Sunday Evening Worship Service

glory he's i'm gonna let you move to your seats thank you praise team for leading us in worship thank you first apostolic church for being a worshipping church we greet you this sunday evening in the precious name of jesus what a privilege it is to be back in the house of the lord this evening with you and i'm thankful that god is still providing and still offering up all the blessings that his word has promised us we talked about benefits this morning it's not just going to heaven it's the benefits we're experiencing right now and i'm thankful for the benefits that we have of serving and worshiping god i would ask our ushers to make their way to the front this time i would ask our church family to continue to give of the abundant blessings god is giving to you we are continuing to progress in maintenance of our old sanctuary and the older facilities we are continuing to upgrade our campus and i appreciate your faithful giving that helps us facilitate doing this and i know god is going to reward you for your faithful giving would you stand with us right now we will bring our offerings and we're going to bring them joyfully the lord and his word tells us that he loves a cheerful giver i remember bishop quoting one definition of that word cheerful and it's the word hilarious the lord loves a hilarious giver i want to be hilarious in my gift i just want to have a good time in my giving i just don't see any reason we ought to come with sad faces as though it's a problem to give god's blessed us we are such a blessed be we ought to be excited about giving and i know you are let's pray right now that god will anoint our giving tonight savior we love you lord we're grateful for this opportunity to give lord i thank you for our jobs for our businesses for our families for our health for the daily provisions lord you daily load us with your blessings now god i pray that you would give us the joy that goes along with giving lord let us see the privilege that you've given us and lord reward us mildly for all this we're grateful and thankful in jesus name we pray amen exit the right side of your pew pass by the orphan container entered into the obviously you give unto the lord today when something happens when i call your name something happens when i call your name something happens when i call your name something happens when i call your name something happens when i call yours something happens [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] don't let your hands be chained up tonight go ahead and loosen the chains and get your breakthrough we break through when our call comes through [Music] we oh [Music] [Music] oh oh [Music] [Music] we break through [Music] we break through come on and get your breakthrough tonight come on and lift up your hands and praise through your breakthrough come on and get your breakthrough in this house [Music] [Applause] [Music] we break [Music] we break through [Music] we break through come on and get your breakthrough it's here tonight it's here tonight what are you waiting on [Applause] [Music] [Music] come on [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus on somebody if you're ready for a breakthrough come on if you're ready if you're in need of a breakthrough come on lift up your voice hallelujah jesus i wish somebody would clap their hands right now i'm not talking about a golf clap i'm talking about somebody lifting up the name of jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] let me let me tell you what god can do let me tell you what god can do the sister from my hometown she was the caterer for our uh wedding reception 12 years ago and she came down with coven 19. when i was in bloomington last weekend they'd hospitalized her and then that following monday they put her on her ventilator said given her 30 chance to make it we've been keeping in contact with her son-in-law who's a great friend of mine great preacher he texts me this this afternoon on her way to lunch and said they're taking her off the ventilator to see if she can pray or she see if she can breathe on her own and if she can breathe on her own they're not going to put her back on the ventilator he just texts me and says she's breathing on her own now tell me what are you worried about he can answer any player that he wants to it's on his time it's his probably somebody but look at your mountain and say i'm breaking through i'm breaking through i break it through come on revival's here my kids are going to be safe he's going to end up with somebody who's lifting him up right now he's still able he's still able he's still able [Music] here's what i want you to do i know we're going to preach we're going to have time i want you right now where you are to lift up your hands and i want you to pray right now in the name of jesus and believe that god can do anything he can do anything he can do anything come on he can break through he can break forth right now the prayer can be answered by the time you get home tonight because you pray in faith believing that nothing is impossible to those who believe now if you believe that won't you clap your hands unto the lord tonight [Applause] [Music] you start making your way back to your seats but keep that same spirit of worship and in anticipation and expectation i believe the lord is among us tonight amen just get your bibles we're going to go to hebrews chapter number 10 11 and 12. i'm not going to preach all those chapters but we're going to see something tonight amen give honor to our bishop sister mccool pastor sister jamie pastor anthony sister kelly and happy birthday to my dear wife the greatest gift outside of the holy ghost the lord has ever given me was ashley mccool and i'm thankful for her she's she's amazing she's