Wednesday Night Bible Study

praise the lord everyone that was a little bit on the weak side praise the lord everyone well we greet you tonight in that wonderful matchless all-powerful magnanimous magnificent name of jesus what a joy it is to gather together with the family of god and talk about the goodness of the lord i want to join my horse with pastoral cool to welcome everyone i got used to this during the severe height of the pandemic and that is the death mute sign of i love you and you remember i told you back then when we were according to protocol not allowed to shake hands we could bump elbows or what have you but i said we're going to shake hands with everybody and i kind of got in the habit of that of giving everybody uh let me let me let's shake hands with everybody one time all right god bless you amen well let's see i got an envelope that said bishop and sister mccool it says excuse me it's not christmas day it's not valentine's day it's not groundhog day it's i'm thinking about you day well isn't that nice we just want you all to know how much we love and appreciate you guys thank you for being who you are and what amazing examples of god you are love jason shaina audi and anna and there is a card to it's a gift card to long john silver to long john silvers that said it's for fifty dollars this should get you a handful of number twelves thank you thank you all right i've got to make a confession uh someone got online and uh let me know before we left here last night or sunday night they said that uh that i believe they said the mcdonald's was a usual taco bell next door was sparsely attended and said long john silvers was busier than usual well i was afraid of that when after someone told me that so i didn't want to get into a long line so i went to mcdonald's they have a cheeseburger and two cheeseburger and 20 pieces of of uh mcdonald's chicken mcnuggets for 9.99 so while you folks were lined up at long john silver's i was at mcdonald's getting that two cheeseburger they called it a two-cheeseburger bundle but anyway we had a great time uh sunday night i did enjoying uh teaching the word of god i got to hear a little bit of my brother twin brother bobby he's a got a i don't know what they call it is it a blog or it's got a program uh monday wednesday and friday at uh it's 10 o'clock their time 11 hours and and uh i i never can get it live but i can always get it later and he was commenting on pastor mark mccool's message and and my message sunday night which was am i my brother's keeper or am i my brother's killer and as time has gone on and i've gotten older um the word of god the doctrine the the holiness message the apostolic message has not changed one bit it hasn't changed a bit but uh i must confess that i believe i'm in the i don't mean to put myself in the category of the apostle paul uh the greatness but i saw a great deal of um change in the apostle paul not in his doctrine but in his attitude brother dean wilson gave me a book about the apostle paul which i appreciate so very much there was a time in the apostle paul's life when a little thing like john mark leaving them too quick and going home became a monumental thing and it split up their evangelistic team and uh barnabas and paul got into a heated discussion just and dispute and they split up their evangelistic party over uh john mark leaving them the bible said he loved this present world didn't mean he was worldly but he loved home got home sick but later on there was a a great change in the apostle paul's attitude if you read the book of philemon how he pled for mercy and grace for a runaway servant that had robbed his master carried away goods and and it's only one chapter but everybody should read it i even stated that uh i thought every the labor law school should uh teach that and and every preacher should study that the compassion and love and and the uh magnificent skillful way he approached a delicate situation and uh it would be wise for us to do that um i i've told you this little story and i've been cautioned to quit telling folks that i've told a story but many years ago we had a boy scout troop here and way up here somewhere there's a in the mountains uh there's a camping site there and we took all of our boys up there and was gathered around the campfire that night and and um i had a little story to tell them and i said at that time there were some boys that had broke into the public school and taken the fire extinguisher and had uh sprayed all and messed up the schoolhouse pretty bad and it was it made the papers and and everybody was acquainted with that and i told that story to those young boys and i said what do you think ought to be done with those boys and one said one thing and one another and this that and the other and one of the most um memorable things i heard one boy said i think they ought to lock them up and beat them every day for the rest of their life i say is that real i said well what would you say i didn't tell them that this was the fact but i said what would you say if i knew if i told you i knew those boys and that they really were good boys at heart but they just got together and one dared the other and and they got on a mischievous uh rod and one there the other to take the and they started and and before you know it they had done all this and they really didn't mean to be mean and everything got quiet and uh that same boy raised his hand he said you know what i think they ought to do i think they ought to bring them in and give them a good talking to and tell them never to do that again and i thought what a difference it was if it becomes my personal problem and if it's my person if it's my loved one if it's me that needs the grace and mercy and i pointed this out sunday night uh the little picture of uh he ain't heavy he's my brother uh we're all gonna fall and falter sometime i don't know who you are if you haven't you will and i'm not going to ask a raising of the hands but i can promise you every one of us has fallen made mistakes and needed the mercy of god and