This One Thing | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

come on lift up your hands to heaven right now come on let's just love him in this house I feel his holy ghost so strong come on I feel the spirit of the Lord so strong in this place this morning there's a ministering spirit that is in the house ah there's a healing Spirit that's in the house there's a restating Spirit that's in the house he's a god of Miracles he's a god L of signs and wonders and miracles oh I believe you're working I believe you're working oh god oh I believe it I believe it I believe it come on I wish the worshippers would lift up your voices in this place this morning I believe it come on if you don't know what else to pray just say I believe it I believe it here's the god of Miracles oh I believe it I believe it I believe it hallelujah hallelujah why don't you reach your hand over and pray for somebody standing next to you and just begin to pray the Holy Ghost into their life right now come on begin to pray power into their life right now let the authority of the power of the Holy Ghost is inside of you come on let it just flow through your hand onto the shoulder of your neighbor right now hey miracles signs and wonders oh minister right now we we need healing of the body ah we need saving of the Soul come on Lord God Show Yourself Strong make yourself known in this place this morning to every guest that's in the house Lord I'm so glad they're here Lord I'm so glad they sing worship with us but God I want them to feel your power because when the Praises go up the glory comes down whenever worship goes to the throne room there's a beautiful presence of the Lord that makes its way into the house oh make yourself known oh God make yourself known oh God Holy Ghost is in this place oh sweet sweet sweet Heavenly Dove oh stay right here with us oh stay right here with us oh God come on tell them to fill us oh god with your power fill us with your power today ah fill us with blessings let the favor of the Lord come on I believe in 2024 the favor of the Lord is in the house I I feel the Holy Ghost Revival that I feel because of the prayer that's been going up every morning our 21 days of prayer thank God woo that he's made himself known to his church Hallelujah Jesus somebody shout yes do you feel the Lord in this place today just such a beautiful presence there's something something the Bible refers to the spirit of the Lord like as of a dove just lights upon us it's just a it's just a a feeling of refreshing it's a it's a feeling of the the the newness of the Holy Ghost is what it is it just something that you just feel you come to the house of the Lord I don't know if you came in here troubled I don't know what's going on at home I don't know what's happening in your workplace but I want you to know when you enter the house of the Lord all that can go away and we can just bask in the presence of the Lord I feel him in this place I still feel him strong in this house come on one more time just lift up your hands to heaven and lift up your voice uh W lift up your head oh ye Kates and be lifted up ye Everlasting doors for the king of glory shall come in who is this king of glory the lord God strong and mighty the Lord God strong in battle oh he's here today here today I hope you've been coming to our our morning prayer service every morning from 6:30 to 8:30 the doors are open and my what just a crowd that was here both Thursday and Friday and we thank you so much for making this your place of worship and and just praying in the mornings we can pray anywhere and of course when our 21 days uh of prayer are over we'll take that prayer into our homes and and we'll continue on that throughout the rest of the year but it just there's something about coming together in corporate prayer isn't it isn't it wonderful just to feel the power of the prayers of the saints of God in this place and of course we're reading our Bible through we should be through at least Matthew chapter 10 uh the first two weeks of reading through Matthew chapter 10 are you receiving something from the reading that you're reading every day I told my daughters our prayer time yesterday our family prayer time I said every day you ought to find something in the chapter that just jumps out at you whether you've never seen it before or whether God reveals something to you get freshh revelation of something you read every single every single day there ought to be something that we can just digest into our spirit and allow God to speak to us uh we're fasting I hope everyone's fasting finding something to fast I got to reading when I was when I was reading about Jesus uh going into the Wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights and being tempted of the devil I got to thinking about that and I thought you know the Bible never said says that he hungered during his fast is that he hungered after because he had such sweet spiritual communion with the father with the spirit of God that the man Christ Jesus he didn't hunger physically the Bible says until after the fast was over the Bible says woo he hungered right and I think to myself you know what is it about food what what is it about eating right I'm I'm I'm just going to read real quick in your in your hearing we're going to be seated but what is it about out food we we fast food and obviously you can fast Electronics you can fast a number of different things and anything that maybe your flesh might might grip you might fast that just to overcome flesh but it was food that was the reason for the first fall he was eating the wrong food Eve said she looked upon the fruit and it was good to look upon so manoo I want to taste something that I'm not supposed to taste and so it's it's it's our it's it's everything inside of us if you can if if you can fast food there's something spiritual that goes with that because it was the first Temptation it was the first sin it was the first fall There's Something About Us fasting food all right it's something about us fasting food that tells God God I'm willing to push the plate back I'm willing to go against the greatest Temptation and that is that we long long to eat amen amen we have so many guests that are here and and if this is your first time thank you for being here got got to meet some friends from Texas so good to have you all in the house with us first EP put your hands if you're a First Time guest we put our hands together and we welcome you Pastor Hammond already did it but I just wanted to also say thank you for being here you're turning your Bibles to Proverbs chap 29: 18 and while you're turning there uh to a very familiar verse I also uh I'm so glad to have Madison Mitchell in the house with us sister Madison she she is a PK uh her dad is is one of my favorite preachers pastors uh brother Mitchell sister Mitchell her parents she got two sisters just an Incredible family uh that I give honor to and she's actually here because she's a barista and she also trains Baristas she trains people uh how to how to dial in coffee beans and get everything just right don't we love Global Grounds Coffee Company don't we love I'm so thankful listen every day this guy right here is thank thankful nothing like having a coffee shop where you work I know everybody doesn't get that blessing but I do amen but I'm thankful for that thank you Madison for coming and help us with that and Madison's grandfather the great Bishop Johnny godair is probably one of my favorite people in all the world and let me just tell you just a quick testimony Madison I probably never told you this but when I was 16 years old my family my family visited during North Carolina in first Pentecostal Church there uh where her grandfather uh was the was the lead Pastor that time this was this was a couple years ago and I remember he left such an impression on my life my my dad was just we were home missions pastors uh just like every every new uh Church Plant we were struggling just to just to dig a workout from the ground and I remember brother godair handing my dad $100 bill and as a I still as a 16-year-old I still remember the impression that that left upon me to think man he thinks that much and and listen that was like $10,000 today he he put that $100 bill in my dad's hand and and just the impression that the men of God that that that Legends of the faith have left I I thank