The Chief Cornerstone

to me this is the hardest thing our hardest part of any service is is to dream in in praise and worship is such a it's like it's like a bam right it like hits you knocks you down and coming out of that and transitioning to the word of god does it doesn't mean the word of god is any less because the word of god makes way for itself right but for me i'm like man don't mess that up because i know the hard work and i know the prayer that's went in and i know the worship and i know the need it doesn't just happen does it draw you guys practice all the time and then every now and then like you hear a note and you're like man do they practice i'm just kidding practice pray work every every service there's there's at least 30 people that's touched it for just the church of our size at least 30 people have touched it in some way or another and that's that's just physically doing something that's not prayer that's not bringing a need that's not witnessing to someone that's just physically for each service at least 30 people that's a lot of work that's a lot of giving and it's not done right it's not done for any person it's done so that we can step into a house that's just a building it's just a warehouse but we pray and we put our best foot forward and we say god please accept us into your presence come on that presence there's nothing like it in all the world there's nothing like the presence oh jesus oh jesus your presence lord your presence god jesus none of it matters without the presence of almighty god i know everyone's got if you can as you're being seated i want to i want to i want you to look around look there's there's a box close to you all right make sure that box is assigned to somebody because i need help today i can't do i am i'm about the most helpless person in the world i've never been able to do anything by myself uh don't don't ask lauren but i you know the the i was talking about the 30 people at least that's that's something that's broken down by by security that's broken down by music that's broken down by media that's broken down by prayer and teachers and in sunday school and and all those things and that's hard work i give honor to that i thank you for it because it it doesn't just happen i i give honor to pastor and sister sloane who thank god we're able to go on a 35th wedding anniversary amen thank you i know i know pastors and i know preachers that that they couldn't do that on a weekend because for whatever reason okay i just i'll leave it at that but i think you as a church that you don't you don't serve man you serve god i thank you that's that's a commendable a commendable thing i i i think my wife for i know y'all i still get to do that it's like no she's so kind to me she wrote this sermon for me today so but thank you for all being here thank you dear for writing this i really appreciate it she made these boxes uh if you notice the handwriting on the box close to you you know i didn't do it we're also being sponsored by home depot today just whatever that looks like i i i told her earlier i told her i guess last night i said i i was studying this and i was trying to write and i was trying to you know synthesize what i what i thought to do down and i was like this this is an eight-parter so um yeah i know that's not good right the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet so we're gonna we're gonna spirit of the prophet that one and subject it down to a one part sermon today all right we're i'm not going to hold you that long but who has got the the box that says law on it back here sister sister gibson will you bring that up here this is an interactive sermon all right this is yeah it's the whole thing's interactive all right this is the law all right the bible is divided up oh man thank you is it sad on both sides it does all right i need somebody's help who uh oh man who wants to volunteer i need a volunteer what you got i saw his hand first i'm sorry come on connor come on i need your help today this is very interactive so you're going to have to be still all right it's going to be hard for you i know that we're going to build something this is like legos bring bring that over here i want you to put the law put it right here all right the law in the bible it is the history of the beginning in the history of god just stay right there the history of god's covenant with man it's how god interacted with man uh we we have genesis exodus leviticus numbers and deuteronomy if i said that correctly who knows in the law there are things such as you know in the beginning god created and then there are other verses such as uh hero israel the lord our god is one lord we find that a lot of civilization is based like if you if you just dig into civilization the reasoning of of why we do what we do a lot of western civilization is based on the law it's it contains some truths that go beyond culture these are foundational truths of humankind then there's who's got the box called history history i don't over here all right come on brantley bring it up here i have no idea i didn't really like pay attention where i put these out at so or where lauren put them out at uh all right now give you place that one right there right next to it all right we got to get them decently close together but a little space there that's good that's good thank you you can i guess i have two heifers today the history contains the books of of history they contain uh the history of the israelite people right they joshua books like joshua first and second kings first and second samuel so on so forth uh those there is a lot of dialogue and a lot of history of the people of god going to god coming away from god going in it's it's got a lot of life lessons in it that we can learn that are applicable to us today then we get to a section of the old testament that is poetry who's got poetry all right you're gonna