Sunday Evening Worship Service

would you remain standing As you move to your seat for just a few moments I'm excited about all the Lord has in store for us I join with Bishop MC's voice and saying what a marvelous word we heard to the church this morning thank you Pastor Whitley for ministering mightily to us as you always do thank you First Apostolic church every facet of the ministries of this assembly thank you for your once again doing a marvelous job reaching our community reaching our kids reaching around the world we just had uh a general Ministry Conference of the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ uh in Pigeon Forge Tennessee and uh the uh fingerprints and the influences of this assembly were widely recognized in the ministry that you do here and literally around the world and I thank thank you for your continued uh desire to carry the word of God and do a great work in the kingdom of God uh to Bishop and sister MCO once again I love you Mom and Dad thank you for your influence for your vision and I hope that we are fulfilling what God has still called us to do I I don't mention her enough but I have to say to my wife Jamie I love you dearly sweetheart and uh thank you for your care for First Apostolic church with all of that said I want to read one verse tonight for my text so uh hold on we're going to we're going to just go after it if if you would i' call your attention to a passage of scripture that most in this house could quote with me but I will give it to you just the same the book of Acts the first chapter verse 8 simply says this but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be Witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth for a few minutes tonight I want you to help me say I've got power would you say that I've got power say it again say I've got got power I got power we're claiming that in Jesus name let's pray savior we love you Lord we're grateful for the power of the Holy Ghost that has already been manifest in this service I thank you for the praise that's gone up Lord the blessings that have come down now Lord I pray that your word would Minister mightily to us Lord let everything that we say let everything we do be according to your will for all this we're grateful and thankful in the name of Jesus we pray amen and amen Lord bless you you may be seated I've got power I make that Proclamation tonight the term power defined simply is the activity or rather the ability to do something or to act in a particular way the ability to do something or act in a particular way I want to read you just a couple of lines from Car and Driver would that be all right car and driver had this headline the 2024 Ford Mustang 5.0 L V8 gets a big power bump the reworked coote V8 makes 500 horsepower in the top Dark Horse Model that's pretty impressive now it mentions horsepower horsepower is simply a unit of measurement and the Imperial definition of horsepower said that it's the ability of a horse to lift 550 lbs by one foot in one second with all of that in mind I would remind us of a well-worn story that I heard a few years ago the story tells of an Oklahoma farmer who always drove a wagon pulled by his favorite horse around town Texico discovered oil on his property and overnight he became became quite wealthy his family urged him to retire his wagon and buy a new vehicle anything he wanted with the first fruits of his new found wealth so The Story Goes that he bought a brand new Ford could have been a station wagon or it could have been a Mustang who knows and the story also goes that the next day he was seen driving right down Main Street in that brand new Ford vehicle and he had hitched his favorite horse to the front of it and was pulling it suffice to say at the turn of a key he had at his disposal more horsepower than he could ever imagine but in instead not realizing what he had he still just had one horsepower I'm here to tell you we have power and sometimes we do not even realize what God has given us and the authority that the Holy Ghost has blessed us with to take advantage of living an overcoming life too many people are living under the circumstances instead of having power over all those things that are destroying and condemning and limiting others but I must tell you a little more about our power for our power is not measured in how much weight a horse can lift for one second instead I would call ours not horsepower I would tell you we've got blood power that's why we sing songs around here like there's power power wonderwork power in the blood of the Lamb qu get up there is power in the blood of the lamb power to make you walk right power to make you stand and we'll sing the blood will never lose its power why do we say that because there's power in the shed blood of Jesus in the book of Hebrews we were told that there was no remission for sin without the shedding of blood it went on to tell us that everybody is appointed to die and that there would be judgment but it said Christ was offered to Bear the sins of many in Hebrews 10 we read that we are sacrificed through the offering of the body of Christ once and for all you see the power we have didn't come from some formula on how much pulling weight there is but the shed blood of Jesus has afforded us unlimited power in the Kingdom of Christ Hallelujah I begin studying just a little bit some of the power that we have that maybe we don't realize John 1 11 said he came unto his own is and his own receed received him not but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood nor of the will of Flesh nor of the will of man but of God you see I've got the power to become the Son of God when I believe on him and when I take him on I have power you've got power 2 Corinthians 13:4 says for th for though he was crucified through weakness yet he liveth by the power of God for we also are weak in him but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you we can live in the power of God it went on to say examine yourselves whether you be in the faith prove your own selves know not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobate