Sunday Evening Worship Service

savior We Praise You savior We Worship You Hallelujah Hallelujah Lord bless you I'm gonna let you move to your seats we greet you this Sunday evening in the precious name of Jesus we give honor to the Saints of First Apostolic Church the many workers who facilitate every service going forth so successful I thank you for your work those behind the scenes the audio video lighting projection systems the greeters the ushers the security team I greet all of the Saints of this assembly give honor to the leadership of this assembly but most of all we give praise to our Lord Jesus Christ because there's nobody like him we celebrate him every time we come together and I'm so thankful time would not permit me to brag on Jesus like he deserves and I'm thankful that he has given us this opportunity to be back together once again in the house of the Lord I Thank you this assembly for always responding to the call of the Lord now I said it this morning but I will repeat I make no apologies for the way we have church or the style church that we have but I do like to uh let folks know if maybe this is your first time in an Apostolic service or maybe you were doing a little internet surfing and you found First Apostolic Church our webcast and you're trying to figure out what's going on all I want you to know is you're in a house that loves to worship God you're in a house that we want folks to feel free to Worship the Lord in spirit and in truth so that's what we're doing are we emotional yes we are why because that's how God created us he made us creatures of emotion and we use everything that we have everything that's within us to give him the highest of Praise so I say welcome to guests that we have here if this is your first time please feel welcome to worship with us to guests that might be joining us in that great big social media World those who would join us on Facebook or joining us on YouTube and all of those media Outlets that I can't name we welcome you and I encourage you to stay tuned and worship with us not anything I can say but what the word has for us and I invite you to come and be with us in person at your first opportunity finally I want to add one more announcement to all the announcements that have been made we are just a little over a week from the general Ministry Conference of the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ and it this year is in our own back door it will be held at the LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge Tennessee the services will be nightly Tuesday night Wednesday night and Thursday night now for ministers and their families who are attendees and registered for the entire conference there's a registration fee for them but for you the Saints here in the local area you do need a ticket to get in but it's a free ticket but when you get to the conference center uh Tuesday night Wednesday night or Thursday night you can get a ticket there in the lobby there'll be a designated place just so they can have some semblance of order of knowing how many seats they need but I encourage everyone to join us this year at the general Ministry Conference of the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus choir First Apostolic church choir will be leading the praise and worship on the first night and they've even given me the opportunity because we're celebrating the 70th year you know when when you celebrate a long time ago you get old folks to come in and do a few things like you used to so I get to direct choir song on Tuesday night so you'll have to pray for me that I've got enough cardio to get through it but we're going to have a good time in the Lord at GMC that's week after next don't forget that be there every time you're available to do so I want to take us to the word of the Lord tonight passage of scripture that in study this week frankly I would tell you I've preached from this passage before but it became real and fresh to me as I was studying and I hope that you can find something fresh and new from it as well the book of First Peter the third chapter will begin reading it verse number 12. now let me pause here just a moment if anybody's got a cell phone in the house some of you may be getting weather warnings right now [Music] it's okay let me tell you the safest place to be [Music] I said let me tell you the safest place to be it's in the sanctuary hey hey there's even a lot of glass out in the lobby right here in the sanctuary we we've had uh safety drills and we've had folks review our building for dangerous weather you know where they said to come they said to come in the sanctuary that's in the natural but I tell you in the spiritual I didn't know that was going to happen but the Lord knew who I needed to say this this is the safe place to be be in the sanctuary be in the house of God that's where your safety is that's where your protection lies oh yeah they tell us the corners of the building the safest place and under the pews and all that well I'm thankful for the protecting hand of the Lord and hopefully we can have a little church for a few more minutes how about it are you okay with that first Peter the third chapter we're going to begin reading at verse number 12. for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open into their prayers but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil and who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good but and if you suffer for righteousness sake happy are you notice this passage or this statement and be not afraid of their Terror neither be troubled be not afraid of their Terror neither be troubled but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear for a few moments I would speak to you on this subject be not afraid of their Terror and I would subtitle it not afraid and not troubled Not Afraid and not troubled let's pray savior I love you grateful for your hand of protection that's on your people I'm thankful that you've brought us to your house tonight and you have a word for us nothing that I can say or do but Lord your word is always settled and it's directed to our hearts Lord if we will open our hearts and listen receive and act upon your word we know it will come to our good Lord be with us in all that we do in Jesus