Wednesday Night Bible Study

praise the lord everyone we greet you tonight in the wonderful name of jesus and what a joy it is to see each one of you in the house of the lord pastor whispered to me so hey i forgot a big name been doing a lot of uh help and putting things together brother tony bales sister uh cheryl please tell him for us that we said thank you thank you thank you and to all the others we have so many folks in this church that do so many things every service of we could just take a lot of time to point out all the great things that god's people are doing this coming sunday is grandparents day and pastors asked me to preach and i'm going to be speaking on this subject things learned at grandparents knees things learned at grandparents knees and we're going to be talking about some things that we've all learned at our grandparents knees and things that our grandchildren are learning at our knees so uh i'll be looking forward to seeing each one of you here sunday morning calling your attention tonight to the book of amos chapter 6. we have we started on a subject uh several weeks ago and it's just kind of leap frog from one week to the next not using the same topic but it's the same general thought and we talked about careless quiet and secure and of course that had to do with them a group of people that moved off by themselves and they did nothing for you know anyone and no one did anything for them they didn't have fellowship with anyone but it came to no end because there came a time when they needed help and there was no help there because they had been secluded from others and then we went from that to talk about the different things that we go through and last week we talked about the violent take it by force and matthew 11 12 said from the days of john the baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force and the thought behind that is there's a group of folks that's going to stand between you and what god wants you to have and you're going to have to press your way through that everybody's not going to be pleased with you serving god you'd think they would but you're going to have to press your way and and that that word the violent meant to to crowd oneself into or to press your way in and that's what we're going to dwell on and we must remember that we're going to make it even though we have to press our way through and we talked about several instances of people that pressed their way and matthew 9 20 a woman a baby hold a woman which had a disease with the issue of blood 12 years came behind him and touched him of his garment now there was such a crowd around she couldn't get to him but she said if i could just get my way and just touch the border of his garment i believe i'd be made whole and she did and she was healed then in mark uh chapter 2 and verse 1 it says then again he entered into capernaum after some days and there was noise that he was in the house i'd like for the word to go out and to be noised around that jesus is in this house uh two or three years ago i forget who it was sent me a i yes i believe it was sister amy farmer she sent me a clipping out of the newspaper and and back then they were doing a thing every week the best place uh to have barbecue the best place to do this the best place to do that best place to have a picnic the best place to get entertainment and it said the best place in knoxville for a good worship service was first apostolic church 50 20 i don't know who put it in there i didn't know it was there but sister farmer sent me that uh clipping out of the paper it was in the knoxville news sentinel that the best place you know i would rather be known for being the best place to worship god as to have the fanciest building and and the most beautiful area i want folks to to think jesus is in the house give the lord a handclap and again i wish i had that clipping i'd like i should have kept it and again he entered into capernaum after some days and it was noised that he was in the house that means folks were talking it it got noised around that jesus was in the house and we wanted to get the word out that jesus is that first apostolic church 50 20 pleasant rage road now we're not saying that it isn't anywhere else but we're thankful that that he's here and we want him to always be at home here and straightway many were gathered together in so much that there was no room to receive him no not so much as about the door and he preached the word unto them and wouldn't that be something you you drive up in front of this church and and you couldn't get in because there were so many people in this building and and people standing on the outside and trying to get with wouldn't that be great it would i it made me think uh brother bob mccool a lot of folks are following him on facebook and and he has a a blog or what i don't want to call i don't want to call it but anyway he has a program monday wednesday and friday uh on whatever they however they do it and he called me and wanted to interview me on the telephone and uh last week he wanted me to tell about some of the things that god had done and told how i started preaching i got up to testify one night in a little church in bragadosha missouri and uh that that night uh i had put on my overalls and i wanted it to look like i had on blue jeans but i didn't have any blue jeans so i put on a sports shirt and it was a red flannel shirt with i had personally embroidered around the collar with yellow thread and the pocket had the pocket had yellow thread around that and i got one of my daddy's neckties and i tied that necktie and i want to look like a preacher i wasn't a preacher never didn't claim to be a preacher but um i tied that necktie and the knot was about as