The Working of the Spirit | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter
by Kenneth Carpenter
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: Bible study
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Genesis 1:1-3, Judges 13:25, Judges 16:19-20, 2 Peter 1:21, Luke 1:34-35, Acts 2:1-4, Joel 2:28-29, 1 Corinthians 12:1-2, 1 Corinthians 12:3, 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, 1 Corinthians 12:12-15

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

------------------------------------------------------------
turn with me in your bibles tonight to first corinthians chapter 12. first corinthians chapter 12 and verse number 12 and verse number 13. first corinthians 12 and verse number 12 and 13. listen to the apostle paul for as the body is one and half many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is christ for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be jews or gentiles whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit for a bible lesson tonight that i hope it warms your soul i want to teach on tonight the working of the spirit the working the working of the spirit the only power the church has is the spirit of god in the name of jesus christ it's the only power that we have but oh it's enough matter of fact it's not only it's not only enough it's more it's more than enough put your bible down father i just love you tonight god as i have studied these verses of scripture today and lord at times slid my bible back and just raised my hands in the office and thanked you for your word god in days and times such as this perilous times perilous times god i'm glad to be in the church god so much uncertainty in our world today and i'm glad to be in the church i'm glad lord to be part of that spiritual body that hell cannot defeat i am glad to be a part of that people lord i ask you for the next few moments as pastor of this church to allow me to feed your sheep tonight we have a greater better appreciation of the church in jesus name we pray amen you may be seated paul begins in first corinthians 12. i want to go on down to verse number 12 and 13 for just a moment we're going to start back at verse 1. but paul is trying to get you to see what the church spiritually what the church spiritually looks like and he uses the visible analogy of a human body and he says the human body has many members hands feet legs arms ears nose mouth ears eyes and he said as a body has many members but it is one body the last few words verse 12 so also is christ and now in one verse verse 13 he's going to tell us how we got in the church how we got in the church i hope that it causes us to see why exactly we emphasize spirit baptism why we are so fanatic about the baptism of the holy ghost for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body the only way you got the only way you were put in the body was to be baptized now this word this greek word baptized there is actually two words one word simply means to dip quickly and take out to dip quickly you take an object as a matter of fact i i i i i've got a second uh a recipe that i found online a recipe that i found online this recipe uh was written in the second century in the second century and it uses the word to dip quickly it was talking about a certain vegetable that if you wanted to have a flavor that you dipped it quickly and and just dipped it in the sauce or dipped it in the boiling i think the recipe said the boiling sauce you dipped it quickly and took it out that way it still retained a little bit of the original flavor and then it had a hint of whatever flavor it was dipped in but when the word baptism is used it is not that word to dip and take out quickly it is another word in the recipe that means to submerge and to leave and it is forever changed to submerge and to leave and is forever changed for by one spirit are we submerged into one body and we are forever changed even if you don't stay in the church you'll never live long enough to forget being in it it'll haunt you to every bar you'd ever walk in it'll haunt you to ever ever everything you try to do to drown it it'll be there to echo that there was a day that you found something that satisfied your soul for by one spirit not one decision for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body that's what we all have in common tonight we all have something in common tonight in the church and that is we all were baptized by the same spirit into the same body whether jews or gentiles whether bond or free and have all been made now watch the second part of this not only did that one spirit baptize me into the church but after i got in the church the bible says and have all been made to drink into that one spirit follow that at the end of that verse because it takes more than just a historic past experience of when i got in the church i mean remember that day or night you got baptized with the holy ghost let me remember that how glorious it was how life-changing it was but it's more than just that now now that i am in the church the same spirit that baptized me into the church placed me into the spiritual body now becomes the same spirit that i need essentially to live by been made to drink into one spirit you can't have life without water and you can't have spiritual life simply upon a historical time that you've got in the church you have got to drink and drink and drink and drink again of that spirit oh the spirit the spirit has shown its mighty work in creation we would not have the earth that we're on tonight the air that we breathe had it not been the working of the spirit i want to go over this just in case anyone would doubt how powerful the spirit is in the beginning god created the heaven and the earth genesis 1 1 and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of god moved upon the waters and god said let there be light and there was light and we could go through the whole first chapter of genesis but this says it all this earth