name we pray amen be not afraid of their Terror in the International Community terrorism has no legally binding criminal law definition common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent Acts that are intended to create fear or Terror those are perpetuated many times by religious political or ideological goals and they deliberately Target or disregard the safety of what many call non-combatants some definitions now include acts of unlawful violence and War the word quote terrorism in quote is politically loaded and emotionally charged and this greatly compounds the difficulty of providing a precise definition Studies have found over 100 definition of definitions of terrorism and abiding characteristic characteristic is the indiscriminate use of violence against non-combatants against civilians for the purpose of gaining publicity for a group of calls or individuals and notice this the symbolism of terrorism can exploit human fear to help achieve these goals without a doubt to all of us the name that even though deceased is synonymous with terrorism still would be Osama bin Laden shortened by most to just refer to as bin Laden he's the founder of Al Qaeda the extremist militant organization that claimed responsibility for the September 11 attacks on the United States along with numerous other mass casualty attacks against civilians and Military targets from 2001 to 2011 Bin Laden was a major Target of the war on terrorism as the FBI placed a 25 million dollar bounty on him in search for him on May 2nd of 2011 Bin Laden was shot and killed in Pakistan by members of the United States Special Forces but I didn't come tonight to just review the horrible things that Bin Laden and terrorism brings and I do not by any means intend to trivialize or minimize the horrific crimes against mankind that terrorists no matter their motivation have done but I would however like to remind everyone in the house that there is a spiritual battle also taking place that would try to bring an atmosphere of spiritual fear and paralyze and prevent us from living a spiritually productive life in Christ Satan's attacks are intended not only to destroy one spiritually but to create fear to all who witness them need I say more than to remind us of job's plight when Satan was given unrestricted access to his family to his wealth and to his health some of us the story of Job just still scares us we don't know if we want to be quite as good as job was because look what he had to face the enemy terrorized him the enemy took his family's lives it took his wealth it took his health consequently fear can be created where do we face fear fear in the church family fear in our personal families fear in our marriages fear in our health some of us even under the sound of my voice tonight have a hard time concentrating on anything because the enemy's been talking to you and telling you that that cough you had may be worse than you first thought that pain that you had may be the beginning of something catastrophic and fear enters in you can have fear in your finances the enemy can whisper to you at night on your bed alone and try to tell you you're not going to make it the commitments that you've made to God the sacrifices that you made in the kingdom of God you're not going to survive fear concerning our jobs fear concerning our past fear about what coming in the future fear fear terrorized for you see the things we deal with are not bombs and guns Ephesians said it this way for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against Powers against the against the rulers of the darkness of this world just a scroll or two through Instagram or Twitter brings fear on many to see those rulers of this Dark World who seem to be creating such atmospheres promoting perversion promoting Satanism promoting anything that's anti-christ it can scare you if you're not well founded against rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places this is not a political statement for there is no party that's pure and we can find ourselves so afraid of the direction that our leadership would take our nation but Jesus said this he said and I say unto you my friends be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do listen once you're dead you're dead preacher I don't die but let me tell you Jesus said don't be worried about those natural things he said Don't Fear them that can kill the body and after that no more that they can do but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear fear Him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea and say unto you fear Him those who can affect you spiritually those who can terrorize Your Existence spiritually that's who we should fear yes we are afraid for 10 years here in the United States we tried to throw our shoulders back and say we weren't but there was a fear and address of somebody named Bin Laden and his cohorts Isaiah said I even I am he that comforteth you who art thou that thou should be afraid of a man that shall die you see we're not ignorant spiritually of the way the enemy would attack I remember during that time frame the U.S military at the height of the search for the perpetrators and terrorists of 9 11 actually the U.S government put out and issued trading cards that had the pictures of the Most Wanted terrorists in the world and they put them in the U.S military soldiers hands lest they would see one of those individuals there was a Most Wanted Trading Card list to identify terrorists Bin Laden's picture being on the front well if that can be done in the natural I'm here to tell you tonight we need to be able to identify those things and those attempts by Satan himself that would terrorize us so we can stand up against it and defeat it right second Corinthians 2 11 said lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we're not ignorant of his devices so tonight I want to identify some culprits some spiritual entities that would terrorize and bring fear to us we worried about bin Laden but in the spirit we might look out for oh been gossiping [Applause] Ben gossiping will attack you James said even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth and the tongue is a fire and a world of iniquity so is the tongue among our members that is