WEBVTT 00:00:00.119 --> 00:00:10.323 So I get the wonderful opportunity to introduce to you a dear friend, and to me and to probably most of you here as well. 00:00:10.323 --> 00:00:17.908 And you served Jesus so well, you served this church so well, so just welcome, neil Silverberg. 00:00:26.321 --> 00:00:28.849 Thank you, mark, I'm a little overwhelmed. 00:00:28.849 --> 00:00:31.934 Give me a second. 00:00:31.934 --> 00:00:33.255 Was that powerful? 00:00:33.255 --> 00:00:39.435 Wow. 00:00:39.435 --> 00:00:46.768 Every time that song was sung, I think of Melissa, it was her song. 00:00:46.768 --> 00:00:54.351 I want to just take a second and acknowledge a special guest, but you have to promise me not to get up and hug his neck yet. 00:00:54.351 --> 00:00:56.927 But Paul Queen is in the house. 00:00:56.927 --> 00:01:14.033 Praise God, paul. 00:01:14.033 --> 00:01:15.277 So glad to have you here, brother. 00:01:20.492 --> 00:01:28.578 Well, mark mentioned that the ban has been lifted on my jokes, so I'm struggling with whether I should take the opportunity or not. 00:01:28.578 --> 00:01:34.753 For those of you who don't know, I've had a joke that is so old that the elders came to my house one day and posted on my refrigerator that I was under a ban. 00:01:34.753 --> 00:01:50.102 That joke could not be repeated at any Trinity Chapel, trinity Community Church outing or meeting, but Tyler graciously lifted it, told me, even though I promised I did it. 00:01:50.102 --> 00:02:05.677 In Israel I took 34 people to Israel, patty remembers and we I heard it, I'm so old. 00:02:05.677 --> 00:02:08.002 When I was young the Dead Sea was just sick. 00:02:08.002 --> 00:02:09.625 Okay, there it is. 00:02:09.625 --> 00:02:18.496 Good night, praise God. 00:02:22.920 --> 00:02:34.425 Shelly and I have had the privilege of being partners at Trinity Community Church for almost 30 years, with a five-year break to Florida, and we love this church. 00:02:34.425 --> 00:02:36.448 We love the community we've been part of. 00:02:36.448 --> 00:02:39.468 We love the fact that our kids grew up here. 00:02:39.468 --> 00:02:44.147 We love working with the elder team. 00:02:44.147 --> 00:02:47.207 It's just been an incredible blessing and privilege. 00:02:47.207 --> 00:03:08.943 Mark did a brilliant flyover of the last 50 years 50 years amazing that we've been a local church and I hope tonight, if you are new, you're one of the newer people to Trinity that this history was helpful in providing you some context about Trinity and how it got started. 00:03:08.943 --> 00:03:13.051 I've been brooding on this all week and it's blessed my soul. 00:03:13.051 --> 00:03:16.788 You know the average church plant lasts four years or less. 00:03:16.788 --> 00:03:25.544 So we're celebrating 50 years is no small matter is no small matter and you know we. 00:03:25.544 --> 00:03:29.129 Mark mentioned briefly our background. 00:03:29.210 --> 00:03:32.633 Steve and I met each other in Miami. 00:03:32.633 --> 00:03:34.336 Actually, I didn't know Steve. 00:03:34.336 --> 00:03:39.000 My brother, perry, was friends with Steve and introduced me to Steve for the first time. 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:43.251 Steve says I was very unkind and unfriendly in that meeting. 00:03:43.251 --> 00:03:53.007 I had long hair and I was probably on dope and didn't realize the man of God in my house. 00:03:53.007 --> 00:03:58.701 I didn't realize it, but I grew up in Philadelphia and I got. 00:03:58.701 --> 00:04:05.792 My brother was a drug addict and my parents kicked him out of the house in 1970. 00:04:05.792 --> 00:04:11.838 And my father looked at me and said, neil, we don't want you turning out like your brother, we want you free from drugs. 00:04:11.838 --> 00:04:13.002 We're moving to Miami. 00:04:13.002 --> 00:04:17.831 That's exactly what he said Drug-free Miami. 00:04:20.177 --> 00:04:23.406 But you know what was happening in the movie Jesus Revolution? 00:04:23.406 --> 00:04:30.528 What was happening in California was happening in South Florida in the 60s and 70s as well. 00:04:30.528 --> 00:04:35.850 It was a major outpouring of the spirit and the charismatic movement was powerful in those days. 00:04:35.850 --> 00:04:38.348 God was touching many drug addicts and setting them free. 00:04:38.348 --> 00:04:42.011 Sandy was a heroin addict who got set free by the gospel. 00:04:42.011 --> 00:04:50.351 The night I got saved, november 9th 1971, at Bayfront Auditorium, sandy Simons was singing in the choir that night. 00:04:50.351 --> 00:04:56.826 I didn't know her that night, but I got to know her in the future and it's wonderful to know her. 00:04:56.826 --> 00:05:00.622 We're trying to get Sandy out of her shell a little bit. 00:05:05.745 --> 00:05:09.567 But Mark mentioned how Steve's life and my life was touched by the gospel. 00:05:09.567 --> 00:05:19.394 I met the Lord in November of 1971, and Steve had gotten saved, I think in 70 or 69, 70. 00:05:19.394 --> 00:05:42.101 So that was a period of time when the Spirit of God was poured out powerfully throughout the nation and later Steve and Sandy left Florida and moved to Alabama and pastored in Alabama, in Florence, alabama, where they pastored Calvary Temple. 