Wednesday Night Bible Study

praise the lord everyone we greet you tonight in the wonderful name of the lord jesus christ that great high and holy name the name that is above every name and thank you aaron for that card and thank all of you we are receiving so many cards several years ago sister mccool and i i guess maybe took the coward's way out or but we decided not to send christmas cards because there's no way we could send a card to everybody we wanted to send one to and we would sure miss somebody that we meant to send one to and so let us just say that merry christmas to each and every one of you we love you and we appreciate you and it's not only uh during the christmas season but all year long you are our family and we appreciate each one of you so very much um our lesson tonight is a great lesson the privilege of relationship with god relationship with god and my i sure i love that beautiful blue bright background and look at this beautiful banner here says welcome thanks for joining us but i love the bright blue in case anybody has never uh detected that but i i do but i don't know if i got my my notes to brother derek or not but i do know this um i left two pages of scripture on my printer at home that i thought i put in my notebook but they're still good they're on the on the printer at home i realized that after i after i got the church of course i've got plenty of material otherwise but those were just just scriptures that came to me uh later on because i study right up to a time i i hit the pulpit i remember brother croucher used to reach over to me and said uh brother mccoy if you ain't got it now it's too late no need but um uh the scriptures are are coming to me as i uh even as i come to the pulpit but uh this is a a great lesson a great thought the privilege of relationship with with god when god created man he created everything the animals and and and the the sun moon and stars and everything and then he he made a man he formed took dust of the earth and created a man in his own image and after his likeness because god wanted something to uh to someone to fellowship with someone to to have a relationship with it wasn't going to be like an animal was going to be like fish it was going to be like a tree or a bush or a flower but something that had a had a will of his own not something that just had to do what he uh wanted him to do whether he wanted to or not but he gave him a a willpower to be what he wanted to be and he and then of course i've often said this and and i'll repeat it um this is uh the the the proverb of billy mccool god made a man and took one look at him and said i think i can do better than that so he made a woman and that's my theory the the bible don't really say that but uh when he looked at man he said it's not good you notice everything he made he created this and he said that's good and then he created and he said that's good and then he created and god said that's good he created man and he said that's not good that man should be alone he needs a help me so it caused him to fall into a deep sleep and it took from his side a rib and and made a woman you remember your while back i taught on this that uh the woman was the one thing that that god made that he didn't make uh out of dirt he made man out of dirt but the woman wasn't made out of dirt and i i threw this in as a little zinger uh a woman wasn't made out of dirt and she shouldn't be treated like dirk and um so uh he made a woman to help me and then he put them in a in a beautiful garden adam looked at her and said said this is born of my bone and flesh of my flesh and god put him in this beautiful garden and he said there's many trees in this garden and you can eat of every tree in this garden but one there's one tree in that garden that uh that is the tree of good and evil the knowledge of good and evil and you must not eat it that way now just think about this all the many things that god put in that garden and yet he stole uh adam there's just there's one tree that you're not to eat of the tree of life he said you can even eat of the tree of life but of course the serpent came along and he begaled eve and she ated the fruit gave her husband and he did eat and then the bible said that the voice of god came walking in the garden in the cool of the day and he said adam who art thou so it appears that that every day god had a time that he had fellowship with man and and his voice came walking in the garden now that voice business uh the bible said in the beginning was the word the word was with god and the word was god and it was john the revelator said behind me he saw a voice and so you don't see a voice but yet god is the word incarnate so we'll just throw that in for for good measure but my point is god wanted to fellowship with man and god wants to fellowship with you and me he he wants us to to come together said forsake not the assembling of yourselves together god wants us to fellowship with one another and god wants to fellowship with all of us he said if two or three are gathered together in my name there am i in the midst so this lesson tonight has to do with uh god wanting to have a relationship with man uh the lesson has a a title of a little article called lesson big idea and that big idea is i will pursue a close relationship with god i will pursue a great relate a close relationship with god now as god wanted a relationship with adam and eve we need to want a relationship with god i don't have to go into detail to tell you what happened when when when god drove them out of the garden and and put us a flaming sword that they couldn't enter back in and then he told them what was going to happen the the woman would her desire would be to her husband she would bear children in sorrow and adam would till the ground and from the sweat of his face he would earn his living and so forth but from then on there was a different situation god started on a long range plan to redeem man back and get him he he said that that um uh the the serpent's head was gonna bruise the the woman's seeds heel and her heel would