09/08/2021 | Midweek Prayer & LifeGroups

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he's there in the midst of them so it's an exciting thing when we gather together and lift up our voice let's do that right now god we love you we praise your name god we gather in this place tonight god to glorify you god god to be with you lord we pray god that you would just move in this place move upon every heart move upon every life today god you see every situation o lord god we know you're greater than anything we praise your mighty name we glorify you jesus we magnify your great name where would be be without you o lord god where would we be without your touch where would we be without the cross oh how great you are o god how great is your love and your mercy and your grace toward us o lord we thank you jesus hallelujah hallelujah we praise your name jesus i want to bring a few requests before you tonight we ask that you remember sister patricia gordon she is in the hospital and she has pneumonia and having some breathing issues so pray for sister patricia also continue to pray for sister eloise henry that god would perform a miracle in her life amen also brother dick sai is his asked prayer for his brother ken siaz he has coveted so let's pray that god would touch him also we receive news that sister shirlene stanley she went to go see her daughter in california and she ended up getting covered and went to the icu there we've been praying for her but she has passed away so let's continue to pray for her family amen for peace during this time i know her sister and her family and they go to church here so let's lift up the stanley family amen in our prayers tonight as well how many have a need in your life amen i'm glad i know the miracle worker amen let's go before him right now let's take these requests amen i believe god will help us god we need you lord we are nothing without you jesus we're nothing without your touch god we come before you tonight god god with all of these needs we pray o lord that you would move upon your people bless your people o god let healing flow o god we pray o god let peace o lord god let wisdom god whatever the need is o lord you have the supply we pray oh god that you would move upon your people god touch brother kinsai as we pray god touch sister patricia gordon oh lord we pray touch sister henry god right now god let there be restoration in their lives in the name of jesus god let your miracle working power and your healing flow to your people o lord and we pray o god let your peace that passes all understanding flow o lord to the stanley family right now god comfort them o lord in this time of loss god i pray o lord that your peace o lord would be upon them and god that you would help them o lord we thank you in advance o god for what you're going to do in our lives we thank you lord god that we can come before you we magnify your name we thank you jesus we thank you lord hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah in the mighty name of jesus we pray [Applause] amen thank you jesus hallelujah well tonight is an exciting night because we're kicking off another round of life groups and you can see it on the back there they also have cards in the foyer if you did not receive one and so we have multiple classes that are going to be taking place right now and i want to go through them just for a moment so our next steps if you've never been through our membership class we invite you to be a part of our membership class it's just right down the hall here and it's the last room down this hall then bishop myers will continue to teach here in the sanctuary also we have a class on prayer that will be taught by the johnsons and that will be in the cafe uh dr meyers will be in the conference room which is down this hallway here just right behind this door and she'll be talking about recovering from loss recovering from losses of life and then in the life center we also have some classes as well downstairs on the gym floor we'll have brother derek hayes will be teaching on personal growth and then in the multi-purpose room in the life center so that's on the downstairs as well will be personal evangelism how to reach out to other people and that will be taught by the scots and sister melissa edwards and then upstairs we also have a class for the adults which is discovering your purpose and that will be upstairs in the far corner right next to the youth room up there and that will be taught by brother stephen and sister jenny de bolt and then all of our other regular classes are taken place as well our cauldron career class our youth class our children's classes all those other classes are happening as well so there's a lot going on around here tonight we encourage you to just find what you feel like you're interested in get involved and i know it's going to be a great night amen so at this time you can be dismissed to wherever you feel led to go god bless you in jesus name well i feel led to stay right here god bless you praise god thank you jesus can you hear me you can't can you you're not hearing me is this pa working is my pa working joe can you hear me back there can you hear me no okay this mic is not working is it working yet it's coming around i think i'm i think i'm feeling sensing that it is praise god there it is i can tell now the lord bless you amen god bless all of you for being with us here tonight in the house of the lord uh we're passing out handouts that are you will be receiving here our subject here tonight is what in the world is the church what in the world is the church and this is a copy of what you're being given there i'm going to put this on the screen here and then we're going to focus it wrong button i always hit the wrong one that's the right one and let's get a little bit larger we'll start out i know the bottom line is not it's off the screen let me just go ahead and throw it back yo praise god amen what in the world is the church church in the world amen everybody ready for that got some interesting things to talk to you about here tonight we're going to cover a lot of things about the church of the living god on the face of this earth talk to you about it and uh show your scripture and so forth how god looks at us and how the world even looks at us and how special we are in the sight of god how special we are i want you to look at number one here we're going to start with that what in the world is the church and the word