Why Pray? | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter
by Kenneth Carpenter
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Luke 18:1-8, Exodus 22:22, Romans 10:13, Jonah 2:1-2, Jonah 2:6, Jonah 2:10

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

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oh have you enjoyed the presence of god today hasn't the lord been good to us today what a morning service we had what a morning service that we had and then tonight the wonderful presence of god has just come down and kissed this place with his presence and we have responded worshipped him you're here tonight and this is your first time to be at the first apostolic church we want to give you something you've never had before and that is a apostolic handclap offering and this goes to all of our first-time guests that are here if you're a returning guest tonight thank you for being with us wow what a power pack service i just always enjoy when the trendsetter trendsetters choir sings i just i just always always enjoy the presence of god that comes down upon the trendsetters we had a new trendsetter tonight's brother anthony wilson and i thought to myself why he and i was standing there singing together and i thought you know you just see anything in an apostolic church you see anything you know and here we are i'm white and he's black i got the rhythm and he ain't got nothing i love you anthony but you're black on the outside but you're white on the inside all right and i was thinking you know of course with the trendsetters you kind of i don't have rhythm shuts i thought i did you know the youth choir sings i know how to you know you just kind of do that trendsetters saying you just can't do this like a pendulum on a grandfather clock you know aren't we having a great time tonight if you have your bibles and would stand bishop manning what an honor again again to have you 55 years of continuous uninterrupted apostolic ministry in the st louis area built a tremendous church bishop i give you high honors tonight and i want you to know it's very intimidating to have someone like you out in the audience all right it's very intimidating i i i pastor people that that they ask me sometimes for advice and it's just like you know i was just born when you know they were getting married and different things and i think man what am i doing telling these people what it's very this is very intimidating bishop to have you you you have forgotten more than i know right now and i i believe that with all my heart bishop we love you thank you for being at first apostolic just for a few moments and turn with me to the book of luke chapter 18 6 51 tonight luke chapter 18 verse number one but the erickson did a great job singing uh he just does a great job he's not only he's not only a singer he's an anointed singer he's a he's an anointed singer and uh he talked about the conference and all that let me remove any any questions in your mind this coming wednesday night this church will be open someone will be here preaching the word of god and if you're not in chattanooga you need to come to church all right you you need you need to come to church and if you're real new to first apostolic church and you understand that next weekend is fourth of july weekend let me go ahead if you're real new here let me go ahead and tell you we will be having church both sunday morning and sunday night all right we'll have church i know sometimes people move in say well you know every major holiday we didn't go to church on sunday night and i understand that i'm not condemning i'm just simply saying ask for me and my house we're going to have church all right no i'm not going to say that you ever notice that people that complain about praise and worship don't you ever notice people that complain about how many times we have the church stay home it looks like that the majority would rule around here that we like having church we like we like having church luke 18 1 he spake a parable unto them to this end that men ought always to pray and not to faint saying there was in a city a judge which feared not god neither regarded man and there was a widow in that city she came unto him saying avenge me of mine adversary and he would not for a while but afterward he said within himself though i fear not god nor regard man yet because this widow troubleth me i will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me and the lord said hear what the unjust judge saith and shall not god avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them i tell you that he will avenge them speedily nevertheless when the son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth a simple title tonight is why pray why pray father thank you tonight for your word i thank you tonight god that i'm not here alone worshiping you but god there's several hundred people here tonight that are worshiping and praising you lord your spirit is here god we have a mind to do a work for you lord jesus tonight would you once again anoint your servant that i may do what i was called from my mother's womb to do that i may proclaim your word in the name of jesus christ i pray amen you may be seated why why pray would you say would you say my title tonight why why pray why pray let me go ahead and give you the answer very early in the message because it is a question why pray the answer to that is simply this i am planning on finishing this race i didn't start for heaven to quit now i didn't start to live for god to stop i am going to finish this race i am going to hear him say well done good and faithful servant by the help of god and the grace of god these feet will one day be turned glorified by the help of god one day i will be glorified along