Look What The Lord Has Done | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

thank you Jesus come on and clap your hands clap your hands up to the Lord and give him praise and give him worship if you're thankful that he came to you oh when you could not go to him amen thank God I that song right there just gets me excited about the Christmas season coming and we're going to sing a whole lot of good uh good Christmas songs about the coming of Our Lord the first time and and tonight we sing some some songs about the second coming amen Bible says uh we ought to be watching and waiting and we're doing that we're doing just that we're singing songs we're writing songs about that amen so thankful for the Christmas season upon us uh we're in December y'all ready or not it's here ready or not it's here matter of fact two weeks from tonight will be our our Christmas spectacular concert and I always looking forward to that it's the largest service of the year uh we normally have, 1300 uh sometimes more in that service and so please uh make sure you you invite everyone you can we'll make sure there's room for everybody and uh we're just going to have a great time in song at our Christmas Spectacular turn with me in the Bible to Romans 12 and verse 1 going to read a very uh familiar passage to you also going to read 1 Corinthians 6 and 20 another very familiar passage amen that we love we love in the word of God um give honor tonight to our senior pastor and first lady uh give honor to the Hammond and to brother no sister flry uh we have I believe I'm so thankful and even after uh attending National youth convention this week um I could not be more proud uh to have my daughters under the leadership of our great student Ministries do we really realize the anointing is Upon Our student pastors and upon our children's pastors and if you did not get to be at uh National youth convention and here Pastor Hammond preach on Thursday night if you were not there I promise you you want to get on YouTube go to the student Ministries account on YouTube watch that message um it is lifechanging and it's going to make you very glad that your students that your children are under his ministry amen if they're in the youth group and uh so thankful miss him tonight he's ministering and Alabama miss him but God is God's doing great things in this church and I just want to just build upon that pastor's message this morning was so uh was so wonderful the family there's there's nothing like the family we got to winterize our families amen we got to winterize and make sure they're ready because this world is cold it's bitter kind of like outside tonight just you walk from your car and you just feel that chill to the bone that that's the world we're living in right now and we got to make sure that our families are ready thank you Pastor for ministering this morning and ministering before church started we already we already heard Ministry already tonight Romans 12 and verse one says I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a Living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service I like that we're going to preach about that and then 1 Corinthians 6 and 20 says for ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are which are Gods amen anybody thankful be filled with the Holy Ghost if you're filled with the Holy Ghost why just lift up your hands to heaven right now oh I love the Lord today he's a good god he's a great God I feel the Holy Ghost in This Place choir you sang the Holy Ghost down you sing the presence of the Lord down oh Hallelujah woo Look What the Lord Has Done Look What the Lord Has Done we're singing a new song around here it just simply says Look What the Lord Has Done it's not hard to see it just Look What the Lord Has Done if that's you today come on let's just worship him for a minute Look What the Lord Has Done oh Look What the Lord Has Done it's not hard to see it Look What the Lord Has Done come on testify through your worship tonight just Look What the Lord Has Done oh Look What the Lord Has Done church it's not hard to see it Look What the Lord Has Done come on let me hear you sing it tonight sing Look What the Lord Has Done oh Look What the Lord come on that's beautiful it's not hard to see it Look What the Lord oh just one more time it sounds so beautiful sing Look What Look What the Lord oh look what it's not hard to see it it's not Look What the Lord come on clap your hands unto the Lord that's my title Look What the Lord Has Done Look What the Lord Has Done Look What the Lord Has Done hallelujah hallelujah you may be seated in this place tonight I'm going to read a verse that's going to make uh that's going to make this title screen makes sense here Bible says I found this this verse the other day in Proverbs 30:2 it says the spider taketh hold with her hands and is in the king's palaces the spider that's that's just a that's just a neat proverb right there Salon wrote the it's a neat proverb the spider taketh hold with her hands and is in the king's palaces and I I don't know about you but I have a problem with spiders I I have serious Arachnophobia and I I don't I don't say that lightly matter of fact I I just recently have given up screaming when I see spiders um because they're always where they don't belong well they don't belong anywhere let's just be h let's just be honest unless you're just one of those people that enjoys the uh the the nature and and the the small creepy crawly things of God um anything that has more legs than me I'm scared of bottom line I'm just I especially if they're they're little hairy legs um I just I I just I have no purpose for them and um they they see the sole of my shoe that's kind of what they see the last thing they see those eight eyes you