Pillars That Carried Nothing | Pastor Paul McGee

So much better, Amen. Hallelujah.

You understand with me this morning.

We go to the word of the Lord today, Amen.

Good to see each one of you, the House of God today.

And again, please, I emphasize and my wife said we'll just keep

a pulse of things for tonight. There's been times we come and

we've been crisscross applesauce in the bathroom floors due to

weather and things of that nature.

And I'd rather not have you here for that.

I'd rather you do that in your home or whatever your safe place

may be. Amen.

And so we'll keep, we'll keep an eye on that and you can keep

your eye on Facebook and things of that nature.

Maybe a one call that would go out to indicate otherwise if

we're not going to be here tonight.

Amen. But we're here this morning, so

we're going to try to make the best of it as possible.

I'm going to turn into the the Book of Jeremiah, Old Testament

book, the last chapter, Jeremiah chapter 52.

Jeremiah 52 · chapter mention

Amen. This morning we had festivities

yesterday for Trevor's birthday and played some volleyball.

My body's filling it. Sister Cox thought is going to

have to take some Tylenol muscle neck to get to bed last night,

but I didn't and yesterday morning and I, you know, I made

fun of old people. Now it's coming back to me.

You're shaking your head. But I mean, like yesterday

morning. I think I just reached for my my

toothbrush and like my trap back here just went and I turned my

neck and it's. Hurting from my neck.

Down through here. How's that happen by just

grabbing a toothbrush? Explain that to me.

It's a big toothbrush. I'm just saying.

Had a lot toothpaste on it, you know, I don't know what it is.

Amen. Jeremiah 52.

I'm going to begin reading with verse #20 The Bible says the 2

pillars, 1 sea, 12 brazen bulls that were under the bases which

King Solomon had made in the House of the Lord.

The brass of all of these vessels was without weight.

And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was 18

cubits. And I'll just break this down

now, probably will again, just we don't talk about cubits or

things of that nature. The height of one pillar was 27

feet. All right, We're talking about

27 feet here. And the Bible says, and the

fillet of 12 cubits did compass it.

So it's talking about the circumference of this pillar,

which is I believe it's 7 1/2 feet or such a round or I might

have that wrong. But nonetheless, I'll get to it

later in our lesson this morning.

So around there is the circumference and the Bible

says, continues to go on and say and the thickness thereof was

four fingers and it was hollow. The chapter brass that was upon

it. This is on top of the pillars.

The height of 1 chapter was 5 cubits with network and

pomegranates upon the chapters round about.

All of brass, the second pillar also in the pomegranates were

likened to these. There were 96 pomegranates on

the side and all the pomegranates upon the network

were 100 round about. So this is just quite a sizable

thing, quite a sizable thing. So again, 27 feet and this, this

is my pillars up here, you can't see them, but the outer tape is

the diameter of the pillar. And I, I measured last night

from the floor to where this hits the ceiling is 15 feet.

So almost double that these pillars are standing tall that

diameter. The Bible says they had

chapters. The chapters on on top of them

were 7 1/2 more feet on top of the 27.

All right, the Bible says they were four fingers thick, which

equates to about 3 inches. That's the reason why there's

two pieces of tape just to show you the thickness of the

pillars. These were massive pillars.

But for a little while today we want to minister this pillars

that carried nothing. Real encouraging.

I'm glad I could help you out. Pillars that carried nothing.

You got to think of these astounding high, large pillars,

very ornate. We'll talk about it today.

Pillars that carried nothing, Amen.

Let's ask the Lord to help us. Father, I need you today.

God, you're able to help us, Lord, in this place.

God, strengthen, Lord, our minds and our hearts.

God that you have to educate us, the Lord, through and by your

word. God, I pray, Lord, help us.

Lord, today. God, we're thankful for your

people. We're thankful for your spirit.

God, I pray, Lord, speak through your word, We'll give you the

glory for the lovely name of Jesus Christ that I pray

Hallelujah and Amen. The church say Amen, Amen.

You may be seated this morning. Pillars that carried nothing.

Jeremiah chapter 52, the very last chapter of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 52 · chapter mention

Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet because he spent his

lifetime as a prophet, constantly warning, constantly

instructing the nation of Israel, more particular the city

of Jerusalem, about some impending doom that would come

up on them if they did not amend their ways.

And so the last chapter of Jeremiah is really a chapter

that gives a summarization. It is a chapter that comes to

bear upon every word and every prophecy that Jeremiah had given

through his time of being a prophet.

Chapter 52 is really there to verify Jeremiah's.

Words to confirm. The words of the Lord that was

spoken through him again, He had long proclaimed the impending

judgment of Jerusalem. Had they not changed their ways?

And so the prophecies, according to chapter 52, were sure.

And so to know that they were sure.

