Sunday Evening Worship Service
by Nathan Whitley
2021 · First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Ezekiel 37:26-28, Genesis 1:28, Acts 1:8

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/nathan-whitley--sunday-evening-worship-service-188
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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you can start making your way back to your seats and as you can be seated as you do that and just get your bibles and we're going to go to the book of ezekiel chapter number 37 and as you are turning there swiping there clicking there and allow me to give honor to our pastor and our bishop pastor mccool is in louisiana probably on his way home flying home right about this time tonight preaching a men's conference in louisiana this weekend bishop sister mccool is they are in johnson city and there with family at the loss of sister arjun pastor anthony sister kelly in louisiana on their way to preach a camp meeting this week you know we should be thankful that we have pastors that other churches and places want to hear preach and teach amen i'm thankful that we've got pastors that others want to hear and we are blessed right here at first apostolic church with some of the best in the world and we miss them we love them we're praying for them we give them on i want to say this too and i've not had an opportunity to do this from the pulpit i'm so glad to have the majors family here with us moved here can we welcome them again we're so glad that they are here with us get to know them connect with them they've already been getting involved uh through project 180 but we are so glad that they are here with us making first apostolic church their home this is the greatest church in the world this is the greatest church in the world so we're just a little biased around here but this is the best place in the world let's go to ezekiel 37. we're going to read three verses and i'm going to probably just teach more than i preach tonight and i just want to share something with you know this this book the bible is deep it's deep and it is deeply cohesive from genesis to revelation and you know it's we as 20th century 21st century christians we've kind of taken our little favorite texts out you know i could do all things through christ or something like that we take it out that's fine what we do is we miss the forest for the trees and if we're not careful and if we we will read so quickly in scripture and i realize that there is a whole story happening here from genesis to revelation that god through his spirit inspired writers to write these things down at different places at different times but yet it's one story and it speaks to you every time you open it up that's why it's so important that you you don't just do this the word i want to read today what do i want to read today if you do that you might get something but it's not going to feed your spirit i believe we should study the word of god systematically and that has been uh exemplified through to us over the years with bishop mccool and passed them a cool teaching through the scriptures i want to try to do something tonight i hope hopefully you see see something tonight ezekiel 37 verses 26 through 28 moreover i will make a covenant of peace with them it shall be an everlasting covenant with them and i will place them someone say place and multiply them and i will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore my tabernacle also shall be with them yea i will be their god and they shall be my people some will say people and the heathen shall know that i the lord do sanctify israel when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forever more i will place them multiply them set my sanctuary in the midst of them they shall be my people tonight just for just for a few moments i want to i want to minister to you on this thought the place the presence and the people the place the presence and the people and i want you to pray that the lord would illuminate your spirit and your mind tonight from his word would you pray that with me right now father thank you thank you for the wonderful spirit that we've we've felt and experienced today in our morning service our time of worship and giving lord and i pray right now that your spirit would open up the hearts and the minds of your people god i pray that you would illuminate our spirit to help us understand that your word gives us understanding of your purpose and our purpose in the earth today and i pray lord you'd help us to see that tonight in this brief study in jesus name we pray and everyone said amen won't you clap your hands again tonight unto the lord i just want to hear the people of god clap and give the lord thanks for what he's done the place the presence and the people you ask somebody what am i here for ears will perk up won't they we all want to know what we're here for what's our what's our purpose why are we here what am i here for we want to know what we can do or what we are to do because we know that life is not just we're not just you know dust particles in the air just floating around and being tossed about but god has given us a purpose there's a purpose for us to be here but it was always in the mind of god to dwell with his people god's plan was to prepare a place in order that his people and his presence could be won so god's intention was to draw near to his people but drawing near means vulnerability doesn't it drawing near is an exposure of the flaws and the insecurities we hold on to you get up close and personal have you ever been in a hotel room and they have those the big mirror then they have this other contraption of a mirror that kind of comes out has a light on it and it's like a magnifying mirror and you're like why would you put this here why why do i want to see myself this close and personal you're like get this as far away from me as possible and you're like these are thinking do people see this do they see this do they re oh my lord have mercy and we just we get a little frightened don't we when we get close drawing near means we can see flaws and blemishes right but god wants to draw near to us he's not turned off by our vulnerabilities he doesn't despise our frailties and imperfections his presence and dwelling place it satiates our longing for relationship and fulfillment and purpose and we see this clearly in the opening chapters of genesis which reveals god's plan to draw near