know they have eight eyes eight legs and eight eyes it's kind of the last thing they see before they go on to meet their maker but King Solomon wrote um even in King's palaces if you look close enough you're either going to see a spider or you're going to see the proof of a spider that's been weaving amen and then I I believe that most people have these these feelings towards spiders and um I can't help but when they're in my house where when they're in my garage when they're on my back patio and my driveway um I I quickly call pest control and I appreciate them coming out and spraying for spiders but but my question is always the same it's it's like how did you get there because you're going to find them in the craziest places how did you get here and I don't know why but it's it's in in my house maybe your house you know I grew up and it seemed like those those those daddy long legs were the ones we saw which even as a child I was kind of scared of those but I found out later on that they're harmless but for for whatever reason the spiders that are here in East Tennessee they're the they're the the the the big ones with the thick legs y'all got those okay I hope I'm not the only one East Tennessee that has those but but it it is seems and and I I wonder myself it's like how do you get how do you get into the king's Palace H how is it that you find yourself in the king's Palace and and as I was thinking about this this proverb and I was thinking about Solomon WR in this and I was kind of envisioning himself maybe maybe even in in the The Palace that he built for God in Solomon's Temple and and maybe he was he was kind of lean back looking up and thinking to himself how in the world the the the the staff that I have they clean this Palace and and I still see the spider webs and I still see and and he kind of just pined this you know these spiders they have a way of getting in where they want to get in but I got to thinking about myself and I thought you know what I'm I'm kind of the same way but Bader in a lot of ways how did I get where I am today cuz I sure don't belong here I I sure in when I was young I was a when I was a child growing up I I sure never contemplated that one day I would be in in marille Tennessee and that I would be in a in in a beautiful Sanctuary among God's people and and some of my favorite people in all the world I would have never dreamed that I would be here I wasn't born on the Pew of a 1200 seat Auditorium as I I guess I guess what I'm trying to say tonight I I I wasn't I wasn't born and I wasn't I didn't graduate from a school that was uh getting ready to put in Turf on their baseball field I'm I'm kind of envious I'm kind of envious of of the children that are getting born we just dedicated children this morning but I'm a little envious of my of my niece [name redacted] and my my great niece [name redacted] that that they're going to be growing up in a church like this a strong Church like this and and they're going to be going to an Apostolic Training Center that by the time they get to the training center it'll have already graduated probably some 25 years of graduates think about that I wasn't I wasn't raised with those Privileges and those those opportunities M matter of fact I was um I was on a panel session at at National youth convention this week for our missions America department and I was sitting among panelists and we were discussing church planting and and I knew that I had to qualify myself because I'm thinking of myself most of these students and most of the people in this room know me as the guy at First Apostolic Church of marille one of the pastors at First Apostolic Church of maraville and they're probably thinking to themselves what what would he know about church planting so I had to kind of qualify and just kind of explain to them brother alter that I am a product of a church plant when I was four years old my parents started a church in Upstate New York in Auburn New York and uh grew up I grew up I would like to say I grew up under a Pew but we never had pews I might have grew up under the folding chairs you know what I'm saying I I might have grew up um listen we did what we had to do is it was just the four of us my brother my mom and dad uh Alburn New York City had never had an Apostolic Church didn't couldn't say the word Apostolic could didn't know what Pentecostal was couldn't even say the word Pentecostal anden we did the best we could but that's all I knew I was a product of of of having on my own having to to be all I could be didn't have a great youth group didn't have a didn't have a Christian School to go to and uh then of course I told I told the panel I told the the audience at the at the session I said then when I was 16 years old we practically started another church I I want to say that maybe two people elected us into the church in North Carolina and at 16 17 18 going to my last couple years of high school again I was the only Apostolic young person in my high school that I was the only one and it was just it's just who I became and I would have never dreamed I I wake up and I think my God how did I end up in this place how did I end up man a choir of of 130 150 singers how how did I did I end up here and I think to myself oh God you're so good God God you blessed me so abundantly I I'm like the spider in the king's Palace I I'm just I'm on the wall I don't know how I got here but but I'm glad to be here anybody else just glad to be here you never dreamed of being where you are today the blessings that God has blessed you with maybe you never thought that you would drive what you're driving or have the family that you have or or have the beautiful grandkids that you have you've never dreamed in in a in a thousand years that God would give