A Pesky Problem Called Sin
by Wesley Stephens
January 17, 2021 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 5:1-8, Hebrews 11:15, Proverbs 26:11, 2 Peter 2:20-22, Isaiah 57:17-19, Genesis 7:11, Ephesians 5:27, Song Of Solomon 2:15, Romans 6:23, James 1:15, 2 Corinthians 6:17, Isaiah 1:18, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Ephesians 5:1-3, 1 Peter 1:16, Hebrews 12:14, Acts 2, Acts 1, Acts 10

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/wesley-stephens--a-pesky-problem-called-sin
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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Man, if you have your Bibles, you can turn me to First Corinthians chapter five. I was here last night, put together a sermon, felt good about it. Woke up this morning, I felt a different direction. So it may not be as polished today, but I'm not apologizing for that, because I believe that the Lord wants to do something powerful in this place. I was telling Bishop, I don't think it's an accident that they were singing that song, because I'm just going to just tell you now how I feel. I feel like there is going to be a miracle today. I believe that somebody can receive a miracle today.

First Corinthians chapter 5, start with verse number one. Says, I can — and this is the New Living Translation, I'm just reading it for for emphasis in the story — it says: I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you, something that even the pagans don't do. It's bad when the church is doing something the heathens aren't doing. It says: I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother, and you are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame, and you should remove this man from your fellowship. Verse 6, it says: your boasting about this is terrible. Don't you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast by removing the wicked person from among you. Then you will have, then you'll be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is really what you are. Christ our past Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us, so let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.

Today I want to preach on this title: A Pesky Problem Called Sin. A pesky problem called sin. Let's do this. Let's bow our heads one more time. Let's pray for the remainder of this service. Jesus, we love you. God, thank you so much for this day. God, I thank you so much for this opportunity to be in your house. Lord, I pray over the next few minutes, God, that I would just get out of your way and let your will be done in this service. God, I pray right now, Lord, that there would be miracles, signs, and wonders. And I pray, Lord Jesus, that everything would go towards glorifying your name. God, you are worthy today. We love you, Jesus. In Jesus name, amen.

A pesky problem called sin. There was a story I heard a while ago about a boy who was eight years old, and he was a pastor's kid, and grew up around the Detroit area. He grew up in a very conservative home with a very conservative church. It was a church where he, he knew everybody that was there. Typically there wasn't anybody at the service that he didn't know their first and last name. And the kid's father, who was his pastor, preached against every kind to sin. He was one of those old-fashioned kind of preachers. He preached against worldly entertainment and any other type of vice that could potentially be preached against. The boy, he grew up in this uber conservative lifestyle, and and because this, he was always curious by new people, new folks that would come to the church. And for a few weeks his church, they had a gentleman who was coming faithfully. He would come and he would sit in the back row, and he didn't worship, he didn't pray, he didn't come to the altar, just kind of sat there, arms crossed, not really showing emotion at all. And so the young boy assumed that this man had to be a sinner. To his knowledge, he had never met a sinner. So he goes up to the man, he says: sir, are you a sinner? Man says: yeah, guess I am. The boy was astounded. Again, to his knowledge, he he had thought he had never seen or met a sinner, so his curiosity grew, and he began to ask more questions. Sir, do you smoke cigarettes? Man's like: yeah, I smoke. Young boy says: sir, do you drink beer? He's like: yeah, I drink beer. The little boy, again just thinking of what the worst possible outcome could be for a sinner, looks at him and says: sir, do you stay up late at night and watch television? The man says: yes, yes I do. And the boy said: man, it'd be great to be a sinner. It'd be awfully good to be a sinner.

And while that story is pretty funny, what I fear is that that little eight-year-old boy is living in a lot of us. And if we're not careful, we can become so comfortable and complacent in our relationship with God. We can become so polished while we're in this place, while feeling superior with sophistication, while at the same time taking grace for granted, and mercy becomes a mundane part of our life. We can get to a place where our salvation becomes stagnant and the supernatural becomes still. I fear that if we're not careful, we can get to a place in our walk with God that we can easily get back to the mindset and begin to wander back to the world in which we were called out of. I fear today that if there, that there are some of us in this room that your mindset, your heart, maybe even your affections are not necessarily in the church, but maybe in a past sin or a past activity. Today I wonder: is that eight-year-old little boy living inside of us, where we kind of internally think to ourselves, man, I wish I was a sinner?

