A Message of Hope | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

well thank you thank you brother erickson for giving us instructions this evening of how how to give tonight and if you have your bibles there and as our custom is if you would stand there in your homes with me in honor of the reading of the word of god brother erickson couldn't help but think that i pulled up at church this evening and when i when i pulled into my parking spot i looked over and there was a five dollar bill laying in the parking lot and so i just went over and picked it up and so whoever's this may be we're going to put this we're going to put this in the offering in the offering so i thought i've already been given my offering for the evening the book of proverbs tells us that a man has joy by the answer of his mouth in other words he has joy by by what he is saying and it also says that a word spoken in due season how good how good that it is that's proverbs 15 and verse number 23 and today in preparation for tonight i begin to seek the lord what would be in this season in this season that we're in what would be the word what would be one word that could be spoken that tomorrow morning when you get up and someone would ask you say what did pastor preach about last night you could have one word that would describe it and that one word that i think is a word in a due season is hope hope believe there's ever a time that we need to be preached to about hope it's today first corinthians chapter 13 and verse number 12. first corinthians 13 and verse number 12 paul said for now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now i know in part but then shall i know even also i am known as i am known listen to verse 13 and now abideth faith hope charity these three but the greatest of these is charity god i ask you to anoint your servant tonight give me the way give me the words help me god articulate my heart anoint the hearers tonight anoint my lips god may our hearts be lifted up in jesus name we pray amen and amen you may be seated there in your homes well as paul is writing in first corinthians 13 and he is talking about the time uh present and then he is talking about a day of which we will be with the lord and he said now now referring to the present day he said we see through a glass darkly in other words we don't have clear vision of what we're seeing but he said the day's coming then when that day comes we shall see face to face he said now i know in part now today my knowledge is incomplete now i know in part but said then speaking of that day with the lord again he said i shall know even as also i am known and then paul lists the three main elements the three main ingredients of living for god he said faith and hope and charity and then he said the greatest of these three the greatest is charity and of course it's there that we go into the discourse about charity and what charity is and on and on but yet we have failed to stop i know that faith may not be the greatest and i know that hope might may not be the greatest but faith and hope do play a very vital role in the life of a child of god faith hope and charity i want to preach on hope tonight we'll read several verses on hopes to keep your bible handy by simple definition hope is the spirit of good expectation it is simply the spirit of a expectation that things are going to get better it's a spirit just by simple definition it's a spirit of expectation carrying with it in the midst of the dark trial carrying inside of you hope that i just have the expectation as a matter of fact in preparing for this sermon tonight i kept humming the song i just feel like something good is about to happen i just feel like something good is on its way and i i want the spirit of hope to baptize us tonight i turn to romans paul in romans chapter 8 verse 24 paul let us know that we are saved by hope now i know that hope is not the greatest that love is the greatest but hope paul said that we are saved by hope but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for and now paul says that we are saved by hope if we're going to be saved it's going to be because we carry with us a spirit of expectation that something good is around the corner something good could come at any moment it would be the apostle peter in first peter 3 15 as he said but sanctify that means separate sanctify the lord god in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks of you of the reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear now paul said we are saved by hope peter comes and says we have that hope where is that hope at that hope is inside of us that hope that is in you again in ephesians chapter 1 verse number 18 paul addresses and says the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his calling look at this not only do we have hope which is our salvation not only do we have hope that is in us but he said it's the hope of his calling it is the expectation of his calling i'm reminded when blind bartimaeus was sitting by the road he lifted up his voice and cried out after jesus someone told him said be of good cheer for the master call it thee things are going to get better blind bartimaeus things are going to get better because the master has called you church tonight we have the hope of his calling things may be a little rough right now on this ride we may be buckled up and uncertain but in the midst of uncertainty praise god we have got to possess the spirit of hope that hope that which is in us again in ephesians chapter four and verse number four he said there is one body one spirit even as you are called in one hope of your calling now i know that paul said that we have faith hope and charity and said the greatest of these is charity but we need to preach a little bit tonight because what the church needs a dose of tonight is not the love of god but we need a little dose of hope tonight we need just a little taste of that expectation bad news after bad news after bad news we don't need to get in the rut of bad news i i want you to know that next text message can be a text saying i'm healed things are better that that next text message can be a uplifting text message because somebody has the spirit of hope inside of them you see today i shudder to think what it would be like not to have the lord in these times that we're living not to have the lord i shudder to think what do people do in times such as this that don't have the security the comfort of the bible what do