We then read about the siege of Jerusalem and the fall of

Jerusalem and the burning of the temple and the city of

Jerusalem. We read here in these scriptures

that I read, and you're hearing some of the dismantling and the

removal of the temple furnishings that they had.

The Bible tells us in verse #15 of this chapter that the

Chaldean army, which would have been from Babylon, they came and

they took away captives. They took away people, but they

didn't just take people away. They also took away some temple

possessions that the the city of Jerusalem have had.

And they're listed right there in chapter 52.

The Chaldean army came and took away some of the things are

these the bases and the sea, and the cauldrons, and the shovels,

and the and the spoons, and the basins, and the fire pans, and

the candlesticks, and the cups, and the vessels, and the 12

brazen bulls, and the two pillars.

The Bible even says it. It states to us in verse #19

that everything that which was gold and gold they had taken,

and everything which was silver and silver they had taken.

The Bible says in verse 17 that the Chaldeans break and carried

all the brass. Amen unto Babylon, and all all

the items that were mentioned that were carried away.

The writer seems to focus, though particularly upon these

two brazen pillars. The reference there in Jeremiah

52 at least three times in verse 17 the Bible says also the

pillars of brass in verse #20 it says the two pillars, and verse

21 it says. And concerning the pillars, it

seems as though God was drawing the attention of whoever may

read the in the present or even in the future for us to

recognize something about these pillars, extra words are given

to them, unlike some of the other items that are mentioned

here in Scripture. As a matter of fact, the, the,

the, the writings and the description of the pillars here

are almost just as specific as they were given when the pillars

were first constructed that we read of in First King 7.

All of the lattice work and all of the pomegranates in the

enumerating of those and the size and the dimensions given to

them at their construction seem to be repeated here again at

their destruction. And please know that in Jeremiah

52, the rider doesn't go in all the specifics of the of the

molten sea. It doesn't go into the specifics

of all of the bases and the candlesticks and everything else

about their dimensions and, and and their layout and their decor

and their embellishment. But he does the pillars, these

pillars again are massive pillars.

They, they flanked either side of the temple that was in the

city of Jerusalem, standing stately at 27 feet tall, 7 1/2

extra feet with those chapters that was on the top of them,

about 5 foot, 8 inches in diameter, a man.

And lastly being about four inches or 4 fingers, 3 inches

thick, a man of brass. These things were cast.

They were made of brass and I know that's not as valuable as

gold and I know that's not as valuable as silver, but I don't

think anybody here tonight would or this morning would complain

if they had a brass pillar that size sitting in their front

lawn. You probably melt it down and

try to get the money from the brass, but I don't think anybody

would, would, would just turn an eye from it.

They're still precious. They're still valuable and they

joined a list of a lot of other things that were made out of

brass. The Bible describes it.

Just just stay here just for a little bit.

I got to describe these to you, these chapters, the tops of

these pillars. The Bible says they had a very

delicate embellishment of lattice work or network, almost

like a checkered work that was on top of them.

And these little pomegranates of almost 100 that lay all over the

lattice work. And then there's this Lily work,

intricate Lily work that's on the top of these.

And so they were the most exquisite design.

They they lacked nothing in matching the preciousness of

some of the other items of the temple and the other decor of

the temple that's listed in scripture and the Bible tells us

they were named for significance.

They were emblematic of characters from the past.

One of those pillars was called Jacob and the other one was

called Boaz. People and characters of the

past. These pillars symbolize strength

and they symbolize stabilities or whoever may approach the

entrance to the temple. And yet Jeremiah says in this

day, those pillars are being broken down and they are being

dismantled. What we must understand this

morning, Brother Zach, is that these pillars stood before the

temple for roughly 370 to 400 years.

For 370 to 410 years, they were standing there to the temple of

the Lord before they were ever broken down.

Every every core narrative in Scripture that talks about the

Temple of Solomon, every core Amen narrative that talks about

that building contains the description of these two pillars

and the major bronze work that they were.

There was a man by the name of Hiram that constructed him, and

he constructed everything that was made of brass, Amen.

And he made these pillars of brass for the purpose of the

House of the Lord. And it seems like these pillars

then clearly belong to Solomon's temple.

They're named for such. They have a major features to

make them, just like other things that are at the temple.

The way that they are decorated, the way that they are

embellished, they seem just to fit in with the temple.

Yet we have nowhere in God's Word that God ever came down and

spoke to Solomon and said Solomon make 2 bronze pillars

and name one that and name one that.

We never have that direct command or that direct mandate

from God. Yet the Bible says that Solomon

did build a temple and that his father David had given the

pattern or the blueprints for the building of the temple.

And so in doing so, Solomon had Hiram construct these brazen

pillars to be put up on the porch of the temple.