amazing hebrews chapter number 10 we're gonna look at one verse there hebrews 10 and verse number 39 [Music] and then we're going to read chapter number 11 verses 32 through 39 and then look at hebrews 12 and 1. [Music] hebrews 10 verse number 39 [Music] what i want us to see you know hebrews chapter number 11 is perhaps the most famous chapter that most people think of when they think of the book of hebrews and we love to preach it and talk about it tonight but it's remember that your bible when it was written the words of god were written there were no chapters and verses that happened much much later and think thankfully we have those things we can reference scripture much much easier but the writer of hebrews didn't just put this 11th chapter in there just kind of haphazardly hey here's a great here's a great great story or a great lesson but it's bookended by chat by the end of chapter number 10. in the beginning of chapter number 12 okay so this is one long letter so let's look at chapter 10 verse number 30 for 39 but we are not of them who draw back [Music] unto perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul but we are not of them who draw back unto perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul chapter number 11's go to the end of it look at verse number 32 what shall i more say for the time would fail me to tell of gideon of barrack samson jephthah david also samuel and of the prophets now i want you to look at this really close with me we'll open it up and unpack it towards the end tonight look what he says here who through faith subdued kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions quenched the violence of fire escape the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong wax valiant and fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens women received their dead raised to life again and others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection and others someone say others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings jaime are over of bonds and imprisonment they were stoned they were son of sunder were tempted were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheepskins sheepskins and goatskins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth and these now look at this what he is saying here he just put all these people and he's summing it up right here he put all these people in the same group and these all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise god having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect and chapter number 12 verse 1 will conclude here wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us tonight i want to i'm going to teach more than i preach tonight on this thought the hall of faith and failures [Music] the hall of faith and failures you ready i've already messed you all up haven't i we're gonna pray and believe the lord's gonna speak to us through his word father we thank you for your spirit that is in this room god that's the worship that's went forth i pray right now that it would which begin to open up the soil of hearts and minds and souls and spirit and let there be a spirit of illumination and revelation from your word and speak to us words of hope hope and grace and deliverance and i pray right now that you'd help us to leave here to walk in confidence to persevere in the faith in jesus name we pray and everyone said amen won't you clap your hands again tonight come on clap your hands real loud the hall of faith and failures the hebrews letter is one of the most intriguing books of the bible many new testament readers unfamiliar with the old testament might find some of its contents puzzling or irrelevant however hebrews reveals that the bible is not just bits and pieces or collection of unrelated themes and topics and theological treatises instead is the story of humanity's redemption through jesus christ hebrews unfolds the glorious tapestry of god's progressive revelation and its climax in jesus allowing us to see his superiority over all things it's important that as we read this book that it's important that we know who the writer was addressing what is their situation what's the circumstance for this sermon letter the writer was addressing jewish christians who had forsaken the comforts of judaism and as a result had suffered for the sake of the gospel of jesus christ remember that their religion the judaism was a religion that you could see that you could experience they could smell the sacrifices burning on the altar they could see the blood running into the streets from the temple all of these things could be experienced and now they were claiming to be a part of a faith that was not based upon sight or feeling instead it was based upon faith how difficult that might be for those to turn and trust in christ who they can't see and reject a religion that they had faithfully believed and followed for thousands of years and even those who were unbelievers looked at christianity in its in its early days and said they don't worship any god because they don't have an idol they don't even have a temple they don't have a place that they go and offer sacrifices and so it was very difficult for them to be a people of faith because their faith was not in something that you could see instead it was a faith that you had to use your ears you had to hear what the spirit was saying that's why the writer opens up the letter and says god has spoken he spoke through the prophets he spoke through the patriarchs he has spoken but yet jesus christ is the final revelation of god's word meaning there is no other message coming he is the only message he is the full revelation he is the fulfillment of every old testament prophecy psalm every command he is the fulfillment of it he has