Don’t Let Your Guard Down | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter
by Kenneth Carpenter
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:1-4, Mark 6:31, Deuteronomy 17:16-17, Revelation 5:10, 2 Samuel 5:12-13, 1 Corinthians 10:12, Judges 3:14-15, Judges 3:21-22, Judges 3:24-25, Exodus 23:20-22, Revelation 1:20, Jeremiah 17:9, Jeremiah 8:20

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kenneth-carpenter--don-t-let-your-guard-down
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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you have your bible and would turn with me to ii samuel chapter 11 verse number one second samuel chapter 11 verse number one when i pray over my message today please remember aaron and celia penton they were down in orlando florida and celia has had some tremendous medical issues and had to have surgery let's please remember celia penton in prayer today that god god would touch god would touch her and aaron and it came to pass after the year was expired at the time when the kings go forth to battle that david sent joab and his servants with him and all israel they destroyed the children of ammon and besieged rabbi but david carried steel at jerusalem and it came to pass in an evening tithe that david arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look upon and david sent and inquired after the woman and one said is not this bathsheba the daughter of eliam the wife of uriah the hittite and david sent messages and took her and she came in unto him and he lay with her and she was purified from her uncleanness and she returned unto her house on this memorial day weekend i'd like to minister the word of the lord on this subject don't let your guard down don't let your guard down father i love you today i thank you lord for your sweet presence that's in this room thank you god for all that you've done lord jesus i pray facility this morning god i ask you lord to touch silia and aaron today god be the god of all comfort to them lord jesus i also pray today god for kelly and shannon cheshire's neighbor that had to be rushed to the hospital by an ambulance today god whatever the physical need lord upon that is i pray god that you would touch that neighbor of them theirs and god help them to be a great witness lord to the truth father take take my lips my voice for the next few moments prepare us for the summer god in jesus mighty name we pray amen and amen you may be seated thank you for standing today is memorial day weekend which marks the unofficial start of summer 2021. it is interesting that we remember with deep respect and appreciation the men and women that gave their lives protecting our freedom as americans and at the same time mark the beginning of our vacation season i find that a little ironic that it's the unofficial start of summer today while we celebrate while we celebrate or remember those men and women that gave their life in battle this word vacation is an interesting word i did research on the word vacation the origin can be traced back to the 14th century the word vacation that we will use a lot the next few months vacation vacation and then if you want to be in the you know the the the hip crowd you'll say vacay all right i'm going to vacay i guess i still go on vacation all right vacation means freedom from obligations leisure release from some activity or occupation it is an old french word which means vacancy vacant position it's a latin word which means exemption from duty immunity from earned earned by by service to be empty to be free the state of being simply unoccupied now just in case just in case your belly is starting to tight your knuckles getting white because you perceive i'm going to preach on vacations i got news for you jesus christ jesus christ set the example for a vacation he did in mark chapter 6 verse number 31 he says these words mark 6 31 and jesus said unto them come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat so for me to preach against vacations would be to preach against something that jesus did people were still having leprosies women with issues of blood were still bleeding there were still people dying and there was a world that was still lost but in the midst of all that jesus said boys we got to go aside for a few days we've got to find us a place a place for rest but what i have come here to warn us of today is that there are some things we never take a vacation from there are some things we are never released from now i want to preface this message this morning to all the guests that may be brand new to apostolic faith and apostolic ways i want you to know today that we love our god with all of our heart soul mind and strength and we love the things of god we love the things of god with all of our heart soul mind and strength we love god's house and there's never a time that i want a vacation or a rest from god's house you might need a rest from your job but you don't need a rest from your god you might need to get away from a lot of different things but not from god some time ago i was on vacation stepped out of our hotel door to stand there for a moment waiting i believe i was waiting on sister carpenter to come out when the other whole hotel door opened and a man appeared a man that i knew a man that knew me a man that lived between somewhere between right here in vietnam he stepped out of his hotel door nowhere near modestly dressed as we both stood there like two deers and headlights i quote him brother carpenter when i'm away from home on vacation i get comfortable since i was not his pastor i said what about that we exchanged brief and i'm not talking about what he was wearing we exchanged brief pleasantries and went our way another story we stayed over once at a conference the conference was located in a vacation area so we decided to stay over a few