Sunday Evening Worship Service

keep that same spirit keep that same spirit let's get into his word tonight i'm excited about what god's word has for us this evening overlook the preacher overlooked the speaker i'm excited about what god's word has for us this evening and pastor mccool and pastor whitley last week and then brother blevins just a few moments ago just gave me just complete confirmation exodus 13 21. if you have your bibles your tablets be on the screen it says and the lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night revelation 4 1 said after this i looked and behold a door was opened in heaven and the first voice which i heard was as it were a trumpet talking with me and communicating with me and having dialogue with me which said come up hither and i will show the things which must be hereafter i want to speak to us for a few moments this evening on shade in the sun and light in the darkness we've already prayed but if you would put your bibles down and lift your hands and your heads up to heaven and let's just scream out and thank him for what he's done and praise him for what he's going to do mighty god we thank you for the sweet visitation that you've given us this far lord we live in expectation because we know it's not over lord i expect tonight for somebody who doesn't have the holy ghost to seek it tonight and to receive it this evening lord i pray for our entire community and our city and for our nation in this world to help them to understand in every denomination and every movement that the holy ghost is imperative for our salvation oh there's more there's more there's more and you seek to live inside of us and be with us and empower us and we thank you and praise you for your spirit with us in jesus name we pray amen and amen you can be seated as we read our key text in the book of exodus the lord went up before them by day in the pillar of a cloud to lead the way and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light in the night on in exodus it says but if the cloud were not taken up then they journeyed not till the day it was taken up they didn't move they didn't go anywhere unless the cloud moved them or unless the fire the pillar of fire moved them numbers 919 says and when the cloud tarried long up on the tabernacle the most holy of places notice many days then the children of israel would kept the charge of the lord and journeyed not only if the cloud moved or if the pillar of fire moved with the children of israel move numbers 922 says on whether it were two days or a month or a year that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle the most holy of places remaining thereon the children of israel abode in their tents and journey not but when it was taken up they journeyed they were commanded the presence of almighty god their jehovah represented himself unto them and a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night and they were not able and they were commanded not to go anywhere until it moved it might be a day might be a month it might be a year when the cloud moves you move when the fire moves even if it's in the darkest of night then you move and i believe that many this evening are hearing the call of the spirit to go to a higher place in god and god is always calling us to a higher place but it is on his timing and not our own and we so heard this eloquently put this morning by pastor mccool as we confront or in some cases survive those times in our life when we are in a season of uncertainty or simply put a season of just waiting the experiences by the infant nation of israel foreshadow how god's presence would be associated from their earliest days as a nation the israelites learned to associate the glory and the presence of god with a cloud and fire and as they moved from camp to camp in the wilderness god led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night and when the israelites camped at sinai god prepared to reveal his glory visibly to them so that they would obey him trust and follow moses as god's chosen leader and on the day of pentecost the holy ghost moved into the midst of the infant church to infill and power the believers you can see the foreshadow and the prophecy coming into the promised both events involved the supernatural and direct presence from god with israel he was establishing and leading a nation and at pentecost the spirit of god was establishing a church the israelites were led the israelites were directed the israelites were prompted and he connected directly with his people through this cloud by day in this fire by night pentecost was the initial place where believers connected with the presence of god all of this was to teach the children of israel how to get as i mentioned earlier from the prophecy to the promise they were oppressed and bound up in egypt and baptism could be compared to god splitting the red sea for them but god did not only deliver them he didn't leave them but he continued to lead them to the promised land likewise when we repent of our sins and we go down in water in the baptism of the name of jesus we don't come up out of the water and praise god we're in heaven that's not how it works but he sent his the holy ghost inside of us to lead us guide us protect us and advocate on our behalf it was to go from the prophecy to the promise from the dream to the reality from faith to sight it was to teach them that on the journey their provision and their guidance and their protection was all dependent on staying with the cloud in the day in the fire by night every day they were required to live in anticipation of the cloud or fire moving whether it be a day whether