bring it up here i'm gonna have like half the church on the stage if this is come on i tell you what y'all don't have to stand up here but when someone raises the box up each one of y'all take a turn all right no all right maybe look yo i don't i don't work with kids a whole lot so please don't take offense if i like do something the wrong way all right will that work you'll go back i'll holler at you and y'all get them all right thank y'all they're they're gonna they got more work to do today got more work to do so then we get to poetry we get to job psalms proverbs ecclesiastes song of solomon uh job you know he says things like though he slay me yeah i will trust him psalms think think psalms 23. what the what is it i didn't write it down lauren didn't write it down i'm just kidding we got proverbs it's it's about wisdom and instruction it's to understand and to understand words of insight that proverbs is just a a good way to learn how to live then we have the major and minor prophets who we got who we got okay thank you thank you mccaid all right just stack it right there all right the major and modern prophets we have guys such as isaiah jeremiah jeremiah was such a was such a writer he was the crying prophet right he said uh oh that my head were waters in my eyes a fountain of tears that i might weep night and day xanax or xanax prozac or whatever didn't have anything on this guy like what's that what's the what's the happy pill what's the happy pill is it xanax yeah okay there we go like this poor guy god was like here dude and just dumped it on him like i mean seriously like the major and minor prophets they they spent a large amount of their time writing about the plight of israel and their on-again-off-again relationship with god if i mean if we're just going to be teenagers about it uh they they spent a lot of time talking about how israel was rebelling against god and then they also spent a lot of time talking about the redemption of israel now these guys they wrote about the redeemer but they had no clue who or what the redeemer was they they spent their life they they spent their soul can you imagine the burden that was on jeremiah for him to write those words can you imagine that that crushing weight so to speak that grinding of the soul it's no longer about him he's writing he's he's got something burning inside of him that he doesn't know how to deal with that weight and knowing there's a redeemer but knowing that to get to the redeemer they've got to go through everything the world can imagine all the atrocities that can be imagined in the world these people have to go through it in order for the redeemer to get there then as we we close out the old testament with malachi and we get to the new testament and these are called the gospels who's got the gospels you got the gospels thank you ma'am i appreciate it the gospels now the gospels contained it might they might rather be named renamed the life and times of jesus christ that's what their focus was each of the gospels matthew mark luke and john they they had a specific audience they wrote to they had a specific way to to relate to someone matthew he wrote to the jews who loved the scriptures and the prophecies of god they would only listen to the to the one of their own so matthew speaks to the jews and the deeply religious of the day mark he spoke to the romans these were the leaders in leadership and action impressed him they knew nothing of scripture but everything of power so this group comes the action-packed gospel and the powerful ministry of christ mark uses the word power what 100 and no no yours is the word babe you messed up i'm just kidding i'm just kidding i'm just kidding i messed up mark uses the word and 1375 times to tie together the endless actions of christ or maybe he just didn't know what a period was i'm not really sure he used that to relate to that audience he luke was a greek speaking to the greeks he he the greeks love culture beauty and ideas happiness could be found in the pursuit of truth so luke fills his book with insights interviews songs and details that fascinate the inquiring mind so today the truth seekers find jesus in luke john john wrote to everyone he said if you love jesus i've got an answer for you if you're searching for something if you want to know the reason why you're here i've got something for you he spoke on a more humanistic trait of love that emotion for god so loved the world then we get to paul's epistles anyone's got paul's epistles all right mccabe run back up here bud thank you all right now i need you to i need you to keep track of these all right just stack it and run and grab it all right so we get to pause paul's epistles paul spent a lifetime of yeah just stay right there stay right there writing to the churches and the disciples that he had made he he hammered out churches when no one else could and he hammered out disciples when no one else could he was he he became all things to all men that he might by all means save some and he wrote to him he didn't just be like here's jesus peace out guys no in prison he would write to him in in sickness he would write to them he he said i want to edify i want to encourage you i want to make sure you're still following the things of god he said if and and he said the things of god not he said because if any other if if i or we or anybody else comes preaching something else let them be accursed right he said it's not about me it's about christ so then we get to the general epistles in revelations who's got that one all right run grab it all right now the general epistles i am not touching revelations with a 10-foot pole um i'm just kidding thank you bro the general epistles like peter john james jude these were the apostles speaking to the church as a whole the wisdom the the guidance in there is unparalleled it's like jude's like this long or james like