Amen, amen. So good to see you in the house of the Lord. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Matthew's Gospel, the 11th chapter, as we break the bread of life this morning.
Thank you so much for being in the house of the Lord today, coming to worship with us.
Spend your Sunday morning today. Good to see some family folk back home. Good to see my buddy James in the house today.
Good to see him. Good to see each of you. If you're visiting with us before you leave today, out those doors to my left as you come around the corner,
we have some folks that will be there to bless you. We want to just let you know how much we appreciate you worshiping with us this morning.
In a town our size with as many churches as there are, you could have been anywhere.
And so I don't take it for granted that you're here this morning. So thank you so much. Amen.
Hallelujah. Well, you might get two weeks worth in one. Kind of been wound a little bit.
Myself, I'm going to speak this morning, same message I was going to try to bring last week.
Last week was camp meeting. And a good account meeting as I've been to in a long time.
For myself, you know, but a good account meeting as I have been to.
And during the week, I feel like the Spirit of the Lord was speaking to the Church of God in Tennessee.
And I know many of you were not able to attend and possibly not even able to watch it online and the services.
So I just really felt impressed with the Lord to kind of give you a synopsis of what the Spirit was saying to the Church.
I don't know that I've ever done that customarily. If I come back from General Assembly and I've heard the address of our newly elected general overseer.
That's what the Lord may have laid on his heart for the Church of God at large.
I always felt it my obligation to come back and do my best and preach my version of what he preached to the Church.
Same way it was with Paul and the others in the New Testament. He would write his letters and send them around so that it would be consistent.
And so that's kind of what I want to try to do today. If you heard some of the messages, what I'm about to do is not what they did.
Hello, because I am no Mark Williams or Raymond Culpepper or any of the others. I'm me. Amen.
So let's read in Matthew's Gospel from the 11th chapter. Let's look at verse 12.
This was a portion of the text that Sister Renee Talley took on Thursday evening with her address.
It's one that I think speaks to the broad spectrum. Verse 12 says, And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffered violence and the violent take it by force.
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
Verse 15, he that hath an ear. Let him hear. So I want to preach to you on this thought today.
The theme of the week of camp meeting was come home. So today is come home. He that hath an ear.
Father, I love you today. I thank you for your goodness, your mercy and your grace. I pray your abundant blessing upon the household of faith this morning.
As we together have broken the bread of life, which is your word, let it be a nourishment to our soul.
Let it be an encouragement to our spirit and let it bring peace to our mind.
And Lord will be quick to glorify you from whom all things come to you be praise and glory by Christ Jesus.
And the church said, Amen and Amen. Thank you so much. You can be seated in the house of the Lord.
As I begin to share this this morning, like I said, I think it's what the spirit of the Lord was speaking to me through the course of the week.
But I think would also be able to stand at large for the Church of God in the state of Tennessee.
I told our state bishop Monday evening after he preached that I'd been waiting for years to hear my state overseer address me, my pastor at a camp meeting.
And when I shared that with him, he just kind of broke down and sobbed in tears because I know it's a struggle for for them.
They think they have to bring in the best. But, you know, that's good.
And I like good preaching. But there's something about hearing from our pastor. Amen.
And so when he began to preach Monday night, the Holy Ghost just kind of took a hold of my soul and begin to massage my heart and begin to speak into my life.
He began his message with this introduction, which, by the way, just falls perfectly into where we are this morning.
Tuesday, we will celebrate the occurrence of July 4, 1776.
On the day which the members of the Continental Congress in meeting signed into being the Declaration of Independence.
This declaration set into motion what would become a global impact, and it's still making an impact globally today. Amen.
In so doing, it began with the American Revolution, through which a new nation was birthed.
However, on the very same day, it is noted that King George III of England entered into his diary this statement.
Nothing of any importance happened today.
Now, I know that's hard for us to get a hold of when we can just take someone on the other side of the world.
You can do FaceTime, if you will, with someone in England today. This morning, you can just carry on conversation and be in there.
But it would take a few weeks and months for George to get word that revolution had began on the shores of the Americas.
So we entered into his diary that day. Nothing of importance happened today.
In other words, in his existence, in his world, on the throne of England, he was just having a great day.
It was a whole hum day. Nothing stirred him until he got the news.
I wonder if he went back and wrote an addendum to that day in his diary.
I think I would. My world turned upside down is what he should have pinned there.
But note that we are here this morning, and we are here largely because of that day.
Because of that day and because of the sacrifice that would follow.
