Blood, Word, & Self | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

praise the lord, everybody. good morning in jesus name. isn't it great to be in the house of the lord this morning and celebrate the goodness of the lord? amen. talking about missionaries today and so good to have brother alviar with us and and you just have to know the history here of the alviars and missions around the world. they probably have impacted that one family has probably impacted the world of missions more than several organizations put together. and we love you. thank you for blessing us today with your presence. everybody happy? say amen. amen. won't you uh turn with me in your bibles to uh the book of revelation, the book of revelation, chapter 12, and we'll begin reading at verse number seven. revelation 12 and verse number 7. if you've already found that place and you've got just a moment, why don't you turn to somebody beside you and why don't you tell them something that everybody wants to hear. all right, this is something everybody wants to hear. won't you turn to the person sitting beside you and say, "looks like you've lost weight." all right. i didn't tell you to tell them to go on a diet. i just tell are you ready for the word? say amen. revelation 12 verse number 7. and there was war in heaven. michael and his angels fought against the dragon. and the dragon fought against his angels and prevailed not. neither was their place found anymore in heaven. and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and satan, which deceiveth the whole world. he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. and i heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our god and the power of his christ. for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our god day and night. and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them. woe to the inhabitors of the earth and of the sea. for the devil is come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. believe today if the devil knows the time is short, that the church needs to know the time is short. father, in the name of jesus, today i come before you, lord, i thank you for the message that we heard last sunday night from brother moses about end time revival and prophecy. and oh god, as it so stirred my heart, i come this sunday morning, lord, to continue that stir about the end of time and that you're coming soon. oh god of heaven, anoint my lips of clay today that i may speak your word. may the holy ghost move freely through this congregation and may the holy ghost move upon the webcast today. lord, have your way in this room. in jesus wonderful name we pray. amen. and amen. you may be seated today. i want to minister to you from a burdened heart. i want to minister to you today from a passionate heart on these three simple words. blood, word, and self. blood, word, and self. matter of fact, let's all just repeat that together. all right, follow me. blood word and self starts in here in this scripture text of telling us that there was war in heaven. as a matter of fact, it tells us that michael, and of course, as you study scripture, you find that in scripture, there were three, if i could say, chief angels that god created, which would be michael, gabriel, and yes, lucifer. these were three of the chief angels that god had created that at least are named in the bible. we understand as we study the scripture that these three angels, gabriel, michael, and lucifer, all had a different ministry that they performed. as you study scripture, you'll find that gabriel was the messenger angel. it's it's the the the the angel that god used to send to the earth. as a matter of fact, it was the angel gabriel that came to mary and told her that she would conceive. we understand as we study scripture that the angel michael was the waring angel. he was an angel of war that would fight. he was a protecting angel. we understand as we study the old testament that lucifer in his original god-created state was a worship leader. he was a praiser. he was one that had instruments that were created in him to sound the worship. he had beautiful stones that that that he was uh robed in that would reflect the glory the glory of god. and we understand that that lucifer lost his position as a worshipper and he lost his position as a praiser. and not only that, when you really study scripture, you find that he lost his name. he's he is not named lucifer. he has been given the title of the devil. uh he has been given the title of satan which means adversary. so he not only lost his ability to worship, he lost his name. but i've got good news for you and i. the church of the living god took his place. we took his place. that's why he attacks the church of the living god. that's why he attacks every worshipper and every praiser and he attacks a jesus name church because when he lost his place and he lost his name, god had a bride that was raised up to give praise and honor and glory because we now have this treasure in an earthn vessel. and when i lift my hands, i'm reflecting the glory of god. and when i shout hallelujah, i'm reflecting the glory of god. but there was war in heaven. and the bible said that satan, the devil, that old serpent, he fought but he lost. and i guess that's a good news to say today if you're looking for some word from the