is the product of the mighty working of god's spirit not only that but men and women in the old testament did extraordinary things superhuman strength if i could use those terms it was a man called samson it's a man called samson that even the world recognized he had some kind of unusual great strength we find the cause of this great strength in judges chapter 13 and verse number 25 and the spirit of the lord begin to move samson or begin to move him at times between the camp of dan betwee in the camp of dan between zorra and esterol sampson had this superhuman strength because of the spirit of god we know in judges 16 and 19 when the enemy came to delilah simply said and she made him sleep upon her knees and called for a man she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head she began to afflict him and his strength went from him and she said the philistines be upon thee samson and he awoke out of his sleep and said i will go out as at other times and shake myself and he wists not that the spirit he wished not that the lord was departed from him and when the lord was departed from him he became just like any ordinary man and they took him and they put out his eyes as a matter of fact you got your paper bible with you tonight i hope everybody has a paper bible you know a digital bible's all right but you need to own a a digital bible can be good for a for for convenience sake but you ought to have a paper bible you all you ought to have something that's exclusively a bible only a bible it's not a bible and a cell phone it's not a bible and a checkbook it's a it's a bible amen you've got your bible hold it up tonight hold it up you know how you got this you know how you got this book wow look at those bibles tonight you know how you got this bible right here let me tell you how you got it in second peter chapter 1 and verse number 21. you want to know how you got this bible for the prophecy that's the word came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost now we got we're going to praise god here tonight because all of creation tells us about the power of the spirit the men and the women in the old testament that did extraordinary things was all a testimony to the power of the spirit the bible the best-selling book in all the world in all of history the bible the best-selling book in all of history you know why we've got it you know why it's so special because holy men of god were moved on by the holy ghost that's what makes the bible the bible that's why it's that's why you can't even compare it to any other book don't put the bible up beside any other book the bible is alive the bible is full of power and it's all because of the spirit of god can i tell you how we got the christ man jesus the god man jesus luke chapter 1 and verse number 34 then said mary unto the angel how shall this be seeing i know not a man and the angel answered and said unto her the holy ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of god look at this tonight church we have creation because of the spirit of god we have samson and men and women like him because of the spirit of god we have the bible tonight because of the spirit of god as a matter of fact god became man by the power of his own spirit but not only that what makes the church so special what makes the church so special asking what makes the church so special would be looking at the solar system and saying what makes earth so special i'll tell you what makes earth so special different than the moon is you can live here there's life here what i've seen from the other planets is there's not life there and you couldn't live on those other planets so you asked me tonight what makes the church so special well what makes the church so special is something that happened at the very beginning in acts chapter 2 and verse number one and when the day of pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them clothed in tongues like as a fire and it set up on each of them and they were all filled with the holy ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance why do we have an earth we have an earth because of the spirit of god how did samson defeat the philistines by the spirit of god why is this book such an unusual book that has endured burnings and it has endured the scorning of of cultures but it it it keeps bobbing to the surface they'll try to burn it they'll try to burn every bible they can in a country but it keeps bobbing to the surface because we got this book by the spirit of god creation by the spirit of god samson by the spirit of god the word by the spirit of god the man christ jesus by the spirit of god and praise god the church of the living god is here tonight not by man's not by man's uh in new duty not by not by the genius of man but the church is here tonight because of the spirit of almighty god do you understand why i'm talking about the church triumphant the church triumphant tonight oh the spirit of god for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body and have been made to drink of that one spirit what made this what made the spirit baptism so special well joel in the old testament joel chapter 2 and verse number 28 joel began to testify about it joel began to prophesy and foretell why the holy ghost would be so life-changing and joel says in 2 28 and it shall come to pass afterward that i will pour out my spirit upon all flesh i want you to think what says all flesh i'm going to pour out my spirit upon all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions also upon the servants and upon the handmaidens in those days will i pour out my spirit look at how the spirit has the ability to touch the young and the old what kind of god is this tonight that can move across a congregation and cause a five-year-old child to wipe a tear out of his eye and his bottom lip begin to quiver but you can look back and see a 90 year old man or woman with their hands raised worshiping god i'll tell you why because when he gave the holy