not only the mercy of god but the mercy of someone else and the lord has really been dealing with me about this and for quite a while and i'm in the midst of a of a bible study and i want all of you listen to me all the young folks have gone to their class tonight but sunday night i went around and solicited their help and they really got behind me and i'm going to solicit you older folks help tonight and the help is is in getting now i know a lot of the uh the older folks have gotten a little frightened with this pandemic and rightly so and i don't blame anyone for taking precautions and follow whatever his pastor says that is comfortable to you uh but uh those of you that i'm going to ask you to recruit for me if i ask you to do something would you do it if i asked you to do something would you okay maybe i shouldn't ask you to raise your hand but i want you to recruit people now there's a far more here tonight than would be in our uh old building next door uh you'd have a hard time getting all of us in that same building but yet there's plenty of empty seats but if you know any of the folks who's been afraid to come out on wednesday night i'd like you to get them out here on wednesday night because i've got a series of studies that i am uh i'm i'm preparing uh i got to look at and don't let me frighten you with this because i'm watching the clock but i got to look at my notes and i said i sent 12 pages to brother derek and i got to look and i think there's 26 pages but i've got enough uh wisdom to not try to preach all i like to know all i preach but i want to preach all i know but uh i want you to be here next wednesday night and bring tell some of the old hey let's let's let's fill that order to them up on wednesday night and may i welcome all of those that's joining us online i'm not picking at you tonight for not being here we've got a great crowd here incidentally but uh the bible said behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity but um there's a there's there's i think um david uh uh when he started to go out to war and incidentally was against his own son his son had caused an insurrection and had actually overthrown david and david had left jerusalem barefooted and but uh when he regrouped with his soldiers uh he said i'm gonna go back they said no david you're not going to go with us said if if 10 000 of us fall they're not going to think anything about it but they said you are worth 10 000 of us now i don't don't mean to point that to myself but i want to tell you something age and experience and wisdom goes a long way and you'd be wise to listen to a man of god that's been down the road i i realize i'm a novice i've only been preaching 73 years and just along the road you're going to learn an awful lot of things and i'd like there's some things i think in this last day that we're living in that uh i i'd like to preach now i told you sunday night uh hebrews 6 and one therefore leaving the principles of the doctrines of christ talked about the baptism the doctrine of baptism the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead and and of course he said these things we already know yeah i don't have to teach you folks baptism in jesus name you've heard me quote peter's when it's and said uh i'll put you in memory of the things though you already know them and as long as i'm in this tabernacle i'm going to stir you up by way of remembrance you ever say that so you know i'm not forgetting to to remind you of repeating and preaching the doctrine but he said let us go on that don't mean leave off acts 2 38 and leave off acts 2 4 and leave off holiness without which no man shall see the lord and i've got a classic writing that i wrote on holiness that the preachers all over this country has uh called and requested me to send it to them and it's even online and and because i believe in the wholeness very strong but there are some other things beyond that that we need to be thinking about and let me quickly review because i'm taking too much time laying a foundation i started out with the with the subject of it was good in genesis 1 god saw the light that it was good and the earth and there was dry land gathered together waters into the sea god saw that was good and the earth brought forth grass and herbs yielding a seed after its kind god saw that it was good 18 and to rule over the dead over the night and divide the light for the darkness at the sun of the moon god saw there was good but in genesis 2 18 the lord said it is not good god discovered something or i'm sure in all of his will he knew everything but when he began to survey what he had done the lord said that god said it is not good that the man should be alone i'll make a help meet for him god said it wasn't good for man to be alone ecclesiastes 4 9 said two are better than one for if they fall the one will lift up his fellow but woe to him that is alone so the lord's impressed upon me that we need to we need each other as never before we're we're living in the last days this pandemic has had an effect to separate people i heard on the news the other day that 25 of the people that used to go to church that had to quit going because of the pandemic will not ever go back they get out of the the habit of going and the devil has got something to to divide people when the bible said forsake not the assembling of yourself together i need to be with you i need to now you folks online thank god for you you're with us online but there's nothing like being face to face that i can see your face and you can see mine so having said that now let us get into tonight's bible study and if you want to put that on the screen here is my topic careless quiet and secure careless quiet and secure my my what a job they do up there and i used to have a little thing set on my pulpit with a light bulb in it that would show if you look real good you could see barely see what it was on but i had a pulpit made to cut a hole out there that i could have a little bit of uh uh visual age and look what we've got that's so great judges 18 