people do in times such as this that they don't have a a support group of hundreds of people that are checking on one another and making sure those uh people are getting what they need to get and i come across this scripture today in ephesians 2 and 12 simply said that that at that time ye were without christ without christ boy just uh just the saying the words without christ that's a that's that's a most uh statement of despair and hopelessness you were without christ being aliens from the commonwealth of israel he had no rights to the covenant of jehovah strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without god in the world i i don't know about you but i don't ever want to fall in the category to say well you just don't have no hope and you are without god what a pitiful plight what a pitiful life to be without hope without the spirit of expectation that things are going to get better oh thank god tonight that our hope is not in a bottle our hope is not in a needle our hope is not an appeal our hope is not in our own strength and our own mind thank god tonight i look toward the heels from which cometh my help because my help comes from the lord oh what a pitiful statement no hope and without god well it was paul again was paul again first thessalonians chapter 4 and verse number 13. he said but i would not that you should that that you to have you ignorant i would that i would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope you see to those without god to those without god or those without hope and those without god or those without hope and those without expectation so when the worst thing invades their family and they suffer the loss in death they simply sorrow as those that have no expectation they have no hope of any future resurrection but oh thank god but if we believe that jesus died and rose again even so them which sleep in jesus will god bring with him for this we say unto you by the word of the lord that we which remain shall not prevent them which are asleep for the lord himself shall descend from heaven with the voice of the archangel and the shout and the trump of god and the dead in cross shall rise first and we which are alive and remain listen to the hope we which are alive remain shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet the lord and the air so shall we ever be with the lord wherefore comfort one another with these words you see when you're without god in this world and death comes you have absolutely no hope and you sorrow as those that have no hope but if you're a child of god and your hope is in jesus and the hope is within you and you have the hope of his calling you know at any moment child of god that a trumpet's going to sound and all of your loved ones that fell asleep in jesus are going to be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye they're going to be changed from mortal to immortality and then we which are alive will be changed in a moment to be caught up in the clouds with the lord and won't we have a time over yonder won't we have a time i've come tonight to preach to a maraval church i've come tonight to proclaim to a severeville church i've come tonight to proclaim to those that are watching on on the line tonight i've come to tell you our expectation is from the lord rejoice in the lord break the chains of despair break the chains of gloom lift your hands right there in that living room and begin to say thank you jesus glory to god i magnify you lord wonderful jesus and what a faithful what a faithful god that he is to us what a what a faithful god what a faithful god we're told again and again throughout the scriptures we're told that first timothy chapter one verse number one paul starts these two books to young timothy and he he can't get through the first verse of the first book first timothy 1 1 paul an apostle of jesus christ by the commandment of god our savior and the lord jesus christ which is our say it hope he is our hope he would later talk to the church at kalashay and in the colossians first chapter 1 verse 27 to whom god would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the gentiles which is christ in you the hope of glory again paul told us and titus and i i know i'm reading a lot of scripture tonight but i want to speak a word in due season i want there to be creative power in the word that just as god said let there be light and there was light i want to preach the word tonight about the hope the spirit of expectation to baptize us he said in in titus 2 and 13 looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great god and savior jesus christ it's a blessed hope paul says to anticipate the rapture of the church is a blessed it is a blessed hope that we the church have in first peter chapter 1 verse number 3 blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead now look at these we have a blessed hope that word blessed means fortunate uh envious we have a hope to be envied we don't have hope in this world only but we have a hope in a life that is to come and then peter said we have a lively hope we have a hope that's very much alive inside of us because it is christ jesus and then in romans chapter 5 verse 2 simply says by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope we rejoice in hope we've got something to rejoice about tonight we've got something maryville sevierville we've got something to rejoice about tonight well you don't know what the doctor said you don't know what this and that uh it doesn't matter because we've got something greater than anything going on currently in our lives we have got a hope that we can rejoice in it's a blessed hope it's a lively hope and it is christ in us the hope of glory why in hebrews chapter 6 and verse number 17 he says wherein god willing more abundantly to show under the heirs of promise that's us we're the heirs the immutability that mean immutability means the unchanging the unchanging that's what that word means there of his counsel he confirmed it with an oath now that by two immutable unchangeable things what are these two things that's unchangeable in which it is impossible for god to lie two things that'll never change god's promises and when god put himself under an oath and god took an oath about his promises he not only made a promise that's never going to change but he also took an oath to back up the promise and paul said those two immutable immutable things belong to the church that two things that cannot be changed we have strong