days only for the elevator door to open and we were stepping on the elevator when we noticed there was some people there and the man once again nowhere dressed nearly modest his wife god love her heart i didn't know if she was trying to get behind her suitcase or get in it but once again vacation we never take a vacation away from modesty thank god we are coming out of covet season thank god for coming out of covet season and if they would just get moved on to take to let us sit on a plane without a mask i would probably pay them coming out of the covet season as a pastor gives me some concerns i'm always trying to study the strategy for the churro of our adversary we have as a church and nation overcome covet i'm gonna pause right here we have as a church and a nation it's where we all thank god for our nation there's a lot of nations on this earth that that don't have the resources and the availability they're still struggling under covet thank god as a church and a nation we have overcome covet yet as memorial day comes from covet i remember three of our members that covet took from us i remember three members that covet took yet there are some staggering and fear-mongering and false narratives that we're going to have to understand about covet i'm saddened that we have three members that during the pandemic are no longer with us today but the pulpit is not to only address the physical but the spiritual although we have three of our members physically not here we have far more than that spiritually that are not here and in prayer today in prayer yesterday as i begin to think about the timing of covet what covet has done because although that we're we're getting back to normal a little bit on the outside spiritually some are still staggering because of the horrendous fear-mongerings and the false narratives and i don't understand this when a politician would say never let a disaster go to waste never let a disaster go to waste meaning take every disaster and work it for your good i'm concerned about that i'm concerned about the timing of covet ending and summer coming because as a pastor of over going on four decades now summer always has an effect on the church there are some that never make it back from summer there are some that have not made it back from covet can i get a witness can i get a witness um back to my text david don't let your guard down don't let your guard down back to this text don't let your guard down oh wait a minute i i i just reminded why i brought my cell phone i don't normally bring my cell phone to the pulpit but we got a text we prayed over brother art schnitzer he's in africa right now and uh can i give you a text report of what we prayed over he said drench to the bone in sweat preach to a full church plus people standing outside looking in probably 200 or so preached you must be born again but as the scripture teach overwhelmed by response unexpected by my american thinking i called for any warning to receive the holy ghost to come forward everyone came forward to be prayed for overwhelmed the platform we prayed for an hour for the people god is doing great work here they are so hungry for truth please keep up please keep us in your prayers have already had some very frightening experiences let's pray right now father in the name of jesus god why brother schnitzer god that team is there in africa today god doing your work lord i pray not only for their physical safety god i pray today god for that spiritual success god continue to keep your hands around brother schnitzer lord bring him back to this place let him plant the seed there in those cities and those villages let the truth go forward let light shine where darkness has prevailed and god will give you the praise and the honor and the glory forever amen would you give the lord a hand of praise this morning aren't you glad to be a part of something that's reaching out today david david don't let your guard down david don't let your guard down i don't think david i don't think that david had any idea what he was capable of doing i'll read the bible man after god's own heart the list goes on and on but david stays home he goes on a vacation i don't believe david was a coward brother mayo i don't believe david was a coward i don't believe david stayed home because he was a coward i believe that david he had just came from a battle that he had won and thousands he had defeated he simply wanted a little rest nothing wrong with that but in the midst of his rest in the midst of his rest he didn't realize that he had had a covet in his life he had had a covet it's a 20-year covet that david had see covet set you up for summer david had a 20-year covet let me explain it to you david was the king of israel well here it is david in deuteronomy chapter 17 verse 16 and 17 kings were held to a higher standard than anyone else because they were kings they were held to a higher standard and there were three things that god said the kings were not to do let me read them deuteronomy 17 16 talking about the king but he shall not multiply horses to himself nor cause the people to return to egypt to the end that he should multiply horses for as much as the lord has said unto you you shall henceforth return no more that way neither shall he multiply wives unto himself that his heart turn not away neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold three things you cannot multiply horses because horses represent speed and you could get back to egypt by horses you're not to make things available to return the second thing you were not to multiply your wives lest they turn your heart away from god many wives god gave you one to please many wives you're trying to please them all and you have no time for god he said don't multiply wives and then he said don't multiply gold and silver three things no horses don't multiply