Sunday Evening Worship Service

Thank You choir I welcome each and every one of you to Sunday evening here at faac Knoxville all of you in the house and everybody tuning in online as well got the live stream up here uh next to me I know uh many of our our senior saints that aren't able to be here or tuning in with us online and we love you and you're right here with us or maybe somebody under the weather or in another city home away from home tuning in with us we love you and we're all uh worshiping right here uh together I want to encourage each and every one of us just from from last Sunday morning with Pastor Wiley to Sunday night Pastor mcol then Wednesday night Bishop mcol then Sunday morning this morning with Pastor M each and every sermon has just been uh such a such a tremendous blessing and just truly div and divinely threaded together and um uh that that sermon Pastor Whitley preached last Sunday morning just still uh sitting with that and uh letting it lead and letting it guide me letting it encourage and I'm just I'm so grateful for the ministry of this church by the proclamation of God's word through the singing through uh just the uh sister Kayla Deus I won't call call you out but just a tremendous Ministry of just reaching out to people just uh I love each and every uh every one of you and thank you for what you do and it's a it's a high honor to be a part of just every single thing that goes forth and I I love you all if you got your Bibles 1 Corinthians 9:24 and Genesis 3226 I thank you for praying for my mother-in-law as well and pray for safe travels for my my wife and and two children I I love them so very much and it's not the same uh not having them here uh they went down to Louisiana a bit unexpectedly to uh be with her mom uh undergoing some some health issues but we're we're putting it in in God's hands and know he's going to know he's going to work it out 1 Corinthians 9:24 know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize so run that ye may obtain and then Genesis 32:26 and he said let me go for the day breth and he said I will not let thee go except thou bless me I want to preach to you for a few moments this morning on the topic survive and Advance survive Rive in advance just right where you're sitting could we could we lift our voices one more time to heaven and pray over this sermon Heavenly Father we thank you for what you have done here thus far we thank you for the leading of your spirit Lord we ask for your presence and anointing uh to be with every word that is spoken overlooking the inadequacies of the speaker but Lord letting your word sink deep down into our hearts into our minds let it put it into practice let it encourage us let it Inspire us let it in invoke the the miraculous in our lives knowing that you are right here with us we thank you and we praise you in Jesus name we pray amen survive and Advance such an applicable topic uh for this March Madness Sunday and I'm looking around to see if anybody's on their phones or iPads already filling out their filling out their brackets or maybe you're upset with the seating of your a particular team or uh don't forget to pay your tithes if you're one of those uh one in five billion person winner filling out 30 different uh uh brackets to to to try to be number one and we hear this term this time of year this March Madness as the NCAA tournament is under way about survive and advance and if you follow uh college basketball at all you know that this past week was the conference tournaments and this week is the national tournament and the whole year you're fighting for seeds and uh position to get into the tournament what's if am I going to make the tournament if I do make the tournament what is my seed going to be the higher seed placing a lower seed and there's all kind of debate and there's all kind of fights that take place on Who is the greatest team who is the best team and the whole year you could not win one single game but get in your conference tournament and if you win that conference tournament you get an automatic bid to the National Tournament and the whole point being is no matter what you are ranked all of the debate and all of the comparison and all of the statistics once the tournament starts goes out the window and it becomes as the motto and the description of each game implies survive and Advance if you win by 20 points who cares if you win by 10 points who cares if you go into double overtime and you're a one seed versus a 16 seed if you just win by one point there's no more rankings there's no more debate all the only thing that you have to do is just have one more Point than the other team and it will work itself out survive and you continue to advance there's no group or committee with a ranking system or uh giving you style points on how many points you won by or or you you won this game without this particular player it it doesn't matter as long once you get in the tournament as long long as you can have one more Point than the other you can move on to the next round this term survive and Advance is a motto that comes up this time of year in March and you'll hear it often its origin is attributed attributed to Jim volvano and this was a quote during the 1983 North Carolina State wolfpack's Miracle run to the championship and given the single elimination nature of the tournament as we just spoke about the fact that many of these games come down to a couple possessions at the end so this quote truly personifies and gives the gives the the proper characterization of what this tournament implies you you can look at the NCA football playoffs and there was great controversy of oh this team should have got in over this team and this team had a tougher