The Spirit of a Survivor

love you brother thank you so much thank you so much thank you let's give god that hand to praise right now great is the lord and greatly to be praised oh great is the lord and greatly to be praised god we magnify your name we magnify your name thank you lord quickly let's go to the word of god matthew chapter 5 and verse number 29. and i have done some soul searching the last hour or so and i want you to know that if i didn't feel that in the weeks prior to this that god had laid a fault upon my mind i promise you right now i would get up here and introduce brother mccool for the towel ceremony uh but i will be mindful of your time but i do want to deliver what i do feel that god dropped into my spirit i want to i want to do that i want to first say again just thank you to all of the leaders all of the men that are here and i want to thank the men of first apostolic church of maryville and the men of first apostolic church sevierville um when i think and i and i and i understand you know we're preaching to all the men um but there are some of the most praying worshiping godly men that attend this church that's right that attend this church we are currently in 21 days of prayer and that will climax on monday evening with foot washing and communion here at the church and i want you to know on any given night this entire section of the altar has a group of men that are calling out to god and i thank god for the men of this church matthew chapter 5 verse number 29 jesus said if thy right eye offend thee pluck it out cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell and if thy right hand offend thee cut it off cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell i want to make a statement before i read my title and it simply is this nothing is extreme or radical when it is a spiritual life or death situation i want to preach for you moments on the spirit of a survivor the spirit of a survivor father i ask you today lord to anoint my lips of clay thank you lord for the privilege god of leading this great ordained fellowship thank you lord for everything we heard today thank you lord for the messages last night god for the impact that it has made and we'll continue to make lord upon our individual lives and our churches and our fellowship lord for the next few moments let your divine anointing come down upon me as i speak your word in jesus name i pray amen and amen you may be seated the spirit of a survivor on april 26th of 2003 aaron ralston was canyoneering alone through blue john canyon in eastern wayne county utah just south of horseshoe canyon unit of canyonlands national park while he was descending the lower stretches of the slot canyon a suspended boulder dislodged while he was climbing down from it the boulder first smashed his left hand and then crushed his right hand against the canyon wall rosten had not informed any one of his hiking plans nor did he have any other way to call for help assuming that he would die without intervention he spent five days slowly sipping his small amount of remaining water which was 12 fluid ounces slowly eating a small amount of food while repeatedly trying to free his arm his efforts were futile as he was unable to free his arm from the 800 pound stone after three days of trying to lift and break the boulder the dehydrated and delirious ralston prepared to amputate his trapped arm at the point of the mid forearm in order to escape after having experimented with the tourniquet and having made exploratory superficial cuts on his forearm he realized on the fourth day that in order to free his arm he would have to cut through the bones but the tools available were insufficient to do so after running out of food and water on the fifth day ralston became so desperate that he drank his own urine he carved his name and date of birth and presumed date of death on the sandstone canyon wall and videotaped his last goodbyes to his family he did not expect to survive the night but as he attempted to stay warm he began hallucinating and had a vision of himself playing with a future child while missing part of his right arm rosten credited this as giving him the belief that he would live after waking up at dawn the following day he discovered his arm had began to decompose due to the lack of circulation he became desperate to tear it off rosten had an epiphany that if he could break the two bones using torque against his trap arm and he did so he amputated his forearm with a multi-tool using a dull two-inch knife and pliers for the tougher tendons the painful process took an hour during which time he used tubing from his backpack pack to take care and leave off major arteries until last after freeing himself roston climbed out of the slot canyon in which he had been trapped repelled down a 65-foot sheer wall and hiked out of the canyon all one-handed he was eight miles from his vehicle and had no phone however after six miles of hiking he encountered a family on vacation from the netherlands who gave him food and water and hurried to alert the authorities rosten feared he would bleed to death he had lost 40 pounds including 25 percent of his blood volume rescuers found roston alerted the family that where he was he narrowly escaped ralston later said that if he had amputated his arm earlier he would have bled to death before they found him while he had not done it if he had not done it at that moment they would have found him dead later in the canyon his severe severed hand and forearm was retrieved from under the boulder by park authorities according to television presenter tom brokaw it took 13 men a winch and a hydraulic jack to move the boulder so that roston's arm could be removed his arm was then cremated the