God for the whole family and Madison it's so good to have you in the house with us today well Proverbs 29:18 let me get started says where there is no vision the people perish Proverbs 29:18 this is from The Message Bible it's The Message Bible is not a translation all right The Message Bible is simply a paraphrase it's it's a it's a Bible of paraphrases that takes a scripture and explains the scripture and it says this it says if people can't see what God is doing they stumble all over themselves if people can't see what God is doing in their life in the church in the Kingdom they begin to stumble all over themselves and then one more scripture you don't have to turn there you could probably quote it Philippians 3:13 says Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do that's my title today this one thing if we can if we can figure out the one thing now listen every local church we have a one thing every local church has a one thing it's the it's the very thing that identifies us or or it may be it also might be something that holds us back or it might be the next step into God's perfect will for his kingdom for this church now today today it is is my assignment we are in a vision casting series matter of fact Pastor started it Pastor Carpenter started it he preached about God first he gave us vision for 2024 I'm going to cast Vision today for our min Ministries for the movement and then also uh pastor Pastor Hammond and Pastor Nolan Carpenter are be casting vision for our students for our children and the many things that happen around here but I I just my message is simply this oh this one thing all right let's put our Bibles down let's pray together father I'm so grateful for the house being full tonight I'm so today I'm so thankful Lord God for the the many guests that have made their way here Lord even from out of state and Lord God not even not even from this area and there they're here worshiping with us and I'm thankful that you blessed us with their presence oh God I pray Lord that the house Lord God that's already filled with your spirit would respond to your word today that there would be a response in the altar Lord I I'm not looking for for people Lord to make some great outward emotional response but if you could just let every heart open today and receive your word that would be the kind of response that I believe that you're looking for in this house this morning in Jesus name clap your hands one more time before you're seated and come on lift up the Lord and give him a shout of Praise oh every voice lifted in Jesus name we bless you in the house and we give you praise and thanksgiving in Jesus name you may be seated today amen God first God first and what a message that was and and we are we are going to put him first and and of course then Pastor Carpenter Wednesday night this past Wednesday preached and taught on prayer and taught on fasting and I believe we are we are starting this we are starting this year outright but but this morning I want to share with you uh what we are working on behind the scenes to develop a discipl making culture and now I know listen I'm going to sound like a broken record and some of you already are like is he really going to talk about this again yes I am and I do not apologize because this is just something that for for the rest of my life this is something that we're going to continually we're going to continually come back to because discipl making is our greatest calling oh yes disciple making is our greatest calling our greatest calling is not to show up and feel like we've checked a box because we got to church on a Sunday morning our greatest calling is not even singing with the choir and feeling like like we we did our service for the week by coming and and lifting our hands and and maybe doing a little dance or or lifting up our voice in a shout thank God for that we've got to worship we got to praise we were created to do that but that is not our greatest calling our greatest calling is to make sure we take everyone with us that we can into Glory listen whatever we do I sure don't want heaven to be a lonely Place everybody that I know I want to make sure is there with me and the only way that's going to happen is for people to be disciples so I I want to cast Vision today that excites the church the late Steve Jobs one one of the founders of of apple he said if you're working on something exciting that you really care about you don't have to be pushed he said the vision pulls you follow me with this I believe if if if I can if I can get this Vision across correctly and if I get it across the way that I believe God has given it to me and given to our pastoral team I believe it's not going to be something that you think to yourself oh Lord Here We Go Again discipleship discipl making here we go oh no it's going to be something that absolutely pulls you it's going to be a vision that pulls you because you're so excited about it come on we can never get to a place and and and I'm just going to stay here just for a moment because I feel like I I feel stuck right here just for a moment but we can't get to a place where we feel like where we are we've somehow we' somehow graduated or we somehow we've accomplished to a to a certain point to where we can just sit back and be happy where we are oh brother Amber and our Sunday school department will never be large enough our kids quest department will never be large enough our student Ministries will never be large enough this choir will never be large enough you got a question about that talk to Sister Carpenter this choir will never be we will not be as long as there is an open sister Carpenter as long as there is an open chair in that choir get up there y'all here some of you weren't up here this morning she said you got to you you best get up there you better listen I like that you best be listening first lady speaking come on we we have not arrived we will never have good enough programs or Ministries we will never have a beautiful enough building we didn't build this so we can we could come up down come down here from from 1723 William BL drive and all all of a sudden think well here we are we've arrived we're done we can be complacent now we can just sit back and enjoy the presence of the Lord that's listen you're not going to find that in the word of God where it says to go somewhere sit down and enjoy the presence of the Lord right disciple making it's what we're called to do it is our highest calling I want the vision to absolutely pull us because without Vision we perish Solomon did not write this Pro he did not say without the vision of a leader the followers perish and I know we preach that sometimes I know you hear that sometimes we got to have Leaders with vision and so the people don't perish that's not what it says it says we the people must have Vision if people can't see what God is doing we're going to stumble all over ourselves we lose focus we gravitate to less important things we get tripped up by the most insignificant obstacles come on I'm preaching to somebody we've got to have Vision brother Namy I love you going back to the Philippines this Wednesday and we're praying that you have a safe trip doing a Great and Mighty work matter of fact I I heard you tell me that you just uh the Philippines are celebrating they just built their 100th church building I think we ought to give God praise for that 100 churches brother Johnstone I know what it took to build one 100 churches come on somebody well we can't get into a place where we're complacent because that's what takes place when vision is not reach our vision is produced by the culture that we protect and vision must fulfill what our culture has produced I'm going to say that again listen carefully our vision is produced by the culture that we protect and vision must fulfill what our culture has produced and I'm going to give you some examples because it's a it's an ongoing cycle that must not be broken let me tell you something about First Apostolic Church culture that was formed by our senior pastor and our first lady and this is something if if you're if you come to our movement conference you probably hear because we talk about culture because culture is so important culture is what protects principles culture is what protects the things that have been passed down from generation to generation I'm not talking