Hebrews chapter 11 verse 15, the writer says: and truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had the opportunity to return. Truth is today, is that if you and I begin to think back at our former life, our former lifestyle, and begin to miss the the feeling or excitement that would come with maybe a particular sin, it, it's easy. Scripture says that once you set your mind on it, and set your mind on your past, that it's easy to trip up and fall back into it, to return to that lifestyle. Because when you begin to think about something over time, that thought becomes emotional, and it starts to enter into your heart. And then after a while, those feelings, those emotions in your heart become an action. And after they become actions, you begin to go back to places and start doing things and start saying things that you thought that you would never return back to. And it's all because you think to yourself: sure, it'd be nice to be a sinner. Chapter 26 verse 11 says: as a dog returns to his own vomit. That's the liken to a man or a woman who is blood bought, baptized in the name of Jesus, filled with the Holy Ghost, come to church, serve in ministry, and one day all those things are gone because you've decided in your heart of hearts that it's better to be a sinner in this world than a saint.

I know I'm preaching hard right now, and maybe just a little pushing some people the wrong way, but I want somebody to know today that this life is still the best life, that this way of living is still the best way of living. That yes, there are things out in the world that seem enticing and seem exciting, but it is nothing. And I, I say with all uh declaration inside of me today, that there is nothing in this world that compares to serving God. There is nothing. Today you may have it hard. You may be going through a tough situation. Things may not be easy for you right now. You may be in a circumstance that's tough, a situation that that's challenging you. But I can tell you, the best decision you ever made was when you came to the altar and you said: God, I'm going to love you with all of my heart, with all of my soul, and with all of my mind. This is not the better life. This is not just the okay life. This is the best possible life for you.

Peter said in Second Peter chapter 2, verse 20 through 22, it says: for if after, after they have escaped the pollutions of this world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better, it would have been better for them to have not known the way of righteousness than to have known it and turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. It would have been better for you. It would have been better for me, a person who was blood bought, Holy Ghost filled, to never come to the truth, than to come to the truth and walk away from it. I'm getting somewhere, I promise. It goes on to say here in Second Peter, it says: but it is happened to them according to the true proverb, that a dog returns to his own vomit, and a pig having washed to her own wallowing in the mire.

There is a term that I do not use lightly today, but it's a term that I feel like we have kind of walked away from, because it doesn't sound pretty. It sounds harsh. It sounds maybe even judgmental. But that word is backsliding. We don't preach about backsliding, I don't think, like we used to. We don't talk about it like we used to. We, in my opinion, we use the word prodigal a lot more. And I think the reason why we use the the prodigal story is because it's a happy ending. We like the idea that at some point the the backslider, the prodigal, is going to realize that they had it better at the father's house, and they're going to get up and they're going to get out of that that that pig pen, and they're going to come back to the house, and the father's going to come running to them, and there's going to be a robe waiting for them. There's going to be restoration waiting for them. There's going to be happiness in that house again, because the prodigals come home. But it seems like we we don't want to use the word backslider, because backslider has a a negative connotation to it, where when you use that term to describe somebody, it seems like they're too far gone. There's no hope for them anymore. There's no opportunity for them to find restoration in God.

But Isaiah, the 57th chapter and the 17th verse, the Lord says: for the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him. He says: I hid and was angry, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. Says: but I have seen his ways, and I will heal him. I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. I will create the fruit of his lips. Peace, peace to him who is far off, into him who is near, says the Lord, and I will heal him.