it be a month whether it be a year this taught them to never get too comfortable in the place they were in and intentionally god would vary the time that they would stay in a particular place to teach them that no matter how comfortable or convenient a place it was it was not their final destination it was not the land promised to them god did not tell them when he was going to move god did not counsel the decision makers if you will he did not set up a democratic election with the people on the wind and where the next cloud or the next fire a pillar of fire and the movement would take place he'd he did not send them advance notice he said you stay on guard and you wake up every single morning and you go to bed every single night with the expectation and with the anticipation that i might decide to move and you better be ready when he decided he wanted the cloud or fire to stay still he would make it stay still when he wanted it to move whether it be a day a month or year he would make it move this cloud led it provided navigation it gave discernment it was shade in the sun it was a protector to god's chosen people and the fire at night illuminated the ever so dark night it provided vision to human eyes that would otherwise have seen darkness utter darkness it showed where the next steps on the journey were it allowed the israelites to make progress in advance against the enemy when the enemy would have been unable to see and it was the divine protection and it was proof proof evidence of a god that had a relationship with his people not only did he make a way for them to get out of egypt but he led them to the promised land there is an instance where the cloud would move forward ahead of them to protect them and there's also an instance where the cloud moved behind them to protect them and the resting place of the cloud as i reiterated in our key text was over the most holy of israel's tabernacle the people were never to get too comfortable he wanted them to stay in a condition of readiness and expectation for movement did they have to tarry sometimes did they have to wait sometimes absolutely but they were to live every single day in anticipation and sometimes the seasons of waiting the seasons of seemingly stagnation would be a test of faith or sometimes the periods of a prolonged stay would equate to the israelites building structures and laying down roots and taking ownership of the land becoming very comfortable in the current state they were in but intentionally god would vary the time that they would stay in a particular place to teach them that even if it was a season of stagnation or no matter how comfortable or convenient the place was it was not the promised land and he said you better not let your faith wane if you're in a season of stagnation or if you're in a difficult season because you will soon move out of that place but you also better not get too comfortable in this land that you've built with your own talents in your hands because this is not your final destination and one of the greatest battles we face is when we fight that old fight with the battle of the familiar even though something or some place may be dry even though something or some place may be desolate me even though something or some place might be difficult once we're there long enough once we've desensitized ourselves to it we become so familiar with it and we become so comfortable with it that we're just content and staying there oh we've built a beautiful new building and it's the choir's singing so great and the music was fantastic and the praise team and it's just ah it's so good and hopefully he'll be done by about 7 35 and i can get in my car and go through the drive-through and be at home at eight pm oh what a nice sunday now it's comfortable it's nice we've been here a long time we we know how to have church it's it's great we we know what good church looks like we know the buttons to hit and the uh different things to say and i'm not diminishing uh practice and preparation and the fantastic talent and all that god has blessed us with absolutely the opposite i'm talking about being grateful for those things but recognizing and realizing that as great as this is we're not yet to the land promised to us and i speak to every single individual under the sound of my voice whether you're in the very depths of despair tonight god is provoking and sending that cloud and fire to move you out of that place or maybe you're on the highest mountain of success tonight everything's going great bank accounts got the six digits in it then a decimal and then two more i think everything might be going perfect for you god's going to move you out of that as well but once certain things become comfortable to us it could be dry it could be desolate it could be difficult but once we're familiar and comfortable with it we could say oh god's left us oh god's no longer moving god's no longer people are no longer getting the holy ghost god didn't move like he did 50 years ago god's not moving like he did 15 years ago and we'll idolize and memorialize the past and or we'll make so many different plans for the future of when we have this or when i have that we can do this and all the time we're forgetting that right here this very evening on may 23 2021 a.d that god is ready to pour out his spirit on all flesh and that healings can take place [Applause] tonight restoration can take place tonight i'm swinging at everybody tonight moving is one of the most interesting things everything is chaotic everything is moved out of its place the familiar routine is replaced by what seems to be confusion and disorder nothing is convenient