Who Wouldn't Want To Have Church Like This | Kidz Quest Pastor Nolan Carpenter

It is good to be in the house of the Lord tonight. If you're happy to be in church tonight, would you say amen? Amen. If you're not happy to be in church, you can just be quiet. I just tonight, there is such a a spirit of of thankfulness. And uh I just I love church. I love I love God's people. I love the house of God. I love what we did this morning starting at 10:00 and I love what God did at about 11:30 where two precious souls went down in the name of Jesus Christ. And College, good to see you on a Sunday night. He was baptized in Jesus name. Amen. I I love I love church. I love God's people. I Papa Doughty had a saying he would talk about um when he was talking about how you know it's a biblical man a biblical command that you got to love everybody. And he would say he'd say ah he'd say ugly he said I I got to love them but I don't got to go on vacation with them. And I want to tell the church I love you so much I don't mind going on vacation with you. I love I love God's people. And I love I love that's just about the message that's about the message tonight. I just love church. I there's nothing better we can be doing mom on a Sunday night than coming to the house of God. I don't know about you. I've never set somebody free. I've never forgiven sins. I've never healed somebody but when I come to church on a Sunday night you don't know what's going to happen in the house of the Lord. Where two or three are gathered in his name guess who shows up. And I think tonight there's more than two or three and guess who showed up in this house. Oh hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah. Come on can somebody just lift your voice for a moment just tell the Lord how good he is. Oh come on I know you're here on a Sunday night just can't you give them a little sacrifice of praise. Oh when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he's done for me my soul cries out hallelujah Jesus. Thank you God. I don't know why you saved me but on this Sunday night come on brother Samora are you thankful? Oh hallelujah. Oh Jesus. Oh thank you Lord. Second Corinthians 3:17 is going to help us tonight. Now the Lord is that spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Somebody say liberty. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Somebody say freedom. I'm glad to be in the house of the Lord tonight where there's liberty in this place. I don't know if you felt it. I don't know what you feel what I feel. And I I just And sometimes you look over that front row and just smiling like a big old weirdo over there. Just like, man, just just grinning. I It's This is fun. This is fun. I I Scripture said I was glad when they said unto me. Church should be, Sister Nichols, it should be fun. And I'm having a little bit too much fun. You wish I'd let you sit down. And uh I'm going to save my title for just a moment, but I'm just glad to be in the house of the Lord tonight. If you want God to move here in just a moment, would you lift your hands? Let's ask God to help us. Come on, let's ask God to help. I believe there's a spirit of victory in this house. I believe somebody could be set free today from from bondages. I believe somebody could be forgiven tonight from their sins. I believe that somebody's been seeking the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the Bible says he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. I've come to tell you something good's going to happen in the house of the Lord. I've come to tell you that the gift of faith might operate tonight. And the Holy Ghost might fall in this place. Jesus, I feel you right now, Lord. God, would you come be amongst your people on a Sunday night, Jesus? Oh, hallelujah. Somebody say in Jesus' name. You may you may be seated in the house of the Lord. I'm glad to be in church tonight where there is liberty. I don't ever want to miss a moment or an opportunity to come into his house because you never know what's going to happen when we come to church. You never know what's going to take place when we come to the house of God and by the looks of it tonight, I'm not the only one that feels this way. And we don't want to miss a moment or an opportunity to come to the house of the Lord. There's several reasons tonight why I don't want to miss out on the house of God. It's is because you just never know uh you never know what's going to happen. There is power in the house of God. There is just something something good that happens when men and women of like precious faith come together in worship worship God. I know you can pray all all at home by yourself, but there's nothing like praying together. There's nothing like when we join together, Sister Bryant. We begin to pray for our needs. It's one thing to pray for our needs all by ourselves, but when we come together, there's power. There's power in unity and I don't want to I don't want to miss out when it comes to the house of God. There's power here. There's there's power for a sinner to be forgiven, but in the same power there is power for a saint to be encouraged tonight. God is a good multitasker. He's really good at forgiving sins during one one part of the sermon, but in the same part he could be encouraging somebody to keep living for God and keep on coming back to the house of the Lord. The second reason of the many reasons is I'm a pretty nosy fellow. All right. You Thank you, Sister Erickson. I I Sister Erickson, if you pull that phone out in front of me, guess who's going to be looking. All right. A nosey fellow. You just I don't want to I don't want to miss anything that is going on around me. I don't want to miss anything that's going on in the house of the Lord. It frustrates me when you when you when you leave and you come back and you know, just several weeks later, you're like, "Where did this person come from?" Well, they prayed through about 2 months ago. Something that so it frustrates me, not that they prayed through, but that I missed it. You know, to see the power of God. And I've come to tell us tonight, you cannot afford the opportunity to miss what God is doing every single service. Telling you, Wednesday night, if you missed it, I'm not trying to shame you, but if you missed Wednesday night's message, I just got news for you. You just missed it. That's all the only way I can put it. You missed out on a message about hunger where it wasn't on our mind about 9:00 to see how quick we can get to the Waffle House. It was how long we could tarry in the altar because God was moving. Can I get an amen from somebody who was here on that Wednesday? That Wednesday night. That You don't want to miss what's what's coming. What's happening in the house of the house of the Lord. There's a song that's been on my mind for some time and there's a song and I'll I'll spare you from singing it. That That would not end well. They They put me in a a soundproof cage for the most of my life playing the drums. They were soundproof for a reason and they didn't want noises coming out there they they couldn't control. So, they So, I'll spare you the the the singing of of this song, but this song was it once you hear it, it'll be stuck in your head