Stand

thank you lord praise god it's good to be in the house of the lord tonight you may be seated i'm uh i'm a pragmatist i wish i could share your unbridled optimism sometimes when you look at the glass and you say it's half full i'm not fortunately i'm not an eeyore either that says the glass is half empty when i look at the glass i see half a glass of a clear liquid i don't have enough information to make a determination as to whether it's half full or half empty good

old pragmatics you got to love them they just they just see things as they are and sometimes sometimes to optimus we look like we look like pessimists because when you're stating reality sometimes especially today it sounds like man things are really bad when you're just stating the truth but the fact is the fact is that we know as children of god and and people who know the word of god we know that these things must be so they shouldn't strike fear into our hearts they shouldn't make us anxious we know

what the outcome is going to be these things have to to be to fulfill the word of god it will be regardless of of you know who's in power in israel now uh the knesset is in a kind of a turmoil and uh they have a new leader bennett um who has a coalition party that's gonna you know fortunately he's gonna he's gonna make everything better there but but we know what the back of the book says and that there will come a time in israel's history when when that one

that they pierced they're going to look on him and they're going to mourn for him as as a son and he's going to stand on the mount of olives and then they will confess jesus christ his lord they will confess thank god for his word that is a it is an assurance to us and so i was charged with uh teaching a lesson on equipping the body equipping the body and i wish in my former life in in the corporate world i was a corporate trainer so i trained um web-based

software applications configuration so uh i knew exactly what i was going to do i developed the curriculum for the training program and i got to build it from the ground up and i knew exactly what these people needed i knew exactly what they needed to do the job that they were supposed to do because i had done it for years and so when i built the curriculum i was telling them things from experience and and and things that i knew that they would need in order to accomplish the job i

can tell you that there is such a mystery about this christian walk that that we sometimes find ourselves as as well prepared as we can be we still find ourselves reeling from the onslaught of just life it's not how well you can hit a fastball in this game it's how well you handle the curves and we get a lot of curves in life and so i want to i don't know how this is going to turn out okay just being very transparent with you but i've got some things that i

want to share with you and from ephesians the sixth chapter this is good old standard equipping the body stuff but i'm probably going to digress from this a little bit now those of you have heard me teach before you're kind of acclimated to the fact that i don't see things the way other people see them i got a different perspective on things and thank god for scholarship i love scholars i i appreciate all the work that they've done but bless their hearts their scholarship i say i don't know as much

as everybody but i can sure study as much as everybody i can research as much as everybody and so in these passage in this passage of scripture paul is is giving them some some strengthening instruction and that's what i want to do here tonight is i want to give you something if you just take when i used to attend lectures and seminars if i was able to get one thing richie that helped me one thing that that that helped me out of that entire lesson or seminar i felt like that

was a success it was a good day so i hope that when you leave here you'll have at least one thing that you take out of here and say that was a good day ephesians chapter 6 verse 10 finally my brethren be strong in the lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armor of god that ye may be able to stand everybody say stand simple enough right that ye may be able to stand why do i want to put on armor and just stand there well

we'll get to that in a few minutes but that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places wherefore taken to you the whole armor of god he reiterates this that ye may be able to withstand or stand against in the evil day and having all uh having done all to stand i remove that comma there just that's that's cardin 101. i

remove the comma say and read it like this having done all to stand next scripture stand therefore this is the instruction tonight when you have done all you can to stand the command is stand therefore just stand there there is not a lot of glory in just standing unless you're in retail sales and you know that after you've been on your feet all day standing behind a cash register or on the floor you are tired as if you had just done a workout just from what standing standing will wear you

out sometimes so my my theme is about equipping the body i want to go over some vocabulary before we jump into this lesson so that we're all on the same page but before that second peter chapter 1 verse 10 wherefore the rather brethren give diligence or make haste to make your calling and election sure for if you do these things what ye shall never fall still standing if you do these things what make your calling and election sure now there's there are two aspects to both of these first of all

there's an invitation all of us are most of us here tonight who have walked with god who you've repented of your sins been baptized in jesus name received the gift of the holy ghost you responded to a call of the spirit it wasn't it wasn't just somebody uh inviting you you actually felt the tug of the spirit and the presence of god and you responded to a calling that said follow me then you made a choice an election you you made a sure election and you decided i'm gonna do that

i need a change in my life and i want to follow jesus christ and peter said when you make these callings and elections sure if you do that you will not fall you will stand and even in the days that are evil in which we live so election is my prerogative and your prerogative now there's a higher calling there's another plane of existence for this as it were and that's a calling sometimes god singles out individuals and calls them to a ministry another calling again it requires a choice you got

