Sunday Evening Worship Service
by Raymond Woodward
March 13, 2022 · First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Genesis 4:8-12, Romans 8:3, Isaiah 53:3-5, Romans 5:12, Romans 5:15, Romans 5:20, Hebrews 4:15, 1 Corinthians 2:8, Hebrews 9:12, Acts 20:28, Mark 11, Hebrews 11:4, Hebrews 12:24

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/raymond-woodward--sunday-evening-worship-service-198
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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praise the lord everybody i uh i do feel like i'm home isn't it a wonderful thing that god's family is your family there's nothing like that and i'm so grateful to be here today my heart is full i found out when we were chatting at lunch today that your pastor uh shares a trait with me we were sitting across the table and we were talking about the wonderful heritage that we sure share and um i found out something i will really like about him he's a crier i love that you know they say that if your head leaks if your eyes leak your head won't swell which means i should have a much smaller head because i cry about everything i cry at baby dedications and weddings and funerals and and i get teary when we get talking about our heritage and i love your pastor pastor mark mccool and sister jamie mccool are respected and their voice is so valuable in the apostolic movement far beyond your church and i know you know this but you are served by a stellar first family rarely do you find so much gifting and anointing in a family and i'm so grateful for you and uh it was such a pleasure to visit with bishop uh today and and sister mccool um the first lady of first ladies it's so good to see you and i the only thing i don't like about you is you look the same as you did when i was 12 and i'm aging badly so other than that i don't have anything against you but i love you dearly you're awesome you're awesome um it's so great to be in the presence of jesus isn't it would you lift up your hands and then lift your voice higher than your fingertips and fill this room with praise and honor and glory to god i love you jesus i give you praise i give you praise i worship you god you are so good to us jesus you are so good to us jesus i worship you god and i thank you for your presence i thank you for your presence amen you may be seated i told you that to so you wouldn't worry about me if i kind of get teary tonight i i do feel like i'm home and and i love the people of god and i love this church because this church had an impact on me when i was just a very young i wasn't a teenager i was 12 so i was just under that age oh my goodness you pardon me i'll ramble for a bit here don't don't get worried um i'll i'll i'll keep everything in line and not too long [Music] an old song we used to sing says tears so sweet to trust in jesus just to take him at his word just to rest upon his promise just to know the saith the lord and the course simply says jesus jesus how i trust him how i proved him or and or jesus jesus praises jesus oh for grace to trust him oh my goodness oh my goodness [Applause] i can't sing like these anointed young people but i love it anyway like many of you my background is unapologetically apostolic pentecost is an experience apostolic is a lifestyle it's a doctrine it's it's an anchor and my background is unapologetically apostolic your bishop has told you about his pastor who was my great uncle leonard parent and leonard parent received the baptism of the holy ghost a little over a hundred and one years ago on december the 28th 1920 at a little country place a country church called the roundtop church in rural new brunswick canada he received the baptism of the holy ghost that night some of his friends had been attending afternoon prayer meetings all that week there was a revival being preached and leonard wasn't supposed to end up being an apostolic because his mother had designs on him she wanted him to become a preacher in the denomination they were part of like his uncle frank who was a preacher in their denomination well studied studied at harvard university in your country and that's what she wanted leonard to become and the holy ghost came to that little community and revelation came to that little rural place and it just messed up all of that and so he went to that service that night december the 28th 1920. i think that was a tuesday night nobody had told them yet that you shouldn't have revival meetings between christmas and new year's they hadn't got that memo yet so they were doing every night revival and leonard went and he met two of his friends milford and quincy at the door of that little tiny church wouldn't be anywhere near as big as this platform and he could see by the glow of god on their face that they had received the baptism of the holy ghost and and it made great uncle leonard mad he stormed into that church and he went up to the front and he knelt down behind an old pump organ and he lifted his eyes to heaven and he said god you forgot me and god instantly filled him with the baptism of the holy ghost speaking in other tongues edgar grant who was preaching that revival he knew about the holy ghost he didn't know anything about baptism in jesus name not yet and so a couple months later in february 1921 my great-uncle leonard was studying his bible after he did his chores on the farm and he saw it he saw that everybody in the bible was baptized in jesus name and not the way he'd been baptized and he said to himself i'm in this but i'm in it wrong [Music] and so as bishop has told you he went out to a little stream that ran into the saint john river and uh he knelt down in the snow in february 1921 and he put one hand under the water and he lifted the other hand to heaven and he said lord please take this as my baptism until you send somebody to baptize me in jesus name two months later a great great bible teacher from your country john h dearing from caldwell idaho he'd been preaching up in the northeastern states in new england and he felt led to go across the border into new brunswick canada and he felt led to go to this little country place now what are the odds even today that little rural place is not even a registered village really it has 150 people on the census what are the odds that somebody would land in that little rural community and the great bible teacher john h dearing he went up and down that country road knocking on the doors of farm houses and telling him why he was there and he