Sunday Evening Worship Service
by Raymond Woodward
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Proverbs 13:12, Job 14:7-10, Job 7:6, Acts 27:20, Ecclesiastes 11:3, Ecclesiastes 9:4, Lamentations 3:18, Lamentations 3:21-23, Acts 5:30, Galatians 3:13, 1 Peter 2:24, Jeremiah 17:7-8, John 4:13-14, John 7:37-39, Isaiah 41:17-18

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/raymond-woodward--sunday-evening-worship-service-59
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 haven't lived till you've been introduced by Pastor Mark MC he's just so kind and gracious and I tell him he's my brother from another mother he's an amazing man of God uh Beverly and I are so honored and blessed to be here with you this weekend and uh I I'll just say it like this you don't need any Imports or any help or assistance in the preaching Department there are great men of God that St in this Pulpit every week and feed you the rich word of God and uh I'm so grateful of course Bishop MC and sister mcul uh not only have impacted this entire area and this entire state but they've impacted Us in Canada and all around the world through their love for Missions and missionaries and pastors and church plants and all of that uh Pastor Mark and sister Jamie mcol oh my goodness just dear friends and I'm so grateful that uh we get to know them and call them our friends and the next generation of leadership um actually no offense to me and Pastor Mark but really the current generation of leadership Pastor Nate and Pastor Anthony and their wives uh what Stellar people they are and what Joy it gives me to know that this younger I'll say younger generation of preachers they have a hold of apostolic truth and Apostolic demonstration and they love the move of the spirit and you are abundantly blessed and I hope you know that I know you know that uh would you give just a thanks to the Lord for your leadership that's in this church I'm so grateful for them such an honor to be with all of them and with all of you and uh just before we're seated would you lift up your hands just as high as you can stretch them and lift up your voice just as high as you can Propel it and give God great great praise in this room thank you Jesus I love you God I honor you Jesus there's nobody like you we thank you we glorify you we're so excited and honored to be in your presence oh God I love you Jesus have your way fix what only you can fix heal what only you can heal do what only you can do I pray it in Jesus name everybody said amen you may be seated by its dictionary definition hope means to cherish with a desire and an anticipation hope means to want something to happen or to want something to be true it means to Desire with expectation of fulfillment or to expect something with confidence so when you're hoping for something you're awaiting believing counting on Desiring expecting anticipating and that's why so many of our expressions of Hope are so positive when we say them and we say things like this build your hopes up live in Hope set your Hope on raise your hope we say a glimmer of hope a ray of Hope to hold out hope to hope for the best we hope all goes well we've got high hopes we even say where there's life There's Hope and Hope Springs Eternal so many of our Expressions about Hope are so incredibly positive but brothers and sisters when something goes wrong in life as it often does that's when our Expressions about Hope take a turn when our dreams are delayed or denied we put a dark shade on that word hope and we say things like this dashed hopes shattered hopes give up hope hope against all hope we say don't get your hopes up or not a hope or abandon hope or they're beyond hope and our Expressions take a little bit of a negative turn and that's exactly what Solomon was talking about when he penned these words 3,000 years ago Proverbs 13 hope deferred maketh the heart sick but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life when job was going through his trial his Hope was deferred it was put off a long time his plans were postponed his dreams were denied job lost everything and everyone he loved he was robbed of his health and his happiness his confidence in God and his confidence in himself they were shaken it was shaken to job's very core and that good man that godly man was left with far more questions than he had answers and that's why in the middle of his trial even a great and godly man like job momentarily lost his hope Job 14 here's what he says for there is hope of a tree if it be cut down that it will Sprout again and that the tender Branch thereof will not cease though the root thereof wax old in the earth and the stock thereof die in the ground yet through the scent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant but man he dieth and wasteth away yay man giveth up The Ghost and where is he job says to us at least an old tree in the forest has hope even if you chop it down it still has a chance its roots can still Sprout again new shoots will come out of that old stump and bring new life it doesn't matter if the roots are ancient it doesn't matter even if its stump dies in The Soil job said at the first whiff of water it will come