Losing in Order to Gain | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter
by Kenneth Carpenter
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: 2 Chronicles 25:1-2, 2 Chronicles 25:5-9, Genesis 12:1, Genesis 13:1-2, Hebrews 11:23-29, Matthew 19:22, Ecclesiastes 2:4-11, Matthew 10:39, Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, Luke 17:33, Acts 28:24

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kenneth-carpenter--losing-in-order-to-gain
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 would stand if you're not already standing if you would stand in honor of the reading of god's word you know i know that we can be very vocally loud when we're petitioning god to help us i heard the cries through the altar today i heard people crying and lifting up their voice help god touch god bless god but i wonder how loud we can get right now before i read my text not asking god to bless touch but just telling god how good and wonderful he is hallelujah oh you're so good jesus jesus you're so good oh jesus i adore you i worship you oh jesus you have never been nothing but good god lord you've stepped in god right when i needed you lord you've been my strength in the midnight hour oh you have been everything to be my constant friend oh my constant assurance my blessed assurance and my constant assurance lord i give you praise today hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah well you do real good at that real good at praising god this morning second chronicles chapter 25 and verse number one and two second chronicles 25 verse five through nine it's kind of unusual this morning i have here in a set of notes there of what i worked on this week brother martin to preach today what i worked on and what i was going to preach today but this doesn't happen very often but about five o'clock this morning i was awakened by that gentle voice of god and this message came to my mind i couldn't get it off my mind couldn't get it off my mind and i struggled with it i struggled with it because i have preached this message here at this church when i asked my wife to help me with a picture or two that'll be on the screen she immediately said now you do know you've already preached that here which i told her that i i said i know but about five this morning that touch of god and um i would watch rather go home obeying god than to hear you say well you know you you know pastor you're not slipping a little bit are you so uh here we go for round two of this all right second chronicles 25 1-2 messiah was 25 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 29 years in jerusalem his mother's name was johanna dan of jerusalem he did that which was right in the sight of god but not with a perfect heart go down to verse 5. moreover amaziah gathered judah together and made him captains over thousands and captains over hundreds according to the houses of their fathers throughout all judah and benjamin and he numbered them from 20 years old and above and found them 300 000 choice men able to go forth to war that could handle spear and shield he hired also a hundred thousand mighty men of valor out of israel for a hundred talents of silver but there came a man of god to him saying king let not the army of israel go with thee for the lord is not with israel to wit with all the children of ephraim but if thou will go do it be strong for the battle god shall make thee fall before the enemy for god hath power to help and to cast down and amaziah said to the man of god what shall we do for the hundred talents which i have given to the army of israel and the man of god answered the lord is able to give thee much more than this for a few moments this morning i want to minister on this subject losing in order to gain losing in order to gain precious god today these are your people lord you said in your word that if i loved you i would feed your sheep god to the very best of my ability i believe i'm going to attempt to feed the sheep today god i thank you for those that have come to worship with us from here locally and from those that are out of state god i ask you for the next few moments that you would give me that anointing and lord if you would anoint me one more time god i'll return somewhere to a place of prayer and i'll give you praise for no flesh shall ever glory in your presence in jesus name touch the people today amen and amen you may be seated losing in order to gain let's look at this man called amaziah we understand that he was a young man when he came to rule the throne we understand that his mother's name and that she was of jerusalem we even understand that he did that which was right in the sight of god verse two he did that which was right in the sight of god but this is the first flaw that we see of a messiah the bible said he did that which was right but not with a perfect heart which simply meant it wasn't all in his heart because what god considers a perfect heart is not flawless but it is complete he said you are to worship me with all your heart all your soul and all your might so amaziah he worshipped god he worshiped god no doubt but he did not worship god with all of his heart his worship was regimental his worship was more driven from appearance that it was expected of a messiah to be in the temple it was expected of him to be here at worship but it wasn't it wasn't really in his heart he was in a hurry it was just another event and a routine to do so now we see this this uh flaw that amaziah has we go on down and this flaw will represent this flaw will further reveal insecurity can i tell you today the best way to be bold is to worship god with all your heart the best way to be confident the best way to be confident and sure is to worship god with all of your heart if you can worship god with all of your heart you can have some of the greatest things in your heart that just kind of mull around such as if god before us who can be against us such as i'll never leave you nor ever forsake you when you're really serving god with all your heart you have that god assurance you have that god confidence that everything is going to be all right amen