A Structured Life | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

if you have your bibles and would stand with me this morning again to all of our guests that are here thank you for coming you could have been in a hundred different places today and the fact that you would choose to come worship the lord with us is a tremendous honor to this church family matthew chapter 11 verse number 25 matthew chapter 11 verse number 25 at that time jesus answered and said i thank thee o father lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes even so father for so it seemed good in thy sight all things are delivered unto me of my father and no man knoweth the son but the father neither knoweth any man the father saved the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am meek and lowly in heart you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light for a few moments this morning i want to minister the word of the lord on this subject a structured life a structured life father i love you today i thank you lord for love mercy and kindness thank you god that you're a god of a second chance your god of healing your god that will reveal your name and your purpose lord help me with the beautiful men and women that are in front of me and those that are watching to impart your word to inspire faith to cause change to come we give you praise in jesus name amen before you seated would you just praise him with me god i love you lord i thank you today oh hallelujah glory glory glory thank you lord thank you lord jesus name you may be seated a structured life could you say amen to the fact that there is a battle for a structured life a battle for a structured life and once you get anything that resembles structure in your life how many knows it now becomes a battle to keep structure it's a battle to get structure a battle to keep structure how many of you today at the end of your day have wondered what did i do today where did my time go what did i do a structured a structured life well if you'd like to do to today to sit with me for a while and let me open my heart tell you what sometimes i can't decide what god's given for me personally or what god's given for you so i just kind of mix it up so it might be for me today and i'll let you set in on what god is talking to me but i desire a more structured life a more structured life a life that has underneath a beam a structure that cannot be shaken can i tell you today that the strength of this building this physical building today the strength of this physical building let the winds come let the winds come let an earthquake come let a tornado come but the strength of this building today is not in our carpet nor our drywall nor our trim nor the pews the strength of this physical building today is in the structure the structure the steel structure this building when we got the permit to break ground this building was the very first building in blount county to meet a brand new building code and if you only knew the steel that is not only over your head today but the steel that is in the foundation of this church this this building so we understand flipping back to an analogy of us spiritually that our structure is what cannot be seen today what cannot be seen a structure a battle for a structured life verses 25 and 26 of my text today has jesus praying and he says something in verse number 25 that's interesting he says that god hides his truth from human humanistic wisdom god hides his truth from those that profess themselves to be wise and god also hides his his truth from the prudent those that are filled with pride in themselves those that feel like they can do all things through their strength not understanding that our true strength today about our lives is what cannot be seen i can do all things through christ that dwells in me so he says in verse number 25 that god hides his truth from the wise and from the prideful and that he reveals them unto babes in other words you've got to be hungry to get this you can't have a uh a a picky choosy appetite to live for god if you're going to get anything from god you got to be hungry there's a difference in being hungry and having an appetite and i'll explain it this way an appetite you go to the refrigerator it's stuck from the bottom to the top with everything imaginable and you stand there and wonder what you want to eat that's an appetite hunger that's when you open the refrigerator and there's only a jar of mayonnaise and two pieces of bread you make you a jam sandwich now i'm not talking about jelly you don't have any jelly you talk about the mayonnaise you take the mayonnaise and put it on a piece of bread and you jam them together and have a sandwich that's when you're hungry sometimes in church people have an appetite or is this what i want to hear today wasn't a sermon that fit me today well and you have to get a hunger because god only reveals things to babes those that are those that are hungry you got to have a hunger you have a desire my son-in-law brother hammond and i were discussing he was doing a study an in-depth study on ants and he's talking about the ant and how the bible addresses that we ought to consider the ants and he said you know you can take a piece of peppermint candy and put it in a five-acre asphalt parking lot there's not an ant anywhere inside that you drop that peppermint piece of candy on the asphalt and sooner or later here they come without cell phones without facebook here they all come and then i added to that the point that the ant does that because the ant is working on survival he's working on survival too many of us need to understand that this is not a pick and choose when it comes to god this is our survival if we're going to make it this this is our survival this is our spiritual survival kit for life as a matter of fact life cannot throw you anything that your god cannot more than abundantly take care of but you do have to have god it's our survival it's a hunger babes it's a hunger then he dropped down to verse number 26 and he says you've got to hunger in verse 25 but in verse 26 he says even so for it seemeth good even so father it seemeth good