Wednesday Night Bible Study

praise the lord everyone let's try it again praise the lord everyone [Applause] well it is so good to see each one of you in the house of the lord tonight i i feel very strongly about bible study and i have this notion that studying the bible and having bible study is very important paul told timothy study to show thyself approved and there's nothing needed more than for us to study the word of god together uh there's not a day that goes by that something don't happen in my everyday life that bang a scripture will pop up this covers this and this covers this and uh it's uh it's like the rudder on the ship it's like the north star it's something that you can depend on and it will guide you and i dedicate this service tonight to sister mccool who can't be here as you know we have been alternating our services and i told her before i left we always have a goodbye kiss and i said do you realize that in the morning you're going to wake up realizing you're married to an old 85 year old man but she accepted it very nicely and it's an 85 year old man that in body uh i don't feel a day over 90. in spirit i don't feel a day over 20. i feel my spirit high i feel excited and thrilled about the work of god i've never been more thrilled in my life than i am right now about the work of god and i pray that you are too and i i started a bible lesson a few weeks ago and i don't know if i'll ever get through because it just jumps from one segment to another i started out in the book of genesis when god created the earth and everything he did he said it was good until he got to man and he said it's not good that man should be alone and god has dealt with me to impress upon the saints of god the need that we have for each other we need each other as never before and i am praying that god will help us to understand this and will give me the words to say and the ability to express it the way he wants it expressed and the way i feel in my heart uh my only regret i wish we had the i wish we had a sunday night crowd here sunday morning crowd because i as i said i somehow have a feeling that the young folks need what i've got to say also but we folks who are older we need it also would you like to hear what i wrote for sister mccool all right um i think i read this maybe one time before but uh this is what i wrote to her when the first night i took her home from the tent revival in johnson city i when i told her i was gonna i didn't ask her i said i just told her i was going to take her home and she said oh no you can't i said i'm going to take you home tonight and she said no you're not and i said yes i am i was very bold and we pulled up to the team we had been to a little drive-in restaurant and had something to drink and got back to the tent sister cook was standing there waiting on us and i just drove up and i said sister cook can i is it all right if i take your daughter home tonight she said well i i guess i can trust a preacher well the thing that preacher didn't know when he asked told her he's gonna take her i didn't know it was 45 miles to where she lived over iron mound through the valleys around curves i didn't realize how far it was but i really didn't mind i don't have the time to tell you that is the i could write a book about that first night and it would sound like a novel it would sound like it's made up uh but i'll not go into all of that because i am going to teach but the little highway that goes from johnson city to irwin it's called the irwin highway and you go about about 10 or 15 miles out of johnson city on the highway and then what's called the irwin highway and then you make a left turn and go right into the mountains over the mountains of iron mountain and and i i it's just right at 50 miles 45 miles but that erwin highway will always hold a deer spot in my heart so i was sitting the other day and i wrote her a little recitation and it's entitled trying to find a way and it goes like this 65 anniversaries and 85 birthdays leaves me searching for words to say with a lady so lovely and growing sweeter each day to say how much i love and adore her i'm still trying to find a way memories so precious when i close my eyes and think of the erwin highways trying to find a way to say i love you i've tried flowers shoes and lingerie but nothing comes close when trying to repay for the joy and excitement i found on the irwin highway it was our first ride together romantic perfume filled the air with such a wonderful heavenly feeling it was certain god had made us a pair now that i'm old and anxious what hair i have left is turning gray nothing can erase the feeling we had on the irwin highway route 66 is world famous as well as old broadway songs have been written and movies have been made but these can't compare with a little two-lane road in east tennessee i call it my lover's lane the erwin highway so that's my 85th birthday contribution it's a good thing the young folks wasn't in here they couldn't stand that could they all right having said that i've got you in a good spiritual mood now and we're going to get into our bible study and our bible study tonight is entitled not i but us would you say it with me not i but us not i but us and i'm going to read several verses of scripture and then i'm going to come back and we'll do an expository type teaching tonight and first samuel 14 starting i'm going verses 1 and 2 and then we're going to skip to verse 6 and so on now it came to pass upon the day that jonathan the son of saul said unto the young man that bear his armor come and let us go over to the philistines garrison that is on the other side but he told not his father keep that statement in mind but he told not his father verse 2 and saul teared in the utmost part of gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in migrant and the people that were there with him were about 600 men skipping to verse 6. and jonathan said to the young