record than this team and if this this team would have played this uh conference throughout the year than they would have been in this place and they didn't schedule hard enough when the NCA tournament in basketball starts it doesn't work like once you get in there is no debate you just have to survive and Advance the Apostle Paul if you don't think me too crude or carnal using this as an example tonight the Apostle Paul used the comparison of Athletics often throughout his writings and as he wrote to the church in Corinth he said so run run that ye may obtain as they would read this words it had a particular significance to his hearers his readers it it it it it gave a great deal of weight when they would hear this term run in regards to running a race the Apostle Paul H would have the Corinthians recall the picture which had been placed before them very similar to them very familiar to them in the Grecian games he would have them in their walk with Christ and their steadfast love and their belief and their faith he would compare it to the eagerness of the racers of the Grecian games where every muscle was strained at the end and and one was able to hold out and win the prize one was able to cross the finish line and he would say look at that panting conqueror it's not the one with his hair all in place it's not the one that looks like he or she has it all together but the one that was the Victor is the one who every muscle is strained and their shoes are were out and by just looking at them they're they're broken and they're they're sweating and they they look a bit disheveled but that appearance of them is an indication of a mighty race that they just endured and we see this language and we see this imagery throughout the gospels that the the Apostle James said to St stay steadfast under trial and Matthew often used that word endure in endurance and Timothy said I fought a good fight I finished the race I kept the faith I watched a documentary one time of a UFC fighter and they were showing uh some of the history of his life and some of his different fights and a a championship belt that he had won and they were interviewing him after it was over and his lip was not botoxed but it was mightily bruised and his ear was real uh thick if you ever see somebody with the c the wrestling ear you you don't want to mess with that person just take that for free and then his eyes one of them one of his eyes was was open uh about like this and he had cuts and he he made a powerful statement he said they said I was the winner he but he was uh the winner he had en endured some stuff and I I promise you that is not somebody that you wanted to uh mess with and I I promise if you were ever found yourself where you needed uh a little bit of backup I I think he would probably be some some decent uh uh backup strength and and tenacity and it wasn't the individual with their their hair all placed and uh everything looked good for them but the the strength and the endurance was in the one that looked a bit dis [Music] shuffled and yes I believe in the blessings of God and we hear that term often I I wasn't called to just survive I was called to thrive and indeed I believe that God G gives us seasons of of thriving and we Aspire for that and I believe for that but can is there a witness out there that there are also seasons of surviving that's right seasons of struggles Seasons where if I can just get to the next morning thriving is not necessarily uh one of the characteristics that I would describe during this point in time in my life it's it's more so if the if the sun will come up on the next day then I will count it a victory and the Apostle Paul in writing to his church he said that's what you need to remember in your walk with Christ look at the runner who's out of breath we find our story in the Old Testament in Genesis of of Jacob who had left his home and left his family and he had fled because he had deceived his brother and his father indeed he was identified in his name Jacob meant deceiver trickster heel Grabber he he was one that deceived and he truly lived up to his name and he found himself all alone and as we find ourself in those seasons of survival those seasons of struggle we do the only thing that we can do and often it's the times when we pray even more earnestly and say God I need you to move right now I need you to make a way I I've sinned I I've done something in my past that is so horrid I've let my family down I've let my name down I've I've tricked my family and I'm I'm all alone and all by myself myself and that's the time that I start to reach out to God the most and as he begin to cry out he began to declare he said God you I know that you have a promise over my life and sometimes in those points when we start to pray it seems like things get worse maybe that's just for me me and all of the sudden while he was praying perhaps he he thought it was a total stranger who came to Rob and kill him he he became in an all night struggle and a tussle with with God's messenger through an an with Angel and there there was sweat and there was dirt and there was fear and fatigue and he would wrestle until the early morning and he finally realized it was more than a human struggle it was a wrestling match with God by means of an Angel he found himself alone and began I I want to get right with you God now I I need you now I believe his heart was uh sincere but he began to pray and things got worse and he began to wrestle for his life life have you ever wrestled with God over anything when you were in that season season of struggle season of just surviving and you you said God I need you to do something right now and the the thing that you did in your past or the things