but now messiah doesn't have that confidence and this insecurity begins to be revealed in that he amassed a huge army a huge army why do you put together such an army of 300 000 choice men because he is insecure of losing what he has the reason he turns to the arm of flesh is that he is insecure of what he has he's always fearful and frightened he's always worried and fretting that somebody with a bigger army and someone with bigger swords and shields are going to come and take take away our possession so he lives a life what a miserable life to live a life of fear a life that i've always got to be leaning on the arm of flesh and i've always got to be a amassing wealth or i've always got to be looking out because i'm so insecure 300 000 not just men choice men men that could handle a sword and a spirit i wonder how much time the bible doesn't really even tell us how much time that would have taken but it had to take months maybe even years for him to go through and not just interview men males but can they fight and if they say they can fight are they have we tested them have we tried them so he had an army of 300 000 men but not only 300 000 choice men now we go down and we find that he even hires an army he even hires an army of a hundred thousand more men he even hires this army at a large amount of money it would be the equivalent today of billions of dollars that he had given in talents of gold to hire so now he's got this army he's got an army of 300 000 but then he hires another army of a hundred thousand men and i just believe he's feeling pretty secure i can just imagine that he's feeling kind of kind of he's got it together he's got an army of 400 000 soldiers and he's feeling quite secure in in what he has done and looking around he's a he's not as wealthy as he once was but he's he's got the confidence of this uh 400 000 man army but everything changes when a simple phrase is introduced to the story but a man of god came unto him a man of god it's amazing how our stories can change for good or bad on that one phrase and a man of god came to him and a man of god came to him and the man of god came to him saying king don't take that army into battle don't don't take that hundred thousand men into battle don't don't take them god's not god's not with them now i believe maybe it's possible that man of god had the ability to know what he was thinking maybe that man of god had the ability to to just know i know what you're thinking right now you're thinking you're going to do it anyway you're thinking you hear what i'm saying but you're already the cogs are turning the cogs are turning you you hear what the man of god is saying but those cogs are turning back there yeah i hear what you're saying but i i'm gonna do it i'm gonna do it anyway and then it's almost as he read his thoughts and he said now i want you to know that god can either be your helper and that's who i want i want god my helper or god can be the greatest hinderer you've ever met he said now god can either help you or god can hinder you now you just choose which you want do you want a god who is your helper or a god who is your hinderer do you want to do you want a god that can interrupt you any time of the day or night he can wake you up in the middle of the night he can invade your thoughts in the middle of the day it doesn't matter what you're doing who you're talking to a god that can a god that can take rest from your eyes a god that can take contentment from your spirit a god that can be a hinderer or a god that can be your helper i speak on behalf of the whole church this morning we want god to be our helper i i want god to be my helper i don't want him to be my to be my hinderer now he said a messiah the choice is yours the choice is absolutely yours you can listen to what i've got to say and tell that hundred thousand army to go home tell them to go on home you don't need them you can either listen to what i got to say and tell that army to go on home or you can rebel on what i'm saying and take that army into battle and if you do you better get the coffin makers busy because there's going to be a lot of coffins that are going to be needed because god is able to help you or god is able to hinder you well that got old amazing to thinking a little bit and he began to ponder it and then he gave the thought to the man of god he said but man of god what am i going to do about the talents the millions of dollars that i've spent man of god look what i have spent would you look at what i have given man of god i gave a ton of money i gave a lot of money to hire this to hire this army and the man of god simply answered in the latter part of verse 9. and the man of god said the lord is able to give thee much more than this i know you're looking at what you're going to lose you went ahead and hired this army and i know i'm telling you to tell them to go home and you're going to lose this large amount of money but he said amaziah you listen to me god is able to give you much more than this if you are willing to follow a divine law in god's plan and in god's kingdom church there is a divine law in the kingdom of god and that is if god asks you to lose something you're really about to gain something if god ever asks you to set something down you're about to pick something else up that is much better if god ever says don't take him into battle god is able to give thee much more than this and he did what price do you put on victory what price do you put on defeat what price do you put on a hundred thousand coffins what price do you put on not taking them and winning the victory we all see we also see this as we thread our way through the bible this morning it also appears in abraham's life in genesis chapter 12 verse number 1 the lord said unto abram get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred from thy father's house unto a land that i will show thee sounds like lost to me get away from the familiar get away from from from those that that have influence in your life get away out of your country go go away from the familiar go to a place you've got to be willing to lose this abraham