spoken in these last days by his son meaning there is no other revelation coming you must believe in jesus christ and to leave this fulfillment to leave this revelation and to go back to anything else is futile that's his whole argument the whole argument the whole theme of the book is that jesus christ is superior he's better than everything he's better than the angels he's superior to the prophets he's better than moses he's better than aaron he's better than the tabernacle he's better than melchizedek he's he's offering a better sacrifice and offering us a better covenant with better promises and so if you reject that where do you go that's what he's saying that's the whole point of his letter he's telling his jewish christian brothers and sisters that if you leave christ you have nowhere to go and why would they want to leave jesus christ why would they want to forsake this way perhaps perhaps it was going back to the comforts of the family well the rest of my family worship in the way in the law of moses it's just easier than it might as well just conform to that it's easier to go back to that and be accepted but these were also believers who were facing persecution they were fighting tribulation facing tribulation he tells them he even he even mentions this he says i know that you've even in chapter number 10 that called he says this verse number 32 but called to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated you endured a great fight of afflictions partly whilst you were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions he even talks about here in a few moments a few verses he says that you even had your goods or your possessions spoiled you haven't you've even had your possessions taken from you living this life of faith in christ is not easy and we do a grave disservice to people when we baptize them when they receive the holy ghost and make them feel like everything's going to be okay after that it's not it's not going to be smooth sailing after that you will have family members who will say why do you believe this way why do you behave this way why do you act that way why do you why do you follow all of this they're all they're always going to be people who dismiss what you believe and you're even going to we must realize that the church is not always going to be popular that the church will be persecuted and things are not going to be easy all the time and so it might be easier for these jewish christians to just simply retreat back from christ and go back to judaism or go back to perhaps another type of religion and the writer is imploring his audience don't forsake it endure the affliction endure this light affliction endure it the other issue was his audience was not maturing they weren't growing up tells them in chapter number six he said by now you should be teachers instead we have to keep coming back to the fundamental truths of the christianity because you guys won't grow up it's one thing to fall back in the face of persecution it's another thing to fall back because you won't grow up pastor will you teach this bible study why can't you do it i don't know how long you've been here that's what he tells them go read chapter number six he said by now you should be teachers he said but you won't because we got to keep constantly coming back the same things over and over and over and over again not that those fundamental doctrines were wrong and unnecessary but he's saying hey guys you're over here in the shallow wind and there's depths within christ that you should be knowing and teaching and instead we've got to keep coming over here and splashing you with these things when are you going to grow up and if we're not careful we think that baptism and the holy ghost is all you have to do and that there's no growth in discipleship but brothers and sisters when my little girl was born i didn't give her a license to drive i have to give her milk i have to i have to nurture her i have to raise her i have to tell her hey you can't you got to stop talking like a baby and perhaps the church we must realize we're going to have to grow up and either persecution will make us grow up or we will we will grow up without that and say listen in in in spite of all that i want to grow in christ guys listen to me attending church is not all there is to the christian life that's the bear bare minimum when are you going to serve when are you going to give when are you going to become something greater than when you first were baptized we've got to learn how to grow up in the faith so he's encouraging these believers and these were not just new believers they were second generation believers they had been taught this he's saying listen you've been around for a while when are you going to grow up when are you going to mature and he's telling them this you've got to persevere you have to persevere you're going to have to grow up or you're always going to be in this constant cycle of being a victim and not a victor he understands where they are but he's worried that they're going to retreat because of persecution or their failure to grow up they've been in prison they've had their property confiscated they faced tribulation and perhaps it's just easier to go back to how i used to believe perhaps it's easier to do what i've always done and so he presents christ as the final object of faith that if he is superior from genesis to malachi there's nothing to go back to to go back to any of those things you know he said you've tasted chapter 10 he says you've tasted you've been enlightened there are those who have who have tasted the goodness been enlightened and if you've been enlightened and tasted and you go back nothing will ever taste the same if you've experienced the fullness of christ and you reject him to