Sunday Morning Worship Service

just remain standing and return back to your seats and get your Bibles we want to say praise the Lord to everyone we welcome you uh back here to First Apostolic Church here on Sunday morning the Lord's day we have had a wonderful wonderful week here uh and I pray that you had a wonderful wonderful Thanksgiving time spent with your family and uh we're excited to be back back here today I'm glad to see Ryan and Angel Lambert back today come on can you give him a great big hand married last week right before Thanksgiving we're glad to have them home the Lamberts we have the other Lamberts here and so uh we love them and appreciate them if you have your Bibles turn with me to John chapter number 8 we'll begin at verse number one and as you're turning there swiping there uh we want to say I want to give honor to all of our leadership Bishop mul uh Pastor mul Pastor Anthony and all of our wives we honor you this week and this day and I will say this um Ashley uh absolutely knocked it out of the park on Thursday morning it was I told her I said I'm already your driver now I'm going to be your driver to all kinds of speaking engagements and all of that and I'm fine with that I'm fine with that and she did an outstanding job I was so proud of her and she lives uh what she taught and I am so blessed to have her by my side John chapter chapter number eight beginning at verse number one Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives and early in the morning he came again into the temple and all the people came unto him and he sat down and taught them and the scribes and Pharisees brought un him a woman taken in adultery and when they had set her in the midst they say unto him Master this woman was taken in adultery in the very act now Moses and the law commanded us that such should be stoned but what sayest thou and they said tempting him that they might have to accuse him but Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not so when they continued asking him he lifted up himself and said unto them he that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her look at verse number eight and verse number nine for our text today and again he stooped down and rode on the ground and they which heard it being convicted of their own conscience someone say conscience went out one by one beginning at the eldest even unto the last and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst this morning I'd like to preach to you with this thought God's favorite preacher God's favorite preacher why don't you put your Bibles down your devices down and again would you lift up your hands today and ask God to speak to you and to speak to every individual in this place father we thank you Lord for every word of God that is true the infallible word of God we thank you Lord for a week of Thanksgiving and gratefulness Lord but we are gathered here today to worship you to lift you up and to magnify you we are here to come and sit under your your word today and submit to your word and I pray that there would be a refreshing that comes from your word today anoint my lips of clay and help me to to uh seek after acceptable words to preach and to minister to your people and I pray father that there be a lifechanging encounter with you today in jesus' name we pray why don't you clap your hands again unto the Lord I wonder if somebody can give him a real praise today I'm talking a Thanksgiving praise a grateful praise come on can you lift up your voice just a little bit louder come on somebody can you lift him up just a little bit louder today we love you Jesus Hallelujah you can be seated in the name of the Lord God's favorite preacher throughout history we have heard of some great preachers when when you think of the greatest preachers you no doubt have in your mind your opinion already formed you can think of your favorite sermons that were preached the messages preached that changed your life we've heard for some of the greatest preachers and uh even here and we've read sermons that have impacted our life on on my shelf in my office is one of my favorite writers and one of my favorite preachers Charles Haden Spurgeon he was called the prince of preachers uh he was aptly called that because he was a preachers preacher he was a word Smith and everything that he preached and everything that he wrote uh was baptized in uh the name of Jesus and in the spirit of God and it just uh provokes you and sister Donna will send me a text every once in a while and say this is what I read out of spurgeon's devotional today and we just uh we love to read those little things that he wrote and even history tells us of other great preachers like Jonathan Edwards in his famous sermon sinners in the hands of an Angry God it's still spoken of today it's uh picked apart in literature classes and talked about in secular schools and history books we've heard about the great revivals of great preachers like DL Moody and Charles finny and David Brainard and many others who race the Hall of Fame of great preachers of History Even in our own Apostolic Movement we have great preachers that we love to follow and we love to hear we love to read the history books about them such as uh Andrew uren and GT Haywood and William Seymour JT Pew one of my favorites JH Osborne and I believe one of the greatest Bible teachers in all the world is our very own Bishop Billy mul who is one of the greatest preachers at in all of the [Applause] world even in this room right now we have the greatest preachers gracing this place but I have to say with utmost respect is none of those that I have mentioned and is