with you and i plan to walk on streets of gold and i plan to spend eternity of which our minds cannot grasp i plan to spend eternity in a place called heaven why pray because i'm going to finish this race i'm going to finish this race how about you going to finish this race you know this is an interesting parable here in luke 18. it's an interesting parable in the fact that jesus uses parables and what a parable is is a is a heavenly spiritual law or principle that jesus breaks it down and uses earthly objects for us to comprehend what this spiritual law is all about we have the law of gravity we have different laws here that we can we can understand well jesus goes ahead and teaches a parable about don't stop pray don't stop pray it's an interesting parable in in in the fact that in verse number two or verse number 1 when he starts and i do believe in studying all the parables that this would be the only parable that he begins by telling you exactly what the parable is intended to teach you a parable he says he spoke a parable to this end or for this purpose that men ought always to pray and not to faint in other words he is saying to us in this parable don't ever stop praying because if you stop praying you will lose the spiritual oxygen to your brain and it will result in you collapsing so he says this parable is all about don't stop pray don't stop he goes into the parable and he talks about a city who had a judge this judge is an interesting judge in the fact that the bible says that he fears not god he fears not god nor does he regard man so you understand you have a person in authority that has not been taught the ten commandments you have a person in authority that has no moral compass you have a person in authority that right and wrong are turned around you have a person in authority that fears not god he is his own god he writes his own bible he sees things the way he wants to see them and not only that if it wasn't if that wasn't bad enough the bible says he not only doesn't fear god but the bible says that he has no regard for man in other words he doesn't care he doesn't regard man his non-fearing of god his lack of a moral compass his lack of having a a north star his lack of of having an absolute in his life of being his own god has caused him to be extreme extremely without any sympathy or any compassion he has no feelings he doesn't care if you suffer he doesn't care how rough you have it he doesn't care that he won't even hear your case and you go home and cry he doesn't lose one wink of sleep it never crosses his mind i don't know about you but i personally believe that i have just described sad to say some of our leaders today sad to say pray for our leaders pray that they fear god because if they can ever fear god they'll have compassion toward man see you got to see this this judge right up down he's his own god he tells you if it's wrong he tells you what you ought to be believing in he doesn't have any regard to having compassion he doesn't care he doesn't care if you have food or not he doesn't care if you got a house he doesn't care if your kids he doesn't he doesn't care he regards not man that's the first character in the parable the second parable and the the second character excuse me in the parable is a widow he's a widow now the widow she is helpless she depends much on people to obey the scripture in reference to her pitiful condition in life she is a widow she is husbandless she has no one to bring food home she has no one to tend to her she has no one to provide for her she has no one to protect her and obviously in the parable no sons or daughters are mentioned so she is all by herself she is a helpless widow she's hoping somehow somebody reads the bible and comes across exodus 22 22 where god says you shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child she's hoping that someone will grab up portions of the old testament and read where multiple times god said take care of the widows take care of the fatherless provide for the widows don't clean all the field leave some handfuls of purpose look out for those that are helpless i'm going to tell you god sure knew how to care for the widows god had all the provisions but she's helpless she's depending upon people to obey scripture but now i introduce the third character in the parable he simply goes by the name adversary that's what he goes by he goes by the name at adversary and this adversary means an enemy it means an absolute enemy can you see the heartlessness of this adversary this adversary is picking taking advantage of a widow a helpless person this adversary has so conditioned and positioned himself to get the upper hand on this widow and the only hope she has the only hope she has is to go before a judge and ask for simply this would you avenge me of my adversary would you do something about my adversary i need to be avenged the word avenged according to thayer's definition is to vindicate one's right to do justice to protect to defend to avenge to punish a person or a thing she simply says this adversary has taken away my rights this adversary has come and i read different definitions of the word avenge and it goes all the way down to silence the voice silence the voice i don't know the parable doesn't say but this adversary had a hold on this helpless widow he had the upper hand upon this helpless widow she finds herself sandwiched in between an adversary and an a and an unjust judge man i don't think we could get any more hopeless than this woman she goes to the judge and she simply presents her case please avenge me of my adversary please judge you have the permission your honor you have the permission i have this adversary and you have the permission you have the power to silence the