knocked on the door of a family named majors and they said oh you're not looking for us you're looking for leonard parent he's been talking about this crazy stuff for two months and that spring john deering baptized my great uncle leonard in the only saving name of the lord jesus christ you've heard bishop tell it he's great uncle leonard he went to the state of michigan started a church and along the way your bishop got to call him pastor and he was so proud of your bishop and i'm so grateful for all of that it was a long about the 1930s that leonard was a young man in royal oak michigan and he was attending a church bishop hancock's church and he was working delivering milk those old glass bottles young people know nothing about this old glass bottles delivering them on horseback horse and wagon and on that day it was winter i don't know what it was about winter with great uncle leonard but on that day he slipped on an icy manhole cover in royal oak michigan as he was doing his job and his feet went out from under him and he came down on one leg and shattered his ankle such a bad break that the bone protruded out through the skin and he he got up and threw himself over his horse and got the horse to take him back to the house where his precious little wife ida took that leg and got that bone pushed back in place and and bandaged that as tight as she could and uh he got one of his older boys allen or owen nobody remembers which one and he went back and finished his day's work because you didn't not finish your day's work just because you broke your leg uh not in those days and and then he came home and that night was church and of course he was getting ready to go to church because you didn't stay home just because you broke your leg and those days not if you were apostolic so um he uh he was getting ready to go to church and and uh by that time his ankle was swollen like a little football and uh i helped him get his trousers on over that huge swelling in his ankle and and he got dressed up and got his suit on and and uh he put one shoe on the good foot and he took the other shoe and he put it in his pocket and it bulged way out and ida she always called him daddy she said daddy what are you doing with that other shoe he said ida i'm gonna need this shoe on my way home [Music] and he went to service that night and it was foot washing service for real royal oak michigan i've got a picture of that big old church that stone church on my phone somewhere and bishop hancock's church and leonard was one of the young ministers so he's sitting on the front row and that was old style footwash and they had a big basin like a great big pail or bucket or something they're sliding it down the road and young brother kirby another young minister he said when he saw leonard starting to unbandage that foot and he saw that blood and that open wound and he said leonard you cannot put your foot in this water you'll get infection everybody's been washing their feet in this water and great uncle leonard said well i guess this is the foot that needs it the most and he plunged that foot under the water and when it came out there was no break there was no wound he was instantly healed in the power and in the presence of jesus and he wore his shoe home that night he passed when i was just my first year in high school he passed away 1979 and to his dying day in his elder years he could not remember which ankle had gotten broken because he never walked with a limp god totally healed him if you ever hear anywhere in your travels i warned you cry if you ever hear anywhere in your travels that raymond woodward is looking for a new message a new doctrine a new something they're lying to you when god hand delivers truth to your family you don't look for something else if you're an apostolic believer you are abundantly blessed above every other kind of person on this planet oh my do you understand what a great privilege it is to have a church like this smack dab in the middle of your life and you get to be here every week and hear men and women of god lead you and pray for you and preach to you and teach you there's no greater privilege than this ah i felt that hallelujah somebody lift up one more praise to the lord would you [Music] oh my so i'll get to this message and i'll cut it a little bit for those of you that felt like you were just subjected to somebody's bad home movies for 15 minutes but anyway great uncle leonard uh one of the treasures that i have he he would have bibles for a little while and he'd write principles in them for young ministers and then he'd give them away and his family honored me in such a great way when he passed years later this has just been maybe seven eight nine years ago um they voted the surviving children of his family and they gave me the bible that he was using when he died and uh like every other bible he ever owned it has principles written for young ministers in the front in his handwriting it's a precious treasure to me and one of those principles that he wrote in the front of that bible that he wrote i'm sure in many bibles that he gave away is something that our elders taught us in the apostolic church and you want to thank god for your pastor and this team that they keep us on track believing the apostolic message because there's a lot of messages out there today and there's a lot of versions of christianity in america today but there's only one bible version of christianity and it's apostolic because the apostles were the direct recipients of jesus ministry and his truth and so when we preach like them and when we teach like them and when we believe what they believe and practice what they practiced and expect what they expected that apostolic connection is so beautiful and powerful and in the front of just about every bible he ever gave away great uncle leonard would write this principle for young ministers when in danger plead the blood [Music] and that's what i'd like to talk to you about for a few minutes tonight when in danger plead the blood one more time before we proceed would you just lift up your hands and just glorify god in this room his presence is just is so beautiful and so powerful here tonight now your voice your hands are wonderful but your voice is the center of spiritual warfare in your life death and life are in the power of the tongue so use your voice and use your vocabulary and use your words and oh i love you jesus touch us here tonight do what only you can do and fix what only you