I need a second here, because here's the deal. I want to serve the devil a notice right now, and I think it's appropriate for some of you to serve the notice, and serve the devil notice as well. Because here's the deal: there's a promise right there in Scripture about backsliders, that he knows where they're at, that he will heal them, that he will restore them, and that he will give those who have been praying for them for some time peace, as well as him or her. So just give me a second right here while I make a proclamation. Devil, you've thought too long that you had him. For over a decade I've been praying for him. But I want you to know today that there is going to be a revival, that there is going to be a healing of every backslider. I want somebody to know today that there is restoration in this house, that there is healing in this house for every backslider, for every prodigal, for every person who's walked away. God is still fighting for them. Oh, I wish I had a praying mama or a hurting daddy right now to go ahead and say, stand in the gap for their son or for their daughter, and say: devil, you've had them too long. Devil, you've had a grip on them too long. It's time, in Jesus name, for the change to be broken, for the walls to fall down. I want somebody to know that there's revival and there's healing for the backslider in Jesus name. In 21 — it's the, it was yesterday, you can be seen — it was yesterday that I was here at the church in Tiffany Church, he brought her grandma to come be baptized in Jesus name. Some of you, you met Betty last week. She got filled with the Holy Ghost here. Got a picture right here of her being baptized in the precious name of Jesus. But Tiffany didn't just bring grandma. She brought the whole family. She brought her aunt named Angie. And Angie came in. She didn't have the Holy Ghost. I don't even know when the last time she came to church. I don't need to know. All I know is that God's working on your life. She comes yesterday and she decides to get baptized in Jesus name. Oh, it gets better. It gets better. Because the second she came out of that water, she was speaking in other tongues as the Holy Ghost gave the utterance. Can I tell somebody today that backsliders are coming home? This is the year. This is the year. If you're a backslider in this place, you've been gone too long. If you're a backslider watching, you've been gone too long. It's time to come home.

In Genesis chapter 7, verse number 11, it says: in the 600th year of Moses — Noah's life — in the second month, the 17th day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights. I had this thought a few days ago. What if the death — what if Noah was convinced by the devil that he ought to stop one day too short? It says it was the 600th year of his life, and the second month, on the sixth — seventeenth day. But I began to think: what if Noah, on the sixteenth day of that month, he said, you know what? I've been building this ark for so long. I put sweat. I put tears. I have poor energy. People have ridiculed me and made fun of me. They said that there's never going to be — and I, I look up at the sky and I recognize there is no clouds in the sky. There is no sign of rain coming. Why in the world am I — what if he had lit a match and put it on that ark and walked away? And as he's walking away, he feels that first drop of rain hit his head. What would he have thought if he said to himself: I came so close to getting my family saved, but I walked away one day shy. What I don't want in these last days is for a praying mama or a hurting daddy to give up too soon on their kid. You don't know: today might very well be the day of salvation. Noah kept working. And I wonder today: is there a Noah in this place? Is there somebody that's willing to put another nail in the wood? Is there another person here today that's willing to take another piece of ridicule and say, I'm going to keep building it, because I know I've got a promise. I know I've got a word. God told me it's going to rain. God told me they're going to come back to church. I believe that 21 is the year for the backslider.

I'm not going to stay here too much longer, but I was thinking even this morning: what if every backslider came home? Can I tell you, Brother Michael, what we'd have to do? We had to start knocking down those walls tomorrow. If every prodigal came home, we'd have to start building that balcony right now, because there's so many — hear me — there's so many people out there. Don't tell me the harvest isn't full. The harvest is full just with Center Point backsliders. This is the year for the prodigal. But I also think this is the year where we see brand new faces here. I'm talking about first generation babies. I'm talking about those people that still don't even know what apostolic means. I called somebody a few days ago. I said, I'm with Cena Point Apostolic Church. They were like: what's Abner Black's church? It's like, apostolic. They're like: I don't know what that is. And it's the person that was hearing the Bible Belt. It's crazy. People still don't know what Pentecost is. But I think this is the year where we see brand new people, first generation people, people who walk in this building and still think we're crazy. People that walk in thinking we've, we've lost a couple marbles along the way. I'm talking about the people that sit back in the back and say: why are they shouting? Why are they running? Why are they leaping? Why are they so joyful? Why, um, I'm looking for the people that have never come to the Center Point Apostolic Church. I'm thinking about the people that, that don't have, never been taught a Bible study. They don't know what the oneness of God is. I believe there are people in our community, they're desperate for the truth. They're desperate for the word. It's just going to take somebody to go and teach it to them. They say: a church that's not evangelizing is fossilizing. I pray that they would never say that about Center Point, that we would never get to a place where we're just happy with the faces we see and the people we know.