consolation we have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope you see this to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast which entereth into that within the veil can i tell you tonight church that we have an acre and we can't see that anchor because just like paul says if you can see it why do you hope for it but we have a hope we have an expectation that is firm it can't be changed it's a promise of god it's an oath of god it's already there it i don't care how many storms blow us i don't care how many things come our way praise god church hallelujah to god tonight we have an anchor we have an anchor that is steadfast and sure it is our hope it is our hope oh thank you jesus oh thank you jesus thank you god you know i was reading i was reading in second kings to where the children of god got wayward and uh they they got cold on jehovah and the only way god could wake him up was that god allowed syria to besiege them to surround them and when they were surrounded unable to go in and come out and able to get food things went from bad to worse they used up all their food and then they went out and they they got their animals their farm animals i guess they had given up on a future harvest they they got their farm animals and they began to butcher their farm animals and they began to eat their farm animals and until a donkey's head was bringing a high price and then those that could not afford to pay the high price for a donkey's head they were selling doves done they were gathering doves dung and and uh that siege they had got so hungry that things such as a mule's head and doves done became appealing but but even the scripture even tells us that that they got so hungry that two women made a pact together two women made a pact together they had given up on a future harvest and two women both the mothers of small children got together and they said let's boil your son today and we'll eat your son today and said tomorrow we'll eat my son but the one woman that had ate and boiled her neighbor's son hid her son and when the king came by and the woman cried out for vengeance and he told she told him said we boiled my son yesterday and we had a meal and it's unthinkable it's absolutely unthinkable we boiled my son we had a meal and i came over to her house today but she has hid her son from me an interesting thing happened here the man of god or the king started blaming all the trouble on the man of god elisha i i don't understand this uh but he began to see elisha as a problem and that was the opposite of the truth it wasn't god it wasn't god's word it wasn't it wasn't god's man that caused a siege it wasn't god's man god's word that caused samaria to be seized it was a godless life that they were living it was it was time to repent it was time to call out on god but but but the king said i i'm going to take the head of elisha i am going to end the life in other words he was so deceived to believe that if he got rid of god god's man that the problem would go away well when word came to elisha elisha gave a prophecy in second kings chapter 7 verse number 1 then elisha said hear ye the word of the lord thus saith the lord tomorrow about this time shall a measure a fine flower be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of samaria and and what got my attention here is that god can do anything god can do anything and god could have spoke to the prophet and said in two hours or in an hour but god chose tomorrow tomorrow today is a famine today is a famine but tomorrow will be a feast i i want to preach a little bit about tomorrow because i've actually had thoughts the last few days that i wish we could just wake up in the morning and this all would go away i i just wish that this would happen it seemed like the lord simply told me tomorrow tomorrow i don't think tomorrow is simply that to the day after today but i believe brother erickson tomorrow represents my day of hope i really believe that tomorrow's feast is the product of today's hope expectation in the midst of the famine he said tomorrow there'll be a feast you know the story there was a man there that said he was a mocker and a scoffer and a doubter and uh i heard someone say once if you're a believer you'll be a receiver and if you're a doubter you'll do without her i heard that it's a little catchy phrase well this man was a doubter and when the man of god said tomorrow tomorrow feasts tomorrow fine flower this man who was a doubter he said god would have to make windows in heaven said god would have to make windows in heaven well i'd like to tell mr dowder something tonight god doesn't have to make windows in heaven there's already windows in heaven we just have to live an obedient faith and a life of hope until god opens the window and begins to pour out the blessing he said if god would make windows and we know the lepers went out that night and by the next morning word had come that they they had heard a noise the syrians had heard a noise they left their horses their mules their tents their food an abundance of food until just as sure as elisha had prophesied about tomorrow there was fine flour being sold for a few pennies there was fine food being sold but that man that was a doubter he tried to control the gate and the bible said they they trampled him to death because he was trying to keep the gate i i'd like to put death i'd like to trample to death tonight doubt i'd like to trample to death tonight gloom that tells us that this is the new normal i trample you tonight i trample you tonight when you try to tell me this is going to be the new normal tomorrow i have hope in tomorrow i have hope in tomorrow interesting verse verses of scripture interesting verses of scripture in john chapter 4 verse number 46 i'd like to read uh this to you uh an event in the life of jesus in john chapter 4 verse 30 46 says so jesus came again into cana of galilee where he had made the water wine and there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at capernaum now i want you to know that he has returned to the place of his first miracle he has returned to the place that he turned the water into wine to those of you that are watching tonight i want to ask you has god ever done a miracle for you now you're filled with the holy ghost and baptized in his name you've got the greatest of all miracles of salvation that could ever happen but has god ever done a miracle for you is there a healing in your body that you know that you know