everything you want seems to be the hardest place to get to and when you start to move you can begin to realize that all the things aka junk you've accumulated over the years is not necessarily important for you to step forward with and it's a time as the song saying shifting and sifting it's when you lighten your load it's when you separate the useful from the useless and the valuable from the worthless and we can accumulate things at one place that you don't necessarily need to get at the next place and this is a spiritual truth we learn from moving in the natural sense but as we move from one level to another there are some things that we must leave behind and god is calling on someone to move tonight and you've been camped out in the land of comfortable or the land of content for far too long and god is ready to send his presence in a fresh way to you tonight because you need his presence it's there to protect to advocate to comfort and to empower you and he wants to do that tonight through his spirit the baptism of the holy ghost the same spirit that was poured out on the day of pentecost it didn't start at a souza street it started on the day of pentecost with the same supernatural power as the cloud and the fire to the israelites acts 1 4 says in being assembled together with them jesus commanded them that they should not depart from jerusalem but wait for the promise of the father which saith ye have heard of me does that sound familiar to anyone don't move until i tell you to move don't go anywhere until i tell you to go terry in jerusalem until that cloud till that fire moves you don't move until the cloud or the fire moves you don't move until my presence leads you it's a gift to you it's a gift to all it will protect you it will lead you it will guide you it will be light in the darkness it will take you from a dream to reality and my presence will go before you it will go behind you and i'll make it rest on the most holy of places and that is you the most precious creation created in his image because you are a holy people set apart and your body is the temple of the holy ghost you shall receive power after the holy ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me both in jerusalem and in all of judea and all of samaria and to the uttermost parts of the entire earth this cloud and fire is going to prompt you to go across this whole earth and you have got to live every single day an expectation of it moving at any time so don't get too settled in the state and the condition that you're currently living in because it is not your final destination and when the day of pentecost was fully come they were all in one accord and in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them clothing tongues like as a fire and it sat up on each of them and they were all filled with the holy ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance the holy ghost is the protector it's the comforter it's the advocate it's the reminder that we're not yet home and you need you need to have and you have to have and you must have the holy ghost did i say that any clearer is anyone going to walk out of here and misinterpret what i just said you must have the holy ghost i tried to remove any layer of ambiguity to that statement any fluff anything that you could possibly walk out of here and live even leave one inch of a manner to interpret it a different way you must have the holy ghost to get to heaven romans 8 10 and says and if christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness but if the spirit of him that raised up jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up christ from the dead shall also quicken uh dead shall from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you the same spirit that raised up jesus christ is the same spirit that is going to raise us up if we do not have this spirit then we will not partake in the resurrection of jesus christ i hope that's clear if we do not have the holy ghost we have not obeyed the gospel of jesus christ again i hope i hope everybody's on the same page always remember that the holy ghost is a gift from god he is the only one that can give it and it is for everyone all right i told you i'm swinging at everything everybody holy ghost baptism is essential if you get nothing from what i've said tonight if you don't remember one thing that i just said the cloud was it the cloud the fire and the uh the israelites and infant nation blah blah blah blah if you don't get any of that know tonight write this in your notes if this is the only notes you take holy ghost baptism is essential okay except the man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of god okay those two points i lied to you write that one down too how do we know we are born of the spirit oh here we go who's who's gonna at me that's what they say on twitter don't at me it's not because you cry at the altar though you might cry when you get the holy ghost it's not because you're happy or a state of enlightenment and happiness though the holy ghost will make you happy it's not because you do good works though the holy ghost will lead you to do good works well i believe on him brother blevins when i stepped forward i've got it all the whole ball of wax is that what you i got it all i believe it earlier we read in acts 1 4 that they you know there's they again who's they that they were all assembled together as jesus commanded them to wait on god's presence and spirit being poured out who is they verse 13 and 14 tell us and when they were come in they went up to an upper room where abode both peter and james and john and andrew and philip and thomas bartholomew