Requirements for Leadership - Part I | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

he goes and gets his brother simon peter and he brings simon to jesus verse 42 and he brought him to jesus and when jesus beheld him he said thou art simon the son of jonah thou shalt be called cephas which by interpretation is a stone now stop right there for a moment both andrew and his brother peter in a way receive their salvation andrew believes he brings peter jesus looks at peter and jesus tells peter who he is but he tells him what he will become now you you it didn't happen they didn't immediately start following him they didn't just immediately go after him no turn to matthew chapter 4 matthew chapter 4 and verse number 28 excuse me not matthew chapter matthew chapter 4 verse number 18. and jesus walking by the sea of galilee saw two brethren simon called peter and andrew his brother casting a net into the sea for they were fishers now this is two separate things this is peter and andrew receive salvation but they didn't immediately go following after him they didn't immediately just follow him they went back they had a fishing business they were fishermen they were commercial fishermen they fished for a livelihood they fish for a living it wasn't a hobby that that was their income they were they were fishermen and although they both had had an experience they both believed they were not following until jesus came by saw them in the ship and he saith unto them verse 19 follow me and i will make you fishers of men now salvation is wonderful but don't just settle that you're saved it's time to follow the bible plan and turn around and begin to do what should come natural i now want to turn around and i want to work for the lord i want to work for him he said would you follow me so brother carpenter i don't know how i don't know how to do anything i i i'd like to i just don't know how to teach sunday school i wouldn't know how to greet people i wouldn't you know that all that you have to have is a desire if you have a desire god will give you the talent if you have a desire to do something for god god will without fail give you the ability to do it he said follow me and i will make you evidently they were they were not fishers of men yet that's something that they had to follow and the lord would make follow me and i will make you fishers of men and straightway they forsook their nets and followed him and going on from fence he saw two other brethren james the son of zebedee and john his brother in a ship with zebedee their father mending their nets and he called them and they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him church family salvation's wonderful but there's a call from there's a call from heaven tonight saying would you follow me i want to make you fishers of men would you follow me would you would you just step out don't be satisfied that you're just saved step out and follow him hear that wonderful voice of the lord give him some praise in the house tonight follow follow him turn let's go to the old testament now the book of numbers chapter number 1 and verse number 47. how we doing tonight everybody all right everybody good tonight that tabernacle well how many of us are in amazement with the tabernacle how many likes one pastor teaches on that old testament tabernacle we see the plan of salvation we see where god dwells it's wonderful to teach on the tabernacle but i wonder what it would have been like i wonder what it would have been like in the bible days now we have something far greater than the tabernacle we have the holy ghost inside of us but i wonder i wonder tonight if i'd have been an israelite in that day how comforting it would have been to have had the tabernacle uh there that we could worship at that jehovah god dwelt in must have been a comforting thing um how comforting it is for the church to have a place to pray how comforting it is to have a place to bring your children if your parents have your children in a christian school how comforting it is to drop your children off here at the daycare how comforting it is to to your children to have recreation here at the at the gym how how comforting it is when life falls apart you've got a place that's not falling apart how comforting it is that to have the church the church is a very comforting thing to me i i take great i love the house of god i absolutely love the house of god i i love everything that goes on around here i i i i love the house of god i love the praise i love the worship i love the prayer i love the people i just love the things that go on in god's house i can't relate to people that see it as a drudgery i i can't relate to people that are looking to find any reason why not to go i just simply this this place is something that i i just love i love the house of god but can i tell you it takes teamwork to make the house of god function properly it takes teamwork it takes teamwork numbers chapter 1 verse number 47 numbers 1 and verse 47 but the levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them for the lord had spoken unto moses saying only thou shalt not number the tribe of levi neither take the some of them among the children of israel but thou shall appoint the levites over the tabernacle of testimony and over all the vessels thereof and over all things that belong to it they shall bear the tabernacle and all the vessels thereof and they shall minister unto it and shall encamp round about the tabernacle now god was having them number all the israelites when they came out of egypt he had them number all the tribes to find out how many were in the tribe of reuben how many was in this tribe but when it came to the tribe of levi god said leave them out leave them out don't number the tribe of levi why why are we not to number the tribe of levi because i'm going to set them aside and they are going to minister about the tabernacle they're going to be over setting up the tabernacle they're going to be over breaking down the tabernacle they're