Come Over into Macedonia, and Help Us | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

the blessings of god are upon this church right now would you just lift your hands all over this building what we are currently experiencing is the blessings of almighty god god is pleased with what we presented here today the heartbeat of god is for the gospel to be about all the world just lift your hands right now let's magnify him let's magnify him right now it is the will of god it's the will of god god has come down in a god has come down in a wonderful way this morning as a witness that what we are doing is right and well pleasing to god i thought a few moments ago as we were worshiping god it simply seems like i can breathe in and feel jesus the presence of god is here and i appreciate how you have responded today to the presentation of missions i'm going to do something just a little bit different today i welcome all of our guests that are with us and i welcome a special guest uh jerry my baby brother is here with us today from nashville jerry so good to have you at church a walking breathing testimony and i know i i know i know today that uh our sister kathy is smiling from ear to ear and uh so good to have my baby brother our baby brother here this morning and then i got to meet a young couple today um they're here from mississippi the coopers the coopers and they just got married in in january and said they they watched the watch the webcast but he told me something i didn't know he said that he was raised in a denomination he was raised in a denomination that does not teach the new testament plan of being filled with the holy ghost and he said two years ago at a camp meeting he was listening to brother hammond preach and he said god got a hold of him and he studied it out and he said pastor he said god baptize me with the holy ghost and so brother sister cooper it's so good to have you all what i'm going to do a little bit different i'm going to normally i read my text and then we pray but i want to pray first i want to pray first we have several needs for prayer this morning how many has got a need that you would just make it known by the lifting of your hand this morning you just lift your hand up in the presence of god please pray for brother dave nelson's father john murray he has got double pneumonia they are matter of fact that's where they're at today they are headed to florida he is in serious condition needs a touch from the lord please remember angie phi when you pray and sister kim phi please remember anita cook sister poole's mother sister havard and remember the pray for the comforting power of god spirit upon sister roxanne mcknight as she uh said goodbye to her husband just about eight days ago let's pray father we love you today god i thank you for your wonderful wonderful wonderful presence that i feel in this house oh god oh god i feel such a wonderful wonderful presence oh god i feel such a wonderful wonderful presence god lord i know that you are in missions giving it your heartbeat god lord you came and died so that all the world would be able to hear this message god i pray today lord for all the names that have been mentioned and i pray for all of the hands that have been raised lord god we don't have to beg you for healing god if it's your will we will be healed god we don't have to beg you for things you're our heavenly father and we ask you and we believe god today lord i ask you to anoint my lips of clay today that i would speak your word jesus name we pray amen acts chapter 16 and verse number six acts chapter 16 and verse number six now the book of acts is a history book it is the history of the early church thank god for history thank god for history we learned so much from this book of acts this book of history the bible says in as luke was recording the travels acts chapter 16 verse 6 now when they had gone through figeria and the region of galatia and were forbidden pay real close attention to this and were forbidden of the holy ghost to preach the word in asia after they were come to messiah they assayed to go into bethania but the spirit suffered them not and passing and they passing by messiah came to troas and a vision appeared to paul in the night there stood a man of macedonia and prayed him saying come over into macedonia and help us and after he had seen the vision immediately we endeavored to go into macedonia assuredly gathering that the lord had called us to preach the gospel unto them for a few moments today i want to minister to you on the subject come over into macedonia and help us come over into macedonia and help us you may be seated in jesus name i don't know exactly how it happened church i don't know if it was tongues and interpretation i don't know if a prophet prophesied there's a lot about this that i simply do not know but all i do know is that paul was taking his evangelistic crew throughout the region and he was wanting to go to asia and begin to preach the word don't know if it was tongues and interpretation don't know if it was a prophet but the bible just simply says he was forbidden to go preach the word in asia the holy ghost forbid them so paul turns another way with his crew and he goes into another part bithynia and he thought well the lord doesn't want us to go to asia so we'll turn our direction and we'll go to bethennia that's where we'll head but he no sooner headed toward bethennia until and again i don't know if it was tongues and interpretation i don't know if it was a prophet all i know is the scripture simply says the spirit suffered them not the spirit the word supper there means to allow the spirit didn't allow so with trying to find his direction in life can't go to asia not going to bethennia looking for direction looking for direction he goes to troas he goes to troas and while at troas in the night god showed him a vision and this vision was a man of macedonia now that's a that's another continent away as a matter of fact macedonia would be what we would call today europe europe go into macedonia that's another continent away across the seas there stood a man in the vision a man of macedonia now whether he knew he was a man of macedonia by the clothes he wore or by how his speech was all we know is that there was a man of macedonia and the man of macedonia said these words come over into