Faithful or Familiar | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

make your way back to your seats and we'll open up the word tonight first kings first kings chapter 13. verse number one first kings chapter 13 verse number one while you're making your way back to your seat and you're making your way in to this passage of scripture i want you to join me here this coming wednesday night and i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna teach a bible lesson this coming wednesday night about the summer and about our plan for the summer and the church always marches to a different beat than the world and there is no vacation time on god you can have a vacation but even in the midst of vacation you're still strong in your faith with god i'll do that wednesday night here at bible study looking forward looking forward to that first kings chapter 13 and verse number one and behold there there came a man of god out of judah by the word of the lord unto bethel and jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense and he cried against the altar in the name in the word of the lord and said o altar altar thus saith the lord behold a child shall be born unto the house of david josiah by name and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee and he gave a sign the same day saying this is the sign which the lord has spoken behold the altar shall be rent and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out it came to pass when king jeroboam heard the saying of the man of god which he cried against the altar in bethel that he put forth his hand from the altar saying lay hold on him and his hand which he put forth against him dried up so that he could not pull it in again to him the altar also was rent and the ashes poured out from the altar according to the sign which the man of god had given by the word of the lord and the king answered and said unto the man of god entreat now the face of the lord thy god and pray for me that my hand may be restored me again and the man of god besought the lord and the king's hand was restored him again and became as it was before and the king said unto the man of god come home with me and refresh thyself and i will give thee a reward and the man of god said unto the king if thou wilt give me half thine house i will not go in with thee neither will i eat bread nor drink water in this place for so was it charged me by the word of the lord saying eat no bread drink no water nor turn again by the same way that thou camest so he went another way and returned not by the way that he came to bethel for a few moments tonight i feel the wonderful presence of the lord how many are glad you have the victory tonight i'm glad you have the victory tonight for a few moments tonight i'd like to preach to the church faithful or familiar faithful or familiar father i love you tonight thank you for the victory thank you for the glory of your presence that's in this place thank you in advance god for souls to receive the holy ghost tonight thank you god in advance lord for souls that will be baptized tonight lord help me god you're doing something special here in this church help me god to always keep my heart right with you in jesus name we pray amen and you may be seated faithful or familiar faithful or familiar let me give you a brief history jeroboam was one that split the 12 tribes after solomon the twelve tribes were split between two men by the name of rehoboam and jeroboam rehoboam and jeroboam their names sound familiar but they are not brothers one is the son of solomon and the other is just a man of israel jeroboam finds himself a ruler of several of the tribes of israel and although israel has split ten tribes belong to him two tribes belong to rehoboam jeroboam knows that he's got an issue on his hands he even said it he said if the ten tribes three times a year make a pilgrimage many miles back to jerusalem now he said it he said three times a year if my ten tribes make a pilgrimage back to jerusalem they will go back to jerusalem and they will begin to worship god and said their hearts are going to be touched and they will want to return back to the 10 tribes so he came up with a plan that would be appealing to the flesh of the ten tribes and that is a plan called convenience convenience he began to set up altars to god like there is atm machines around town any little corner that he could find he was setting up altars and in the name of really saying he cared for the people i don't want you to make that long track it was really all to keep their hearts from going back to god so he was a man that introduced convenience into worship you don't have to carry an animal so far you don't have to make a long journey one altar is just a few cities away it's just so convenient to come here it was at one such altar that jeroboam stood one day it was at one such altar that he was burning incense to god it was at one such altar an altar that i would say in a place that was strictly out of convenience but you see god loves his people and even when god's people go astray god will still send a word to them and so god had spoke to a young man he remains unnamed in the bible it's because his name's really not important his mission is more important than his name and he comes down to bethel and as jeroboam is putting some incense on the altar and they're going through their little time of convenient worship all of a sudden from the back of the room the young man lifts up his voice thus saith the lord o altar o altar upon thee shall be offered the priest and upon thee men's bones will be burned and to show that i have been sent from jehovah god this very day that altar is going to split it's going to crack and when it cracks and splits the ashes will be poured out rendering it ineffective well there