and 7 will be the scripture i'll start with and the five men departed and came to laish and saw the people that were there in how they dwelt careless after the manner of the sidonians quiet and secure and there was no magistrate in the land that might put them to shame in anything and they were far from the zadonians and had no business with any man now this is where i get my topic they were careless they were quiet and they were secure and they didn't have any dealings with anybody else i'm not going to ask you to raise your hand but how many of you have ever been stopped by the the the law going too fast i have and uh it may have saved my life because it it reminded me that uh there's a speed limit not to hamper or control me but to make sure that i was as safe as i could be now paul writing to timothy told him to preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine uh have you ever had a preacher to to to scold you from the pulpit and kind of left you with the feelings hurt a little bit i'm sure we all have but if he's telling you something that'll keep you out of trouble and help your marriage to stay together help you to be able to be a better parent help you to be a better son or daughter he that's for your good now having i'll tell you more about this shortly and my next segment in this bible study is entitled micah and his mad mother i don't think i got that on there or not micah and his mad mother i first put that down micah and his hissy pitching mama but i was afraid i couldn't say that but that was the while first time lit micah and his hissy pitching mama now sampson had just been killed he had brought the temple down and he was dead and this was in the days of the judges and uh the 17th chapter of judges started out uh with this phrase there was a man of mount ephraim whose name was micah and he said to his mother the 1100 shekels of silver that were taken from thee about which i curseth and speaketh of also in my ears behold the silver is with me i took it and his mother said blessed be thou of the lord my son here this old woman was pitching a hissy fit this was starting out the 17th chapter of judges samson had been killed and now it's telling about what had gone on in the days of the judges and it just starts at chapter 17 there was a man named michael and and his mother had just pitched a hissy fit and in his ears and and he she cursed she pronounced judgment and she was so loud and so frightening that now he was a grown man had grown children he even had appointed one of his sons as the priest that moved away from everybody they were well by themselves no church no nothing they had their house was their own church one of his sons had appointed him to be their priest and his mama had been hoarding some money she didn't think anybody knew about it and he knew about it and uh he stole it and when his mother found out it was gone she pitched such a hissy scared him to death and he said wait a minute mama obama he said i'm the one that took your money and she said blessed be thou the lord my son she got religion in a hurry why the bible why god chose to let this right after samson and rod there's a great fantastic story coming if you'll stay with me i may not get it finished tonight i won't but you need to hear it all um but they were way out by themselves and and had their own church and here's what she said and when he had restored the 1100 shekels of silver to his mother his mother said i had wholly dedicated the silver unto the lord from my hand for my son oh mama how godly you are you were saving that money for god to make graven images and molded images now therefore will i destroy unto thee now you talk about somebody that was way out away from everybody else now it said they didn't have a magistrate to shame them in those days there was no king and the bible said every man did that which was right in his own eyes they got way out here by themselves there was no building codes there was nobody there was no laws to live by you live by your own law and now then well let me go on she claimed that she was saving that money and she wasn't going to give it to the house of god because the house of god was at shiloh and they were not going to shiloh to worship but they decided their own home was all right but to have their own home they had to have a pastor so they put one of their sons in his pasture and they restored the money and to his mother and his mother took 200 shekels of silver and gave it to them to the founder who made thereof a graven image and a molded image and they were in the house of micah and the man micah had a house of gods and made an epot a terrible and consecrated one of his sons who became his priests in those days there was no king in israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes this is what happened when you get too careless quiet and secure away from church away from other saints of god away from now i told you last week god said it's not good to be alone it's not good to be alone in your doctrine paul had been preaching for several years or for some time and there arose a discussion about circumcision i might take this up as a subject one of these nights and there was such a there there were some jews that got converted to christianity but they couldn't leave behind the doctrine of circumcision that it had you had to be circumcised to be saved and so paul barnabas they said let's go up to jerusalem and confer with the other disciples let's see what they think about it and they went up to jerusalem and they began to discuss the subject and one said one thing one said another one and and and peter said you remember i i god chose me by my mouth to preach to the gentiles now they were accepting gentiles and they wanted them to get circumcised and peter said you remember when i when i went down to the household cornelius a gentile and while i preached the holy ghost fell on them and they spoke in tongues just as we did from the beginning and and when they got done the bubble they saw they began to believe and they began to get a different