Wednesday Night Bible Study

praise the lord everyone that was a little bit weak praise the lord everyone we in the apostolic faith love to um get response from the audience and throughout the school throughout the years i could go into into the classroom and still can and say praise the lord and those children will ring the rafters saying praise the lord and the bible said in that day they shall say praise the lord the bible says that and and this is the day that we that we say praise the lord and we greet each one of you in the wonderful name of jesus tonight and pastor mccool and sister jamie they are probably in the air getting close to knoxville uh they as you know my younger twin brother lanny and finally they lost their oldest son who was 51 unexpectedly this past week came home from work and laid down across the bed and and the next thing they they knew had passed away and just totally unexpected and that's quite a shock to would be to anyone but i was unable to go and unthinkable that i couldn't go but under our circumstance sister mccool to myself and brother mack so uh pastor mccool and sister jamie went in our place and represented us and represented the church and we need to this is brother spencer mccool's twin brother and lanny also he had surgery today he has some very serious health issues himself and when we prayed tonight with the the the message the bible study we want to pray for them that god will first of all give them comfort and i pray for lanny the surgery he had that it'll be successful also i got a call sister ronna connors that sister jeanette lynn we we knew her as uh ronald lynn of course but she had a heart attack and she's in the hospital and they're recommending procedure for her and let's be praying for ronna and also sister brian uh some of some of you may not remember sister brian she's been out for quite a while she's 92 i believe uh and she has some very serious health issues and we want to to pray for her if you'd stand your feet with us tonight and i'm sure there are others who i need to be remembering in prayer but we put the names on the the board up here and say by the way thank the lord for the beautiful uh by the way i love the bright blue colors if y'all if y'all haven't detected yet that i like blue you'll catch on to that some of these days i like i like they say it's blue monday why so blue's my favorite color so i like bright blue and bright colors you've heard me for many years my little pet doctor and i'm known all over the country for life's bright and water fountain's spouting high and pa set good and loud i don't like it too loud but i like it plenty loud and but anyway throwing that in with the prayer requests we the bible says to pray one for another and each one of us have needs and we've all had unexpected situations in our life i've been very concerned and praying for brother vanilla russell's father he had a stroke and i have been concerned about him and he's doing well and i might say i'm so glad to see sister darlene brother richard here tonight she was unable to be in church for quite some time also i got a call from brother jones michael is uh ailing tonight and we've got quite a bit of sickness going around it's the fall of the year getting close to the winter season and that's when the flu and the different things will start out and we'll be praying for all of them and let me ask once one more time it's been done once but if you have a need god knows what it is if there's somebody you want us to pray for just raise your hand right now father we thank you tonight for the privilege of prayer that we can go to you in prayer thankfully we have a great god to whom we can go in time of need lord i pray for lanny and bonnie that you'll give them comfort tonight and lord i pray that you will touch lanny's body god you're able to completely heal his body and make the surgery a complete success that he had today father i do pray for the sister brian and i pray for ronna and all those whose names that we've called and his names have been posted on our prayer board i pray for them now father i pray for the bible study you know what we need father your word says to study to show thyself approved father we want to study and we want to be approved by the lord bless this bible study tonight give this speaker the words to say and give me an open mind clear thinking and ability to convey what's in my heart to this congregation in jesus name we pray amen and amen and you may be seated we're beginning our winter quarter uh i don't think winter starts i think it's a i remember winter starts in december the 21st that's sister mccool's birthday and um i can't forget that of course and i i remember that and and i have been praying about a message that i may be delivering sometimes not at that particular date because that's going to be on a tuesday night but anyway this is our winter quarter beginning and the lesson is entitled commissioned by god commissioned by god now that that term commission means to act by the authority and on behalf of another one of another commission act upon the authority or command of another and when we give this uh lesson title commissioned by god i'm telling you if you've got the authority of god behind you what else do you need we we have authority from time to time from this one and that one and you've heard me tell this a pastor made something the other night a little uh half joking thing that he's heard me say that i've been here long enough that i know something about everybody i know something on everybody and um if i ever get perfect i'm going to tell it on you but i don't think there's any danger of you getting towed on and of course that was said in in jest but all of my little stories you've already heard them so many times