What A Gift | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

Praise the Lord, everybody. Man, look at what an amazing crowd we have in the house tonight. A a host of worshippers that have come with one purpose. That is to give God praise and to be ministered. Anybody want to be ministered to by the Lord tonight? Do you truly want to be ministered to? I believe he's given me a word for this church. And I believe he's going to help me with your help. He's going to help me to preach in Acts 11:17. Acts 11:17. If you'll turn in your Bibles with me to that passage. I want to, as Pastor Hammond already has, but I also want to welcome all of our guests in the house. Thank you for making this your place of worship tonight. If this is your first time, what an honor it is to have you in the house of the Lord tonight. And I hope that you realize that we enjoy worshiping an awesome God. I hope you realize that we just enjoy worshiping a God that can change lives because he changed our life. And if he changed our life, we know he can change your life. Amen. For the better. Amen. Amen. Give pastor and first lady honor tonight. And thankful for them. Thankful for for Bishop Billy Mcool. Billy and Betty Mcool. And where would we be without them? Matter of fact, if you were if you came to the Lord in this church, I don't know if you'd be filled with the Holy Ghost right now if it wasn't for Billy and Betty Mcool. Now, I know a lot of us, I grew up upstate New York, I got the Holy Ghost, came here, and many of you the same thing. You might have relocated to the south or you came east from the west, whatever. Uh, you might already had the Holy Ghost, but if it wasn't for Billy and Betty Mcool, you that have gotten the Holy Ghost, got baptized in this church, where would you be tonight had it not been for the bishop? Uh, 90 years 90 years of serving the Lord. He is uh if if you don't know about Bishop McCoy, I I I would um recommend a book called Double Trouble for the Devil. Double trouble for the Devil. This is about Billy and Bobby Mcool, twins. Twin. I believe at the time the book kind of starts, I believe they're about 11 years old. And they are preaching. They are they are going from from tent to brush arbor to church preaching and singing. Uh they were they were legends back. I'm talking, you know, this has been 70ome years ago almost or 80 some years ago. Probably about 79 80 years ago they began. And um get that book and check out that book. You will be so inspired. Matter of fact, I've got it. And uh I might let you borrow it. Just if if you can't find it anywhere else, I might let you borrow. But it is one of my favorite books to read about a legend. Amen. Named Billy Mcool. Give him honor tonight. Acts 11:1 17 says, "For as much then as God gave them the light gift as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. What was I that I could withstand God?" When they heard these things, they held their peace, glorified God, saying, and here's what I've come to preach tonight. Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. Until I started studying this, I don't know if that's ever jumped out at me quite like it did this week. But then there's another passage in Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 21. We're going to kind of flip back into the Old Testament. Ezekiel 18:21 says, "But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die." But here we go. Here's my verse right here. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him. In his righteousness that he hath done, he shall live. Now listen, these these verses here, we're going to get somewhere in just a moment, but I I I've never had a more difficult time titling a message before. Usually, I can I can get a title pretty quick. It just comes right, man, as I'm studying. It kind of comes right out. the theme of the message comes right out and it's kind of the title. But I began to to just kind of ponder and I thought, you know what, I I can preach a a message entitled the God of the Second Chance and that would work. But I wanted to kind of narrow it just kind of a little bit more in and then I began to think about a title, the right to repent because we do understand that is a right. But then I I kind of kept on going and I thought, you know what? You know, all I can really come up with is this. What a gift. Repentance. What a gift that we've been given. In church family, I know we we we read about the gift of the Holy Ghost, but do we even understand the gift that we have in repentance? And I'm not just talking about, and I'm I'm going to get ahead of myself, but I'm not just talking about the first step in the plan of salvation. I'm talking about that we can repent today. I I was in prayer, and this is not even in my notes, and this is why I know God just kind of just kind of let me to think about this, but I thought, you know what? We have been given a plan of salvation. We have been given a way to be saved that even the angels do not have. Do we do we understand that if the angels were given a right to repent, I don't believe there would be one demon in hell. I believe that every single devil in hell, I believe I believe Lucifer himself, if they have been given a way of repentance, would have repented and say, "I made a bad decision and fell from heaven. I want to get back in." But oh God, church family, aren't you thankful that we that God from the beginning of time, from the foundation of the world, set a plan in motion that allowed us not just to be baptized in his name and receive authority, not just be given the Holy Ghost, to receive power, but he gave us the right to repent every day of our life. God, I'm going to let you be seated in just a moment, but come on. This is weighing on my heart right here because I don't know if we realize if we truly realize that God has set forth a plan that you and I can fall, can falter, can can sin, can miss the mark, and we can still say, "God, I'm sorry for my sin. I I'm sorry, God. I'm going to turn away. God, I'm going to leave that stuff in in in my past. Say, "Lord