tonight. Maybe you've heard it on iTunes or maybe you've heard it on Instagram. It went viral there for several weeks and it's written by Pastor Robinson in the New Bethel name church down in Mississippi. And it says this, "Who wouldn't want to have church like this?" I've been searching for a church like this. I've been wanting a Yeah, it's a little faster, but we'll we'll get there. And you know, they And I I you know, I I'm going to do a little pastoring right now if I could. Some of you just clammed up. I'm talking about pastor the drums. I'm going to do a little pastoring for from the drums for a moment. We're at this church, we clap on the two and four, not the one and three. Okay? All right. Can I get an amen from anybody in the house? All right. There's nothing worse when we get to a little shout beat going on and all it sounds like is this. All right. If you don't know how to clap on the two and four, just put your foot down, clap on the other beat. Put your foot down, clap on the other beat. All right. That it's pleasing unto God. All right. I wouldn't want you getting embarrassed for the day from Moses getting to the pearly gates and you clapping on the one and three. All right. But I'm glad we can have some church like this. The song goes on to say, "All I need is a church like this. I found my answer in a church like this." I don't know about you, but the song goes on and it speaks to me. I I got delivered in a church like this. He brought me out of sin. I feel the Holy Ghost. Why? It's a church like this. I see revival coming. Why? I'm in a church like this. There is power in a church like this. And the song goes on to say, "Who wouldn't want to have church like this?" I'll shame you. I I I feel so I'll shame you. I feel sorry for you if you can't have church like this where the power of God begins to move as somebody begins to worship God. I don't ever want to stop having church like this where somebody begins to lift up their voice with a shout of triumph. I don't want to miss a moment where a sinner can lift their voice and worship God. But in this altar, I feel the Holy Ghost in this place. I'm thankful for a church like this. What are you talking about? I'm talking about where it's not just one group of people worshipping God. I'm thankful for all my free brothers over there. I want you to give me a big old hooah. All right. I love these men. I love it. I love it. I love it. Give me a old hooah back here. Let me do it one more time for me. Who wouldn't want to have church like this? Hey, y'all come down to the line at 6:00 ready to worship God. Who wouldn't want to have church like this? They've been delivered in a church like this. But in the same altar, we have children worshipping in a church like this. Come on, whatever you need it's in the house of God tonight. If you need deliverance from your sins, it's in the house of God tonight. If you need a miracle Hallelujah. Oh. In a church like this. I was baptized in his name in a church like this. I remember when I was heading to choir practice with my mother. I was 10 years old. And I hadn't been baptized, Mom, and I'll tell you why. Sister Lori Hawkins told me. It's the truth. She said, "Nolan, you've been sinning so much. We're going to They're going to hold you under longer to make sure all your sins You're back there hiding cuz you know it's true, all right? Age 4 to 6, accountability to age 6, whatever your my blood would have been on your hands. So thankful. At 6 years old, heading to choir practice. Mom pulled in. Big old tears come to my eyes. I said, "Mom, tonight's tonight. We'll get baptized in Jesus' name." I remember old dad was coming for prayer. He brought me a Wings to Go t-shirt to get baptized in. I'm so thankful that 6 years old in a church like this that I was baptized in Jesus' name. Come to tell you, if you're a kid in Kids Quest or you are a person who's walked away from God, there is redemption for your soul in a church like this. We don't hold redemption for just one group of people. No, the gift of God, the gift of the Holy Ghost is for everybody in a church like this. And I don't mean to be prideful, but I think we have some good church. I think we have some some good church. I'm looking around tonight and I see a great group of people, but I I I think we're doing a pretty good job, and I don't mean that to sound sound bad. I promise. We're We're having some good church. And if people want to make fun of that comment online, they ain't here. All right, I could care less. All right? But I'm thankful that all of us tonight know we're having some good church in the house of the Lord. I've been saved in a church like this. Oh, hallelujah. I found my wife in a church like this. I got married in a church. I dedicated my daughter in a church like this. Oh. I'm thankful. I like this church. I like in the church where our women look like women and our men look like men. I I In a In a church like this, you you be you say, "Man, that's crazy." But yeah, that's what I'm going to preach about tonight. Who wouldn't want to have church like this? Be out of your mind to not want to have church like this. I like this church. I There's several things that go into making a good church. Uh there's several things that takes not only to have good church, but to be a good church. Acts 2:42, they had a pretty good revival and it says the reasons why obviously they had the day of Pentecost and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. I've come to tell us tonight we've got good doctrine. We've got doctrine that's sure. We've got doctrine that's, you know, that's foundational that we can build our our lives upon. It's a scary place when people start removing major doctrines out of the Bible. It's a scary place because if if I can be honest with you, I've I've lived 29 years and I've seen I've lived long enough to see it. There's four pillars to your relationship with God. There's the oneness of God. And if you don't have that pillar of the oneness of God, then you can't have the second pillar and that's the baptism the baptism in Jesus' name. If the oneness of God is taken out, then baptism of in Jesus' name is is is the salvation's no longer valid. We could put that that pillar that that second pillar with salvation. Then then then the third maybe is the gift of the Holy Ghost. We can set the we can build upon that. Then fourth is is holiness living. But it seems to me that if you take out any of the four pillars, it all comes crashing to the ground. So I want to thank God we have a pastor that will preach to us about the oneness of the Godhead and that in Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Godhead. I'm thankful we have good doctrine at a church like this. I'm thankful that the waters of baptism are troubled in a church like this. I'm thankful for holiness in a church like this. 44 and all that believed were together and had all things common. Here in a good church, there's no big eyes or little yous. We just have all things common. We pay the same price to be here. 10% tithe. We've been discussing due to inflation, we might go to 12%, but we're going to keep it at 10% for a while. All right? There's no little eyes or little yous. We all give the same