Tuesday, we will celebrate our Declaration of Independence.
But I want to share with you this morning as the church, we should never celebrate a declaration of independence from the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
Our celebration should be one of interdependence because we are totally dependent upon his mercy and upon his grace and upon his love.
Oh, George may have said nothing happened, but something happened in the kingdom and in the world of glory.
So here we are. And on this Monday night, the overseer began this address as he began to preach a message on the event of Pentecost.
In Acts chapter 2, on that great day when the day of Pentecost was fully come.
Amen. There was a sound as of a rushing mighty wind that came from heaven.
And what began to happen? It began to sit the glory of God, but the power of God began to come into that upper room where there's 120 individuals who had been with Christ and who had received the direction of Christ.
I don't have time to go into all the detail, but know this is exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost.
The history books do not have chapters dedicated to the event of Pentecost.
Not unlike the entry of King George the third for many. Nothing of importance happened on that day.
But for a multitude, it was the greatest day of the church in humanity's history, even though it may not have been recorded in the annals of history that day.
But I'm here to tell you the move of the Holy Spirit now as the declaration of independence for a few colonies would rock the world.
I'm here to tell you that when the day of Pentecost was fully come and the Holy Ghost came down and he filled those 120 in that upper room and those cloven tongues like as a fire set up only to them.
And that 120 begin to spill out into the streets of Jerusalem and proclaim the wonderful works of God.
I'm telling you another revolution was launched that day. It was a revolution against darkness.
It was a revolution against all of hell's forces. Now, now what has happened?
The Holy Spirit no longer would sit upon man and be lifted up.
Now the Holy Spirit had been imparted into humanity and where the glory of God and the power of God was unleashed upon humanity.
Something of great importance happened that day when the day of Pentecost had fully come.
If you'll start rolling in here on Wednesday evenings, Brother Randy is begin teaching the book of Acts for our Wednesday night Bible study.
And I know it's summer and our numbers are falling, but you need to get yourself back up.
Let me just take a little sidebar and do a little pastoring while we're here.
Get yourself back in the house of the Lord on Wednesday night.
I hope that's all right because you've been slacking a little on Wednesday.
I know it's summer. I know it's hot. I know it's late time.
I know all these things, but we cannot fail to assemble ourselves together because it's summer.
Sidebar gone. Moving on.
The revolution that was kicked off and inaugurated that day.
It launched a New Testament church and in launching this New Testament church, it birthed a global impact that is still being documented this very day.
The documents of history are still being recorded because of the American Revolution and the proclamation of a declaration of faith
and a proclamation of a constitutional agreement whereby that we should live.
But I'm here to declare to you today that history will be more fulfilled by what was declared on the day of Pentecost than on the 4th of July 1776
because of the enabling power of the Holy Ghost.
The church was birthed. The church was not only birthed, but it come full forth and it was dispersed into the world.
And I'm here to tell you that documents will be written to the effect of the power of the Holy Ghost upon this New Testament church that has been released upon the face of this earth.
I cannot imagine a world without the power and the influence of the Holy Ghost at large.
I cannot think about how my life would be so empty without His influence on my life, in my life, and through my life today.
He that hath an ear, the intent of the message of Pentecost was to remind the church of the power in which she was birthed.
That's what our overseer was trying to get a point across to us.
As he would spend the next hour preaching on the manifested power, the purpose of the power, the signs of the power,
hallelujah, the power of His power being present upon the church and how that we today cannot go forward without the power of the Holy Ghost existing in the church today.
And we need to be reminded of that. And it broke my heart to think that we are absent of the power of God.
And I began to take note of my own charge and the own place that the Lord has assigned me to pastor.
And I said a new vow in my heart. I'm going to do everything within my physical power and my spiritual prowess to see that there is no shortage or lack in the onward working
and the manifestation of the power of the Spirit in our church because we live in a day that is desperately in need of the liberating power of Jesus Christ through the entalment of the Holy Ghost.
It's time we get back to the purpose and the function of that newly birthed church.
So he preached and encouraged every pastor and every lay person in the room to rediscover your Pentecost.
I don't know what you're talking about. Well, we're going to start having some more time spent in you discovering what I'm talking about.
If you haven't cultivated a hungry for the baptism of the Holy Ghost, a hunger in your soul, a hunger in your spirit, I'm here to tell you start getting hungry
because there is a need in every life to receive that entombment of power from on high.
I need it just to make it that I need it just to drive around Cleveland.
I need the Holy Ghost to go to Lowe's and home because without him, others would know that I don't have him.