go back to something inferior there's no hope for you that's why he tells them there's no it's impossible to to restore them to repentance you know why because they rejected the one who can give them forgiveness from repentance you're not going to find forgiveness in the law of moses and offering a sacrifice it's inferior and so that's why it's impossible for somebody to be restored back to repentance for them because they've rejected the one who could give them repentance there's those listen to me now listen to me there are those are like i'm afraid i've blasphemed brothers and sisters you're not going to accidentally blaspheme you're not going to all of a sudden just wake up go did i blast him today that's not how it works to blaspheme is to reject him completely it is to consciously not not just unconsciously consciously say i reject christ and when you reject him you're not gonna go to him to get forgiveness and so someone who comes and says i'm worried i blasphemed right there's my first telltale sign that you didn't because if you blast him you don't want repentance you've rejected it it's important to understand you're not going to just wake up and go oh my goodness i think i blessed him you didn't jesus offers grace to those who have fallen but he cannot offer anything to those who have fallen away there's a difference he offers grace to those who realize who confess and forsake their sin but he will he cannot offer anything to anybody who refuses to come to him for forgiveness that's a part of growing up that's a part of maturing and so the writer of hebrews he peppers his exposition with warnings letting them know hey you better get it together it's the days are going to get harder so let me tell you let me give you some hope here let me offer you some encouragement to endure because you're going to have to endure you're going to have to persevere well what do you hang on to what do you hold on to what do you grab onto when you are fearful what do you cling to when you have nowhere else to go and he's telling him you can't go back to the old the old covenant because you've realized how inferior it is and so you have to have faith in that that which is superior and that is christ in his person and in his work at calvary and you also have faith in his priesthood that he is in heaven right now ever making intercession for you he's saying don't have faith in yourself have faith in christ hear me tonight we must realize we have an object of faith do you have faith in yourself of course we have faith in ourselves we believe in ourselves our culture preaches that to us every day but we must not have faith for our own salvation in our own efforts instead we hold to something that never changes jesus christ the same yesterday today and forever we have an anchor for our soul who is inside the veil who has given us opportunity to come to the throne of grace that's our hope our hope is not in our effort and giving ourselves all the ability i'm going to make it i'm just going to get up and i'm going to pick myself up with my own bootstraps no when you have nowhere else to go you turn to christ and realize i'm not holding on to him he's holding on to me and he's not going to move he's not going to change he's got me in his hand that's faith [Applause] and so he tells them i'm going i promise i'm going to go quick he says we're not of them verse number 31 verse number 39 of chapter 10 but we are not of them who draw back we're not going to draw back we're not going to throw in the towel we're going to persevere and so what does he do he goes right in to giving them examples we call chapter 11 of hebrews the hall of faith for it includes several old testament heroes of the faith the writer included these snapshots of faith intentionally he knew what he was doing he knew what he was doing to communicate to those who might not be growing up and to those who might who might just retreat and give up and go back to judaism or to no faith at all he understood what he was doing and he chose these people to write about and so he reminds them of the heroes of the old testament and so he says this now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen saying you're not going to grab hold to the old testament law with the ceremonial and civil laws those things you can touch and see we have a faith superior to that which you can't see now faith is the substance of things hoped for well what is your hope in is your hope in people is your hope in religion is your hope in the government is your hope in money he says that you have to realize we have a superior hope and that is jesus christ for by it the elders i'm thankful for some elders who have held on to this truth just like what we heard about today we have an inheritance of those who have held on to the truth and if it kept them it will keep us [Applause] if it if it kept them it'll keep us for by it the elders obtained a good report he tells them back in chapter number 10 verse number 36 says you have need of endurance you have need of endurance is anybody wore out anybody wore out anybody just get tired i'm not just talking about a long day at the you know just at the end of a long day of work i'm talking about like just mentally and emotionally exhausted you just you just where it's a nun dated with bad news we are none dated with fear bishop has quoted from daniel more more times in the last few years that the the antichrist would change the times in the seasons and he would wear out and so he says you have need of endurance you need some energy i'm not talking like monster energy drink energy i'm not talking like six pumps of espresso in your cup from a starbucks energy though i don't mind that either but you need some spiritual endurance you need to learn how to endure