God, I'm going to become a new person and a new creature." Why don't you lift up your hands before we begin tonight and just say, "God, help me, Lord God, to realize the importance. God, help me to realize that, God, because you gave a plan of salvation. I don't have to be lost. I don't have to die in my sin. Even when I fall, Lord God, I can still get back up again because you've given us a plan. You've given us a right. You've given us a gift. And there's no gift like the gift of repentance. Come on, say, "God, help us. Lord God, speak to us. God, I pray that you'd use me, oh God, to minister to some person who's lost today. Some person who feels like they've got to give up and give in. But God, you've given us the right to be saved. And because of that, we are forever grateful." If you're grateful tonight, just clap your hands and say, "Thank you, Jesus." Uh, it's a gift. Oh, what a gift. You may be seated in Jesus name. We don't talk about it enough. Matter of fact, Pastor Hammond, he got up here and he said, and I loved what he said because it went so well with my message because I've said it so many times. I said, "Man, I hope somebody gets in the water tonight. >> I hope somebody's filled with the Holy Ghost tonight." And there's always that very first thing that we don't hardly ever talk about. >> God, I thank you for the right to repent. The Bible says the angels in heaven rejoice over one soul, not over a church filled with souls. It says over one soul. I say it all the time. I always skip repentance, but oh my God, if it's not for repentance, we can't even move on to water baptism. There's no washing away of sin that hasn't been repented for. >> I believe somebody here tonight is going to get ministered to. I believe somebody is going to receive the word because your goal tonight is not to do anything besides repenting if you have not repented yet. There are things the accuser keeps mentioning, things that your memory keeps mentioning that God says these things do not have to keep defining you after repentance. >> In our opening scripture, verse 22 said, "All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him. That hymn is the person repenting. The himymn is not God. The himym is not your friend. The him is not your neighbor. The hymn is not your wife, your husband. The hymn is you. Ezekiel simply said, "When you repent, those things, they're gone. You don't have to worry about God bringing up your past. When you become apostolic Pentecostal, when you go through the plan of salvation, when you follow the steps, I'm so thankful that you never have to worry about those things coming up and those skeletons coming out of your closet. Oh no. When you repent, they are cast as far as the east is from the west. >> The Bible says your sins are cast into a sea of forgetfulness. Now, we talked about it last Wednesday. We talked about the authority that comes in the name of Jesus when we're baptized. We talked about the authority that we're given, the authority over evil, the authority over wickedness, the the authority over the powers of darkness. Uh we talked about the Holy Ghost that's given for power. Acts 1:8, but you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. and thank God for authority and thank God for power. But without the mercy of the forgiveness of sins that comes from repentance, that authority and that power means nothing if we can't have the mercy that comes through repentance. >> If you're thankful for watch, clap your hands. If you're thankful for the mercy you receive through repentance, it's a gift. I thank God for the gift I have for the opportunity to repent for after we've been baptized in Jesus name. Listen, you don't have to get baptized again. Baptism is one time. People, you know, a lot of times people will come to our pastoral team and they'll say, "Listen, I got baptized 10 years ago, but I have sinned since then. I I've messed up since then." and pastor, you don't even you don't even want to know some of the debaca, the the the horrible stuff that I've gotten myself into. They'll come and say, "Can can I just for the Denver, they'll say, can I just get baptized again? It would make me feel so much better to go down in the water of baptism again." And we always say the same thing. We all we all are in unity with this. You don't have to get baptized again because there was only one cross and Jesus only had to die once. And therefore, we only have to die the once to our flesh, to our sin. >> Because after that, repentance steps back in. And now we can start to repent and say, "God, I don't want to live like this anymore. I'm messed up. I failed. I've missed the mark." That's what sin means. It means you you miss the mark. You're like an archer and you you're shooting a a bow. You're shooting an arrow and you miss you totally miss your target. It's called to sin. you you miss what you're aiming for. And I pray that all of us are aiming for righteousness. >> All right? >> I pray that all of us are aiming towards holiness. >> But if you're like me, and I know you are, because we're all flesh, we miss that mark. We mess up. We fall. We falter. We feel a lot of times some people feel condemnation. And there's a difference. Oh, pastor preached about this or taught about this on Wednesday. He began to talk about condemnation. And I'm so so thankful that the Bible clearly says there is therefore now >> no condemnation. Why is there no condemnation? Because once you're bought with a price, once you're covered by the blood of Jesus, once you repent of your sins and you're given his power, once you're saved and sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost, you don't have to have condemnation anymore. >> Because all condemnation is is the enemy trying to convince you to give up. All right. >> You see, condemnation and conviction feel a whole lot the same because it's you recognizing that you're not living like you ought to be living. >> That's that's all it is. It's a prick in the heart. I'm going to talk about the day of Pentecost in a moment, but