Sunday Evening Worship Service

i'm going to let you be seated i i didn't know that we were going to have an old time song fest tonight brother whitley be a witness i practiced just a little bit of that song with musicians this morning but you know sometimes the holy ghost has to take us back and remind us the holy ghost has to take us back and go over generation and generation of the foundational things that's brought us to where we are the the marvelous talent that god has so beautifully and bountifully blessed us with the songwriting the musicianship and [Music] it's built on the foundations of some of those songs i i had my mama tell me that i used to sing that song before i could pronounce victory she said i'd say dictwie well i'm thankful i'm still serving a god of victory at 63 years of age i'm still serving a god of victory and i'm thankful for this army of another generation that's coming on for ministering and ministry i'm amazed at all the blessings that god is affording them the privilege to experience and i'm just i'm all in brother whitley i'm all ends all i want you to know i'm all in tonight how about y'all y'all all in was that not a powerful message this one are you still all in wow i realize we have done quite a bit of singing and worshiping and i don't apologize for that but i am cognizant of the time and i will keep that in mind but i want to read you a few verses of scripture tonight in the book of matthew the 15th chapter we're going to skip around just a bit so i'd ask you to stay with me matthew 15. we're going to read beginning at verse number 1 matthew 15 1 then came to jesus scribes and pharisees which were of jerusalem saying why do thy disciples transgress the traditions of the elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread but he answered and said unto them why do ye also transgress the commandments of god by your traditions verse 10 and he called the multitude and said to them hear and understand not that which goeth into the mouth and defileth a man but that which cometh out of the mouth this defileth a man then came his disciples and said unto him knoweth thou that the pharisees were offended uh-oh after they heard this saying but he answered and said every plant which my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted up let them alone they be blind leaders of the blind and if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch then answered peter and said unto him declare unto us this parable and jesus said are ye also yet without understanding don't you get it peter do you not yet understand that whatsoever entereth in the mouth goethe into the belly and is cast out in the draw but those things which proceedeth out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man for a few moments tonight i want to speak to you on this subject wash your hands and close your mouth wash your hands and close your mouth let's pray savior i love you i thank you for your word thank you for your precious presence that we feel here right now lord from the very beginning of this service even until now you have been so freely here blessing and anointing all that would receive now god let us receive your word tonight let it be a lamp to our feet a light to our path god let us act and react on what you call us to do we thank you and praise you in jesus name we pray amen and amen most of us have been made so keenly aware in the past couple of years of the importance of hygiene and sanitizing your hands we've had sanitate sanitizers at every door everybody's been carrying around those little bottles of hand washing equipment we've been wearing masks and doing all of those things most respectable restrooms you go into even before then have signs up that says employees must wash their hands before returning to work and man i appreciate that message and i sincerely hope that all who it applies to heeds the message i was taught many years ago that the way to properly wash your hands in the restroom was that you're supposed to turn on the hot water get soap and water and you wet your hands and you're supposed to wash under the hot water with the soap long enough to sing happy birthday to you sing the whole song but i'll clue you if you practice that don't do it out loud people think you're real weird in the bathroom singing happy birthday to yourself don't don't do that but this was about personal hygiene jesus was not teaching or advocating bad hygiene or cleanliness instead he was actually identifying the super pious holier than thou attitude of the pharisees they were so dogmatic about their traditions and their rituals yet their conversations were as unholy and sinful as any they plotted they schemed they looked for murderous plans they did terrible things in secret yet they were looking for a technicality a gotcha moment if you will for the pharisees they were looking for some kind of violation by jesus followers so they could discredit his teachings we should learn from that and be wise and know that the enemy of truth will indeed use similar tactics to try to discredit all of our witnesses we have to be careful about every facet of our life because the enemy will look for something as simple as they didn't wash their hands before they ate their biscuits why do the disciples transgress the traditions of the elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread the noted bible commentator adam clark commenting on this passage said what frivolous nonsense these pharisees had nothing which their malice could fasten on the conduct or doctrine of our blessed lord and his disciples and therefore they must dispute about washing of hands all sorts of pharisees are troublesome people in religious society and the reason is they take more pleasure in blaming others than amending themselves in the pentatonic the former those first five books the traditions of the elders the doctrines that had been successively notice i didn't say successfully i said successively handed down from moses through every generation