Wednesday Night Bible Study | Pastor McCool

thank you so much for your giving thank you musicians praise the Lord everyone praise the Lord everyone we greet you in the precious name of Jesus it's so good to be here with you tonight for worship and the word and I appreciate everyone who is able to be back in the house of the Lord I'm asking us to make it a a special point of focused prayer we do have several in our assembly as is in our community who are in some stage of getting a bug getting over a bug or fighting with a bug so we're praying for all who are sick I I would ask you again Pastor Anthony already mentioned it but in conversation with Bishop I talked with him before and slipped by their house and they made me keep a fair distance from them they are a bit under the weather bishop and sister McCool both are and Bishop said I feel like I could go but he said they wouldn't enjoy hearing my voice and he's a little bit a horse and so he and Mom both are under the weather just a bit but we're praying for them that God will touch them and they Bishop said let everybody know he is not sick unto death but he's under the weather so I do be praying especially for them so I don't give away folks medical Secrets I won't tell you who but suffice one sister in the church got in touch with me and she had gone and and now y'all are going to try to figure out who it is and I'm still not going to tell you but she had gone and tested and she tested for type A flu type B flu and covid uh my thoughts are I'd take a different test but she asked that we'd be in special prayer for her she is doing well but she does not want to spread that among the saints but be in prayer for all of our sick but I'm thankful to be here and I'm thankful to be with all of you who are not out sick I'm glad to see every one of you that are here in the house of the Lord and I always counted a high honor when I get to teach the Bible class and we have all these different classes going on now and uh brother Anthony mentioned the success of the adulterish group and I'm so thankful for that I saw a few of the the pictures of uh the adulthish meeting they had at NYC and what an awesome crowd I've been thinking about a a Bible class follow-up book they I don't know whether to call us oldish or childish uh but we'll figure that out but it's good to see every one of you in the house of the Lord tonight I want to call your attention for our study tonight I want us to go to the book of the Revelation we're going to study in the book of the Revelation the third chapter and we'll begin reading it verse number one the book of the Revelation uh chapter 3 beginning at verse number one and unto the angel of the church in Sardis right these things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seventh star I Know Thy works that thou Hast the name that thou livest and Aren't Dead Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die for I have not found thy works perfect before God remember therefore how thou has received and heard and hold fast and repent if therefore Thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt know what hour I will come upon thee thou Hast a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments and they shall walk with me in white for they are worthy he that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment and I will not blot out his name out of The Book of Life but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches for a few moments tonight I would have a study from this subject in the Revelation 3 a watchful Church not a drowsy Church a watchful church not a drowsy Church let's pray savior I love you Lord I Thank you so much for your word and for the opportunity for us to study together Lord I Thank you that you've blessed us with this time and God now I pray that you would bring Revelation to us from your word that would speak to our hearts and give us guidance strength encouragement and power Lord we thank you for every individual that's in this house tonight Lord we love you and worship you in Jesus name we pray amen this past week I saw one of those large billboard temporary flashing signs along the interstate when we were over in Nashville and the warning sign that was flashing said this drowsy driving is impaired driving drowsy driving is impaired driving according to reports from the National Highway Traffic and safety administration drowsy driving was responsible for at least 91 000 car crashes and 50 000 injuries and 795 deaths in the year of 2017. these figures are fairly consistent every year in the United States though not identical drowsy driving and drunk driving Bears some similarities and are considered equally dangerous both conditions slow reaction times and affect alertness and decision making fatigue is cost fatigue has costly effects on the safety help and quality of life of the American public where the fatigue is caused by Sleep restrictions due to a new baby waking every couple of hours a lighter long shift at work hanging out late with friends or along and monotonous drive on the holidays the negative outcomes can be the same these include impaired cognition and performance motor vehicle crashes workplace accidents and health consequences tackling these issues can be difficult when our lifestyle does not align with avoiding drowsy driving in a 24 7 Society with an emphasis on work longer commutes and exponential advancement of Technology many people do not get the sleep they need effectively dealing with The Drowsy driving problem requires a fundamental a fundamental change to societal norms and especially attitudes about driving this is just a portion of an article that was presented from the national highway and traffic safety administration but let me tell you a drowsy Church is just as dangerous spiritually as a drowsy driver is in the natural in a world that Society with 24 7 pressures and temptations to conform and compromise Apostolic