A Dedicated House | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter
by Kenneth Carpenter
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Deuteronomy 20:1-7, Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kenneth-carpenter--a-dedicated-house
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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If you have your Bibles and would turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter number 20. Deuteronomy, chapter number 20. And we'll begin reading at verse number one. Song says, "It's so easy to love him." And I'd like for them to write a new verse to that. Write another verse to that. What's not to love about him? What's not to love about him? If a sinner man by the name of Pilate could examine Jesus Christ and pass judgment and say, "I find no fault in him." If a man that was never recorded he repented of his sins, a man that it's never recorded that he was ever waterbaptized in Jesus name or filled with the Holy Ghost. If a man that was totally carnal could say, "I find no fault in him." How much more can you and I who have been born again and live for God? So, I'm going to tell you, I find absolutely no fault. I find no fault in him. Amen. Amen. Just just for a moment, brother and sister Mayo, it's so good to have y'all back at church today. Brother Mayo's had some physical issues that he's been battling with. And brother Mayo, it is so good to have you all back at church today. We love you. Appreciate you. Verse number one. When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and see horses and chariots, and a people more than thou art than thou. Be not afraid of them, for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be when you are come nigh unto the battle that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Here, O Israel, you approach this day into the battle against your enemies. Let not your hearts faint. Fear not, and do not tremble, neither be terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you. And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? Let him also go and return into his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife and hath not taken her? Let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in battle and another man take her. For a few moments today, I want to minister something that's dear to my heart. something that I have that I have in a number of ways tried to have in my life, my personal spiritual life and then our married life. We have fought to have and this is my title, a dedicated house. A dedicated house. Would you pray with me today? Father, Lord, the choir ushered us into your presence, Lord, as they sung the songs of victory, as they sung the songs, God, today of praise. And Lord, as we begin to feel your spirit as it came down and kissed this congregation, Lord, we stood before your throne and we praised and worshiped you. And Lord, we stood before your throne and we gave you our prayer request. And now God, we stand before your throne. And we ask that your word would enter our hearts and our minds. And Lord, that we would receive today the engrafted word that changes us, God. And Lord, we'll give you the praise and give you the honor. In Jesus wonderful name we pray. Amen. If you put your Bibles down for a moment and I'm going to ask you to give the Lord a hand of praise before you're seated. Praise him. Thank you, Lord. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Oh, glory to God. I love you, Lord. I love you, God. I praise you, Lord. I praise you, God. The name of Jesus, a dedicated house. Let me tell you a little bit about book about the book of Deuteronomy. Let me tell you just a little bit about this book in the Old Testament. The book of Deuteronomy is quoted over 80 times in the New Testament. The book of Deuteronomy is quoted over 80 times in the in the New Testament. And if I was to give brother brother Hammond, if we were to talk about and we we've often mentioned and you wrote a book on it, the book of James in the New Testament, uh the book of James is is really a a a way to live your life. It's it's it's not the book of Revelation. It's not filled with symbols and things. It's really, it's just really very simple book. James breaks it down. It's one of my favorite books in the New Testament, the book of James, because he just kind of breaks it down to where you understand it's it's a daily life. It's daily life. It's it's how to treat one another. I would say that the book of Deuteronomy is the Old Testament book of James because it just deals with how to live for God, how to love one another, how to treat your neighbor. It's just it's just basically how to h the howto of how you ought to live in society and how how you ought to treat one another. It's just a wonderful it's it's just a wonderful book. As a matter of fact, many of us have heard the story of when Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. He was he was tempted in three ways. And in all three ways, he quoted scripture back to the devil. All three times the devil tempted him. All three times Jesus quoted scripture to the devil. He he he