Sunday Morning Worship Service

lord bless you i'm going to let you be seated thank you praise team musicians for leading us in worship we welcome everyone to the sunday morning worship service of first apostolic church what an honor and a privilege it is to be back in the house of the lord i am so excited and will not linger long but i will simply say amen to bishop's words reminding everyone next sunday morning next sunday night will be very special time with brother raymond woodward a great man of god a great preacher of the gospel and has great connections to our roots he is literally in demand all over the world as a wonderful wonderful preacher of holiness and the tenets of the apostolic faith and so i encourage everyone do not miss next sunday mornings next sunday night be here expecting a great time and i want to be here wednesday night as well i just want to know how big god is i want to be in on that how about you bishop we're looking forward to hearing that we welcome all of our guests if this is your first time to be at first apostolic church thank you for worshiping with us we also welcome those who are joining us on the multiple media outlets of television and all the internet connections thank you for being with us i saw uh on one of the visitations we have guests joining us in bulgaria today and we're honored to have you and i would let all the saints around the world know especially the saints of ukraine and all of the eastern european nations that we are having special prayer we continue to pray for your well-being and for your safety that god will give you strength in a very difficult time and praying that god will intervene for your protection we love you and first apostolic church is in your your ever you are ever in our minds as we pray and call on the name of the lord for you i want to go to the word of the lord this morning and i would call you to look with me to the book of romans the seventh chapter the book of romans the seventh chapter and as you are finding that i would also uh tell this church family how much i do appreciate your continued support with your faithful giving god is rewarding us we are in the process of seeing some renovations in our event center there was a lot of planning went on when you couldn't see anything being done but now if you go down there and look in the doors you'll see that there's some work going on and we are ordering flooring and other uh improvements for that part so we can continue doing a good work for the lord and i thank you your continued support takes care of that and i also say i appreciate this church family for continuing to give we do not always broadcast about our giving to missions and maybe we should do more of that today is a day of uh choosing uh missionaries and missions to pray for and of course we are especially as i stated earlier we are especially praying for all of our uh eastern european missionaries in all of the taxing situations they are in and we we pray for all of our missionaries but first apostolic church gives consistently every month to uh uh many many missionaries that's your money that comes from the general treasury we've designated missionaries that have been uh vetted and been inspected that they are doing what what they are supposed to do and they're doing a marvelous work around the world and we give to them monthly and your designated offerings uh that if you have a particular missionary that you choose to support if you give it through first apostolic church then in turn every dime of that goes to them and you also get credit for your giving so let me remind everyone first apostolic church is a missions-minded and admissions-giving church we also support missions america we are monthly supporting apostolic works that have been approved by the assemblies of the lord jesus christ new works we had the privilege just a couple of months back of going to our youth rally down in cleveland to another one of our missions america churches and last sunday night i believe it was we had the privilege of donating our choir robes that we previously used to their church because they said fac and their church is fac first apostolic church and i said we're giving you these by faith i want you to grow your choir into all these robes we're giving you and of course brother fallon was so grateful and so we're uh supporting the work of the lord both foreign missions and missions america so thank you for continuing to give the book of romans the seventh chapter we'll read it verse 21. romans 7 verse 21 i find then a law that when i would do good evil is present with me for i delight in the law of god after the inward man but i see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind please notice that against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members o wretched man that i am who shall deliver me from the body of this death i thank god through jesus christ our lord so then with the mind i myself serve the law of god but with the flesh the law of sin for a few moments i would speak to you on this subject this sunday morning there's a war going on the battle for my mind there's a war going on let's pray savior i love you god i thank you for your word i thank you for all of the wonderful praise that has gone forward today lord i pray that you would open our minds and our understanding to your word that we would seek your face and accept all that you have for us we would react and do all that you would ask of us that would please you in the name of jesus we pray amen and amen there's a war going on it's the battle for my mind god still wants people who desire to be spirit-led rather than temporally led never mistake there was a war for our minds going on every day we are bombarded with the devil's propaganda we are daily inundated with the enemy's disinformation and we are off harassed by the devil's hogwash but today i want to address the war between the carnal and the spiritual the soul and the flesh which paul addressed as a warring in our minds it is a battle that has no cease-fire it has no treaty it has no common ground or no room for compromise it is the battle for our minds i think it not by accident when jesus was asked to teach us to pray and he gave what we commonly refer to as the lord's prayer that in that prayer he distinguishes now this is my theology okay this is my interpretation but he distinguishes between