man that bear his armor come let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised it may be that the lord will work for us for there is no restraint to the lord to save by many or by few verse seven and his armored bearer said unto him do all that is in thy heart turn thee behold i am with i am with thee according to thy heart then said jonathan behold we will pass over unto these men and we will discover ourselves unto them if they say thus unto us terry until we come to you then we will stand still in our place and will not go up unto them but if they say thus come upon us then we will go up for the lord hath delivered them into our hand and they shall be a sign unto us and both of them discovered themselves into the garrison of the philistines and the philistines said behold the hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves and the men of the garrison answered jonathan and his armor bearer and said come up to us and we'll show you a thing and jonathan said unto his armor bearer come up after me for the lord hath delivered them into the hand of israel and jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet and his armor bear after him and they fell before jonathan and his arm of air slew after them and that first slaughter that keep that in mind that first slaughter which jonathan and his armored bear made was about 20 men within as it were a half acre of land which a yoke of oxen might plow father i pray that you will anoint the lips of clay tonight god give me the ability to convey to this congregation saints of god that which is in my heart that it may sink deep into the very fiber of our soul for the name of jesus we pray amen at this time uh the the land was being invaded by the philistines now saul started out as a humble great man when he was anointed by samuel to be king but in his lifespan and his rulership of israel he turned out to be one of the most wicked and despicable creatures he was willing to kill his own son because his son dipped his staff in some honey and took a bite of honey he was going to kill his own son because jonathan didn't even know his dad had made that order that folks could not eat because of the impending battle but this was just a little little glimpse of what kind of man he was but the bible says now it came to pass jonathan the son of saul said to the young man that bear his armor come let us go over to the philistine garrison on the other but he told don't i've got a subtitle here don't tell daddy don't tell daddy it's great when you have a father who encourages you to live right do the right thing and live up to your highest potential however in my ministry i have seen fathers who do everything in their power to discourage their children not to get in an apostolic church i'll i'll never forget when we started the church on columbia there was a house not well it was next door to our church and there was a young man uh in that family that wanted to come to the church and they we had in a tent and that father got so angry he came over one night and i was told later he had a gun had a pistol in his pocket and he was angry because his teenage son was coming to that tent revival and he intended to stop it don't tell daddy it would be great if all fathers wanted their children in an apostolic church and you would think that in the day of drugs in the day of hostility and the day of uh i think they said 30 someone had been shot and killed in in the city of knoxville this year you would think that any parent would be delighted for their children to get in a church like this but there are fathers that would much rather have their little girl strip off in less clothes and they go to bed with at night and become a cheerleader hike their legs and cheer in front of a bunch of men and become an object of lust than to get them in an apostolic church where they're taught holiness and how to live right you would think that any father would love to have their son in a church like this where they'll be taught decency honesty stay off of drugs don't pick up cigarettes don't do this don't do that but there are fathers that's dead set on seeing their son make the football team or the baseball team or whatever and they don't want them to get involved in the house of the lord don't tell daddy jonathan knew the attitude of his father and it was about an hour away and the philistines had sent a garrison a smaller group to spy out the land to see where would be the best place and how would be the best tactic to attack the israelites and jonathan and his armor bearer had left his father and left the 600 men and they went scouting on their own and about an hour away they were between two great big rocks and and they were hid and they saw a group of philistines it was spies or is the the the the forward-looking guys that was there to search out the land to uh give the their idea of the proper strategy and jonathan turned to his armor bearer and here's here's what he said to jonathan said to the young man that bear his armor come let us go over to the garrison of the uncircumcised it may be now once you get this it may be that the lord will work for us for there is no restraint to the lord to save by many of our few what god hears in my subtitle here's my segment what god may not do for me he may do for us the bible tells us to pray one for another for two or three or gather together in his name he's there in the midst for some reason the bible said two are better than one the bible said one can put a thousand to flight well we know and then two can put ten thousand to flight let me tell you something we need each other as we have never needed each other and and jonathan said to his armor bear let's go now that we're going to put out a fleece before the lord and and it may be that now two against a whole garrison of philistines and he said we will ex we will discover ourselves to them and let them see where we are and if they