Sunday Morning Worship Service

stand with me for just a few more moments I feel impressed to tell somebody right now you know I don't operate this way very much there are introductory remarks to be made but I feel impressed to tell somebody in the house right now you've had one of the worst weeks you've ever faced in your life and you came today not knowing where life's taking you God is confirming some things for you in this service today I don't know why I would say something like this but hear me you need to keep calling on Jesus every song that you've [Music] heard has told us about the p power in Jesus name he's still undefeated no matter your situation God's got your deliverance today Hallelujah he's reaching to you don't you give up you came today out of obedience I plan on you going home today in victory in the name of Jesus could we love him just one more time savior I Praise You Sav saor I love you savior I exalt your presence Hallelujah Glory Glory I'm going to let you be seated we greet every one of you in the precious name of Jesus we welcome everyone to the Sunday morning worship of First Apostolic church I say yes and amen to all the voices that have gone before me and all the statements that have been made and I hopefully have something for you today that God would have you here to be of encouragement and strength I do welcome all of our guests we're so honored to have you worshiping with us those who are joining us on the many multimedia platforms uh thank you for being in service with us hope you can be here in a live service very soon I say a special uh welcome to Sister Carney good to have you here today uh my uh son-in-law uh just thinks the world of your dad I think they stay on the phone together quite a bit and we're honored to have you worshiping with us you're running with good stock over there and brother Preston we love him dearly uh to all of our guests thank you thank you so much for being with us I want to get us get right into the word of the Lord uh this uh uh morning now I know I'm supposed to ignore and act like I don't see it but we're having a few light issues uh so uh lighting folks are working on that uh uh we're not trying to have apostolica goo the flashing lights uh but uh we're going to get this working properly so don't don't let that bother you but that's not intentional uh but we're we're working on it so you stay with us okay uh calling your attention to the Book of Romans the 11th chapter The Book of Romans the 11th chapter we're going to begin reading at verse number 13 The Book of Romans the 11th chapter we'll begin reading verse number 13 I'll give you a moment to find that in your Bible or your uh tablet or device and uh say uh Bishop sister Co good to have you'all back home they were uh celebrating 88 years uh at my mom's home Church up in uh uh North Carolina in Rock Creek North Carolina Jesus name Apostolic Church still going strong after 88 years uh and good to have you all home today praying for pastor Whitley he's in Indiana uh preaching today and we're praying that God would give him souls for his labor and let me also say to all the uh uh ladies who were able to attend Women's Conference in Gatlinburg on Thursday and Friday what a wonderful move of the lord we had up there and uh I got to be in on Women's Conference believe it or not being the district superintendent of the host District they invited me to be there and I just tried to stay out of the way because they had good church I promise you Romans the 11th chapter beginning with verse number 13 for I speak to you Gentiles that's us in as much as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles I magnify my office this is Paul speaking to the non-jews to the Gentiles if by any means I may provoke to emulation or imitation them which are my flesh and might save some of them for if the casting away of them be reconciling of the world what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead he's addressing Jews who had rejected Jesus as the Christ for if the first fruit be holy and the lump is also holy if the root be holy so are the branches and if some of the branches be broken off the unbelievers of the Jews and thou speaking of the Gentiles being a wild Olive Tree were grafted in among them you Gentiles were accepted in is what he saying were grafted in among them with them partaketh of the root and the fatness of the Olive Tree boast not against the branches but if thou boast thou bearest not the root but the root thee thou will say then the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in well because of unbelief they were broken broken off and thou standest of Faith be not high minded but fear for if God spare not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but toward them rather toward thee godliness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off and they also if they abide not still in unbelief shall be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again for thou were cut out of the Olive Tree which is Wild by nature and were grafted contrary to Nature unto a good Olive Tree how much more shall these which be the natural branches be grafted into their own Olive Tree I don't get on the media folks because I asked them to put this picture up for my title is this Wild by Nature pretty good self-portrait isn't it we better pray let's pray savior I love you God I'm thankful for the privilege of being in your house house and I thank you for this wonderful Congregation of believers who have joined with us today Lord I pray that your word would be delivered to us nothing that I can say nothing I can do but Lord your word is forever anointed and settled and gives us Direction now Lord I pray that you would Minister mightily in this service in the name of Jesus we pray amen and amen I didn't get to say this I'm glad to have sister Tilda back in the house of the Lord sister Tilda she's been going