must have been a pause before god struck the altar because jeroboam spun around and stuck his arm out as straight as he could and he pointed to the temple guards and he said arrest that man stop that man and no sooner had he tried to touch god's anointing you just got to be very careful when god is in something you really need to keep your hand off of it when god is in something i know we quote that scripture a lot touch mine anointed and sometimes we only think about a man there's more things anointed in the church than this the preacher there's more things in the church there's fellowship that's anointed the structure that's anointed and he spins around and he orders for the young man to be arrested and what he didn't know he was touching god's anointed because at that very moment god allowed the king to suffer a stroke in his arm and his entire arm and fingers and hands dangled like a like a noodle like a wet towel it dangled he was unable to lift up his hand he was unable to lift up his arm he had lost all control of his arm and his arm dangled he couldn't he couldn't pick up his arm and when that happened to him he realizes that that young man has been sent from god and then he turns to the young man and he says would you please pray to your god that my hand my arm be restored again and the young man obliged him and the young man prayed for him and when the young man prayed for him god connected his hands god connected every ligament every every muscle god connected it all to where the king had use of his hand again and then the king said i want you to come home and i want you to eat bread and drink water and refresh yourself and the young man said to the king he said you could offer me half of your kingdom you could write me the biggest check you could give me the largest amount of gold that i've ever had and i would not go home with you for so it was charged me by the word of the lord the lord told me when i came into this temple of convenience god told me when i entered into this land that has the mentality to make worship to god something convenient god told me to eat no bread in this place god told me to drink no water in this place as a matter of fact jeroboam god told me to not even go back out of town on the same road that i came into town on you see god knows something about convenience and that is we never need to get familiar with it i don't want my man getting familiar with the convenience i want my man to stay faithful to my word faithful takes a sacrifice but you know as well as i do that god's sacrifice is always well worth it that we give to him convenience has never rendered anybody a special touch from god and so this young man stood up against convenience i don't want to get familiar with this place i don't want to get familiar with your bread i don't want to get familiar with your water i don't even want to get familiar i have a mission and my mission has just been accomplished and i am going out of town i am faithful i am not familiar i am faithful to god i don't want to be familiar with this place well he left that day and the bible says the young man did as he had been ordered but something interesting in the story took place there was in that town an old prophet that's what the bible just simply calls him he's just an old prophet it's all it caught does it give him your name does it give a name because his name's not important he's just an old prophet it's interesting because him an old prophet because old is the opposite of new that's right old is the opposite of new and i think the word old there as a matter of fact when you study it out i don't know if all there has so much to do with his age or the results of living in a place of convenience a place of becoming familiar everything is familiar everything is familiar to me the old prophet his boys came home and said dad you should have been in the temple today you should have been around the altar today a young man came and prophesied against the altar that it was going to split and sure enough the king tried to have him arrested and his arm went limp and he prayed for the king and he was restored and no sooner than was restored the altar rent the ashes were poured out and he simply said which way which way did he go which way did he go the boys had witnessed what road that he went out of town and the old prophet that represents the spirit of convenience can i tell you tonight there's a spirit after our worship i said that's a spirit there's a spirit after our worship may our worship stay fervent praise god may our worship stay fervent praise god may i not have to have a need in my body or in my life to give god praise may i just simply give god fervent praise because he is worthy to receive that praise i got a witness in the house lord i don't need a bad report to get in the prayer room i don't need a bad report to begin to praise god why don't we just give god the praise and the worship just all because he's worthy to be praised but there's a there's a spirit that'll come after our worship there's a spirit that'll come after us and the young man made one fatal mistake the bible said he found a shade tree he found a shade tree and he sat down sometimes the biggest temptations we're gonna have is just take a little while off just take a little while off let's just oh i'm not gonna go do this and that i just just let me get pastor let me resign let me pastor i'm still going to come to church pastor just let me let me just kind of sit down for a little while can i tell you that you need to be careful about becoming inactive in god's house because you may really think that's what you need to do but i got news for you there's an old spirit that's going to get after you and that old spirit that's going to come after you is not going to be that you notice how