book of revelation is the devil lost. he lost. it goes on and it says that when the devil was declared defeated, john the revelator said, "i heard a loud voice in heaven." and you know, you know, victory is never to be whispered. victory should be shouted. they they don't whisper a victory. they they shout out a victory. and so this victory has a shout. the verse 10 said it's a loud voice in heaven saying, "now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our god and the power of his christ." and when you look when you look at those these words in verse number 10 of chapter 12, you you will see there if you would keep that on the screen for me. he said, "i i heard a loud voice in heaven saying uh this loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation." now i it's hard to to comprehend that word salvation unless you know what you've been saved from. right? in order to appreciate and value salvation, you have to realize what you've been saved from, we were born in sin. we were born with a death sentence written over us. we were born already with a place that is a lake of fire. that was our that would be our eternal place of torment and our eternal place of judgment. but praise be unto god. now is salvation come. so now i'm i'm i'm appreciative of the word salvation because look what god has ultimately saved us from. now not only has he saved us from that place called hell but think about the ways of life that salvation has saved us from. that's why no one in this building or no one actually can boast and brag and look at any sinner that's in the depths and the sewer of sin and say, "i would never do that." you better lift your hands and say, "look what god saved us from. look what he saved. i'm i'm not judging that individual. you know why? i could be just like them. but now is salvation come and look what he has saved us from. salvation came. look at this. and then strength came because you'll never get salvation. you'll never be brought out of something that god will will not give you the strength to stay out of it. you see, he not only had strength to bring us out of sin, but praise god, he's given us the strength not to go back into sin, but not only that, look at the next phrase. and the kingdom of our god, this kingdom of our god is the ways of god. how many love the ways of god? how many love the word of god? how many love the commandments of god? how many knows the the ways of god are good? the ways of god are healthy. the ways of god are are healthy both body, soul, and spirit. the ways of god. well, that's the kingdom. that's the kingdom of that's the kingdom of god. and then the final thing i want to bring to you and the power of his christ. in other words, that's the holy ghost. that is the holy ghost power that we have. how many are glad that have the baptism of the holy ghost? what is that? it's more than speaking in tongues. it is christ in you, the hope of glory. now, let's just follow follow along in the in in the verse here. he says that the the uh salvation's come, the strength has come, the kingdom of god has come, the power is christ, and here's the ultimate. for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our god day and night. do you do you realize that satan is an accuser? he he accuses the people of god. he lies upon the people of god. he accuses the people of god before that throne before god. they they they do that day and night. did did we not see satan as an accuser? what did he tell god about job? he said, "god, let me have a conversation with you, god." in job chapter 1 verse number nine, satan answered the lord and said, "do job serve god or fear god for not?" in other words, look what satan, the accuser, is insinuating the reason job serves god. well, look at him. he's got a family and he's got all these wealth and everything. he touches prospers. who wouldn't want to serve you, god? who wouldn't fear you after that? but how many knows that wasn't the truth? because job loved god before job was wealthy. job loved god before job was blessed the way that he was. and so take away the blessings. and guess what, brother job continues to do? he continues to love and serve god. i'm here to tell you today, i think that satan accuses some of us before god. well, look at them. look at how good they've got it. look at this and look at that. who wouldn't want to serve you? and sometimes you and i go through trials that we lose for a little bit. but in that losing situation as we begin to worship god, god says, "no, satan, look at him right now. look at her right now. she's still praising me. she's still giving me glory. she is still magnified." let me tell you something. if you're in a loss right now, you need to be praising god. if you're a child of the king and you look back and you say, "well, there were times in my life i was blessed with more and now i have less." get your hands up. get your praise up because you may be in the hands of god. and god is saying, "see there, they're still praising me." ah, he's an accuser. he's an accuser. the book of zechariah, chapter 3, verse number one. let's see if we can find satan again. here we have in zechariah chapter 3. we have this scene here. zechariah chapter 3 verse number one. the bible said, "and he showed me joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the lord. and satan