And the porch was part of the pattern that David had given and

to Solomon. And so we must believe that they

must have been intended to be a part of the temple.

But I believe that God had him a part of the temple to give us a

lesson in the last chapter of Jeremiah, chapter 52.

Jeremiah 52 · chapter mention

Some speculate today that among all these items listed, the

pillars are singled out, set apart from everything else that

is listed there because they wanted to us to understand the

great loss of Brad that took place whenever these things were

carried away. The Bible says that all these

vessels in verse 20 were without weight.

So these things, they were beyond weighing.

They were too heavy to be weighed.

They didn't have a means whereby they could weigh these things

because of the brass that they were made out of.

Even at their construction. Something similar was said that

whenever they were made that it was brass without weight, it was

unweighed. It could not be weighed.

They were immeasurable whenever it came to the Mount of Brass,

that is, that is, that is consisting in them.

And so when you think of that in Jeremiah's day, these things

being broken, these things being put in pieces, these things

being carried away, 27 feet tall, broken down, you begin to

understand the massive loss that Jerusalem experienced that day,

an immeasurable loss. They can't even measure the

weight of these things, the great design.

I mean, there's people today that would want to go to Spain.

They're going to go to Greek cultures to be able to see some

massive pillars, and these are being torn down and carried

away. Now they're gone, it would seem,

forever. But there is a lesson I believe

for us this morning that God is attempting to teach us in

Jeremiah chapter 52, because He's showing us not just that

Jeremiah 52 · chapter mention

something that was spectacular or something that seemed to be

integral, Amen, was taken away, but more importantly that

something that was supposedly someone say supposedly something

that was supposedly a part of the temple had been taken away.

As I read this in the past couple weeks, verse 21 is what

caught my attention to bring me to this moment standing here

today. And that is the last phrase of

verse 21. It says the thickness thereof

was four fingers. That's not so much that got me

that they were about 3 inches thick as we have here on the the

the floor this morning. But it says that they were about

four inches. And yet Speaking of the pillar,

it was hollow for about 3 inches thick of brass.

But there's a big void inside. Big void.

It's it's just hollow. It's not solid throughout from

the exterior has all the appearance of belonging to the

temple, being a part of the temple, embellished if you will,

to the hilt. But on the inside it's just

hollow. That leaves about 5 feet 2

inches on the inside of these pillars in diameter that it's

just hollow from the very bottom to the tippity top of 27 feet of

its existence. What are you saying?

I'm saying you look at the other instruments in the temple.

The altar has its sacrifices, the molten sea has its water,

the tables of shoe bread have their bread, the lamps have

their light, the altar of incense has its incense, the ark

has his presence. But these pillars are just, they

are just symbols. They're void of any substance.

They're hollow. Amen.

And they're unable. And they don't, according to

history, support anyway. Just walk with me here for a

moment. The Bible says in the Book of

Chronicles that he reared up the pillars before the temple.

Hey, man, it tells us all the details about the House of God,

its length, its width, its height, its side rooms, its

beams, the way that other things depended on other things.

Amen. That that that spread the weight

of the structure in the walls and its frame.

All of those things talk about the structural integrity of the

frame. But the pillars are not

mentioned in that chapter. It's in the next chapter that

the pillars are when it talks about the furnishings and the

decorative works. These from Pillars Amen show up

because they weren't a part of the structure work.

They were just part, if you will, of the ornamental work.

They weren't a part of anything that supported anything, had any

weight upon them. They were just there to be

looked at. They looked a part of the

temple, but they weren't supporting the weight of the

temple, Amen. They're massive, they're

decorative. As a matter of fact, when you

read that the, the, the Babylon came in to destroy the temple,

Amen, We read that there is a distinguishment, Amen, between

the burning of the temple and the breaking down of the

pillars. It's not as though it describes,

well, they took the, they took the two massive pillars and so

the house fell as a result of that.

No, they were able to burn the house without the pillars being

impacted. And they were able to break down

the pillars without the house being impacted because the

pillars were there, but they supported nothing.

They were there, but they supported nothing.

According to Scripture, they belong to the temple.

Why? Because they had some of the

same pomegranates on them that other things had upon them.

They were made of brass like other things were made of brass.

In material and design. They look just like other things

that were part of the tip. They're massive.

They got to be important. They're massive.

They they got to serve some type of purpose.

But the Bible tells us that when the Babylon colonians came in

that those pillars could not uphold any of the pressure of

Babylon essentially because they never supported anything.

Someone say, man, they have the names of Jacob and the names of

Boaz upon them, symbolizing strength and stability.

Yet the Bible says these pillars are hollow, Amen.

They have all these marvelous traits, if you will, Amen.

But they are impressively embellished, if you will.

Yet they are useless. They are really serving no solid

purpose. They're hollow.

