God First in 2022-Part II | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

give your bibles i want to invite your attention to first kings chapter 17. and uh we will start reading we'll start reading at verse number one and um uh jeff is that you way over there in the corner sandra am i seeing sister ambulance i'm seeing right i want you to know it is so good jeb to see you tonight you and trina here and and uh so thankful to see what a what a gift tonight now if i started going all the way back to how far we're connected with the sister ammons and jeff uh well i wouldn't get my bible lesson done done tonight but jeff it's so good to see you all this evening in god's house boy doesn't prayer do something this prayer just kind of mellow your spirit and um first kings chapter 17 verse number one and elisha the tishbite who was of the inhabitants of gilead said unto ahab as the lord god of israel liveth before whom i stand there shall not be do nor reign these years but according to my word the book of james chapter 5 verse 17 james chapter 5 and verse 17. where's james in the new testament it's elias but it's elijah of the old testament was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit i want to continue um the thing that i had sunday morning god first god first in 2022 father i thank you tonight for the privilege and the honor of feeding your sheep lord you said in your word to peter you said peter if you love me feed my sheep lord tonight i stand here ready to feed your sheep that are before me lord to feed those that are watching online tonight lord i pray that this bible lesson of putting you first will impact our lives to go deeper in you jesus we love you we thank you for your word in jesus name we pray amen and amen god bless you may be seated tonight this elijah this story this text tonight that is about elijah and a drought elijah and this drought of course we understand that the pronouncement of no rain nor do for three and a half years was all of god and god was trying to wake up his people he was wanting to wake up israel to their sin and in doing this waking them up because sometimes the people of god can become too comfortable in even the blessings of god we can come become too comfortable with life and we can err we can we can greatly err from a relationship with him and so israel had done that and the airing had led them into sin and so god wanted to wake up israel and so god used this man named elijah god used him and god spoke his word through the mouth of elijah it was elijah's voice but it was god's word and god used elijah and elijah spoke and said thus saith the lord by the space of three years and six months there will there will be no rain nor do upon the earth and just as elijah had spoken been the mouthpiece been the vessel of god sure enough the rain ceased and sure enough the dew ceased to fall of the morning but in the midst of this god protected elijah god had a plan for elijah we're told that god spoke to elijah after he pronounced the drought and he told him to go down by a brook go down by a stream we would know a stream or a creek he said go down by a certain creek there you can drink water from the creek and i have commanded the raven birds and they're going to feed you bread and flesh every morning and they're going to feed you bread and flesh of the evening now please keep in mind with me that it was elijah that god was using as a vessel he was going to use elijah to turn off the water but he was also going to use elijah to turn the water back on now please don't mistaken the vessel that god used and the word that was in the vessel the vessel was only the vessel but the word that was in the vessel was what stopped the rain and the word that was in the vessel was what would bring back the rain and so we understand because of this natural drought elijah was drinking from the creek or the brook that the bible simply says that the brook ran dry naturally no rain the brook would run dry but god then had another plan because understand this with me tonight god will keep his word alive god will keep his word alive and so god we will go to the eighth verse of the 17th chapter of first kings the brook has dried up and the bible says in verse 8 and the word of the lord came unto him saying arise get thee to zerephath which belongeth to zidon and dwell there behold i have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee now god speaks to him tells him that he is to go to zidane xerath and that there is a widow woman there there is a widow woman there and that god said i have commanded the widow woman to take care of you i have told the widow woman that you are coming and i have told the widow woman that she is to take care of you now let's just stop here for a moment because we're going to find out one thing about this widow woman she's not a rich widow all right she is not a wealthy widow we're going to find out in just a moment we read the scripture that she has one son and that they have just enough meal in a barrel and just enough oil in a vial to make a small cake and that's all they have she is going to make this cake and she understands it's going to be their last meal you know sometimes when the word of god comes to us it speaks to us of impossible things how do you think that widow woman felt brother hammond when god spoke to her and said i'll be sending the prophet here i'll be sending the man of god here and you are to take care of him oh my i can't even take care of my own son we are about to eat our last meal and die can i tell you that when the word says something in your life it does not matter the circumstances that you are in god will perform his word regardless of how it sets you back regardless of how you think me no way but let's read what happened verse 10 so he arose and went to zerephath and when he came to the gate of the city behold the widow woman was there gathering of sticks and he called to her and said fetch me i pray thee a little water in a vessel that i may drink and as she was going to fetch it he called well let me stop there for a moment he asked her for water a drink of water of which she willingly turned to go get him some water but you've got to remember water was very valuable they were