going to be over the functions of the tabernacle all the things that go on in the tabernacle the tribe of levi is going to be over that and he said just leave them out don't don't don't count them you know stars are pretty important and the bible says that god knows the number of stars he also said that god knows the number of hair on your head but when it came to the workers in the tabernacle god said let them be without number let them be without number i have i have a fault of why god said that tonight i have a thought because as the kingdom of god increases we're going to always need an increase in our levites the larger our church grows or let me say this the larger we want our church to grow i said well how large do you want the miracle church to grow as long as there's one center walking the streets of maryville i want one more in the mirror but as long as there's one person in this city so he said just just leave the tribe of levi leave the tribe of levi out of course we know that moses we know that moses was a levite moses mother and father were levites according to exodus chapter 2 and verse number 32. but i understand why god would choose moses but why did god sit around why did god choose the levites why would god say now brother hammond i chose moses as an individual and then when moses made uh excuses he gave him his brother aaron i can understand that but why would god sit back and then say i want the whole tribe now you've got to realize working for the lord is not a burden working for god is the most exciting work that you could ever be involved in working for god working for god working for the increase of god's kingdom finding your purpose finding your niche finding what you can do to advance the greatest work that's going on on the earth right now is the work that is performed in the house of god it's it is the greatest of all the works that's going on but why would you choose them maybe we can find the answer in exodus chapter 32 exodus chapter 32 and verse number 25. you still with me tonight moses comes down from the mountain while he's been on the mountain aaron his brother has led the people astray they have reverted back to their ways in egypt they have made them a golden calf they have stripped their clothes off they're naked and they're acting like where they came from verse 25 and when moses saw that the people were naked for aaron had made them naked unto their own shame among the among their enemies then stood then moses stood in the gate of the camp and said who is on the lord's side now he cried out to every tribe reuben gad he came down in the midst of all of that that worldliness all of that reverting back and he made he made this cry who is on the lord's side let him come unto me and all the sons of levi gathered themselves together unto him now these levites begin to say the lord has done something for me i used to be a slave in egypt you see some people may want to go back to egypt but can i inform the church of something tonight everybody don't want to go back to egypt i get so tired of one or two people wanting to be worldly and somebody here categorized the whole church is going to live i got news for you there may be some levites over there naked dancing but not all of us levites are naked and not all of us levites are dancing to the tune of the devil he said who's on the lord's side we've got a work that needs to be done who's on the lord's side and all of a sudden all of the levites all of the levites the bible says and all the sons of levi gathered themselves together unto him and he said unto them thus saith the lord god of israel put every man his sword by his side and go in and out from gate to gate through the camp and slay every man his brother every man his companion that's a wife and every man his neighbor and the children of levi did according to the word of moses and there fell on the on the day on that day that day about 3 000 men and moses had said for moses had said consecrate yourselves today to the lord even every man upon his son and upon his brother that he may bestow upon you a blessing listen to this now that he may give you a blessing now watch how moses does this moses looks down and he says there's a bunch of people that need to die we can't advance israel we can't advance the kingdom of god there's a bunch of people that need to die and he said i can't kill them all by myself i can't kill i can't kill all these folks by myself now you're going to see topology here you're going to see topology because they slew 3 000 in one day i know a place over in the new testament where they got right with god and the holy ghost came and they started doing what the lord said and i read where 3 000 was added to the church see moses came out there and he said hey it's time to consecrate yourselves it's time to consecrate yourself god's got a blessing for you god's got a blessing for you it's time to consecrate yourself this word consecrates sister carpenter comes from two words it comes it comes for it comes from two it comes from two words it comes from two words it comes from the word to feel and it comes from the word hand to feel and the hand moses came out and he said get your hands full of what really matters it's time to get your hands full of what really matters and god will give you a blessing who's on the lord's side get your hands full of what really get your hands full of what really matters can i tell you life is too short to spend it life is too short to spend it trying to please yourself life is too short uh trying just to find out what life is all about can i tell you what life is all about life is all about letting the lord do something for you and then you turn right around and say lord how can i serve you now there's a group of levites they said i was a slave in egypt i still got the whip marks on my back my children my my children were dragged off from us my little boys were thrown in the nile river i lived a miserable life but god sent that man moses into my life and before you know