But because I do, they don't. Hello? And it's just simply going to get worse.
We move segue. I got to leave Monday and get to Tuesday morning.
So we're talking about a spirit empowered church. That's what he was encouraging the church to get back to.
Fall back in love with Jesus and dive into the depths of the power of Pentecost one more time.
And then Tuesday morning, Pastor Rick Costrum preached the message. I am not ashamed of the gospel.
And he began to segue off of the overseers.
I'm telling you, the woven and the weaving of the spirit's work with his word through pliable hearts of men never cease to amaze me.
How the Lord can speak into that man and I can hear from him. He can speak into that woman and I can hear from him.
As long as she's not being a vessel inside joke.
Just don't don't should have pointed somewhere else.
You got to know what I'm talking about now, don't you? Well, the things is we're talking about camp meetings.
We're trying to get ready for church and my helpmate is not always what I don't.
It's not always the most positive. So I told her I said, now don't be a vessel for Diablo.
Don't don't don't cock your head around. I'm telling it like I said, I said, don't yield to members to Diablo and become a vessel.
I'm trying to get to church where I can be blessed tonight.
So I quickly called Pastor Rick and said, be careful. He's looking for a vessel.
Don't let Sister Bound rise up because he's looking for a vessel to use.
So I should have pointed to another lady maybe that might not be yielding over so much.
Good thing we're having fish tonight. I'd be having a cook for myself.
But I'm just trying to make a point. Have I made it? Only, you know,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel, he said. He'd be taking his takes from Romans chapter one.
I'm trying to get it back. It's here again. You know, this is why the scripture says it pleases God through the foolishness of preaching.
Because you get up here and try to keep yourself out of what you're trying to do and didn't let me know how that turns out at the end.
It's like you're standing over here watching yourself. Something's coming out and you're over here with your own thoughts.
It's it's difficult sometimes to keep yours out of his. Like this morning.
So let me try to get back to his and leave mine alone.
As they begin to preach, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
When you stop and begin to think how the thread begins to go through the needle,
if the needle being the message of the church needs to be spirit empowered, afresh, anew again,
then the thread that begins to go through the needle is this.
We cannot be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because the remainder of that 16th verse declares the reason why.
It is the power of God and the salvation.
So here we are living in a day and age which the gospel of Christ is being diluted from pulpits all across the world.
Look, my problem is not with sinners and the gospel.
It's not their responsibility to propagate the gospel.
It's not the sinners responsibility to proclaim the gospel.
But those who are to proclaim the gospel are the spirit empowered, the called out, the ecclesia,
those who have been called out of darkness into the wonderful, marvelous light and the glory of Jesus Christ.
Those who are to proclaim are those whose sins have been washed in the precious blood of Jesus Christ
and the pulpit for the abandonded and the pastor and the teacher that we are to stand and thus declare
the God of all ages sent forth his son through the good news.
This is the good news. This is the gospel that Jesus Christ gave himself for a ransom for you and I.
He gave his blood. He gave his life.
And we cannot be ashamed of the gospel.
But we live in a church age today where churches and preachers think we have to water it down
so that we can get people interested in coming.
I'm not interested in much as you coming as you are going.
Where? To heaven.
My interest is in preparing you and helping you prepare yourself that you may be heard and received in glory.
When he might say unto you, Well done, thy good and faithful servant, come right on in.
That is my goal. It's not to scratch your itching ear, but to declare to you without the shed blood of Jesus Christ
and you living in repentance of your sin.
Heaven will not be your home.
We can't be ashamed of that.
Jesus said, If you are ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you and not present you to my father, which is in heaven.
Huh?
If there's ever a day that we need to be a spirit empowered church proclaiming the good news that Jesus still saves,
it's the day in which you and I are alive.
He began to preach through the through the atrocities of our day, the sins that are on display in our day.
And they're still contemplating making a T-shirt out of one of his what we would call today a power quote.
He said Tranny is not your granny.
A tranny is not your granny.
As he began to reveal the sins of the world and how that people are just rolling over and allowing sin to come.
But hear this. The declaration of the sin world is this.
We're coming after your children. That was their declaration. That is their motto.
We're coming at whether or not coming after mine.
They're not coming after yours as long as I'm on guard, as long as I'm the shepherd and the rod of his staff of his word is in my hand upon my lips.
We're going to declare it. I don't need a tranny reading a story to my grandchildren.
But what I do need is this, that a tranny would hear the declaration and the freedom that comes through knowing Jesus Christ
and free part of sin. I am not ashamed of the gospel.