And here's the story. It's not as though they're just

hollow here on Destruction Day. For their entire existence of

370 to 410 years, they have never been bearing a load.

Hey man, whenever you talk about real construction and you have

load bearing walls, load bearing walls are taking the weight of

everything that's above them. Hey man.

And they are transferring that weight to the foundation.

And if you were to remove a load bearing wall, you might

compromise the whole structure. But when you have something that

is not load bearing, you know what it does?

It only supports its own way and nothing else.

Supports its own way and nothing else.

And you can remove it without affecting the overall structure

because it doesn't support anything, uphold anything.

It's just there. Hey man, these pillars were

ornamental, they were symbolic, they were hollow, but they could

prevent nothing and they could support nothing.

That's the reason why Jeremiah came in those days of prophecy

like. Jeremiah Chapter 7 and verse

Jeremiah 7 · chapter mention

four, he warned the Jews. He said don't put your trust in

just the material buildings of the temple and the things of

objects around about you. He said trust not in line words

saying the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the

temple of the Lord. Jeremiah told them, he said, you

need to amend your ways because you can't do wrong and just say,

well, we got the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,

and rebut with that Hallelujah. You just can't have amends.

This intense confidence in everything that pertains to the

temple, your buildings and your observances and your ceremonies

and all your activities. He says, listen, because there

are some things that look like the temple, look like they

belong to the temple, look like they're there supporting the

temple, he said, but they're hollow, they're vain, they're

empty forever and ever. Their ancestors passed by them

and ran their hands along their sides.

Amen. But they had no power to help.

They had no power to support. They had all the optics that

they were a part of it, but they really were not supporting

anything. It is it is, if you will, the

story of biblical scripture in history that both people and

practices at time appeared to be pillar like, but in reality

they're hollow. Bible tells us Isaiah 1.

You just get your feet wet in the 1st chapter of Isaiah and

God begins to call Judah, Sodom and Gomorrah.

God's being kind of forward here, the destruction of a

wicked city like Sodom and Gomorrah.

You're going to call the beloved Judah city, Amen.

And people that he calls them Sodom and Gomorrah and he tells

it this, this doesn't make sense if you just hear it Amen.

Out of context. But he tells him, he says don't,

don't be bringing any more vain offerings to me.

What? Don't be bringing any more vain

offerings to me. You know what he said?

He said. I'm sick of your Rams.

What? I mean, you, you put up the

sacrificial system. God, you, you, you, you, you put

that in place. Back in Levine, he says, I'm

tired of I'm tired of the Rams and I'm tired of the goats and

I'm tired of the blood. He says, All these solemn

assemblies that you're having, God, you want us to have it.

He says. I'm tired of it all because all

these things you're doing look like they're a part of the

church. He says.

But they're empty, they're vain. There's no passion, there's no

feeling, there's no connection. They're not supporting.

You're going through all the calisthenics.

Of what you. Think I want.

Going through all the modes of what you think I want, he says.

But whenever they come and they're hollow and they're empty

and they're meaningless, he said.

They're just vain offerings, Folks.

What are you saying this morning, Pastor McGee?

I'm saying this. We got to be cautious and we got

to be careful. Because if we don't watch it, a

raised hand can be nothing but a hollow pillar just because we

lose the passion and the connection with what its purpose

and reason, Amen. There's nothing wrong with

offerings, there's nothing wrong with assemblies.

But if they are just there to have all the embellishment and

looking like it's apart, but it has no support of any of the way

and the gratitude and the emphasis of where it needs to

be, we're just hollow pillars that look good, Amen.

With no purpose not be able to prevent anything, not be able to

support anything. Amen.

He said your whole system. He told him vain offerings.

He says what you have. He said you you spilled over a

line that you just have a ritual.

That has no waitingness of morality to it.

You do it because this is what you do.

How many times? Is it easy to slip over the line

that we just come because that's what that's what we do.

We just clap our hands because that's just what you do.

You say man, because that's just what.

That's what you do. That's how the tip, that's how

the pillar supposed to look. That's how the lattice work is

supposed to fall. But is there anything?

Is there is there a void area inside?

Is it hollow? The Bible says God spoke to

them. Basically what what's up with

your sacrifices? This is This is not no version

of the Bible except. CRM right here.

What's up with your sacrifices? I'm over your offerings.

I'm weary of them all. You know, he said he told them

this isn't Isaiah. He said I hid my eyes from your

spread out hands. He said, and this I know we

don't think about this Sister Cox, He said, I don't hear your

prayers when you pray them because they were praying

prayers that had no sincerity. They were just mouth moving and

words spoken through the tradition of praying.

He said, no, no, no. He said it's it's it's hollow

that seems forward for God to say that to a people, but he was

just trying to let them know. I'm a little weary of just

peeler like temple like activities that just have hollow

mechanics behind them. He said in Amos, another

prophet, Amos five, you look at it verses 21 on God said this

and this is hard for us to understand or even maybe to

compute, but God said I hate, I despise your feast days.