thing in a church like this. Verse 46, and they continuing daily. Somebody say daily. With one accord in the temple, breaking of bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness singlenessness of heart. The Bible says daily. You can't create a good church in a day, but a good church will be created with daily work. You cannot decide one day, "Hey, let's have good church." It doesn't happen like that, but you do create a good church with daily work. What am I talking about? Well, when the doors of the sanctuary open daily for prayer, you're creating a good church. You know how we baptized Brother Kyle Gibson this morning? You know what that happened was a conversation from Brother Carl Perry to Brother Kyle when they begin to talk about their job and begin to order stuff from each other, but somewhere in the midst of that conversation, it switched from the conversation went from construction to maybe constructing yourself in the house of God. And Brother Carl Perry asked him, said, "Kyle, how about you be my guest for Easter?" And he says, "Yeah, I'll be there. I'll be there." Well, Well, Perry said to me this morning, he thought I you thought he was kidding. Lo and behold, on Easter Sunday morning, guess who showed up to the house of the Lord? Brother Kyle Gibson. Come to tell us that we're going to build a church, a good church with daily daily somebody say daily. Another way we have become or we're going to stay a good church is John 13 and 35. By this all men know that you are my disciples. If you have love one to another. How we're going to stay a good church to have good church is to love one another. You don't have to go on vacation with them, but you got to love them. All right. I think we're a little closer than that, but you got to love. You won't last long in the church if you can't love one another. You can't you won't last long in this good church if you don't have unity with the body of Christ here in the church. All right. We've been having good church for a long time. It's going to stay that way. I got this text from a good friend of mine, brother Bradley Oldman and his family who serve here and and go to church here. He's raising his family here. And this is a lot about leadership, but I it's it's about the church. All right. It's He says, "Hey brother, just wanted to thank you for your leadership." And I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about the church here. "The guidance in my family's life spiritually. You and your family have been an incredible blessing. This is not a suck up to leadership day. Just wanted to express my gratitude when the Lord lays it on my heart to do so." My response to him was, "Love you, my friend." We uh He said, "We love you guys." Y'all And I I spoke back to him. I said, "Y'all are such a blessing to our church and most importantly to us, me and Flannery personally." I said this it really this is a humbling thought. It's a humbling thought to realize people move across the country, uproot their lives to be a part of this good church. And sorry for the carnal carnal reference, but Bradley sent back to me, "If you build it, they will come. I want to tell somebody there's more Oldmans out there. We've got to build a good church for families to come here the fullness of the Godhead. Come here the fullness of salvation. We've got to keep the good church alive. We We've got to keep the prayer room strong. We've got to keep our worship strong. I don't care how big we get. We are not too big to not praise God. We are not too big to to worship God and give him a shout sacrifice. Why why why are you so big on having good church? Cuz there's more Oldmans out there. There's more Oldman families out there and and sister Slack I I would never I'd never tell this story to embarrass you, but when sister Slack and her family and it how they came into church was through that daily work from the Seatons just inviting them to come to the house of God and and sister Slack, I know I've told you this story before. I don't mean to embarrass embarrass her at all, but I've come to tell us this is what happens when we have good church. When we have good church and we are we are when we when we are a good church, when we have good church and we are a good church, God leads us to hungry people. God leads us to hungry people. As long as we remain a good church, God will lead us to hungry people. Mama, I'll never forget this moment, but sister Slack brought Holly, her daughter, to to kids camp. It's It's a thousand degrees outside and every mosquito in North America is located on the soccer field and we're having all the inflatables and and we're over there and and it's it's a good time and she brings Holly to hang out with us for a little bit and and Holly or sister Slack comes up to me and Flan and she's kind of looking around. She doesn't know us. She's She's just She's been a part of the church for a little bit. She's still learning all the things and and she's still hearing the preaching and everything else of how to live her life, but Sister Slack will never forget never forget where you took those glasses off your head. And you put them behind your back walking up because you were looking out at everybody there, and nobody was wearing sunglasses. I know it might be funny to some, but it convicted me right there in the middle of the water slide. She said, "Do we not wear sunglasses at this church?" Again, it might be funny to some, but it convicted me. That's the type of people that God is leading us to. People that say, "Hey, I'm desperate for a change in my life." God is leading us to hug I'm telling we got to remain a good church. We got to remain strong in doctrine. We got to remain strong in convictions because while we're going about the daily work of building a good church, God is adding daily to the church such as should be saved. I remember being out west for just a few days, and and driving past this that we were we were driving on the highway, and it was like the brakes screeched, and it the car came to a halt. There was a bunch of guys in this van. This We were packed in a minivan, and and it was 20 minutes. It was 20 minutes of dead still just just traffic just just bumper-to-bumper dead still traffic. And you're thinking, "Man, what what what are we going to see up here?" You know, and when when there's a wreck, everybody slows down. Why? Safety? No, they want to see what happened, all right? We're nosy folks. And so on that highway, we look about through the distance, you see this red burning this red burning light. And as you get closer, it's bumper-to-bumper traffic. I mean, it's wide open. Everybody's gone on to the other lane, and they're still it's still slow. It's still traffic. Even everybody could go on, but it's like everybody just wants to watch as this semi truck this this semi-trailer is engulfed in flames. Cost us 30 minutes just to watch. Now, for all you people who are wondering about the driver, he was okay. It was It was in the news. I I looked it up. So, I was curious, too. But, we saw this truck engulfed in flames. The next day, no fire on the truck, and no traffic. I got to thinking while I was putting this sermon together to preach to you good people, we've got to keep