Not to be misconstrued with hate speech.
I don't hate those who are wrapped up in chains and the bondage of the sin of this world.
But I will tell you this. I do detest the perversion and the sin of this world.
But just as I was bound, so are they. But just as I was set free, so can they.
Just as you were set free, they can be set free because all that sinned and fell short are the glory of God.
I shouldn't have sung in worship so much. I don't have much vocal cord left.
I am not ashamed of the gospel.
One of the most powerful introductions I've heard is he would say, as a father, there's some things that I'm ashamed of.
He enlists a few.
As a pastor, there's a few things that I'm ashamed of. And he listed some.
As a country, I'm ashamed.
As a church, some things I'm ashamed of.
But of the gospel, I am not ashamed. Hallelujah.
I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ. He is my Redeemer. He is my Lord and the love of my life.
I love this woman more than I love myself. But I'm here to tell you, I love him more than I can ever think about loving her.
Even though she helps me day by day, he is the source of my day by day.
Hallelujah. You cannot be ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God unto salvation.
Can't you hear the Spirit saying it to the church?
Get back to the power of Pentecost and proclaim the message of liberty.
For whom the Son is set free, he is free indeed.
And therefore, do not allow your liberty to be a pathway and lead you into sin.
Whew, what time is it? I'm just on Tuesday.
He that hath an ear, come home.
Spirit-empowered church will proclaim a Spirit-empowered gospel.
The Apostle Paul declared it in Romans 1-16.
It is the power of God unto salvation.
But note, it's the same message proclaimed by Peter on the day of Pentecost.
He proclaimed the gospel. He preached Christ crucified.
He preached Christ resurrected. He preached Christ returning.
That is the message of a Spirit-empowered church. Amen?
Oh, we think we've got the Holy Ghost give to us so that we can feel the goose bumps on a Sunday.
We think we have the power of Pentecost so that when he moves upon us and we speak with other tongues
that we're some elevated type of somebody in the church.
I hear to tell you that is definitely not the case.
The more the Holy Ghost I get, I say it about it this morning,
the more of him that infiltrates into my life, I find myself like the Apostle Paul.
The Apostle Paul started out, I'm the least of the apostles.
And before his life and ministry was over, he said, I'm nothing.
I'm less than the dung of the earth. I have nothing to offer. I am just low. I am nothing.
You can go from the least of thinking you're something to finally realizing that you're nothing.
And without him, you would even be less than that. Hallelujah.
But because of him being a spirit empowered vessel of the most high God
and the anointing that flows through your life, you can proclaim a spirit empowered gospel message.
It's good news. You don't have to live that way. You don't have to stay in bondage.
You don't have to stay in the pit because he can do you as he did David.
He'll lift you up out of the mire, out of the pit, and he'll put you up on a rock,
clean you and establish you're going.
Never, ever, ever get so caught up in your sin message
that you fail to recognize that the damage is being done to the sinner.
The gospel message is a message of grace, hope and peace.
But it's not a message of tolerance towards sin.
And we live in a day that the outside influences of our world
demand that the church be tolerant.
No, no, it doesn't matter what the world demands.
It's what's required of God that we be separated.
We serve a God who understands and knows that we're in this world.
But because of a spirit empowered gospel message, we don't have to be of it.
You don't have to be of this world because there's a liberator.
Jesus is his name. Moving on toward Wednesday or Tuesday night.
We're just still on Tuesday.
Former General Overseer, pastor of the North Cleveland Church of God,
Bishop Mark Williams, was our evening speaker.
So you have the pen of the word, the power of Pentecost.
You have the thread that goes through the eye of that needle, which is the gospel message.
And then it begins to stitch the seam.
It may hack them up for a minute.
Get ready.
The stitch begins to be put into the helm.
This thing starts to tighten up on Tuesday night as he would preach from Colossians one.
He would preach the supremacy of Jesus Christ.
Now, I don't have the cognitive skills to go through that 12, 14 minute introduction that he did.
You'd all be as lost as I was through half of it if I could.
Go watch it. And if you've got it figured out, somebody besides Brother Randy, Brother George,
y'all come back to him.
But when he finally got down to where I could get the bedrock, he started preaching Jesus.
Now, I will tell you something.
You start preaching Jesus, you start getting my attention.
Hello. You see, you start drawing me in.
You start preaching on Jesus.
So he begins in Colossians chapter one.
Let's read it. Verse 14.
Speaking of Christ, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins,
who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature,
for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him and for him.
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have preeminence.