none of those who you might think are in this room today Paul had to deal with people who followed favorite preachers in First Corinthians chapter number one he has to address a division in the Church in Corinth because it it was said that there were some who only followed after Peter and there were those who followed after the great oror Apollos and there were those who said we follow after Paul and then there was that other group Who said We only listen to Jesus people have their favorite preachers don't they we love to hear great preaching we love to hear the sermons that are preached we like to write the titles down the notes down and the little sayings the little cliches they might say the on lighters we now tweet it or we write it out in notes post it on Facebook we got pictures with it on Instagram we love our favorite preachers but I want you to know today that none of those that I have mentioned and none of those that you might be thinking are God's favorite preacher can I tell you about God's favorite preacher today God's favorite preacher has never preached a camp meeting God's favorite preacher has never preached a keynote message at a conference he's never held a Revival at a mega church God's favorite preacher has never planted a church God's favorite preacher has never pastored a church he's never owned a fifth wheel trailer traveling around the world as an evangelist God's favorite preacher owns neither three-piece suit or silk tie God's favorite preacher does not need a pull pit God's favorite preacher does not need a microphone for his voice speaks louder than any other God's favorite preacher doesn't need an invitation to speak for he's already in season and out of season God's favorite preacher is instant in season and out of season God's favorite preacher lives with you and me every day God's favorite preacher rides in your car with you God's favorite preacher is with you and you are alone God's favorite preacher is with you when you are at work God's favorite preacher is with you when you make every decision God's favorite preacher doesn't need to learn Greek or Hebrew because God's favorite uh preacher speaks every language known to mankind let me introduce to you tonight God's favorite preacher conscience God's favorite preacher is your conscience conscience has convicted more men of their sin than any other preacher to ever live God's favorite preacher has seen more people repent baptized in jesus' name filled with the Holy Ghost more than any other preacher in existence God's favorite preacher has the clearest voice his voice is like a trumpet sending out a Clarion call his oratory skills are the best anyone has ever experienced for he has preached many a sermon only using simply one word preaching famous sermons such as stop yeah don't no bad Sin using only one word at a time for his sermons has given him the greatest of returns I'm telling you right now conscience does not need a theological degree he has never needed a seminary to gain an education his ministry reaches Beyond stature education wealth ability or name he can preach in any culture and he can preach in any time period for he's always relevant he has a voice that is bold and is always looking to convin I'm talking about God's favorite preacher today God's favorite preacher is your own conscience he preaches when you try to sleep at night often times he takes the pool pit at night when you're getting ready to try to sleep he comes and visits you right on your pillow and he takes his Bible open and he gets his microphone he gets his pull pit and he begins to whisper in your ear your conscience brothers and sisters is God's greatest and favorite preacher the greatest thing that you can ever have is to develop your conscience Hallelujah I'm GNA preach whether you're going to help me or not I'm GNA Preach Today conscience may be God's favorite preacher but more times than not he's your worst enemy that's why I believe a lot of people don't like preachers because a preacher sounds a whole lot like their conscience come on somebody help me right now come on somebody God's favorite preacher is your conscience it's the thing that God has put inside every one of us it's the thing that speaks to us it's the moral compass it's the alarm going off when you're trying to go to sleep at night I'm talking about God's favorite preacher your conscience it has been said that the conscience is the whisper of God in the soul of man The Whisper of God in the soul of man someone said this one time I read it not too long ago it said this they said I have a clear conscience and someone said well you must also have a bad memory yeah makes sense doesn't it Webster defines conscience as the faculty power or principle which decides on the lawfulness of actions with a compulsion to do right it is the moral judgment which prohibits or opposes the violation of a previously recognized ethical principle I'm talking about your conscience today your conscience is the alarm that goes off when you are tempted it is controlled by an unseen operator whether we like it or not it sounds an alarm which foolish people love to ignore the conscience is the innate ability to sense right and wrong everyone even the most unspiritual Heathen has a conscience Paul said this in Romans chapter number two veres 14- 15 for when the Gentiles which have not the law or the Old Testament do by Nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law unto themselves which show the work of the law written in their hearts look at this their conscience also also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another so Paul says they don't