this thing on fire for God. We've got to keep this thing I know that's simple. It's about as deep as a summer puddle, and I understand. But, nobody's stopping by the church if we don't have the fire of the Holy Ghost. Nobody's going to stop and say, "What's up with those people?" if we don't have the fire of the Holy Ghost. I know the worship might look radical, but what it is is people going to look in and say, "What in the world's going on in that place?" I've come to tell you what meaneth this. It's this is the Holy Ghost that was prophesied by Joel. This is that that was prophesied. We've got to keep this good church alive. I'm thankful for how we have church. I'm thankful. There's a motto in my family and we've been This has been ingrained in our minds that there is a never there is never a service that we could take off. There is never the service that we could give God less than our best. And I've come to tell us some things I like about the church. I like tonight how we might need to go under construction and add some some room in the prayer room because there was not a seat in the prayer room for anybody else to to fit in tonight. I like how we have pre-service prayer because the effort we put in the pre-service prayer is the demonstration that God is going to pour out in the main service. I like how we have pre-service prayer. Can I get an amen? I like the motto that Sister Erickson gives us musicians often times. If you don't pray, you don't play. That's a good motto to live by. You don't pray, you don't play. And I like how it's the opposite, too. We don't have anybody like this. I hope we don't, because we want to remain a good church. That if you don't play, you don't pray. Some of y'all didn't catch that. All right. If you don't play, you don't pray. I was thankful tonight I witnessed three of my pastors, Pastor Erickson, Pastor Carpenter, Pastor Hammond, were three of the loudest voices in the prayer room tonight. You know why that ministered to me? It's not one of them guys are preaching tonight. God help us if the only time we go to the prayer room is because we want to be anointed when it's our time for the solo. We want to be anointed when it's our time for the drums to be turned up. No, this ain't about you. This is not about me. This is not a performance. This is a service unto God. We pray because we need one moment where the glory of the Lord is undeniable in this room. We pray because we cannot do it on our own. I'm thankful for a good church. I'm thankful for in that moment God can do more in that moment that we're praying for than we could ever do in a lifetime. You'll hear the prayer in the prayer room that something goes something like this. Lord, let there be a moment where your spirit is undeniable. Let there be a moment, God, when it's undeniable to every person that there is something different about this church. And that's not our programs. I'm thankful for it. That's not our our stage set up. I'm thankful for it. But most importantly, all of that is in vain if we don't have a move of the Holy Ghost. All of that's in vain if there's not a moment in this sermon, a moment in the worship service where it's undeniable to every person that God is moving in this room. I I've I've been a around the block enough to know that and preached enough churches to know that they don't have a prayer room, it's going to be some tough preaching. There's not pre-service prayer, man. It's like pulling a tooth. It's just rough. It is rough sledding, but I'm thankful for a church like this. Thankful for a church like this. I'm thankful I'm thankful that the choir gets up twice on Sunday. I'm thankful that people come to the house of God three times a week at least. I'm thankful that we baptize I like a church where we baptize in Jesus' name after service. And not only that, but at times when but I like when we're all trying to fellowship, our Hispanic brothers and sisters open that door right there. And and the amigo goes down in Jesus' name. I don't know why God, it just makes me feel good brother Soto to have a church like this. Come on, let's keep the strong church alive. Let's keep it on fire for God. I told him up there they were coming in. He looked at me, I looked at him. And I knew he was ready to change and he didn't speak anything I could speak and all I knew was mi español is muy malo. Means my Spanish is very bad. He smiled at me and just shook his head. I don't know it's it's it's bad. He probably didn't understand what I was saying, but but in a good church he was baptized in Jesus' name. I know and I I'm hurrying. I'm hurrying. You're thinking, man, you you talked about a good church 28 minutes in. I'm thankful how we have good preaching in a church like this. I'm thankful Dad and I'm not trying to I'm not trying to get money from you. But Dad, you're like a not that I know anything about this, but you're like a fine wine. Just get better with age. Some of the best preaching I've ever heard in all my life has took place in the last few weeks in this good church. I'm thankful for it. I I thankful for it. I I'm thankful for it. I'm thankful for it. My only complaint, Dad, is we need to hear some more good singing that'll He's got in the Father. He's got Mama's other request one day. All right. You listen to your wife. I like how there's not one genre music that we can worship to here in this church. I'm thankful we can worship Sister Bryant to a song that was way back in the trendsetters, but I'm thankful, Sister Bryant, that I saw your hands being raised tonight when that 2025 song was sang tonight. Why? Because we realize it's worshipping the same God. It's not a genre music, but it's a it's a worship. It's an attitude to an almighty God. I love having church like this when we can go back to the old songs and sing the amazing grace, how sweet the sound. But I love I love it. I like when the music gets to going. And the choir cannot contain their excitement. I like when that choir loft can't contain the excitement of the goodness of God. And And they begin to run and shout. I love having church like this. It reminds me we've been doing this for a long time. It reminds me when this large man used to tall man used to run the camera. And his main His name might be Brother Dwayne Orr. And he used to run that camera to the best of his ability, but somewhere in his service to the God he had to put that camera down. And that lord I remember it as a kid sitting on that first row. This large man this tall man dressed in all black. I couldn't even see over him. I had to scoot to the side or or I had the excuse I was going to get underneath the pew and my eyes would go to sleep sometimes, but it was really to look around brother Dwayne Orr. But I remember it as a child, brother Orr, looking around you that you could not do your service unto God. You had to put your camera down and lift your hands because the Holy Ghost begin to hit you. I remember it as a child and it's still happening today. Come on, we got to keep the good church alive. Come on, you're not too good of a singer that you can't put that mic down. Come on, your job's not too important where you can't put that thing down. Come on, we got to keep the good church alive. I saw it