He says though you offer me burnt offerings.

He said I will not accept them. He says look at this.

He says, Take away from me the noise of thy songs, take away

from me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody

of thy vials. This is God speaking to God's

people. He says, if you're bringing

burnt offerings, I hate, I despise him, I won't accept him.

Why God? He says, because when you bring

a burnt offering, you're essentially saying to me, this

was the purpose of a whole burnt offering.

The whole animal was offered to God upon the fire.

He says when you do that, you're identifying with that and

saying, God, I totally surrender to you.

He says, but you're doing that on the surface, but I know

you're hollow inside. I know you've kept back parts of

you. He says, I'm not going to accept

your total surrender because it's a farce.

You're doing it for show. You're doing it so bubble over

there thinks you're totally surrendering when you're not

totally surrendering. He says I'm not going to accept

that. I hate that.

I hate the lie. He said it's hollow.

He said you're you're, you're all of your all of your little

noise of thy songs. This hit me for the Mason.

He said I'm not going to accept I'm I'm take away from me the

noise of thy songs. I start.

Thinking Brother Reese, noise, noise, noise.

A lot of times he speaks about noise in psalms, about our songs

and praise. And then I notice a distinction.

I look through the songs almost every time he speaks about our

songs or our worship or even instrumentation in the songs.

He always calls it either joyful noise or loud noise accompanied

with joyful noise. Never just noise.

Because when it's not hollow, it's a joyful loud noise.

But whenever it subjects itself just to mechanics, it falls just

to noise. And he says, you can take away

from me the noise of your song. What I desire is the joyful,

loud noise of your song. I don't want to hear the melody

of a hollow vial. I want to hear the can we clap

our hands right now? Can someone make a joyful noise?

Out to the Lord, because what we have here is that's a grand

ceremony, but it supports nothing.

It's meaningless. And if you've ever been a singer

or you ever been a musician. You know when.

You offer joyful noise and when you offer noise if you've ever

been a preacher. You ever evangelize and preach

some 300 times out of a year been there.

You know when it has meaning and when it's not just some oratory

speech that tickles the years of the here, you know, you know

when you knelt down and pray if you were satisfying the time

slot or you were shut in with God in that secret place.

You know when he says I'm not interested in just the

mechanics. I'm interested something that

has a integral sound. Hey man, it was Solomon even in

the book of Ecclesiastes almost in and really was in a

backslidden state. King Solomon Amen was in this

state and he says, you know what, I, I, I began to, I began

to just survey and I began to intermingle with all the things

of the world in this life. And he had grand hanging gardens

and he had grand Amen, things that he accomplished during his

lifetime. And he, he told us this is his

word in his, his summation of all things of life in this

world. He said, there's the toil and

there's the pleasure and there's the wisdom.

And he said in the achievement of all this life in this world

that he called life under the sun, which was life without God.

He said it's. All vanity of vanities and

vexation of the Spirit. He described it as breath and

vapor and futility and emptiness.

That was a description that he pertained to living in this

world. Amen.

Without God. For sure, though, we don't need

to adopt that same type of label upon the church, because there

should be meaning here. There should be substance here.

There should be desire here. There should be passion here.

There should be a connect. Supporting the loud God List

these fielders in Jeremiah 52 because I think he wanted to

emphasize how seemingly undetected parts of the temple

life can exist. Supporting No wait of the

structure and essentially being hollow, but they can seemingly

exist undetected as though they are contributing something, Paul

warned Timothy. He said in the last days

perilous times would come and among the things that he

cautions is this he cautioned against those that had a form of

godliness but deny. The.

Power thereof, he says. They'll come a day in the last

days. They'll be some that have and

will retain all the religious shape, all the religious

language. Maybe the religious community

rose that they have, but their lives will be driven by other

things. Rather than the transformative

power of God, what he's saying, he said they'll be 3 inches

thick, but they'll be hollow. They'll be standing there

embellished, as though they look apart, but they're not

supporting. Anything I tell you what makes

this this moment in Scripture just a little bit more startling

and striking is that when this temple was totally demolished

and these pillars are demolished and taken away.

Jerusalem is burned and it lays in it lies in in ruins.

Bible says later the the children of Israel be able to

return back to Jerusalem and under the command of the decree

of a king that will be given the opportunity to rebuild a temple.

The Bible says whenever they go back to rebuild the temple, the

second temple, some call it Zerubbabel's temple, others call

it when they go back to rebuild the temple, the Scripture

records that they rebuild the altar, they rebuild the

foundation, they rebuild the walls, they rebuild the courts,

they rebuild the vessels of service.

