Sunday Morning Worship Service by Mark McCool 2022 ยท First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN) Kind: sermon Scripture: Isaiah 1:2-6, Jeremiah 8:5-7, Psalms 119:165, Galatians 1:8, Genesis 16:8-9, Joshua 24:14-15, James 2:19-20, Matthew 14:26-30, John 14:1, John 14:27, Isaiah 1:6-7, Isaiah 1:16-19, Titus 3:5 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/mark-mccool--sunday-morning-worship-service-201 Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ lord bless you i'm going to let you move to your seats we greet you in the precious name of jesus so good to have every one of you joining with us here on this sunday morning at first apostolic church we welcome you to this assembly if this is your first time to worship with us we want to say a very special welcome to you i want to say a welcome to a guest's name that i received we're so honored to have javonte ashford with us javonte honored to have you worshipping with us could we welcome javonte and i know there are others that maybe i did not receive a guest card from you but i welcome you just the same and we want you to feel the welcome of first apostolic church you're afforded the privilege of being a guest once or twice and then after that you're home folks so we just want you to feel at home to worship with us today i do welcome those who are joining us online i know we have some who are still battling with sickness and illness and all of the ills of our uh uh current strain of whatever's going around if we kept up with all the names and numbers and uh from coveted 19 to omnicron or whatever it's called i don't know uh delta whatever you've been suffering with i'm just praying that god's going to take care of you and heal you we're going to be smart as we uh uh follow our personal protocols but it's our plan to be in the house of the lord and have church so it's good to see all of you here and i ask everyone to respect each other's uh personal space and uh uh just make sure that you stay close to the lord that's one space that won't hurt you i promise i also want to say a special reminder to all the men of first apostolic church this coming week will be the assemblies of the lord jesus christ men's conference that will be in maryville tennessee at first apostolic church of maryville that begins on friday if you did not pre-register online that is closed but you can register at the door it's going to be a great a couple of days friday night and saturday of our men's uh conference past our own pastor whitley will be speaking at that event uh and you will be blessed by his ministry alone aside from all the other things i have the privilege of uh being on a a panel uh presentation discussion uh about uh fatherhood and so i i thought about just inviting brother anthony and sister ashley and say here's my example you figure it out but i'm excited to be a part of that but i do encourage all the men of first apostolic church uh to join us for men's conference this coming friday and saturday i want to take us to the word of the lord and i would call your attention today to the book of isaiah the first chapter and i'll give you just a moment to turn there or find that in your tablet or whatever device that you're using you can follow with us on our media screens if you don't uh have a device or a bible with you uh but i like to get all of my authority when i preach or teach from the word of the lord this is a i guess a pet doctrine i'll say that occasionally i'm asked to give advice to uh new ministers and uh frankly in ministry even it became in vogue and popular in a lot of places for ministers to become great narrators and storytellers and uh while i feel it's important for us to cite uh history and have great uh stories to tell and uh great examples to illustrate points i feel like when i preach the word of god that i need scriptural authority and foundation if i'm going to represent christ so i hope you will stay with me today as we look in the book of isaiah the first chapter we'll begin reading at verse number two hear o heavens and give ear o earth for the lord hath spoken i have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me the ox knoweth his owner and the ass is master's crib but israel doth not know my people doth not consider ah sinful nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of evildoers children that are corrupters they have forsaken the lord they have provoked the holy one of israel under anger they are gone away backward [Music] why should you be stricken anymore ye will revolt more and more the whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint for a few moments this morning i would speak to you on this subject sick in the head with a weak heart the portrait of a backslider let's pray savior i love you god i thank you for your word i thank you for your blessings i thank you for your power god i pray that your word would minister to us today lord let us be hearers and doers of your word lord let everything that we say give you praise in the name of jesus we pray a man and a man the passage of scripture that i read in your hearing as i was reading in my bible and studying i found a little note along the side of this verse in isaiah 1 where i had used this passage and part of even my title today for a series of broadcast messages on the voice of pentecost back in december of 2013. so i admit to you that this is not the first time i've preached