we'll never have abraham unless abraham is willing to lose and in god's kingdom you don't gain until you're willing to lose you don't gain and then you don't cut deals with god and say oh god if you give me this i'll let go of that god says no that's not how i work i don't play dice that's not how i work you go ahead and lose this and if you're willing to lose this i'll give you much more than this because after all did i tell you that i'm the god that can either help you or i'm the god that can hinder you i'm the god that can either be the biggest help i can make the wind blow in your direction i can put people at an intersection in your life i can cause things to fall just perfectly in time or else i can cause the wind to blow in the opposite direction i can cause the clouds of rain that should have come to your field to blow over on somebody else's field don't know about you but i want to find out this law i want to lose in order to gain abraham i'll make a great nation out of you go ahead and give the lord a hand to praise if you like abraham i'll go ahead and make a great nation out of you abraham i'll make a blessing out of you abraham i'll bless the whole world through you but you've got to be first willing to lose in order to gain that's chapter 12. chapter 12 only records that abraham brought substance out that's all it says he brought him and sarah and lot his brother's son and their substance he was an average man he was just an average man he had substance that's all he had that when you would when you would write a title over the wealth of abram all you would write he he had substance that's all you write he had sarah sarai he had lot and then he had substance that really has the meaning of he he was just getting by he was just simply getting by but when he was willing to step out and obey god and suffer the loss of the familiar suffer the loss of going into a place that he had never been before when he was willing to lose in order to gain chapter 13 just one chapter later and verse number one starts off this way and abram went up out of egypt he and his wife and all that he had and lot with him into the south and abram was very rich in cattle in silver and gold we already see and this is not a materialistic message today but we see it here in chapter 12 he's just a man of substance but because he was willing to lose in order to gain chapter 13 says he was a man of great wealth oh i hope you're seeing this this morning not only was he a man of great wealth he followed this same principle because you know the story in chapter 13 not only was abraham prospering but his nephew lot was prospering and not only was abram's cattle multiplying lots cattle was multiplying and they both multiplied at such a blessed rate until the land was not able to bear them there was enough there wasn't enough grass for the cattle to eat there wasn't enough water for lot and abram's cattle to drink there wasn't enough food and what began to happen the bible says that the herdsmen of lot began to fight with the herdsmen of abram they begin to have family conflict they begin to get together not for the better but for the worse they begin to fight one another over wells they begin to fight one another over grassy fields they begin to fight until abraham he's got this principle down he steps up and he says we're brothers we need to stop this we need to stop this right now we're brothers now he could have appealed that he was abram he could appeal and probably had maybe a justifiable argument to say wait a minute lot god didn't speak to you he spoke to me he could have even used the the i'm your elder he could have even done all of that but you know what sometimes being right is not only the best path forward no let me say that again sometimes get in your way is not only it's not always the best best path forward sometimes i'm going to get i'm going to have my way i don't know i'm going to see what the cost of me having my way is because sometimes i can have a better life as a whole if i'm willing to lose some rights i hope you're getting this so he says lot it's not good that we're fighting it's not good that we we got herdsmen we got herdsmen over here fighting we got people fighting it's not good that's he want us to do a lot just look around here lot just look around wherever you want to go i'll go the opposite way if you go the north i'll go the south you go the east i'll go the west you just whichever way you want to go i let you and guess what i let you choose first it sounds like a bad move doesn't it and so you know what lot did he looked and he saw the luscious foliage and the green fertile plains of sodom and gomorrah he looked down at palm trees and green fields and he looked down at the prosperous cities of the twin cities of sodom and gomorrah he looked down there and looked the other direction there was a rocky old hill he looked the other direction there's a bunch of old boulders and and and brown mountains and and a few little bramble bushes rolling across the old western uh uh a set you know and he said well unk i'm going to sodom i'm going to sign you say man you lost your opportunity abram you lost you should have went first no i'm not i didn't lose by this i didn't lose by this because no sooner had they stopped that that god looked at him and said you were willing to lose being first you were willing to lose having your way and now abram because you were willing to lose now i want you to lift up your eyes toward the north the south the east and the west and every place the soul of your feet shall step shall be yours can i tell you something today god is in to peacemaking god blesses the peacemaker the peacemaker that says you know what i don't i have to always have my way i don't have to always have things my way if it will bring peace with the whole family i'll lose right now can you give god a praise this morning oh i don't know oh i don't know the names probably the names that i use of the uh unbelievable wealthy uh the onassis and the kennedys and i but there's names today that probably brother nolan can tell you about you know the names of the wealthy bill