ashes given to ralston he returned to the accident scene with tom brokaw and a camera crew six months later and on on the 28th his 28th birthday to film dateline nbc special about the accident in which the he which at that time he scattered the ashes of his forearm and hand where he said that's where they belong nothing is extreme when it is a life and death situation nothing is extreme when we're talking about life and death jesus spoke these words and brother miller got on my text but jesus spoke these words and he said if your right eye would offend you that you were to pluck it out and of course your understanding that he's talking about do you want to survive he's talking about how desperate are you to want to survive if your right hand would offend you that you were to cut it off but please notice something with me it wasn't just to amputate it wasn't just to pluck out the right eye but there's a small clause there that also says cast it away we have to understand that memory can lead us back to our prior life and when you are a spirit of a survivor i don't want anything that's going to hinder me the ashes of my arm belong at that place the noted the noted bible commentator tater adam clark wrote this he said men often part with some members of their body at the discretion of a surgeon that they may preserve the trunk and die a little later and yet they will not deprive themselves of a look a touch a small pleasure which may endanger the eternal death of their soul i want you to know i want to have the spirit of a survivor i don't know what i got to cut out of my life i don't know what i got to cut out of my soul but i want you to know i want to live i might have to live without some things but i want to live i found this story and i'd like to share it with you jeremy and jennifer sup clift they live in texas a young couple jennifer was out in the yard pruning some bushes when jeremy heard his wife scream snake snake he thought well it's another one of the garden snakes it's another one of the harmless snakes and he kind of took his time to go around and get a hoe out of the garage but when he came he found his wife jennifer trapp between hedges in the house by a rattle rattlesnake there that rattlesnake was poised and was ready to strike at his wife but jeremy with one swift cut decapitated the rattlesnake jennifer walked out and they went into the house and for refreshments a few moments later jeremy said i recall my wife saying she was letting the small dogs out into the yard of which jeremy thought to himself i don't want the small dogs to go around and play with the dead rattlesnake so jeremy decides to go around and he takes he's going to pick up a stick that lays beside the decapitated rattlesnake and just as he reaches down to take the stick the rattle snake that is still although decapitated he is still alive he is a cold-blooded nature a cold-blooded creature may i say much like we've often seen if you live in the south you can cut a chicken's head off but it will walk around for just a little bit because it still has the nerve endings so it is with the rattlesnake although he is severed from his body and appears to be dead he is still very much alive i did a little research on this and i found that a rattlesnake when it will bite you will bite you with a defensive amount of venom all it wants to do it has a large amount of venom but it's not going to inject all the venom because it's just a defensive action that the snake is taking but if a rattlesnake has been decapitated he has absolutely nothing to lose he is going to inject you with all of the poison and all of the venom that he has and thus he did jeremy jeremy spent months in the hospital doctors said they had never treated a man with so much poison in his system his kidneys shut down he went blind at times the doctor told jennifer that i don't know if jeremy is going to make it i have come here to tell you this evening i have come here to tell us it's not enough to amputate we have got to cast it away it's not enough just to pluck it out or cut it away we've got to cut it off hear me my good apostolic brethren of the assemblies of the lord jesus christ hear me the devil knows that he has but a short time and he has come down from heaven with great wrath it is time to cast it away the enemy is going to hit us do you have the spirit of a survivor do you have the spirit of that survivor believe what you may believe what you may about covet believe what you may about this pandemic but i believe if it didn't come from hell hell sure has used it if it didn't come from hell hell has used it and in the last 24 months of all of our lives and especially our sweet pastors and our missionaries brother namey finally praise god gets to go back to his field of labor in the philippines come march the first can i tell you i'm not a doomsday or a gloom and doomed preacher but i am a reality preacher jesus is coming the rapture of the church is upon us and all hell knows he was decapitated at calvary but that doesn't mean he doesn't have one last bite that he's going to hit the church with everything he has men men let me preach to you for a few moments you may be seated let me preach to you we have settled with god being pleased with us now what i mean by that is obedience will bring god's pleasing into our lives jesus was baptized he was obedient to the counsel of god and in matthew 3 and 17 the bible said that a voice from heaven came and said this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased i'm glad for obedient brethren i'm glad that we have got brothers that the lord is pleased with but you will note with me in luke 4 13 that it was after 40 days of fasting and 40 days of the tempter 40 days of resisting 