wives don't multiply gold and silver say why talk about a king today i tell you why i talk about a king today because in revelations chapter 5 verse number 10 talking about you and i he hath made us unto our god kings so if what was good for an old testament king certainly is applicable to the new testament kings of the church david did good two out of three two out of three he did he was found in battle i'll spare you the time of reading the verses he uh in many battles in many battles david did what was called hacking the horses and it what that was was to take that main ligament on a horse's leg and sether it and if you severed it if you took that main ligament and you severed it the horse could walk but he couldn't carry a load he could walk around he could survive but put a man on him he collapses to the ground he cannot hold up under his own weight david you did good you hocked the horses that's great silver and gold the bible says david laid up in store for the house of god he's got that down look at this horses not going back to egypt silver and gold going to build the house of god he got that down he said it's not mine god let him get silver and gold he just gave it to the house of god he he laid it up in the house of god but he missed it on one he missed it on one and that my friend is found in second samuel chapter 5 verse number 12. ii samuel chapter 5 verse number 12. you still with me this morning and david perceived hang on to that word and david perceived and david perceived that the lord hath established him king over israel and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people israel's sake and david took him more concubines and wives out of jerusalem after he had come from hebron and there were yet sons and daughters born to him wait a minute david while we are so ready to hear preaching about a culture i got to tell you where the true enemy alive where the true enemy lies the true enemy is not in horses and the true enemy is not in gold and silver but the true enemy lies within us today can i tell you that if you believe that you can't fall you're already deceived if you believe today that you've paid your dues with god and your marriage would never end in divorce and you would never turn to the bottle or to the needle or you would never get out of church i want to go ahead and sound an alarm you're already deceived because the enemy that took david down wasn't a horse and it wasn't money the enemy that took him down was his unbridled passion for the opposite sex that's what ruined david's life david stays home from battle i i don't i i need rest and that you do and again i'm not i'm not fighting against vacations i'm just simply telling this church today i'm telling you what paul said wherefore let him that thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall david lays on his bed needing a little rest but he takes his covet to bed with him he is not checked off he could he can hawk horses and he can give money away but there's something lurking deep underneath the flesh of david that he's got an unbridled desire for the opposite sex we are living and please pardon me if i seem a little crude today but we're living in a sexed crazed society we are living in a society that uses flesh to sell everything from toothpaste to an automobile billboards that make you blush magazines you have to turn over because we're living in a day prior to the coming of the lord jesus but god's church has got to learn that he not only wants you to hawk horses and give money he wants you to keep this inside bridal and understand that when that temptation that unbridled temptation comes your way you need to have an altar that you can run to and we're never on vacation from our altar we're never on vacation from an altar oh my god my god my god my god my god i don't say this with glee today i don't say this with joy today but the two families that i ran into that told me when they get on vacation they get comfortable neither one of those families are serving god today in a church you know what the cause of it was they took a vacation from something they never should have taken a vacation from they took a vacation from modesty they took a vacation from prayer they took a vacation from the house of god kovitz caused us to miss enough churches it is let's don't add any more to it this summer let's look at it when we're planning our vacations and say wait a minute we've missed a map church y'all can't happen to me can't happen to my family can't happen to our girls can't happen to my boy david gets on the rooftop he needs some rest but he's got to covet with him he's got an issue of unbridled passion so when he walks on the rooftop and sees bathsheba there's nothing there to restrain him if he had walked on the rooftop and saw horses down below he could have given the orders very easy hawk those horses if a man had stood at his door and knocked and said i've got a bag of gold and silver to give you he could look down and say take it down to the temple but when he hadn't dealt with his unbridled passion when he saw bathsheba he called for her a mistake that marked the rest of his life as good as we want to talk about they lived happily ever after david buried four sons all because the prophet said you took one sheep you got to pay for it four times david's life was marked till the day that he died as a matter of fact even the holy ghost in the new testament wanted it to go down of david's mistake because matthew when given the genealogy of jesus christ came to david marrying bathsheba and then it just simply adds a small clause who had been the wife i don't know about you but covet's done enough i don't need to allow the summer to mark me to a place to where i'll never recover from it can god's grace keep you absolutely does god have the mercy he does but you've got to use the thing