say uh we'll tend to you later we'll be still but if they challenge us to come we know that that's god telling us that he's going to be with us now another thing i found out and verse 7 says and his armor bearer said unto him do all that is in thy heart turn thee behold i am with thee according to thy heart now according to easton's bible dictionary an armor-bearer as an officer selected by kings and generals because of his bravery not only to bear their armor but also to stand by them in the time of danger i don't know this young man's name the bible never told that man's young man's name but i do know this he was a valiant man and he was a brave man and he was willing to stand by his leader to the death let me tell you something there are people in the work of god that will never come on this platform there are men and women that'll never take a prominent place before the congregation as a matter of fact some their names won't even be known they're quiet they come and they sit they worship god but they don't make a big splurge but i want you to know they are armor bearers they're standing with the work of god they're standing with the man of god and they're not give the lord a hand clap hallelujah [Applause] there are those sitting here tonight and i don't want to go into this name calling but there are folks here tonight that have stood with me over 50 years through thick and thin through the good times and through the hard times when we face great terrible challenges and and their name you will never be known as to what they stood for and how they stood with me but they were armor bearers and they're with me after 50 years but after 65 64 years i want you to know god has got some armor bearers here tonight i think you may never be heard from this pulpit you may never have your name called from the pulpit but i want you to know your name is being called on heaven's wrong and your valuable in the eyes of god your name has been written down in his book give the lord a handclap would you please and the book of samuel uh saul had gotten in trouble with god and well let's first samuel 16 21-23 saw the spirit of god left saul and the bible said now now this is something that i can't fully understand and i can't explain it and nobody else can other than god can do what he wants to do and they don't ask me nor you or anyone else what he wants and david came to saul and stood before him and he loved him greatly and he became his armor-bearer and now david became saul's armor bearer now when saul had disobeyed god the spirit of god left him and the bible said an evil spirit from the lord began to torment saul and as the evil spirit from the lord now i don't understand that i don't understand where mckay i uh told uh uh uh ahab that it's all right uh going up the battle god's gonna be with him ahab said how many times must i jury thee that you speak nothing to me but the truth of the name of the lord he said all right if you want to know the truth there was a a conference in heaven and one spirit went before god and said i'll do that one spirit said this one and said one spirit said i'll go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets and i'll deceive ahab and get him killed because i'll be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets well the bible said because they received no love of the truth that god would send them strong delusion that they would believe a lie that they might be damned so i want to tell you something it's a dangerous thing to get on god's bedside and when god sends an evil spirit out at you to torment you well when that evil spirit would trouble saul he would get insane he was dangerous and one of his servants said what you need saul you need somebody that's a good musician that can play beautiful soothing harmonious music listen musicians i wish there's all here tonight they're they're out doing their job you know getting ready and but said you need somebody and somebody said i know just the man there's a little boy that's been taking care of his daddy's sheep and the word has it that he's an excellent harp player david was first a shepherd boy a musician a harpist an exorcist a crack shot slingshot shooter a lion and bear killer a giant killer and king of israel what can we be if we walk humbly and upright before god you may feel like on the backside of nowhere taking care of a bunch of blading sheep may be a unacceptable and undesirable job where you have to fight while a beast off of your your lambs and your sheep but let me tell you something god has got a work for each one of us to do and if each one of us will do it's not i but it's us if god wants me to be a shepherd boy i'll be a shepherd boy if god wants me to be a slingshot shooter and they sit and got david and david came before saul and and saul sent to jesse saying let david i pray they stand before me for he hath found favor in my sight and it came to pass when the evil spirit from god was upon saul that david took a harp and played with his hands so saul was refreshed and was well and the evil spirit departed from him that's why god hates musicians musicians the devil sure likes to get you upset at one another more churches have been split and tore up over piano players and choir directors and musicians somebody once said that hell hath no furious uh musicians on the rampage either they're too loud too low uh too early too late too high to this or to that let me tell you something god loves musicians god loves his choir they were trained choirs in the days of david they didn't just go we used to have a problem in the other church where we would practice the choir and get the rest and somebody would bring a tambourine and set it on the front seat and they'd be blind half half on time half time all the time and and one night there's a boy brought that a tambourine and he he handed it to a child and that child was sitting down with and the choir was trying to sing and