Sunday Morning Worship Service

Give the Lord a great big hand God bless you and you may be seated I know it has already been said but I cannot help but express my own words of appreciation for Pastor Paul pamer and the great memories and the great heritage of his grandfather Bishop Nelson pamer and Bishop Rod pamer their families they have been a classic example of true apostolics down through the years and I have the highest respect and the deepest love for the pamer family and Pastor pamer we're glad to have you we're honored to have you with us today having just celebrated 75 years in the ministry and hearing what this is a grandparents today I I feel a little bit like the little girl's grandfather she asked him said granddad were you on the ark he said no dear she said well why didn't you drown I was traveling with the young folks on the bus and of course that's been said if you want to stay young run with young folks and I have practiced that and we went into a McDonald's I I think that's why they named it McDonald's was after the McCool because we've eaten at so many McDonald's I've carried busloads of young folks down through the years and women in this one McDonald's and I thought the young lady was kind of getting fresh with me and she said took a deep breath and said oh I love your cologne and I smiled and she said you smell just like my grandpa yeah well there are such benefits in serving the lord for a long time John said I have no Greater Joy than to hear that my children walk in truth I could not be near as thankful and proud as I am that my grandson my grandson and all granddaughter grandchildren my son and his wife are maintaining the great Apostolic message preaching the gospel I would I could not be as proud if they were a president of the United States and I appreciate having the privilege of continuing to preach to First Apostolic church for 66 years and I'm so very glad to have my wife with us today many of our loved ones have done gone on and I guess some of them are thinking that I didn't make it but I plan to meet them one day but now then let's get to the word of the Lord my my brother Gary McCool and his wife Katie they're such dear friends and loved ones and uh to me really Gary is the closest to me and I love him and his family so very much I announced I was going to be speaking on the subject the longest title I have ever given a sermon in my years of preaching now that is not indicative of how long I'm going to preach maybe I've said most of it in the title I'm going to deal with a subject I have never dealt with exclusively every preacher has touched on it from time to time but I'm going to deal with a subject today that it's going to hit every one of you everyone including me let me be so boundless to say I'm going to accuse Jesus of being guilty of the same thing I've got a big job ahead of me my subject is beware of what may be the most dangerous destructive debilitating issue ever and Jesus said it was impossible to be avoided and that subject is offense offense offenses there it is on the screen offenses now according to the Merriam Webster's Dictionary definition of the word offend it means outrage upfront insult to cause hurt to cause hurt feelings are deep resentment offended not imply an intentional hurting but it may indicate merely a violation of the victim's sense of what is proper or fitting up front implies treating with deliberate rudeness are indifference to their courtesy Luke 17 starting at verse 1 Jesus was speaking said then said he unto the disciples it is impossible but that offenses will come but woe unto him through whom they come it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and be cast into the sea then that he should offend one of these little ones that scripture always scared me when I was a child I could imagine somebody tying a stone around my neck and throwing me into the sea that was the most horrible thought and yet that's the way Jesus compared the the effects of one offending it would be better that a millstone be hung around his neck and cast into the sea and yet James said for in many things we offend all If any man offend not in word the same is a perfect man and able to Bridle the whole body now James said in many things that we offend all back to what Jesus said he said take heed to yourselves If thy brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him and if he trespass against these seven times in a day and seven times in a day turning into thee and say I repent Thou shalt forgive him now it sounds to me like Jesus is looking at a certain issue that's going to need a lot of forgiveness if a man mistreats you says something wrong or hurts your feelings if he does it seven times in a day and ask you to forgive him you must forgive him we often use the term well that's not the first time he'd done this I I forgave you the first time but he's done it again she's done it again Jesus said if he does it seven times in one day you must forgive him you don't carry it around on the cuff later on and say well he did that once before I'm not going to forgive him this time well after he said that the Apostle said unto the Lord increase our faith Lord if you know what I'm going through if you know what someone has said about me if you know my temperament oh God increase my faith we often hide behind cliches and a bold explanations well I believe that Plain Talk means plain understanding I believe in saying just what I think I believe you need to say what you think I don't think so it depends on how big the fellow is that you're talking to though sometimes you say things a little bit different to this one of that one well after all Jude said in reaching the law she said making a difference sometimes you do make a difference Matthew 18 21 then came Peter to him and said Lord how often shall how off shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him seven times Jesus saith unto him I say not unto thee until seven times but until Seventy Times Seven that is 490 times in one day and yet we use the excuse someone