this long but the wisdom that james writes with of of pure religion of speaking you know he speaks against humanity he says that's that's human that's your human that's your human side but here this is what the spirit will lead you to do and then we get to revelations it was written by the apostle john it it starts out by saying the revelation of jesus christ it's a it's a deep historical and prophetic book that examines the inner weaving of christ in the fabric of creation past present and future that's why it's so hard to read he didn't put a timeline in this thing he was just writing like dude what about a line with dates no not happening so then we get we get the gospels this this is the canonical bible as we know it then from that we can draw a couple a couple categories if i may uh there is there's a box called the life and death and resurrection life death and resurrection of jesus christ well go for it bro all right now now if if i may let's put it right on top of the gospel and and paul's epistles now this isn't no like super like this is not deeply theological here all right so if there's issues with this please understand what i'm understand the principle i'm getting at right one man said the principle proof of christianity is the resurrection if the resurrection had not happened we would not have christianity we would have had a good teacher that had died and that that's the end of that right the principle proof how do i know that my god has power that he does what he says he does the resurrection all right amen the resurrection that's why we're here today that in in reading of the bible that almost that's like the climax of if you're reading a story is the resurrection but then we get to something else it's called acts who's got acts this is the acts of the apostles and this acts like the second climax if we may if we're doing a literary analysis of this this is jesus died and he rose again like whoa that's pretty good and then he's like i'm going away and like okay well and then it's like ah holy ghost bam acts chapter two and you're like oh that was a twist all right wasn't expecting that it was it was a twist in in acts chapter 2 when the holy ghost is pulled out poured out it establishes the church and then the rest of the book is spent showing how the moving in the power of god is foundational in the life that we even live today they they went they traveled they went and they traveled they went and they traveled and they preached and they went from house to house they went from city to city preaching the power of god right they they didn't just if i made they didn't just say this is the good news and stop with it because it was the good news but they said i've got something else to bring along with you i've got the holy ghost to sustain you i've got the anointing power of god to to keep you that will guide you when i'm gone and when there's no there's no one else to tell you i've got the holy ghost to give you that that double header right there then sets us up for something that i like to call personal salvation right we got it we got personal salvation uh oh yeah come on roman you got it though can you reach the top this is oh yeah thank you bo personal salvation can be summarized in acts chapter 2 verse 38 repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost about that just right there but then we find his historically we find that while the canonical scriptures end the church history actually begins right the the at the everyday workings of man every day just getting by the that's when the real work starts right it's like leaving church you're like man that was a great service now you get hit in the face when you go out or run over in the parking lot and you're like wait a minute i just had the protection of god on me what just happened right that's that's but and so that started happening there there came some guys there was the post-apostolic age all right who's got post-apostolic age whoo there we go the post-apostolic age came along and these were the disciples of the disciples does that make sense let's set this one to the side these guys were the disciples of john the disciples of paul those those guys we have very limited of their writings okay so i'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on them but they they they've done their best to continue in the faith right they don't then then after those there there were some guys by the name of clement uh polycarp and a couple guys i'm not really sure how to say their name i mean that's that's basically how that goes after that we have a group of guys called the greek apologist they were from a time around 130 to 180 a.d who's got greek apologists all right got it mccain now we're going somewhere in case you know we're building something like literally right right on top just straight on top these guys were building on top right they were they were building on top of what the post apostolic age on top of the apostles on top of the post-apostolic age now these guys putting their own spin on it the greek apologist had a and one of them's name the most prolific one i should say his name's justin he had a grecian education so he was a philosopher and he took that grecian philosophy and applied it to christianity this put a different spin on things especially things considering concerning salvation and the godhead the the humanistic reasoning or grecian philosophy that these guys had had and this school of thought said said there are things like more than one god are there there are things that that that the greeks took as historical as true to their culture and then okay well we have jesus well then there was there was a father and so then they're they're trying to build something out of this and rationalize it from their own world view of okay well this is how we get salvation this is how we baptize right and and basically by the old catholic