we see god preparing a place don't we in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth he creates the atmosphere he creates the universe he creates the earth he makes it habitable and he creates it and we see the focus narrowed down to to people he creates men and he creates woman and so he creates this place for them it's a place it's called the garden and there's now let me just say this that the world was not the garden okay the world was not the garden instead god had created the world and he created the garden and in the garden there was an inner sanctuary called eden so we have eden the garden and then the uttermost parts of the earth and so that's where god put man when he created him he placed him in the sanctuary here in eden it's presented as the very first sanctuary or place for god's presence to dwell we find god walking in the garden of eden and this is found this is echoed again later on in the temple and the tabernacle later in leviticus the lord promises that he will walk among israel and be their god in deuteronomy the lord commands the israelites to keep their camp holy because he walks in the midst of the camp so when we find god walking in the garden in the cool of the day we see that this is his sanctuary this is where his presence can be experienced the prophet ezekiel calls eden a temple referring to it as the garden of god the holy mountain of god and it contains sanctuaries mountains and sanctuaries are both references elsewhere to the temple in the old testament there in the temple mount there in the mount in jerusalem mount zion and so evidence helps us to see that eden was the first temple again the ark in the holy of holies which contain the law led to wisdom echoes the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which also led to wisdom and there was also that if you touched either of those things you would die instantly the entrance to eden was from the east just as the entrance to the temple was from the east so both eden and the temple are characterized by the holy presence of god we should clarify first that what god's presence is not while there's a difference between god's relational nearness to us he's everywhere at the same time as well but there's a difference yes god is omnipresent he's everywhere at once but he wants to draw near to you redemptively relationally he wants to draw close to you as a person he wants to get as close as he possibly can to you to the point he actually wants to be in you and so yes god is everywhere at once but he is also trying to draw near to man and so here in eden the first temple the first sanctuary is god's presence but he wasn't just wanting to be in one central location that wasn't the plan his vision and his plan was for his place and his presence to expand so he created man in his image and so he created man in his image and he placed him in his presence in his place and he says this to him be fruitful and multiply be fruitful and multiply adam as god's image bearer no kings kings and the ancient near east when they would conquer when they would conquer a land or a nation or a place they would set up statues or images of themselves showing that they are now in control of this area and so when he puts adam in the garden adam is his image showing that god through man has dominion and so he tells adam be fruitful and multiply that's the plan that's the purpose don't get ahead of me now here adam in my presence you're going to find purpose but i need you to multiply and expand the kingdom because from the from eden the inner sanctuary to the garden to the uttermost parts of the earth god wants adam to extend the presence and the place and so he gives him eve so they can multiply now let me just say this for a moment god could have simply created more people from the dust of the earth but he didn't he said i'm giving you i'm equipping you i'm empowering you to multiply i'm going to give you the ability from my presence from the place to expand lord have mercy yes i could simply create more people but that's not what i'm going to do i'm going to give you some purpose i'm gonna give you a mission from my presence the place and the presence would fuel the mission the waters flowing the tree of life giving sustenance likewise brothers and sisters the mission and purpose for your life is found in the place and in the presence of god come on if you're wanting to find purpose in your life get in the presence of god if you want to find your mission in life get in a place where you can find the presence of god because in his presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore people who are joyless are missionless you find fulfillment and you get joy but you don't get fulfillment and joy apart from his presence that's why we're trying to get people into place because we know if we can just simply get them in the place where his presence is then we can help them find their purpose that's why it's important listen i know we can watch online and vision's been teaching about that on wednesday nights i know we can watch online and that's all well and good but let me tell you something there's just something about getting in the presence with god's people and you start to realize i've got some pr oh are you thankful for the presence of god in your life get in the presence oh i start to see some of you all on the internet finding your purpose and you find joy in your life you start to find fulfillment in your life because you realize it comes from being in his presence you realize i can find a little bit more i can find another reason to go on another day because in his presence there's joy and pleasures what great pleasure to know that you found fulfillment doing what you're called to do but you can't find that outside of the presence and the place and he said i can i could i could simply create more people my problem's not creating but i'm going to empower you with purpose adam and eve good gracious i'm going to give you the ability to extend and so he says to them be fruitful and multiply but then he also tells them subdue it subdue meaning you have authority to expand the place and the presence so eden garden uttermost parts of the earth you're going to have to bring eden with you and extend it and as you multiply and you have children and they have children they're bringing the presence and the place with them as they begin to you see in it are you seeing it now are you seeing it now he said subdue