back to life and before long it'll bud and new saplings will start pushing through the dirt it's amazing what happens in nature but job says men and women not a chance we breathe our last and that's it we die and we stay dead we fall and we stay down we fail and it's over we get lost and we can't get back home we lose our hope and we lose everything that matters you can hear the pain and the confusion and the depression ression in his voice job says there's hope of a tree but there's no hope for me I've messed up majorly I've failed publicly I've walked out and fallen down and given up I backslid I'm haunted by my past I'm afraid of my future I'm miserable in my present job is like so many people we meet today I'm battling bondage and bitterness I'm fighting addiction and depression I'm weighed down by sin and shame sometimes I feel like a fake and a phony I've lost my joy and I've lost my song I'm tormented in my mind and I'm even hurting in my body I can't remember the last time I was really happy I fallen and I can't get back up There's Hope of a tree but there's no hope for me he says in chapter 7 my days are swifter than a Weaver's shuttle and they're spent without hope I've got no hope as I go through day after day and week after week and month after month and you need to know something hope doesn't just disappear in an instant all of a sudden hope gets drained away gradually when the trials just won't let up and the storms just won't stop and we don't even notice it at first because we're just trying to be strong for everybody else in our life we're trying to be strong for our spouse or our kids or our siblings our family we're trying to be strong for everybody and we don't even notice at first that hope is draining away and joy is draining away and peace is draining away but finally we wake up one day only to find out that life has robbed us of joy and stolen our peace and taken our hope away you know that happened to the Apostle acts 27 and 20 and when neither Sun nor stars in many days appeared and no small Tempest lay upon us all hope that we should be saved was then taken away he was on that ship and they were headed into a major storm and it would not let up and the storm kept beating on that boat everybody around him was terrified and after a while any hope that they would be rescued was taken away so I came to service tonight with a message for someone I'm not even saying it's the majority but here's what I know about God he has a way like like a a a guided missile of reaching through the crowd and reaching through the church family and finding that one that's hurting and that one that's lonely and that one that is in the middle of a service but they're feeling all alone I came tonight to tell you if you've been spending far too many days without hope God wants to speak to you from his word tonight he has a message for you and even better than that God wants to touch your life by the power of His Spirit you know what it is in this great church to have those Services where the Holy Ghost just flows like a river from vessel to vessel every once in a while I'm glad you're getting a touch but every once in a while I just really need a touch in a certain service I just really need God at a certain moment and I believe that tonight is that night for somebody in this room oh my I wish you'd Worship the Lord Jesus for a moment oh thank you God oh thank you Jesus I know it feels hopeless I get it it looks hopeless it sounds h hopeless it seems hopeless humanly speaking it is hopeless I got it just like a tree that is toppled it appears that in that area of your life you will never be able to get back up again life has knocked you down and you feel like you're just laying there right where your situation has left you right where the loss has left you right where the hurt has left you in Ecclesiastes Solomon elderly now he writes these words in chapter 11 if the clouds be full of rain they empty themselves upon the Earth and if the tree fall toward the South or toward the North in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be you can go back a generation later and the remains of that tree will be right where it fell there's an expression we still use in English where there's life there's hope my goodness I want to say that to somebody tonight where there's life There's Hope let me add to that if you'd allow me where there's life and God there's Supernatural hope Ecclesiastes 9 and4 there's some humorous things in the Bible this is kind of comical to me Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 944 to him that is joined to all the living if you're still living There's Hope for a living dog is better than a dead Lion now that sounds like a Tennessee proverb to me somehow I don't know sounds like something Pastor Mark would say a living dog is better than a dead lion here's what Solomon's saying my life may be bad but at least I'm alive I may not have all the blessings I want but I do have breath in my body I'd rather be in pain than in the mortuary I'd rather be in the middle of my trial than in the cemetery I'd rather be a living dog than a dead lion where there's life there's still hope but could I just