big as your fist but when i get one end of that tie the right length the other end would be hanging down to my knees and so i finally tied it several times and and stuffed the long end in that flannel shirt and went to church that night and i got up to testify i was 11 years old and the holy ghost got a hold of me and i started preaching that some said i preached an hour and 45 minutes uh i i probably was 15 minutes it seemed like an hour and 45 minutes but anyway when i when i finished uh the people were in the altar seeking god and brother bob pointed at my necktie and i said yes yes yes yeah yeah you know i'm wearing one of my daddy's neckties and i looked down and during the preaching that long end of that nectar had worked out and he was swinging like a plow line but it didn't bother me very much but uh brother bob when i was the first revival he went out with me to preach a preacher from truman arkansas came to get and there's there's a whole book to be written of the the things that happened in between but this fellow came from preacher pastor and truman arkansas and um he came to to get me for revival and he said uh mr mccoy aren't you don't don't want these aren't these boys twins dad said yes he said well the twins go together i want both of them to go with me and all that just tickled us so good and uh the twins were a little special and they were just a little and they bought milk and pet milk and that by the case back and and we had some pet milk boxes and we put our uh our little what little few clothes we had in those boxes and we went to truman arkansas and i would preach and brother bob would they call it scotching he didn't know anything about but other sick him lord sick him that like a second a dog after a rabbit and um so uh i would preach and brother bob would lead testimony meeting and and i would back then every service you had testimony meeting and brother bob would laid testimony and one night he was sick that day and started not to even go to church but when he got there and came time to the testimony he got up to testify and the holy ghost fell on him just like it did on me and he preached down the aisles of the building then by that time it got noised around about the boy preachers and the every seat was filled folks were standing on the outside looking in the windows and he preached up and down the aisle and finally he couldn't contain himself he ran out the front door up the street around the side of the started preaching to the folks on the outside well what reminded me of that was this story right here when they got to the to the house you couldn't get in because the door was blocked with so many people and so much that there was no room to receive them no not so much as about the door and he preached the word unto them and they come unto him bringing one sick of the palsy which was born of four a man was sick they had him on a cot and four men evidently two at the head two of the foot and here they came bringing this man that was on the on the cot uh that was sick of the palsy he was born and four and when they could not come nigh unto him for the press now we're back to that thought again careless quiet and confident uh we're not whatever we have to do to get there and when they go to the door they come bend so what are you going to do here's a here's a sick man that needs healing we need a miracle now we're going to turn around and go back home when they could not come nigh unto him for the press they uncovered the roof where he was and when they had broken it up they let down the bed wherein the sick of the posie lay and jesus saw their faith he said unto the sick of the palsy some thy sins be forgiven thee now then here we go pressing again but there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts why don't this man thus speak blasphemies who can forgive sin but god only and immediately when jesus received and perceived in his spirit that they so reason within themselves he said unto them why reason ye these things in your heart where whether it is easier to say to the sick of the palsy thy sins be forgiven thou to say arise take up thy bed and walk but that you may know that the son of man with power on earth to forgive sins he said to the sick of the palsy i'll send thee arise and take up thy bed and go thy way into the house and immediately he arose took up his bed and went forth before them all and so much as they were all amazed and glorified god saying we never saw it on this fashion well here's what you have you got a very needy man a man sick of the palsy he's got four friends they hear that jesus was in the community was at a certain house and uh they were going to take him to have jesus to heal him and when the godfather couldn't get in but remember our thought press you got to press you you've got to be determined you you must not be deterred you must not be discouraged with a little bit of opposition too many folks too many folks are too quickly discouraged remind me when we first went to johnson city a little incident happened but it became something that i remembered a fellow was selling vegetables tomatoes and off the his pickup truck and he pulled up in front of our house where we were renting and uh he came up to the door and knocked on the door and he had some tomatoes in his hands and and he knocked on the door was yes he said you wouldn't want to buy any tomatoes would you and before we could answer he was on his way back to the truck well he wasn't a very competent salesman you wouldn't want to i want to tell you something i don't want to see that knocks from you don't want to get baptized in jesus name do you you don't want to run with that bunch of holy rollers do you you don't want around that bunch of folks