church if you look at the very number one here the word church means called out that is those who are called out of the world into god's earthly kingdom called out ones is another phrase but it's really just called out we're called out of the world and that's the meaning of the word church as it came comes to us through the greek language and uh under a here it's important to understand this about the church the church is in the world but not of the world it's in the world but not of the world and this is a very important thing to understand here that we are in this world but we are not of the world i want you to look with me if you would in john and we're going to start with our very first scripture here in john 15 and we're reading verses 18 through 19 just two verses here in john 15. look at this very closely here if the world hate you you know that it hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love his own but because you're not of the world notice that because you are not of the world but i have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hated you now to follow up on that in this same passage of scripture if you look in the 17th chapter and the 14th verse that's the next scripture that we have right here that we're referring to 17 14 reading 14 15 and 16 here in these verses jesus said i have given them thy word he's praying now in the garden before he is to be crucified and before they come and get him and he's praying and he's talking to god in his prayer talking to the father this man responding to the spirit i have given them thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not of the world even as i am not of the world i pray not that thou should us take them out of the world but that thou should escape them from the evil verse 16 they are not of the world even as i am not of the world praise the lord so these two scriptures here give us a little bit of an understanding here about how important it is that the church be what it is in the world but not of the world one other verse of scripture is the one found in 1836 that we have right here i'll refer to that verse of scripture jesus answered my kingdom is not of this world if my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight that i should not be delivered to the jews but now is my kingdom not from hence so these scriptures sort of give us a picture here that the church though it is in the world it is not of the world we do not bear the spirit of the world and the things that's very like the world in that sense of the word praise the lord now i'm going to move in to be here i'm going to move pretty quickly through these verses and scriptures because i have a lot of things to talk to you about further on look at be here the word church notice this now the word church appears in the gospels only three times only three times it appears in the gospels yeah and then one one point one of them i'll just quote to you this is where jesus said upon this rock i'll build my church jesus said that upon this rock i'll build my church in the gates of hell shall not prevail against it that's one of the places but the word church only appears three times in the entire gospel books but and i'm continuing on here from acts through revelation that's the rest of the new testament now it appears 77 times in the word and the word churches that is the plural form of the word church appears 37 times so the word church here is talked about more and from the book of acts or through all the epistles i don't enter the book of revelation uh where that in the uh in the gospels the word church is very very little small time very small used now i'm going to give you some scriptures here and talk to you a little bit about it so go to number two here the church was originally referred to as the kingdom of heaven by both john the baptist and jesus this is why the word church was not used it was the kingdom of heaven was the word that jesus used in his earthly ministry to describe what would become the church use the word the kingdom of heaven now the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of god are the same the kingdom of heaven is the way matthew says it the kingdom of god is the way mark says it and luke says a little over the both sometimes the kingdom of mark sometime the king of heaven sometimes the kingdom of uh of god but the kingdom of god the kingdom of heaven is the same thing in other words you can look in the book of matthew and see a scripture that says the kingdom of heaven if you look in mark for instance it'll say the kingdom of god same thing now i'm going to move on here a little bit further here look at this very closely the king the church was originally referred to as the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of god by both john the baptist and jesus so if you look with us in matthew 3 matthew 3 and i'm going to read the first two verses in matthew 3 1-2 in those days came john the baptist preaching in the wilderness of judea and saying repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and then i'm going to turn over to the fourth chapter just one chapter later in the book of matthew 17 13 verse 17 i mean chapter 4 verse 17 from that time jesus began to preach and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand these were the jesus words so from that point on jesus spoke very much extensively about the kingdom of heaven like i say in matthew's kingdom of heaven when you read mark and in luke it'll say kingdom of god praise the lord but they're one of the same now this is interesting i want to give you at the beginning here the kingdom of heaven the church the uh it was prophesied by daniel let me get it here he was prophesied by daniel we'll go to daniel chapter 2 verse 44. this is where the kingdom of god on earth or the church as it would later become called it was originally prophesied in the book of daniel this is the first place that is spoken of in the book of daniel so i want you to go with me if you would please to daniel chapter 2. and daniel chapter 2 is where daniel is explaining to the old king nebuchadnezzar the king of babylon about a dream he had and god gave daniel the interpretation in daniel's giving that that the king nebuchadnezzar was his name giving king nebuchadnezzar the interpretation of the dream that he had and in the course of him giving that interpretation i'm just going to read this verse of scripture that he says concerning these kingdoms