Obstacles | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter
by Kenneth Carpenter
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Mark 2:1-5, Luke 19:1-5, Joshua 6:1-5, 1 Samuel 17:23-26

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

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well turn with me in your bibles to the gospel of mark chapter two and verse number one there's no place i'd rather be than at first apostolic church i'm not saying this is the only church you can go to heaven from but i am saying it's the best i am saying it's the best there's nothing like gathering together and worshiping god but there's not there's nothing like unity when the church gathers together to worship god i've been in a lot of places that if you worship god you resembled a christmas tree everybody looked at what you were doing and although god is worthy and if i be a christmas tree i must be a christmas tree but is it so good to come and not be the only one that's just lost in praise and just lost in worship and just lost in loving him wiping tears out of your face leg can't stop moving and hands stan can't stop clapping cause something just gets all over you something something you get in the presence of god something just gets all over you and i'm thankful for that i can't explain it it's joy unspeakable and and full of glory you can't orchestrate it but you know when it's there and you know when it's not i praise him tonight i praise him let me give you a report on pastor erickson tonight he is at ut hospital evidently he has got a broken he has got a broken tooth they came in and examined him and um evidently the tooth is broken and he in the uh the person examining him saying that he's got to be in in an incredible amount of pain and so just keep praying for pastor erickson tonight just keep asking god just keep asking god to touch is the sweetest thing it's the sweetest thing sister davis which is brother pastor erickson's brother john's mother-in-law sister davis they sent just a short little video and she just uh kind of frailed and pray and it just bless your heart she was saying oh god touch brother chad he sings for you and preaches for you god and he works for you lord and i don't know if i got blessed over her praying for brother erickson or just listening to her pray but aren't you thankful somebody can touch god for you somebody can touch god somebody can touch god you're an awesome people you you really are an awesome you're an awesome people mark two and verse number one again he entered into capernaum after some days and it was noise that he was in the house and straightway many were gathered together in so much that there was no room to receive them no not so much as about the door and he preached the word unto them and they come unto him bringing one sick of the palsy which was born of four or carried by four men and when they could not come nigh unto him for the press they uncovered the roof where he was and when they had broken it up they let down the bed were in the sick of the palsy lay when jesus saw their faith he said unto the sick of the palsy son thy sins be forgiven thee for just a few moments tonight i'm going to preach on one word that i believe every last person in this room and online can identify with i'm going to preach on one word and when i say this one word you're going to understand it's one word that everybody identifies with tonight just one word one word i want to preach on obstacles obstacles father i love you tonight i ask you god that you would anoint my lips have clay with the spirit of god that lord just like this morning as i taught the word god the word went out and touched three souls and they were baptized in your name lord as i minister tonight on obstacles lord you would take this message and you would help the people tonight that have obstacles in their way lord help us tonight oh god to be overcomers we'll give you praise honor and glory in jesus name we all pray amen give him a hand of praise as you're being seated tonight come on give him a good hand of praise obstacles obstacles the definition of the word obstacle is something that makes it difficult to do something something that makes it difficult to do something obstacle an object that you have to go around or over something that blocks your path obstacles obstacles no doubt tonight every last person in this room could say i know what you're talking about i i know what you're talking about we all have obstacles and we may not have the same obstacle but we all have obstacles now the only way you wouldn't have any obstacles in your life is to be going the wrong direction to be going the wrong direction if you're not if your muscles are not sore from rowing upstream it must be that you've given up and you're going with the flow but if you plan to make heaven your home if you plan while here on this earth to be a vessel that makes a difference in people's lives then without fail without fail you will encounter obstacles in your life there's no doubt tonight that if you um come to worship god there's an obstacle there's an obstacle my opening text tonight tells about jesus coming to capernaum his hometown he entered into a house he was noised abroad that he was there his reputation was beginning to spread and it was noise that he was in the house and crowds came from everywhere to hear him the crowds were swallowing they first filled the house up and then they filled the yard up and people were standing looking in through the windows and then people gave up on actually being able to see jesus and they just said if i can just get close enough if i can just get close enough to hear him i i may not be able to look through and look through this person and that person and see him but if i could if i can just if i can just get to where i can i can i can hear him there the bible said jesus just simply began to preach the word to them you know it's interesting to me i'd like to make this note early in my message this evening that it's interesting to me that jesus would place himself in a situation that he would be difficult to get to that he would place himself in a house and the crowds would grow and the press would be there and he would place himself