churches can become complacent distracted satisfied apathetic and we can become spiritually drowsy in our walk with God as an Apostolic movement this is a recipe for spiritual crashes with multiple victims and spiritual fatalities our text tonight tells of John giving the churches what God had given him in Revelation for their current conditions and this in particular this passage that we're reading he's speaking to the church at Sardis he addresses the angel of the church which means finally that he's addressing the entire congregation and he points out that the people have a lack of vigilance it's a true church but they're not a Vigilant Church if you study a little bit about the city of Sardis you'll find that the city of service was known for being a city of military strength and it had an important location on a major highway that led to the coast historically the city was also known for being lacks at one time or another and was even taken by a hostile Army due to its failure to keep watch or be vigilant all the all the circumstances aren't clear apparently John seems to be calling out the church in service and saying you're neglected you're neglectful of your Christian duties and responsibilities as being a church he said your name says you're alive but in reality you're dead that's what the scripture said I know by words that thou has a name that thou livest and are dead there's a lot of movements nowadays that are calling themselves Christians but they do not exemplify a living Christ just because our name says First Apostolic church we are not guaranteed to be Lively truth preaching and vibrant it takes some work on our part he said I know what your name says but I also know what your works are you see you can have the name of being Apostolic you can have the name of being Christians but if your works are saying something different your works are speaking Mighty loud if our works exemplify and awake watchful church then we're doing what God has called us to do but remember scripture tells us that faith without works is dead I've got news for you just because my name's McCool don't make me a successful worker in the kingdom of God just because my daddy or my Grandmama were praying folks and Apostolic folks I have a responsibility to my generation to fulfill the call of God and work in the kingdom of God James said it this way to expand on that statement James 2 17 said even so faith if it hath not worked is dead being alone yea a man may say thou has faith and I have works show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works thou believe is there is one God thou doest well the Devils also believe and tremble but will thou know o vain man that faith without works is dead I submit this is not scripture but it's true a name without words is dead also if we claim to be Apostolic but we do not follow the apostles Doctrine we do not find ourselves doing what God has called us to do as one of the churches just as Sardis was called we are a called Church to our community and to minister to those around us to reach the loss if we find ourselves satisfied with where we are and what we're doing we can find ourselves with a name but dead it appears that Sardis was a dead Church in every practical sense but John also apparently found a little bit of a pulse there in his writing for he would plead with the church he said Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die he said there's some stuff that's on life support systems a few verses later he stated thou has a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments you know if we're really examine this passage of scripture it appears that John's telling the church that Sardis there's a church within the church and sadly today there are churches within the church there are attenders and then there are workers in the kingdom of God and I want everybody we can get to come in the house of the Lord we open these doors we have events we want folks coming in but unders I want folks that want to work in the kingdom of God I want folks that'll find something to do we're all called to do something in the kingdom of God we're called to be Saints faithfulness is part of that but we're called to find something we can do he said there's a few there's a few names which have not defiled their garments this was kind of a metaphoric statement when he talked about that their garments are white this scripturally is a repeated metaphor of Purity and consistency and it represents moral and religious purity I wish I could tell you everybody that walks through those doors or morally sound and are pure but they're not and I wish I could tell you everybody that claims to be Apostolic or morally pure and religiously true but they're not but you see God knows our works God knows our heart we as apostolics must never compromise the idea of being the real Church of God and find ourselves on spiritual life support we must be thankful for Saints who have been Saints Faithfully from the Inception of this assembly there's no cast that if you've been in the church longer than this one that you're any more saved but I've got news for you we must be cautious who have been part of the church for a long you know I've heard folks say bless God I've been in the way for 30 years yeah for the last 20 you've been in the way sometimes we need to get out of the way and let God have his way there's no time to stop working in the Kingdom there will be something you can do I'm so amazed to watch faithful saints of God who by the world standards could claim retiring rights but I see you finding something to do there's folks that'll never be in the Pulpit but some of the things that you do around here is so incredibly amazing because you want the church to be awake and vibrant not a drowsy church not a church that's lost focus of what we're supposed to be we're not here to be a pillar of the community we're here to be a Saving Station in the community