take a minute and say what we're all thinking well Solomon that's great but I'd rather be a living lion I don't want to be a living dog I don't want to be a dead lion either so Solomon you're not very helpful I'm hurting and you're just passing out cliches Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet because he ministered during some of the darkest days that Israel ever faced those days led up to the destruction of his beloved Jerusalem those days led up to the Captivity of God's people in Babylon unlike just about any other prophet in your bible Jeremiah lived what he wrote and he wrote what he lived he was there trying pleading begging the people you've got to turn back to God or this is not going to be good you've got to turn back to God or destruction is coming and they ignored him no wonder he was the weeping prophet he saw God's people uh just reject every word he said and then he saw God's judgment begin to fall and as the enemy came in and surrounded the city and his beloved Jerusalem was destroyed he wept and as the people screaming and uh crying were taken into captivity Jeremiah's tears mixed with their tears as the Babylonian Army came in and swept through and captured Jerusalem and on that day they destroyed the temple and they slaughtered so many of the men and they enslaved everybody else and on that day Jeremiah he walked outside of the city burning in Flames destroyed everything devastated and he crawled into a little cave just to the north of Jerusalem and he picked up his pen and he wrote the saddest song of his life and it's in your Bible it's called The Book of Lamentations and here's what Jeremiah said in the middle of his lament chapter 3: 18 my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord I pause in the middle of this service and this sermon to address somebody that feels exactly like that you feel like your strength is is gone you feel like your hope is diminished yes you're trying to serve God yes you're wanting the best for your family but life has just dealt you a very difficult situation and there are times when it's hard to have hope there are times when it's hard to paste that smile on for one more day and get yourself to the house of God and it's you that I preach to not to everybody else maybe maybe their life is fine but I preach to you tonight because here's what I know about Jesus he doesn't just care about the people that just had the best week of their life he cares about the people that just went through the worst month they've ever experienced in all of their existence he hasn't left you he hasn't forsaken you he hasn't gone on vacation he hasn't turned his back on you he cares oh yes he cares his heart is touched with your grief oh my Jeremiah had no idea they they talk about it today they call that cave where he sat Jeremiah's Grotto There's A A A long ridge of rock uh outside of the north wall of the old city of Jerusalem and as part of that Ridge of rock there's this one spot years after Jeremiah lived and died and prophesied and wrote somebody looked at that weird rock formation in that long ridge of rock just outside the north wall of Jerusalem the archaeologists call the cave where he sat Jeremiah's Grotto um but there is a great group of archaeologists that say Jeremiah one of the caves that he crawled into it's right beside this there's an odd rock formation and years later somebody looked at it and said look at that rock formation there's two holes there side by side with a little Ridge of rock running between them that looks like two eyes and a the bridge of a nose and look at that other cave underneath that looks like a look at that rock formation that looks like a skull and years later somebody called it galet or we would say gotha Jeremiah when he went north of the city of Jerusalem and sat there he had no idea that he was sitting right in the middle of prophecy that would be fulfilled he had no idea that when he was weeping over Jerusalem he was embracing the spirit of one who would come and walk the streets of Jerusalem and weep over them as well oh Jerusalem Jerusalem and he had no idea of that but the spirit of Prophecy was on that old man and so when Jeremiah sat that day pouring out his heart you read Lamentations it's depressing you get through that book and he's just weeping and crying and he is lamenting over the destruction of Jerusalem but then it's like a shaft of sunlight pierces these dark clouds and hits that old Prophet right in the middle of his book and his pen probably writes a little bit faster as he writes these words now you remember he's just said my strength and my hope is perish from the Lord but when the spirit of Prophecy hits him he writes these words Lamentations 3 and 21 this I recall to my mind wait a minute I just remembered something in the middle of my trial in the middle of the worst day of my life I recall something therefore I do have hope after all here's my hope it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because on the worst day of my life God's compassions they fail not I know it's out there but God still loves me I know it's awful everywhere I turn but God still has compassion on me his compassions fail