Yes, I know, I know, I know that the more people you get into the building, the more people that don't know truth, it can get a little messy. But can I tell you, Center Point — I hope this comes across okay — Center Point is not for the polish Pentecost. Listen, if you gotta be polished to come to church here, I don't want to come to church here. If we ever get to that place where we can't bring in the messiest of sinners from our city into — and they can't feel love, and they can't feel peace, and they can't feel joy — can I tell you, we ought to shut the doors, because we're not doing the job as a church. We have to reach for people. We have to get into this world. But can I tell you, the world can't get into us. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 27 says: that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. I know it might seem like an oxymoron to each and every one of us, that we are going to try to fill a church with sinners, yet keep their sin on the outside of our building walls. But that is exactly what we are commissioned to do. We are commissioned to go find the people who are hurting the worst, who are addicted the most, and bring them into this church, where they can see those addictions wipe clean. And those — but we've got to get to a place where we know that the world will not get into us. Because it's just a little sin. It's just a little carnality. It's just a little flesh that can derail what God is trying to do in these last days.

Paul said in the opening text, he said, it's known by all of us that you're, you're putting up with this stuff at your church that even the pagans wouldn't do. Man, that's bad. Have all the other churches in the area knowing your church is okay with a bunch of people doing worse than the world's doing. Got some big sin going on there. But he says, Paul says, it's not just the big sin that you should worry about. It's the small sin. It's the little yeast that can leaven the entire dough. It's just a little bit of use. It's just a little sin. It's just a little — things are being passed by and saying, well, they're not big, grandiose, and so it's okay. Those things, hear me, those things can ruin the entire lump of dough. Song of Solomon 2 15 says that it is the little foxes that spoil the vines. It's the little things.

Sin is never going to come knocking at your door and present itself as a big grandiose sin that's going to knock you off your feet, make you backslide. Make — sin is not going to do that. It's never going to show you the full picture. When sin comes into your life, it's not knocking at your door saying: hey, I'm the thing that's about to ruin you or destroy you or hurt you so bad. Sin doesn't do that. Sin never presents itself that way. It never presents itself in its final stages. It starts small. It comes in innocent. It comes in cute. It comes in as just a simple pleasure. It doesn't seem harmful. It doesn't seem overpowering. It doesn't seem addicting. But the longer sin on any level goes unchecked, it's like the yeast, it begins to grow. And the insanity of sin is that while sin is pleasurable, it is only pleasurable for a season. It's fun, but it's only fun for a season. It's, it's exciting, but it's only exciting for a season.

Young boy, I, I wish I was a sinner. Maybe so. But you only want to be a sinner for a season. Because hear me: every type of sin, every type of iniquity, it, every type of slip up that goes against what the word of God, anything that could bring some type of pleasure in your life like that, it will come with an expiration date. Every sin comes with the same promise. Paul told the Romans in 6 23: for the wages of sin is death. James said: in sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. I know I might sound a little bit like a Sunday school teacher right now, but small sin, big sin, known sin, hidden sin, they're all the same type of sin to God.

You know, a prayer that I pray a lot is: God, create in me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit within me. I pray that every single day. Why? Because I don't ever want there to be a day where a small sin gets to settle in my heart and begins to grow in my heart and becomes something bigger, something I can't control, something I can't — just makes sense. Every day: God, created me a clean heart. Look, search my heart. Know every part of my heart. If there's anything, and I mean anything, that goes against you, please God, help me get rid of it.