but I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates no we are powerful creatures when we live in Christ we can live in him am amen and you see there's more power for in Romans 1:6 we read for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God un salv ation to everyone who believeth to the Jew first also to the Greek for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith as it is written the just shall live by faith the gospel of Christ is something to be proud of that's where we find evidence of our power and finally in preaching if you want to be a preacher and you want to be a powerful preacher here's what you're supposed to to preach 1 Corinthians 1:18 says for the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of God when we preach the cross when we preach crucifixtion we preach Redemption from sin when we preach repentance water baptism in Jesus name the infilling of the Holy Ghost we are expressing the power of God that we have but let me tell you if we aren't careful all of us who are Holy Ghost filled because our text said you would receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you if we aren't careful we will assume that that power is always there on demand rather than living in power and living in God scripture gives example in the Old Testament of how God's people who were powerful took for granted his power and they lost it 1 Samuel 41 we read and the word of and the word of Samuel came to all Israel now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle and pitched beside Ebenezer and the Philistines pitched behind a side aec and the Philistines put themselves in Array against Israel and when they joined the battle Israel was smitten wait a minute God's people are supposed to be powerful it said they were smitten before the Philistines and they slew of the Army in the field about 4,000 men and when the people were come into the camp the Elders of Israel said wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines and notice this they said let us fetch the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of shallow unto us that when it cometh Among Us it may save us out of the hands of our enemies you see the Ark of God represented his power dwelling with his people and the Covenant with his people all right right I would first ask us this question why in the world would they go to war without it why would they dare take that chance Hebrews 9 and4 gives us a an overview of the main components of the Ark Hebrews 9:4 said in the Ark of the Covenant overlaid roundabout with gold where in was the golden pot that had Mana Aaron's Rod that budded and the of the Covenant I submit to you there were four main components of the Ark in the Old Testament number one the golden pot of mana and it represents God's miraculous Pro Provisions I don't have to go tell you the whole story but I'd remind you simply this when they were in the wilderness and the hunger God fed them miraculously with Mana and that golden pot of Mana that was inside the Ark of the Covenant it was a reminder it was a representation that God is our provider we have power for provision amen Aaron's Rod that budded represented God's miraculous Deliverance this was a sign that Aaron used as a leader that brought Deliverance to God's people The Ten Commandments were also in the Ark of the Covenant this represented God's law and then above between the Cherub was the name of the Lord I'm here to tell you we have miraculous Provisions we have deliverance we have law but we also have the name that's about as much power as anybody ever needs God's people had power back then and we have power right now but if we aren't careful we'll feel like we can do some stuff without the they let the AR come you know we're we're used to dealing with the Philistines our Army's gotten pretty powerful I believe we can do without the ark I've got news for you you don't just go fetch the power of God when you need it for your personal Victory you don't leave it at home you take it with you everywhere you go sadly I've heard a few folks say from time to time well I believe I'm just going to lay my Holy Ghost down for a little while and deal with this problem listen I don't want to live one day one minute one second without the power of the Holy Ghost In Me guiding me directing me leading me amen for you see the people of God had become so oblivious to what God had been blessing them with they thought this was was form and ritual they no longer needed in 1 Samuel 4:4 we read so the people sent to shalow that they might bring from thin the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of hosts which dwell between the cherubims and the two sons of Eli Hoff and phas were there with the Ark of the Covenant herein lies the problem Hoff and phenias were so far from the presence of God yet they were the acting Priests of God let me tell everybody in the house I'm talking to me I'm talking to everybody natural Bloodlines do not necessitate the power of God in your life I'm thankful that you had a Grandmama or a great Grandmama that was powerful with God I'm glad you had a Praying Mama but you got to have power in your life for yourself you got to have fresh power and fresh fire in your life young people don't depend on Mom and Dad's walk with God you got to have a personal relationship with him You' got to have the power of the Holy Ghost in your life for yourself oh [Music] Hallelujah and I've got news for you God's power won't work if you're not living right we need to know how to live right 1 Samuel 2:12 said now the sons of Eli were sons of Bel bile and they knew not the Lord they were the acting priests but they were sons of the devil you can grow up in this sanctuary and still not know him let me show you what happened verse five and when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp all of Israel shouted with a great shout so the Earth rang out let me tell you you can shout and still not be right do I believe in Shout you better know I do lifting my voice and praise I believe in shouting dancing e emotional displays but I've got news for you the world