40 days of it is written it is written it is written it is written at his baptism he was obedient and he received the pleasure or being pleasing to god but it was after a season of private resistance of privately resisting temptation of privately telling the devil no let's just be honest with each other today who can't live for god in a group of men like this who can't clap their hands who can't raise their hands who can't walk down the aisle who can't praise god you might be pleasing because you come to men's conference but you're going to receive the power it says that after this jesus returned in the power of the spirit it was public obedience that bought the pleasing but it was that private resistance when nobody's around that brought the power of the almighty god hear me now hear me now as i rush through what god has given me you are who you are when you are all alone if you don't like who you are alone change it you are who you are not at men's conference i'm who i am tonight when i sit down in front of my computer that's who i am i who i am who i am when i walk through walmart and a woman that doesn't have decent clothes on passes me brothers it's not the first look that gets you in trouble it's the second look that gets you in trouble that's who you are help me praise him for a moment help me praise him for a moment you are who you are when you are all alone it was when jacob was alone that god changed him to israel it was when the widow woman was all alone that god multiplied the oil that was in her house all alone all alone you may be seated i love it i love the excitement i love it all but we have wasted thousands of dollars and hundreds of mint hours if we don't understand the real test is not here it's out there and the only way we're going to survive we have to change our behavior we gotta change our behavior david got fearful and i'll just rush i'll just rush through this little story david got fearful fearful of saul he fled to achis king of gath king of the philistines the servants of achish said as david came you know when david walked into the philistines camp to live no doubt he had to dumb down that he was a lover of jehovah no doubt he had to dumb down some of his love and devotion to god no doubt david had to change his behavior when he walked among the philistines of which i would just say any person you have in your life and you call them friend and you can't express your love for god they are not your friend hey you don't need friends to pull you down you'll do enough of that yourself and the devil if i'm gonna yoke up with somebody i need to yoke up with somebody that's talking about god loving their church loving their pastor loving the church family david david had to change his behavior but as he stood there beside king achish the servants came in begin to whisper they begin to tell king aegish they begin to tell him that this is david this is the one that they sang the song saul is slain as thousands but david is tens of thousands this is the man that killed goliath this is the man that's turned our armies back and david heard it and david became afraid and the bible says in first samuel first samuel chapter 21 13 and he changed his behavior before them and feigned himself mad in their hands and scrappled or scratched on the doors of the gate and let his spittle fall down on his beard then aches said unto his servants lo you see the man he is mad that they have brought him unto me watch what's happening david knows the only way i'll survive is to change my behavior it's the only way i'm going to survive i'm telling you some of your me you men have your arm smashed against a wall a pride and it's going to take your marriage it's going to take your children it's going to take your walk with god unless you change your behavior david starts he starts he starts spitting on his beard and stretching on the walls and as he's doing all of this achis turns and says to the counselors do you see that you brought me a madman you brought me a crazy man and as the counselors gathered around david made an exit out and escaped to the cave of adulum can i tell you there needs to be i'd love for you to run the aisles here today i would love for you to lead more here today but where we need the behavior change is not at church it is at home i don't want to get a call that says hey my husband worshiped real good this morning men's conference must have been good i understand we've got the power in the upper room i want to get the power in the living room i want to get the change live in the hole brother do you love her brother do you love her you got to change your behavior you got to change your behavior you see there's something important about you men you're the leader of your home i pray this prayer the men that attend this church know that i pray a constant prayer i call it the creation prayer i begin praying first for our men i pray first for the men that i pastor because the men are the leaders the men are the god-ordained leader they are the god-ordained voice for the family and can i tell you if your wife could say anything to you today she would say i don't want to be the spiritual leader i wasn't made to be the spiritual leader i wasn't made to carry we wonder why some of our wives are battling with depression and they're battling with health issues maybe they're carrying a load that they were never physically designed by god to carry come on men you don't have to be a camp meeting preacher you don't even have to be a preacher just be a godly man your wife don't want a preacher she wants a spiritual man oh god acts 27 29 the shipwreck the storm then fearing lest we should have fallen upon the rocks they cast four anchors out of the stern and wished for the