that were in front of you it just began to ruminate over your mind and you couldn't get it off your mind and I don't I don't know if I can ever do what God called me to do and I don't know if I can ever live up to the promise that you had for me God because you know what I did and you you know where I'm at I've I've deceived my family I've tricked my father I've brought shame to the name and God I I don't know what to do and I I'm crying out to you and I'm sincere and I I cried out to you and I I need you to move and it seems like things got worse and the the nights that you you couldn't sleep and struggling and wrestling as Pastor mol spoke about this morning over a situation and there's now an allout assault on your mind and you're you're asking like God can you hear me do you see the distress that I'm in you you you promised to bless me and you you promised to have that that that calling over my life but now I feel like I'm being beat up I feel like I'm now in a fight just to survive and I'm scared and I'm tired and I mentioned this a few weeks ago and I'm now fasting meals not necessarily because I made a commitment to fast but I've lost my I've lost my appetite I'm too sick over this situation and I've prayed this prayer request over and over and it still has it come to pass Lord I I know your word tells me you'll never leave me or forsake me but why am I facing doubt and why am I facing fear and why do I have this weariness inside of me and you you hear somebody say uh uh all things work together for good to those who are called and I believe that but there's sometimes if we're being completely complely transparent you hear that and it doesn't make a lick of sense and you're saying God I have nowhere else to turn I I have nowhere else to go and I'm crying out to you Lord and you you said you had a promise over my life and it seems like things are getting worse Lord I know I've done wrong and you see the error in my doing you you know I'm faced with this turmoil and this trial in my life but I don't know where else to turn to nothing makes any sense but I'm still going to trust in you Lord and somewhere in the midst of the this struggle somewhere in the midst of this season of survival for Jacob the angel commanded him he said let go for the the day is breaking it's one of those nights you know where you go to bed and you're just like if I can just if I could just get to the next morning if I can just get to the to the next day you know that 10year plan is out the door and those those goals and aspirations you had for yourself that you wrote uh out at the beginning of the year or year or so ago all that stuff seems foolish now when uh when tragedy has has hit my home and when when when reality has set in over a situation some things in my life just seem a bit frivolous in In This Moment In in this season that I'm facing right now and I'm saying God could you just get me through tomorrow and the sun rays begin to break the sun begin to come up over the horizon and the angel said let let let go for the day is breaking and Jacob said I I've been in this circumstance too long I've I've been fighting for too long there's I I I've had doubt too long I've had weariness too long I don't want to go another day with facing that I know the sun's coming up and I know I should be happy and I know that that should be proof of another day that is coming to me but I'm not letting you go and I'm not getting out of your presence until you bless me in this moment until you give me just a little bit more strength until you give me just a little bit more encouragement till you give me just a little bit more Direction over what I'm facing I will not let you go until you bless me he knew without the blessing he would still not be made whole if I could just hold on just a little while longer I believe that the promise is going to be granted in my situation if you ever just been to a point over a situation over maybe your your past has come and tried to torment you and tried to haunt you or a situation in your life is just standing in front of you and it affects all aspects of your life the uncertainty and you just continue to pray more earnestly saying God I need you to give me an answer sometimes Pastor MCO spoke about it this morning when you've done all you can do just stand sometimes fighting and I I know that that we have sermons and I know I've preached uh sermons that have all of this imagery of a a military or or fighting or stepping on to the battlefield and you've got your weapon of choice ready to take it to the enemy but the enemy is not always that 100% picture of reality and and sometimes it's difficult to even identify what the enemy and the the uncertainty is in my life and I I don't know what to do I don't know the next step to take I don't know what action I can take all I can do is say God I know that you gave me a promise and sometimes the greatest fighting is just enduring sometimes the greatest fighting is just being faithful the Paul pal tree is the tree that you'll find on the coasts the palm tree experiences the most severe storms these experience the heran winds and the tropical storms but notice their ability to survive is because sometimes they got to get out of shape they their ability to to bend and they they they have a strong support system around you if you see where I'm going and I want you to know tonight just because you've repented of your sins and taken on his name and baptism and received the Holy Ghost it doesn't mean that you're not going to go through some stuff and it's okay to be bent out of shape it's okay to say hey I need some help in this situation it's okay to say hey Will somebody pray for me it's okay to say hey I I don't know what