macedonia and help us we need help as a matter of fact that word there pray in the greek means to cry to lift up the voice to have an urgent plea come over into macedonia and help us paul was wanting to go to asia there's no one in asia at this time that knows this truth paul wanted to go into mathenia but there was no one at that time in bethenny that knew this truth but oh god knows what we don't know and god knows that paul i need you to partner up there's somebody that needs your help they're already there they're already hungry they're already praying and there's somebody paul that needs your help i believe that in this great hour that we're living in that on every continent on the earth there is someone already there but they just need our help they're already there they're already hungry we're not going to send a missionary to a city to get people hungry for god they're already hungry for god they just need a missionary to come over into macedonia and to help us can you say man direction direction paul got his ultimate direction from god when god gives us direction god opens a door you ever thought about you ever thought about this if you ever just have you ever just kind of pondered this thought there are times that god gives us direction not through open doors sometimes god directs us through closed doors that's why if god has closed the door don't try to open it well was it that asia was not going to receive the word of god that's god's business was it that byphenia was not going to receive the word of god that's god's business god had somebody already over in macedonia continent away and as a matter of fact where our religious roots come from in our country was from europe so in a way we better clap our hands a little bit this morning and thank god that he shut the door of asia and he shut the door of bethennia but he opened the door up in in in macedonia and europe that's how the bible got over here on the mayflower that's how that we knew the pilgrims knew that there was only one god sometimes god speaks not through open doors but through closed doors god wants to give us all direction today i'm going to tell you something the greatest direction god wants to point us in today is the direction of come over into macedonia and help us every other mind you thing you think is major in your life right now would be taken care of by god if you would just simply if you would just simply let god direct you into macedonia sometimes we spend our lives trying to get our marriage straightened out we spend our lives trying to get our children straightened out we spend our lives trying to make sure that life treats us fair and we get treated fair on the job and we get treated fair in the neighborhood yeah and on and on and on and on and we can waste our life with such small-mindedness as that or oh we can let god shut those doors that just simply act as a funnel because i'm hearing the call today come over into macedonia and help us it was several years ago that god gave this church direction we thought we knew where we wanted to go we thought we had a big vision we thought our big vision included building a sanctuary between their our current sanctuary and our gymnasium we thought we had the direction we thought we knew how god would do it at that time we thought that if we had one million dollars in the bank that we could start the construction of that building that auditorium we were going to put on the back of the auditorium that's up on the hill we sat down and put it to pen and paper looking at what it took to operate the church at that time looking at what was coming in at that time i wanted it to be a stretch i wanted us to have to sacrifice it would have been a sacrifice as i put it to pen and paper in order to raise in order to raise a million dollars it was in five years we were going to raise two hundred thousand dollars a year five years and that was going to be a faith stretch it was going to stretch our faith we would have to i had it i had it calculated i had my door of asia open i had it calculated how much we had to have every month i had it calculated with a little interest i had it calculated how much we had to have because if you've got a goal you only you only know you're going to reach that goal if it's trackable you've got to have something that you track that goal by i knew what we had to have at the end of the first year the second year the third year i even knew at six months intervals what we had to have i had it all written out on a piece of paper it was in that auditorium up on the hill in the middle of the day i laid those papers out on the altar because i read in the bible where they laid papers on altars and and i i laid my plan down on the altar and i began to pray and i began to walk back and forth i was going to present it on december the 31st at our new year's watch night service in the middle of that prayer god spoke to me if god has ever shut a door in asia if god has ever shut a door in bethennia god shut those two doors and god said to me i want you to tell my people that my coming is soon i want you to tell my people that i want them to begin to give to missions as never before and i will take care of the new sanctuary i will take care of the new sanctuary those of you that that that lived through the church on the hill know how packed it was knows how long you had to get there to get a good seat and then if you put your name down that you were willing to move you may have got there an hour and a half early only to have an usher come and ask you could you move over here or move over there but i'm going to tell you something about this church a church is as good as following its leader there's a lot of men that have a lot of good plans that never come to pass because they don't have a good church to back it up they don't really believe in the macedonian call they believe in the good old american dream save up enough to retire baby save up enough for a brick house and a new car and a dinner out ever ever two or three nights and that's the good old american dream well you can live the good ol american dream if you like but fac of maryville chose several years ago that we wanted to hear the macedonian call we didn't understand it the congregation didn't understand it any more than i understood it god here we're sitting on top of each other and