but um it bears repeating sometimes we read matthew mark luke and john they're called the synoptic gospels which means they are similar they're all three telling the same story but in their own way and the apostle paul we preach about him and from his word his writings many many times but when the lord spoke to me to come to knoxville in 1956 i didn't have anybody behind me any authority we had no evangelistic department no home mission department to to support us but the lord spoke to me about two o'clock in the morning on my knees in the sunday school room in north little rock arkansas which is now probably one of the largest churches in the city of little it's known as the large church go around the interstate you'll see the large church was pastored then by bishop ao holmes and his son i think perhaps his grandson and now nathan uh holmes is pastoring but at any rate the lord commissioned me to come to knoxville he spoke to me to come and we cancelled our revivals and when we got to knoxville but we brother bobby and i owned a tent that the lord had given to us through pappy newcombe and the old brother that was of the baptist faith he was converted to apostolic in louisville kentucky and uh he purchased a tent for us and we still had that and i wanted to put the tent up in knoxville but but when i got to knoxville there's no i couldn't find a place that would let me put up a tent and um there's a preacher that come through town that it was a tent revival preacher and he got arrested for drunk driving and um from then on they they were down on tent preachers and so i nobody would even talk to me about renting me a lot and there was a fellow that i'd met and kingsported a gospel singing bobby and i were singing at and i didn't really know who it was but it was kaz walker and he told me if it ever came tonight he had a group of singers there that night a chuck wagon gang or some somebody he had he had connections with an awful lot of singers gospel and otherwise he said if you ever come to knoxville if you need any help give me a call well when i couldn't get a uh they wouldn't even sell me i had to go in the paper so i went to see mr walker and he wrote out a letter to whom it may concern i think i think i've still got a copy of that uh and he had a new a little newspaper called the watchdog some of you remember that but anyway i i he i personally know uh billy and bobby mccool and they're out to do all the good and he said some real nice things about us and there was a big lot down on lee and baxter street and uh it was a high owned by the highway department mr spangler was the road commissioner at that time and i went to see him and my point is commissioned by having the authority of somebody else bigger than you and when i went to see harry spangler and uh told him what i wanted and wanted to rent that lot and i showed him that letter from uh mr walker and he looked at that letter and he said i want to i won't rent you that lot but he said you can have it as long as you want it no charge well i i had a commission from somebody that had influence and had authority i took the letter to the news sentinel and uh had an ad i wanted to put in the paper and they when they saw that letter they accepted my ad i've got a copy of that ad and so when we talk about commission it's important to have the authority of somebody bigger than you now can you imagine a a a son of a sharecropper a barefooted cotton picker from southeast missouri having authority but now this is what we're talking about tonight the lessons big idea is i will fulfill god's great commission now remember i don't have the authority but god does and if you're commissioned by him what else do you need in the book of exodus chapter 3 9-10 now therefore behold the cry of the children of israel has come unto me and i have also seen the oppression wherewith the egyptians oppressed them come now therefore and i will send thee unto pharaoh now notice moses is getting authority and his commission from a higher power come now therefore and i will send thee unto pharaoh thou thou mayest bring forth my people the children of israel out of egypt now when you get a commission like that authority from god what else do you need i'll never forget as my father used to say i'll never forget as long as i remember a message that brother joe osborne preached um jacob when he was old and joseph was down in egypt and he he brought his father and his brothers and all the family about 70 down to egypt and uh when jacob went before pharaoh the bible said he blessed pharaoh and um brother osborne made a great point of of here was an old man and maybe he had a a straw a wheat straw in his mouth and uh he was old and feeble by this time and and and here he is coming before pharaoh and says i'm going to i'm going to bl you're going to bless pharaoh here you are a a homeless man and you're you're out on the war with another you came down here begging for food and now you're going to bless me well and then brother osborne made a great point out of some well i i may not have money and i may not have a lot of these things but have you ever had a wrestling match with an angel have you ever have you ever had a a talk with god like i and so that was the great point and it was a blessing to me acts 4 13 says now when they saw the boldness of peter and john and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with jesus oh i thank god that that thrills me that now being unlearned and ignorant is is not a quality to be desired but that's what they were they were fishermen and considered unlearned and ignorant the bible said and when they saw the boldness of peter and john they perceived they were unlearned and ignorant men they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with