Sunday Evening Worship Service

keep that same Spirit as you make your way back to your seats once again I welcome each and every one of you and there is nothing like being at First Apostolic Church of Knoxville on a Sunday evening and I applaud each and every one of you for your faithfulness and your commitment to the word of the Lord and doing whatever it takes to worship His Name even on a Sunday evening in the middle of July I want to say I'm so excited at the end of service tonight my friend Braxton is getting baptized let's give him a great big hand his parents Jeremy and Amber great friends and really I'm part of y'all's family I'll just say that but we we love you all and I'm excited about what's happening in Braxton's life and him seeing his need to be baptized and I'll I'll let you know when to be dismissed as well and I want to say a special welcome to First Apostolic Church he's been coming for several services but I've been in Louisiana for two weeks but brother Tony I want you to know it's an honor to have you a part of First Apostolic church and Tony that's that's a that's a great name Anthony Tony and uh it's just a good strong name but he is a uh anthropology archeology student at the University of Tennessee and uh I'm really pretty jealous of him honestly he was he's been on a dig for was it four or five weeks to five weeks to North Africa Morocco and um I'm real happy for him but I'm pretty envious at the same time and just to hear about all the stuff he is studying and hear about his uh approach in the different digs and the different artifacts that are being discovered to further proclaim the validity of God's word it's it's very fascinating and I I honor him and what he is pursuing and for all those as I mentioned earlier your first time here we welcome you your first time guest for about I don't know five minutes and then you're just a part of this church and we love each and every one of you if you have your Bibles tonight turn to the Book of Joel chapter 2 and we're going to read I'll say between verses 12 and 17 and I'm going to skip around in that just a little bit and then we'll read Joel 2 32. Joel chapter 2 verse 12. States therefore also now saith the Lord turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with Mourning and Rend your heart tear tear your heart open and not your garments and we'll come back to this in a little bit and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil I'm going to scroll down to verse 17 now let the priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the Altar and let them say spare thy people O Lord and give not thine Heritage to reproach that the Heathen should rule over them wherefore should they say among the people where is their God and then Joel chapter 2 verse 32 says and it shall come to pass if verse we're all very familiar with that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be Deliverance as the Lord hath said and in the remnant who the Lord shall call I want to minister to you for a few moments tonight on the topic the first step the first step and I'm going to get right into it so quotes surround this concept and idea of the first step Neil Armstrong famously quoted when Landing walking on the moon he said one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind when I was in Jerusalem the God told us that Neil Armstrong had visited their uh not many years after his moon landing and he was able to walk on one of the streets that hadn't been built up on top of great deal and it was highly possible that Jesus had walked on those same stones and he said the moon was the second greatest place that he had ever walked on of course comparing that to walking the steps where Jesus had walked Dr Martin Luther King Jr said faith is taking the first step even if you don't see the entire staircase Tony Dungy coach for the Indianapolis Colts and many other teams said the first step toward creating an improved future is developing the ability to Envision it Vision in all caps he says we'll ignite the fire of passion that fuels our commitment to do whatever it takes to achieve Excellence only Vision allows us to transform dreams of greatness into the reality of achievement through Human Action Vision Tony Dungy said has no boundaries and Knows No Limits our vision is what we become in life it's often said that the Journey of a Thousand Miles starts with the first step taking that first step can be difficult but our success is nearly guaranteed when we muster the courage and acknowledge the reason and make the determination to do so this is what makes first steps so important the first step marks a decision a new direction or a return in a specific Direction it declares that we will go forward despite our fears it declares that we will step forward despite our self-doubt it declares that we will step forward in the midst of whatever surroundings might be an opposition towards us and it gives us the momentum to step one foot closer to the vision for many of us as we identify as being Pentecostal the prophet Joel is primarily known for the portion of Prophecy that is then alluded to or and spoken of by Peter on the day of Pentecost he says and quotes Joel and it shall come to pass in the last days saith God I will pour out my spirit upon All Flesh and that portion of Joel's prophecy is indeed significant but the three chapters Joe wrote contain a much broader contribution to God's Church it gives us some insight of what was taking place in Joel's life and the surrounding Nation when he made this prophetic utterance yes the foundation for Peter's message and the prophecy coming into fruition but also how God spoke to job and to the