to make a choice will i do this will i will i give up my life in order to do this or perform this calling that god has placed on my life and you have to make your calling an election sure everybody with me ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 and he gave some now this was after jesus ascended the bible says that after he had won all these victories that he gave some apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the

ministry everybody say amen some people think that you can make it without a pastor without a preacher you don't need anybody telling you what to do i've heard this with my own ears some people say i don't need somebody telling me what to do i'm going to tell you something when you read the new testament you understand that jesus paid the price in order to turn around and give gifts to men these are the gifts apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers and so what does the word say it doesn't tell

us that faith cometh by reading it doesn't say that everywhere you read about this word it was they went everywhere preaching it was it was received because god had put some pastors and teachers evangelist prophets and and so on in the church for the perfecting of the saints the bible tells us not to be as i think it was brother spa taught sunday or preached sunday about building on that that rock that foundation he didn't say be don't be readers of the word only for those of you who think you

can make it without a preacher i'm talking to you he didn't say don't be readers of the word only he said don't be hearers of the word only that implies that somebody has to preach to us in order to give us the inspiration and understanding of the word of god it's for the perfecting listen pastors have been put in my life for the completion of this old boy right here and for all of you out there for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ i

know we've talked about this but we are not i think it was chuck swindoll that compared the church one time to a solar system he said we all revolve around a central body and we all stay in our own orbits and we never touch each other everybody stays in their lane and nobody seems to touch each other but the there is a purpose why you are here and why i'm here and that is for the edifying of the body we are each other's best support system believe it or not we

are that that's exactly right we are built together we are built into a habitation of holiness but we as much as we need pastors and teachers and evangelists and prophets and apostles we need each other we need each other and so there there is i wish i had a graphic for this but there is an establishing which is downward establishing is the ministry of making disciples i'm going to take a tangent here i'm just going to give you my opinion don't anybody get mad at me but not everybody is a

disciple maker paul said are all apostles nope are all prophets nope are all teachers the job of a teacher is a disciple maker go therefore in all the world teaching them not everybody is a disciple maker i'm going to alleviate some of your burden tonight if i can because because establishing is the ministry of making disciples there are some people who are good at that making disciples teaching people what is the way of the lord and to follow jesus christ now i'm not going to let you completely off the hook

because although we are not all called this is my opinion cardin's opinion okay don't blame pastor for this this is cardin's opinion we are not called and not all of us are called to make disciples just like we're not all called to be evangelists we are all called to witness to be witnesses jesus said starting in jerusalem you start witnessing unto me so while we may not all be disciple makers and we might not all be evangelists we're not all apostles and we're not all prophets we are all witnesses you

know the strongest thing in your arsenal today is the personal testimony of what jesus christ has done in your life that was what paul took with him everywhere was what jesus christ had done for him you don't have to memorize like robert bear the two-thirds of the bible you just got to know what jesus christ has done for you and be able to communicate that to somebody else and tell them what the lord has done in your life and if he did it for me he can do it for anybody

are you with me there's a downward aspect of uh of establishing there's the upward aspect of edification that is the purpose of the specific five-fold ministry to build up the body listen there are sub-topics within those five-fold ministries there's there's gifts as paul mentioned them all kinds of gifts that god gives to the church besides the five-fold there's there's ministries of helps there's miracles and faith and and a word of knowledge a word of wisdom there's all of these things that god put in the church what i'm going to try

to communicate to you tonight is we need to find our purpose because when you came to jesus christ you did not just sign on to do a job you signed on for a destiny you have embraced a destiny to follow jesus christ and in order to do that that following him entails telling others about him amen so this lesson right here is for all of those who feel like they haven't done enough they haven't been enough they haven't known enough they haven't given enough those who have measured themselves against somebody

else and paul said this is an unwise thing to do it's unwise to compare yourselves among yourselves you're not called to follow them you're called to follow him amen so don't compare yourself with what somebody else has or is doing this is for you who have maybe maybe fallen into the trap of self-condemnation because you haven't lived up to the expectation of somebody else or even yourself sometimes my lesson is simply that i've come tonight to celebrate with you the fact that if you're still standing if you're still standing after

the onslaught of the enemy that comes against you on a daily basis nearly every day if you are here tonight and you're still standing there is something to be celebrated in just that hallelujah i am here to celebrate with you the fact that you've been through cancer you've been through illness you've been through covert 19 you've been through job loss you've been through familial losses and you might have suffered abuses but i'm here to celebrate with you tonight the fact that you are still standing i was privileged to make the