next step I need to take I'm going to endure I'm going to I'm going to be faithful it's okay to say hey I'm struggling with this in this season right now and I need somebody to pray for me cuz those palm trees they the these are the trees that experience the most severe storm but their ability to survive is because they can get bent out of shape it's because they can bend I remember Elder Charles Summers he's in a a veteran's home tonight and he was a a a great veteran he preached taught one of our Sunday School classes and I remember the time he said there's some things worth Marching for and he told us our Sunday school class the story and the uh all of the details about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and throughout its 100e existence if you have that video the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has stood as a sign and a symbol of all all of the missing and unknown US soldiers the defense p and Mia accounting agency they they still try to identify all of our lost soldiers but in the meantime the tomb provides comfort for those loved ones who may never find answers the tomb is guarded and as you saw in that video those were I think around 80 mph herc canic winds the tomb is guarded 20 24 hours a day 365 days a year even in the most extreme weather conditions herc canic winds uh storms snow you can get on YouTube and type in uh Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and see just some of the most horrific weather conditions but you still see that Soldier marching fulfilling their orders guards when they're out there do not wear a rank while performing their Duty ensuring that they do not outrank the soldiers laid in the Tomb that they are memorializing a guard's Patrol is precise 21 steps turn and face the tomb for 21 seconds about fac shift arms and hold for 21 seconds 21 steps back to the starting point the symbolic numbers tied to the 21 gun salute a centuries old International military traditional uh tradition signaling the highest of honors and every hour during the winter and every 30 minutes during the summer a choreograph Changing of the Guard occurs each day guests organizations lay wreathed before the Tomb in special ceremonies and I remember him saying there are some things worth Marching for sometimes the greatest form of combat sometimes the greatest fight that we can have is just continuing to endure continuing to march marching far families Marching for our friends Marching for our community Marching for those that we're standing in the gap for marching those that we're praying for healing for Marching for those who would give anything in the world to sit on a Pew right where you're at tonight but they're not able to be here he said some things are worth fighting for some things are worth enduring no matter what the elements are no matter how strong the winds are the Apostle Paul said run run that you that's that's who you look like that's that's what you need to look like that's the image you need to have in your mind it's a it's you need to be in survival mode no matter what conditions come when you don't know what the next step is just continue to stand sometimes surviving is just continuing to stand no I can't give you I can't give you a laundry list of answers or explanations why this circumstance happens but I could stand with you sometimes surviving is just continuing to March and continuing the call of God on your life and face of whatever elements come on you Jesus blesses those Jesus blesses those who will fight scrape and Claw who will continue to stand in the face of adversity the we read the woman fought through the crowd just to just to touch the hym of His Garment uh a man climbed into a tree just to just to get a glimpse a man getting into his Presence by being air dropped from the roof whatever it takes there's so many testimonies throughout this house of those who illness or law unexpected loss or tragedy Came Upon their life and I looked to them and saw just like that Soldier it seemed like 80 mile her uh mile per hour her canic winds Came Upon them but what did they do do they continued to March oh it wasn't a uh some some oratory that was presented behind the podium it it wasn't some self-help book that was a a New York Times bestseller but their their life in the face of adversity in the season in the season of survival where they just continued to remain faithful and as in many times in scripture this foreshadowing that took place in Jacob's life what the the foreshadowing of the of the name that we would take on Jacob had a name change God renamed him Israel I I know you were heel Grabber I I know you were you were Trickster I know you you shamed the name of your of your family but I'm now going to give you a new name I'm now going to meet you in this season of survival if you can stay through the night if you can hold on to hold on through the night if you can if you can endure the elements if you can March through the storm I'm going to bring about a a trans transformation in your life no matter what your past is no matter what the current condition is I'm going to do something new in your life and our key verse says the sun then Rose above him and the thing that and it says his hip was out of place and he he began to walk different what that tells me is and I'm preaching to me now when God calls us out when God brings us out when he blesses our life and puts us in Ministry we've got to look back at our past and look at what he's done and not have any piety or self-righteousness in our life but we've got to have the limp of where he met us at and said I I know what you've done for me now Lord because I know who I was and when I minister to somebody else it's not oh look at me