that he saw that would come to pass one kingdom would come and then fall another would come and fall another would come and finally in verse 44 and in the days of these kings and he was referring now to that roman empire in the days of these kings shall the god of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people like it was with other gentile empires and kingdoms they'd rise in power to be almighty and then they would fall and that kingdom would be gobbled up or taken over by another empire another kingdom he was saying that in the end that there's going to be a kingdom set up on the earth which shall never be destroyed i'm reading 44 still and the kingdom shall not be left to other people but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever all right now the church as we know it today is not a militant factor but when the church praise the lord appears with jesus christ at armageddon it comes with great power and force and power and this is what this is talking about when it says can it shall consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever and so these verses here let us know that daniel amen prophesied about it in the second chapter of daniel now also in daniel chapter 7 this is the second i was in now the seventh chapter and we're going to go to the 13th verse this is daniel 7 13. this is where daniel was given a vision and in that vision it was explained to him what he was seeing and this is what it says here in verse 13. daniel's giving a description of this vision that he had i saw in the night visions and behold one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven this is speaking of armageddon here now and came to the account of the ancient of days and they brought him near before him verse 14 and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed so again here we'll give them a picture here of god's kingdom on the earth when it would come it would be the everlasting kingdom and it would ultimately be the last kingdom on the face of the earth of all of these kingdoms as daniel was shown kingdom after kingdom after kingdom in all of his visions that he had and the lord showed him these things now the 27th verse is the last one we're going to refer to here in daniel and this is what it says again about the church or the kingdom of god on earth and the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him that is christ now so i'm just showing you here that this is where it was first mentioned here in the uh in the old testament praise the lord and this is why that when jesus in his earthly ministry knowing the scriptures and knowing daniel even within himself without the holy spirit in him even showing him the spirit of god in him even showing him but he knew it by scripture even that this kingdom of god would never be destroyed upon this rock i'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it he told he told that when he's speaking to the disciples but on this rock i'll build my church i think it's i think it's matthew 16 18 or something right in 6 16 15 16 18 right in there upon this rock i'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it so i'm just showing you here folks that the most powerful thing on the face of this earth is the kingdom of god which is the church and even though we don't appear powerful and we never will the lord doesn't want us to be that way he doesn't want it that's not the way we are to function in this world but when he finally wraps it all up the kingdom of god that is the church of the living god on this earth praise the lord that will be raptured away one day and come back with him at armageddon when all of that happens praise the lord this wonderful kingdom of god praise the lord will be the greatest thing and it will be the only thing that will stand forever can i just say this to all of us if you're not in the church get in the church and if you're in the church stay in the church praise the lord this is going to survive everything folks it's in the old testament in daniel here and then jesus confirms it over and over and over even in the new testament i'm going to move on here a little bit further because i want to get into some other things here the kingdom of heaven the church uh let me move on b the kingdom of heaven the church would be a spiritual kingdom we talked about that it would be a spiritual kingdom this is something that the carnal mind of men could not comprehend or grasp that it would be a spiritual kingdom and i want you to look with me if you would in the book of luke the book of luke here and we're looking at 17 21 luke 17 21. this is scripture that we're referring to these are confirmation verses to what we're stating here and when he was commanded demanded of the pharisees when the kingdom of god should come he answered them and said the kingdom of god cometh not with observation you're not going to see it come around and come to pass like something just big blowing up and some guy wearing a crown and all kinds of armies marching through the streets that's not what it's going to be like the kingdom of god cometh not with observations neither shall they say lo here or lo there for behold the kingdom of god is within you within you and the lord was telling these pharisees that and they just couldn't comprehend that they wanted to see an outward manifestation of what jesus was talking about when he talked about the kingdom of god i'm going to also refer over here to romans chapter 14. this is another verse romans 14 17. this is paul's writings and he says it very plainly here for the kingdom of god is not meat and drink which is referring actually to the things that were were required under the law the kingdom of god is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy ghost in the holy ghost so to be in the kingdom of god you have to have the holy spirit within uh you me and you have to have it it was here within us we have to have the spirit of god within us praise the lord so the holy ghost is in us and he gives us peace it gives us joy and it will give us righteousness live righteously praise the lord so these are all described as a spiritual kingdom number two here number two jesus described the church's characteristics as being similar to natural things now a lot of these things i'm talking about are things that you are familiar with and i'm aware of that if you look with me in matthew 13 for instance matthew 13 24 i'm just going to refer to several scriptures here