temptation and evil he says lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil i submit to you that temptation comes from the inside and evil attacks from the outside for you see temptation are those things that come from within the mind hear me there are some folks that are tempted by chocolate ice cream i can walk right past it it doesn't do any good for me now you give me a good bowl of vanilla and there's another temptation there i figured when they made ice cream the first ice cream had to be vanilla so you couldn't improve on that you know but there are some things unless it's a temptation to you there's no battle going on but i'm here to tell you temptation from sin comes on our inside from our flesh now the devil attacks with evil from the outside he does evil things and puts evil things in our way but temptation comes from the things that our flesh desires romans 8 5 says this for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit for to be carnally minded is dead but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against god for it is not subject to the law of god neither indeed can be so then they that are in the flesh cannot please god for if you live after the flesh ye shall die but if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live for as many as are led by the spirit of god they are the sons of god now let me read you this one interpretation or translation of this same passage from romans 8 and 5 said this those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things what do you think about all the time what's dwelling on your mind what addictions does your mind have what are you dwelling on the things that dominate the way you think but those who are controlled by the holy spirit think about things that please the spirit you see i could give you this example when we're out in this everyday workaday world if there's controversy do you think about getting somebody told or do you think about being an example that doesn't mean you go around letting yourself be run over but it means there are spiritual ways to handle things and there are carnal ways to handle things that means the people of god's their testimony is preeminent above everything else even when you have a controversy you don't lose your cool and act like a fool can i get a witness in the house it went on to say letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death that's both spiritual death and you can also get your killing too people all the time flying off the handle acting ugly being mean having road rage you lobby get lead poisoning nowadays you better have control of your thinking capacity letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death but letting the spirit control your mind leads to life and peace blessing are the peacemakers for the sinful nature is always hostile to god it never did obey god's law and it never will that's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please god i say yes and amen there's a war going on there's a war going on in our minds there's a war going on in our thinking and we must be in control we better make sure we stay on the right side we stay on the lord's side scripture gives a wonderful example of this in the book of second kings the fifth chapter we find a comparison contrast that's one of the the ways sister sandy in our english department you'll find out in uh when you get into college they'll say write me a comparison contrast paper show how things are like show me how things are different there's a great comparison and contrast story of being temporarily led versus spirit led in ii kings 5. let me read a little bit of it to you it says in ii kings 5 1 now naaman captain of the host of the king of syria was a great man with his master and honorable because by him the lord had given deliverance unto syria he was also a mighty man in valor but he was a leper and the syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of israel a little maid and she waited on naaman's wife and she said unto her mistress would god my lord were with the prophet that is in samaria for he would recover him of this leprosy and one went in and told his lord now understand what's happening naaman is a valued military leader but he's suffering with leprosy it was a death sentence in that day it made him an outcast it made him to be separated from all and he was so valued to the king of syria that when the king of syria heard that there was a possibility for his healing in samaria thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of israel the king of syria said go to go and i will send a letter unto the king of israel and he departed and took with him ten talents of silver six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of raymond and he brought the letter to the king of israel saying now when this letter has come unto thee behold i have therewith sent naaman my servant to thee that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy now please stay with me remember we're talking about a battle for the mind and this is an example of the way the flesh thinks and operates versus the way the spirit thinks and operates for this little maiden from israel she just made mention that oh i wish your husband my master could meet up with the prophet that's in syria he could be healed of this thing now understand she was a slave she was a servant from israel who had been taken captive and was serving in syria i won't preach about this but i could please everybody in this house remember god will sometimes place you in a position of servitude to be a witness that didn't cost anything extra hear me sometimes you're not going to be the boss at work but god might have put you there to witness to somebody sometimes you're not going to be in charge but if you'll still be a witness whatever your situation god may have placed you in a strategic position to do an awesome work and to be an awesome witness just do what you can wherever you are for god and think like jesus don't think like the world but notice what happened the king got word of this and he valued naaman so much that he wrote a letter and he sent financial gain and remuneration to the king of israel said i i need my general healed i need my military expert healed and i want you to notice the reaction of the king now this wasn't the reaction of a prophet remember the little maid said i wish he could meet the prophet