a few weeks ago, brother Justin Nelson. Brother Justin Nelson in that lighting booth begin to shake under the power of the Holy Ghost. I sit there, God, Mom, it's come full circle. We were doing it 10 years ago and now we're doing it in 2026 that we're not too busy to worship God. Why is that so important? The Bible says let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. You had breath in your body before you knew how to play them drums. Will everybody take your hand like this? You put it up to your mouth. I want you to take a deep breath. I want you to just blow on that hand. I didn't hear it. Let's do it again. Now, if you felt something hot and stinky, then you ought to praise the Lord. Oh, Jesus. You had breath in your body before you knew how to play them drums, boy. You had breath in your body before you knew how to operate that camera. You had breath in your body before God ever gave you the talent to sing, but he gave you the talent first to worship. You had breath in your body before you learned how to run that camera. You had breath in your body before you learned how to operate the sound. You had breath in your body before you knew how to sit on a pew. God is calling every single person in a good church to worship the Lord. Keep it on fire. Your family needs to see you worship. Not just play the drums, but your family needs to see you worship. I don't know about you, but my talents on a drum set will not get Magnolia to heaven. My talents behind a pulpit will not get Magnolia to heaven, but maybe if she could see her dad worshiping Oh, come on. You might surprise yourself. If you can't lift your voice in worship right now, come on. You might surprise yourself. I I know you're a talented singer. I know you're a you're a talented camera operator. I know you can run the webcast without any glitches and any problem. But when's the last time you shut your camera down and you lifted your voice? When's the last time where the drums didn't do it for you and you had to lift your hands? Come on. I know I know I'm not preaching about doing stuff in the house of God, but if you're not doing that, could you still worship? Can you still praise God? Can still get Can you go to the prayer room? If it's not your solo, can you go to the prayer room? Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost in this good church right now. God, I feel you in this room right now. Come on. God's calling us to worship. God's calling us to praise him again. Come on, I know you were here at 4:00, but can you give him a sacrifice of praise? Come on, this is not a performance, it's a service. It's a service. This is not about you, it's not about me, but it's all about creating an atmosphere where that moment takes place and cancer can be healed and and salvation can be uh restored and somebody can be healed. Come on, good church, for just for a moment, would you lift your voice with me? Thank you, Jesus. Oh God. Come on, it's not your service, it's to bring your prodigal back home, but it's what you can give God. And come on, we got to have the church stay alive for our prodigals to be come home. We got to keep the church on fire. God, don't let it be said of First Apostolic Church that, "Man, you used to We we used to have moves of God. We used to have services where it would end and there was there was no explaining and there was a it was a move of God and demonstration of God." Oh, what Maryville needs is an on-fire First Apostolic Church. Maryville is consumed with dead religion that will not do anything for them. But Maryville needs a church with a demonstration of the Holy Ghost. They've had enough with dead religion. They've had enough with just checking a box. Well, we got to give them an experience called Pentecost and the only way you get Pentecost is this good church gets in one mind and one accord and we pray and we pray and we pray and we pray and God will do Who wouldn't want to have church like this? Oh God. Oh, in Jesus name. Oh, in this good church right now. I don't I have no clue what to do. Jesus name. Thankful to be in a church like this. I want to I want Jesus to be comfortable in a church like this. I I I want Jesus to be comfortable enough to where he could move in a church like this. If we had an evangelist Jesus, I wonder what he would say in a church like this. I wonder if he would tell us stories like going to one church he was in in the back door and he wasn't greeted. And he was there for one purpose. Pastor, he was there because he knew the church was going through a a stormy time. He was He was there because he knew the the men in the boats, the the workers in the church were trying their best to keep the boat afloat or keep the church afloat. And he walked in the back door because he knew they were in need of something from this evangelist Jesus. He knew that they were barely driving the boat or they were barely driving the church, but rather the storm was driving the boat. He came in the back door. He wasn't greeted. He wasn't welcomed. He wasn't even recognized. And he would tell us, "Man, I just would have passed them by. I would have walked in and walked out. But somebody began to cry out. Somebody said, "Man, I I got to lift my voice. I I see something different. I see something different about this man. I got to cry out. And the Bible says that Evangelist Jesus would have passed them by. But all they had to do is cry out. I like a church with somebody just cries out in the middle of preaching. I like a church when when you when you're almost interrupted, you can't keep your thoughts together. Why? Somebody is crying out because they need God more than anything. I I don't want to be a church that becomes dead when the word of God's going forth. I I don't want to become dead when Jesus Christ is walking down the aisles. I have come to ask you a question. Does your pew make him stop by and and minister to your pew? Or does he just say, "Hey, all you got to do All you got to do is just cry out." Or Evangelist Jesus, another another church you went to. Another church you went to. Came in the back door. Came in the back door. And all the old greeter, Brother Jarius, said, "I need you to stop by my section. Need you to stop by my section. My daughter either the preliminaries went too long. She's just asleep." Sister McFadden came over. Medical team tried their best to revive her. They broke out even the essential oils, and the essential oils could not bring her back to life. Gone. She's dead. She dead and gone. She ain't waking up in the morning. She was dead. And as Evangelist Jesus and Brother Jarius, it was around the meet and greet time, and it was crazy. And everybody recognized the Evangelist Jesus and everybody's everybody's swarming the the the Evangelist and and and Jarius, the greeter, is trying his best to get Jesus to his section, which is all the way on the other side of the church. And and they can't get people through. It's a good church. I mean there were people thronging Jesus. It was a meet and greet time. They had 3 minutes to shake everybody's hand and and the new guy, Jesus was there. It's everybody went to the same person. They're just waiting, waiting, waiting. But here in a moment Jesus stops and says, "Who touched