through a whole bunch been through rehab but she's in the house of the Lord tonight we love you and I also want to say uh welcome to guess I got a card a little bit late I want to say welcome to Kevin and Viola Wharton these are uh uh employees at Karen's carpet we love Karen's carpet I problem good to have these folks with us as well Lord bless you why by nature is the term that scripture use so I would explain to you that the Apostle Paul In this passage is using an analogy of grafted branches from an uncultivated olive tree being grafted into a productive cultivated Olive Tree which branches have been broken and the anal ology is is stating that the tree itself is as of the body of Christ and the unbelievers the that Christ was born into the Jewish nation and but those who did had rejected him became the broken branches and that the Gentiles were now being grafted in as Believers to the root and this was the basic analogy that he was making but he was warning the Gentiles he said don't get too self-righteous because because those who were once unbelievers can be regrafted back into the main body he was making the point that none would be rejected if they were Believers but he used in his analogy The uncultivated Olive Tree that was growing outside the cultivated productive olive trees as being Wild by Nature so I began looking just a little bit into this idea of the nature of being wild and I found a a story fact a newspaper article that I had saved from several years ago and I will read you just a portion of it it reads this way a 200 pound pet chimpanzee in Stanford Connecticut viciously mauled a woman he had known for years years leaving her critically injured with much of her face torn away the authorities said the 90 kilogram animal was shot and killed on Monday by police after he assaulted an officer in his car the woman Charla Nash 55 a friend of the chimpanzees owner was being treated at Stamford Hospital and might not survive Authority said the attack also brought a brutal end to the life of a chimpan named Travis who was 14 years of age a popular figure in town who had appeared in television commercials and often posed for photographs at the shop the shop operated by his owner Travis appeared on TV commercials for Old Navy and cocacola when he was younger he made an appearance on the Mari poic show and took part in a television pilot he had escaped before and in 20 2003 playfully held up traffic at a busy intersection for several hours but he had no History of Violence the authorities said in fact Travis social skills included drinking wine from a stemed glass dressing and bathing himself and using a computer the animal was well known around Stamford because he rode around in trucks belonging to his owner's towing company Travis owner Sandra Herod 70 had raised him almost as one of her own children but found herself lunging in him with a butcher knife on Monday to protect Nash said Captain Richard Conlin from the Stanford police who gave the following account Herod told detectives that Travis was in a rambunctious mood on Monday afternoon he took her keys from the kitchen table unlocked the door door and let himself out into the yard he's going to different cars and tapping on them trying the doors a clear indication he wanted to go for a ride Conlin said Travis would not be lured back in the house even after Herod gave him tea laced with Xanax a drug used for treatment and anxiety for humans Herod called Nash who drove over but when she stepped out of the car at 3:40 p.m. Travis went at her full force while it was notice while it was not clear what prompted the assault n Nash had remarkably changed her hairstyle since the last time Travis had seen her and possibly led him to mistake her for an intruder they couldn't figure out what prompted the assault why did this happen well I hate to oversimplify but I know the reason the monkey did what the monkey did the monkey didn't go crazy the monkey went back to being a monkey a monkey did what his nature was to do the monkey didn't go crazy the monkey went monkey in fact I have yet to read about any Anthropologist going through the jungle and suddenly coming along and finding monkeys in the wild doing television commercials drinking wine from stem glasses and looking at computers that's not their nature this monkey was Wild by his nature and something set him off to the point that he went back to his nature but I submit to everybody in the house man is Wild by his nature as well we are all creatures of our nature with without God the term wild defined means living or being in a state of nature and not domesticated or cultivated unrestrained turbulent crazy without God men and women are crazy let me tell you without God in your life you're going to do some crazy stuff Romans said it this way for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not for the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do that's my nature now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me you see the old sin Natures inside me I find in 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 Waring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members oh Wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this dead man our nature is wild it's uncultivated Romans said it this way in Romans 5 whereas by one man sined into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for all have sinned for until the law was in the world but sin is not imputed or laid blank name to anybody else when there is no law nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression who is the figure of him that was to come without God we all have Adam's rebellious nature that adamic nature is in every one of our DNA we are from the beginning of time destined to have a wild rebellious nature sin just comes natural to mankind oh we developed terms through the years they used to talk about somebody uh that went