but the king used his back channels and all he didn't know anything about prophets all he knew was kings so he wrote a letter to the king of israel and he sent gold and he still raymond and he he sent some rewards say i need my captain healed verse 7 of second kings 5 says and it came to pass when the king of israel had read the letter notice what he did he rent his clothes and said am i god to kill and to make alive that that this man that sinned unto me to recover a man of leprosy what was he basically saying this is impossible he said i'm being put in an impossible situation wherefore consider i pray you and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me three things this is temporal thinking or secular rather than sacred thinking the king did three things he ran his clothes he panicked the flesh panics in a difficult situation then he said am i god he got frustrated he showed his frustration in the situation and then he got suspicious he looked for a sinister motive from naaman and from the kings here they're just trying to stir up a quarrel with me so they can attack me let me tell you the flesh when you operate in the flesh all the time when trouble comes you'll panic you'll get frustrated and you'll get suspicious of everything that moves you'll be thinking the devil will get into your thinking capacity you'll sit at home and think somebody is talking about you you'll think something has been done you'll become suspicious suspicious of everything that moves that's fleshly thinking listen before you get suspicious of your brother and your sister before you start looking for some ulterior motive you need to get down on your knees and get some spiritual i'm being cautious with what i say now you need to get some spiritual insight in you get some brains in that gray matter that spirit led say i know better than that get on your knees how long has it been have you talked to god before you talk to somebody else about something how long has it been before you got down on your knees and prayed before you tweeted something the flesh panics he rent his clothes oh i'm in trouble now i've got a letter from we know syria was apparently stronger because they'd already taken slaves they had this little maiden but you see all the time god had orchestrated it it couldn't have happened unless god had let god had put that little maiden in a position of servitude because he was going to do a miracle that would show everybody what was going on oh if we could trust the lord and understand our current situation is not the way it's always going to be our current situation is just a road to deliverance for somebody if we'll just do what god has called us to do be a witness no matter where you are he panicked he was frustrated he became suspicious human reason and logic does not always apply when god's doing a work you see my god's not bound by time it's his servant he's not a servant to time he's always on time whatever's taking place if it hadn't been worked out yet god hadn't finished working and put it in his hands he's got the right timing for your situation god's not bound by the laws of nature he created them and he can change them when he needs to he can bring a storm or he can bring the sunshine it's all in his hands god's not bound by god's law by man's law hear me god is not bound by man's law it doesn't matter what the senate in the congress says it doesn't matter what executive order's been written let me tell you it don't matter if you live in a red state a blue state a purple state god's still in control most of those folks are in the state of confusion anyhow god's still in control of this thing quit thinking like man thinks let god get in you and stir you up and know he's in control today oh hallelujah you see the king was thinking like a man the king was thinking governmentally the king was thinking like everybody else would think but you see there was still a prophet in israel there was still somebody that was being spirit-led because let me show you what happens when a spirit-led mind starts leading verse number eight said and it was so when elisha the man of god heard that the king had rent his clothes elisha said i hear the king's frustrated that he sent to the king saying wherefore hath thou rent your cause what's your problem that's basically what elijah he said what is your problem what do you think you're doing see elisha knew the king was thinking like man things he said wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes let him come down to me said send him to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in israel you see this is the situation there's some stuff we need to turn over to the lord instead of trying to think like man thinks and solve it man can't fix these things elisha was not afraid of some famous syrian warrior he didn't rip rip his clothes he said bring him on send him to me he's going to know that there's a prophet there's a man of god there's a spirit-thinking person still in israel some of the things we've been lamenting over some of the situations we've been panicking about and tearing our clothes figuratively some of the things we've been so frustrated about and suspicious about we need to turn around and give them back to the lord and say god i know you're going to handle this you're going to fix this for you see when everything's going good kings say serve me but no matter the situation prophets say serve god you see this wasn't about elisha and his fame i told you there's some things that human man-made design can't fix in fact it will only interfere and frustrate the need for a supernatural for the supernatural to take over let me tell you our nation our world's needing a supernatural touch from god governments aren't going to fix what's going on let me tell you the governments can't fix what's going on god's the only one that can fix what's going on we need to turn our hearts and our lives to him we need to be the people of the name and be praying like never before that god will intercede for a world that's so much in trouble you see some of you right now are afraid to think spiritually you're still thinking in the carnal you're still thinking in the mind in fact elijah didn't even show him any respect by man's ideology notice what happened second kings 5 9 so naaman came with his horse and with his chariot and stood at the door of elisha's house and here's this