and pastor i know i just keep quoting from previous sermons from our pastors but patience endurance enduring patience for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of god you receive what is promised and then he bookends it at chapter 12. wherefore seeing we also are compassed about was so great a cloud of witnesses and so what he's trying to say i'm giving you some example of endurance but what we have done with chapter number 11 of hebrews is we have made it a hall of faith and forgotten about their failures we think a life of faith means perfection faith isn't about perfection christ perfects us and the word perfect in the greek means to be whole or complete that does not mean you are without flaws and there are those who will not endure because they feel like i just don't measure up but this brothers and sisters chapter number 11 is the hall of faith and failures it's faithful heroes and faithful zeros and so he he appeals to their endurance and shows them that if these people can make it you're gonna make it because what he's trying to say is this is that they didn't have what you have they didn't have a superior christ but you do you didn't or they didn't have the holy ghost but you do and if they could endure without a superior christ and a superior spirit what's going to keep you from enduring to the end [Applause] i'm trying to help somebody today to realize that your faith doesn't have to be perfect it just has to endure oh hallelujah we've got a superior superior christ we have what they were looking for [Applause] my lord have mercy now do you see it now do you see what he's trying to do he's trying to usher them on and say i want you to see something folks i want you to see something believers in the new testament i want you to see something that if all of these people could make it you've got what they were looking for god have mercy we have what the old testament heroes were looking for we've got we've got the messiah we've got the king of israel we've got the king of kings of the lord of lords and he has come to give us better covenant better promises a better hope with a better country my god have mercy he goes right into it i mean he gets right into the he gets right into the deep end here let some know hey hey hey in hebrews hey i want you to realize something that faith isn't perfect how about noah talked about him last time i preached noah did everything that god commanded him except when he got stone cold drunk and shamefully exposed himself some students feel that noah wasn't to blame for what happened they like to suggest that following the storm and the flood dramatic changes occurred on the earth and its atmosphere and these changes produce fermentation something noah had never seen before but if the novel taste of fermented wine excited noah and caused him to drink more it was a lack of discipline that led to his drunkenness because the lack of discipline and drunkenness go hand in hand and drunkenness and nakedness goes hand in hand isn't it amazing you know i love this book isn't it amazing that when adam and eve they partook of that tree they ate that fruit what did they do naked and no as soon as he gets out of the boat he partakes of the fruit gets drunk and gets what naked he tells them listen listen hebrews listen noah was a man of faith who believed god but he also had some failures stop measuring yourself by some impossible standard that you'll never attain or never reach and realize that faith is not about perfection it's about endurance oh lord jesus help me right now how about how about how about abraham and sarah he goes right into abraham and sarah man we love abraham and sarah abraham and sarah any student of scripture tell you abraham is an important figure to redemptive history he is considered to be the listen to this he is considered the father of faith and you know what this father of faith did lied twice you know why he lied because he lacked faith he was afraid two kings were going to try to take sarah his wife from him and so he told her tell everybody you're my sister faith father of faith let's think about sarah and abraham god comes to them and tells them that you're going to be a father of many nations you're going to possess a land and your descendants will possess this land but you're going to have a child and the bible says that he believed god and it was counted to him as righteousness but what happens when the lord comes to him and tells him and reminds him of the promise of the child abraham says this old dude i'm going to have a child i don't say it ain't so i don't believe it and then sarah eavesdropping or sarah listening in on this conversation hears that she an old woman is going to have a child and she laughs and the lord hears it he says why'd you laugh sarah and what does she do miss faith sister faith mrs faith i didn't laugh yes you did he heard you father of faith mother of faith what do they do they still don't believe god brothers and sisters faith is not scheming and what did they do out of their unbelief they schemed she doesn't believe god can do what he said he could do and so she tells abraham here's hagar take take our handmaiden we'll we'll make god do this you're ain't going to make god do anything i don't care how much you well i'm going to go somewhere just a moment but you're not going to make god do anything he said he was going to do it and he even told him when he was going to do it he said in a year's time and she still doesn't believe and so she gives him hay garden she thought lot was trouble ishmael is causing trouble today you are paying for it at the gas pump today thank you abraham so that he would be against every nation he would be against every people he is today because abraham and sarah father of faith and