quoted back to him. And those scriptures, all three of them came from the book of Deuteronomy. Every scripture that Jesus fought off temptation came from the book of Deuteronomy. So here in Deuteronomy chapter 20, we find that the people of God would be uh asked or it would be required of them to go to battle. And as a matter of fact, as we read the first few verses, they were very inspirational because Moses was to step out and Moses was to tell the people, when you go to battle, when you go to battle against your enemies, and I give you a little side note there today, you know, I believe we live in a culture that we need to really understand who our enemy is and who our enemy isn't because just like the things have been turned around in price tags have been switched and we're calling bitter sweet and we're calling sweet bitter. I think that we can actually call things our enemy that's really not our enemy and we can call things our help that is really our enemy. And so he said, "When you when you go out against your enemy," and he said, "You step out there, you step out there and you see number one, we're outnumbered. There's more of them that is with us. Number two, we're not only outnumbered, there's not only more of the enemy than they are of us, but we don't have the weaponry that they have. We don't have horses and we don't have chariots. We We don't have the kind of weapons that they've got. So, we step out and we look at the enemy and we realize number one, we're outnumbered and number two, we're taking a BB gun into a nuclear war. I mean, we're we're just simply we're simply outnumbered and we're out the machinery of war. We we we can't even compare our slingshot to their chariot. But then here comes the good news. He said, "Don't be afraid of them. Don't be terrified for them because I am with you." Don't don't don't don't worry about it because I am with you. Can Can I tell you today, just give you a good reminder, nothing deep today, nothing new. Can I tell you today that if God be for you, if God be with you, it doesn't matter how many are against you, if God is for you, now that ought to comfort your soul when you step out and look at life's battle and there's more than you and they're they're more sophisticated in their weaponry. That's okay. God said, "I am with you." And don't be afraid. Don't tremble. Don't don't don't let your hearts be dismayed because I am with you. I am with you. And then it goes on the next verse. It seems like that before they left their city, before they left their city that that that they stepped out and they said, "Hey, don't be afraid of what you're going to see. You're going to see some things in the future. You're going to see some things in the future that if you don't keep in your mind that God is with you, not going to be with you, not has been with you, but God is with you right now, you don't realize that, you'll be fearful. But then it's almost as the narrative of the scripture goes that they come nigh to the battle. They they get close to the battle. And here is where the Bible introduces the priest. either is the man of God and the man of God steps out. Can can I tell you that that is a comforting thing to hear the word of God preach. When you're going through a battle on Monday, Tuesday, it's good to come back to church on Wednesday and hear the word of God preach. You know, it's good when you go through the battle on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to come back on Sunday morning and hear the word of God preach. You see, I was a few days away from the battle, but now I'm facing the battle. And he said, "Priest going to step out." And the priest is going to remind them of something. As I brought you out of Egypt, I'm going to fight for you. I'm going to be with you. I'm going to be the enemy to your enemies. I'm going to fight with your enemy. You You You don't even need to fight. You just need to fight the good fight of faith. Matter of fact, you need to do what the sign team did today, having done all to stand. Stand therefore. Sometimes that's all you can do is stand. But standing is enough because he said, "Stand therefore and I'm going to stand. I'm I'm going to stand." And the priest comes up and he says, "I fought the battle in Egypt. I brought you out of Egypt. I brought you from that mighty nation. And now don't be afraid of them. I'll be the enemy to your enemies. I'll fight against those that are fighting against you. Now, battle would be the gain. They would gain property. They would gain material things. As a matter of fact, this scripture narrative doesn't really even say when you're attacked. It seems like that Israel has went on the offense. It seems like that Israel has stepped out. That Israel says it's time for gain. that Israel says it's time to increase our territory. But then right in the middle of it all, right in the middle of it all, it's almost as if God puts the brakes on and he says, "But if there's a man that has built a house and he has not yet dedicated, there was there was there was an exemption. As a matter of fact, there's four exemptions to this chapter. Four of them. Number one, if