have the law they don't have the Ten Commandments but in them is written the law of God through their conscience so they are guilty this what Paul is saying in Romans that they are guilty even though they don't have the law explaining the Ten Commandments they're guilty because their conscience tells them what they're doing is wrong that's right he says what so they will either accuse or excuse themselves oh God help me right now you see your conscience ex accuses you of the wrongdoing that you do and then your flesh tries to excuse what you're doing how I'll tell you one way at least I'm not doing what they're doing at least I'm not as bad as them at least I didn't do this and at least I'm not doing that at least I'm not in that shape or that condition you see your conscience is already preaching its favorite sermon unto you and you're trying to excuse yourself by pointing your finger at everybody else I'm preaching this is what he said he was saying inside of you is this moral compass God has written his law upon every individual in this world that's why there are some people who have never gone to church but they have a sensitive conscience and they can excuse thems with this phrase I'm a good person you see what they're doing is they are measuring themselves against a standard that is very very low and very shallow and very small they're measuring themselves against somebody else but God says you're guilty whether you have the law or you don't have the law because your conscience tells you you come short of the glory of God not the standard of your neighbor this is what Paul said chapter number seven of Romans verse number seven what shall we say then is the law sin God forbid nay had I not known sin but by the law for I had not known lust except the law had said Thou shalt not covet but sin taking occasion by the Commandment wrought in me all manner of conc uh concupiscence for without the law sin was dead for I was alive without the law once but when the Commandment came sin revived and I died so what he is saying is the law awakens or sets a flame the light of the conscience he said ' I didn't know what it was to lust until the law said You shall not covet but when I heard the law my conscience took the pull pit grabbed the microphone and said guilty guilty guilty you're guilty oh God help me right now come on sometimes we don't need preaching to have conviction to hit us we can be driving down the road we can be trying to go to bed at night and our conscience will awaken oh come on somebody help me right now it will awaken us to the guilt that we have can I tell you this government is not our problem economics is not our problem poverty is not our problem we have a conscience problem you can be seated thank you very much well it is politics brother and a it is the government no it's our conscience it's our conscience if we could correct our conscience we wouldn't have the problems that we're living with right now in the world I'm going to go somewhere hopefully I can get you back on something else here entertain you a little bit more here just one second hold on the word conscience is used 30 times in the New Testament in the Hebrew the word for heart or conscience is Leb Leb so when it was recorded that Pharaoh hardened his heart during The Showdown with Moses in actuality it could be translated Pharaoh hardened his conscience against God's Will and purpose the scripture speaks of those with a tender heart this is ones who have a sensitive conscience and the upright in heart who have a pure conscience and it is Paul who mentions conscience more than anybody else 21 times from acts until his letter to Titus the apostle was concerned in keeping in keeping people's conscience sensitive being able to keep it Pure Clean and to keep it from defilement and shame he writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:5 now the end of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of Faith unfed he says later in the same chapter verse number n or yeah verse number 19 holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning Faith have made shipwreck God uses this indicator within every human being to prick our conscience and to bring us into conviction by his spirit and by his word it's the alarm that goes off to keep you from making a bad decision Hallelujah the spirit of God will use the conscience to draw you unto repentance Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 7:10 for Godly sorrow worketh repentance to Salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death and what he's trying to say is this that God will use by the means of your conscience he will use that to draw you to Godly sorrow and to draw you you unto repentance but the more you resist it anybody use an alarm in the morning and you have five of them set up anybody anybody else but me you got the first one just will kind of Rouse you a little bit like I got another one coming so I go ahead and hit ignore anybody else do that just me okay thank you as brother Landon say you're judging me right now then you got the other one going off about 15 minutes later swipe that go I got another one coming I should be good here in a little bit then you got another one anybody else anybody lazy like me you did it again and then it then you know this is the last one this is it I this is my last chance and if I fall back to sleep I'm going to be late for work I'm going to be late for church I'm going to be late for the meeting I'm going to be late for whatever you know that in your mind all the other ones are leading to this one I don't know why we don't just have the one we just can't but