Dealing with the serpent - Pastor Nathaniel Urshan

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we'll praise the lord everybody why don't we praise god for this beautiful day that he has made allowing us to be in his house one more time all across the house why don't we do that hallelujah hallelujah we love you jesus we honor you today we thank you for your goodness thank you for your mercy amen amen how many know that this is a day that the lord has made i will rejoice and be glad in it amen i'm glad for sunday morning hallelujah hallelujah i don't know about you amen but god only knows the needs that are in this house today this is a special place he said this is a special place a special time amen we've said it this time to honor jesus i don't know what you came in here for and i don't know the needs that are in your life but we do serve a god that does all across this house why don't we lift our hands one more time before we sing let's invite his presence into the house this morning thank you jesus hallelujah you alone god are worthy of all praise glory and honor your name is the strong tower god the righteous run into it and are saved amen let's sing it in worship before the lord [Music] is [Music] is [Music] the name of the lord [Music] oh [Music] [Music] glad that we are is [Music] is a strong tower is [Applause] [Music] oh on high [Music] anybody got a praise for him this morning he woke us up he started us going our way [Music] hallelujah i don't know about you but i'm glad i'm in an apostolic church this morning where the truth of righteousness is preached amen i deserve i think he deserves a handclap of praise [Applause] [Music] he's [Applause] and he's keeping me alive [Applause] [Music] let's keep oh [Music] him is me my [Applause] [Music] me [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is he's in my head is you got a voice oh [Applause] [Applause] somebody reach out and catch him this [Music] morning [Music] [Applause] in front underneath [Applause] [Applause] underneath [Applause] he's and he's keeping me [Music] somebody praise them in the house he's what you're looking for hallelujah let's lift our hands all across the house brother keith mary to get ready to sing let's praise the lord for just a moment hallelujah hallelujah we love you jesus we honor you today there is no one like you god you alone are worthy hallelujah you're keeping us alive this morning amen let's give his name another handclap of praise [Music] thank you jesus how many know it feels good to be in the house of the lord beautiful sunday morning amen i'm glad i'm here how about you you may be seated brother keith [Music] if you could see me as i am my flaws and imperfections all the lessons i have learned through life's unanswered questions yet in spite of all of this jesus knows the way i feel and he gave his life to show he loves me still as if the way the soldiers marked his name was something i deserved as if the crown of thorns upon his head was what my life was worth and if he needed one more way to show his mercy and his love he said i am forgiven as if the cross was not enough there's no way i could have earned the grace that he has shown me yet with every step i take his miracles around me with just a measure of his love could have covered every need even then he chose to go to calvary as if the way the soldiers walked his name was something i deserve as if the crowd of thorns upon his head was what my life was and if he needed one more way to show his mercy and his love he said i am forgiven [Music] as if the cross was not enough [Music] so i don't have to see the empty gray to know that i am free for the blood that stained out god this hill has covered me as if the way the soldiers bought his name was something i deserved as in the crowd of thorns upon his head was what my life was worth and if he needed one more way to stop his mercy and his love he said i am for you but [Applause] as if the cross was not enough as if the cross was not enough [Music] he said i am forgiven as if the cross was not oh why don't we take a moment and love him again hallelujah for his mercy and for his grace amen we're going to go to prayer amen right now amen how many have needs in this house amen those watching on live stream amen we know there are needs out in in your life and in your world i'm glad we serve a god today that cares glad i serve a god that knows and understands amen it's so good to see brother jerry watson back in the house this morning amen they made mention of that last night continued prayer for him there are many needs all across the congregation amen why don't you lift your hand if you have an unspoken need all the names brother david eby amen my memory forgets me of all the names but god knows today let's go to him in prayer amen let's call out these names that god would do a mighty word lord jesus we love you we honor you today god you know every situation every need in this house everyone that is sick and in need of you today we pray to the holy one god the righteous god that is able to heal that is able amen to put back together god as only you can hallelujah hello every other spoken need today every request god we ask that you would honor him today we love you jesus we love you jesus [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] [Music] let's see this morning it's only in his presence that's why it's in his presence today hallelujah this morning [Music] hallelujah [Applause] is [Music] it's in his presence that trouble [Music] spanish [Applause] let's love him this morning let's honor him [Applause] come on would you lift your hands up to the lord god we thank you for your presence that's in this place we glorify you god we worship you jesus hallelujah hallelujah there's a beautiful presence of the lord that's in this room today amen we're so thankful in the that you're in the house of god you can be seated for a moment um we want to make you aware of following this morning's service under the canopy we're having our seed money dinner how many of you enjoy eating i enjoy eating more when it's for the kingdom of god gives me an excuse just to get a little bit more than i would amen the dinner has been prepared by sister leanne creaming crimings see i'm still learning everybody's names around here so you got to forgive me you got to give me a chance she's prepared baked chicken served with dressing mashed potatoes and gravy green beans cheese biscuits it's an eight dollar dinner and it's the will of god amen amen they're also going to be having a bake sale with a variety of cakes cookies brownies this is an announcement we may need to push back to the end of service so that you're focused on the word of god when it comes forward amen we want to support what god is doing and and we want to be a part of that also this tuesday night we're having a guest speaker brother tim adams from south haven mississippi we're looking forward to having him in the house of god this thursday at 7 30 p.m in the sanctuary those that are interested in bible studies we're going to be having bible study teacher training and so if you want to teach a bible study the harvest is great and the laborers are few and so we're believing that god's going to send laborers into the harvest so perhaps you're interested in learning to teach bible studies maybe you've taught bible studies and you're looking to learn a little bit more we encourage you to be there this thursday 7 30 p.m in the sanctuary and this friday september 25th the falls at the falls village golf club we're going to be having a golf tournament it's at 12 p.m it's the seed money golf tournament it's another excuse to do things you love for the glory of god amen the information sheet is available at the welcome center and you can see brother keith merritt to sign up also this friday from 7 30 p.m to 10 p.m in the carver street gym there's going to be a youth activity it is an egg drop contest and the cost is five dollars i'm not sure what an egg drop contest is but it's for the kingdom of god amen so young people support it be a part of it and