hurt my feelings and I'll never feel the same about it we need to get that thing under the blood and be able to take care and forgive someone of what they've done to me [Applause] now remember this it's not the Wonder is offending that needs to be forgiven but sometimes we become the offender of ourselves and James said in some things we offend all every one of us are guilty of offending somebody sometimes somewhere and we need to ask God to forgive us of that in Matthew 26 verse 7 there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment and poured it on his head as he said at me but when his disciples saw it they had indignation now the disciples didn't say isn't that wonderful that woman of the street has brought her expensive Alabaster Box isn't that a great thing no they were filled with indignation saying to what purpose is this waste for this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor the church has never been without those who criticize them for the way they spend money we don't need the bus we don't need the old Story Goes of the the church was going to buy a new Chandelier and one fellow that had a church meeting and had a vote and he said I'll vote against it the Pastor said why do you vote against it he said number one I can't spell it and number two that we ain't got nobody here that can play it some folks it don't matter what it is they're just not again it does not force you I don't like these lights they cost too much I don't like this pa7 it costs too much I don't like the car the preacher drives I don't like the closer preacher's way I don't like this I don't like how many times it goes on vacation and they were filled with indignation because this woman came off of the street and broke her alabaster box of of high costly perfume and poured it on Jesus the commentary speculate that she was a woman of the street and and she used that perfume in her bedroom for her stock and tray I don't know about that but it could have been but the fact of the matter that she poured it on Jesus they said we could have sold this and we could have given it to the poor and they were filled with indignation as I studied this story I saw something that very that really touched me when Jesus understood it he said unto them why trouble you the woman for she's a lot of good work upon me for ye have the poor always with you but me you have not always for in this year's poured this arm out on my body she did it from her burial verily I'll say unto you wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world there should also this that this woman has been done be told for a memorial to her then one of the twelve called now Whoa stop right there I want you to notice the next verse then then one of the this one of the 12 called Judas Iscariot went unto the chief priest and said unto them what will you give me and I will deliver him unto you and they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver and from that time he sought opportunity to betray him do we have here the greatest repercussion in all history of those being offended at the action of another indignation by the twelve and betrayal by Judas John 13 2 said the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him could it be that the devil used the door of an offense to enter the heart of Judas was this what gave him the idea he after all Judas was the man that kept the money bag of the 12. and he was disposing Jesus because he was misapplying or allowing this woman to misuse an alabaster box appointment that could be so he said and given to the poor could this offense that he took bend the door that opened to him and the Bible said then the devil entered into Judas the devil hadn't always been there but something happened that caused a door to be open that Judas was willing to betray Jesus I'm going to tell you there are folks that have allowed their hurt their their their their paintings and they're being offended to open a door for them to sell the church to sell the Christ to sell their experience because they got their feelings heard over somebody Brother Gary used to work in a Kroger store and one day a lady came in and she happened to know brother Garen and she began to tell him something had gone wrong in the church and she said I'm not going back to that church anymore brother Garrett said why she said because that person that hurt me is going to that church and brother Garrett said well I'm so sorry I'm sorry I'm going to miss you here at Kroger well she said I'm not I'm not talking about Kroger I'm talking well he said that same person trades here at Kroger that goes to that church with you if you can't go to the church with her how can you go to the same grocery store it's amazing how we will allow something to open our heart to stay away from the church or to break fellowship with a family of God but we don't let it break our fellowship with somebody else ladies and gentlemen I'm saying that we need to be careful about getting our feelings heard and we need to be careful about it who hurts us and how we react [Applause] and for further corroboration in Matthew 26 and behold one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand and Drew his sword and struck a servant of the high priest and smote off his ear then said Jesus unto him he was talking to Peter now put it up again by sword in his place for all they that take the sword Shall Perish with the sword now Peter when they gathered around to arrest Jesus Peter evidently was carrying a sword because he drew that sword and he cut the servant of the high priest's ear off now did he say he cut it and said he'd cut it off now when they cut it off it fell on the ground and as Jesus reached down and and and picked it up he put it back on the man's head and it was healed now first of all let me say this if you and I are not careful and our exuberance to defend the faith and our exuberance to make known our righteousness in in our righteous indignation we'll leave body parts laying here and there yonder I've heard a few preachers preached that somebody