you had built a house and hadn't dedicated it. Number two, if you had planted a vineyard and never harvest the grapes and never drunk of the grapes. Number three, if you had betrod or engaged a wife to marry her, but the marriage hadn't taken place. And number four, the priest would step out and he would say, "If there's any faint-hearted, basically he would get up and say, "If there's any cowards among us, you can leave." All right. So, the first thing that he said, he said, "If there's a man here that has built a house, you've built it, you've finished it, but you've not put the final touch on your house. You have not dedicated your house. It is a house that is yet to be dedicated. Now, we've got to go back to culture to understand. We got to go back to the Old Testament to understand and the culture today. Today, we will have things like a housewarming. All right? And and that's where people you you know you somebody built a house or somebody bought a house for the first time and and and they have a house warming and friends will bring a toaster over they'll bring a blender over. They'll bring a coffee pot over or they'll bring a rug over whatever and and they call it a house warming. Are you still with me today? And and and and that's a house warm. Well, let me tell you where that came from. that came from the Old Testament where they would dedicate where they would dedicate a room exclusively in their house. They would dedicate a room exclusively to Jehovah. They would dedicate a room exclusively to God. They would have this room. They would have this room and it would exclusively be dedicated to him. It would be it's not the living room. It's not the den. It's it's not a bedroom. It's it it is a room that is for God and for God only. Now, we find that in many um religions in the world today. Uh take the Hindu religion. Uh as a matter of fact, we lived in a neighborhood a few years ago that uh a Hindu lived right right beside us and we were we were we were we were great friends. Uh we were we were great friends and I witnessed uh I witnessed to him and actually had prayer actually had prayer with him. One day he invited me and Sister Carpenter into his house into his home and uh we we went I think maybe invite us over for supper some something like that. And as we went in the house he had a room. It was a room that was filled with all kind of posters and little idol relics and and and there was one one god that that was the money god and there was a health god and there were just all these different all these different uh uh gods uh in that room that whatever need that he would have he would go in and if it was health he would pray to this god. It was a matter of fact there was a poster there and it it was a it was a picture of a woman and uh it it she had had her hands kind of like this and there were coins coming out of her hand and and that was a money god and he he is a he was a he's a business owner here in town and he joked with me and he said I stay before her often said I'm I'm I'm before her often but that room was exclusive some dried fruit there laying in in in front of one of the uh idols there and there was some flowers that were were laying over here were these people that would go out and pick these flowers of the morning and come and spend time spend time in that room. Well, all these different cultures that have these things today, it all comes from the Old Testament because when they would dedicate a house, there was a room in that house that was exclusively for Jehovah. Absolutely for Jehovah. Number one, it was for Jehovah's presence. It was for Jehovah's protection. It was very important that that room was kept because that room spoke of the protection and the presence of Jehovah of Jehovah God. Now, now just follow with me just just for a few moments. Now, a housewarming just takes a few hours. You just go over and take a toaster, a blender, whatever. Just takes a few hours. But when it came to dedicate a house, it was a liflong process because when do you ever have enough of God in your house? When do you ever not need the protecting power of God in your house? We live in a world today that if we could see the spirit world today, the enemy, the devil, demonic forces today are loose in our world today and they're seeking whom they may devour. But when the enemy comes to the house of a person that has dedicated that house to God, I want you to know it is a red light. It is a stop sign. Hell cannot work the way it wants to work when a house is dedicated to the worship of the one true and living God. Just give me a few moments. Can I tell you today? Can I tell you today that the word dedicate here in the scripture, the Hebrew word dedicate means to train. We think of the word dedicated as a ceremony that takes a few moments. Just takes a few moments in a ceremony and and we've dedicated. Can I tell you that it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to dedicate children, but it takes a lifetime to train them. You you you see many of the many of these young girls, many of the the young ladies and the young men on this platform this morning that so