day and as the shipmen or the crew the captain the crew were about to flee out of the ship when they had let down the boat into the sea under under color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship watch this now the crew is deserting the passengers in the time of the storm if there's ever been a time we need men in our homes it's now our panel told you commercials two men kissing two women kissing all the crazy things that are going upside down in our world if there has ever been a time for you to man the station at your house is now don't jump don't jump ship what's paul what's paul paul said to the centurion and the soldiers except these abide in the ship you can't be saved so what paul did he said you see this crew that's about to leave us you see this captain and this crew that's leaving us in the storm yes unless they stay on board they ain't none of us going to be saved can i tell you unless you stay on board stop hoping and wishing that your you pastor gonna save your children stop hoping wishing you're gonna move to a church that's got more youth activity your cut your child doesn't need a church with more youth activity it needs a home with more daddy activity just lift your hands help me pray for a moment oh god accept these you may be seated except these i want to come across to you today you're a great group of men you've been here some of you have been here before nine o'clock you're a great group of men but don't desert your family don't don't buy into the world that as long as you bring the paycheck home you've reached your obligation except you abide in the ship your wife's gone except you abide in the ship your wife your children i want to know is there a spirit of a survivor in the house well you don't know what's happened in our marriage you don't know we got a blended marriage i understand all of that but i understand this if you want to survive you can if you want to you can you can come out of any mess you've got your life into if you want to if a man can hang for five days with his arm crushed against a boulder and amputate his arm and go down a 65-foot sheer wall and walk six miles i believe you and i could stand up in a home that's not quite what it needs to be and begin to say hey but you've got to change your behavior you've got to change i wish somebody would shout change the behavior change the behavior you may be seated for a moment men get your wife on your team get your wife on your team and you know how to do that communicate absolutely blow her mind if i could leave you my wife this morning sent me a text she said i'm back here in the office praying that god she was listening to the panel and she was just rejoicing she said i'm praying that these men leave here with something in their hand tools tools can i give you some tools men you may have to sever your pride but you need to go home and tell your wife it's not listen honey it's not it is an emergency but it's not it's not life-threatening i just need for you and i to talk i need you and i to talk change your behavior i just need you and i to talk we're not going to talk about finances we're not going to fuss over finances we're not going to talk about your kids my kids and our kids we're not going to talk about our differences i want to discuss with you that i've come home from men's conference 2022 and i'm ready to lead our family i'm ready can you help me baby can you help me to lead what would you like to see in me oh somebody shall change your behavior come on baby come on baby what would you like to see changed in me you may be seated but the truth of the matter is our wives have not been able to be honest with us because it lights our fuse and she would rather have a husband that is bearable to live with than one that's angry so she pins up the things that would help you because no man is an island to himself there is no man i don't care pastor general superintendent there is no man that doesn't need somebody to speak into their life you're a fool to think you have it all inside of your head come on baby tell me the flaws you see in me come on baby tell me what you want to see different inside of me come on men why don't you blow your wife's mind this afternoon and let her know come on baby oh lord you may be seated and if this goes the way i want it to go you pour your your heart out to your wife you say well bill kirk and i've tried that i've tried that she knows i've done this before i've been to men's conferences before can i tell you then just go to praying in her presence not don't be obnoxious don't be obnoxious just before you go to work in the morning just have some prayer that just may wake her up and when a month goes by you got to be willing if a man can dangle five days and drink his own urine day 21 may go by you may be like daniel you may be you may listen you may pray for 21 days without an answer but on the 21st day you may make your coffee and bend down beside your lazy boy to pray a few minutes before you get ready to go to work and all of a sudden on the 21st day a little hand slips down beside you and you find that your wife is crawled out of the bed and she's there beside you hell can't stop the church is just as strong as the family the apostolic church is just as strong strong as the eunuch now now listen to this now husband and wives get on the same page you get on the same page then ask the kids for a meeting get the kids oh that's that's a little that's a little that's a little weird no no can i tell you what weird here where it is where'd your 13 year old daughter saying mom and dad i'm pregnant now that's weird weird's finding a straw a strange aroma coming from your child your boy's bedroom and he's smoking pot up there now that's weird