acquaintance of a gentleman he lives in salem missouri now and we had a common background from st louis and uh i met him back in the late 90s man is what the japanese call ahsoke which is a great grand master sensei stanford mcneil dr mcneill 10th degree black belt in the world martial arts hall of fame great man this guy could do things that that were just unbelievable he and my wife can attest to the fact he put bruises on me that would last two weeks sometimes nearly ripped my triceps

out of my arms just showing me stuff you know and so after about a year of that thankfully i was out but black belt magazine which is a premier magazine of the martial arts world uh black belt magazine approached sensei mcneil and wanted him to do a video and and so of all the things that i have seen this man do i'm thinking wow this is going to be great he's going to show us flashy stuff i remember an older guy way back in my early years sammy brock he would

just he would break boards with his fingertips line up four four pine boards and just punch through them and i thought surely sensei you know mcneil he's gonna he's gonna do some great stuff here that entire segment for this video was spent on stances how to stand just standing he said because if you don't get this right nothing else is going to work for you you have got to know just how to stand cat stance horse stance power stance forward leaning back stance you got all kinds of stances and brother

he went through all of them on that video why because this man knew the value of just being able to stand because when you stand and it's not in the power of your might it's in the power of his might i celebrate again with you the fact that with all the storms of life that have encompassed you maybe even this very week you are still standing not by your own power we ought to thank god tonight for the fact that we are standing in his might we tend here's what we

celebrate we celebrate steps all those videos of baby's first step why didn't you post babies first stand because without standing there is no stepping if you don't learn to stand there is no going forward there is no running there is no jumping there is none of that activity you and this is what anthropologists and kinesiologists tell me they say that walking is a series of controlled falls it's nothing more than a series of controlled fall so you you learn as you grow and you learn to walk you learn how to

control those steps so that you're not falling all the time like when you were a baby but it all started where it all started with standing you had to stand before you could walk now i want to again commend all of us the united pentecostal church the apostolic church worldwide in general those who have stood in this truth of jesus name baptism the mighty god in christ i give honor to the elders and for what they did to bring this message but i would like to say to the elders tonight

still standing still standing we still believe that the only way of salvation do we not is repentance you got to repent of your sins what does that mean it means that i take myself out of the practice of sin when i have repented godly sorrow works repentance but when i have repented i have made up my mind to take myself away from the practice of sin having i'm talking about the apostolic message here it's what we stand in it is what belongs to us we stand in this so when i

have repented there's two aspects of forgiveness that i want to talk about you know the first is you turn away god's anger by repenting by confessing the same thing that he says that's one part of forgiveness in baptism while you remove yourself from the practice of sin and repentance in baptism in jesus name you remove god removes the penalty of sin that completes the deal amen so brother williford cosigns with me on a car loan and i decide i'm not going to pay for it he gets stuck with the bill

and i say please forgive me and this man being who he is he would forgive me but the debt remains the debt still remains repentance god forgives me but in in waters of baptism in jesus name debt is paid it's all done away with so we remove ourselves from the practice of sin he removes the penalty of sin and then through the infilling of his spirit he breaks the power of sin in your life and you don't have to sin every day like you did before now you have broken the

power of sin no more practice no more penalty and no more power of sin in our lives i'm talking about we stand in and on this message right here i know it's basic and i know it's not really exciting after all these years but i'm telling you i am celebrating the fact that we are still standing in the truth hallelujah the world and i've been there the world's business model is to recognize reward and promote based on ability god's model is to recognize reward and promote based on stability not ability

but stability the stick-to-itiveness as it were that we find in our faithfulness to god amen how many times in scripture did god just tell them stand still you don't understand god i got this problem and i can't work it out listen god is not going to intervene until you get rid of all your ideas as long as we've got ideas on how to work things out god's saying go ahead he only works with emptiness and so they come to the red sea and they're standing there and moses turns to this

worried frantic anxious congregation and he said stand still and see the salvation of the lord all you've got to do is stand here and watch god work one of the hardest things that we have to do you wouldn't think it but it's just stand we're like that kid that two-year-old god says would you stand still i'm trying to get you dressed for something and we're all over the place and he's saying just stand still and i'll show you my glory he did it at the red sea he did it again