And he began to set into declaring the sufficiency and the supremacy and the preeminence of Jesus Christ.
And I begin to think, my, my, my, you can take a spirit-empowered church
proclaiming a spirit-empowered gospel, and you just tie it all together with the supremacy of Jesus Christ.
And you begin to weave and you begin to hem and you begin to put together a relationship with God the Father.
You don't have a relationship without Jesus and you don't get Jesus without the gospel.
For if our gospel be hid, it is hidden to those who are lost.
And how can they hear unless they have a preacher? And how can they have a preacher unless one is sinned?
I'm here to tell you I'm sinned this morning.
So the thread of the supremacy of Christ begins to hem the heart of humanity
and begin to bring a relationship because of the enduring power of the Spirit
that is withdrawn by the Holy Ghost to the gospel message to accept and receive the supremacy of Jesus Christ.
John would put it this way, chapter one, verse one, in the beginning was God.
Right? In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was God. And he began to talk about Jesus Christ.
And down about verse 14, John says, And we beheld him. We handled him. We touched him.
He was with us. His grace was among us. And we have seen and witnessed the supremacy of Jesus Christ.
All things were made by him and all things were made for him and by him all things exist.
So what does that mean? Take off the highway. Take off every exit ramp to heaven that has any other name than Jesus on it
because it's just going to take you straight to hell.
Buddha's going to route you to hell.
Oh, Mohammed's going to route you to hell.
And the Sun Young Moon's going to route you to hell.
They off Hitler routed them to hell. And everybody else routes them straight to hell.
There's only one way and that's Jesus Christ.
And once you get on the way, there are no exits along the way.
It's a straight way. It's a narrow way. But it leads to life everlasting.
I am the way, Jesus said.
The truth and the life and no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
There's only one name given among men whereby we must be saved.
And that's the name of Jesus Christ.
And at that name, every knee, not some, not a few, every knee.
Wouldn't you like to have a front row seat and watch old Stalin bow?
Huh? Oh, I can hear the screams of Hitler now.
Hey, that would please me.
That would please me. These that have led men astray and slaughtered men by the millions
because of a profession that they had in Christ and knowing Christ.
And they slew them in the streets. They slew them in their homes.
But I'm here to tell you, there's a reckoning day coming.
The one who sets supreme to all humanity upon his throne will watch them bow and hear them cry.
Not only will they cry, but they will scream to the glory of God that he is the Christ.
He is the Lord. He is the King and none other but he.
I think the spirit was saying something to the church.
He that hath an ear, let him hear.
So we take the supremacy of Christ.
We begin to stitch the hem of our relationship together.
It's the proclamation of the good news of the gospel to which we cannot be ashamed.
Don't be ashamed of your relationship with Jesus Christ.
I'm telling you, if you're ashamed of him, if you're afraid to take him into Walmart,
then he's going to be afraid to take you, not afraid but ashamed to take you before his father.
He won't do it.
I know it's a struggle, but if you can't take him in the car and go down Paul Huff
about 3, 34 o'clock in the afternoon, stay home till about 7.
Don't even go near Paul Huff when school starts.
Don't be in a hurry to go anywhere.
Go all the way over to Dry Valley Road and come around.
Or go down free will as far as you can get to his Harrison Pike.
Take a left and go down and come back up, but stay away from this place
if your salvation and sanctification is in jeopardy.
And it's a shame that that's the shape some of us are in.
I thought I had more of the Holy Ghost than that.
Cast out devils just can't drive to Harbor Freight.
I'm telling you, it gets me sometimes.
You're talking about a boy raising snuff holler.
Come on, one way in, one way out.
Supremacy of Christ.
Moves on to Wednesday morning and it just keeps getting better for me.
Pastor Drew Estes, one of our younger ministers.
Young man, been preaching since he was 13.
And he told us down there the other day he had 17 years of experience.
I thought, well son, you're still just 30.
Well, you've been at this thing for 30.
Right?
But that young man, I felt good about an upcoming generation
as I watched that young man preach.
As he would tell us that the Lord had changed, the Spirit had changed his message
after hearing what the overseer preached, the power of Pentecost.
And briefly, in that Monday night message, he touched on the signs and wonders that follow Pentecost.
So that young man, he picked up on the signs and wonders.
Where are the signs and wonders today?
I wonder where the signs are.
Amen?
Because not every church you go into operates and functions the same way we do.
We've had people healed in this congregation.
Huh?
That's a sign and a wonder.
And you have to forgive me because I so expect them.