me?" And his armor-bearer, brother Peter, brother Peter doesn't want him to be embarrassed. But the the armor-bearer is the guy who holds your Bible, make sure you got water and everything's good. There's sermon notes are to the, you know, the folks in the back. And the armor-bearer says, "Brother brother brother Jesus, uh uh I don't want you to look crazy in this church. You've never been here before, but uh what do you mean who touched you? There's P- It's meet and greet time. Everybody's touching you. All right? There's no germaphobes at meet and greet time. Everybody's hugging necks, kissing babies, all the things. All right? Now he says, "Somebody touched me." He did There was some virtue that left me. What that tells me is it was very crowded at his his face and his hands, but it was not crowded at his feet. It was not crowded at the lowest of lows. And he said, "Somebody has touched me and virtue left from me." And there was a woman there. You know the story. You know the church service I'm talking about. There was a woman there that thought that if she could just touch the hem of his garment. I've come to tell us in a good church that at his feet it's not crowded. At his feet, where the dirtiness is taking place, it's not crowded. But if you need a miracle from God tonight, there's room at his feet. If you Maybe you need to get a little bit busy in in the dirtiness of church work, there's room at his feet. Maybe you need to get in the nursery room where there's some dirty diapers that need to be changed. But I've come to tell you there's some there's some room. There's some room at his at feet. It's all crowded, but I've come to tell us in good church makes special emphasis on his feet. At his feet, we will find people who are hurting and in need of a good church. What are you trying to say right now, Nolan? I'm trying to tell us that there's some people in the dirtiness of sin that need us to help them get to Jesus. There's some people in this town. There's some people in this town that yes, they do smell like an alcohol bottle, but we got to help them get to the feet of Jesus. Yes, they don't know who they are. They're struggling with gender identity. They're struggling with with with with liking another man or liking another man woman, but I've come to tell you in the dirtiness of sin, God wants to do a miracle at his feet. I wonder tonight, good people, can we reach out for some dirty folks and let's get them to the feet of Jesus because I know there's one woman that was thrown at the feet of Jesus that was caught in the very act, but Jesus looked down to her that was at his feet and said, "I don't condemn thee anymore. Go and sin no more." I've come to preach to us tonight that the church has to have every season of life going on. The church has to be birthing new people in the spirit. The church has to be getting people to walk on their own feet. Talking about all the the thing for a good church, a healthy church is we got to be birthing new spiritual babies. In good church growth, it doesn't help to be birthing physical babies, either. I just want to put that out there. That's a good way to grow a good church. We'll birth them in the spirit. We'll birth them physically. To I rebuke the pastor tonight. All right. All right. Moving very quickly. We got to be helping them get on their feet. We got to be helping them to mature in Christ. Birth- birthing people in the spirit, helping people get on their feet. That's why we don't make sure we make sure that we're not a church full I I hope we make sure we're not a church full of people who just have it all together. We need some broken people here. We need some hurting people here. We need some people who are addicted and they need to be here. They will not stay addicted, but we need the addicted to come We got to get down to the dirtiness of people and say, "Man, you're hurting. I know a good place for you to go because years ago I was hurting." I pray to God we have pews smell like an alcohol bottle. I pray to God we find cigarettes laid on a pew. Why? We need the hurting and broken to come in. It's what makes a good what makes a good church. We have a woman the issue of blood at her at his feet. We got to get dirty. We got to get in the dirtiness of sin cuz there's a miracle at his at his feet. I was going to tell you very quickly I was going to tell you about the church the wedding that Jesus went to. Afterwards they had a church potluck dinner. Everybody's bringing plates. Everybody You don't know dangerous things about the potluck dinners. You don't know were there any animals around when the food was made and all those dangerous things and we don't do that anymore. So, some of you don't even know what a potluck is. Yes. Amen. Jesus was there and you know the story. They ran out of wine. Now, this was a more liberal church, okay? So, just put your imaginary goggles on. This is a more liberal church. Even though drinking is not of God, okay? All right. Praise God. It's not like it was in the Bible times. Praise the Lord. This is a more liberal church. They They were drinking and and they ran out of wine and and they came and and and the mother of mother of Jesus says, "You know, they've run out of wine." And you know the story. This would have been the end of my life right here if Jesus Evangelist Jesus answered back to his mother and said, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" If this was Nolan chapter 4 verse number 4, you would see Ann Penny took Nolan's life right there on the spot. All right, but Jesus and his mama's got a different relationship. And she just looks to the servants and she says, "Whatever he says to do, just do it." And I've come to tell us I'm thankful and I'm not come to boast ourselves. That's not my intention tonight, but for one of the reasons we're a good church is because whatever the Lord has said to do in this church, we have done it. It's not about just a pastor preaching a vision, but you got to have some people to catch the vision. It's a It's the give the message like never before. Oh, we'll just do it. Oh, build a training center for people to come in so you can help other churches out. We'll just do it. Hey, there's a missionary in Rome that needs a new building. People are are hurting with false doctrine that they've been in for years and they needed apostolic church for them to come through it and sit through a preacher that preaches the oneness of God. I will do it. Oh, what about a brother? Oh, the Fallons, they left us. They Well, it wasn't a split. It was a separation. That's That's definitely not a split. They were They were going to Cleveland to build a church. And we could say, "Ah, little daughter can live on her own." But not this church. Not this church. They need a new building. We'll We'll take care of it. We'll do it. I've come to tell us we're a good church. We're a good church because whatever the Lord has said to do, we will do it. And the amazing thing about this story, the amazing thing about this story, is that Jesus turns water into wine. Now, of course, what wine the the way wine is made, I believe, I don't know this to be certain, but I I'm pretty sure. Looked it up. The way that wine is to be made is something