00:05:42.101 --> 00:05:44.870 We had breakfast yesterday, mark and I and Steve, and we were reviewing, renewing some of our memories about that time. 00:05:44.870 --> 00:05:45.303 It was amazing and you know it was really a tailor made for Steve and I were reviewing, renewing some of our memories about that time. 00:05:45.303 --> 00:06:04.452 It was amazing and you know it was really a tailor made for Steve and I being Jewish, because we were in pastoring in Florence, which was right down the road from Tuscumbia, alabama, which at the time was the headquarters for the Ku Klux Klan, so it was perfect setting for two Jewish guys from South Florida. 00:06:04.452 --> 00:06:12.620 You know it really was. 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:26.692 But in 1984, when Steve and Sandy got the call to come to Knoxville and serve as senior pastor, we stayed, shelley and I, in Florence for another seven years and then, in 1991, we moved here to join the pastoral staff and work with Steve and Sandy. 00:06:26.692 --> 00:06:32.512 By the way, steve served as senior pastor for almost 30 years. 00:06:32.512 --> 00:06:35.629 We wouldn't be here tonight if it wasn't for their faithfulness. 00:06:35.629 --> 00:06:49.533 In 2006, shelley and I left Knoxville and went to Cape Coral, florida, to work with a church there. 00:06:49.533 --> 00:06:57.954 And then, in 2010, steve called me and asked me to prayerfully consider returning to Knoxville and taking the lead role, which we did in 2011. 00:06:57.954 --> 00:07:14.146 We were accompanied by Tyler and Amy, who actually came down before we got here, and for Tyler it was like going home, because his father had planted a church in Cape Coral and Tyler actually graduated high school in Fort Myers, so it was like going home for him. 00:07:15.608 --> 00:07:24.776 We were asked on this first night of our special Jubilee service to start to speak about what God did in establishing Trinity. 00:07:24.776 --> 00:07:30.632 I want to take a few minutes and just give you a broad overview of what I believe he did when he established this church. 00:07:30.632 --> 00:07:43.187 Tomorrow, we're going to focus in the morning on what God is presently doing and then tomorrow night we'll be praying for people prophetically and we will be talking about what God's going to do in the future. 00:07:43.187 --> 00:07:49.735 We call this thanking God for a firm foundation. 00:07:49.735 --> 00:07:56.714 I believe that Trinity has existed for 50 years because it's been planted on a firm foundation. 00:07:56.714 --> 00:07:57.358 Can you agree with that? 00:07:57.358 --> 00:08:01.831 And we could describe that foundation in many different ways. 00:08:01.831 --> 00:08:15.053 We could talk about the worship, the fact that this church has been characterized by dynamic worship, and we saw some of it tonight Aaron Jones, mark Medley, jack Wright, others who've been part of the worship team. 00:08:15.053 --> 00:08:31.369 It's always been an important part of Trinity, but I believe that the best way to describe the foundation upon which Trinity was founded is that God called Trinity, from the beginning, to be both a word and power church. 00:08:31.369 --> 00:08:34.033 A word and power church. 00:08:34.033 --> 00:08:37.167 We may not have been that to the best of our ability. 00:08:37.167 --> 00:08:46.995 We may not be that to the best of our ability right now, but from our inception we've striven to be balanced in both of those areas of word and spirit. 00:08:46.995 --> 00:08:50.466 What do I mean by word and power church? 00:08:51.048 --> 00:08:59.227 If you go to the Gospels Matthew, mark and Luke, they all tell the story of Jesus running with the Sadducees. 00:08:59.227 --> 00:09:03.346 Remember, he had confronted the Pharisees and they couldn't confound him. 00:09:03.346 --> 00:09:05.171 And now the Sadducees came. 00:09:05.171 --> 00:09:06.062 It was their turn. 00:09:06.062 --> 00:09:07.806 They were the political power in the day. 00:09:07.806 --> 00:09:19.152 They were, you know, and they were mainly described by the fact that they denied any of the supernatural in the Old Testament. 00:09:19.152 --> 00:09:20.740 They were sad, you see. 00:09:20.740 --> 00:09:28.054 That was worth listening to the sermon up to now just for that little bit, right. 00:09:28.054 --> 00:09:37.735 They were sad, you see, and they disbelieved in angels or spirits, and that included. 00:09:37.735 --> 00:09:41.390 They disbelieved in the core issue of the Old Testament, the resurrection of the body. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:44.644 On that basis, they come to Jesus with a fictitious story. 00:09:44.644 --> 00:09:58.493 Remember that there was a man who died and his brother married his wife and seven men married her and they had the question in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? 00:09:58.493 --> 00:10:07.893 And Jesus, as he often does, knowing their deception, answers by going right to the heart of the issue. 00:10:07.893 --> 00:10:14.754 He says you are in error because you are deficient in knowing the scriptures and the power of God. 00:10:14.754 --> 00:10:19.471 You err because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. 00:10:19.471 --> 00:10:27.144 If they knew the scriptures, they would have had no problem believing the resurrection, because the Bible teaches it very clearly. 00:10:27.144 --> 00:10:34.594 And if they knew the power of God, they would know that in the resurrection, men and women are transformed and brought into a realm similar to angels. 00:10:34.995 --> 00:10:40.275 By the way, I encourage the pastors in the room to use this for pastoral counsel for marriage. 