made james the son of alphaeus simon judas the brother of james the disciples of jesus verse 14 these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication don't move don't leave jerusalem until us in that cloud that fire don't leave jerusalem until that promise comes until i tell you to move don't move verse 14 these all continue with one according prayer and supplication with the women and mary the mother of jesus and with his brethren i have a few questions do you think the disciples who had walked hand in hand with the messiah saw miracles firsthand so i'm walk on water saw him uh create instantaneous economic provision do you think they believed in jesus i i think they did okay yet we still read that they're not leaving jerusalem and going up to the upper room in expectation of something else to happen i believe i think it's pretty concrete i don't think it takes a great deal of conjecture to you know interpret that the disciples believed in and on jesus i think there's enough evidence there within the synoptic gospels and in the entire new testament to make that you know uh conclusion do you think mary his mother who was visited by an angel and told that she would carry the messiah have a virgin birth raise him was present as it preached about a few weeks ago at his first miracle and said hey whatever he tells you to do you better do it and she saw all of his other miracles she sat at the foot of the cross she experienced the resurrection and now we see her headed to the upper room on the day of pentecost well i believe on him i got everything do you think mary his mother believed in on him i think we can build a bridge of commonality there and agree that mary believed in him too yet we see the disciples and his mother mary in particularly still tearing in jerusalem and going up to the upper room as he stated an expectation of something else to take place because there is only one way for us to know that we have been baptized with the holy ghost there is only one way for us to know that we have been baptized with the holy ghost it is the same way the people in the early church knew they were filled with the holy ghost and when the day of pentecost was fully come they were on one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and filled all the house which they were sitting and there appeared to them cloven tongues like as a fire and it set up on each of them and they were all filled with the holy ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance well yet acts 10 44-47 while peter yet speak these words the holy ghost fell on them which heard the word there wasn't an altar call they just heard the word and they immediately began to pray and they had the circumcision which believed were astonished as many as came with peter because that on the gentiles also was poured out the gift of the holy ghost for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify god oh and it came to pass acts 19 1-6 that while apollos was at corinth paul having passed through the upper coast came to ephesus and finding certain disciples he said unto them have ye received the holy ghost since ye believed oh we were just asking this same question the disciples the mary of mary the mother of jesus this this is what we're talking about yet that question is still asked here two thousand plus years later have you received the holy ghost since you believed and they said unto him we have not so much has heard there even be a holy ghost and he said unto them okay unto them what were you baptized well baptism doesn't matter i don't that doesn't know man it's just a public profession of one's faith you can if you want and we'll baptize you however whichever way you want to we'll we'll use titles we'll use the name what whatever you want it's not essential yet we read in the gospel that the apostle paul who contributed approximately one-third of the new testament saw it so imperative that he asked them the question unto them what were ye baptized i feel like it probably mattered since he asked them and he they said unto john's baptism then said paul john barely baptized with the baptism of repentance saying the people that they should believe on him which shall come after him that is on christ jesus when they heard this they were baptized oh i feel the holy ghost in here this is an apostolic pentecostal church when they heard this they were baptized on the name of the lord jesus oh great you're good no that's not all and when paul laid his hands upon them the holy ghost came on them they got the holy ghost wait wait wait wait wait wait wait how do they know and they spake and they spake somebody better get excited in this place and they spake with tongues with tongues and they spake with tongues of magnified god every time someone received the holy ghost after the resurrection of jesus christ in the gospel he or she spoke with other tongues another language that he or she never knew the spirit of god spoke through that person it didn't matter who they were it didn't matter where they came from it didn't matter what nation they were it didn't matter how smart society thought they were every single time they got the holy ghost the evidence was that they spoke in another tongue [Applause] it is part of god's plan for salvation it is a comforter when we need comfort we need the holy ghost we need it we've got to have it we can't live without it it teaches us all things it brings to our memory what we have learned in god and what he has spoken to us it gets us out of our comfort zone it doesn't make us dwell on the past it doesn't make us worry about the future it makes us live in the now knowing that at