he could tell the king no up to have to have to have your kingdom i won't come eat bread it was charged me jeroboam but that old prophet and then i'll add the word false prophet you'll find out why i call him a false prophet in a moment he saddled his ass and he he went after that young man and he found him set him un setting under a note which i wondered if that young man had kept on riding if he'd ever found him because convenience never does want to go back to jerusalem where the fire's at there's some things that cannot exist in the hot presence of god that some things can't follow you to the prayer room there's some things that can't follow you when you just keep pushing that i need you jesus i love you jesus i praise you jesus you see there's some thoughts of convenience that can't stay here when i just get determined i'm going to stand here and praise you god until i have a breakthrough i believe the old timers brother nash used to call it praying through after they got the holy ghost they used to talk about let's get prayed through i'm going to church tonight what are you going to get i'm going to pray through tonight you know what that meant they stayed up and around the altar until they got a touch from heaven it wasn't a little five minute do you it wasn't a little two-minute do you it i'm gonna stay here until i get me attached that you some things hey some things can catch you if you keep on riding to the prayer room but you stop and get enacted get set down under the oak tree and boy the old false prophet come galloping up he said are you the young man that came to bethel today he said i am he said come home with me and eat bread come on back with me and eat bread and drink water the young boy looked up at him and said i will not do it for it was charged me by the word of the lord eat no bread no drink no water and i'm not going to do it but here's where he messed up here's when you get inactive you don't have a clear bead on the voice the old false prophet said i'm a prophet like you are and the word of the lord came unto me and told me to tell you to come back with me can i tell you when you get inactive your reasoning ability is dimmed because just think with me don't take really don't take a lot to think this through you're a prophet like i am and you live in the city that i had to go prophesy to why would god have to send me there if you're right but when you get inactive your ability to reason is blurred i'm a prophet like you are and god told me to tell you to come on back but the bible has just a short little phrase but he lied to him now i don't understand all the ways of the lord but he took that young man back to his house that young man went back to the place of being familiar he should have stayed faithful he went back to the place he got familiar with the place he recognized the hedges as he went back into town he recognized a few buildings as he walked back in because he's getting familiar in the place of convenience he spread the table for him i don't understand all the ways of the lord but as that old prophet is sitting there eating with that young prophet the spirit of god hit that old false prophet and he said thus saith the lord because you have disobeyed the word of the lord and you have drank water and ate bread in this place your body will not even make it back you will die and you won't even be buried in the sepulchres with your father you'll be buried in an unmarked grave you'll be buried where nobody will ever see you a young man stood up got his belongings saddled his ass and he began to make his journey back he began to get out of town and he's probably got a lot of regret in his mind he began to get out of town and i don't know if he begin to think man i i just wonder if if that false prophet really had it right i know i broke the law of god but all of a sudden from a cliff from a hillside there was a lion and the lion bounced upon the young man tore him did not devour him tore him and took the life out of him and then word came back to town there is an unusual sight as you go out of town what is it there's a young man laying dead he has a couple puncture marks about his neck a lion has attacked him but it's unusual because normally when a lion attacks a prey it totally devours it but all the lion did was make the puncture marks in the right place and the scripture tells us that there was a most unusual sight out of town on the road the young man laying with just a couple puncture marks in his neck there he lay beside him standing idle was the ass that he rode and on the other side of the ass was the lion setting normally an ass a donkey would run from a lion normally a lion would totally devour its prey but god left a testimony i can control the heart of a beast i can control the nature of an animal i can control the natures of animals but i will not control the nature of the free will of a man can i tell you tonight that god wants us to be faithful let's not get familiar if we're not if we're not faithful in our praises we'll become familiar with our silence if we're not faithful with our worship of lifted hands we'll become familiar to have folded hands if we're not faithful with our joy unto the lord i'm just happy that i'm here tonight what are you happy about i'm just happy that i'm here tonight i'm happy that i know the lord i'm happy for the blessings of god i don't have to have some special amount of money slipped to me i don't have to have some kind of gift given to me tonight i'm just happy i think abraham lincoln said it right i believe abraham lincoln said it right he said people are just about as happy as they determined to be you're just about as happy as you want to be well i want you to know something tonight you're looking at one more happy preacher i'm happy to be here tonight