attitude toward the converted gentiles now if we're not careful if i get too much by myself i may get off on a tangent all right the bible says iron sharpeneth iron a good file will knock off all the rust of a whole and it'll brighten it up sometimes i need pastor whitley i need pastor anthony i need pastor mark mccool i need uh uh brother uh a plenary i need brother blevis i need some i need one of these preachers again i need them to sharpen me up and they tell me things i thought i already knew preaching 73 years but when my grandson gets up here and preaches every time he gets i said he preached i said dear lord i preached that a hundred times in the last 70 years and now then he has broadened my attitude i can't be alone with just what i think well they met them and and and they met them uh up marcus and they made them up michael's graven images which he made all the time that the house of god was in shiloh now they they would never make grave an image if they were doing what god told them to do what moses told them to do but now they had to have something to see to give them a focus there was nobody nobody to put them to shame nobody to rebuke them nobody enlightened them and so they thought if they would just dedicate that those images to god they would have their own church they would get the terrapins and and they would get the ephod get all the things that they had at the house of god and i'll make my house the house of god well the devil's always got a way of answering that my next segment is a levite on the loose looking for a place to land a levi on the loose looking for a place to land verse 7 and there was a young man out of bethlehem judah of the family of judah who was a levite and he's so adjourned now sojourn is a resident alien a a sojourner is somebody that's passing through and don't plan to stay very long i told you last sunday night uh leon brother leon vault told me here a few weeks ago and he came to my door with some roasting ears if you don't know what that is that's sweet corn and um some tomatoes and some good things and so forth and and he said he said brother when i remember said i said yeah your your old mother was one of the foundations of this church he said yeah mama told me that uh god has sent uh us a little angel to start us a church and she'd pre she had prayed seven years for god to send somebody and said when you came said mama said god sent us an angel and i said yeah mama and that little angel will fly away just like all the rest of these tent preachers do well and then leon went on to say he said you pulled up in an oldsmobile said it was the prettiest car i ever saw and he said i've always wanted one that couldn't afford it and now and so you pulled up and said you opened the trunk and you started pulling out picks and shovels and hammers and said you had on your work clothes and said you went to dig it and screwed and said and he said that's the kind of preacher i've been looking for right well i said leon that's been 60 some odd years ago and they ain't blown away yet and i don't plan to fly away until the lord calls me and i'm still preaching the same thing tonight that i was on august the 24th 1957 and the day the breath leaves my body if i have any breath i'm going to be preaching the same acts 2 38 acts 2 4. hoping it's blind which no matter i'm going to be preaching the same thing but uh micah and his uh his pitching mama they had their own church and here came a levi sojourn and the man departed out of the city well and there was a young man out of the bethlehem a levite and a sojourn there and the man departed out of the city from bethlehem to sojourn where he could find a place he was unemployed he was he was looking for a place to be a priest look out for folks that don't know where they are why they're there what they're going to do and they don't know what they believe and micah said unto him what's coming so where'd you come from and you said to him i'm a levite of bethlehem judah and i go to sojourn where i may find a place i'm a levi on the loose looking for a place to land we've had a lot of them through knoxville haven't we we've had to put up tents and right here and there and we've had them arrested for drunk driving and all other kind of things levi on the loose and micah said to him dwell with me and be unto me a father and a priest and i'll give thee 10 seconds of silver by the year and a suit of apparel and vittles so the levite went in he found a place to land my next segment is entitled micah purchased his own personal preacher man when you can buy your own priest there are some folks looking for somebody that'll preach what they want to hear i don't like what i hear i'm going to walk out and here i'm going to go uh it's it's it's like a shoe store and you you don't have to have a foot to fit the shoe they've got to to fit your foot if they don't have it here they'll have one going up the street just keep or you'll find somebody you'll find a preacher that'll preach what you want to hear listen to this and the levi was content to dwell with the man and the young man was unto him as one of his sons now he his his son that he'd pour appointed as preachers had to move over because now that he's got a sure enough levi and micah consecrated the levite and the young man became his priest and was in the house of micah then said micah now i know now i know listen to this micah said now i know the lord will do me good seeing i have a levite to my priest preacher like a good luck charm i've got a preacher in my pocket you know some people carry around a certain kind of stone or something or something it's a good luck charm rabbit's foot i got i i've got a good luck charm oh mike i said look at here man god's gonna do me good now i've got a preacher in my pocket i've i've hired him i've i'm paying him i'm giving him what to wear and i'm getting him closer and he's going to preach what i want to hear now remember this they were quiet they were content they were secure but there was nobody around there was no real man of god shiloh