and we also want to make you aware of an upcoming wedding brother and sister trammell their wedding will be saturday october the 3rd at 3 p.m here in the sanctuary all are invited there are also upcoming showers a personal shower for sister nika this monday september 21st at 6 pm in the ladies prayer room uh ladies that are 16 and up are invited to participate and you can see sister catherine wright for more information also there will be a wedding shower this saturday september 26 from 2 p.m to 4 p.m it is in the ladies prayer room they are registered at target amazon bed bath and beyond and i'm a newlywed and and i'm just going to speak on behalf of newlyweds by everything they asked for [Laughter] amen amen thank you for being in the house of the lord today our ushers are going to prepare to come i got to tell you being new to a city and new to a church it's hard to give announcements and pronounce everybody's names right but we love being here we're excited about what god is doing in the city of durham north carolina he's doing many exciting things and we want to be we want you to be a part of everything that god is doing amen let's pray over the service and this offering god we thank you for every person that has gathered here today we pray that your word would impact them that it would reach into their heart and touch them that it would touch lives and touch marriages we pray that you would open our minds and our hearts to hear and to understand and receive your word we pray that your blessings would be upon the service everyone that would give in this offering we pray that they would be blessed in the name of jesus we pray amen [Music] everything is [Music] [Applause] praise the lord praise him how many know that he is [Applause] foreign [Applause] foreign hey this morning let's clap our hands into the morning giving praise this morning did you come to praise him did you come to lift him up this morning oh lord great is not faithfulness my mercies are new every morning [Music] hallelujah hallelujah let's clap our hands unto him let's give thanks into the lord for he is good and his mercy endures to all generations [Music] praise god praise god praise god i like what i feel right now i feel joy in this house i feel overcoming virtue in this house let me say it this way i feel devils running out of here this morning depression discouragement glory to god glory to god glory to god glory to god amen amen amen god bless you you can be seated in the presence of the lord we have had a wonderful wonderful week god has done good things i'm so thankful that this last tuesday night cynthia krumholz was baptized in the name of jesus christ and i'm excited about it we're so glad that you're here today glad you can feel the presence of god and everybody that is here visiting with us we welcome you today to fpc you are among friends you are among people who love you and more importantly people who love god we want to give god praise today we want to worship him god's worthy of praise he's worthy of praise and i want to and i welcome our visitors ethan gentry and juliana hutchins visiting with us this morning we're glad that you guys are here and annette king the mother of sister sharon bryant we're glad that you are here annette pierre and saquana thompson guest of brother earl webb jr we're glad that you are here this morning god bless you all brianna is here with us cynthia was baptized this is her daughter we're glad that you're here brianna amen [Applause] bryce but the james and sister mary keith's grandson and franklin tabitha and their family they are here this morning and others of you if we don't know your names and we haven't had a chance to shake your hand or wait that's from months ago if we haven't had a chance to give you a fist bump we are so glad to welcome you to the house of god and you know you might as well just break down and jump in you might as well just clap your hands you might as well just lift up the name of jesus that's how you praise him that's how you worship him god responds to that [Music] amen amen and you'll find out that when you give god glory god shows up and he does a work in people's lives amen those of you that are that are visiting online that are watching we are glad that you are here we're thankful for the streaming ministry there are many people who cannot be here um this morning they want to be here but because of covet 19 because of uh dynamics either they've been exposed to it they're getting through it we're thankful for all the opportunities to minister people to people and just because we stream doesn't mean you don't come to church you'll never replace you'll never replace the coming together we don't forsake the assembling together and for those those of you watching online we look forward to when you can be in the house of god because man if you felt what we felt this morning i know you can get a little bit over the internet but man you can't feel anything like you feel right now there's power in this house there's virtue in this house there's strength in this house hallelujah praise god praise god something i want to do um i want to mention a few things we're glad that there are some precious people here this morning it's good to have brother david eby in service was with us this morning and brother watson he these men have fought through great difficulty and adversity and they're in the house of god and we are thankful for that [Music] and there's a man who is dear to my heart i want this church to stand i want to mention a brother that i want to take a moment i want to take a few a few moments here and i want to i want the church to help me pray right now brother al bird is is dealing with great difficulties in his body he is struggling uh with infirmity and he has been gasping for air and having a very difficult time i want this church to lift up its voice right now and pray for brother al amen let's pray for him together let's ask god to intervene and touch him in his body in the name of jesus dear god we're praying that you would touch this dear brother you've seen his faith you've seen his service you've seen his sacrifice and we are asking that you reach down right where he's at god and touch him in his body grant him relief in his body right now loose the hole of the infirmity that would try to take away from him and rob from him his strength and his vitality and his health in the name of jesus we ask you know god minister to him right now we speak his name out before you right now in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus hallelujah let's give the lord a hand clap of thanksgiving this morning let's love him let's believe god together [Applause] hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah praise god remain standing with us i'm looking forward to the good things that god is doing you're going to enjoy the ministry of brother tim adams tuesday night you're going to be blessed by that his brother caleb adams was with us and and now he will be with us he pastors my my former church in south haven mississippi so be looking forward to that it's going to be a great time in the holy ghost and then thursday night at bible study training i'm excited to meet with people about the word of god one of the greatest ministries that that that there is is the ability to teach someone the word of the lord and there is a way to do it to where people run towards you rather than run away from you and we're going to talk about that we're going to explore some things so anybody that's interested we're going to be meeting in here thursday night i look forward to that amen proverbs chapter 30. turn there with me i i flew in last night got in a little before midnight from montana and we had a great conference in great falls montana with brother and sister urpelding and the and the great church there the northwest is dear to my heart and i came home and got to see my family and i'm really happy that my wife is able to be in church this morning amen she has been wrestling with sickness the last few weeks and we've been taking care of her but she is