had not been committed to writing the jews feigned or believed that when god gave moses written law he also gave oral law which the interpretation was given to those who passed it on that sounds a little suspicious to me how about you in other words the written word wasn't good enough they basically could make up anything they wanted to and say this was law that's what he's saying and so consequently they made the rules and then they pointed fingers at those who didn't obey their rules just like they thought it should be so therefore they were nitpicking they were looking to find some kind of violation of the traditions of the elders and they finally found it i saw the disciples eating bread without washing their hands jesus said and begin to tell them it's not what's going into your mouth that's poisoning you it's what's coming out he was speaking of the spiritual versus the physical he was letting them know while i get it yeah i understand the hygiene thing and he wasn't telling them that all that it's all right he was saying there's some stuff that's coming out of your mouth that's defiling you spiritually i grew up before i shouldn't say i grew up i guess i was a kid before being politically correct was so important and i'll make a confession before you i used to when i was little i used to watch cartoons and one of my favorite cartoons was bugs bunny now bugs bunny has now been eliminated just about because he was too controversial can you imagine he was too politically incorrect but i have a memory because this was supposed to be insulting to we southerners i i i somebody told me later on it was i wasn't insulted and i'm a southerner but one of the cartoons y'all never thought you'd hear bugs bunny quoted in the pulpit did you listen if you're looking for deep theology you got the wrong guy tonight but bugs bunny visited the south for the first time and he ran into yosemite sam and he heard yosemite sam's accent he was trying to get into a large carrot patch in the south so when he began to be questioned by yosemite sam to make sure he wasn't really a northerner that was slipping down to getting the carrots bugs bunny said well shut my mouth and call me cornpone now we're all supposed to be a southerners we're supposed to be insulted by that now that we're politically correct you know but let me tell you jesus said you know what pharisees while you're worried about hand washing there's some stuff you need to shut your mouth about and i've got news for you there's some valuable lessons we can all learn there's sometimes we ought to close our mouth and use our ears to hear what god has to say let's talk just a minute about the power of the tongue proverbs 18 21 said death and life are in the power of the tongue proverbs 21 23 said whosoever keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles you want to keep your soul out of trouble watch your mouth james 3 gives a great dissertation on the power of the tongue it says my brethren be not many masters knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation for in many things we offend all if a man offendeth not in word the same is a perfect man all you perfect folks are dismissed y'all can leave you don't have to listen to the rest of this message y'all are all staying with me huh no perfect folks in the house if any man offend not in word the same is a perfect man and able to bridle the whole body behold we put bits in the horse's mouth that they may obey us and we turn their whole body behold also the ships which though they be so great are driven of fierce winds yet they are turned about with a very small helm whether so ever the governor listeth even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things behold how great a matter of little fire kindleth the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity so is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature and is set on fire of hell every kind of beast and a burden of serpent of things in the sea is tamed and have been tamed of mankind think about it we have lion tamers who take beasts we have folks who have birds in captivity that can talk and do all kind of tricks i saw a chicken play a piano one time one note at a time by the way in some countries they have charmed snakes that they'll play a little flute and they can get a deadly cobra's attention we've tamed all of these beasts the things of the sea you ever been to sea world they can splash you on command he said the tongue can no man tame it is an unruly evil full of deadly poison there with blessed we god even the father and therefore curse we men which are made after the similitude of god out of the same mouth proceedeth blessings and cursing my brethren these things ought not to be does does a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter can i fig tree my brethren bear olive berries either a vine figs so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh james uses several versions of symbolism to identify the tongue he said the whole body is controlled with a bit speaking of horses and how a bit could control a mighty beast a horse he mentions the helm compares that to the helm of the the the ship the small seemingly insignificant helm that guides a great ship let me tell you if we can't control our tongues we can find ourselves on a runaway beast out of control if we can't control what we say and what we speak we can find ourselves being directed in the midst of a storm or if we can control ourself we can find ourselves being directed out of a storm he said the fire you see fire when control is so useful it keeps us warm it cooks our food but need i say more than the events of the past few weeks that we saw in our neighboring county as the wildfires raged and cabins were lost and lives were put in peril just a few years ago in 2016 the horrible fires that took place in the gatlinburg sevierville area the tongue in a few uncontrolled moments can wield the same kind of carnage james 3 8 said it's the untameable member he even