it's when you get pricricked in the heart and you know you're not doing right, but you're like, "Oh, God, help me." Listen, if you've been born again, you go into conviction. And what conviction does, that's God trying to get you to realize your mistake so you'll fix your mistake and you want to be a better person. >> We want conviction. >> If you ever get to the place where you don't feel conviction, you better check yourself. >> If you ever get to the place where you can get into the cycle of sin and over and over and over again you can keep on committing that same sin and you no longer feel bad, that's a scary place to be. >> You better start praying. Oh God, convict my heart again. I know there's some people that think in their minds that feel conviction. They think to themselves, man, I wish I could just get that spirit, brother Amos. They think, if I could just get that spirit away and stop feeling bad for that. Oh, that's a bad place to be. You never want to get to the place where you don't feel bad for sin. >> Oh, some of y'all came tonight. You said, "Oh my word, I thought we were going to have a a message on praise and worship. I thought we were going to shout and run the aisles." Let me tell you something that's even greater to you than praise and worship. >> That is the right to repent. >> There's nothing like it. It's a gift that we have. And we can say, "God, I want you to convict me every time I displease you. >> I want you to convict me every time, God, every time I don't do your will and don't do your way, I want to feel conviction." And that's what was happening in the book of Acts on the day of Pentecost. In Acts chapter 2 and 37, the Bible says, "Now when the people, some 3,000 people heard pre Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost." You remember the story? There was an upper room. It's when the Holy Ghost first fell on the church and there were some 120 including the disciples, including the mother Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary, including all these followers of Jesus. They were filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost. There was a rushing mighty wind. There was it was like fire set upon each of them and they were filled. They began to speak with another tongue in another language and they began to be filled with the Holy Ghost. It was evidence that the Holy Ghost had infilled them. And when they got into the street, the people started saying, "What is this, brother Tony?" They said, "What is going on? This is supposed to be a festival. This is a celebration day. Why are all these crazy people speaking in all these languages?" And we fast forward because then Peter's standing up with the 11. He stands up and he begins to preach to them. And let me tell you what he preached them. He preached a lot what I'm preaching right now. It didn't feel good because he started calling them murderers. He said, "You killed the savior. You crucified the very one that came to save you from your sin. You crucified the very one that came to heal. You crucified the very one that came to set you free. You put him on a cross. You began to chant, crucify, crucify, crucify, crucify." You put upon a cross and thank God, conviction fell upon the people. All right. >> And why I know conviction Phil because as we read verse 37, the Bible says they were pricricked in their hearts and they began to look to one and look to the other and began to ask Peter and they said, "What must we do? >> How do we get we we feel this? We feel this conviction. How do we get rid of this feeling that we feel?" and Peter. Then Peter said unto them, and I got to believe there had to be excitement in his voice. He said, "Repent." >> The very same thing that John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing people for, Peter said, "Repent." before he said anything about baptism, before he said anything about the Holy Ghost, he wanted to get them past conviction >> and do something about the conviction. Because being pricricked in the heart is not repentance. Feeling sorry for your sin is not repentance. Because everybody ought to feel sorry when they do something wrong. The drug addict feels sorry when they do something wrong. The person locked up feels sorry for doing something wrong. But that doesn't mean they repent. To repent, there's got to be action that takes place that follows the prick in the heart. There has to be action that takes place after the conviction. And that's when repentance begins. When you start to say, "God, I refuse to live that way any longer. >> I refuse to talk that way any longer. I refuse to act that way any longer." But you make it about face and you leave your worldliness and you head towards a cross. You woo you head towards the Anybody ever repented in this place today? I wish somebody raised their hand. There might be a guest in the house that says, "I don't know if any of these people have ever repented. They don't seem very excited about this gift he's preaching about." And listen, I know I know I know there was nothing. Sister, when when Sister Jess got baptized on Wednesday night, if you were here, I told Sister Carpenter, I said, "That was the greatest baptism I've ever seen. Y'all, most of y'all were here. Oh my god. I mean, she couldn't even stand up, man. She went down, come back up. I thought she was going to Sister Jess. I thought you were going to drown. I was like, "Brother Nolan, better grab get a hold of her hair and pull her back up out of the water or something." I mean, she was she was already praying. I She might have got the Holy Ghost before she went down. She was all, man, her mouth, man. Woo! Man, I was down here in the altar, man. My goosebumps started having goosebumps. I thought, man, if she don't hold her breath, she's going to come up sputtering. But when she come up, my God filled her with the Holy Ghost. And let me tell you something. There's nothing more energizing to a church than seeing somebody speak with other tongues. There's nothing more energized into a church than somebody going