need to go around and pick up the bloody when they got done because they they left the arm here and a leg there and sometimes I worry about what they're going to say they've said everything they can say without cursing I hope they don't go any further Peter cut the man's ear off and no doubt Peter was thinking Jesus yes Peter thank you man I got folks going to Stand By Me but it didn't Jesus said Peter put away the sword if you live by the sword you're going to perish with a sword some of us are bold and Brazen and we are expected to be bragged on when we should be rebuked I told him so well that's exactly what you should have done you should have I he said so and so and this is what I said sometimes we need to say you really think that's what you should have said the Bible says a soft answer turneth the way around the Bible said agree with an adversary quickly sometimes we can be bold and Brazen now notice as I go ahead Jesus said put Again The Sword in his place six verses later now here Peter is with a bloody sword Jesus gave him a mild rebuke he was so bold and defending Jesus six verses later it says but Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest Palace and went in and set with the servant to see the end do you suppose that mile rebuke Peter got had anything to do with him start distancing himself from the Lord if we're not careful somebody can say something can be said of them that'll cause us to start distancing ourselves from church I used to sing in the choir I used to play music I used to be active in church something happened that hurt my feelings and I started setting back and back a little further and he followed the Lord From Afar and went in and sat down with the service in the high priest Palace and the Bible said he didn't go there to worship he didn't go there to defend Jesus but he went there to see the end some folks don't go to church to worship they go to find thought but how loud the pH set is how how bright or how dim the lights are who's here and who's there are you still with me now did Peter get offended after he did than to Jesus with the Bold move of cutting off the ear of the servant of the high priest instead of getting praised he received a rebuke by Jesus saying put him again the sword for all they that take the sword Shall Perish for the sword but now just a minute is it possible for Jesus to get offended Matthew 16 21 from that time forth Jesus begin Jesus to show unto his disciples however he must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day then Peter took him and began to rebuke him and say be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee but he turned and said to Peter I called you a stone before but this time he said get behind me Satan Thou Art an offense unto me for thou savior is not the things that be of God but those that be of men Jesus warned against the fence but he himself said Peter you are an offense to me because you don't understand what I'm here for I came to this world to give my life and now you're standing in my way why we should be ever so grateful and also be so careful not to offend Proverbs 18 and 19 the wise men said a brother offended is harder to be one than a strong City and their contentions are like the bars of a castle a brother offended is harder to be one than a strong City you know I may carelessly offend somebody that's coming to church they may not be strong in the Lord but I may cause them to be lost sister McCool and I were eating in a restaurant years ago and the waitress she seemed so downcast and almost to the point of tears and and we got to talking to her and and begin to tell her that Jesus had the answer and dear we'll pray for you why don't you come to our church we'd like to have you you can find the Lord you can find peace and the next Sunday she was here in the auditorium next door she and her mother they came and they sat down and there was a lady coming to our church at that time she doesn't come anymore but she'd been sitting in that same place and she came to that young lady and said man you're in my seat this is where I sat and she and her mother got up and walked out and I talked to her lady later she never returned to this church again what does it mean to me to sit in a particular place if a visitor comes in if I have to stand around the wall if I have to settle the altar come Sinners if you're brokenheartedly if you need encouragement if you need a helper come to the house of God there's a house of God that they'll get up and give you their seat yes sir you can say yes sir you can have this seed Give the Lord a hand clap praise a brother offended his heart or one than a Strong City now the ultimate offense Proverbs 6 32 but who so committeth adultery with a woman lack of understanding he that doeth it destroth his own soul a wound and a dishonor shall he yet and his reproach shall not be wiped away now listen to this and I've got this in bold type and my notes for jealousy is the Rage of a man therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance he will not regard any Ransom neither will he rest content though thou give us many gifts now this is why David when he was praying to God he said God if you want sacrifice I'll give it to you if you want a river of oil I'll give it to you but said God Don't Want My Sacrifice but said God wants a broken and a contrite heart he wants repentance I committed adulterior with uriah's wife and there's nothing I could give him that will atone for my sin the only thing I could do is ask God to forgive me and have a broken heart and my friend no matter what you have done whether it's committing adultery or committing robbery lying stealing cheating it doesn't matter what it is there's one thing that'll settle that and that is when you come to God and repent of your sins he said I will cast your sins in the depths of the sea and will not remember against you anymore no matter what it was he'll forgive you and he'll cast your sins in the depths of the scene the very first murder was the result of one being offended Cain and