oh praise the Lord praise the Lord for he is good hallelujah hallelujah amen what a great atmosphere of praise and worship amen you may be seated uh media team I think they gave you some things I'm going to start in a few minutes with the pictures not the scripture so if you can change that around I don't know what you could do or what they told you to do but uh don't start with the scripture I'm going to start in a few minutes with three pictures so if you can figure that out but I want
to talk to you tonight for a few minutes and I do say I want to say how much I appreciate Pastor Gentry Mangan and Bishop Anthony Mangan I don't take it lightly don't take it for granted you don't have to have me every year but we I feel like this is one of the crucial events of the entire year and uh I I want to talk to you tonight I'm going to preach just a little bit but we got a great preacher coming after me so I'm not worried about that too much but I do
want to share a few things that I feel God put on my heart and God gave me a word I feel for me personally and then today I feel like it was confirmed to me personally so that I want to share it with you and you can see if it fits you but I want to start by saying God is doing something in our fellowship now we appreciate all the apostolic groups sincerely and we want to work in harmony but I want to just tell you what is happening in the area where I have more
direct knowledge and that's the United Pentecostal Church International and we've tried to press forward I feel like I have two priorities as a general superintendent at this point in my Ministry number one is to to keep pushing growth in every Dimension strengthen our churches grow our churches and increase our ministers and churches when I say churches I include the self-governing but I also include those that aren't self-governing which we call daughter works and preaching points but they're all churches baby churches or uh churches in the making or mature churches but I feel like we've got
to keep pressing forward we call it strategic growth in initiative SGI strength growth and increase but the second priority is we need a healthy Church culture it's not enough to have more churches we have to have churches that know how to love know how to minister know how to deciple know how to bring to maturity not churches where there's intimidation and abuse and dysfunction or but churches that know how to take lost people and broken people and hurting people and bring hope and healing and new life it's not just about numbers it's not even just
about baptisms it's about bringing people to Christ where their lives are changed and they're ready for heaven amen but when you look and and I just want to again just share a few things so I I five things that to me are that we've got to emphasize that sometimes we haven't number one is team Ministry Min we're talking about the five-fold ministry that means all of us need to work as a team we respect the pastor as the leader of the local church but a wise Pastor will develop relationships with a fivefold Ministry where it's
not just that Pastor that's the only influence in the church but there is a team that is influencing that church but there also needs to be a team within the church we call the priesthood of Believers every believer is a priest unto God every believer can intercede for him or herself and every believer can intercede for others it doesn't we're not talking about Authority taking away from the pastor we're talking about the pastor empowering the church and releasing the gifts that are within the Saints so that we recognize the the team Ministry within the local
church that's the key to health Team Ministry second thing is servanthood leadership as a leader the quote higher you think you should go the more you should serve leadership in the kingdom is about service number three is accountability and shared governance we need to be accountable to one another we need to be accountable to our own people we need to share the decision making and the leadership and we'll be stronger if we learn to do that number four effective transitions seems like I've had to deal with that more and more we've got to plan those
Transitions and we got to plan those retirements now you can preach to the day you die but you have to have some effective transition from one phase of ministry to the next phase of ministry and then finally Christian Liberty there is probably within the upci more agreement on the doctrine of salvation and even on the teachings of Holiness we're not having major controversies over anything we believe and those who've been around a while you know that has not always been the case there are always going to be people coming and going there going to always
be people on the fringes but in the past it seems like those in the fringes were right in the middle of the fight getting all of us stirred up every year but now those in the fringes just keep moving on somewhere else and so we we have more I believe more doctrinal unity and strength but what we must learn there is such a thing as Christian Liberty in certain things we might have differences of opinion with and allow differences within the local church and allow differences among churches because we agree on the whole gospel to
the whole world by the whole church now I'm going to show you some pictures I hope and uh this year I went to Corinth and so if they got the first picture we'll see if they there it is that is called the acro Corinth that is the Citadel of ancient Corinth at the top of that mountain was the stronghold below was the major city so in time of conflict they could Retreat to the stronghold at the top of that stronghold was a giant Temple to Aphrodite or Venus so it dominated the whole area now to
understand Corinth I'm still looking at that picture it's at a narrow Isthmus a narrow piece of land that connects Northern Greece or Central gree where Athens is to Southern Greece and so that one city Corinth controlled the north south trade at the same time the sea came in on both sides on the East the aan the West the ionian there was a narrow little strip of land that separated the east from the West now today they have a canal that connects at ancient times they had a track where they would haul the boats from one
