Sunday Night - Brian Brown

Well, praise the Lord. I'm nervous, I'll just tell you that, Brother Randy wrote me a map, and that's all it is. You know, I was thinking about all the preachers that's here, and if you made them, let's say a book, they'd be encyclopedias, and they'd be commentaries. And what I am, if I was in book form, is more of a C-spot, walk quickly, with a slight limp. And so, and that's, but you gotta have C-spot too, and I appreciate everything that y'all have been so friendly to us since we've been here, the prayers that have been prayed for our family, through the loss of my wife, and I can tell you this, there's not been a time that I've knelt down since she had her aneurysm, that I have not felt God. Not one time. Not a time in the hospital, not a time since then, that I have found out that He has been right beside me. You know, I had somebody ask me the other day, well, do you think you'll get angry? I said, for what? Because she got what she lived for? How could that make me angry? Do I have some questions? I do. But when I get there, they won't matter. And so I just believe I'll trust Him. That's what I believe. And I believe that I'll just put my hand in His hand, and I believe that I'll just see because He's led me thus far, and I believe He's just going to lead me all the way. And so why would I get angry at a God who's been there every moment and every step of the way? Doesn't make no sense to me. Now y'all gonna figure out real quick, my English ain't real good. I've wrestled with it for years, amen? My wife of 29 years before God took her tried and tried to get it right. And finally, Brother Randy, she just threw her hands up and said, whatever, whatever. Praise God. But I do have something, and like I said, appreciate the accommodations, everybody on the way home, on the way back to the place, the nice place to stay. My daughter said, it's not like we've been here our first time, it's like we're from here. Everybody's been so good to us. God's got good people. Amen. God's got good people. And let's go to Matthew 27, and I'll try to get out of the way. And Brother John is, he could preach mediocre when I'm done, it'd be the best message he ever preached. That's how, I'm going to help him out. I'm going to help him out. And Matthew 27, we'll begin in verse 46. God put this on me, and I tried to get it off, but I just couldn't. And the Bible says, in about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lachaboth, and I, that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, this man calleth for Elias. And straightway, one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him to drink. And the rest said, let, let, let be, let us see whether Elias will come, Eli will come to save him. Jesus, when he cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. Behold, the veil of the temple was rent entwined from top to bottom, and the earth did quake and the rocks rent. He would help me pray. God, I need your anointing. I need you to stand by me. I need, I need your words to be my words. God, I need my thoughts to be your thoughts, I pray. Help me, oh God, I pray right now, Lord. I need the Holy Ghost to stand by me. And help me, God, to rightly divide the word of truth. God, to deliver this how it is that you gave it to me. In Jesus' name. Amen. I want to preach on a very simple thought. The privilege of the cross. The privilege of the cross. And, uh, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, there, there was not, you and I could not stand in the presence of God. We have to understand that before the privilege of the cross that you and I were not able to walk into His presence, that we had to take our sacrifice and give it to the priest, but we were not able to sacrifice. It was something we had to give, but it was something we could not do. And so everything that we did had to go through a priest and everything that, and really us being Gentiles didn't even have that right. And so every day the priest had to go twice a day for the continual burnt offering that every day and then one time a year, only the priest, the high priest was allowed into the Holy of Holies. One time a year, not every day. And like I have said in starting out that every day since my wife had her aneurysm, I have felt the presence of God. Every day. That is a, that is a privilege of the cross. See, we can never get to the power of the cross until we understand the privilege of the cross. We can never get to a place where we understand, you know, some people think today that for some reason that God is not holy, as holy as He was in the Old Testament. We have failed to understand and to realize that God is still holy. That because we have to realize that because of Jesus Christ that you and I are able, when we were sinners or if we come in here tonight and we're struggling or we're struggling with the sin, it is because of Jesus that you and I are able to stand in the presence of God because of the privilege of the cross of Calvary. Because if it was not for Jesus and the presence of God came in here, He would see who we are for what we are and not one of us would be able to live in the presence of a holy God. But because of Jesus and because of the cross, when the presence of God steps into the church, He does not see you and He does not see me, but He sees Jesus. He sees the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That's what He sees. And so you and I need to understand the privilege we have to be in the presence of God. It's a privilege to worship Him. It's a privilege for a Gentile to be able to stand where God is. And we know that we feel the presence of God tonight. We felt it this morning. We're not counting on a high priest to go in there one time a year. That's all he's got, one time a year. And the thing is, he had to sacrifice his way into the Holy of Holies. He had to sacrifice for himself. He had to sacrifice for the nation while the nation stood outside and waited for Him to come back. Aren't you glad for the cross of Calvary? The privilege that you and I have to be able to lift our hands and worship God. To be able to feel the presence of God. To be able to feel the convicting spirit of God. We have to realize, church, that we have really an obligation. We come to church sometimes. Oh hum. We come to church sometimes. And we think, I hope the spirit don't move. I'm tired tonight. We come to church sometimes. And we think, I hope they don't sing that song that Sister So-and-So always shouts in. Whatever it is. Maybe it's, I never shall forget the day. And maybe that song begins to burn in somebody every service they sing it. And every time they sing it, maybe it's because they never forgot the day. Maybe it's because they realize what God brought them from. And they don't want to ever forget the day that God saved them and brought them out. We come in and we hope it's going to be a ho-hum service. And we come