but isn't it amazing when we get spiritually uncomfortable with something we automatically think you know what it's kind of yeah it's what hell hopes you do but i hope every flawed father that's in this place today goes home and gets a hold of that flawed wife and you two flawed people get together and work out a plan and then you get your flawed kids together and you may have to say you know we've allowed some things to be watched in this home that we're not going to do that anymore and we've allowed some things to go on this home that we're just not going to do that anymore and you know we've just allowed you all to i don't know you maybe see times are crazy times are crazy and times are changing i know of kids you know used two years ago if you did go spend the night with somebody else it's for a night and we got kids spending weeks mother's saying oh she's been there for a week and i'm gonna think you're crazy you're just absolutely crazy and and you wonder why they come home see some parents need just listen you're responsible for them to your children you know what sometimes we're frustrated at them for what we didn't put in them well i'm just so burned i'm just so tore up and you you don't worship and i'm thinking mama you don't i just don't know why my boy don't get in the choir you're not it's the truth flawed dad flawed father flawed wife get together get those flawed kids around and start making the proclamation now we still gonna have fun we still going volleyball we still gonna have vacation we're gonna have family prayer around here i'm gonna make sure all my kids have a bible i wanna make sure did you read your bible today what's a favorite verse in your bible today and i know some of you want the theme song to the waltons right now but this is the honest god truth of what we need how serious are you don't know about you it's life and death i want my child to be educated i want my granddaughters to be educated i want my two grandsons to be educated i want them to be successful but the greatest success is not a diploma or a financial figure and the greatest success is my grand babies up around the altar teaching bible studies living for god the spirit of a survivor how desperate are you how desperate are you how desperate are you is this just a hype it's just just a bunch of hype we're doing are you thinking my god i can't wait to get home i'm going to change things i'm gonna close musicians would you come king of moab had been surrounded may be seated for just a moment the king of moab had been surrounded god had given a miracle to israel the king of moab in second kings chapter 3 verse number 24 moab knew that israel was coming the bible said this is what moab did excuse me it's verse number 21 ii kings 3 and 21 and when all the moabites heard that the kings were come up to fight against them they gathered all that were able to put on armor and upward and stood in the border is it amazing how we men are appearance-driven god designed us that way men walk like men the women walk like women but if we disconnect that from god i walk in my own strength and what i want to pray to you is one of strength so moab just lined the whole border if you were old enough to strap on a sword if you were old enough to strap on armor he just stood them all the way across the border because that's what we first turn to when we start to get challenged our strength that's why some men battle with pastoral authority doesn't have anything to do with what he says or how he says it it's got everything to do with the little spirit inside of you that needs to learn how to yoke up with the right voice well they found that just the king of moab whose name means safety misha his name meant safety he spread it across the border the children of israel marched through them it was then that the king of moab in verse 26 when he saw that his appearance did not stop them the king of moab saw that the battle was too strong verse 26 was too sore for him he took 700 men that drew swords to break through even unto the king of edom but they could not so the next thing he turns to is his wealth his strength his swords but his strength and his swords failed him verse 27 then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall and there was great indignation against israel and they departed from him and returned to their own land brother whitley i have studied every commentary i the last 10 days i have turned this verse upside down i've heard everything that when that king moab the king of moab took his firstborn son who was an adult and laid him on a slab on the town wall and slid his throat and reduced his body to ashes i've heard every i've studied it out i've studied it out i've heard him say um when israel saw the sight of that blood they just couldn't fight anymore well that doesn't make sense they'd been seeing blood for hundreds of miles i've heard everything but when that king offered up that boy sounds like survival to me when he offered up his firstborn i personally believe you won't find it in a commentary you won't find it online but i believe that god looked down and saw what a heathen king would do to survive worshiping a false god and what israel wasn't doing to worship the true god and god just said i'll send a spirit of disgust among israel they'll just simply look at it and think none of us have ever done that none of us they worship chimash they worship the sun god when's the last time you ever seen one of us do this can i tell you then when you really want to survive there's no such thing as being extreme when you really want to survive son israel's going to kill us and if i could just offer you to our god if i could just offer you to our god it could save us and that boy had faith