crazy they talked about them going postal and they didn't go postal they just went back to their nature they just went crazy no they just act like flesh without God that's what flesh will do why would we pass laws to kill unborn babies because without God our nature is to cover our perverse sins by murder why would we have all of the desly things that are daily in our headlines that mankind does to someone else it's because that's our nature that's the sin nature that is in man the psalmist even asked one time the psalmist said why did the Heathen rage and the people imagine vain things the reason why that's what we do without God James even said it this way but every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lusts and enticed then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth Sin Sin and When sin when it is finished bringeth forth death now there's a real good point that we all need to realize about ourselves Satan is the tempter Satan is the one who will entice you but Satan cannot make you sin let me say that again Satan May tempt you Satan May entice you but it's time we all stand up and take responsibility for our our own actions man I'll really date myself now I'm really going to uh folks may have to be on Medicare to know what I'm talking about now there was an oldtime comedian many years ago his favorite line his name was called Flip Wilson he'd say what the devil made me do it devil can't make you do anything but the devil puts enticing things in front of us Satan himself tries to appeal to your Humanity that inner man that flesh That Base nature that we all have in us that sin nature that's in US that was from Adam on in our bloodline listen when you do something wrong don't blame it on anybody else but yourself take responsibility for your actions for you see you have an opportunity to know the one who can change your nature the God I serve knows how to change our nature I have evidence to show in scripture of how he does that very thing the Book of Daniel the 6th chapter verse 16 the Bible says then the king commanded and they brought Daniel and cast him into the Den of Lions now the king spake and said unto Daniel thy God whom thou servest continually he will deliver thee Now understand I know you all know where this is going anyone spend a Sunday school a time or two you've heard about Daniel on lines then but get the bigger picture of what we're talking about today then the king Rose very early in the morning and went in haste Under The Den of Lions and when he came to the den he cried with a lamenting voice unto Daniel the king didn't want this to happen he had been forced into it by law and the King spake and said to Daniel oh Daniel servant of the Living God is thy God whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee from the Lions then said Daniel unto the king oh King live forever my God ha sent his angels and ha shut the lion's mouth that they have not hurt me for as much as before him innocency was found in me and also before thee Oh King have I done no hurt I've got news for you don't you throw a praying man into a pride of lines God knows how to shut their mouth and change their nature they might have been hungry when he went in but the God I serve can change the nature of a hungry Beast so you think when you're at work you think when you find yourself feeling like you're all alone in a sinful world that a prayer won't help fix things I'm here to tell you if you'll be a praying man and a Praying Woman and you'll let God give you some guidance you're going to find the Lord shutting the mouths of some things in your life he can change the nature of things that would come against you hear me in this house we run into some lying Spirits sometimes going to attack and Nash God knows how to close those kind of mouths if you'll talk to him and have a relationship with him let me give you another example let me talk to you about Ravens found a little statement telling about the nature of a r Raven why do ravens act as they do the Raven's innate intelligence manifest itself in behavior that makes these birds fascinating to observe Ravens achieve Mastery and possess manipulative Powers over other creatures in their domain often letting others do work for them sounds like they're on Facebook for example Ravens will call wolves and coyotes to prospective meals so they can expose the carcass and make the meat accessible to the birds you ever run into any Raven Spirits they don't want to get in the fight but they sure will tattle on things look over here stir this up hey wolves CES attack this and maybe none of y'all have to deal with anybody like that in addition Ravens will show their true scavenger Colors by waiting for other birds with specialized foraging skills to make a catch then cunningly seize or steal the defeated prey for themselves they'll let another attack bird attack something when that Bird's not looking they'll take what they brought for their own food now that's the nature of a raven but let me read to you what God can do with a raven First Kings 171 and Elijah the tishbite who was of the inhabitants of Gilead said unto Ahab as the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand there shall not be due nor rain these years but according to my word and the word of the Lord came unto him saying get thee hence turn turn the Eastward hide thyself by the Brook cherith that is before Jordan and it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook and have command I have commanded the Ravens to feed thee and the Ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning bread and flesh in the evening and he drank of the brook let me tell you the very thing that wants to take from you if you'll turn it over to God if you'll trust in him if if you'll do his work suddenly those very things that would come against you God can change the nature of those things to provide for you God knows how to