it but let me tell you something you're not going to find authority outside of his presence and did you know that work was not a curse from sin work predated the fall paradise is not without some labor one of these days i'm gonna retire i'm gonna go and find me a spot in the beach somewhere get me a hammock i'm gonna have some i'm gonna have a pl it's gonna it's gonna flow sweet tea and honey where i am i want to kick back and relax i'll never have to work again if you if that happens for you let me know i'm coming with you but that's not paradise paradise isn't without some work and he said work keep it take care of it expand it he also says to watch over it why would god tell adam and eve before the fall to watch over it because life is not without its pests sin did not create the devil the serpent was already there and so god is telling them be watchful you're going to have to watch over what you have what i've given you it's not going to come easy even though it's without before the fall you're going to have to there's some commands here let me just go ahead and say this too paradise is not without its commands listen to me he didn't tell he didn't give them commands to obey after the fall he did it before he said don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are you are you here what i'm saying in paradise there's law in grace brothers and sisters they're still commands to keep we're uh we're not we're not under the law you're right we're not under the condemnation of the law but we're under a royal law and that is the law of christ and now it's a higher law it's law in the grace there's commands in paradise it's be oh my lord have mercy and so what happens they disobey they disobey now exodus the book of exodus is not the first exodus in the bible the first exodus in the bible is adam and eve being exiled from the presence now listen so eden garden utter most parts of the earth they sin and disobey god and he says you're out get out but not without first bringing an offering god says i'm going to exile you but let me tell you what i'm going to show you how you can get back in the presence by offering an innocent lamb to clothe you and just because you're outside of the presence and the place doesn't mean it's going to be that way forever and so god created a mission and a plan to bring the people back to the presence and he gave the means and the method through an altar and a sacrifice that if you're going to get back in the presence there's going to be bloodshed but you're still on mission to multiply and so multiplication even happens in a sin riddled world and the mission is bring back people to the place and the presence lord have mercy he said but i'm going to tell you i'm going to show you how it's going to be done it's only going to be done through a shedding of blood of an innocent lamb or an animal that's that will get people back to the place and the presence and so he exiles them i'm going slow but i'm going somewhere i promise he exiles them and puts an angel in their place and says watch over it you're out of here now go be fruitful me and multiply so what happens is the patriarchs come along we have noah and what does noah do he builds an ark he builds a place where the presence and the people can be saved and what happens when he gets out like adam in the garden he sins in a vineyard and god says great the plan keeps on rolling and so he comes to a man by the name of abraham we talked about today and what does abraham do go read genesis 12 he builds a tent where god meets with him and what does he do he offers a sacrifice and what does god say to abraham listen to me now he said to noah before he said be fruitful and multiply because the mission has to go on so noah through shem now through abraham abraham is going to build a tent he's going to build altars he's going to offer sacrifice and god continues the mission to build a new eden a new place with the presence and the people coming together again where do we find jacob later on jacob later on in a place called bethel he says surely this is the house of god and what does he do he offers a sacrifice on an altar it's the presence and the people what does god say to him there he says go and i will make a few nations multiply because the mission has to go on the mission has to go on and the mission is always connected to the pleas to the presence and the place and the sacrifice if we're going to multiply we got to remember it's always going to be connected to the place the presence and the altar are you hearing me i know i know it's not exciting stuff for you i'm excited right now this excites me when i see when i see this stuff man i just want i want to explode and so it continues on what happens then when we get to exodus jacob's people have expanded two plus million people in a place not their own and god says we're going to leave because i've prepared a a place and so what happens exile again and how do they get on out of egypt passover lamb altar bloodshed and they leave and god says now let's go i got a place and i've got my presence and guess what you are and so he says this if we're going to have a place and a presence are going to be my people we're going to be united i have to have something for you here and that's an altar and so he gives them the plan for the tabernacle now stop for a second let's go back eden innermost sanctuary garden utter most parts of the earth the tabernacle the holy of holies where his presence shekinah glory feels eden go into the holy place light let there be light there with the with the with the candlestick the bread of shoe bread there's the table of incense we're offering prayer outside the uttermost parts of the earth where access can be made to the presence through what sacrifice and also what is there is water if you go back to eden there were four rivers coming out from eden that supplied water to all the earth and here's a laver for the cleansing of the priests are you seeing what i'm seeing y'all goodness gracious let me tell you something there's not one word wasted in this book there's not one word god has a plan he has had a plan and that plan was to get his people back to his place and his presence that's why i listen that's why you just don't i mean i understand starting in the new testament when you want to read that's that's well and good now let me tell you something there's a lot of things happening in the new testament you're not going to