any moment he could be telling us to move and when he says to move we better move we better move to that next level from glory to glory from what god is calling us to do i just can't still say it still when i begin to think of how god has worked even just through the generations and the years of this church i had the opportunity to attend divinity school in north carolina whoopity-do with some of the alleged brightest theological minds in the world i was told that my belief in the oneness doctrine was heretical and in direct conflict with the trinity a pentecostal experience was only for those in the book of acts and it might could happen now depending on who you talk to but it was certainly not something essential to a believer but what they didn't know is about an hour from there on the other side of that mountain where that school was located i had a great grandfather in the mountain town of rock creek north carolina this is sister mccool's dad who god sent his spirit to believers who were living every day in anticipation and expectation oh they weren't the most affluent of that society they were hard-working people who just trusted in this word of god and said whatever you're telling me to do i'm gonna do however you're telling me to move i'm going to move and they were sincere and they they prayed every day and god sent his spirit to them and they began to speak in another tongue and they got voted out of the denominal church they were in by their own family members and they started another church preaching pentecost and preaching the truth of god's word it's not a results driven message peter preached on the day of pentecost and that was revival stephen preached the same message and he preached the hearts of his hearers too and he got stoned to death you can't let whatever result takes place deter you from preaching the truth of god's word yes i'm going to preach it with love but we can't afford we can't afford to water it down and succumb to modern day contemporary christianity all the holy ghost and speaking in tongues is popular now but let's not say that it's necessarily essential we can talk about it and say oh we're seeker friendly but let's not get up and say that it's essential for you to enter into the kingdom of heaven i am sorry friend i'm not sorry sorry not sorry the word of god is in direct conflict with that type of error in your theological thinking and i can't sit still when i think of those from the past that regardless of whatever consequences we're going to come i'm going to search and seek and follow god and when he tells me to move i'm going to move my family might take me out my church family might kick me out i might take a few people off but i'm going to continue to preach god's word because he's visiting me and he's speaking through me and i am the temple for which that fire dwells oh i feel the holy ghost in this place i'm not sure how some of us can enter come into his presence and just sit there with our hands folded oh that's a that's a nice little sermon i feel so comfy on pentecost sunday somebody better step out of their comfort zone he wants to do something for you hey i've got my eyes closed so you don't think i'm talking to you he wants to do something for you but you've got to step up and receive it i don't get my doctrine from some ecumenical counsel i don't get my doctrine from the allegedly minds of this world i don't get my doctrine from the vatican i get my doctrine strictly from the word of god and i don't have the latitude or the flexibility to water it down one iota from telling you tonight that you you you you you have to have the holy ghost and he's ready to give it to you tonight he's ready he's ready to flow through you tonight if you'll receive it stand with me i just can't sit still knowing what god has done to get us where we're at i can't come to church and just get comfortable knowing how he has led people and how people have sacrificed from generation to generation to get us where we're at i look across this audience and i see mighty elders who are back there out worshiping most of us and clapping and praising and they don't miss a service i look at them and i just got to turn up the intensity just a little bit stronger even more because i honor them because the bible says whatsoever you do in word or dude do all in the name of jesus christ and i know the story of many of our elders and every single thing they did was with the church in mind right in the center and every single single decision they made was through the filter of the word of god and in the name of jesus and i see them and some of them can't run the isles like they used to some of them can't be here as much as they used to but when i see them and i see them praising and i think of their memory the holy ghost begins to just stir up and i can't sit still my generation you just can't sit still when you see them and you begin to think of what they've done oh i think the holy ghost is talking to somebody tonight just through his word to just step out and ask yourself how god is wanting to move in your situation i can't sit still i i i gotta we gotta stay on the move we can't stay stagnant i i we we gotta keep building we gotta keep having more renovation projects we got to keep going we got to keep moving we knew we had a technology meeting the other night that probably five years ago most of the technology we met about wasn't even in existence we couldn't even fit everybody in the room there was such encouragement and such passion and it's the highest honor to serve with god's absolute greatest he would like to divide us by ages and social groups but that's a lie from heaven