knows how to shout and dance man that's why they got cheerleaders that that's why they they H have the the wave you can shout and still not be having the real power of God and notice what happened we'll just read through this chronologically a little bit it said and when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout they said what meth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews and they understood that the Ark of the Lord was come into the camp and the Philistines were afraid for they said God has coming into the camp and they said woe unto us for hath for there hath not been such a thing here to for woe unto us who shall deliver us out of the hands of these Mighty Gods plural these are the gods that smoke the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness even the Heathen Philistines knew about the power of God they knew the reputation of the people they were going to war with and the Philistines were afraid of the power of God while the people people of God were apathetic about having the power of God you see folks I'm not intimidated by our past I think we need to celebrate our past and where we've come from don't be afraid but at the same time we've got to have power today the world knows that there's something different about the church the world knows and the world fears but if we don't stay strong in the Lord and keep the power of God moving in us it will be nothing more than a form and a ritual and the world will be more intimidated by it than we will to have it notice what scripture says scripture encourages the Philistines verse n be strong and quit or acquit yourselves or conduct yourselves like men oh you Philistines that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews as they have been to you quit yourselves like men and fight and the Philistines fought and Israel was smitten and they fled every man into his tent and there was a very great Slaughter for there fell of Israel 30,000 footmen and notice verse 11 and the Ark of God was taken and the two sons of Eli Hof and phas were slain if we assume that God's power is just a fetch away we are headed for disaster we can take his power his Deliverance his Provisions his law his name for granted and suddenly we can be spiritually powerless if we come complacent as Saints who perpetually gripe and complain and generally have nothing good to say about the work of God we have become powerless there are some that would say hey I pay my tithe I have a right to grip and complain um I hadn't read that verse yet could you give me chapter and book on that giving God what is his doesn't give you the right to grip and complain all that gives you the right is to get blessings let me tell you we don't need to be a group of gripers and complainers we've got to stay worshippers excited about the power of the Holy Ghost working in us the supernatural power that they were singing about he's a miracle worker he's still The Miracle Worker he's still doing wonderful things I've got power you've got power we've got power oh hallelujah [Applause] hallelujah when we come to the point that his provisions mean little to us when we get to the point that we're looking for New Revelations rather than obedience to the tenants of Holiness and righteousness we've lost our power before God deliverance from sin will soon be forgotten when we feel we can operate without the power of God hey God we got this tonight you know we you should have heard us in practice we practiced enough we should always be prepared all right preparation helps prepare us to receive the anointing so don't get me wrong preparation is I I'm so thankful for the folks who prepare to sing to play to greet uh to Usher to operate technology who study to teach and to preach but if we ever get to the point that we feel like it's our preparation that's doing the work we've lost our power we've lost what God has for us the next time we get in this position eventually you know what you'll start thinking I don't need the name either you see we can take for granted his Provisions his Miracle his law you see the laws of God are our protection I'm so thankful for the things that guide and protect me you know in in in a natural sense did you know we are all protected by speed limit laws th those laws protect us and when they they when you violate them there's some really good men and women who will give you notice and remind you that it's going to cost you when you violate them but you know what I'm giving this example before it but it it deserves repeating it's such a good feeling to be out on the interstate and be driving 65 in a 65 Zone and go through radar that's just a good feeling that that you don't wave but you feel like y'all keep it up good job but it's just as bad a feeling to be knocking down 75 and come over the hill and that state trooper bit and you're going oh Jesus so God oh Jesus so God oh J don't let him see me oh don't let him see me now I'm sure I'm the only one that's ever done that you see when we're under the authority of the laws of God there's no condemnation there's no spiritual anxiety we're saying thank you Lord for your protections but if we aren't careful we can find ourselves taking for granted the protections that his law affords us right you see when this great loss took place because they' made the assumption that just because the representation of the power of God was there disaster took place there was a Slaughter of the soldiers the footmen hoffine and phas the supposed spiritual leaders were slain and the Arc of God was taken by the Philistines verse 16 of 1 Samuel 4 said and the man said unto Eli I am he that came out of the army and I fled today out of the army and he said what is that they're done my son and the messenger answered and said Israel has fled before the Philistines and there have been also a great Slaughter among the people and thy two sons also Hof and phas are dead and the Ark of God is taken it came to pass when he made mention of the Ark of God that he fell from off the seat backward beside the gate and his neck break and he died died for he was an old man and heavy and