Yes, our goal is the Great Commission. Our goal is to create commission. But we can't get to a place where we are trying so hard to reach the world that we in turn become the world. Paul said, Second Corinthians chapter 6 verse 17: wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. The prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 1 18: though your sins be as scarlet, they will, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like Clemson, yet they shall be as wool. Paul said again in First Corinthians 6 9-11: know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. And he lists a lot of things. We don't like it when preachers list a lot of sins, but that's what Paul did here. He says: you were these things. But then he goes on in verse 11, it says: and such were some of you. I believe that's a word for us right now. There's a lot of people in this room, you can say that, I was that, but I'm not that anymore. We were a bunch of I used to bees, but now I'm not. But here's the deal. This is the fact today. This is what I'm trying to get across so hard, and that is this: that testimony that you have is not just for you. But there are people in our community, there are people in our city — yes, they may be sinners right now — but there is a promise over them. There is a testimony over them. There is a prophecy over them, that that one day they can say like you and me: and such was I, but I'm not that anymore. How do you get sinners in the church without there being sin in the church? You teach them a Bible study this week. I know just from talking to Pastor, Amanda Monroe, she taught two Bible studies, lined up two Bible studies. That's okay. That's good. Just to clarify, we like that. My wife, on Friday night, she taught a Bible study. Sister Kennedy came up this week and she taught a Bible study. Church, that's four that I know of. But I know there's more represented in this room. But what I also know is this, is that four is just scratching the surface for what God wants to do in 21. I'm standing right now with Josh Campbell and saying we're going to teach 300 Bible studies. You know what I would like to see? I would like for us to see 300 in the first quarter. Why not? I said, why not? Why can't we — t — why can't every single person in this congregation teach a Bible study? Can't let sin creep in the back door. Can't let our attempts to reach the world cause us to be like the world.

Paul said in Ephesians five, verses one through three, says: be therefore followers of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and have given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savior. But fornication and all uncleanliness, to — or coveted us — let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints. Let it not be once named among you. We have to be careful, Center Point. We have to be careful, saint of God, that we don't ever get to a place where the people that come inside of our church buildings, that are desperate for something from God, come in and find people just like themselves here. Boy, we better not preach while we don't practice. We better — I think we've gotten professional at being polished, but that's not what we were called to do. That's not what we were called to be. We were called to be holy. We were called to be holy on Sunday, yes, but we were called to be holy on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday. Yes, there is the Great Commission, but there's also the great commandment. It says in First Peter 1 16: because it is written, be holy, for I am holy. We're still called to be holy. Hebrews 12 14: follow peace with all men, and holiness, for without which no man can see the Lord. Got to be holy. We've got to be real people. We've got to be people — listen — that when, when a sinner, when a person that's desperate for some — we got to be ready for them.

I love what pastor said last week. I love the concept that we shouldn't have to pep rally every week. When we come in here, when we come into the house of God, we ought to be — every single one of us — we ought to be ready to praise somebody through to the Holy Ghost. I — oh, I, I'm going to get trouble here — but we should have to pray that you pray through the Holy Ghost. We ought to be thanking God that together, as the body of Christ, we are praying people through the Holy Ghost each week.

I'm about to make one of the largest, most random segues in preaching history, and I think I can make sense of what I'm about to say next. And if I haven't made sense already, just go ahead and come back next week and you'll have pastor here. Here we go. It was a few nights ago at the Stephen's house that my wife and I, we decided to forego sending our kids to college and instead decided to book a trip to Disney World, the happiest place on earth. Not sure how to explain it to my kids yet, that I've probably spent all their college tuition on this trip. I've got about a decade to explain, hazelnox: about 10 years ago we went to Disney. There's your college. And I'm joking. I really am joking. We wouldn't do that. We are going to Disney though. And so I'm the type of person — and I may be the only person in the room that's this way — but when I go anywhere, when I do anything like travel, I'm the person that does way too much research. Like, I, I feel like I've got to know everything about a city, everything about a place. I've got to go to Trip Advisor and read everybody's reviews, like the crazy, like, give me all the reviews. I want everything, anything that's gone wrong. I'm the person that's going on, on YouTube, finding clips, watching information. I'm getting it all in. I've got — I've been to Disney World, but I'm still like, I'm like, again, I'm like the eight-year-old boy. I'm excited. I want to know everything. And so I'm watching and reading and getting information about Disney World, and I found this — this site is uh, a reader, readers Digest article — and it was talking about all these different random facts about Disney World, Walt Disney World. Do you know that Walt Disney World employs 70,000 people? That's the largest singular one site location in the world for having employees. In fact, Disney World employs more people there than all the other Disney parks combined. No structure at Disney World is above 200 feet, and they did that so they wouldn't have to bring in the aviation lights to mess up with the Disney vibe. Today, the cost of a bottled water at Disney is the same cost that the admission cost used to be, which is three dollars and fifty cents. Disney has many secret underground tunnels that I was intrigued to learn about, including tunnels that are designated just for trash. That's why you never see any trash at Disney. They take it underground and it's gone. An estimated 1.65 million sunglasses have been lost to Disney since it has been opened in 1971. If you can't find those sunglasses, it may be in Disney World. But there was one random fact that really stood out to me, and it was how much Disney pays attention to its pest problem, or maybe the lack thereof. Now some of you are like: what in the world, where are we going? I promise I'm getting somewhere with this. Just, I wrote these notes, I know where we're going. Disney pays a ton of attention to preventing tight, different types of pests in the park. But the the one pest that they mostly spend time on and track like crazy is mosquitoes. Anybody get annoyed by mosquitoes? Disney World, they pride themselves in preventing mosquitoes into the park. You may have a lot of complaints when you leave Disney. You may say it was too expensive, or that it was too hot, or that it was too expensive, or the lines were too long, or that it was too expensive, or that that song — "It's a Small World After All" — will forever be stuck in your head, or that it's too expensive. You may have a lot of complaints, but one complaint that you will probably not have when you leave Disney World is the mosquitoes. Really bad today. And it is that way despite the fact that Disney World was built in the central part of Florida. Florida is known for one thing when it comes to landscapes, and that is the fact that they are wetlands, marsh area. The wetlands of Florida are very popular. And so Walt Disney chooses to put Disney World in the smackdown middle of mosquito world. And he thinks to himself: I can have the best rides. I can have the best entertainment. I can have, make every kid's dream come true. But if I can't figure out the mosquitoes, then nothing else is going to matter.