standing at his right hand to do what?" you see, you got to understand that even though you're in right standing with god doesn't mean the devil is absent from your life. here joshua the high priest is standing before the angel of the lord. satan's standing at his right hand to do what? resist him. resist him. and the lord said unto satan, boy, i'm going to tell you something. just worship god. stand in the right standing with god and let god take care of your enemies. did they not sing it so beautiful day? not my battle. did you did you catch on? not my battle. not my fight. see, some of us need to get out of the ring and let god do the fighting. we need to get out of the ring. and so i i get tickled sometimes and i've caught myself. i've tried to quit, but i go to god and i'm actually trying to tell god how to work it out. am i the only one? now god, if you do this and god, if you do that, now god, you need to do this and god, you need to do that. and it's like i just have to stop and say, god, you know what you're doing. god, it's not my battle. god, it's not my fight. look at verse two. and the lord said unto satan, the lord rebuked thee, oh satan, even the lord that hath chosen jerusalem, rebuked thee. is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? this is interesting because joshua is referred to as a piece of wood that was used in a building that got discarded and carried off to the burn pile. it got carried off to the burn pile. it had been a piece of material to go in the temple, but somehow somebody didn't deem it worthy and they carried it off to the burn pile. while in the burn pile, this brand, while it was in the burn pile, sister carpenter, somebody came by that saw the value in it. because every human being is valuable to god. there's not one person under the sound of my voice, whether you're present here today or watching online, that you're not valuable to god. don't care where you've been, what you're going through, who you are, everybody is valuable to god. well, you don't know the fire i'm in right now. you don't know the charred place i have on my name. you don't know how charred i am in my reputation. you don't know how charred i am and what i've been through in all of this. can i tell you something? somebody of value, the lord went by the burn pile and looked inside the burn pile and saw something that was charred, but he saw enough that he could use in his kingdom. and he reached into the fire of hell and he plucked out that. he said, "hey, satan, you want to magnify the burn, but i want to magnify what can be used. you want to iss not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" now, let's bring it down to joshua. now joshua, verse three, now joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. joshua stands there with filthy garments on and he stands before the angel. can i tell you something? don't highlight the filthy garment as much as the position the filthy garment was in. because it's not the filthy garment that determines my destiny. it's where i place that filthy garment at. that filthy garment is in the presence of god. that's why the devil fights so much. he will tempt you to sin. and when he gets you in sin, he will begin to tell you, "don't go to church. don't be a hypocrite. don't you you need to stay away from it." you know why? he knows if you come into god's presence with that filthy garment on, he knows that something can happen to you. joshua joshua was clothed with filthy garments. everybody say clothed. joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. and the angel he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, that's other angels, saying, take away the filthy garments from him. and unto him he said, behold, i have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and i will clothe thee with a change of raignment. and i said, "let there set a fire fair fire fair miter upon his head." so they set a fire a fair miter upon his head and clothed him with gar with him with garment and the angel of the lord stood by. now look what happens. two things happen here because he brings his filthy garment into the presence of god in a repented state. satan's there to re resist him. satan's there to accuse him. satan's there. satan's there to intimidate him. but because joshua stands in the presence of god with that filthy garment, god orders that a change of garments would come. that the filthy garment would be taken away. can i tell you something? only god can forgive our sins. only god can give us true joy of forgiveness. only god is able to do this. he takes away he takes away that garment of sin and then he clothe him in a new garment. everybody say clothe. he clothed him in a new garment and then he took a f fair miter and the best the best of my ability to research this is a pointed cap. a pointed cap. a hat or a pointed cap that had points on it. that had points on it. and it set it down on top of his head. do you know that a man walks down the road without a crown, he's just another man? but if a man walks down a road with a crown, he becomes somebody of dignity. now, where you going with this? i'm going to the new testament now because in luke 24 verse number 49, jesus said to the disciples, "and behold, i send the promise of my father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high." the greek