now you want us to begin to pour our offerings out and you want us to begin to pour but you said that you would take care of the new auditorium well we immediately begin to do that and i may be off a few on the number but without the aid of an evangelist without calling for a revival without calling for some kind of evangelistic series in six weeks time god sealed that we were walking through the door of macedonia we baptized over 60 people in a six-week period of time and it was almighty god saying you're walking through the right door you're walking through the right door i just want to pause here for a moment and say something if you're struggling in your life it is not the will of god for your life to be one big struggle you may be struggling because he shut the asian door and you're trying to knock it down you may be struggling because he shut the byfinia door and you're trying to knock you down why don't you decide on this march the 7th 2021 that you're coming out of asia and coming out of bithenia and i'm wanting to hear the macedonian call five years five years one million dollars we ripped up the plans we bought into it we begin to give to missions as never before intentionally given to missions purposely given to missions giving from this church giving sacrificially while at the same time while at the same time unusual things begin to happen i don't know how and i don't know where and i may be a little afraid to go back and try to figure it out but all of a sudden property becomes available over six hundred thousand dollars and i'll just hit the high points of it property this property came available after we decided to begin to give dimensions this property had become available it had been it had been on the market pellissippi state the the college had put money down on this property here but something fell through and the property went back on the market for a little over a million a million two or a million three still yet too far out of our range until a visionary lyle lee asked me one day if i would drive down here and if i would look at that time acreage on william blunt drive was going between 60 to 75 000 an acre is what property was going at that time here on this street but when brother lee brought me down when brother lee brought me down and he presented he presented this uh uh this this property to us help me on my figures today honey i really need you to help me on the fig what did we pay we we but we bought 20 acres now now we owe we we we own like 32 now but but uh we how many 575 is what we paid for the 20 was what we paid for the 20 and it might be a little bit pardon approximately all right well it's kind of irrelevant because we didn't have the money but we went down and we signed we went down and we signed a real estate deal that in that in 90 days that in 90 days we would close on this property and we were still about 300 000 short on 90 days now you're you're talking to someone that 200 000 in a year was going to be a stretch but something began to change when we answered the macedonian call when we began to answer that macedonian call we went down brother stevens and i signed a contract that in 90 days we would take a check to a closing while we were still about 300 000 shy of having enough money but do you know the sunday before the monday that we were to close we were still several thousand dollars off of our mark and i got up that night right before the choir sang and i just simply said out loud i said we're still a few thousand dollars off but i'm believing god that it's going to come in before we have to go to the closing and sister lori hawkins just stepped out of the choir tapped me on the back and she said brother carpenter ken and i'll go ahead and take care of the rest of that i'm telling you shut the door in asia shut the door in bethennia i'm gonna open the door in macedonia and we went to the closing and we paid we paid cash are you listening to me we paid cash for this property now i will tell you i'm kind of brother mayo i'm kind of glamorizing it just a little bit i'm kind of glamorizing it just a little bit because in order to pay cash we come in here and we broke every account we had i mean we we zeroed just about every account that we have matter of fact i jokingly said to my wife i'm going to tell the church to bring their own tissue paper and toilet paper to church for the next six weeks i mean we we are absolute we are absolutely but oh something began to happen in just a few weeks time the secretary came and said we've had some unusual funding come in and it would be just a little period of time here remember five years one million dollars it was just in a year or so that not only had we paid for the property here but we now had just a little bit and i i remember this because at that time and i don't know the exact what it is now but at that time the banks would only secure so much money your if you had a cd and a bank the the banks would only secure so much money so god began to bless first apostolic until we looked and we said wait a minute we've got some monies in in banks that that we've got more money than what they secure and so we would have to put money to this bank and that bank and this bank and and that bank so that it would all uh be be secured and then the day came that we had to order all the steel for this massive building and all of this and all of it came right around to the total of right around a million uh right right around a million dollars you know what i believe god was saying i believe god was saying if you want to push aja open you can take your little snappy plan that you've got laying there on the altar and you can push the asia door open or you can take your little plan you can push the byphenia door open but he said son if you will listen to me and tell my people that my coming is nigh he said i'll open a door i'll open the macedonian call i'll open that door oh i want to tell you this what years ago would have taken us five years to raise a million dollars we now are almost reaching every 24 months two years we are now at the threshold of almost reaching a million dollars to missions i hear the macedonian call i hear the macedonian call today come over into macedonia and help us please listen to me for the next few moments the only hope this world has is for someone to bring them the gospel