In 1964, Walt Disney, he met a man by the name of General Joe Potter. And Potter had previously served as the governor of the Panama Canal Zone, and he had really figured out how to prevent pests like mosquitoes from swarming, because in that area malaria was a serious issue. So Walt met him in 1964, and he hired on the — hired him on the spot to keep charge of preventing the mosquitoes from coming into Disney World. Now mosquitoes are not very big. They weigh a whopping, I think, 2.5 milligrams on average. If they weighed like a half a pound, they would probably rule the world. They're tiny. You can barely see them. But boy, they are incredibly pesky. Not only are they irritating, mosquitoes are actually the world's deadliest animal, according to the CDC, since they can spread diseases like malaria, West Nile, and Zika, to name a few, killing an average of one million people per year. They're more likely to kill you than a bear, a shark, or any other predator that you might come across. I know in Tennessee, I will literally walk out of my house to my car, and I can't even make it there without a swarm of mosquitoes in the middle of summer finding me and latching. I'm just that sweet, I guess.

Disney said: despite our surrounding nature, despite what we started off with, despite maybe even what we've been known for in the past, in Central Florida there is one thing we will not be known for. We will not be known as a mosquito wasteland. And today they're not. And it's not by accident. And the reason why I share that is, we, you and I have to be incredibly intentional about being apostolic. We cannot be apostolic by accident. We will never fulfill the commandment to be holy by happenstance. We have to be incredibly intentional. And here's a deal: if Disney can be intentional about having, not having mosquito problems, then I think it's all right if the church gets intentional about not having sin issues. I think if Disney can make sacrifices for not having the reputation for being a mosquito wasteland, then I think it's all right if the church makes some sacrifices as well, to make some sacrifices so that we aren't known by the world as a bunch of hypocrites, that we're not just a bunch of sinners who try to act holy on Sunday. I think it's all right if we go the extra mile to make sure that our reputation — yes, Disney World is built on the marsh, yet its appearance and reputation are anything but a dirty old swamp. Likewise, I believe that the church, who can sit on top of sinners, as long as Christ is the chief cornerstone, can be known by the world as anything but a bunch of believers. I believe that we can be known by the world as a bunch of Holy Ghost filled, holy followers of Jesus Christ. I think it's okay that we are intentional about our holiness. I think it's okay that we make sure we don't let sin creep in the back door. I think it's okay that we pray prayers like: God, look at my heart. Examine my heart. Know where I'm at right now. For a little yeast can ruin the entire dough.