we're not here to impress Society we're here to be a soul-winning station I see some of you you'll get here early and you greet folks and shake hands and it's not an act you're welcoming them to First Apostolic Church you're making an attempt to be a soul winner whether you're picking up trash whether you vacuum in a floor whether you're operating a piece of equipment whether you're teaching little children whether you're teaching a Sunday school class whether you're teaching a Bible class whether you're a school teacher you see we have multiple Ministries and God has called us to do so in the infancy of the church when the church started I mean it was get everybody together they had one we had one place a little tent and then the lodge Hall and the first flat top building and get everybody together but God never intended us to stay there it was the process of the church growing right now all over this campus there are things going on for different interest groups that's not because we're dividing the church that's because we're exponentially multiplying the church when there's classes going that's not Obama cool oh I I want to see somebody get the Holy Ghost every service and I want to see somebody get baptized every service I do as well but did you know there are some Ministries that just get folks involved that somebody will probably never break out speaking with tongues and get the Holy Ghost but it's just the same a Ministry of drawing folks in that I know of y'all may remember it we've needed to pray a few times but I don't know if anybody's got a holy ghost at one of our Christian School basketball games some folks have needed to get refilled because they didn't have enough holy ghost in them but you know what that was it was a hook it was something we were doing we're not trying to raise NBA stars we're trying to raise apostolics and when when kids do you know what kids are going to play kids are going to play somewhere our Bishop a long time ago in his vision for First Apostolic Church he made a statement that I don't know if brother Whitley has ever heard Bishop McCool make the statement but he used to make it a lot and brother Whitley made the same Proclamation he said I pray that I never forget what it's like to be young Bishop said he said I grew up in a day that there were some preachers that anything they were too old to do was a sin and if we aren't careful are we compromising and and doing away with uh the old tenets of Faith a thousand times no but the church is going to grow into multiple ways of Outreach why because we want to be Soul winners we can't sit by and get drowsy complacent and satisfied with where we are oh I've made it I've got my kids through school now I'm going to sit down and be a sponge no we as the Apostolic Church must never yield to Satan's Temptations to give in to societal and cultural pressures that would compromise our Apostolic Faith now here's the difference brother Whitley so masterfully told us about that there's going to be new methods that we do things I firmly believe that Christ chose to be the savior of this world and to operate in the methods of that day and in the processes of that day and and use what was with him if he if he talked to uh Shepherds he talked about shepherding in his parables but he could also talk to tax collectors and doctors he became all things to all men yet he did not compromise himself you see the difference is if we as the church try to be the world to entice the world we'll never win the world instead we should always be the church yes we will keep up today we will be modern we'll use every bit of technology that we can but we will not compromise the message and who we are we're simply using more methods we're we've got Hispanic folks having Church why because there was a need to have a Hispanic Church we have a Christian School we have a child care center I'm not saying that to brag these are ministries of our church and anybody involved in those things if it ever becomes a job alone to you you need to get out of it because you are ministering you are a soul winner whether you're coaching or teaching algebra or teaching English or teaching keyboarding or you're teaching little kids how to read you are still ministering we can't become a drowsy complacent Church you see I see too many that their profession does not match their performance oh in the city of Knoxville you interview folks I dare say you could go to many of the local bars and be full of Christians if you interviewed they profess one thing but they perform something else but let me tell you before we get to feeling too pious you can claim to be an Apostolic Jesus name wholeness person and if you come to church and you're backbiting you're gossiping and looking down your nose at other folks kind of get a witness in the house and when I point my finger at you I have to point three back at me because you see preachers can be gossips too man I don't repeat gossip you better listen close the first time let me tell you we have a responsibility in the church we have a responsibility to not just profess that we are Apostolic but we must perform as Apostolic our performance must signify and exemplify that we are christ-like and we are Church a church that is soul winner friendly I must profess that I'm a Christian but not perform like a sinner then he he said To Be watchful he made the statement to Be watchful and he said he reminded in our texts in the Revelation 3 . he said Remember the things you've seen and heard last Sunday I preached from Hebrews two and three about No Escape how can we escape if we can neglect a great salvation God's message is clear in Revelation 3 3 he said if you do not remember and if you will not watch we need to be reminded of what's brought us to where we are we need to be mindful of the wonderful things that God has done for us and the miraculous things God has never mistake it's not by our might that we're