Blinded By The Reality of Our Situation | Pastor Edward MacDonald

Welcome to the First Apostolic Church Podcast.

Our church mission is to love as God loves, showing compassion

every soul, thus winning those souls and equipping them to be

sent out to plant and to harvest.

Thank you for joining us today and we hope that you're blessed

by today's podcast. Pentecostal Revival Fall on me.

Is that your prayer today? Oh geez.

So good. So good.

So thankful to be here. So thankful to be in the House

of God. In the presence of God, you

know. Sorry.

That's my edit and delete button going.

I'm so thankful for the Mcgee's. I truly am.

I'm. I don't believe I'm telling you

anything new when I tell you you're You have a great pastor

Pastor's wife. Yes.

Yes, Yes. We were, we were trying to think

of how many prisons we've been together.

You know, it's kind of funny when you tell people like we're

going to prison. I got to tell it when when

you're in Orlando, FL and you tell it the guy at the rental

car place, what are you doing in town?

Like we're going to prison and they give you a look and you

know what they're thinking now? How are we going to get this car

back? They're going to prison.

It's like, no, we're not going to stay.

We come to minister, we're coming to minister.

But we have seen I I want you go you you love it.

You fall in love with it. I first time I went I was volun

told that I was going and it's like okay.

I'll go. And it's kind of like every time

it comes up, I'm like, I'm not going this time.

Every time I'm not going this time, this time.

I'm not gonna go. I don't wanna go.

I'm not gonna go Okay. I'll help and then I get there

and it's like, man, this was so cool.

I'm so glad I showed up. Like I said this morning you

show up and there we're all there, there looking at you and

you're there looking at them and you're wondering and and by the

last service it's like there's something in you that just man,

the presence of God and they worship you know you go in there

with the mindset My first time I went in with them, sorry, I'm

taking a minute but that first time I went in there, I I went

in there with the mindset okay, a bunch of hardened criminals.

Society has thrown them away and.

Mentally, I have done the same. But you go in there and you

realize that these ladies have nothing but time on their hands,

and some of them know the Bible better than you do.

So what can you give them that they don't already know?

You can give them love, you can give them respect, and you can

give them Jesus. And a closer relationship with

him that will see them where they're at.

But really, when you think about it, isn't that what church is

about? Giving people a little more

Jesus? That's why when we were up here,

the praise team was up here and we were worshiping, taking a few

minutes. It's like, that's fantastic.

Why? Because sometimes you go to

church, you get in a hurry. Like that we have an agenda.

We're supposed to be out of here by a certain time.

But you see, you have to stop Sometimes the world is

fast-paced. We yeah, I'll get started.

We we we had Brother Yadnachek for the Pastor, Jay out for the

out to out to to do a conference for us.

And he wanted to go to Famous Dave's because he loves it.

Now that I've actually tasted good BBQ, I don't understand

why, but he wanted to go there and we didn't have time.

So we took him to McDonald's and dropped him off at the airport

and then took pictures of our famous Dave's and sent it to him

so that he could feel like he's been there and.

While he's eating his McDonald's at the airport.

But we went to the McDonald's driving, we're talking, we're

laughing, and they gave me a free fries because it took them

too long. It's like I didn't even realize

it took too long, but apparently it took too long.

And the world we live in, if it's not 30 seconds or less, if

we can't microwave it, if we can't just.

No, church should never be a microwave thing.

Church should never be a microwave fastpaced thing.

We come to church to get away from the world we live in.

So let's take our time while we're here.

Let's take our time while we're in the presence of God.

Once again, thank you for having us.

Thank you for. Letting us be here and be a part

of this Sunday I'd like to turn our attention if I could to 2nd

Kings 6. There's there's a a word I've

I've been I've been struggling with and we'll get to it here in

a minute. But something I've been I've

been thinking about and dwelling on and and I'm so thankful that

the word of God is alive. Because you can read it.

I've read it from cover to cover many times, and the daily

reading and study and you go through it and every time it

seems I catch something, I catch something different.

Well, in this passage of Scripture, I've caught something

different and it kind of messed with me.

Cuz I've never seen it before, he said.

I've been. I was raised on an Apostolic

Pew. I fell asleep underneath the

Apostolic pews. As a child, we're gonna clarify

that as a child I fall asleep. Sorry.

As a child I fell asleep under Apostolic pews.

And so I know, I know what Apostolic Bible, but I've never

seen it before like this. And God pricked my heart with it

and say, OK, so I'm let's get started here.