down in the water and coming up back up in the remission of sins and having their sins washed away. But there's nothing more exciting to God than when that person repents. >> Because when your sins are washed away, that benefits you. >> When you get filled with the Holy Ghost, that benefits you. But when you make a decision that you're going to live different and do different and act different, >> that's when God says, "Now that's real right there. I don't mind filling you with my spirit because I know it's going to empower you to do great things." But when you make up a decision in your mind that says, "I refuse to do that any longer, all of a sudden," that's when the Bible says the angels begin to rejoice because they see something that they can't have. I already said it. Listen, angels have authority and angels have power. You better believe it. An angel could come through here. One angel could come through here and we could compare to the power and the might or even the authority of one sent from heaven. But however, that angel has no power and no right to repent. So I believe when the angels begin to see people changing their lives and turning around, I believe that's when the angels get excited and that's when a party takes place in heaven. >> >> Oh, and we know as we know the story of the day of Pentecost when they began to get pricked in their hearts and they began to turn from their sin and realize what they had done and realized the direction they were going was wrong. All of the sudden the Bible says about 3,000 were saved. 3,000 decided I'm going down in the water in Jesus name. the one that I was crying crucify about. I'm going to have his name applied in my life. >> Hey, and the Holy Ghost filled them. The Holy Ghost baptized them in water and in spirit. But I want to go a little further because here we go. I believe in this place today, repentance turns me from sin. Baptism in Jesus name brings remission of sin and the Holy Ghost empowers me to live this brand new life. Oh because in 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says therefore if any man be in Christ that takes place in baptism. He is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold all things are become new. Oh my God. Kenny and Jess, when your boy went down in the water this morning, he's not going to come up the same way he went downh when he gets filled with the Holy Ghost. Uh, he's not going to be the same young man he used to be. I just believe in Jesus name, if we have the power and authority, the mercy of repentance is going to follow and we can live this life of holiness. It all begins with a turn. In Acts 3:19, repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. >> All right. >> I don't know if that excites you like it excites me. When it talks about blotted out, it's talking about here the sin is written. Oh, but when it gets blotted out, that's like taking an ink and blotting ink. Now, you kind of got to think old world. You got to you got to think of those old ink pens. You you got to think about how they used to use feathers and and how they used to dip it in ink and they would take if they wanted to to to erase something. Of course, they didn't have erasers. So, and so they would have to blot things out. And when you blot things out with the ink, you can never see it again. You can never ring it read it again. There's no trace of what's been blotted out. I don't know about you, but I want every sin in my past to be blotted out. It's not good enough that it just gets forgotten for a for a moment of time. I want it to be blotted out. Romans 8:1, I I already quoted it, but it says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." This is a two-step process in order to drop condemnation. And if you're here tonight and you've never been born again of the water and the spirit, here it is right here. You got to be baptized. This is what Romans 8:1. You got to be baptized in Christ Jesus. >> And you have to walk after the spirit. You got to have both those things. You don't think, Listen, I know a lot of people think I'm a Christian and therefore I won't have condemnation. That's not true. You got to be born of the water. You got to be baptized in the name. You got to be baptized in Christ. Uh and you have to walk uh you got to have the spirit ruling your every day. But here's what amazes me. The first step of the salvation response never becomes useless after the next steps take place. >> All right. I repented before I was baptized, but I did not graduate from repentance when I came out of the water. I repented before I received the Holy Ghost, but I didn't graduate from repentance when I spoke in tongues. I can have his name. I can have his spirit. I can have his power, but I still need an altar. >> I can turn. I can change, but oh, I'm just flesh. I'm just human. And if you're here tonight, and I know there's probably some people here tonight that the devil, the enemy has caused you to want to hide sin and be so ashamed of it that you never ever do anything about it and you never address it. And that's what he would want you to do. But God is saying tonight, if you're not walking in the direction you need to walk, you need to find the altar at the end of this message and just simply come down and say, "God, I'm tired of walking in this direction and I'm going to change directions and I'm going to repent of my sins." It's a gift that we have and we can use every single day. Romans 2:4 says, "Or despiseth thou the riches of his goodness in forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadth thee to repentance." And my mother-in-law is not here, so I'm going to use a different translation because I'll be honest with you, I didn't get anything out of that. But then I read another translation says, "Don't you realize how patient he is being with you? >> Or don't you care? Can't you see that he has been waiting all this time without punishing you to give you time to turn from your sin? His kindness is meant to lead you to repentance." >> Brother Darien, that makes a whole lot