nation in the condition he was facing Joel supplied a glimpse into God's pattern for a world impacting Revival and this revival not only touches God but it moves him to provide miraculously for his children God showed Joel a day to come when the land would be stripped bare not by human armies with Superior strength and Innovative technology but hordes of common insects and these insects among the smallest and most primitive of all life forms would voraciously eat every plant until nothing was left for humankind the crown of God's creation to whom he had given the Earth to have dominion plants and for food Joel listed the insects by name he called them Palmer worm Locust or canker worm caterpillar according to the Evangelical commentary of the Bible scholars apply these descriptions to be the successive stages on the growth of the insect thus the meager leftovers of one developing generation would be consumed by the next until nothing was left bear pastures withered stalks dead tree stumps Humanity with its Superior intellect Humanity with its Superior strength would be powerless to stop the army of devouring insects and the devastation would serve as a powerful lesson to teach the people of Judah the futility of trusting in their own instincts and intellect more than they trusted in God the world had never seen a nature-induced famine of this magnitude it would be in such Epic Proportions that succeeding Generations would tell the story to the children the devastation would affect every single person the Vintners those who depended upon the vine should produce grapes from which they made their wine wept as they found their treasured plants ruined those who drink to excess begin to howl when their supply was gone and no more could be made because the vines had been stripped the priests these administrators of the ritual sacrifices a portion which would become their own mourned because there was no Harvest from which to gather a sacrifice even though the priests were the Lord's ministers they were not spared but suffered loss with all the families of Judah the farmers the husbandmen were ashamed because in spite of their expertise in spite of their extreme effort their work was fruitless the seed they planted rotted in the ground their cattle dwindled for lack of pasturage and the barns were destroyed as hungry men and women would raid the storage bin and there was no corn or grain to refill them the waterways the rivers Joel said dried up and it caused the animals to cry out the prophet himself also cried to the Lord because of the devastation That Came Upon them in Chapter 2 of his prophecy Joel described his vision of the largest and strongest army ever to be assembled it wasn't pharaoh it wasn't Babylon but it was Locust small tiny primitive Locus but for the Locust the beauty and lushness of the land rivaled that of the Garden Eden but this Armature this Army ravaged it like a wildfire raging through a dry forest nothing but Ash and stubble remain this vast Army was Swift and sure-footed as were horses they swarmed over the land never breaking Rank and consuming everything in their wake the scurrying and munching of Untold millions of insects shook the Earth like rumbling chariots their buzzing sounded like the Roar of a consuming fire their swarms turned the sky Inky black and the faces of their victims paled as hopelessness covered them like a shroud like Warriors trained for battle the Army continued to advance no wall could withstand them and no sword could wound them no house was Secure and they entered at will it wasn't a neighboring Kingdom raging War it wasn't a mighty War General coming to con conquer the nation you know as we talk about the day of Pentecost when Peter cites Joel and says I will pour out my spirit upon All Flesh he didn't make this prophetic entrance in the midst of Pharaoh's Court he didn't make this prophetic utterance in the shadow of Goliath standing over the top of him he he didn't give this prophecy as Babylon was coming in and taking over the nation he gave this prophecy in the midst of small tiny primitive locusts A Primitive creature that would destroy their land so what is the word of God telling us through this story why would this be the event okay perhaps put it in the Bible for the the grand scheme of things the overarching thread and tapestry of the old Covenant to Jesus Christ to the New Covenant but you would use the story of Joel to be the prophecy in the midst of locusts to talk about the holy spirit being poured on All Flesh what is God telling us through this story the point being that even in the Primitive we must include God in every facet of our life it is imperative we make our decisions our choices in life through the counsel of God's word and with the Godly counsel and he has given us there are things that at times do not seem to be inherently spiritual in nature but Joel cries out to us to say include God in it at times confession we forget or neglect to take something to God in prayer and it's not out of malice and it's not out of ill content and it's not because I'm idolatrous per se but we will say this isn't of great importance and we have a mindset that we will only take something to God if it's serious enough but I want you to know tonight if you don't get anything out of this message which you might not just remember this statement God cares about what you care about God cares about the details of your life an article from compelling truth says sometimes people say that God is too big or too busy with more important things than to be concerned with something as inconsequential as the details of Our Lives that sentiment is not biblical God absolutely cares