beautifully signed to us. Um um many of these children, I call them children, they're young, they're adults, young adults, but many of them stood on a platform either here up the road and we dedicated them to God. Just took about 15 or 20 minutes to dedicate them to God. But I'm going to tell you something. They stood here today without any reservation. They stood here today when teenagers are supposed to be turned off to church and definitely turned off to participating in church. When when when they're saying that young people are just not buying in to mom and dad's religion today. Here on this platform, I don't know if you recognize it or not, but here on this platform in this choir law is young men and young women that are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They're not intimidated. They're not backward. They're they're they're not depressed. They're not held down. You know what's just a product? It's not the product of a 15 or a 20 minute baby dedication that happened 18 years ago. It's a product of moms and dads that dedicated a time and a place and over and over and over and over. Oh my goodness. How many hundreds of Wednesday night Bible studies was on this platform? How many hundreds of Sunday night services was on this platform? How many youth camps was on this platform today? Am I making sense to you this morning? It's not just a little I'm going to tell you something. We can have a wedding. And please hold on to this statement here. Buckle up. It's a tough one. We can have a wedding here between 45 minutes to an hour. We can have a wedding here. But you listen to me. It takes years to have a marriage. Oh, we're so much in love. And I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm privileged to stand just inches away from their gooing and gawing at each other. And hey, look. That's cool. It ought to be like that. But I'm also the one that they call when they ain't good and God each other when they drove two separate cars to the counseling session. Huh? Because you can get you can have a wedding in about 45 minutes. But it's going to take you years to have a marriage because you got to go through some things called seasons. And it's in the things called seasons that really flavor your marriage. You You see, you can eat a steak. What's the difference between a a steak and a great steak? Seasoning. Seasoning. You can have a steak, but you can have a great steak, not getting necessarily a greater grade of steak, but because somebody knew how to put the right seasoning on there. They they they they knew how to put the right seasoning there. They they knew not not too much, not too much, not too much of this seasoning, not too much of that, just right. and they blend it together and and they put it in the oven and or they put it on the grill and then they give it to you and you say, "Man, this thing is this is out of this world." Can I tell you something? Our lives and our marriages and our children are just like that. We all go through seasons. We go through cold seasons. We go through hot seasons. We go through mild seasons. We go through dead seasons. But you can't give up because you got to dedicate the house. And it takes more than just a 15minute baby dedication or a 45minute wedding ceremony. If you're going to dedicate your house, it's a 247 thing. It's day in day out. We're going to live for God. We're in a season right now of our life, but we are going to live. Oh Lord, I'm a little I'm a little I wish somebody give me a coin. I'd flip it today to see whether ought to tell this or not. Yesterday, Zach and Lauren, the boys, came over to swim in the pool, and I was inside trying to study a little bit, and I heard our precious little hammy out there just squalling his eyes out. So, I thought, I better go out and check this out. And there he sat on the bottom step. His brother and dad was playing ball. His mom was over suntanning. And there they are. and he's over here and say, "Hey, hey, what's up with Hammy? What's up with what's what's up with Hammy?" You know, papa, you know, come on. What's up with Hammy? He said, "He's He's grounded." Well, what what'd he do? Because I'm going Papa Papa's going to kind of What did he do? Brother Hammond said he called me a buttthead. You're on your own, dude. You know, because the best thing that little boy could have is a dedicated daddy. We don't need to wait till they get in. We don't need to wait till they're 13, 16 years old. If they're five years old and talking back to you, you need to do something. If they're five years old and they're smacking around on you, they're going to knock you out when they're 16 years old. You need ah Lord. I'm I'm talking about having a dedic I might run the aisles this morning. I'm talking about having a dedicated house. Don't nobody feel sorry for that little boy. Nobody feel sorry for him. Because if we don't train them up in the way that they should go, somebody help me out now. If we don't train them up in the way they should go, if we don't dedicate them in the way I I don't know about parents and I say, "Well, when when when they get when they get into sixth grade, I when