not they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness I haven't always been faithful but he he's always been faithful I haven't always been good but he's always been good I haven't always been stable but he's always been stable Great Is Thy Faithfulness you can pillow your head on the worst night of your life crying bitter tears into the cloth of your pillow and you can lay there and sob and struggle to get to sleep because life Just Dropped a Bomb of depression and pain and anguish and confusion and fear and sickness and loss on you and you can Cry tears into your pillow but you hear this preacher from Canada tonight by the time you wake up in the morning you're going to find out that the same Mercy that got you through that horrible day is there the next morning and the sun's going to come out and you're going to have strength to get through one more day I preached to somebody in the midst of this great church life's not all a better roses for you right now but your God is faithful and his mercies are new every morning and his strength is new every morning and his faithfulness never changes oh my just take a time out lift up your voice and thank the Lord hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah oh hallelujah oh my Jeremiah basically here's what he saying I may not be happy but I'm still here I might not be smiling but look at me devil I'm still standing I might not feel terrific but I am ten I I might not feel blessed right now but I mean business I might not be dancing tonight but I am determined to hold out to the end I might not look pretty in the middle of this battle but devil you hear me I will persist until I get through I might be weeping now but I am not a wimp so I will stand and I will stay I will push and I will persevere I will not cave in I will not give up my enemy might be fighting but my God is faithful oh oh oh oh Jeremiah he picked up on that same spirit that job had they both struggled both Jeremiah and job they say I lost my hope job even said there's hope of that old dead tree but there's no hope for me but somewhere just like Jeremiah in the middle of his problem in the middle of his trial and his incredible pain and loss and sickness job he caught a glimpse of something and in the middle of his trial he said I I've been looking for God I go forward he's not there I look around backward I can't see him they tell me he's working over here on my right hand but I can't discern it they say he's over here on the left but I can't figure that out he said I don't know where God is I don't know why God allowed this they tell me to trust him they my friends they come and they tell me oh job it's going to be okay and and if you live right it'll all turn out and job's thinking in his own mind I've been trying to live right don't you know I've been trying to live right and it feels like I don't know where God is I go forward and backward and left and right and I don't know where God is then he says but he knoweth the way that I take I can't figure out where God is but I've Got Confidence that God knows where I am and then he drops the bomb of blessing and when he has tried me I shall come forth as gold here's what job said I don't know when I'm coming out of this trial I can't can't tell you that I can't tell you if God's going to release me from this horrible trial next Wednesday or a month from Friday I can't tell you when I'm coming out but watch me devil I can tell you how I'm coming out I don't know when I'm getting out of this but I can tell you how I'm coming out of this I'm going to come out not bitter I'm going to come out blessed I'm going to come out worshiping my God when he has tried me I shall come forth as go yes yes yes oh I wish I could get that just seated in somebody's Spirit tonight cuz you don't know when you're coming out you don't know when you're going to get the an that you've been praying for you don't know Pastor said it he's preached it God can turn around that doctor's diagnosis but the diagnosis and the treatment is still staring you in the face you don't know when you're coming out of it but if it's next week or if it's tonight or if it's 6 months from now watch me devil I'm coming out as gold I'm not coming out bitter or backsliding I'm coming out trusting my God oh my let me come to a conclusion tonight what an honor it is to preach to you wonderful people who obviously love the word of God and the move of God job said there's hope of that old dead tree but there's no hope for me a tree at least if it gets a little whiff of water something can take place in that old stump and it can start to to sprout and new life but there's hope of that tree but there there's no hope for me but I'm glad that I'm not an Old Testament believer I'm a new testament believer there's another tree in the Bible it represented death and destruction and Devastation and defeat and to all appearances this tree marked the end of the road and the Triumph of evil and the loss of every bit of Hope but the apostles would forever refer to that tree with fondness and reverence because Calvary was not at all what it appeared to be it was the hope of a tree and that tree gave life to me and