you what he's given you but you've woken up and you said I'm kind of like the spider living in the king's Palace I'm just glad to be here I'm just glad to be in the house and and then another question I have to ask myself when I when I look over my life is how out of 8 billion people alive today on Earth how how did God find little oh me it's kind of like that spider mentality if you will how is it that God out of nearly there's an estimated 115 billion people that have lived on planet Earth why did God desire to purchase me have you ever thought about that has a thought ever crossed your mind that that God is mindful of you we sing that song Who Am I you are mindful of me how you love me when I call right he hears us he loves us he cares about us and and and these thoughts begin to go through my mind God why would you pull me out of a life of sin God why would you save me from a devil's hell how how could you allow me to hear the great gospel and allow this revelation of the Oneness of God to be revealed to me the the Holy Ghost filling my body and changing my life how is it that with 8 billion people here on Earth you would choose a wretched unlovable a sin guilty oh listen I I was a discarded piece of trash but God saw fit to fill me with his Spirit come on I just want to just take this a little time I I just want to kind of just kind of belly up to the table a little bit just kind of have a fireside chat with you because sometimes I think we get so in this uh this Pentecostal way if you will that we just feel entitled to what we get every Sunday right and may maybe if if if the if the heat or air isn't just the way we want it or if this choir doesn't sing our favorite song or if our favorite solo doesn't get up and sing the solo we kind of we kind of pick and choose which Sundays are good Sundays and not as good Sunday come on come on come on help me out a little bit come on I listen I just want to preach where we're living today God help us to realize how blessed we are come on I said 8 billion that's with a B 8 billion people are alive on Earth and thank god listen I've been baptizing his name for the remission of my sins I've been filled with this Holy Ghost my life has been changed I've been brought out of addiction I've been been brought out of all kinds of things that this world is still captured and in captivity to but oh God you saw fit to love me to care about little old I'm just a spider living in the king's Palace but I begin I begin to feel a little bit better about myself because I I begin to read in the Bible about imperfect people just like me matter of fact the book of gen Genesis tells us about a man named Jacob his name means deceiver deceiver his his name means Sur planter it's someone that causes another to believe something that is not true typically in order to gain some personal Advantage has his brother named Esau and come on I I know and we can we can we can throw off on Esau it's really easy to throw off on Esau because we we say yeah Esau sold his Birthright for a for a bowl of beans and he did but what brother sees his starving brother coming in from the field and sells him food come on think about this right here come on we throw off on Esau but Jacob man he wasn't a very nice guy he was a deceiver it was all about his increase and it was all about things to to make him and and do something for him and so here we go the story just in case you don't know the story Esau goes and he goes to to to find food for the family he was a hunter he he was a Woodsman he he went out to find food for the family but when he comes back he comes back empty-handed he comes back and he's famished and and he's nigh on the starvation and the Bible says in Genesis 25:29 it says and Jacob saw pottage and Esau came from the F and he was faint and Esau said to Jacob feed me I pray thee with the same red pottage for I am faint therefore was his name called Edom it what should be said right here it should say and Jacob gave his brother a bowl of this pottage of the sod pottage he he gave him a bowl and fed his brother because after all his brother was going out to find food for the family but that's not what it says it says and Jacob said sell me this day thy birth right and Esau said he reasoned he said I am at the point to die what prophet shall this Birthright be to me he says hey if if if I die today this Birthright means nothing to me so he said swear Jacob said swear to me this day and and he swear under him and he sold his Birthright unto Jacob then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils and he did eat and drink and Rose up and went his way and he deceived his brother in into giving him his future he deceived his brother and I know that there's a lot of us tonight and if you're like I am oh my God I think back over my life and I think you know I wasn't a nice person before the the BC of my life the before Christ of my life you know if only you knew what I've been through if only you knew what I've done if only you knew what my name really means listen I'm so thankful tonight that God gives us another chance I'm so I would say a second chance but it's far more than just a second chance it's a third chance and a fourth chance and a fifth chance I I'm so glad that God is a god of mercy and he sees us and he sees when we trip up and when we fall off the wagon he sees us when we mess up and he gives us time after time he gives us a chance because his Mercy is Everlasting his Mercy is new every morning I'm so thankful that not only does he give us another chance but he gives us a new identity and he will give us another name somebody say thank you Jesus Genesis 32:28 says and he said thy name shall be called No More Jacob which means deceiver but it's to be called Israel which means god