in a situation that he knew if you want to see me it's going to take a little work if you want to see me you're going to have to roll up your sleeves if you want to see me you're going to have to have a little tenacity if you want to see me it's not going to be the easiest thing you've done today if you want to see me it's going to take a little looking at the obstacle and not letting the obstacle discourage you to the point that you turn around i believe a lot of times the lord does hide himself from us because if it's easy to get to him we're going to eventually take him for granted if it becomes common if we just lift our hands and say his name a couple of times and we feel those chill bumps run up and down our arms that you can hang a coat hanger on we're going to begin to take it for granted but i believe tonight that the lord allows himself to get into situations to where he knows it's going to be a little difficult for you to get there but difficult and impossible are not the same he will place himself in difficult places for you to get to but you hear me tonight he will never place himself where it is impossible for you to get to him don't take a little work if you want to get to him going to take a little sweat if you want to get to it going to take a little discipline of your mentality if you want to get to him may take a little it may take a little bit of shutting everything out and not caring what anybody else says or thinks around you because after all our praise and worship is not from man but it is for almighty god so we shouldn't care one bit about what anybody would think about how we worship god somewhere they had heard that jesus was a healer this man that was sick of the palsy unable to walk was a very fortunate man i don't believe that he hired these four men to carry him i believe had he hired them it would have been noted that he was wealthy and he was sick and he hired four men but i believe just flat out the man had four friends he had four people that cared for him you see if you want to climb a mountain you better join a mountain climbing because club climbs a mountain by themselves and if you want to get to jesus you need to come join a coming to jesus club because sometime or later you're going to be carrying somebody or you're going to be carried by somebody but you need to understand that this man had four friends and these four friends heard of jesus and these four friends said i just believe if we could carry you to jesus i just believe isn't it wonderful to have friends that believe in the miraculous i want to have friends when i say pray for me i want to have friends that know how to pray in the miraculous i want to have friends that know how to come before a god who's able to do exceedingly abundantly and above all that we're able to ask i want to surround myself with friends that know how to get a hold of god i want to surround myself with people that nothing is impossible with god when i can get to the presence of god brother nolan if we can just get to jesus if we can just get our friend to jesus jesus will touch and jesus was healed we'll heal but it's not as easy as just getting to jesus as they rounded the corner he's at the house down the road before they got to the house down the road they probably passed a few empty chariots and they probably passed a few animals tied to trees it looked like a parking lot at naland stadium my something going on around here and they turned the road and before they could really even get in the front yard there were people everywhere and maybe they even said what what's going on here and they said you see that house way off yonder said jesus of nazareth is in that house way down yonder said we came and said we just wanted to hear him and we can't even get within earshot of him so we're just standing way out here in the yard now don't you know how discouraging that was don't you know how discouraging that must have been i mean if i'm by myself if i'm by myself church i can kind of squeeze my way through the crowd excuse me pardon me let me come on by listen everybody ought to endure trying to have a front row seat to watch the fireworks at disney everybody ought to do that because when you're a grandparent you want your grandkids to have a front row seat which means if you're going to be anywhere near to see the fireworks and the display at the castle that you got to get up there on the sidewalk and claim your spot on the sidewalk two hours before anything's happening now you know you got to have the holy ghost to keep your sanity and your grandkids calm for two hours but we all stand in our little blocks mr carpenter says lay your jacket down that way i take my honey it's cold lay your jacket down that way you'll be all right let your jacket down that way and i believe if we wasn't apostolic she would have said take his shirt off and put it down this way put it put it down this way she made four little corners brother perry out of purses put that person there put this person here put this person here and then there ain't nobody getting in that circle ain't nobody getting in that circle you see people try to kind of back into that circle you know excuse me excuse me excuse me excuse me this is this we we're here trying to grant grandkids grandkids but now can you imagine trying to have a bed on your shoulders and there's four of you and you come to that press can you say obstacles that's an obstacle now you got one or two things you can do when you see your obstacle you can quit you can quit matter of fact quitting is the easiest thing you'll ever do in life quitting just quitting stop it quitting quitting is the easiest thing you will ever do if you're looking for an easy way quitting is the easy way quitting is an easy way but if you're looking for the touch of a miracle worker then you better roll up your sleeves because you're going to have to figure out a way i am going to get in that house i don't know how but i'm getting my friend to jesus i am going to get delivered over what's got a hold of me i don't know how but i am going to get in his presence my family is going to be changed i don't know how but i am going to get in his presence i'm going to become a soul winner and have