ghost he said i'm going to give the church something i'm going to give a special group of people something that it's going to touch the young and it's going to touch the old he's not only said that he said that my spirit is going to be poured out upon all flesh a year ago when when brother raymond woodward was was here and he gave us the statistics a growing number of pentecost that the pentecostal movement and that is this believing in receiving the baptism of the holy ghost is the fastest growing religion if you want to call it that in all the world it has spread like a prairie fire around the world not surprising because god said i'm going to pour my spirit out upon all flesh many of us because we are americans many of us talk about a great revival called azusa street we talk about uh at the turn of the century topeka kansas and different places where the holy ghost was poured out we talk about that revival in los angeles california azuza street revival where it got the attention of the world where that uh they the the the reporter one uh newspaper reporter went out to report on this phenomenon of people that were receiving the spirit of god and john shirrell fell under conviction he was a reporter for the los angeles paper but he fell into conviction and was baptized with the holy ghost we know of azusa street revival but as you begin to connect with people around the world when you begin to connect with people from other continents they have the same story they have the same thing i spoke to a missionary from india and he told me the same thing was happening in india among the hindus at the same time god was pouring out his spirit in los angeles at azusa street in towns and countries in india hindus were receiving the baptism of the holy ghost and they even said they even said we had the accompaniment of tongues of fire that would set his grandfather one missionary told me he said my grandfather to the day he died told me that the night grandmother received the holy ghost tongues of fire came down from the ceiling and set upon them so god is pouring out his spirit let's never take for granted the church of the living god we are we're not an ordinary group of people meeting on a midweek bible study we are the baptized for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body if you're glad you got the holy ghost tonight would you just do something to show god that you're thankful that you have the holy ghost just do something that you're glad that you've got the holy ghost tonight it's for the young it's for the old it's for the rich it's for the poor it'll cause a young man to see a vision and it'll cause an old man to dream a dream it'll cause a poor servant and a handmaiden to receive the same gift that there's that their master received i want to go back to first corinthians 12 and 13 for a moment because there's something to bring to light here four by one spirit first corinthians 12 13. four by one spirit we are all baptized into one body now joel simply just told us joel just told this yeah i'm gonna pour it out upon all flesh young men your sons and daughters young men the old men handmaidens and servants and he ended there but paul took it a step further he said for by one spirit we are all baptized in one body one body and then he said something astounding whether jews or gentiles now wait a minute paul don't you know there is an extreme prejudiced and there is an ingrained generational curse of hatred between the jews and the gentiles but can i tell you the power of the spirit the power of the spirit can erase centuries of prejudice the power of the spirit can erase centuries of hatred the power of the spirit can so get a hold of you and put you in the church until their names and people and faces that used to turn your stomach but all of a sudden now you see that you're not you're not looking at them through bitterness and hatred and hoping they were dead but something got a hold of you something got a hold of you that changed the way that you look can i tell you the holy ghost baptism is so powerful that he can take jews and gentiles and put them into the same body as a matter of fact you can't get polar opposites from bond to free you can't be any more polar opposites than jews and gentiles when it comes to hatred and you can't get any more polar opposites from someone who is a bond servant and someone who is free or wealthy someone who is a bond servant and someone who is free and wealthy because the power of the spirit has such a way of dominating your life that you no longer are trying to get out of the situation of life when you get the baptism of the holy ghost you're no longer trying to change something about your life that that can't be changed because paul said whether you be a jew or whether you be a gentile whether you be a bond you're a servant whether you were born in slavery or you were sold off to slavery or where you were a wealthy person born with wealth or you made your wealth by breaking your back paul said it doesn't matter he said by one spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be jews or whether we be gentiles whether we be bond or whether we be i'm talking about the mighty power this is why i'm glad to be in the church tonight i'm glad to be in the church of the living god would you one more time if you're glad you've got the spirit if you're glad you've got the spirit tonight that's what we all have in common that's what we all have in common would you do something to show god you're excited tonight so all we all have in common that's what we all have in common church is the spirit of god now in first corinthians chapter 12 i want to go back to verse number one because paul begins to tell us how blessed we are as the church how blessed we are as the church how blessed we are he says now concerning spiritual gifts brethren i would not have you to be ignorant now we're not talking about the gift of the holy ghost that's already been given and celebrated isn't it amazing