has to age for a period of time. Something has to age a while for a period of time to become to become wine. And the amazing thing about the head of this church, which is Christ, the great head of this church, is that the great head of this church is not bound by time. How he may almost entitle this sermon Miracles for Dummies, but I it felt like that would not be encouraging, but how Jesus performed this miracle was he stepped in the past of that water, and he changed the water and made it into wine. How? He had to step in the past and begin to change some things in the history of that water. And I hope I hope you're following me tonight that we serve a God that is not bound by time. He can step in your past and change your past, and he can step into your future. I've come to ask you today, if you'll do something for God tonight, God will step back in your lowest of lows. God will step back when you wish you would go back and correct your mistake and and make a different decision or or or do something different, but God can step in your past and change some things. That's what makes this a good church. But then we go on. So, we have we have a conversion, changing water to wine, but then we go into the cleansing of the temple. I mean Jesus is not the the the little gentle Jesus holding a lamb, holding a little baby. No. Who wouldn't want to have church like this? Jesus comes in flipping over tables. He comes in with a whip that he made. Oh, Lord, it's like dad getting the belt. Like it it's it's it's uh it's There that will save stories like that for another time, but he made it. Jesus made it, it says. He intertwined the leather together and he He's ready to whip. Some commentators believe it was just the animals and some I read this today, some are certain it was for animals and people. He just started whipping. Started whipping. He had to cleanse. He had to cleanse the temple. Well, how how does this make a good church? Here at this church, there is no point of cleansing before conversion. All right. The miracle of the water to wine was the conversion. Jesus driving out some sin in the house was the cleansing. We don't care what you look like. We don't care what you smell like. The first job for a good church is to convert the sinner. We don't We ain't worried about you cleaning yourself up. Matter of fact, if you try to do that on your own, you'll fall back into sin in just a week's time. It will not last long, but let somebody get converted. Let somebody go down in Jesus name for the remission of their sins. Let somebody be converted with receiving that new wine, the gift of the Holy Ghost. And now you realize you're you're not fighting all by yourself, but you got some help with you. Now we're going to talk about some some cleansing. But now let's go to the prophet Isaiah and this is my last scripture that I'll refer to. Musicians can come and I had them sing this song, "Who wouldn't want to have a church like this and it's really driving whatever you all want to sing. You just It's a good church. We'll flow with it. Our head, Christ, is not bound by time. Isaiah 53 and 1. Listen to this. And I'm not an English professor, but this makes sense to me. Isaiah 51 and 3 or 51 53 and 1 says, "Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow." This is talking about Christ, our head, the head of this church. "For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He had no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." Now, this is talking about Dad, it's talking about the future. Isaiah is talking about when we see him. There's going to be nothing that he look There's not You're not going to be attracted to his looks. Jesus is not going to have a crowd come in in his name. He's not going to grow a crowd by how he looks. When we see him, there there'll be no beauty that we should desire him. But then something happens where Isaiah begins to talk in a different tense. He goes from the future tense to the present tense. He is despised and rejected of men. He is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And we hide it as were our faces from him. What? Isaiah, you went from talking in the future, now you're talking about now. We hid our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. But then Isaiah, that's the present tense. Then Isaiah goes, "Surely, he hath borne our griefs and carried past our sorrows. Yet, we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. He was, in the past, wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah, you're all over the place. You talk about the past. You talk about the present. But then you start talking about the future. How can one event affect three different tenses? How can it affect the past? And how can it affect the present? And how can it affect the future? How can one event What prophet Isaiah is saying in a church like this every area of your life can be affected. Not just the change in the future. Not just forgiveness of sins in the past. But if you need something right now, God can do it for you right now. If you just step out and say, "God, whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it. God, I need you to go back in my past and forgive some sins. I'll do it. I God, I need a good doctor's report a week from now. I'll do it." We serve a God that can touch your past, your present, and your future. If you need a forgiveness of sins in your past, he can do it. If you need a healing right now, he can do it. Or if you need something down the road that you need God to work out cuz in a church like this there's no telling what can happen. There's no telling what can happen when the head of this church is not bound by time. He's not bound by your doctor's report. He's not bound bound by your bad diagnosis. Because God can step back when that first cancer cell was created and heal your body, he can step back when that first drink of alcohol was taken and forgive you. Oh. No head There's no telling what can happen in a good church. That That event Isaiah Go ahead and stand all over this place with me. That event the prophet Isaiah's talking about is is the cross of Calvary. In a church like this, there's people who need forgiveness of sins, but there's also people who need a healing in their body. I've come to tell us I know you've tried us reach out to his feet before, but why don't you just try again tonight? Why don't you just come to the altar again believing that God's going to do a work in your life? Why don't you just try again for that forgiveness of sins? I know it didn't work out the first time, but I know God can do it again and again and again if you just reach out to him. Oh, come on now. Come on, the Holy Ghost is here right now. God's going to do a work in a church like this. Come on, just a moment. We're going to go somewhere, but would you come to the altar if you have a need? Would you lift your voice? Come on, would you lift your voice and give it to him? I don't want to be like the people in the church that didn't lift their voice and he would have passed them by, but I want to be a I like the woman in that church who pushed through the crowd to get to the miracle feet of Jesus. If I could just touch the hem of his garment. If I could touch the hem of