in the midst of a drought water was something of value she is going to get the prophet the word of god she is going to get him something of value she was willing that's amazing we all seem to have a god limit we all seem to have a line that we're willing just to go to do you know that there's times that god is going to ask us and challenge us to cross that line he said i'd like to drink a water yes it was going to cost her something it's kind of like us coming to the house of god we have this line god says come to my house and we come to the house but what about when god asked us to go further give me a drink of water she turned and she went to willingly bring him a drink of water but as she was going to fetch it he called to her and said bring me i pray thee a morsel of bread in thine hand now that's where the prophet crossed the line that's where her line was at and she said as the lord thy god liveth even notice this even notice this she didn't say the lord my god she said the lord thy god she said as your as the lord thy god liveth i have not a cake but a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruise and behold i am gathering two sticks that i may go in and dress it for me and my son that we may eat it and die i don't know about you but that must have been a very gloomy household to live in to live in a place to where there's just enough meal and just enough oil to make a small cake and you and your son were going to die so now i need to tell you that you've asked for something but it's my last meal you've asked for something but it's the last that we have he says to her in verse 13 and elijah said unto her fear not if there's ever been a message that god's word wants to bring to us tonight during our 21 days of prayer we're living in a world that wants us to have fear anxiety and stress i don't even want to tell you some of the news that i heard this week about how that that even children now are suffering from stress and anxiety over the pandemic over what we've been living in even children are showing signs of of stress and anxiety but i believe god denied in the church has one word for us church fear not fear not you do realize that the church is fulfilling the eternal purpose of god fear not the word says go and do as thou has said but make me there of a little cake first make me a little cake first bring it unto me and after make for thee and thy son now on the surface please can we remove tonight the man elijah can we remove tonight the man elijah because if we get focused on the man elijah we really don't have a good feeling about him because after all he told the poor widow woman that he was to be put before her and their son and her son now on the surface we look at that and think man that's just rude man that self-centered prophet the spiritual analogy is put the word first put god's word first as i'm ministering on god first in 2022 the one thing that we as a church have to keep first we've got to keep the word of god first because our existence is in keeping the word of god first so instead of looking at this story as the the self-centered preacher or the self-centered prophet look at it that he's saying if you'll keep the word alive if you'll keep the word of god alive in your life everything is going to be all right you hear me you keep the word of god alive in your life put the word of god first and everything is going to be all right you can build your life on it it's going to be all right just keep the word first well she did what i hope that all of us do and she went the bible says well let me tell you let me tell you what verse 14 says before i go on to that thought he said make me a cake first and bring it unto me and after make for thee and thy son for thus saith the lord god of israel the barrel of mill shall not waste that means it shall not go empty neither shall the cruse of oil fail that means go empty until the day that the lord sendeth rain upon the earth he said if you will put god's word first if you will put god's word first you'll go back to an empty mill barrel and it'll have meal in it if you will put god first you will go back to that empty flask of oil and you'll unscrew the lid and turn it upside down and oil will start coming out if you will put god first the empty places of your life will begin to fill up but you've got to be willing to put god first verse 15 says it all and she went and did according to the saying of elijah and she and he and her house did eat many days and the barrel of meal wasted not neither did the cruise of oil fail according to the word of the lord which he spake by elijah can you imagine that go with me now with your imagination fear not she put god's word first i don't really think she mumbled about it i don't think she truly understood it i don't think she truly understood what she was doing but sometimes faith just has you doing something because god's work god's word says to do it god's word says to do it she goes and she makes the word of god the man of god please get your mind off of a man get it on the word she made the word of god because it's got to keep the man alive got to keep the because the words inside of him and she did she made him a little cake and she brought it to him and then she turns to go back to the mill barrel and i wonder what was going on in her mind well it was empty i turned it over and beat the bottom of it and got all the meal i could out i i had the flask of oil i got the last few drops out of it but when she walks back into the kitchen and she opens up the mill barrel god had sent his heavenly angels with some meal and they put the meal in the barrel and now you see we go from a natural to a spiritual you see the first meal she gave was natural but the second meal she ate was divine because god had put that in there and then she ate of that many days let me stop here for a moment let me tell you that god has got something bigger for us than just meeting our financial needs god's got something bigger for us than just knowing him as a god who can meet our financial needs as a god that can can bless us because um well let me share with you ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse 11. and it's interesting do you know that in the midst of having god