gates and all all these people but can you imagine being raised up being raised up by the most wealthiest people in the world the most wealthiest people in the world pharaoh was the most wealthiest man in all the world moses as far back as he can remember he's been in pharaoh's house as far back as he can remember he's lived in opulence he has lived with no want he has not just had food he's had the finest of food moses didn't just have shoes he had the finest of shoes he just didn't have a house he had the finest of a house that man didn't just have a chariot he had a chariot i mean he had the finest the finest of fun he just didn't go to school he went to the finance school he he just didn't have there was nothing average about moses nothing averaged about where he lived nothing averaged about who his teachers were nothing average about who his supposed parents were nothing average about him but there was something on the inside of moses there was an identity crisis and i ain't talking male or female there was an identity crisis somehow in all of this he knew he was not an egyptian somehow you can educate me you can put me in the finest you can give me the best but somehow i know this is not me this is simply not me and the book of hebrews picks it up in hebrews chapter 11 and verse number 23. by faith moses when he was born was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment by faith moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter choosing rather you talk about a loss you talk about a loss choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of god than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of christ greater riches than the treasures in egypt for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward by faith he forsook egypt not fearing the wrath of the king he endured as seeing him who is invisible through faith he kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood lest lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them by faith they passed through the red sea on dry land come on listen to this moses knows this is not me that's the finest pudding you could ever make that's the finest clothing you could ever have that's the finest shoes you could ever have the finest teachers the finest textbooks the fondest card the finest finest fine but that's not me that's not me and he looked around one day and he said those are my people look at them out there making the pyramids look at them out there being slaves those are my people i would rather lose egypt i would rather lose the finest i would rather lose all of this and suffer affliction than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season sin is short-lived the pleasures of this world are short-lived moses i don't know what famous david copperfields came to pharaoh's palace and put on his magic hat i don't know what finest of magicians came and did hocus-pocus diliocus for moses and all of them and they're odd don't you know moses if you leave here you don't have front row seats to the concert anymore don't you know if you leave here you're going to be riding a donkey you're not going to be riding in a gold studded chariot don't you know if you leave here buddy you're not listen you're not going to be sitting down to the finest you're going to be leading smelly sheep out on the backside of the desert don't you know you're a fool can't you hear them talking about moses you'd have to be a fool i think the boy hit his head don't you think in karate class don't you think in karate class he hit his head on something he must he got to be a fool to leave all this well look at what all we got to give him tell moses that when he stands in a red sea come on mr copperfield when he stands in a red sea with a stick in his hand and because he's been willing to lose egypt god says now let me give you much more let me give you a whole lot more just hold that little stick out over the out over the red sea i'm trying to tell us something this morning if we are willing to lose god is able to give us much more but you got to be willing to lose could you give him some praise like you did before i started preaching come on could you give me some praise god's asking some of y'all to put some things down this morning i believe that god's given me this message for the second time because some of you didn't listen to me the first time and i believe that god in the word of the lord is coming to jonah again i believe that god is trying to say some of you are holding on to things and you're wondering why god's not blessing you some of you are holding on to spirits and habits and all kinds of things and you're coming to church and you're getting discouraged on god and you're getting cynical about church as a whole and you're about to leave forever cynical when god just simply said would you please lose would you lose a little bit of your pride would you look maybe lose all your pride will you go ahead and lose it all while you're willing to go shout down at nyland stadium while you're willing when you lived in the world you were willing to get out at cotton eyed joes and do a line dance boogie woogie he was willing to do all that but you won't come to church i believe we ought to be willing to lose in order to gain hallelujah hallelujah this morning bob barker can get them excited just by saying their name and come on down there's three times in the bible people are associated with great possessions three times in the bible great possessions are associated with the man and all three times the man becomes a big loser because he becomes known for his great possessions not his great submission some folks want to be known for their great possessions and not their great worship you see on tuesday evening we're going to give brother tommy mckeithen a homegoing celebration fit for a king and i'm not going to get up here and talk about tommy mckeithen's great possessions i'm going to get up here and talk about his great god because that's what matters right now see when his heart stopped beating on tuesday evening it was time for god to say yeah tommy you you you were willing to go down in