people on these pews that i personally want to god i don't know how but i am going to do it it's a it's a the easiest thing to do is quit and the hardest thing to do is to eyeball your obstacle down well they eyeballed that obstacle down until one of them i've said to the other hey i noticed something they're all gathered at the door but nobody's gathered around the side of the house well what in the world would you want to go to the side of the house for there's not a window there's not a door and finally somebody said no but there's a roof ruth have you lost what little mind you got we're trying to get in the door you don't understand when the door is not there you got to make one see sometimes the door that god has got for you to get in is a door that you're going to make through tenacity it's a door that you're going to figure out through determination i'm getting in that door i'm getting in that house it's got to sound something like this i don't know what it's going to take but i'm going to serve the lord i don't know what it's going to take when the hell is shaking me every part of me and the winds are blowing you just have to say i don't know how but i am going to i am going to outlast this storm i am going to outlast this storm mr carpenter i wish i could if i if i know i was going to use this tonight i'd got your notes but the comforting thing about a storm it takes a certain climate it takes certain pressures and winds blowing in all different directions to make a storm and the only comforting thing about a storm is all of those directions and conditions cannot always be stable they're going to change that's the comfort of knowing the wind's blowing right now it's blowing in every different direction but what you have to determine is i'm going to last longer than this storm we're in a season right now but i am not going to i'm not going to sell my sunglasses because winter's got here i'm believing god that summer's going to be here again i may have to take the patio furniture down i may have to take the orange the orange umbrella down i may have to put some pool equipment back up because the fall is here but i am not going to sell the pool because i know that summer is going to come lord willing please church don't sell out in your cold season please if i could preach to you tonight you got obstacles i got obstacles you're not in this all alone we're all in this together we're all mountain climbers and we're gonna make a way to overcome the obstacles why in the world would you want to go around the side of the house for there's not a door there there's not even a window there i know that there's a roof what are you talking about there's nobody on the roof what are you talking about we can get up on the roof and we can dig a hole through the roof and if we dig a hole through the roof we can let that our friend down into the presence of jesus and you know what that's exactly what they did and when they lowered their friend down in the presence of jesus the bible said that jesus said these words when he saw their faith not the sick man's faith he saw their faith do you know how i know you're going to make it because i see your faith tonight do you know how i know you're going to make it you've been knocked down you've had the spiritual breath knocked out of you you're turned upside down in this room tonight some of you have been fighting tests and trials for some time some of you had a grip on you for some time you know how i know you're going gonna make it i see your faith tonight what are you talking about you're here at church i see your faith tonight i saw you lift your hands a time or two i see your faith tonight and if you'll keep on coming when the obstacle says it's not doing any good if you'll keep on coming to the house of god and in the presence i i didn't feel you like i should have felt your god but you know feelings is not everything it's not important that i felt you it's important that you saw my faith that you saw my faith luke chapter 19 verse number one luke 19 verse number one and jesus entered and passed through jericho and behold there was a man named zacchaeus which was the chief among the publicans and he was rich he sought to see jesus who he was and could not for the press sounds like we got another obstacle doesn't it isn't it amazing that both these incidents the obstacles are people hello i'm not so sure we deal with as many spirits as we do people letting people get our victory letting people turn our day upside down this man wanted to see jesus but he could not for the press people because he was a little of stature let me tell you something when you are born with a situation that handicaps you don't give up make up for your handicap you can either accept the way you were born you can either accept your handicap or you can look around and look for ways to make up the handicap you could you could you could turn around and you can begin to say well i know i was born of a short stature i can't even look over the head of anybody and all these people are standing in the way what an excuse he could have had to turn around and went home i was born i was i was i was born short of stature they called me my nickname in school was shorty i was born i had nickname that's a problem with some of us we've allowed people to nickname us and we keep rolling the nickname around in our head but oh zacchaeus wanted to see jesus and if you want to see him bad enough you're going to find a way to get to him i said if you want to see him bad enough you're going to find a way to get to him if you want something bad enough you'll find a way to get it that's why we have got to preach the spirit of entitlement off our church because the spirit of entitlement will rob us of rolling up our sleeves and looking at our obstacles and becoming an overcomer i don't want to be a taker i don't want to have a handout i want to have a hand up i want to overcome the obstacle i want to see you want it bad enough you'll go to school long enough to get it you want it bad enough you'll work till you get it and let me tell you something the only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary but in the real world work success work success it wasn't i got healed