where jesus spoken about in parables and this is what he would say when he said them look at verse 24 this is 172 13 24 of matthew and another parable put he forth unto them saying the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his field and then he goes on to describe about how the sowing so he's using a natural thing on this world to describe the kingdom of heaven and they had to be able to say okay i understand how the lord is showing us that the natural things of this life is a type or a picture of what the spiritual things are in the k with the kingdom of heaven in us praise the lord down in verse 31 another pair will put he forth unto them saying the kingdom of heaven is likened to a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sold in his field which indeed is the least of all seeds but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs and becometh a tree so that the birds of the ear come and lodge in the branches thereof so again he's describing the kingdom of god as being a small thing to start out with but eventually would be a great thing a great thing that's where it's all going verse 33 this is another description each one of these is a certain description of how the church of god or the church of the kingdom of god would be or the living or the church itself on earth would be verse 33 another parable spake he unto them the kingdom of heaven is likened unto leaven leaven is what women put into baking powder and when they make biscuits bread and stuff and they put that in there to make the bread rise they put it in the dough and they make the dough and everything and it makes the bread rise it's 11. it will affect the you can take a small piece of dough put leaven in mix it all up and uh and and water as they as you do it need it and so forth and then leave it alone and it'll grow and it'll expand by itself it's just like what is it where is it you don't there's nothing going on there but something's inside making it happen another pair of speakers to them the kingdom of heaven is like it until 11 which a woman took and hid in three measures of measures a meal till the hole was leavened the kingdom of heaven is like this it's like the tree it's outward you can see it it's growing people come and get saved we have revivals but it also works privately and secretly it's like a woman getting on the telephone and saying to another lady i'm going to church this sunday would you like to go with me it's just working you know man on the job sister's friend he said would you like to join me in church sunday you know or somebody says you know i've got all kinds of problems i need prayer i'll pray for you and while i'm praying for you i'm going to keep praying for you and your family and i want you to come and be in church with us some you notice this is going on all over the place no it's quiet you're in a factory brother and uh and i've been right there and i've done this i have actually literally done it loud noises machines running and you're just yelling almost at each other because you can't hear over the noise and you're holding a conversation automobile bumpers coming down the assembly line that you got to polish and shine them up and and get the cranks out of them and so forth here they come they're not there yet and so you're talking back and forth but you're yelling at each other but that's the leaven do you understand what i'm saying here women hanging out clothes in the backyard and they said hey you know have you heard about how the lord saved me and how he gave me this wonderful holy ghost you know what i'm saying so the kingdom of heaven works in all kinds of mysterious ways and this is what the lord was saying when he said the kingdom of heaven is like and unto this kingdom of heaven is likened to that and it's like and under all different kinds of ways praise the lord now i'm going to move on here to number three here i know i'm moving through fast but i've got some things i want to share with you in a moment the function of the church is to reach teach and worship that's the function of the church reach teach and function i'm just said in three words there and that worship of course is god and worship god the function of the church is reach teach and worship god now i'm going to talk to you a little bit about these things because this is what the god what the lord wants the church to be and folks if we will grow in these things excel in these things the church will grow god bless you this church has grown many of you have just grown with it you we've all grown with the church and we have helped the church to grow this local assembly but the church of the living god is all over the whole world it's everywhere the kingdom of god the church is all over the world it's in different foreign countries it is all over the state it's all over america it is all over the world is everywhere and we're just a local assembly but how the church works all over the world and how it functions is how we also function as a local assembly praise the lord so the function of the church is reach teach and worship now i'm going to talk to you a here to reach it is god's divine plan that we reach out to the lost and bring them to christ now i'm going to give you three verses here then i'm going to talk to you a little bit about this to reach it is god's divine plan that we reach out to the lost and bring them to christ look at john 15 john 15 5 and uh praise god well let's see here where is it all right here we go john 15 5. he says i am the vine and ye are the branches he that abideth in me and i in him the same bringeth forth much fruit notice that for without me you can do nothing i am the vine you the branches he that abideth in me and i in him the same bringeth forth much fruit it's god's will that we bring forth fruit eight verse eight herein is my father glorified that ye bear much fruit so shall ye be my disciples this is talking about winning people to the lord and bringing them to the lord and so it's god's will that we bear fruit for him praise the lord i'm reading here from mark 16 15. he said unto them go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature go into all the world preach the gospel to every preacher every creature verse 16 i'll just throw that in just for free as i often say he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved he that believeth not shall be damned but look at that 15th verse again jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature the creature here doesn't mean preaching the squirrels and birds that's happened did you know that people read that verse and thought they could way back in ancient times someone was preaching to birds and little old animals and everything that's not it creature here refers to mankind this humanity preaches the gospel to humanity praise the lord amen so go in all the world preach the gospel to every person every man woman boy and girl everyone because it's their right to hear it just as we heard it and god brought us unto him praise god i'm going to matthew 28 19 another very common verse of scripture to us go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost and we know that name of course to be jesus the name of the father the name of the son name of the holy ghost that name is the singular it's not names like n-a-m-e-s is one name go by in all the world baptizing in the name of the father the son and of the son of the holy ghost which is the same name it's jesus that's why whenever peter preached on the day of pentecost and they asked him what shall we do he said repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the mission of sins and everywhere in the book of acts that they baptize they always baptize in the name of jesus acts chapter 8 verse 16 acts chapter 10 verse 48 they baptized in jesus name acts 19 verse 5 they baptize in jesus name all these verses tell you that they baptized in jesus name which was fulfilling matthew 28 19. so but jesus notice here the part going into all the world teach all nations so the lord is giving us giving them admonitions here to go and to reach the world and it was god's will that they do that praise the lord now look under those scriptures that i've got here one we must always reach out we must always keep our own feet on solid ground when you reach the world folks when you reach the lost keep your feet on solid ground are you listening to me very closely here when you when you're trying to reach somebody you keep your feet on solid ground if somebody is drowning through my life rafter with a rope on it if you don't have a rope just throw them the life rafter throw them something but if you sweat jumped in and swam out there they and you may drown they may pull you under it it happens they know it's a common fact this has happened and it's a common fact that it can happen so you have to keep on solid ground life raft out the rope you hold and you can pull them in praise the lord man falls in quicksand you don't go in the quicksand to get him you have to stay on solid ground and stretch out a limb or a rope or something throw a rope to him and pull him out of the quicksand but if you can't get in the quicksand do you understand what i'm saying so to win the laws we go out into the world but we don't become of the world to try to win the lost and we have to be very careful about that praise the lord you go where the sinners are but you can't go into the very dingiest places and the worst kind of places you it's just not god's will that we do that you can go into the honking talks if you want to and you go in the bar rooms and try to preach to them in there if you want to book most someone's not going to listen to you in there that's not what they're there for uh i remember that there's one one case uh where that i was uh was to go into a place and somebody i said a word they wanted to hear more about the gospel and i went to this bar place out here on out here on the i think it's 192 out here on the river and there's a bar or tavern so i think that's where it was maybe it was on 50 i can't remember which one it was and as i started to go in the holy ghost spoke to me so clearly and said no don't go in don't go in so i told somebody so-and-so in there and they said yes they said go in there and tell so-and-so to come out and i'll talk to them out here they say well you go ahead on it i said no no you tell them to come out here but the holy ghost spoke to me so cle i don't know why to this day i don't know why i was not to walk in there into that bar and in there and try to witness that woman but there's a woman and she came out and she sat on the bench on a table outside and i talked to her spoke to her talked to her and told her about how god could save her and everything tears run down her face tears and everything and i prayed with her and i think later on her and her family came to the lord came to church started coming to church i'm just pointing out to you here though how that you can't go into that worldly spirited type of an atmosphere we have to be very careful always keep your feet on solid ground but we have to reach you've got to reach praise the lord reaching is a very vital and important thing now i'm going to talk to you a little bit further here and we'll keep our feet on solid ground look at number two here look at number two we must reach them with the word we must reach them with the word praise the lord the word of god that's how we reach the world years ago he got to be popular here in south brevard county to build your sunday school by getting school buses brother jenkins you remember all this you were back there and all these churches were getting school buses and they were going around and picking up kids on sunday morning just picking up kids picking up kids picking up kids and filling up these school buses and breaking blood and making their sunday schools big it got to be popular the word got out that sunday morning it was dangerous to drive around town you may get run down and run over by a church bus you know there were school buses that had been reached some of them repainted and some of them had name of the church on the side and so forth some of us left yellow and just repainted where they could read the church sign all kinds of churches all denominations all running these school buses bringing kids to church churches and so we got to thinking maybe i got to think maybe that's the way we need to build our sunday school so i said yeah let's uh we went and bought a big school bus and we got out then and started trying to rally kids to come to sunday school that's when we had the snoopy suits and we get out on the streets and we had the clown you saw the picture i think in this weekend and some of the films the clowns you know and uh things they're trying to get kids you know and remember we'll come by tomorrow morning and i'll pick you up you know and we'll have a driver take the school bus by