And 2nd king 613 through 17 And he said go and spy where he is

that I may send and fetch him. And he told him saying, behold,

he is in dolphin. Therefore sent he fit their

horses and Chariots, and a great host, and they came by night,

and can pass the city about. When the servant of the man of

God was risen early and gone forth, behold the host, come,

pass the city bolt with horses and Chariots, and his service

sent to him. Alas, my master, how shall we

do? What to do?

What to do? And he answered, Fear not for

they that be with us, or more than they that be with them.

And Elijah prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his

eyes. That he may see.

And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and

behold, the mountain was filled with horses and Chariots of

fire. Round about Elijah, I just take

note. Pay attention to that the

Chariots of fire round about Elijah.

I would like to speak for just a few moments here.

Blinded by the reality of our situation.

We're blinded by the reality of our situation.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for this time with you.

We thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, for your

presence. I feel in this house here

tonight. Lord Jesus, we thank you for

this church body. And Lord, we pray right now,

Lord, that you would lead and guide us right now.

And through your word, Lord Jesus, I pray you're anointing

from the top of my head to the soul of my feet.

Lord, that I can give your word to your people.

Anoint these lips Lord Jesus, helping our minds and our

hearts. Lord, to hear what you would say

to us here tonight. In Jesus name we pray and

everyone said Amen, Amen And you may be seated.

Sometimes we get blinded by the reality of our situation, by

where we see ourselves. We see ourselves in our

situation and in our. Our perception from our angle,

the way we see things, we know we're right.

Have you ever argued a point and you know you're right, You saw

what happened and from your angle, that's right, when I was

a young man. I used to go to my I used to go

to my grandparents house and Saturday afternoon you could

tell where all the back in the day we didn't believe in TV's so

so we all went to Grandma's house and all the Pentecostals

were in Grandma's TV room. So but on Saturday afternoon.

My my cousin Laura made that statement.

That's how it stuck out of me. You can tell where all the

apostolics are there in grandma's TV room.

But but I don't know if you guys, sorry.

I don't know if I'm not for or against.

Just the very you know, what you put before your eyes is very

important, but I used to watch Westerns.

Saturday afternoon I go to Grandma's house and watch

Westerns. Really broke my heart when I

realized that those guys were like a foot apart from each

other. They'd punch each other and they

weren't even close. They'd throw each other over the

bar of the saloon, the hats would fly off and these guys

would be flying across and and and they weren't even close to

each other. But because of the angle of the

camera, you were sure somebody was a bloody mess.

By the end of that scene, somebody was, but it was all

angles. Sometimes we go through life and

we're just looking at life and we have a wrong angle.

We're saying all my life is this and my life is that, and God

saying I'm close, but because of our perception, because of the

way we're looking at it. Sometimes in our life we get so

close to the tree we can't see the forest.

We get so close to that. You ever take a quarter okay?

You ever take 1/4 and put it up to your eye?

I was that student in school. Did you take 1/4 and put your

eye and just close your other eye and look around the room?

Yeah, school was very boring. But you can't see the room

because the quarter is in front of your eye.

That's all you can see is the quarter.

Sometimes that's the way we look at life, our situations, our

problems, the things that are going on around us.

You know, there are things we can say.

I'm sure John, on the Isle of Patmas, in exile on an old rock

in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, could have

wrote I was on this nasty old island.

With the brunt of criminals and fear for my life, but no a far

away from everything I know and love.

But that's not what he wrote in Revelation 1 and 10, he wrote.

I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day.

What day is it? John Monday.

No, it's it's it's the Lord's Day.

It's the Lord's day. We need to realize that we can

be in the Spirit on the Lord's day.

It doesn't matter what day it actually is, what day of the

week. It actually it can be the Lord's

day if we make it that way. We give every day unto him, Say,

Lord, take today, take today that I am in.

Lord Jesus, let me be in touch with you on this day that I am

in, on this day that I have. I was in the spirit on this, the

Lord's day. I have an opportunity to get a

hold of God. I've got an opportunity to see

what Jesus wants to do in today, in today.

But too often it's easy to go to the negative.

It's easy to say, I don't know, I, I, I I have to put a fleece

out for this. I I often think of Gideon

because it's like, OK. God either saw something truly

great in Gideon, or God is really good at sarcasm because

he said Gideon, thou mighty thy mighty man of valor.

Gideon at the time was hiding behind the wine press,

threshing, threshing weed. But he's a mighty man of valor.