Mosquitoes are definitely a pesky problem, but so is sin. Ironically, they're both after the same thing, and that's the blood of — that's the blood. Mosquitoes are after your blood, just FYI. But so is sin. Sin wants to take the blood off of you.

This I know: we live in a world right now where it seems like anything goes. Things are being negotiated and renegotiated, it seems like, every single day. People's doctrines, peoples ideologies, people lifestyle, everything's changing. But can we just take a stand today and say that we will never change our stance on the blood? Can we make a stance today that we will always preach the blood of Jesus Christ? I think we ought to preach it. I think we ought to sing it. I think we ought to teach it. I think we ought to worship and thank God for the blood of Jesus Christ. I've come to tell somebody that the blood still has power in 2021. The blood still has power. It has a — it has authority. It can do things for you that this world cannot do. I'm a product of the blood. I'm a product of the fact that I came to an altar and I said: Jesus, cover my sins with your blood, the blood that you shed on Calvary. It still flows today. It still can make a difference today. It can change a life today. Because there's still power in the blood of Jesus Christ. If you're a person here today and you've never asked God to forgive you, and you've never asked God to remove your sin, I can tell you today with a surety that if you just say, Jesus, forgive me, the blood that covered my life, it'll cover your life, for this promise is for you and your children, and to as many as the Lord our God shall call. How do we get sinners in without sin as well? We get them covered in the blood of Jesus Christ. You and I — I pray that you never, ever, ever, ever, ever think that you are too good for the blood of Jesus Christ. Don't ever get to the place where you don't feel like you have to plead the blood, or you have to ask the blood. I'm telling you, I've been in church my whole life, and there will never be a day, no matter how good I think I get, that I don't need the blood of Jesus Christ. It's still the thing. It's still the thing that takes my sin, that takes my shame, and takes it to be cleansed. It's the blood. It's life-saving. It's life-giving. It's, it's sin forgiving.

Today in this place, I don't know where you're at. I don't know what you've done. I don't know where you've been. But I know that I know that I know that the blood can cover your life. We are overcomers by the word of our testimony and his blood.

I'm about through, coming to a close here in just a second. But when Walt Disney brought in the General Joe Potter, first thing he did at the, at Disney World was he started to teach them the importance of keeping the parks' surrounding water and water within the park to constantly be flowing. He said the water has to keep flowing. There can never be a day where the water, like its typical swamps itself, begins to start standing, because the second the water begins to start standing and becomes stagnant is the second those mosquitoes are going to come in and begin to lay their eggs and live in the park. In 2019, the article that I read from the Reader's Digest, the Disney employee said: the guests usually don't notice it, but the water is constantly flowing. It never stops. So Disney, in the 60s, every plant that was planted, they planted it knowing that it could not hold water. The leaves would not cause water to pond up, but the leaves would allow water to flow through them. Every building that's built is built with an angle, certain angles to make sure that water, when it rains, never stays on the roof. It never — but there's a flow. Every single time it rains at Disney World, you won't see water puddling up on the sidewalks, because all the sidewalks are built angled so that the water flows consistently, because they don't ever want the waters to start standing. They've dug ditches. In the 1960s they began to dig ditches, ditches that were built with the mindset that the flow of the water surrounding the park would always be — the water would always be flowing. Anybody ever noticed the fountains that are Disney World? Anybody ever notice the fountains of Disney World? They're not there for, for you to just admire them. They're there to pump water, to move water, to make sure that the water is always moving, because they know stagnation will invite the mosquitoes in.