and tore the roof off it was i tore the roof off and i got healed but i had to look over the obstacle i can't let people put a label on me i can't let people decide my destiny i can't let what anybody has to say about me detour distract me from who i know that god wants to make out of me i don't know much but i know this i'm 62 years old lord and you know how long i got to live and i want you to turn me upside down and inside out i want to see miracle signs and wonders i want to see a set and folding chairs out in this church i want to see a mighty revival where 30 get baptized on sunday morning instead of just three now that's all just lip service but i'm willing to roll up my sleeve i may have to walk through people misunderstanding me i may have to walk through people lying on me i may have to walk through people putting daggers in my back but if i can just keep on going i am going to make it. you can suck your thumb if you want to linus he wanted to see jesus but he was little of stature and he ran before i may be short but i'm a sprinter he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him for he was to pass that way and when jesus came to the place he looked up and saw him and said unto him zacchaeus make haste come down for today i must abide at thy house now i want you to know something jesus is god almighty he knows all jesus knew there's a man short of stature that wants to see me he's 14 people deep in this crowd and he wants to see me take comfort church when you can't see him he can see you when you can't see him you see the adversary is hoping that you'll just give up the next time you come to church two or three services and you don't feel anything he's just hoping that that latest gossip facebook mess just got your victory but if you can just say you know what if i don't feel god again in my life he's already done more for me than i ever deserved him to be and god if somebody is gossiping about me thank god they're leaving some other poor soul alone i believe before zacchaeus saw jesus jesus saw zacchaeus turn me around and up in a sycamore tree and jesus came to that sycamore tree and he looked up and he didn't say hey short guy in a sycamore tree who are you he just looked up and said zacchaeus come on down i'm going to dinner at your house today he removed the obstacle jesus went to his house everybody wants the promised land but nobody wants to march in a routine around jericho everybody wants a promised land but not many people want a routine of marching around jericho joshua 6 and 1 says now jericho was straightly shut up because the children of israel none went out none came in the lord said unto joshua see i have given into thine hand jericho king thereof and the mighty men of valor and ye shall compass the city all ye men of war and shall go around about the city once thou shalt thus shalt thou do six days and seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns and the seventh day you should confess the city seven times and the priest shall blow with the trumpet and it shall come to pass that that when they make a long blast with the ram's horns and ye hear the sound of the trumpet all the people if i say all all the people shall shout with a great shout and the wall of the city shall fall flat down and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him now again let me tell you something if you want your promised land you got to endure the routine to get jericho to fall because you'll never in you'll never get your promised land if you don't get a routine of worship you'll never have your promised land if you don't have a routine of worship you've got to have a routine and god said this is the first city i'm going to give you and i want to develop a routine in you and the routine is the routine is you're going to march around this city once a day and you're not gonna say a word you'll march around the city once a day and you're gonna march around it six days once a day you're gonna get up and you're gonna march and it's gonna be a routine it's going to be a routine you see some of us some of you are here tonight with stars in your eyes wanting to have certain degrees from college you would like to have certain paying jobs but you can't get that job without a college degree and you can't get a college degree until you learn a routine that's just life that's just life you can be starry-eyed you can walk through the hospital and see a doctor and think man that's what i wanted you hear what they make that's what i want you to hear what he made for that surgery that's what i want to be is that right then get ready for about 12 to 16 years of routine because you are rubbing a bottle hoping a genie pops out to believe that you're going to get that without routine there's not a business owner in this room tonight that wouldn't that's not amen in this sermon because they understand they didn't get where they're at without a routine some good days some bad days some profits a lot of losses but they wanted to be a builder and they wanted to build houses and they wanted to be a real estate person and they wanted to be a business owner and you know what it took it what you so so and so so and so came and and and they come around the altar we poured a little oil on them and we did a little tongue talking on them and they just spun out of here like a top and they got a successful business that is not right they may have got the favor of god upon them but remember god is the one that said six days shalt thou work that wasn't the labor union that was god he said you want the promised land you want big grapes don't you oh yes oh you want you want cows and honey and you want rivers and you you want to oh yes i want my house and i didn't i want my house i want that big house i want that well that i didn't dig and i want that a house i didn't build and i want everything to fall i want the lotto to come my way i want everything to fall in my way he said you're not getting it until you learn a routine until you learn a routine listen friend you ain't never gonna be the man until you're willing to work for the man you ain't never gonna be the woman until you're willing to work for the woman but if you're willing to work and get in a routine