Wednesday Night Bible Study

praise the lord everyone we greet you tonight in the wonderful name of the lord jesus christ the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved i'm so glad that i know that wonderful name tonight we are uh continuing our study tonight will be our final study in our spring series seem like we just celebrated new year's and we're entering in the summer after the message tonight and the message tonight is in time very simply very simple we need the lord isn't that powerful we need the lord now almost all of us almost everybody will say we need the lord but we don't always live like we think we need the lord we some of us live as though we pretty well got it made without the lord until something happens and then we see how badly we need him it was um uh expressed one time by a preacher he said when uh he talks about his church he talks about my church my church until something goes wrong and then when something goes wrong he goes before the lord says god you know this isn't my church it's your church and i need your help and that's kind of the way it is we don't realize how badly we need the lord until we need the lord a little story bishop j.t payne told uh 60 years ago but i have never forgotten i've told it many times he said this uh world-renowned organist back in the days before they had the electric organ he would do concerts and he had a fella that uh that did the pedaling to that they've some of you folks don't know about this but they used to have organs that you you peddled them and it it forced air through the sound pipes and got the sound but you had to have somebody to pedal it to get the air through it and he put on a performance and and an intermission the folks all applauded and he said to the old fella that was behind the curtain pressing those pedals he he said the the fellow pressing the pedals said to him with all the applause he said to the great organist said man we did a great job didn't we and the organist said what we what do you mean we because all he was doing was peddling the pedals and so he went back out after intermission and he laid those skilled fingers on the keyboard and no sound came out and he did it again and no sound came out and it occurred to him what was taking place and he pulled the curtain back and he said to the old fellow he said we did a great job while ago and we'll do even better if you'll help me and uh let me say we need the lord we need the lord we need the lord we need him every day every hour every moment we need the lord focus thought god will bless those who recognize their need of him and pursue him god blesses those who will recognize when you and i show the recognition that we should toward god that we need him and we love him he will be there to bless us oh my what a what a message we heard sunday night pastor anthony i thought i was going to charge him with a new laptop because i just about shouted mine out on the floor and danced on it because i was watching online and he preached that great pentecostal message and oh my uh what a what a blessing it was and uh he he kind of minimizes his education he didn't want to act like he's flaunting it but he graduated from duke divinity school all right came back home maybe i need to stand in the right place and uh but he graduated from duke divinity school got a master's degree from penn state but he he minimizes that but what he didn't tell is when he was first started at duke divinity school one of the professors was a lady and she said the fastest growing denomination in america was a group of folks call oneness pentecost she didn't have any idea there was anybody there that was of that faith and um as anthony said just just literally just over the mountain is is a fork mountain holiness church the church that his great-grandpa founded in 1936 the year i was born and she said uh i'll tell you students something that you may not realize she said i'm i attended one of the services of a group of those folks that believes in the holy ghost and talking in tongues which is what anthony preached sunday night and she said i saw them down front and i wanted to get a little closer i asked about what's going on and they told her that this is the duke professor that they are praying for the holy ghost she went down there and she said i felt something and she said students whether you want to believe this or not and i may not have this word for word uh as anthony told it but she said i went down there to see what was going on and she said i got that experience of speaking in tongues and getting the baptism the holy ghost now that happened at duke divinity school over in north carolina well just over the mountain uh was the little group of folks on rock creek there was a little rock creek in big rock creek and there's another little settlement called loafers glory red hill and that's some of the the the frog level was another community sister mccool she was here she she's don't tell that don't tell that but uh there there's there's a sign up it was a loafer's glory was the name of it but anyway sister cook and several other folks was going to a denominal church and uh somebody came through preaching the baptism of the holy ghost and several of them got the holy ghost and that church incidentally that church is one of those that believes that one's saved always saved you can't be lost once so but this group of folks that got the holy ghost they had a business meeting and they voted 30 some of them out of the truck and you might they can't they can't vote them out of heaven but they voted for them out of the church and they started another church a holiness church they weren't called apostolic back then it was actually called a fork mountain holiness church and brother cook he didn't have the holy ghost but he believed in the holy ghost and he preached it they didn't have a pastor and he pastored the church himself waiting for god to send them a pastor and he would get up and preach the holy ghost and he'd be the first one on the altar and one night after seven years he got up to preach opened his bible and started to read his text and started speaking in tongues that was way back in the the the thirties and till he died when we would go back there to spend the night with them uh he would wake us up many times in the middle of the night in his sleep speaking in tongues big and loud just loud he didn't