feeling good and in the house of god i preach better when she's here man praise the lord proverbs chapter 30 and i'm going to begin reading at verse 11. proverbs chapter 30 and verse 11 there is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness there is a generation oh how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up there is a generation whose teeth are as swords their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men the horse leech hath two daughters crying give give there are three things that are never satisfied yay four things say not it is enough the grave the barren womb the earth that is not filled with water and the fire that saith not it is enough the eye that mocketh his father and despiseth to obey his mother the ravens of the valley shall pick it out the young eagles shall eat it and there be three things which are too wonderful for me yea four which i know not watch these the way of an eagle in the air the way of a serpent upon a rock the way of a ship in the midst of the sea and the way of a man with a maid the eagle in the air the serpent upon the rock the ship and the sea the man with the maid i want to take a few moments this morning i want to deal with this generation i want to talk to the church i want to take my time if that's okay i want to deal with one of these topics in here they all are related but the one i'm going to focus on is the serpent i'm going to speak this morning on the subject dealing with the serpent dealing with the serpent god bless you you can be seated in the presence of god i preached in montana friday night saturday morning and i i dealt with a few things that inspired me they touched my heart i want to deal with some of those elements this morning because we we are living in unprecedented times we are living in times where the young are being exposed to things that before only the most depraved were exposed to only the most hardened there are things that are common on videos through youtube and through facebook and through various means through instagram through tick-tock and if you don't know what those are that's not a good thing because you have to under understand the snakes that can bite i remember in our university one of our university courses dealing with deviant psychology they one of our assignments was to see a an interview that was done with ted bundy and they were interviewing him they were talking to him they were trying to figure out the mind of the psychopath and in that interview and that interview has since been censored and pulled out of the mainstream you can still find it but it's hard to get your hands on it because they don't want you to know what he said when the interviewer asked what do you see as the main contributor to your thinking and the wickedness that's in your heart his answer was quick it was fast he said it started with pornography it started with seeing things and and going down ever more depraved and wicked channels and he said i can't explain to you everything all i can tell you is that's where it started and when when the industry heard of that they put in motion the lobbyists and the power that money can bring to bear and they tried to scrub that interview from public communication because they don't want that getting out they want to tell you that everything's okay they want to tell you it's not a big deal and i will tell you that what a lot of people are watching today in regular life to the bible was considered immoral and illicit the bible was was written in a time of modesty and a time of sacredness and a time of holiness a time when people understood the basic nature of humans now we are if you try to say that and you try to take a stand for anything you will be ridiculed and you will be mocked by a world that is that is bent on destroying everything decent and good and there's got to be a church in the middle of all this you see this in the bible god tells us that the church is going to prevail it tells us that god's people are going to overcome so i'm going to go ahead and say this morning you are on the winning side i'm glad you're here today i'm glad that you're in the house of god because there is a church and we love god and we worship god and we separate from wickedness and evil and darkness you can't worship god and not be separate from the unclean it doesn't mean i'm better than anybody doesn't mean i'm holier than now it doesn't mean i'm self-righteous it means i love jesus and he is holy so i want to be holy i understand the serpent i understand the way that he works the first time you read about the serpent is is the obvious place where where we find him in genesis where he is the most subtle beast in the garden and the serpent he he comes to eve he tempts eve she sins man becomes mankind becomes a sinful people as opposed to a holy people when that happened the relationship with god transferred to satan when man fell they stopped walking with god and began to walk with the god of this world sin entered into the world and if you can if you can bear with me in the metaphor that was the first snake bite that was the first time where mankind something was injected that something was introduced something was brought into a holy and good situation and now mankind is wrestling with sin that's the first time we read about it the last time we read about the serpent is in the book of revelation the bible now sees something different it sees now what what uh revelation 12 calls that old serpent and then it tells you who he is the devil you'll find it it's in revelation 12 3 4 5 that old serpent that ancient one and if you keep reading in revelation you get to 17 he is not just a snake he is a dragon and he has seven heads and he has ten horns and there is a harlot sitting upon that dragon and she has a golden cup her name is mystery her name is babylon the mother of harlots and abominations of the world and she's drunk the bible says with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs there's a lot of theology that goes into this vivid metaphor there's a lot of biblical teaching that we will get into but the first thing i want to point out is it starts with a snake and it winds up a dragon that's the first thing i want to point out this morning people want to know why we take such a strong stand against sin and the reason is because we know it doesn't stay small we know it doesn't stay contained we know that it is a big deal that it multiplies that it increases that it turns into something you would never imagine it would turn into i came to tell somebody sin is not a game this morning sin is not cool sin is not intriguing sin is not an exercise of of curiosity sin is not just so in my wild oats sin is a poisonous thing that will wreck marriages and destroy children god hates sin let me say it again god hates sin and god hates sin because he loves you and he knows what it does to you and he knows what it does to your mind and he knows what it does to your heart so you have to understand the serpent we we talk to our people and we tell them don't go here don't watch this don't live like this don't say that if someone is going to insist on living in sin then we will say don't hang around them i thank god for a father and for authorities that told me you will not hang around that crowd you will not go to that place at the time i didn't understand it at the time but my father saw a snake that i couldn't see now see i know when you're seeing it at the beginning it's a small thing it's hard to detect it slithers through the grass snakes if you've never if you've never been close to a snake you you just you just don't know what it's all about i can remember one time i was i was playing golf and i lost my ball down by the water and when i went down there i was i'm i was born at night but i wasn't born last night so i i i went down by the water and and i was looking for the ball and i'd take my club and i would part the weeds looking for the ball some people just stick their hand down in there not this man so i i used the golf club to part the weeds and and i i saw a log and i thought maybe