where we are today it's not by our prowess not by our wonderful Financial blessings that we earned God has blessed us to be where we are right now saved by the grace of God where would you really be let me tell you when I got in this thing it's a long-term lifetime commitment it wasn't just a temporary thing when I became part of the family of God it's a lifetime commitment and if I don't be reminded of where I came from where I could be what I what I really could have been I've stated it before but it Bears repeating too many folks romanticize what they were and what they would have been had they not got in the church we mistake what sacrifice really means oh we act like well I sacrifice Fame Fortune wealth and popularity but I gave it up for Jesus no you weren't that good you weren't going to be that successful or maybe to use today's vernacular you weren't that bad however you want to say it you weren't that good or you weren't that bad all you were was a sinner Bound for a devil's hell it did not matter what you may or may not have accomplished in this world when you give your life over to Christ it's an advancement it's success you've succeeded anything you could have done as a sinner don't look over your shoulder and romanticize what sin would have been like it would have been horrible it would have been tragic your life would have been ruined he said remember what you've heard it was likely that the Saints at Sardis when they initially heard and received the gospel they did it with great joy just as do most converts who become Christians and probably buried beneath a lot of layers of the Saints of Sardis of Conformity and compromise or hearts that were still full of a life-giving message of the Gospel but that they had allowed it to become dormant let me speak to everybody I want you to take just a moment take just a moment and think about when you got baptized in Jesus name think of that day or night I can tell you I remember well when I was baptized in Jesus name under Boyd's Bridge we didn't have a nice baptismal pool I was baptized in the river and I'm so thankful for that memory but I've got news for you had nothing to do with where it was or I if I'm not careful I'll get um a little bit of romanticizing about the event rather than what was being done um and let me let me jump a rabbit here right quick if you've been baptized in Jesus name one time that's all you need to do let me let me be clear I I've I've seen folks meaning well please that oh oh I I want to go and be baptized here so I'll have a memory of being baptized here I want to go there and be baptized listen it's not about where you were baptized were you baptized in Jesus name when you're baptized in Jesus name it's a symbolic Act of spiritual necessity that you must go down in the name of Jesus you must be immersed in water and once you do that that's for the remission of your sins that's what's important not when not where not who baptize you were you baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins I'm sure they had memories of the excitement of the beginning of the mission work at Sardis but somewhere along the way they lost sight of their main purpose oh they're better recognized in the community they are accepted by Society because they've compromised now this is just simply what John was telling Sardis that was revealed to him by almighty God he said in Revelation 3 2 The Works of the people had not been found perfect before God you've been operating less than perfect he's implying spiritual compromise that is affecting their relationship with God never mistake to become a Jesus name Apostolic Pentecostal is more than a denomination it must be a lifestyle it must be the way that we live instead of living a joyful life somewhere along the way they had strayed into compromise so he begins to tell them that it's important to understand service to others whether Believers or non-believers you've heard me teach and preach too many times before when we operate out in this everyday world it is important that we have the attributes of a Christian long before we tell anybody Doctrine our kindness our demeanor we have a responsibility to be the greatest employees employers if a waitress is waiting on us we need to be the best folks she's ever waited on if we're a waitress we need to be the best waitress that's ever waited on anybody if we're the manager we need to be the best manager whatever we do we should try to exemplify perfection in Christ not of our abilities but we're representing him so what did he tell him to do he said you need to repent now I realized repentance is the first step in the Plan of Salvation but I've got news for you when you've served Christ and you start backing up and compromising you need to learn to repent we should live a repentant life repentance should not be in word only real simple as this somebody comes up and smacks me right upside the head and that's Southern turn right upside the head if you know what that means if someone comes and smacks me right upside the head and says oh I'm sorry and then if a another southern term haul off and do it again and say I'm sorry and for the third time they smacked me again said I'm sorry I'm getting the pretty good idea that they're not really sorry they're just doing a lot of smacking you know there's one thing it's one thing to say you repent it's something else to live a repentant life a life that's trying to be pleasing to God it was important that they would live repentant and shake off all the indifference the code indifference that they had had the apathy the lethargy which had overtaken the church could I tell you all the churches including us as an Apostolic Church had a new urgency when we were required by covid to do long distance no contact Church there was an urgency among the church world that developed and yes I remember vividly that first service when we were able to come back together it was so exciting