word for endued means to be clothed. to be clothed with power from on high. in other words, he said, "i need you to go back to jerusalem because you got filthy garments on right now. you got all kind of filthy garments on, but i need you to go back to jerusalem because you're going to be clothed with power from on high. there's the robe, but where is the f fairer at?" i believe i found it in acts two and verse number three. and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire. you all know what fire cloven tongues like as a fire looks like. it's kind of got a point to it. flames that come. they don't they don't they don't burn evenly across. they have are are y'all with me today? they have these little points to them as they go up. can i tell you that? i believe the bible says there appeared unto them clothing tongues like as a fire, and it set upon each of them, and they were all filled with the holy ghost, and begin to speak with other tongues, as the spirit gave them the utterance. when we receive the gift of the holy ghost, my filthy garments are removed when i am baptized in jesus' name for the remission of my sin. and you are promised the gift of the holy ghost. god puts that fair miter upon our head and we receive that power. oh, would you give him some praise right now? ah, he's an intimidator. he's an accuser. he's an accuser. i dislike him. no, no, no, no, no, no. i hate him. i hate him. you you are you really hate the devil? yes, i really hate the devil. i hate his works. i hate what he does to people. i hate what people allow him to do. he's a deceiver. he's an old serpent. he's a deceiver. jesus said to peter in chapter 22:31 of st. luke jesus said to peter, the lord said,"simon, simon, behold, satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." now, i'm going to tell you something. we would like for verse 33 to read something like this. but i rebuked him and told him not to mess with you. but i have prayed for thee that thy faith fell not and when thou art converted, strengthen the brethren. he said, simon, simon peter came and asked if he could sift you like wheat. sifted wheat is being shook. sifted wheat is going through a a seed. it's being sifted. it's being shook. that only the finest come out on the floor. it's being shook. in other words, he said, "satan wants to shake you to find out what's on the inside of you, but i have prayed for you that your faith will not fail, will fail not." brothers and sisters today, hear me. if there's something you need to keep alive, don't lose your faith. if there's something you need to keep healthy, don't lose your faith. because your faith is greater than the shaking. your faith is greater than anything that'll ever be thrown your way. i don't i don't have a crystal ball. i don't know what's in the future for my life. i don't know what's in the future for your life. but i can tell you this one thing. if we've got faith in god, our faith in god is stronger than any shaking that we'll ever go through. don't lose your faith in god when it doesn't make sense. believe in god when you don't understand him. believe in god when you can't see him, you can't feel him, you can't touch him, anything. just keep your faith in god. i'm just going to keep my faith in god. god, i know you're going to work it out. god, i know you're going to bring me through. god, you said you would never leave me nor ever forsake me. keep your faith in god. peter peter was shook. he was shook. he had some self-confidence in him. he had some pride in him. he had some holier than thou, better than thou spirit in him. he had some faults in his heart. but i'm better than the rest of these guys that's walking with jesus. jesus said, "you're going to forsake me. you're going to leave me. peter said, "not me, lord. i'll go to prison with you. i'll go to death with you, lord." and the lord said, and the lord said, "peter, before the crows, before the rooster crows, before the rooster crows in the morning and announces a new day, you're going to deny that you know me. three times before the crows, before the rooster announces a new day. you're going to deny me three times. how many knows that exactly what happened? peter denied him not once, not twice, but peter denied him three times. peter went out and wept bitterly. the lord drawed him back in after the resurrection. now, i want you to think with me. i want you to get in the pastor's study with him. i want you to sit down, brother dwayne or lay your bible open and think with me for a moment. it was the crowing of the rooster at the beginning of each day that possibly could have been a reminder to peter of his failure. think about it. is it possible? is it possible that every time he heard the rooster crow, he was reminded of his failure? i believe i believe i believe i believe. i believe there's places in this town that you pass by that remind you of a day that you failed god. i believe there's people that you see that sometimes can remind you, i failed god. but i'm here to walk in the holy ghost and tell you this this sunday morning that although the rooster may crow every morning, i got something else out of the bible. that's every morning. it's in the book of lamentations 3 verse number 22. it is of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. they are new every morning. great is his