have been more successful if you'd stop serving jesus it's not true you would have been a sinner bound for a devil's hell you had destruction in your future [Applause] he said don't even make mention of other gods some try to idealize and look at a revised history of where they were headed or they'll talk about their accomplishments when they were a sinner when i was a sinner i did this and i did that and i be careful the message that you send to another generation that glamorizes a sinful life exodus 23 24 said thou shalt not bow down to their gods nor serve them nor do after their works you can tell your kids to go to church all the time but if going to church is not important you're sending them a different message but thou shalt utterly overthrow them and quite break down their images and ye shall serve the lord your god and he shall bless thy bread and thy water and i will take thick sickness away from the midst of thee exodus 34 14 said for thou shalt worship no other god. there are some things that are not necessarily necessarily wrong until you start making them a god i've seen folks make their bass boat their god i've seen folks make their golf clubs their god i've seen folks make their fame and fortune their god said thou shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them nor do after their works exodus 34 said but thou shalt worship knoweth the god for the lord whose name is jealous is a jealous god god will not take the position of second place in any life let's now make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land now this was a literal commandment to god's people as they exited all of the bondage of egypt but it's also metaphoric to us we should not be making covenants with a sinful way of life he said lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they go a whoring after their gods and do sacrifice unto their gods and one call thee and thou eat of his sacrifice in other words if you hang around the world and do the things of the world you're going to start finding worldly nourishment satisfying to you and he said and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons and their daughters go are whoring after their gods and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods doubt shall make thee no molten images i know this is a bit uncomfortable to read but this is what scripture says and let me pastorally remind us this is what fellowshipping and dating out of the faith will bring you [Applause] i'll preach you're going to go there you better know i'm going there let me tell you if you're constantly exposing your children to the things of the world and the activities of the world and the fellowship of the world that's where they're going to find their mate those who did you know that dating a lot of times leads to marriage aren't y'all glad to get that great insight from me wasn't that wisdom consequently if you date out of the faith you're likely to marry out of the faith and you're going to find a constant conflict in your life either to compromise what you believe [Applause] very few relationships of evangelistic dating ever are successful and while i'm this far along let me say this since dating leads to marriage we when we have a wedding here at first apostolic church we have a platform standard of appearance and behavior don't put your pastor and your church family on the spot if you want to get married you need to be apostolic and marry an apostolic mate we don't marry him apostolics to non-apostolics we don't have non-apostolic weddings we dress modestly and we follow our platform standards when we have a wedding here don't put your pastor and your pastoral staff on the spot but want to have a holiness wedding and then have an ungodly hoedown for your reception man it's getting quiet in here [Applause] is anybody with me is there anybody in the house don't expect your pastor to pronounce vows before god over you if you want to wear an ungodly indecent wedding dress it ain't going to happen it if you want to have an activity of worldly dancing and drinking don't expect me to pronounce god over you for your marriage it ain't gonna work we've had few meaning well but some feel like they're doing first apostolic church a favor oh we would like to have our wedding at your church what does it cost you can't rent this place this place is reserved for apostolic young men and young women to be married meet be married under the authority of the word of god it's a holy place it's a holy matrimony that we talk about [Applause] we're not going to marry our daughters to the sons of the world our sons to the daughters of the world i marry apostolic young men and young women who've been baptized in jesus name filled with the holy ghost they have the same values i know some of you think i've quit preaching and started meddling but that's okay i cannot please the true god as long as i have a false deity ruling my actions my activities my goals and my desires we must serve the true god and then you shouldn't be without a teaching priest i find it interesting that the term teaching priest is used in this statement it did not state a talented priest a performing priest a witty priest or a handsome priest it said a teaching priest the importance to understand that a priest described or defined is one of a authority who performs sacred rights in a religion especially as a mediator or a mediating agent between humans and god your pastor listen i'm not elevating mark mccool but i am elevating the office of pastoral leadership thank you first apostolic church for all always respecting pastoral leadership and understand the importance that many times there's a man of god standing between you and god he's mediating he's praying he's thinking about you there's a pastoral staff that loves you for you see the example comes from the ultimate priest jesus is our high priest time and time again the high priest jesus you know what you found him doing we found him teaching hebrews 4 14 said seen then we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens jesus the son of god let us hold fast our profession for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feet with our with feelings and our infirmities for was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin you remember when nicodemus came to jesus by night the first thing he said he said rabbi we know that thou art a teacher come from god he recognized that jesus was a teacher i'll go through this quickly not read at all in matthew 5 2 speaking of jesus it said he opened his mouth and taught them in john 7 28 then cried jesus of the temple as he taught mark 1 21 says and they went into capernaum and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught and they were astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as one that had authority jesus is our high priest and all we like to talk about all the miracles he did but you'll find jesus as much as you find him doing miracles you'll find him teaching ephesians 4 11 says