it was on the other side of that log so i kind of pulled the log back and the biggest fattest water moccasin you've ever seen i mean a big fat triangular head he looked like he was well fed and he just coiled there and i thought in the name of jesus in the name of jesus we have the victim i've backed to safety i was talking to the pastor of the church i was just at he was sitting fence posts in montana and he said that they they had they were straightening one up it had gotten crooked one of his cows had had leaned against it and knocked it out of its out of its position and so he reached down to put it back together and set it up right and re-anchor and re-stabilize and probably for about five minutes he worked down there and it wasn't until he heard the rattle that he saw the rattle snake about 24 inches away coiled now coiled might not matter to some folks if you've never run into one before but coiled means they're ready it means they can lunge it means they can strike out at several feet and and before you even see them the damage can be done i want you to be careful when you're dealing with snakes they can strike before you know it they can strike and resume their original position and you don't even know what happened you think something just bumped into you it's not until you feel the pain and the poisons coursing through your body that you realize you've been bitten be careful where you go be careful what you watch be careful what you allow into your eyes in your ears be careful sending your children over to people's homes and those people don't love god because in a few moments they can be bitten and see something and encounter something and now something's been injected to them that will take a lifetime to overcome [Applause] the bible says that these things are too wonderful for us to know the way of an eagle in the air the way of a serpent upon a rock one of the reasons why is because they don't leave tracks the way of a ship in the sea how do you track a ship in the sea how do you track a snake across a rock how do you track an eagle through the air they leave no tracks they are here they are there they are metaphors for the spirit world the eagle in the air is the church and how she operates that's the way of the spirit another way of saying it is where the with the wind bloweth where it listed and now here is the sound thereof and can't not tell when sir cometh or whether it goeth so is everyone that's born of the spirit you don't understand all the ways of the holy ghost god has ways of doing things that that that it's it's not possible to understand all them i don't know how you got here today i don't know who brought you to church i just know you're here and i know the holy ghost is working i don't know what brought you to the bible i don't know what's happening and stirring in your spirit but there's a god in in your life who loves you there's a spiritual reality it's like an eagle in the air and i don't know all the footprints and i can't see the tracks but i know god's up to something and i you're in a holy ghost church you're in a church that likes to catch the currents you're in a church that believes that god can heal you set you free fill you with the holy ghost speaking with other tongues you're in a church that believes devils can be cast out that's the way of the eagle in the air but i also know that there's a way of a serpent upon a rock and i know there are ones who leave no tracks but yet they were there that resonates particularly now with social media and the internet if you're in the habit of deleting your internet browsing history then you know how to slither across the rock and nobody know you were there if you know how to smile and yet live a double life then you know how to slither across a rock if you know how to take advantage of people and their vulnerabilities and and act one way but yet truly be another way that's what it means to slither across the rock there's a lot of people that are good at covering up addictions they're good at covering up the things that they wrestle with i am telling you you've got to know those ways you've got to and i'm going to tell you right now and to deal with a with a generation and a devil as devious as we are if you're going to deal with that snake you've got to understand how to be an eagle if you're going to overcome the one demonic spiritual reality you've got to have a holy ghost spiritual reality if you're going to overcome the entertainment and the rock and the hip-hop and all the demonic forces that slither through your children's life and across your cell phone you got to have a church that knows how to get in the holy ghost that knows how to pray down fire from heaven that knows how to have a move of god hallelujah you got to have a church that knows how to get that serpent underneath their feet you got to know how to have a bride a woman that knows how to crush the head of the serpent the way of a ship in the sea the way of a man with a maid it's like the and it is interesting that it shows the dynamics between men and women because those dynamics are they are rocking our society right now are we going to objectify women are we going to turn men into monsters are we going to are we going to let society dictate what we do or we're going to live according to the word of the lord i'll tell you that the the way of the man with the woman is supposed to be a reflection of god it's supposed to be a reflection of god and his church it's not supposed to be a reflection of hollywood it's not supposed to be a reflection of popular entertainers and how they live their life that is not how we live life that is not a picture of what is godly and what is holy praise god and so the writer's talking about the slipperiness and the the shifting nature of the spirit world and how it takes god to deal with those things there is a generation that will rise that will not honor mother and father there's a generation that are lifted up that are proud how lofty are their eyes we're living in that generation now now the dynamics of a man and woman have gotten and deteriorated to the point now to where people don't know if they are a man or a woman and they can't tell how they were raised and and there's there's people out there that want to convince you that you are something from the day that you were born i'll tell you another little study that they have suppressed is they now have medical evidence that nobody was born that way the study came out about a year ago anybody that wants that article you can email me i'm happy to send it to you it's peer-reviewed it the science is bedrock solid but they don't want it to get into the hands of the mainstream there's a devil there's a snake in this world that is intent on destroying people's lives hallelujah my my but but god knows what a man and a woman is and the church knows what a man and a woman is and i'm glad to be in a church where men are men and women are women and there's no confusion every cell in your body is either male or female you can call yourself what you want to i am telling you that you are a man or you are a woman and that's not hate speech i'm not this isn't rhetoric i'm preaching to you the word of god and i'm dealing with the serpent and i'm getting victory over the serpent and i know the dragon that he'll turn into if you'll allow him see you can go back to when the serpent started slithering you can go back to that people want to point to the sexual revolution of the 60s and the 70s but he started slytherin before that the 60s and 70s were a reaction against a patriarchal society where men ruled with an iron fist and a lot of times they they they ruled their house they were the kings of their domains and they were adulterers and they were fornicators was a very common practice i'm telling you that you can't let the snake slither through your life because the the bite of sin releases things that will destroy everything i'll take you back to the 30s and the 40s i'll take you back to when they say men were men and they say it was the greatest generation because they stood up