that's just like our conscience that God will awaken the alarm in you to stop doing something and the more times you swipe ignore and the more times you swipe ignore and the more times you swipe ignore and the more times you hit mute and the more times you hit mute and the more times you hit there's one more coming and God said this is my final time and you've gone from sensitive to searing that's what he says look at 1 Timothy chapter number four verse number one now the spirit speaks expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils speaking lies in hypocrisy having their conscience seared with a hot iron in other words he's saying God has spoken God has spoken God has spoken he has sent prophet he has sent priest he has sent preacher he has sent Apostle he has sent his word he has sent letters he has sent radio Ministries he has sent TV Ministries he sent internet Ministries he sent social media Ministries and you keep hitting ignore you keep hitting mute and I'm going to tell you something you will go from sensitive to searing until you mute God's favorite preacher you'll put the duct tape over his mouth your conscience can be your greatest Ally or your greatest enemy Puritan Richard SB said this it were better for all men to know your sin then that thyself only should know it this is what he's saying it would be worse than if a million men knew your sin if only you knew your sin he said it'd be better for the world to know your sin then for you to be the only person in the world to know your sin because you live with you your conscience can be your ally or it could be your enemy and Paul is warning that in the last days and I believe we're living in the last days right now as they are departing from the faith and they are giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils and lies are increasing there is a conscience in all of us that is beginning to become numb to the Clarion call of God for us to repent of our sins and if we're not careful if you're not careful you will ignore it long enough to the point that God stops speaking that's right amen you ever talk to somebody and you know they're not listening I'm telling you there's times oh brother nck can you tell me how to do this can you tell me how to do that and I'm looking at and they have got this gloss over look in their eyes you know what I start doing I start to stop talking I know when you're not listening to me and all you're doing right now is getting ready to you're thinking of the next thing you want to say brother n how do you do this and how do you do that and I start telling they're going where they got their phones out and they're swiping through I shut down I stopped talking because you're not you you really don't want me to talk to you right anybody else do that now then you got another one she's not in here she's eight and I'm glossed over and she's still talking I'm driving down the road I'm going I have missed this entire conversation I told Ashley one day I said she has talked from the moment she got up until the time I got here to the church today I have no idea what she's said I have not the slightest clue I love her but there is just so much information if you don't have that God bless you but I'm thankful for her that she likes to talk but there's a time when God's talking and we can tune him out and our conscience is is beginning to poke us and to prick us and to begin to try to get our attention and if we're not careful we'll gloss over him we'll ignore him long enough and we'll do anything we can to be distracted we'll do anything we can to block out the noise and we'll do whatever we possibly can to stop the the the voice speaking to us in one of these days The Voice will stop but let me tell you something if the conscience is still speaking There's Hope for you today if your conscience is still dealing with you oh come on somebody if it is drawing you back unto him there's hope for you don't ignore it don't ignore it don't ignore the voice of God's favorite preacher I wish somebody would give the Lord a praise right now and thank him for the [Applause] conscience if your conscience is telling you not to do something you better not do it if it's saying stay away from that relationship don't do it that's if it's telling you not to take that job for more money don't do it it's not worth it don't you sear your conscience with a hot iron he Paul uses this metaphor being seared it's like a burning or a numbing of the burn of the of the the nerve endings in your hands or your feet if you burn it long enough it becomes numb you don't feel anything it becomes hard and callous it becomes scarred and you're not allowed to be able to feel what the spirit and the word and the conscience is trying to say unto you let's go to our text in John chapter number nine today 8 these men these Pharisees brought a woman unto Jesus listen to me now I'm almost done they had caught her in the act of adultery and they wanted Jesus to act upon the law of God and put her to death so they bring her to him and throw her at his feet what are you going to do with this one that's guilty and Jesus doesn't say anything he gets in the ground ground and begins to write in the dust I'm I'm I've heard preachers and I've heard uh ministers try to explain what we don't have a clue what he put in the dust we don't have a clue it doesn't matter because what he was trying to do was provoke their conscience he had spoken to them from the law for years and they still didn't hear it so he Stoops in and begins to scribble in the dust and in 15 English words our translation says that he said this without even looking up he