It's not such a big deal to me when they happen.
You know what I'm saying?
It's like your kid's doing what you told him to do.
Why pat him on the back?
That's what you told him to do.
Hello?
So if God's doing what we expect him to be believing in the power that he has revealed on us to do,
if he's doing it, we all know it because there's healed around us.
But I guess I should stop and start taking a little bit more opportunity
because we are made overcomers by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.
I wonder if there's anybody in here that the Lord has touched your body, your mind,
he's delivered you, healed you, many things in the last year.
Would you stand up in his house today?
Look around here this morning.
Hallelujah to the glory of God.
You want to see some signs and wonders?
Ask somebody what the Lord's done for them.
Ask them what he's done.
Ask them.
Sister Patsy came in here two years ago, looked like death warmed over.
Looked like death warmed over.
Cancer rilled her body.
Got every hair back on her head.
Look at it.
Not knowing anything about us, was worried about coming in,
wearing that bandana to cover her bald head.
What are people going to think?
Can't you hear the devil now?
What are people going to think about you?
Who cares what people think?
I've come with a need and that need is Jesus.
If you come here today, don't worry about what anybody else thinks about you.
If your need is Jesus, that's who I'm preaching to you this morning,
a Spirit-empowered, good news gospel,
threaded with the supremacy of Christ.
Hallelujah!
Knowing that signs and wonders will follow.
He walked through Acts as only a young man and Brother Randy's can.
He's not young anymore.
That's for you Wednesday night folk.
Some of you don't have a clue what I'm saying,
because you don't show up on Wednesday.
But Brother Randy's got a real good memory.
Yeah, I've heard and just about tried to count them on Wednesday nights.
Instead of praying during prayer requests,
I've tried to count how many get turned in, that's names are called.
And then while Brother Randy's praying, I count them off.
As many, I nearly need to write them down sometimes just to see if he misses one.
I don't know if he's missed one yet.
He thought he did about two weeks ago and he said,
Lord, for any that I might have missed.
He never says that when he gets them off.
Does he?
He don't say that. He knows he got them.
So Brother Drew begins to preach with that wonderful young mind
and begin to walk through and quote the books of Acts, the miracles in Acts.
Starting at Acts 2, the glory falling down the Pentecost,
moves his way into Acts 3 with that lame man laying at that beautiful gate.
What better place to be than at the gate called Beautiful to see two spirit empowered
gospel preachers knowing Christ the supreme preachers come by and look at them.
They said to him, well, look on us.
And the old boy looked hoping he's going to get lunch money,
but he didn't get lunch money.
They looked back at him and said, silver and gold have I none,
but such as I have give I unto thee in the name of Jesus Christ.
And now rise up and walk.
And old Peter reached down, took him by the hand,
lifted him up and immediately he went shouting and leaping and running.
Signs and wonders.
Stephen stoned in seven, but as Stephen is being stoned,
he lifts up his eyes toward heaven.
And as he's been beaten and struck with rocks, he said, I see Jesus.
My God, let me leave this world in the physical being able to see him in the spirit
before I take my last breath.
Stephen said, I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the father.
My Lord, we go through Simon the sorcerer who reaches in his pocket
trying to buy the power of the Holy Ghost.
Paul rebukes him.
My Lord puts him on his way and begin to cast out devils all around him.
Signs and wonders, Acts chapter 10, old Cornelius is praying as he always does.
He's a gentile.
He's only outside looking in, but he has somehow had an experience with the God of Israel.
And now he's beginning to seek him out.
He's giving alms.
In other words, he's paying offerings.
He's giving money.
Peter's on a rooftop praying.
He begins to see a vision.
Four cornered sheet begin to let down in front of him that had bacon and ham and pork chops,
shrimp, lobster.
What's that octopus called?
It's not octopus.
What do you call that?
Calamari.
There you go.
It's octopus.
He sees all this good stuff coming down and he hears the Spirit of God speak.
Rise and eat.
And being the good Jew that he was, whoo!
That bacon smells good, but I can't do it.
It's again the law.
And he hears it again.
He hears the Spirit rise up and eat a piece of ham.
I can't eat ham.
It's again the law.
It's unclean.
And then he hears the most wonderful words that enter into a fat boy in the south.
Don't call unclean what I have cleansed.
And old Paul dove into the ham and the bacon and had a half a dozen shrimp to go with it.
And my Lord, then he heard there's a man at the gate.
Go with them and go to where I'm sending you,
and there's a man there that needs to hear the gospel.