jesus now it's as i as i said it's not a desirable quality to be unlearned and ignorant but it's a great quality for folks to recognize that you've got a you may not have a lot of the other things but if you've got the authority of jp he's been with jesus if you can say i've been with jesus and i've got his authority what else do you need and time and time again the apostle said and in the name of jesus rise up and walk in the name of jesus receive your sight so this is the context and the background of what we're talking about tonight having a commission now whether you realize it or not but every one of us are ambassadors of god and every one of us have a commission from the lord to do a work for him and if we get a commission from him which we have you don't have to be afraid god will help us accomplish that which he sent us to accomplish we've told it many times of the many things god has done i wish we had written a book and it's been suggested several times that we should write a book about all the things god has done in in bringing us to where we are right now and pastor mark alluded to this in his last message about the the concrete god could stretch concrete god could stretch shoes he let their shoes last for 40 years on their feet a little children that started out as infants and and babies with little baby shoes when they were 40 years old their shoes still fit them because of the miraculous hand of god well when you've got god behind you what else do you need exodus 3 starting in verse 1 is our lesson text now moses kept the flock of jethro his father-in-law the priest of midian and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of god even to horem and the angel of the lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and he looked and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed now if i can if i can prod your thinking and to go a little deeper than just hearing words to understand what we are reading moses you remember at that time the pharaoh had given a command that all baby boys would be thrown in the nile river they were going to be killed but moses mother when he was born saw and recognized he was a proper child excuse me and and she made a a basket out of straw and she pitched it within without with pitch and set it down in the edge of the the the bull rushes and her sister uh moses sister watched daily as that little ark would would bobble in the water well one day pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe and she saw that little arc bobbling around and excuse me and she had them to bring that the little ark and they open it up and there was this little baby boy he was supposed to have been drowned in in the river but when she saw that little baby's face she fell in love with him and she would not allow him to be drowned and of course uh moses sister was watching and she came up quickly and said would you like to would you like to have someone to help you a nurse made yes i would i i've got somebody that my mother will be glad to take care of him for you so she went and got the mother of moses to be his nurse maid and raise him up and teach him the ways of god isn't it amazing when you have the commission of god god will do things in his own way god's ways is higher than man and past man finding out how many of us has had god to do things and you didn't know at the time that it was god moving god's time kept you from doing things or god in time has helped you to and you didn't realize the decision you was making was being engineered by god himself that was the commission of god let me tell you something if you walk with the lord and walk by faith and believe him his commission will get you wherever you need to go now let's go on here out when moses grew up he grew up as a prince of pharaoh he grew up as pharaoh's daughter's son and but you see down deep inside he'd had the teaching from his his mother one day he was out looking around and and and there was a fuss going on and there was an egyptian at this time there was a pharaoh that arose that knew not joseph joseph was dead and now then a new pharaoh had risen that didn't had no respect for the people of god and they became slaves and and this fuss that was going on and and the egyptian was mistreating uh one of the jewish moses brethren and moses may have acted irrational and god didn't prompt him to murder anybody but he murdered that egyptian and buried him in the sand in the next few days he saw uh two more uh of his brethren fussing and he tried to separate his brethren and they exposed him and said who do you think you are said are you going to kill one of us like you did the egyptian and this let him know that what he had done had been found out and he had to flee and now then he he fled for his life and he's to spend 40 years in the the the wilderness on the desert sand working for a priest of million married his daughter and there he was waiting on god to bring to pass what his will was daniel said the thing was true though the time appointed was long now if you're in too big of a hurry you just can't hurry god uh there's things that god's gonna promise if you'll walk by faith and be patient in your patience possess ye your soul if you'll wait on the lord god will bring it to pass so now then he was out there attending to sheep on the back side of the desert and all of a sudden there was a a bush caught on fire and moses said i will now turn aside and see this sight how it is that this bush is burning and it's not being consumed and when he walked over to it a voice spoke to him out of that bush let me tell you something folks god is god he can speak to a donkey or he can speak to a burning bush or he can speak to a a sharecropper or he can speak to a through a king or a queen god