at the jordan river where he said tell the priest to go down and stand in the water just stand just stand just take the ark and go stand in the water and some 18 miles upstream wasn't like the red sea 18 miles upstream at the city of adam he cut off the waters and the priests had to stand there getting wet feet until the water subsided just stand encompassed by ammon and moab jehoshaphat said set yourselves stand ye still and see the salvation of the lord oh hallelujah

i told you this this is not it's just just simple stuff but i have come tonight to celebrate the fact of just standing just standing standing in your faith and standing until you see the salvation of the lord work things out in your life you know the purpose of god in our lives is not revealed until we have mastered standing it's not revealed until we've mastered just standing that's when the red sea opened that's when the jordan river dried up that's when the ammonites and moabites are defeated when they mastered

when they mastered the art of standing then god reveals purpose can i share with you some things tonight that that sometimes you know a calling like like pastors calling and other ministers here you're calling that calling is a lifetime there's no release from that there's no release from that that calling is on your life and it becomes a lifetime but may i tell you to those of us some of us it's not in plurality of purpose sometimes the purpose of god is defined by a single event in our lives just

one i i always get excited when i think brother lou gerliman and and crossing the path of tom wilkins on the job just if brother wilkins had done nothing else that purpose in changing to trajectory of somebody's eternity is enough we're going to pray in a little while but i want us as witnesses to find that will and purpose of god for our lives it may be just one event but that's okay sister masters used to tell the story about my mom my mother worked with her on a in a

purse factory i worked there when i was a teenager and and my mom you those of you who knew my mom she she was just closed mouth she was just inauspicious i guess as a word you know she would blend into the woodwork she wouldn't say boo but she began to witness to bobby masters on the job in a purse factory now i personally believe that when when god's purpose is fulfilled that you will reap the reward in eternity for that and so we know the story the masters uh they

they got baptized in jesus name they were they repented of their sins we got baptized received the baptism of the holy ghost came other religion that they were in and brother masters had been pastoring in in hermann missouri for yea these many years and how many souls have been touched by brother masters because of the witness of just one woman on the job and the purpose was done sometimes the purpose of god is divine by a single event in our lives you ever wonder what some of those prophets did after

they prophesied what amos was a herdsman and a vine dresser and he went and prophesied but i don't know what he did with the rest of his life just went back home what about jonah jonah went to and preached to nineveh and the whole city was spared judgment what happened to knowing anybody know what jonah did after he preached one single purpose one and he fulfilled that purpose now here's the part we we don't like to hear john the baptist pronounced his own death sentence when he said behold the lamb

of god which taketh away the sin of the world john your entire purpose for existence has just been fulfilled and they came and got him and took his head off his shoulders i don't like to think about that kind of thing that when i have fulfilled my purpose what else is there i'm telling all of us that that there is a purpose for each of us maybe a single event in your life the grace of god and i'm just going to quit but the grace of god is revealed when we've

mastered standing you know paul's thorn in the flesh was a messenger of satan that was sent to buffet him and the lord said my grace is sufficient and he said i'm going to glory i'm just going to stand here in glory in my infirmities then because the grace of god is revealed in this the only reason that we are standing after all this assault of hell is the grace of god i was thinking there's no better pairing when you put words together in languages if i say amazing what's the first

thing you say if i say grace the first thing that comes to mind is amazing no better pairing in any language they just go together it's amazing grace but let me tell you what the puritans called it they called it promiscuous grace brother i got to thinking about that promiscuous grace i'm grace's wingman some of you all don't know what that is do you not not in military now but but in in common vernacular in society a wingman is a guy who goes and introduces his friend to these you know

sets up dates for him introduces his friend he breaks the ice with the gal and because his friends too timid we are grace's wingmen because grace is promiscuous i'm going to tell you something there's a whole message here but grace will go home with anybody grace will go home with a she'll climb up on a barstool next to a a drunk and she'll go home with with him she'll get involved in the life of a drug addict and she'll go home with him she'll get involved in the life of somebody

who's been abused and she'll go home with them i'm telling you that grace as the puritan said grace is promiscuous and the thing that she refuses to be is kept grace said i don't belong to you i belong to everybody and i'll go home with anybody and i'll reach out for everybody and so grace overlooks flaws and faults and refuses to be kept or contained hallelujah we that's where we stand the reason i'm here and says so hey sister hazel martin she's known me all my life literally all my life

all of it when i was a kid she's known me all my life sister martin still standing but only because of the grace of god only because of this promiscuous grace that was willing to overlook my flaws and my faults and all of my downfallings and and say i'll go home with you anyway i should be quitting this grace i'm going to make a statement here is what i call my keystones i told amber the other day i have these keystone statements ties everything together but but the minute we kind