can fix and heal what only you can heal in the name of jesus i pray amen amen thank you jesus there is nothing in your bible that is there accidentally or incidentally everything is there for a reason and you can find that out when you just begin reading and i want to take you back to the opening chapters of the word of god tonight um the first book of the bible and just a handful of chapters in and we're told in the book of genesis that uh adam and eve uh she conceived and she bore adam a son and the first son of adam was named cain and she said i've gotten a man from the lord and then she conceived again and she bore a second son to adam and his name was abel and the bible gets very specific in the opening chapters of the word of god it tells us some details about these boys and it's not just background information it's it's powerful revelation the bible tells us that abel the second son of adam that he was a keeper of the sheep he worked in the sheepfold he tended lambs and he raised lambs and sheep and the bible specifically tells us that his older brother cain the first son of adam he didn't work here in the sheepfold he worked over here in the farm he was a tiller of the ground he knew what it was to live a completely different kind of life he sowed seed and he prayed for rain and he waited for a harvest and he knew if he could get the seed in the ground early enough and tend it well enough that he'd have a crop so these boys have different lifestyles and then we're told in genesis that god asked those boys for a sacrifice now we don't have to guess what kind of sacrifice that would be because the bible tells us that it is the blood that makes atonement for sin the bible tells us that the life of the flesh is in the blood and without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sin so we don't have to guess what kind of offering god asked these boys for now abel he sacrificed one of his sheep and he offered that lamb and that blood to god and his offering was accepted but cain he decided for some reason whether it was his pride he didn't want to come and ask his younger brother to buy a lamb or to to be given a lamb we don't know it may have been pride but he decided he was just going to offer god an offering of vegetables the fruit of his fields and the fruit of his farm and so he offered his own version of an offering to god and there's a lot of people that try to do that today they try to give god what they think should be a good idea of worship or their version of salvation and but god didn't accept cain's offering and now we have this horribly awkward situation that uh cain is mad at god and god is angry with cain and and god says to king kane if you would just do well if you just obey you would be accepted but if you don't do well if you keep disobeying me sin is lying at the door literally sin is crouching at the door of your heart like a wild animal ready to devour you and and then we come to this genesis chapter 4 and verse 8 and cain talked with abel his brother and it came to pass when they were in the field that cain rose up against abel his brother and slew him and cain buries abel's body in the ground of his firm and he walks away and thinks well there that will shut him up and that will take care of that and nobody will ever know and immediately god speaks to cain and the lord said to cain where is abel thy brother and he said i do not am i my brother's keeper but see you can't lie to god and and so god said cain what have you done what you don't understand is the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground cain i can hear his innocent blood talking you don't understand and now thou art cursed from the earth which has opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from by hand so cain you can go back to your farm you can plant the same seed you can have the same kind of growth here you you can wait for the same kind of harvest but cain because the ground has opened its mouth to receive your brother's innocent blood it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength a fugitive and a vagabond thou shalt be in the earth now this is the opening chapters of the word of god and that's not just an incidental or accidental story that's painting a beautiful prophetic picture for us because there came a day when abel the second son of adam left his territory in the sheepfold and he went to the territory of cain the first son of adam and while abel the second son of adam was in the territory of cain the first son of adam cain with wicked hands lifted up some weapon and killed his brother abel buried his body in the ground and walked away and thought it was over but when the innocent blood of abel left his body and seeped out of those wounds and soaked into the ground all of a sudden something changed it shifted in the supernatural realm and up in heaven god said wait a minute i can hear abel's blood speaking to me from the ground cain the blood of abel is speaking loudly now you're bible lovers and you've been taught by great pastors many of you for years so you know where we're going because you know in scripture that humanity all of us we are called the first adam and you know that jesus in scripture is called the second adam so you already know where we're going there came a day when jesus the second adam he left his territory in heaven streets of gold and wall he left all of that and he came to our territory and while the second adam was in the territory of the first sinful adam humanity lifted up wicked hands and nailed him to a cross but i've got an announcement for you when his sinless blood started streaming down that old rugged cross and it touched the sin cursed soil of this planet that was under the rule of sin and the domain of satan when the blood hit the ground all of a sudden something shifted in the supernatural realm and up in heaven god said wait a minute i can hear the voice of the blood crying out from the earth can i tell you the voice of the blood of the lord jesus christ still cries out for his church tonight it still cries out for you and your family your children and your grandchildren tonight the blood is my protector the blood is my sanctifier the blood is my redeemer i'm so grateful for the shed blood of the lord jesus christ so great uncle leonard was right when you get in danger when you get in trouble when the enemy is pushing in on every side don't you fall down on your face and give up don't you run away turn tail and head for the highlands