that god keeps on exceeding his goodness not only do we have the gift of the holy ghost that put us in the body but now that we are in the body he says now let me tell you about some gifts that's for those in the body that's why there's benefits there's benefits there's benefits to be in the in the body there's benefits there's full coverage you're in good hands you got a good neighbor he's the rock you're glad to be in the church glad to be in the church um several years ago we were building the old church on the hill my wife and i sit down and we begin to trim our budget to see how much we could give and how much we could save so i had an old pickup truck i think james stinnett eventually ended up with it i had no pickup truck it meant a little bit to me because um brother jason i bought that truck right after gl acres died i bought that truck from bishop i bought it from other acres but i bought it it was bishop gl aker's truck and uh so we had full coverage on it but we went into the building program up on the hill and we saved a little money and we dropped full coverage on the on the truck well about that time brother and sister dotson invited us out uh to their house to have dinner one night and for some odd reason me and sister carpenter sister selena had to take two cars that i said carpenter went out and went on out and then i came out a little bit later in my pickup truck all the way home that night i was following sister carpenter and she got ahead of me just a little bit and folks the biggest deer i've ever seen in all my life leaped from the side of the hill and that truck and that deer met all i remember doing is laying down i saw the antlers literally explode when he hit the windshield and i came up and when i came back up thank god didn't didn't wreck but but i came up and the truck was still running and i i just kept on trying to follow sister carpenter and i didn't understand why she was not responding to my blinking my headlights on and off on and off on and off the reason she wasn't ex responding was they were gone the truck was overheating the radiator was smashed and the truck was all smashed and so the next day i called the insurance man i thought you know there may be some kind of wildlife insurance it may be some kind of you know and and it didn't get a good insurance i didn't get a good insurance man like brother orr somebody would be sympathetic i had a smart aleck he said preacher tell you what you do he said you know where you would hit that deer i said yeah he's still laying on the side of the road he said why don't you go lift him up and see if he had insurance got you i will remember you when i come into my kingdom amen you know some folks are not living with full coverage some folks choose not to be in the church and they don't have full coverage they don't have any coverage at all but i'm glad tonight to have fire insurance this whole world's going to burn up one day but i'm glad that i'm going to be gone because i've got full coverage tonight i'm glad that i've got flood insurance tonight let the wind blow let the rains come let the flood waters arise i'm in the church of the living gods and are y'all hearing me tonight i'm in the church of the living god tonight he didn't promise me a bed of roses but he did say i'll be with you all the way to the end of the world i'm talking y'all may be seated i'm talking i'm glad to be in the church y'all gonna hear this for the rest until i get done you're gonna hear this i am glad to be in the church there's benefits to be in the church there's benefits to being in the church he said now brethren concerning spiritual gifts i would not have you ignorant you better know the coverage you better know the coverage i don't want you to be ignorant about your coverage verse 2 ye know that ye were gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols even as you were led now the first thing to remember if you want to stay in the church how many won't stay in the church can i help you can i help you you want to stay in the church remember the world doesn't have the answer you're in here because they didn't have it out there don't get in here and then start thinking that it's good out there it's not good out there now if you're born in the church you're born and this is what our kids will face they're born in the church they've only known the church and they're going to be tempted to want to get out there because they're going to think man their freedom is out there man they've got they've got all the fruit man there i could do this out there i could do that out there that you could but would you put your thinking cap on for a little bit if the world has it why are people coming in the church you're a young person the next young person you see that wasn't born in the church raised in the church the next one you see come in this church get baptized and get the holy ghost ought to be an ever reminder to you that it's not in the church it's not in the world you want to stay in the church always remember there's nothing in the world for you oh i wish somebody helped me preach on this wednesday evening has the cold weather got the shout out of you already i wish somebody do you believe that tonight the bar doesn't have your answer the universities don't have your answer the hospitals don't have your answer oh i'm glad to be in the church tonight so paul says here's the first thing i want you to know i want you to remember that you were gentiles carried away under these dumb idols even as you were led dumb that means they can't speak dumb idols you were just led by these dumb idols wherefore i give you to understand that no man speaking by the spirit of god calleth jesus accursed and that no man can say no man can say that he is the holy ghost that no man can say that jesus is the lord but by the holy ghost now it's a wednesday night crowd ought to be able to ought to be able to ought to be able to put the plow pretty deep i have an issue listening to men or women