bri would bruise his head and of course that was a long-range prophecy of prediction that one day that serpent's head was going to be bruised by the heel of the seat of the woman and that happened when that that baby jesus grew up hung on the cross and and bruised the serpent's head but be that as it may let's go into our lesson now the focus verses are exodus chapter 19 verses 5 and 6. now therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant now watch this if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priest and a holy nation these are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of israel now i i i may forget a lot of things but there's a lot of things i i never forget um brother uh blevins made something made a a statement to me i don't know how long ago but he talked about i believe he went online was checking some churches out and different ones and he he checked out what they believed and they they went out of their way to point out that they were like this church and like that church they prefer in fact one it one even i thought almost this was in brother blevin's report to me but one even said they believe like billy graham and and so forth but he checked out some oneness churches that uh they they told what their but they said nothing about believing in one god or believing in baptism in jesus name it was a a very general thing to to to fit in with everything else well uh and i believe it i believe he brought this out to me that well god said that we were to be a peculiar people that didn't mean that we were going to try to be like everybody else we're going to make make sure that that we don't rock the boat and that's what the radio station manager said to me when i was on three times a day and of course three times a day i i preached acts 2 38 and preached the message and um it stirred some of the preachers up and one fellow got on the radio and he said this preacher out here on pleasant ridge road he preached said if all the mud holes would dry up he wouldn't have anything to preach he was referring to me preaching water baptism and then he talked about said he was a dog-faced liar from hell and he really got right another one he got on the the radio and and um insinuated he knew something about my character and i'm going to put him off he actually said that i'm going to put him off the air and so uh i i talked to the the radio station manager about it and then and um told him that if he knew if he knew anything about me i wanted him to tell it don't don't insinuate that you know something and and he said well why don't you sue him i said well he don't have anything uh i said what you do that was a little veil thread i guess uh i said he don't but i said you do and uh if he i don't mind him telling it on t on the radio if he if he knows anything tell it and of course he he he he didn't but he said preacher why don't you just preach like all the other preachers said why why why rock the boat that was his term i said don't rock the boat said just be like the rest of them well god didn't tell me not to rock the boat god didn't tell me to be like everybody else he said we were a peculiar people now i of course all i said to them when they and they talked about uh when i talked about speaking in tongues they said that was a of the devil and so forth well i i said now be careful what you say and i i said god bless you brother i love every one of you but you need to obey the truth now i'm not up here tonight and new do i do i mount the pulpit to to scold anybody but i'm here to tell you about the love of god that we are a peculiar people that means that we don't try to be like everybody else we don't try to fit in with everybody else we don't deliberately try to be uh different we don't try to to cause trouble we're just who we are we belong to him and if we live the way he wants us to live we're not going to be like the world the word says come out from among them and be ye separate saith the lord now this scripture says therefore if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant then ye shall be a peculiar treasure oh hallelujah did you know what you are to god you are a peculiar treasure don't mind being different from the world don't mind not fitting in with the world we're different from the world and and and we're we're trying our very best to be like him and he said if you'll keep my word and do what i say you're going to be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people of all the earth is mine and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests a holy nation these are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of israel now in this lesson now understand where we're coming in they had just been delivered from the bondage of egypt and god had performed miracle after miracle he had he had they crossed the red sea they drowned pharaoh's army in in his in the red sea god had given them water out of the rock he had given given them a a a fire by night cloud by day to lead the way and he gave them manna from heaven he gave them quail he gave everything that you could possibly need but the first time they got without something they started murmuring this and finally moses went to god and he he said god that they're about to stone me what can i they're about to stone and they that they even threw up to him and said when we were back in egypt so we had plenty to eat we had plenty of bread we had food and of course they they forgot about the little babies that was being thrown in the river they forgot about the the taskmasters whips on their back because at that particular moment they were not getting what they wanted so now god is talking to moses in the 19th chapter of exodus in the third month when the children of israel were gone forth out of the land of egypt the same day came back into the wilderness of sinai for they were departed from refugees and would come to the desert of sinai and it pitched in the wilderness and there the children of israel camped before the mountain and moses went up unto god and the lord called unto him out of the