to to adolf hitler and fascism i agree that it was an amazing generation i agree with that but just because they were amazing a lot of that was the after effects of american revivals that swept the world in the late 1800s and early 1900s there were people who prayed it was a simpler time i'm not glorifying them i'm just telling you that people had a god-fearing dynamic about them there was a an awareness of god there was a fear of god there was a walking before the lord people read their bibles i i'm not trying to confuse social issues with the church but i am going to tell you the bible is a big theme in the united states of america i don't care how much they try to take it away i don't care how much they try to deny it i don't care how much they revise it and try to rewrite it you go to those capitol buildings in washington dc and you'll see the scriptures over every doorway you'll see the word of god and they can try to erase that they can try to get rid of it but there's a reason they put it in stone there's a reason that they carved it because they knew that people would try to rise up and say it never happened it did happen the word of god is forever settled in heaven hallelujah i feel the holy ghost right now there's got to be a church in the middle of all of this that rises up that says i'm still going gonna love him i'm still gonna serve him i'm gonna i'm gonna grow in his word now is the time to serve god [Applause] and and and no you can't handle sin you can't deal with sin the bible says that when when when god called moses he said moses throw down your rod the bible says he threw down his rod in the the the rod became a serpent and the bible says that moses fled from it you got to learn how to flee sin the bible doesn't say to to overcome fornication it doesn't say to wrestle with fornication it says to flee from fornication for it is the will of god moses fled from the face of the serpent without god nobody can stand before sin moses understood that one of the greatest prophets to walk the earth understood that you don't play with snakes you don't fight with snakes like that without god i can't stand before it you can't stand before it willpower can't do it good intentions can't do it there's a lot of people that say just give me one more chance i promise i'll do better i really mean it this time that doesn't mean anything without god i don't want to hear about good intentions i want to see you in church i want to see you with your hands out i want to see you in the altar i want the holy ghost to grab a hold of your life i want you to open up this bible because the only way to handle that snake is by the power of god and the bible says we take up serpents it doesn't mean we pick up rattlesnakes to prove our faith it means we overcome devils that have tried to destroy us we handle the attitudes and the spirits and the unclean things and we tread upon them and we get dominion over them god told moses pick it up by its tail moses picked it up by its tail it became a rod again i will handle it from the backside god will take care of the rest so those serpents they come they bite and i've seen this i i want to take a little time and talk about it this morning because a lot of people can't see it in its early stages a lot of people don't see the serpent a lot of people don't feel like it's a big thing sin is a big thing sin is the problem right now we do not just have a gang problem we don't just have a drug problem we don't just have a promiscuity problem we don't just have societal problems and there are no pills that can fix it and there is no legislation that can be passed to fix it we have a sin problem if people will overcome sin they'll overcome racism they'll overcome prejudice they'll overcome addiction the the problem is sin the problem is sin the problem is the snake bite the problem is the venom that is coursing through the veins of ungodly people that is killing them you've got family that are being killed they're filled with hatred they're filled with bitterness they're filled with lust because they've been bitten by an unclean thing and it starts with the serpent this this idea of going from small to great is true of god and it's true of satan the scripture says this it says in the book of joel chapter 2 it says my people shall never be ashamed and it says that god would restore unto us he would pour out his spirit upon all flesh and he would restore unto us the years that the palmer worm and the cankerworm and the caterpillar had eaten the years that the locust had eaten there are people here that when you spend your life in sin there are things that will devour you and it's another metaphor but but what it means is that cankerworm and caterpillar and palmer worm those are not different creatures those aren't different insects that's that's all different stages of the locus it starts from a a small thing and it grows into a caterpillar and then it turns into something else and then it hatches into its full orbed nature that is how sin operates it is also how the kingdom of god operates you got to make sure you get the right seed down inside of your heart don't allow hollywood to plant its seed don't allow entertainment industry to plant its seed let the word of god be planted on the inside put it in your children talk to it talk to them about the things of god let it be in your home because the bible says of the kingdom of god it will come up first the blade in the ear after that the full corn in the air there's a maturation in the spirit world and it starts small that's why we have holiness that's why we set parameters that's why we build walls and say we're not going to move past that we're not going to dress like that we're not going to go there we're not going to watch that are you telling me it's a big deal what's the big deal the big deal is if you let it in [Applause] the scripture says if you break a hedge a serpent will bite you that's holiness those walls are there for a reason they were put in place by godly men and godly women hallelujah when we got rid of television when we got rid of hollywood when we got rid of the things that that all they did was pump the world into our lives and our homes and our marriages when we got rid of it people prayed more people got a hold of the word of god they planted the right seeds in their heart i'm not trying to get onto the specifics right now we will get to the specifics but i'm just telling you there is a serpent and those those men and women who in the earlier parts of the the 20th century the 1900s those men and women they stopped praying the flappers entered into the scene the roaring 20s and the 30s and and and through the depression and through the world war ii generation people stopped going to church as strongly as they should and patriarchal authority came in and men ruled their houses with a rod of iron but if you don't couple authority with the grace of god you will destroy children and you can laugh and you can play games and and you can make snide remarks about not going to church and talk about bible thumpers and they did they said we don't need that church we don't need the religion just give me a beer and let me work my job and make my money because i'm the man around here and that kind of generation you can do that but what you're doing is you're setting snakes loose in your life you are you are allowing influences that are demonic into your life hallelujah and you can try to be the man but you'll be the man just long enough for your son to grow up and then he'll be the man and as your strength wanes his strength grows and now they look at you and say you never loved me you never cared about me it was just a bunch of rules and it was hypocrisy you said one thing out front but you did another thing in secret and it's all a lie and i'm going to rebel against it i'm going to grow my hair out you got a buzz cut i'm growing my hair out i'm going to put a beard on because i'm going to rebel against the man [Applause] you can't force people to live for god with an iron fist the only way for people to live for god is to