that don't know the revelation of who jesus is i really do when i hear people say well you ought to hear bishop so and so you ought to hear sister so and so first thing it's my mind is they don't know who jesus is they think he's some second person in some godhead they don't i i heard today and i was tempted to tape it i was i actually attempted i've got it i've got it recorded but i heard today a man who's the leader of one of the largest churches in alabama explain what made me kind of listen to him a little bit was he started explaining acts chapter 19. i thought man it's going to get fun i think i'll stop here and listen to him for a minute and he said now i want to tell y'all something he said they were saved under john's baptism and i'm thinking if john's message saved them why did jesus have to go to the cross if john's message saved them why do you have to go to the cross so now i'm just going to tell you you ought to watch who serves you your food you ought to watch what you get an appetite for some people get an appetite for this health wealth and prosperity gospel they get an appetite for always bringing you out my destiny i've got a destiny ahead of me i've got all this stuff how many remembers back in 1988 a man swept the countryside with 88 reasons why jesus will come in 1988 didn't i'm just telling you like i'm i'm just in a preaching mood tonight all right i never i never bit on that fruit one minute because of one thing how could a man have 88 reasons that jesus was coming in 88 and he didn't know the message of salvation isn't it amazing come on go go back with me for a moment i don't you think i'm just i'm just i i've got a soapbox i'm up here on he wants to talk to you about your benefits the spiritual gifts the first thing he says brother hammond is don't remember but don't forget it's not out in the world you were led by these dumb idols then the next thing he does he says in verse 3 wherefore i give you to understand i want you to understand something no man speaking by the spirit of god calleth jesus a curse he said if anybody comes and says the spirit's on me i've got the spirit of god on me jesus is a curse he said no man speaking by the spirit of god can call jesus a curse and then he flipped it and that no man can say that jesus is the lord but by the holy ghost he said if a man comes and tells you that jesus is a curse the spirit of god is not with him is not upon him but he said you can't even know the true identity of jesus christ if it wasn't for the holy ghost you don't know who jesus is because you can read you don't know who jesus is because you've got a thompson chain bible and you can connect dots you know who jesus is because he gave you a revelation of himself he showed you he showed you a revelation it was a revelation thank god tonight that it still takes a revelation to see who jesus christ is let me read on verse 4. now there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit now there are differences of administration but the same lord and there are diversities of operation but it is the same god which worketh all in all but the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit with all let me tell you about the gifts of the spirit the analogy is your kitchen all right i want you to think about your kitchen right now and you've got a can opener you've got a toaster you've got a coffee maker you've got a refrigerator you've got a microwave you've got a dishwasher and they all do different functions right but they all depend on one thing right electricity turn the electricity off and the microwave doesn't wave turn the electricity off and the can opener doesn't open turn the electricity off and the toaster doesn't toast and the coffee doesn't brew because it's the electricity that gives the power but it's the different gift that serves the different purpose because god knew in the church aren't you thankful for this he not only saved us but then god in his awesome wisdom said my church my people my ecclesia my called out ones my spirit-filled ones my baptized in my name my sons my daughters are going to encounter needs in their lives on the journey sister franklin and so god said i'm not only going to give you the god this is so good i hate to brag on myself but this is so good he said i'm not only going to save them you know you can you can ride to town on a log wagon but it's better to go on a cadillac he got he could have got us to heaven on a log wagon but he said i want to put my church in a cadillac i'm not only going to give you the holy ghost to get you out of here but you're going to need some gifts along the way and so i'm going to give you nine spiritual gifts and there may come a day when you need a toaster and it's going to be there and there may come a day when you need a coffee maker and it's going to be there now what what the gifts are what the gifts are are things that you and i need but you can't have them if you're not in the church they're not yours they're not yours see but all you have to do don't have to beg him we don't have to beg god all you have to do now watch this now i have electricity at my home i know that's a shocker i have electricity at my home every month the bill comes due we pay the bill i don't go in i'm not going in tonight i'm not i'm not right now okay oh i want to make me something to eat when i get home i hope the lights are on i hope the electricity is on i hope that my oh i hope we got a microwave i hope i hope the refrigerator hope that no i'm doing that you know why i paid the bill i paid the bill too many people when it comes to god rings their hands oh god are you going to come through oh god oh god i wonder if god's going to bless me i want i wonder if this is going to happen why don't you just pay the bill to be in the church sell out sell out make up your mind there's nothing out there that you want don't be two-timing god don't be playing footsies with the devil under the table sell out get things out of your life the