my name you were willing to receive the gift of the holy ghost evidence by speaking in tongues you were willing to go to church when others were going to the fishing bank you were willing to go to the house of god when others were going the other way now tommy enter thou in to the glories and the blessings of the lord all three times three times in the kjv does it mention great possessions with a man the first time we hear this man was nabal the bible says nabal had great possessions david who had been a wall to him and protection david simply came wanting a few meals nabal scorned him because nabal scorned him not willing to lose think about it not willing to lose a few meals caused him to lose his life just a few meals the next we hear and not in the chronological order but in matthew 19 22 a young man came running to jesus he thought he wanted salvation he thought he wanted salvation until jesus said are you willing to lose in order to gain are you willing to lose go sell everything you have give to the poor come and follow me matthew 19 22 simply says but when the young man heard that saying he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions i'd like to rephrase that in the bible not he had great possessions but great possessions had him boy there's a difference in you having money and money having you you see the problem with judas somebody's got to hold somebody's got to hold the bag but when the bag starts holding you he he said i i'm not willing to suffer that loss and then the one of the wisest men to ever live went on this crazy summer i call it a summer tour of insanity he decided that he was going to remove all strength restraints from his life he decided there was no rules there was no restraints i'm going looking for i don't know i'm just going to go looking you understand that when you don't worship god the way that you should worship god that you have a false sense of longing because something's missing in your life while god is just right there and you're looking i'm just so empty so solomon in ecclesiastes 2 and 4 went on this summer tour man i'm going to live it up nobody's not taking the prophets with me not taking the preachers with me and he says in ecclesiastes two and four i made me great works i built me houses i planted me vineyards underlined how many times me is mentioned i made me gardens and orchards i planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit i made me pools of water to water there with the wood that bringeth forth trees i got me servants and maidens and had servants born in my house also i had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in jerusalem before me never been a man as wealthy as me i gathered me also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces i get me men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men as musical instruments and that of all sorts so i was great and increased more than all that were before me in jerusalem also my wisdom remained in me and whatsoever my eyes desired i kept them not from me i withheld not my heart from any joy my heart rejoiced in all my labor and this was my portion of all my labor then i looked on all the works of my hands had wrought and and on the labor that i had labored to do and behold all was fantastic mind-blowing awesome dude party like a rock star no oh what's vanity vanity means to no profit he said i did whatever i wanted to do i pulled out restraints i added added added added and all was simply vanity i was as empty if not more empty when i got done it was not only vanity but and was a vexation of my spirit and there was no prophet under the sun i got to tell you today you got to be willing to lose the great possession of your soul your soul belongs to god it's not yours never never has been and never will be you and i were created by god and we were created for god life is not about my happiness about my pamperedness about my my my just everything comfortable but life is about me serving god what do you want god i'm willing to lose it all god in order to gain you your joy is as close away as you've given your soul to god your peace is as close away as you giving your soul to god come on giving praise this morning i find it noteworthy that all four gospel writers matthew mark luke and john record this teaching matthew chapter 10 verse 33 verse 39 listen to matthew record the words of jesus listen to jesus listen to him cup your ear real close he that findeth his life shall lose it he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it if you're trying to find life minus jesus you'll lose it but if you'll go lose your life plus jesus you'll find it listen to him again in matthew 16 25. listen to jesus for whosoever will save his life shall lose it whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it mark records it mark 8 35 for whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospels the same shall save it luke 9 24 for whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever will lose his life for my sake the same shall save it it's interesting here luke records it twice matthew records it twice but luke records it twice with just a small small change 9 24 luke says whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake the same shall save it luke 17 23 look at this change whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it why do you preserve something for a future date why do you preserve something for a future generation which means mom and dad and grandparents there's some grandchildren here today and you're not here necessarily because you you know well i made that decision you you had to make that decision but do you realize you wouldn't even been exposed to an apostolic church had it not been for a grandmother and grandfather that said you know what and they had let me tell you something stop looking and thinking back in the 50s they had it made they faced the same devils in the 1950s as we're facing in 2022 they're facing the same same devil same pressure but your grandparents were willing to say i'll lose heaven to be popular i'll lose heaven for people you see it's popular it is popular