more sense right there to think. And listen, some people think, "Well, I got away with that sin. I guess I can do that again because nothing happened to me when I did that." You know, I read in the Bible that your sins will will surely find you out. And that's all true. However, I do believe we serve a God who is patient and a God who has all mercy and he understands humanity. He understands we make mistakes. He understands we falter and fall. And so I just believe our God sometimes stands back and says, "I ought to punish you. You ought to be dead and gone, >> but I'm going to step back and I give you just another opportunity, another chance to step forth and say, "God, I'm sorry." >> Y'all see that tonight? Come on. That's that is a that's a beautiful thing for me because I think sometimes God, how can people that live in sin still do a work for you? How can I find out years later that a pastor of some of some denomination uh he's he's been sinning for 10, 15 years. He's been stepping out on his wife, stepping out on his spouse, and somehow someway he's doing great things in ministry. And I think to myself, how in the world can that take place? But then I read verses like this and I simply think to myself, maybe God was just trying to give him an opportunity to repent of his sin. >> And some of y'all look at me like, "Oh, he doesn't deserve to be able to repent for his sin." As if we're just perfect little angels. Ain't never done nothing wrong. Come on. We're good at looking sanctified. We're we're good at looking apostolic Pentecostal. Matter of fact, the guests sometimes they walk into this place, they they walk out thinking to themselves, I could never be like those people. Did you see how perfect they are? Did you see how their their pretty little family dad in his suit and mama and her her flowing dress and all their babies up there worshiping in the altar? My family could never look like that. I don't even need to try this church out because I and what they don't understand is we face the very same temptations they face. >> We know how to walk the walk and talk the talk. Come on, church family. You got to help me a little bit right here. We know how to walk the walk and talk the talk, but we're fighting the same flesh that they've got to fight. However, we've got the power of the Holy Ghost. Uh we've got something that empowers ush to help us to live right, to help us to do right. I'm thankful for the Holy Ghost. I'm thankful that I don't have to take on sin all by myself, Brother AJ. But I've got a power inside of me that helps me ward off sin. >> But I'm going to be straight up with you. As much Holy Ghost as I have, it's not always where it needs to be. >> I got to check my motives just like you got to check your motives. We all got to be careful and ask ourselves why exactly did I post that post. >> Let me meddle just a moment if you will. >> People post things, post pictures, post inspirational inspirational quotes. The whole time they're thinking themselves, I hope sister so and so reads this. Let me talk to the young people. I hope he sees me with his ex-girlfriend. >> I'm just saying we got some we got some halos and some angel wings in here. But listen, we got to check our spirit. Was my attitude right? Should I have said that? >> I know it's not in the ministry handbook, but should I have went there? >> You know, some things in the word of God. Some things are black and white. And some things require conviction. >> You know, people people often they'll they'll ask me about some stuff in the ministry handbook. They're like, "Yeah, I don't see it, Brother Hill." They'll say, "I don't see it in the word of God. Well, there ain't nothing in the world of God that tells you to keep your kids from playing in the road either. >> But there's some stuff that's just common sense. >> There's principles. >> We live by principles, not just laws. >> Principles. Some of y'all y'all y Come on. >> Listen, I'm so thankful for conviction. >> Look, look, look what Romans actually, let me move on. I'm I'm moving because I I feel like I I feel like I'm beating a dead horse right here. Listen, condemnation, there's nothing worse than condemnation because condemnation pushes me away from God. I don't ever want to feel condemnation. Matter of fact, if I'll tell you how you know the difference, all of us, we got we got voices. You know, we're all here because we're not all there. Some of y'all getting it's coming to your pew shortly. All of us got voices. But you got to define the voice that you're listening to. Because the difference between condemnation and conviction, condemnation will tell you to give up. You've done it one too many times. You messed up again. You repented. You messed up again. You repented. You messed up again. You repented. And condemnation will say, "Just give it up. You weren't cut out for this. Those holy rollers, those sanctified, bloodbought people, they they got a different kind of Holy Ghost than you've got. Just give up." And that's that's condemnation. You know that's condemnation. And if you ever hear a voice that tells you not to come to church, that's condemnation beating you down. You got to recognize it. You got to rebuke it. You got to allow the Holy Ghost. The spirit that the the the name of Jesus you've been buried in the authority over over darkness. You got to say, "I refuse. I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. The name that I was buried in, I rebuke you in that same name." But oh, there could be another voice that you hear. There could be a still small voice that says something similar. It starts to it starts to call out the things you're doing. But instead of saying, "Oh, you better not come to church. You you better just stay home. You better tell everybody you're sick. You you better get in the text feed and let your ministry team know that you're not feeling well." That same voice, let me tell you something. There's another voice that simply says, "Get to the altar. If you can just get into the doors, if you could just feel my presence