it we're out of egypt and the red sea has been split and god is ringing down manna from heaven i'll tell you i'll be on the lord's side give me a sword in my hand i'll i'll be on the lord's side god's got a blessing i don't know what it is i don't know what it i don't know what it is but god has got a god has got a blessing in store for us you see if you will get busy first and foremost first requirement you've got to let god do something for your life and then you naturally turn around and say you know what i want to work for this church you know what i i came here and nobody knew me and the usher made me feel so good somebody took me out to eat and somebody bought me some coffee in the coffee shop and now that i've got the holy ghost i want to turn back around and i want to see how i can help somebody to live for god i can help somebody to get in the church god has got a blessing for you god has got a blessing for you he's got a blessing for you tonight but you're not going to get it unless you're willing to take a sword and you know that there was a little pain to that too because he said you may have to kill your brother there's a little pain for that too he said you may have to take the life of your companion he said you may even have to take the life of your neighbor can i think that i believe that in that day he was saying there's nothing as important there's nothing as important as praying and filling your hands filling your hands with the work of the lord come on just for a moment let's just slip our hands in the air just just close your eyes right now slip your hands in the air let's receive this word tonight let's let's receive this word tonight let's let's receive this word in the name of the lord let's receive this word tonight what's the blessing what is the blessing what's the blessing moses you were talking about i'll tell you the blessing i'm talking about the blessing i'm talking about is in a few years i'm going to have you all erect a tabernacle i'll tell you the blessing i'm talking about in a few years i'm going to have you give and because you because you are giving i'm going to erect a tabernacle and it's going to have a direct path that a man can come into my presence i'll tell you what kind of blessing i'm talking about over the holy of holies it's going to be a holy globe and jehovah god is going to dwell jehovah god is going to dwell in the midst when sin comes into your life and guilt which is unbelievable comes into your life there's going to be an altar and a labor there's going to be all these things where's the blessing i'll tell you where the blessing's at levites god says i'm going to make you workers i'm i i'm not going to let them count you in i'm going to i'm going to call you to myself and you're going to be the ones you're going to be the ones that are going to set up the tabernacle you see the tabernacle had to be set up it had tons of curtains it had tons of wood it had tons of silver tons of gold it had arcs of the covenant and it all had to be covered and men had to bury it on their shoulders and they had to travel with it and then when when the ark of the covenant or the tabernacle got where god wanted it to be they had to take it off the shoulder rebuild it again set it all back up but can i tell you something it's not a burden when the lord has done something it to your life it is not a burden to work for the king of kings and the lord of all lords now requirement number one requirement number one the lord has had to do something in your life and to add to requirement number one is a little addendum you must value this house we have no room on this team for people that do not value the house of god you must value this house oh and and if you're still in if you're still in romper room and you're still in you're still in the spiritual stage of in of immaturity well there's nothing special about this house i beg to differ with you there is something special about this house this is where we meet with our god and worship our god as a corporate people i beg i i beg to differ with you kenny junior where are you at tonight kenny the third i think you're here i baptized you sunday night son you got the holy ghost in this place kenny would you stand right now would you care to stand right now i beg to differ with you there is something special there is something special about this house that didn't happen down at starbucks that didn't happen over here at a restaurant that didn't happen at cage cove that happened right here in this i'm i beg to differ with you there is something special about this house there's truth being preached in this house there's good examples of holiness walking the aisles around this house i beg to differ with you i beg to whip differently the truth is being preached the truth is being preached at this house lives are being changed in this house exodus chapter 25 let me just move very quickly exodus chapter 25 and verse number one and two exodus chapter 25 verse number one and two somebody i'm gonna see if you've been listening to me tonight what's requirement number one all right now we're going to get in in a week or so we're going to get to other requirements but i'll just be honest with you it don't matter what rule or regulation you abide by if you miss this first one nothing else matters we miss number one you missed number one nothing else that i would ask you to do is gonna matter y'all love this house you gotta love this house exodus chapter 25 verse number one and two and i'm gonna go as quickly as i can and the lord spake unto moses saying speak unto the children of israel that they bring me an offering of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart he shall take my offering this offering i won't read all the things he asked for but he asked for all the material so that they could build the tabernacle but he put a requirement on even the offering the requirement was you had to want to give it he said he said take the offering of every man that is willing take the offering