about the little things that happens in our life in fact he wants to have such a communion and such a relationship with you that if you don't include him in every facet if you don't include him in every decision then it is against what his Covenant States for you to do and you can find yourself incrementally digressing and relying on your own Innovation and your own understanding in your own will as what happened to the nation of Judah to gain some perspective we must first understand that everything is little compared to God he created the entire universe but the question of whether God cares is more fundamentally about the depth of his love than it is in the breath of his power and the importance of a particular detail throughout the Bible we see evidence that God deeply cares about every detail of your life combat perhaps the most convincing passage is in Luke it says there are not five sparrows sold for two pennies and not one of them is forgotten before the Lord why even the hairs of your head are all numbered fear not for I value you my creation my image bear the being that I breathe life into more than The Sparrows God remembers birds that people sell for next to nothing they are of small consequence to humans yet are remembered by God Jesus tells us we are worth much more than that a similar passage in Matthew Jesus counsels against worry highlighting how God provides for the birds and how he bathes the garden with flowers and these things pass quickly and these are considered small to our human minds and he says how much more is your heavenly father going to take care of you God cares about the details and we see him provide food nourishment for his hungry followers we see him on his way to resurrect a young damsel from the dead from a chief ruler of the synagogue and even though he was on an important mission in the midst of a crowd a lady in desperation a lady on her last hope reached up and touched the Hem of His Garment and when we're with a desperate rendered heart When We Touch the Hem of His Garment he stopped and said who touched me and he said thou faith has made you whole he wasn't too busy there wasn't too important of a mission for him not to work in that instance we see Jesus in The Garden of Gethsemane after he had prayed with anguish after his disciples in so many different ways his followers had let him down he was going he was God manifest in flesh going to conquer the death and the grave and he was going to be crucified no big deal you know just another night we see him even in that moment picking up the ear of those trying to arrest him to make sure that healing was taking place Jesus cares about the details of your life he interacted with children who were thought to be of little importance he took time with the people he healed addressing their spiritual problems on an individual level and he cares about what you care about in Joel's time the people had abandoned God not particularly because of idolators practices but they had become so reliant on their skill so reliant on their talent so reliant on their Innovation that decision after decision going through the motion they just slowly slipped back where they no longer had a relationship with him and they had left God out of everything and they were overtaken now not by a neighboring army or a neighboring War General but by the Primitive Locus but also our journey of life we can face a nameless Army and we can face an unidentifiable force that seems to be in opposition to us we wouldn't never classify it as well the devil's really attacking me on this front or we wouldn't necessarily say oh the the enemy's after me but the journey of life seems to be attacking us in so many different ways and it sure does seem like a lot of small things small things that might seem primitive of our minds have accumulated together that are coming against me at one time and the cares of life like the Primitive Locus can all accumulate together and indeed feel like you are facing an army an army that you seem like you don't have weapons to fight against Joel began to prophesy that this is what the end of days would look like the prophet paused in this moment to swing the door of Mercy wide open he said God's people are never left without a way of Escape and as Joel told them how to move the Lord he said the Lord be jealous for his land the Lord is jealous of your time the Lord is jealous of the things that you are involved in he he dwells in you he wants to be with you he wants to be a part of every single thing that you do and he says and he pities his people though the land was laid in waste it was not too late for Judah to return to him and cry out to God in repentance first step tonight that I speak of for every single person priest alike is repentance repentance is the first step in every situation that you face he said Gather the people together sanctify the congregation assemble the elders and the children let the priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the Altar and let them say spare my people O Lord and give North thine Heritage of reproach I need you to reverse the curse I need a promise to the future generation instead of them being cursed by that this land that now lays in waste instead of being cursed because a people have turned away from God the blessings that I gave them came the vehicle that drove them out of my presence but I want you to return unto me and put me back yes indeed when War rages yes indeed when you when you have a catastrophe that takes place in your life but also in every single decision that you make weeping between the porch and the altar as a mandate for leaders to assemble God's people together for a