love god and to do a love work for god in their hearts and let the holy ghost move over them you can deal with sin with rules and restrictions and regulations you can't legislate righteousness you've got to have the word of god down in your heart and the holy ghost you've got to have preaching that touches people's hearts you gotta have an altar where people can cry out [Applause] because the snake doesn't stay a snake he grows and that's where the sexual revolution came from when politicians told us at the gulf of tonkin that we were invading an asian nation when you see the behind the scenes stuff a discontented generation who had been told that they had to just look it but you could live however you wanted they rose up and said no we're not doing that and they went crazy they threw off the veneer of righteousness they threw off self-righteousness i want to i want to tell you a little story about someone who's very dear to my heart someone i love very much we he was probably in his 60s and he he wept before god he was a backslider he was an apostolic boy who had been raised under the authority of a great man of god but being in a home that didn't pray and being in a house with a weak dad who enjoyed sitting in front of a television more than he did raising his sons and loving god his boys never developed a walk with god they never learned to pray they never learned to call on the lord and and this would have been in the 1960s what they would do is after church they would they would go out while the people were in the altar and worshiping god they walk out in the back parking lot and they'd smoke marijuana and while mom and dad thought that they were just out there you know having a nice time talking to their friends and drinking milkshakes they were up there over there rolling zigzags and smoking them with their friends and laughing about how clueless everybody was and he looked at me he went now now this was when he was a boy i'm telling you that there are things that start out a cankerworm but they'll they'll wind up a locust there are things that will start out a small snake but they will wind up a seven-headed dragon that's drunk with the blood of god's people and he wept he said i know where it started it started with me in that back parking lot with those teenage boys it started with looking at the wrong kind of magazines from fellas at work that sounds so simple today because now you have access to it on your cell phone now you can have it right there in your hip pocket or your breast pocket and it's accessible to everybody and there is a generation whose teeth are as sharp as knives you know why kids are committing suicide at a at an unprecedented rate it's because there's a generation generation whose teeth are as sharp as knives that that will devour the poor and the needy from off of the earth and instead of loving you and caring about you all you get is mockery and sarcasm and and skepticism and laughter and cruelty you get young men who learn how to send secret messages to girls and and then they sin back and forth and this wickedness is going on and parents do not know about it that's what happens when the serpent starts crawling through your heart and finally what happens is a young lady or a young man takes their own life because of the cruelty of this generation some of those kids out in that parking lot were supposed to be the kids of the big shots the folks whose parents were considered honored and respected and here were their kids out there and this gentleman looked at me and said i can remember looking down on them and saying they'll judge me for my long hair but look at those kids living their double life i'm more righteous than they are because at least i am what i am they're living a double life and acting to their parents like there's something else at least i'm righteous in what i do i'm going to tell you the devil knows how to talk to you the devil will give you a false sense of righteousness there is a generation hallelujah the bible says that they are pure in their own eyes and yet they are not washed from their own filthiness the devil will give you justification for living in sin the devil will give you justification for doing what you do and i'm going to let you know right now there is no reason to leave church there is no reason good enough to leave the things of god there is no reason to start getting involved in that kind of garbage i don't care who's living a double life i don't it will come out it will come out it always does that which is spoken in secret will be shouted from the rooftop and there's got to be a generation that rises up and says not in my house not in my home not in my mind not in my family not in my marriage i'm going to have a heritage from the lord i'm going to serve god and i'm going to resist that serpent i need some young men that get filled with the holy ghost that say i'm going to live for god with everything i've got i need some men i need some women that'll get a hold of god and say i will not go away we don't have to lose a generation to drugs and promiscuity we don't have to lose a generation to experimentation i rebuke that in jesus name there's got to be a church that rises up that says the philistines cannot have my harvest they cannot have my children i will not give one inch of ground i'm trying to close but you can be seated i gotta talk about it because this thing turns into a dragon he had a drug dealer that would supply him with this material they call it they called him the weed man and everything was a big joke parents thought he was just that crazy kid that was talking to him what they didn't know was he he had bags full of marijuana that he would bring and they they had their drug language and their drug culture and they laughed at the song puff the magic dragon that the beatles put out and because because puff and magic dragons and the devil thinks that's funny and people think that's funny and they like to poke fun at the church like the church is backwards and the church is all thumbs and has two left feet it's a lie it's a lie that stuff isn't cute it's not funny it's it's not a joke sin is not a joke and the innuendos and the and the winking of the eye and all of that it's all it's all a trap to pull you in it's all a trap to let that snake grow it's all a track a trap to make the innocent think that sin is a good thing [Applause] praise god is this all right i'm not trying to get too graphic i'm not trying to to to to be too forward but i but you have to address it because this world isn't pulling any punches society is not pulling punches it's graphic it is exposing kids to things at an unprecedented rate and there's got to be a preacher that knows how to fly through the air there's got to be a preacher that knows how to grab a hold of that serpent and and destroy it before it can kill another generation [Applause] and he said i kept that relationship he said i was involved in drugs very heavily in my young adult years and then i i i grew up and i i cut my hair and i entered into the corporate world and right now you're watching that you're watching people that from the 60s and 70s that they they turned into the baby boomers of today the people that were making love and not war and and talking about free love back then those are the people that broke down all the hedges that they could and they tore it all down and they said they were being repressed they said they were being controlled they said everybody's a hypocrite they said the church doesn't work and they tore down everything good and holy and they let loose a legion of serpents and now when those kids come up to you with their purple and green hair and pierced over every inch of their body and tattooed from top to head top ahead to the sole of their feet and and they're filled with every drug you can imagine and and and they don't know if they're a man or a woman and they look at you that's the dragon from the serpent that was born back then and you can't look at that and say oh my goodness what's happening what's up what's happening is they set it loose