between your ears today and wonder i don't want to go through life looking back knowing that i have got that covet mistake don't let your guard down in the book of judges there's a story chapter 3 verse number 14. let's just read it together it's a story i'd like to share with you about a man who let his guard down says so the children of israel served eglon egalon the king of moab 18 years they were under bondage but when the children of israel cried unto the lord judges 3 15 the lord raised them up now watch this now the lord raised them up a deliverer ehud the son of guru gira a benjamite a man left handed gotta stop right there for a minute thank god how many left-handed people besides pastors in this room right now would you raise your left hand oh us perfect people amen the bible says be not equally yoked together that's why i married a girl that's left-handed too amen her father's nickname was lefty you go figure all right he's left-handed but he's of the tribe of benjamin well you know what the name benjamin means don't you when benjamin was born his mother died giving birth but before she died she named him she said bonoa which means son of sorrow but his father renamed him benjamin which means son of my right hand so we have a man here that has a name of one thing but a nature of another he has a name that means he's right-handed but when he you see him acting it's with his left hand so we have to understand some things today if we're going to get through the covet summer we don't need to look at what things are named we need to look at what things do the nature of them he's a left-handed man and by him the children of israel sent a present unto eglon the king of moab just stay with me i'm gonna i'm gonna tie this together i hope but he hud this left-handed man made him a dagger a knife which had two edges of a cubit length he did gird it under his raiment up on his right thigh he brought the present unto eglon king of moab and eglon was a very fat man and when he had made an end to offer the present he sent away the people that bear the present but he himself turned again from the quarries that were by gilgal said i have a secret aaron under the old king who said keep silence and all that stood by him went out from him and ehud came in now now he got ehud eglon is enemy ehud is a man left-handed with a right-handed name so he has his dagger under his garment on his left side when eglon the wicked king sees sees he had come in the king wickedness the king wickedness is cautious do you mean me harm most men were right-handed if they were right-handed they carried their sword or dagger on their left side so when eglon saw ehud come in the room immediately his eye looked at his left thigh man he was swordless which meant he let his guard down a little but what he didn't understand was he hud was left-handed you see if we're going to make it as a church we've got to look beyond the apparent and try to see the nature of what's going on there's never let me let me preach it again there's never this is deep as it gets this morning there's never a time to let your guard down never you don't need a break from prayer you don't need a break from church you don't need a break from preaching i met a man several years ago that served 20 years in prison and he gave me his testimony he got offended at his pastor and he told his wife and she agreed let's take a month vacation from church we're getting what we need we need an it's the devil's good pleasure to deceive you to believe that church is your issue church is not your issue the word of god is nobody's issue it's the greatest promise and blessing that any of us have today but the man told me he said brother carpenter he said i got offended at my pastor and i got my wife and i said let's just simply take a break from church for a month they even set the date they would go back sure brother cheryl they set the date they would go back to church had little babies had little babies they set the date they would go back to church but you see they let down their guard and a month turned into two months two months turned into six months and six months turned into one year and the man found himself committing a crime with a pistol that put him 20 years in a state penitentiary he never got to sit in an audience and watch any of those little babies graduate from high school he never he never got to walk his daughter down the aisle and give her away because he was serving time in a penitentiary he never got to take 20 years of the most valuable strength times of his life and earn a living for his family all because they decided to take a 30-day vacation from the house of god which turned into a 20-year run in a state penitentiary i just want to sound the alarm we have come through covet and we still we still have victims of covet let's don't start the summer let's don't start the summer and at the end when school opens again we have to look around and say they didn't make it through the summer eglon looked on the left thigh and saw nothing but in verse number 21 and e-hud put forth his left hand and took the dagger from his right thigh and thrust it into the belly and the half also went into the it went in after the blade and the fat closed upon the blade so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly and the dirt came out then he hud went forth through the porch shut the doors of the parlor that was upon him and locked him up now you see this brother he caught him off guard he was looking for a sword dagger on his left hand but oh he had come in and caught him off guard he's a left-handed man so he reaches around and gets the dagger he reaches around and gets the dagger and before before he iglon could get get the soldiers back in he'd already stuck him in the belly and it drew in and it killed him and he hud simply walked out watch