voice of the adversary you have the power your honor to give me back my rights my adversary has taken away my rights my adversary has placed a different title on me my adversary has put me in bondage please judge would you silence the voice of my adversary would you go to my adversary and return my rights as a widow and without saying a word he simply says denied denied she shuffles her poor bare feet out of the courtroom and back into the grasp and the vice of her adversary but the next day court opens up when this unjust judge sets down to open up the courtroom that day he scans the courtroom and he says under his breath i can't believe what i'm seeing that widow is back in my courtroom again when it came her turn she went through the same rehearse please judge your honor you're the only one that can avenge and shut the mouth of my adversary please your honor you're the only one that can return my rights back to me please your honor you're the only one that has power over my adversary once again denied but the bible says that this widow woman had a spirit of being persistent she had a spirit of that old gospel song i will not be denied i will not be denied since jesus came and saved my soul i shall not be denied as a little boy growing up in the church i remember somebody told me that that word was i will not be deep fried i will not be deep fried i will not be denied i can't believe it day 14. when is she going to stop she is bothering me she is upsetting me oh my oh my if i don't watch it her persistence is going to wear me down if i if i don't watch it her continual coming to me knowing the answer she's going to get day after day denied he said within himself she's going to wear me she's going to wear me down and finally on that whatever time it was please judge help me please you got to silence the voice of the atmosphere please i'm desperate your honor please you're the only one that can do anything about it and probably as she's about to turn around because she's going to hear the word denied she hears words like she's not heard before she hears the words your case has been granted i will silence the voice of your adversary i will send the guards out right now to bind your adversary shut the voice of your adversary i will send them out now to get you back your rights jesus now bookends this by saying did you hear what the unjust judge says now here's the reason he mentions that he's unjust because our god is an unjust he mentions that this judge can't be moved and touched with compassion our god can be moved and touched with compassion he mentions the fact that he's an unjust judge that fears not god nor regards man and he says in verse 6 do you hear what the unjust judge saith do you not know that even persistency can wear down someone that doesn't have a moral compass persistency can wear down somebody that has no compassion that's why we need to witness and invite and witness and invite and pray for and witness and invite and pray for our lost loved ones well i got stirred up years ago to really but you know what it didn't work after a few years as long as there is breath in the body there is hope in the soul he said did you hear what the unjust judge said did you hear how persistency so moved a man that didn't fear god there's power inconsistency you hear me don't give up church why pray because i'm gonna make it all the way home i'm not gonna make it almost home i'm gonna make it all the way home why pray because it may be my next prayer that cracks the rock of that sinner man and he comes to the house of god and gives his heart to the lord why pray with an unsaved husband your next prayer should be the one that causes him to come down the aisle come on give him praise right now why pray did you hear what he said did you hear what the unjust just said and then he says let me compare him to me and shall not god avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him though he bear along with them he said compare me to the unjust judge i tell you that he will avenge them speedily speedily let me stop there for a moment god heard your prayer the first time you prayed but now you have to work on his timetable you ask god to move on situations in your life it is already in heaven a done deal the paperwork has been done the check has been written everything is laid out god just has it in his proper time the old song i guess i'm thinking about old songs tonight but i grew up listening to my pastor and his wife saying oh yes the answer's on the way this i know jesus said it i believe it and it's so my heavenly father knows my needs before we pray and you can rest assure the answers on the way can i tell you tonight when you pray you just understand he's already heard your case the paperwork was filled out now just just praise god in your heart just praise god in your heart and say the answer is already on the way the timetable is already there i tell you that he will avenge them speedily but that's not the end of the parable that's not the end of the parable luke chapter 8 verse number eight excuse me luke chapter 18 and verse number eight if you put that on the screen for me please luke 18 8 simply says i tell you that he will avenge them speedily never the less you see that word nevertheless when the son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth he says nevertheless i'm a god that's ready to avenge speedily i'm a god that's ready to answer prayer speedily he says but nevertheless will i find persistent faith will i find consistency when i come back for my people will i find my people in a form of prayer praying and praying and praying and praying do you know that the apostolic church began on the day of pentecost based on one word terry ye in jerusalem until until