provide for you do you know that life can give you some unexpected bumps in the road even if you've got a mill barrel in the kitchen and oil in in the cruise even though you can say god is providing for us financially the unexpected things in life can come i find it interesting that ecclesiastes 9 and verse 11 which you put them together and that's 9 11. all right 9 11 can happen to all of us let's read it i returned and saw unto the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong nor the bread to the wise nor riches to men of understanding nor yet favor to men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all you see he he begins to talk about some unexplainable things while the fastest man ought to win the race but can i tell you in life the fastest man doesn't always win the race why why the strongest man in the battle is the one that ought to win but life can throw you a curveball and the strongest man doesn't always win while the smartest man will get the bread but sometimes the smartest they don't get the bread the riches of riches to men of great understanding sometimes men have riches of no understanding and then it just simply says the unexplainable things of life happeneth it says these words time and chance happeneth to them all can i tell the church this tonight that in 2022 you can have a miracle kitchen but yet unexpected things can come your way the unexpected tragedies the unexpected changes of your life it happened the unexplainable things in life and can i tell you that the only insurance policy we have for the unexpected things of life is keeping the word of god first it is the insurance policy of all insurance policy keep the word of god first i don't know what tomorrow brings to you and i don't know what tomorrow brings to me but i have an insurance policy right here that is stronger than any unexplainable things that can happen in our lives in 2022 i believe god deserves a great big fervent hand the unexplainable because it happened it happened first kings 17 17 a miracle kitchen going on miracle meal every morning miracle oil every morning but verse 17 says and it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman the mistress of the house fell sick this young child fell sick and his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him now you understand it is possible for god to be meeting your needs and also at the same time for there's a tragedy fall in your family got a miracle kitchen got a miracle flask got a miracle mill barrel but now i've got a little boy that's coughing i've got a little boy i i've got i've got a little boy that's coughing i got a little boy that's running a fever i got a little boy that's wanting to sleep all the time and then i've got a little boy that i watch and he died there was no breath left in him what do you do when you have a miracle kitchen but the unexpected things of life the unexplainable things of life come and your son is dead let's look at what she did verse 18 and she said until i elijah and she said unto elijah what have i to do with thee o thou man of god art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son look at how she begins look at how she begins now you see we can praise god when the favor of god we've got a miracle mill barrel and we've got a we've got a cruise of oil we could we can praise god but what about when things happen in your family you have no explanation for now she begin to scorn the man of god oh thou man of god oh oh the uh is this is this what i get oh now can i tell you don't ever charge god foolishly don't ever fall prey when things fall apart in your life to say such things like well i'm a tither well i do this i do that even though you're a tither unexplainable things can come to your life things that have no rhyme things that have no rhyme and things that have no reason can come to your life let's don't follow this woman's example look how she begins to scorn look how she begins to scorn the man of god what have i to do with thee o thou man of god art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son sounds like to me that she got her comfort level in life as long as i've got enough to eat as long as me and my son are all right as long as we've got enough to eat isn't god good i'll give him a golf clap oh is it isn't god good but what about when god wants to take you to a higher level of faith and sometimes god takes us to a higher level of faith by disrupting things in our life you see god wanted to take this woman to a higher level of faith but when it happened she first began to charge the man of god is this oh thou man of god questioned him or thou come to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son listen to what he said verse 19 and he said unto her give me thy son and he took him out of her bosom and carried him up into a loft where he abode and laid him upon his own bed there were two times that the word of god asked for something the first time the word of god said bring me a little cake first and the next time the word of god said let me have your dead let me have your dead now you will notice how quickly she gave the dead see a lot of times it's harder to give the handful of meal but it's easy to bring god the things that are dead in our life but do you know isn't that the way our god is our god is asking for the things that we've given up on the word the word keep the word first the word is saying give me give me your son he had to be a small child he had to be a small child because the prophet carried him up into a loft and he laid him on his own bed and look at verse 20 he cried unto the lord and said o lord my god hast thou also brought evil upon this widow with whom i sojourned by slaying her son he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried unto the lord and said o lord my god i pray thee let this child's soul come again into him again and the lord heard the voice of elijah and the soul of the child came into him again and he revived and elijah took the child and brought him down out of the chamber into the house and delivered him unto his mother and elijah said see thy son liveth now follow what the woman look at how she graduates now look at how she's going to make a graduation because sometimes