lord help me to get back to my obstacle what's the obstacle jericho the walls one reason he said i don't want you saying anything is because more than likely somebody say you see how tall that wall is you see how tall that wall is you really think we're gonna we're gonna shout here on the seventh day and and and and and and and and it's gonna fall you really think you really i guarantee you that's what they would start just like a lot of times people talk themselves out of success oh you can't go nowhere at that job that's a family run place oh you can't go nowhere there that i i tell you what can i tell you something if god wants to elevate you they ain't enough people that can stop it if god wants you to wear a certain title on your shirt if god wants you to have a certain status in this life you look at your pastor tonight there is nobody in this world that can keep you back from that but you and why don't you stop talking you out of what god wants to do through you i can do all things through christ that strengtheneth me i can do all things through christ that stripped of me no weapon formed against me will prosper and every tongue shall be condemned in judgment come on now believe in the god that believes in you tonight sure there's obstacles sure there's obstacles but why don't you just keep your lip zipped about the obstacle he said i don't want you to say in one word because we could have walked around there looks i'm not the right color i'm the wrong color i'm not the right gender of course nowadays you can change it you know absolutely i'm sorry i'm not the right this i'm not the right that why don't you stop quitting and start looking at your obstacles and say how can i get around this because obstacles you either get around it or under it or over it right you either go over it that's what they did when they got on the roof they got above the obstacle that's what zacchaeus did when he got on the tree he got above the obstacle and by the way i don't have her down but that's what the woman with the issue of blood did when she couldn't get to jesus because of the press she got down on her hands and knees where nobody was at and she come in where nobody was trying to get everybody wanted face to face with jesus that nobody wanted feet to face with jesus and so she found that place i'm telling you if you want it bad enough you'll get it if you want it bad enough come on we are going to raise a generation of champions we are not losers we have not been set back we have been set up can i preach just a few more moments tonight don't say a word zip your lip until the seventh day oh yeah we're gonna walk around we're gonna walk around on the seventh day and it's gonna fall flat no you're not you're gonna walk around seven times on the seventh day as a matter of fact it's going to be the darkest before the dawn you just think you got tired walking around once you just wait till there comes a day that it's going to be the hardest of all days that you've ever endured can't we put our thinking cap on and see through the devils ways isn't this the truth that he fights us just before there's a breakthrough how many of you can you kind of got it now down pat you you'll start going through something and you'll say lord have mercy i'm telling you there's a blessing on the way because i sure am going through a lot of trials here i don't know what god's about to do but there's some good things because the devil's been fighting me he has been fighting me every way that he can't sit the carpenter i don't know what's in store for fac but hell has been fighting us every way that he can and i hear the sound of the abundance of rain i hear the sound of the abundance of rain come on don't you pout don't you give up don't you turn back you get you listen you get your bucket out because the miracles are about to come you're going to march harder than you've ever marched your feet are going to be sore than they've ever been but when that seventh time around and you shout to the lord you shout to the lord your walls are going to fall flat when you shout to the lord church tonight i don't mean to hurt anybody's opinion of david the giant killer but i want to reveal something about him tonight all right oh sure oh sure oh sure he got upset when he heard his god blasting i i'm not gonna take that away from him he got a little bit upset but you know that's not what he talked about much in first samuel 17 23 somebody said praise the lord first samuel 17 23 as david talked with them behold there came up the champion the philistine of gath goliath by name out of the armies of the philistines and spake according to the same words and david heard them and all the men of israel when they saw the man fled from him and were sore afraid and the men of israel said have you seen this man that has come up david have you seen this man that has come up surely to defy israel does he come up and it shall be some i say it shall be it shall be that the man that who killeth him the king will enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in israel hey he said if somebody could come on this battlefield and kill goliath automatically going to be wealthy automatically gonna be kin to the king automatically gonna be the favorite in the family because they're gonna get a letter from the irs telling them that you no longer have to pay any taxes that's shouting grounds right there what a day that will be no i'm sorry let me get back you see this man you'll be rich you'll get his daughter and your family will be free from paying taxes in israel and david look at verse 26 and david spake to the men that stood by saying what shall be done to the man that killeth this philistine and taketh away the reproach from israel for who is this uncircumcised philistine that he should defy the armies of the living god he said what'd you say uh uh uh come back there buddy come back uh what'd you say did you say and the people answered him after this manner saying so shall it be done to the man that killeth him i know he was upset that god was getting cursed but he got motivated by what he was going to get if he killed him we need to get some divine motivation among us we just need to get motivated ain't gonna look like we