So then he starts putting fleeces out because that's what

mighty men of valor, great men of faith do.

They put a fleece out and say, is this really you?

God, if it's really you, make this happen.

If it's really you, they step out on faith.

They put fleeces out. So you're such a great man,

Gideon. But I won't make fun of Gideon

because I completely understand him.

I know exactly where he was at, say.

Oh, I don't know. Gideon, come on, step out a

little bit. Step out a little bit, but say

no, I don't want to do that. And see.

You see, instead of seeing the opportunity for God to work a

miracle, he was scared. You don't blame him, but he was

scared. But God wanted to work a

miracle. Paul and Silas, they were in the

inner prison. They were beaten and they begin

to sing. Why?

Because they were nuts. No, because they knew a God,

they knew a God and they and what's the term used?

They loved not their life unto death.

It's like I am already crucified with Christ, so why not just

Lord? Whatever you want to do, my life

is yours. Too often time we think our life

is ours. We say I surrender all, Lord,

I'm going to surrender all to you.

Doesn't matter what happens around me does.

What happens in my life, Lord, I'm going to surrender all to

you. And then we worry and stress

about everything. What have we surrendered?

We say, Lord, I'm going to surrender all to you, but I'm

not going to. I'm not going to be a witness.

Why? Because I'm scared of what

people are going to think. Lord, I'm not going to talk to

that person. Why?

Cuz they might think bad of me. But what happening about

surrendering all even your reputation?

What about it? To surrender all?

To surrender all Lord. You see, often times we're in

our situation and we get used to it.

We, we, we have expectations. Our life is supposed to go this

way. Things are supposed to happen

this way. Church is supposed to happen

this way. And we have expectations.

But sometimes we need to need to throw those expectations out the

window and say, Lord, it's about you.

It's not about me. It's about you.

It's not about me. There was a a tribal war that

broke out some years back in Africa.

And there was a missionary family that was caught in the

crossfire, and both sides wanted their property.

That missionary family began to pray, and one night the fighting

factions surrounded the house, and then all of a sudden they

all ran away. They learned later that there

were angels that suddenly became visible.

While they were praying, you see you don't know what God wants to

do. You don't know what God wants to

do in your life. Say well that's a far off land

and that's that's there. And you see God still works

through people in the world we live and we believe that Jesus

Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

So that means we have to be under the conclusion that our

Bible is alive. It's a live book that was

written for me today and anything that happened in my

word is a possibility for God to do today.

And we believe it. We believe it, that God is April

to do the same and Hebrews 13/8. It tells us that He is the same

yesterday, today and forever. That means the things that

happen then can be the things that happen in our future.

All we have to do is reach out to him.

All we have to do is reach out to him.

You see, God is not a respecter of persons or peoples or

situations or time or places. All we have to do is pray.

All we have to do is reach out to him.

The same God that did the miracles back then is the same

God of today. God is so good.

Yes he is. We just need the faith to

unleash that power. Yes, just need that faith or

release the power. You see, we sometimes I think we

forget I the Bible says that 1/3 of the angels fell.

So that means do the math for those of us that hate in school,

that's this might be a little difficult but that means there's

2/3 still there that are fighting for you that are on

your side. Okay.

And then okay that. That, as if, as if that's not

enough, the God that created the heavens and the earth, the God

that created everything in the earth and on the earth is also

on your side. Think about it.

And we say it's getting too much for me, it's getting too much.

So you're just not calling in the wrong.

You're calling in the wrong reinforcements.

You just don't know who you're calling.

You got to call in the right reinforcements.

So, Lord, I believe that you are able.

I believe that you are able to work in my situation.

I believe that you are able to go through this situation with

me. I don't see the end.

I don't know. The talk about all things work

together for the good. I don't know what the end good

looks like. I may never on this earth see

the good of this situation. But when we say Lord, I

surrender all it means that Lord, I trust you and

everything. Lord, I trust you in everything

and all things and all things. And first, second kings that we

read. And six and 15 says, When the

servant, the man of God, was risen early and gone forth,

behold, and the host come past the city, both with horses and

Chariots. And the servant said into him a

last master, What shall we do? What shall we do?

He was stressing, he was stressing they at 16 that says

that he answered, fear not, for they that be with us are more

than they that be with them. And 17 And Elijah prayed and

said, Lord, I pray they open his eyes that he may see, and the

Lord open the eyes of the young man.

I'm going to jump off the Cliff here.

You need to stick close to your man of God, because your man of

God can see things that you cannot see.