when life gives us the unexpected we can charge god foolishly oh thou man of god is this how you treat me but when she was willing to keep the word of god first we'll all go through times we can't explain but let's keep god's word first the word says bring me the dead child the word says bring me your impossibilities and tonight whatever your impossibilities are whatever the things you have in your life god is simply saying give me the word let the word take care of it let the word keep the word would you put the word first in your life keep this word first she gave her son to the man of god the young child was resurrected and the woman's faith was graduated verse 24 and the woman said to elijah now by this now by this i know that thou art a man of god and that the word of the lord in thy mouth is truth wait a minute we're going to read this verse again but didn't you know that when there was meal in the barrel didn't you know that when there was oil in the cruise no all i knew was that god could provide for my my my need my food but now god has taken me to a whole different level i wonder if god is trying here at first apostolic church to dig some of us up to where we the word is more than just giving and getting it's more than just god providing for our need i wonder if god is wanting to take us to another level to where we begin to say now i know that the word of god i i know you're a man of god i know that the word is truth in your life she said now by this i know can i tell you you will always have happy endings when you keep god first in your life you'll always have a happy ending when you keep god when you keep god first in your life you'll always have a happy ending keeping the word of god alive in your life keeping god's word alive and of course tonight i want to go to malachi chapter number 3 verse number 7 keeping god's word alive keeping god's word alive in our lives malachi chapter 3 verse number 7 listen to god speak through malachi even from the days of your fathers you have gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them return unto me and i will return unto you saith the lord of hosts but you said wherein shall we return god says return to me and i will return back to you now this is something they didn't even know they had went anywhere you see sometimes we can get so comfortable in the temple that we're not aware that we have drifted from god god said come back to me and i will i will come back i will come back to you and they said well wherein shall we return verse 8 will a man rob god yet you have robbed me but you say wherein have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings you're cursed with a curse for you have robbed me even this whole nation bring ye all the tithe into the storehouse that there may be meat in my house now just simply put tithing is so simple tithing is 10 of your increase it's simply 10 it's very very simple it's it's just 10 of your increase now for too long people get in their mind if i tithe i'll have mill in my barrel if i tithe i'll have oil in my cruise if i tithe i'll have financial prosperity coming my way can i tell you that when we view tithing as something that keeps us in material things we have missed the mark a thousand miles we have missed the mark a thousand miles the work tithing is not about me having mill in my barrel tithing is not about me having oil in my cruise tithing is not about me having material things oh you better tithe or you'll lose material things you'll you'll be cursed it's a million miles away from that and we've really just overlooked it because the purpose of tithing is summed up in this one word these one this one phrase that their may be meat in my house that the priest and the levites and the house of god can i tell you the house of god your place of worship is the most important place on earth in your life your doctor's office can work on you but your life is temporal all the things that can be done to you physically down here pale in comparison to what's going on inside of this room right now we're working on the eternal part of you your eternal soul that's going to live forever and the only way i'm going to live forever god bring me your word lord i've got to keep your word first in my life i was made to keep your word first i was made to keep your word first we were made to keep god's word god's word is what this world needs god's word the plan of salvation and and here's where here's where tonight we have to look we have to look at this and understand we were made for an eternal purpose we were made for an eternal purpose you and i were made to shine forth the glory of god to magnify the name of the lord jesus christ to tell people the great plan of salvation to tell them there's a better way than the way that they're living you've got to keep the word first brother perry shared with me tonight before prayer how he witnessed to a man he told a man about the plan of salvation that's the word of god we're not here to provide this world with some kind of social gathering we're not here to provide our city with some kind of group of people that will make you a better person morally that will happen in the gospel but we are here to keep the word of god alive we're we're here to share the word of god could you give the lord a hand to praise right now please notice this tonight please notice this tonight bring you all the tithe in the storehouse that there may be meat in my house he said that there may be the word there may be meat in my house and prove me now herewith saith the lord of hosts if i will not open you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive what was the wind what was the windows of heaven the windows of heaven were rain he says when you bring to my house you bring to my house the tithe and offerings that there may be meat in my house then he said i open the windows of heaven and i pour you out a blessing and that blessing is rain it is the rain that was to come it was the rain that they needed he said i will pour you out a blessing i will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it i will rebuke the devourer for your sakes he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground neither shall your vine cast for cast your fruit