about man's philosophy but I'm talking about things that we do because it worked real well for the last generation and if we can see the fruit from the last generation and how the last generation has had Revival then oh my God you can call it tradition if you want to but it's what's brought us to where we are here today and our culture protecting our culture protects that tradition it's a Godly tradition it's a Biblical tradition it's not man's tradition but it's a cycle and first lady senior pastor Carpenter they have they have they have given us this culture of prayer and bible study teaching right in faithfulness to God and faithfulness to his house do do you know why on a Wednesday night on a midweek service when people have been working all day long worked 8 10 12 hours they come into the house of God on a Wednesday and it looks just like this it's because they've given us a culture they have taught us culture of faithfulness to the house of God brother wle they they've taught us we're not just Sunday night singers or Sunday morning singers we're Wednesday night singers we got we got singers that we got singers that don't even know Spanish real well but they they help out our Spanish Church matter of fact today at 2 o'clock I'm excited to announce there our first Sunday Spanish service today this is the first woo this is the first Sunday service of Revival that's going to take place here in marville Tennessee in Blunt County we're going to see our Spanish-speaking people come to God like you we've never seen them come to God before we're going to have Revival and I believe it's going to be the start and we're going to continue on into our man Mandarin and our Chinese Hey listen oh I'm getting off my notes but but I I am here to cast vision I see we have people oh we have people that are from Korea that we have good friends there are Korean brothers and sisters that live right here in Blunt County we got those that are from Taiwan the Taiwanese they are right here in Blunt County I would to God that in about two or three years we would have five or six languages being translated into ear pieces right here we will look like the United Nations in this place come on wouldn't you like your worship disrupted a little bit because somebody speaking Spanish or French or rushing or mannering got a little bit too loud I don't know about you but there's something inside of me that Wells up brother soda when you baptized that Saul a couple weeks ago in the water in Jesus name and he spoke in Spanish and he said unto them he got them in the water he said upon the profession of your faith and obedience to the word of God I now indeed baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost but that's not how he said it brother Soo I need you to say that in Spanish some like that just pumps me up y'all that gets me going because listen we got people pouring into our country and I'm not saying I agree with how they're getting here but I want to see him saved who knows if God's not putting them into our country for such a time as thisuh they may not have ever heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ where they came from and I'm not just talking about Mexico we're getting from every nation coming over our border but they're going to hear the gospel if we can get them in this building and disciple them come on somebody shout hallelujah somebody shout Glory of yours Glory W glory to God in the highest you may be seated in this house listen y'all might want to come to Spanish church today that feels good brother sod's going to preach the word today is going to be good you you might not understand a thing you you hear but you're going to feel the presence of the Lord I promise you there's just something about knowing that the name of Jesus is being preached uh in every language but the Carpenters they they brought to us a culture of Prayer of Bible study teaching of faithfulness to God into to his hous uh and this culture has developed a brilliant vision and fulfilling that Vision has strengthened the culture y'all see that how it's reciprocal it's a cycle we started pre-service prayer weekly home Bible studies started a Christian school started daycare started a sanctuary choir that's our culture that's who we are when people think of First Apostolic Church they think of the sanctuary choir they think of the academy think oh man they got a large they got a very successful dayare they think man their music department they're people of prayer and then about how I don't know about 15 years ago or so God gave the Revelation to Pastor Carpenter in a culture of missions giving like never before was started now we always gave to missions we we always matter of fact we were already one of the top giving churches when it comes to missions but the Revelation was uh if you support uh and if you will bless my mission God said to to Pastor Carpenter God said if you support what I'm doing and what my mission is I will support what your mission is and oh from that point here we have now here we have now 40 years later we're about to celebrate the Carpenters 40th anniversary here and I'm so I'm excited about it here in the next few months but now we have strong tower student Ministries and we have Apostolic Collective we have midweek University we have a kids quest Department like no other we have Global Grounds Coffee Company we got connect groups and I could go on and on and on but it's just a cycle because we continue to have pre-service prayer we don't leave those things behind the things that brought us to where we are we don't leave those behind we still teach home Bible studies brother Purdue I I had a man I was in a board meeting of all things and I I had a man look at me kind of nudg me he said well he said with all this new technology I guess the day of given Bible studies is over isn't it I thought I thought a few things that I'm not going to share right now but I told him I said bro listen that's our culture we will never leave that culture that's what brought us to where we are and we know if it brought us this far it's going to bring us to the net it's it's a cycle it's a cycle why is it so important that when our teenagers turn 13 our children turn 13 the first thing they do is get in the choir there's a reason I'll just go and say it you're not a healthy young person if you turn 13 you you don't want to be a part of the choir you say well I brother ER son I I don't sing like you do you don't have to sing you don't have to sing to be in the choir y'all laughing at me we're worshippers and some of us can sing see see my wife and I family we go to music conferences and we talk about that you don't you don't try to build people you you don't try to build a choir people you build people with a choir it's what gets people here it's what people get people in the house man we got we got young people ain't never been to a a pre- service prayer in their life but they come to choir practice and you know what automatically they're putting a pre- service prayer and they're like woo okay I get it I get it people can't even show up to church on time but they join the choir and all of a sudden they start coming to church on time start being being faithful to every service because they sing in the choir brother Ericson your choir sings Every service I go to Music Conference like yep y'all have y'all have church twice on Sunday and your choir sings both Services yep I think it's done pretty good for us I'm not praking I'm just saying I the fruit you got to look at fruit when you when you start making disciples we're look looking for the right fruit we're we're looking for the right fruit and so culture you got to see what culture now listen I'm sure there's things that we've done around here we've tried things we we we tried starting uh different departments or different programs and maybe they didn't go over good and maybe maybe they they kind of over time they kind of fizzled out that's okay you got to try to see if it's going to work but when it comes to culture what we're built on what we're based on the word of God prayer fasting studying the word of God intercessory prayer come on it's a cycle we got to protect our culture and we protect it because we have Vision to keep on doing what's got us to where we are today it's Clear Vision that creates strong Church culture and I'm going to cast Vision here in 