But the Bible never records that they're recasting those two

great bronze pillars. They're not being put back in

action. The temple was rebuilt without

them. Namely, if they never carried

the load for 370 to 410 years, if all that process of time they

were simply and only ornamental and symbolic, then why would it

be essential to rebuild them and make them a part of a rebuilt

temple? God, I believe Brother Ethan is

silently teaching us a lesson that things that just merely

look impressive but support nothing are not necessarily

important or essential for the future of His house.

Can I say it again that things that look impressive and

seemingly support nothing are not necessarily essential for

the future of His house? I don't need a 27 foot pillar.

Amen. That looks like it's a part of

the temple, but it's holding no way to the temple and hollow

inside. I need something that's going to

be supportive. I need something that's going to

contribute. I need some.

I did all right, And that's great for Old Testament

sermonizing. But folks, something different

happens when we move into the New Testament.

Something remarkable happens as we move into the New Testament,

because this whole idea and concept really of pillars does

not disappear, but the pillars themselves change.

The pillars now are not some bronze, large, massive ornate

decorative structures that standing outside the temple

entrance. They're no longer these objects

that are ascribed some name of Jacob or Boaz, of some patriarch

or some member of the body from the past.

The pulers in the New Testament Scripture, Bishop, can you come

here? The pulers in the New Testament

scripture. The pulers become people.

Brother Zach, stand right there in the in the middle of this

void pillar. Brother Zach, stand right there

in the middle of that void. You can stand right there.

Get over there on that dot. He'll stand over there.

Amen. In the New Testament scripture,

we're not talking about brass. We're not talking about

latticework. We're not talking about any of

that. We're talking about people.

The Book of Galatians chapter #2 it describes, it says James and

Cephas, which was Peter and John are described as fuelers in the

church. Hey man, that old Peter that

preached that day of Pentecost message, he said you want a

pillar? I'll show you one.

This is not from the past, this is from the now, the from the

current. Amen.

This is the man that said repent.

And be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of the Lord

Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive

the gift of the Holy Ghost. Some of these men are the one

that walked by in their shadow, brought healing to bodies.

Some of these men are the one that said, Amen.

Jesus said I am my Father. Other are one.

These are the pillars. They're not outside the front

entrance. They're in the church.

They're supporting the weight of the doctrine.

They're supporting the weight of his name.

There's they're not hollow. Just look at their lives.

They're not hollow. Just look at what they teach.

They're not hollow. Just hear their message.

They're not. They're people.

The Bible says in Revelations 312 the Lord promises this, that

he that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God?

He said. I'll establish.

Them. I'll make them a pillar.

They're not up here for show. They're not up here just to look

apart. They're not up here to look as

though they belong. They do belong.

Amen. About 2/3 of the New Testament

written by the Apostle Paul. They do belong.

Under the Old Covenant, just symbolic.

At the entrance under the New Covenant, God raises up living

pillars within his temple, men and women whose lives actually

bear the weight of his work. We're not here elevating the

people, but we're elevating the God of the people.

Hear me, 1990 again. I told you I'm going to say it

again. 16 months before Dad ever became pastor of what is now

this church. Hey, man, we help that church.

Every other weekend we would leave our home church and go

there and have church. Hey, man, they didn't have a

Sunday school. They didn't have a midweek

service, but we would go there and we would help.

In 1990, he was voted in unanimously as the pastor.

Our first service, Katie, that we had.

Amen. When Dad was pastor, us kids

were small. I was like 12.

Years old and we went to church. There were 15 members in

attendance and five of them was our family in 1990, then around

1996 right in that area. In 1997, we moved from our first

building to our second building. Amen.

That first year we had several in the beginning of those first

few months get baptized in the lovely name of Jesus Christ.

Whenever Dad first took over the church, we started Sunday

school. We started a midweek service on

Tuesday. Our mayor would regularly come

to service and sit in our services.

What are you talking about? I'm saying this isn't void, this

isn't empty, this isn't vain. We didn't have the best looking

building. It wasn't the most rich building

in town, but when you walked inside, there was no void.

There was something there. It was the power of the Holy

Ghost and God's Spirit. It wasn't just trying to look

the part, it was trying to let that which was above flow into

it. It was supporting the weight,

yes. RPS, my sister Tony, our pews.

Then in that first church, there wasn't enough space really to

walk around the pews. It just wasn't happening.

So, so and really we just had a middle aisle.

So that just seemed like it'd be a little weird, Holly we had.

Pulpit up there. And in those days, you had

marches. We just had one at mission

service this past Friday night. Huge church had on the

battlefield for my Lord March. We didn't have enough room in

the audience to do it. So here we are.

Our members are marching around the pulpit.

Now that's not pretty lattice work.

It don't look like to see a congregation marching around the

pulpit of a church doesn't have all the oh, look at the optics

of a congregation marching around the pulpit.