of jesus christ we must as a church stay laser focused on our mission to proclaim the gospel the only hope this world has is to hear the gospel of jesus christ it's the only hope government is not going to save us we are at the point of no return things are not coming back we must prepare people for the soon appearing of jesus christ our hope is not in our government our hope is not in returning to mayberry and walton's mountain church our hope is in the gospel of jesus christ it's the only cure for man today is the gospel jesus said in mark 16 15 and he said unto them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature the only hope is the gospel of jesus christ paul said in romans 1 16 for i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ it is the power of god unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the jew first and also to the greek for therein is the righteousness of god revealed from faith to faith as is written the just shall live by faith i am not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ if our crazy world has it they'll try to convince the church and our children to be ashamed of the bible and to be ashamed of jesus christ but to glorify the most perverted generation that has ever been i stand today flat-footed to tell you i am not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ i believe that god came to this earth wrapped himself in flesh lived 33 years walked up a hill called calvary laid down his life sent the holy ghost i believe putting a man under the water in the name of jesus christ remits his sins i believe that god will fill us with his spirit i am not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ for it is the power i am not ashamed of the gospel for the gospel is the power of god colossians chapter 1 verse number 13 who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins the power of darkness the power of jesus christ we are seeing as never before and we are caught as two fronts are colliding more today than they ever have the kingdom of power of darkness and the kingdom and the power of light or as two weather systems as they collide together that's what creates thunder is when two weather systems collide when hot air and cool air collide there's a thunder and we're living and caught as a generation has never been caught as the kingdom of darkness is trying to be aggressive as never before and and i'm and i'm pleased if you and i'm about tired of qualifying what i'm saying too i'm i'm and i'm not mad i'm anointed sometimes when i get anointed you can't tell if i'm mad i'm not mad i'm anointed you got a right to be l b t g a b c j t whatever but don't you push that right on me but you push that right on me don't you tell me that i have to put my approval on that i don't approve of that i approve of the gospel of jesus christ it is the power of god unto salvation and when the mrs speaker of the house said we had four things we wanted to get established and all four of those things are you may be seated all four of those things are perverse immorality and sin we're working on the third the equality act that's gonna put an oppression upon the church as never before that's gonna take away our right of who we hire in this daycare and who we hire in this school you want to take away the right but i tell you i guess lock us up lock us up because i'm not going to hire anybody that don't believe in the gospel of jesus christ i'm trying to be arrogant i'm not trying to be cocky but we got to realize there's the power of god and there's a power of darkness and it's colliding and we're caught in the mix god give us a paul revere give us a paul revere today that'll ride through say righteousness has got to come righteousness has got to come righteousness has got to come give me a patrick henry that'll say give me liberty or give me death two worlds collide the gospel is the good news the power of god it's the only thing that can currently turn us from the power of darkness it's the only thing that can light up the mind darkness is ruling through education darkness is ruling through education we must train our children not the week before they go to college we must train our children not in their senior year we must bring them as babies to the house of god and may the first words they say us on god one god oh god maybe the first things they begin to say is how do you get baptized jesus name jesus name jesus name may we bring them from the cradle all the way through the primary boys and the primary girls may we bring them to vote one lord one faith one baptism the ten commandments the beatitudes may we bring them up to know the god of creation we're not made from monkeys we're not made from tadpoles we're not made from cosmic collisions we're made by the almighty god of heaven the almighty creator i wish somebody would say his name today somebody got to hear the macedonia calls you can go through prosperity asia if you want to you can go through prosperity if you just want a new car and a new house and if you just want to give a hundred and get a thousand back go on to asia if you're just concerned with your marriage and your four and and your little family that's all you're here for go on to bethenny but if you want to hear the macedonian call if you want to give your children something to buy into come on just for a minute let's let the holy ghost just move it is a power of god and to salvation and i hope i hope i hope thank you let's go into missions thank you i hope you i hope you don't get quiet on me now you may be seated i hope you don't get quiet on me the second corinthians chapter 11 verse number three first corinthians 11 verse number three but i fear lest by any means has satan beguiled eve through his septility so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in christ for if there cometh for if he that cometh preacheth another jesus whom you have not whom we have not preached or if you receive another spirit which you have not received or another gospel which you have not accepted you might bear well in other words paul is rebuking the church at corinth he said there are men that's coming they're preaching another jesus and another spirit and you're putting up with them verse 5 for i suppose i was not a wit behind the cheapest of the apostles he said let me tell you something i'm not one comma