they get in the first grade, I'm going to start teaching them this and teaching them that." Why wait? Train them up now. Let them know what no means. Let let them let them know at an early in in in at an early age. Cuz you did I tell you we can dedicate a baby in about 15 minutes. But you don't get what we had on this platform with 15 minutes. Hundreds of Wednesday nights. I'm going to say it again. Hundreds of Wednesday nights. Hundreds of Sunday mornings. hundreds of Sunday nights, cars that you could have bought with tuition that you said, "No, I'm going to pay tuition. I'm going to get them in a school. I got to get them in the right environment." They went here in K5 and they went here in the first grade and they went here in the second grade. I wonder how many seniors we got that's going to graduate tonight. Would you stand right now? Would Would you stand with me right now? You're you're in here and you're a senior, maybe. Come on. You're you're you're in here and you're you're you're a senior. Okay, Brother Hammond, Brother Hammond uses y'all a lot. C Can I use y'all a lot? Can I use Would y'all run down here for a minute? Would you run down here? Would Would you run down right quick? Run. That That That means moving the legs faster. Okay, that Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Platform. Come on. Hundreds of Wednesday nights. Hundreds of Sunday. What are you looking at right now? Hundreds of Wednesday nights. Hundreds of Sunday mornings. Hundreds of Sunday nights. Hundreds of Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday at school. Hundreds of rush hour, hundreds of praying with them. Hundreds, man. I feel the Holy Ghost right now. You may be seated, but you keep standing. What are you seeing here? Seasons. Seasons. What kind of seasons? Seasons when they didn't make all the right decisions. Oh, adults, let's not get self-righteous. I didn't The pastor didn't make all the right decisions either. All right. I didn't make the right I didn't make all the right decisions before Christ nor after Christ. I didn't make all the right decisions. But you know what happened? I was dedicated. I took my wrong decisions to the right place. I took my wrong behavior to the right place. I just had enough sense to know I can't let go of this. I don't belong in the world. I don't belong out there. I may be tempted to go out there, but I'm telling you, I don't belong out there. And I might have When I and you were this age, we might have dipped our toe in the water of the world. only to realize, "Woo, I don't belong there. I don't belong there." We might have listened to things we shouldn't have listened to. Woo! I don't belong. I I I don't belong. We might have looked at things and said things and done things, but I'm glad that we serve a God of a dedicated house. I I'm glad that we serve a God that if he brought me out of Egypt, if he would love me enough when I didn't even know his name, if he would love me enough when I was serving idol gods, how much more that he would that that he care for me right now? Seasons. See seasons. It's what you're looking at right now. Hill seasons. Oh, what a mighty man of God he is. I'm going to tell you something. Oh, Taylor Fish, what a mighty man of God he is. That's right. But that boy went through seasons. Oh, Zack Hammond, I hear it. Oh, I hear it. Oh, Chad Ericson. Oh, no. I hear I hear. You know what? Seasons. Seasons. seasons of your life, Brother Hammond, that you weren't everything that you should be, but you had a mom and daddy that served a dedicated God in a dedicated house and they kept you right here. And so now we don't look back on the boy that did this and the boy that did that. We don't look back on the boy that We don't look back on the boy that Paul Mooney, president of IBC, had tell you, Kat Ericton, get a haircut. We don't we don't we don't think of that. What do we think of? We look at fine men of God and women of God. And it's the same thing with you. We've been through seasons together. A little season of coldness, a little season of this, and a little season of that. But we serve a God of a dedicated house. We serve a God a little season of failure, a little season of misunderstanding, a little season of hurt, a little season of this, and a little season of that. And I stand on this platform this morning with the graduating class of 2025 that are ready to work for God because we have a dedicated God. Come on, give them a big hand as they're going back to their pew today. In your face, devil. You thought you were going to get them. You thought you were going to make drug acts out of them. You thought you were going to make perverts out of them. You thought you were going to mess with their mind. But in your face, devil in your We have a dedicated God. God, there's some things better than gain. There's some things better than winning. And God said, "Have a dedicated house." What does a dedicated house look like? Here's what a dedicated house looks like. Musicians, would you come? I'm I'm coming to an end. Here's what a dedicated house looks like. Deuteronomy 6 and4. A dedicated house must have dedicated parents. I