mother of faith didn't believe brothers and sisters faith is not without failures and in spite of their failure god still blessed them and helped them and their failure didn't nullify the promise of god even when we get in our own way god says i i'm i've still got covenant with you i know you failed i know i know your scheme but let me tell you something i still love you and i even though you know i'll bless ishmael but he's not the one i'm going to give you an isaac and let me tell you something god will keep showing up in spite of all of our efforts or our failures he loves us in spite of our imperfection and our flaws he'll keep showing up and say i still love you i'll still bless you just keep coming back that's where we you keep going back to him because he's faithful to the promise he's not faithful because we are faithful he's faithful because he's god [Applause] oh how about jacob oh my lord have mercy scheming deceiving jacob his name even means trickster deceiver oh jacob oh there's some jacobs in the house don't answer right now don't answer right now he learned it from somebody how about abraham and sarah how about granddad and grandma how about his mother who was supposed to be fixing deer for her husband and she kept giving him goat and old him peck isaac had no idea the difference between goat and deer let me tell you something the example you put before your kids jacob learned how to deceive somewhere i don't know why they keep acting this way i don't know why they talk this way i don't know why they live this way what example you putting before them i don't know i i've never acted like that before how do you act when someone tells you what to do and you don't want to do it i understand why my kids won't submit well do you submit to the leadership of the church jacob learned deception from somebody he deceived his brother deceives his father he manipulates his father-in-law laban and yet his name is here in the hall of faith and failures because he remained faithful to god jacob wrestled with god and came away with a limp and he limped all the way to the finish line some of us might have to limp to the finish line he was crippled yet crowned what a bishop teach a while back i'm not limping it's just my swag i'm just let me listen some of us might have to limp on into heaven some of us might just have to limp into heaven but you need to do is just keep up and get a go another day i'm going to go tomorrow i know i'm limping i'm struggling but i'm still here i'm going to keep on praying i'm going to keep on worshiping i'm going to keep on serving i'm going to keep on doing right i'm going to keep on living holy i'm limping i'm hurting i'm broken but i'm going to make it [Applause] it's a limp across the finish line i'm going fast i promise how about moses how about moses led with integrity and meekness and yet he had an anger problem killed somebody actually killed an egyptian then when god told him to speak to the rock what'd he do he was so tired of those israelites complaining and all their all their criticizing and so instead of him speaking to the rock he just smites it and here's moses in the hall of faith and failure and he didn't even make it to the promised land you know why unbelief brothers and sisters faith doesn't mean perfection faith means enduring that even when you have a bad day you show up tomorrow you had a bad week well i'll just guess i'm not going to go to church because god couldn't love a failure like me brothers and sisters this is why hebrews chapter number 11 was written and in spite of bad days bad weeks bad months bad years they kept on serving the lord faithfully how about samson womanizing samson he never could get israel to come help him fight he could never rally the troops to help him free the people from the philistine army so he does everything by himself and breaks every nazirite rule on the way there and yet here he is in the hall of faith and failures how about david oh my lord have mercy we love david don't we sunday school hero the greatest of israel's kings the giant killing champion the sweet psalmist of israel the man after god's own heart who committed adultery and killed his lover's husband to cover it up in his pride he numbered the israelite armies he refused to condemn his son amnon when he raped his half-sister he refused to correct his son absalom when he murdered amnon in revenge david was a great king but a sub-par parent yet he's in the hall of faith and failures god's not looking for for perfection he's looking for endurance despite their hang-ups and failures they endured even though they faced difficult circumstances they persevered the writer intended to use people of faith and failures to appear to appeal to his audience faith faith as you see in these old testament saints isn't a life of pristine purity instead it's a clinging to god and believing that he is better even when you fail or face painful conditions and hardships musicians come on now look at this look at look at the end of chapter 11. what more shall i say time would fail me to talk about gideon barrick samson jephthah david samuel look at verse number 33 can you put that verse 33 up someone you see something here it's very important that you pay attention to what i'm about to say okay look at this but look at verse number 33 if you have a if you have a highlighter or or a marker or a pen highlight this in your bible or highlight it in your uh your digital bible or something because it's very important that we don't overlook what this writer is saying here and i'm about to mess some people's theology up here in just one moment so please buckle up verse 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms wrought righteousness obtain promises stop the mouth of lines and we like to