from this passage but as i was studying and reading it came back fresh to me just what this passage meant and how it was directed to god's people in this passage the prophet isaiah is lamenting the wicked ways of jerusalem and judah which had been revealed to him in a vision and he makes some interesting comparisons he said you've gone away backward now that's a another way of saying you are backsliders he's talking to god's people he's not talking to heathens or the unknowing he's talking to people who know what it's like to see the miracles of god he's talking to people who have experienced the wonders of a god delivering them and taking care of them and providing for them and blessing them he said you're gone away backward and he had made some interesting comparisons that i think you might see in my collage that they've prepared here he said you're dumber than an ox y'all think i preach rough sometimes what about isaiah said you're a bunch of backsliders you're dumber than an ox you're dumber than a dumb beast of burden they've got more sense than you that's basically what he said he said at least an ox knows its master a beast of burden knows where he's fed he knows his master's crib that's what he said they know where they get fed they know where things come from he said you you you've forgotten where i brought you from and who's really in charge here jeremiah 8 5 said this why then is the people of jerusalem sliding back by perpetual backsliding they hold fast deceit they refuse to return perpetual means occurring continually backslide means to lapse morally or in the practice of religion verse 6 of jeremiah 8 said i hearken and heard but they spake not a right no man repented him of his wickedness saying what have i done everyone who turned his course as the horse rusheth into battle and notice verse 7 of jeremiah now we read from isaiah isaiah said you're dumber than an ox or dumber than a beast of burden now jeremiah backs it up and says yea the stork in heaven knoweth her appointed times the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the times of their coming but my people know not the judgments of the lord think about it just a little bit he mentioned the crane the swallow the turtle the storks and he said they have an innate drive they have inborn instincts they have behaviors that god puts in them they know when to migrate they know how to survive yet the people that i have given so much to the people that i've blessed my chosen people they keep perpetually backsliding cranes storks turtles you know when i was in school there was a term that was not very flattering that they used to sometimes say say to you they say you're a dork i don't know if that means you're a dumb stork i don't know if that's what that where that uh but it was an insult man jeremiah and isaiah made some pretty unflattering comparisons to those who backslide but back in isaiah in our original text he said here's your real problem he said you're sick in the head he said your whole head is sick and your whole heart is faint i'm here to tell you people who have walked with god and they backslide and they back up you've got to be sick in the head to backslide nowadays there's got to be something wrong with your stinking thinking to back up and stop serving god after all he's done for you just because there's an issue or a situation don't you dare allow disappointment and discouragement cause you to be a backslider you're sick in the head if you think that way he said people who rebel against god you must be sick in the head he even said it this way he talked about you being a nation a sinful nation do i need to even dare itemize how sinful a nation that was established on in god we trust has become do i need to have to itemize all the sins of our nation that have taken place because we've turned our back on god and we become a secular ideology rather than a nation that gives praise to god and prays to god we've tried to make it illegal to serve god in our nation in god we trust is under attack like never before we have become a sinful nation it's sick in the head thinking laden with iniquity that means loaded down with sin a seed of evil doers a christian nation has become parents of evil doers sounds like the good old u.s of a i'm sad to say your children are corrupters to corrupt means to be evil rotten spoiled how can we live in a nation that have school shootings atrocities and unspeakable acts against peers done by children they are the seeds of offsprings of evildoers it's another generation that takes it to another level how can such horrendous crimes against our fellow man be commonplace every day we are laden or loaded down with iniquity much of our nation has turned away from god when we have genocide and murder in the name of abortion and killing unborn children every day we're sick in the head in our thinking a corrupt nation laden with sin produces corrupt offsprings those who know the life of serving god yet choose to leave the safety of the church the word of god and its precepts your thinking's not right they trade worship for worry they trade promise for promiscuity they trade glory for guilt yes i've seen some that will say i'm just going to quit going to church i can work out my salvation i'm offended about something or by someone and their actions you know what their actions basically say god i'll show you i'll just die and go to hell and i'll take