was where the church was and they had secluded themselves away from all everybody and the bible said they had nothing to do with anybody else they got alone let me tell you something you're going to need somebody someday yes you are yes you are i'm going to need somebody i've heard preachers make this statement excuse them the uh an income poopery of this statement if you can you'll have to look that up in the dictionary but i've heard preachers say if you don't believe what i preach you see the door hit the door you look better going than you do coming now that that's an incomputery if you want to know what the definition a man that don't have any more interest in saying the people look better going than they do coming there's something wrong with his attitude i've heard of preachers they can call people more names from the pulpits without cursing they got let me tell you something that's not the right attitude for the man of god you may not be doing right you may be you may have fallen in sin you may have all kind of false but let me tell you something god wants me to love you and god wants me to help you god wants me to help restore you now i can get by myself over here and i can hear so and so preach that i want to be just like him i i want to i want to be out of that that sounds good i heard i call people all kinds of names and i'll try not to call any names but anyway in those days there was no king in israel and in those days the tribe of the day nights the danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of israel now this segment is entitled the state of the danice now this is in the same two chapters chapter 17 and 18. now the danish they were the five men that went out looking for something and the devil is unable to take what they've been assigned or that had been assigned them salt and easy pray now what you may not understand is when joshua began to divide up the the country now you can have this and you can have this and you can have this territory on this or your and he divided up the the the the land of canaan to the tribes of israel but that didn't mean they he gave them the key to the city so there they are now go take it it's going to be a little battle you got to well you're going to fight for it but that's why buddy you assigned me something i'm going to have to shed blood i'm going to work i'm going to fight but you see the danites they were not able to take the land that had been assigned them they were too afraid they were too skittish and they would and they had not taken the land that had been assigned to them you see the danish were unable to take what had been assigned to them so they are they sought an easy prey when israel was immersively bullied by cicero for 20 years who had 900 chariots of iron it was dan who stayed in his ships instead of helping in the fight judges 4 and 2 and the lord sold them to the hand of jabin king of king of canaan and reigned and hazel the captain of whose host was cicero which dwelled in hershey of the gentiles after the deliverance by the leadership of deborah and the tribe of dan was chiding gilead about beyond jordan why did dan remain in his ships asher continued on the seashore and abode in his breaches and the children of dan sent of their family five men from their coasts men of valor from zoram and from estriol to spy out the land and to search it and they said go to them search the land who when they came to mount ephraim to the house of micah remember micah and his mama had their own church they had their own preacher had their own gods had their own little statues but they they were secluded they were away from everybody else they didn't have a real man of god like the apostle paul they didn't have a real man like a elijah they didn't have a real prophet of god to really tell them what they needed to do but they were safe and secure they were by themselves nobody to correct them nobody just straightened them out so this is where the family of dan the danais went to they were looking for folks that had no real defense you see some are not searching for lost souls but they're scouting out churches for their own faith of their own faith for members it seems easier to invade friendly surroundings than to fight for lost souls i had a preacher to come years ago i never i was sitting beside the telephone at the old cafeteria and they said brother mccool i'm coming to knoxville to start a church and um i wanted to pay you a courtesy call i said well that's great wonderful i said that what brings you what made you feel like coming to knoxville well he said i i visited a while sometime back and said one of your folks took me through the set of such a beautiful building and said they were so friendly and i saw the day cared i saw the school and it said that so and so i just realized that our organization didn't have a church in knoxville and so i'm coming to start a church for our organization and i said now brother i appreciate you coming to knoxville i i pray you get many souls but i can't say that i agree with your reasoning if you're coming because you want to do something for an organization it's one thing but if you're coming looking for souls that's something else let me tell you something you don't go to our neighboring churches and try to invite their saints to come and be a member of this church we do not try to proselyte people from other apostolic churches they need to go where they heard the word of god they need to be faithful and we do not go around fishing for people out of other churches give the lord a handclap i don't know whether i want to be here next wednesday night or not here's what paul said in romans 15 20 yea so have i strived to preach the gospel not for christ was named lest i should build upon another man's foundation we need men and women that's looking in areas where there's not an apostolic church to preach the gospel not to go and and like the levi on the loose looking for easy prey verse three and when they were by the house of micah they knew the voice of the young man the levi and we're