in thy sight now why is it good not to to have a hunger for god and not just an appetite why is it good to realize today that this is my survival you say what you want it's not that i get to pray it's that i must pray it's not that i get to do this or i get to do that it's that when you look at it through the lens of survival it's a must pray why because it's my survival it's my survival then he says in verse 26 something interesting matthew 11 26 he says even so father it seemed so for so it seemed good in thy sight you see our spirit of survival in the sight of the father is a good thing i don't know about you but i want to please god it's a good thing in the sight of our father to have the spirit of survival it's a good thing it's a good thing god saw us worship him this morning now i know all may not be aisle runners and pew jumpers and and and all that i know today when the spirit of the lord came over i began to cry now i'm just as happy as the person that was running the aisles but that's how god affected me this morning with his presence that the glory of god is here in the house and sometimes i do run the aisles and i don't know if i get more i don't know if i get more joy out of running the aisles or watching people run the aisles but i tell us one thing it was good in the sight of our father today that he saw us worshiping him we read in john chapter 4 verse number 23 about worship about what we did today jesus said in john 4 23 but the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit and truth for the father look at this for the father seeketh such to worship him that means that as we worship god today and it was good in the sight of the lord the lord found what he was looking for he found worship he found worship the bible says in psalms 92 and verse number 1 says in psalms 92 and verse number 1 it is a good thing to give thanks unto the lord and to sing praises unto the and to give thanks unto the lord and sing praises unto thy name almost high do you see that today he said that that he hides this from the wise and the prudent the for those that have their lives or they think they've got their lives all together he said i hide my truth from it but he said bring me a man or a woman that walks in with the spirit of survival god all that i know that's good comes from you all that i know that's profitable comes from god lord all that i've received in my life past present and future has all come from you god so therefore lord i thank you today therefore lord i great i'm grateful to you today i thank you god and in the midst of that in the midst of that the bible says that the father seeketh such to worship him but then verse number 27 of matthew 11 comes along and please realize with me today that sometimes to understand structure we have to go deep we have to go deep now he just told us how to get structure it's number one not to be prideful and not to have some kind of wisdom that you think you've got it all together please don't ever say these words i know what the bible says but there's no but to it there's a period the word of god says it if i go if i go trying to say well i know what it says but let me tell you then i'm actually saying god i know more than you know well the bible is the most the bible is the most powerful book that has ever been written do you realize that we are the united states of america today because this bible has shaped this country now i know we're in a battle today but i'm going to tell you the battle is not over right and left the bible's over because this shaped us isn't god good and so he says now that i've got you hungry and now that you are acknowledging me it is good in my sight and now verse 27 all things are delivered unto me of my father now watch this carefully and no man knoweth the son he says now no one knows who i am no one knoweth the son everybody say visible no man knoweth the son but the father everybody say invisible that's important to structure because if you have structure you have to understand it deals with the visible and the invisible no man knoweth the son but the father neither knoweth any man the father save or accept the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him now the son is the visible and the father is the invisible and jesus says here that the visible has to reveal the invisible the visible has to reveal the invisible and then let's stay there for a few moments let's stay there because what we're talking about what we're talking about in john chapter 1 and verse number um 18 i believe is the verse oh excuse me excuse me let's go i'll come back to that in a moment but let's go to let's go to first timothy 3 14 because remember what we said there there's something called structure here today what's the strength of this building the invisible we covered up all that con all that all that rebar all that rebar that was in those footers that those underneath your feet today several times underneath your feet underneath your feet several times there was a ditch that was dug with a machine so deep so wide by code there was rebar that was by code tied together there was even steel plates that welders had to come in and weld those steel plates together underneath you you don't see it anymore it's covered up but let a tornado come it's not our carpet although beautiful it may be it's not our carpet that keeps this building together it's the invisible that keeps us together so it is in the natural so it is in the spiritual today too many people spend too much time on the visible and not the invisible now i'm not doing away with the visible but you can't have the visible unless you have the structure of the invisible remember the building first timothy 3 14. these things write i unto you first timothy 3 14 these things write i unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly but if i tarry long that thou mayest know how thou ought us to behave thyself in the house of god now please understand today that the early church because of the culture that they lived in the main places of worship were synagogues or t or the temple but the apostolic church because of persecution culturally because of culture