my whole family with me if i need to i got offended i got heard about something the psalmist said and you've heard me quote it and you can quote it yourself the psalmist said in 119 165 great peace have they which left thy law and nothing and nothing shall offend them don't be offended find forgiveness some under the sound of my voice the reason you can't go any further in guard god you've been harboring a hurt you've allowed that hurt to turn into bitterness a seed of bitterness has sprung up in you oh preacher i'm over that then why do you keep dwelling on it why is it in your thoughts all the time you're needing to forgive somebody that didn't even deserve forgiving and go on and do a work for god you're needing to say god i'm forgiving them even though they didn't ask it you want peace in your life you want direction you may need to be given some forgiveness today you see sadly i've seen leaders of families take their children at their most impressionable time and pull them away from the church and the leadership and the safety of the preached word of god and the ministries of the church because they have some kind of disagreement oh and they feel like they can handle it i've even had some say oh i an angel spoke to me and told me to do this let me tell you if you've been hearing angels you better make sure you're listening to the right kind of angels because you know what an angel won't do a true angel an angel of god let me put it that way an angel of god will not tell you to violate the word of god you can get you a pretty little gold angel pen and put it on your lapel if you want to if you're hearing voices that are telling you to do something contrary to the word of god you're listening to the wrong voices galatians 1 8 said but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed an angel a preacher a prophet or any other messenger that will preach a gospel contrary to the word of god is accursed they're giving you false doctrine false direction and you need to close your ears to mess like that furthermore let me remind you lucifer was an angel as well he understands angel talk if you hear from an angel and it's not reinforcing god's word and bringing you false contrary messages you need to say satan get behind me let me give you an example because angels did minister in scripture the very first angel that you can find an account of in scriptures found in genesis the 16th chapter verse number eight it says and he said hagar sarah's hayden handmade or sarah's maid whence came us thou he said where are you going where'd you come from where you going and she said i flee from the face of my mistress sarah the first message in the bible that an angel gave to someone was the angel of the lord said unto her return to thy mistress and submit thy self-underage said return and submit amazingly so many who are making radical decisions i never hear of them saying the angel of the lord came to me and said i need to return and submit it's usually rebel and flee do my own thing i know more about things than the word of god the man of god the church of god let me tell you leaving the church is just sick in the head thinking in the day we live in some feel that because god's judgment is not always immediate that their acts have been validated they mistake god's long-suffering mercy for god's approval sampson was a great example of this samson of the bible i personally believe long before he let delilah become his barber became cavalier and careless with vows that he had made unto god he made nazarite vows his nazarite vows included more than a razor would not touch his head his nazarite vows was that he would touch no dead thing he would partake of no unclean thing but if you'll remember in the history of samson there was a time that he slew a line and then when he passed back by the bees had made honey in the carcass of the lion and he to find nourishment partook of that honey that seems like a minor thing seemed like that would be the spoils of his battle against the lion but you see he was not supposed to partake of unclean things but he began to justify well i kill that lion so it's okay for me to violate my vow just a little bit he he wrought a great victory when he had no weapon and he defeated an army of men with the jawbone of an ass and god awarded him that victory and rewarded him and sustained him in that victory but you know by his nazarite vow he was to touch no dead thing he shouldn't have been even using such a thing but he began to justify breaking his vows that he made to god and walking in those as we call them gray areas let me tell you there are no gray areas with god if you make a vow to god you better keep it if you make a commitment to god you better keep it because you see your thinking will get sick your mind will get messed up well that's not so bad i committed a long time ago but you know maybe that's not quite as bad as i thought it was for you see if you recall what samson would do before delilah ever cut his hair he began to get closer and move ever closer to revealing the true secret of his strength first he said bind me with green wreaths so what happened as soon as he went to sleep boom she did it and she said the philistines running boy he broke the see he had become cavalier and then he got closer he didn't tell her cutting my hair he said but just weave my hair let me tell you the enemy's trying to get some of us to walk just as