even know it he was asleep but he would be speaking in tongues oh what a blessed glorious experience it is and i want to concur with with the pastor anthony the essentiality but not only the essentiality but the glorious opportunity we have and you shall receive power after the holy ghost has come upon you thank god for that wonderful experience and and if you don't have it don't stop until you get the baptism of the holy ghost god will bless those who recognize loose connection can you hear me now all right no need to get uptight about a little technical problem is there my goodness no no our scripture text is taken from obadiah the first chapter and he is prophesying about esau he says the pride of thine heart had deceived thee and let me just stop right there i want to tell you something the pride of the heart will deceive anybody pride of the heart will deceive anybody the bible said pride goeth before destruction and a holy spirit before a fall and we need to each one examine our hearts about that subject of pride pride the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee thou dwelleth in the cliffs of the rock whose habitation is high that saith in his heart who shall bring me down to the ground now god chose to use esau as one of the natures and his twin brother the other nature and there's so much to be learned about this but he's specifically addressing esau now the pride of thine heart has deceived thee i don't need you lord i don't need god i'm doing all right fine thou that dwelleth in the capsule of the rock whose habitation is high thus saith in his heart who shall bring me down to the ground this is pretty conceited a lot of pride when we feel like that we don't need the lord the vision of obadiah thus saith the lord god concerning edom we have heard a rumor from the lord this is mentioned twice once in isaiah and once in obadiah and it's almost word for word what god is saying concerning esau it's called edom we've heard a rumor from the lord and an ambassador ascent among the heathen rise up ye and let us rise up against her in battle let me let me say something else about pastors anthony's message sunday night he said that's a lie from heaven and i could hear a little chuckle and that he meant live from hell well now wait a minute there was a time that god wanted to destroy uh ahab and they called a meeting in heaven and the spirits of god had a meeting and said what can we do to to to bring judgment upon this man and one said one thing one said another one came forward and said i'll go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets yes there is a lie from heaven god when god chooses to deceive you you see god is god and god don't have to explain himself god don't have to defend himself if he wants to choose to use a lying spirit he can use a lying spirit and i'm going to tell you more about that before this bible lesson is over the vision of o but either says the lord god concerning eden we've heard a rumor from the lord an ambassador sent from among the even arise ye and let us rise up against her in battle god told pharaoh that he'd raised him up to be his servant to punish the children of god and you and i have no grounds on which to question god's tactics or god's method of his use to correct his people behold i have made thee small among the heathen thou art greatly despised now this man he saw i want we will talk about that a little bit why was he despised why was he being held up in ridicule by the lord behold i have made thee small among the heathen thou art greatly despised the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee thou that dwelleth in the cliffs of the rock whose habitation is high that saith in his heart who shall bring me down to the ground i don't need who who can bring me down i'm somebody special but let me say this there is nobody that god can't bring down god can bring you down on your job he can give you favor with your company or he can give you disfavor uh and among your brethren among your uh fellow workers though thou exalt thyself as the eagle and though thou set thy nest among the stars fence will i bring thee down saith the lord every one of us needs to keep in mind that we're one step from being in favor with god and when you get out of favor with god you are in trouble when when anonymous and sapphira when they lied to god and kept back a portion of the land that they'd sow it wasn't that god was punishing them for keeping the money but it was their relationship with god they lied to god and and he they peter said did you sell the property the property yes so much and god struck him dead and they carried him out and and in a space of a short time i believe the bible said three hours his wife came in and he said by the way and i see the church the early church they all agreed to sell their property and put it all in the common treasury and all of them live out of the treasury no no rich and no poor all on the same level and uh they was going to get in on the the the the free stuff but they were going to keep back so they lied to god and she said that yes we sort of saw that they'd already agreed and he said why is thou lied to the holy ghost you haven't lied to man but you've lied to god there's a little bit of um a little bit of uh inconsistency with the the trinity because he said to why has has satan lie uh just put it in your heart to lie to the holy ghost you haven't lied to man but you've lied to god now did you allow the holy ghost said did you lie to god if you lied to the holy ghost you lied to god if you lied to god you lied to the holy ghost if you lied to the holy ghost you lied to jesus because jesus said that i and my father are one so here we go get off on the oneness of the godhead again but god was angry because they lied to god and did not respect god now there's something about uh esau that god was angry about and said you've exalted yourself as an eagle and though thou set thy nest among the stars thence will i bring thee down saith the lord heaven he he up and made a great big speech and and they said oh this is not a man this is this is god and he took the the glory for himself and immediately he fell down worms filled his body and ate his body and god allowed him to die on the spot so what you and i need to remember we need the lord and when we lose that respect for god you're losing that thing that stands between you and devastation