00:10:40.275 --> 00:10:44.609 Just tell the couple if you can hang on to the resurrection, then you won't be married. 00:10:44.609 --> 00:10:53.876 It's really helpful. 00:10:53.876 --> 00:11:02.716 I've used it many times. 00:11:02.716 --> 00:11:03.177 It works well. 00:11:03.177 --> 00:11:07.823 But Jesus expected them to know both the scriptures and the power of God. 00:11:07.823 --> 00:11:08.585 Because they didn't, they erred. 00:11:08.585 --> 00:11:09.727 And there's a warning in Jesus' words for us. 00:11:10.249 --> 00:11:20.345 I believe if any church wants to ensure that it qualifies as an apostolic company, they need to know both of these, the scriptures and the power of God. 00:11:20.345 --> 00:11:20.985 And guess what? 00:11:20.985 --> 00:11:25.961 We don't have to compromise and choose one above the other of God. 00:11:25.961 --> 00:11:26.481 And guess what? 00:11:26.481 --> 00:11:27.663 We don't have to compromise and choose one above the other. 00:11:27.663 --> 00:11:28.826 Both are our heritage. 00:11:28.826 --> 00:11:29.548 Both are our heritage. 00:11:29.548 --> 00:11:35.969 It's important to recognize that, as far as Jesus is concerned, both of these belong together if error is to be avoided. 00:11:35.969 --> 00:11:44.389 It should be immediately recognized, though, that for many people, for many churches, this is rarely the case. 00:11:44.389 --> 00:11:50.546 We don't see a church, many churches, that are balanced with both of these word and power. 00:11:50.546 --> 00:12:00.292 In fact, two distinct camps have emerged today, each stressing one of these to the other, each camp viewing the other with antagonism. 00:12:00.292 --> 00:12:13.775 The two camps are evangelicalism, which has put its focus on knowing the scriptures so that we're pursuing a biblically based religion, and the charismatic church, which has emphasized, rightly, our need of the power of the spirit and the gifts of the spirit in operation. 00:12:13.775 --> 00:12:29.224 Unfortunately, these two camps in the past have remained antagonistic, but we're coming into good news that we're coming into a day when something is going on causing both camps to recognize their need of the other. 00:12:31.267 --> 00:12:38.471 Praise God, evangelicals can continue to insist on the importance of biblical knowledge and scholarship. 00:12:38.471 --> 00:12:42.283 In the past, they've rejected the charismatic emphasis on the power of the Spirit. 00:12:42.283 --> 00:12:52.601 The danger for them is, things can become only cerebral, the idea that they can embrace the idea that God wrote a book and disappeared off the scene. 00:12:52.601 --> 00:12:58.782 You know, they easily become like many evangelicals which you know, jesus, many of the Pharisees. 00:12:58.782 --> 00:13:05.349 Jesus said to them you diligently study the scriptures because you think that in them you possess eternal life. 00:13:05.349 --> 00:13:11.413 These are the scriptures that testify about me, and yet you do not come to me to have life. 00:13:11.413 --> 00:13:15.975 Charismatic saw this tendency and reacted against it. 00:13:15.975 --> 00:13:21.192 But in their reaction they forgot that God's power is not a substitute for a knowledge of truth. 00:13:21.192 --> 00:13:23.861 Are you with me? 00:13:23.861 --> 00:13:27.591 Even the spirit is called the spirit of truth. 00:13:28.620 --> 00:13:38.889 One of the problems in this entire scenario is that we have accepted the notion that it has to be either or or both, and there's a man who did some brilliant work. 00:13:38.889 --> 00:13:40.100 His name was Jim Collins. 00:13:40.100 --> 00:13:46.590 He spent six years researching great companies, trying to find out what makes companies great and better than others. 00:13:46.590 --> 00:14:12.812 He grouped them into bronze and gold and metal companies, gold being those who performed well over time, and he found that these companies were those who eliminated the notion of either or and discovered the power of both and power of both, and he cites as an example a pharmaceutical company that found out how to make both a profit and serve the needs of humanity. 00:14:12.832 --> 00:14:24.293 I believe the church should be the ultimate example of the both and paradigm, and I believe God has called Trinity from its inception to exemplify that. 00:14:24.293 --> 00:14:29.299 We don't have to choose between a word-based church and power-based. 00:14:29.299 --> 00:14:31.849 We can and must have both. 00:14:31.849 --> 00:14:42.089 If we want to recapture the genius of the apostolic church, we have to embrace both these camps. 00:14:42.089 --> 00:14:50.529 First, we must ensure that we're building biblically-based churches, churches that take the Scripture seriously. 00:14:50.529 --> 00:14:53.850 We will not shun serious biblical study. 00:14:53.850 --> 00:14:56.120 We will see the importance of theology in our ministry. 00:14:56.120 --> 00:15:10.235 But secondly, we must recognize that the New Testament church is a supernatural church and we must be comfortable in the supernatural even when we embrace Scripture. 00:15:10.235 --> 00:15:16.870 The man who wrote Romans raised the dead, and we have an example of this in the Old Testament. 00:15:16.950 --> 00:15:22.763 Two men who worked together in the Hebrew Bible, their one book, the book of Ezra and Nehemiah. 00:15:22.763 --> 00:15:24.288 You know what Nehemiah's name is in Hebrew? 