he had judged Israel 40 years and his daughter-in-law phus wife was with child near to be delivered and when she heard the tidings that the Ark of God was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead she bowed herself in travail for the her pain came un her and about the time of her death now listen to the Carnage that is taking place when God's people did not realize the power that they had about the time of her death the woman that stood by her said unto her fear not for thou Hast borne a son but she answered not neither did she regard it and she speaking of the woman that stood by and she named the child ikabod saying the glory is departed from Israel because the Ark of God was taken and because her father-in-law and her husband and she said the glory is departed from Israel for the ark is taken let me tell everybody in the house if we don't keep our kids strong in the power of the Holy Ghost you better teach them to spell ubad because that's their new name one generation one gener ation failing to understand the importance of the Jesus name Apostolic Holy Ghost fall that we have been so beautifully had poured out on us if we start taking that for granted and start taking the power we've got for granted suddenly we can find ourselves with a name that means the glory is departed now let me pause here for I've heard some trying to warn we in the apostolic movement say now bless God if if we don't use the power of God somebody else will well that's not necessarily so for I will paraphrase a bit and give you portions of scripture because here's what happened they lost Miracle provision they lost Deliverance they lost the law and they lost the name because the Philistines took it but the Philistines didn't know how to handle it either for the Philistines took the Ark of God and they placed it in the house of their idol God deeon they they tried to mix the true power of God with their false idol God and the Bible tells us they put it in the temple with their idle God the next day they came back and their idle God had fallen over it had fallen face down to the ark as though it was bowing to the ark they set it up again the next day they Rose early in the morning and behold the Bible says they was Fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark and the head of deeon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold only the stump of deeon was left to him therefore neither the priest of deeon nor any that could come into deon's house tread upon the threshold of deeon in ashdod unto this day but the hand of the Lord was Heavy upon them of ashdod and he destroyed them let me tell you a heathen world can't have the real true power of God it won't work you can't mix the power of God with any other false thing it has to be Jesus first all the time it can't mix with all that other stuff now some of you going to wonder about my preaching after the way I preached on Father's Day and had to be so careful so I'll be even more careful here I will not be crude or vulgar in any way but see I've already got some of your interest so with being homiletically cautious using a little poic prowess let me encourage you to go read first Samuel the 5th chapter to see exactly what happened and what God would plague the Philistines with suffice to say the Bible this is and this is as far as I'll go with it you can read and study the rest of it for yourself the Bible says they were stricken in their hinder parts so now some of y'all go through your Bible right now I want to see what that was study it when you get home but you see when a heathen World tries to have the real power of God it won't work it'll be a pain to them it won't work it won't happen and you know what they did they said get that thing out of here we don't want that it in verse eight it said they sit therefore and gathered all the Lords of the Philistines and said to them what shall we do with the Ark of God of Israel and they answered and said let the Ark of Israel be carried un gu they Carri the Ark of God of Israel about thither verse 10 therefore sent the Ark of God to echon and it came to pass as the Ark of God came to echon that that the aconites cried out saying they have brought about the Ark of God of Israel to slay us and our people they said we don't want it you see a world that does not know God and does not have a hunger for God will not want what we're blessed to have it will be an Abomination to them it will be a pain to them it will be destructive to them and you can find that for uh 7even months the Philistines tried to do something with this Ark and finally they would find the ark and let me narrate again carefully not only were they moved to return the ark to its rightful owner but they had to make golden images of the very plague as a gift to God so they could return it you see the power of God is not available to use for personal agendas Deliverance provision law in the name of Jesus becomes a real pain for those who have alternate agendas in the kingdom of God it will eventually destroy them I will hasten toward the end but we find that the Philistines would eventually send the Ark of God on a cart LED by cows or kind which are cows that have left nursing their calves and that they would let it Wonder to Beth Shish it would wonder to bethus and the people of bethus would receive it the very thing that made the Heathen cringe made the Believers rejoice when they saw the ark coming back but even then and I continue to paraphrase rather than read it all for time sake the people of God had more responsibility of how to properly care for the ark than even the Philistines did well you you'll find that the men of beish when the ark got there they had forgotten how sacred the ark was and some of them wanted to look in it and see what was in it and you know what happened the Bible says that he smokee of the people 50,000 3 score and 10 because they looked in the ark they would send it on its way eventually it would be 20 years that Israel would be without you can read in 1st Samuel 7 they would be without the ark before it would be returned to its rightful position you will