thank god i'm happy to have the holy ghost i don't want to get familiar with not praising god i want to be a faithful praiser i want to praise god when i come to the house of god not only when i come to the house of god but in the morning when the alarm clock goes off very early i want to rise and say this is the day that the lord hath made i'm going to rejoice in it and i'm going to be come on why don't you just decide right now you're not going to wait to get happy why don't you just decide right now i'm going to enjoy the moment i'm going to enjoy the moment of being happy let me explain to you some a couple of things let me explain to you a couple things tonight and i didn't give i didn't give the media team these verses but psalms and and don't try to put them on i'm just going to read them real quick psalms 33 3 psalms 43 psalms 96 1 psalms 98 1 psalms 144 verse 9 psalms 149 verse 1 and i just stopped right there because they all have one thing in common they all say this sing unto the lord a new song and i just stopped i could add in many more verses there's verses in isaiah sing to the lord a new song but it's not in reference to a a new set of lyrics sister erickson it's not when the bible says sing unto the lord a new song it's not a new set of lyrics it's don't let the song get old sing a fresh song the word new there doesn't mean new as indifferent from anything else it just simply means fresh full of vitality singing to the lord a new song may his praises never get familiar may his praises always stay faithful i'm glad he brought me out of the mary clay i'm glad he set my feet up on the rock to stay i'm glad he put a song in my soul today a song of praise hallelujah i'm glad amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me i once was lost but now i'm found was blind but now i see oh i'm glad let me tell you who jesus is he's the rock of all ages oh let me tell you something tonight it don't have to be a new song it's got to be a new spirit we can sing the old songs with a new spirit a new song don't let singing get familiar don't let worship get familiar come on church help me out tonight let's not let worship get familiar oh brother watts said it right tonight and i know this may sound like it may sound like that we're uh uh tooting our own horn you know there there should be a proverb that he that tooted his own horn to that well but it's not there but we're not just breaking our arms back slapping a night but i'm glad for what's faithful here at this church i'm glad for the level of worship that is just faithful here at the church i'm glad that when we have visiting ministers that are not used to your worship and as the choir begins to dance off the platform and people begin to feel the altar and they lean over and say am i going to preach tonight because most churches if anything of that nature takes place they call it a blowout they call it the lord took over well i want to ask you something if the lord took it who had it before he got it i submit to you i'm gonna go the prayer room before church and go ahead and tell king jesus it's his he ain't gonna have to interrupt it at 20 minutes after six i want him to know at six it's yours god it's just it's just yours god but all we have to do all we have to do is just let some folks get familiar with clapping their hands and folding their arms all we have to do is have somebody say i'm tired and next week i can praise him we can't let the false prophet catch us we can't get familiar in the world of compromise come on somebody keep up the praise somebody keep up the worship i need somebody some of you young folks have got a lot of strength keep on leaping keep on shouting keep on worshiping us older people may not keep up with you but we'll encourage you from the sidelines we'll coach you from the sidelines keep it up keep up the worship some of the older ladies we'll tell the younger girls keep it up keep shouting keep praising god we can't set up shut down we can't sit down because the old false prophet will catch us fresh new fresh i want you to know brother erickson it's a life and death situation when i'm preaching right now if we lose our faithfulness to worship and become familiar with services can i tell you when god blesses a church the way god blesses his church what we will battle is the spirit of production that's right when you get into the to to this and and lights and sound systems and all of it needs to be run as professional as dollywood's got it all it needs to be run as professional as nashville's got it with one exception unto the lord because the day we just have a production around here people can mistake the anointing for the production and they can leave here and say man we've had good church tonight they didn't have good church tonight they had a good production but a production never got passed down to any kids production never prayed demons out of their bedrooms production never put peace back in people's hearts i'm not knocking i thank my god for for darren cooper i thank my god for the team that's assimilated here in this church but hear me and hear me well we got to keep god in the midst of this we got to keep god you've got to worship you've got to praise him oh i don't care how many people we got we're probably we're probably not too far away from adding our stadium seating in the back and putting six more hundred chair seats in this building and housing more people and putting more parking lot in but we gotta have more worshipers we got to have more people worshiping god we've got to have more people coming in why are you coming to church tonight i'm coming to worship god i'm coming to magnify god they may drive a hundred miles to get here because they know i want to go where the fire is out i've come come on worshiping with me