how long should we pray until how long should i believe until how long shall i keep trying to live for god until so if we were born on an until can we not be raptured on and until how long are you going to keep coming to church until jesus comes how long are you going to keep praying until jesus comes how long are you going to keep believing until jesus comes how long are you going to keep stirring yourself up in revivals and camp meetings and alter service until jesus comes come on do we have any until saints here right now praise him praise him my god praise him tonight come on are you going to make it all the way home why pray why pray because i am going to finish this race i by the grace of god i'm going to hear him say well done good and faithful servant now i got good news for a bud tonight i got good news for everybody good news for everybody everybody can't sing and that's obvious everybody's not called to preach everybody can't play a music some music an instrument can i tell you what we can do everybody can pray everybody can pray that when a wonderful bishop manny how am i doing am i doing all right i said everybody can pray don't suck your thumb because you can't sing don't suck your thumb because you can't preach don't suck your thumb because there's something in the church that maybe your flesh is wanting you to do i tell you the most powerful thing that you can do is pray and everybody can pray i said everybody can pray now this is a wonderful thing anybody can pray if you've got a voice you can pray and if you don't have a voice you can do sign language but everybody has the ability to pray right am i right everybody has the ability to pray so i guess i'm just looking at you waiting on something to happen because if you can pray victory is assured if you can pray you're already there so none of us should sit in a spiritual dilemma of whether we're going to make it or not if you can pray we can make it you can get back up if you'll pray when i'm just a little emotionally hurt just start praying i'm a little depressed just start praying i've been hurt by somebody a preacher hurt me a saint heard me somebody heard me i i hurt myself i did something ugly for god's sake would you get back up and would you just begin to pray oh this ain't going over like my notes say it's going to go over i think we ought to pray well you don't know what they say about me sounds like it's your it sounds like your adversary because your savior says you're precious sounds like your adversary because your savior says i forgive you that's what he says he says things like i forgive you go and sin no more you're my son you're my daughter that sounds like the voice of our savior but the voice of the adversary will be like taking my rights away you're not a christian who you think you are you hypocrite going to that church going down there on sunday night lifting your hands up you you hypocrite can i tell you whose voice that is that's not god's voice god is glad to have you in his house time you might have got drunk last night but if you're here right now the god that i serve looks down and says i'm glad they're here i've got an opportunity to talk to them i've got an opportunity to admit that's what kind of church this is oh i got to have you praise him a little bit more because this is our anthem hope for the hopeless a new beginning for those that need a new beginning the voice of the adversary says trash but the voice of the savior says treasure the voice of the adversary says god doesn't love you the voice of the savior says my arms are open wow did i tell you that anybody can pray did i tell you that did i tell you that everybody can pray well i'm reminiscing here tonight with songs i've got a right to praise the lord i've got a right to lift my voice ain't nobody gotta write like the children of the lord that's seen the light i've been redeemed by the blood of the lamb i've got a right i grew up on that i've got a right to praise the lord oh i've got a right to lift my voice ain't nobody got to ride like the children like this family the lord that seen the light i've been redeemed by the blood of the lamb i've got a right you know you got a right do you know you got a right you're not an illegal alien you're not you're not somebody that's here by by by illegal means you're a blood bought hell fault true talk water baptized tongue talking i got a ride to live my voice i've got a ride to praise his name come on exercise you're right get out and vote tonight exercise your right get out and vote tonight your praise is a vote your praise is a vote tonight your adversary doesn't want to hear you praising god you hear me tonight and you hear me well you hear me tonight and you hear me well that if you would learn how to give the devil what he don't want to hear he wouldn't bug you as much if you will i know it's the devil and i'm gonna stop you right there and just you know it's a devil be quiet i don't see that one sure if you know it's him turn it around well he's just telling me i'm not wanted turn it around you are wanted he just tells me i've just done too much turning around god's about to take your broken clay and make something marvelous out of you i'm not trying to hype you up tonight this is a gospel truth you have got a right but if you don't go to prayer you don't go to the only one that can step aside and say satan they're my child they've got my name they've got my spirit you have no right on them you have no right in their house you have no right over them don't you want that in your life bishop manning when i came to the lord at 16 years of age i was already addicted the very thing that caused my father's death cigarette smoking 16 years of age i was already addicted to two packs of