faithfulness. i may have a rooster that crows every morning and tells me of my failure, but i've got a god that says, "i've got some brand new mercy for you, satan. don't you perch on my bed post and tell me how low down and rotten i am because i'm going to get up saying, "where's my mercy? where is that mercy?" now we should give him some praise. oh, i got to i got to hurry. i got to hurry. buckle up. buckle up. we're going to do some speed reading. it's going to be like one of those commercial. psalms 30 and verse number five. for his anger endureth but for a moment. in his favor is life. weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh. somebody shout it. joy cometh in. when's he come? isaiah 33:20. isaiah 33 and verse 2. oh lord, be gracious unto us. we have waited for thee for thou for be thou their arm every morning. our salvation is in the time of trouble. zephaniah chapter 3 verse number five. the just lord is in the midst thereof. he will not do iniquity. every morning doth he bring his judgment to light. he faileth not, but the unjust knoweth no shame. can i tell you that peter might have heard the rooster crow every morning, but he got to the place to where he bathed himself in mercy. please don't allow the adversary, the accuser to beat you up because of the past. that's his job. but you got to get on the other side and say, "the lord's given me a new name, a new garment, and a new purpose in life." thankful for this. there's three things that i want to bring to your attention this morning. there are three things that i need to bring to your attention today. there are three things that i believe can tie into what brother moses spoke about last sunday night. there are three things that when there's all kinds of turmoil in the middle east, and there's turmoil here, there's three things i believe there are three keys that you need to have in your pocket that'll get you through whatever is going on in our world. number one, everybody say, "they overcame him." say it again. they conquered him. they conquered him. they overcame him. how? by the blood of the lamb. and i have dealt with this right now. there's nothing that can shut the voice of the accuser up in your spirit like the blood of the lamb. you hear the choir this morning? if you're looking for me, i've been set free. my life is where? under the blood. if you're looking for me, i've been set free. my life is under the blood. can you imagine the adversary, satan, that old dragon, that old serpent, comes looking for me and he says, "i can't find him. he was here a while ago. i can't find him." but you know where we're at? we're under the blood. there's nothing that can shut the mouth of torment of the accuser up in your life like depending upon the blood of the lord. there's power in the blood. hear me. there's power in the blood. not by might, nor am i, but but by the spirit. hear me today. there is power in the blood. there's spiritual power in the blood. i don't have to touch the blood. i don't have to feel the blood. i just know that the blood was shed. as a matter of fact, this is important to us today. the blood was poured out at the altar. and there's two places on the altar that the bible specifically said the blood was to touch. said pour it out at the foundation of the altar, at the foot of the altar. and then take the blood and put it on the horns. that's the very top of the altar. so there's two places that the blood works in our lives. you'll never get it together until your foundation is on the blood. you'll never get good enough to erase it. you'll never be good enough to outlive it. you will never be limit. the devil will mop the floor up with you. i don't care how good you try to live. i don't care how good you think you are. the devil will mop your phariseic soul up in the floor with you. but if i can build my life on the blood, if i can get on the blood of jesus christ, if i can stand upon that blood, it is condemnation that takes you right back to your one reason some people can't break the cycle of sin. they can't break the cycle of condemnation because condemnation produces spiritual weakness and they keep breaking it and breaking it and breaking it. but if they can ever get to where therefore there is now no more condemnation to them that walk in the spirit and not in the flesh. it's my foundation. it's not on my foundation. horn represents power. the blood was on the horn. so the blood is my foundation and the blood is my power. can you say amen? they overcame him. and i could speak a lot about the blood, but i just want to deal with the accusations of satan today. they overcame him by the blood of the lamb. that's the first key. and here's the second. and by the word of their testimony, they overcame him not just simply by the blood of the lamb, but by the word. you'd put that verse of scripture up, but by the word of their testimony. that's why you cannot be a silent christian. it's impossible. if you've got the blood, you're saying something about him. if you got the blood, you're saying something. there is a testimony. how many is glad you got a testimony? how how many glad how many people do i preach to this morning that you have a no-o testimony? and i mean i know so. it's not i i i i think i i i think i got a touch from the lord. i think god touched me. i think god i think no, no, no, no. think