right now worship him with me right now come on praise him praise him praise him with all your heart praise him with everything you got praise the lord lift up the lord magnify the lord tell him how good he is tap your hand shout wake yourself up i can't get familiar wake up wake up wake up wake up brother harrison it's life and death if we're faithful we have life if we're familiar we'll have death faithful life familiar death second samuel chapter six verse number one it had been 50 years it had been 50 years since israel had had had its crown jewel in its midst the crown jewel of israel was the ark of the covenant it had been 50 years since the ark had been center placed in israel's life a new king comes david comes to the throne one of the first things david wants to get is the ark of the covenant 50 years it had been off in a house a man's name is abinadab let me read second samuel 6-1 again david gathered together all the chosen men of israel thirty thousand david arose and went with all the people that were with him from bailey of judah to bring up from fence the ark of god whose name is called by the name of the lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubs and they set the ark of god upon a new carpet and brought it out of the house of abinadab that was in gibeah and uza and ohio ahaya the sons of abinadab drave the ark now wait a minute you got an error here in this one verse somebody had to touch the ark to put it on a cart why didn't they die i'm going to just give you a little thought i believe they were strangers to the ark and there are times that god will look over some ignorance because it's ignorance it's one thing to do an act in ignorance it's another thing to do an act with the knowledge it's wrong somebody put that ark on that cart they didn't get struck nobody died but the ark had been in the house of a man by the name of abinadab we don't even know the number of years we know that it was been 50 years since it had been center place the two sons of abinadab ohio and uza they drove the ark they drove the cart now you just have to put this together you do know that ooza had become very familiar with the ark after all it's in his house he becomes very familiar with the ark the crowd comes and he decides to be one that drives the ark or the cart and the bible says in verse four and they brought it out of the house of abinadab which was at gibeah accompanying the ark of god in a higher went before the ark and david and all the house of israel played before the lord on all manner of instruments of fur wood even on harps and sultries and timbrels and on cornets and cymbals and when they came to nacor's threshing floor ooza put forth his hand to the ark of god and took hold of it for the ox and shook it and the anger of the lord was kindled against us and god smote him there for his error and there he died by the ark of god and david was displeased now stay with me for a moment why didn't god smite and strike the men that put the ark on the cart because they're just flat-out ignorant and god was not going to execute judgment upon ignorant but when ooza was very familiar with the ark ousa knows and is very familiar with this arc when he steps up and in a manner as to keep little god from falling off his cart in a manner manner of just i want to keep little god from teetering off of his cart and when he put his hand up there in a manner that he should not have god smote him and he died there that day i submit to you he got too familiar with that ark that art didn't mean anything to him it was just now a coveted piece of furniture that a group of people wanted back in jerusalem oh god may we never grow familiar with your presence can i tell you ooza whatever crossed your mind to keep a little god from teetering off you got to understand something we need god god doesn't need us he was god before you or i ever came along and sweetheart he'll be god long after you're gone he'll still be god let's set the record straight today god doesn't need us we should feel privileged that god's even allowed us to be here uh you don't know how talented i am oh hush up oh you don't know how much money i got oh keep it in your pocket that's right well you know you better watch out you're talking to me i put a lot of money in this church go ahead hold back your money watch god send it from another angle well well you just better watch out how you're talking me and my families may go somewhere else good that leave a good open view for somebody hungry for god that can appreciate the kingdom of god to come in here and worship and magnify god we ought to feel privileged to be in here tonight you get out of your car y'all thank god i'm at church thank god i get to go into the house of god thank god i'm here tonight i ain't nothing i'm i'm just an old nobody that's who i am i i i just that's right i ain't nothing i don't care how good your hair is and all of that where did just god thank you that i'm here tonight thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you god i just thank you that i'm here this evening i'm just thankful that i'm here this evening god come on are you just thinking well i'm pretty much ain't none of us pretty important god don't need any of us tonight i need the presence of the lord if he does not touch me i've got to have the presence of the lord i've got to have his touch tonight i don't care what anybody says i think i've got to have god tonight in my life that's right that's right that's right tonight come on i got to have god in my life tonight life or death i'm gonna quit here in a couple of moments but just let me preach to you tonight faithful you have life familiar you have death be faithful with your walk with god you have life and life morbidly get familiar with it don't don't don't appreciate what