of minimize what went on in the garden of eden the minute that adam ingested sin the course was set he was no longer standing he was called fallen man he's fallen man and when he sinned in order to save what he loved god would have to embrace what he hated in order to save what he loved god would also have to embrace what he hated he loved the mass but he hated the sin and looking forward folks that's where all of us are that's where all of us were in order

for us to be saved we came as sinners and in order to save what he loved the man the person he had to embrace what he hated and that was the sin and became the sin offering for us in order to save us hallelujah let's do what i'm talking about and stand i never run out so stephen everybody know who stephen was you know who he was responsible for bringing to the lord greatest man third greatest man ever lived they say the apostle paul he was standing there witnessing this man

that was witnessing for jesus christ being stoned and stephen looked up now watch in all the new testament everywhere you read jesus is seated at the right hand of the majesty at the right hand of the father at the right hand of the power at the right hand of the glory but when stephen is getting his head bashed in feeling those stones bouncing off of him he looks up and jesus is standing it's a message folks jesus was saying to stephen i've been where you are i suffered the things that

you're suffering now but what i want to impart to you is this still standing still standing i'm still standing the church at pergamus was promised a white stone and a new name you all know about that the coliseums were not just entertainment for romans but for the gladiator it was a way to obtain a new life they had fights to the death and last man and jesus brings this imagery to revelation and he said to him that overcometh will i give a white stone that white stone to the gladiator was

called in latin the tessera gladiatorius it represented a new life for him it said and and it had inscribed on it sp for spectators a person of proven valor beyond the doubt tested and esteemed you get to retire on your victories now because you've stood for all this time and after this revelation 7 9 i be held in law a great multitude woo hallelujah which no man could number of all nations kindreds to people in tongues and stood before what they're standing the church that's been persecuted the church that's been

through the fire the church has been through the flood the church has been into the arenas in the lion's den in the fire whatever they are now standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands i celebrate with you tonight that you're still standing i want us to make our way forward what i want us to do some can stand in proxy i know sister amber's not here i want somebody to stand in proxy for that ministry stand up here for the ministry

of griefshare the dales are not in here but we need to pray come on up brewers you can stand in proxy we're going to pray for the ministries of the church we're going to pray that you as a child of god will find the purpose that you've been called to you're not standing here just for no reason there's a purpose that god has for you and if you haven't found it yet i want us to find that so if we can just gather in i want us all to come because

this is not just about groups of ministry this is about everybody finding god just in my life lay that person across my path bring me to that place where i can i can fulfill my purpose so that i can say i fought a good fight i've finished the course but i've kept the faith still standing some of you for many years still standing god bless you brother williford still standing after all these years others in this congregation still standing after all of these years i pray and some of you may

not have as yet found that particular purpose but what i want us to pray is that god would give us a revelation what is my life to mean what am i supposed to not just do but what am i supposed to be just show up and shine let somebody let somebody in the darkness feel the light that is in your life let's pray together father we come to you in jesus name believing o god that we have all been called to be a witness of you oh god we have stood

in many cases for many years but i pray lord that the purpose would be revealed in us that you would touch lives now we pray for the ministries of this church it's not just about reformation it's about transformation i pray that lives and griefshare would be touched i pray for celebrate recovery would be touched lord god that lives would be transformed by the power in the spirit of god but in individual lives let your purpose overshadow and open up the door make the way as we stand and we wait patiently

for your purpose to be revealed in us i thank you for it lord i thank you for it lord oh hallelujah hallelujah god's going to use you he's going to use you you're going to find your purpose you're going to find the will of god just that one person lord that i can change the course of eternity for them give me that one in jesus name in jesus name thank you lord that's it go ahead let's just go forward just a few more moments here pray god hallelujah

we pray the strength and the edification of each and every member o lord hallelujah hallelujah that's it let your prayer minister one to another god i pray for the membership for the family members every member of this body you have fitted us together lord it's your purpose god yes yes yes yes yes yes jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus you know if a brother or sister is stronger we are made stronger it's like the body when the muscles

or the cells the bones when they are strengthened it strengthens the other muscles and cells and bones and tissues thank god for his word several years some years ago a couple years ago in in prayer meeting my wife asked for the years of experience of people serving the lord standing and when we added them all up it was over 600 years of faithfulness and that was from about 12 people and of course it was some of those several of those were elders who were in that prayer meeting that day but remaining standing