syrian warrior he's at the front door he's not he's got all the gifts available men and i can only imagine how pristine how uh how uh militarily excellent look he had on whatever his uniform of that day and i'm sure he was quite intimidating to see he was there to impress elisha i hear i can get a healing you know what elisha did a lot you wouldn't even go out and see he said i sent one of his messengers he said uh go out there and tell him to go jump in the river that's what he said well i may be simplifying it just a little here's what the scripture said and elisha sent a messenger unto him saying go and wash in the jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shalt be clean see basically he said go jump in the river let me tell you if i could speak figuratively for you just a little bit today and i hope you can see the symbolism there's some things that you shouldn't even entertain in your mind you need to tell it to go jump in the river there's stuff in the dark of night there's stuff when you're by yourself that the enemy will try to place in your thinking and your thoughts their suspicions their frustrations you can find yourself waking up with the cold sweats thinking that your business is going to go under you can wake up thinking there's no hope for tomorrow there's some stuff you need to rebuke it in jesus name say go jump in the river i'm serving jesus i'm a child of the king i'm not even going to think about that mess some of us need to cleanse our minds they need a washing in the jordan our minds need a cleansing today there's a war going on thoughts of failure thoughts of self-harm thoughts of loss there's a dark thinking that we need to wash from our mindsets completely and you know what naaman did it first naaman again reacted in the flesh but naaman was wrought and went away that means he was ticked off he was mad i've been disrespected too many of us walking around looking for somebody to disrespect us so we can get our feelings hurt some of us need to grow up and put our big boy clothes on quit looking to get offended by everybody that moves thinking somebody's got an agenda against us and start thinking spiritually get in our minds that i'm a child of god i've been blood bought yeah there may be some kind of conflict there may be some kind of problem but i'm not going to let the enemy change my thinking naaman was wrong he was upset he said i thought that's a problem he was still doing the thinking i thought he will surely come out to me stand and call on the name of the lord strike his hand over the place and recover the leper he already had built it up in his mind how his healing was going to take place oh it's going to be with such fanfare there's going to be fire and smoke there's going to be this great command that saith the lord name and his heal instead servant came and said go jump in the river seven times let me tell you you want to get mad or do you want to get healed do you want to get upset and show your frustration or do you want to get healed he he in his frustration said are not the abana or the parfaire rivers of damascus better than all the waters of israel hey he didn't even send me to a clean river i've seen the jordan folks it ain't a pretty sight i know we have all of these uh wonderful ideas uh of what the jordan river looks like i've seen the jordan i've been there we've got better looking creeks around here than the jordan looks like sorry to all you folks that just love all that stuff it wasn't this sparkling clean beautiful water the jordan river was not to the liking of the flesh he said or rather the scripture said and so he turned away and went away in a rage and his servants came near now remember we can only draw with assumption here we know not where these servants came from but i know the other servant that had witnessed to him was a slave of israel so it was very possible that he had more slaves from israel from his conquests and his servants came near and spake unto him and said my father if the prophet had bid they'd do some great thing which thou not have done it how much rather than when he said to thee wash and be clean you see you see sometimes in our fleshly thinking we're looking for some grandiose thing to take place when if we'll just obey the simple things of god just obey the simple everyday things that god has for us suddenly miraculous things will take place do you want to display or do you want to be healed do you want to be angry or do you want to be healed do you want to go away in a rage claiming he didn't show me enough respect or do you want to be healed today it's not on man's terms it's on god's terms naming through his little tantrum left in a rage but fortunately there were servants again placed in strategic places to give him a little bit of advice i don't want to be honored by man i want to be healed of god you see naaman after hearing the words of his servants came to a crossroads verse 14 said then went he down sometimes you've got to humble yourself to god's will then went he down and dipped himself seven times in jordan according to the saying of the man of god and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child and he was healed i'm here to tell you today you can't think in the flesh and get healing from god if you have a situation you needn't healed you've got to think in the mind of christ you've got to think for the supernatural you've got to accept things that this world can't see you've got to do things that this world can't do you oh somebody hear me stand to your feet right now hear the warning of your pastor today this past friday night we counted by by literal count 51 saints and primarily young folks at our section a rally we had a marvelous move of god it was incredible and brother audie miracle preached a powerful message to all the young folks and i'm 63 and i got to listen to it too and even though it was aimed at all the young folks it so stirred my heart he named his message something different something different and he reminded us so beautifully how god has chosen us to be separate from this world that we're not like the rest of us the bible uses this word several times it uses the word peculiar you know some of us are afraid to be peculiar we want to think like man thinks well now we want to be logical with this thing now i know we're but scripture uses the word peculiar that term defined means deviating