cigarettes a day satan had already dug my grave out he already had the the gasoline and the hearst i was going to an early grave somehow someway i stumbled into a great church like this one before the night was over found myself laying flat on my back speaking under the tongues going home wet because i got water baptized in jesus name let me tell you that night i decided to let go of the devil but you know the other story don't you the devil ain't ready to let go of you you get ready to let go of sin sin ain't ready to let go of you i was ready to let go of the devil but he said i gotta i gotta i got something ingrained in you i got a habit in you i got a chemical dependency in you i got you i got you addicted to nicotine i i've got you you're going to crave it i don't care how much holy ghost you've got you're going to crave this i'm going to i'm going to be here you're going to crave this and rightfully so rightfully so but you know how i finally got victory of two packs of cigarettes a day i figured out one day in this little old 16 year old boy's mind i didn't know any greek didn't know any hebrew didn't know the tabernacle plan didn't know how many toes daniel's image had i didn't know nothing about that all i knew dave nelson was it took about five minutes to smoke a cigarette and i just decided in my little unhebrewed un-greek brain that every time i got an urge to smoke a cigarette i take a five-minute prayer and praise break i'd begin to praise god and pray for five minutes and do you know something it wasn't very long that i wasn't having him cravings anymore i don't know if the enemy just kind of said i'm going to i'm just going to kind of take that away or what i don't know the holy ghost i believe the holy ghost helped me but i'm here to tell you something if the devil's on you why don't you give him something that makes him uncomfortable the bible says i'm not trying to help you tonight i'm not trying to hype you up it's bible truth the bible says let god arise and let his enemies be scattered if you will get more of god in your life more of god on your phone more of god on your radio more of god on your television more of god in your life you're going to find out that the enemy is going i don't want any of that i don't want him at home they're having us they're having a prayer meeting in that home i i can't get in that home i wish somebody shout everybody can pray i wish they might shout everybody can pray i wish somebody was shout i can pray i can pray i can pray i can pray anybody can pray you may be seated give me some scripture brother carpenter romans 10 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord that's prayer shall be saved look at that word who so ever shall call on the name of the lord pray shall be saved the question is tonight are you a whosoever or are you a being from another planet here you're a whosoever you're a whosoever carpenter but you don't know what i go home to you you don't know my life as if you know people as if they think the the pastor just floats on a bed you know we all fight devils just different devils sister carpenter coined the phrase every level is another devil every level is another devil we fought devils on mcginley street brother lawless we fought devils over there we left and went to 17 23 william blunt on the hill and guess what we grew and we fought devils on the hill we've moved down here to 1313 william blunt drive and guess what we're fighting devils if you only knew the devils we fought getting the services online if you only knew when brother penton was working with all of his heart to get us online several years ago i want i want to tell you when those men would gather at the church brother erickson and they would work on getting our church online we were told by cable companies you're on the other side of the road we can't give you the cable you can't you you just need to you just need to write it off you're never going to be online as long as you're on that side of the road you don't have we don't have the cables and if it wasn't if it wasn't cable companies telling us it was sometimes the men would gather together and they'd be an irritable spirit among them you know why there was the last thing hell wanted was for fac miracle to go online it's the last thing he wanted i can see satan around a boardroom in hell saying fellas whatever we got to do we got to keep that church offline because i got a family out and there's a family out in california by the nickels and they're good people love god hungry and walking in all the truth if they ever get online that family will move all the way from california to come and get in this church and they were singing in the trendsetters choir tonight and their son was over here playing the electric guitar and we're getting more nickels in the choir now we're about to get a quarter we're going to have all kind of nickels in our choir can i tell you hell's going to fight us and he did he thought us to go online he fought us to go online but you know what we can do we can pray and we begin to pray and god opened up the door and we got online but you don't know i'm going to end this musicians come i'm not i'm not done sister erickson but it'll make him feel good if i i have y'all coming i'm going to spend the rest of this sermon right now i'll spend the rest of the sermon on you that have convinced yourself why pray why pray things are not getting better excuse me tonight excuse me for saying this but i hear people say it you don't know the hell that i live in the carpenter i wish you knew the hell that i lived in it's easy for you to have prayer at your home it's easy for you it's easy for you to do it but i live with an unsafe spouse i got children that are on trucks i live in an