age from 170 to 325 who's got old catholic age oh thank you old catholic age the church convalesced right the roman empire said all right can't beat them join them and they said all right bring everybody together we're going to hammer this out you guys are fighting can't decide on something you can't you can't whatever we're going to have a council and they had the council of nicaea 325 a.d and they said this is the way it's going to be it doesn't i don't care what the theologians say this is the way it's going to be we're going to vote on it and that's the way it's going to be from now on anyone else that dissents is a heretic and that was what led to the catholic church right so then who's got 1 182 years of catholic church rule where are we at oh there we go 1 182 years of church the catholic church rule all right that's did that from the from the council of nazia they established things as doctrine such as the trinity that's pretty good oh as the trinity right baptizing in the name of the father of the son and the holy spirit and then went on to define uh as three separate persons in a godhead uh i don't know if you have a i don't have a deep theological understanding of the trinity it's i don't understand uh anyway that's all i'm going to say about that but basically that was how that was that was set in place and then for a millennium these guys they had their own internal issues and there was there was some other splits off of this and that but for a millennium the catholic church tradition established how salvation was created or was was made they they they established something like salvation by works uh like you give enough and will forgive your sins which they built some really good churches so i don't know like i'm just kidding y'all i am just kidding they they they established some some traditions of men that had nothing to do with the bible because guess what by the time you get here you're built on top of this on top of this on top of this and you're so far away from the foundation that you're a little shaky you're just a little shaky and there was a man that that decided that uh who's got martin luther who's got martin luther and his 95 thesis he came along and he said guys we've missed something yeah hang on no hang on hang on hang on can't put it up there yet he said we missed something he said from from from here to here there's a disconnect somewhere i i don't necessarily these are 95 problems and they were loaded questions in 95 you know loaded issues these are things that i have issue with that i do not think the bible addresses i think somewhere along the way we've got some man-made traditions in there and so he came through and he said okay i'm going to knock 1 182 years off of church and he he he was attempting to to go back to his his goal was to go back to to restore a biblical foundation and biblical supremacy over the word of a man all right didn't get there if we're just being honest right like he he started out good kind of got lost in the weeds i think and basically he came back to around 325 a.d to the doctrine they had around 325 a.d somewhere in there so right there if you can do it again think you got it all right yeah it's still a little shaky that's the point it's still a little shaky he started a process he got rid of a whole chunk of it and he started a process but he he said there was there's sister gibson said something earlier she said you know they don't like change right that's human nature right change something now i can't find where my shoes are at lower and late change is hard so he he chipped away at it and and it started a movie called the protestant movement these guys uh they they split and infractioned and and split and fractioned and split and fractioned and split in fractions basically that's what's happened to the prostate movement that's how we're here today basically but then we get to about a hundred years ago and there was a movement called the pentecostal movement and these guys said hang on just a minute who who's got the pentecostal movement jesus name bazism there we go 1901 to 1915 there was the startings of a movement that that done something that changed at least my life i don't know if it affected your life or not we'll see come on these men they said hold up now we've got a whole lot of history and we've got a whole lot of man-made ideas and we've got a whole lot of things in here that do not line up to the word of god just knock it out there just knock it out there and so they came through with a wrecking ball and tore the whole church up good lord came through with a wrecking ball and said looky here guys this movement now i've got to find my other box this movement is not about us they said set us over there don't even look at us don't even know our name it doesn't matter don't build on top of what we teach build your personal salvation on top of the bible i want you to take everything you think you know and lay it aside for just a minute everything that someone's taught you and pick up the word of god and dig in kick tradition aside kick your ideas aside and what does say the word of the lord come on your personal salvation is not for someone else to say oh if you just repeat this after me it's a reconnection between you and almighty god it's a relationship with you and almighty god i'm not going to get you to heaven pastor's not going to get you to heaven you're the only one that's going to get you to heaven god knows what you struggle with oh come on somebody god knows what you face and he says just give me the chance i want to come into your heart and i want to work a miracle i want to change you i want to remake you i want to mold you i want to fold you i want my spirit inside of you yo i've been sitting on this one for just a minute all right they said look at look at the scripture what does zack say oh oh they say look oh it says repent it says be