in and we hope that the spirit of God doesn't move. And we don't realize the privilege we have to just stand in the presence of a holy God. Because He is holy. I know some people are preaching that He's not. But He's still holy. The cherubims and the seraphims are still flying around the throne room of God. And they're still crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And the only reason they're praising Him is not because of salvation. It's because He's holy. That's the only reason that they're doing the worship they're doing. It's not for what He's done. It's not for anything other than He's holy. And so do we understand the privilege that we have? The cross, it grants us the privilege to be in the presence of God. The cross, it grants us the privilege to be able to worship Him. Did we come here tonight to hear Brother John preach good? He probably will. He usually does. Did we come here tonight to see what they're going to have afterwards? See, we have to realize for two or three are gathered in Matthew 18 and 20, together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. That's the privilege of the cross. That you and I could gather tonight and we could feel the presence of God. And we could feel the holiness of God. And we could feel conviction. And the things in our life that ain't right that God would convict us of. That we could gather, but we have to understand it's the privilege of the cross that allows it. And it's the privilege of the cross that allows us to worship. It's the privilege of the cross that allows us to stand in God's presence. You'll never get to the power of the cross until you realize you have a privilege to just stand in God's presence. The prodigal son never understood the privilege of the Father's house until he went to the far country. And when he was in the far country, then he understood the privilege that he had back home. He understood the privilege of the bread. He understood the privilege of the cattle. He understood the privilege of the Father's house. But it wasn't until he was in the far country that he understood what he really lost when he left out of Daddy's house. And us, at times, we don't really understand what we lose until we've lost it. Amen? We don't realize the privilege that we have of being raised in the house of God. I wasn't raised in church. I didn't come around holiness until after my wife was backslid and we got married and she took me to a holiness church. And I thought I was crazy. Amen. I didn't have that privilege. Some of you today, I feel like in my spirit, some of you young people are battling whether or not you want to stay. Take it from somebody who knows what the world has to offer. You have a privilege. God has given you favor to be raised in the house of God. To be raised to hear God's Word. The truth of God's Word. Amen? It's a privilege. And that prodigal son didn't understand the privilege of the Father's house until he didn't have it anymore. And sometimes the church doesn't understand the Spirit of God until it doesn't move anymore. We want to sit on it. And we want to hold it back. And we want to just sit around. And we don't realize it until all of a sudden you're searching for just to feel a little bit of God. And God isn't showing up anymore. And we didn't realize the privilege that we had. And why do we get okay? And I'm fixing to get out of the way. How do we get okay with the dead, dry service? Why do we get okay with God not moving? Why do we get okay with the Spirit of God not ushering in among us? When Jesus said in Matthew, If you gather in My name, then I will be there. He guaranteed it. So if we are not feeling Him, then evidently we didn't gather rightly. But do you know really why we're here? Do we know that we are here to sacrifice praise? That we really have become the high priest. That as we enter into the church house, that we are to enter into the Holy of Holies with thanksgiving and praise. That when God enters this place, it becomes the Holy of Holies. What made the Holy of Holies the Holy of Holies is because the Ark of the Covenant was there. And it was a representation of the Spirit of God. And that is what made that the Holy of Holies. And that is why when Jesus died and that bell was rent in twain, so now you and I can boldly come to the throne room of God. And we are stepping in tonight into the Holy of Holies because the presence of God is here. And we have the privilege to be in it. Should we not worship Him? Should we not praise Him? Should we not magnify Him? Should we not thank Him for the cross? Should we not thank Him for salvation? Should we not... Oh, I'm telling you what. He deserves the praise of His people. He deserves the sacrifice of praise of His people. Psalms 100, 1-5, what does it say? Are you going to praise Him? You know, I'll go back and I'm done. Why would I get angry? Why would I get angry? It gave me 28. Well, we were together 29, married 28. Why would I get angry? I said all along, my marriage was better than hers. She had to put up with me. And if you all understood what she put up with, you'd get that. You'd get the point, brother. But I remember the day that she passed. I got on my knees and I said, God, thank You for 28 years. Thank You for giving her and me 28 years. He's worthy of praise. Because of the privilege of the cross. If you don't mind, I'll get out of the way. Psalms 100. And this is where I want to end with. Why? Because we need to praise Him. We don't have to have brother Randy go before God in order for you and I to feel God. We don't have to take our sacrifice and bring it to brother Randy or brother Bill Parks or brother John Brock and say, would you take this into the presence of God for me? No! We can take our sacrifice ourselves and our praise into the presence of God ourselves and feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost and feel the power of God. And why would we not take our privilege and make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Now, y'all don't want me to sing. Trust me. Praise God, I'll sing in the shower and the water will shut off. Hallelujah. But it doesn't mean that I'm all alone sometimes. I'll just begin to sing. Amen. Hallelujah and sing. And with gladness and presence and singing know that the Lord, He is God and He is that hath made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and to His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting. And the truth endureth to all generations. And the privilege of the cross gives us the right to praise Him. It gives us the right to enter with thanksgiving. It gives us the right to be able to worship Him. And when we understand that privilege, then we'll understand the power. When you understand the privilege, then you can tap into the power that delivers you from sin. But you first need to recognize that you're privileged to even stand in His presence. God bless y'all. Hallelujah, hallelujah.