mountains saying thus shalt thou say to the house of israel and tell the children of israel ye have seen what i did unto the egyptians and how i bury you on eagle's wings and brought you unto myself and that beautiful what god was telling moses he had done but they still could not get in line with and be in harmony with a proper relationship with their god and then he said and moses went up to the lord and went up and moses went up unto god and the lord called unto him out of the mountains saying this shall you say to the house of israel and tell the children of israel you've seen what i did unto the egyptians and how i bear you on eagle's wings and brought you unto myself now therefore if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation these are the words which thou shall speak unto the children of israel and moses came and called for the elders of the people and said before their faces all these words which the lord commanded him and all the people answered together and said all that the lord hath spoken we will do and moses returned the words of the people unto the lord and the lord said to moses lo i come unto thee in a thick cloud that the people may hear when i speak with thee and believe thee forever and moses told the words of the people unto the lord and the lord said unto moses go unto the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow and let them wash their clothes and be ready against the third day for the third day the lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount sinai and thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about saying take heed to yourselves that you go not up unto the mount or touch the border of it whosoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death now what we have here the people had been so rebellious and had been so complaining and miracle after miracle you you stop and think about this no no no kroger or food city no no place to buy food but every day went out and there was like frost on the ground and it was man it was uh honey flavored like like wafers and they gathered up and and there would be enough for that day now if they tried to keep more than enough for what no way just think about if every day you went out and there was food right there if you just gather up and and eat and it came from they didn't know where but yet they would gather up more than what they needed and try to can it preserve it and it would start to to stake it would go bad because god wanted them to trust him and believe him that he was going to provide their needs on a daily basis you know there's a lesson in that to be learned by us we we worry so much uh in the lord's prayer give us this day our daily bread um can can we have a relationship with god that we believe him that he is going to take care of us uh miracle after you've heard me state from this pulpit the many things that god has done that that's absolutely miraculous and why would we doubt him now why would we now god got to the place with these people he was going to show them a a very ferocious and dangerous side and he said moses on the mountain now i'm going to come down in a cloud and we're going to set perimeters i'm going to set boundaries and you tell the people they can't go beyond this boundary if they go beyond this boundary if a cow or animal goes they're going to die they're going to be boundaries because i'm going to teach you a lesson let me say something man right now we are so obsessed with our freedom freedom and freedom and we go we own freedom uh there are certain but i don't have freedom to drive as fast as i want to down the streets of this city i i don't i there there are many freedoms that that i don't have but they're they're for my safety and god said moses set set boundaries and if anybody crosses that boundary and touch this mountain you're going to stone them to death or be shot through and they're going to die and there's a lesson in that god was showing them that there were limits that we need to it's it's not a bad thing it's a glorious thing that we have boundaries the lord impressed upon me some years back and i wrote the little article what's wrong with holiness what's wrong with wholeness there's nothing wrong with holiness it's the it's the easiest lifestyle it's the cheapest lifestyle requires the least thing you don't have to it don't require tattoos it don't require you to put rings in your nose it don't require you to put rings in your navel it don't require you to dye your hair green it don't require you to smoke cigarettes it don't it don't require you to drink liquor and and kill somebody on the highway it's it's a it's the easiest and best way to live give the lord a handclap and moses went down from the mount to the people and sanctified the people and they washed their clothes and said to the people be ready against the third today come not at your wives and husbands and wives are refraining from husband and wife relationship for three days came to pass on the third day in the morning that there were thunder and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount and a voicing the trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people that was in the camp tremble god wants to have a relationship and he had he had reached out to them in so many ways and now it's though god is saying say you you know i'm going to get your attention listen to me what i've got to say you know sometimes god has to shake us to get our attention to realize and now we we we don't believe in child abuse but i don't know many children hadn't been shook sometime or another would you hear me listen to me well god sometimes shake us and and it came to pass on the third of the morning there were thunder and lightnings and moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet god and they stood at the neither part of the they that word neither was below the lower part the the foot of the mountain and the mount sinai was all together on the smoke because the lord descended upon it in fire and spoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace and the