baptized in jesus name in fact every time there was a baptism in acts what was it in jesus name oh come on they kicked they take tradition right out the window and said call me a heretic kick me out of whatever church you want to kick me out of but i'm going to trust in the word of the lord i'm gonna walk in his truth not yours i'm gonna walk in the way i'm gonna work out my own salvation with fear and trembling i'm gonna make sure that i know that i know that i know that i'm saved you see these restorationists revolutionary they just they in the whole thinking of all christianity they rejected the idea of a trinity they said my god is not three right jesus said he said how can how can a man serve two masters that right there to me says hang on just a minute let me let me let me see something hang on just a minute how can a man serve two masters but this revolutionary rejection of the trinity made them outcast but what they didn't know was they was waking up something because you see the bible now i'm getting started here for just a minute all right guys i hope you're not too asleep yet because the bible is founded or jesus christ is founded upon every word of the bible ephesians 2 and 19-22 it says so then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are a fellow citizen with the saints and the members of the household of god built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets christ jesus himself being the cornerstone or as the kjv says the chief cornerstone he says if it's not founded on me it's gonna fail if it's not founded in my name it's gonna fail but you see the whole structure here everything is tied together it says in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the lord and him you also are being built together in a dwelling place for god by the spirit now now now i want to take you one one second john 1 45 says something says philip found nathaniel and said to him we have found him of whom moses in the law and also the prophets wrote this yo y'all give me just a second y'all give me just a second all right i want you to take a look at this right here what's right here on this corner the law what's right here on major minor prophets come on come on now you see isaiah said therefore the lord himself would give you a sign behold the virgin shall conceive and bear son and shall call his name emmanuel yeah be god with us oh come on now this this is this is the major this is the prophets here malachi 1-11 says from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations he didn't say the name of josue or he might have been actually in spanish i'm not really sure there but he didn't say the name of lord he didn't say the name of tim he said my name come on now y'all hang with me for just a minute i'm gonna bring it all together i hope lord pray amos 9-12 says that they may possess the remnant of edom and all the nations who call are called by my name declares the lord who does this jeremiah 31 31 said something here he says this is a this is the establishment of a new covenant he said behold the days are coming declares the lord when i will make a new covenant with the house of israel and the house of judah the prophet spoke of a jesus they would never see in their lifetime with such detail that the holy spirit had to guide them and had to direct him and thousands of years later jesus steps on the scene and he says be baptized in my name he said this this this whole thing that you're trying to do is built upon prophecy this is not something new the revelation of jesus name baptism is not something that was invented by the apostles it's not something that was invented just in the last hundred years but that is all through the prophets it's all through the law it's there from the very beginning of time now a covenant i talked about a covenant i mentioned it but a covenant is a contractual relationship it's almost it would almost be comparable to a marriage and in old and in in times past when a king would conquer a people he would pronounce his name over that people either i conquered you or you're i'm your protector now they are the people of whatever the king's name was in number 6 22-27 y'all i am so ashamed of this i never i didn't really pay close attention to this the scriptures before they wrote a song about them and then i was like man that's a good song what's these scriptures really mean whoa wait a minute number 622 says the lord spoke to moses saying speak to aaron and his son saying thus you shall bless the people of israel you shall say to them the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace verse 27 so shall they put my name upon the people of israel you see baptism in jesus name is it just a declaration i'm baptized and i walked into a church and i'm accepted member but it's something that runs to the very foundation because if you take it out and you take it out then you got a real shaky foundation but when you establish it on the law and the prophets and you say i'm going to be baptized in jesus name i'm going to walk in jesus name he is my king i'm going to walk under his blessings i'm going to walk under his peace i'm going to walk under his grace i'm going to walk under his mercy i'm gonna walk under the blessings of the lord if you would you stand with me i i listen i know i know maybe all of us were raised maybe most of us know this inside and out and better than me and that's okay because i had this resting on me for just a minute this week i went to i went to there was a conference here in town and i can't remember what was said i can't remember what was happening exactly but i know we were praying and i was thinking god we need a revelation of your name in chattanooga this conference is good but they're going to leave town and guess who has to hammer it out here we do yeah it's on us i want to affirm you and reaffirm you and make sure you know that you know that