00:15:24.288 --> 00:15:25.191 It's comforter. 00:15:25.191 --> 00:15:32.456 And you know what Ezra was, the scribe who studied the law to teach it in Israel. 00:15:32.456 --> 00:15:39.590 And both of those work together, exemplifying the word and power paradigm. 00:15:39.590 --> 00:15:43.522 I myself owe a great debt from both camps. 00:15:43.522 --> 00:15:44.706 I've gained so much. 00:15:45.690 --> 00:15:56.342 So if we want to ensure that our people are growing in knowledge of both the scriptures and the power of God, we must make sure that our ministry as leaders exhibits both. 00:15:56.342 --> 00:15:58.426 Are you breathing? 00:15:58.426 --> 00:16:05.176 We must model what knowledge of both means for our people. 00:16:05.176 --> 00:16:17.288 The following should be demonstrated in our lives and ministries as part of our evangelical heritage we must first and foremost be students of Scripture, can't just give lip service to it. 00:16:17.288 --> 00:16:25.850 We have to make sure that what we preach and what we pursue is biblical, and that can't be faked. 00:16:25.850 --> 00:16:30.126 It must be the result of living constantly in the book and grappling with its message. 00:16:30.729 --> 00:16:36.811 You know, in the past few years the church has been inundated with new techniques and emphasis that are not biblical. 00:16:36.811 --> 00:16:42.388 People don't notice because there hasn't been a waning of authority of the scriptures. 00:16:42.388 --> 00:16:47.741 We still quote the Bible occasionally, but we really look elsewhere for answers. 00:16:47.741 --> 00:16:52.130 We need to desperately return to the authority of scripture. 00:16:52.130 --> 00:16:56.144 If we don't, we will make experiences authoritative. 00:16:56.144 --> 00:16:58.089 It's like Luke 16. 00:16:58.149 --> 00:17:00.780 Remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus? 00:17:00.780 --> 00:17:03.729 Many believe it's not a parable because Lazarus is named by name. 00:17:03.729 --> 00:17:05.361 But you remember, man and Lazarus. 00:17:05.361 --> 00:17:08.165 Many believe it's not a parable because Lazarus is named by name. 00:17:08.165 --> 00:17:13.012 But you remember, lazarus the rich man rather said send me back to my brothers. 00:17:13.012 --> 00:17:15.362 If someone rises from the dead, they'll believe. 00:17:15.362 --> 00:17:25.652 And they said and Father Abraham said, if they have Moses and the prophets, if they don't believe them, they won't believe that someone rises from the dead. 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:29.589 Our public ministry must expound scripture. 00:17:29.589 --> 00:17:32.490 Leaders need to return to preaching the word of God. 00:17:32.490 --> 00:17:36.711 Not only do we study the Bible when we preach it from our messages. 00:17:36.711 --> 00:17:38.326 We must expound it. 00:17:38.326 --> 00:17:42.330 We've got to be delivered from what I call state your text and depart you from it. 00:17:42.330 --> 00:17:55.226 You know, listening to many preachers, you get the idea that the Bible is just a springboard for their own thoughts, because the message isn't drawn from Scripture. 00:17:55.226 --> 00:17:57.571 The Scripture is used to bolster their own thoughts. 00:17:57.571 --> 00:18:15.573 But besides the Scriptures, the following should be demonstrated clearly in our lives and ministry as part of our charismatic heritage we need our churches and ministries to live in and minister from the presence of God. 00:18:15.573 --> 00:18:23.333 You know we have settled for a Christianity which is a little more than a commitment to propositions. 00:18:23.813 --> 00:18:30.770 It's obvious from Acts that the success of the apostles was that their ministries were committed to both word and power. 00:18:30.770 --> 00:18:36.890 The power of the Holy Spirit and the presence of God was evident, and we needed it, especially in an hour like ours. 00:18:36.890 --> 00:18:39.544 Acts 5,. 00:18:39.544 --> 00:18:47.027 With great power, the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. 00:18:47.027 --> 00:18:54.307 Nothing, nothing, nothing can substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit in our ministries. 00:18:54.307 --> 00:19:01.051 Without it, we're like the man in the story of Elisha Remember the man with the axe head who lost his axe head? 00:19:01.051 --> 00:19:04.566 We're like him beating the tree with no axe head. 00:19:06.971 --> 00:19:08.212 Spurgeon said it best. 00:19:08.212 --> 00:19:14.969 He said to us as ministers the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential. 00:19:14.969 --> 00:19:18.474 Without him, our office is a mere name. 00:19:18.474 --> 00:19:32.680 We claim no priesthood over and above that which belongs to every child of God, but we are the successors of those who, in olden times, were moved of God to declare his word, to testify against transgression and to lead his cause. 00:19:32.680 --> 00:19:41.048 Unless we have the spirit of the prophets resting upon us, the mantle which we wear is nothing but a rough garment to deceive. 00:19:41.048 --> 00:19:48.205 We ought to be driven forth with abhorrence from the society of honest men for daring to speak in the name of the Lord. 00:19:48.205 --> 00:19:50.510 If the spirit of God rests upon us. 00:19:50.510 --> 00:20:02.571 We continue his witness upon earth, but upon him and his testimony the spirit always rested, and if it does not rest upon us, we are evidently not sent forth into the world as he was. 00:20:02.571 --> 00:20:03.976 Wow. 00:20:06.823 --> 00:20:13.307 In this regard, we should desire earnestly the spiritual gifts in our ministries and our churches. 