you got you'll soon die you'll wither and fall off the vine david said i can't take the ark of god to jerusalem i don't know how to deal with this a man's dead a man has died they just put him in a body bag they they taken away a man that's died and the men stood back from heart can you imagine brother mayford how they must have treated the ark after they had to get that man up there i guarantee you they're singing kind of change a different tune wait a minute this man died you're very careful you you you you better be careful and you know what they lead that orca over that naked threshing floor and it still started teetering but they went nobody gonna touch it just let it go and david said david said i tell you what let's go down here to the house let's go down here to the house of old obeditum let's go down here to the house of obedient mr obadidam yes sir i'm king david we've got a little situation uh never mind the dead man on the back of that horse over there just don't get your eyes off him we were trying to get that box right over that ark of the covenant was trying to get that back to jerusalem and the guy that's dead over there he reached out and touched that and and and and and we just right now we don't know what to do with it we just don't know what to do with it obedience and and could we bring that ark into your house obedient could we could we just bring it into your house let me show you something it's totally different how god will treat you when you treat him with respect it's totally different how god will treat you when you treat him with respect when you honor when you honor the things of god how god treats you now i just imagine when oba deed them heard that he said that guy out there dead yeah yeah this yeah yes yeah yeah he we we just don't know what to do he touched it and he died and we need we need to put this ark in your house we need to go somewhere now i just guarantee you but they slid that ark into ob edom's house and and mr obadidam and mrs obadim and all the little obites man they stood around and they they said they don't know no close to it i i mean when you when you come in the room where it's at change your behavior when you come in the room i mean when you come into the room i'm you may walk through this house barefooted but when you come into this room y'all you really all put some shoes on you know you you may you you you may have not gone mrs old obadim you may have a lot of different clothes and a lot of things you may you may bounce a ball against the uh uh the bedroom wall you may have a lot of things going on and a lot of different rooms in this house but when we come in this house we ought to treat this room a little bit different i guarantee you something similar to that took place they they didn't say hell a man just died and david wants this thing to be here until he figures out what to do with it i believe sister carpenter they started treating it with the highest respect that's the reason i can read to you second samuel chapter six and verse number 11 and the ark of the lord continued in the house of obadidom the git three months and the lord blessed obadim and all of his household oh yes you see that tonight when god when they started treating the house of god different the blessings started coming hey you know what it may not be all tithing that brings the blessing of god upon your family it may be how you treat the house of god you don't make enough money to stay home from church you don't make enough money not to worship god as a matter of fact money's going to give you more temptation you need more prayer time you need more worship when you get more money you need more of that and when we can start treating god different god is going to start pouring out the blessings why because i'm treating god differently i wish i had to strengthen that young man to run around here i can't do it but boy run for jesus run for jesus son run for jesus familiar could i preach on a little bit more to you if paul had a fear we ought to share the same fear paul had paul had some fears and in first corinthians chapter 9 and verse number 27 listen to paul but i keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when i have preached to others i should be a castaway the biggest deception you'll ever buy into is you'll never do it those are the famous last words of people that are now on drugs young ladies that are pregnant out of wedlock famous last words of couples that are divorced it can't happen to us it can happen to any of us if we don't keep god in the center of our life you look up here at your pastor tonight i don't care if i am the bishop of this church i don't care if i am the general superintendent of an organization if i let up on my prayer life he could put me on a bar stool and make i can become an alcoholic that's why tonight i'm never gonna let him be familiar i'm never gonna let him be familiar thank you jesus thank you jesus if paul said i keep under my body listen to me i love you i love you first apostolic church there's one thing about you you can be preached to you can be preached to man i'm going to tell you something you can be preached to that's that's that that's one of that's one of the great qualities of this church this church can be preached to they can be preached to mark chapter six verse number one i'm gonna tell you how we treat jesus determines what he does for us you just get that i got bible all day long how we treat him determines how he treats us mark six and one he went out from fence and came into his own country sound familiar don't it and his disciples followed him he came to his own country when the sabbath day was come he began to teach in the synagogue and many hearing him were astonished saying from whence had this man these things and what wisdom is