compared it to a poison a poison sometimes can be taken in and not detected but be ravaging the body all while not even known until the damage is done and it's too late the same is true of an untamed tongue it can gradually destroy one's character an unruly tongue can cause jealousy and anger it can have spiritually fatal consequences in destroying families churches and communities sometimes the destruction is already done before the culprit is even discovered that's an unbridled poisonous tongue and if i left us here it would be quite difficult to know what we're facing alone but i've got good news for everybody in the house tonight god himself and his infinite knowledge and wisdom gave us a plan to control our tongue when the plan of salvation now i told you i've already quoted bugs bunny if you're expecting me to get deep forget it it's simple as this when peter preached on the day of pentecost when they said what must we do he said repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the remission of your sin and you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost in acts 2 and 4 they were all filled with the holy ghost and what did they do they begin to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave utterance i've got news for you i don't care what kind of mouth you've had on you i don't care what kind of tongue you've been talking with in the past if you let the holy ghost get a hold of you if you'll repent of your sins get baptized in his name be filled with the holy ghost and let him have control of your tongue it's time to turn your tongue over to jesus it's time to turn my mouth over to the savior jesus said in acts 1 and 8 and ye shall receive power after the holy ghost has come upon you and ye shall be gossips no and ye shall be witnesses you see when the holy ghost gets in you it ought to change the way you talk it ought to change the way you communicate you ought to have a different language than the rest of this world you ought to have control of your tongue [Applause] the psalmist said it this way psalms 141 3 he said set a watch o lord before my mouth keep the door of my lips man some of our watchmen go to sleep sometimes i spoke before i thought that's a problem you need to keep a watchman over your lips holy ghost-filled saints must bridle what we say we must consider cautiously and carefully james 1 26 said if any man among you seem to be religious and bridal if not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart this man's religion is in vain we must not ruin our testimonies with critical gossiping poisoned tongues let me say that again we must not ruin our testimonies with critical gossiping poisoned tongues you know what the definition of gossip is gossip is a person who habitually retails private scandalous or sensational and often inaccurate information rumors are reports of an intimate nature it has synonyms including tail bears rumor mongers busybodies informers blabs and tattlers god help me not to be in that list god set a watch over my mouth god let me bride in my tongue let me make sure i'm speaking as your mouthpiece and saying what you want me to say ephesians 5 said it this way be therefore followers of god as dear children and walk in love and as christ also hath loved you and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to god for a sweet smell and say oh man that sounds good i like that but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not be once named among you as becoming saints i want to do things that's becoming of a saint it's a negative connotation if you do something that's unbecoming right you understand i've been around folks look so holy the acts are holy until they open their mouth and they say things and they talk in ways that's so unbecoming of a saint neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient they'll go out of their way to tell you a salty rumor or an off-color joke rather giving thanks that's what needs to come out of our mouth oh i thank god for what he's doing i thank him for it for you know he went on to say that no whoremongers no unclean persons or covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of christ of of christ and of god let no man deceive you with vain words but because for because of these things cometh the wrath of god upon the children of disobedience be not ye therefore partakers with them well i told you it wouldn't be deep i've already quoted bugs bunny so i might as well go on to all you old heads in the house it's older than me now i'm going to quote he-haul some of you trying to act like you don't know what i'm talking about you're the ones that didn't watch lawrence welk on saturday evening hee-haw used to say you'll never hear me repeating gossip so you better be careful to listen close the first time brother mccool everything i said was true there's some things that don't need to be named once among us he there's some stuff i don't care if it's true y'all not to be talking about it there's some things i don't care oh it's absolutely positively true don't talk about it hush close your mouth we must have some self-discipline about ourselves i keep my body under subjection i unless that by any means when i have preached others i'm talking to me preacher mccool now i should be a castaway paul was preaching to himself to preachers to ministers to elders to teachers to church leaders we must practice what we preach you remember when saul because of his jealous way saul and his sons were slain on the battlefield the word came to david that saul has been slain by all rights david could have reveled and celebrated the death of saul because saul had treated him so unfairly we've preached it about it before he had been so mean had plotted his his death and had had been so divisive in the kingdom that it was saul's ultimate demise because he found himself alone against the enemy rather than united with the rest of the armies of god's people when he was slain and run through he was about to die and he had at his