you stand your ground you lock your feet you square your shoulders look the devil in the eye and say wait a minute i plead the blood the blood of jesus protects me the blood of jesus heals me oh i wish somebody gave him praise in this room thank you god oh paul said in romans for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh god sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh jesus blood shuts down the power of sin over his people the old prophet isaiah spoke 600 years before calvary ever happened isaiah had never seen a crucifixion he couldn't comprehend a crucifixion crucifixion had not been yet invented as a form of torture and execution but isaiah saw it as plain as day he said he is despised and rejected of men he's a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not surely he has borne our griefs and he has carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of god and afflicted but it wasn't an accident jesus wasn't a victim he wasn't a martyr or a murder victim but it was all in the purpose of god he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and then the old prophet gets so anointed he jumps from the past tense into the present tense and he says and with his stripes we are healed peter would later write and by his stripes you were healed your healing was paid for on the cross of calvary by the shed blood of the lord jesus christ you don't have to take everything that the devil dishes out in your home and in your mind and in your marriage and in your family you do not have to take that just lying down you have a right to fight you have a right to stand your ground and say i plead the blood over my children i plead the blood over my grandkids i plead the blood over my body over my health over my marriage and my family when you get in danger plead the blood oh my goodness it's amazing oh my goodness now so you already know where we're going so cain is the first son he's like the first adam who was sinful and abel's the second son jesus is is like abel he's the second adam who shed his blood abel's blood was innocent but jesus blood that's the only time that god ever had blood to shed was when he robed himself in flesh the mighty god in christ now you say well maybe you're stretching it a little bit i don't think so because here's what paul said in first corinthians and so it is written the first man adam was made a living soul everyone say that's me you're a living soul you have all the characteristics of the first adam you have a personality you have will you have intellect you have emotion uh you have all that you are a living soul but the last adam there was something extra in jesus he was everything that the first adam was he robed himself in flesh so he could be like us but he was made a quickening spirit there was an extra dimension in jesus because that was god robed in that flesh that was the almighty walking around the streets and the shores and the lanes of their cities and towns and villages now right there that's that's bad news for us because if we are just a living soul and jesus is a quickening spirit then there's no way to bridge that that gap that gulf because i can't be like jesus unless there was maybe a way to get that quickening spirit that was in him maybe if there was just a way to get that quickening spirit in me i'm glad to tell you that paul wrote if the spirit that raised up christ from the dead if it gets in you if it dwells in you if it lives you it'll quicken your mortal body by his spirit that lives within you there is a way to get the spirit of the second adam inside of you it's through the baptism of the holy ghost there is nothing like the power of the holy ghost oh my so i don't think i'm stretching at all paul said in verse 47 the first man is of the earth he's earthy turn to your neighbor especially if they're your spouse and say you're kind of earthy sometimes and we are we're just flesh but the second man he's the lord from heaven this jesus that you serve this jesus that you've been celebrating for the last little while in this service he's awesome he's amazing he's almighty he's all-powerful this jesus that we love and serve now years ago i did a series with our church on the book of romans and i i'm sure that some of them thought they were in the middle of the great tribulation because it just went on and on and on and i didn't care if we ever escaped from the book of romans it was awesome but the second half of romans chapter 5 compares these two atoms and paul draws us this powerful picture it's amazing romans 5 and 12. wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death came by sin and then death passed upon all men for that all have sinned so this is paul's tragic picture the first man adam stands at the head of this long line of humanity and because he was our legal representative in the garden of eden when he sinned death came into the world death passed on all men so so paul's picture is this that adam's at the head of the line of humanity and his sin becomes our sin and his failure becomes our failure and and his mistake becomes our mistake and and so the paul's picture is that by one man sin enters into this world and and he pictures this long endless line of humanity and and sin has passed down through every generation and it comes to us today and we're all born in sin we're all a mess we've all got this flesh to deal with it and there's none righteous no not one nobody measures up to god's standard of perfection no matter if you marinated in the pentecostal church when you were just knee-high to a grasshopper it doesn't matter because we are cursed with this long endless line of sin and it passes it's not just that you did bad things and became a sinner no you were born a sinner and that's why you've done bad things and that's why even if you think you're a pretty good person you still have to deal with the sin issue in your life because sin is part of your human fallen nature and it's all because of the first adam now what paul says there's very important brothers and sisters he's not just saying you were like adam he's saying you were in adam adam was your legal representative in eden put there in your place to represent you by god god put adam in the garden and when adam failed you failed and when adam sinned you sinned and when adam messed up you messed up and i know what you think because this is america this is the greatest democracy on the planet i know what you think wait a minute i didn't get my vote i didn't