understand without the old testament it's concealed in the old and revealed in the new but what we do is we read the old through the lens of jesus christ and so what happens they build they they do this and what happens they they just keep on sinning but what happens they take possession of the land and when they take possession of canaan the land later on the third king solomon the son of david builds a place has a temple that has a holy of holies holy place outside the outer court and what happens again brothers and sisters they keep sinning and sinning and sinning and sinning until finally what's that little word exile they're kicked out again and god says fine you're not going you're not going to honor my presence in my place you're going to be like everybody else around you i'll kick you out because you see as his people his people were to be living testimonies of god's goodness and power they were to ex they were too they were to be a witness to the rest of the healing world that god was holy and that he set them apart and he could do the same for you but instead they're kicked out just like adam and eve i'm going somewhere i promise when we get to the book of exodus exodus is i'm just going to be honest with you it's a hard book for me to read it's a hard book for me to read but if you read the last third of the book ezekiel spends his time seeing a vision about the restoration of the temple he was exiled he was he was in babylon he had seen the temple in jerusalem destroyed he'd seen it all taken place seen god's people exiled to babylon and god shows him a vision of the temple being restored and there in the temple he sees the presence of god the priesthood restored he sees there from the temple waters flowing out from under it the water flowing out from the temple ankle deep knee waist deep water's so deep he can swim in it and he says that water begins to desalinate the dead sea it begins to bring life to the lifeless and he sees hope from the temple being restored i just want to tell you this and i hope this is okay but he didn't see a real temple he's seen an eternal temple that would once again bring people presence and place back together again and he said that they would as we read they would be a people and a covenant would be made listen let me just read that to you again he said i will multiply them i will multiply them i will bring them back and they will be fruitful again we're seeing pictures of eden a fulfillment of covenant of peace again he will increase the people like a flock to be his in the earth i don't believe ezekiel i think he believed he seen the temple but i believe in the mind of god there was not just a temple but there was a person in the temple that he's seen and that's why when we get to the gospel of john in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god the same was in the beginning with and the word was made the word he says and he dwelt among us that means to be tabernacled jesus christ came listen to me now he came to restore place presence and people but he realized there was no people who could do it on their own and instead god manifest himself in flesh and became the presence in him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily he became the place he became the presence and he became the people he was a second adam come to restore what was lost in eden he was a better israel overcoming the temptation of satan in the wilderness my lord have mercy he was the greater moses giving us a law beyond the law of moses a royal law and so he said listen you can't do it on your own so i'll become the place i'll become the presence and i'll become the people but paul says this that in him dwells on the fullness of the godhead bodily but let me tell you this he doesn't stop there he says and you are complete in him so let me tell you this he became the pro he became the eden he became the garden he became the earth of the flesh the tabernacle of flesh the dust of the earth so he could reunite place presents people my god have mercy are you hearing what i'm saying now he didn't just do that john just didn't write that and said let me think of something to say here no he seen that god's plan was going to unfold in the person of jesus christ that he was everything that we couldn't do and what does he do brothers and sisters i'm almost done i know i'm not i know what i hang up from the raptors tonight let me tell you what did he do there was one more thing that needed to be taken place so people could be reunited back to presence and place he became the sacrifice he offered himself on the altar he offered the blood of the sacrifice he said let me the the writer the gospel writer said the veil was rent from top to bottom in the temple making way access oh lord have mercy he made access for those of us on the outer in the outer courts he said come on in draw near draw near draw near i [Applause] because here in my presence you find fulfillment you find purpose you find forgiveness you find healing you find i wish somebody would thank god and he came [Applause] draw near he wants to draw near to you brothers and sisters and he's made access through his own flesh through his own blood so people presence and place can be won again oh jesus i'm almost i'm going somewhere i promise i'm almost done i'm almost done oh god help me do you see what i see this whole this book i mean it this my mind is just blown i read this stuff and honestly i just want to explode try to share it with you and try to convey it with such clarity so you see this as as clear as i see it but then what does jesus say to his disciples go go and make more image bearers go baptize make disciples teach them because we need to extend and expand the presence musicians come we've got a purpose brothers and sisters listen i love i love coming to church okay love coming to church please please stay with me i love coming to church but church isn't just for us to come in and have a good time we have a good time we come here in the place and the presence because we've got to get more people i'm not sure about you but i don't like seeing all these mdps you know we keep we're growing we're we're growing we're doing we're doing small group stuff on wednesday nights classroom settings discipleships going on project 180 middle school and high school we've got be free we've got a young adult's class right now we've got kids quest we've got sunday school classes going on we've got adult