met in houses so now the verse here is not referring to a house like we have like we have it's referring to the church as a spiritual body and he says but if i carry along that thou mayest know how thou ought us to behave thyself in the house of god which is the church of the living god what is it the pillar and ground of the truth he's talking about the foundation of the church just like i just talked about the foundation of this physical building paul talks about the foundation of the spiritual church he is a pillar in the ground that represents foundation it's built on something a pillar supports something but a pillar can only support to the level that the pillar is setting up on you can take a pillar that could support five tons but put it on sand and it can't support five tons because of where it's setting but where's the church setting today the church is sitting on the ground of truth it's amazing he's talking about a foundation here look at verse 16 and without controversy debating without controversy great is the mystery of godliness or godlikeness tell me what god is like god-likeness god was manifest in the flesh the visible the invisible became visible so that we could understand the invisible god who is invisible became visible so that we could understand the invisible can i get a witness john 1 and 18 john chapter 1 and verse number 18 may take a little time to work this structure out today john 1 18 no man has seen god at any time the only begotten son which is in the bosom of the father he hath declared him you see that today no man has seen god at any time i'll say well bill carpenter the bible contradicts itself because several times in the scripture it says moses saw god and this one saw god no they saw a manifestation of god because he is the invisible god that cannot be seen with our eyes and the only way that he can be seen in order to be understood because god is not just into appearances he's into giving us an understanding he's not just into an appearance he's into an understanding god wants us to have an understanding of him well why would he want us to have an understanding of him well he wants us to have an understanding of him because the bible says the bible says that when we are favored by god that he gives us an understanding of him but the ways of a transgressor is what the ways of a transgressor is hard matter of fact would you give me i didn't give you this verse of scripture but would you put this on the scripture screen for me proverbs 13 and 15. proverbs 13 and 15 says good understanding giveth favor but the way of transgressors is hard good understanding given favor see god didn't come god did not cause himself to be visible so that he could give us an appearance and then disappear he became visible so that you and i could have an understanding of god we could understand him and to understand him is to know him and to know him is to love him see that's why we need the understanding of him to understand him is to know him and to know him is to love him and when you love him nothing can stop you from serving him what can separate us from the love of god that is in christ jesus let whatever come to your life i have the invisible structure underneath me that he loves me and that's all that would matter in my life when the lowest i oh hallelujah when the lowest i can get i can say god loves me too many of us do like we used to do in our childhood when we had a crush on somebody to find out did they really love us we would pick up a flower and say she loves me should i ask her out should i see if she'll sit with me at lunch oh i don't want to hurt my pride she loves me she loves me not she loves me she loves me not she loves me not or she loves me hey would you sit and have lunch with me no some of us are the same way with god we pick him up like a flower and say well today i feel good he loves me well the job has let me down he doesn't love me well the kids are acting up he doesn't love me they made good grades in school he loves me can i tell you that's a very fickle poor way to live for god but you need to live for god with an invisible structure inside of you does it matter who wags their tongue about you doesn't matter what people say and or think about you as long as you know god loves you you can walk through every hypocrite every scorner every backbiter every person in your life you can walk through them because you have an invisible good understanding give giveth favor that word in the hebrew favor there means strength good understanding giveth favor that word means strength a good understanding of god gives you strength but the ways of a transgressor it's hard you know why it is a transgressor has never figured life out every transgressor has one thing in common whether they are transgressing uh it doesn't matter whether they're transgressing their morals or their health it doesn't matter all transgressors have one thing in common they can't figure life out i don't have purpose people end their lives and their notes reach something to the same rhyme they have no purpose in life they have no purpose in life because the ways of a transgressor is hard but oh if you can get an understanding of him if you can put your pride aside today and ought you all you think you know about life and if you can lay yourself into the arms of god and say father i worship you this morning i don't have it all in control god i confess with my lips publicly today i don't have it all in control it's prayer that drives me to my knees because it's not an appetite it's a hunger it's a survival thing i'm not going to make it without him in my life amen he said no man can know the father the invisible except the son the visible reveal him a matter of fact we see this crystal clear in matthew 16 and 16 we see this crystal clear simon peter answered jesus had just asked who do who do they say that i am in matthew 16 16 simon peter answered and said thou art the christ the son of the living god that's his confession he asked who do they say that i am peter said you are the christ the son of the living god that is who you are i know who you are jesus answered and said unto him