that is without sin among you let him cast a stone at her and one by one God's favorite preacher took the pulpit isn't it amazing those who are loudest with the shouts of condemnation are usually the ones who are as loud to try to stop the voice of conscience they love to point at everybody else they love to accuse everybody else they love to shame and condemn everybody else what they're trying to do they're trying to silence God's favorite preacher within them and if I can accuse them loud enough and long enough and more times than anybody else people will forget about me but God's favorite preacher always has the last word and he began to knock one more time and they realized without him saying anything they knew that they were guilty what were they guilty of I don't know he didn't say he didn't have to say conscience took over right there conscious took the pull pit and said you're guilty you're guilty you're guilty you're guilty you're guilty you're guilty I'm going to tell you something there are going to be a time when your conscience is going to convict you but you don't need to run from Jesus you need to run to Jesus they ran from the one who could forgive them and they ran from him they ran from the what did he do how how do you know he could he could have forg them because he he forgave her that's right woman where's your accusers I have none and he said this neither do I condemn you I'm telling you right now if he is convicting you in your conscience don't you run from him don't you leave this place you need to run to him if he's still speaking to you from your conscience you need to run to him that's the only place that you can get your conscience soothed Hallelujah go musicians if you'd like to come I'm almost done you can have listen to me now I want to help you you can have a sensitive conscience and you can have an overactive conscience you hear me Paul dealt with this in Romans and in First Corinthians that there were those who had a sensitive conscience and there were those who had an overactive conscience your conscience like any good preacher needs to be informed by the word of God not your feelings that's your fa God's favorite preacher your conscience has to be informed by the scripture not by your emotions let me prove it to you this is what John would say in 1 John 3:20 for if our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knows all things beloved if our heart listen to me if our heart does condemn us he said that's good that's good but God is greater than your heart your heart is deceitful above all things and can't be trusted your heart knows two ways good bad right that's it and if you inform it only by feelings and emotions you're going to feel bad a lot of times or you can sear it and think well I'm do good I'm fine as long as I'm not like everybody else so you have to inform your conscience train your conscience through the word of God he says that's good if your heart condemns you but God is greater than our heart beloved if our heart doesn't condemn us we have confidence toward God either way God is greater so you have to train your conscience through the word I I was well I was evangelizing many years ago I was at a small Church preaching and they had a little prayer room connected to the to the sanctuary and you could just walk right into the room and there right there next to the pull pit and I'd go in there and pray and there was a young man in there praying and in the corner on on on the bench and he was praying he's praying very loud he was very sensitive and I I heard what he was saying and he was praying God forgive me of this forgive me of this forgive me of this and will you forgive me of this and God cleanse me of this cleanse me forgive me forgive me forgive me cleanse me of this and I was so moved by his sincerity and asking God to forgive him the next night of Revival I went into the prayer room and I heard and I seen that he was over in the corner and he was asking God again to forgive him of all of these things that he had asked the night before I kind of I heard it and I was like that's interesting and so then the next night I went into the prayer room and I heard him he was over there in the corner and I heard him praying and he was asking God to forgive him of the things that he had asked for forgiveness for the night before and the the night before that and the Lord quickened me and said tell him I don't know what he's talking about tell him to stop asking for forgiveness for for something that I've already have forgotten about and the lord gave me a scripture and I pulled out my Bible and it was Hebrews chapter number four it says that the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword and it's quicker than anything and it divides the ther dividing the marrow and the joints and the bone and it is a deser I said brother I went over there to him I wasn't I wasn't trying to be mean or or rude and try to interrupt him but I put my arm around him and I said my dear brother the Lord told me to stop asking for forgiveness of things that he forgave you for two days ago I'm telling you you got to train your conscience that if we if we sin and if we have any sin he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin come on stand my come on stand to your feet come on he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin yes he is and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness that is a promise you have to inform your conscience of that when you ask for forgiveness he's faithful and many of us live under the condemnation of our conscience of things that God has forgiven us of my God help me