behind any of them though i be rude in speech and don't read that in that paul didn't care what he said paul was not the gifted orator that people were being mesmerized with in that day there were gifted orders there were not cinemas and places of entertainment what you did in that day you went and heard an orator and many of them learned how to speak eloquently by stuffing rocks in their mouth and giving speeches and they would pass their class when they could put their mouth full of rocks and deliver a speech that you could understand and what paul was simply saying he says i don't have the art of their speech giving ability though i be rude in speech yet not in knowledge but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you paul began to tell them that they were not to look at the eloquency of the speech they were not to be mesmerized by how much they enjoyed the preacher they were not to be mesmerized by how much he made them feel good paul is saying there that what they need to understand is the power of the gospel in galatians chapter 1 verse number 6 listen to paul again in galatians 1 and 6 i marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of christ unto another gospel which is not another but there be some of you there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of christ but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed as we said before so say i know again if any man preach any other gospel unto you then that you have received let him be accursed you rallied when we talked about the moral fabric of our country but will you rally over the apostolic doctrine will you rally over the apostolic doctrine because when the devil knew he couldn't stop the church he counterfeited the church another gospel another jesus saying the same thing you're not saying the same thing unless you're preaching what peter preached you're not saying the same thing unless you're preaching what paul preached and there was none of this bow your head except jesus christ and you're saved believing is where you start but it's not where you finish you gotta go you gotta go down in the water in the name of jesus you got to be born again i'm not ashamed of the gospel it is the power of god and the salvation why you hung up on that message i'm tell you why i'm hung up on that message because it's the only message i'm not looking for anything else if peter walked in this room today and there's somebody here that needs to be baptized in jesus name we'll baptize you today right now right here and if peter walked into this place and brother paul white was saying upon the confession of your faith and in obedience to the word of god i now indeed baptize you in the name of the lord jesus christ for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the holy ghost i would like for the apostle peter to look around and say that's right that's how i did it on the day of pentecost that that that's how i did it but if peter would walk in here and paul white would say let me take a handful of water sprinkled you real good in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost i baptize you peter would speak up say baptize that's not baptism matter of fact that's not even the way that's not even the way but if you run the clock up about 300 or so years there's another group of men with another jesus and another gospel that would say that's the way to do it i ask you today which do you do you want to stand before god which makes you confident to stand before god peter or 400 years later the other gospel i said well do you really think it matters well i'll turn the table on you if it don't really matter why don't you come and do it right if it don't matter why don't you be safe and not sorry it does matter because there's a world of darkness that doesn't want you to go down in that saving name oh god the gospel of jesus christ will deliver you from drugs the gospel of jesus christ will deliver you from porn pornography the gospel of jesus christ will deliver you from sexual perverseness the gospel of jesus christ will deliver you from any and all the tools of the enemy it will deliver you it will deliver you it will deliver you get baptized get full of the holy ghost get in the house of god get under the word of god and you'll be it is the power of god unto salvation i'm going to stop here for a moment and i just got to come to the end of my message luke chapter 16 the entire chapter 31 verses 31 verses only one verse was not jesus speaking it was one verse that the pharisees sighed cross their hands you know what amazes me it amazes me that you can go to a denominal funeral and that denominal preacher can get up there and tell you his so-called denominal way of salvation and nobody gets upset but i was doing a funeral recently of which some of our people were sitting were sitting in front of some people and i quoted acts 2 38 and the lady behind him said surely to god he's not going there see it's all right for the world to be as vocal as they want to be and if we don't watch it we'll let the world dumb us down while they're on megaphones we are in whispering tones and all the while children are coming up through our sunday school really not knowing what we do believe children are being raised in our church that they wouldn't know how to they wouldn't know how to answer some of the questions it's all because the enemy wants to turn us down you just follow me through would you just follow me through luke 16. he said unto his verse number one and he said also unto his disciples it was a certain rich man which had a steward the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods he called him and said unto him how is it that i hear this of thee give an account of thy stewardship for thou mayest be no longer the steward then the spirit said within himself what shall i do for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship i cannot i cannot dig too beg i am ashamed i am resolved what to do that when i am put out of the stewardship they may receive me into their houses so he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him and he said unto the first how much owest thou my lord and he said a hundred measures of oil and he said unto thee unto him take thy bill sit down quickly and write fifty then said he to another how much oh us thou and he said a hundred measures