this shut the doors and lock them now keep that in mind went out shut the doors and lock them i had a lady one time called me a little bit irate she said i've not been coming to church and no one has called me of course i was as kind as i could be but can i tell you the truth can i tell you the truth the woman only came about once every six months sister connie it would have took me a year to know she wasn't coming back can i get a witness i mean i mean she hit about once every six months and no one had called her in six months but that was her track record that was her track record she wasn't faithful oh i'm sorry but it is truth she wasn't faithful but there's another man named james r stevens he served god in this church for many decades you know how faithful brother stevens was to the house of god he went to the dentist one day and uh it's on a wednesday midweek bible study and the dentist gave him some medication and he fell asleep around four o'clock and he didn't wake up until about well i'll tell you when i think you woke up church started around here where's brother stephen's at where in the world's brother stevens where's brother steve honey he's just saying brother statement i've never seen church started and it's so disturbed to me brother stevens isn't here that i went and got her i said honey go get on the phone cause something's happened he lived by himself something's happened to him she called brother stevens he said oh i'm so sorry he said he said brother carpenter he said uh sister carpenter i i went to the dentist took some medicine it put me to sleep and i woke up and it was already 7 30. i don't know about you but i don't want to be like the lady i mentioned first i want to be like brother stevens to where if i'm missing somebody knows where i'm at that's the kind of saying i want to be that's the kind of member of a church i want to be the kind of member that if too many services go by somebody's saying wait a minute i've not seen brother carpenter here wait a minute something's happened but watch this please watch this now when he had killed eglon he locked the doors he locked the doors he shut the doors verse 24 and when he was gone out see he shut the doors his servants came so the doors are shut egg-lon's servants come and when they saw that behold the doors of the parlor were locked they said surely he covereth his feet and oh he's just asleep he covered his feet in the oh wait a minute i think this may have some meaning here he covereth his feet in what he covers his feet in the summer chamber the servants were there waiting on him but the door is locked and and they put their ear to the door and he's just sleeping and then he hud wait a minute verse number 25 and they tear it till they were ashamed and behold he opened not the doors of the parlor therefore they took a key and opened them and behold their lord was fallen dead down dead on the earth you see you separate yourself you're already gone before somebody finds you i hope that makes some sense today stay connected the mass although i realized the safety of it and i participated in it although the mass to me concealed our feelings you didn't know when you passed people you didn't know when you passed people at church where they're smiling were happy you didn't know when you were passing people are they happy or sad stay connected it's not a time to disconnect yourself from the church keep a friend make a friend stay connected there's something there's a left-handed benjamin coming after you and you're gonna need somebody maybe maybe eglon could have been saved if it had somebody to go ahead and go in the door maybe he could he could have lived but the bible says that two are better than one and a threefold chord is not quickly broken if two one lies down how can he beget he being alone but if two lie down they have heat there's something about let's not let covet and isolation separate us we need each other don't let your guard down i'm coming to a close but in exodus chapter 23 verse 20. israel was making their way to the promised land just like we want to make our way to heaven and god said to israel behold i send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which i have prepared i send you an angel beware of him means more like respect him obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my name is in him but if thou shalt indeed obey his voice and do all that i speak then will i be an enemy and divine enemies and an adversary undivine enemy adversaries look at this god said i'm giving you an angel israel listen to me israel listen to me church and i and i know to those today that may not be familiar with the the apostolic church this may seem a little strange to you but i'm under a mandate from god to preach what god gives me listen to me church we want to make it to heaven i don't want the rapture to catch us off guard you don't get a 10-minute warning it's not like school they don't ring a bell and then five minutes later another bail there's one bell trumpet that's going to sound you're either ready or you're not i want to be ready and god said to israel i give you an angel now i personally believe the angel was moses i believe that god gave and called him an angel because we think angel we think of angelic beings but angels are messengers he says i'll give you a messenger and said if you'll listen to him said my name is in him don't provoke him respect him don't provoke him i'm not talking about respect the man the flesh don't deserve the respect but what the man's trying to do ought to cause you to set up on the end of your pew and say come on preacher preach it to me this morning i i know this is not the average sunday morning memorial day message but tell me how to get through summer tell me how to navigate it's a summer like no other it's the summer after cover summer after cover