It looks a little weird, honestly, but it wasn't

meaningless. My Grandma McGee was still

alive, honey. She ran up.

She run out of room on the inside of the church.

She'd run out the double back doors.

Katie, I tell you not this is the truth.

She'd run out the double back doors.

She marched around the exterior of the church.

They don't got enough room in on the inside for me.

March around the pews. I'll still March around the

pews. I go on the outside, I'll March

around the whole building. There's grandma right there in

this population. Neighbors on all around.

What's that crazy lady? Dude?

She's marching for Jesus. Amen.

The optics. It wasn't a lattice work.

It wasn't bronze, gold and silver.

It seemed to the modern eye, but it wasn't void.

It supported something. It stood for something.

It was definitely a part. Come on, Hallelujah.

Someone say, man, am I doing OK? We don't watch it.

We'll fall to the we'll fall to the weakness.

They don't have the proper appeal.

They don't have the proper appeal and we should probably

just steer away from that. Listen, I'd rather work just to

look a little funky and be meaningful, then look pristine

and be void of meaning. Oh, look at that Church of hand.

They sing so good, their music so good, their transition so

good. Look at that leader of service.

Isn't she a hot fox? Yes, that's my wife.

Hey, man, look at that Lady. Look at her doing that.

Look at her. Just leave that service and and

use just the right words and do all these things.

And my what about that altar call and how they people come?

Hey, man, and they'll come and stand in the altar because they

asked them to come. We can have all the objects,

Bishop, we can get pushing cushion seats and we can get a

new program and we can get a better sign out front and we can

asphalt the driveway. But folks, if we do all of that

and it's hollow, then forget it. Give me a gravel out there and

give me something meaningful here if it's one or the other.

But I am saying it can still be pristine.

And it can still be meaningful. It can still you can have bow.

What does it mean? You have to sacrifice for the

other. You can have bow.

Someone say glory. You guys can sit down.

I don't want to wear you out of stepping out of the void.

There they have both see for about 400 years Israel had grown

comfortable with pillars that look strong but carried no load.

No doubt some religious forms according to Isaiah and Amos,

some religious forms and ceremonies, temple language if

you will, that gave them the connection as.

Though they're a part of the temple, the.

Appearance of strength, but much of that God's calling out in the

last chapters. It's hallow, it's vain

offerings. I don't even want any of that.

Because real pillars, people in God's house, are those who still

bear the load of prayer, those who still carry the weight of

His Holiness, who are still responsible to His truth.

They still have the burden upon their shoulders of loving others

and serving others. These are the people who quietly

uphold the things when the pressure comes to try to break

them down. Every generation when the

pressure comes to the church, God proves there's some that's

just there in appearance, just there seemingly to be a part,

something that do not sustain, if you will, His house.

But I tell you, where it does stand, stands on men and women

such as are here this morning. Who says you know what?

I'm not just here to look pretty.

I'm here to function. I'm here to carry the load,

pastor. I'm here to pray when no one

else is willing to pray, Pastor. I'm here to stand when

compromise would be easier than it would be to stand.

I'm here, pastor, to forgive whenever it hurts, to make

things right, whenever there's been some type of incongruity.

I'm here, Lord. I'm here pastor, to live a man

in the world but not of the world and not have forgotten

your traits. And your truth and your glory.

I'm here, pastor, to bear the burden not just of my own way,

but the weight of my brothers and sisters that are next to me

and help keep the House of God erect.

Overall, I'm a pillar, not empty, not void, not without.

So the question this morning for us is not simply this, and I'm

closing. You can stand.

The question this morning is not this.

Not if we can just simply stand near the temple or participate

in its activities and look, brother to Reese, as though we

belong. The deeper question is this, as

people, are we are we carrying anything?

We supporting the weight of anything?

I don't just want to be an ornamental part, ornamental part

of the church, present, visible, maybe even sometimes a little

impressive. No, I don't want to be that.

Rather Ethan yet be hollow Bishop should be our desire that

we want to be pillars, that God would shape us into pillars, not

hollow pillars, but pillars that actually support his work.

That I'm not just getting caught in the tradition of a church.

He told him the book of Mark, some of those tribes and

Pharisees that caught up just in the traditionalism of church

life. He said you've made the word of

God of none effect because of your traditions.

Why? Because what you got going on

there is just a hollow mechanism, has no purpose.

You've separated yourself from the connection of the purpose.

Why are you saying all this this morning?

But I'm telling you why? Because God is still building a

temple today. God is still building his temple

today, and the pillars, Brother Reese, that he's raising today,

it's not brass, it's not silver, it's not gold.

Pillars that he's raising today, Sister Tony, they're surrendered

lives. Surrendered lives that Sister

Cox, he don't want them to be void or hollow.