He knows things that you cannot know.

That's why he had to pray. Lord, open his eyes.

Because Lord, I can see this, but the servant over here can't.

That was point #1. That was a aha moment for me.

Let me give you a point #2 was my second aha moment of this

story. And he saw and behold, the

mountain was full of horses and Chariots and fire around the man

of God. It doesn't say the Chariots were

around Dolphin. It doesn't say the fire.

The Chariots of fire were around the city.

It says they were around the man of God.

They're around. Elisha, you need to stick close

to your man of God. You need to stick close to your

man of God. Why?

He's watches for your soul, number one.

Number two, he can see things that you can't see. #3 There's a

presence of God around him, so stick close, stick close.

You see, there are things in life that we have to pray.

God, help us to see your plan. Help us to see your angels

around us. Help us to see our situation,

Lord, from your perspective. From your perspective, Lord God,

help us in our situation and what we see as our reality.

Help us to realize that you are the same yesterday, today, and

forever. Help us not to be blinded by

what we see and what we think we see.

And help us to know that you are in control and to have faith, to

step out and do see by faith, Lord, I'm going to follow you.

You say I don't have all the answers.

Well, good thing because nobody really has all the answers.

Somebody said one time that you're a pastor, so you have all

the answers. Like, no.

I just know the one that has all the answers I can point you to.

The one I know how to get a hold of.

The one that does have all the answers.

Lord, help us to realize where we are In you see my faith, I

will follow. I don't know the future, but I

know the one who holds my future.

My future is in his hands. Help us to say, Lord, I will

follow you. I will lean on you.

My situation may be unclear. My situation may not be the way

I think it should be. But I know, Lord, that you have

my future in your hands. If I could get the musicians to

come. You see, sometimes we go through

life just thinking, oh, I don't know what's going to happen.

I don't know. The world we live in is a mess.

Let me put it this way. The world we live in is always a

mess. The difference with the day and

age we live in and the past is now we have network news and

it's their job to put the mess in our face.

That's their job and they're good at it.

So they put the mess in our face and we all stress.

There's always been a mess. This world has always been.

There's always been sin in our world.

So this world has always been a mess.

But because we have a relationship with Jesus Christ,

we can say I am not my own. I bought with the price.

Lord, I go through situations in my life.

I have issues that I have to deal with.

But Lord, I know you've got this and you've got me.

All I have to do is lean on you. All I have to do, Lord, let you

guide and direct my steps. There are times when we just

don't know what to do and don't know where to go and just don't

know. We're asking the question what

to do, what to do. I'll tell you what to do.

Get a hold of God. Get a hold of God and prayer.

Take the time to pray. Take the time to read your word.

Take the time you say, Well, I go to church on Sunday.

That's good. That's fantastic.

But you see, God is the God not only of Sunday, but you can have

a relationship with him on a Monday, on a Tuesday, on a

Wednesday, on a Thursday. You just start calling on the

name of Jesus and he's there. Could we all stand to our feet?

You see, we just need to reach out to him.

We all, we all. One of the things we say when

we're we're going into prison is they're they're in there because

of a decision, One decision. Is it possible that we're all,

like, one decision away from being in ourselves?

Yeah. But in saying that, in saying

that, we need to lean closer into the word of God, to lean

closer to the things of God, to lean closer into our prayer

life, To lean closer into Him. There are there are times in our

home church when I don't know how to close, and apparently I

do it outside our church too. But one thing we always close

with a time for prayer. So what I'd like to do is open

this altar. If you just want to spend time,

if you if you want to receive the Holy Ghost, repent of your

sins and and receive the Holy Ghost like they did in the book

of Acts, come forward. If you just want to spend time

in prayer and say, Lord, I just need more of you, Lord, I just

want to spend some time talking to you.

You see, talking to Jesus, it's just a conversation.

It's just having a conversation. Just find a place to pray and

say, Lord, I'd like to talk to you for a little while and right

now is the time to do that. So if we could all just find a

place to pray and say, Lord, I need you.

You may want to kneel in prayer where you're at, or come down to

this altar. Either way, just find a place to

say. Lord, I need you in my

situation. I need you in my situation.

Lord, I need you to lead and guide me today.

I don't know what my future holds, But, Lord, I want you to

hold my future. I surrender to you everything I

am, everything I'm not, Lord. Everything I think I am,

Everything I know I'm not. Lord, It's yours.

I surrender to you. Thank you for listening.

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Thank you and have a blessed day.