vote for adam to be there this isn't fair god you should have given me a vote i would have voted for somebody else to be in the garden of eden not fair i don't like your system god that that you put him there and i didn't vote for him and and his mistake becomes my mistake and his sin becomes my sin i didn't get my vote if i'd have been in the garden of eden we wouldn't be in this mess if you'd have been in the garden of eden we could have been in a real mess i don't know what would have happened but nevertheless god's picture stands that adam was your legal representative and i know in our western democratic vote we vote on everything i know that we don't like god's system because god's system isn't fair and god's system just put us all in sin because of one man's mistake and i know you don't like that that one man could sin and if you know 6 000 years later you're dealing with the fact that you're a sinner and you got to get right with god all because one man sinned and we don't like god's system because it's unfair unless if it was possible for one man to sin and put the whole human race under the influence of sin then if there could ever come another adam if there could ever come a second adam if there could ever come a perfect atom if there could ever come a sinless adam then it would be possible that if one man's sin could put us all in sin then it would be possible that if there was a perfect atom one man's righteousness could let us all become righteous one man's holiness could let us all become holy one man's sinlessness could let us all conquer the sin problem in our lives now i like god's system just a little bit better and that's what paul teaches paul teaches us that if the first sinful adam's disobedience became our disobedience then if there's a perfect second adam his obedience can become our obedience in god's sight and that's exactly what paul says romans 5 and 15 but not as the offense so also is the free gift for if through the offense of one many be dead much more the grace of god and the gift of grace which is by one man jesus christ it has abounded unto many it is possible to get yourself out of this line and get yourself in this line because if any man be in christ he's a new creature all things are passed away behold all things are become new aren't you glad for the saving delivering power of the sinless blood of the lord jesus christ it changes everything you say my family it feels like we're under a curse everything's upside down and everything's dysfunctional let me tell you when you get in christ all things become new when you get in christ god can turn your worst mistake into your greatest miracle it's the amazing power of the blood of jesus christ see adam was disobedient but jesus was obedient adam broke the law but jesus fulfilled the law adam brought a fence jesus brings grace adam brings bondage jesus brings freedom adam brought death jesus brings life adam brought us condemnation jesus brings us justification one preacher he said it this way i love this the first adam cursed us but the second adam blessed us the first adam heard us but the second adam he healed us the first adam put us out but the second adam he welcomed us in the first adam he pushed us down but the second adam lifted us up the first adam put us on the road to hell but the second adam has put us on the road to heaven and it's all because of the precious shed blood of the lord jesus christ so when the enemy attacks you you don't flee you don't run you don't fall down you don't stand there weeping you stand your ground and say devil i plead the blood that's what the elders taught us to do oh my goodness one one writer said you know the first adam he he ate off a tree but the second adam died on a tree and then there's something there i think you know you apostolic people especially you sunday school teachers you've given the apple bad press for years we send innocent impressionable little children home from sunday school with a paper clutched in their hand showing adam and eve walking out of the garden clothed in fig leaves heads down it's all over and in their hand they're holding a half-eaten apple who told you that was an apple it's not an apple that's snow white not adam and eve seeing as we're on fairy tales today the bible doesn't say it was an apple but if you think about it think about this the when they sinned and they're looking in in in anxiousness and and they're frantic trying to find something to cover their nakedness what do they reach for fig leaves it wasn't an apple tree it was a fig tree that's what brought sin into the world it was a fig tree so get mad at fig newtons or something but don't get mad at the apples you say i'm not sure about that well it's fine you can you can be wrong that's okay it's well documented actually in ancient jewish literature that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a fig tree the midrash which is an ancient jewish writing it refers several times to quote the fig leaf which brought remorse into the world it's several times in there so that's what the jews believe and what they understand and that helps me because there's always been this little story in the gospels that really bothered me because it was so unfair it's the week that jesus is is going to be crucified it's leading up to passover and he and his disciples they're staying at the home of mary and martha and lazarus in bethany and you talk about a dysfunctional family that's that's one you've got mary who's the super spiritual one and you've got martha who's the workaholic and she's always in the kitchen banging the pots and pans together giving a hint to mary you should come in here and help me because jesus just showed up with 12 men to feed and would you please get in here right now she's and so lazarus just he had enough and he just checked out and died and got some peace and jesus said nope come on back uh so it's just a little dysfunction in that family and so um so so anyway they're staying at that home and and every day they're traveling to jerusalem and uh observing the different things it's not a good week for jesus this is the week when he cleanses the temple and everybody's angry at him and he overturns the money changers tables and it's just it's the disciples are getting worried about him it's and then one morning they're walking from bethany to jerusalem and they pass a fig tree and jesus goes over to the fig tree and rustles around in the leaves and he can't find any figs to eat and so