wonder how many parents here today that desire to be parents that dedicate a house would shout, "Amen." Amen. Come on. If you're here today and you're a parent and you want to have a dedicated house, I want you to shout, "Amen." Amen. Here's what a dedicated house looks like. Deuteronomy 6 and4 here. O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. Who's he talking to here? Parents, listen to me, parents. We had this today because we got parents. Listen to me. Parents, listen to pastor, please. These words, look at verse six, which I command you this day shall be in thine heart. Notice he didn't say in thy head. He said in your heart. If we don't love God, they won't love God. If we You can't train from your head. You have to train from your heart. This has got to get in your heart. Don't you want the ways of God to be in your heart? We don't have to go to church. We don't have to worship God. We don't have to sing in the choir. We don't have to be a greeter. We don't have to be a teacher. We don't have to be this and we don't have to do that. We don't have to tithe. And we don't have to give offerings. We don't have to. We get to. It's in our heart. We'd have it no other way. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go in to the house of the Lord. It's not a duty. It's not a drudgery. Come on. Is it in your heart today? Shake off. Shake off Leona. Shake off slandering. SL shake that all off today. It's in my heart. But I wish somebody would shout, "It's in my heart." In my heart. And these words, you you may be seated. These words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt Who's the thou? Parents shall teach them what's them the word. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. And shall talk of them when thou sitest in thy house. You got to talk it in your house. This is what a dedicated house looks like. You got to talk about it when you sit in your house. God, help us to turn televisions off long enough to have Bible reading. God, help us to turn secular music off and let the word let gospel play in our home. You're going to talk to them when you sit in your house. when thou walst by the way. When you lie down and when you get up, three things. Talk about them in your house. Talk about them when they get up. Talk about it when they lay down. Three things happen in the house versus one thing that happens outside the home. When you walk by the way, you see, we need to have three times what they're seeing out there. We need to prepare them in the house for what they will see in the world. We don't need to get off balance and preach more about the world than we do what's in the house. God is in the house. God dwells in the house and he's worthy of our hands to be lifted and he's worthy of our minds to get exclusively upon him. He's worthy of our praise. He's worthy that we walk by the precepts. He's worthy that we obey the word of God. He's worthy that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. He's worthy that we're going to tell the truth. He's worthy that we're not going to covet everybody's things. He's worthy that we're going to walk up right. He's worthy. He's worthy. He's worthy. Shall talk of him diligently unto thy children. Teach them diligently unto thy children. shall talk with them when thy sinest in thy house, and when thou walst by the way, when thy liest down, when that riseth up. And thou, Come on, mama. Come on, Dad. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand. We we we preach this. We preach this. We get it all out. We we we I I I've seen illustrated sermons and I'm thinking, well, I understand what you're trying to say, but don't don't use that verse because that's they'll say, "Oh, the word of God says for us to tie the word of God on our children's hands, and the word of God says that we're to tie uh the word of God around a a band on our head and and and and tie it with a little pouch right here that they can reach up and get a scripture out of." Wrong application. It's not safe, bind the word on your children's hands. It says, "Bind that word on your hands. Let the word be in your mind so that you can teach them. Let them be frontlets between Let them be frontlets between uh thine eyes." In verse nine, "And thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house and on thy gates." Parents are to be a consistent reminder to their children about God, his ways, his word. It doesn't work if you're always saying, "You better not do that, Susie. The preacher is going to get on to you. You better not do that, Johnny. The preacher is going to get after you." Please don't do that to your children. Plea, please don't put a fear of the man of God inside the heart of your child. Please don't do that. You need to train them up that God's house is the best place on earth. You need to train them up that God's people are the best people on the planet. You need to train them up that that's just let me just uh stand with me. I'm The Lord let me I want to continue this sometime. These three things he said you need to go home fix before you go to battle. You need to dedicate your house. You need to let them you need