prevails for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and Hast prevailed oh I'm preaching about Look What the Lord Has Done I'm going to bring bring this all together momentarily but I want us to look back over our life and see where we used to be and see where we are today and see we're not deserving of it oh my God we are not worthy of it but we've got to be thankful and say God if not for your grace and not for your mercy where would I be today but Look What the Lord Has Done you've given me a new identity I'm not who I used to be I'm not the same man that I used to be I've been covered with the blood of Jesus I've been given a new name a new identity he's given me new bloodline I have the lineage now of Jesus oh Jacob Jacob he's wrestling with an angel he's wrestling with an angel and finally the angel says let me go and he said I will not let you go until you bless me he knew he needed a blessing because Esau was after him it was years later Esau's looking for him Jacob's been blessed he's been given the birthright he is now the inheritor and now Esau is looking for him Esau wants to kill him and Jacob said I've been a deceiver all my life I've been a Sur planter all my life but I refuse to be this any longer I refuse that to be my identity any longer and I've got to have an angel in my life that I'm going to hold on to until He blesses me with a a new name and blesses me with a new identity and so it was at that point the Bible says that the angel touched the hollow of his thigh and from that time forward he had a limp for the rest of his life he he walked a little funny he walked a little different than everyone else walked every step that Israel took he was reminded of what the Lord had done for him in his life uh because sure enough Enough by the time Esau got to Jacob now Israel by the time Esau got there he no longer wanted to kill his little brother but instead he wanted to join up uh and he even said hey Israel hey Jacob I know what you meant from me was evil I know that you deceive me but God has blessed me too God has blessed my family too God has blessed me and so he said therefore I don't hate you any longer and God blessed Israel but sometimes we need just a little reminder that we don't deserve what we've been blessed with come on somebody we don't deserve what we've been blessed with because oh I sure oh I sure didn't get here on my own come on oh when I look back over my life I think of myself in Bible school and I think of myself coming out of Bible school and it's looking and saying God somehow someway you you got got to bless me you got to help me find a find an occupation find a job God somehow you got to you got to help me make it I I I've got this Bible School degree but it's not helping me in the workforce and and I began to pray and say God I've got such a Ministry for young people God help me God just make a way that I can work with young people and I can somehow I can somehow work with music and God made away it wasn't any talent that I had it wasn't my ability but God said I'll open doors for you that you cannot even imagine he opened doors but then you know what God closed some doors on me too some doors I wondered I said God it wasn't about eight or nine months after I had been I had been at the churches my my first youth press with the first place I was hired and oh it was such a good experience but things went bad I'm just going to be honest with things went bad and the pastor had to leave the church and I left with him it was one of those situations why I just simply said hey if you don't believe what this man stands for you don't believe what I stand for not going to tell you the story the story doesn't even matter what matters is this God closed the door and I didn't understand why at the time sometimes we can't fight when God closes doors H we can't try to kick open doors that God's closing because if that door wouldn't have closed I would have never ended up in marville Tennessee I never would have met my wife I never would have had my children I never would be where I am today but I thank God that God opens doors and God closes doors all I can simply say is Look What the Lord Has Done oh my God what I couldn't imagine where I couldn't imagine being God said I'm going to put you in a place where I can use you oh it was it was Israel oh yes he had a limp and yes he had a pasted but he was a blessed man matter of fact God would choose to name the nation of is Israel after this man who was named Jacob here one of the smallest nations in the world is one of the most powerful nations in the world why is that because they're the people of God they're the children of Israel they are the Israelite Nation they are the Jews and they're God's people and God has shown favor to his people oh not only with with with their army not only with their economics but God has showed time after time that he will fight the battles for them and he will back them up why is it I can't explain it but Look What the Lord Has Done look where the Lord has taken Israel even to this day but then we move into the New Testament and we find a Pharisee by the name of Saul he hated Christians and he hated Christ he enjoyed persecuting both Jews and gentiles these these Jews and Gentiles that converted to this new teaching he hated them and they feared him because he was out to kill them he was out to destroy them burn them at the stake put them in prison persecute them any way that he could but I'm so thankful that Saul had a name changed too because no longer was his identity as Saul the Pharisee but Jesus gave him the name of Paul which the Latin origin simply means humble and I want you to think about this because this man went from being a Pious Christian or I'm sorry a Pious Jewish leader to