time of prayer for fasting and for consecration the porch represents the flesh the outer Court of worship whereas the altar represents the spirit the place of sacrifice the place of giving up and rededicating one's life back to God he said it's a time to get a hold of this flesh and prepare it for the spirit realm it's a time that I need to prepare this body that is a sinful in nature unto a time of repentance to cleanse it in preparation for what I want to do and this was what was taking place in the presence of Joel when he started to be talk about and prophesy that there was going to be a time when he's going to pour His Spirit upon All Flesh and those who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved but the first thing that you have to do the first thing you have to do the first step that you have to take is repentance Joel's appeal to Judah strongly indicated that God desires sincere worship that word sincere is derived from the Latin term sincere during the Renaissance Spanish sculptors who made mistakes while carving expensive marble often patched their flaws with Sarah wax a statue that had no flaws and required no patching was held as a sculpture that was sincere or however we derived the word today sincere it was a sculpture without wax it was a perfect sculpture and that phrase eventually came to mean anything honest or true the English word sincere evolved from the Spanish sincere means without wax so an artist who made a sincere sculpture that means the artist didn't make a mistake and then go back and try to patch it in and and pass it off as something that was Pure or one didn't get broke or something else and somebody patched it off and still tried to sell it as new because there was value in it being sincere there was value in it not having any blemishes and God desires this type of sincere worship from us worship that is worship not to be seen worshiped not just to lift my hands when somebody else is watching me worship not to just leap for Joy or or run around because that's what I'm supposed to do in his presence but true worship because I have a relationship with the King of Kings and the Lord of lords and whatever opposition you face whether it be a kingdom with a mighty army or Locus to move God it takes repentance repentance is the first step in every situation disagreement with your brother or sister first step repentance if I need healing in my body if I need God to provide in a situation first step repentance oh my mind is troubled over a situation I I'm not sure of the direction I need to take I need to repent I'm making some important life decisions about a relationship or a job or what school I'm going to go to what program I'm going to enter in repentance oh I want Revival I want chain breaking I'll running I want myself and my my family and my community receiving Liberty first step repentance repentance in the Hebrew translated from Hebrew as repentance literally means return as if turning back to something you strayed or looked away from in the Greek in the New Testament when we see that word reprinted it's translated from mezzanoia a mind change to change one's mind or purpose there's also a translation from the Old Testament in Hebrew shinbiet and it has the idea of destroying or burning the house well this certainly got my attention it could literally be translated burn or destroy and then turn around and leave and the concept is eloquently simple if you burn the house down then you cannot return to live there unless you wish to spend your life among the charred ashes of death and destruction so true repentance is burning down everything in my house getting rid of all of that sin environment that I was in getting rid of all those feelings that I was harboring they need to be utterly destroyed and then I come to the altar of repentance and say God Rend my heart Romans tells us not conforming to the pattern of this world but the transformed by the renewing of your mind then you will be able to test and prove what God's will is his good pleasing and perfect will oh when you repent it changes your perspective in different situations some things that I was harboring some angriness or bitterness in things begin to transition a little bit oh this thing that I had mapped out in my mind I I did all the necessary research and this is exactly what I wanted to achieve when I Repent before the Lord and ask God to come into my situation things can begin to change or God can confirm things Joel said notice Rend your heart tear into your heart but notice also he said and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your god-free is gracious and merciful slow to anger and the great kindness and repent him of the evil you know that I believe in an outward expression of worship I preached two years two weeks ago about shooting the arrows and each one of them was prayer and praise and in the face of adversity and in the opposition of a giant that you need to continue to praise God and sometimes praise has to be purposeful that you you've got to clap your hands lift your hands lift your voice leap run whatever it takes you you got to keep the the fire alive we need to be passionate about our praise I believe that and I know this church does too I I believe that and I know we believe that but the first step God did not desire to see outward signs of judah's humility such as sackcloth and Ashes but he longed for their hearts to hold genuine fiction for for him the destruction Joe foretold could be counted only by deliberate and strong spiritual action and the thing with repentance that first step it has such an intimacy because nobody knows whether you truly have a repentant heart or not