the altar. Oh. Past, present, and future. Come on, whatever you need tonight. Whatever you need tonight. Come on, maybe you need in the future for that boy to come back home. It's here in the altar. Maybe you need in the future for that prodigal to come back to God. It can happen in a good church. It can happen in a a service. It could happen in a moment. Thank you, Jesus. Oh, I feel the Lord in this house. Oh, whatever you need is in the house of the Lord tonight. Oh, somebody could be filled with the gift of the Holy Ghost in a church like this. Somebody can find forgiveness in a church like this. Somebody might find salvation tonight in a church like this. Come on, that's it. I love you, Jesus. Oh, I love you, Lord. I love you, Jesus. I thank you today, God. They're about to sing. They're about to sing. Whatever they want to sing, they they just feel free to sing it tonight. That event that Isaiah was talking about was the process of Calvary. And Calvary covers a multitude of sins. Calvary could cover sin. Calvary could cover a healing. By his stripes we were healed. It could cover whatever you need tonight. As I was thinking about how we're going to close this tonight in a church like this. The Bible says it talks about that Jesus was proclaimed as the king of the Jews. The king of the Jews. What this word for the Jewish people is in Hebrew is is the word Yahadim. The Jewish people come from a word that's called Yahadim. And the meaning of this word, it's several different meanings. It's it's praise and worship. The word for Yahadim is is giving thanks unto God. It's not just proclaiming to be something, but it's proclaiming to give something. The key the Yada means uh I don't know how, but it just means an outward form of worship. It means praise. If you've ever been to the Wailing Wall, when when the Jews gather together and they begin to praise God, it sounds a whole lot like this good church tonight. It's the It's who they are. It was who they were born to be. Praise and worship. I just couldn't help but think when Jesus was crucified, Jackson, above his head was this inscription. The king of the Jews. The king and it wrote the king of the Yada Hadam. It was the king of praise and worship. It was the king of giving thanks unto God. I feel the Holy Ghost right now. It was the king of outward form of of worship. It was the king of of telling God outwardly what I feel about him inwardly and And I've come to tell you the Lord the Lord I believe spoke to me so clearly today as I was preparing to to preach to you good people. And it was like the Lord said, "If you want the power of the cross, then you've got to do what you were born to do. If you want the power of Calvary with the the stripes making you healed and and the cross making you whole and if you do what you were born to do, then God will do what he to do. If you need something in your life, would you do what you were born to do this moment? And that is to give praise and worship unto God. Come on, could you give him some worship right now? Come on, you were created to give your voice to God. You were created to give your voice to God. Come on, that's it. Come on, could you lift your voice right now to him? Whatever you need, past, present, and future, he's here. He's here. He's here. Come on, right now, all across this room. Would you lift your hands and would you lift your voice? Come on, the king is here. Come on, the king is here. Come on, the king is here. Come on, if you need a miracle in your body, the king is here. If you need salvation in your soul, the king is here. Come on, the healer is here. The healer is here. The miracle worker is here. Hallelujah. Come on, lay your hands on one another right now. Come on, if somebody needs a healing in their body, it can take place right now. Right now. Come on, right now, in the name of Jesus. Come on, one to another. Come on, can we pray one to another right now? Come on, the cross can cover it tonight. Come on, cancer has no rival. Come on, depression has no rival. Come on, and anxiety is no match for the king of kings. Depression is no match for the king of kings. Come on, the Holy Ghost is here. I've come to tell somebody under the authority of the Holy Ghost that depression is no match to a crucified Christ. Come on, anxiety is no match to a crucified Christ. Come on, cancer is no match to those 39 stripes upon his back. Come on, I've come to tell somebody if you need a need and if you have a need in this house, if you have a need in this house, that Jesus can answer it tonight because he's past, present and future. Anxiety is no match for Jesus. Cancer is no match for Jesus. A prodigal is no match for Jesus. Come on, the Holy Ghost is here. Come on, would you find somebody to pray with right now? Come on, invoke the name of Jesus. Come on, invoke that name. Upon the authority of the word of God, in the word it says by your stripes we are healed. By your stripes we are healed. When I say I am healed, I'm quoting the word of God. God if you will right now to heal cancer, do it in the name of Jesus. Come on, that's it. Come on, right now depression has to go to the name of Jesus. Do you think that depression is too much for a crucified Christ to handle? Do you think your sin is too much for a crucified Christ to handle? Oh my, thank you Lord. Come on, I want to tell you what I feel in my spirit right now. Come on, you think your need is too small for God to operate on right now. I've come to tell you that God cares about the aches and the pains in your body. God cares about the little thoughts you've had in your mind. And I want to tell you those small needs are not anything for a crucified Christ to handle. In the name of Jesus. In the name above all names, the name of Jesus. Be healed in the name of Jesus. Come on, step out right now in the name of Jesus. All you got to do is cry out in the name of Jesus. I feel like he's walking the church right now. Come on, he's seeing right now who needs a touch from him. He's come to the church tonight. He's wondering, "Who can I minister to?" He knows the storm in your life. He knows the storm in your marriage. He knows the storm in your home. How How much longer are you going to try the ship on your own? How much longer are you going to try to to drive in the storm all your home? All your That's the only thing that's between you and an answer. It's crying out. Crying out. Crying out. Come on, let that desperation come out of your mouth right now. I'll tell you that I'm going to hold tight. Come on, the Lord is ministering right now. The Lord is ministering right now. How much longer are you going to try to drive the boat in the storm? All you are, you're just a one lifted voice away from God stopping by your pew your pew. You're one lifted praise away from Jesus stopping by in your altar. Oh, come on right now in the name of Jesus. Come on in the name of Jesus. By your stripes we are healed. By your stripes our minds can be made whole. In the In the Christ, cancer has to go. I bind cancer in the name of Jesus. I bind diabetes in the name of Jesus. I bind anxiety in the name of Jesus. I bind depression in the name of Jesus. I bind problems in marriages in the name of Jesus. Come on, lift your voice.