blessed art thou simon bar jonah it's interesting to note there that he didn't just call him simon barjona means son of john simon's father was named john now don't get him confused with john the baptist but it's interesting there that simon told jesus his identity i know who you are you're the christ the son of the living god and jesus said blessed art thou and he didn't just say simon he said simon barjona in other words i know who you are isn't that wonderful to know today that if we can know who he is he in returns knows who we are blessed art thou simon barjona for flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee that's that human wisdom but my father which is in heaven i say unto thee that thou art peter and upon this rock would i build my church isn't it amazing we go back to the structure when he's talking about revealing the son revealing the father and the father revealing the son because it goes like that the invisible god reveals the visible the man jesus and the man christ jesus reveals the invisible god jesus said peter this revealing that you got did not come from man but it came from my father i say unto thee that thou art petering upon this rock would i build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it i will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven then charge t to to his disciples then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was jesus the christ that's a hard scripture to understand is he against witnessing absolutely not but you see how we receive a revelation of who jesus is is not necessarily through someone telling us now so we can lead you by scripture but the only way you'll receive a revelation is that you become like a babe you become like a child the only way revelation comes is that you put your human prideful self aside and admit you don't have it all in control you put all of that aside and you become as a child and you just want to be fed and when the scriptures are given to you then revelation comes to you you begin to see who jesus is well how important is it this revealing stuff today how important is it today do you know i could probably have packed i could have probably packed this auditorium out today if i had announced four weeks ago that this morning i was going to preach on the antichrist oh there's a lot of oh a lot of people like to hear that they like to what does this mean and what and i i i'm not saying there's not a place and a time for that but i could have packed it out with that today but i want to show you the antichrist i i fear today there's an antichrist i'm going to mention here that i fear there's an antichrist in the next verse i want to i want to i want to i want to read to you today from first john now this is not the gospel of john this is the epistle of john first john chapter 2 and verse number 21 this was written this this was written this was written just about the clothes of john's life the church was some 30 40 50 years old the pentecost on verse 21 when verse number 21 was written john says i have not written unto you because you have not known the truth and he says i'm not writing to you because you don't know truth but i'm writing to you because you know it and that no lie is of the truth he said i'm not writing to you because you don't know the truth i'm writing to you because you do know the truth but i want you to know that no lie is of the truth well come on tell me what you're talking about john verse 22 who is a liar but he that deny it that jesus is the christ he is antichrist here we go now i could have packed it out with the other antichrist but this is the one we need to watch for he is antichrist that denieth the father and the son whosoever deny it the son the same hath not the father but he that acknowledgeth the son hath the father also let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning if that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye shall you shall ye also shall continue in the son and in the father this is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life these things have i written unto you concerning them that seduce what were they being seduced from the bible hadn't even finished to be written when lies from the antichrist we know who the father of the antichrist is right there's first a spirit of the antichrist and there's a person of the antichrist and that spirit of the antichrist satan begin to lie about the identity of jesus christ because if you can lie on the identity of jesus christ and get people to believe a lie about his identity you've trained wrecked the whole thing because it all starts with jesus if jesus was not god manifested in the flesh he was a lunatic if jesus was not god manifested in the flesh all miracles that he did were lies fraud he was a fraud you have to throw the whole book away if the identity of jesus christ ever comes into question who is jesus christ god manifests in flesh the invisible to become visible so we could understand the invisible god is a good god god is a loving god his ways are good his ways are right god is a good god oh praise him right now with me oh thank you lord it doesn't matter there's there's a seduction of verse 26 the seduction that the antichrist was seducing them seducing this word seducing has the the the connotation of sucking in seducing and how they were doing it they were saying he was really not a man he was really not a man he was an angel he was an angel angel he was angelic he was an angel he was really not a man so if he's really not a man then you've got to throw the seed line of abraham away because if he's really not a man then there was really no blood and there's no blood we are still in our sins so they begin to say he was an angel see how they're derailing all this he was an angel he said watch they're seducing you can i tell you every false doctrine comes wrapped in a wrapper that is appealing to our flesh that's why i need to have the flesh crucified that's why i don't need to be led by the flesh i need to be led by an invisible structure something you can't see satan comes upon jesus he's 40 days fasting he's hungry he's there so what does satan tempt