got life you know motivated i'm just standing around i mean do something just just do something get motivated we we need a baptism of motivation he said you come again did you say rich did you say married to the king's daughter and she is mighty fine looking did you say married to her she's fine do you say no taxes man got motivated we need in order to overcome our obstacles we need some motivation we need to get motivated and when you get motivated it comes from within you need to get some stuff inside of you that motivates you it's not always going to be you're going to have a best bud it's not always going to be you got the girls to go hang out with there's things in life you'll never overcome unless you develop the attitude that you can learn how to encourage yourself in the lord there's just some times all along that you've got to say i can do this i can make this i can make this happen i'm motivated i'm an overcomer i'm going over and around and under it i don't care i i'm just simply the hours are going to be long on the job i'm going to set up into the night with a textbook across the bed because i've got exams the next day but i've got my eye on a cap and gown i've got my eye on walking through the halls of that corporation because i have worked and god has blessed can i tell you tonight there is nothing wrong with wanting to excel on this earth and advance the kingdom of god at the same time i'm telling you i hope one day the mayor of this city is apostolic i hope today we pass surgeons in the hospital that are apostolic i hope we got attorneys that are apostolic i hope we got judges that and the land young people this is your day you hear me this is your day the group of babylons young people their minds are burnt up they can't even determine if they're male or female their minds are burnt up they have no goals they have no visions and they're trying to hire them on the job but here you come fresh out of the anointing of god you've got a clear mind you've got your head on straight it's your day it's our day come on church it's our day come on take this thing right now let's worship god come on how bad do you want it how bad do you want it tonight how bad do you want it tonight you want to start a business you can start it you want to go back to school you can go back to school god will open up some scholarship money for you god will open up some doors for him do you want it preach a little bit just a little bit more just a little bit more just a little bit more now i love i loved and loved and loved mama and troy prophet papa mama and papa prophet some of you tonight don't know that name but i'm here to tell you you wouldn't have this church if it wasn't for them they had a little pawn shop over on nassau highway they had it there when i first started pastoring here they had it there when this church first got started here's a little pawn shop that troy and ruby ran that little pawn shop and uh god bless that little old pawn shop and as a season of time there's a season of time with perry the tithing offerings that came out of that pawn shop kept this church floating kept this church float matter of fact paw paw prophet gave the first the first 1 000 offering i'd ever received in my life papa prophet gave it to pour the concrete up here on the hill for the sanctuary can i tell you something old papa prophet had a routine six days a week he go open up that pawn shop matter of fact on papa prophet's death bed i didn't know what he was doing i went in the little bedroom there we was at he's departing this world he's taking his hand doing this right here somebody said you know what he's doing i said no they said he's turning off tvs down at the pawn shop he had all the tvs he wasn't slick enough technology to go put it on a big strip and push one button and cut them all off he'd go through every morning he didn't know what he had there he didn't know what he had there you got a crescent wrench i think i got a bucket of them if they had run an inventory list papa prophet would be as lost as a goose in a hailstorm he only knew that if you had vcrs he had a bunch of them you got a bicycle a few but his granddaughter and grandson-in-law ken and lori took that pawn shop and now they own successful businesses and i tell this for the glory of god there are successful business owners in this town they have several businesses in this town but let me tell you something it's because of hard work and it was because they wanted to prosper so the kingdom of god could prosper how many people do you know a sunday night service where we take up money for the church up on the hill but ken and lori wasn't at church that night they were down in georgia and somebody told them the holy ghost moved and they took up an offering how many people do you know that would knock on your door on monday morning and say we don't want to miss out on the blessing here's a check right here so before you start being googled out at what they wear and what they drive and where they live you need to examine where they come from before you start talking about his truck and trucks and thousands hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment out here and you start thinking carl perry wow my goodness carl perry you need to go back to when a man would cut cardboard out and put it in the bottom of his shoes so that his feet didn't hit the pavement and you need to go back and look at a man that'll set up all night listen everybody ought to babysit concrete at just one time in their life every see some of you don't even know what i'm talking about babysitting concrete is when it doesn't set up while the sun is shining which means you have to set up with it all night long and you trowel a little bit and you're cold and you trail a little bit see every preacher would want this right here but how many would want when we poured concrete up on the hill and the concrete didn't set up and we're up there all by ourself at three and four in the morning shivering cold trying to trowel a little bit and go home it's just a carpenter break out the eggs and the bacon and your bed's back there saying come to me kenny come to me kenny come to me but you say i can't come to you the concrete will set up and