things that God has forgotten about and our condemnation and our conscience gets the pull pit and wounds us over that's why let me tell you something I grew up with heart y'all don't even know what hard preaching is I grew up under hard preaching hard preaching is they constantly beat you up with the law of God never preaching grace and mercy and hope and love I'm telling you you got to have that but you got to have grace and mercy you got to have the bomb of Gilead why because you're constantly wounding people and hurting people beating come on we're not we're not called to beat up sheep we're called to Shepherd the sheep and you're not going to get a sheep by beating it you're going to get a sheep by Leading it gently I don't have no idea where that came from but it's here because if your conscience is constantly wounded you'll feel like there's no hope for you that's right and now you are now you are under the weight of something that God has not given you that's why a God's favorite preacher has to be informed with the word of God not by your emotions and your feelings because you can have a good day and you can have a bad day that's right he trying to help you you got to train it closing if you want to start playing there's a famous poem written by Robert southy called The inchcape Rock there at The inchcape Rock was the inchcape Bell it was was a bell buoy off a dangerous Shore in Scotland in a drunken spree a wild sea captain trying to keep people to coming to his Shores and partaking of the treasures and the jobs and everything he cut down the Bell from its Mooring it sank into the depths of the sea months later that same Captain was on his ship with all all of his seamen and they were there in a storm all of those Sailors said listen for the Bell listen for the Bell they listened in vain for a bell that had been cut down they missed the channel and the ship drove into the rocks and all perished this poem this Parable has a piercing truth he who muffles the conscience may live to see the day when conscience won't speak don't muffle the warning Bell don't muffle the voice of conscience and conviction if it kept you awake last night thank God that he's not given up on you run to him don't run from him right the writer of Hebrews would say how much more shall the blood of Christ who through his eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God Purge your conscience from dead Works to serve the Living God you need to baptize your conscience with the scriptures baptize a sensitive a sensitive conscience with the scriptures baptize your conscience with scripture to restrain an overactive one you've got to be informed by the word of God Closing with this going to come out John the Baptist was a voice crying out in the wilderness Herod heard John John would tell him the word of the Lord I'm sure it was the same message that he preached in the wilderness that he would preach in the king's courts repent the Kingdom of Heaven is at of hand as a hand there came a day when they took the head off John the Baptist and the voice of God's man was silenced it would be later on Herod would want to see Jesus pilate sent him unto to Herod and the Bible says that Jesus answered him not a word because when you silence the voice of God's man you might just be silencing the voice of God don't silence your conscience train it listen to it if it's telling you you need to repent repent if it's telling you hey you're still guilty and you've already repented you need to get back in the word and tell it the promises of God if your conscience is constantly wounded and it's constantly condemning you with guilt if your conscience is constantly telling you you need to do this you need to get out of this situation you need to turn from this you need to wake up you better listen to it don't silence the alarm don't silence the Bell don't silence the voice would you lift up your hands right now I want to encourage somebody today that there's still hope for you that if your conscience is telling you and provoking you you need to run to an altar today don't run from him don't run from him run to him don't don't silence the the voice that's telling you it's time to finally get baptized don't silence the voice that tells you you you got to get the Holy Ghost today don't silence the voice that tells you you need to make things right with your brother and make things right with your sister don't don't don't silence the voice that's telling you you need to make things right with your coworker and your friend come on don't silence the voice don't wound it don't sear it but listen to it train it make sure you know where it's being informed from is it coming from a place of the word or is it coming from a place of emotion right now I want you to lift up your hands and lift up your voice I want you to realize that the same blood that saved you is the same blood that can Purge your conscience and bring you peace it's the same blood that can give you peace when you lay your head down T night knowing that he has forgiven you knowing that he has helped you knowing that he is all under the blood come on would you lift up your heart would you lift up your voice oh [Music] yes oh [Music] yes come on would you lift up your heart oh come on he's drawing you because he's good come on he's drawing you because he's good oh you are good and your mercy is forever you are good come on you are come on would you lift up your hands would you lift up your heart come on let's not go through the motions today come on the Holy Ghost is here to minister to bring you some Hope come on to bring you some hope to bring you some clarity