that believes in miracles and healing you don't want to run with that bunch of folks that shouts and talks in tongues yes i want to say yes sir this is what you're looking for i want you to work not hallelujah hallelujah they couldn't get in so i can just imagine that the conversation that the the they talked about the poor fella had very little to say laying on the cuff but the four men said what are we going to do we can't get say wait a minute there's back weight let's climb up on the roof and we'll knock a hole in the roof and you talk about unusual things they uncovered the roof and evidently they had a rope or something and they let the man down through the here we are worshiping god and all of a sudden the rook the the whatever it was covered with beginning to fly here and there and and here a was laid down let down with a sick man on it don't be deterred don't be discouraged because you get a a little bit of opposition every now and then you have got to be determined well of course you'll always have the doubters you'll always have the pharisees you'll always have those that'll be be criticizing saying that it's not going to work this is not real but we know better now going to amos 6 and 1 woe to them that are at ease and zion now the the the most dangerous state that we can get in is when we get relaxed in the lord praise god at ease inside i got to know the lord i've got salvation i'm in the good church and now then i i don't have to worry about it just just relax and take it easy there's no place to relax we are in a warfare with the devil and we're in this thing to win the race we're not going to stop until we win the race and we are not going to be discouraged by a little bit of opposition somebody said amen [Applause] proverbs 17 and 3. the finding pot is for silver and the furnace for gold but the lord trieth the heart now that term finding pot the finding part uh somehow i conjure up in my my imagination a great big kettle or something but it really wasn't i did some research on this the finding part was a small shallow porous cup especially of bone ash used to separate precious metals from the lid now i didn't know there was such a thing as a a a little a small shallow pot that was made out of bone ash and the reason for that it was very porous and put that in the kiln put that in the furnace and you put the the the metals in it and it is gets so hot that it it melts and the pores in that uh little porous dish has the poison and it has a tendency of sucking the lead sucking the foreign metals out of the the gold or out of the silver because oftentimes when it is mined the minerals they're mixed together there's there's copper and there's lead and there's other things in it but putting it in this furnace in this little uh container it sucks the impurities away from it and then nothing is left but the pure silver or the pure gold now that's why the bible said the finding pot is of silver now god's got a god's got a finding pot or refining if you want to call it that but the bible says the final part god has got a refining part a fighting pot that you and i are going to be put into because it's going to take that to separate us from the impurities that is naturally built into our very nature and to our very self and when god gets through with us he's going to take the carnality he's going to take the flesh he's going to take the doubts he's going to take the ungodliness out of it and nothing is going to be left but the pure gold of the purity of the holy ghost hallelujah first peter 1 7-9 and the trial of your faith being much more precious than a goal that perisheth though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of jesus christ now you may wonder sometimes why you're going through what you're going through you may wonder why me lord why am i having to experience this god's got a reason the trying of your faith is more precious than gold god is purifying you god is taking out the impurities and is leaving nothing but the pure goal and that we might be found under praise and honor and glory at the appearing of jesus christ now notice the next verse whom having not seen i've never seen him but he said you love him i've never seen him but i love him in whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory i wasn't there on the day of pentecost i didn't see the people the 120 that got the holy ghost and spoke in tongues i wasn't there when this palsy man was raised up from his cup i didn't see jesus open the blind eyes and i didn't see him come the storm but i believe he did i've never seen gates of pearl and walls of jasper and streets of gold but i believe one day i'm going to walk on those streets of gold i've never seen gates of pearl but i want you know i believe with all of my heart there is such a place and that place is prepared for me for jesus said i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you unto myself that where i am there ye may be also i've never seen him but i believe he's coming back again to catch his saints away and i want to be ready don't you give the lord a hand clap well again i'm supposed to be teaching whom having not seen ye love and whom though now you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory now remember last week week before last we read the scripture god let the enemy nations to teach those who had not known war to learn war judges 3 1 and 2 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 you've heard us tell of all the hardships and we worshipped on the dirt floor and the leaky roof the tent that got blown down you've heard us tell about living in a house trailer didn't have septic tanking went somewhere to arrest uh service station use a restroom every morning you heard us talk