00:20:13.307 --> 00:20:18.909 You know, we may not be doctrinal secessionists but we can end up being functional secessionists. 00:20:18.909 --> 00:20:28.069 Doctrinally we believe in the gifts, but functionally, you know, it's forbid not but seek not is the motto. 00:20:28.069 --> 00:20:33.771 We need to return to the simplicity of what charismatic means. 00:20:33.771 --> 00:20:35.606 It means pertaining to the gifts. 00:20:35.606 --> 00:20:39.851 They have been abused but we still desperately need them today. 00:20:39.851 --> 00:20:48.867 So I believe God has established Trinity on the foundation of being a word and power church, and may we become more and more. 00:20:48.867 --> 00:20:53.351 May that characterize us more and more in the days ahead. 00:20:53.351 --> 00:20:55.727 Mark's going to introduce Steve, thanks. 00:21:04.538 --> 00:21:05.099 All right. 00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:12.990 So before you heard Derek give his little testimony about how he came to Trinity, we're going to be doing that this weekend. 00:21:12.990 --> 00:21:20.279 We're going to be talking about how each of the elders are going to be talking about how God brought us to Trinity and what we see happening in the future. 00:21:20.279 --> 00:21:22.548 I just want to tell you one story about my coming to Trinity. 00:21:22.548 --> 00:21:29.305 Okay, as I'm introducing Steve, because the first night I ever came to Trinity I was invited by some friends. 00:21:29.305 --> 00:21:31.226 I had some friends who went here. 00:21:31.226 --> 00:21:34.105 It was at Dedrick Avenue. 00:21:34.105 --> 00:21:36.228 I don't know if you know the story or not, steve. 00:21:39.144 --> 00:21:42.132 So Steve used to prophesy over people during services. 00:21:42.132 --> 00:21:46.903 Dedrick Avenue building was a long building, right, and so we had. 00:21:46.903 --> 00:21:48.568 There was no wireless microphones. 00:21:48.568 --> 00:21:53.667 Steve had a little lapel mic and he had like seven microphone cables. 00:21:53.667 --> 00:22:02.462 It's the truth and all the so it would reach all the way to the back of the building and he would go back and he would pull people out and prophesy over people. 00:22:02.482 --> 00:22:05.192 Okay, first time I ever came to Trinity I've never. 00:22:05.192 --> 00:22:09.711 I was hungry for the Lord and for the spirit, but I'd never been prophesied over. 00:22:09.711 --> 00:22:14.028 So he's like doing that and I'm going oh, what's going on around here? 00:22:14.028 --> 00:22:20.866 And, like you know, you've probably done the same things, like maybe, if I don't make eye contact, whatever you do. 00:22:20.866 --> 00:22:26.154 So Steve pulled me out. 00:22:26.154 --> 00:22:45.073 I was out in the aisle and my first prophecy I ever got and he said God is joining you with those who are around you and God is going to use you with them and God is going to send you out and you will go out and come back, and go out and come back. 00:22:45.094 --> 00:22:49.144 Okay, I don't know exact words, but that's what it was. 00:22:49.144 --> 00:22:53.153 Okay, I had no idea that meant join me with Trinity. 00:22:53.153 --> 00:22:55.567 You know, I didn't know that's what it meant. 00:22:55.567 --> 00:22:59.250 I couldn't imagine that because I was pretty young. 00:22:59.250 --> 00:23:01.426 But that's exactly what's happened. 00:23:01.426 --> 00:23:14.948 And now part of what I do, I'm here, part of the pastoral staff, six months out of the year, but the other six months of the year I'm going out, I'm in other nations and I'm coming back and other nations coming back, and it's the word of the Lord. 00:23:14.948 --> 00:23:19.393 I mean the word of the Lord is strong and powerful and we need that right. 00:23:19.393 --> 00:23:20.713 So very interesting. 00:23:20.713 --> 00:23:22.797 So anyway, I just want you to welcome Steve. 00:23:26.767 --> 00:23:28.838 He's such a wonderful father in the Lord. 00:23:28.838 --> 00:23:32.088 Thanks, mark, great to be here. 00:23:32.088 --> 00:23:37.425 Hey, great food, thank you so much. 00:23:37.425 --> 00:23:39.867 Great fellowship, wow. 00:23:39.867 --> 00:23:48.933 I'm not going to share long, but I do have a little five-minute capsule of something that Holy Spirit has prophetically given. 00:23:48.933 --> 00:23:53.230 I've shared it with Clem so he released me to give it. 00:23:53.230 --> 00:23:58.890 But you know, when I came here, it was 1984. 00:23:59.049 --> 00:24:00.564 When I came, I first preached here. 00:24:00.564 --> 00:24:03.376 I think it was 1982 or 1983. 00:24:03.376 --> 00:24:22.324 And the first time I preached here was a Sunday night and that morning whoever the pastor was I don't know, he had only been here for about five or six months he had resigned that morning and I was the guest speaker that Sunday night. 00:24:22.324 --> 00:24:40.582 And I was trying not to connect the dots, honestly, because Neil and I were working together in Florence and we had just, I felt had taken the church to another level, where we were finally something was happening and I certainly didn't want to go anywhere. 00:24:40.582 --> 00:24:42.246 I was feeling very comfortable. 