to speak in tongues today it is popular to have this worship going on in churches today denominal mainline churches are waving their hands and worshipping god but your mammal and papaw came up in a day they were having church under bushes they were having church under tents they were having church with rotten tomatoes thrown at them and holy rollers and all of the things being said they were heaven church but they said i'm willing to lose the respectability in the city if it means i have this truth i don't know a brady i don't know if brady salyers was back home or not he went to california he's one of the finest godly young men that attend this church here a godly godly young boy with his head screwed on straight but you know something don't pat brady too much on the back brady had a mom and dad but don't pat them too much on the back great brady's uh uh uh grandparents brother sister salyards are here this morning they faced some devils in their day they faced peer pressure in their day but they said i'm willing to stay away from it bible says that if you seek to save your life you'll lose it but if you lose your life for my sake you'll preserve it in other words there's another generation that's coming along and that other jewel okay here boy come on up here nolan come on up here nola your mama and i have been saying no to the world we've been saying no to the things of the world just unscrew that lid of preserves eat you some holy ghost eat you some gifts of the spirit eat you some of the good things of god if you're willing i'm trying to phrase what i'm about to say next i get so tired of hearing young people want to want to nitpick a flaw in their parents well carter my parents are not perfect well i got news for you sweetie pie you ain't either i guess i get tired of well well my daddy didn't show me much love no but he got his hide up at five o'clock went to work didn't he maybe they showed love in a little different way i don't know about you but a hug and a kiss on the forehead won't feed me that dad get up and go to work yeah he got up four day break went to work but you know he just wasn't very you know i'm kind of the way i am because dad didn't live on me give me a break just give me a break they ain't perfect there's no parent's been perfect you're not perfect so so get off that kick of blaming it on your parents i promise you i promise you probably your spiritual foundation in some way or another if not in the apostolic church another church was because your parents believed in god i owe a debt today i don't know if you got the picture of the car that you could put on the screen but oh i did today to a mother that got her first brand new car to my knowledge it was the only brand new car my mother would ever drive she got a brand new 1972 chevrolet nova purchased it reader chevrolet on clinton highway it was a talk of the neighborhood hey and we even got an option an add-on to the car it had a vinyl roof aunt novella she had a nova too but mama's nova had a vinyl roof it's a pride and joy of my mother a car crossed the line and took the whole side of that brand new car out my mother my father got an insurance check it was my mom and father was my mother and father perfect absolutely not but i can tell you kenny ray carpenter was far from being perfect but my mother looked at a car all beat up she looked at a boy her two sons that were making the wrong decisions there's been a lot of mothers that would have said public school's good enough for them reform school's good enough for them there's a lot of mothers that would have looked and said i'm not going to drive around a beat up car but the only clothes i ever remember my mother wearing was a white nurse's dress my mother was a personal keeper they have all kind of acceptable social names for today my mother was a maid down in the rich section of knoxville memories i have of my dad taking my mom down off of kingston pike to the wealthy section where mom got out of the car with a white dress and white shoes and went in and cooked breakfast and cleaned the house and served elderly people so that she could come out we're going to enroll you in a christian school i don't have any clothes mom yeah you will i'll take you down and i'll buy you a couple shirts and buy a few pair of pants you have some clothes to go to school they've been a lot of moms that have said it's time for me to have a new dress but my mama said i'm going to take that insurance check and i'm going to take it right over there to 50 20 pleasant ridge road and i'm gonna lay that insurance check down and i'm gonna pay one full year's tuition for kenny and jerry to go to that school mom you're losing you're losing you're not gonna have a brand new car you're losing mom you're not gonna have you're losing mom but thank god i'm here today because a mother ruby lois carpenter said i would rather drive around town with a huge dent down the side of this car i would rather lose the prestige of a new car and have a possibility of kenny and jerry finding god i would rather lose i would rather lose there oh would you just help me praise him right now oh god oh god thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus oh thank you jesus god i haven't thanked you enough oh god thank you for my sweet mother oh god thank you for my sweet mother that was willing to lose my brother and i were enrolled in the 1976-77 school year in february of 1977 in a christian school chapel service god gave my mother the first interest on her payment i came home from school telling mom i gave my heart to god today in chapel that sunday night i would be baptized in jesus name in february of 1977 i would be baptized in jesus name and filled with the holy ghost in february of 1977. in june of 1979 i was the first boy to graduate from acs i was the first boy to graduate in 1979 june of 79 i walked across the stage with a cap and gown i was the the first boy i was the first boy to to graduate from that from that school in june of 1970 my night mama did you get a little interest off of your money in the fall of 1979 i begin to evangelize i i begin to go across the country