him with the visible but what did jesus respond to him with the invisible i've got meat that you no no no no no not of i've got something that you don't understand oh i want to be like jesus today i want to have something that the world didn't give to me and the world doesn't understand because it is a hidden so they begin to rap seduce and pull but the only antibiotic for the seduction of the world the only vaccine for this seduction is verse 27 but the anointing but the anointing first john 2 27 but the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you what's he talking about the holy ghost the holy ghost and the only way i can get the holy ghost is to remove my pride because i need a spirit better than my spirit i need the holy spirit i need the holy ghost inside of my life and you never receive the holy ghost with pride you got to receive the holy ghost to be hungry for it not an appetite you got to be hungry for it there is an experience called the baptism of the holy ghost it's the most grand thing you'll ever receive in all of your life it's indescribable yet you can describe it in ways that it's changed your life it's a baptism of the holy ghost it is joy unspeakable and is full of joy that a marijuana that crack cocaine that drugs alcohol cars all kinds of things in this world cannot compare i'm glad to have that anointing that's living on the inside of me oh is somebody get happy with me this morning but the anointing but the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but has the same anointing teacheth you all of all things and is truth and is no lie and even as it has taught you ye shall abide with him i've heard people take this verse here and make an anti-pastor verse out of it say i've got a holy ghost i don't have need anybody teach me that's such a foolish interpretation of that scripture it's talking about when you know the truth don't let anybody come and try to add to it don't let them pedal their magazine to your door don't let them knock on the door and tell you the bible's true but they've got another book that's an additive to the book you need to say you don't need to teach me nothing now you can smile if you want to about it don't do it like i do that you you stand there and say you don't i i don't wanna i don't want your magazine but let me tell you what i got deep down inside of my heart let me tell you i've got the baptism of the holy ghost down deep down inside of me i've got the spirit of jesus christ living deep down inside of me i've got the holy ghost i've been baptized for the remission of my sins in the name of jesus christ i've got all the joy hey you might win some of them you might win some of them i've often told them i'm off them totem when they knock on our door of course they've got us marked i notice when they come through the neighborhood they don't come to my door anymore but i say we do have something in common you are jehovah witnesses and i'm a witness for jehovah but the bible when it says you have no need that a man teach you is not talking about you don't need to come to church and hear the word of god it's talking about you don't need to allow anybody to tell you you don't have enough to be saved that's right you have an anointing you have need of any man to teach you you understand that no lies of the truth evidently he wasn't through with the subject because in first john chapter 4 go go first john chapter 4 and verse number 14. can i get a witness today first john chapter 4 verse number 14 listen to this and we have seen and do testify that the father that's invisible sent the son that's visible to be the savior of the world again in second john that's first john he didn't get through with the subject and second john chapter 1 and verse number 9 listen to this closely listen to this closely whosoever transgressive and abideth not in the doctrine of christ okay now now he told us someone was coming to seduce us right and they were seducing us to the identity of jesus christ so now chapter 2 john he's now addressing them that have been seduced and he says in second john 1 9 whosoever transgressive and abideth not in the doctrine of christ that's the teachings of christ hath not god in other words you can't claim that you have god and not claim the teachings of jesus christ hath not god he that abideth in the doctrine of christ hath both the father and the son so if we have the teaching of the visible aren't you glad god gave us something visible that's why we have the word today don't have to take nobody's word for it we have the visible that if we have the visible and we believe the visible that we have both the father oh is it this good and the son we have both the invisible and the visible oh just in case someone's here today that may be having a little problem grasping this let's go back to the gospel of john now the gospel of john matthew mark luke john and let's look at chapter 14 verse number one someone say praise the lord oh thank god let not your heart be troubled john 14 1 let not your heart be troubled how many understands that god don't want us to have heart trouble today and i'm not talking about eating the wrong things and having the wrong physical heart i don't want to have i don't want to have spiritual heart trouble let not your heart be troubled you believe in god invisible believe also in me visible in my father's house or many mansions if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you now i hate to burst anybody's bubble today i i really hate to say this but we hear something often that's it's kind of not really what he's talking about here we hear things like in the father's house or many mansions he went away 2 000 years ago don't you hear this he went away 2 000 years ago and he's been working on mansions ever since oh what they must be like oh what they must be like made the world in six days oh what they must be like what these mansions must be like i hate to hate i hope nobody loses out today but when he says i go to prepare a place for you verse 2 is talking about he's going so that we have a place right now in heaven through the mediator jesus christ because before the visible became