and it will devour saints and it will destroy it is a dragon that man grew and into a man he entered the corporate world he became successful he made a lot of money he probably divorced i don't know four or five times he got tired of one woman they got an argument he got sick of that so he went and found him another one and spent millions of dollars in divorce and attorney fees and alimony and child support because because the serpent just makes its way across the rock there's no track in it there's no understanding it it's the bible says of the strange woman her ways are movable that thou canst not know them you can't build a marriage with sin while you're looking for stability while you're looking for love while you're looking for acceptance sin will not give that to you it will wreck everything it will wreck your hope your legacy it will bring forth things that will destroy he became a successful businessman but the moral foundation wasn't there and what nobody knew was behind the scenes he still had the weed man it wasn't for personal use see the dragon grows what it was was anytime he needed an extra hundred thousand dollars he would call the weed man and the weed man would talk to the cartel in mexico and they would fill a u-haul trailer full of marijuana and they'd bring it and they park it right up in the good old bible belt and there that respected businessman who in his heart never got things right with god would park it on his property until the local dealers could come and drive it away they'd put a hundred thousand dollars cash in his hand and that way he could fund his lavish lifestyle he could live big he could and the thing is while people are doing those kinds of things and while people are allowing the serpents to run loose in their life children are growing and grandchildren are growing and they are not growing according to the word of god they are growing in wickedness they are growing in depravity but the deal with the snake is you can't control sin and the day came when the fbi busted the weed man this guy didn't know that he thought it was his buddy for the last 30 years but what they did was they said weed man you're going to turn every one of your contacts over to us you're going to set them up they call it a sting operation i find that amazing because it is a serpent all that easy money has a heavy cost is it worth the divorces is it worth the the children that are devastated because they don't have a father and they're having to struggle with life and they're trying to make it through all because all because people forgot how to deal with the serpent and so the weed men said hey i got a shipment coming in you want to make a little money sure we've done it for decades and they parked that truck just like they always did this time however there were about three or four fbi agents hiding in the trees that weighed about 250 pounds apiece and when they went to take possession of it he told me that out of the trees dropped an fbi agent whose face was was covered by a balaclava who who looked like he could move mount gibraltar and they busted the windows open they pulled him out they arrested him they roughed him up they pulled him in and they turned him they said now you work for us you either work for us and get a small prison sentence or you go to jail for the rest of your life and so they put a wire on him and they sent him into the darkest corners of that city he dealt with methamphetamine dealers and crack dealers and heroin dealers now all he ever did was was was was sell a little weed according to his distorted thinking i'm not as bad as this i'm telling you all sin is bad there's no degrees and there's no there's no way of measuring it i'm telling you sin is nothing to play with i am telling you the devil will take you further than you want to go i'm telling you this thing does not stay in a corner you might think you can control it you might think you can hide it there's not a man there's not a woman that can deal with sin without it coming back [Applause] david thought he could deal with it david thought he could hide it david thought that he could cover it up but before it's all done uriah is dead a baby is dead you want to know where absalom and amnon and tamar's assault came from it came from a serpent that was let loose in david's life and a prophet that said because you've killed david the sword will not depart from your house you can set things loose in your life he would get into though and musicians can come he would get into those drug deals and and the fbi told him there'll come a time in that deal where you say a catchphrase and when you say that catchphrase hit the floor drop to the floor flat because the lead's going to fly and the door is busting down and federal agents are gonna pour in every window and every door and we're gonna take down the whole snake and they did they busted almost every gang in that city and when it was all over they busted corrupt policemen who were at the core of the whole thing [Music] now brother why are you saying all this stuff i'm trying to show you the dragon that we have to deal with because people thought they could handle the serpent [Music] i saw the sixty-year-old man whose hands trembled who was now an alcoholic whose life was in shambles and was going to prison in about five days who wept before me and said i was an apostolic boy [Music] i'm talking to people on the internet right now you know what i'm talking about look back over your life listen listen to the voice of god that you haven't heard in so long there's a god in heaven that wants to help you get a hold of that snake that's been let loose in your life that wants to help you that can restore you that can deliver you the old prophecy from genesis 3 is that there would be a child that would come that would bruise the head of the serpent there is a god in heaven that knows how to give you victory over the satanic forces that you've let loose in your life and you may watch this on the archive because you fell asleep drunk because of all the things that you've let loose in your life but when you hear it you hear this preacher right now there is a god that can set you free there is a heaven that is still beautiful there is a righteousness that you can attain [Music] let's lift our hands right now [Applause] let's stand in the presence of god [Music] i'm talking about dealing with the serpent i'm talking about letting god have his way in your heart there's no life better than a life lived for god there's no life better than laying your head on your pillow at night and you don't have to worry about what the judge is going to say and you don't have to worry about what that child support court room is going to say and you don't have to worry about who's going to come knocking on your door [Music] there's nothing like living for jesus oh let's love him as they sing you can come you can come you can lift your voice in this house [Music] in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus [Music] i'm going to open these altars i'm going to open up this place thank god thank god for a place where you can call on his name thank god thank god for a place that you can come and you can deal with the things that slither through your mind you can deal with the unclean things that would bite that would devour that would destroy she's drunk with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs don't you laugh don't you let that force get ahold of you don't lose your children to that don't lose your family for them don't lose your marriage to them you got to get your hands lifted high you got to get your voice lifted up there's a way to deal with that serpent be baptized in the name of jesus repent of your sins receive the gift of the holy ghost let the spirit of jesus christ enter into your heart and into your mind to as many as received him to them gave him to become the sons of god to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the wilds of the devil make up your mind today make up your mind grab a hold of your face grab a hold [Applause] out to him this is a good