to let the vineyard come to maturity and you need to marry the woman you betro. And all three of those things it's it's amazing. It's amazing what comes out of them. I would today every parent in this place right now, you're a parent today. If you're not a parent today, remain silent with me right now. Remain silent if you're not a parent. But if you're a parent, I want you to lift up your voice, your hands the way that you want your children, your grandchildren, and your great grandchildren to worship God. I want you to worship God right now the way you want them to worship God. God, I love you. Oh, God, I love you. You're wonderful, Jesus. You're wonderful, God. You're everything to me. You're my all and all. You're my sin cleanser. You love me more than anyone loves me. God, you care for me the way that no one could care for me. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I worship you. I magnify you. I glorify you, God. I don't want anything in my life that's not pleasing to you, God. I don't want to say anything. I don't want to do anything, God, that's not pleasing. Come on, parents. Come on, parents. Lift up that voice. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. A dedicated house. Right now while the parents are worshiping right now with the children and the grandchildren, I want you to worship like you saw your grandparents. I want you to worship like you saw your mom and dad. Come on. What a wonderful God. What a wonderful God. Oh, Holy Spirit of God, move. Holy Spirit of God, move. There's a healing spirit in here today. I'm understanding seasons right now. I'm going to fight the good fight of faith. Hell is not going to have my children. Hell is not going to have me. God is moving right now. Jesus Christ is the everlasting father. I was moved to tears Friday morning several times. Kevin Johnson Kevin Johnson got up and testified. Talked about his dad dying. talked about his stepdad. Number one, Kevin realizes that God was with him on the worst day of his life when his dad died. And Kevin realizes that God gave him a stepdad. And Kevin is going to Kevin is going to keep on progressing in his walk with God. And if God will doesn't come in the next 20 years, Kevin Johnson will be an outstanding pillar of a young man in this church. Somewhere somehow his mother kept those children. I heard him. Mama, thank you for keeping us around the church. Thank you, mama. I'm going to tell you the power. I'm going to tell you the power. The power of speaking into your children's life at a young age about the things of God. The power at a young age. Please, mamas, don't wait till your little girl turns six to start training them of how they ought to look like and be like. If it would be sin, if God says it's a sin, it's a sin at six. The same way it would be at 16. We speak into our children. Our father today, John Virgil Carpenter, was not apostolic. He was not apostolic. Never baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Never filled with heaven's sweet Holy Ghost. But I'm here today because my dad had an unusual high love and respect for a man named Billy Mcool. He he when my mama when my mama started going to the church there, they didn't even have an indoor baptistry. I know you see the church now, but when my mama started going there, brother Seth, they didn't they didn't even have an indoor baptistry at the Knoxville church. And my mama sees water baptism in Jesus name. She suffers from asthma and my mama comes home and tells my dad that it's the middle of winter. That next Saturday she's meeting the preacher down at the river and she's going to be baptized. You're going to do what? Ruby, have you lost your mind? You You'll go into an asthma. You You You You can't do that. Let Let me tell you something. Somehow Bishop Mcool and my dad got in the conversation and Bishop Mcool said, "Well, John, I've got a baptistry, but I don't have any way of putting it in. I don't have any way of plumbing I don't have putting in my father who was an apostolic helped put the first baptismal pool in the Knoxville church when it was on 123 West Columbia. My father helped put that baptismal pool in that church. So that my mother, which would go down in history as the first woman to ever be baptized in the indoor baptistry there, the first. We were at Clinton Highway in front of Gateway Hardware store. I was a small child and I don't need any smirks and I don't need Mitchell Hyde to elbow anybody right now. But sitting on my bottom in the car seat, I couldn't see over out of the window and I can now. All right. I couldn't see over the window sitting on my bottom in the car seat. And a man came to my dad's side of the window, Sister Selena. And my my dad started talking to this man. This man was telling he was threading some pipe, putting some pipe somewhere. And my dad talked to him and I remember I remember my dad mentioning and I it was an unusual name, a name that you you didn't hear a lot about. I remember my dad saying, "Hey, brother Mcool." And this man came over and started talking to my dad. And when we drove off, I asked my dad, I said, "Daddy, who who is that man?" And