it won't be good see everybody wants the success picture but not very many people want what it takes to get to the success say oh yeah i got such a good marriage i'm going to tell you something we got a lot of negotiating that went on to get us to where we're at oh i just wish we had your alls married i just wish we had your aussies you gotta you listen you don't want that you want what got us to where we're at that's what you want thank you come on the holy ghost talking in tongues it's not hocus pocus de la yocas go get your success joseph did not become second in command automatically he had to sweep in the pit he had to sweep in the prison he had to be lied on he had to be forgotten but somewhere he just kept sweeping i'm not going to give up this job i'm not going to give up this job i'm going to quit sweeping the floor and god's going to see what a good sweeper i am god can i say something if you'll work on your job you'll get noticed i said if you'll work on your job you'll get noticed and if you don't work you get a notice because somewhere in a cigar filled boardroom they're cutting employees and when your name flashes up on the screen they're going to say hey we can't get rid of him that woman's a worker we can't get rid of her him kip fowler drove a truck for driller service in knoxville he drove a truck he was a truck driver for this well-drilling service you know what he didn't have to just carpenter he didn't have to pull that truck up at the dock and get out and load pipe that wasn't his job sister aretha his job was he was a truck driver listen can i tell you something you're going nowhere with this mentality that's not my job on let me go start the car it's going to get bad here all right great and now my job can i tell you whatever it takes to to get your company successful becomes your job if somebody throws a beer can out in front of where you work at don't drive by stop don't say that's not my job that's a janitor's job stop by pick up the beer can put it in your car put it in the trash and walk on in because that's going to make your company look better come on are you looking for ways to quit are you looking for ways to look at the obstacle god sees you looking at the obstacles kip fowler was truck driver but instead of sitting there playing on the radio he got out started helping to put pipe in the truck and it wasn't long he got bored with putting pipe in the truck so i saw a broom over there started sweeping up the warehouse kip you don't have to do that i know it wasn't long until he heard the manager say who's going to take the shift of answering the alarm that goes off whose week is it to answer the alarm when the alarm goes off in the middle of the night whose shift is it and he said he heard everybody say no mind i don't want that job kip raised his hand he said i'll do it i just live right over here i don't care to do that do you know driving a truck loading pipe sweeping when you shouldn't be sweeping putting yourself down to answer the alarm when you shouldn't somewhere they got to talking about needing an assistant manager and a manager and guess whose name come up that old truck driver that gets out of his truck loads some pipe sweeps the floor gets the alarm that's the one that they put and now and now brother kept fowler is over a vast company in knoxville that sells all kinds of pipe and god has blessed him greatly but god didn't bless him that way by him setting on his do nothings feeling entitled that he could come his way come on folks come on church there's a roof we need to tear off there's a sycamore tree we need to climb there's a city we need to walk around there's a routine that we need to get into i want to submit to you that david was motivated lord have mercy look at me and the king's daughter wow she is one more fine looking thing see you ought to motivate yourself by seeing yourself different than what you are right now let me tell you something if people can lose weight by putting pictures on their refrigerator of being 20 pounds lighter you ought to be able to get a spiritual momentum about you by just simply saying i see myself having victory i see our marriage flourishing i see our children becoming youth leaders i see i i see great i see i don't know about you but where i came from i don't want to go back god brother harris come on musicians i'm done probably done a half hour ago an hour or two ago brother harris i never want my kids and my grandkids to go back to where i came up from i never want my children or my grandchildren my great-grandchildren to open up a refrigerator sister barnette i never want any of my descendants to open up a refrigerator and see nothing but a jar of mayonnaise i never want my descendants to take a pan a pot that's got dried pinto beans in it and not know how to make pinto beans take that pot out in the backyard beat it knock the dry bend up pinto beans out on the ground take it back in there pour some water start boiling pinto beans and not knowing how to make pinto beans cause that's all we had a jar a jar of mayonnaise and a bag of pinto beans and put a bag of pinto beans in for about 30 minutes and boil them and then try to eat them i didn't know that they had to boil for hours but i'm here to tell you that motivates me i don't ever want to go back to that i don't ever want there to be a carpenter or a hammond or an erickson or anybody else's last name or an or or anybody else's last name in this church we don't have to go back to that way we ought to be motivated by going forward by what god has brought us out of we ought to be motivated to go forward by what god has brought us out come on stand with me right now stand with me right now what about your obstacle tonight what's your obstacle what's your excuse what's your obstacle you know keep telling yourself keep telling yourself you're saying keep keep telling yourself young man keep telling yourself i'm going to be single all my life and as your faith is so be it unto you keep telling yourself i can't sure enough you can't keep telling yourself young lady i can't but if you'll get motivated and get the obstacle what is your obstacle tonight what is your obstacle tonight think about it right now think about it with me