they talk about it forever with fondness acts 5:30 the god of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you slew and hanged on a tree Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree 1 Peter 2 and 24 who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we who were once dead to sins should now be able to live unto righteousness by whose Stripes he can't even stop himself from saying this by whose Stripes ye were healed what the Old Testament Prophet said in the present with his stripes we are healed Peter said no I'm putting it in the past it was accomplished at Calvary with his stripes by whose Stripes you were healed let me tell you Calvary just didn't pay the price for the Forgiveness of your sins it did that but it also paid for your healing he is the god that heals us that's why we take time to pray over people in our services because he's still a Healer because of the hope of that tree my fall is not fatal and my failure is not final God has the last word in my life not you not the devil not even me my God has the last word in my life and as for this Jesus I love him and I trust him and I'm glad he has the last word do you remember what job said about the hope of a tree even when it's cut down even when it falls even when it rots and dies and just lays there year after year even when it looks like all hope is gone for that old tree in the forest if some little part of that old tree can just catch the scent of water New Life can begin to sprad outout where it looked like there was only deadness and Decay that Prophet Jeremiah who went through the worst day of his life here's what he wrote Jeremiah 17 blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is for he shall be like a tree planted By the Waters that spreadeth out her Roots by the river and shall not see when the heat cometh but her Leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought neither shall cease from yielding fruit Jeremiah said if you can just get near God's water if you can just get near God's River then there's always a chance that that water is going to get in that old tree of your life or your situation and new life is going to sprout where old deadness was if I can just get to the water Jeremiah said I can live again there is hope of a tree and job sorry to disagree buddy there is hope of a tree and there is hope for me there's hope for me job I know you were down and depressed when you wrote that but I know you got to the end of your story and God gave you double of everything you'd ever had and your blessings were double on anything you'd ever experienced job There's Hope of a tree and There's Hope for me you know where I'm going with this because you love the Bible John chapter 4 Jesus answered and said unto that woman at the well whosoever drinketh of this water in this well they'll thirst again it'll probably be within 24 hours they'll be thirsty again but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him lady you won't need this well out here to quench your Soul's thirst because this well can't quench your Soul's thirst but if you'll drink of the water that I give it'll put in your being a well of water springing up into everlasting life if I could say it to somebody I say it kindly and humbly tonight but it's possible to come to a great church and kind of get lost in all the activity and the crowd of a great church it's possible to come and listen to the greatest men of God preach the greatest sermons it's possible to listen to the most wonderful talented capable singers and musicians take us to the heights of worship every service and it is possible to get lost in the crowd and it is possible because the devil never stops whispering in your ear you're the except ction yeah I know that works for other people but you're the exception you you you're too far gone and your situation and your family's too messed up and and and and the devil will whisper to you and tell you that of all the people in this great church somebody else might have their prayers answered but that's not going to happen for you so you need to just adjust to the new reality and you need to just give up hope I came to preach hope back in to somebody's life tonight because you don't need to give up your hope not when you can get to the living water in this church because if my spirit can just catch a little whiff of that living water that Jesus Promised it doesn't matter what's dead in my life it can come back to life it doesn't matter how dead my situation may be God can breathe new life into it if I can just catch a whiff of Living Water Jesus said in John 7 in the last day that great day of the feast he stood up in front of the people and he cried this aloud If any man thirst oh you know this scripture let him come unto me and drink he that believeth on me as the scripture hath said he won't have to go to the grocery store and buy a case of water out of his belly shall flow rivers of Living Water there's more than enough water in this place to start some new life in anything that's dead anything that's old anything that's messed up anything that's dysfunctional if that old tree of your life can just catch a little whiff of this water everything