it was it was wonderful but did you know what if we aren't careful we'll find ourselves back in a rut of I can take it or leave it if I just show up I'm happy we even changed the format of our services and that's been a good thing we've we've reformatted when we do things there's classes being taught tonight that we used to do on Sundays and and this Bible lesson now sometimes this was on Sunday morning and we did a broadcast and we changed our Sunday morning service to a bit more of an Evangelistic service and that's a good thing Sunday night and Sunday morning more evangelists we have more visitors probably on Sunday morning the end of the time that's when we need to be Evangelistic but if we aren't careful boy y'all are looking at me straight I hope you're listening if we aren't careful we can find ourselves complacent that if I can get a three-minute prayer in at the altar on Sunday I've satisfied all I feel like I need to do and there can be lost folks around us praying and crying did you know I'll do a little pastoral teaching we need to be aware at alter time of the loss that's around us we are a church that's not ashamed and not afraid to go to the Altar and that's the way it should be when we when we invite folks to the altar I've noticed guest ministers that we've had they've been to other places and I've been to other places maybe you hadn't been that sometimes you had to plead for the Saints after you pled for the Sinners to come to the altar we're not that way but if we aren't careful we will find ourselves forgetting that there's lost hurting people it's always I'm coming to the altar about me be aware look around you when you come to the altar we're doing some teaching now there may be a new individual that they don't understand what's even going on they may come out of obedience and they may do nothing more than stand and bow their head went down deep inside they're saying well I wish somebody would pray with me I wish somebody and I'm talking to Pastor now too I'm talking to we now speak about let's be available do you know the worst thing someone can say if you walk up to them say would you mind if I pray with you the worst thing they can say is no but so many times if some sensitive person would just say hey would you mind if I'm now look let me give some common altar work instruction here now is this all right yeah somebody's saying I hope Bishop hurries and gets better somebody hear me if you if you're going to pray with somebody it'd be a good idea first of all for you to be spiritually where you should be and you should be and now this is going to be real spiritual then make sure that you haven't been to Olive Garden and had the garlic special on Sunday afternoon before you get in their face in that spiritual hole what revelation man they used to talk about eating search with Ritz and I don't even know what Retson is but apparently that's supposed look did you know having good hygiene in the altar is part of being a good altar worker whoop hallelujah we're gonna run now aren't we I'm talking about folks being spiritually sensitive we're soul winners now you may think that this is totally off base for church I'm going to tell you the world when it sells stuff they look for every angle we're not selling any something we got a gift that's free and we need to give it away the best way we can we when we approach lost folks they don't know what's going on there'll be new folks man don't do your High karate I'm gonna anoint you ask somebody would you mind if I pray with you you may not even touch them at first well brother McCool's Bible says calling for the Elders of church no you you may not be an elder it may be that you need to stand beside them and pray with them and encourage them you may need you may need to hold their hand before you lay your hand on their head listen you can't shake the Holy Ghost into people you can't push the Holy Ghost into people I'm talking about being a Ware Church but you also can't ignore the Holy Ghost into people we need to make ourselves available to be Soul winners somebody may be wanting to repent this may be a combination of steps that we pray with them and they find comfort in the altar you if someone starts praying and they spend some time talking to the Lord it don't hurt to ask them have you been baptized in Jesus name now that doesn't mean you've got to give them a Bible Lesson they say no I haven't you better get baptized tonight and the devil's going to get you no you got to be wise the Bible said we're Fishers of Men I haven't seen a successful fisherman yet gets a fishing pole and goes out in the middle of the lake and starts smacking the water get in the boat fish he who wins a soul is wise I mean you watch those man they'll play those fish look look look the Bobbers just barely watch we're Fishers of Men we have a strategy here now please think this not being in any way carnal this is deadly serious we have a responsibility when folks walk through those doors God's sends folks our way and we have the opportunity and the responsibility listen I'd be worried too if I went down to altering somebody smell like a goat came up and said I want you to pray with me or somebody grabbed me and started shaking me let the Holy Ghost do the shaking let the Holy Ghost do the anointing you just be a supporter a prayer Warrior that lifts somebody up in prayer and support somebody well I guess I've heard enough folks feelings ought to move toward the end repentance is important and living a transformed life is essential ask yourself this question I wrote this down do I serve God so he will love me or do I serve him because he loves me I submit it must be the latter I'm not serving God so he'll love me he already loves me I need to serve him because he loves me he loved me when I was unlovable and I want to share that love with everyone you see if we do not stay awake and remain watchful the enemy will plunder Our Lives