about the uh pulling up the pole bean bean pulse to build a fire in the stove because we didn't have the money to to buy coal to go in the stove and all those things that we went through but let me tell you something god's left a few trials in your way too you cannot experience the same thing that i face but some of you that live in a nice house drive a nice car and have a good job you may not ever pull up beans at the pole beans to build a fire but you've got your own giants to fight you you've got your own brothers of goliath that god's left in your way it may not be the kind i thought it may not be the same but you're going to face the trials of drug addiction you're going to face the the trials of persecution god's left some things left in your way you're going to have your own story to tell of course a lot of the young folks are in their class tonight but i think you you get my you get my ruth 2 16 they left fall also handfuls on purpose for her and leave them that they may glean them i stated this in the previous bible lesson not only did god leave remember goliath had four brothers and one of those four brothers almost killed david david it had had to be rescued by his nephew abyshia or david would have been killed by ishmael binob but god had somebody left and somebody left to fight him now there's some things that god's going to leave for you and me whoever we are don't be dismayed don't be discouraged because he's also going to leave some deliverance to take care of it he's going down hallelujah i don't know if he even got this in my notes or not but paul said i knew a man said whether in the spirit or not i'm not sure it's not sure whether it happened actually whether it's a vision but i was caught up to heaven and i heard things it was unlawful to hear and said lest i be exalted above measure there was given to me a thorn in the flesh and so i prayed three times god please remove this thorn but god said paul my grace is sufficient for thee my grace is sufficient therefore my strength is made perfect in weakness now what he's actually saying in everyday language he has such a glorious experience that he might get exalted but god said i'm going to give you something to keep you reminded and he gave him a thorn and and we don't know what that was that's been speculated to preach many many things his poor eyesight or or this that we don't know what it was but god gave him something to keep him reminded to pray jonah said by reason of mine affliction cried out unto the lord and what i am what i am trying to get across to each one of us tonight no matter what comes our way it don't happen by accident god's got his hand on you and for every trial for every thorn he's got an answer for it he's leaving handfuls on purpose he's got a blessing that's going to keep you through the trial that you're going right now and genesis 22 starting at verse 11 and the angel of the lord called unto him out of heaven and said abraham abraham and he said here am i and he said lay not thy hand upon the land neither do thou anything to him for now i know that thou fierce god seeing thou s not withheld thy son thy only son from me now after all abraham had gone through god had given him a miracle child when he was beyond the age and his wife was beyond the age of having children and now then when he gets up to be a yearling boy god said take him and i want you to sacrifice him kill him cut his throat put him on the altar and do him like you would a a an animal first sacrifice and abraham took isaac and they headed for the mountain and when he got got there he uh put the wood on the shoulders of isaac and so to score up the top of the mountain he said the dead father he said i've got the wood we've got everything to give god a sacrifice but where's the sacrifice he said god will provide him a sacrifice and when they got up there he took a knife and he was ready to slay his son isaac and when he did god said don't touch the lad for he said now i know that thou s fierce god said thou's not withheld thy son now don't god know everything well the god that can choose not to remember our sins he chose not to know how abraham was going to react to the command of slaying his own son he allowed abraham to go through the trial and then god said now i know can you imagine god seeking the devil on job and and said job have you considered my servant devil have you considered my servant job there's none like him a man that feareth god and his truth evil are we sure god we want god to put us on display and then when when uh when everything bad happened to to job and his children was killed in a storm and his cattle his camels and earthly goods was taken from him and his wife said job why don't you just curse god and die he said woman you talk like a foolish woman said do we not receive good at the hand of god and shall we not also receive evil we're going to receive good from god and we're going to see some things that's not so good from god he said and then job uttered some very interesting words he said is there any taste in the white of an egg is there any taste in a white of an egg no you can't eat what i hate i'd hate to have to eat an egg without a little salt on it wouldn't you i i hate to have to eat but you know what else i'd sure hate to take a teaspoon full of salt and put that in my mouth just salt by itself it'll melt ice it'll do well but but the white of an egg needs a little flavoring a little good if everything too much sun makes a desert take the white of an egg don't eat the salt by itself but sprinkle it god let some bad things come our way to give us balance in our walk with god if i if i wasn't careful if i didn't have the thorn in the flesh i'd go around strutting like a peacock telling