you and death you better recognize and resp we better recognize that god is great and he needs to be recognized and revered verse 17 but upon mount zion shall be deliverance and there shall be holiness and the house of jacob shall possess their possessions now in this in this message between jacob and esau god told the mother before they were born that the elder would serve the younger if we don't know why and how god chooses to do like he does but he chose rather than to allow esau to follow through and enjoy the birthright the special preferential treatment that the firstborn got was because well we'll tell you why in just a little bit he did not respect his birthright but upon mount zion shall be the deliverance and there shall be holiness and the house of jacob shall possess their possessions and that word holiness that is uh feared by so many folks uh just and sad to say sad to say that in many of our church even apostolic churches you start talking about holiness they begin to get uncomfortable they began to get nervous now the old timer used to preach bless god is holding us through hell and that may not be the right way to preach it but we used to not fear to use the word holiness and but yet jacob was associated with holiness and esau was associated with pride and the house of jacob shall be a fire and the house of joseph of flame and the house of esau for stubble and they shall kindle in them and devour them and there shall not be any remaining of the house of esau for the lord hath spoken it esau you need the lord knoxville you need the lord republicans you need the lord democrats you need the lord independence you need i don't care who you are you need the lord you need the lord and you better recognize the fact that you do need the lord i need you every day and every hour genesis 25 34 then jacob gave esau bread and pottage of lentils this interpretation is actually bean soup little beans that are red and and and it boils down to a a greater uh aroma of red stew or red soup and and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way now there's a line here i've got underlined and highlighted and yellow then jacob gave esau bread now esau came to feel famished he was a reckless wild man who lived by his wits and he was a cunning hunter the bible said but on that particular day he his luck had run out he had nothing to eat and he felt like for that moment he was going to die of hunger i mean he saw that and smelled that red soup that esau was cooking and he smelled that and for that moment he felt like he had to have a bowl of soup he said or i'll die i can't and what good is my birthright going to be to be if i die that bowl of soup is what i need to live the birthright i'm going to lose everything if i die so he agreed to sell his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup bean soup this is the way the devil will do you with the whatever is your temptation whatever is your desire the bible said love not the world or some folks it's it could be fashion or it could be a temporary it could be whatever and we'll not try to specify what but that particular thing i've got to have it but my love my desire for whatever it is i have got to have it and for that particular moment you you lose all recognition of the long term what's going to happen the next day and the next day and the next day and when you allow something to come up so great that at that moment i want to tell you something you read your newspaper every weekend there'll be people shot dead over nothing that could be over a parking place it could be somebody one of our schools here many been shot on this on the gay street bridge a few years ago uh some fella bumped another bumper and got out and cut his throat at that particular moment anger just fills up and i've got to get revenge i've got to i've got to satisfy this burning anger and they take no thought of what tomorrow may bring and he did it he satisfied the natural desire for food and the line i have underlined and highlighted in yellow thus esau despised his birthright he didn't say i despised my birthright but his behavior indicated and showed that he thought more of a bowl of soup than he did his birthright you know what it bothers me today the internet being like it is and there's no privacy anymore where and some folks delight in putting their most private pictures on the internet i despise it i i i i but you and this was his friend friend and everybody so many person they want they want to put the most seductive they're more or the most ugly or the most revealing you notice that i mean some of the most ridiculous pictures that they put of themselves listen i can't help being ugly but i don't have to put it online i can keep it to myself go ahead and get go ahead and give me a hand don't get the lord hands but in so doing a lot of the churches brother blessings brought this to our my attention weeks or months ago about he's looking up what some some apostolic church believe and they never did say in their statement of faith that they believed in one god or baptism in jesus name or the holy they they they rounded it up they believed like billy graham or they believe like this and they skirted the issue now my point is this in so doing by comparison they're despising their heritage they're despising the doctrine the truth that brought them to where they are and now they want to fit in they've got to satisfy the hunger of the heart of being popular they've got to satisfy that appetite i want to be like the world i want to be like this one i want to be like that one let me tell you something he said come out of the world and be your separate saith the lord now esau despised his birthright not in word but in his saints of god when we start turning loose of the the holy standards when we start turning loose to the doctrine when we start turning loose to this we are despising what brought us to where we are right now i was seven years old when i repented i was 11 years old when i got the holy ghost speaking in tongues and that's what that's what i got that's what i am that's what it was and when i get away from that i am despising what god gave me when i got the holy ghost it's the same to the brother jim it's the same thing we've got now as regard 40 56 i've been preaching 73 years and me changed now johnny go there my son of the gospel he he preached a message at uh because of the