and i begin to preach this gospel mama did you get a little interest on your money in 1982 i met the love of my life penny bennett and in 1984 we were married and i became the pastor of the first apostolic church here in maryville since that time we have been in multi-million dollar building programs we have watched god take a handful of faithful saints on mcginley street and turn it into several hundreds we now on average give around a half million dollars every year to missions we are standing in an edifice today that is valued at over 18 million dollars can i just somewhere in eternity say mama did you ever imagine what your loss was gonna bring mama mama did you ever imagine did you oh god the sweet presence of god is here oh the sweet spirit of god mama mama mama when when your flesh told you them boys are trouble ruby and boys ain't never going to amount to nothing ruby and boys are penitentiary bowed ruby they never go to the mountain thank you mama thank you thank you mama for that loss thank you yeah yeah but oh jerry didn't turn out so good did he yeah he didn't turn out so good well he took a he went a different route yeah but what he received at acs sister widener what he received at acs those few years never got away from him yes he got on drugs and yes yes he got on drugs and yes he was convicted of murder in the first degree and yes there's a loss of life oh god what can i say what can i say it was a loss of it 34 and a half years and coming out of prison with the garbage bags trapped over your shoulder but oh god i don't know if you've got the picture of him but the first sunday that he was out he found his way to an apostolic church because sister ammon's on the way from on the way from mountain city where the correctional center was to nashville jerry began to say now oh that's the picture that's that's that's me and that's the that's the day that i brought him home mama was living with us and that's the day that we brought him home and you ought to saw that little woman get up out of that bed he wrote a song oh and and he said jerry said kenny do they still shout do they steal does the choir still sing and do they still shout yes the first sunday jerry was out of prison he made his way to the apostolic church in nashville nate batts and his pastor and when the service was over that boy lifted his hands it's been over three years ago that boy lifted his hands and the gracious god of heaven refilled him with the holy ghost can i tell you something today if you've ever been at a real swanky restaurant sister franklin a real swanky restaurant that's got wine glasses on the table and you sit down and they say could i interest you in short door corey before i get it out it says curb says no we don't drink and they take the wine glasses away you've been you know why they take the wine glasses away because those glasses are designated and dedicated to be filled with the finest well bring my diet coke out of this oh no oh no that's for shivam well go ahead and say bigger glass go ahead and fill up my diet coke no no we'll bring you a common glass can i tell you the world will only feel its finest but god will feel a paper cut uh i gotta i just gotta praise him i just gotta praise him this morning i just gotta take a minute you may not be the earth's finest china you might just be an old styrofoam cup but god will say i'll feel you i feel you i'll feel you i feel you oh he filled me he filled me but my brother spent 34 and a half years and got out and god said i'll feel you too oh i'll feel you too i feel the lord walking oh 34 and a half year ex-con lifts his hands up because that's what they taught him at acs he lifted his hands up he went on nate batson laid his hands on jerry he started talking in tongues he'd been ever since kathy we thought we were going to bring him home he said i want to go home i found me a church right here in nashville he he's he mows the grass takes care of the church around there they love him they just pat over him he's got a line of older women he can get the sniffles and there's 18 crock pots at his door i mean i can go over there be nine to death they just tell me get up there and preach and shut up you know mama god it's somehow in heaven mama if somehow in heaven you're hearing this thank you mama thank you they told me brother dale told me that this video will be a little scratchy but when mama died a couple years ago covet performed a choir from her grandchildren and great-grandchildren some of them and some of them were made up of family phone calls from around the world sorry to hear about your mama they would have never known who my mama was had my mother not been willing to take a loss and let it turn into a game here's a little clip if you can play here's a little clip this is a little choir that was formed at my mama's throat i gave that to him early and it but right right there it is right right there they are that was a they were singing there's some of her granddaughter great granddaughter son great son-in-laws and great granddaughters great granddaughter son daughter-in-laws there they are they sang at mama's funeral they sang at her funeral mama had you only had you only known i don't think mama had any idea i know i'm being just so repetitive but you have no idea what your loss this morning will bring to future generations would our musicians come could we go into a time of prayer right now could we just all over this building can we just all over this building today when a loss when a loss becomes a gain when a loss becomes a gain for god is able ruby for god is able to give you much more than this god is able to give you much more god is able could you pray come on pray right now god is able come on keep on praying keep on praying prayer is going to set the mood come on pray pray just a little louder would you please it it's a matter of life and death i think i've got some people on the verge of taking a loss this morning i i think i i think i've got some mothers and fathers and i think i've got some people in this room right now that you realize you're holding on to some things that god is saying i'm