somehow another they said uh let's all close our eyes and pray and when then i shot down off that platform and i got that tambourine and i took it and put it under my seat as a matter of fact as the years went on i had a pretty good collection of tambourines under my sink in my old office one day i was coming out of the ut parking lot and the young gentleman that was taking up the tickets and i gave i had a pass and i gave him the value he said you're the one that got my tambourine aren't you after all those i had tambourines and cowboy hats under my sink at the old time i don't do that anymore but my point i'm making right now don't don't let the light side take over the suicide when these folks began to saying uh my hearing is much different than it was a few years ago i am wearing hearing aids and and but uh it seemed like systemic whispers all the time now she years ago she talked loud but she really don't but it seems to me like she speak up honey speak up say but but that's the way it is and things don't sound to me now like it used to i don't understand the word sometimes i don't understand the volume sometimes but i want you to know i understand the spirit oh hallelujah when they start i've preached sermons about i i am what i am because the i am told me who i am and the things like that just for reals my i don't i don't know i'm not in the same generation but i want you to know i love it and i love what's going on and i love the armor bearers i love the harp players i love the singers i love the prayer warriors i love the faithful attenders i love the greeters i i've been go by over their sister mary wilson i've seen she said she must be posted that must be her outpost at this back door there she stands early on sunday morning wherever and she's greeting folks and they've got different ones like a century like they're sitting there that that's their poster duty heaven is going to record that you took care of your duty you did what you were assigned to do i got a call from uh brother roger milstead senior this week and he was passing through town had some minor business it seemed like he had a grandchild born in knoxville and he was had business to come by here but i told him what a great job his son nathan was doing playing the piano he said yes said sister donna did a fantastic job teaching these children to play the piano what does that mean what did it mean david i don't know who taught david to play the harp but it drove away he was an exorcist with his he drove away that he was i want you know i've seen more revivals and one break out so when the choir begins to sing our special song begins to sing and we begin to sing to the goodness and the grace and the goodness of god and the spirit of god paul's and we see what god the revival breaks out many times now if folks are competing with one another about how good they sing then that nullifies the whole thing then jonathan said to behold we'll pass over to these men and we'll discover ourselves let them know we're here don't we we've hit long enough now i've already read what he said and it said after the first slaughter which jonathan and his armor bear made was about 20 men within as it were a half acre of land which an ox why yoke of oxen might plow a half acre of ground they said within where a half acre you've heard folks i'll mop up the ground with it these two men pitted themselves against the 20 other men and when they got finished they had slain all 20 of them and where they had it had been such a vicious battle it looked like the oxen had broken up a half an acre of ground and god again to us not i but us when when jonathan said come let us get maybe that god will work for us that he may not do for me but if i can get along with somebody else and i can have an armored barrier to help me what can we do if we work together now here's what happened at that first it said first slaughter now remember the philistine army were amassing where they were gathering getting ready to attack the israelites and when jonathan and his armored bear slew these 20 men it so discomfited it so frightened them though those that did get away they went running and the the the mighty army of the philistines saw their centuries they saw the go-ahead fellas saw them running and it frightened them and the whole army began to run and they they got excited and began to kill one another and before it was over the entire army of the philistines had fled that was the second slaughter the first slaughter was when jonathan is arma bear and do you know where saul was he was loitering under a pomegranate tree back with his 600-man army afraid to go out and i've got a sub-title to larder or to slaughter what are we going to do are we going to attack evil are we going to attack now understand we do not believe in physical violence in any way and all of this is a spiritual application not a natural application we don't raise a finger to hurt anybody we don't even we don't smack anybody we don't believe in that but there's a spiritual application you see i'm ready to attack worldliness with everything that's within me i'm ready to attack vulgarity i'm ready to attack meanings i'm ready to to attack gossip i'm ready to attack the enemy of our souls i love the druggist the druggie but i don't love the drugs i love the drunkard but i don't love the drink and i'm going to attack i'm going to attack everything that's unlike god he that loves the world the things of the of the world the love of the father is not in him i'm going to slaughter and i'm not going to lauder i'm not going to sit back and take it easy while the devil is stealing our children i'm not going to sit back and take it easy while churches are going worldly and changing their doctrine and and letting up on the name of jesus i'm not going to say you're going to hear me yelling to the top of my voice now my next segment is entitled workers warriors and trumpeters workers