close as we can and think we're all right just as long as we don't step over that line but when you get sick in the head thinking you don't even know where the line is when you when you start finding yourself violating and walking in the vows that god has given you and the opportunities with carelessness do not mistake god's mercy and even god's victories that he gives you for being able to violate his vows that's sick in the head thinking you see one's logic can get so skewed that bad becomes good and good becomes bad it's happened in our nation but we're not the first ones for joshua said this and joshua 24 14 now therefore fear the lord and serve him sincerely and in truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood in egypt and serve you the lord notice his wording and if it seems evil unto you to serve the lord bad becomes good good becomes bad it's being gradually legislated in our nation as much as around the world to speak out against sin to speak out against perversion is now hate speech we advocate loving our fellow man no matter the state that they're in but now to cry out and call sin sin has become hate speech and perversion is being lauded and perversion is being legalized right under our noses we when you l when a nation legalizes murdering babies and then laws with fancy descriptive hidden agendas to make children the object of sexual perversion and being legalized now i realize it's quiet in this place we're sick in the head our minds are being messed up the enemy is moving us to in a direction that we don't need to be you see the church needs to be the voice that continues to stand up and love sinners but hate sin cry out against wrong cry out against perversion and put the warning out that the enemy is trying to mess your mind up but you see to preach good seems evil and if it seems evil unto you to serve the lord choose you this day who who will you who you're going to serve who are you going to serve today who are you and your family going to serve whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood are the gods of the amorites and whose land you dwelt but as for me in my house we will serve the lord as for me and my bunch we're going to church i'm not going to get my feelings hurt i'm going to keep praising i'm gonna keep worshiping call me crazy if you will i'm not sick in the head i just got my mind right that term seem means to give the impression of being without necessarily being so in fact false gods have lower standards and have what appear to be easier paths we now have knock off salvation counterfeit concentration and consecration and replacement religion oh you don't have to do all that stuff sacrifice and denial of the flesh is replaced by perversion and gluttonous thinking let me tell you i don't want to be a sick in the head church i don't want to have sick in the head thinking but he gave two things he said your whole head is sick and your whole heart is faint you're weak in the heart faint means cowardly spiritless weak dizzy lacking vigor or strength i've told you about this before but just in case some of you hadn't heard just up i-75 a few exit few exits is the museum of appalachia at the museum of appalachia right out front they've got a great big pin of goats but they're not just any goats they are famous because they are fainting goats media do you have a video for me those bad boys will be going along and they tell you any kind of loud noise and they'll just fall over you hadn't lived till you pull up in a bus full of christian school students and try to walk past the pen of fading goats and tell them don't anybody make any noise i mean no i'm not gonna say that look like a faith healing i mean there were goats falling everywhere if you're not sick in the head you've got to work hard some of us walk around scared to death of the devil we've lost our holy boldness we're talking about the portrait of a backslider oh we're afraid somebody's going to call us a christian somebody's going to call us radical in our service of god somebody's going to say that we're not normal we're out of the ordinary and all the enemy has to do is say boo and we fall out i'm here to tell you it's time to get your weak heart healed today it's time to refresh yourself and get a holy boldness about you yes i realize it's not easy to stand in the face of peer pressure it's not always easy to be the only christian in your family it's not always easy to be the only child of god in your school or in your workplace but let me tell you you're not the first one let me remind you of what gideon went through gideon was confident in his numbers when he called an army together of 32 000 but god said get in tell everybody that's fearful and afraid to go home i'm not sure any of us pastors would have enough guts to say that everybody that's afraid of serving god go home church might empty but god said everybody that's fearful and afraid go home from his 32 000 he was reduced to an army of 300. sometimes we get so afraid that we're not going to have the majority of humanity we forget just what god can do with 300 brave and intent strong-hearted strong-willed people of god that says i'm going to do what you call me to do i'm going to commit to my vows i'm not going to back up i'm not going to slide back i'm not going to be sick in the head i'm not going to be weak in the heart you see when he reduced the number from 32 000 to 300 suddenly it