again. If you could just get close enough to me that I can reach out and touch you. If you can just get under the spout where the glory comes out, that's when you know you're feeling convicted. That's when you know you're saying, "Oh, God, I'm going to do whatever I have to do to get in the house. I'm going to do whatever I have to do to get on my knees and pray. I'm going to do whatever I have to do because I refuse to be condemned. But in the same time, I refuse not to be convicted. >> God help us. Conviction is not God announcing that he's finished with you. Conviction is God announcing that he still wants you. >> He still cares about you. He still sees that you have a future. Listen, it's it it gives hope to people. It gives hopes to me and it should give hope to you when you keep on messing up, keep on faltering. And God still allows you in his house and still allows you to be in his presence. That ought to give you hope because it means he cares about you and he loves you and he wants to see you change for the better. That's what conviction does. It makes you feel I cannot keep living this way. I want to please my God. >> I wish you just lift up your hands for a moment. I'm not going to be very much longer, but lift up your hands for a moment and just love him in this place. I feel there's somebody here tonight. I believe I'm breathing hope to you right here. I I believe somebody in this place, you barely made it tonight. Or or maybe you only came because we're having a meal and and somebody invited you and you paid for a ticket and maybe you're only in the house because somebody invited you. I just believe God is going to give you hope to believe uh if you can just get to this altar of repentance, God is going to change your life forever. Thank God he loves you enough to bother you. >> Thank God he loves me enough to correct me. Thank God he loves me enough not to let me become comfortable in what is about to destroy me. Come on. The enemy of our soul spreads condemnation to make us ashamed of ourselves. But God gives us conviction to make us a better version of the person he's called us to be. Come on, somebody. The enemy says give up. But God says get up. The enemy says give up. But God says get up. One of my favorite songs, one of my favorite songs ever. It simply goes, "We fall down, but we get up. We fall down, but we get up. We fall down, but we get up. For a saint is just a sinner who fell down and got up." Brother Chad, we're going to fall. But the difference between us and the people outside of these walls and the people outside of the church is simply this. We too fall, but we get back up again. We get back to our feet again. I wish I had time to preach it, but oh, it was Jesus that told Peter, he said, "The devil, Satan, desires to sift you as wheat. He desires to absolutely tear you apart as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He wants to absolutely devour you. You know devouring and killing are two separate things. >> Something can be killed, but when something is devoured, they not only die, but they're torn apart and ripped apart. Everything about them is unrecognizable. But oh my God, we serve a God that says, "If you can just get back up again, >> Satan hath desired to have you, Peter, that he may sift you as wheat." But Jesus said, "But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Do you see what I'm reading right here? Jesus said, even before Peter denied him three times, even before Peter even denied knowing Jesus, Jesus already said, "I see the future." And the future is you're going to one day strengthen your brother through your testimony. >> I I've never seen that before. I got Brother Kobe, I got to reading that this week and I thought, "Oh my goodness." Jesus not only told him that Satan's wanting him and Satan's wanting to devour him and he's telling Peter, "You're going to fail me. you're going to deny me. And Peter's like, "Not me, Lord. It ain't going to be me." And he's like, "Oh, yes it is. But I've got good news. There is a future for you. Even though you're going to fall, even though you're going to fail, you're going to get back up again." >> And then I got to thinking about Acts 2 and 37 where the Bible says, "And Peter standing up with all the disciples." Come on, somebody. Peter found the lowest of lows. He found himself in the lowest of lows. But it wasn't but 50 days later. >> 50 days later, he's not low anymore. Now he's standing up, Brother King. And now he's the first pastor of the Pentecostal church of the first Pentecostal church. He got up and because he got up, he strengthened the brothers around. He strengthened the 11 standing with him. And because of it, the Holy Ghost was able to fill 3,000 souls that very day. >> We fall down, but we get up. >> The same mouth that failed Jesus became the mouth Jesus used at Pentecost. I want to I want to bring hope to somebody here tonight. Don't give up. Jesus sees a future. Jesus sees your ministry. Uh Jesus sees where you're going to be. He He knows where you're going to be. And if you'll just keep on getting up every time you fall, I promise you this gift of repentance is going to be your salvation. >> What a gift. >> Oh, Ezekiel 18:21. Ah, I'm almost done. I promise you. Ezekiel 18 21. This is where so many people get hung up because we've got such good memories. We keep count not of other people's sin. We keep count of our own sin. But Ezekiel 18:21, this was our scripture reading tonight. This was our opening text. He simply said the wicked, they've got to repent. They've got to leave their life of sin that they die not. and all his transgression verse 22 that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him. Now your friend, your enemy might mention your sin. They might bring it up in a Facebook post. They might bring it up at a party. They might bring it up and they won't let you forgive it. But there is one who cast your sin so far away. And I've heard this told and I love this. When the Bible says, "Your sin is cast as far as the east is from the west." We realize