now look what God did for me look at how good look how good I have it no I I've got to get to them and say let me tell you where God brought me out from I was trickster I was heel Grabber I brought shame to the name oh if you knew about my past if you knew about the mistakes that I made but God met me in that season of survival God met me when I was just hoping that I could just make it through to another day God met me in my darkest of hours if the musicians would come God will bless those who remain and endure God is merciful and he sees our possibilities instead of our past that's right ja jaob would have a new identity and he honored Jacob's willingness to preserve in the struggle and he bestowed this great blessing now upon his life and life will give us plenty life will give us plenty of opportunities to mess up and at times we do amen amen amen but sadly too many people get discouraged because of the bad decisions that they have made and because of this we can let go of the promises that God has on our life it would be entirely plausible to think that Jacob had given up many times the years of living with the stigma of a bad name of a a bad record if you will had taken a toll on him but in the depths of his soul he knew that he still he he knew that there was still there was still a promise on his life struggles will come for each and every one of us in different capacities in in different seasons and in those moments and in those Temptations to let maybe our past or or our current circumstance keep us from what God has us from to doing those moments those seasons of struggle those seasons of survival that's when we just have to continue to march on have to continue to stand this book I hold and I I wrote this for an article a few years ago it was pinned by Kings and that sounds great doesn't it it was a book also written by homeless prophets it was written by doctors and also fishermen it was written by scribes it was written through testimony it was written by vocational musicians it was written by church leaders don't we call pastors it was a book written at times from the Throne of a Mighty Kingdom and at other times it was written from the very lowest cells of a prison stories that include all the defeating of a giant by an underdog stories that also include the heroism of a prostitute the anointing of a slave girl the transformation and conversion of a religious elitist it's now preached and lived out through sharecroppers it's now preached and lived out through drug addicts it's now preached and lived out through Builders it's now preached and lived out through salesmen and it's even preached and lived out through preachers kids amen stand with me and I want you to know tonight that if life is is storms of life has bitten you out of shape the storms of life has just given all of this uncertainty and it seemed to affect every area that if you'll just continue to March if you'll continue to stand I believe that God has transformation for you and I I believe that just over the horizon that the sun is is starting to come up and I I believe he can transform out of that season of struggle I believe that he can bless and I believe that he can lead you on your next step I was so encouraged this past Wednesday night Bishop read the verse of scripture Matthew 21 saying unto them go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a cult with her it says loose them and bring them to me now we've been talking about March Madness and we've been talking about all of these teams that are going to participate for the national championship Trophy and I I could stand corrected by maybe a a school that I I'm not aware of because there's over 3 something that are eligible technically but I don't think I don't think you're going to find many teams with the mascot of a donkey now you you probably see uh some lions and some tigers or some Eagles you know but I I don't think fighting donkeys that just doesn't doesn't do it our verse says go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied in a cold with her loose them and bring them to me sometimes in our life we have a calling on our life and God's called us to do a certain thing and even and high school students college students listen to me and and and everybody could testify everybody has a past everybody's made mistakes everybody's everybody's messed up at some point or another but you got to stay connected and when life bends you back like that palm tree stay grounded stay you've got a support system stay connected don't don't get too far away you there there's there's nothing you can do there's nothing you can do that God's blood and his his grace and his Mercy the blood of Calvary is not greater than and sometimes you you think over the things you've done and God's called me to do thus and so and if I'm being honest with with myself if I were describe how I felt for God wanted me to do thus and so in relation to what I've done I feel nothing more than just like a dumb donkey a dumb donkey tied up oh I'm the head and not the tail yeah the head of a donkey if if if if we get if we went through and got testimony tonight some of the stuff we've done in our past donkey the next verse though says and if anyone says anything to you you shall say the Lord has need of they're going to they're going to use her they're going to use him let me tell you what I know about him let me tell you what I I know about her let me tell you what I I know about that couple oh but you need to lift your head up high and if anybody says something you need to say the the Lord has need of them oh there's a prophecy that's about to be fulfilled that's what Jesus is going to use to to enter into where people will say Messiah oh that's what