he backs up and he just says you're cursed and they go to jerusalem and they go back home that's sleep that night the next morning mark records it in his gospels and the gospel and and the next morning they come by and and the disciples say the fig trees withered up from the roots i never liked that story because here's why mark makes a point to tell us that the time of figs was not yet now jesus was god in the flesh he created that fig tree he created it to bear figs in one season and not bear figs in another season and so it's not very fair that the fig tree is doing exactly what it was created to do and it's not the time of figs and yet he's looking for figs and when he doesn't find any he curses it and he curses this innocent little fig tree i never understood that and i know you can preach all kinds of wonderful sermons about faithfulness and fruitfulness and whatever but i think there's something more there and here's what i think it was jesus is walking on the road to jerusalem and he knows that within just three days or so he's going to be lifted up on a tree and he's going to give his life and shed his blood and he's going to reverse the curse that has bound his creation at that point for 4 000 years and as he's walking down the road he sees the same kind of tree that got adam and eve into trouble in the garden in the first place so watch this the first adam in the garden of eden he walks over the tree and he grabs the fruit he eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but the second adam he goes over to the tree rustles around the branches and the second adam he can't find any figs to eat he did not partake of sin he did not partake of disobedience he's given us a picture there and then he curses the same kind of tree that brought sin into the world knowing that he's going to go to jerusalem and be lifted up on a tree and when his sinless blood leaves his body through those wounds and it courses down the wood of that old rugged cross and it touches the sin cursed soil of this planet all of a sudden something shifts in the supernatural realm and heaven said i can hear the blood talking can i tell you the blood has never stopped talking for the people of god the blood is defending you right now the blood is paying for your healing right now the blood is delivering your family right now so when you get in trouble and when you get in danger plead the blood oh my yes yes yes yes yes yes oh my whoo my goodness and that's what the writer of hebrews is talking about chapter four we have not in high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities he was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin he never ate of the fruit of the tree now this is amazing brothers and sisters before you were saved all that is true of the first adam was true of you if he was a sinner you were a sinner if he was uh addicted and broken you were addicted and broken now i know what we do after we've been in pentecost for a few years we say oh never me i would never go that far listen you have no idea where you would be tonight had it not been for the grace of god you have no idea what your family might be struggling with don't you get all judgmental on somebody out here in this city because sin broke them in a different place than it broke you everybody's welcome in this house everybody's wanted in this house we love everybody in this house it doesn't matter how sin broke down because here's what we know but for the grace of god that's where we could be walking but for the blood of jesus that's what our family could be struggling with so we don't judge people we love people we don't look down on people we lift people up and help them find the grace of god and let their lives be cleansed and transformed by his blood but see here's the beauty before you were saved all that was true of the first adam's true of you but now that you are saved all that is true of the second adam is now true of you i'm not standing here tonight i didn't get invited to preach in this great church because i'm so holy i'm here because he's so holy i'm not here because i'm so good i'm here because he's so good i'm not here because i'm so righteous i'm here because he's so righteous everything that the second adam paid for i can possess because he gave it to me it's beautiful paul he can't help himself he just keeps going deeper and deeper romans 5 and 20. moreover the law entered that the offense might abound now i know today there's people that say well i don't like all those rules and those commandments in the bible you want to thank god every day you live for all the rules and the commandments in the bible because if the law hadn't entered so we would know what was wrong with us so we would know where we were broken so we would know where we displeased god we'd still be in sin thank god there's a word that tells us this is sin and that's an abomination and this is against god and god hates this thank god we've got the law that entered and it made sin abound the offense abounded we could understand what was wrong with us and then paul can't resist he says but where sin abounded grace did much more about god's grace is so strong that it can lift you up above every curse every addiction every bondage in your life i had somebody tell me one time said well i don't like that phrase plead the blood that sounds like you're begging i plead the blood no it's not pleading in the sense of begging it's pleading in the sense of illegal pleading in a courtroom where you are the prisoner on the docket and you're about to go away for a very long time because your list of sins and offenses against the law of god is long and the devil is the prosecuting attorney and he is making his case and he's making it look very bad for you see the devil doesn't love you he'll tempt you to sin and then once you're sinning and once you're bound and once you're addicted he'll laugh at you he'll let you destroy yourself and he will mock you and laugh at you while you destroy yourself through the sin that he tempted you with the devil doesn't love you in the prosecuting attorney satan himself he's pressing his case and all of a sudden when it looks like all hope is lost into that courtroom comes the lord jesus christ and said i have a legal pleading here the blood of jesus is stronger than that sin the blood of jesus is greater than that addiction the blood of jesus is greater than that bondage you see when we say i plead the blood we're talking about illegal pleading that