holy ghost is closer to you than your pastor is get things out of your life get people out of your life get books get music get things out of your life sell out to him sell out to him god knows what you're hiding god knows what you're flirting with god knows you're two-timing him you're not gonna get a faithful god by two-timing god get that stuff out of your life you're not going to be wringing your hands am i going to get a blessing tonight you're going to say i was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the lord whoa you're not going to go wringing your hands you're going to know if a need arises god is going to meet that need in my life if something arises come on just love him for a moment come on just love him for a moment don't two-time him don't play footsie under the table with the devil come on get it all out in the open i love you god i am crazy about you god i don't care if my best friend on the pew sees it tonight i don't care i'm crazy about you god i'm absolutely crazy about you i love you i love you i love you i love you i love you i want to please you i want to please you i want to please you can opener microwave refrigerator dishwasher gifts of the spirit they're all here it's the same god what are they well the first thing you need to know verse seven but the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to somebody somebody say that word to what to what with all why do we have the gifts to profit what is a profit a profit is you get more out of something than what you put in you won't be a businessman long if after you settle up with everything you looked and say hey i sold this for 50 000. i had 55 000 in it you're not staying in business long that's called a loss but when you're in the church you don't have losses because god has given you gifts of the spirit and guess what's going to happen you're going to profit you're going to profit four to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom now and that's interesting there because we're told in the book of james that if any man lack wisdom let him ask of god all right so there is a wisdom that all of us can have there's a wisdom all of us can have a wisdom that all of us can have just ask for it so what is the word of wisdom i like to think of the word of wisdom is that instant you don't know it god gives it there's a wisdom that you can uh can can acquire but there's a wisdom that you may need a split second there may be something you're going oh yes there may be something that you're going to get into next week and god knows it's not a good deal so god just operates with a word of wisdom wisdom is pretty amazing wisdom is pretty amazing there's a man named solomon that god gave him wisdom and this was back before this story happened back before you could do dna testing you know this was back before billboards with 1-800 who's the daddy all right all right solomon's sitting on the throne one day sister edith and here comes two women in one's got a crying baby and one's got a dead baby and he said well you need to hear this case all right let me hear the case and both women both women claimed that the living baby was theirs and the dead baby was the other one now i'm going to tell you back again no no dna test no 1 800 who's a daddy none of that can stop all right and that quick god gave solomon a word of wisdom he said bring me a sword it's amazing when we get in tough decisions in our lives it's amazing when we get in tough decisions in our lives and we don't know what to do somebody bring me a sword somebody bring their sword hey fella would you would you bring me a sword sure sure king solomon he brought a sword and he said you're saying that the living baby is yours yes you're saying the living baby is yours yes he said take that child hold it by the feet and cut it right down the middle give half to her and half to her and the woman who's that baby wasn't her said that sounds good to me that sounds good to me go ahead and divide and go ahead and divide it right down the middle but the true mother her bowel shermed out of her oh please don't touch him go ahead and give it give it to her give it to her solomon said right there is the real mother the real mother says it don't have to be mine it just has to be alive it don't have to be mine it just has to be alive that's that's all i want if i can't hold it then let it at least be alive word of wisdom word of wisdom one is given a word of wisdom and to another the word of knowledge now let's wait there for a moment you can acquire knowledge you can study and get knowledge you can study and get knowledge knowledge comes by studying you can study god's word and get knowledge so what is the word of knowledge once again i believe the word of knowledge is that god knows you need instant knowledge now and he gives it to you the word the word of knowledge the word of wisdom now those are two of the gifts let me just continue to another faith by the same spirit to another the gifts of healing by the same spirit to another the working of miracles or excuse me verse 9 i left one out to another brother nolan listen to this to another faith by the same spirit wait a minute one of the gifts of the spirit is faith i thought the bible says sister suzanne faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of god well it does wait a minute i thought one of the fruit of the spirit is faith it is so what's another faith by the same spirit what is that once again there are some mountains you come upon that you wasn't planning on being in front of and somehow you just have this spirit of faith that comes on you we can do this i can make this it's not positive mental attitude when the doctor hands you something you didn't want to be handed and all of a sudden you just begin to say i should be falling apart right now as a matter of fact he's prescribed some some medication for me to calm me down but all of a sudden you feel this incredible we're going to do this we're going to defeat this