sea to the other sea they would pull them across in other words Corinth controlled the East West Trade because otherwise people would have to go all the way around Greece to go from east to west to sail so they controlled the north south trade the East West Trade so they were one of the most richest cities of ancient Greece because they were in control of the central economy of Greece uh they were conquered by the Romans destroyed but then Rome rebuilt the city and so ancient Corinth was a wealthy City think of it as a
Cosmopolitan city a city of trade City of Commerce City of taxes Sailors coming and going from all over the world well you can also think of what kind of city that is uh they said and some historians debate whether it's a zation but they said at the height you know they had what's called sacred prostitution at that Temple of Aphrodite some say as many as 1,000 prostitutes others say that was an exaggeration regardless it was so widespread that the Greek word to corinthianize was a term for fornication so if you said you're a Corinthian you
corinthianize that was known all over the ancient world is what that meant that was their reputation another famous ancient saying is not everybody could afford to go to Corinth it was so wealthy so rich so lavish and when you did go You're expect to spend a lot of money on all these different things and so the ancient saying was not everyone can go to Corinth not everyone has the resources to go to Corinth that's the city now I've got another slide somewhere the second slide this is the remnant so down below where I was taking
the picture from is dominated by this Temple the Temple of Apollo built in 560 BC so absolutely when Paul was there he would have seen this Temple so if you look up to the Citadel the Temple of Aphrodite controls the whole area if you look where everybody's living down below the Temple of Apollo controls the whole area that set the tone for that culture right now one more picture here is the beima the place of judgment the ruins it's a platform it looks low on one side but big on the other side that is called
the Judgment seat or the speaker's platform probably Paul preached from that platform we do know he was arrested and uh brought before a court and then he was dismissed so he was definitely there on trial at that particular spot some of those stones the Apostle Paul would have stood on those very Stones now that was the environment where Paul was sent to build a church gross immorality wealth and luxury people not needing a message to change their life they were happy with their life theoretically so it was a situation dominated by Pagan go Gods by
Pagan culture everything was in place there was no place for the gospel seemingly you know I got to thinking about that isn't that somewhat like today we used to be a basically Christian Nation at least basic values but we can't really say that anymore look at the economy are you happy with the way the economy is going look at politics are you happy with the way politics is going the government the the education system the entertainment system the media is is there any anything you're excited about or you're thrilled about there's turmoil there's chaos it
seems like truth is under attack even the very concept that there is such a thing as truth is under attack Godly morals under attack on every turn and brother Tipp and I had a meeting today with the the we're talking about the nacc the national Apostolic Christian leadership conference we're we're facing fights where there is a serious movement to take away tax exempt status from churches and we're going to try to partner with people and fight that there's a serious attempt to undermine on schools to undermine the very concept of male and female and to
take away rights even from private schools and private institutions and places like tupo children's Manion to tear down the very basis of what we believe it's an intimidating scary time and legal tactics are being used and then something unprecedented you know I I'm not I don't claim to have a thorough comprehension of end time prophecy but I will say this if you look at Ezekiel you look at Zechariah you look at Revelation you look at Daniel we all have a a basic understanding that these are the end times we all know there's an evil ruler
coming that will rise up he will attempt to take political control economic control and uh at some point Jesus Christ will come back to earth the valley the the the the battle of Armageddon and so forth so we all understand that and people throughout the ages believe that but I would say we are the first generation to actually know how it could come to pass so past Generations that believe there would be a world economic system you don't have to have faith to think that you could see how it could be implemented a world political
system uh a world ruler that could project an image to everybody in the world past Generations preached that that would happen we are the first generation to say we have the technology and the culture by which it could be done now we don't have to speculate we don't have to wonder we don't have to guess we know how it could happen and then what's happening in the Middle East the whole world coming together now we saw that some years back in the Iraq War the whole world coming to fight in in the Middle East and
of course we know Jerusalem Jesus talked in Luke about the times of the Gentiles Jerusalem we trotten down of the Gentiles of the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled So In Our Lifetime and some of us at least we saw the Six Day War we saw Jerusalem conquered and and we saw Israel taking control of their ancestral lands and we know there's going to be a great battle against that tiny nation and from a logical point of view it doesn't make sense why would the whole whole world fight over this tiny piece of territory but