so. it's a it's a no. it's something goes down. i know god touched me. i know god changed me. i know god brought me out. i know the man i used to be. i know the woman i used to be. i know the person i used to be. but when i embrace jesus christ, i i got a no salvation. you see, if you got a testimony, you ought to tell it. there's strength in the power of your testimony. they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. i don't have time to tell you, but what about the demoniac that was filled with devils, that cut himself, that lived among the tombs, that stripped his clothes off, that was tormented day and night. but jesus came to where he was. and when jesus came to where he was, he had a no conversion because mark 5:15 says it this way. and they come to jesus and see him that was past tense was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting clothed and in his right mind. and they were afraid. that that that's the craziest verse i've ever read. here you got a man. he's a wild demon-possessed man. he he he strips his clothes off. he's cut. he's bleeding. he howls like a wolf at the moon and he's out living among the tombs. but let him have a conversion with god. he's clothed. he's in his right mind and he's sitting at the feet of jesus. and they said, "we're afraid of him." isn't it amazing what this crazy world is afraid of? i'd have been afraid of that other fella, but not this man. but you see, i can't stop because mark 5 and 20 says, "and he departed, the man did, and be to publish in decilas how great things jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel." can i tell you something? if you have got the blood of the lamb, you've got a word of your testimony. and it is the devil's job. it is the devil's job to keep you silent on your testimony. you don't have to, you know, we we have people, you know, we're going to we got these great big testimonies. we got somebody rode with the hell's angels and they got converted and we're going to pack our church out cuz they're going to get the testimony. thank god for that. but what about the morally good man or woman that was in a denominal church that didn't know the truth and all of a sudden they start reading their bible and god shows them water baptism in his name and god shows them the holy ghost speaking in other tongues and god begins to make the bible come alive to them. can i tell you, you got a testimony, too. you got a testimony, too. or how about the young girl that that listen, she was brought up in church. she doesn't know the depths of sin, but she was kept away. you've got a testimony, too. better tell your testimony. sister dorotha davis, tell that testimony about having that car wreck coming home from work, run off the road, just about scalped her, cut her all up to pieces. we went to the emergency room to pray for her. and i never met a lady so mad in all my life. not mad about the rat, not mad about anything but this. she said, "bro carpenter said, "when i woke up, i said, god, why didn't you just take me?" they took her to ut hospital. sister maynard, tommy had just come in the church, had been baptized, but he didn't have the holy ghost yet. tommy and sister maynard, my mother-in-law, went to the hospital to pray for sister dorotha. tommy had never been around anything like that. sister dorotha began to tell about the goodness of god and wanting to go home and and and disappointed that god just didn't go ahead and take her when she run off the road and all of that. so moved tommy. he don't even have the holy ghost yet right over here at ut hospital. tommy and my mother-in-law start praying to sister dora davis and the holy ghost moved down in the room. tommy stood there at that bed and started talking in other tongues as the spirit of god as the spirit of god gave the utterance. tommy later told me, he later told me, said the dorothy, he said, "i was a little nervous. i i didn't know what happened." so he said when he walked out of the room, i said, "betty, did i?" and betty said, "you did, tommy. can i tell you something? god is a powerful god. we need to keep them testimonies alive. we need to keep them alive in the church." brother sister thompson. sister thompson, i know jesus saved your husband. i know jesus did the work, but he sure worked through you when your husband decided to go a different route. and he sure worked through you through prayer and fasting. and he turned you around, brother thomas. he turned thompson, he turned you around from a life of drugs, a life of addiction. he turned you around. and i i just love it when the holy ghost gets on you, brother thompson, and you do that little dance over there because it reminds me of what god has done. can i tell you, they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. oh, i wish somebody would praise him right now. i wish somebody would worship him right now. come on, praise him right now. come on, praise him right now. come on, praise him right now. come on, praise him. if you got a testimony, you ought to praise him. you got a testimony, you got to praise him. i'll borrow i'll borrow a clip from brother tuttle, a small clip going on right now. you know what they accuse us as? they accuse us as pentecostals. you all are just full of emotions. that's all that is. right. correct. you know why? how can you have