talking about the spas that came from the the day nights looking for an easy place to conquer and they turned in thither and said unto him who brought thee hither and what maketh thou in this place and what do you make what are you doing here how good is everything for you what is thou here what do you got well why are you at this house and he said to them thus and thus dealeth micah with me and have hired me and i'm his priest boys sir hey uh i'm the king of this house i'm the priest of this i've been hired by micah now i walk softly around his mama i don't try to make her mad or anything but i'm i'm pretty careful about what i say now this is my imagination now uh but i'm his priest and he's promised me so much money and a change of clothes every year said man i got i got a deal going here and they said unto him if you're a priest now as counsel we pray thee of god that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous we're going to try them out and see if he's the kind of preacher we really want ourselves he said we're see what god says about what's going to happen to us and the priest said to them go in peace behold the lord is your way wherein you go man that's kind of preacher i've been looking for all this time yeah you you you remember you remember it was ahab when they were sitting guts up in the car and he came and he said he always prophesized evil against me and i hate him and when they brought him in they said don't you say anything negative said you just and he came in and and he said you go ahead and go up to fight with the joshua what are you gonna and he said and and and ahab himself scrolled and said how many times i drew thee that you speak nothing to me but the truth and he knew that that that uh the man of god wasn't really telling the truth well they said all right he said i saw israel scattered on the mountainside like sheep scattered i said you're going to go to war you ain't coming back and he looked at jose said see what i told you he never prophesized anything good it's always i don't want that kind of preacher every time i go he tells me about my sin every time i go he tells me i need to live right he never makes me feel good about myself and and now then this young levi said go god's going to be with you and the five men departed and came to laish and saw the people that were therein how they dwelt now watch this again my topic have you got the picture yet have i okay now then there they found this house secluded they found this house of gods this man i don't know where his daddy is probably dead whatever but just the chapter starts out just boom like that micah and his mama and she was pitching a hissy and now then she he coughs up the money he gives she gives the money back to go to the foundry and have them to to make us some gods because we're going to have our own church and the five men departed and came to leicester and saw the people that were therein how they'd do it careless after the manner of the zidonians quiet and secure and there was no magistrate in the land that might put them to shame in anything and they were far from the zidonians and had no business with any man you tell me why i get so thrilled and i hear preaching like we hear not just from pastor and pastor anthony and pastor whitley but all these preachers that that's brought in from out of town here and there and they got a new vision new perspective and and and kept me wasn't that some kind but brother bald didn't he bless us uh but the latter day is going to be better than the first it's going to be more glorious and we've heard sir even the day preachers oh what a job they did and i you don't need to just hear one voice all the time that's right can somebody say man i'm getting close to the finish line for tonight and i told you i'm doing this in segments all right and they came unto their brethren to zorro and the estral and their brethren said to them what say ye and they said arise that we may go up against them for we have seen the land and behold it's very good and are ye still be not slopeful to go and to enter to possess the land when you go you should come unto a people secure and to a large land for god hath given it unto your hands a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth just a little hint that bishop makuu was sick i had to miss last wednesday and i guess [Music] and my goodness i got texts i got a pastor even asked not to call because yeah i'd get i would get so many calls and so many emails any so many texts i i couldn't answer them all devil look out you attack bishop or crew you're attacking a whole church full of people they're going to stand with them in prayer oh he may be sick but if he's sick we're sick with him we're he's not secure by himself we're on his side [Applause] you talk about extremes one night over 123 west columbia we had we were in the upstairs at that time but the guerrilla mccool uh lived over hill murray road and there was a highway patrolman lived next door to him and uh they made up something didn't let me know about it and it was a youth night i believe it was or whatever it was but anyway i got up to preach and about the time i took my text and started preaching this highway patrolman in full dress with a pistol on his side and all of the regalia that he had and he'd come right when he started i didn't expect him to sit down he didn't sit down kept coming and he came right up to the pulpit and i stopped and he said are you the pastor of this church and i said yes sir he said i've got a warrant for your arrest you've been preaching folks got to do get this and this and that the other and so i'm fixing to take you to jail right there in church house full of people things got deathly quiet and old mama hall that was uh sister debbie the bus grandmother is that right but it's her grandmother jim she was about that tall she jumped up and she said if you'll take him to jail you're gonna take me through and she began to shout and dance and then the rest of the folks begin to shout and dance and every one of them get hot if you