that he did not say your sin is cast as far as the north is from the south. Because it just so happens there's a north pole and there's a south pole. Which simply means, brother Tony, you can go north long enough till you get to the North Pole. And guess what? you're going to go south. >> But when you go east, I don't care how many hundreds of thousands of miles you travel, if you're going east, you're always going east. Or if you're going west, you're always going west. And he simply said, I'm casting you. I'm casting those sins as far as the east is from the west because they never inter east and west never intersect. But we serve a God who loves us enough to say, "I choose." Is he still omnisient? >> Oh, yes, he is. He's still all knowing. He still knows all things. This is not taking his power of memory away. This is something our God chooses not to remember. >> He made Oh my God. He saw humanity and he understood us enough to realize if I start holding their sins against him, not a one of them are going to make it to heaven. Oh, so I've got to cast them as far from me as I can. And I choose to forget their transgressions. >> Ezekiel 25:21. Musicians, if you'll come. Ezekiel 25:21. This is where I want to end. The Bible says, "And thou shalt put the mercy seat above the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee, and there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat." There's a picture, there's a type and shadow in the tabernacle, in Moses's tabernacle that preaches this message greater than I could ever preach it. This testimony or the covenant law was placed inside the ark. I want you to visualize this. This covenant law, the thou shalt not. these commandments, these Levitical laws, they were placed within the ark. Because let me tell you something, saints of God, we need laws. >> We need rules. We need regulations because without them, we can't even we can't even decipher principles. We'll be like the people in the book of Judges who did right in their own eyes. Thank God for laws. Listen, I I could talk about laws. I can preach about laws. Thank God for laws. Thank Thank God for speed limits. Thank God for the laws that we have in our county, in our city, in our state, in our country. Thank Thank God for laws that that that keep order. I don't like to get a ticket, just like you don't like to get a ticket, but thank God we don't have people driving through our neighborhoods where our kids are playing going 70 m hour. Thank God there's a remedy for that. you're going to get locked up, get your license taken away. We got to have law. And I know the New Testament, I know Jesus came to fulfill the law, but it was in that Old Testament box that God said, "I want to put a mercy seat above the law." Not that we don't follow the law, but the fact is a fact. When we break the law, there's got to be mercy that covers the law. The law was real, but mercy sat above it. Mercy didn't erase God's standard. No, sir. Mercy didn't declare that obedience was no longer a matter. But God chose to meet with his people from above the mercy seat. God doesn't lower his standard to give mercy. He provides mercy when I fall short of his standard. Leviticus 16:14. And he shall take of the blood of the bool and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat. Y'all see that? He sprinkled this blood. The blood was placed on the mercy seat because sin was real and there had to be an answer for sin. Mercy was not God pretending that I didn't fail. Mercy is God providing an answer for my failure. Sin matters. Oh yes, it does. Holiness matters. Obedience matters. And that's exactly why the blood of Jesus matters. Repentance is such a gift. Uh because repentance puts us in the atmosphere where the blood can be applied to our life and where mercy can be given. Stand to your feet with me. God gave me a little revelation and this was kind of this was kind of humorous this morning cuz pastor preached a message Friday that he heard. He heard a message that inspired him with a thought this morning. Last weekend I was preaching a conference in West Tennessee and there's another preacher that was preaching. He began to talk about the gift of repentance. And I thought to myself, I've never heard the term the gift of repentance. And he he began to talk about h how the gift how the gift was one of the greatest gifts that we could ever receive. And as he begin to talk about it, I begin to contemplate and think about that we serve a God not only of another chance because I don't know about you, but I need another chance and another chance and another chance and another chance and and another chance and another chance and another chance and another chance and another. But then I thought to myself, wait a minute. I know I need those chances. But to God, he is only the God of the second chance. Because when he casts our sin, when every one of our issues and every one of our disobedient, our rebellious acts, when he forgives us, when we repent and he forgives us of those sins, every time we sin, it's like the first time to God. I'm so thankful for a God of a second chance. I'm so thankful that we serve a God that gives us an opportunity every single church service. You say to you you say you ask yourself why in the world does this church always want the pastors are always saying everybody come to the front. Everybody come to the altar. Everybody pack in as close as they can. Maybe you went to a church where only two or three went to the altar. Maybe only those that needed the Lord. But we try to get everybody in the altar. Listen church family. It's so simple. It's the place where we all get the opportunity to repent every service we're in the house. I feel Listen, I I don't know about you, I feel sorry for people that only have one service a week. Brother Hiner only have one chance to repent. I I think I know I know you can repent at home. I'm not saying you can only repent at church, but there's something about hearing the preached word that causes conviction that causes you to want to repent every time you