this which is given unto him that even such mighty works are robbed by his hands is not this the carpenter the son of mary the brother of james and joseph's and judah and simon are not his sisters here with us and they were what'd they get offended at how familiar they were this guy comes in here and he's tying up the pharisees and knots and send them away makes demons whimper like dogs this man comes in here and he's teaching all these powerful things never a man speak like this man he speaks with authority not as the scribes and they begin to say hey ain't that mary's boy didn't we see that little runt grow up around nazareth when his daddy or suppose daddy carpenter his sister's not with us and then i don't understand it they were offended they were offended at him but jesus saith unto him them a prophet is not without honor but in his own country he said i have i've had honor every place i go people treat me different every place i go but here and that's because you become familiar a prophet is not without honor but in his own country and among his own kin and in his own house and he could there do no mighty work now he didn't say he it did not say he wouldn't it said he could not and he could there do no mighty work save lay his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them and he marveled because of their unbelief and went round about the village's teaching look at the things we forfeit when we don't treat god the way he ought to be treated look at the things that we forfeit the blessings that could have come their way the healings the miracles the deliverance the blessings but they treated him with disrespect moses knew about it moses went up to the mountain to get the ten commandments only to find out that israel had stripped themselves naked and were dancing around a calf they had made moses is frustrated moses knows it's a stiff-necked people moses knows this about them and moses really began to ask god let me out of this assignment i don't want to lead them anymore god let me out of this assignment and god finally told moses you're not getting out of the assignment you're going to lead them and moses said god if i'm going to lead them i'm only going to lead them under one condition you're going with me and i'm telling you god right now if you don't go with me i'm not leading them and you know what god said he liked it he said i like it moses he said i'll go with you i'll go with you even moses knew there's no way to get these people to heaven unless you go with me god here's another time in the bible it's recorded in leviticus chapter 6 verse number 8 through 13. i'll spare the reading for time's sake but god had an altar god had a particular offering and he said i want you to listen to me moses you tell my people that the fire is never to go out it's not my responsibility i'll send it the first time but after i send it it becomes their responsibility to keep the fire going i heard years ago of a little custom they would do when they would move fire as they were traveling not necessarily in the bible days but in south america as they would travel they would move fire and whoever was moving the fire was responsible to let the fire burn that whoever was the movers it was left up to them to keep the fire burning and some tribes put the person carrying the fire they wanted them to know how important it was for them to keep the fire going and they would hire a man with a gun to follow the man carrying the fire and it went like this you let the fire go out and i shoot you in the head i guarantee you he kept the fire burning because he knew it's life and death to keep the fire burning if you don't keep the fire burning i'm going to shoot you i keep the fire burning because i won't live now can i tell you tonight the holy ghost fire is our life and death you better keep the fire burning or you're gonna die it was left up to them to keep the fire burning god said i'll start it i'll send fire from heaven and i'll start the fire but after i start the fire you better be attending to the altar you better be bringing wood to the altar when it get when it looks like it's going to go out you better be up there blowing on it you better be up there waving it because i lit it and you got to keep it going are you listening to me tonight i believe that god is saying to the church individuals tonight i gave you the holy ghost and fire but after i gave you the holy ghost and it's your responsibility to keep it burning that's why you got to come back on wednesday night that's why you got to make up in your mind wednesday nights are not optional i'm going to the house of the lord on wednesday night you got to decide i i i got to be here or when are we going to have revival brother carpenter when are we going to have some why because i've got to keep the fire burning i'm about done tonight i'm about done tonight and i want to read you one psalm i'm going to go ahead and tell you right now i'm going to read the whole chapter any of you got leaving on your mind quickly i'm going to preach on the whole chapter keep a fire it's psalms 134. it consists of three verses let me tell you the setting of the psalm it's the night shift priest it's the priests that were over the night shift now you know what you battle in the night sleep and you know you have to have some different behavior to fight off sleep back in my younger days when i had more strength and less brains quit laughing larry sutton i see that from all the way up here i'd preach a house of fire 400 miles away and after i got through preaching i tell the minister i'm out of here holmes calling me i'd get that card knowing good and well i wasn't going to see maryville to daybreak felt good for the first couple hours whoa mr one o'clock come around i didn't sleep tail lights on trucks seemed