He wants them to be filled with his spirit.

God's not looking for hallowed pillars that carry nothing.

He's raising up pillars that will support and carry his his

house, his purpose, his dream, his vision for the world in the

current era that we live. 3 inches thick.

If you did the math, Yes, Mariah.

If you did the math and did the volume of both cylinders and

subtract the inner cylinder from the larger cylinder, the void

space in that pillar is about five times the amount of the

brass that was in the pillar. In other words, it was five

times more empty than it was full.

You can get by with that when you just 'cause that to be the

exterior and cause the emptiness to remain unseen.

But the eyes of the Lord that run to and fro over all the

earth, he's not just looking at Paul Mcgee's balding head.

He's looking at the spirit of the man.

He goes beyond man, looks at the outward appearance.

That's what was spoken there to Samuel, he said.

But God sees the heart. He can look inside the void.

Is there anything there meaningful or useful?

Or is it just all smoke and mirrors?

I don't want First Apostolic Church to just have the

appearance of being the church. All they have service three

times a week. They must be a great church.

All they take up offerings. That's a great church thing to

do. Well, they support missions.

That's a great you hearing what I'm saying.

I don't want to just have all the appearances, but to be

hollow, meaningless, useless. No, I want there to be

integrity. I don't want to have been in

this community. We've been here now in this

particular community since 2007. This church this year has been

in existence for 85 years, 1941. I don't want 85 years to go on

binds. Well, there's what used to be

Kingsburg Pentecostal Church, what used to be 3 Pentecostal

Church to Kingsburg Pentecostal Church, the first Apostolic

Church. Well, they're still going.

Yeah, but if the pressure come and you broke them down, is

there anything really inside? Because if it was just based

upon longevity of existence, man, those pillars would have

won 410 years. But all those years, they're

hollow. Man.

I feel the Holy Ghost here. We can just bow our heads,

Hallelujah, cross here, close our eyes.

Man, I, I'd hope that we'd get very introspective here for a

moment this morning, Not just as individuals, but overall as a

church God. I don't want to just go through

the mechanics of church life, the mechanics of church life

that gives all the appearance of church life, gives all the

appearance of vibrant church or what's expected from a church,

and the duties and obligations of the church.

God, I don't want all of that. For there to be hollowness,

meaninglessness, just to be a pillar that's there for the ID

to see, but it don't support anything.

It don't support the weight of anything.

Ladies and gentlemen, he's wanting to make pillars of you

and I today. Pillars in the assembly, the

Johns, the Cephas's. He wants those that would

overcome. I will make a pillar in the

temple of my God. He's wanting to make pillars

today. Meaningful pillars, meaningful

pillars. That's not only going to last,

Amen, but their offering is going to mean something.

Their music and their miles are going to mean it's not just

going to be noise, it's going to be joyful noise, loud noises.

The psalmist said Amen. It's going to be meaningful.

Can we raise our hands across this place, if you're willing

today and say, God make me one of those type of pillars.

God make me one of those type of pillars in the sanctuary.

Make me one of those type of. Pillars in the church.

Let me not be caught up, Lord, in just all the calisthenics of

Christianity. Lord, no, no, no, no.

I want a connection with the heavens.

I want to support the wake, God, of your purpose and of your

dream and of your vision, Lord, God for the world.

I want to get under the load of a God.

I don't want to just stand there and look apart and look pretty

and look impressive and be large and in charge.

Yet inside I'm hollow now. Can't have that because your

children need to be raised. That they're not hollow, but

they're solid. They're sure footed.

My grandchildren need to be raised that they're sure footed.

They don't need to get caught up.

That all that matters is what the appearances and what it's

looking like. And and if it looks like you're

pardon if you show up at least one one service every month.

No, no, no, no, no, no. Want to be peelers in the House

of God? Oh, someone talk to him right

now. They're going to prepare a song.

God, let my life have meaning, My offerings have meaning.

Let my prayer, God not just be void words God into the

atmosphere. Help them.

Lord Jesus, I want to stay connected.

To the one to whom I'm praying. I don't want to just be a

multitude of words. I don't want it just to be vain

repetitions. But God, let it be useful.

Let it be meaningful. Oh Lord, hear my hearts cry.

Investigate my life, Oh God, God, Hallelujah, Sharabahi.

Oh yes, yes, yes. These altars are open.

If anybody would like to pray, if anybody first Apostolic

Church, if you would want to pray today and say God, let us

know as a church just have the label of a church.

No Help us to stay attached to the apostles doctrine.

Help us to stay attached. Amen to the meaning Lord of the

first church. Let us not just get into the

mechanics of it. All no God, let our praise and

our worship be meaningful. Let our prayers and our voices

raised in the sanctuary not just be filling void space.

Let it be meaningful.