00:24:42.246 --> 00:24:46.795 So I came back to Alabama and told Neil. 00:24:46.795 --> 00:24:52.972 I said, neil, one of us have to go there, and I think it's you. 00:24:52.972 --> 00:24:59.691 And I told him I said, please pray about you know they don't have a pastor there. 00:24:59.691 --> 00:25:02.565 Of course, him and I being best friends. 00:25:02.565 --> 00:25:08.086 I didn't want him to go, but at the same time I felt this like needed to go. 00:25:08.086 --> 00:25:10.872 So anyway, he said he'd pray about it. 00:25:10.872 --> 00:25:22.548 And he was praying about it and the elders here were praying about it and while everybody's praying, the Lord spoke to me and to my wife, sandy and doesn't Sandy look so beautiful here? 00:25:22.548 --> 00:25:26.863 Hallelujah, yeah, she's doing great. 00:25:26.863 --> 00:25:30.892 And we felt that we were supposed to go. 00:25:30.892 --> 00:25:34.269 And then we said, well, gee, we're supposed to go. 00:25:34.269 --> 00:25:41.009 How are we going to break the news to Neil, because it looks like he's wanting to go? 00:25:41.009 --> 00:25:48.369 At the same time, the Lord downloaded to him that I was supposed to go and he was supposed to stay in Alabama. 00:25:48.369 --> 00:25:52.309 So that's how it worked out by me coming in 1984. 00:25:52.329 --> 00:25:53.721 I'm just going to share a few things. 00:25:53.721 --> 00:25:58.093 You know we got so many things that happened during my little tenure here. 00:25:58.093 --> 00:25:58.900 A little. 00:25:58.900 --> 00:26:02.104 It was almost 30 years, 29 years. 00:26:02.104 --> 00:26:09.731 In one of our services we actually had the glory cloud. 00:26:09.731 --> 00:26:10.972 We actually had the glory cloud. 00:26:10.972 --> 00:26:17.901 Shekinah glory of God actually came into the building and we had a balcony. 00:26:17.921 --> 00:26:30.390 And it's kind of a funny story because Tim Ashley, who started another church and he wasn't able to be here, started Harvest Church. 00:26:30.390 --> 00:26:40.587 He happened to come for the first time as a visitor to Trinity Chapel and he was sitting next to Bobby Ewing how many remember Bobby Ewing, anybody remember? 00:26:40.587 --> 00:26:44.449 And Bobby was sitting there and all of a sudden this cloud comes in. 00:26:44.449 --> 00:26:57.053 Okay, and Tim is sitting next to Bobby, he doesn't even know Bobby, he just happens to come in as a guest and turns around to Bobby. 00:26:57.053 --> 00:26:58.142 He goes, what is that? 00:26:58.142 --> 00:27:08.509 And Bobby like nonchalantly goes oh, that's the glory cloud, as if it comes every Sunday or something. 00:27:08.509 --> 00:27:11.808 I mean he did it like every day. 00:27:11.808 --> 00:27:13.366 Oh, that's the glory cloud. 00:27:13.366 --> 00:27:14.803 Tim goes. 00:27:14.803 --> 00:27:18.048 Glory cloud Because Tim was going to a Baptist church. 00:27:18.048 --> 00:27:18.461 He was going. 00:27:18.461 --> 00:27:20.808 We don't have that in our church. 00:27:20.808 --> 00:27:32.999 So Tim left his church and came to Trinity and later was sent out to some things that are kind of in my memory. 00:27:33.038 --> 00:27:45.943 I remember having this dream and in this dream all the cars in the Trinity parking lot were all driving around without anybody in the car. 00:27:45.943 --> 00:27:51.313 There was nobody in the car, just cars driving around the parking lot car. 00:27:51.313 --> 00:27:54.739 There was nobody in the car, just cars driving around the parking lot. 00:27:54.739 --> 00:28:00.048 So I woke up and I said Lord, what is that? 00:28:00.048 --> 00:28:02.279 And he said I'm about to do something in which you have no control over. 00:28:02.279 --> 00:28:07.771 You know, to a pastor that's like the most fearful thing you could hear, because pastoring it's like we have to have a little bit of something. 00:28:07.771 --> 00:28:11.810 You know, like you're, I'm about to do something you have absolutely no control over. 00:28:13.040 --> 00:28:20.127 So we had a whole crew that went to Toronto and I know Sandy, patty and a bunch of others. 00:28:20.127 --> 00:28:22.566 They all went to Toronto, all got blasted. 00:28:22.566 --> 00:28:26.049 I know Russ went to Toronto, really got blasted. 00:28:26.049 --> 00:28:29.201 So church really got blasted, anyway. 00:28:29.201 --> 00:28:35.346 So they came back and one of them was Dee Durfee, and I don't think she's here tonight but she's not here. 00:28:35.346 --> 00:28:43.451 But anyway it's a Sunday night and Sunday night Dee Durfee gets to the microphone and this is what she says. 00:28:43.451 --> 00:28:45.701 She says would you like to see a move of God? 00:28:45.701 --> 00:28:52.614 That's what she, you know in a very low voice, because d had a very soft voice. 00:28:53.442 --> 00:28:54.865 Would you like to see a move of god? 00:28:54.865 --> 00:28:58.653 And I still remember, jim greer, what she said. 00:28:58.653 --> 00:29:08.511 Arms were folded like, yeah, you're going to do something like you. 00:29:08.511 --> 00:29:10.513 A move of God. 00:29:10.513 --> 00:29:12.256 That's all she said, and I'm not kidding. 00:29:12.256 --> 00:29:16.971 The heavens opened and we had this outpouring of the spirit. 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:19.449 Nobody left the building till one o'clock in the morning. 00:29:19.449 --> 00:29:25.071 Everybody was out in the spirit and laughing hysterically. 00:29:25.071 --> 00:29:26.646 I'm not exaggerating. 00:29:26.646 --> 00:29:27.944 I never got it. 00:29:27.944 --> 00:29:28.821 Honestly. 