an humble Christian man a man who once wanted to kill Christians now became a Christian and that same sort of thing that happens to him it can happen to us too the very same thing it's a it's a physical reminder the same thing that happened back in the Old Testament to a man named Jacob also happened to a man named Saul because God he gave him what we call what Paul said was a thorn in the flesh it was a trigger to trigger his memory in the understanding that only God can do God things although Paul was brilliant he said in 2 Corinthians 12:6 it says for though I would desire to Glory I shall not be a fool for I will say the truth but now I forbear lest any man should think of me above which he seeth me to be or that he heareth of me and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to Buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure for this thing I besought the Lord three times that it might depart from me what he was simply saying was this he was being given Revelation he was a brilliant man he was taught in the synagogues he he was a Pharisee he was a man of God in the Jewish Nation but oh he said just so I wouldn't get too high and minded and think that I was the one that brought this Glory he said there was given to me a thorn of the flesh you say what kind of thorn was it I I don't know some believe it was some something inside of him whether it was a stutter or a form of blindness or or maybe even a limp in his step but whatever it was it caused Paul to be humble because the last thing I want to do is pray that God takes away a thorn in my flesh that reminds me to be humble come on think about this he had a like to be proud of he was incredibly wise he was so educated he was influential he was a well-known speaker oh but Paul said I had to have a reality check because this punishment whatever it was uh it just proved to me that it was not me that receives the glory but it's only God that can receive the glory oh church family tonight whatever it is that you have tonight you might be educated your degrees might have degrees you might have been to some of the greatest influential universities and and you might have diplomas but oh my God it's not of our it's not of our knowledge or it's not of our wisdom but it's God who gives all wisdom uh it's God God who gives us the knowledge uh it's God who gives us the Revelation oh God I want a reality check whatever it takes oh God I want to be humble all right all right I don't pray I pray that I don't ever get to the place where where God has to give me this physical infirmity that he had to give to Saul or give to Paul or give to Jacob and Israel oh but I pray something inside of me God I want to be humble god with what you've given Lord God I never want to think Lord God that Talent replaces anointing that good communication skills replaces anointing oh I thank God I want to be a good communicator I want to be able to preach a word to you that that that you're living and where you're living but God I don't ever want it to be to take the place of the anointing of God in my life uh God I want miracles signs and wonders to follow me and if those things are going to follow me it's only because Lord Lord God I'm following after your spirit I'm following after your wisdom in your knowledge and the things that you give me oh God from heaven above I never want to get into a palace and feel like I deserve God's presence I just want to be like that spider that finds himself in the palace it was the same Apostle Paul that wrote a letter to the church in Rome he said in Romans 12 I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a Living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service it's our reasonable service to present our bodies as a living sacrifice as a holy sacrifice unto God as an acceptable sacri sacrifice unto God come on somebody we got to glorify God in our body in our spirit because we belong to God it's 1 Corinthians 6:19 that says what know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God and you are not your own my God we've been bought with a price we've heard it said Pastor he talked about it this morning we heard it all through the election process oh we heard the statement my body my choice and the truth of the matter that's true as long as he your body but if you've been filled with the Holy Ghost we've been purchased if we got the Holy Ghost Inside us if we've been baptized in the name of Jesus and had our sins remitted we're no longer our own but now we've been purchase and our body is not ours so the world can say my body my choice but here in the house we cannot say my body my choice we got to say it's your body and whatever you desire Jesus said the father seeketh such to worship Him the father has certain certain stipulations he's looking for he's looking for worshippers that will worship Him in spirit and in truth uh he's looking for Holy worshippers uh that will live holy and live right unto God live separated from the world I want to be acceptable unto God because worshiping him it giving him my body is just my reasonable service our culture cringes at the idea of bodily purchase and I get it there have been Millions upon millions of slaves in the history of mankind ancient Egyptians we understand they had slaves Greeks had slaves aves Romans Vikings even Native Americans they enslaved other tribes Africans Arabs Chinese all the Turks the Ottomans the indigenous Australian tribes uh Haitians Southeast Asians Mongols Russians the Irish they've all had slaves it's it's slavery is almost as old as time itself but God offers a different kind of bodily purchase it's a purchase with Mercy matter of fact acts 2028 says take heed therefore unto yourselves into to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers watch this right here to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood we are the Church of God we have been purchased by the blood of God it was God that said I will come I will be a man I will rob myself in flesh I will dwell among my creation I will have blood in my body and I will be the sacrificial lamb the perfect the clean oh there's no spot in him the sacrificial lamb that will shed the blood for my people and I don't know about you but I can't do anything but say Look What the Lord Has Done I thank you oh God it's not hard to see that you've washed me that you've regenerated me that I'm a new creature in Christ Jesus Look What the Lord Has Done Romans 8:14 says for as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God I love this right here for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have receive the spirit of adoption whereby we cry all father the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God it does not say that we are the slaves of God we are the children of God it's our choice of how we view the purchase of God is it going to be a purchase into slavery or a purchase of adoption into the family of God your walk with God is going to reflect how you view the purchase you will either take on the nature of a slave or of a son you either take on the nature of a slave or a son let me tell you the difference a slave is always in a in in a in a predicament where they're saying whoo is me they hold their head down because they believe the purchase was for their own body for their soul they they they believe that whatever they do they have to do because somebody's making them do it this is what my pastor tells me I have to do this is what my student Pastor tells me I have to do this is what oh the word of God I know it's black and white but I've got to do it because I've been purchased and you've got nothing more than a slave mentality but when you have the mentality of a child of God it's all different because now it's I get to you hold your head up high because you understand your joint HS with Christ and you understand that whatever he's doing for you it's for you his thoughts are towards you for an expected end he's not trying to hurt he's not trying to keep you from having fun he's not trying to keep you held down and suppressed and oppressed wo but when we say it's just my reasonable service to give my body it's not because I'm a slave it's because I'm a child it's because I've been adopted I've got a father now that he paid a price adoption cost money if if you've adopted in this place and I know many that are here today have adopted it is not free adopted costs a whole lot you're there's a high price to pay to adopt but I love it I've been to a few adoptions and I love when I'm invited to the adoptions because I love to hear the judge because the judge behind the bench will tell the family they'll say you understand that this child that you're adopting now has the original rights as if if they were born into your family I don't know what that does for you but every time I hear the judge say that a tear Wells up in my eye because I think to myself that's me I'm that person I'm that adopted person I'm that child that was fatherless I'm that child with no mother but oh God you saw fit to bring me into your kingdom and adopt me into your kingdom it was because of the love of of our father it was because of the love of our father maybe you're here tonight I don't know this message may not relate to everyone although it should but maybe it doesn't relate to you because maybe maybe you're entitled to sit on the Pew that you're on I don't know but I do believe there's people in this place who you've been coming to church with your head hung down maybe because of the past that you have lived but I've got good news for you when you're adopted into the body of Christ uh when you take on the name of Jesus uh when you're buried in the name of Jesus uh the name wo given among men W whereby we're going to be saved in the name of Jesus H nothing takes place uh outside in the name of Jesus it's the only name where there's salvation and there's adoption in the name of Jesus matter of fact 1 Peter 2:9 it begins to describe us as Sons it it begins to describe us as the children of God it says but you are a chosen generation you're a royal priesthood you're a holy nation You're A peculiar people that you should show forth the Praises of him oh my God who has called you out of Darkness uh Into His Marvelous Li uh but you are God's chosen generation his royal priesthood we are a holy nation Were A peculiar people these are all Old Testament titles of the people of God you say but I'm a gentile I'm not Hebrew I'm not a Jew and right here it's simply saying what they were to God as the children of God he said we too are a royal priesthood we too are a holy nation we too have been called out from this world to be separate from this world I want to be holy because my God is Holy I want to be righteous because my God is righteous we are a royal priesthood of people we are a chosen generation I say to You Look What the Lord Has Done pick up your head throw your shoulders back uh and realize just who you are in God uh what your past is your past uh but your future in him your future in him is yay and amen your future in him is a life that's going to be filled with blessings and favor I just believe that that the best is yet to come if you realize who you are tonight not a slave I'm a son it's my reasonable service listen if you're watching if you're watching by way of the webcast tonight please don't view the Apostolic Pentecostal movement as restricted or suppressed or or or limited or we a limited group of of modestly dressed Kool-Aid drinkers you know we sang a song Back at at at