what is your obstacle what do you play in your mind that tells you that i got a dream i got a dream i tell you no way that i could ever ain't never there's no way i could ever get there oh there's not can you tell me why oh god help me tonight can you tell me why where's joel orat where's joel joel is he up is he upstairs tonight upstairs joel are you down here would you wave your hand would you would you wave your hand is that you back there on the camera is he upstairs joel would you run down here as fast as you can buddy would you run down here as fast as you can i've come tonight to move obstacles out of the way i've come tonight tonight to move obstacles joel you want to build an apostolic church in madisonville don't you there's no obstacle that can stop you there's no obstacle can it stop you hear me there's not one obstacle there's not one obstacle come on down closer because i won't preach to you tonight there's not one obstacle that can stop you if god before you who can be against you there's not an obstacle that can stop you don't drive by churches don't drive by places when you're going to the library to teach a bible study don't drive by churches and ever feel intimidated because if god wants to build a church in madisonville he's going to use you to build that church don't you be just there's no reason come on john praise him right now there's no reason there's no reason there's no reason tonight come on watch your obstacle does anybody have a dream go ahead joe cut loose that's it has anybody got a dream here tonight that you're allowing an obstacle to stand in the way why don't you get down here to this altar and begin to worship your way around the obstacle i am going to exceed i am going to make it i am going to get married i am going to find someone i am going to turn my loneliness into a mate i am going to have my dreams come true oh god i'm going to tear the roof off oh god i'm going to climb the sycamore tree i'm going to march around my jericho i'm going to bite my giant i'm motivated bring your dreams bring your dreams bring your dreams evangelists pastors missionaries business owners bring your dreams commercial pilots bring your dreams bring your dreams come on dream you drink dream your dream so so this is my house this is surrounded is is this is is but i'm surrounded by you oh yeah hallelujah hallelujah are you taking care of your obstacles right now are you taking care of your obstacles tonight are you taking care of your obstacles are you taking care of your obstacles right now mike and suzanne fuller probably the most one of the most successful real estate people in this county but i happen to know their story and their story is laced with hard hard work their story is laced any of you successful business owners ever had disappointment ever had disappointment sure you can't be successful without having a dab or two of disappointment we just laid all the new carpet in the church up on the hill what color was it was it mauve or marv ma just laid brand new carpet up on the hill brother jeter and i were putting up plumbing fixtures in the bathroom we were hanging setting toilets and urinals and saturday evening me and brother jeter was hooking some pipe up and a wall and uh he tells it was me i'm gonna tell it was him but i said brother jeter don't don't don't tighten it up too tight don't don't tighten that pvc up too tight don't don't do he said when the jeter fixes it it's fixed pow pot water spewed everywhere i ran down to the street got that little device that reaches down in the water meter and turned the water off lowe's home depot and all that was closed so we had to go to little mom-and-pop hardware stores and configure the pvc pipe and all that it all up and i said brother jeter i get here on sunday morning early i said just leave the water off let's just leave water off he said you don't trust me do you i said brother jeter i feel a whole lot better he said i'm telling you this thing ain't gonna leak and against my better judgment i turned the water on came back sunday morning got a little routine went by the store and got me a pack of certs and a 16-ounce diet coke pulled up to the church there that day leaned against my car looked at the building took me a swig of my coke had my bibles in my hand went and got in the front door i was admiring everything the church you look reached up the lock you remember the church up on the hill the lock was kind of up high i reached up and got it unhooked and when i opened the door i began to hear the sound of water and i thought oh it's leaking i ran into there where the urinal was at and i could hear that and i thought oh the floor is not wet it's it's leaking behind the wall it's leaking behind the wall and then i went around the restroom and i could hear it round the restroom and i thought it's filled the wall the walls filled water and i went running to the back to get that little device to turn the water off met brother stevens i said brother stephens we got a bad water leak here and he said yeah i can hear he went ready to get the bar and i looked down and when i took that sup of that diet coke i hadn't screwed the lid all the way good on it so help me god you can't make this up arnone i hadn't screwed the lid down good so when i was trying to get in the church with the keys like this it's it fizzed it up and then when i was running through the bathroom oh my god this wasn't it just kept sensing it up and the problem was in my hand all i had to do was tighten the lid brush stevens put the tool up there no leak you see sometimes we don't have the right attitude in life we can think the problems in the wall we can think the problems every place else when the problem's right there in your hand you just got to have the attitude i will overcome this i will bounce back i will become the comeback kid i will i will overcome this there will be a better day come on just screw the lid down a little tight tonight just screw the lid down a little tight tonight you're going to make it because you want to advance the kingdom of god god bless you i'll see you wednesday night at 7 30. we're going to continue our series on the throne room of god and heaven prayer god bless you dismissed salvation