00:29:28.821 --> 00:29:30.147 I never got the laughing. 00:29:30.147 --> 00:29:34.742 Everybody was asking me to help them to stop laughing. 00:29:34.742 --> 00:29:37.728 Neil was there. 00:29:37.788 --> 00:29:41.555 I mean, we could not stop it and we could not start it. 00:29:41.555 --> 00:29:48.969 And I remember all the teenagers were piled up in a pile like a haystack. 00:29:48.969 --> 00:29:51.712 I couldn't figure out how they did that. 00:29:51.712 --> 00:30:00.863 And we didn't get out till, you know, one o'clock in the morning and this went on and we had to go every night and this happened. 00:30:00.863 --> 00:30:01.585 This is the truth. 00:30:01.585 --> 00:30:07.661 We would have months where no one could preach on Sunday night. 00:30:07.661 --> 00:30:10.690 Every time you were ready to preach, you couldn't speak. 00:30:13.641 --> 00:30:14.522 Is Ed Rosen here? 00:30:14.522 --> 00:30:17.751 Great, now I can tell what happened. 00:30:17.751 --> 00:30:25.813 So, ed Rosen, he was one of our elders and he had a teaching and he didn't care. 00:30:25.813 --> 00:30:30.290 Man, I'm going to give forth this teaching and you're going to hear it. 00:30:30.290 --> 00:30:34.721 I've got something I believe you're supposed to hear and I remember. 00:30:34.721 --> 00:30:36.028 So he gets up to the pulpit. 00:30:36.440 --> 00:30:39.587 Like I told you, every week no one could speak. 00:30:39.587 --> 00:30:45.079 On Sunday night, the power of God was so strong, the glory, the presence. 00:30:45.079 --> 00:30:46.204 You could not. 00:30:46.204 --> 00:30:48.527 All we could do was worship. 00:30:48.527 --> 00:30:51.483 That's all we could do was worship. 00:30:51.483 --> 00:30:55.682 So, anyway, ed gets up to the pulpit. 00:30:55.682 --> 00:30:56.544 God bless him. 00:30:56.544 --> 00:31:00.692 He's standing there and we're waiting for him to speak. 00:31:00.692 --> 00:31:06.748 He's just standing there and this weird look comes over his face. 00:31:06.748 --> 00:31:09.351 And we're all waiting over his face and we're all waiting. 00:31:09.351 --> 00:31:10.673 He's just standing there. 00:31:10.673 --> 00:31:12.295 Then he finally goes. 00:31:12.295 --> 00:31:26.046 I'm absolutely drunk in the Holy Spirit and I think he falls over and the whole church just exploded. 00:31:26.046 --> 00:31:29.030 That's what we had meetings like that. 00:31:29.030 --> 00:31:31.693 They were insane. 00:31:31.693 --> 00:31:32.375 They really were. 00:31:32.375 --> 00:31:45.373 I mean, there was no way to and the worship was incredible and Aaron would play the most famous song on Sunday night. 00:31:45.373 --> 00:31:48.426 Here he comes. 00:31:48.779 --> 00:31:56.286 Here he comes We'd be jumping and dancing. 00:31:56.286 --> 00:32:01.189 I mean it was no way to stop it, it was unstoppable. 00:32:01.189 --> 00:32:03.431 So we had a lot of that. 00:32:03.431 --> 00:32:06.232 You know that took place. 00:32:06.232 --> 00:32:18.021 But you know even before that we always had worship was kind of always something big and I think it was already mentioned. 00:32:18.021 --> 00:32:18.742 You know people would sneak in. 00:32:18.742 --> 00:32:23.933 Sunday night was our biggest meeting and on Dederick Avenue we just had something special, I hate to say it, beloved. 00:32:23.933 --> 00:32:37.192 I appreciate Mark was so kind of how he shared about when we moved to Haines, turkey, sharing about all the good things, but I hate to say it, the cloud seemed like it never left Dederick, going over. 00:32:37.192 --> 00:32:40.425 God bless that place. 00:32:41.240 --> 00:32:44.631 But all I could tell you there was something special at Dederick. 00:32:44.631 --> 00:32:46.406 I don't know if because it was in the ghetto. 00:32:46.406 --> 00:32:52.550 In other words, if you went there you really took a chance in the ghetto. 00:32:52.550 --> 00:32:54.579 In other words, if you went there you really took a chance. 00:32:54.579 --> 00:33:00.805 I mean, we would have new cars would be stolen from the parking lot, people would come up to me crying my car's gone. 00:33:00.805 --> 00:33:10.148 You know, I still remember Gene Wright was in the vestibule of the and I think it might've been with Joan too, and I remember they were crying. 00:33:10.148 --> 00:33:10.549 I go. 00:33:10.549 --> 00:33:11.050 What's the matter? 00:33:11.050 --> 00:33:15.872 There was a gunfight going, bullets flying all over the place. 00:33:15.872 --> 00:33:19.887 Maybe that's what made it special, I don't know. 00:33:19.887 --> 00:33:31.390 We had bullet holes in our stained glass windows on Dead or Again, we had bullet holes in our stained glass windows. 00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:45.290 And you know, I learned a lot since then, believe me, I used to have a saying, and one of my sayings was if you didn't like what I said, don't let the door hit you on the way out. 00:33:45.290 --> 00:33:47.946 I used to say it all the time. 00:33:47.946 --> 00:33:52.967 I used to say you don't like what I'm preaching on, don't let the door hit you on the way out. 00:33:52.967 --> 00:33:57.550 And I remember Linda Wheeler that was her name, precious sister. 00:33:57.550 --> 00:34:10.273 She came up to me one day and said Steve, I'm so sick of you saying If I don't like what you're saying, don't let the door hit you on the way out. 00:34:10.273 --> 00:34:12.748 Would you please not say it anymore? 00:34:12.748 --> 00:34:16.427 So I repented and never said it again. 