apartment complex and there's nobody else in there living for god the only one in my family so preacher just take your pretty little sermon on why i pray to somebody else tonight because i live in a living hell on earth i think i got a scripture for you tonight he was a disobedient prophet god told jonah to go to nineveh and to preach he was disobedient to the word of god and got a ship going to tarsus and there he got down in the bottom of that ship waiting for the ship to dock and for him to have a vacation but god sent a storm jonah's way the ship was like to sink the heathen people on the ship knew that someone on this ship someone on this boat has angered the gods someone on this boat has angered the gods so they did a method of casting lots and the lot fell upon the disobedient prophet jonah he said tell us what you've done he said i'm a hebrew i'm running from god and he said the only way you're going to get out of this storm is to throw me overboard it's the only way it's going to stop the sea is angry because of me the only way you got to pick me up you got to throw me overboard but even the heathens had compassion even the heathens had compassion they rode that they rode that boat because the last thing they wanted to do was throw that man overboard to assure death finally they rode they rode all they could they tried all they could they looked at each other and they said we have no other choice they picked up jonah and they threw him out of the boat and he sank beneath the waters but jonah's not gone god has prepared a fish god made a fish some that want to disprove the bible said there's not a fish known alive today that could sustain a man for three days i believe you the bible said god prepared one god prepared one he prepared a fish that had a cavity so large that oxygen could be kept i mean that shouldn't be hard to believe we've seen the inventions of submarines and just as jonah thinks he's going down for a sure death the slippery slimy tongue of this fish engulfs him he slides down to that inner chamber and there he is the fish is going up to the top down jonah says the seaweeds seaweeds have compassed me he says in jonah 2 and verse 6 i went down to the bottoms of the mountains the earth with her bars was about me forever yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption oh lord my god when i'm when my soul fainted within i remembered the lord and my prayer came in unto thee into thy holy temple please excuse me but let me go back to chapter two jonathan verse one and two i got ahead of myself then jonah prayed unto the lord his god out of the fish's belly and said i cried by reason of mine affliction unto the lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cried i and thou herdest my voice can i tell you what your apartment complex needs i know it's got cocaine i know it's got drug addiction i know there's been shootings in your driveway but watch your apartment complex needs is just one person that knows how to pray out of the belly of hell you don't understand my daughter's own cocaine my son is messed up my family is messed up you don't understand prayer doesn't work with me you're wrong if jonah can pray out of the belly of a fish you can pray over your family you can pray over your home several years ago i was preaching a revival and an extended revival for brother g d peters at the apostolic lighthouse in kingsport the pastor now of the church brother david peters was backslidden at the time he was backslidden doing the things of the world entwined in the things of this world his mama went over to his house one day when david wasn't there she anointed his bed sister lou peters anointed the door post going into david's home she anointed tables and she anointed dishes and she anointed everything in the house and she could annoy it save my son god save my son some time later david sound asleep one night he said brother carpenter sound asleep i woke up and there was a voice that said david he said i woke up in fear somebody's in my house he looked all over the house went outside and there was no voice after a little bit he went back to bed and just about fell back asleep until he heard the word david he said i know it's somebody i know it's somebody i i know there's somebody here he looked all over the house and i believe the third time it dawned on him i remember in the bible a story about a young boy named samuel that was asleep in the temple and he heard his name and it was god david made his way home to his mom and dad's house and david threw up his arms and said i'm coming home god wants me to come home can i tell you if it worked for that situation it'll work for your children don't stop praying it'll be the darkest before the dawn it will be the it'll be the worst before the crack of day go please don't stop praying stand with me don't stop pray don't stop praying let me end this with with jonah's praying he's praying out of the belly of hell the fish has him captive the fish is now in charge of jonah the bible says in jonah 2 and 10 and the lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out jonah on dry land can i tell you tonight some of you are praying and you're about to give up because you're saying you're saying god's not speaking to me and he's not he's speaking to what has you he's speaking to what has you so pray on you don't have to have a chill bump just pray on wonder tonight i wonder tonight i'd like to every head to be bowed and every eye closed for a moment if there's anyone here tonight that you've come to be baptized or since you've been here at service tonight you've made the decision i want to go to the altar every head is bowed every eye is closed in this room right now i want to make it as comfortable for you to slip