I'd never heard my dad say I never heard my dad say this about any man, but my dad said, "Son, right there goes a great man." It's a great man. And I remembered it so moved me that I got up in the car seat. I got up in the the seat there. I got up in the seat to look out the window to see that man walking away because my dad had never called another man great. Sister Stacy, I wonder what would have happened to me today had my dad not had a derogatory remark. Ah, that's another one of them chicken eating, skirt chasing preachers right there, son. That's that's another one of them money grabbing preachers right there. I wonder, brother Hammond, at a young impressionable age of my mind, he would have tainted my mind. But I have today a tremendous respect. He's my pastor. He'll be my pastor to the day that he dies. But I have a tremendous respect for Bishop Billy Mcool. But not only that, my son over here has an unusual love and respect for him. Where did it all come from? Because a man that didn't even have the baptism of the Holy Ghost simply made an impression on my mind. And the rest is history. Can I do this today? Parents, if you're a parent and you want your house to be dedicated, would you come and stand as close around the altar with me as you can? Would you come and stand? I want my house to be dedicated, God. I may have to rededicate my house today, God. I've allowed the world to creep into my house, God. I've allowed things of the world to creep into my life. God, I've not been the father like I should be. God, I've not been the mother like I should be. God, I've let the age begin to wear at me. God, I've just dumped my I I've just tried to bring them to church. And God, I've just tried to put them in the school, but God, I I want my home to be dedicated. Push up around the altar as close as you can right now. Oh, mighty God. Mighty God. Mighty God. Come on, parents. Come on. We may need to rededicate our lives right now. Oh God, I rededicate my life to your house. God, I rededicate my life back to you. Come inside me, oh Holy Spirit of God. God, come inside me right now, oh Holy Spirit of God. God, I repent of music that doesn't glorify your name. God, I repent, God, of music that doesn't bring glory to your name. God, I repent of entertainment. God, that glorifies nudity, profanity. God, I repent, God, of entertainment, so-called that glorifies adultery, that glorifies a homosexual lifestyle. God, I repent, God, of entertainment that I've allowed to fill my mind. God, I want your word to be in my heart. God, I want your word to be inside of me, oh God. Come on, parents, lift up your heart right now. Come on, parents, lift up your mind right now. God, I repent of the way that I see the house of God. God, I repent of the way that I view my leaders. God, I repent of the ways. God, I I view the teachers. God, I repent, God, of the ways. God, I view our headmaster. God, I repent, Lord, of the ways that I view the youth, pastor. God, I The real enemy is the devil. The real enemy is the Satan. He's a He's a deceiver. He's a real enemy. Come on, let's have a rededication right now. Yes, God. Yes, God. Yes, God. Yes, God. Yes, God. God, I repent. God, I repent. I've allowed things to come into my home. God, I I repent, God, that I've allowed things to come in my home. God, I repent, oh God. Lord, that I've allowed things to flow. God, my house will be dedicated to you. God, my house will be dedicated to you 24/7. My house, we're going to be free. My house. My house. My house. I will stand up and take what belongs to me. I could let you win the warship. But what good is a war being wild if your house isn't dedicated? I will. I can let you win the war that I am free. But what good is it war if your house isn't dedicated? As for me in my house, as for me in my house, we're going to be great. That's for me in my house. Ask for me in my house. That's for me in my house. For me in my house. Ask for me in my house. Oh God, I pray for my wife. God, I've asked you to cleanse my heart. I am. God, I pray for my helpmate. Are you free? God, I pray for my children. God, touch Fallon and Chad. God, touch Harris and Winder and London. God, touch Zach and Lauren and Beckham and Hampton. God, touch the baby in the womb. God touch and Magnolia. Oh, God touch God today. Oh, God. Touch God today. God. Oh, yes. Oh, God. I plead the blood over my house. I put the word on the doorpost. I bind it on the doorpost. Oh yes. Oh yes, God. Yes, God. Oh yes, God. Oh, my children are coming back. Oh God, I love you, Lord. No matter what I feel or what I see, I change. I declare I stand before the word of God. I decl my daughter. No matter what I feel, no matter what I see, every change. Oh, let's sing it. Come on, mom and dad. Let's sing it. Come on, mom and dad. Sing it. And I declare freedom. Oh yes. A dedicated house. A dedicated house. One more time. Oh, I declare freedom. Oh yes. I declare what your word has spoken. Oh yes, God. Going to be free. Going to be free. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Oh, thank you for responding to the word this morning. Thank you for responding to the word today.