an experience with god? begin to think of the goodness of jesus. begin to think of a god that loved you so much that he would leave the glories of heaven, come to this earth and invade a little virgin girl's body and be birthed into a world as a man, live 33 years, cure every known disease, perform all kind of miracle for god so loved the world that he gave. hang on a cross and they would beat him unrecognizable. they would beat him and about cut him in two with the cat of nine tails. why? because he loves us. why? because he doesn't want us to spend eternity in a devil's hell. why? because he wants to break us free from the old dragon, from the serpent, from the devil, from satan. he wants to bring us out of darkness and into his. and you tell me to be quiet. i don't think so. when i think of the when i think of the goodness of jesus and all that he has done for me. come on. when i think of his goodness. hallelujah. hallelujah. hallelujah. go ahead. let the tears roll down your face. go ahead. let your voice tremble today. go ahead and give him praise today. i've showed you how i feel about it. your turn now. and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. the only thing i got to tell you today, if you're not praising right now, i got a verse of scripture. the bible said, "the dead praise not the lord. i'm not dead. the rocks are not going to cry out from me." come on. i've showed you how i love him. stand with me. stand with me. key number one. you need to put this in your pocket for the end of time. they overcame him, conquered him, subdued him, and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb. i say one. by the word of their testimony. everybody say two. here's the third key. look at the verse on the screen, please. and they loved not their lives unto death. what is that? they had the right priority of life. everything we own is going to get burned up. hear me. everything we own, ben, angela, everything we own is burning up. that's why. wow. you're really going to end that message this way? i really am. because they just didn't overcome him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. they overcame him because they loved not their lives unto death. in other words, my walk with god is second place or my walk with god has first priority. my life has second priority. as a matter of fact, you can't even live the life god wants you to live unless you're willing to lose your life for the kingdom's sake. and if you'll lose your life, he said it this way, if you will lose your life for my sake, you'll find it. but if you try to keep it, you'll lose it. every material thing we own, sister for brother for everything god burn that we have to see that we have an appointment with death. and i know some of you going to say, i can't believe he's ending this message. that's right. because we live as if we're never going to die. but every one of us, you hear me? please look up here at your pastor. every one of us is one step closer to death. to death. we're headed that way. and if we don't live for god now when we face that death, we will hear the words, "depart from me. i never knew you." he didn't say, "depart from me. you never attended church." he didn't say, "depart from me. you never tithe." he didn't say, "depart from me. you never wore the right stuff." he said, "i never knew you. you always kept you priority. they loved not their lives unto death. this world's temporal. and i'm just going to stop here for a moment. hear me. please hear me. stop trying to keep what was never meant to be eternal. we'll value our cars. we'll value our homes. but we are all living with a soul inside of us that's going to live forever somewhere. is your soul healthy? are you making the right decision? let me read to you in closing. was a man who was john the beloved's disciple. his name is not mentioned in the bible, but historians say that polycarp, that was his name. polycarp was a disciple of john that wrote the epistles. polycarp stands before the governor and here is a record of it. the governor, the governor then told polycarp, he said, "revile christ, deny him." at that point in the courtroom, polycarp famously said, "i have served him for 86 years, and he has never done me wrong. how then can i blaspheme my king and my savior?" the governor then said, "okay, then just swear by the fortune of caesar and i will call it even." to which polycarp said, "if you think for one second that i'm going to swear by the fortune of caesar, then you really don't know me at all. let me be as clear as i can. i am a christian. if you want to learn more about it, just name the date and i'll teach you all about it. clearly offended, the governor said, "polycarp, teach the crowd." to which polycarp replied and basically said, "no, i don't want to waste my time." the governor threatened to throw him to the wild beast. and polycarp basically said three words. i'll throw you to the wild lions in the coliseum. and polycarp uttered three words. bring it on. historians, sister carpenter, have written that when they lined christians up to take them into the coliseum to be fed to the lions, all because they would not renounce christ and say there's only one king, caesar. historians, and you can search this out, historians say these crazy lunatics being led to their death go to their death singing songs