it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of Nature and it said on on the fire of hell verse 8 said but the tongue can no man tame it is an unruly evil full of deadly poison been gossiping wants to attack us now that term gossip simply means this casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people typically involving details that are not confirmed to be as true now I realize after hearing the depths of the intellect that we heard in Pastor Anthony's message this may seem a bit shallow but let me tell you as a church we've got to have all kind of preaching so let let me do the flip-flop preaching while he had on the galoshes today okay this isn't quite as deep but let me tell you if you indulge yourself all the time with been gossiping been talking about stuff that you heard that was rumors you're reading stuff and you're you're scrolling on stuff and you're looking for every social media Outlet to find something bad and you don't let the truth get in the way I'm telling you it will terrorize you it will bring fear into your life it'll bring a spirit of dread into your life that you don't trust anything [Applause] the psalmist said it this way said a watch O Lord before my mouth keep the door of my lips there's some times we need to close our mouths and Listen for God's word instead of pebbling in the junk that comes around nowadays oh Ben gossiping is still strong he's still attacking he said incline not my heart to any evil thing to practice practice Wicked Works men that work iniquity and let me not eat of their dainties one of his close cohorts as though being backbiting to backbite means to say spiteful things about someone who is absent oh Roma cool you'll never hear me repeating gossip so you better listen close the first time Thomas said it this way Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle who's supposed to be in the house of God who shall dwell in the Holy Hill he that walketh upright and worketh righteousness and speak in the truth in his heart he that backbideth not with his tongue nor doeth evil to his neighbor nor taketh up of an approach against his neighbor there was strict understanding the psalmist name that we needed to keep our mouth shut and not be talking about folks all the time in fact Paul identified a whole cell of spiritual terrorists second Corinthians 12 20 said for I fear lest when I come I shall not find you so such as I would and I shall be found unto you such as ye would not lest there be debates Indians wraths stripes backbodies whisperings swellings tumults psalmist said in Psalms 101 5 who so privately slandereth his neighbor him will I cut off him that hath a high look and proud of heart will I not suffer you see there's many of these cohorts there's obintail bearing being contentious are cohorts and they work together to achieve goals Proverbs said where there's no wood there there the fire goeth out so where there is no tail bearing strife cephas there's some stuff you ought not to tell oh but it's true you still ought not to tell it there's some things that we ought not to be peddling it shouldn't be as scripture says named once against us that's coals are to the burning coals and wood to the fire so is a contentious man to Kindle Strife the words of a tale bear are wounds and they go down in the innermost part of the belly if we're going to be Victorious and not be terrorized by sin we need to identify and defeat these enemies in our own lives but there's another one of those individuals that I'll identify this one has kind of a long name you know this one's one of those long names you got to listen carefully that's old been laying out of church and lying about it yeah y'all heard of him anybody ever been terrorized by being laying out of church and been lying about it Hebrews said and let us consider wanted to provoke unto love into good works not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching I touched on it this morning but let me repeat again out of all the things that developed through thee coveted crisis the church did a marvelous job this assembly in particular finding alternate ways to carry the gospel when we were being told to isolate and to socially distance we learned a bunch of new terms and terminology and I want you to know the leadership of this assembly I remember well the night that I I met with Brother Sean the busk and and brother mass and Gill and brother Daniel and brother Whitley past Anthony and we all met realizing that they said we got to close the building down he can't have more than 10 folks in the house at one time and to my surprise they weren't suggesting have having less Church they said you know what we need to do we need to meet over here every night about six o'clock and let's have a devotional and put it online and frankly I I was a bit skeptical at first I thought man oh folks uh I mean we're wanting folks to come on Wednesday night Sunday morning Sunday night and they've shut that down what makes you think I said well hey let's try it one's going to give a demotional one night one another Bishop's going to come on Wednesday night and he's going to teach Bible like he always does and we'll do a devotional uh Thursday and Friday and then we'll have Sunday morning Sunday night with no one here and to my pleasant surprise the first time we started looking at the counter there were nearly 500 devices that were joining in that devotion because folks felt isolated and folks wanted to be in the presence of the Lord and want to have Fellowship I'm so thankful for that but let me tell you covid's over social distancing is done you need to be in the house of the Lord every time the doors are open we don't have multiple services so you can pick and choose you need to be here when the doors are open why because we're two or three agree together touching one anything it shall be done when two or three gathered together in my name he said I'm going to show up you see things don't happen like happened this morning when the choir gets to sing and somebody takes off the running and Shout look all you folks out there I love you thank you for tuning in come and be with us you hadn't felt anything yet you hadn't really experienced anything yet man if you're traveling and you're on a journey tune in if you go on vacation