2024 in a few minutes but but but but first let me do this I first want to preach to us as individuals and when I say preach to us I don't say brother John Stone I'm not just saying that I'm saying preach to us I didn't say preach to you us because all of us if we're not careful there's things that can get in the way of vision Vision can become cloudy I I don't know if anybody's like like myself but when I turned 40 I'm talking the year I turned 40 I started losing my sight man I I started looking and I'll admit I I've had perfect vision all my life and and at first sister produ at first I remember the first time I looked at the book and it was a little bit blurry and I thought oh that's so cool y'all think I'm crazy I've had perfect vision my whole life near side and Far Side I can see it all and I remember the first time I thought oh my goodness whoop and man you know the next thing you know you know you got your phone in your hand and next thing you know like everything you're like reading your phone from right here right got the long arm syndrome but some people start to lose vision and don't realize it because here it is if if you're someone who's never had perfect vision you don't know what you're missing right and a lot of times what they'll do is is they'll find out with a child late in life they'll find out uh late in that child's life you know let's say they're six seven 8 nine years old before they really realize that the child has a vision problem and all of a sudden you put glasses on that child and you see that child's face like I mean they're seeing in high definition didn't even have a clue that they weren't it was kind of like when we when we went from SD to HD remember that isn't it funny now you get you get on YouTube and you try to watch like a football game from like 1998 or something and you're like oh my goodness like I can't even see the features of that guy's face right but we didn't know back then we thought that was normal it was normal but I fear that some people with vision the same thing it gets cloudy and usually I me just be honest usually there's only really one major thing that causes them to begin to lose vision and and I want to talk about it just for a minute but but I want you turn turn turn with me in in your Bibles I got to move on quickly but turn with me to Luke chapter 10 and while you're turning there 10 and 38 we're going to read a very very familiar story but there's a book that I read years ago and I've preached a few sermons from it and you probably recognize I've used this title the one thing I I've preached this book so many times because there's so much good matter of fact I believe we have it in our bookstore it is a lifechanging book it's not an Apostolic book but it's a life-changing book because it causes you to try to find the one thing that you can do to get you to the next one thing and what what the whole idea of the book is if you'll just focus on the one thing that gets you to the next one thing over time you're going to be successful at whatever you're doing whether it's in the workplace or and that's in the spiritual if you just keep on if you just keep on finding that one thing and then there's also things that you got to learn that those things are the things you got to pull aside and get out of your life because they're the roadblocks that are keeping you from getting to where you need to get so it's just called the one thing the surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results it's by Gary Keller uh with Jay Papa uh get it I promise you you you will love it um um it pretty much tells me not to do everything that I do has a gold I love multitasking I love making lists it started it preaches against all those things and this might just be my personal book y'all might reading go this is the most boring thing i' ever say but this changed my life because I try to do so much I am the guy that has a hard time saying noes anybody else have that problem people ask you to do stuff and you just like higher raise your hand higher come on I don't want to feel like I'm by myself higher I need it higher higher higher higher okay good good so you all listen get this book because I I began to study the word of God and I began to see where there was just really just one thing in a lot of people's lives that stopped them that blocked them there was a hurdle to them in doing what God wanted them to do in the receiving the vision that God wanted them to receive so here it is there's some there's some one- thing statements in Luke 10:38 the Bible says now it came to pass as they went that he Jesus entered into a certain Village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house and she had the sister called Mary watch this right here read this very carefully with me which read it out loud also at Jesus's feet and heard his word y'all see that because when I think of this story sister Amber when I think of the story I don't see Martha seting at jesus' feet but that's what it said it said that go back one go back one it said that Martha had a sister Mary and Martha and Mary sat at Jesus's feet which tells me there's a little bit of space between verse 39 and verse 40 because I see Martha as being the Busy Body she's working she's she's in the kitchen she's she's she's not where she ought to be but in verse 30 nine oh I see Martha as she's there at the feet of Jesus and she's soaking in every single word he says he's given her life Vision he's given her purpose uh he's speaking stuff into her life that she's never heard before but then verse 40 happens because you do know that there's a roast that's in the oven that that there's has to be prepared it has to be taken out at a certain time so it doesn't burn and and there's candles that have to be lit and there's place settings that have to be placed on the table because after all Jesus The Miracle Worker is in the house uh Jesus the best friend of your brother Lazarus is here and we've got to give him and make a good impression on him and so she becomes overwhelmed when she thinks of all the things that have to be done and the Bible says in verse 40 but Martha was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said Lord Dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone bid her therefore that she help me and here we go here's Jesus's response in 41 Jesus answered and said unto her Martha Martha Thou Art careful and troubled about many things here it is but one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her don't you love how Jesus gently rebukes Martha I mean it's so kind it's just he just he says her name twice and and and saying her name twice this wasn't like a screaming her name or or saying it Lou it was just it was it was said with love and with compassion Martha Martha aren't you glad that you serve a compassionate God a god of empathy and a god of sympathy a god who's walked the same road we've walked where we're walking now aren't you glad that that that he he saw Mar Martha and he understood why she was doing what she was doing but even though he may have understood why he still wanted to make sure she understood you made the wrong decision your sister Mary has made the right choice but there's one thing that the Martha you're you're good cook man you prepare the house the house smells good how look good the house is clean everything is set in order and in place but this one thing if you can fix this one thing Jesus said you're going to get Vision like your sister has Vision you're going to please me like your sister pleases me and let me tell you something I don't believe for a moment uh that all of us need to give up our jobs and all of us need to find a closet somewhere and hide in the closet and pray 24 hours a day I don't believe that's what Jesus was saying Jesus was simply saying I have got to be your first priority Jesus was simply saying God first before anything else let the roast Burn Let the candles go unlit whatever if Jesus is in the house why on Earth are we worried about anything else there shouldn't be worry we shouldn't be oh I've got anxiety oh God Jesus is saying just sit still and sit at my feet and listen to my words and allow me to minister to you it was simply this one thing that she had to work on I'm just simply preaching about this one thing what about in Luke 18 turn there quickly Luke 18:18 another familiar story you got