Abel were brothers the first two born sons in the Human family and when they gave their offering to God Abel gave his offering and God accepted it Cain gave an offering inferior to what God expected and God did not accept him and God said Cain where are you sir Dillon Cass he said if you do well you're offering will be accepted but if you don't do well sin lieth at the door and he said he wants to rule over you but you've got to get victory over that thing God gave him an Open Door to get victory over sin and the Bible said that he went out on the field with his brother and he and his brother got together and he slew Abel because he was jealous and envious because Abel's offering was accepted and his was not if I am not careful I'll have the wrong spirit over someone else's success am I as happy when they have a move of God in Clinton as I am when they have a move of God in Knoxville am I as happy about another church winning souls and Glory as I am or am I jealous do I allow something to get in am I as happy for my neighbor when my neighbor is able to get a new car or a new house some of us are busy trying to keep up with the Joneses and then when we get there they're moved jealousy and envy have almost The Identical definition Psalm 73 1 truly God is good to Israel now this is David talking even to such as our but clean heart but as for me my feet were almost gone my steps are well and I slip for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked and did David gives a a Litany of things that the the wicked were blessed with that he didn't get and he said I was envious until I went into the sanctuary of God then understood I they're in surely thou did have set them in a slippery slopes thou casteth them down to destruction and then speaking of himself he said so foolish was I an ignorant I was as a beast before thee Solomon says in Solomon's Songs of Solomon 86 love is strong as death but jealousy as cruel as the grave sometimes we can offend not meaning to offend just being careless now system of cool is perhaps the most patient loving kind person on planet Earth in my love song I wrote for her on her 80th birthday my strongest line says she's sweet woman kind she's that way all the time and that makes her special you see Jesus said honey she liked the song she said let me change that verse a little bit she said she's sweet woman kind most of the time Kelly Gets behind the wheel and swerves towards the ditch then she turns to a witch and that messes up his ride [Applause] years ago we was in a little basement church at Sunday school literature I think we called him quarterlies back then and they cost about a quarter a piece and that was big money back then and we'd pass them out and and then folks would leave them laying here and there and therefore you know it that'd be all trapped up and gone and uh so I fell on an idea I held up one of those books I said now I want everybody to take a Sunday school book and write your name on it and and then don't you lay it down take it home with you read it and bring it back to church these things cost 25 cents and we can't afford to lose them and so one Sunday I was walking through the church and I picked up a Sunday school book and I looked at it and I thought well I'm going to make a point here and I got up and I said I've requested folks not to leave their Sunday school book and I found a book laying here and I'd like that person to come and get it and the name on that is Betty McCool I shouldn't have said that but you never learned while back I decided we you accumulate a lot of things you want to get rid of you don't know what to do and I had a bunch of paper there's a Apostolic witnessing and there was the the Pentecostal Herald and Pentecostal life and and there was Popular Mechanics and there was science and mechanism and there was a bunch of ladies Magazine with nothing but recipes and how to do this and how to do that and of course our the Popular Mechanics and mechanics that's right they're pretty valuable they get I kept those by out through those women magazines away I shouldn't have done that well remember James said some things we offend all Pastor McCool is one of the most even tempered he can settle arguments he can be so nice and he's he's always been that way when he was a little boy riding a bicycle one day he went he said I sent him to the barbershop to get a haircut and I said now Mark you tell Dwight that's a Barbara's name you tell him that you want a haircut and your daddy said he will see that you had a haircut when you get back a little while he came back on that bicycle and he came in the house cried and he said Daddy look at my hair we have a dog named Rick and he said Rick marked at me he didn't even know me the Bible does say fathers provoke not your children to Wrath that's been a long time ago but he's forgotten it let me hasten to a close as I go forward Esau and Jacob is probably the classic example of envy and stripe because Jacob he was a good cook made a good bowl of soup with lentil soup and one day Esau came in the house and he hadn't had any luck killing anything and that lentil soup smelled Divine and he said Jacob give me a bowl of your soup Jacob said well you were twins but you were born first or you get the birthright tell me your Birthright and you can have a bowl of soup well and and he so begin to to reason it out and logic told him well if I die my birth and I'm gonna I'm so I'm starving to death did you know the devil will tell you things to make you think that that you're you're gonna die you can't make it you got to have this if you're going to make it you got to have it and so he sold his Birthright and to make a long story short when his daddy got old blind his mother took him put goat skin on his arms and back of his neck and fix some soup and took it into his daddy and his daddy said well uh you feel like he's almost said you smell like Jacob and he thought oh I am Jacob but in little he did and he gave him the blessing and then Esau came in and saw what had happened and I want you to