folks how good i am looking here i can walk on water i can call fire down from heaven i've been to heaven i heard things it's unlawful oh look at me what a great man but god said wait a minute i'm gonna give you a little salt to give a little flavor a little bad to go with a little good somebody say amen god sometimes chooses not to know how we will react under certain circumstances james 2 23 the scripture was fulfilled which saith they god and it was imputed on him for righteousness and he was called a friend of god uh jeremiah 48 11 moab has been at ease from his youth whoa unto them that are ease in zion moab has been at ease from his youth and he hath settled on his leaves leaves that's drugs that's drugs that fall to the bottom when they're making wine and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel neither hath they gone into captivity therefore his tastes remaineth in him and his scent is not changed some folks have never been tried they haven't had anything to make them pray when jonah said by reason the mind affliction cried out the lord moab uh he's he's never he's never now what they did that they they took the wine and they poured it from vessel to vessel and leaving behind the drugs and every time it was emptied it got a little pure every time it was empty it left some bad things behind and it was getting more pure like that like purifying of gold going through the the heat every time it was getting a little better and and and a little better but moab settled i'm not going to be emptied i'm not going out to war i'm not go i'm going to settle right and said his scent he stinks a little bit his breath's bad because he's never been changed he's just settled on his leash some of the dearest people that i know in my ministry and some some of the most treasured experiences that i have seen that i have never had to face myself but i've seen others that are facing and and i consider them my heroes of faith and i don't know what i would do i hope i would be as faithful as that person but they face things and still retains their integrity still retains a good spirit oh god give me that determination that no matter what some folks a little bad happens to them somebody mistreat them in some way that they get bitter with the whole world don't get bitter pour it out and leave it behind and go to the next vessel [Music] the the ancient technique for making wine first required the picking the grapes the crushing of the grapes now this was accomplished by the treading on by foot and the wine that they literally had to pick the grapes and then they put them in this wine vat and they literally got in there and stumped those grapes with their feet just crushing the the the grapes until the juice came out and it would flow you see we must sometimes be walked on until we're crushed to get the true flavor out of us we can get bitter or we can get better we can allow it to make us a better christian the container for the grape juice was provided for by the death of an animal whose skin became the womb for the wine after the juice is put into the animal skin it's sealed now it took a a goat's skin and they sewed it up once the animal gave up its life and gave up its skin they sold up uh the the place where it would have been opened up and where the legs came out they and then left one place to pour that grape juice in and then they sealed it up with it could get no air no oxygen and the juice is then put into the animal skin and then it's sealed because fermentation can only take place in an environment absent of air though crushed strained and sealed the grape juice still possess the properties necessary for fermentation and this dark wet world inside the goat skin a miracle has taken place enzymes and bacteria are transforming the crushed grape juice into wine which has the ability to gladden the heart and lift the spirits of man and in my study of this subject i found something very interesting once the wine skin had been unstopped it had turned into twine and once the wine skin had been opened up non-stop its contents exposed to the air it had to be poured out into smaller vessels or else it would grow sour and become a form of vinegar that really interested me after it had been sealed up in that skin of an animal and the fermentation had taken place and once it was opened it couldn't stay there it had to be distributed out into smaller vessels if you leave it there once it's been exposed it will turn sour i want to tell you something once you and i have gone through the process of spiritual fermentation we've been walked on we've been crushed and the jews have flown from our life and now then god is making out of us what he wants to make out of us then the next thing's got to be i've got to share it with somebody else it's got to be poured into other vessels if i don't do it i'll turn sour uh instead of being one i'll be vinegar i'll be sour i won't be good for anything for anybody that's not all i learned and studied in this subject that one skin the fermentation caused it to expand it was a green or new skin and it would stretch and the fermentation caused it to blow up and get larger that's why the bible said you don't put new wine and old bottles you put new wine unpermitted wine and oh boy they've already stretched as far as it'll stretch and then they take that wine skin and they decorate it and it becomes a treasure in itself it's decorates a decorative piece it has held the the grape juice that turned into wine and now then the very container becomes a valued object of art let me tell you something if we will be humble and obedient to the will of god god's going to take the suffering of our lives he's going to take the trampling of our lives he's going to take