a rich ruler but not just a rich ruler but a rich ruler who was a Jewish man who had done and had been and had followed the way he had been to synagogue and he had followed closely look with me in verse 18 and a certain ruler asked him saying good Master what shall I do to in inherit eternal life and Jesus said unto him why callest thou me good none is good save one that is God he said thou knowest the Commandments do not commit adultery do not kill do not steal do not bear false witness honor thy father and thy mother he said the man said all these have I kept from my youth up I've lived this way all my life verse 22 now when Jesus heard these things he said unto him yet lackest thou one thing sell all that thou Hast distribute unto the poor and thou shalt have Treasures in Heaven come follow me and when this man heard this he was very sorrowful for he was very rich and what that simply means was he was not willing to fix that one thing so is Jesus telling all of us to sell everything we have and give it to the poor sell our house sell our car sell our children I don't believe so I don't believe it's his will and maybe it is for you and I know there's some people been called to do that but that's not what this is saying this is simply saying the moral of the story is this the point Jesus is trying to make is this is that with Jesus if we will identify that one thing and fix that one thing that's distracting us personally everybody say that personally everybody say me it's not the same thing for everybody my one thing is probably not your one thing the one thing that I'm going to break or the one thing the one thing that I'm going to take the next step to is probably not your one thing you might have a totally different one thing that I don't have an issue with uh that I've already conquered or maybe you've already conquered the thing that I'm struggling with uh but if each one of us can find that one thing and allow God to speak to our heart that still Small Voice it's called conviction conviction is that still Small Voice it says hey if you would fix this one little thing you would be so much more in My Kingdom if you would fix this one if you would take this one little step just this one thing it's not going to it's not what gets you into eternity he was looking for one easy route into eternal life I'm not saying your one thing is going to get you all atically into eternity but it's going to take you to the next step that's going to take you one step closer to your eternity this one thing what does it mean for you what does it mean for me well I'm preaching I'm preaching today to Apostolic Holy Ghost filled saints of God if you if you're filled with the Holy Ghost listen I'm talking to you because some of you have walked the walk all your life you've talked the talk all your life and it's not a huge thing and I know to us it might be a big deal for this man to sell all and follow Jesus but it wasn't that big of a deal because we already saw 12 disciples do it Jesus had a whole host of people following him he had a whole host of disciples beyond the 12 it wasn't that great of a thing however for this guy it was and I wonder today if there's Apostolic Pentecostal people under the sound of my voice who have lived for God who have attended church Faithfully all your life but there's just this one thing that you need to say God I need you to help me with this in this 21 days of prayer I'm going to put that one thing on the Altar and I need you to help me to overcome ith I need you to help me to defeat ith or I need you to help me take a step on top of it so I can get to my next one thing it only takes one thing to block vision and where there is no vision there will be spiritual death listen we're just St stewards that belong to God we're just taking care of what is God's God I give you my time God I give you my talent God I give you my treasure that has to be our heart but I'm moving quickly because I want to get I want to get to Vision casting but there's one more there's one more account I need to read to you in Philippians chapter 3 it was our opening text matter of fact flip back there again because in Philippians 3 after outlining all of his credentials and history as a Jew a Pharisee a zealous uh persecutor of the church Paul says that none of that matters now it's all dung it's all manure but look with me in verse 10 because here is Paul's statement of his ultimate purpose right here the Apostle Paul the greatest the First Missionary to walk the face of the Earth he says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead and then here he makes his one thing statement he says not as though I have already attended or attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that which for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus he said bre I count not myself to have apprehended or to arrive but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto the things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus I want you to know that Paul wrote this passage from prison he was not a free man he was not sipping lemonade h with a little umbrella in it he was in prison he was Shackled to guards uh and he was saying oh forgetting the things that are behind me and I know a lot of times we think of our past as being past mistakes and failures and faults and addictions but that's not what Paul was was was saying right here he was saying I I I was a leader I was a ruler of the religious I I knew I knew the law like no one else knew the law matter of fact I was such a devout Jew that it was me who came after the Christians it was me who tormented and persecuted the Christians because I had such a strong walk with God that I couldn't stand these Christians trying to say they were saved that's what he was saying he said but I I count that he said I forget that I count that as dung what I learned the education that I have everything that I've prospered in life every soul that I've prayed for and they've been healed every person that's been saved through my Ministry I forget about them but I continually I reach toward the vision that God has given me I reach toward the prize toward the calling listen we can't live in the past when we failed and we can't live the past where we've succeeded uh we got to forget that which is behind us and we got to press toward the mark of the High Calling uh in Christ Jesus uh we got to forget and we got to reach uh we got to forget and we got to reach uh it's my one thing I've got to mentally forget and I got to spiritually reach come on somebody said amen I'm not telling you to quit h believe me TR trust me when I say this I don't want you to get the wrong idea I don't want you to say brother Ericson he's he's telling me to quit all my Ministries except my main Ministry and except the ministry I feel called to and my strongest calling I'm not saying that because if you do that our Ministries are in trouble cuz some of y'all minister in a lot of Ministries we need you we got to have you I'm not I'm not saying that but what about outside the church what about things that keep our attention that don't further the kingdom of God what about some of those things oh listen I'm not I'm not going to get up here I'm not going to preach about hunting I'm not going to preach about having a boat I'm not going to preach about four-wheelers I'm not going to I'm not going to preach about any of that stuff I'm thankful that you have time when you get by yourself and go fishing and and get your mind clear and thank God for that I'm not preaching against any certain thing I'm just saying what is that one thing that stays between you and where God really wants you to be what is that one thing I don't know I can be giving you begin to give you examples but I I would run out of things to say because there's so many things that can get between us and God there's so many little Idols in this world that we could worship that we could worship at home or at the workplace or or in the community or in the mountains or at the ocean I don't know you could worship all kinds of things that keep you between you and God but God said I am your God and you ought not worship anything but me he said I'm a jealous God I require all your attention I require everything from my people God simply told the children of Israel I'll be your God and you be my people God help us I always everything