This is the last point that I've got today. But spiritually speaking, when we become stagnant, when we become still, when we spiritually stop moving forward, that is the very second — hear me today — that is the very second that we allow sin to start creeping into our lives. The very second that we think to ourselves that we can get comfortable, and that we can get complacent, and that we don't have to keep growing in ministry, and we don't have to keep going our relationship with God, it's the very second that we're basically waving red flags saying: sin, come on back in. Sin, because I'm — listen, I believe this with all my heart: if you're not moving forward in your relationship with God, then you are moving backwards. Disney said: I can't, I can't ever let the water become stagnant around here. And I believe as a church we ought to have the same mindset, that when we come in each and ever — I, I just said, I, I, I don't mean this harsh, but if you think that it's okay that we come into the house of God and not have a move of God, you're crazy. I don't know how to say it, but you've lost your mind. If you think that we could come in here as apostolics and play church and be cute and do all the right motions and all the right behaviors, and then leave this place and be okay, you've lost it. You've lost your mind. When we come into this house, we ought to expect a move of the Holy Ghost. We ought to expect the waters to be moving, the water to be flowing. Why? I want somebody to hear this today: when we come into the house of God, we ought to expect a move of the Holy Ghost. Earlier I was talking about how miracles can take place in this place. But here's the deal: I shouldn't have to tell you that. A minister should never have to tell you that you should come in expecting, expecting, expecting miracles, because the water is still moving here. Jesus said: he that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow, flow, flow, flow, rivers of living water. That water does not stop. That water does not become stagnant, but it continues to flow. It continues to move. It continues to reach people's lives. Come on, saint of God, it's not time for us to be stagnant. It's not time for us to be still. It's not time for us to get complacent. It's time for us to move.

Oh yes, Paul said — as we stand to our feet — he said: I remind you to stir up the gift, to stir up the gift of the Holy Ghost. I wonder today: when is the last time you stirred up the gift? When is the last time that you didn't just stir up the gift in a response to a song, you didn't just stir up the gift in response to a sermon, but God began to do a work in your life, to do a work in your heart, that when you woke up on a morning you said: God, I feel you moving. I feel you doing something. I feel your Spirit leading me. When is the last time that you operated in your gift of the Spirit? When is the last time you spoke in tongues? When is the last time that you came to an altar and got drunk in the Holy Ghost? When is the last time, when is the last time that you had a moving of the water? The church was birthed by a move. Acts 2. The church — Acts 1, Acts 2, Acts 10 — the church was moved by the Holy Ghost. They did nothing but let the Holy Ghost lead them and guide them and direct him, because they were constantly, daily, stirring up the gift. And I believe that God has sent me today, this afternoon, to remind somebody: you've been stagnant for too long. You've been still for too long. You've been — oh, I got to be careful here — but you've been making excuses for why you're not doing anything for God, for too long. You haven't been serving God like you need to, because you've allowed your spiritual life to become stagnant. But I believe that today God wants to drop his Holy Ghost fire on somebody. He wants somebody to feel the gift of the Spirit begin to stir in them. I believe that today miracles are going to happen at this altar. Lives are going to be changed. But they're only going to happen when we begin to allow the Holy Ghost to be stirred up in our life.

The best way, the best way to keep sin outside of our church walls, the best way to make sure that sin never creeps in our hearts and distances us from God, as we get so consumed with what God is doing — the Bible talks about idle hands — but when you've got your hands to the plow and you're saying: God, I want you to lead me. God, I want you to guide me. God, I want your Holy Ghost. I want to do something today supernatural for your kingdom. What happens is, you don't become stagnant and allow sin to creep in. If you want sin to get outside of you, God, until you need to get occupied. You need to get occupied with what God is doing in this world right now. You've got to get yourself in ministry. You've got to get yourself teaching a Bible study. You've got to get yourself doing something for the kingdom of God. If we stay moving, the sin will stay behind us.

This is what I want us to do right now. I want, I want right now every head to be bowed, every eye to be closed. I feel the Holy Ghost so strong in this place right now. Lord, I, I preached what you put on my heart this morning. God, I preached why you told me to preach today. But God, this morning you spoke miracles, and we sung miracles. And today I'm expecting miracles to take place. I'm expecting God today for someone to have the supernatural experience of being filled with your Holy Ghost. I'm expecting today for somebody to surrender to your name in baptism, allow the remission of sins to take place in Jesus name. I'm expecting for people to come to an altar and repent of their sins and get right. I'm expecting today backsliders to take that first step and say: I can be healed. I can be restored. That hurt that's inside of me, it can be recovered. Jesus can do her work right now. Jesus, you promised this. And I, I'm just giving it to you right now. This altar is open. I'm going to pray that every person would come right now. I pray that every person would come right now and lift up hands, lift up your voice right now. You all, saying of God, miracles are going to happen right now. Signs, wonders, they follow those that believe in this place right now.