I got a man over there that needs to hear a Spirit-empowered Christ Supreme,
signs following message of the good news.
We'd be hung up forever in Acts, wouldn't we?
Signs and wonders.
And he preached all that in 30 minutes.
I ain't even preached half of what he did, and it took me 20.
Wednesday night, one of the great pulpiters of the Church of God movement,
former General Resear Raymond Culpepper,
30-year pastor, Metro Alabama, Birmingham.
He comes in and asks us a question.
Will the Church prevail?
Of course, we all sitting out there knowing the answer,
but you never know with a preacher what twist or turn they may put on a title.
Will the Church prevail?
And he set in to lay in one of those eloquent introductions about Caesarea Philippi,
the armpit of hell, beginning to lay it out.
But then he gets to the place where Jesus is there,
and he looks at his disciples.
Matthew 16, he said, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?
And so they begin to give their best offering of what they'd heard in the crowds.
No doubt many were saying, you think this is John?
You know, they just cut his head off the other day.
You think he's John? No, he ain't John.
He's got a head. Jesus got a head.
You think it's Jeremiah? Don't think it's Jeremiah.
You think it's Isaiah? I don't think it's Isaiah.
But this is what you ask, and this is what they're saying, Lord.
And then it gets personal.
Who do you say that I am?
Huh, table turned real quick, didn't it?
It's easy to give somebody else's answer,
but now they were on the hook for their answer.
Mind you, they've been traveling with him with a few years now.
Mind you, they've seen him open the blinded eyes.
They've seen him break bread and feed thousands with a couple of minnars.
We've got more than that tonight.
They've witnessed these signs and wonders and the miracles following him.
They've seen blinded eyes open, dead come back to life,
lame walking in any other kind of ailment he has healed.
They have witnessed demons scream and run off leaving.
But now they've got to answer, who is he?
They knew some of the prophecies as well.
Could he be Elijah?
You remember the one, the spirit of Elijah was going to rest upon somebody.
Is it him?
No.
He declares it to be if you'll have it.
He said, if you'll have it, it's John the Baptist.
That's who that spirit set on, John.
Who do you say that I am?
An old Peter, my buddy Peter.
I think he would be like me.
He'd struggle going down Paul Huff in the evening.
Not so much after the day of Pentecost, but before I know he would.
He'd probably cut somebody's ear off.
Before Pentecost.
He's a little different after the Holy Ghost got in him.
Maybe I should be even more, well I am different.
Back before the Holy Ghost, it would be bad going down Paul.
Now y'all sitting there laughing at me like you were born sanctified.
I still wonder about some of you reborn all the way to sanctification, let alone come out that way.
Peter said, I'll tell you who.
Thou art the Christ.
Now you have to realize that Christ is not Jesus' last name.
Just like Baptist did in John's.
Christ is not his last name.
Christ is his identifier.
Christ means the anointed one.
The Messiah.
The Son of God that was to come.
That's what Christ means.
Thou art the Christ.
In other words, what he's saying is you're the one that was talked about in Genesis 3.15.
Let me see your foot.
Raise your foot up.
Let me see your heel because I know it's about to go down.
I am having way too much fun preaching this morning.
Let me see your foot because I know the heel is about to go down.
And the head of Satan is about to be bruised.
You're the Christ.
Blessed art thou, Son of Jonah, Simon Bar-Jonah, Simon, Son of Jonah.
Blessed are you.
And then he told him why he was blessed.
It wasn't his confession, but it was the source of his confession.
For flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto you.
But my Father, which is in heaven, your dad is again confirming the identity of his son.
He's standing waist deep in Jordan.
The Spirit descends on him and Father's voice from heaven says,
This is my beloved son.
Hear ye him?
I'm well pleased with him.
And now here he is again.
So that Peter doesn't get it wrong.
Because the answer is very important.
Thou art the Christ.
Who do you say he is this morning?
Who do you say that he is?
He's the Christ.
He's the Son of the living God.
Oh, and we'll hear those excellent words of Matthew 16.
As he begins to declare upon this rock, I will build my church.
And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And behold, I give unto you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
That whatsoever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.
And whatsoever you loosed in heaven will be loosed upon the earth.
Blessed are you that hear this.
Aren't you wonderfully glad that the Spirit, oh, Lord, began to give revelation to Peter.
And he got the answer correct.
It wasn't Isaiah.
It wasn't Jeremiah.
He wasn't David.
He was the son and the descendant of David on his mama's side.
He wasn't David.
He's the Christ.
When you begin to proclaim the Christ, you've got a church that cannot fail.