times the the the year i preached and he preached that the problem with change is change it might have been an indianapolis something but when you change when do you stop changing what do you change to from what you just changed from if you're going to change johnny james says what was it were you were you a fool then or are you full now saints of god what i received 73 years ago was the real thing and i got it then and that's the very same thing it hasn't changed one eye order it's i'm not going to despise it i'm and i want to tell you something i chilled i i rejoiced i shouted that's my grandson up there i was seven years old i hadn't been to duke divinity school yet i was 11 years old when i got the holocaust i hadn't got my master's degree from penn state yet i was 11 years old when i started preaching i i wasn't working on my phd but to hear my grandson after all these years stand up here and quote his old grand-great-grandpa that's in his grave and to hear him stand behind what his his grandpa said it made me shout and rejoice folks don't turn your back on what you are and who you are this truth remains the truth paul said if any man come preaching any other gospel unto you then that's what you have received let him be a curse hallelujah of course i have read this scripture so many times through the years and always been but brother les daniel brought this to my attention years ago and he brought it in such a way that it has it has indelibly stamped on my heart though i already knew it he said brother mccool it's not enough to know the truth what knowing the truth is not enough my word what do you mean well here's what he meant and he gave me this scripture second thessalonians 2 10 and with all deceivable of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved you talk about needing the lord and needing to stand by something and stand if you won't stand for something you'll fall for anything now notice this next line and for this cause god not the devil and for this cause god shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness you talk about despising your birthright it wasn't the bowl of soup it was when he counted a bowl of soup more urgent and more necessary than his birthright when we reach that place that we value fitting in with the crowd being popular wanting to be somebody more than the truth that is equivalent to despising your birthright we must never despise this jesus name oneness apostolic message we continue to say preaching the truth in love there's a way to preach it and and that's the way it must be but we must not turn our back on it whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our lord jesus christ therefore brethren stand fast and hold the tradition which ye have been taught whether by word or by or our epistles wherefore brethren stand fast and hold the traditions which you have been taught whether by word or by just stand no matter what they say no matter what they turn to what's the little dog's name brother paul wrote about is it bessie or what was the name the little statue of the dog is in your your parents yard what's that nelly and he told dennis nelly is a it was a little uh statue of a dog and he said dogs would come by and snarl at it some would bark at it some would go around it and it was a statue of a nellie and he pointed out a wonderful truth nellie never responded to their barks their grounds their snares nellie remained nelly she just stood there firm and no matter if the dogs and the cats growled and scratched or barked nellie's remained the same saints said now listen saints therefore brethren stand past and whole the traditions which you have been taught whether by word or our epistle now he talked about the truth and also he talked about our tradition we have an apostolic tradition and we don't change with everything that comes along just because a new style comes along just because a new way comes along i would we've got something else that we're that we need to be following paul advocated that they would follow his tradition and we've got i i don't deny that we have an apostolic tradition let's stick with it first timothy 4 1-3 now the spirit speaketh evasively timidly no some preachers like to preach but you don't know really what they're preaching i i heard a preacher preach on grace bad grace and one said was grace going wild about all the things that some folks can do and think they can do because they're living under grace and grace gone wild well let me tell you something the spirit speaks expressly plainly unambiguous i'm not going to get up here and round it up and leave you guessing as to what kind of church you're in bobby and i were invited to speak to the optimist club in nashville tennessee many we were little boys about we were 11 or 12 years old and uh they groomed us to speak to the optimist club and and we the the optimist club was the club of the some of the richest most educated most well-known businessmen in the city of nashville and they wanted to our our handlers i guess you would call them that was promoting us wanted us to do good and so bobby got up he spoke first and he said mr chairman gentleman of the optimist club i'm just like the lightning bug that backed into the electric fan i am delighted to be here i'm just like the lightning bug that backed into the electric fan i am delighted to be here well that that that broke the ice well i want you to know we're not high confluent we're not putting on the dog we're not trying to be something that we're not we're not trying to be like something else because it's bigger and more glamorous but we are what we are and paul said if we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel and do that which you've already received and it said as i said so say i now again if any man come preaching any other gospel he emphasized it by repeating himself and i'm not being arrogant i'm not being abrasive i'm just being nearly that's all i'm being what i am i'm just being what i am i never never failed to think of the the story about the the husband and wife and he bought him a bass guitar and uh he didn't know how to play it but he just stopped on one string and his wife said honey other men played the base like that and said they go up and down the neck of that thing and they they hit other strings beside that one string he said yeah he said they're looking for it and i found it well i want to