everything bad that you've gone through and he's gonna make something beautiful out of it you're gonna be a witness you're gonna be a testimony for him decorated and prized as a treasure there are those whom god loves and trusts enough to use their lives as a winery for they can endure the crushing the confinement the suffering and the sorrow which eventuates into the depth and character god has ways of emptying us leaving behind the sediments which interfere with the taste and texture the product of this process must then be put into smaller vessels and shared or else it will result in us becoming sour inactive christians it's easy to get a sour attitude eight days had passed thomas wasn't there and he had developed an attitude of unbelief when they said thomas we've seen the lord he said i don't believe it the bible said thomas wasn't there when i separate myself from the people of god it's a dangerous thing when we separate ourselves from the brothers of like precious faith brothers and sisters and we we stay away too long it's not very long till we start getting a different attitude if i don't share my joy if i don't share my grape juice if i don't share my experience i can get alone by myself and the next thing you know i'll become critical i'll be fault-finding things won't suit me nothing nothing nothing completely nothing will please me i want to tell you something i know with all of my heart i love that lady that's staying with her 96 year old brother i know that lady that was up this morning at three o'clock when we were trying to tend to him when he was having a rough time and to see her calling him honey and baby like he was a little baby and taking care of him and i love her with all of my heart but i want you to know i don't keep that to myself i want to tell her every day that i love her jesus said whom do men say that i am that said some say you're john the baptist some say you're alive some say you're a prophet he said but who do you say i am who what do you say about it you won't know what i think about betty mccool i love her with every fiber of my being i love her more today than i did 65 years ago when we were married i loved jesus tonight better than i did 75 years ago when i repented of my sins when i got the baptism of the holy ghost and i want you i want to tell him every day jesus i love you i love you i love you jesus i love you i love stand your feet with me let's love him a minute stand your feet let's love him stand lovely let's love him hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah i love you jesus i love you father i love your precious jesus love him a little bit come on just tell him you love him come on worship him with me worship with me right now jesus i love you hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah the difference between 99 grape juice and 50 champagne is not the product but it's the process same thing goes into it but it's a process i want to tell you something the difference in and and and being an on fire for god christian it's not that one has more access to the spirit than the other it's what we do with it that's how we react to it if i'll react in the right way i'll be sweeter in my soul and i'll be able to share it with my family my neighbors my wife my my my children my loved ones uh all babies i'm gonna take what we this the reason this church is like it is we've got a lot of smaller vessels somebody referred to a message i preached once when isaac when rebecca came to grow water she she he they the old uh eleazar that gone to get a wife [Music] says i'll i was not going to give you a drink of water but i'll give the camel's water that's going to be the wife of my master's son he said would you give me a drink of water and she said yes she said oh no don't do that said i'll water these camels that you've got here and there's a gang of them they they said they'd take some of them 20 gallons apiece and the bible said she took the the water container off her shoulder and she filled it and she poured it into a trough the camel's candidate she took her water bottle and poured it into a a a trump a larger vessel that they could all get to let me tell what god has called us to do he's not called us to just get the holy ghost and enjoy it ourselves but he's called us to take what we've gathered and to pour it into another vessel that we can bring in the the drug addict the down and out the the drunkard the person who's lost a lease on life they've lost all hope of joy and we're going to pour it into a trough that's going to be low enough and long enough that they can get it for themselves come and get it come and get it come and get it hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah father we thank you tonight for your love hallelujah hallelujah god i thank you for the process i thank you for this great church family god i pray that you'll help us to continue to understand what you're doing that you're still working on us that you're still making us what you want us to be and may we continue to expand and grow and reach more people for the kingdom of god knowing that you're coming as soon and we don't want to see anybody left behind father i pray that you'll dismiss us from this place bring us back this coming sunday morning and may we reach this city for the precious name of jesus all this we ask in the name of jesus amen you know the protocol that you're comfortable with we if you want to wear a mask wear a mask if you if you've had a vaccination good if you hadn't had one you if you feel like getting it get it we're we're we're not making any doctrine out just you you follow what you feel comfortable with shake hands and be friendly or bump elbows and be in front of your dismissed in jesus name