became god's victory and not man's victory when we get to depending on all of our assets all of our abilities all our fleshly accomplishments and we start leaving god out we'll feel like we've got this thing figured out i'm here to tell you without god first apostolic church we are nothing we can accomplish nothing oh but give me a small number that's willing to say whatever you say lord i'm going to follow it i'm committing we don't need to be faint-hearted in this day to stand up and say i'm a child of god i'm blood-bought in fact we need to be making the devil paranoid he needs to be afraid when we start praying when we start fasting when we start working how do you shake the devil up james gave a real easy way to get into the devil's head james 2 19 said thou believeth that there is one god [Music] thou do as well you see the devil don't get afraid when we've got some ideology that reduces god to three parts the devil doesn't get nervous when we start diminishing the power of an omnipotent omnipresent omniscient god into some man-made theology but he said thou believe is that there is one god that'll do us well the devils also believe and tremble i mean it gives them the nervous shakes you want to see the devil fall over like a goat start proclaiming there is one god his name is jesus he's the one i serve he's the one that i'm giving my allegiance to verse 20 said but wilt thou know o vain man that faith without works is dead what does that mean the devil don't mind if you just keep proclaiming faith but he gets worried when you put your faith into action and you start working for god it takes faith to be saved but then it takes a work of god to show that you have been doing what he called you to do you see matthew 14 26 we read and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they saw jesus walking on the sea they were troubled saying it is a spirit and they cried out for fear but straightway jesus spake of them saying be of good cheerios i be not afraid the disciples were more afraid of jesus than they were the storm jesus had to cheer him on now everybody's take it easy take a chill pill disciples this is just me i'm i'm just out for a walk in the midst of the storm let me tell you there's some of us under the sound of my voice you've been in a storm for a long time but you you haven't taken the time to see jesus walking in the storm and he's doing something don't let that scare you don't be frightened let jesus speak to you and calm you in the midst of the storm peter answered him and said lord if it be thou hear the doubt still in peter's voice did me come unto thee on the water and he said come hey don't call out jesus he'll call you bluff every time unless you're ready to get out of the boat don't tell him or even put him in a difficult situation come on and when peter was come down out of the ship he walked on the water to go to jesus but when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid he took his eyes off jesus and started looking at the storm and he be and beginning to sink he cried saying lord save me a couple things i would hope you would be reminded of in this passage when jesus bid you to come come to him but keep your eyes on him forget what's going on around you just come to jesus but let me tell you in the event you start sinking don't you be afraid to say lord save me listen there's nothing wrong with saying lord save me i need some help there's some of us need to open our mouths today and say lord save me lord save me i've tried everything in my humanity to get through this storm lord i need you to save me right now he wants to heal your troubled heart he wants to cleanse your sick mind jesus said in john 14 1 let not your heart be troubled you believe in god believe also in me you need to believe on jesus today verse 27 of the same passage he said peace i leave with you my peace i've given you somebody needing some peace today you need to believe on jesus you need to believe his word he said i peace i leave you my peace i give unto you not as the world giveth give unto you the world has peace but it's false peace turn this bottle up a while you'll get numb shoot this in your veins smoke this a while you you'll mellow you'll be cool when you're high goes away when you're drunk's gone the storm's gotten worse i don't have the world's peace to offer to anybody today but i've got jesus to give you jesus is looking for somebody to say lord save me lord save me lord save me hallelujah musicians come quickly being in a backslidden state is bad shape we need to bring our sick head and our faint hearts to jesus our text isaiah went on to further describe this portrait of a backslider he said from the soul this is verse 6 of isaiah 1 from the soul of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it every part about you is unsound but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores they've not been closed closed neither bound up neither mollified with ointment you hadn't had any treatment your country is desolate your cities are burned with fire your land strangers devour it in your presence and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers man that's a horrible description of those who slide back and if isaiah ended there what a horrible state we would find his people in but i've got good news for you today in this dispensation if you'll turn your life over to jesus we can be just as god's people were