whole mount quaked greatly and when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder moses spake and god answered him with my voice and the lord said come down upon the mount sinai on the top of the mountain and the lord called moses up to the mountain top of the mountain and moses went up and the lord said unto moses go down charge the people lest they break through into the lord to gaze and many of them perish and let the priests also which come near to the lord sanctify themselves lest the lord break forth unto them and moses said unto the lord the people cannot come up to the mountain samuel for thou charges thus saying set bounds about the mountain and sanctify and the lord said unto him away get thee down and thou shalt come up thou and aaron with thee but let not the priests and the people speak though to those to come up to the to the lord unless he break forth upon them so moses went down to the people and spake unto them now god desires this relationship with his creatures whom he created in his own image and in his likeness now as i was studying this lesson this week my mind went back to a sermon i preached in 2018 i believe it was and the book of hosea chapter 2 and starting at verse 14. i'm going to revisit that if you stay with me therefore now hosea was a was a prophet god told him to go and take a wife of the whoredoms this is a very strange straight one of the the strangest stories in the whole bible god told jose to take a wife of whoredoms and then he he went ahead to teach hosea a great lesson jose's relationship with an unfaithful wife was representative of god's relationship with an unfaithful people but showing this there's nothing more heartbreaking that i could think of than a woman or a man being unfaithful to their companion and if you read the book of jose you see how what what a terrible thing happened with between hosea and his wife here's what the hosea 2 is starting in verse 14. therefore behold now after she done all of this and left him and and and went and played the harlot again now god is doing this because he wants a relationship with his church and we are not always as faithful as we should be sometimes we're very bad and very ornery but now this is what god did therefore behold i will allure her and bring her into the wilderness to beat her teach her lesson now he was speaking very harsh back there in exodus with the thunder and lightning and earthquake but he told hosea to to now then lure into the wilderness and bring him and i will speak comfortably unto her and i will give her her vineyards from fence and the valley of acor for a door of hope and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth and as in the day when she came up out of the land of egypt before i go to the next verse just think there was a boundary if i go beyond that i'm going to die if i go beyond that i'm going to be stoned and now then god is giving us a new relationship he lures us after all of our meanness all of our unfaithfulness all of our failings he said i'm gonna lure you into the wilderness i'm gonna give you a vineyard of your own i'm gonna i'm gonna start a courtship with you again i will give her her vineyard from fence and the valley of acor for a door of hope and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth and as in the days when she came up out of the land of egypt and it shall be at that day saith the lord that thou shalt call me ishai and shall call me no more by a lie now but this is this i believe i believe i titled that message my man you remember that uh my man but you probably don't but anyway uh bellai met my master my master and ishai meant my man my love my husband it was a total different relationship bail i meant my master i'm i am subservient to him i do what he says i do his bidding i i'm i'm somewhat of a servant and slave to him and now god said you're not going to be a bell i to me anymore but i'm going to change thing and you're going to call me ishai which is my man you're you're my man you're my husband you're my lover are you getting my point of what i'm saying now you and i he's he's telling us and showing us that he don't want to be a harsh master to us he wants to be a loving husband to us now throughout the new testament now the apostle paul talked about the relationship with the husband and wife and it was a relationship that was likened to the relationship between christ and his church i speak a great mystery but i speak concerning christ in the church the apostle paul said now then you're no longer going to be called but you're gonna be called ishai you're not gonna be i'm not gonna look down on your v and say i'm your master but i'm gonna be a loving companion to you a relationship that god desires with us with the church to be peculiar and to be different pastor uh i gave you some scripture a while ago uh exodus 32 and 2. would you read that for me thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil there's something about when a crowd starts to do it everybody jumps on the bandwagon um this may not be a good example i'm to give you but if you look back a few years ago at some of the ball games at nathan stadium the men were wearing hats and ties you'd think they was going to a banquet they were dressed up things began to change um several years ago there was a type of music it was called punk rock punk rock and uh the punk rock uh they they did their hair a certain way and they dressed a certain way and it seemed like you can't be a musician if you don't look absolutely ridiculous if you ain't got long hair and and if you don't look like a cave animal uh you're not a you're another musician used to they they wore uh nice clothes and they wore uniforms that was beautiful and all that business but anymore uh the clothes that i used to wear as i uh sharecropper's son go for a high price nowadays uh you pay a high price to get them with the knees busted out and and they call them a shotgun blasted and acid wars and all of that and the the the more rugged you can look now where am i going i have to explain more when i'm around