that he that giveth it willingly with his heart i just wonder i don't find it in the scripture but there's a possibility i wonder if there was some that come up and they were it was a burden boy i was keeping this gold for for another day boy i i'll tell you what i i i the lord's told us i i don't want to burn so i better turn i don't want to do that i want moses didn't step out and say just keep it just keep it you know you know what makes the house of god a value is because we put value in it there's things i value i value my time how many values your time i bring the value of my time here i value my time i value my treasure money that's right value that but i bring it to this place i value my talent whatever that may be i value that and i bring it i bring it to this place can i tell you that god said i want to build a tabernacle but i don't want anybody to give me any material that they're not thankful that i brought them out of egypt i don't want this house to have one piece of gold from somebody that's grudging i don't want it to have one piece of brass from somebody but you know it's amazing when you start really thinking about what god has done in your life and and and really when you start coming to church and seeing the improvement that it makes in your life i'm going to tell you this house will improve you in every area of your life just stay at it keep on valuing the house you value the house of god you value the house of god as a matter of fact back in the old days and i was i i'm kind of privileged i caught the i caught the end of what i would consider some legends of of ministers i have i have the fondest memory he was an elderly man at the time but my pastor got me a revival in porterdale georgia for j.t payne and he was bible teacher one god bible teacher and and i i got to go there to porter down preach him a revival and and i remember one day we're sitting and he said he said all right son i'm i'm a trinitarian and you're oneness and go ahead and convince me there's one god and man i took out after him and i mean j.t payne he like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn he just smacked me around the room with this verse and and that verse and he said go back to your hotel room boy don't watch tv study the bible and we'll do this again tomorrow i stayed there in porterdale for six weeks but i finally got to where he sharpened me and helped me he sharpened um then i was privileged to preach he was elderly man at the time for a man named gl acres that's david and george acres father and you you think you think y'all got it you think you look look up here brother carpenter that man you broke harper's my pastor boy we got it bad you know how would you like to be a man in a church that brother acres pastored he had a man that always complained about paying tithe one day brother acres got tired of it and he he walked that man's tithe down to his house and the man was out cutting his the hedges brother acre said and the man greeted him and he said here and he said what's this he said them to tithe he said don't bring them back to the church he said don't want him he said wait a minute we mean don't want him he said you complain you gripe all that about it some folks don't understand the beauty of having meat in god's house and he said i'm not going to take them and he turned around and walked away and the man followed brother acres back down the road saying please take my tithe i i don't want to be cursed and he turned around he said you promised me he said i'll never gripe another day in my life just please take these tithes some you think i'm rough but you know something i look around at the church at some of these people that were brought up in that air the birkits the zeanders the hollands i look around the marshals i look around at some of these people and you know what they turned out to be pretty good saints they turned out to be pretty good people they they got a 54-year marriage going on that they got this one i don't know about you but to the young people tonight at first apostolic church that's what i want you to be like 54 years in your marriage i want you to be able to say man do you love the house tonight come on do you love the house tonight do you love god's house tonight sure you do just let me read a couple more verses i'm going to dismiss you but the book of hagiai the book the book of hagia chapter i believe i'm looking for chapter number one chapter number one of haggai by the way second corinthians 9 and 7 for the lord loveth a what he loveth the cheerful giver haggai chapter 1 verse number 5 the setting of this verse of scripture is the people say that it's not time for the house of god to be built it's not time for the kingdom of god to go forth verse 5 listen to god now therefore thus saith the lord of hosts consider your ways you have sown much and bring in little you eat but you have not enough you drink but you are not filled with drink you clothe you but there is none warm and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put into a bag with holes sounds miserable to me thus saith the lord of hosts consider your ways go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house and i will take pleasure in it and i will be glorified saith the lord you look for much and lo it came to little and when you brought it home i did blow up on it why saith the lord of hosts because of mine house that is waste and you run every man unto his own house therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew and the earth is stayed from her fruit and i called for a drought upon the land and upon the mountains and upon the corn and upon the new wine and upon the oil and upon that which the ground bringeth forth upon men upon cattle and upon all the labor of their hands let me tell you something it all had to do one thing it didn't matter how much you made god said i'll punch a hole in your pocket it didn't matter how many clothes you had in your closet god said none of them will make you warm god it