that I do I wanted to have Kingdom value come on somebody I wanted to have Kingdom value my time my talent my treasure I want to make sure that souls are being added to the church uh I want to have Kingdom value and so I I I was told and I was shown I went to a conference and they they had this example and I thought this was the greatest example for what I'm preaching today but I I've got a picture of an old slatted wooden bucket I want them to show on the screen right now put that bucket up on the screen I want them to see this bucket right here what do you notice about this bucket there's one slat that's shorter than the other slats and I got news for you and you already know this because you are a brilliant congregation that you cannot have any more water in that bucket than that one slat it doesn't matter it doesn't matter what your source of water is you can have a well filled with water you could take it to an ocean and you can you can put that whole bucket in an ocean and pull that old bucket out and I've got news for you you already know this the only amount of water that's going to be in that bucket is to the lowest slat and so what do you do well back in the day the only rational thing to do would be you got to cut a new slat for the bucket you got to fix the bucket because you'll never be anything more than the lowest thing in your life we can't we we'll never be greater than the lowest thing in our life well I want to be a great singer but you know what I really don't want to spend time in prayer sorry it doesn't work that way I want an anointed life but I really don't want to study God's word sorry you're only gonna be as good as your thing but God help us as a church to figure out what that one thing is and that's this where I've come today because I want to start Vision casting because I believe the apostolic movement matter of fact can you just leave that up there it's a whole lot better looking than what's up there right now yeah just leave that right there just leave that bucket there because I believe in a church like this aren't you glad to be a a part of a church that's a world changing Church oh yes we are we are a world changing Church church and I don't that's not a bragado docious statement it's just the truth it's just what I'm told I go to conferences I I go we we went to a coffee shop last week and I was in the coffee shop and and a young man a young preacher he came up to us and he said I know who you are I watch you all every our whole Pastor team was there he said I watch you all every service and he was wanting to take a picture with us and it was awesome I got to meet this young evangelist and it was so good to meet him he said but man we follow my church follows your church and we follow your Ministries and we follow your social media and we love to implement things that you're doing in your church it's just what happens it's again I'm not I'm it's not I'm not bragging it's just the fact of the matter thank God for a world changing church we go to the Philippines brother Namy and the the good brothers and sisters the Filipino brothers and sisters they're watching First Apostolic church I I went to Taiwan those people are watching First Apostolic we go down to Santiago Chile those people are watching First Apostolic church and I'm thankful for it and let me tell you something that puts a lot of weight on our shoulders not just not just our pastoral team not just our music department not just our choir every Ministry represented in this place it puts weight Upon Our shoulders and I'm so thankful God for the opportunity to influence the church influence uh the kingdom of God give people ideas and inspiration thank God for it but our Apostolic movement here we go I'm I'm going to kind of coate what I've been preaching about us personally one thing our Apostolic movement the lowest slat in the bucket I believe of our Apostolic movement is training training yes the lowest slat the one thing that keeps us from our greatest potential our greatest productivity is we got to have more training we need to develop more disciplemakers in a much greater quantity and quality y'all catch that quantity we got to have more of them and we got to make them even stronger in the word we got to give them more knowledge we got to give them more inspiration we got to give further information we got to give them models in a way that they can do something for God and they can Minister whether it's local or whether it's overseas somebody shout amen oh it may start off a training center may start off more uh more like just a maybe a small internship program where we might only start off with 10 15 or 20 students but let let me talk about let me let me cast some vision from movement University this is something our pastoral team we're working hard on we got we got ministers in the house today that are that are helping us and we got ministers friends that are are giving us ideas and are logistically are trying to help us with this but I pray I don't know one day this may turn into a university where people are graduating with Doctorate Degrees I don't know only God knows where it needs to go but this one thing I do know we got to raise up pastors to plant churches I'm going to say it again we got to raise up pastors to plant churches uh we got to get people into this place it's an influential house uh we got to get people in this place to see what you're doing in your ministry how you're leading your ministry how you're raising listen we got such a strong student Ministry I believe we're going to raise up youth pastors and student workers and student leaders we have such a strong kids quest Ministry we're going to raise up kids quest leaders and pastors I believe we have such a strong chrisan School we're going to raise up teachers Christian teachers we're going to raise up Headmasters they're going to leave this building we're brother Nam we're going to raise up missionaries I'm sick and tired of hearing about all the foreign Bible colleges and we don't even have a Bible training school right here in America let me get let me step up on my soap boox is that okay man I hear Brother ball he's about to come he's about come and he's going to speak at our marriage Retreat and he's our world missions director and I thank God for his vision he wants five he wants five Regional Bible schools started I believe I think most of them are already started this was an initiative he started a few years back but he's talking about we need on all our continents we need a Bible College and I'm thinking what about in the United States of America I'm talking about a training center now listen I don't throw off on Bible College I am a graduate of a Bible College I've got my I got a Bachelor's degree of theology from a Bible College I wouldn't trade the experience for the world I met some of the greatest people I got some great experience I got some great knowledge and wisdom going to Bible colle I promise you I am not throwing off on the the average Bible college but I'm not wanting to start we're not wanting to start a Bible College I want a training center that would remind you of a military academy I saw your eyebrows go up I'm not talking about we're not going to do what the military academy does I'm just saying if you think about a military academy everybody that graduates goes into the field that they studied and I'm sorry to say that that when I look back at my Bible College classmates brother John Stone there's only a handful that are in Ministry today I wonder what happened to the hundreds of other ones that I went to school with that's not that's not what I'm looking for and listen if I if if putting a diploma on your wall if that's your number one if you just want to say I've got a degree awesome congratulations do it and again I'm not throwing off on Bible College I believe in Bible colleges I'm thankful for Bible colleges we are educating people in the word of God I'm not preaching against Bible everybody say he's not but I want a training center I'm talking about a launching pad when somebody comes through our training center I don't know we don't we we're still working on all the logistics I can't tell you how long it's going to be I can't tell you what it's going to cost I I can't tell you all those things yet but we're working on all those things behind the scenes but this is what I do know