and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for what god gives you pastors to teach for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ a pastor's desire a teaching priest a teaching pastor his desire will be a perfecting of the saints not a beating up of the saints not a ridiculing of the saints but continual teaching and bringing the word of god to perfect us in christ to minister to edify the body of christ we talked about that this morning so thankful to have a bishop like we have i told you i might read about the bishop tonight there's qualifications for being a bishop you don't get membership to the bishops club you don't pay dues and become a bishop here's what the scripture says a bishop is first timothy 3 1 this is a true saying if a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work a bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife didn't say one at a time vigilant sober of good behavior given to hospitality apt to teach not given to wine no striker no greedy not greedy a filthy looker he's not a money grabber but patient not a brawler not covetous one that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity for if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the church of god i'm just reading book if this hurts your feelings don't get hurt it may get hurt at the book then repent not a novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil what does his teaching do for us paul teaching timothy was he taught him how to be a servant of god and i want you to notice this if you don't get anything else before you feel like the preacher's preaching right at you sometimes before you feel like somebody's just beating you up i want you to please listen carefully to what ii timothy 2 23 says but foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing they do gender strifes there are some things that folks get hung up on biblical questions that all it does is gender stuff it's not anything essential to salvation it doesn't matter whether when grasshoppers are making their noise they're really saying pharaoh pharaoh pharaoh one lady asked my dad that's is that what that means that when there was this this plague of grasshoppers on egypt is that what you hear are they really saying pharaoh favorite no goodness it doesn't matter whether adam had a belly button or not but i've had folks ask that question well since he was created he wasn't born did he have a it doesn't matter whether adam had a navel you can ask him when you get to heaven quit worrying about foolish and unlearned questions avoid those things all they do is gender strife and cause folks to argue you need to get into issues of salvation what does it take to get to heaven the servant of the lord must not strive or argue but be gentle to all men apt to teach and patient i'm trying but please notice verse 25 in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves sometimes the preacher stands up here and preaches things that it's uncomfortable to preach because i know people are doing things that's going to destroy their own soul and i'm trying to say don't oppose yourself don't make it hard on yourself i want you to find the easy way in meekness instructing those that oppose himself if god per adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth that they may recover themselves we've got a recovery program here if folks will just listen to the teachings of the word of god that they may recover themselves out of the snares of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will oh i don't need a preacher i can read the bible for myself let me tell you you need a man of god who is anointed there are many times that someone standing behind this sacred desk will preach unto the anointing of the holy ghost they have no idea who they're ministering to but god has used them as a conduit to go right straight into somebody's heart and tell them what they need that will save their soul that will save a generation and an entire family if they'll just listen and obey you need to preach word of god you need a teaching pastor and priest in your life there's some things you shouldn't live without and then the third thing that he said you shouldn't live without law oh i don't need laws wait traffic laws allow us to drive safely criminal law keep us safe from crime civil law hopefully keeps us civil realty and property law affords us the opportunity and owners rights for land and homes even the rules of games allow us to play games equitably yet there are so many that feel the laws of god restrict them and they're about to lose some spiritual liberty we forget that there are 10 commandments but with those commandments come 10 000 promises you see asa was attempting to recommit god's people and he began building some walls if we aren't careful we'll begin to think that walls of protection which are god's law are bad yes the bible calls those a standard isaiah 59 19 said it this way so shall they fear the name of the lord from the west and his glory from the rise of son when the enemy shall come in like a flood the spirit of the lord shall lift up a standard against him this will be a barrier there are some laws of god there are some standards of behavior and yes even appearance that the word of the lord gives us in modesty and moderation that protect us from the flood of sin that's coming in i've given this example before this is no major revelation but just in case someone maybe hasn't heard it bear with me as i give it again in deuteronomy 22 we find a beautiful example of the laws of god that help us deuteronomy 22 6 says this if a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree or on the ground whether they be young ones or eggs and the dams speaking of the mature bird sitting upon the young or upon the eggs thou shalt not take the dam with the young but thou shall in any wise let the damn go and take the young to thee that it may be well with thee that thou mayest prolong thy days this was a simple teaching to god's people of ecology of not taking a bird to extinction i mean to put it in our sense if you have a lot of meals of fried eggs and chicken you're not gonna have any birds before long you're saying if you're gonna take of one don't take the other that they're not there would not be extinction i mean all the green initiative folks agree with that i mean the quote tree huggers oh yeah don't kill the birds and eat the eggs too you know that's biblical verse 8 says this when they'll build us a new house all you homebuilders remodelers flippers well now build us a new house then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof that thou bring not blood upon my house if any man fall from the fence what does that mean if you've got a second story house you're supposed to put a banister around it so nobody falls off now that's not any great spiritual insight several years ago i had a a stairway at my house that didn't have a hand rail or didn't have a a protective wall in it brother blevins visited my house one day he showed up my