warriors and trumpeters nehemiah 415 now what happened nehemiah he was a cupbearer for his king and uh he heard what was going on that the walls of jerusalem had been broken down the gates had been burned and the people there was living in disgrace and distress and he got permission from his king for whom he was the cup bearer to go back and rebuild the walls and when he went back and started rebuilding the walls of jerusalem the enemy heard about it sand ballot and tobiah they first of all tried to scare him out by making fun of him and said if the the wall you're building if a fox if if a little old fox come and fall and he just kept on building just kept right on building and then his enemies began to mass together and get the an army together to attack them verse 15 of chapter four and it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known and thus and god had brought their counsel to naught that we returned all of us everybody say all of us we need all of us we need when the choir gathers one key person might mess up the whole choir if one musician is out it it it hurts if if i'm not there if you're not there things are out of balance and they went they returned to all of us to the wall everyone unto his work every one of us has a job to do sister jessica has a job to do i understand she has a new teacher in her class that teaches her her numbers a new student well i said a new teacher who is a student my great-granddaughter's in her class and i understand she was playing in the water of the fountain sister jessica was doing her job stopping her and one of the tactics that all parents use is now i'm going to count to three and you better be so uh she gave my great granddaughter that ultimatum she said one two in the eleven three she beat her to it i don't guess i i doubt if eleanor has ever been given that uh her her mother has been such a good mother and such a good teacher she probably has never got to that point yet but i i laughed my head off when i heard it that when when teachers said one two ellen said three that's kind of what some of us do you know we we we we kind of get ahead every one of us has got a job to do and sister jessica's doing such a fantastic job i'm so glad to have her teaching not only my great-granddaughter but other children and it came to pass from that time forth that half of my servants wrought in the work and the other half of them held both the spears and shields and the bows and the habragans and the rulers were behind all the house of judah they which built on the wall and they which bear burdens with those that laden every one with one of his hands wrought in the work and the other hand held a weapon for the builders everyone that had his sword girded by his side and so built it and he that sounded the trumpet was by me and i said unto the noble to the rulers to the rest of the people the work is great and large and we are separated upon the wall one far from the other in what place therefore you hear the sound of the trumpet resort yet feather to us our god shall fight for us they were separated on the wall but he said they had a trial in one hand and a sword in the other and they were said and one fella had a trumpet another fellow had had a sword another fella had a trial and and nehemiah said now we're separated all the way and these folks over there they may not know it but when you hear the sound of the trumpet come rushing to the sound come know the sound of the trumpet and rush to the sound because you're needed because we need each other we're being attacked and when you hear the sign we've got workers and we've got warriors and we've got trumpet blowers we've got folks that do different jobs i thought when pastor said a while ago about my birthday we used to use that to raise money for certain projects and and and finally we run out of this that and finally brother uh uh blevins came up said we're going to have just because just because it's just because just just because it's needed just because it don't have to be the bishop's birthday it don't have to just because and i want you know you folks have responded to that now i've got another sequence here and i've got this under this heading anthony's message pressed for a purpose did any anybody remember that message anthony preached press for a purpose if you didn't hear it you better get online and call it up and he told about the olives about how there are three pressings of the olives and it is a graduate of uh of its uh of its value and its importance and it told how wonderful it was and but they've got to be pressed for for them to be useful it's for anointing it's to light the lamps yes and he did such a tremendous job pressed for a purpose you see you and i are going to be pressed and there's a purpose in it but you've gotta you've got to experience that pressing now i used pastor anthony's message because it inspired me and let me go where i'm going judges 3 and 1. now these are the nations which the lord left to prove israel by them even as many of israel as had not known all the wars of canaan only that the generations of the children of israel might know to teach them war at the least such as before knew nothing thereof now let me explain to a little bit he blessed me he's always giving credit to his his son to school teachers he can tell what this one that one taught him and and he used the term about uh uh plucking from a venue that they didn't plant pastor mark mccool said and brother um nate whitley i sat there and wept as he taught as he preached uh his his message and he gave credit to all the older folks and he gave so much credit to me i began to wonder who he was talking about it was it was it had the right man but he pointed out all of you older folks he even used the term brother before i was ever born and oh how he touched our hearts telling all that now which was i'm speaking to a lot of the older folks tonight and pastor whitley gave credit