when you graduate from the training center we want that next step to be in the kingdom of God if you if you're studying to be a Christian School teacher or to be a Christian School Headmaster oh brother solivan we don't want you to go home for the next 10 years and think about it we want you to go home and start a Christian school because our kids need to be saved our kids need to be brought up in the word of God our kids need solid Apostolic Doctrine taught to them every single day brother n when they graduate from our training center it's not to go back home somewhere to some home church and for the next 10 years think about missions and and go on a little ayc trips here and there I'm talking about when they graduate they're saying hey Italy needs a new church I'm going to go to the country of Italy South America Brazil needs another work in Brazil I'm going to I've been learning Spanish I'm going to step into Brazil and I'm going to start a church in Brazil what about our production production teams aren't you thankful for the production that goes on around here the lights the camera the sound the video the social media the webcasting the the the all of this can be used to further the gospel we've seen it happen we see it happen every day right here we have millions of views of people watching The Gospel from this local church I believe we're going to bring people in and they're going to study production they're going to they're going to study how what kind of cameras do they need how do you work that camera how do you set up that camera how do you dial in that camera the sound we're going to have sound technicians that are going to graduate from this training center they're going to go and bless the local church because how can you be saved without a preacher and how can you what what does it say you can't hear if you can't hear the preacher you can't be saved come on that's where that's where our production team is so important people are hearing the preached word of God and people are being saved because they can hear and see and it's coming into their homes thank God for our production teams thank God for Kids Quest Ministries thank God for musicians and singers and songwriters do we understand the importance of apostolic Collective do we understand the importance I love how my wife my wife is over Apostolic Collective I like how she says she says we are writing songs that tell that explain the exactness of Salvation listen I'll sing I'll sing anybody's Christian song I if it's a worship song I don't mind I'll sing it but there's something about singing songs that that proclaim the exactness of Salvation one of the very first songs we sang was about the name of Jesus and that our God is one the exactness of Salvation we want to bring in songwriters we we want to we want to bring in songwriters we want to bring in musicians we want to bring in choir directors and worship leaders why because when they leave our training center we want them to go to the local church and we want them to do great things I'm preaching about disciples making I'm preaching about one thing and the one thing that we've got to focus on I believe in this church like we've never focused on before is training that's why we have midweek University that's why midweek you ought to get involved in midwick University you say what's midwick University 6:30 every Wednesday night we have classes going on all over this campus if you want to learn about leadership and being a leader being a speaker if you want to learn how to be a better parent or learn how to teach a Bible study if you've got grief in your life and and and you need somebody to come Minister and you want to minister to other people with grief uh every one of these classes We Got A discipleship program like none other do you all realize that that our movement discipleship series is being sold to churches All Over America large churches we just had a church order 50 copies of that book that we put out I'm thankful that we have the best of the best and the way that we have the best of the best is because we have people that believe in education and in training and they believe that they are worthy they look at themselves and they think you know I am worth investing in right do you understand do we understand that whenever we decide that we're done being invested in she like where do you go spiritually where do you go physically when you decide I'm done I hope that every person in this room says you know I want to better myself I want as much training as I can get I I hope that's not just our high school and our University students I I hope that's every single person I I believe I was talking I believe brother Hammond we talking to today sister Vesta Mangan is 98 years old Vesta Mangan wife of the late GA Mangan and it was told it was told to her if I if I have my story right it was told to Sister Vesta Mangan when her husband passed away I don't know if it's been 10 15 years ago now it's been quite a while ago now but when her husband passed away somebody came up to her and said sister Mangan if you stop what you've been doing all your life you're going to be joining your husband in the grave they said you're going to die if you don't stay busy if you don't keep on learning if you don't keep on reading if you don't keep on studying if you don't keep on speaking and and The Story Goes that she had canceled all of her dates and her date when her husband died she just canceled everything and and when she heard this person give her this advice she started calling everybody back and saying whoa whoa whoa I need to come back to listen it would be in my best interest to come back and speak at your conference it would be in my best interest to come I know I'm going to have to drive all over the United States all by myself I don't have a husband to take me there but it would be in my best interest that was 15 20 years ago she's still going strong at the age of 98 because her vision is clear now I don't know about her natural vision but her spiritual vision is clear and I pray God give me that kind of vision that says I'm going to perish if I don't have Clear Vision if I don't want education if I don't want training if I don't want to train those around me I want to affect every person in my life I want to add value to everybody stand to your feet if that's your desire come on we cannot be an island to ourself uh we can never get to the place where we decide we're good enough we've done enough uh but I believe oh God it's going to be this church I cast Vision it's going to be not just the Pastoral team it's going to be this entire church uh that's going to raise up leaders in the apostolic movement uh it's going to be department heads of this church they're going to train people how to do what you do yeah you're going to be the trainers we're going to we're going to take him up to severville we're going to take him over to Madisonville we'll take him down to Cleveland we'll show him will'll give models this is how you start a church this is how you start youth Ministries this is how you start children's ministries this is how you start a Christian School here's a model to start a studio in your church where you can produce Christian music and good Apostolic music but it's all going to be about the people that stand in this room who say not only do we see the one thing that our church needs but there's also one thing that I got to do I've got to figure out in my own life this Paul Paul said it he said this one thing now there's other things that we can talk about but this this is the lowest slat this is the very lowest slat God increase my vision listen Martha had to realize that Mary had chosen the correct thing the rich ruler had to realize that he his love was for money and not for God Paul had to forget the one thing in order to do the work of God but I want to open this altar today and this is not I'm not trying to preach a convictional message I'm not trying to make anybody feel bad for where you are because I believe I Pastor I Pastor one of the greatest churches in the whole wide world with the greatest people but every one of us have at least one thing just put one finger in the air just just one I'm not saying we got a lot of stuff we just got one just just look at your finger just one if we could figure out that one one thing if we could allow God to speak into