armor bearer to run him through so he would not die at the hands of the enemy then the the armor bearer would fall on his own sword what a horrible horrific death and this word came to david david could have easily said let's have a party all this division's over with but instead you know it david said in second samuel 919 the beauty of israel is slain upon the high places how are the mighty fallen and then he said this he said tell it not in gath publish it not in the streets of ashkelon lest the daughters of the philistines rejoice lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph what was he saying he said it's truth we've got demise here there's trouble there's a problem he said but don't publish it why should our enemies find any joy in the death of saul and his sons let me tell you the church is not perfect in fact i've got some bad news for you there are no perfect churches if you want to change churches because this church isn't perfect the next church you go to it's going to be imperfect as well you know why because you're going to be there and none of us perfect people left all right so we're all imperfect we already had that chance and nobody left so any place you go there's going to be imperfection but i have seen from time to time there are a few that takes it on themselves that they are supposed to catch everybody else up on all the bad news now i realize we're not shouting dancing huckabook and walk in the bench backs tonight but i hope you'll hear what the pastor is saying preacher are you preaching from information absolutely not things are going so good right now this is a time to preach such a message but hear me don't ever find yourself of being the purveyor of petty tales of others failures you're in a house full of failures you heard the man tonight step up to the microphone one of our ministers someone we esteem highly he said this is what it used to be this is what it used to do but god forgave me god forgave me let me tell you if you're sitting in this house tonight just thank him for forgiveness thank him for what he's done for you i'm not here to carry some tales of what somebody messed up and what they did we're going to be in a house full of mistakes but the jesus i served took a hold of me when i repented of my sins when i was baptized in his name i was at a camp meeting up in michigan i went to the altar and i threw up my hands and i started speaking in a language i didn't know how to speak the holy ghost begin to move on me he wants to do that for you [Applause] let not sin romans said therefore reign in your mortal body neither you your members your tongue as an instrument of unrighteousness unto sin and let me quickly just give you a couple more scriptures so i will be truthful with what i said and watch the time proverbs 17 27 said this he that hath knowledge spareth his words and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise man you can look smart by not saying a thing sometimes even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding there's times that all you got to do is go man he must she must know something he must he he gets it all the time all you've been doing preacher what are you saying we should never speak up no there's times to speak up there's times to speak the truth not a truth but the truth but there's also time well let me give you one more scripture first thessalonians 4 11 said and that you study to be quiet and to do your own business hallelujah and to work with your own hands as we commanded you that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without and that you may have lack of nothing sometimes the greatest witness we can have is not what we say but what we are to this world they know that that's not a gossip lying envy filled tongue it's somebody that goes about taking care of their business they study to be quiet they do their own business they work with their own hands and somebody says i want what they've got all right proverbs 6 gave seven things that god hates of those seven things two of them have to deal with the mouth one of them's a lion tongue the other is a false witness that speaketh lies know what we need to be speaking if we're going to talk we need to be speaking encouragement jesus had to tell peter he said i prayed for thee now understand peter had been a follower for a good long while he'd been seeing the miracles and doing all these things but he said but i've prayed for thee that thy faith fell not and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren you see there was somewhere along the way impetuous peter had a way of getting involved in controversy he's the one that had to deny jesus by cursing he's the one that on a whim pulled a sword and cut the ear of the high priest servant off he was one of those who he wouldn't let jesus wash his feet and jesus said if i can't wash your feet i'll have nothing he said then give me a bath you know he was always going to the extremes and jesus was saying peter if you want to mature and be converted strengthen those around you oh god let my voice my words strengthen folks did you know the power of suggestion can greatly influence for good or bad just the power of suggestion a new air freshener in the building if somebody suggests it smells like a spring day wow isn't that great if somebody says man that smells like a gas leak we'll evacuate the building by the power of suggestion you know what i'm not into this just speaking things for no reason but i think every time we come into the house of god we ought to be speaking some good things i'm excited about being in the house of god tonight don't care what you've been through at work don't care who blew their horn at you on the way to church we ought to just walk into the house of god saying i'm expecting to have good church tonight aren't you glad to be in the house of lord that you know because suddenly when we start acting that way somebody else gets excited and the lord says man there's a bunch of folks that showed up to have church i