or the invisible became visible we had no way to god except through a weak system called the law and no man could get to him through the law because we were weak in the flesh that's the whole reason the law failed we were too weak it wasn't there was something wrong with the law what was wrong was the bible says the flesh was weak but he came the invisible became visible so that he could die for our sins shed his blood prove his love i don't know how anybody could doubt the love of god read matthew mark luke and john for heaven's sake how can you doubt god loves us when he's done so much to save us i mean a plan that was it it came in he's the lamb slain before the foundation of the world that's eternity past that's eternity eternity he had a plan to save us then when time came and time began to kick and where thousands of years old in time god had this plan and this plan had was that the invisible would come become visible so that we could understand the invisible and he died for our sins and then we think we can mess it up now i'm not advocating that we don't fight against temptation and we don't fight against sin but i am telling you today that you're not going to mess up god's plan as easy as your will if you want to be saved god can save you if you want to get back up and try again i serve a god today that's willing to come to wherever you're at and say i'll take you back i know it's 115th time that you've tried to serve me and you've tried to serve me through the flesh and you fail but i'll take your hand today i don't know about you i don't know about you but this is my motto you may be seated this is my motto as long as there's breath in the body there's hope in the soul as long as they are breathing there is hope there's hope for you i got a call an unusual call here a while back from a minister he got an unusual call a person at the hospital want to be baptized well what's so unusual about that they're dead should i baptize them absolutely not absolutely not as a tree falleth there shall it lay the way they were when they drew their last breath is the way they're going to meet god that ought to help us out a little bit how you go out is how you're going to stand but as long as people are breathing as long as people have got some things going on up here there's hope for you today there's hope for you today the invisible became visible so that the visible could comprehend and understand that god doesn't love me he loves me not god's love is eternal why don't you take advantage of that love today and reach out to that love as long as there's hope in your as long as there's breath i want to preach it today you might be here or you might be on the internet as long as there's breath in your body there's hope in your soul god loves you today god loves you as long as there's bread musicians and singers would you come right now let not your heart be troubled you believe in god believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions not going to be mansions are many mansions if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you thank you jesus because by faith i'm seated with you in heavenly places in christ jesus i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you unto myself and he's talking to the disciples now that where i am there you may be also and where i go you know and the way you know thomas saith unto him lord we know not whether thou goest how can we know the way jesus saith unto him i am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father invisible but by me visible if you had known me if you had known me you should have known my father also and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him philip saith everybody say thank god for philip i'll say it again philip said you see the only dumb question you'll ever ask about the bible is the one you don't ask there's no such thing when we're teaching bible studies we tell people there's not a dumb question you can ask about the bible if you're thinking it and want to ask it you ask it thank you philip for asking the question philip philip saith unto him lord show us the father and it sophiath or satisfies us would you show us the father and we will be satisfied jesus saith unto him have i been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me philip he that has seen me has seen the father how sayest thou then show us the father believeth thou not that i am in the father how do you recognize how do you how do you reconcile that i am in the father and the father in me the words that i speak unto you i speak not of myself but the father that dwelleth in me he doeth the works believe me that i am in the father and the father in me or else believe me for the very work sake do we reconcile you see the son reveals the father and the father reveals the son the invisible scripture says reveals who the visible is and the visible in return reveals the invisible and then philip says when jesus says you want me to show you the father and i've been standing here i've been standing with you he that has seen me hasn't seen the father for i am in the father how can he be in the father how can the visible be in the invisible because there's something called the omni presence of god you cannot understand it you cannot understand it i just need an illustration here you can take an empty glass of water and submerge it in the atlantic ocean and you can say the atlantic ocean is in the glass and the glass is in the atlantic ocean and what jesus was saying was the father headquarters the word godhead is used he headquarters in the body of the man christ jesus for the scripture says in him dwelleth the fullness of the godhead bodily and we are complete in him i started today to talk about a life of structure i have it in my notes if anybody would want to see and the lord willing maybe next sunday morning i'll continue this but i need structure in my life i need structure in our marriage i need structure in the rearing of our children and our grandchildren i need to have structure on my job i need to have structure when it comes to combating the demonic spirits of this world but i make no apologies i've spent the