we're going to beat this we're going to have victory over this do you know what you're experiencing right now sir you're experiencing faith that's coming upon your life you know you don't have time to go get a sermon preach to you you don't have time to have faith grow in you and a as a fruit of the spirit i just need something how many of you have ever drugged yourself to church can we be transparent tonight in here how many of you have ever drugged yourself to church had to talk yourself into coming almost stayed at home almost justified not going after all i haven't missed in a few weeks you know you know that's the way some people gauge churches they they think church is kind of like going to a restaurant and and having a little card and every seven times you go to the restaurant they punch a hole in the card and the seventh time you get a free sandwich some folks kind of look at well i've been i've not missed them about a week you know i could kind of miss i i could kind of miss i i i could do that but but all of a sudden something told you you just ought to go and you slithered in here you were tired you didn't feel like being at church and you can't explain what happened between 7 30 and 9 o'clock but something energized you something touched you and you waited at the back door to say brother carpenter i'm so glad i came to church you know what you're experiencing you're in the body you're in the church you're in this thing it is the gift man i'm not going to get done tonight i am not going to get done tonight and i won't do you last night up in sevierville sister carpenter called me we had windsor and london up at sevierville last night i talked to sister carpenter after service and she was laughing she said papa went about 15 minutes too long i'm gonna try i think what she said said papa asked for five minutes but papa went 15 minutes too long for the one has given the spirit for to another faith by the same spirit to another the gifts of healing by the same spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophecy to another discerning of spirits to another diverse kinds of tongues to another interpretation of tongues but all these worketh that one in the self-same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will now pay very close attention to this because this is the wedge the enemy's going to try to put if there's one wore out tool he has is a wedge you hear me he has one wore out tool a wedge a wedge what's he trying to wedge he's trying to wedge you out of the church he has sold people on a bill of goods i don't need the church i i don't need to go to church i don't need to go to church i'm just fine just like i am not according to the bible i can stay home i can stay home read my bible you can but you can't stay home and obey your bible why is that because your bible says forsake not the assemblings of yourselves together as the manner of some is as you see that day approaching have more church the devil is trying to wedge you away from the body here it is he goes from verse 11 to verse 12. for as the body is one and half many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is christ for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be jews or gentiles bond or free and have all been made to drink into one spirit for the body is not one member but many if the foot shall say because i am not the hand i am not of the body is it not therefore of the body isn't this amazing can i tell you something can i really minister in the holy ghost tonight there are people in this church trying to find the will of god and you're not trying to find the will of god you're trying to find contentment but until you find contentment you'll never find the will of god some people need to be content with who they are and what they're doing and stop trying if god made you the foot stop trying to be the hand if god made you the hand don't be the foot become content in who god made you men and women spend their lives frustrated trying to open doors that god didn't make you a hand god didn't make you a foot but somehow in this crazy world we live in somehow the devil has convinced people that the most lofty position in the church is a preacher and if i can't be a preacher i need to be a singer and there's nothing worse than a man that can't preach second only to somebody that can't sing oh you know don't look up here like i mean you know you believe same thing ain't nothing worse than somebody it was mama called and daddy sent don't have a lit couldn't find anointing in a paper bag if you had to but i got to be a preacher y'all be a singer i don't know how many preachers there are in pentecost that are held hostage by people that are going to go somewhere else and sing if they're not allowed to sing in their church i'm just telling you like it is tonight i'm i'm just like it i'm just in that like it is mood right now all right but nothing worse than a man can't preach trying to preach frustrated frustrated marriage is on the rocks kids don't live for god but daddy's got to preach now daddy if you're here tonight you ought to find out where you're at in the body you ought to you alright listen if those doors are not opening up stop trying to kick them open get in a church get in a choir whatever you would be able to do you know what we need there are ministers in this church there are men in this church that are ministers they mow our yard so no no them's the lowest guys on the totem pole you talk about randy newcomber them's the lowest guys on the totem pole they that they they're not spirit let me tell you something friend what kind of an opinion would people have about this church if they drove up here and the yard looked like a hayfield come on help your pastor out tonight you know this is the truth don't you how about them how about them how about them bathrooms we got out there in that lobby aren't you glad when you walk in them they don't smell like a truck stop aren't you glad there's toilet paper and paper