camp and way back I I want to say it was all the way back in Burn New York and family camp and I remember I remember Dan Dean getting up and singing this song sister Hawkins sings it today one of my one still one of my favorite songs because I don't know if any song I could relate to More Than This song but it says I met a man the other day he looked at me and said so many times I've seen your kind before said you can't do this and you can't do that you're bound by rules and restrictions what a Drey life you Christians must observe I looked him in the eye and I said you're wrong I can do anything that but turn you on I could smoke till my eyes turn red and my face turns blue I could Chew in dip snor and Guss I could party all night till the sun comes up but there's better things in life I'd rather do it's simp says I choose to be a Christian I choose to be like him nobody's making me do it this is how I choose to live you decide for you I'll decide for me but the choice is mine and this is how I choose to be but the next verse says from time to time the thought of Heaven keeps me Towing the line oh yeah he's coming back and it sounds too good to be true oh but this is my favorite line of the song but if it was all just a fairy tale and there was no heaven and there was no hell i' still be living like I do come on somebody it's our reasonable Service uh we don't deserve to be here tonight uh we don't deserve to be saved and Sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost it's our reasonable service to say God I'll give you my whole body uh Mind Body Soul and Spirit I'll give it to I choose to be a Christian I choose to be like you nobody's making me do itth this is what I choose to all you you decide for you and I deide for me but the choice is mine this is what I choose to be but then the bridge I like the bridge too it says don't look at me with sympathy and think that I've been cheated for not doing all the things that you call fun cuz when you're headed down on the darkest side of town do y'all get that I like that right there when you're headed down on the darkest side of town the choice I may will be lifting me out of here because I choose to be a Christian I choose to be like him nobody's making me do it this is how I choose to live I don't deserve it I don't deserve it I don't deserve it some of you need to tell yourself that I don't deserve it I'm not entitled to this life uh I'm not entitled to this life I'm not entitled to this life uh but I'm a son I'm a daughter I'm adopted woo we're engrafted into the kingdom thank you Jesus for the blood thank you for the blood it washes white as snow what can wash away my sins nothing but the blood of Jesus what can make us whole again nothing but the blood of Jesus woo come on look what the the Lord has done if you're not already standing I wish you would just stand in your feet and close your eyes as tight as you can and throw your hands up as high as you can and just say thank you Jesus oh God you didn't have to see me uh you didn't have to reach down and pull me out of the gutter of sin you didn't have to reach down and pull me out of the myy clay but you did and I'm thankful for it come on this is the week of Thanksgiving I believe we can just end this service by saying thank God thank God I'm not what I used to be thank God I'm not going where I used to be going well I thank God he turned me around and placed my feet on silent ground I wish somebody would just say Look What the Lord Has Done Look What the Lord Has Done it's not hard to see it Look What the Lord I feel the Holy Ghost in This Place uh and if you're here tonight uh I want to be bold in the Holy Ghost and say if you're here tonight and you don't have the gift of the Holy Ghost uh if you've never repented of your sins uh you can make an about face right now you can to make an a about face right now and say God I choose to live for you God I choose to live for you come on there's two choices that we've got to make one thing we can't do we can't give ourselves the Holy Ghost it doesn't matter how much we beg it doesn't matter how much we cry I'm know people that have come to an altar year after year and beg God you can't give yourself the Holy Ghost there's two choices that you can make you can make the choice to repent of your sins and you can make the choice to get in the water and be baptized in the name of the one that shed his blood and gave his blood for you I will never understand why anybody would be baptized in any other name than the name of Jesus because that's where our power lies is in the name of Jesus that's whose blood is going to cover us it's the name of Jesus my God but when we are baptized in the name that's a choice you can make when you're baptized in the name for the remission that's so important for the removal of your sins uh then there's a promise that's given unto you and that comes from God he shall re receive the gift of the Holy ghos uh and that gift is going to give you power you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you you don't have to go back to the bar stool you don't have to go back to work and cuss with your but now you've been given uh a brand new life uh you've been changed and rearranged uh now you are on your way to heav come on somebody might have walked in here you were addicted to drugs and you've got some things GR in your body but let me tell you something they're a reminder to what God has brought you out of you said brother Eric said I smoked so much pot and I burned so many brain cells brother Ericson you don't even understand me my memory's going a little bit let me tell you something you ought to let that remind you of what God pulled you up out of there's people in this room oh my God woo you had all kinds of addictions