there it got to be though that a school bus it had to go a lot of places to pick up a lot of kids and they had to leave early and it and they were late getting through church sunday school could be out you know we had sunday school from 10 11 then 11 to 12 was church something like that and uh so the kids on the sunday school they got on there about 11 o'clock and they went they would take them home someone was getting home until 12 30 almost one o'clock before they ever got back home because the bus had so many places to go you understand what i'm saying or they had to leave like like 8 30 in the morning to get make it around so it got to be a problem so if any of it was trying to build the sunday school and grow the sunday school so we got to where the people would pick up kids from there around the neighborhood to pick them up and we'd bring them to church you know and everything building to sunday school but the church seemed like that it itself as a as a nucleus adult center wasn't growing that much it was just a lot of kids and numbers on the board and it looked good but and i just said you know something's just not quite right here i remember one time going to this uh house and and uh inviting these kids i asked the parents can your children come to our sunday school there's a boy a little boy and a girl i never will forget them i can't remember their ages maybe they'd be 10 11 years old the boy was older than the younger sister and i said i'll be by sunday and pick you up myself and everything i told the parents i went i came by there they were all dressed up ready for the night and i picked them up and brought them to sunday school i took them home i did that for several weeks and then i farmed it out to somebody else who lived close by and i said you picked them up now they so they picked them up and uh this went on once in a while that person couldn't make it and they'd say brother meyer would you pick them up folks this went on for a year over a year we'd pick up these two children and one day he called me and he said i cannot come therefore i am asking if you could pick them up this morning brother and i said sure i know right where the house is i know the people i drove by there and went knocked on the door they came to the door suit a little coat on tie ready to go to church and he said to me mom and dad are going to church this morning and i said wow this is working you win the kids and then you bring they you win to paris through the kids this is working that's what went through my mind mom and dad are going to church this morning and then he continued on so we are going with them to their church and will not be coming to your sunday school anymore i said okay you're going to church with your parents to their church yes okay that makes sense to me i said i'm not going to send an argument with the kids you know yeah okay well god bless you you know i turned and walked away i never saw those children ever again the rest of my life that i know of they may have grown up and i may have seen them didn't know it but i walked away and i said to myself something's wrong here we're doing this thing backwards we're bringing kids to sunday school but we're not winning the adults somebody else went in that home and won those parents to the lord in their way and so the children now are going to go with the parents to their church and i came away and i said god you've got to help me to know what to do here now listen close close to me closely on this this is where i began to pray i said forget all the sunday school we could pick up children who want to come to sunday school we finally got vans and we had drivers and we still do that to this day even some people that can't can't drive and they want to come to church and we have that service and that continues on but to grow the church was not just getting school bus loads of kids and bringing them to church to make a number look good but i said we've got to win the adults and i started praying and i said god how can we win the adults show me how we can win people in this city up in the panhandle you can put up a big tent a big old tent and sawdust on the floor get everything and have you know have bands up on the platform make a wooden platform put in some benches out there little folding chairs people would just come people just come and be there you could have a revival but down here it didn't work that way just people just weren't they didn't they didn't they didn't attend something like that i we had never done it but i'd seen it on some of the others who have tried it i said god what will work in this area and the lord laid on my heart to teach them the word of god in their homes now search for truth had just come out about that time i'd gone to the general conference they had introduced it a couple out of louisiana had designed it made it all put together and they had made it and they said this is available if anybody wants to buy these charts so i sent off and got me a chart and a book and i read all about how to teach it and going home i said i can do that so i started going into people's homes people would visit our church and then they may never come back again we would get their names and address i'd go see them and i said i'd like to teach you a home bible study in your home and we'll never ask you to join the church we don't ask you to join the church we just want to teach a bible study in your home and they would say yeah we could do that so and so i started doing that i'd call ahead like if i was to be there at seven o'clock on like on a monday night i'd call ahead about five minutes and seven and say i'm gonna be about five minutes late oh okay okay okay no problem no problem and that gave them a time to scurry around and get everything ready for me coming because sometimes they'd forget oh the preacher's coming i forgot all about that you know that was a little technique i used then when i got there at five after seven they were all ready to go welcoming in and everything i said let's go in the kitchen set a big chart i had up on the kitchen table you got a little dish towel we put it there and put the a-frame where it won't slip out yeah yeah they were always they put the coffee on we get all through we'll have coffee folks we started teaching home i started teaching home bible studies i was teaching four home bible studies a week my family didn't see me at night they only saw me in the daytime coming and going god bless