town if i'm dressed in a suit clothes and folks won't quit they listen uh uh why are you dressed like and i'm not bragging on myself at all i don't i don't mean to at at all uh but it's a why are you dressed like that or are you going to to a funeral going to a wedding what's this well i usually say oh these are my work clothes i'm a preacher i visit the hospitals and preachers and then but even that don't satisfy follow not a multitude to do evil if the crowd's doing it i want to get in the the bunch with the crowd i want to be like the rest of them uh i remember as a as a little boy and and you every one of you had this experience your child was saying well why don't you do this well johnny did johnny well if johnny jumped off a cliff are you going to jump off a cliff i've been told that and so and so now you but we we tell our parents that somebody else is doing it and even in the church oh it's getting quiet in here no it's been quiet if there's some kind of controversy well everybody knows everybody does this everybody is saying this everybody because the the the strength is in in numbers this is what everybody else should do read that pastor thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to rest judgment because the many is everybody's doing it everybody believes that this is what everybody's doing just because everybody's doing it don't follow a multitude to do evil now let's go to deuteronomy 32 and 8. deuteronomy chapter 32 and verse 8. i'm sorry i gave that to them the spur of the the moment while ago uh it's on my printer at the house you know i understand we're this is a bible study we can take our time just take your time we can if i hadn't been and and so absent-minded somebody the other night during that wedding their phone went off and i kept hearing the phone and then i cried and those said my son peppa that's yours and here i okay i didn't know what to do with it it was ringing i forgot to turn it off i didn't whether to kill it or stop it or what and actually grabbed it see your legs but uh in any way pastor if you got when the most high divided to the nations their inheritance now now listen to this when the most high did what divided to the nations their inheritance when the most high divided to the nations when he divided things up and you take this and this is yours and this is yours and that you're all right go ahead when he separated the sons of adam he did what he separated the sons of adam he did a little separating what he separated the sons of adam he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of israel he set the sons of adam according to their their number go ahead for the lord's portion is his people but the lord's portion now he gave some the desert land he gave some the oil-rich territory gave some that's got diamonds he's got he got this this group of folks have got this and this got that but he said as for god you could have the gold mines you could have the diamond mines you could have all the oil you could have all the treasure the earth but as for me god said my treasure is my people oh hallelujah if that don't make you happy just think about it you are god's peculiar treasure you are something very special to god and god loves you and what did he call it for the lord's portion is his people jacob is the lot of his inheritance jacob is the law of his inheritance he found him in a desert land he found him in a desert land and in a waste howling wilderness and in a waste howling i want you to listen to the picturesque uh description found him in a a waste howling desert and what he led him about he instructed him he led him about he instructed him he kept him as the apple of his eye he kept him you talk about a relationship why would i want to be like the world why would i want to chase after this crowd that that wants to look like cavemen or won't i look like a hollywood star why would i want to be like them i want to be what he wants me to be because he said i'm a peculiar treasure and i am the alpha give the lord a handclap [Applause] he's the apple of his eye that's what you are with god you're the apple of god's eye all right now then uh let's go to zechariah 2 and 8. zechariah 2 and 8. go ahead for thus saith the lord of hosts for thus saith the lord of hosts after the glory he sent me unto nation unto the nations he said he spoiled you he sent me into the nation to spoil you for he that toucheth you now listen hold on hold on he sent me but he that touches you toucheth the apple of his eye touches the apple of his eye oh child of god do you see what you are to him you talk about a relationship with god here's what we are to him we're we're not something to to beat on or a mistreat we're somebody that he wants to protect he said if they touch you they're touching the apple of god's eye give him a hand clap hallelujah oh hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah well let's go back to hosea 2 and verse 19 i will be truth thee unto me forever yea i will betroth thee and to be in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercy i will even betray thee unto me in faithfulness and thou shalt know the lord who is this love-struck husband who's luring his wife with such poetic and loving words don't call me your master call me your man don't call me bella call me ishai don't call me your master call me your husband call me your lover i want to be your husband i want to be your oh hallelujah the evidence indicates it might be abraham and sarah because you remember sarah was one thing and then sarah she first was uh abraham's princess and then when god changed her name she just became princess she was everybody's princess oh wait a minute that's not who we're talking about excuse me first peter 3 5 for after this manner and the old time holy women also who trusted in god adorned themselves being in subjection unto their own husbands even as sarah obeyed abraham calling him lord whose daughters ye are as long as ye do well but went that wasn't who's doing the talking well maybe it was isaac talking to rebecca genesis 6 and 8 and it should come