you had all kinds of sexual sexual sins and things bound you addictions bound you but you can say I've got some things I face today mentally I've got some memories that I can't get rid of but maybe just maybe that's Israel's limp maybe God has given you something as a reminder just to let you know it used to be a whole lot worse than it is today and I know you've got a limp come on Paul I know you've got something that ails you and bothers you uh it's something in your flesh uh it's something that bothers you a sickness a disease maybe eyesight I don't know what it is but Paul is going to keep you in the memory and reminded that you are not what you used to be uh but you're saved uh you've been receiving the Holy Ghost uh and now you're preaching the gospel to Nations I wish in this place I wish we could just join together we began as a family I wish we could just come as families and and we could start praying over one another and just saying God we don't deserve this as a family I don't deserve my girls going to the academy God I don't deserve any of this Lord God but you've been so good to me Look What the Lord Has Done come on Look What the Lord Has Done he's so good I'm so undeserving but he is so good I'm so undeserving but he is is so good come on can you pray down that line right there pray those prayers right there and say God I'm undeserving but your grace is good I'm undeserving but your mercy is good I'm undeserving but your love oh your goodness thank you for it come on want you pray one with another if you've got your family come on pray over your children to say God Lord God I'm going to raise my kids uh not to be entitled in this place uh and not to feel they deserve this church church and and deserve this school and deserve the great things that are happening here the programs but God I want to make sure they understand we are a blessed family we are a blessed people we are a chosen generation a royal priesthood we're called forth come on somebody worship Him begin to worship him come on it's our reasonable service we give you Lord God our bodies in worship oh God today hold on just a second hold on just a second Jesus is known as a great physician but he says he only comes to those that have need of the physician right he only only comes to those that truly have need he came to seek and to save those that were lost and I just hope tonight God help us tonight oh God I don't want a Pentecostal pedigree Lord God to get in the way come on some of you are fourth and fifth and sixth generation apostolics come on don't let that get in the way of understanding that you're adopted just like I'm adopted come on you're adopted just like the person that got in church last week and got the Holy Ghost just like they're adopted we're all adopted in this together there's not one of us that that belongs there not one of us that has royal blood flowing through your blame veins before you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and are baptized in Jesus name but come on somebody if you need the great phys tonight come on why don't just lift up your hands and say God I need you God I would never want you to think oh God in this altar service tonight that I don't have need of you I would never just want to stand here and look around and stand here and act like I got my whole life together and I'm not in need but God I want you Lord God to fix me and to heal me Lord God I want you to rearrange things oh God touch my mind oh God touch the way I think touch my perception uh in Jesus name come on pray those prayers right there uh Lord you've already fixed Lord so many things in my life uh and I'm thankful for it I couldn't do it without you I'm just Lord a spider in the palace oh God help me oh God to realize you are my way you are my Truth uh you are my life oh God there's only you Jesus and I've got to have you in my life oh god I've got to have you in my life Look What the Lord Has Look What the Lord Has it's not hard to see it Look What the Lord Has Come on Look What the Lord is done yes Look What the Lord Has Done you want to look you want to look What the Lord Has it's not me it's you Lord look what you've done look what the has What the Lord Has what the has it's hard to see look what the has done Look What the Lord Has What the Lord Has Done it's not hard to see what the has done it's not hard to see it's not hard to see move my feet un I was lost now I'm Jesus sa my life I was now I'm walking in the light that's the reason why CL my move myet I was now Jesus life walking in Look What the Lord Has Done just Look What the Lord Has Done he healed my body anybody in here been healed tonight anybody been healed tonight come on anybody I mean you know you've been healed tonight oh yes how many remembers Pastor hobbling around on his his hip well I got news for you tonight and I got news for the devil too if that pain comes back tonight after I give this testimony I'm going to thank God that all during August I didn't have the pain in my hip all during September I didn't have a pain in my hip all during October I didn't have a pain in my hip all during November I didn't have the pain in my hip and this is December 1st and I still don't have that pain in my hip so he's a Healer he's a Healer but oh friend there something that may come back that pain in my hip might come back but I know one thing by the help and the grace of God I ain't never going back to that world that's right cuz he brought me out and I want to treat you to a song tonight I want to treat you to a song tonight ain't nobody can sing this song like sister Lori Hawkins but let's all worship God as she comes up here and she sings that song I choose to be I choose to be a Christian come on let's worship with her right now I choose to be a