entire lesson today talking about the most valuable structure of all and that is when the visible reveals the invisible and the invisible reveals the visible i'm glad that i know who jesus is i'm glad that i know would you stand with me right now i'm glad that i know who jesus is oh i'm glad that i know who jesus is today oh hallelujah i'm glad that i know who he is right now come on could you worship with me for a moment today i'm glad i know i'm i'm glad that i know who jesus is i'm glad that i know i'm glad that i know who jesus is i'm glad that i know who jesus is today i'm glad that i know that structure i'm glad that i know that anchor today i'm glad that i know that alpha and that omega today i'm glad that i know that structure this morning the hidden hidden you know we do a lot of things around this altar we do a lot of things around this all we m we marry we marry our children as they come up from the altar we uh we bury our dead right here we roll our dead right down here in the front and we bury our dead we dedicate our children right down here in the front it's called the altar the church members today even came and shouted and danced around the altar but can i tell you this morning can i tell you this morning that all that i've just mentioned are secondary for the purpose of the altar the purpose of the altar is for we the visible to come down and bring our burdens our sin-sick souls into the presence of the invisible god we bring our burdens to him in the altar we visibly give god a sign faith without works is dead we visibly show god that we're willing to put aside our pride and walk down the front in front of people that we don't even know to lift up our hands to god and say god help me today oh invisible god become real in my life right now lord oh god every head is bowed and every eyes closed i'm going to ask you to help me pray for people today that need a touch from god father in the name of jesus christ this morning i'm going to open up this altar for any that would like to come visibly and interact with the invisible god today i'm going to enter i'm going to open up this altar right now if you'd like to step out of your pew if you'd like to walk down to the front of this building right now lift your hands up and begin to commune with god he's here today he's here waiting upon you today oh god help me pray church every pew every person if you're here today and you've got a sin-sick heart you're here today you've got burdens that are indescribable today if you're here today and this week you've cried yourself to sleep you're here today and you've had sleepless nights oh god when can i get help somebody invited you to church today somebody invited you to this place today why don't you step out of your pew right now walk down to this altar and begin to interact with an invisible god oh god in the name of jesus the altar people are coming right now people are coming right now mighty god mighty god would you come in this mirror would you come right now would you come right now oh god i pray in the name of jesus we want more everything we say your name is and salvation take me back to my first will always be the holy spirit there is me we are it's all about it's not about you is is is it's not about me it's all about that is our structure that is our inner strength holy spirit we are one more is jesus yes and jesus be the center of your church jesus jesus jesus shall confess that your jesus shall confess your lord and savior to me besides the promised ones nothing in this world will do don't know for jesus jesus nothing else the lord a hand of praise right now thank god thank god thank god aren't you glad that the visible the invisible thank the lord now i'm going to make i'm going to make a statement this is how we're going to close them i'll make a statement and then they're going to sing that song through again and as they sing that song again if there's any of you that want to leave without having to go through the crowd you're being very cautious with this covet season i would i would i would like you to be dismissed after i make this statement and when they begin to sing you can find your way out one of the exits preferably to my right which would be your left through that way would be very good um you're here today and you want to know more about god as a matter of fact during the altar call you felt a little tug to come you felt a little tug but you didn't quite do it first thing i want you to know that you did nothing wrong today all right now the adversary is going to come and tell you that god doesn't love you anymore that you he dealt with you and you didn't come and he's over you will the devil's a liar okay he's a liar the truth of the matter is you just need more faith all right because faith gives more understanding more understanding and with more understanding you're able to operate so if you're here today and you're one of those you wanted to come up around the front but you just didn't do it when we dismiss today if you will find me i'll either be somewhere up here or i'll be right between those two double doors in the back and just tell me hey i'd like to know more about the bible for example um the hines brought a special guest with them a couple sundays ago clarence cooper and uh he's hungry for god he's up here around the altars praying well what needs to happen in clarence's life and i asked him where he was from he told me he was from oak ridge and i said that's where all them smart people live right and all that clarence needs to know is have a more understanding of the bible so i've got brother schnitzer come over and going to get a bible study set up a one-on-one personal bible study set up to open up the scriptures to you if you would be interested in that today if you'll come see me like i said i'll be up here around the front or back between those two double doors and uh we'd like to set you up teach you a bible study open up some scriptures taking you to understand that amen clear as muddy water all right all right they're going to sing if you'd like to be dismissed at this time being cautious you may be dismissed at this time please sing for us