because we are all in this together locked armed stepping forward knowing that this is not yet our promised land but we're going to continue all together to reach just as far as we can and we've got to be ready to move when he says move and god is about to visit us tonight by a cloud and fire and he's calling on you tonight he dwells in you he wants to sit that fire upon you john said i baptize you with water under repentance but there's one coming after me oh i feel the holy ghost when i read that there's one coming after me with the holy ghost and fire and it's going to require you to move out of where you are acts 2 and 2. this is a deep revelation here so everybody deep revelation it says it filled the house where they were sitting and if he's scrolling up to acts 2 14 it says peter was now standing with the eleven you can start sitting but when the holy ghost comes in there's there's no way you can stay in your seat deep deep stuff there god is wanting someone to move to a higher level but there are some things you can't sit with any longer you got to leave that doubt behind you can't sit with fear any longer you can't sit with discouragements you can't sit with disappointments you've got to leave behind some enemies you've been fighting and leave them there you've got a pillar by fire where you can attack at night and no matter how dark the night is no matter what the depths of despair are he's going to be a pillar of fire light in the darkness where you're able to advance where you're able to progress when no one else is because you have the power of the holy ghost but you got to be ready to move many times moving is so difficult because we're leaving the familiar and we're leaving the comfortable and we're leaving the normal oh i wonder what it would look like on a wednesday night when bishop gets up here and just the i shouldn't say the mirror preached word of god the the most important thing we'll ever hear the word of god goes out and just because the words that are spoken it kindles a fire inside of me and just like when peter was preaching i didn't have to wait for an altar call i didn't have to wait for the praise team to come up but just the word of god going out it did something down inside of me and i can't sit still any longer i gotta move forward i gotta advance i open this altar tonight to every single person if you're in any type of comfort zone get up here if you're in the darkest time of your life get up here every single one of us tonight needs to seek for that holy ghost fire because it's going to lead us to that next step we're going to go from glory to glory and whatever you have need of he's going to advocate on your behalf i don't wanna be the same around wow oh [Applause] [Music] i i'll tell you so alex come here brother alex's great grandfather for the billy wilson to be the father of elder dean and elder jerry wilson he would walk walk to the building site to build the church he'd ask him where are you going i'm going to build a church and you see the lasting legacy and only heaven will be able to account for the inestimable people that this family has reached and touched through the years they said the holy ghost stirs our remembrance the apostle paul told timothy he said keep that fire keep that fire kindle the apostle paul was writing this letter right in the corner of a prison and heaven help us when i think about our elders and a couple generations before me that would walk not just to come to church but to build a church and heaven help us if i come into a multi-million dollar sanctuary and look around at all the amazing things that god has blessed me with and i sit there and become a sermon taster oh the praise team didn't sing my favorite song oh when i think about how god has used people from generation to generation i can't sit still i gotta keep moving forward i gotta keep stepping forward tell me when to move tell me when to move whatever you're having me do tell me when to move oh we ought to shout we ought to praise oh if there's an elder in your life you ought to praise and honor them right now if there's an elder that's not able to be here tonight you ought to worship in honor of them tonight my best bishop's in their home with my 96 year old uncle mac i'm a worship and honor thank you for allowing us the opportunity that we have tonight oh it's a fire it's moving i can't sit still oh it's kindle it's kindling it's kindly what's next what's what's next what's next [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] i wonder if across this whole house with no musical and every musician every praise team member every single individual under the sound of my voice i wonder if just like on the day of pentecost if we could all lift our voices under heaven an expectation of what he's going to do and just pray for him watching him [Music] [Applause] i'll let the holy ghost speak to you right now let the holy ghost speak through you right now this is that that was spoken up by the prophet joel in the last days i will pour out my spirit upon all flesh [Applause] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] yes hallelujah the healers in this house right now the healers in this house the deliverers in this house the holy ghost is here right there receive you the holy ghost right now in jesus name hallelujah let him speak through you right now [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes lord yes lord yes lord now would you lift your hands and thank the lord for what he's done in this house would you give him praise for what he's done in this house hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah glory glory glory glory glory