before the time in the field saith the lord look at verse 12 and all nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a delightsome land saith the lord of hosts and all nations shall call you blessed how would all nations be able to call jerusalem blessed because from jerusalem would go men of god with the word of god that would change their lives and all nations could turn around and say that is a blessed city that city of jerusalem now let's bring it down to 2022 where we're at when we put the word of god first and please remember this tonight because just like i wanted to get your attention off of elijah because it seemed awful cruel for that man to tell that woman to make me a cake first but that's the word of god if you don't keep the word of god alive miss widow if you don't keep the word of god alive there's an unexpected disease that's coming your way if you don't keep the word of god alive there's an unexpected sickness that's coming to your house and this unexpected sickness will claim your child it will only be if you've kept the word of god alive that you can bring the word of god into that unexpected thing and it can bring resurrection can i tell you i need to keep the word of god alive first not because of where i am today but because of what might be on the horizon tomorrow we've got to keep the word of god first the word of god first but but again but again if you go down the track with tithing that tithing has to do with the preacher or tithing has to do with too fancy of a church building and tithing has to do with all of that then you miss the whole mark of why we tithe can i tell you a little bit of can i tell you a little bit of the blessing of why we tithe while we tithe creates a building that's opened every morning from 6 30 a.m to 6 p.m and hundreds of blount countians come into this building and many of them the canoes many of them have found bible salvation who first found a daycare for their children that's why we keep god first that's why we're going to keep god first while we keep god why do we keep god first because last night a delegation from apostolic christian academy traveled to nashville tennessee where they organized the opening of a and i probably don't have all the wording down but it is promoting the starting of christian schools it is promoting the the men in that area are coming together and they want their children their children in an apostolic christian school and thank god aren't you glad that a delegation from here could go to nashville and they could help lord maybe there maybe there's another kenny carpenter waiting to come down an aisle somewhere thank god that there may be me in my house can i tell you another reason why we got two phone calls this week we got two phone calls this week can i tell you that god is using people in our own congregation to do missionary work brother art schnitzer brother brian triplett god is using them to do missionary work there has been many baptized they first started online they first started talking to people in africa online and the next thing i knew they were flying over there and they're baptizing them and they're seeing the revelation of the godhead and they're being baptized and receiving the gift of the holy ghost and do you know they have a need to go back they have a need to go back and do you know today after council and and we looked at what they needed and we looked at everything do you know today because you not just me but you keep the word of god first in your life and you bring the first fruits the tithe and offerings i was able to go ahead and say go ahead brother snitzer get your airplane ticket go ahead brother triplett go ahead and get your airplane ticket and they're going to be flying and they're going to be ministering the word of god guess what although it's brian triplett and brother schnitzer going it's really all of us going because we have put the word of god first i believe god deserves a hand there's webcasting there's all kinds of outreach that we're doing there was a typhoon that hit the philippines and i don't know if you've got it yet brother name and while while i'm while i'm on this subject let me tell you this the lord has directed me tomorrow night to make prayer focus for our missionaries tomorrow night we're going to make a special prayer focus for our missionaries and i want to give the report tonight that the philippines have opened up as of march 1st march 1st brother name he's going to be able not that we want to get him out of here but he wants to get back on on the soil over there and do the eternal purpose of god oh it's far bigger than a brick house it's far bigger than a soft bed it's far bigger than the latest technology i was made to fulfill the eternal purpose of god oh hallelujah would you just give him some praise with me right now the eternal purpose of god said brother carpenter i know when when you tithe and give offerings you're going to get blessed yes but blessed for what purpose blessed for what purpose um i shared this with brother hammond today but before daybreak this morning i was reading this passage of scripture matthew chapter 7 verse 21 matthew 7. i was reading these these verses the sun hadn't even come up yet i hadn't even looked out my window and saw any cars coming to the daycare at 6 30 they actually come before that not everyone that saith unto me lord lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven many will say to me in that day lord lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and i will profess unto them i never knew you depart from me either work iniquity therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them see i'm not keeping the word first i'm like it sounds like he's saying whoever whoever hears these sayings and and keeps them first keeps them first whosoever hear these sayings of mine and do with them i will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods came and the wind blew and beat upon that house and it fell for it was founded upon a rock now stay with me just for a moment i've always looked at this story that the rain storm is bad but you realize in the culture of this story rain was good rain was a good thing they prayed for rain rain was a good thing and