towels and a clean sink and a clean mirror and a clean toilet and a clean come on now aren't you glad that well let me tell you i have never cleaned a toilet in this church i'm not saying i'm too good but we've got men and women that are keepers of the house that believe that it's a god-given ministry to win that's a door to vacuum a carpet to clean a bathroom and to mow a yard to keep a baby to keep a nursery class come on folk just find a place in the house of god and serve god and if god wants you to be a preacher he'll open a door and you can be a preacher you may be seated you know it's good stuff somebody said good stuff you know it is tonight that's right that's where i tell you somebody else that's ministering it's that little minimum wage guy that makes 300 a week and comes in here on sunday morning and writes out a 30 tie check i told i told a conference i told a conference and i got a lot of folks looking at me i said everybody in our church pays the same when it comes to tithe 10 10 that's right and you don't listen the devil would tell that little minimum wage worker that just wrote out that 30 tie check you're not as important as that guy across the aisle that i believe man he owns this and he owns that but he's writing some whopper checks number number number one he'll stand for before god for whatever he's writing and you're going to stand before god but can i tell you we didn't send over um now now we're bumping a half million dollars you hear me tonight we didn't send a half million dollars to missions just this past year because somebody stroked a real big check no we were able to send that because we got a whole lot of these little minimum wage workers that just believe in honoring god and giving god what's his we just got a bunch of people that average people that work hard and you know you know what you're doing when you come up here and drop the tithe into offering it drop the offering into the offering you're serving god the same as the preacher preaching inappropriate the same as somebody's singing you're you're serving god oh just stand with me now i'm done i'm toast i'm done what makes a farmer a farmer is he a farmer because he says he's a farmer what makes him a farmer he's got corn in his crib and i'm gonna tell you something now i'm using the analogy of preachers but don't sit there god may have given you the patience to be a nursery worker god knows we need nursery workers no no no no i think you were going to come talk to me about maybe speaking well i am in the nursery that's speaking right right well i you you you talk to me about you i i was talking about want to do something you talked to me about maybe it did handle the word yeah it's called the seven through eight-year-old boys uh-huh carl are we not am i not telling truth didn't you and i used to teach the what what age was that we used to teach primary boys man i tell you what we get in that class i'd have altered calls probably a little bit unwise i preach about tobacco and running women and everything else you know i just we had church did we so help me god i did then i graduated i got to go to kids church and preach you see it's the devil's trick to have you do nothing waiting for your foot to turn into a hand i sure love you all tonight i i really do love this church i really do love it i i want us to be the church that jesus christ because there's more to this holy ghost than just talking in tongues i'm not belittling tongues i'm not i'm not belittling tongues but there's more to it than just talking in tongues there's gifts and there's a place he wants to wedge you out he wants the foot to say because i'm not the hand he wants the hand to say because i'm not the i and if we just get a bunch of people that won't accept who they are then we have a body that can't function let's pray god the name of jesus christ i love you tonight god help us all in this building right now lord to open our hearts up come on let's pray to open our hearts of god to be the part of the body that you made me to be god help me lord to be the part of the body that you made me to be god speak right now all over this building lord strengthen first apostolic of maryville like we have never been strengthened in all of our days god i pray that you would help every day care teacher in this church right now to realize what a valuable ministry they're doing oh god right now if you're standing close to a daycare teacher why don't you just put your hand over on them and pray with them right now you're standing close to a school teacher just put your hand over on them pray right now if you're standing if you're standing around one of the 60 employees that go to this church if you're standing close to them just reach out and pray for them right now god from the receptionist at the desk to the to the janitorial staff to those that work in the kitchen oh god in the name of jesus christ tonight i pray lord in the name of jesus christ tonight god lord move with your mighty spirit god lord move with your mighty spirit god i want to be who you've made me to be god lord i want to be the hand the foot i want to be the eye of the ear god god i want to perform my function in this body lord god i want to do what you've called me to do god god it might have been good that it was in my heart to do certain things but god if it wasn't your will lord i see why the door has not opened up god lord in the name of jesus god help first apostolic church of maryville to become the most healthiest apostolic church god help us lord to become a healthy apostolic church oh god in the name of jesus keep us safe tonight when we go home lord bring us back sunday lord bring us back ready to worship you god lord i thank you that i'm in this church i thank you god that i've got full coverage tonight god i thank you that i'm in the church tonight let's just praise him right now before we go home god i thank you that we're in the church tonight god i magnify you lord that we're in the church tonight god