time right now this is a good time to serve god this is a good time to lift your voice this is a good time to get your heart right with god [Music] me in the name of jesus i will serve the lord i'll somebody magnify him this morning is hallelujah hallelujah oh let's let the holy ghost touch our hearts let's believe god this morning let's serve serving with all of our hearts all of our minds all of our spirits is [Music] by the grace of god i will serve the lord [Music] somebody speak that name of jesus in this house somebody speak that name of jesus of god and say this is where i'll go these are the parameters these are the boundaries i will not do that i will live this one hallelujah with [Music] [Applause] let's love the lord today let's lift our hands in this house let's give god grace let's magnify his name oh let's glorify him in the name of jesus before let's give the lord a head clap of thanksgiving this morning the way that you overcome the serpent you begin by having faith in god you repent of your sins and be baptized in the name of jesus christ for the remission of all of your sins and god will fill you with the gift of the holy ghost and you'll speak with other tongues as the spirit of god gives the utterance you can be a son of god a daughter of god and the bible says when you get that you have power to tread upon serpents and scorpions [Music] the scripture says that moses took brass and he formed a bronze serpent and he hung it on a pole that whoever would look to the serpent would be healed from the poison and the toxin that was in the people that had been bitten by the snakes and that's the foundation of john chapter 3 even as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so shall the son of man be lifted up for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life that doesn't mean generically believe that means look to jesus obey his words live for him be born of him praise god praise god praise god my my i got i got another hour i could [Music] preach amen anybody here would like to be baptized in jesus name this morning is there anybody here that has a desire to be baptized in the name of jesus christ right back here we have somebody that wants to be baptized in jesus name let's let's go ahead let's prepare [Music] praise god anybody else want to be baptized in jesus name this morning we will baptize you in the mighty name of jesus christ people say well why why why would i get baptized what is that and there are people that tell you all kinds of things about that but i'll just tell you that when you're baptized in jesus name the name of jesus is placed over your life the blood of jesus is activated in your life you are buried with jesus by baptism into death [Music] [Applause] while they're getting ready that gives me an excuse to preach for three more [Music] minutes did you know that there's only one thing that can overcome the venom of a snake i preached this friday night when i preached i felt like it was going to come out of my shoes and i said i got to tell the church in durham this this is exciting stuff and i invite you to google this when you get out of here you get your little phone you get your ipad and you just go i don't know brother urshan telling the truth let me see if that's right the only thing that can overcome the bite of a snake is the blood of the lamb that's right blood of a pig won't do it blood of some creature won't do it it's the blood of a lamb that will do it what i mean by that is scientists will take they will take a snake and they will inject a lamb with the venom of that snake a small amount not enough to kill it the lamb will develop antibodies they will then pull they do this here in the the tri-city area right here in the triangle there are researchers that do this they will pull then the blood of that lamb out and they will put it into their machines and they'll separate plasma and they'll they'll do whatever they need to do and what comes out of that is an anti-venom that when someone is bitten by the snake from then on the blood of the lamb gave you the stuff you needed to overcome the bite of the snake what you can't make this stuff up god knew it all the way back then when he said he's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world and i've got a lamb that gave his blood and the snake bit jesus jesus overcame that snake when the snake bit him they thought he was gonna die they didn't know he was developing the stuff to overcome the snake and he was then going to take it and inject you and you and you and you and you and you and you so when that same snake showed up you could walk through it by the power of the name of jesus christ when the snake bites you you throw it in the fire when [Music] that's what it means when it says they shall take up serpents and they shall not harm them jealousy doesn't hurt me anymore addiction doesn't hurt me anymore chaos doesn't hurt me anymore i overcame the dysfunction that killed my father and killed my mother but i got the antidote in jesus christ praise god i'll take it a step further [Music] some people don't know why they were bitten they come to church they do everything right they live right they they talk right they hang around the right folks they read their bible they pray they give their tithe an offering and they still get bitten i'm not saying righteous people are exempt sometimes god will allow you to be bitten and you'll say why and you're looking in your past what did i do did i say it wrong did i did i raise them wrong did i do it wrong sometimes you don't look in the past sometimes you're supposed to look in the future because that's where the answer's at god will allow you to overcome it so that later on when somebody shows up you've developed what is necessary to save their life it's not what you did or didn't do it's who's coming that's going to need an injection of your testimony that's going to need a life-saving injection of your witness that's going to receive something that they desperately need and they're going to die but you overcame it you overcame it in the prayer room you overcame it in the altar you overcame it when you fasted and prayed you developed the antibodies to overcome the depression the addiction and the pain and now you give them your testimony you share with them the word of god and the same blood of the lamb that saves you is the same blood of the lamb that will save them [Applause] so that's how the bible says they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony anybody got a testimony this morning anybody got something that you can share and say i've got something i they tried to kill me but it didn't work they tried to overcome me but it didn't happen they thought i was over but i'm just getting started and the stuff i've got i'm going to give it to my neighbor i'm going to give it to my co-worker i'm going to give it to my family [Music] praise god they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony that's his blood amen jesus is that lamb it's how you deal with the serpent praise god praise god praise god all right we're going to let you be dismissed they're they're praying they're occupied amen and covet is still swirling around so we want you to take this word with you as you go love one another encourage one another take a moment to stop by grab one of the seed money dinners services tonight just come at six o'clock to pray 6 30. oh well hold on hold on praise the lord god is good in the name of jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh let's give him praise this morning [Music] oh let's give him praise this morning [Applause] i'll give thanks unto the lord for he's good somebody glorify his name today somebody magnify the lord in this house hallelujah hallelujah praise god praise god praise god amen god bless you you're dismissed today in the name of jesus christ go in the grace of the lord we will see you tonight you

Channel: First Pentecostal Church of Durham

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Length: 113min 37sec (6817 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 20 2020