the blood is stronger than cancer and the blood is stronger than drug addiction and the blood is stronger than any kind of bondage or any kind of perversion i plead the blood over my life let me finish music you can come back when abel died and his body was buried in that field his innocent blood abel wasn't sinless he was just an innocent man and when abel died and his body was buried and his blood seeped into that ground his innocent blood it was like it became his defense attorney and up in heaven god said i can hear his blood talking and i will get justice for him you see there's something so powerful about the blood the devil made a fatal mistake when he orchestrated the crucifixion of jesus it it wasn't a good day for hell you see the bible says in first corinthians 2 that none of the princes of this world recognized the wisdom of god because if they had recognized if they had known the wisdom of god they would not have crucified the lord of glory the devil didn't know that that blood that was shed that he thought would shut down jesus and shut down the gospel he didn't know that blood would be his undoing that when that sinless blood came out of that body oh my goodness it changed everything for us now there's people that say you know well i thank god for the the the ministry of jesus and the miracles of jesus and the teaching of jesus and the life of jesus and i've heard some of them say you know i follow the teaching of jesus the life of jesus it saves me no it does not the life of jesus doesn't save you the life of jesus actually condemns you he was perfect you're imperfect he was sinless you're sinful the life of jesus doesn't save you it condemns you i'll tell you what saves you is the death burial and resurrection of jesus that's what saves you so this blood that we talk about see as long as that blood was in his body for 33 and a half years it didn't do anything for us he was perfect we're still imperfect he was sinless we're still sinful but it was when that blood came streaming out of his body on that old rugged cross that's when redemption was paid for peter wrote these words for as much as you know you were not redeemed with corruptable things like silver and gold it's not from your vain conversation apostolics this was not just received by tradition from your fathers that's not how you're saved it's not just because you attend a great church with great leadership and you've received this by tradition and by heritage no you were saved with the precious blood of christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot the writer of hebrews later wrote these words neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us and paul said this to the ephesian elders in acts 20 take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the holy ghost has made you overseers and all of you leaders be careful to feed the church of god because the church is the only thing on this planet that god has purchased with his own blood when god wanted a mountain he spoke it into existence when he wanted a beautiful river when he wanted the beautiful smoky mountains he just formed them it didn't cost god anything but when god wanted to redeem a people from sin it cost heaven everything do you understand you are seated in the only thing that god ever had to buy this church is purchased with the sinless shed blood of the lord jesus christ so i've got to say with pilate i've got to say i find no fault in the church i know we're just human i know we've got imperfections but when i look at what jesus has done and what he paid for this church i just got to say i don't have anything bad to say about this church oh my goodness a couple more scriptures and hebrews just such a wonderful book hebrews 11 by faith abel offered unto god a more excellent sacrifice than cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous watch this god testifying of his gifts watch and by it he being dead yet speaketh the writer of hebrews who puts those words penned parchment 4 000 years after the death of abel says that abel's innocent blood abel wasn't sinless he was just an innocent man the writer of hebrews says that 4 000 years after abel died and his blood entered the ground of cain's farm four thousand years later his blood's still talking in the years of heaven four thousand years chapter 12 but we have come to jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of abel if the innocent blood of abel could still be speaking in heaven's ears four thousand years after he died jesus was crucified two 2000 years ago and his blood wasn't just innocent it was sinless blood how loud do you think the blood of jesus is speaking for you in the ears of heaven tonight you have no idea what power you're touching when you plead the blood of the lord jesus and this is not just some little academic lesson for me and this isn't just something that you know comes from my heritage and i love it because my elders loved it no it's powerful because you see there's people right in this room tonight oh you can't see it anymore they've been so cleansed by the blood their lives and their families have been so transformed by calvary you can't even see what they used to be anymore but if you could see if it had not been for the blood some of us would not be here tonight if it had not been for the blood some of us we would have met our end on a an icy highway somewhere cars spin it out of control but at the last minute you cried jesus and the blood step between you and a tragedy some of you you would have been a drug addict but the blood got between you and that addiction and said no no this one is mine i paid for this one to be redeemed some of you if it had not been for the blood tonight you'd be in a hospital somewhere or a mental hospital or a mortuary or a cemetery but the blood got between you and what could have been what should have been and tonight you're here in an apostolic church and so i say to you again that when the devil tries to drag you back to your old life when the devil tries to attack your family when the devil tries to perplex your mind don't you just stand there like a victim you lock your feet and you look the devil and hell in the eye and say wait a minute i plead the blood of jesus over me oh my just one last thing you stay standing one last thing for those of you especially that are new to first apostolic what a great church you're part of oh i'm so happy for you that you found your way here if you're new this is such a safe wonderful