to all of these older folks who have who have sacrificed who've done so many things that the younger generation uh didn't plant the vineyard but the reap and the harvest but uh pastor willie pastor anthony pastor mark mccool the bible said these are the nations with the lord left only the generations of the children of israel that might know to teach them war um god's left a few things for you all to deal with pastor we're not out we won the battle but we haven't won the war yet see uh pastor anthony pastor whitley is not in here but god's god has intentionally left a few things for you to take care of god's left a few things to to uh to to keep you praying keep you on your knees and you go he are you getting what i'm saying all the giants hadn't been killed yet david did kill goliath but goliath had four brothers and in the 21st chapter of second samuel it tells about they went to war and it's by bnob he got david was still trying to go out to war he's old and was weak and and and and one of the one of the goliath's brothers had david pinned down and was getting ready to kill him the bible said he had a new sword he had new and man he had heard all that he had heard folks saying about that one little boy named david and all this thing about killing his brother goliath and now it's his day now now now and and david has run out of energy he was weak he was old he had a good heart he had he wanted to but he was unable and ishmael bina was getting ready to kill david but what he didn't count on david david had a nephew by the name of a bishop and i bet you i saw david pinned down and here came abishiyah and ibishii slew-ish by bennett let me tell you something goliath has got brothers but goliath we've got some nephews and we've got some grandchildren and we've got some young preachers oh hallelujah bro brother flattering we we've got some younger ones coming on that's been taught in the ways of god look out look out goliath brothers we've got an anthony we've got a we've got a whitley we've got nathan we've got america we look at all these young folks that's doing the work for somebody say praise the lord [Applause] and and after that battle you you can read it uh start at verse 15 and read the verse 22 that's the the finishes of chapter 21. it tells it these were goliaths four brothers now we know why david had picked up five stones sewing goliath had four brothers he didn't use them then but his warriors that he had trained the war wasn't over when he slowed goliath listen the war is not over because we built a new building the war is not over because we've got a a church that's out of debt the war is not over god left some nations to keep them on their toes to keep them praying let me go on let me go on only the generations or the children of israel might know to teach them war at the least such as before knew nothing thereof the young folks that knows nothing about defending the truth those that don't know anything about being attacked like some of us were the devil has come up with other things sometimes it's subtle the devil's on the drawing boards tonight drawing up plans for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren now let me read this now the four brothers of goliath the bishop david's nephew saved him and then they they decided something they said david you're not going out to war with us anymore we know you've got the desire we know you're just as interested as you've always been but your physical strength is not like it once was and said why should we allow you to go and quench the light of israel david may have been weak in physical body but he was called the light of israel i may not have the physical strength brother whitley talked about me preaching on the radio three times a day and and on sunday uh preached sunday morning taught a bible class and then preached on the radio and then preached sunday night and i i can't do that now i can't do that but i'll tell you what i can do i can be the light of this church i can keep the light of acts 2 38 i can keep the light of holiness without which no man shall see the lord i may not have the physical strength to do some of the things but i can keep the light shining oh hallelujah ah my god so come on another hand clap i don't know what it's doing to you but i [Applause] [Laughter] i hear brother nate refer to his blessed mother so much what on him what an imprint she had a what an impression what a influence she was on his life uh she may not be able to notice but i want you to know she can still hold the light she's the light of the church he's the light of israel oh gloria pastor anthony talked about a he told him when he got back he went to uh uh uh the uh what's the the the the school he went to over in divinity school one of the most prestigious schools in the country and and the uh the uh professor lady said you know i'm gonna tell you a student there's a group that says it's one of the fastest growing religions and then she said i went to one of their services and said they were down front praying for somebody and said i went down to see what they was doing and said they said they was getting the holy ghost and she they said you want and she said i got that holy ghost that they talked about now that's a profession am i telling it right anything is that the way it is share it now anthony said what she didn't know from duke divinity school just over the mountain there's a little church established in 1936 the year i was born by a fellow by the name of rose cook that didn't have the holy ghost but he believed in it his wife and 36 others have been turned out of the baptist church for getting the holy ghost and and for believing and then pentecostal and and he told about his his granddad his grace great his his great granddad getting a preaching seven years without the holy ghost and he'd be the first one in the altar to seek it and then one night he got up and opened his bible and started