from what is ordinary usual or to be expected listen i want the world but most of all i want satan himself not to know what to expect next from this bunch right here i want ev you know the devil comes to church whether you're here or not i hope you all know that and i want every time he comes i want him to be so nervous because he don't know what to expect next what is that bunch going to do this time i don't want to be be anticipated by his thinking or by the world's thinking i want to be peculiar i want to be the unexpected i don't want to be the ordinary i don't want to be the usual all right folks upstairs i'm skipping ahead a bunch of stuff so you'll have to stay with me folks out here said praise god he's skipping something deuteronomy 14 2 deuteronomy 14 2 said for thou art a holy people unto the lord thy god i'm not holy because i want to exalt myself i want to be holy unto the lord and the lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself we're not different just to be different we're different unto god because we're going to think different our mind is different our understanding our spiritual cognitive ability is different from this world he said the lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself above all the nations that are upon the earth titus said it this way who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works zealous means i can't wait to do something good i want to do something good for this world because i want to be a witness i want to do something good for my fellow man i want to do something good for my brothers and sisters i'm zealous to do that and of course you know the most popular peculiar scripture that says you're a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light when we try to exist on our education our intellect and our logic and our wit alone and we leave out spiritual guidance prayer and anointed preaching oh i knew you were getting there you want everybody to listen to you no i want you to hear truth preaching the preached word of god is different than reading something from a blog i believe in blogs hit somebody hear me thank you this is not about me but i do magnify my office you need to be in the house of god hearing the word of god preached you need to feel what's going on around you you need to experience what's going on the power of god moves when his word is preached [Music] you see do i want to live a suspicious fearful existence apprehensive of sinister motives when the king asks for healing or am i going to be confident like elisha was and say i've got what you need i've got exactly look when folks approach you out in this world if they're asking you questions about who you are what you are how you dress why you go to church so much don't get suspicious and worried that somebody's gonna hurt your little feelings say god thank you for opening that door i don't care if they've got some kind of sinister motive you know what i'm going to do i'm going to be a witness i'm going to tell them about jesus they can't say they hadn't heard it after they've talked to me [Applause] i want to confidently go about in this world saying i've got the healing bomb for a sin-sick world i'm not even looking to come into this house and find some tidy program service man we're going to plan we're going to practice we're going to do we're going to prepare but if the holy ghost takes over we're going to say take over holy ghost take over holy ghost this is your service this is your church are you here today and maybe you've been trying to live your life on your own wit and your own intellect i challenge you today to give up your fleshly temporal thinking and start thinking in the spirit here's how you do that you find an altar and you talk to god oh but somebody's gonna think i'm backslid and you care see you're still thinking in the flesh what somebody else thinks don't care hear me boy that's gonna sound rough hear me the only way to get right with god is through the altar no preacher that don't sound so rough well let me tell you what a lot of folk do a lot of folk have sinned that they've struggled with and because of their human pride they'll say the repentant golf clap prayer in secret knowing full well they're not really worried about what god thinks they're more worried about what man thinks around them listen if you have sin in your life or you have sinned and before you get to thinking that you're any less than anybody else the bible says all a l l all have sinned and come short of listen who's that all that old's mccool right here that all means mccool's got to come to the altar sometimes and say god forgive me the way i've been thinking forgive me for doubting you mccool's got to come to the altar church hear me today hear my soul hear my heart god's wanting to take us to places we never thought we could go but we can't get there as long as we keep thinking in our flesh and being limited by man's ideology i'm not going to be led by the flesh i'm going to be guided by the spirit if you're in this house today and you just want to reaffirm that i'm spirit-led i open this altar for you i want my thinking right i want my mind right would you step out and come for a season of prayer if you haven't repented of your sin come and repent of your sin if you're needing to get your mind right come and get your mind right today hallelujah [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] real to oh he gives me the victory he's real oh jesus is real to me [Music] [Applause] [Music] so many people i can't live with them [Music] is [Music] let me think like you let me be like you today hallelujah hallelujah yes lord yes lord yes lord thank you first apostolic church for thinking like jesus for being like jesus for loving like jesus for witnessing like jesus god has wonderful things in store for us please don't miss the service tonight we have special prayer time at six o'clock we pray first we'll be meeting in the women's prayer room sister mccool will be teaching in that session for a few moments before they pray 6 30 special service tonight don't you miss out on that please find all of our guests and welcome them to first apostolic church come expecting a great time in the lord the choir will meet at 5 30. praise team musicians will meet it 5 15. lord bless you greet each other as your personal protocol affords you to do so you're dismissed in jesus name