notice what happened here his mother said until he his mother Rebecca said to him now therefore my son obey my voice and arise plea thou to leaven in my to the my brother heron and carry with them a few days until our brother Fury turned away until thy brother's anger turned away from thee and forget that which I was done to him then I will send and Fest thee from fence why should I be deprived also of you both in one day Carrie with him a few days he was gone 40 years before he returned and Rebecca never saw his face again ladies and gentlemen offenses can follow you to your grave offenses insults and hurts can cause bitterness and anger that can last a lifetime it can rob you of happiness it can spoil your birthday parties it can ruin your anniversaries it can take the joy out of weddings it can dictate where you sit in church it can follow you to the graveside of a loved one it can rob you of your dignity and make you look small job said job 21 25 and another dieth in the bitterness of his soul and never eat us with pleasure the musicians can get ready bitterness can dictate whether or not you enjoy a good meal now job said another dive in bitterness of his soul and never eateth with pleasure you allow anger you allowed jealousy you allow bitterness to get in your heart you can't eat and enjoy a good meal job said bitterness can dictate whether or not you enjoy a good meal it can follow you to McDonald's Calhoun's the Copper Kettle The Chop House or it can ruin a family picnic 40 years after Rebecca sent Jacob away for a few days until thy brother's anger turn away from thee and he forget that which thou has done to him then I will send invest thee from fence Jacob the flim flammer had been flim-flammed by a flim flammer father-in-law he found the cell I've had enough I would rather face my bitter brother Esau than continue under this Dreadful situation now then and by night he got his family he had 11 Sons he had two wives he had made service and he had men servants and he had a herds of cattle and camel and sheep everything you could he'd become wealthy rich and he arose in the night to leave his father-in-law and then the word came that his brother was on his way with 400 armed soldiers getting ready for a battle and Jacob began to pray he's got himself aside in the middle of the night and had a wrestling match with an Angel and the angel changed him from Jacob the deceiver the flame flammer to Israel a prince of God and you know what he did he began to gather everything up he began to put his wives and children in one place and and then he he got a huge herd of cattle and sheep and camels and he said you take all these and you go to meet Esau and well it was such a a tremendous 200 she goats 20 he goats 200 years and 20 Rams 30 milk camels with their coats 40 time 10 Bulls 20 she asses and tenfolds perhaps the most expensive bowl of soup in all history all he had gotten out he had given Esau a bowl of soup and now then look what he give and now then when Esau came forward he said whose are all this Jacob said they're yours my brother he said they're not mine he said yes they're yours because I'm giving it to you I have enough he was willing to give everything to save his family his children his wives and he gave this huge amount of cattle huge amount of livestock ladies and gentlemen if we're not careful we will allow one little bowl incident that should amount to nothing Elevate into something huge churches have been split over who played the piano families have been split over how the inheritance was divided companies have been crippled by who got the promotion yes James said many things we offend all but let me tell you something I don't want to leave you in limbo David was talking and I want you to notice what it said what the president I Rejoice David said in Psalms 119. I Rejoice at Thy Word as one that findeth great spoil I hate and abhor lying but by law do I love seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteousness great peace have they which loved by law and nothing shall offend them we just have great peace Paul said to the Ephesians to the infant Church of Ephesus let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice be your kind one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake have forgiven you I I feel like doing this as the singers get ready to sing [Music] I'm going to give an altar call to every one of us and I want every one of us I don't think you're Liars I don't think I don't think they've uncovered any huge thing it's that little thing right there that I'm talking about I know I'm not above offending someone the Bible said the preacher is not acceptable words sometimes I don't find the acceptable words when I preach I've listened to myself preached back on the table and said dear God did I say that I could have said that in a different way I could have said the same thing but do I mean to say it and sound that harsh I want it to be Choice words I'm going to ask you as the musicians come to sing it I want you to come and meet me here at this all to every one of us and I want to say God if I've ever offended anybody forgive me Lord if I have ever been offended I'm gonna forgive I have whoever it is no matter whether they ask or not I'm going to forgive whether they ask you I'm great peace and they was love I love and nothing and nothing shall have been there oh Man David said I Praise Him seven times a day oh I rejoice in the Lord Our Praise Him seven times a day and great peace and they will love the Lord and nothing shall offend them let us worship God is required things for us right now [Music] this holiness [Music] and [Music] foreign [Music] what we can live above we don't have to allow anything to offend us no matter who preaches no matter whether somebody shakes my hand or not I refuse to be offended I refuse to let it hurt my feelings I'm going to continue to love them I'm going to continue to worship God David said seven times a day I'm going to just worship that'll take me bitters away all right the righteousness is what I need