you know that you know that your salvation is built on the word of god that your mercy and your grace and the blessings of your household are built on the word of god oh somebody say jesus with me oh if you haven't been baptized in jesus name i i extend the offer to you today be baptized in the glorious name of jesus for the remission of your sins you see we got a we got a city right here chattanooga that is a stronghold if i might say okay i'm not i'm not uber spiritual over here i can't name a spirit i can't name this and that i'm not that good but i do know that the devil will fight a jesus name movement with every thing he has and i do know that we've got our work cut out for us church but it's on our shoulders today to go into all the world teaching them come on teaching them that christ is our savior teaching them that jesus is the way to walk in that blessings oh i speak it over your home right now in the name of jesus i speak blessing i speak peace i speak protection i speak peace i speak anointing because you reside under the name of jesus you're a blessed people because of the name of jesus now this one i don't even know how to land all right that's that's something you usually try and figure out and i don't even know how to do it but i do know this if we've got our work cut out for us we're going to need god i pray i pray for god to let me to see as you see let me see this city the way you see it let me love them because right if we see as god but we don't love we're just going to be judgmental old mean cranky people right because once you see the fabric of what the humanity devolves into it'll break you like wait a minute what am i doing for that person i don't want to do that that person's terrible it's true people are cruel people are mean but the compassion the heart of christ says i'll love them anyway guess what else the hands in the feet say i know they're mean i know they're nasty i know they got problems i'm gonna love them and then i'm gonna help them but we can't do it we'll be like jeremiah crying our heart out because the weight of a soul will think it's on us to pull somebody out of hell and that's that you ever felt that you ever reached for somebody and said come on come out with me and they said nah it hurts it's scary it'll drain you and you wished you cried and cried and cried but guess what we gotta do church we gotta get it behind him and push we gotta get somebody else to help us pull so if you don't mind for the next few minutes gather around the altar we can't do it on our own we've got a commission it's the great commission but we can't pour anybody out of hell on our own we must have the help and the power of god behind us so if you don't mind lift up your hands come on god god i pray upon this sanctuary upon this people god i pray lord that you would open our eyes lord to help us see god help in our hearts lord lord help us lord to to love and anoint our hands and our feet god to go god i pray lord as that burden settles on us that you would empower us and you would guide us lord that you would direct us lord that you would strengthen us lord god don't let us be crushed by the overwhelmingness of it all don't let us be crushed by the stress of it but gods temper us like steel give us the the fibers the the the inborn fibers of our beings god to be able to go and be hurt to go and be not down to go and be kicked god and to be abused by god to go in your name because it's not about us god help us give us the strength god i pray lord to protection over our homes and over our minds as we do that but god help us to do it help us to take upon your own god oh it's easy and it's like compared to an alternative life but god help us to take the revelation of jesus name the protection the peace the love the outpouring of the holy ghost and help us to just to share it as such as we have god help us to give it unto those jesus oh come on somebody really pray for a minute jesus oh lord jesus oh is break every stronghold shine through the shine your name is me your name is is break every stronghold shine through the shed your name is jesus in the streets jesus for my family i speak the holy name jesus shout jesus from the mountain jesus in the streets jesus in the darkness over every enemy jesus for my family i speak the holy travels alone and he falls how counting how can he get up right go find somebody i know most of us have but let's do it grab somebody you have you haven't prayed with this morning this afternoon help us to work together in you jesus god help me to help my brother help me to help the wrong help me lord to to be here when he needs me there when i need him lord god i ask you lord to help god your guide him to bless his home to bless his family to god in power and lord empowering god is you got it so so jesus jesus jesus is jesus your name is break every stronghold your name is break every stronghold so so so thank you lord jesus would you stand one more time all over the room i want to disturb anybody who's praying if you are still feeling the drawing of the spirit please continue to pray one more time all across the room before we go would you lift your hands in the air would you thank him for his presence would you love on him for a moment oh it's all about your name we thank you jesus hallelujah jesus lord god thank you for the strength god in the church thank you lord for your spirit jesus that draws god we want more of you jesus we need more of you god let your fame be spread abroad in this city god give us a burden lord in our heart for the lost let us be hungry jesus for your presence more than anything else lord god let us be established and settled on your word jesus we thank you for in your mighty precious name lord you are wonderful god we trust in you today jesus sings an honor to your name blessings and honor to your name jesus hallelujah we thank you lord we thank you jesus