Is everybody in the church going to heaven?
No.
I'm not just talking about our church.
I'm talking about everybody else, all y'all going.
I've got to come back and preach next week to somebody.
Meaning there's a remnant.
And there will always be a remaining element.
That's what remnant is, a remaining element of the church.
There's every name on a sign and people that go behind that and come through the threshold of the doors.
Do they all preach Jesus crucified, raised from the dead, coming back in glory?
No.
And if that's not what they're preaching, they ain't going.
Whoo, y'all better be glad you got a pastor that loves you.
I know sometimes you wonder.
I almost said I'd do it if you didn't pay me, but don't.
Get that in your head.
You like that, didn't you, Dwight?
I would preach it.
I've been many places where I haven't.
It doesn't change a thing.
But I love the scripture.
It says don't muzzle the ox, feed the fat boy.
What are you hanging your head for?
You had your chance last week.
Y'all stand.
I'm going to quit on Wednesday.
We'll never get through Friday.
If you have no other reason than to invite people to church, tell them, say, come.
You never know what our pastor's going to say.
But there's one thing he will say.
Without Jesus, there's no hope for you.
But with him, all things are possible to those who believe.
Every situation.
Cancer can take a hiatus.
Doctors can save you right at the last moment when you're 30 seconds from bleeding out because of the hand of God.
With your help and your prayers, I'll have more good days down in Paul Huff in the future.
If you'll pray with me, pray for me.
It's not that bad because there's not a cuss in me.
I don't have one of those in me.
So it's not out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth shoots off.
There's not one of those in me.
So that's not what I'm talking about.
I'm rebuking devils going down Paul Huff.
Aggravated, irritated.
People don't know what blinkers are.
People don't know what brakes are for.
People don't know what the gas pedal's for.
They're waiting for the red seat to part when you can turn right on red.
Come on.
I want to get out there with my coat and smack the back of their trunk and say, Jordan, roll back so these people can get in the road.
It's a righteous indignation, but yet it is indignant.
Don't worry about your pastor cussing.
That's not in me.
That was Wednesday night.
Thursday morning was about a continuation in your faith.
Thursday night, the title says it all.
We have a champion.
But I love what she said.
You're not yet.
Well, there you go.
We have a champion.
It's Christ the Lord.
I preached all this in my mind.
I had us going all the way to where Joshua falls on his face before the captain of the host of the Lord's army.
I really won't preach that one.
That'll go.
Friday morning is a recollection and a recall to the nearness of God again.
Make your way to him.
Friday night, there were two hundred and seventy something teens.
I think was that the number two hundred and seventy something young people.
In the choir.
Singing.
Leading in worship.
Power God moved.
Bishop Scotty.
Stood and preached a message that he's preached across this podium.
About Nehemiah.
Rebuilding the wall.
And the whole jest of it was don't become distraction.
Don't let distractions get on you.
Don't get distracted.
Don't become disillusioned, disheartened, disappointed.
Stay on the wall.
Take a sword in one hand, a trowel in the other and stay busy.
And when others would come try to get you down from the Lord's work.
Refuse to go down.
Oh, no.
Of course, that's where they were at.
Oh, no.
I'm not coming down.
You've got nothing to say to me that I need to hear.
I don't have time to neglect the Lord's work.
He that hath an ear.
Be a spirit empowered church.
Preaching the good news of the gospel unachievably.
Right.
Glorifying Christ as you go.
So that signs and wonders follow.
Knowing that we shall prevail in the end.
You will not be defeated if you stay in Christ.
For greater is he that's in you than he that is in this world.
Don't get distracted.
Don't get pulled out.
Don't let the actions of others pull you down off the wall.
You stay focused on Jesus.
He'll take care of them and you.
Be renewed in your faith and draw near to him.
He that hath an ear.
Lord, I love you today.
I thank you for your help this morning.
Lord, may we hear what you're saying.
May we hear as you instruct our hearts.
We are a Pentecostal church empowered by the Holy Ghost.
We will proclaim the good news.
Christ is above all in all and overall.
Thus proclaiming signs and wonders follow.
For you said greater works than I do shall you do because I go to the Father.
In my name you declared that we'll cast out devils, lay hands on the sick and they recover.
Lord, you said take up serpents but I digress on that one.
You said if we drink any deadly thing, not harm us.
These signs shall follow those.
And we're going to stay busy building the kingdom.
For we're made up of spiritual house, a royal priesthood and peculiar people.
Come home.
He that hath an ear.
Come home.