that's the instrument that Jesus is going to ride in on oh if you're struggling with your past tonight if you're dealing with a mistake in your past H if you're feeling like nothing more than a donkey you're in the right place and you're at the right time cuz he's coming to talk to you right now just to untie you this is exactly what I've been looking for this uh oh you're you're facing a season of struggle uh a season of survival oh something tragic IC has happened something embarrassment has happened you you've suffered loss and you you've suffered something you couldn't ever even anticipate and you feel like nothing but a donkey but I believe the words of Jesus are say go find that donkey and untie it and if anybody says something tell them the master it's for the master tell them it's for the Lord because it's going to fulfill a prophecy if everybody would bow their heads at this time Mighty God you see the needs of every individual in this house Lord you know those that are in that season of struggle or That season of survival I don't know the circumstance but there might be just a lot of uncertainty surrounding their situation and and it's it's just affecting all areas of life oh Lord as we pray tonight I believe there's somebody out there right now just ruminating over some of the things in their past and every time they begin to take a step forward it keeps holding them back saying oh you can't do that remember what you've done but Lord I rebuke that right now I rebuke that right now in the name of Jesus and I believe tonight that your mercy and I believe tonight that your grace can just wash you over for this place and wash over an individual and give their mind some Freedom give their their heart some direction oh I open these altars right now to someone who might be in that season of struggle or That season of survival and I believe if you'll come forward to this altar oh that's the next step on advancement I believe the sun is about to break through and I believe I believe that there's going to be a transformation and blessing heading your way yes [Music] Jesus oh you've got a support system don't let anybody pray alone tonight oh you made a mistake keep going keep going keep going keep marching just stand just stand just stand just stand [Music] Glory oh yes [Applause] Jesus Oh yes Jesus Oh yes [Music] Jesus oh let me not just try to keep some image let me not just kind of save face oh but let me say I need help Lord I need help I need you to move father oh I'm not letting go till you give me my blessing yes [Music] Jesus [Music] don't let a mistake drive you out of his presence don't let something you've done drive you out of his keep you out of his presence he still has a calling on your life he still has a promise over your life if anybody said something tell them the Lord sent you the Lord sent you the Lord called you yes Jesus yes Jesus yes Jesus yes Jesus yes [Music] Jesus yes [Music] Jes give the pra you give the glory the [Music] glory [Music] GL [Music] [Applause] I'm still standing if you're still standing would you give him some praise I'm still here I'm still here I'm still here I'm still here yes Jesus yes [Music] Jesus going to make [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh we need some miracle [Music] [Applause] [Music] God you are [Music] is [Music] we if you read that passage in Matthew he enters into Jerusalem riding a donkey fulfilling a prophecy oh the Messiah is here the next thing he did is he went to the temple and took Authority and drove out to the things and the piety and the self-righteousness that that shouldn't be in there oh Lord let me let me not ever come into your presence and I'm just trying to sa face or I'm I'm trying to keep some type of image up no I'm a sinner saved by grace and he said this house shall be called a House of Prayer I wonder if just for the few remaining moments in parallel with that chapter could we turn this into a house of prayer just for a moment if you need healing in your body if you need healing for somebody else if you need God to deliver your mind if you need God to give you direction would you pray for that right now let's pray in the Holy Ghost mighty God we thank you oh mighty God you know every need that is in this house oh Lord we we remove any Pride strip ourselves of any Pride oh Lord we're just your humble servants God we ask for the miraculous to take place God if I got to fight through the crowd just to Touch the Hem of your garment I'll get on my knees God my my righteousness is as rags in your presence God I need you to make a way right now Lord I'm holding on to you till you bless me God I'm holding on to you till you heal me till you provide for me God I need you to show up God I need you to make a way when there seems to be no way God I need you to show me what my next step is I need you to bring healing to my body I need you to bring healing to my family's body God I I'm been out of shape but I I acknowledge it in your presence oh there's a storm I acknowledge that I'm broken I'm acknowledge that I'm bent but God I believe you're going to bring the transformation oh I believe that you're going to bring the restoration and the heal healing I thank you and I praise you and we seal this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus I wonder if we could turn that into a hand clap of praise and say thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Jesus I hope you'll leave here tonight knowing that the blood of Jesus covers all his mercy and his grace and if you'll survive if you stay faithful and keep marching he's going to bless you he's going to bless you I believe that in Jesus name why don't you reach out during dismissal talk to four or five people