he will plunder the church Ephesians 5 11 Paul admonished the church he said have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them we as a church cannot join hands with the things that the world now says is social norms now it's quiet again I hope you're just listening carefully but if we aren't careful sin will be that old nag in a New Dress sin will present itself as well everybody believes this is okay there are denominations now that now ordained homosexuals there are denominations now that have rethought their position on the murder of unborn babies and by a simple vote of so-called spiritual leaders they've changed their position listen there are no position changes in the Apostolic Church we do not have the latitude to violate God's word we do not have the latitude to make our church more socially friendly and compromise what thus saith the Lord and come up with new interpretations we have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness but we identify them when we reprove them that don't mean we're ugly and we call names and we are so mean and hateful about things we love the sinner but we hate the sin we must call out sin still for what it is whether it's politically correct or not it's important for us to know what time it is we talked about a drowsy Church and folks who Drive drowsy how danger it is how dangerous it is we must know what time it is Romans 13 11 said this and that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep the church has got to be fully awake we can't be drowsy we can't be nodding our head off for now is our Salvation nearer than when we believe we're not at the beginning of our walk with God we're closer now to the end the night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light we need to be identified as the bright shining light in a world of Darkness there's an awful lot of moral Darkness there's so much darkness and Decay by sin the church needs to be different from the world a shining example Paul said do you know what time it is salvation is near it didn't say you had Eternal salvation it said salvation is near what that means is the coming of the Lord is soon Ecclesiastes 9 11 said this I returned and saw unto the son that the race is not to the Swift nor the battle of the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor the rich yet riches to Men of understanding nor yet favored to Men of skills but time and chance happeneth to them all for man also knoweth not his time now if we're sitting in the church and we think I've got time before the Lord comes back I've heard it I believe it but he's coming back did you know everybody in the obituary column today the Lord came back for already don't Gamble with making your call sure and knowing what time it is it said for man also knoweth not his time as the fish that are taken in the evil net that's birds that are caught in the snare so are the son of man snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon it time and chance happeneth to them all none of us are guaranteed our next breath we're not guaranteed that we'll make it home I want to make sure my calling is sure tonight right here I can't be drowsy I can't be partially awake and partially asleep for the Revelation 10 verse 5 said in the angel which I saw stood upon the sea and upon the Earth lifting up his hands to heaven and swear by him that liveth forever and ever who created heaven and the things that there that therein are and the earth and the things that therein are and the seed that the things that which are therein who's speaking who's he speaking of he said when God the one who created it all there will be a time that there should be no longer there should be time no longer there is an End of Time Coming First Corinthians 15 51 said this behold I show you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed how in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump for the trumpet shall sound the dead shall be raised incredible and we shall be changed how quick will it happen in the twinkling of an eye in man's measurement the twinkling of an eyes Pro approximately one tenth of a second that's quick that's how quick we're going to be changed but we must stay awake stand with me Ephesians 5 14 said wherefore he saith awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light wake up and turn on the lights I wasn't one of those that enjoyed the morning when my folks would get me up but the final straw as you know they'd stop knock on the Mark it's time to get up Mark it's time to get up and then boom the lights came off and the lights came on you better be up I've got news for you he said awake now that sleep is arise from dead and Christ shall give thee light he's going to turn the lights on he's going to wake us up I want to be a an awake Church look I'm not worried about being a woke Church I want to be in a wake Church we are called To Shine the Light of Christ into a dark place so let's let First Apostolic Church be this world's alarm clock let's be this world's alarm clock here in the city of Knoxville to remind them to be a way that Christ is coming you better get ready you want to be a part of the family of God let's pray right now savior I love you God I thank you for a church family that is not complacent Lord I Thank you for saints of God who are a church that is alive Lord let us never Slumber let us never sleep in doing the things you've called us to do Lord you've called us out of Darkness into light now Lord let us witness to others with the lives that we live Lord with the Ministries that you bless us to accomplish God go with us this night that all that we do would please you and be an example of who you are we thank you and praise you in Jesus name we pray amen amen Lord bless you we'll see you Sunday morning 10 o'clock come expecting a great time in the Lord you're dismissed in Jesus name greet each other as you your personal protocol makes you comfortable