put ourselves right there boom that's us that's going to be us that's going to be me verse 34 quench the violence of fire oh yes escape the edge of the sword highlight that right there highlight that underline that circle it put an arrow star escape the edge of the sword remember his his his argument began in verse 33 who through faith escaped the edge of the story that's right we're going to overcome this persecution out of weakness we're made strong absolutely wax valiant and fight turn to flight the armies of the aliens that's us who through faith women receive their dead rays to life again yeah brother whitley that's right that's us unfortunately he doesn't stop there who through faith others were tortured stop what's wrong with their faith come on charismatics what's wrong with their faith come on tbm what's wrong with their faith right now he just said they waxed valiant and he just said highlight it who through faith were tortured something's got to be wrong with their faith something's wrong oh they didn't have that prayer answered something's wrong with their faith not my prayer or my false preaching we're tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection meaning that some women had children who died who weren't resurrected what's wrong with their faith bless god there's something wrong with their faith they have the they don't have the real deal this is so popular right now on facebook and youtube it's on our televisions we are inundated with this blab it and grab it and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings yeah moreover of bonds and imprisonment he's saying through faith he doesn't say there's some they don't have some type of inferior faith he is saying these others had faith and this bad stuff happened were there some that had good things happen yes some now remember keep highlighting now don't overlook this now they were stoned they were sound asundered were tempted now look at verse 37 here and make a little arrow back to verse number 34 we're slain with the sword now he just said there were some who escaped the edge of the sword and now he just said through faith some were killed with a sword oh something wrong with their faith so i've seen this happen more times than i want to even admit i've seen it happen in our oneness pentecostal apostolic conferences and camp meetings we'll go pray for somebody get there some kind of oh they got liver spots oh god touch their liver spots right now they got healed of the liver spots how do you know superman do you have x-ray vision and yes somebody over here who's a crippled hadn't walked in in 20 years and they pray for them and nothing happens goes well there's something wrong with their faith now what we've got here is a charlatan and we like to preach the first part of hebrews 11 and totally overlook the last part because it doesn't fit into our prosperity gospel and i'm afraid our movement is drifting into this nonsense and we've got people we've got people and churches having their heads cut off in africa and asia and in the middle east and we're sitting over here in our ivory towers acting like our faith is superior when god looks at them and says who through faith escape the edge of the sword and were killed by the sword the issue is not the faith the issue is the endurance just blab it and grab it just tell god what you want that's not what this book teaches us never once is god subservient to his creation well you just do this and you just do that and you just do this and you just do that and he'll do it where in the bible is that at tell that to people who were killed by the edge of the sword dishonest hundred suffered cruel tortures and mockings we don't want that part we want this nonsense and we ain't got no bible for or we take scripture out of context where two or three are gathered together there he is you know what he's talking about he's not talking about what we think he's talking about he's talking about judgment he's saying if somebody has sinned and we need to come together and make a ruling get two or three together and i'll be there touching anything that's not what he's talking about you can't come up here and say i just believe god is going to give me a million dollars come up here and touch my hand and believe with me that is not in the bible and so what happens is we have a people who are looking for a million-dollar mansion somewhere and he said there are some who are dwelling in caves through faith it's not about what you have it's about what you've endured oh lord have mercy oh lord have mercy stand with me brother nate you've messed me all up that's all right that's all right we need to make sure we have a theology that comes from the scriptures and not from the internet [Applause] go to chapter 12. jesus help us wherefore seeing we also come past about with such a great cloud of witnesses the faithful and the failures look at this i'm closing with this i promise let us lay aside every weight [Music] and the sin which does so easily beset us look at this throw it up there and let us run [Music] with the the christian life is not a sprint it's not a 100 meter dash it's a it's a it's a marathon and he said if you're going to run a marathon you're going to have to discipline yourself to get in spiritual shape and he said so lay aside every weight and sin and i'm going to tell you something right now not every weight is a sin [Music] and we ask this question i've had it as a pastor i've had it as an evangelist i've had it as a teacher brother nate can i do thus and thus what's wrong with this and this can we do that in this can we wear this that this why can't we do you see you're asking the wrong question the question shouldn't be can you do or not do the questions should be asked is this going to help