change the nature of a hungry line he knows how to change the nature of a selfish Raven Isaiah even prophesied that the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like the bulock and the dust shall be the Serpent's meat they shall not hurt Hur or destroy and all in my Holy Mountain say the Lord let me tell you if God can shut the mouths of lions if God can cause selfish Ravens to feed his profit God can intervene in your situation if you'll turn it over to him but I want you to know you first have to let God change your nature and please understand I take us back to our example newspaper article at the beginning training cannot replace conversion now let let me say that again training cannot replace conversion I believe in in in training and equipping people with all the tools they can to be successful within the framework of the church I believe in Holiness and appearance and behavior a holy lifestyle those things are essential and training and bringing folks and giving direction but none of those things can replace the personal experience of repenting of your sins being baptized in the name of Jesus and being filled with the Holy Ghost if folks are trained alone when you need them the most they'll turn on you and Claw your face off but when folks get the Holy Ghost down inside them and their nature gets changed let me tell some of you folks I'm glad to have everybody in the house of the Lord but make sure your calling with God is sure don't just line up with something for a bunch of rules and regulations make sure you let the Holy Ghost change your nature repent of your sins get baptized in Jesus name get full of the Holy Ghost and let your nature get changed Holy Ghost folks Holy Ghost F folks aren't going to be out of here carousing Holy Ghost FK F folks aren't going to be folks flying off the handle and losing their temper all the time they'll know how to get in touch with God and say God help me in this moment change me change my nature look don't change those base things that Humanity does and blame it on your past you know my hair is just a certain color and folks with that color hair lose their temper I know better than that cuz I've seen folks hair change about every two weeks and they have the same old ugly temper all the time don't blame it on your mama don't blame it on your grandpa don't blame it on your past let me tell you God knows how to change your nature if you'll turn your life over to him he can change you he can fix you too many of us looking to lay a blame on somebody else for the things we've created it's time that we stand before God unashamed without any excuse and say God I Repent God I Repent I'm sorry for my sinful ways it's nobody but me it's Nobody But Me God Chang my nature you see one passage of scripture we read and I hear it misused used way too much as an excuse for having a immodest appearance I hear folks say for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man lookth on the outward appearance but the Lord lookth upon the heart see it don't matter what you look like they'll say just the opposite if we're supposed to win folks to Christ they can't see inside us all they can see is what we are if we're representing Christ in our appearance in our behavior in our conduct in our honesty and integrity that's all they can see they can't see our heart God knows our heart but if we're going to be Soul winners we're going to have to present ourselves in every manner of Life as a way that would please and exemplify and emulate and reflect God himself God knows how to change your nature if you turn your life over to him Ephesians 2:1 said it this way and you hath he quickened or revived who were dead in trespasses of sin wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air but the spirit that now worketh in the children of Disobedience among also we all had our conversations in times past in the lust of our flesh or God could do a great work in many lives if he just we could just clean up our conversations fulfilling the desire of the Flesh and of the mind and were notice by Nature the children of Wrath even as others but it doesn't stop there but God who is rich in Mercy aren't you thankful for a merciful god who forgives Pastor Whitley preached it just last week about that grace of God he's so merciful for his great love where withth he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us or revived us together with Christ by Grace ye are saved and have raised up us up together and made us to sit together in Heavenly places in Christ he's the nature changer verse eight says for these things be in you and abound that make you that ye shall neither be Barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ let me call on everybody in this house if you've been battling with the sin nature it's time to have your nature changed the Salvation message will indel change your DNA musicians praise team come quickly I want to tell you a little story you folks that have been here a while are familiar with this but we have many new folks that may not be aware we have a marvelous marvelous family as all the families at First Apostolic Church are but we have a family in our church that is of a very rich Heritage and that's the duus family I want to tell you about the bus family just a little bit uh in case you don't know that's where the Jim the bus sat behind that Center camera he's been doing that just about since they invented cameras he he may precede Polaroid I don't know his son brother Shawn is likely upstairs producing the broadcast the one time he tells me he gets to tell his dad what to do uh brother sea has two wonderful children that are part of this assembly with the Caleb and sister Savannah but I told you about them to tell you I don't want to talk about any of them I want to talk about brother Jim deus's father-in-law brother Lewis Hara folks that have been here a while will remember brother LS