take him you gotta take they're gonna have a jail full of folks i want you to know i wasn't alone they were going they followed me to brother gene while they were born and had church and folks got the holy ghost in the barn everywhere i went they went let me tell you something we are together as a family hallelujah give the lord a great big hand clap [Applause] and they passed this unto mount ephraim and came to the house of micah then answered the five spies they have five men that went to spy out the country of leicester and said unto their brethren do you know that there is in this house an apoll a terrapin and a graven image and a molten image now therefore consider what you have to do now nobody in the whole crowd had any compunction or any conviction to condemn idolatry and idol gods they've been commanded over and over that you're not to set up idol gods and they had no problem with that house having uh fake terrapins and and fake gods and the 600 and they turned it through the word and came to the house of the young man the levite even to the house of micah and saluted him and the 600 men appointed with weapons of war which were of the children of dan stood by the entering of the gate and the five men that went to spy out the land went up and came in thither and took the graven image the epaul the terrapins and the molten image and the priest stood in the entrance of the gate with the 600 men that were appointed with weapons of war and these went to micah's house and these went into micah's house and fetched the carbon the carved image the e-fold the terrapin and the molten image then said the priest unto them okay now then the levi that's been hired he's about to do his job now wait a minute fellas what do you think you're doing this is the priest token the levite that had been hired by micah what are your fellows doing what are you doing and they said to him hold thou peace lay thy hand upon thy mouth and go with us and be to us a father and a priest it's better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man said for for is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man or that thou shalt be a priest unto a tribe and a family in israel and the priest's heart was glad said boys i'm hard here i'm going to go beware of the preacher this is my next segment i wish i'd had him notified to put this in on the screen beware of the preacher who goes to the highest bidder beware of the preacher that can be hired and will go to the highest bidder and the priest's heart was glad and he took the ephod and the terrible and the graven images and went in the midst of the people so they turned and departed and put a little put the little ones in the cattle and the carriages before their shall we stand now i'll be referring to something and i i do request you to be here wednesday night i hope you i hope you get where i'm coming from that's why i have preached for youth rallies camp meetings conferences and to associate with others of like precious faith they were committed to the bible not to plant certain foods close together you know why because it will exchange flavors you don't plant cucumbers and watermelons together your your watermelon tastes like cucumbers we need each other as never before i can't run over the all over the country here and there yonder and find me a place where there's a they say the rivers grow quicker for following the path of least resistance um i can't be secure careless and confident over here by myself my fa me and my wife and we got our own little church we got this all even if you don't agree with me i need you i need your point of view i may be able to enlighten you and you may be able to enlighten me this may shock you but i'm about to make a confession my wife and i do not always agree on everything and the bad thing about it is she's right more times than she's wrong she has a tremendous memory she and mac i sit by and hear them talk and and they remember names and places and this that and the other and and and if we ever once in a great while we'll we'll there's something come up that i'll be right on and and i feel like having a celebration taking her out to a dinner take her to another mcdonald's or something but i need her i'd love to have her with me at funerals because she stands by my side and tells me who this one is and that one is because now you say oh you're old and you're now folks i've got this way just because i'm old and the old i remember this happened to me and the the the lodge hall up over the grocery store of course we were so glad to see anybody knew and that night i i was welcoming everybody and i looked back that i told this i said sister we're so glad to to have you back we're glad to have you with us and she said i said yes you and she said i ain't never been here before that really happened just like that well after shirts i embarrass myself and i do that all the time when i get people's names wrong wrong person so after church i went to this lady and i said man i am so sorry to embarrass you i didn't mean she said that wasn't me that was that other lady right amazed so i said that to say this no it's not alzheimer's it's what i've been i've been practicing forgetting a long time and i'm good at it now father we do thank you tonight for this precious word of god lord in its simplicity and yet in its meaning that comes from the depths of a caring heart of this preacher i pray god that you'll help me to understand how much i need every one of your people lord i i can't afford to lose one friend one loved one one saint of god god i must do everything that's within my power the bible says lord in your word to provoke one another to love god if i am going to provoke anybody may it be provoke them to love one another let this word sink deep into our hearts and may we grow stronger the love of god and the love for each other in jesus name we pray pastors are in the announcement god bless you you know the proper protocol uh shake hands be friendly and i love every one of you here tonight you're dismissed in the name of the lord