of wheat and he said unto him take thy bill and write four score and the lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light i say unto you make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when you fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations now let me tell you just just very quickly what this parable is about this parable is about what we do with the lord's money all right now oh i'll tell you what i do i i bring that 10th i just want you to know that he's either lord of all of it or he is the lord of none of it he's just give he's just give specific directions on the 10th but he owns it all he said in this parable that he had a steward a manager a manager who is managing what does not belong to him it belongs to his lord and the lord had heard where the steward was not being wise with what he had been given and so he takes the stewardship away from him but before he does the man sits down he says i'm getting this taken away from me and he sits down and he finds some people that owes certain amounts of money and he he uses money he says hey he says you owe so much but write it for less hey you owe so much for write it for less so that when he is put out of the stewardship he has a place to go live with these friends that he has made through the money now what the parable is about is about the fact that the only thing that's going to stop death to us is the return of jesus christ if jesus christ tarries his coming we will all have funerals all of us will have funerals death is that thing that places all of us on equal ground the poor man is just as dead as the rich man and the rich man is just as dead as the poor man and the only thing that matters when you die is where you're going to live eternity so he says you've got to take this thing called mammon money and you've got to use it so that when you die you have an eternal place to live now just follow me because the truth of the matter is today money is powerful money is the gauge of your spiritual condition jesus said the love of money not the possession of money because you can possess it and not love it but the love of it that's an emotion the love of it let me continue to read verse 10 he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much and he also that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammony jesus said if you've not been faithful with money who will commit to your trust the true riches go ahead through asia if you want to go ahead and live your life through asia go ahead and live your life through bithynia if you want to or answer the call today to macedonia this house is the product of blood sweat and tears and sacrifice but to anyone that gave sacrificially you know as well as i know god has more than blessed us verse 12 if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's who shall give you that which is yours no man can serve two masters for he will either hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other ye can not serve god and mammon here's the interruption here's the man grabbing his bible and zipping it up and walking down the middle aisle in protest to what jesus has said here's the woman that snatches her purse up and walks out and the pharisees also who were covetous heard all these things and they deridded him or disrespected him here he goes man i was really with him on that patriot stuff for the fabric of our country but here he is talking about money nine minutes to go he normally lets us out at noon nine minutes to go go ahead go through asia if you want to go ahead and go through bifini if you want to but we didn't get here by going through asia and we didn't get here by going through bithynia we got here by going through macedonia and jesus said unto them ye are they which justify yourselves before men but god knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed among men is abominable in the sight of god the law and the prophets were unto john since that time the kingdom of god is preached and every man presseth to get in and it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail whosoever putteth the way his wife and meredith another committed adultery and whosoever married her that is put away from her husband committed adultery isn't that amazing he starts talking about money and then he goes right to their attitude he starts talking about money and then he goes right to their marriage do you know that money is the cause of most marriages dissolving he goes right to that and then i'm going to save you the time but verse 19 starts another parable there was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and linen and faired sumptuous sumptuously every day and there was a certain beggar named lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table moreover the dogs came and licked the sores and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels and to have abraham's bosom the rich man died also and was buried in hell he lift up his eyes simple as this musicians would you come look up here at me for a moment i'm going to ask you to go through macedonia with me today i'm going to ask you just for just for just for a few moments to get your mind off the clock and get your mind on eternity just for a few moments today mind off the clock on eternity how the rich man lived on earth determined where he would live after his death how the beggar lived on earth determined how he would live in eternity you can underline it if you want to you can underline this in your bible but the rich man in hell is a real story some say it's a parable it's not a parable it is not a parable and how you know it's not a parable jesus never gave characters in a parable a name but he gives the beggar a name lazarus he said yes but he was just known as the rich man that's right because he didn't know god and when you don't know god god doesn't know you depart from me i never knew you oh jesus you ought to sing the display of power we had we cleansed lepers we cast out demons oh you ought to sing the display of power we had and jesus said rejoice not because the devils are subject to you but rejoice rather because your name is written in heaven look at that look at that underlining your bible here's the problem underline it who the rich man was is a back slidden jew how do you know that he calls abraham father five times abraham calls