going to fight you i'm going to withstand you i'm going to work against you i will never allow you to prosper with that in your life i will never allow you to go forward you have got to be willing to lose that acts chapter 28 acts chapter 28 verse 24. please don't believe a myth about the book of acts and the myth is that everybody that they preach to accept it it's a myth acts 18 acts 28 24 simply says this and some believe the things which were spoken and some believed not this morning there's some of you that are teetering somehow through the preaching of the holy ghost you're seeing this this is why i'm not prospering this is why this is why my life is is an up here hill battle this is why i feel like i'm always facing the wind because i'm holding on to this spirit i'm holding on to my stubbornness my self-will i hear sometimes carnal men make the statement i just don't believe that you have to do all that hand lifting and crying out the issue is you're not willing to lose your pride sir and until you're until you get willing to cry out to god you're going to find everything to nitpick about god about your wife about your kids about your church and it all has to do with you're not willing to cry out you you're not willing to lose your pride naaman you want to be healed you're going to have to dip seven times you want to be healed do you want to be touched in your life are you willing to cry out are you willing to cry out not just cry out once like okay i'm going to try it i'm gonna cry out how about that becoming the norm about your life no i'm rich i fear sumptuously every day i got it all together right now i got it all together right now until the possibility the doctor tells you you have cancer i'm not minimizing a cancerous report but i sure would hate to be a carnal man and get a cancerous report i should i sure would hate not to be serving god with a perfect heart and the doctors say because you know what you're going to face then don't you you know what you're going to face you see the devil he changes his vehicles at first he tells you you got all the time in the world you got all the time in the world all the time in the world then when you waste your life and you come down to you got tumors four months then the devil changes his vehicle and can say the only reason you're going to church is because you're sick god god god knows you're just coming why don't you turn the tables on him this morning why don't you right now see you are going to cry out one day the rich man in hell it says i wanted to make sure that i wasn't just reading this it says that in hell the rich man lifted up his voice and cried can you hear the rich man now did you go by that undignified temple those worshippers of jehovah down there with tambourines and shouts and all that i would never i would never lower myself to such behavior you will in hell but then in hell it's too late it's too late in hell to say help me it's too late to get excited about evangelism in hell don't you lose it this morning why don't you take your pretty little facade and stomp on it and say i want to get a hold of god this morning i want my children to know god i i don't my children if i'm halfway in this church they're going to be one quarter of a way in this church i want my children would you stand right now with me and i i know i've been very lengthy today in preaching but now i have to ask the congregation again would you penetrate the heart of the person today that's on the verge would you penetrate their heart by lifting up your voice and praying praying this morning a loss a loss the loss come on why don't you come lose your sins this morning come on why don't you come and lose your sins this morning if you have not yet been baptized in jesus name it is for the remission of your sins why don't you come this morning we have water we have everything you need we can baptize you in jesus name this morning please come please come please come suffer the loss what would it cost you to walk down this aisle today what would you be out other than your pride please come please i beg you in the name of our lord and savior step out of your pew this morning walk down to this aisle get into this altar today come on right now come on right now in jesus name in jesus name i beg you in jesus name sir you're gonna be lost if you don't you're gonna be lost if you don't please come please don't be lost listen to your pastor listen to this voice please come this morning come on church please come please come up please come cry out to god please come lose that critical spirit please come lose your critical spirit you're going to be lost over it you're going to end up in hell over it you're gonna have to see your children lost over it oh come on right now please come i beg you i beg you this morning i beg you this morning please come and cry out to god please come and cry out to god help me help me get rid of my cynical spirit help me get rid of my critical spirit god i need you god i need you come on there ought to be a cry sir i'm telling you if you don't break your will if you don't break your will god is fighting against you you're trying to protect everything you've earned but god is gonna take everything from you because he wants you to be saved he wants you to be saved come on oh help me pray please oh come on church find somebody to pray with right now come on sir you're never gonna be delivered until you cry you're gonna cry out jesus come on pray i don't i don't believe we broke it yet come on pray right now come on pray right now pray god help me god help us what are you gonna do on that day when he says your name is not written down he shows you service after service after service you rejected to lose your pride you refuse to lose your will come on put your hand over on somebody pray with them if you feel your soul is right with god help me look around this church come on oh god revive us god oh god oh god oh god oh god come on moses come on moses there's a whole nation waiting on you come on abraham there's a seed waiting on you oh god hallelujah cry out church try out church lose your pride lose it this morning