bible classical you know what we're trying to do expand let me tell you something i want more people here now my mission is just not to come here no and it's just he says he goes i don't want to just come here and go oh i hope they say my favorite song tonight i like doing that i like well she's sister jamie's saying one of my favorite songs tonight i mean i'm telling him when she starts to hit that note it gives you that i just doing this i don't know how to worship he's like yeah this man i just give you that stank face you just when she sings that song i had to text somebody let them know she's singing tonight i did i did i told i took somebody said watch online that's your favorite song i like that but when we come to the place and the presence it's not about us it's about getting more mission to go out we get we come here to get refueled equipped and empowered to go reach more people because our goal is it's god's goal stand to your feet he says he says to them you know y'all let me read it to you let me read to you acts 1 and 8. let me just read it to you acts one and eight but you shall receive [Music] we can't do anything without the power he said go wait for the promise of the father which i've told you about which is the power which was the promise of the holy ghost that you are the temple of the holy ghost you are now the place with the presence to be the people go and get the power why and ye shall be witnesses unto me jerusalem judea [Music] samaria uttermost eden garden uttermost holy of holies holy place outer court uttermost [Music] judea samaria uttermost because the mission isn't just supposed to stay right here with us i'm just going to kind of just try to be nice [Music] our mission is not to go get other pentecostals from other pentecostal [Applause] churches i'm going to tell you something as one of your pastors don't invite people to our church who already attend an apostolic pentecostal church that's not that's not right that's called proselyting that's what the pharisees did jesus said you go you go as far as you can to make one he all you do is make him a child of the devil that's what we're called to do we need to go make disciples and you know why people want to do that i'm just going to be just honest with you because they don't like the hard work of making disciples [Music] i don't want to hear us say i'm fishing i'm fishing for them to come to our church don't say that i'm pulling on them don't say that that's not right if you want to go fish go fish for sinners let's go get some people who need the gospel [Applause] i'm closing i promise he said this and i'm done he wants to draw near to you beloved he's just come so close that he would come to be and dwell inside of you but jesus said this the night before his crucifixion he said this to his disciples i go and prepare a place for you that where i am [Music] presence you may be also for how long eternity god doesn't just want to draw close to us right here on the earth he wants to spend eternity with us that's how close i mean that's love and he would want to draw so close that he would want to spend eternity with us he came to redeem us that we might come and be with him if you go read the book of revelation there's a temple there and that temple is none other than jesus christ himself there's a city there a new city the new jerusalem and there's a people there dwelling in his presence for all of eternity and finally forever place presence and people are reunited in a restored new heaven and new earth y'all i don't know about you i feel like clapping my hands lifting up my voice and just think could you do that right where you are right now they begin to sing i want you to thank god come on i want you to thank god that he wants to draw close to you he wants to draw close to you i wonder if somebody somebody would get so vulnerable to say lord would you pray right now lord draw close to me draw close to me lord you can see all my shortcomings you can see all my weaknesses but lord draw close to me come inside of my life inside of my heart oh god draw close to me but lord in your presence lord in your presence lord there's purpose and there's fulfillment lord there's calling there's mission that's where you're gonna find that brothers and sisters is here in this place [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is here for you come on fulfillment is [Music] here is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is would you lift up your hands right now when you lift up your hands in his presence there's fullness of joy come on there's purpose here there's purpose here there's purpose here maybe you're looking for your purpose your mission it's found in the presence i want you to pray right now god help me help me to reach more people to unlock my giftings and skills and abilities to be able to reach more people god to be your living testimony an epistle written and read of all men lord i pray that you would do that in your in your people here tonight would you pray that right now god lord equip me and empower me to multiply to be fruitful to extend and expand the kingdom of god lord i want to see your kingdom come i want to see your kingdom come in jesus name jesus name come on your fulfillment is found in his presence there's nothing like getting in his presence there's nothing like getting in the place beginning in this presence [Music] did you clap your hands unto the lord [Music] tonight get in his presence brothers and sisters get in this book get in this book and read and pray seek his face until you get a mission until you get some purpose in your life let him draw near unto you oh i'm thankful i'm thankful for the place aren't you thankful for this place aren't you thankful for this place with this people i'm thankful for that oh don't forget wednesday night wednesday night bible study with bishop mccool we've got all of our classes on wednesday night as well i want to see the kingdom expand don't you that's what we're doing we're leaving this place from the presence with a mission to see god draw near to more people in jesus name well let's have revival this week going to have a great week this week we'll see you wednesday night you're dismissed in jesus name we'll see you wednesday and if not wednesday we will see you sunday ready to have a move of the holy ghost again here at first apostolic church greet those who are here welcome our guests and you can be [Music] dismissed