can change in the presence of God there is hope of a tree and there is hope for me too when Jesus said out of his belly shall flow rivers of Living Water that's not belly as in stomach as in food the Greek word is Kia that is belly as in womb as in birth what Jesus said was if you get this living water you're going to be able to pray in the spirit you're going to be able to speak in the spirit and it will birth New Life in your life it will birth New Life in your future it'll birth New Life in your family he was talking about the baptism of the Holy Ghost you don't have to guess it says it in the very next verse this spake he of the Holy Ghost there's enough holy ghost power in this local assembly that any situation can be turned around when God's people go to praying in the spirit because that water that living water that well that fountain that stream spring up oh well spring up oh well and when it starts to move everything that was dead can come back to life oh my goodness by the help of the Holy Ghost I want to speak hope deep down in somebody's spirit I want to give an infusion of Hope to somebody you feel like you're on life support let me tell you you're in the emergency ward of the Holy Spirit you are in the Great birthing chamber of apostolic power when you get in the presence of Jesus the old has gone and the new has come if any man be in Christ he's a new creature oh my goodness stand with me I just got one last scripture to read to you this is from another great old prophet of God in the Old Testament Isaiah 41 when the poor and the needy seek water and there is none everything around them is dead and dry and their tongue faileth for thirst they can't get themselves out of their situation there's no water anywhere there's no hope anywhere there's no help anywhere here's what God Said I the Lord will hear them I the god of Israel will not forsake them I will open rivers in high places es and fountains in the midst of The Valleys I will make even your Wilderness a pool of water and I'll make your dry land Springs of water let me tell you what God would love to do for somebody tonight he just love to let the water of his Spirit wash over your soul tonight wash over your family tonight wash over your marriage tonight wash over that situation that has boggled your mind and burdened your spirit all you got to do is reach out to him if you can just see you you think well I got to have some major kind of Deliverance and it's got to go on for weeks no no no no no no no all you need is a whiff of water if that old tree ever gets just a whiff of water New Life can spring up if you can just get a touch of God everything can change you're such a wonderful church thank you for the honor of preaching to you thank you for the honor of being with your great pastors and leaders but the way you responded this morning blessed my heart and tonight I'd ask you to respond to the same the same way to the word of God would you leave where you're standing bring your family and your friends and everybody and just come to the front when you get here come as close to the front and as close to the center as you can get we're going to pray together there may be 95% of this church that you're doing just fine you're in Victory tonight but I'm not preaching just to you tonight I'm preaching to somebody that's hurting and you're in pain you feel lost and alone you feel confused you feel discouraged and depressed and you're trying to be strong for the rest of us let me tell you something you don't have to be strong for us Jesus is strong enough for all of us all at the same time so you don't have to fake it you don't have to fake it you can call on him and he can turn your situation around right now but you hear me devil whether God turns it around tonight or whether he turns it around a month from now when he has tried me I'm coming forth as gold I'm going to come out of this sometime somewhere somehow with victory in my soul ladies with ladies family with family men with men man would you reach over take somebody by the hand and lift every hand that we can lift right now every hand that we can lift just lift those hands together and I'm going to ask you to pray for them while you pray for you right now in the name of Jesus by the power of the Great Name of Jesus and by the authority of the word of God Jesus I speak Freedom into somebody's life I speak Deliverance into somebody's life I speak that the bondage of depression would be broken I speak that the bondage of fear would be broken I speak that the bondage of all of that anxiety would be broken right now in the name of Jesus I speak healing I speak healing I speak healing I speak healing of broken bodies I speak healing of broken Minds I speak healing of broken hearts right now in your presence Jesus let the river flow let the river flow let the river flow yes yes that's wonderful folks thank you fac yes yes yes yes yes in the name of Jesus if you're filled with the Holy Ghost while you're praying pray in the spirit lift up your voice and pray in the Holy Ghost there's healing in this room there's Deliverance in this room yes yes yes yes yes thank you God yes God thank you God yes Jesus yes God