our life and say God I'm going to fix that one one one thing and if I can fix that if I could just fix that one thing it's going to open my vision maybe to the next one thing and and before I know it I'm going to fix that one thing and then after that I'm going to keep on pressing toward the mark and I'm going to fix the next one thing until I'm going to look back over my life and realize that I'm in a greater Place spiritually than I've ever been before but it all just starts with one thing I open this altar is there anybody that would join me I'm going to find my place the singers are going to sing I'm going to find my place in the altar right here and I'm just going to pray and say God help me to discover that one thing Lord You've you've already been speaking to my heart I know what it is but Lord just in case there's somebody here today and they look over their life and they're kind of like the Rich Young Ruler who said I don't know what is it what is it that Jesus where I've done everything right what is it that what's my fault I pray in Jesus name that he'll speak into your life come on we need Vision like we've never had before and we need Clear Vision God give us Crystal Clear Vision I'm talking about HD vision I'm talking about seeing things the way you see things come on let your heart be open right now come on respond to the word and let your heart be open right now come on some of you might be in this house this is your first time and you're feeling just this this prick on your spirit and your heart and and I believe the Lord your one thing might just be you need to repent of your sins and you need to turn away from a lifestyle that you might be living right now that would be a good one thing that you could that you could tackle this morning just say God oh God help me Lord Lord I don't want to be who I've been I don't want to live how I've lived Lord I don't want to I don't want to remain the same God I don't want to be addicted to stuff I don't want things that control me I don't want substances or chemicals to destroy me God but Lord I give you this one thing I will say if you will help me if you will deliver me God I will be yours forever more I give you this one thing if you've already repented maybe the one thing is you need to get baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of your sins uh maybe you've never gone down in the water you never had the name of Jesus called over your life that would be a good one thing that would be a great one thing to say Jesus I'm going to speak to somebody next to me and say take me to the water take me to the Waters of baptism come on Discover your one thing I want to know more I want to do more I want to see more oh discover your one thing come on realign your vision with the kingdom of God come on realign your vision with the kingdom of God some of you are feeling called right now to be a part of our training center uh some of you are feeling called right now to be a part of our training center you feel that calling you saying brother ericon I don't even know what I can do uh but I just want to be a part of it I want to see Souls one on every continent uh I want to see every nation under the son hear the name of Jesus uh and hear the Gospel of Jesus uh I want to see I want to be a part of a young man going and starting a church and starting a new church pluh in a city that's never heard acts 238 I want to be a part of a Christian School Headmaster that's going to go home to his local church and start a chrisan school come on somebody what is that one thing that you want to do what is that one thing what's the step you're going to take take it today let God mold your heart and speak to you right now Speak Lord Speak Lord speak come on let there be your prayer speak to me Jesus oh Speak Lord speak kingom come Lord we pray your will be done every eye behold the one seated high upon the throne we your kingom Lord we pray your will be every behold the seated high upon the thr every Tong confess that you are Lord let your kingdom come everything ches everything changes when your kingom let your kingom come the Earth is sh chain are breaking as your king let your king the with me we pray the blind will see the blind will see every s must be healed come on lift up your hands high to heaven and say this with me everyone will know that you are Lord let your kingdom come Everything Everything Changes Everything Changes when your kingom comes let your kingom come the Earth is shaking CH our great K as your kingom your King Everything Changes Changes Everything Changes when your kingom let your kingom come the Earth is shaking chains are breaking as your kingom come your kingom come all mountains have to move Every Chain is loose God we declare your kingdom is here and everyone will'll see fall down at your feet God we declare your kingdom is here mountains have to Every Chain Every Chain is good God we're here to declare it God we declare your kingdom is here your kingdom is here everyone will see fall down at your feet God we declare your kingdom is Mountain up to every train is God we declare your kingdom is every will everyone will see fall your down your God we deare your kingom is Everything Changes Everything Changes when kingom come let your kingom come the Earth is shaking chains are breaking as your kingom come let your kingdom let your kingom is it any Wonder today right now that our senior pastor Pastor Carpenter is raising money money for World missions in vder Texas he's at brother Matt tuttle's conference and all the young people know who exactly who Matt Tuttle is he's at his missions conference right now raising money you know why he's there raising money because there's a culture here that believes in missions giving and every church across this nation wants that same culture to spread into their Church listen I'm so thankful for a culture that has Vision attached to it I'm so thankful for strong culture that strong has a strong Vision that produces more strong culture if you will for the next few months I if you will do this I'm going to have you raise your hand in just a moment but if you will do this we need our pastoral team we need prayer like never before cuz I promise you there's going to be an attack from the enemy this training center it's it's going to take oh it's going to take work and I'm not just talking about money I'm not just talking about Labor I'm talking about spiritual work to get it started just like you a lot of you remember we first got on the internet brother Ben penon got us got us online you probably a lot of you don't remember this but some of you do that it was it was almost impossible to get our webcast online we fought and fought we didn't have enough bandwidth and then we had enough band with and something else went wrong we couldn't this program wouldn't carry us and this one we fought and but you know what look Look What the Lord Has Done today because we were willing to strive we willing to strive for the webcast and and the same thing's going to happen here at First Apostolic when it comes to this movement Training Center movement University it's it's going to take the power of the Holy Ghost to make it what it needs to be would you would you raise your right hand and just if you if you will pray if if you will pray in your daily prayer life if you will make a commitment to pray and just say God help us to get this launched let's just pray right now and you just keep your hand lifted God help us to get this launched this year God I know there's all kinds of obstacles in our way but God help us to get this launched this year Lord I believe we could be bringing students on this campus by the end of the year God I in 10 years I don't have a clue what this is going to look like I believe it's going to it's going to Skyrocket and I believe Lord Souls by the hundreds of thousands are going to be won through this training center but Lord I believe there's a church Lord God who has Vision to see it fulfilled they have enough Vision to believe that the culture of this church uh is going to start this training center and it's going to be built upon the culture that's got us to where we are today in Jesus name we're going to pray we're going to believe by faith Lord God that you're going to help us get this rolling get this started get this launched in 2024 in Jesus name and somebody shout amen amen