i believe that angel was moses he said respect him obey his voice if you'll obey his voice i will be an enemy to your enemies listen to god talk if you'll listen to the angel i'll be an enemy to every enemy you have if you'll listen to your angel i'll be an adversary to every adversary you have let me give you a little new testament validating that the pastor of a church is an angel i know maybe you've got him in the other group of a demon but he is an angel all right revelation chapter 1 verse number 20 jesus said the mystery of the seven stars which thou sauced in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks the seven revelation 120 the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which thou saust are the seven churches where are the seven stars which are angels which are pastors of the seven churches where they're at they're in the right hand they're in the right hand of jesus christ the angel the pastor right hand of power there's no greater power like the power of preaching the word of god what a a can't do for you give me a pastor that's in the right hand of jesus stars stars i'm not talking about movie stars i'm talking about guiding stars because in that day a star stars were used for guidance you you you would navigate your ship by the old north star you study the stars that's how you knew this direction can i tell you today we're going to overcome covet in this summer if we'll understand the stars are in the right hand of god and they're giving us direction well i love my you may be seated i love my pastor but i don't like my church that's crazy y'all hear me that's plum crazy i love my i love my little pastor yeah you love me till i tell you what you don't want to hear yeah you love me do i have to deal with your little sweeties maybe seated it's the truth i love my pastor i don't like the church we see there was more there in his presence than just seven stars there were seven golden candle sticks which represented the church what good is guidance without light if we walk in the lot not i walk in the light if we walk in the light not i if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of his dear son cleanseth us from all unrighteousness i don't know about you today those stars are not perfect i don't know about you today but the lamp stands not perfect but i wouldn't want to be under any other i wouldn't want to be in any other place today but somewhere where god's got the star in his right hand and god's got a candle stick that's burning bright i don't know what kind of altar call we're going to have but here it goes a safety checklist for the summer you can pray in hotel rooms and if a maid can walk on well if a maid can knock on a door and ask a drunken party to settle down i've had it all morning i'm trying to brag or anything like that but i held him on more than one occasion everything all right yeah i'm sorry i'm just praying i'm just praying i'm going to tell you then and then transparency there is hotel praying you know because you do have to be mindful of the people beside you all right but have hotel prey if you find yourself in a hotel this summer on vacation good good good do it you're some of the hardest working people that i know but don't go a week without prayer i thought i heard somebody say preach when you go on vacation that takes you away on church times it finds you a church to go to so over the course now watch this then watch it all the way through go all the way through participate all the way through as you're watching is the interpretation you watch about five minutes of and then turn it off you need church plan your vacation we're asked to miss as little church as possible plan your vacation man who does this guy think he is today who in the world what in the world i'm just trying to get us ready because we don't only we're not going to come out of covet it's time you hear me it's timed cove it's ended covets ending summer's coming when your family comes in from out of town to visit invite them to church invite them to church well that they got burned on church somewhere you know and they don't do church anymore okay here's what you do after that you say hey look it's sunday morning we're going to leave about 9 30. we'll be back around noon you mean to leave them for a couple hours do you leave your company for a couple hours anyway i think you sleep right so that'd be rude to do that no that wouldn't be rude that would be a witness that you're telling them i love my god and i love my church enough to tell you i'd like for you to come with me and go to church but if you want i'm going to go on to the house of god and i'm going to serve god man i'm getting the feeling i i feel like a button salesman at a zipper convention right now i mean don't get cursed by not tithing because you're not here on sunday doesn't mean you get a free pass not the tithe jeremiah 17 9 the heart is deceitful above all things the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it lord jesus help me god with the next few words that i speak oh god would you just pray with me for a moment god help me with the next few words oh god help me god you know that adversary is looking for any crack in the door that adversary is looking for anything to get into our families that adversary is looking for anything to disrupt our worship that adversary is looking for anything oh god i've got to be saved god i've got to make it to heaven god i've got to remain a witness for you my children my grandchildren god my family god they they need it lord god i love you my heart's deceitfully wicked when we're dealing when we are dealing god help me with these next few words would you pray for pastor for a minute because i just wanna i just wanna i just wanna be released with what i'm about to say would you stand with me would you just help me pray this morning oh god