to draw me in so i had to get some behavior going on had to jack that sound up it wasn't comfortable i get that sound that was my first wave yeah i remember the sound just beating banging yeah but after a while after a while even the sound wasn't keeping me awake and i'd roll them windows down let that old cold air blow in there but sometimes even the old cold wind is coming in and oh the old sound would come i i'd see an exit and i think man i ain't gonna make it home unless i find me that pilot station or that love station i i gotta get out of that car and walk around a little bit if i don't i ain't gonna make it home can i tell you we the night shift church and we got to change our behavior see if you can catch this in the night shift behold bless ye the lord all you servants of the lord which by night stand in the house of the lord it's easy to go to sleep sitting them oh demo priest said man we don't sit in the house of god we've got to stand up in the house of god it's the wee early morning hours and i don't want to go to sleep on god you better know where you stand in the house of the lord we're living in a day when men don't know of the men and women don't know of the women we're living in a day when good is said bad and bad is called good you better know in this last day where you stand come on where are you staying why don't we stand right now i'm going to close it's a night shift it's the night shift you better be standing you better stand you better roll the windows down you better turn the sound up you better get out of the car every now and then walk around you you better do something to keep your way behold bless you the lord all your servants of the lord which by night stand in the house of the lord lift up your hands in the sanctuary say man man we we lift our hands a lot around here why it's a night shift you all sure stand a lot around here why it's a night shift it's a night shift while i got my hands lifted it's the night shift and can i tell you something you ought not have to be told to lift your hands it ought to be automatic come on it ought to be automatic you shouldn't have to be told to lift your hands it ought to be as automatic as breathing inhale exhale inhale exhale nobody has to tell you to breathe you want to breathe because you want to live nobody ought to have to tell you to worship you ought to worship not because it's your soul not because it's this or that because it's worship i said i was going to preach the whole verse old chapter the whole bless you the lord all you servants of the lord we stand by night in the house of god are you standing lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the lord that's your mouth that's your mouth i'm standing because i'm getting sleepy i'm lifting my hands because i'm getting sleepy i am articulating praise because i'm getting sleepy but i'm going to make it to the god i'm gonna make it to the rapture because i'm gonna stand i'm gonna lift my hands and i'm going to last verse last verse i have stood in verse one i'm not sitting anymore i'm not inactive i have lifted my hands in verse two and i have opened my mouth then watch god automatically take over the lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of zion it's all taken care of you do things that please god and you watch god just bless you you watch god i'm not talking i'm not talking about cars and jobs and all that i'm talking about god blessing you with a touch on your spirit tonight that you'll just feel something begin to turn inside of you you'll feel some joy you've not had in a while you'll feel some contentment you'll just be happy and not even know why you're happy they'll just say why are you smiling tomorrow i don't know why i'm smiling i'm just happy i don't know what kind of order call to give tonight i don't know what kind of author if you want the holy ghost tonight why don't you come right now if you want the baptism of the holy ghost you've never received the holy ghost you've never spoken other tongues before and you want the baptism of the holy ghost right now come church pray pray with me right now you don't have the holy ghost you want the holy ghost i want you to come right now just step out thank you thank you dean thank you dean get some brothers over here praying right now pray pray pray pray that's right that's right that's right anybody else you've never spoken in other tongues before you've never had the baptism of the holy ghost come on right now come on right now here they come come on right now in the name of jesus tonight in the name of jesus anybody here tonight want to be water baptized in the name that is above every name why don't you just slide out of your pew right now come around the altar we'll get you ready for baptism thank you lord thank you lord thank you lord is anybody here tonight that you would confess that you're spotting spiritual fatigue that you've been fighting things you've not fought in a long time why don't you come right now it's a night shift why don't you come right now why don't you come right now come on why don't you come right now why don't you come i'm i'm fighting fatigue i'm fighting fatigue i i'm fighting i i want around the altar i want around the altar i want around the order i want to challenge you get as close to the altar as you can father i love you father i praise you father i magnify you father i glorify you father i thank you father i praise you father i magnify you father i praise come on move up as close around the altar as you can that's right thank you move up as close as you can we're going not available get familiar with staying in your pew you don't you may not need the holy ghost but you need to get close to the place to where you receive the holy ghost so you can keep the fire burning faithful or familiar