also find even at its final return David himself would struggle with the proper Administration and direction of the Ark for you'll recall what happened to Aza when Aza meaning well would see the ark being transported on a cart would lift his hand to keep it from falling God would kill him because there was more responsibility among God's people it wasn't to be born on a cart it was to be born on the shoulders of the priest and David would find himself even afraid and would have to go back and look for some guidance and Direction so the proper direction for having the power of God I hope me telling you that we have power does not frighten us or scare us for it shouldn't but we should be so familiar with a move of God and it should be so common among us hallelujah it shouldn't be a fright to our kids if somebody starts speaking with tongues it shouldn't scare them when the Holy Ghost starts moving it should be such a familiar thing among us that we know the proper administration of the Holy Ghost and if some f false ideology or some false Doctrine comes up we immediately have the spiritual perception to know the difference in a false thing and a real move of God I'm here to tell you we've got to keep the power of God alive in us we got power we got power we got power would you stand with me I said we've got power David would go back they would study said man we're going to have to do this the right way if we're going to bring the Ark in we're going to have to do it the right way it was now at the house of obededom and Obed edom's house was being blessed everything was going and the Bible said in 2 Samuel 6:12 and it was told King David and saying the Lord had blessed the house of obededom and all that pertaineth unto him because the Ark of God so David went and brought up the Ark of God from the House of oedm under the city of David with gladness I'm here to tell you we got to be a glad people we've got to be an excited people about having the power of God listen folks this world needs to run into us and say man I want what they've got it doesn't mean things are going to always go right it means we've got a god guiding us when things are going wrong we're going to have challenges of this world we're going to have needs in our lives but the world is going to see something different when a holy ghost powerfill person stands up and meets every adversary with gladness and excitement I don't know your situation tonight maybe you've lost your power maybe you've lost your worship you've lost your commitment you've lost your praise You've Lost Your shout maybe your shout has become nothing more than a hollow display of emotion I'm here to tell you it's time to get your power back it's time to claim the authority of the power of the Holy Ghost you've got Deliverance you've got provision you've got God's law protecting you and you have the name of Jesus in your life I want to give you just a couple of more scriptures Ephesians 610 this is a good scripture to start closing the message because it says finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might the power we've got is not our own it's the power of His might 1 Corinthians 2:4 said this and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's Wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God everything I'm going to believe in everything I'm going to claim everything I'm going to trust is in the power of God tonight I want us to do this I want us to come ready for the power of God to be renewed fresh in us if you're in this house and you do not yet have the power of the Holy Ghost dwelling in you you need to come and repent of your sins you need to be baptized in Jesus name and you are promised the gift of the Holy Ghost and our text said you would receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you it's just that simple I I I don't know how to make it any easier what is the Holy Ghost it's called The Gift of Holy Ghost why because it's free it's given to you you don't have to beg you don't have to plead the Holy Ghost is yours and you don't get the Holy Ghost without power Praise Team come out here I want you to sing something and I want us to step out from our seats I want us to gather around for a season of powerful prayer as God renew your power keep your power strong in my life I want your power to reain in all that I do would you come praising him would you come with gladness would you come claiming his power this night hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah yeah [Applause] Hallelujah sing it there's power in the name of Jesus yes there's power what will it do it's going to break Break Every Chain Break Every Chain he he hey hey the of Jes power power power power in the name [Music] Jes is Jes break every CH break every CH break every CH Break Every Chain Break Every Chain Break Every Chain yeah yeah [Music] all so freely G such I've got power I've got power Proclaim your power tonight in Jesus name Proclaim your power in Jesus name hey there is power in the name of Jesus there is [Music] in the name the of to Break Every Chain Break Every Chain Break Every Chain Break Every Chain CH Break Every Chain Break Every Chain an there's an army rising [Music] [Applause] up be ring [Music] [Applause] Sing To Break Every Chain Break Every CH Break Every Chain there's an army rising up there's an army Hallelujah me Rising Break Every Chain Break Every Chain Break Every Chain lift your hands in Jesus name Hallelujah now would you one more time Proclaim say I've got power I've got power Hallelujah go from this place tonight proclaiming the power of Jesus Jesus in your life go from this place Victorious winning every battle in jesus' name all those headed to camp tomorrow remember assembling at 10:40 the bands are leaving 11: there'll be a special meeting with all campers and all chaperon promptly at this at the leaving time at 11: you please be here don't be late be here Wednesday night we've been out a couple of weeks going places be here Wednesday night for Wednesday night in the word going to have a great time in the Lord Lord bless you you're dismissed in Jesus name