00:34:18.440 --> 00:34:20.525 But I remember one of our worship services. 00:34:20.525 --> 00:34:22.731 At one time we had four trumpets. 00:34:22.731 --> 00:34:29.052 We had four trumpets and then one Sunday night I think we had five. 00:34:29.052 --> 00:34:34.552 And I remember asking somebody does anybody know who that person is? 00:34:34.552 --> 00:34:40.166 We didn't even know who he was. 00:34:40.166 --> 00:34:43.668 It was like somebody can just get up on the stage and play. 00:34:43.668 --> 00:35:06.762 I mean it was like, and then we used to have a tradition, it was called special song, special music, before the preaching, and every Sunday morning somebody would sing, and sometimes who absolutely could not sing. 00:35:07.543 --> 00:35:15.275 And we had one dear sister who used to have a great, a great operatic voice. 00:35:15.275 --> 00:35:19.027 Neil would call it the seventh seal. 00:35:19.027 --> 00:35:27.246 She would get up and all she had left was falsetto. 00:35:27.246 --> 00:35:53.197 All she had left was just falsetto, and we would let all the teenagers are under the that's when we had pews, they were under the pews and I'm pinching myself because I'm about to burst out laughing and we didn't have the heart to say to her you can't sing, to say to her you can't sing. 00:35:53.197 --> 00:36:10.202 Anyway, that was some of the stuff that went on before Mark led worship and then Aaron, you know, jack Wright. 00:36:10.202 --> 00:36:14.172 I think literally people would come to church just to see Jack smile. 00:36:14.172 --> 00:36:22.552 I mean he had the biggest smile on his face when he led worship. 00:36:22.552 --> 00:36:30.094 I mean he made everybody feel like $1,000 just coming in through the door, unbelievable. 00:36:31.181 --> 00:36:34.487 I met Neil back down in Miami, like I said he just mentioned. 00:36:34.487 --> 00:36:38.545 He did have long hair and he was very. 00:36:38.545 --> 00:36:45.626 He was not nice to me, let's put it that way, because he wasn't saved yet and his brother was. 00:36:45.626 --> 00:36:47.733 I want you to meet a friend of mine. 00:36:47.733 --> 00:36:49.784 Neil looked at me and go, hey, hey, you know. 00:36:49.784 --> 00:36:54.987 So Neil and I came into that background. 00:36:54.987 --> 00:37:00.956 We were part of the Jesus movement and one thing about the Jesus movement is we were totally abandoned to the Lord. 00:37:00.956 --> 00:37:11.614 So it was kind of hard for us to actually fit in to organize church because of our background, of what we used to do. 00:37:11.614 --> 00:37:13.447 I mean, we were every day. 00:37:13.447 --> 00:37:20.320 We were just the passion that we had, not just for the loss but, you know, for Jesus. 00:37:20.320 --> 00:37:29.764 Let me just share real quick just a very simple prophetic word that I feel like the Lord's given to me for Trinity. 00:37:32.565 --> 00:37:48.434 We already mentioned the pioneers, which was Jack and Charlie, and you, brashear and Len, you were thrown kind of in that too, in that kind of mix, also even Russ, coming back later. 00:37:48.434 --> 00:37:50.034 But I almost look at them. 00:37:50.034 --> 00:37:53.155 They were like the Abraham realm. 00:37:53.155 --> 00:37:55.856 That was like the Abraham realm. 00:37:55.856 --> 00:37:58.398 You know it cost a lot Most of those got. 00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:04.442 I remember one time somebody asked a survey how many came out of the Baptist church. 00:38:04.442 --> 00:38:08.710 I couldn't believe almost the entire congregation had come out of the Baptist church. 00:38:08.710 --> 00:38:11.028 Wow, had come out of the Baptist church. 00:38:11.028 --> 00:38:19.103 Wow, that was a big deal to all of a sudden believe that in a Holy Spirit, in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 00:38:19.103 --> 00:38:21.751 By the way, most of them were disfellowshipped. 00:38:21.751 --> 00:38:27.269 It wasn't like they were sent out with laying on of hands. 00:38:27.269 --> 00:38:37.362 I mean, there was just so many people that were in the churches. 00:38:37.362 --> 00:38:44.894 So I look at Jack and Charlie, they were the Abraham you could call that particular section of Trinity. 00:38:44.894 --> 00:38:48.851 Praise God for that pioneering spirit, praise God for the. 00:38:48.851 --> 00:39:25.168 And, by the way, a little more background that perhaps you didn't know is that a lot of this started way back when, when many of them went to Frank Meredith's church yeah, I think I hit a note there and then he got into legalism of the shepherding movement and all that stuff, and so Trinity was kind of established to be a church that would again like Neil mentioned, that would really believe in the word of God and wouldn't be submitting just to man but would be submitting to God. 00:39:25.168 --> 00:39:31.847 So they really made a stand and in a sense this was the real major charismatic church in the whole city. 00:39:31.847 --> 00:39:38.494 It was like the start of the first charismatic church in the entire city. 00:39:38.494 --> 00:39:39.940 So therefore people came. 00:39:39.940 --> 00:39:44.878 They would sneak in in the balcony because we had a balcony. 00:39:44.878 --> 00:39:52.003 They would sneak in, nobody knew who they were, to hear what we were doing and hopefully they would get baptized in the Holy Spirit. 00:39:52.003 --> 00:39:54.416 Anyway, those guys were the pioneers. 00:39:54.416 --> 00:39:55.356