is god and he can do anything he wants to do and the voice said to moses take off your shoes the ground you're standing on holy and and it took off his shoes and uh the voice out of that bush said now that uh roger got you and threw it down threw it down and turned to a serpent scared moses and then the voice said reach down take it brother and it turned back to a to a rod again put your hand in your bosom bottled out he was a leper oh my goodness put it back in and it was healed god was showing him some experiences that he needed to recognize that god was in charge and he could tell what could we what could god do for us that he hasn't already done to make us understand and know that he is going to be with us he's going to keep his word and if he's commissioned us to do something it's going to come to pass let the church say amen all the things you've heard me tell that we saw happen we had happened to us the good and the bad the ugly and the beautiful some things that at the time we didn't possibly understand i was on my way to um oak ridge i was selling vacuum cleaners and trying some way to keep soul and body together you heard me tell all the stories of of not having a restroom a usable restroom in the house trailer we had and didn't have a septic tank and and i was on the way to uh a bridge i had a flat tire and i stopped and went in there was a restaurant right right over here i i think it maybe it's a little short street now it's called copper kettle the restroom is called copper kittle and and i uh i i was fixing and i went in to wash my hands and and get a cup of coffee and while i was in there the ladies in there i got to talk to them and tell them what i what i was doing and and they started making me appointments to sell vacuum cleaners in those days that that's oh we would get appointments and we'd go to that house and have a cardinal and give them a little table lamp or a little set of snack dishes and but now what i didn't realize that the the lady in there that owned that restaurant she had relatives that i would come to know as as as elmer vance and that was uh jeanette lynn's daddy and through that event i got acquainted with elmer vance elmer vancellate ever breaking at the church at 123 west columbia and one day he told me he said my daughter's having some problems and said she needs to counsel with someone would you and your wife be be willing and so sister mccool and i set up an appointment to meet with his daughter and we met with his daughter i know i didn't have this in my notes but now that's been how many years ago but we met with sister jeanette got acquainted with her and now through the down through the years look at her children look at her grandchild playing the bass playing them you have the twins and and and just she was the uh my secretary for 30 years and she was also uh our daycare directors now look how god has everything in his control there it is i could tell a hundred stories i guess about the vault family and and how god used them and but you see when god commissions you to do something every one of us has a commission now he he said in the book of acts and you'll receive power after the holy ghost has come upon you and you should be witnesses unto me in jerusalem judea samara and the uttermost parts of the earth so you have a commission you are part of the bigger church you are part of the and and the story when when they poured the water in a larger trough so that the the camels could all drink you and i are putting our vessels into a larger trough when we come to first apostolic church and we become a look what a pastoral staff look what a technical staff look they it's it's just innumerable there's no way i can you can call all of their names and what they're doing but i'm a part of it you're a part of it and we're part of this great commission well you'll have to excuse me get getting excited well angel appeared him in the flame of fire out of the midst of the bush he looked and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed and moses said i'll turn aside and see the bush and not burn and when and when the lord saw that he turned aside to see god called to him out of the midst of the bush and said moses moses and he said here am i sometimes god has to do something to cause us to turn aside we are doing a job and we're zeroed in on doing that job and it's hard for god to get our attention sometimes and god does something extraordinary to get your attention now sometimes it's something very good but sometimes it may not be so good when god told uh isaac to take his son and and and sacrifice him uh on an altar well that wasn't so pleasant for him but but but but when god saw he was willing to do that god said now i know that thou hast not withheld thy sound but i don't want to sign isaac he said now i know it was very hard for him to obey what god told him to do god may tell you to do something that's very difficult but he'll do it to get your attention and he said draw not nigh hither but put off thy shoes off my feet for the place world thou standeth is holy ground moreover he said i am the god of thy father the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob and moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon god and the lord said i have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters for i know thy their sorrows and i'm come down to deliver them now stopping at verse eight just a minute uh every just about everything that happens in the word of god it is a it's a it's a reflection of the day we're living in now they were in bondage in egypt we're talking to a world that's in bondage to sin of the devil right now we're living in today and people don't realize how they're bound by habits how they're bound by the wrong ideas