blessed place to live for god but let me tell you something you remember the story nothing's in your bible incidentally or accidentally so this is amazing god said to cain because the earth of your farm has opened its mouth and received the blood of your brother you can go back to your farm and you can sow the same seed and you can water the ground and you can wait for the weather and you can hope for a harvest but this ground will no longer yield to you its strength anymore because the blood touched this ground oh my god [Music] and the choir you all came to fredericton for the first time when i was 12. that was the same year that i repented of my sins and was baptized in jesus name and filled with the holy ghost and the blood entered this ground see the devil knew if he could get some of that seed of sin and addiction and dysfunction and brokenness if he could just sow it in your life early enough sow it in your life often enough by the time you got to be 34 or 42 or 58 or 61 he knew you'd be so bound by sin and he's just been waiting for his harvest of sin in your life and in your can your kid's life and your grandkids life but here's what the devil didn't count on you opened your mouth to receive salvation and the blood came into this ground and so the devil can try to sow his seed of sin and bondage and dysfunction and devastation in your family and in your life but the blood has entered this ground so it won't yield its strength to the devil anymore you are bought with the blood of the lord jesus now again i i don't know all your customs pastor mccool has been so kind to give me the liberty of this great pulpit today but here's what i'd like you to do if you would help me i'd like every believer in this church to leave where you're standing and come to this altar because we're going to turn sunday night into a prayer meeting and we're going to plead the blood over our families over our health over our mind over our children over our grandchildren over everybody that works with you at your job because this blood is more powerful than you know this blood is more awesome than you could ever imagine there's power when you plead the blood the elders taught us when you get in trouble when you get in danger when the enemy is pushing you on every side you stand there and you plead the blood those of you that are already in the altar would you take about three or four steps forward and make room for everybody that's still coming up the aisles cause we're gonna turn sunday night into one great prayer meeting because the blood is still speaking for you today you don't have to be bound by depression because the blood is speaking you can conquer that hidden addiction because the blood is still speaking for you your kids don't have to be lost the blood is still speaking for you right now oh yes yes yes yes thank you god thank you god thank you god [Applause] [Music] it's my victory i just want to give you one piece of instruction right now the bible says that god turned the captivity of job when job prayed for his friends you're among friends tonight i'd like you to reach over family with family men with men ladies with ladies i'd like you to reach over and get a hold of somebody maybe lay your hand on their shoulder take them by the hand and lift that hand with yours whatever you want to do but i'd like you to pray with somebody plead the blood over their life plead the blood over their family plead the blood over their children bleed the blood over their grandkids if you know about a sickness in their body in their life bleed the blood over that oh lift up your voice and pray apostolics [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] precious is [Music] grace how can it be that is [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus washes me [Music] [Music] said [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the precious [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] no greater love [Music] that is [Music] [Applause] [Music] it is we've been praying beside each other and that's powerful and wonderful i'm gonna ask you to do something that might be just a little bit out of your comfort zone but you'll be okay you're apostolic i want you to turn to somebody right now you're not praying beside them this time i want you to lay your hand on them and i want you to pray for them so you're not just worshiping god beside them especially if you're in the same family because you know each other's stuff you you know where it hurts you know where the devil's trying to attack i want you to lay your hand on a family member on a friend in this church on a brother on a sister and i want you to pray for them don't you pray a weak little sleepy prayer you plead the blood over them you call the name of jesus over them there's something so powerful that happens when the blood gets to flowing because the blood is still flowing today the blood is still flowing right now it can heal that cancer it can deliver you from that depression it can turn your teenager around the blood is still speaking for the church today yes yes yes yes [Music] yes yes yes yes yes oh pray in the holy ghost right now pray in the holy ghost that's the voice of the blood talking when you pray in the spirit [Music] i set you free in the name of jesus i set you free in the name of jesus the blood is speaking for you right now the blood is talking for you right now thank you jesus thank you jesus [Music] it's here right now it's flowing right now [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh i wish you'd lift up your hands and everything you've got oh [Music] [Applause] the elders taught us to sing this one they said i'm thankful for the blood of jesus i'm so thankful for the blood yes yes aren't you thankful lift him up i'm thankful for the blood of jesus [Music] [Applause] just one more oh there's healing in the blood if you need healing tonight healing's here because the blood is flowing oh there's healing in the blood of jesus yes of jesus [Music] jesus [Applause] [Music] yes there's healing in the blood of jesus [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and do you know this yeah there's salvation in the blood don't you know it tonight salvation in the bloody yeah there is [Music] [Applause] hey [Music] is [Music] [Applause] oh would you love jesus right now would you love him oh would you praise him for his shed blood i played the blood i plead the blood hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah glory glory glory