house he said i thought of your grandbaby he said this can't be you can't have this at your house brother mccool he start and just in a few minutes i don't know how he did it it would have taken me a month to sundays but i want you to know i looked up and he had me a handrail and had me protected brother dion wilson helped him well that's how y'all did it so quick i mean osha would be proud of that right brother blevins all you home builders that's talking about liability ecology and liability that's just sim man man that's great preacher i believe that but we're talking about the laws of god but if you go back one verse earlier we read verse 6 7-8 go back one verse earlier you know what it says deuteronomy 22 5 says the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man neither shall a man put on a woman's garment for all that do so are an abomination unto the lord thy god oh i didn't know you were going there oh that's not for us today that's a different dispensation you know what the word abomination means it means extreme disgust and hatred man it really is quiet now but let me tell you the god that we serve knew that in october of 2021 we would be inundated by spirits that say little boys can dress up like little girls little girls can dress up like little boys they get to make a choice on their gender and we shouldn't try to influence them i'm still preaching book tonight we don't need to be without the law of god in our lives we must not be without the law of god in our lives just simple commonsensical teaching god knew that would be hell agendas of perversion at every side no male or female restrooms no distinction between male and female blur and eventually erase why because there's an all-out assault on the unit called marriage there's there's an all-out assault marrying men to men and women to women knowing that this was a slap in the face to the relationship of christ and the church that's the example that christ gave of the bride and the bridegroom please understand that asa built walls and won victories trying to return to what god would have there's some walls of the laws of god some standards of appearance some standards of behavior some standards of holiness that we will not tear down we must maintain protection for another generation hear your pastor tonight the walls he built the destruction of the idols that he did was done unto god as evidence of total commitment it was not his covenant yet to god but i conclude praise team musicians i don't envy you sing something ii chronicles 15 said this verse 4 but when they in their trouble did turn to the lord god of israel and sought him he was found of them listen you got trouble quit turning into this world turn to the lord you can find him and in those times there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in but great vexation were upon all the inhabitants of the countries what this means is when they started turning to christ or turning to god at this time he was not yet revealed as the christ when they started turning to god then their enemies started being vexed you want to vex those things around you that's been troubling you turn to the lord stop fighting for yourself and start turning to the lord and letting him fight your battles and the nation was destroyed of nations and city of city for god defects them with all adversity be ye strong therefore let not your hand be weak for your hands shall be rewarded and when asa heard these words and the prophecy of obed and the prophet he took courage and put away the abominable idols out of the land of judah and benjamin he cleaned house and out of the cities which had taken from mount ephraim and renewed the altar of the lord that was before the porch he renewed the importance of the house of god and he gathered all of jude and benjamin they got all the family together and the strangers with them out of ephraim and manessa and out of simon for they fell to him out of israel in abundance and when they saw that the lord his god was with him so they gathered themselves together at jerusalem in the third month and in the 15th year of the reign of asa and they offered unto the lord the same time of the spoils which they had brought 700 oxen and 7 000 sheep they began sacrificing unto god and then and only then after they cleaned the house after they built the walls it said they entered into a covenant to seek the lord of their fathers with all their hearts and with all their souls walls alone and law alone will not save you it will only protect you you've got to enter into a personal covenant with jesus christ destruction of idols in and of itself will not save you it only is a signal to sing god i'm giving all to you [Music] i must covenant with him with all my heart would you stand with me god has done so many wonderful things and we've had such a move at the altar but i wonder if there's anyone here tonight who maybe you haven't yet you haven't yet covenanted with god made an agreement with god that i'm going to serve you unconditionally i'm just declaring that i cannot live without you and my life there's a real easy way to do that isaiah said it this way seek you the lord while he may be found call you upon him while he's near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return unto the lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our god for he will abundantly [Music] i need abundant pardon tonight how about you i'm not perfect i need abundant pardon tonight if you need abundant pardon if you want to be covenanted with christ i would ask you to step out let's gather around the altar for a season of prayer i've seen god i'm committed totally to you i covenant with you don't forsake me i want to be all you'd have me be would you come right now hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] and all the earth will shout your praise our hearts will cry these bones [Music] [Applause] [Music] our hearts will cry these bones [Music] our hearts will cry these balls [Applause] [Music] our hearts will cry these votes will sting [Applause] come on lift your voice and sing it out tonight all the earth will shout your praise our hearts will cry [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] our hearts will cry [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] one more time i don't want to live without him do you i don't want to live without jesus i don't want to live without jesus hallelujah hallelujah first apostolic church i love you i thank you for your commitment to a church that's going and growing and we're not gonna live without christ i remind you again we have service wednesday night worship and the word wednesday night thank you all of those of you who are here i realize we have many who are on journeys that have joined us online hurry back home we miss you but all of you are here thank you for being here in the house of the lord we'll see you wednesday night at 7 30. lord bless you you're dismissed in jesus name greet each other as your personal protocols make you comfortable