how they're how they're bound by drugs and alcohol and sin in general and we have got a commission to deliver them we're we're working together as a corporate unit to deliver these folks just like god was getting moses ready to deliver the people of israel and i am come down god said to deliver them out of the hand of the egyptians and to bring them out of that land bring them out of that land unto a good land and a large into a land flowing with milk and honey unto the place of the canaanites and the hittites than the amorites and the fisheries and habits and the jebusites god said i'm getting ready to bring you into a land that flows with milk and hunting if i might comment on that um somehow another we tend to zero in on how hard it is to live for god and all we have to give up and all the the negatives and you're not going to win many people telling them how how bad things are you go to buy a car that says when he don't right off start telling you how rough it's going to be to make the payments and this car gives a lot of trouble and it's going to be hard no he he points out all the good things about how much you're going to enjoy and and all the qualities you know what we need to do we've got a greeting crew out there how beautiful it is to see them standing out there and welcoming people when they come now they don't they don't come in and start telling them sad things they welcome them with a great big smile and we call it the friendliest church in town and when we come to the house of god we're not here to beat you over the head and tell you how bad it is and how bad you are i'm here to tell you that we're living in the land of milk and honey got the holy ghost baptized in jesus name and the joy of the lord is our strength and this choir walks us through the promised land with their singing and their music as they talk about kate nobody do me like jesus can't nobody doing like jesus ain't no grave gonna hold my body down i want you to know we've got something to offer we've got the land of milk and honey and that's what we need to zero in on [Applause] and here i go again ev every everything i go to tell you and say well as i told you before but brother uh [Music] steve uh took me down to uh what's the basketball team practice the university of tennessee basketball team and uh i got to meet coach barnes and he's a very personable man very religious man i didn't realize how religious he was and uh there'd been an article in the paper about uh where he went to church and and uh how how religious he was and um uh he had witnessed to a man that that uh had a very serious illness and he invited the man to come to church since the man hadn't been to church in 13 years he said and i i told him i felt i said uh coach barnes for the i would rather read what i read about you in the paper about witnessing to this man about the lord than to see you win a national basketball championship well he agreed with me on that and but then he told me about this fellow that the paper didn't tell all the story he said that man hadn't been to church in 13 years and asked him why why had been out of church so long he said the last time i went to church he said went with uh his sister-in-law i believe he said and i got to be careful now i am on the line and i don't want to say the wrong thing but this this man when they left the lady that was with him said she said he she knew something bad about everybody in that church and said she talked bad about everybody in that church she's the one that took him but he said if that's what it's all about i don't want to have anything to do with it and he hadn't been to church in 13 years and coach barnes invited him and got him to got him back in church well what i'm telling you now is that this point i'm not zeroing in on the doctrine or anything i'm just talking about what influence you can have by giving the wrong testimony giving the wrong attitude you and i need to convey and project the most happy uh happy countless happy church we're a happy people and you know i think most senators they know they're sinners they don't have to be told they're they're they're sinners and but when they see you and me and and if we are happy and we're enjoying our salvation they're going to say i want that but if i'm downcast and gloomy and and showing a bad attitude that's not a very good testimony well let's go on now therefore behold the cry the children of israel has come unto me and i've also seen the oppression where with the egyptians oppressed them come now therefore and i will send the under pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of israel out of egypt i will listen here is getting the commission now when you get the commission that means you got the authority of the one that sent you and moses said unto god who am i that i should go unto pharaoh and that i should bring forth the children of israel out of egypt who am i lord what can i do and he said certainly i will be with him now god said certainly i will be with thee and this shall be a token unto thee that i have sent thee when thou hast brought forth the children out of egypt we shall serve ye shall serve god upon this mountain and moses said unto god behold when i come unto the children of israel now notice he just continued to put up one excuse after another trying to find a way out of obeying the command and disobeying the commission he keeps telling god the reasons he can't go and and he said shall who shall say unto them that god your fathers have sent me unto you and they shall say unto me what is his name and what shall i say to them and god said unto moses i am that i am and he said thus shalt thou say unto the children of israel i am hath sent me unto thee and if you stop to think about that i am that i am uh