want to get right in the midst of he inhabits the praise of his people not the grumbling not the griping of his people stand with me musicians there is no song appropriate i just tell you that now galatians said it this way brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual get on facebook and tell everybody about it start a whispering campaign and try to ruin them as quick as possible restore such a one in a spirit of meekness first apostolic church i still believe in restoration restoration can't come save through repentance bible tells us godly sorrow worketh repentance but if you'll come to the an altar of repentance say i'm sorry for my sin and ways i'm sorry for the things i've done suddenly you enact the power of salvation because god sees a repentant heart and he says i i want to receive you i don't want anybody to perish when we come with a real repentant heart not caring what anybody else thinks or what anybody else says but lord i'm sorry for my sins suddenly he says i want to fill you with my spirit i want to to make you one of my own i want to forgive you he's looking for an opportunity to forgive you you see scripture is filled with instructions on what to say if you got to say something hosea 14 said in verse 2 take with you words and turned to the lord and said to him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips what's that mean calves that's the sacrifices of our lips it's tough to say i'm sorry difficult words some of us choke on that word sorry but god needs to hear i'm sorry from some of us god needs to hear some of us say lord i'm sorry for what i've been saying what have been thinking what i've been doing he'll receive us graciously that's called repentance and forgiveness david said speaking of restoration he said restore unto me the joy of thy salvation david didn't say i'm not saved he said i just lost the joy of my salvation uphold me with thy free spirit and i will teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted and they deliver me from blood guiltness o god thou god of my salvation listen david was asking for a whole lot of forgiveness i need not to go back through and itemize but this was one of david's lowest times when he had committed such horrible acts of sin and when he was asking for restoration and forgiveness he said in my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness why have we felt such a wonderful spirit tonight when the praise team and the choir pastor whitley begin singing the songs of praise something happens when we start singing of the lord's righteousness o lord open my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise oh let me speak and sing the songs of praise he said in psalms 119 my lips shall utter praise when thou hast taught me thy statutes my tongue shall speak of thy word for all thy commandments are right hebrews said by him therefore let us offer the sacrifices of god continually that is the fruit of our lips do you see a theme developing here you got to say something sometimes but you got to say it to god instead of telling somebody else you got to say something to god i wonder if there's anybody in this house tonight that would like to just take a few moments and come around the altar and say god i just want to talk to you i just want to tell you how much i love you maybe somebody's needing to repent but maybe somebody just needing to give him some praise i close with this passage he said i will wash my hands in innocency nothing wrong with washing my hands so i will compass thine altar oh lord that i may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell all thy wondrous works would you come tonight giving him praise giving him worship repenting if you need to repent but speak something out tonight let the holy ghost speak through you would you lead us in worship and praise hallelujah yes sing it hallelujah [Music] it's not about high degrees [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] it's not about me [Music] and from my home to the heavens [Music] yes it's all about you and from my heart to the [Music] yes it's all about [Music] hallelujah is jesus the center of your life hallelujah hallelujah let's go from this place tonight determine that the words that i say the things that i speak will bring edifying the words that i speak will represent christ the words that i speak will be a witness to the loss and we will invite them in first apostolic church i love you i thank you for being a positive speaking church a holy ghost field church a holy ghost anointed church come back wednesday night oh let me tell you let me say this in dismissal this coming wednesday night bishop mccool is reviewing and preaching on the apostolic doctrine let me give you this bit of commercial don't you miss it now we have several groups that meet on wednesday night and they're doing an awesome job and they're going to keep on keeping on but let me tell you this if you're not in one of those special interest groups don't be in the lobby don't be all these seating areas that we have those aren't for folks to linger during church i'm see i'm doing some past uh where's pastor krauss you don't get to hear this online let's be in the sanctuary don't be in the lobby don't be in the hall coffee machines aren't available during church don't be drinking coffee be in here you need to hear a review of the apostolic doctrine you need to hear our foundational beliefs be in this house be right in here as bishop teaches to us and ministers to us you know it's kind of easy to get lost with the crowd uh if you're not in be free don't hang around be free's door if you're if you're not an adultish if you're too old to be adulteress you need to you're an adult you need to be in here so being here let's have church together on wednesday night and bible study don't you miss it lord bless you everybody say pastor i love you anyhow choir practice tuesday night seven o'clock be getting ready for easter service you're dismissed in jesus name shake hands and be friendly