him son five times a gentile would never call abraham father no right to it a jew would never call a gentile son but what happened the money that you got was for me to get another purple robe the raise that i got was for me to get another freezer to stock up some more food the the money the more money that we're making we're gonna buy more things with it more things to try to help us because we went through asia we've went through bithynia more more more money to get more things another vacation another cruise another four-wheeler another car another house another dress another while the gospel is saying come over into ireland and help us come over into lebanon help us come over into the philippines and help us but i got to have something this that do you hear the call this morning do you hear that call here's what i want to challenge the church to do i don't want you to be an emotional giver this morning but james i don't want anybody to be emotion oh right i'm ready to write a check right now i don't want you to do that i don't want you to do that because emotional givers burn out in about three or four weeks but if i can get you to see the call that nothing else matters we've got to get the gospel out to this world right now today as we speak there's multitudes of people laying in third world countries crying because they're so empty just waiting for us to send a missionary to that village with a guitar and a track and a piece of bread just waiting just waiting i i don't want you to i don't want you to write checks this morning this is what i want you to do our ushers are coming our ashes are going to come they've got our pledge cards this is what i want you to do with me when you go home by now you have gotten your contribution statement for the year 2020 you've gotten your contribution statement what you gave and i hope we can change the terminology of this not what you gave to the church what you gave to the macedonian call and once you look on that contribution and i want you to see there where don't you see the bottom line i want you to see what you specifically gave to missions what you specifically gave to what did you what did you what did your family suspiciously gave what did you give to missions what did you give and whatever that amount is i want you to pray about adding an increase of a percentage of a percentage that's what i want you to do asia bithynia or macedonia because when you die when you die the only thing that's going to follow you is not your four-wheeler or your shotgun and not your 800 purse and not your 400 a week massage you get what's going to follow you what did you give to the macedonian call what did you give to the macedonian cub what what did you give i'm not going to call anybody's name but there's people in this church that started off years ago and they bought into the macedonian call and they made monthly pledges to to missions they made a monthly pledge and every year they revisit their yearly contribution to missions and they bump it up there are people in this church this morning that started off giving fifty dollars and now once a month they're giving an offering that could pay the monthly mortgage on a home really that's that's right there are business owners under the sound of my voice right now that when covet hit you thought that your business was going to shut down and nobody wants a house bill there's nobody wants what my product's going to offer but you found yourself not even not even being able normally at christmas time to take a few weeks off and shut the business down you had to say i've had to keep the business open you know why it is because god has got a special covering over businesses that listen not to the asian cult or the mathenia cull but the macedonia call he's staying with me today could we just pray right now i know we have went from a high spirit of shouting to a sovereignness and that's the way i want this this morning come on could we pray right now god's trying to speak to us listen to a song sister eriksen wrote some time ago listen to this song listen real close can you hear the sound can you hear the sound it's the heart he's the only can you hear it i want everyone in section everybody one section one that wants to come down and get a missions commitment card to come sections one and section six right now only sections one and six if you're hearing the call jesus did you hear the call this morning do you hear the call this morning help us help us if you want can we start praying right now can we start praying hallelujah oh yes god oh yes god oh yes y'all god church the holy ghost is here church the holy ghost is here this morning thank you lord thank you lord if you move over here is is freedom is jesus christ is we know as i said i don't want you to feel this out right now i want you to take this home and i want you to pray about it i want you to look over your finances i want you to look over i want to challenge every business owner here at first apostolic church to make missions giving a part of your business budget you watch you watch and again and again i'm not going to cheapen this it's not about it's not about it's not about giving to get you know what the joy of sacrificial giving is i get to give more the next time i get to give more the next time and i believe i'm gonna live long enough hopefully i believe i'm gonna live long enough to announce one day that in the past 12 months we give one million dollars to missions one billion dollars god has orchestrated us god has orchestrated this there's no stingy people here god has blessed us so we can be a blessing to others hold your card up right now father in the name of jesus christ you look down from heaven today lord we answer the macedonian call our door of asia has been shut our door of athenia has been shut but europe macedonia is wide open europe macedonia will lead to the united states of america and the united states of america will lead to the giving back of the mission field god i pray today that you would bless i pray today that you will look down upon every man woman boy and girl that holds a card in their hand god as they become a part of the great macedonian call in jesus name we pray amen amen god bless you congregation you're dismissed in jesus name see you tonight in the prayer room prayer room 5 30 tonight prayer room five