good for you just get home don't get defeated by been laying out of church and been lying about it you see act said and when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all in one Accord and in one place they had all gathered together when the Holy Ghost fell let me tell you we need to get together we now boy I know some of y'all think I've quit preaching started meddling that's okay I'm still preaching acts 27 says and upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread did you know we have events we do believe in fasting but we also do believe in feasting we we love getting together I mean we look for excuses to Fellowship together why because I want to be with my family I want to be with God's people I enjoy be I'm in your family I know I know I may be that weird uncle or whatever but please let me be part of the family I enjoy being with you I enjoy being in the presence of holy people yeah we'll worship and praise but we'll Feast together sometimes if we need to huh Jude 18 said this how did they told you that there should be markers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lust these be they who separate themselves sensual having not the spirit a spirit of separation let me hear you let me tell you something let me give you something to hear is what I'm trying to say churches that want to separate themselves from fellowship find themselves in a dangerous situation yes we've quoted iron sharpen of iron many times and it's the same with saints Saints that don't want to be around Saints now yeah you can get too thick I like for family to visit and sometimes I like for family to go home in a natural so there's a fair balance I get that but you see if we start isolating ourselves in our Doctrine we start separating ourselves from The Fellowship Of God you know I I just don't I don't want to have anything to do with anybody if I can help it for your seat this is when the enemy sets in with his attack because your mind gets messed up David was going through a bunch of stuff David was suffering many of it and many of the suffering was because of his own misdirection but when he began recommitting himself just the same David was hearing the the chatter he was hearing being backbiting he was hearing been gossiping he was hearing all these things and it seemed that he was attacked on all sides have you ever felt like you were just under attack man I have I'll confess I've I felt like that that the enemy was just shooting at me from every side it looked like he was going to win but here's the way David described it in Psalm 73 see he said for all the day long have I been plagued chastened every morning somebody got on me here made a bad drive and they blew the horn at me shook their fist at me caught me everything but a child of God if I say I will speak thus behold I should offend against the generation without you if I say anything I'm going to offend somebody every time I open my mouth somebody's getting their feelings hurt David's having a rough go of it he said when I fought to know this it was too painful for me everybody's out to get me but verse 17 says this until I went into the sanctuary of God there's some stuff that can understand unless you get back in the house of God and like you're under attack it may seem like things are going so bad let me tell you I come to church this is part of as a minister this is what I do this is my job if you will but let me tell you it stops being my job and it becomes My Sanctuary when I come into this house and I start enjoying the praise and the worship it seems like my troubles they can go so far away you see that's why we've got to always intentionally have good church let me say that again that's why we've got to always intentionally have good church the Bible said Make a Joyful Noise unto the Lord it didn't say let a Joyful Noise happen that means we need to practice we need to prepare but when we get into this house it ought to feel good in here I shouldn't be worried about every little thing you see that term Sanctuary it says it's a place where people who are in danger from other people can be safe this is my safe place this is My Sanctuary when I come into this place and I see some of you worshiping and shouting I think you know I believe I'm going to make it brother O'Brien I believe I'm going to get through this I thought it was so bad until I got in the house of God oh hallelujah oh Hallelujah and you see I've decided if we're going to be under attack we need some allies to help us I'm going to call the CIA no not the one you're familiar with I'm going to call for Christ's intelligence agency I want to have the mind of Christ I want to think like him for you see our text said this for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open into their prayers but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil the Lord is watching the Lord is listening he doesn't need some super sensitive spy equipment to magnify what he sees or to increase the volume of what he hears he's listening he's watching he knows who the righteous are he knows who the evil that would beset you and he said and who is he that will harm you that was in our text he said but if you suffer for righteousness you know we're going to have some battles happy are you but be not afraid of their Terror neither be troubled you know who I'm going to call on to help me I need no Ben praying I said I need old being praying I need to have been talking to the Lord I you see in Thessalonians 5 17 it says pray without ceasing I would remind you that prayer opened jailhouse doors for Paul and Silas and prayer closed the mouth of the Lions for Daniel it might be good to remember that prayer opens doors and closes mouths let me say that again there's some stuff if you'll pray about it it'll open doors it'll shut some mouths there's some things you don't need to try to deal with yourself you need to get on your knees and say God I need a little help here I'm calling on you right now pray for those who despitefully use you call on the name of the Lord while he's there don't be afraid to have been praying as your ally Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights in preparation to face the devil we need to be able to fast ourselves you need to be able to