what is he i am what does that mean do you need healing i am the healer do you need a financial blessing i am the blesser financially well i am whatever you need me to be if we can get a hold of that and believe that and grip it i am i am that i am praise god give the lord a hand clap [Applause] and god said moreover unto moses thus shalt thou say unto the children of israel the lord god of your fathers the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob has sent me unto you this is my name forever and this is my memorial unto all generations he will forever be the i am now that simply means that as i just stated i am what you need me to be there were many names throughout the old testament that he was called by that meant certain things but i am says it all i am the savior when when saul was knocked down on the road to damascus he said lord who art thou and he didn't use the term i am that i am when he said who art thou lord he said i am jesus of nazareth whom thou persecuteth saul saul why persecutors thou so we know something that moses didn't know we know him as the i am but we also know him by his saving name which is jesus i am jesus of nazareth whom thou persecuted saul saul while persecutors thou may and i have said i will bring you up out of the affliction of egypt into the land of the canaanites the heretics the amorites the fisheries the habits the jebusites a land flowing with milk and honey oh ultra out to understand paul said to live is christ and to die is gain he said again if in this life only we have hope in christ we're of all men most miserable now every every night uh sister mccool and i embrace each other and when i give her a good night kiss i'll tell her honey one more day with god's given us one more day one more day and it's one less day on this earth but just think what we've got waiting us over yonder paul said i knew a man in christ whether in this whether i was in the spirit or whether it's in reality whether it's a vision uh but he said heard things that was unlawful to even utter it's a place that's joy unspeakable and full of glory what you and i have waiting on us what a commission we've got and this is what we need to be telling this world that they can have if they have just turned their life over to the lord and they shall hearken unto thy voice and thou shall come down the elders of israel and the king of egypt and you shall say unto him the lord god of the hebrews hath met me with us the lord god of israel hath met with us and now let us go we beseech thee three days journey in the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the lord our god and i am sure that the king of egypt will not let you go no not by mighty hand and i will stretch out my hand and smite the egyptian with all my wonders which i will do in the midst thereof and after that he will let you go and i will give his people favor in the sight of the egyptians and it shall come to pass that when you go ye shall not go empty but every woman shall borrow of her neighbor and of her that sojourneth in her house jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raymond and you shall put them upon your sons and upon your daughters and ye shall spoil the egyptians god gave them a commission to take from the egyptians the things that really belong to them in the first place we're just standing your feet with us right now folks as we journey on as we journey onward and and and upward after moses when moses was 120 years old he told joshua he said i'm i'm too old and god had already told him moses you disobeyed me you you you smoked the rock when you were supposed to speak to it and i'm going to let you see the promised land but you can't go in but god had another man joshua groomed and ready because he was one of the the 12 spies he and and caleb the only two of the twelve that believed god would give them that promised land and god told joshua he said that that you'll be a strong man and be of great courage because god's gonna let you take the people into the land of promise god's got you and me designated today to lead on god's got a new generation that's leading his people right now and i want to say this i am so delighted when i hear uh pastor mark pastor anthony pastor whitley when i see these brothers preaching the same gospel that i've been preaching for 73 years it gives my heart such joy and i'm so glad that god's given us such a staff as he has that has not veered one iota from this truth and and and when i'm when i'm going unless the rapture i may still make the rapture maybe it may still happen but if if i don't what a day that's going to be that land that flows with milk and honey is beyond description father we thank you tonight for your word we thank you for the family of god i pray lord that you will let these simple little words tonight encourage our hearts to see that we're god's people and we are commissioned by the great god the great king of kings and lord of lords and that we must present your message with love with friendliness with a great attitude of acceptableness that folks will accept this great message with joy and thank god for it and realize that to repent of the sins turn from their sins get baptized in water in jesus name filled with the holy ghost and then be filled with the joy of the lord until the time comes that you'll rapture your people or until we go by the grave waiting for the resurrection father i pray that your dismission is from this place but not from your presence bring us back this weekend for a great service pass i pray lord you'll protect a pastor mccool and sister jamie till they're safely back at home in jesus name we pray amen whatever your protocol is shake hands bump elbows bump knuckles whatever god bless you you're dismissed in jesus name