of joy about a dead man who died on a cross. lunatics, they are. oh, no, they're not lunatics. they're just people that we need to go back and be more like because this old world didn't have a hold on them. there was another world pulling at them. there was another world pulling at them. when your health fails you, heaven is pulling on you. when age is robbing you and heaven is pulling on you. when this world is failing and the economy is f they tell me that when the space capsule got into the orbit around the moon that they turn the motors down because the orbit of the planet is pulling them in. can i ask you today, could we get to where in this altar this morning, hey, we're allowing heaven to pull on us. this whole world is not our home. i'm going to a brand new city. i'm going to an eternal city today. who would be the first to step out of their pew this morning? who will be the first to come and let's stand today? let le let's stand around the altar. let's pack this altar full. i i believe we need to let heaven pull on us today. oh god. oh god. they overcame him by the blood of the lamb by the word of their testimony. they consider they're not our lives dear unto death. come on, let's pray. come on, let's pray today. come on, let's pray today. come on. this world's got too much of a hold on us right now. come on. this world's got too much of a hold on us right now. come on. we got to break free. we got to break free. houses are burning. clothes are burning. bank accounts are burning. you brought nothing into this world and you're taking nothing out. hallelujah. hallelujah. hallelujah. come on right now. god wants to fill you with the holy ghost this morning. god, i'm too much in love with this world. god, i'm too much in love with the things of this world. oh god. come on church. come on sleeping saint. come on sleeping saint. come on sleeping saint. wake yourself up. wake yourself up. the light is coming. the light is coming. wake yourself up today. i've lost my desire to praise. i got to get my desire back. i've lost my desire to pray. i've got to get my desire back. i've got to get my desire for the house of god back. i've got to get my desire for bible reading back. witnessing. oh my god. my god. my god. my god. show you. and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, by the word of the testimony, and they left not their lives unto death. jesus. come on, church. is that all we can pray today? really? really? is is this the best we can do today? is this the best we can do right now? is it? come on. is this the best we can do right now? is this the best we can do right now? they overcame him. yes, i'm the blood of the lamb to the lord. oh yes. oh yes. oh god, i want my prayer life back. oh god, i want my prayer life back from god. i want my life for your house back. god, i want my witness. jesus for us to the highest. oh yeah. oh yes. oh yes. oh yes. oh yes. god. oh yes. oh yes. oh yes. oh yes god. oh yes god. satan you are a liar. satan you are defeated. satan i've overcome you. i've overcome you. come on. come on. heat. heat. heat. will never. now, i want you to do something right now. i want you to put your hand over on your brother, brother to brother, and sister to sister. i want you to pray for one another right now that we'll live for god. i want you to ask god to help your brother, your sister live for him. i want you to pray a prayer of strengthening to your brother right now. lay your hand on him. say, "lord, strengthen my brother." come on, pray a strengthening. i lord, i want you to strengthen my brother right now. i want you to strengthen my sister right now. i want you to strengthen my brother right now. i want you to help my sister to live for god. i want you to help my sister to live for you. i want you to help my sister to overcome. i want you to help my sister to be an overcomer. lord, i want you to help my brother to overcome. i want you to help my sister overcome. here's what i want to do. and i do believe that it'll be different by this time next sunday. would you please testify to somebody this coming week? would you please share your story with somebody? would you please ask god? god, just put somebody in my pathway. put somebody in my pathway. let them start talking about god. i'm going to invite them to church. i'm going to ask them to come to church with me. i'm going to ask them come come to church with me. they overcame him, right? they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony. you know why a lot of people don't invite people? they love their life. what if they say no? really? sounds like you're too much in love with your pride. cuz they're not telling you no. they're telling the opportunity no. folks, i'm so stirred from last sunday night. they overcame him. say it with me. by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, they considered not their own lives unto death. and if you'll do that, you'll have all the three keys. you won't have to worry about iran. you won't have to worry about iraq. you won't have to worry about who's bombing who. you'll just have them three keys in your pocket. you'll hear him say, "well done, good and faithful servant." just dismiss you today. just lift your hands up. please live for god. please live for god. prayer meeting 5:30 tonight, 6:00 evangelistic service. hope to see you then.