my wife god bless my children they knew what i was doing they knew how hard i was working to do this and they were so supportive i said no dad we understand that's okay the kids would say that and i started teaching those home bible studies and people started coming to church and what would happen when we get into the plan of salvation and everything along the way i would say to them listen we're having a special service this coming sunday i'd really like for you to be there just would you come for this service i wouldn't say we would join the church remember i promised him i wasn't going to ask him that don't join a church but would you come to church and folks we started coming bringing the you know they started coming to church praise the lord and and they would come to the church there's some of you sitting here you're sitting right here right now somebody invited you like that am i not right all right yeah several of you and uh i'm just trying to tell you here that we started going into homes teach at home bible studies and then we'd provide them to church and they'd come to church and in the course of time they'd get under conviction that god would put upon their heart they'd come to the altar repent would baptize them in jesus name praise the lord and then we'd pray them and pray they may pray them through to the holy ghost then we'd have revivals along the way to to have revivals or we'd have a revival say hey uh we got it we got a special speaker coming come to church tonight you know and i'm just trying to say here that when we got from we got acquainted with them they got acquainted with us praise the lord we could begin to invite them to church we had uh brother jay sternum came here from these pastors in new jersey new hampshire i think it is uh and uh we invited him here to preach a revival for 13 people got the baptism of the holy ghost the week that he was here 13 people got the holy ghost and brother tim jenkins your son brother jenkins one was one of them i remember but anyhow god just started baptizing people with the holy ghost and people getting saved the church started growing and i'm just saying it was all done because we put emphasis on getting the word and going into their homes in that fashion it wasn't going into a bar room and it wasn't you know it wasn't going into some tavern someplace and trying to get people to come to the lord but it was simply going into their homes sitting at their kitchen table and folks we had all kinds of situations i can't tell you all this situation i taught a bible study in to this couple and they had a doberman and they put the doberman in the garage and the door into the garage was right off from the kitchen and i was teaching in the kitchen and every five minutes that dog would just charge that door and hit it bang and bark like crazy well i'm teaching the word of god and it would just it just go all through me that dog you know he didn't like it i was in there you know if he ever got in there he'd probably tear my leg off you know i didn't everything don't worry about him toby will be okay he's all right he's all right but and i went through that whole bible study here that dog hit that door every five minutes but i want them to the lord they came in the church they got baptized praise the lord baptized filled with the holy ghost lived for god for a long time they were from california and eventually moved back to california but they got saved that's the main thing and i'm just telling you i've gone into homes where you go in and it's oh come on in brother meyers you have to try to walk through all kinds of stuff everywhere just junk toys and uh i mean on the floor and you just tiptoe around it all that's all all i had my chart you know and i get into the kitchen wait a minute we got to clean off and they'd grab up a one-time i don't know whether i should even see it they grabbed up somebody's underwear and just wiped the tape and cleared it all or wipe it all off brother myers you sit right there okay well it didn't matter it didn't matter you understand what i'm saying i was there to win them to the lord and teach them the word of god and i'm just trying to tell you here today that the word of god is a powerful thing and we kept winning people the lord and we i'm looking at people right today in this church that god one youth through home bible said it may not have been me teaching it maybe somebody else that was teaching it matt i think i taught your family on bible study praise the lord and uh i'm just trying to say here uh and i i remember dick siez of going to your house dick and i remember teaching you we had another lady taught a home bible study and she got into the book of revelation and said brother myers i don't know how to do this i said i'll come over there and teach them and dick's brother said i've got some questions and so he you know what his question was when i went there and taught he said can we come to your church i said by all means this sunday you come to church and i said not on that but when you come into the church and when the preaching is over with you will feel a tingling go all over you and when you do that's when you come down to the altar and pray he said okay and that's exactly what they did dick and carol and their brother ken came to church and they stood back there and carol and ken walked down to the altar i think dick waited back for a few more weeks before he finally got the holy ghost remember dick remember that and they walked down to the altar and lifted their hands and worshiped god and got the baptism of the holy ghost folks i'm just trying to tell you here that god's word works it works and we have to befriend these people you've got to go in there and you've got to care for them and you've got to you know if they got a little dog running in the house pet him a little bit you know if he's a pet and type not a biting kind you know and everything spend a little time with the you know the children they'll say okay the children you go back in there and play we're going to be right here and everything then we'd have a cup of coffee we'd pray and i'd get to that salvation part and i'd say folks this is the most one thing i'd give you know testimony and that 10 weeks would usually go to 20 weeks so it'd just keep going and those people would start coming to church and finally we came up with another bible study and next thing you know it was other people sister pachin started teaching home