in a false god and a daddy had faith in a false god can i tell you it's not a time issue they spend way more time training your boy how to hit a ball than we do in a prayer room don't talk to me about the churches having too many services they spend way more time on soccer and football and basketball and little league and you know when when this sport's over there's another sport come on church if the world can worship their god the way they do how much more stand with me right now in his book essentialism greg mcnall wrote the word priority came into the english language in the 14 1400s it was a singular it meant the very first it stayed singular for the next 500 years only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities for hundreds of years there wasn't no such thing as priorities what's your priorities there's no such thing you had a priority you had a priority 613 commandments 613 commandments and a man walked up to jesus and said would you tell me what the great first commandment is i don't want to hear about 612 i want to hear about the number one and he said hear oh israel the lord our god is one lord that's a fact but now is our responsibility and you shall worship him with all your heart your mind your soul your strength and love your neighbor as yourself and who is my neighbor well there was a man beat robbed and naked and the pastor came by and walked on the other side and the church leader came by and walked on the other side but the man's wife came now i know i'm adding to it but i'm not off of it can i tell you besides god if you're married who loves you more than anybody else you're a wife she sees you at your worst come on now little girl at the office likes how you smell you put that polo on she likes how you smell she don't love you let her walk in the bathroom at the house after you've got through using it you got a nice pressed shirt on you looking awful dapper don let him look down and pick your dirty drawers up off the floor can i tell you something your neighbor is your wife and if we had some priorities here in this room your first priority thank you brother thank you can i could i ask you musicians i know y'all gonna play y'all got here early to do that but just for one minute just for one minute and i don't be i don't i receive this in jesus name but sometimes i think we play music to drown out the silence of the response don't do it don't do it right now the sermons come to an end would you all please play some music why because we're afraid to hear the silence from the crowd but i wonder if for one minute we couldn't give god our god voice our god voice now listen to me now and from right now we're making a declaration we're making a declaration we've fought hell for 24 months we have fought hell in our organization we've fought hell in our districts we have fought hell in our local churches but right now on this saturday afternoon at 204 i make a declaration god is not one of my priority he is my priority come on come on no music just a man lifting up the voice the spirit of a survivor help me help me god help me god help me god yay do it by yourself do it all alone do it by yourself do it all alone you're my god you're my god you're my party you're my everything i'm gonna die if i don't amputate this pride i'm going to die if i don't have to take this laziness yes yes come on amputate laziness right now come on amputate your flesh right now come on in regardless of what you got to do do it all right all right god i love you with all my heart i love you with all my mind i love you by my soul the spirit of a survivor listen to me for a moment brother mccool would you come would you would you go ahead and come get ready i don't just like to preach and just end it i like to give you some practical things because i think men are saying hey tell me how tell me how can i tell you pastor mccool do you know how i do you know who taught me how to show public affection for my sweet penny your daddy did your daddy showed me on those youth action trips to let sister mccool get up in that bus first your daddy talk your daddy i remember one day going to put some trash in the can on the bus and i walked up beside your mom and daddy and they they were holding hands he taught me how to he taught me how to love my wife we can come and my god we can come and just tell you this is what you ought to do but here's the steps to do it now i tell you what would be good you went home and tomorrow morning at your church when it's time to pay tithe if before you drop that envelope in the plate in the morning or if you get home early enough today call your family around tell your children you don't show them the amount you have to show them the amount what a life lesson to show your children this is mom and dad's tithe to the lord we give a tenth of everything that we are increased with to the lord don't you show them the amount close it say now tomorrow when we receive tithing offerings let's all walk down as a family and let's worship god you can't tell me that such acts of worship won't have a profound effect upon our children and listen you don't have to say anything but bring your children to the altar tomorrow night and just pray god is going to turn families around because of ministry 20 22. do you want to be a survivor could we give praise unto the lord and receive what god has given us hallelujah would you receive what god has given us right now in the name of jesus we have received revelatory word almighty god i pray that you would open my heart right now that i would receive all that you have given me today lord i pray that you would put it deep in my heart give me a fresh determination oh hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah glory glory