because you can say the right things you can act a certain way you can posture yourself in a certain manner but nobody knows if your heart has truly been rendered except for you and God and he said before anything else he said I don't desire an outward expression at this point I I don't desire for you to tear your clothes and Ashes he said I need you to rent your heart your heart completely torn into and turned from your sinful ways turn away from not including me in every decision of her life the destruction he foretold took could only be countered by deliberate and strong spiritual action winning this battle requires the active participation notice this and complete submission of every member of the body of Christ and that's what we see when we see this this is what Joel was echoing when he said the spirit shall be poured out on All Flesh and he he names on your on your daughters and your sons on every societal class and he even talked about this in the midst of the Locust plague it was everybody and yes God can fill me in a certain area where I'm at and he'll he'll comfort me when I'm isolated but he's also saying the Holy Ghost is the holy spirit is meant to be experienced together as a group because one person's prayers yes Mighty unto heaven and he can move but when we all come together when we're all in one Accord when we all have our hearts rent it gets God's attention and he shows up in the midst of the Praises of his people and when we turn and rent our hearts towards him he moves and nothing short of total commitment moves the heart of God Joel delivered God's call to Judah in plain and concise language that clearly defined the pathway to repentance and with similar Clarity he described how God would respond to his people's prayers so before you start anything else whatever situation you may face whatever decision in life whatever might be troubling your heart whatever might be troubling your mind whatever it is you need from him first step is to render your heart God does not view his people as object of his creation but he considered them as the praise team saying his children and God recognizes his children's needs and he promises to meet them and he Faithfully fulfills his promise God promised the repentant Judah in the Book of Job to begin with their most basic needs and then he progressed upwards as you go through that book and I would invite everyone to read that it's the foundation for the message that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost and it gives such insight to what Peter was echoing because yes he was referring to the prophet Joel but when you see the Calamity that Joel in Judah were in the everyday life life circumstances it gives the Holy Spirit even more power in our lives than we already thought so because it wasn't a kingdom it wasn't a neighboring General it was primitive locusts and likewise we are affected by the small things at times in life the small things that accumulate together and come against us and the Book of Job begin with meeting their most basic needs and progress upward until every meat had been met first he sent rain and due season the pastures sprang up the trees bore fruit and the vines yielded their strength the granaries were stuffed with wheat and storage vets overflowed with wine and oil and then they thanked the Lord for his wondrous works then they begin to praise then they begin to shout what God had done for them in the midst of their Barren land but it started first on their knees before they had that public outward expression of worship with which I'm a hundred percent for we know that Paul and Silas saying prison uh Praises in the courts of the prison and they're not just their jail cells open but the the whole prison I I for all of that but it starts with a repentant heart if the baptismal candidate would come and prepare himself in the praise team as well God never intended simply just to provide a good life for his people but he gives a material and physical blessings to enhance and Empower our spiritual relationship with him he said if Judah would repent God promised he would provide them with food and peace which would prepare them to receive the spiritual gift he desired to impart and the point being we serve a God who once you repent is able to restore those things that you thought you lost those things that you thought were never going to be able to come back when you repent and turn back to him we serve a God so powerful that he can make up for lost time he can cause the fields to begin to bloom the fields be able to reap Harvest even when you didn't eat sow any seed in that time he can cause the rivers to begin to flow back into your life and in the midst of the trial of life if you'll repent and return to God he will send you his spirit and do you know who needs to repent tonight yes if you have sin in your life and you have not yet turned your life over to him you need to repent yes if you've been serving God for five years and everything's going good you need to repent if you're a preacher if you're a pastor if you're the most dedicated saint of God children adult he's called every single one of us unto repentance every single one of us to Rend our heart because he wants to pour he wants to create a vessel for his spirit to dwell in and the gift of the holy spirit is like no other gift God has given to man this gift is the Capstone of the new birth further it empowers individuals to be Witnesses and it's an integral part of the kingdom of God however one of the most significant purposes for giving the Holy Ghost is to connect mankind to the very purpose for which we were created yes humans were created to be the dwelling