the priest and started talking in tongues hey is by be knob we've got a nephew we've got a grandson we've got a great grandson we've got children coming on that's oh hallelujah they've heard this message hallelujah mark is up the street he's a little boy and uh now this other boy was catholic and he wanted to play church and he said okay we look after them we're going to take communion so they went through the motion of taking communion then mark said all right now then let's wash feet can you imagine him in catholic church wars aren't they but you see what was what was in him one of the most difficult classes mark had in getting his degree at the university of tennessee came on data i've written an article on um on evolution so i've got i've got the facts so i said mark you better change your subject there's no way you can pass that there's no way oh i've got the facts i said mark you better be careful and see and when he and he did have his facts but when that teacher got through she had scratched up that paper i mean this that then and the nearest she ever come to failing in class was that class because there's no way she was gonna they even told him in his class that that um that uh there were no camels at the time of abraham said that and that was it was very uh uh unstudious for her and then even told the that the red sea was only ankle deep when uh pharaoh's men drowned and uh mark said if if it was only ankle deep then how did they drown in ankle deep water and you've heard me tell that before my point is this we're together we're together when i pass from the scene out here in greenwood cemetery there's a plaque planted in the ground it's got my name on it and it's got a scripture that says be thou faithful unto death i want you to know when the last breath leaves this old body if i have anything to say i'm going to say honey i love you and acts 2 38 is still the man says it's going i'm going to be it till i die and then devil look here we got some kids coming on well let me go on oh my goodness i'm out of time i've got myself time let me read a couple more scriptures because this press for a purpose is as imprinted in my heart in ruth 2 16 uh ruth had come as a as a gentile daughter-in-law and her husband had died and she was in the field of boaz rich boaz and boaz said to his workers she was gleaning in the fields her mother-in-law sent her out to glean they had very little to eat and boaz loved her and he said let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her and leave them that she may glean them and rebuke her not now what's what i'm about to say boaz said to his workers now that's the way the poor folks got by they would glean after you they would go through and get the the crop uh they would the poor folks would come behind and whatever they left they they just stripped every little thing they they'd leave that that was what the poor folks lived off of but boaz said leave some handfuls leave some piles up there for on purpose i want her to have this and don't don't rebuke her don't don't don't scold her there's some handful god leaves some handfuls of unexpected blessings on purpose for us there's some things that you don't know where it came from or why but it just happens god leaves some handfuls on purpose but he also leaves a few challenges on purpose hey devil have you considered my servant job there's none like him a perfect and upright man fears god and issue with evil god has a few armies left on purpose to keep us praying we're not going to sail into heaven on a come see of ease we're going to have some trials we're going to have some tribulations there's some things that we're not going to have to deal with god leaves a few of those things on purpose now listen to this jonah 2 1 and 2. then jonah prayed unto the lord as god out of the fish's belly and said i cried by reason of mine affliction unto the lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cried out and he heard us i i cried because i had a reason did you know i have seen i've actually seen christian women who had unsaved husbands and they prayed for them and they prayed for their salvation and i've seen them a husband get right and i've seen the the the wife stop her praying and backslide and not forget them let me tell you there's some things god puts in our way to to let us pray job didn't have to be put as an example to the devil but paul said there was given to me a thorn in the flesh a messenger of satan but when i prayed for god to remove it i prayed three times but god said paul my grace is sufficient are you understanding what i'm saying are you understanding what i'm saying god gave jonah a reason to pray and would you stand your feet it's 8 45 that's the time i've said for myself would you stand and i may be taking up this subject next wednesday night the violent take it by force the violent the violent take it by force father we thank you tonight for your goodness and mercy i thank you for the spirit of the lord that that i feel in my heart tonight i pray god that your precious people will accept and understand and hear pay attention to and heed to the words that's being preached because you have given them to me to give to this congregation and may we continue to study read apply ourselves to the work of god and lord let us love one another and work together with one another to further the salvation of lost souls in jesus name we pray amen are there any uh everybody as we have said follow the protocol that you're comfortable with if you're comfortable wearing it right now there's a lot of uh political hacking about uh whether to wear a mask or not or we're not offended if you do if you don't wear a mask you do as it and uh use your distancing the way you feel if you don't shake my hand and you want to bump knuckles all right i've got this right here i shake hands with everybody but be as safe as you feel like you can be you're dismissed in jesus name