bible studies i'm just trying to say here the word of god into their homes and folks the church began to grow people started getting saved and then i had all of these new people baptized in jesus name filled with the holy ghost or seeking for the holy ghost whichever it was and they were just brand new people then i had to establish another class i preached on sunday morning i preached on sunday night i taught on wednesday night i told bible studies in between and and uh we had youth service on friday night and then i said i gotta teach now the new convert class so i pick out one of those days and said i can't teach a bible study in a home say on a on a tuesday night or a thursday night i got to teach a bible study to these new converts and i started saying we've got a special class now for all you people that's just coming to church if you've never you know we start teaching about how to live for god how to serve the lord how to walk with god how to get to know the lord how to learn to pray how to you know do all the and just and let me say this folks the church began to grow at one time 80 of all the people in this church were one through home bible studies and that's when the church really began to grow and expand praise the lord and i just i'm just trying to tell you here today that god's word is a powerful thing so what what i'm saying here is to reach the church must minister we must continue to reach teach the word praise the lord we must reach out to the world praise the lord we must reach them with with the word number two here's where i am now i'm going to move out here i've got five minutes and close this out to teach the church ministry must continue teaching the word of god to the church ii timothy 3 16 if you look at that real quickly with me here ii timothy 3 16 all scripture is given by inspiration of god now this is paul writing to timothy telling him that you can trust the word of god to teach it and to tell the church and to admonish the people to follow the word excuse me now i'm going to read the 16th and 17th verses here all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of god may be perfect throughout thoroughly furnished unto all good works speaking about him being willing to do these things and also we're moving on very quickly into first timothy first timothy and his chapter four this is the next verse here verse 15 and 16 first timothy 4 15 and 16 meditate upon these things give thyself holy to them that's the word that thy prophet that they're profiting may appear to all verse 16 take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine that's the teachings continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee praise the lord so here are scriptures here telling us how important it is for us to teach the word in the church and keep that going right on now finally i'm going to wrap it up with this to worship the church must always always push ahead folks in worship don't ever ever ever back away in worship i'm telling you this is a key i don't care how discouraged you get i don't care how many problems you get i don't care how upside down your world may get just worship god praise the lord when you're alone worship the lord when you're by yourself just lift your hands and worship god and when you come to church i don't care if you're barely getting here you know fellow said that he was you know i went out like i'm going to be a bright light shining and save the world i came back with just a tail light just barely burning you know you may walk in the church sometime and your tail light is just barely working and warning but when you get to church say i'm going to worship god i don't know what's going to happen tomorrow i don't know how what's going to happen when i walk out of here tonight but right now i'm going to worship god and worship the lord and praise the lord you may not run the isles you may not get out and dance in the in the aisles and everything if you do it's all right if you don't but i'm just trying to say here worship the lord and praise and glorify god because the lord wants us to worship him uh the last five of the psalms i'm going to psalms 150 this is the last psalm in the entire bible and i could read i could read chapters 146 147 148 149 150 and they would all be heavy in what i'm going to be reading to you right now but 150 is only six verses and here's what it says and it really puts emphasis on worshiping and praising god praise ye the lord praise god in his sanctuary praise him in the firmament of his power praise him for his mighty acts praise him according to his excellent greatness so many reasons to praise god praise him with the sound of the trumpet praise him with the sultry and the harp praise him with the timbrel and the dance praise him with the stringed instruments and organs praise him upon the loud symbols praise him upon the high sounding symbols let everything that hath breath that's do like this and see if you've got breath you got it okay you've got breath let everything that hath breath praise the lord praise ye the lord and this is the way the book of psalms ends and i think it's so beautiful and marvelous god bless you you've been a great class here today let's stand together and let's praise the lord right now just like that 150th psalm instructed us to do let's just praise him oh thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you for the word thank you for the church thank you for your kingdom on this earth lord thank you for saving us thank you for everyone in this church that you brought us out of the miry clay and out of darkness you brought us out of the world you brought us out god we ask you to keep your hand upon us go with us lord be with us protect us in everything jesus bless your people mightily wonderfully lord do the healing work for those that need a healing touch jesus we beseech you lord heal those that are sick and afflicted in jesus name we pray jesus holy name hallelujah hallelujah thank you lord praise the lord and everybody said praise the lord god bless you amen you're this

Channel: Eastwind Pentecostal Church of Palm Bay, Florida

Views: 230

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: first, pentecostal, apostolic, sermon, pastor, david, myers, palm bay, melbourne, brevard, county, florida, upci, upc, bishop, j., e., jackson, ellis, Eastwind, Eastwind church

Id: esfZ8-N0bnQ

Length: 92min 22sec (5542 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 08 2021