say being fasting is part of my allies been fast is looking out for me been reading the word I've been studying to show myself approved unto God a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of Truth I've been tithing whoa everybody settle down you got Financial worries get back in the book let it be found that you've been tithing you've been giving God his portion because if you give God his portion you are promised that he's going to open the windows of heaven and pour you out of blessing that there will not be room enough to receive the storehouse they're brought into but the windows of Heaven is where they're poured out and let me encourage you make sure that you've been worshiping make sure that you're not ashamed to give worship and praise and the Lord John said it this way in John 4 23 but the hour cometh now is when the true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth for the father seek and such to worship him God is a spirit and they that worship Him can it's optional they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth don't you be ashamed to be a worshiper let the Holy Ghost use you Pastor Anthony so eloquently stated we're going to worship in different ways some folks want to be standing next to the other want to be smiling and have their hands up laughing another one be crying and they're both worshiping some will be running and some will be bowing some will be kneeling some will be standing but the one thing that's in common they're all worshiping the King of Kings and the Lord of lords why I want to be a worshiper I've got to be a worshiper if I'm going to defeat the terroristic attacks on my soul stand with me praise team get ready Isaiah said it this way fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen the thee yay I will help thee yay I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness if you've been afraid of something there's been things circumstances troubling events Health scares financial distress that's been troubling you I'm here to tell you tonight in the name of Jesus rebuke that thing find Deliverance find Freedom in the name of Jesus you see he's made a promise he said I will do it but for him not to fulfill his word is impossible but he prefaced it by saying fear not and then notice Isaiah went on to say it this way he said behold all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded been gossiping been backbiting been whispering against you he said just let him take care of it he said they will be incensed against thee they that were incensed against thee rather shall be ashamed and confounded they shall say nothing I'm here to tell you if God can close the mouth of lions he can close the mouth of gossipers and naysayers and they that strive with thee Shall Perish you're going to turn around and try to find that that was coming against you and scaring you it's a Thou shalt seek them and shall not find them even them that contended with thee and they that war against thee shall be as nothing as a thing of naught why for I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand saying unto their fear not fear not fear not fear not I will help thee it's time tonight to defeat fear in your life it's time tonight to defeat anything that's been coming against you I want to ask you to Bow your heads for just a moment we're going to pray in just a moment and I'm going to ask you to search yourself look in your own heart if there's anything that's been troubling you if the enemy has been placing fear dread inordinate anxieties about the cares of life I challenge you tonight to pray a selfish prayer not by about anybody else but for yourself to say God I'm needing the calm reassuring hand that would hold my hand as Isaiah said and it's going to cleanse me it's going to take away the anxiety the fear the terrors that have come against me you see Timothy said for God hath not given us a spirit of fear fear is a spirit but of power and of love and of a sound mind I challenge every person in this house if there's been anything that's been coming against you I challenge you to step out if there's anyone that step out and make your way the altar say God I want the reassurance that I have nothing to fear and I have nothing to dread would you step out right now and make your way to the Altar for a season of prayer if there's anything that's been bothering you I can come with you and thought because the enemy tries to trouble us all I give you one final verse the psalmist said it this way the Lord is my light and my salvation Whom Shall I Fear it's a rhetorical question you have no no one or nothing to fear nothing to dread when he holds you by the hand let's give the Lord Praise as they lead us in worship and let's talk to him right now for ourselves money God I love you God I pray that you've reach down in the innermost parts of my life God anything that I fear and that I dread I pray that you would cleanse me right now learn those things that would trouble my mind those things that would make me afraid to do what you've called me to do I pray you to take them out restore me renew me refresh me got those things that the enemy would tell me I can't accomplish in you I rebuke it in the name of Jesus right now speak the name of Jesus over in your life speak the name of Jesus over your life God cleanse me cleanse me cleanse me cleanse me make me fresh make me new take out the fear take out the fear take out the anxiety [Music] in Jesus name and start to sing Hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] I will make the way so I am not afraid before me behind me we won't find me [Music] behind me where you won't find me nobody ever [Music] [Applause] will not be words [Music] would you lift your hands right now in Victory that's not surrender that's a sign of Victory in Jesus I claim victory over every situation I claimed victory over anything that the enemy would place in my way I am victorious I'm a holy ghost filled I'm water baptized I claim victory right now in Jesus name hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah Glory Glory Glory First Apostolic Church I'm glad to be with a Victorious church family let's go from this place encourage refresh renewed ready to face anything that the enemy would place in our way Victorious