place for the spirit of God and God poured out his Spirit not only to endure a person with immediate power but also to redeem him and to prepare him or her to endure so what am I saying yes it's a necessary step for salvation yes it will get us to our Heavenly home and that's important but also God gave us his Spirit to make it through the mundane to make it and give us power over every situation we face in life God gave us his Spirit when no criminal things begin to accumulate and the journey of life just punches us in our face with all of these different factors that's when we need to repent and say God I need you right now God I need you to show up right now God I need you to provide right now God I need your healing touch right now he said repent return unto your creator the first step in every situation you face is repentance and then being baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins and God will pour out his what did Peter say on the day of Pentecost repent the first step and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the mission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and what was happening in the Book of Joel they were worried about the previous generations we see this language again the curse reverse for the promise would be unto you and all those that are far off the promise would carry On to the Next Generation no longer another generation plagued but a generation with a promise the fruit of your hands now having a promise the decisions of your life being not God's will because you now have his Spirit working within your life yes we need his spirit and we need it for salvation but we also have to have it for every situation in life stand with me yes we need his Spirit against the kingdom yes we need his Spirit if we Face a giant but we even need his spirit in the things that we might even deem small yes we need his Spirit even in the things of this life that has accumulated together that plagues Us in every direction turn to him when we have that intimacy and communion with him when we rent our hearts that no one else can see when the whole body does that together God begins to move God begins to pour out his Spirit things begin to change Healing Begins to take place provision begins to take place comfort in the most incomprehensible of situation begins to take place seasons of loss [Music] seasons of drought the restorative hand of our God who cares about every detail of your life begins to move and the first step is repentance and there'll be a sweeping a weeping and a reaping Joel's called to repentance included every single person well I've already repented I I'm good on that today well the Apostle Paul said I have to die out daily if he said that I probably need to as well I have to rent my heart every single day in fact it said for the leaders to step forward first between the porch and the Altar and mediate unto God between the Flesh and the spirit Realm no one was too important no one was too insignificant for inclusion every age group every societal class received the same command and God's call to repentance Echo steel the first step into his presence is what Joel described to the inhabitants of Judah if we will Rend our hearts and repent and cleanse ourselves as his word commands we will find that same acceptance we can't accomplish the repentance necessary to move the heart of God by performing mirror rituals the impetus for change must come from a heart that is broken because of trespassing error it can be something that just goes through the motions we have to completely burn those things down that are keeping us from truly entering into his presence and that is determined to set things right sometimes when you repent it involves going to another person and apologizing you know when Zacchaeus repented he didn't just say hey I'll keep the money and I'm all good when he repented he went and paid the people back that he stole from when we truly repent it's going to call for some action in our lives when our heart is rendered everything my vision just begins to change the things that I thought were important or are no longer at the same priority that they used to and then there'll be a reaping when we cleanse our ways so I want to open this altar tonight indeed to every person but first I want to open it tonight to someone that's just facing a lot of different things in life that you know if you listed out one thing it just seems primitive but when I've got this here and I've I've got this report here and I've got the things I'm trying to provide for my children here and I've got to take care of this person here and I'm dealing with this situation here and I'm having to work overtime here and all of these things just seem to kind of accumulate upon me I want to open this altar up to you first tonight beckoning the call of Joel to step forward and say the first step is to repentance tonight the first step in my situation is repentance if you need to turn your life over to God tonight and you need to repent of your sins the first step in the Plan of Salvation I want to open this altar up to you tonight and then I want to open this altar up tonight you won't come alone to the leaders in this house the saints of God in this house who had said are going battle between the Flesh and the spirit who are who are going to pray and weep between the Flesh and the spirit and I want this whole house turn into their hearts to God tonight and when we do that when our hearts are rendered when our hearts are torn open in Repentance then we begin to move towards worship then we begin to move towards our public expression of praise and worship before his throne oh body God right now