when isaiah gave them the answer to their sick heads and weak hearts and all of the maladies just mentioned for verse 16 says wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil isn't that pretty easy just the first there used to be an old thing that said if [Music] you find yourself in the hole the first thing you need to do is stop digging [Music] if you find yourself in the hole of sin stop digging turn around stop doing evil stop what you're doing wash you make you clean and then he said learn to do well some folks need do well lessons you know where you get those in the house of god you come and get teaching if you if you have financial issues come and put yourself under the financial plan that god has for you learn to pay your tithe and give your offering you having health problems get into the house of god seek healing but change your lifestyle put away those vices and devices that have been destroying your health learn to do well seek judgment get some sound counsel where do you find that from the preached word of god from anointed men and women who preach and teach the gospel leave the oppressed judge the fathers plead for the widow do some good stuff then he said this come now let us reason together saith the lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool if ye be willing and obedient [Music] ye shall eat the good of the land simple as that if you give it all back to jesus he wants to heal your sick head and heal your weak heart would you stand with us [Music] i have one more verse that i would read to you [Music] for isaiah said wash you well some of us don't even know how to wash but here's what titus said in titus 3 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us how by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy ghost you wanna know how to wash you need to get the holy ghost in your life how do you get the holy ghost you follow the plan of salvation you come to an altar of repentance and say god i'm sorry for my sinning please forgive me you find yourself a place of sin god i need forgiveness for everything lord i need to rededicate i need to regenerate what i've vowed to you [Music] he said repent be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the remission for the washing away of your sins and he said and you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost there's your cleansing [Music] we used to sing an old song that said look what the lord has done y'all remember that we're not gonna sing that today don't worry that's what we used to say you say look what the lord has done you know there's too much self-help around say look what i've done don't matter what you look what the lord has done in fact the word said look what the lord has done look what the lord has done it said he healed my body you got a faint heart he can heal that faint heart he touched my mind he took care of my sick thinking he saved me just in time i'm going to praise his name each day he's just the same come on let's praise him look what the lord has done i want to do this in just a moment we're going to have a season of prayer and i'm going to open this altar for everybody in this house no matter your situation i want you to come forward saying god i want a re-cleansing of my mind i want to restrengthening of my heart lord the enemy has tried to incur or rather discourage me from serving you he's tried to encourage me to depend on him and myself i need my mind cleansed could we talk to the lord just a minute savior i love you jesus i praise you god we pray a prayer of repentance right now lord those things that have tried to come in and confuse us lord the things of this world that we are inundated with every day god i'm praying right now for a mind cleansing and a heart healing lord i need to be washed new i need to be refreshed hallelujah hallelujah and now i want everybody in this house i want you to step out if you want god to use you in a mightier way would you step out for a season of prayer would you step out for a season of rededication i know you're going to turn everything around in my life god you're going to make me ride in you god i resubmit my bounds of my life to you come on right now come on right now if you need to repent come and repent if you need the holy ghost this is the place to get it if you need to be baptized we'll baptize you in jesus name today hallelujah [Music] [Music] uh [Music] let god [Applause] lord i need your strength [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] cheese [Music] [Applause] [Music] god's turning [Music] lift your hands and love jesus again love him again hallelujah glory to your name savior [Music] hallelujah glory glory would you go from this place today with your mind transformed with your heart renewed with fresh assurance that god's working it out and fresh determination that you're going to do a greater work in his kingdom i know you will first apostolic church i would remind all that we have service tonight come expecting a great time in the lord pastor anthony will be ministering to us service begins at 6 30 prayer time at six praise team and musicians have their designated practice times and you know who those are and you'll receive your media blasts on the all of your connecting uh media outlets until then please be back tonight expecting a great time in the lord greet each other as your personal protocols make you comfortable you're dismissed in jesus name