tell you this i don't know what the world is looking for if they're looking for a better way they're looking for an easier way they're looking for a fun way they're looking for a worldly way they're looking for a popular or whatever i want you to the old song said i have found the way i found the way oh glory hallelujah i have found i want you to know i have found the way the spirit's speaking expressly plainly clearly in latter times some shall depart from the faith now child of god we're living in today when there are those seeking acceptance and popularity that have departed from the faith and we have been warned centuries ago that this was going to happen and you're listening to your founding pastor now and bishop of this church and i want to tell you this doctrine and this gospel hasn't changed you young men sitting here that's called to preach and you're going to be preaching you're going to be preaching long after i'm gone you better not preach anything else besides the apostolic faith preach it in love but he said in the last days prayer in the last days perilous time will come we'll get to that speaking lies in hypocrisy having their conscience seared with a hot iron let me finish verse 4 and the spirit speaks expression that in latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils now seducing spirits is something that seduces you a kidnapper wants to seduce a child help me find my little dog and get you out in the and and and kill a little child seducing your entice you to do something to get you in trouble well that is the there is a seducing spirit in the church world today leading people astray from this apostolic message speaking lies and hypocrisy having their conscience seared with a hot iron that means that they it's callous over till you don't even feel the pain anymore you don't feel the conviction that when you are drifting away you're doing right well never mind i guess as i said earlier seem like some folks are determined to let folks know they've changed to let folks know that they're not what they used to be and and their conscience has been seared with a hot iron they don't they don't feel any guilt they don't feel any remorse they they don't feel any any conviction and then it said and then speaking lies in hypocrisy with the conscience seared with hot iron now back to the lesson verse 19 of uh obadiah 1 and they of the south shall possess the mount of esau that which should have been esau is going to be possessed by somebody else and they of the plane of the philistines and they shall possess the fields of ephraim and the fields of samaria and benjamin shall possess gilead and the captivity of this host of the children of israel shall possess that of the canaanites and the captivity of jerusalem which is a shepherd s-h-e-s-e-p-h-a-r-a-d shall possess the cities of the south and the savior shall come on mount zion to judge the mount of esau boiled down in a in a nutshell you need the lord we need the lord and we must not depart from it and that is my admonition to you i want to share this with you before i close tonight this uh i believe pastor whitley talks about charles spurgeon one of his favorite preachers writers here's what charles spurgeon wrote he said perseverance is the badge of true saints the christian life is not a beginning only in the ways of god but also a continuance in the same as long as life lasts it is with the christian as it was with napoleon he said conquest has made me what i am and conquest must maintain me so under god dear brother in the lord conquest has made you what you are and conquest must sustain you your motto must be excelsior that means still higher he only is a true conqueror and shall be crowned at the last who continueth till war's trumpet is blown no more perseverance is therefore the target of all our spiritual enemies the world does not object to you being a christian for a time if she can but tempt you to cease your pilgrimage and settle down to buy and sell with her in vanity fair the flesh will seek to ensnare you and to prevent your pressing onto glory it is weary work being a pilgrim come give it up am i always to be mortified am i never to be indulged give me at least a furlough from this constant warfare satan will make many a fierce attack on your perseverance it will be the mark for all his arrows he will strive to hinder you in service he will insinuate that you're doing no good and that you want rest he will endeavor to make you weary of suffering he will whisper curse god and die or he will attack your steadfastness what is the good of being so zealous be quiet like the rest sleep as do others and let your lamp go out as the other virgins do or he will assail your doctrinal sentiments why do you hold to these denominational creeds sensible men are getting more liberal they're removing the old landmarks fall in with the times wear your shield christian therefore close upon your armor and cry mighty to god that by his spirit you may endure to the end shall we stand we need the lord and i pray that we'll never lose that consciousness that we need him we need his truth we need his doctrine we need his love we need his compassion we need his perseverance we need it all and we must not give up on any of it please don't forget any of the announcements and don't forget the truth don't forget what you heard sunday night sunday morning you have heard some of the greatest i hope you realize this i feel like after being in this 73 years i've heard a lot of preaching i've been in a lot of services but i want to say first apostolic you are hearing some of the greatest preaching with these pastors step to this pulpit uh give them and the lord a big hand would you please whichever way don't matter which one stands the best message is the last one what a message we heard from time and time again father we thank you for the word of the lord we thank you for the great truth we're thankful lord that we indeed do know how to depend upon you and we realize lord that we need you and may we never as did esau despise this great truth by turning to something else for there is nothing else lord as peter said to whom shall we go there is no other place to go and lord thank you for this glorious way thank you for the joy of knowing the truth bless this word let us sing deep into our hearts tonight dismiss us from this place but not from your presence in jesus name amen