out of your seat and come and kneel in this altar to kneel in this altar if you're here tonight and you came you came because you want to put your life in order to god you want to surrender your life to god right now every head's bowed every eyes closed and i do believe i hear the prayers of god's people right now come on down that house sir come on down that aisle come on right now jesus is calling you right now jesus is calling you come on come on lady come on lady jesus is calling you right now don't fight him any longer don't put up a wall any longer jesus is fighting you right now right now jesus is calling you right now jesus is calling you right now jesus is calling you the name of the lord jesus right now jesus is calling you i want to give you the first opportunity to come to this altar right now i want to give you the first opportunity to come right now to this altar the name of the lord in the name of the lord in the name of the lord in the name of the lord oh in the name of the lord in the name of the lord in the name of the lord in the name of the lord in the name of the lord in the name of the lord in the name of the lord in the name of the lord in the name of the lord in the name of the lord in the name of the lord now i want you to look up here at me tonight we're all going to make a confession we're all going to make a confession the only way you will not make this confession the only way you'll not make this confession is you're either stubborn or you're deceived it's the only way you won't make it but i'll open it up tonight i'm going to verbally say i kenneth ray carpenter have an adversary i have an adversary i have an adversary is anybody else in this house tonight when we start with section number one if you have an adversary if you're going to confess openly i want you to state your name on the count of three only these in section one i want you to state your name when i give you and i want you to state your name and say i have an adversary on the count of three one two three section two the same thing only section two one two three three section four section five section six i think that pretty well covers except for a few people that find everything cute that wants to look around i'm sorry what it's your loss first lady said it was your loss all right but if you just stood there and confessed i have an adversary there's only one thing to do with an adversary is pray so now if you've got an adversary and you want him to avenge you shut the mouth get your rights back i want you to come down to the altar tonight for prayer we're going to end in prayer tonight we're going to end this service in prayer it may be a habit it may be a it may be a drug habit it may be smoking it may be drinking it may be pornography it may be it may be a habit it may be something in your life it may be pride it may be jealousy it may be flat out letting your flesh have its way but the only way you're going to have victory tonight is that you're going to come to this altar and pray i'm turning my mic off right now because the only way i can get victory is to pray tonight so prospered and when the darkness falls it won't freak them cause the oh goddess god we'll never fail oh my god we'll never fail i'm gonna see a victory a victory i'm gonna see a victory for the battle belongs to your lord i'm gonna see a victory victory it belongs to you there's power in the mighty name of jesus every war he wages he will win and i'm not backing down from many times i know how this story is victory foreign oh foreign foreign can it foreign belongs to oh and you turn it on foreign with the voice shout out to god with the voice oh yeah oh we lift your name up oh we lift your name up tonight would you one final praise here one final praise would you leave both your hands god has been good to us this sunday he has blessed us in the am and pm service with his presence oh god has been good there's been an anointing here oh there's been a touch of god here hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah thank you lord please get up in the morning before you get about your day please bend your knees and talk to god in prayer and ask god to keep his hand on you please pray every day get up and spend a few minutes of prayer please do not fall pray to the devil that wants to say if you don't pray an hour you know you don't even don't even get down if you can't even pray an hour don't listen to that foolishness you get down pray five minutes i'm gonna tell you five minutes a day five minutes a day but i tell you if you get into five minutes a day it'll turn in we don't put times on our on our you know i think you ought to pray this thank you i think you ought to pray and i thank you if you pray god take care of the time don't just sound like wisdom i think we pray like you pray god god laughed at me one time very few times god's ever laughed at me but i used to set an alarm clock for 30 minutes crank it up before the cell phones had abs i crank it up 30 minutes talk to god alarm go off and get up god spoke to me one day and said you don't talk to your wife that way you imagine going and sitting down your wife and cranking up an alarm clock saying let's go babe 30 minutes i probably have a knot right here from that alarm clock god said you don't you don't talk to your wife that way don't talk to me that way so i threw the alarm clock out and i just go pray talk to my love talk to my to my god so get up tomorrow pray every day pray every day because you've got an adversary every day wednesday night seven o'clock it'll be prayer there'll be prayer around here wednesday night at seven o'clock lift up your voices and pray prayer before church makes for a good church god bless you we love everybody see you soon