i began to read this and it was as if the holy ghost wouldn't let my mind get away from this verse rain is good rain is a good thing rain is a good thing now in our culture today in our land today we take rain for granted where jesus was speaking their life dependency was upon the rain rain is good would you say that with me rain rain is good and as i was reading this morning before daybreak i looked at that word flood in a flood is simply the abundance of rain the flood is abundance of rain i know y'all don't know that i'm i'm really deep tonight flood is the abundance of rain so if rain is good then flooding is the abundance of good but what happens to you and i when god floods us with the abundance of good what happens to you and i when yes we put tithing offerings first and yes we find ourselves prospering what happens well i'll tell you what happens more for me well i tell you what happens i'm glad i'm i tell you what happens i'm like that man in the bible that looks out at a crop looks out that the flood of the abundance of good in his life the flood of the abundance of good and he says i'll tell you what i'll do i'll tear down my barns and i'll build bigger barns and i will say so take your ease take your rest for you have much laid up man you have just kicked back and take it easy only to hear the lord say thou fool do you not know that this night your soul shall be required now watch this now the rains came upon a house that was built on a rock flooding always affects the foundation flooding seeps down into the foundation what is our foundation we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets jesus christ being the chief cornerstone so when the abundance of good comes to my life yes i'm going to live yes god is going to give me a miracle mill barrel yes god is going to provide for us in a materialistic way but that doesn't become my god what becomes my god is i want the abundance of good to come down to my foundation and then the bible says the wind's blew oh i want the wind of the spirit of god to come down upon to come down upon the abundance of good blow o holy spirit oh as we bring and put god first as we bring our tithe and offerings and we we honor god and we put god first and no doubt the abundance of good is going to flood our life then i say come and blow up on us holy spirit blow some men over to africa blow some men over to asia blow some men around the world because that's why we're here keep the word of god first but if you don't have the right foundation if you believe that tithing is about giving 10 and getting a hundred if you believe in this cheap plastic uh uh uh give and and you know i gave a hundred dollars and god gave me that well that that's all well and good but what did you do with the increase that god has given you is your increase in the work of god is your foundation there because i'm going to tell you the bible says in verse number 26 and everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not sounds like they don't put god's word first you hear them but you don't put them first shall be likened to a foolish man which built his house upon the sand and the rain descended and the floods came you see the bible says it rains on the just and the unjust do you know god will be good to them that are good to him and god will even be good to those that are not good to him everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened to a foolish man which built his house upon the sand and the rains descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it can i tell you the abundance of good can either lead us to reaching more souls or the abundance of good if not channeled in the right direction can destroy our own soul for the love of money is the root of all evil some men have coveted after and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows can i tell you first apostolic let's keep god's word first in our lives what do you say let's keep his word first in our lives let's keep god's word first would you stand with me tonight i received a text today and it slipped my mind but we are so honored to have the vinson family with us tonight they are evangelists with the assemblies of the lord jesus christ and we are so glad that you all came to be with us this evening may the lord bless you could we tonight could we tonight in our closing prayer could we tonight brother and sister vincent would y'all come down front for just a moment could we tonight just be a blessing to them right now and could we just pray over this evangelistic party this this young man his wife and his family that are evangelizing they are evangelizing our our country and i think i might they may have a little one asleep and uh i'm sure that i'll hear from the little one here in just a few minutes but brother and sister vincent we're so glad to have you all at first step but what about a couple that's dedicated their lives aren't we aren't we glad aren't we glad first apostolic church first apostolic church we raised the roof with praying before we started our service tonight i want us all to pray for one thing pray for the vinson family that god's hands would be upon them and that they would be prosperous in the preaching of the gospel of jesus christ that many souls will be baptized filled with the holy ghost that god will use this couple come on let's raise the rope with our prayer right now oh mighty god we love you tonight lord we lay our hands upon them right now god we lay our hands upon them tonight lord we ask you this evening lord to touch them we ask you lord to lead and guide them lord all the days of their life god open the doors god that they need lord this young couple hear god lord that the kingdom of god will be advanced lord your kingdom will go forward lord god give them the wisdom that they need lord let them preach the word lord let the word be alive in their hearts god lord we give you praise lord we give you honor tonight lord we pray over them god in the name of jesus god we pray amen and amen amen amen please don't forget tomorrow night at seven o'clock friday night at seven o'clock saturday is the time you pray at home over your family sunday come back we'll be praying sunday morning god bless you you dismissed in jesus name