Hara brother Lewis Hera was a songwriter extraordinaire a a singer a trador if you will of the apostolic faith a wonderful Pastor he was a church planter planted several churches in the Charleston West Virginia area he was a an incredible incredible talented man of God but in his latter years as age began to overtake him he began suffering from dementia brother Jim and sister Debbie so lovingly brought he and sister June his wife to Knoxville and begin caring for them and looking after them but the Hera in his latter years was facing the confusion that went along with his elment and they begin brother Jim and sister Debbie began taking him to his doctor's appointments for care and he went in one day he was failing to recognize his wife sister June of 60 years he his steps had slowed to a shuffle and they were having to help him around and the doctor began to examine him and ask him some questions said' do you know what day it is he tried and he he couldn't tell him what day it was do you know the month no do you know the year no I I I I can't no I'm not sure so the doctor asked him said could you write a sentence for me well I think I count what should I write he said write anything that great songwriter and composer singer Pastor evangelist man of God in this difficult final stages of his life took pencil in hand and he began to pin these words then Peter said unto them repent be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and he stopped and said and doctor that means you let me ask you what's in your nature today what's in your mind today what's been planted in your DNA has your nature been changed stand with me Hallelujah you see I'm not promised tomorrow I realize if God carries all in this room we Face the inevitable of the limits of the flesh but I'm here to tell you when my DNA has been changed when my nature has been changed I want it to be that God has changed me to be like him I want it to be that he's corrected me and he's straightened me up he's taken that old sin nature away the desires of the flesh the desires of the world I don't know what you've been facing this week and what the flesh may have been tempting you to do and how you should handle it I'm here to tell you let your God nature take over let God bathe you in love he ordained that you would be in this house today he he ordained that you would be placed in this place to hear his word to hear the praise and worship to find the reassurance in the calm that the name of Jesus has all power the name of Jesus has everything we need to change us could we lift our hands and love the Lord just a moment could we love him Jesus I love you savior I Praise You savior I come before you right now speaking your name Lord I come before you today that I know that you have orchestrated this service Lord you deemed it so for somebody that's in this house today someone who was discouraged someone who has questioned everything about their life God I'm calling on you right now to give fresh anointing and Lord give New Direction Lord if they'll just speak your name if they'll call on the name of Jesus right where you are let me ask you would you call on the name of Jesus if you've been facing a trial or a test if you're needing to get to know him a little better again today would somebody step out from their Pew and make their way down around this Altar and just call on the name of Jesus he's wanting to touch you he's wanting to provide for you would you speak his name come calling on his name he's got what you need hallelujah hallelujah just love him right now Hallelujah yeah yeah Hallelujah bre Hallelujah come and over us you're the one we the one we're living for hallelujah holy spirit speak his name right now to the Heart of Jesus I want to go to the heart of Jes we want Holy Spirit Holy Spirit Break us come and overtake us you're the one we're living [Music] for Holy Spirit us to would you repent our of our we repent ourselves of ever trusting anything in our God we repent ourselves of the things of this life but God we give ourselves to you God me make me new in you Lord [Music] Jesus Jesus you Jesus yeah I increase increas as you increase it's all about you it's not about me I decre you you it's all about it's not about L [Applause] I like you about you hallelujah hallelujah it's not about me I Lord I decree you you all about you it's all about you about you it's not about me all about you about you it's not about me all about you it's all about not about could we take just one more moment and I want us to pray a corporate prayer together that The God Who changes nature will be a guide instead with Daniel he sent his angels and they shut the mouth of the Lions some of us are facing battles and trials it's Sunday I know Monday's on the way there's some voices that have been speaking into some of our lives and troubling us I'm praying that God will send his holy angels and close some stuff down and show his people that I'm still looking after you I'm still directing you I'm still in charge I want us to pray one for another just a moment Mighty God I love you Lord Jesus you know what every individual in this house is facing Lord you know how the enemy has come against to discourage and disrupt their lives Lord I'm calling on you for a fresh touch would you send your Holy Angels to intemp round about your people oh Hallelujah Lord I pray that you would Minister mly in lives Lord to give us the opportunity to be better witnesses to be better parents to be better spouses to be better workers Lord that we can represent you in everything that we do now God we pray all of this in your matchless name that name of Jesus would you give Jesus a praise offering right now Lord we love you Jesus we worship you today Hallelujah Hallelujah Lord bless you go from this place with the nature of Christ service tonight at 6:30 prayer time 6:00 CL you're dismissed in Jesus name greet your brothers and sisters