from a scriptural point of view we know it's going to happen and uh I don't know the whole thing I've always thought the Antichrist won't have perfect control he'll be trying to get control but there'll be people fighting him so OB I always hoped America will be one of those Nations that's going to stand on the right side but for the first time I'm seeing multitudes of Americans particularly young people who are saying let's kill the Jews let's destroy the Jews and my heart hurts for my country cuz I can no longer be assured that
America is going to be standing on the right side it could be that we're not and for me that's something new that's a revelation that's scary I don't know how soon the end will come but literally we could wake up tomorrow morning and all those events will be falling into place there's nothing that's impossible that could not come to pass within days weeks months that's unprecedented now we've always preached these kind of things but we've never been at the place where all those things could fall in the place today tomorrow next week boom boom boom
boom boom and there we are whether you're your pre-trip midt or post trip it could all fall into place we could be right there it's a scary and depressing thought but then the word of the Lord came to Paul in my text in Acts chapter 18 verse 9 through verse 10 now the Lord spoke to Paul in the Night by Vision do not be afraid but speak do not keep silent for I am with you and no one will attack you to hurt you not saying no one will attack you but no one will attack
you to hurt you you're not going to be destroyed you're not going to be silenced you're not going to lose for I have many people in this city I think that word applies just as much to us so we think of the great Apostle Paul he wouldn't be intimidated by anything but I think when he went to Corinth and he saw the acro Corinth and there's the Temple of Aphrodite there's the prostitutes that's the culture of the city that's the spirit of the city he looks around there's the Temple of Apollo he sees the luxury
the wealth the political power the economic power the gross immorality no semblance of any kind of biblical values even Paul was intimidated because why did God say do not fear I'm not criticizing I'm saying he there there was a bit of intimidation because God had to speak to him said now Paul do not be afraid without me you're going to be afraid but I'm telling you you do not need to fear here don't think about shutting your voice don't think about riding off in the sunset don't think about muting your message because I have many
people in this city a great Apostolic Revival here's my message an Apostolic Church in Corinth an Apostolic Church in Corinth you feeling the blank an Apostolic Church in Ohio an Apostolic Church in Wisconsin an Apostolic Church in California an Apostolic Church in Washington DC can we do it yes we can do it don't worry about the culture don't be intimidated about the legal system don't worry about the end time prophecy it'll take place but until Jesus comes we will build an Apostolic Church in Corinth and it's not just about numbers but don't think small don't
just say well just we're just be faithful to the end just a few of us left just a little Remnant no I have many people you're looking at this Paul it looks impossible you'd be glad just to get a Bible study but Paul I have a multitude right here all you see is the Pagan culture all you see is the luxury and licentiousness but I see a church I see an Apostolic church I see many people in your city I'm almost through NLT Don't Be Afraid exclamation point speak out explanation point don't be silent expan
ation point for I with you and no one will attack you and harm you for many people in this city belong to me I know it's a prophecy to Paul in the first century but can do you think you pray about it if you feel that's a word to you you go home and you claim it don't be afraid of whatever is coming against you internal or external don't be silent don't stop preaching don't stop teaching don't stop talking because God says many people in this city belong to me many people are part of my
church they're on the way they need a preacher to preach them into the church and then this is my last point so was that really fulfilled did that ever come to pass First Corinthians now you know why there were so many problems in that church kind of like some of our churches right so I wouldn't brag about it but if you face some of the problems they faced in First Corinthians you can say well we're Apostolic Apostolic church that's what Apostolic Church deal with abuse of spiritual gifts dealing with immoral situation we got to straighten
out that's that's Apostolic but 1 Corinthians 6 if you just read 9 and 10 God's going to bring judgment on idolators and drunkers and the homosexual practitioners and the adulterers and the fornicators and the long depressing list of all kinds of sin you think man he has to tell this to the church he has to say you better be careful God's judgment will come on this and this and this and this and this but then verse 11 First Corinthians 611 and such were some of you I told you Paul I had many people in this
city in this immoral licentious luxurious worldly City I told you I had a lot of people and Paul is testifying and such were some of you but you are washed you are Sanctified you are Justified hey that's the new birth how are you Justified you want to know Protestants how you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God we have the name of Jesus we have the Holy Spirit that's how you're going to build an Apostolic Church not on a generic message but you're going to build it on
baptism in Jesus name the baptism of the Holy Ghost such were some of you you are washed you are Sanctified you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God it's time to rise it's time to arise let let's build an Apostolic Church in Corinth oh let's praise the Lord right [Applause] now