that you know that god has done is there a way that god made maybe on your job maybe with your family that you look back and you know i know god answered that prayer i know that god answered that prayer i i'm reminded tonight and this was before i ever had the holy ghost uh i had a hole in my eardrum i was about 15 or 16 years old and i had a hole in my eardrum and my mother took me to the doctor and the doctor said that that he would have to give me some medication and and that when these antibiotics got to working and that it would clear up the infection and they would schedule me for a for uh a skin graft they were going to take skin and they were going to wrap it on my eardrum i had such a hole in my eardrum and they told about what a hearing loss that i would have and on and on but my mother my mother on her way from the doctor took me by first apostolic church in knoxville 50 20 pleasant ridge road and she took me to our pastor i didn't have the holy ghost and you have the holy ghost then wasn't even serving god and she told pastor billy mccool what the doctor had said and the dog brother mccool took out a bottle of oil and as the scripture says he anointed we me with oil and he prayed the prayer of faith a few weeks later my mother took me back to the to the doctor and i remember sitting there on the table and the doctor put that machine in my ear and uh he began to look in my ear and he put the machine in my ear and and then a few minutes later he looked at his chart he took the the machine out of my one ear and put it in my other ear and he looked and and my mother was standing there and and uh he went back and forth and finally he just said he just finally said he said the medicine that i prescribed has closed up this hole in his eardrum said his ear said i can't tell which one had the whole and and the doctor gave glory to the medicine but my mother gave glory to god my mother said i took him by the church and we had our pastor to pray for him and to this day i believe that's my first miracle that god did when he healed my ear because god is still in the healing business i don't care how many die i don't care how many prayers you don't get answered your way i want you to know that god is still in the healing business so with all this going on in my life right now i'm finding myself going back to my capernaum i'm going back to the time that i know that god did a miracle for me he said this jesus returned back there was a nobleman who sent whose son was sick in capernaum the bible says in john 4 47 when he heard that jesus was come out of judea into galilee he went unto him and besought him that he would come down and heal his son for he was at the point of death then said jesus unto him except you see signs and wonders you will not believe the nobleman this man who had a son who was sick this nobleman said unto him sir come down air my child die please sir come down jesus saith unto him go your way thy son liveth and the man believed the word that jesus had spoken unto him and went his way now look at this he said please come down and jesus just said all right just just go your way go your way your son liveth and the man believed him the man went his way verse 51 and as he went and as he was now going down his servants met him and told him saying thy son liveth now here the man leaves jesus and believing his son's going to live and now he meets servants and they say they say thy son liveth then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend or get better he said when did he start getting better and they said unto him listen to this yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left so the father knew that it was at the same hour in the which jesus said said thy son liveth and himself believe and his whole house this again is the second miracle that jesus did when he came out of judea in galilee can i tell you when that man stood in his yesterday when that man stood in his yesterday and all he was asking for is would you give me a tomorrow it would take him another day to get to his tomorrow but when he got in his tomorrow he discovered that god had answered him today can i tell you that right now in this sunday of despair in this day in this week of unbelievable bad news after bad news in the midst of it all god has sent the angels in the midst of it all the answer is on the way how do you know that because i serve jesus i preach jesus and hebrews 13 and 8 says jesus christ the same yesterday today and forevermore praise god i'm standing here today i'm serving jesus today and he was jesus saturday and he'll be jesus on monday he's the same yesterday today and forevermore can i tell you john the revelator said it like this in revelation 1 8 i am alpha this is jesus wanting to talk to us i am alpha and omega the beginning and the ending said the lord which was and which which is and which was and which is to come the almighty church get on your feet right now stand to your feet and begin to proclaim he was the god before my sickness he was the god before this trouble came come on pastor friend of mine stand to your feet tonight and begin to proclaim he was the victorious one before the floods came in he was the victorious one when i was shouting and dancing he was the same yesterday today and he'll never change he's the same forevermore would you begin to praise him right now with me would you begin to stand with me right now and would you begin to praise him with me would you begin to thank him right now would you begin to thank him right now you got to have a thank you on your lips you got to have a thank you on your lips you see the bible the bible tells us that a man has joy by the answer of his lips it's time if you've got enough strength to stand you ought to stand if you've got enough strength to clap you ought to clap your hands and you ought to wave your hands around and begin to say thank you jesus i've got to thank you on my lips now we're going to go back into some praise we're going to go back into some worship right now i don't want this service to end right now i want our church family of maryville and our church family of sevierville i want us to begin to worship in our homes right now i want us to turn our homes into sanctuaries i've got to thank you on my lips i've got to thank you i've got a heart of praise as they begin to play the music right now as they take us back into a pre-recorded service where we were lifting up the name of jesus oh lord i praise you right now