hear the word. And I'm so thankful for a church that sees the need to be in the altar where the people have an opportunity to once again say, "God, I need your mercy like never before." Come on. If that's you, why don't you find your way into this altar? I'm not saying you've committed some heinous sin. I'm not saying you're some horrible person, but if you're thankful for the gift of repentance and you just want to throw your head back and say, "Thank you, Jesus." Uh, that you've given me the right to repent. You've not given any anything any animals don't have the right to repent. Uh, angels don't have the right to repent, but you've given me, you've given humanity the right to repent. Come on, somebody. I want you to begin to say, "Thank you for your mercy. Thank you that you care. Thank you that you see me. Thank you that the mercy is on top of the law. And no matter what I break, and no matter what I do, there's still mercy covering me. There's still mercy that looks down upon me and says, "You can do better. I can make you a better man. I can make you a better woman. I can add value to your life if you will just repent." Come on, somebody right here, right now, begin to throw your head back and say, "God, I know I'm not perfect. God, I know I messed up. God, I know I missed the mark. God, I know sometimes I don't have the right attitude. God, I know sometimes I'm rebellious, but God, I'm at your mercy seat. God, I need your mercy. I need you to cover me with your blood. That same blood that was sprinkled. God, you shed blood. You shed. You became the sacrifice for my sin. Uh, you saw a people in 2026 that would need your mercy. Come on, somebody. I hope you find your way to this altar. I hope you can say, "God, I'm going to go one more time. I'm going to repent one more time. I'm going to give my life to you one more time. I'm going to resist temptation one more time. I'm going to resist my flesh one more time. Come on, church family. Pray. I hear you. Pray. Pray. Pray. This is a gift. I celebrate the gift today. What a gift. What a gift. What a gift. What a gift. What a gift. Come on. Come on. Come on. Don't make this a Now I lay my head down to sleep type prayer. It's got to be something that comes from your heart. >> >> I will not do it again. I will not go there again. I won't talk like that again. I won't hang out with that person again. In the darkness where everything is unknown, I face the power of sin on my own. I did not know of a place I could go. A place that will heal my wounded soul. Come into his presence without fear into the holy place where mercy is near. I'm running. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. >> >> Are you living where hope has not been lost in a curse of a life of sin? illusions. They never never never come true. I know where there's a place of mercy for you. And you can fall into his presence without fear into the holy place. There is no run. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Yeah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. >> >> Are you living where hope has not been lost in the curse of life time of sin? Worldly illusions they never never never come true. I know where there's a place of mercy for you. >> >> You can come into his presence without the holy place. There is mercy. Jesus calling me. He will do the >> I want you to throw your hands up as high as you can right here. Cuz I believe right now in this room, I believe there is some mental sickness. There is some mental illness. And I know that doctors want to prescribe you with a bunch of medication. But I believe some of it is just a condemnation spirit that's trying to get a hold of you and telling you to give up and to give in and to throw in the towel. But I believe if you would just throw your head back and say, "God, I receive your mercy. God, I'm right here in a metal mercy seat, and I know your blood is still flowing freely. I know there's still healing in this place." Uh, I believe you can be healed mind, body, soul, and spirit. If you would just receive your healing right now, come on. There's more than this physical illness. There could be a mental illness that cause you to want to give up, but you got to say, "I rebuke you. I cast you down. Get behind me, Satan. I'm in the presence of a God who's a healer. I'm in the presence of a God who loves me. I'm in the presence of a God who cares for me. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. >> >> Now, come on. If you've repented, I want you to lift up your hands and we're going to celebrate the fact that we just had the opportunity to repent. We just had the opportunity to say, "Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for this opportunity to repent. Thank you for this opportunity. Oh, God. I know it's a privilege. I know it's a privilege. It's more than just a privilege." I said it's more than just a privilege. For my opening scripture in verse 18 says, "Then God have also to the Gentiles granted repentance." This whole message has been based upon that one text. It's not something I have to do. is something that's been granted to me. I get to repent. Church family, do you know how much your God loves you? >> Come on. Do you really know how much your God cares about you? Do you know you're here tonight and it's not by an accident? You're not just here because of fate. You're here because of God loves you so much. Why does he love you more seemingly than the person on the street? I don't know. I can't answer that. All I can say is thank you, Jesus, that you granted me the right to repent. And because I repented, God, it put me on a new path. And because it put me on a new path, I was able to receive your Holy Ghost and be washed, oh God, in the blood of the lamb. And because of that, I've got mercy and grace. that's been applied to my life. Thank you, Jesus, for your mercy seat. Thank you for baptism. Thank you for the Holy Ghost. And thank you for mercy. Repentance that brings mercy to the church today. Oh, clap your hands all ye people. And thank him for the right to repent.