or hinder my run [Music] so the next time you have this idea like why can't we do why can't this but it might not be a sin [Music] but it might not help your running and i grew up under hard preaching i grew up under hard preaching and there's a lot of things that were made sin that were not sin they were weights and what's happened is my generation and the one before me they partook of the weight and they realized it wasn't a sin and so they threw everything out and don't believe anything's a sin or a weight there's a difference between a weight or a sin you see this is what happened to eve the lord told them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but when sir when the serpent came and questioned her she said we were told not to touch or eat god never said not to touch it so what happens is she touches it and she doesn't die and so immediately she thinks well if i've touched it and i'm not dead i might as well go ahead and eat it and so what happens is we have people we've we've messed with their conscience and told them that there are weights we've we can we've made we've equated weights with sin and when they go in part they touch the weight or touch the fruit and nothing happens to them they immediately go i guess go ahead and do everything else i'll throw out doctrine i'll throw out this i'll throw out baptism in jesus name i'll throw out the one it's because you see what i'm saying not everything's a weight now not everything's a sin but there's some things that are weights and you don't ask do i can i do this and can i go there and can i do this or is this all right and ask yourself is this gonna help or hinder my run in the faith [Music] and i guarantee as you answer that question you're going to know the answer right away but let me just go ahead and stop you right there your weight might not be my weight and my weight is not your weight and what's happened is we have a whole generation of preachers who preach weights as sin for everybody when it was a personal weight and they've hindered people's endurance we need some discernment we need some personal conviction and you get personal conviction by getting in that book and praying yourself silly and instead we've got we we would rather have somebody come up and tell us what to do or what not to do that's the easy way out if you just have some personal conviction to say is this gonna help me run the race i don't maybe i shouldn't wear that maybe i shouldn't maybe i shouldn't watch that maybe i shouldn't go there there are some things in my life that are weights that i'm not gonna make you awake i'm not going to burden you with my weight it's my weight that i have to lay aside so i can run with endurance but there is sin [Music] there is sin that you're going to have to forsake there are things in that book that are clearly outlined that you need to forsake so you can endure brothers and sisters i hope i've helped you more than i've harmed you tonight but i want you to realize that we don't have faith in faith you hear me i want to say it again we don't have faith in faith we have faith in christ who is superior over everything and he's superior even over my failures he's superior over my bad days and my weak moments he's superior over my fleeting emotions and my fleeting feelings he's superior on days when i feel like i'm just super inferior that's when i just throw myself upon him and say jesus i need some endurance won't you lift up your hands right now some in this room [Music] been praying a certain prayer and if you're basing your salvation on god if god answers that prayer or not you need to realize he's superior than hint than answering that one particular prayer abraham never got to possess canaan moses never got to possess canaan the promised land we've got a better country with better promises listen to me right now as you're praying with your eyes closed your endurance is not based upon your performance your endurance is faith in the object and that is christ jesus why don't you lift up your hands right now i want you to pray there's somebody who needs some hope right now some hope that it's not about me i'm not about my performance and if i'm praying the right way if i'm not praying the right way or for it or if i'm doing the best i possibly can it's just am i enduring am i enduring am i enduring as they begin to sing right now i want you i want to be somebody who'll be bold enough and brave enough to say i need some endurance i need some spiritual energy i need i need the lord to help me right now we're right where i am i need some endurance to continue another day i feel like giving up i feel like throwing in the towel but i'm just going to keep believing i'm going to keep hoping i'm going to keep trusting in him it might be impossible but i know that he can do all things i'm standing here not because i'm able oh he's standing here because he's holding me up come on he can move that mountain [Music] oh and we're standing here [Music] there is [Music] [Music] with your powers [Music] that's impossible and we're standing here what if your mountain doesn't fall come on what if your mountain doesn't fall what if the walls don't fall what if he doesn't move the mountain what if he doesn't answer that prayer are you going to give up are you going to quit are you going to throw in the towel or are you gonna keep showing up and looking at that mountain and looking at that wall and say he's made a way he made a way where there seems to be no way he made a way for me to be here in spite of the mountain in spite of the wall i'm still gonna keep showing up my faith is not dependent upon the mountain moving or the wall falling my faith is dependent that christ is holding me and he's faithful and he's not changing that's what i'm holding on to