i don't want to let my guard down god i don't want to let my guard down god i don't want to let my guard down oh god i don't want to let my guard down i got to be saved oh god i can't let my guard down lord i can't let my guard down come on pray with me right now i don't want to let my guard down i don't want to let my guard down i don't want to let my guard down i don't oh god i did we've been through enough lord you know this church has been through enough with covet god god we've been shook from center to circumference god oh god you know what kovit's done to this congregation god and other congregations lord jesus told us it won just one sheep this one lamb was a value of 99. we'll sound an alarm when we are dealing with loved ones who are sick or elderly sometimes we find ourselves in seasons of life where we have a loved one that's either too sick to come to church elderly sometimes sister carpenter requires 24-hour care you go through a season we went through a little season kathy that says carpenter we went through a little season with mother that there was some services that that that we had to miss but it was just a season and it was something that had to be it wasn't something well let me just as kind as i can say this satan can look at an interruption in our attendance we can justify not coming i i guess i can't i can't relate to anybody that's looking for reasons not to come to church i some require 24-hour care others don't some require 24-hour care others know others can be left alone can i tell you today that if monday through friday morning monday through no no monday through saturday morning at 10 from 10 a.m to 12 a.m if monday through saturday morning from 10 to 12 they can be left alone then they can be left alone on sunday morning at 10 o'clock right now understand 24 hour care that's something you'll go through a season but please e-hud has walked into your house e-hud has walked into your house and if you find yourself thinking well put me down for wednesday night what are you talking about well put me down for sunday morning and sunday night and then we want to have a justifiable reason if anybody meets us to be able to say well i'm keeping my and i know today i this is what i meant when i told you this morning to pray for because the adversary can take this i've made reference to non-apostolic people people here that may not know the apostolic way it could come across as cruel and insensitive and what's he talking about i'm just simply talking about something that's more valuable than anything you'll ever possess is your soul summer's coming and i don't want you to fulfill one scripture in matthew jeremiah that says this and i'm done says this the summer is ended the harvest has come and we are not saved when school starts lord willing in august how many want to be here just as vibrant and as alive as you can if you do don't let your guard down let your guard down it is 11 56. i think god be pleased with us if we just all gathered around the altar for the next few moments and just said god help me to keep my guard up god help me to keep my guard up if we just all gathered up around the altar and when the altar gets full if you're pleased i'd like to see as many people we can get in the altar please just push in as close as you can today when the altar area is clear cl filled push out into the aisles right now let's pray together god in the name of jesus today oh god i don't want to let my guard down this morning lord i don't want to let my guard down this morning come on let's pray singers i might give you a pass for this morning we're just going to end in prayer today we're just going to end in prayer what we need right now is a prayer i'll give you a pass today let's just all pray singers oh brother eric so let's just all pray right now father in the name of jesus today oh mighty god mighty god mighty god come on come on pray till you can hear yourself pray pray the unified prayer i don't want to be a casualty come on pray i don't want to let my guard down there's a bathsheba out there there's an e-hut out there come on i don't want to let my guard down there's people you're going to meet this summer there's places you're going to go you need to be spiritually fit jesus come on please i beg you church lift up your voice i beg you to lift up your voice young people i've made you to lift up your voice middle age i made you elderly i beg you today i beg you to lift up your voice come on let's just push for another moment or two i i know we have come up on the noon hour today oh but could we just push god our children lord oh god our children god being taken out of the routine from being in school god neighbors god people that they're going to meet that they've not met god predators oh god lord in the name of jesus today god keep your hand upon us lord keep your hand upon our minds oh god oh let's just pray please pray please pray today please lift your voice it could be the man could make the difference in life and death today please pray here oh god i need you lord touch our students god oh god take our camp god god touch our kids quest camp lord god let your spirit god be upon our kid's quest camp god oh god in the name of jesus oh god in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus god lord i love you if you receive this word today would you just lift your hands right now and give god praise if you receive the word today come on just give him praise right after you receive the word uh thank you lord thank you lord thank you lord thank you lord don't let down your guard don't let down your guard mighty name of jesus we pray thank you all for listening to the word today tonight 5 30 the prayer room will be open six o'clock we'll be having a great evangelistic service here i want you to come be blessed to the lord god bless you dismissed in jesus name