to pass when he had been there a long time and abimelech king of the philistine look now isaac told her rebecca said now tell everybody you're my sister because if they find out you're my wife they'll kill me because you're beautiful and they'll kill me he followed the same pattern that abraham did with with uh sarah uh having her call him her brother and so isaac said you tell me you're my sister so abimelech uh took rebecca into his harem but god wouldn't let him touch her and behold isaac now the uh abimelech looked out and he looked out the window and he saw and behold isaac was sporting with rebecca his wife now that's a a uh let me put it into everyday language uh abimelech looked out and saw isaac and rebecca necking that's i think that i don't know what they call it now but years ago the other they hugged and kissed they called it necking but anyway they were they they were acting like two people that's no brother and sister don't act like that now yeah when the people like saw this whoa hold on just a minute uh that they're not brothers and sisters let me tell you something there is a relay if you can understand what i'm saying there's a relationship between us and jesus it's different to any other relationship the bible called it sporting with his wife and abimelech called isaac and said behold of a surety she's thy wife how sad is thou she's my sister and isaac said unto him behold i said lest i die for her. well that's not jose and his wife solomon who wrote the book of love and the love story so passionate that and so graphic that you dare not read and all into a mixed congregation you read the songs of solomon he really gets explicit no this is a preacher who was told by god to pick a wife now notice what it said hosea 1-2 the beginning of the word of the lord by hosea the lord said to hosea go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms for the land of committed great whoredoms departing from the lord so he went and took gomer which conceived and very muslim john 15 let me let me say this and what i'm trying what i'm trying to convey to us tonight you're precious to god you may not be perfect he found us in a in a in a howling wilderness he found us when we were unlovable and yet he loved us he cleaned us up i preached a sermon one time i've caught a cabbage packed kid he found us in in out there in the wilderness and he nobody loved us we were ready to die and he picked us up and he wrapped us in swaddling clothes and and gave us a warm bath and took us to himself that's what you are that's what your teenage children are that's what that's what now you may not be perfect but who is but i'll tell you one thing here's what he said about you in john 15. jesus said henceforth i call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth but i have called you friends for all things that i have heard of my father i have made known unto you he said i'm not he called you my servants i'm not calling you bail i i'm calling you ishai i'm calling you my friend you're there you're you're closer to me that's what you are to him first timothy 2 5 and 6 for there's one god and one mediator between god and men the man christ jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified inducing in due time he loved us enough that he left the ivory palaces of heaven wrapped himself in human flesh so that he could die on a cross shed his precious blood for you and me that's how much he loves us that's the relationship he wants with us not a thundering lightning earthquaking harsh fearful thing but he wants you to know how much he loves you ephesians 5 25 husbands love your wives even as christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word look at this verse that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spotted a wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish would you stand with me i hope some way somehow just a little bit i have been able to convey to you how precious you are to him he washed you sanctified you without a spot because he's going to present you to himself a bride just think about it that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish why would i want to be like the world why why why don't follow another multitude to do evil the scripture says learn not the way of the heathen now they were in on their march to the promised land they went through different countries and each country they went through many of them would try to be like that country some of them even in the land of the the moabites and and some they were even sacrificing their children in in the furnace of an idol god and some of them even fell into that why would we want to be like the world if you if you if you look up online and you want to know what first apostolic church knoxville believes i don't want to to disguise it behind something that they folks won't know what kind of church it is i want them to know it's a church i don't want them to think that it's just a a party organization i don't mind it being called a church because that church is what he purchased with his own with his own blood father we thank you tonight for the blessed word of god lord your word said that you might present it to yourself a glorious church lord i don't mind being called first apostolic church i don't desire to have some disguise name to try to fit in with the trend that goes around lord we're a church you said it was a church you said that it was a glorious church and father i don't mind i rejoice i glory i thank you i praise you that you would allow me to be called your church i pray lord you'll let this word be more than just a speech and just a few words of it take up time on a wednesday night but lord let us leave this place tonight with a new appreciation of how valuable we are to you that we are the apple of your eye and you love us dismiss us from this place bring us back this weekend for another glorious service in jesus name we pray shake hands be friendly use whatever protocol permits you to if we said bump knuckles or elbows or shake hands whatever you're dismissed in the name of the lord