didn't matter what kind of food you could get god said you're not going to be filled why what in the world's going on because you're not taking care of my house you're not taking care of the house of god he said you had high expectations but i blow on it and it would come to nothing church tonight let's see this beautiful thing let's buy into the blessing tonight let's buy into the blessing tonight love god love the house of god value this place put it on your calendar put it on your ca if you've got a job right now that's keeping you out of sunday morning or sunday night or wednesday night start praying and asking god that to move on somebody and they would change your shift so that you could be in the house of god please please let's don't become people now that are looking at the three services we have as multiple choice as long as i go to one of them no i don't want to look at it that way i want to look at it i get to go on wednesday night i get to go on sunday morning i get to go on sunday night come on church let's look god wants you to prosper god wants to sow up that hole in your pocket start valuing the house of god start valuing the house of the lord stand with me right now stand with me right now value the house of the lord just turn over just just turn over chapter 2 of haggai chapter 2 and verse number 15. and now i pray you consider from this day and upward from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the lord since those days listen to this now back when you wasn't taking care of god's house since those days since those days were when one came to a heap of 20 measures there were but ten when one came to the press fat to draw out fifty vessels out of the press there were but twenty i smote you with blasting and with milled you and with hell in all the labors of your hands yet you turn not to me saith the lord consider now from this day and upward from the fourth and twentieth day of the ninth month even from the day that the foundation of the lord's temple was laid consider it is the seed yet in the barn is the seed yet in other words he's saying as long as you're withholding from the house of god as long as you're withholding your time as long as you're withholding your treasure tithe as long as you're withholding this he said is the seed yet in the barn some people don't have a harvest tomorrow because they spent god's seed today is the seed yet in the barn yea as yet the vine and the fig and the pomegranate and the olive tree hath not brought forth from this day will i bless you i'm going to tell you tonight first requirement for being on this team i believe tonight do we have someone to baptize it did you all just hear me i don't know we seem i i we seem there we don't have a service or two go go by without somebody and sometimes several somebodies we realize how blessed we are you realize how blessed we are i was up in sevierville last night i preached the bible lesson up there last night and at the end of the service a man jumped up and said i want to be baptized in jesus name and we baptized him in jesus name sister brother and sister erickson had done it does such a good job up there they had they had just put some fresh water in the baptistry and they kind of filled it up to the brim and it was a rather large man i baptized last night so he and i both got well he got baptized and i got sprinkled amen did y'all know how blessed this is do you know how blessed it is a business owner down here on 411 i dropped my daughter's car off he came out and uh he said man you're doing some good preaching i said i am i said he said he said i watch you he said i watch you every week watch the church every week he said you folks shout and everything and he stood there and he started crying right right there and just stirred crying tell me and you know what then somebody else told brother erickson the other day at a was it a body shop here in town sit at a body shop where their sand and painted cars said that when they'll turn on they'll turn on the the the archives turn on the service and while they're over there sanding and painting cars here we are up there shouting and dancing around and preaching and matter of fact matt martin you might right now over at alcoa be watching he tells me he said we gather people around we gather a people around on our break and we watch the service do we know how blessed we are come on aren't you thankful for the house of the lord aren't you thankful please you'll always have holes in your pockets if god's ever done something for you and you don't start giving back to him he'll just cut holes in your pocket go ahead you'll never make enough the job won't come he's remember the expectation we came to a place we thought we'd get 50 out of it it was 20. you'll always almost i love you i love you too much not to preach this to you if god has done something for you you start giving god a dime out of every dollar that he increases in your life don't look at what you're given look at what god's done for you don't don't look at what you're given don't look don't look at what you're given look at how god found you filled you with the holy ghost you got back look look at that well let's baptize father in the name of the lord jesus christ lord i thank you for this precious young man that has come tonight that has heard the word of god in a bible study lord i thank you for him tonight lord i don't know if he's already received the holy ghost or not but lord if he's not received it fill him with the holy ghost speaking in a heavenly language when he comes up out of that water you are a great god you are a mighty god you are a chain breaking god you are a liberating god you're the joy of my salvation i praise you and i love you in jesus name in jesus name chase lovell because you have repented of all of your sins and in obedience to god's holy word i now baptize you in the name of the lord jesus christ yes for the remission of all of your sins yes shall receive the gift of the holy ghost in jesus name in jesus name oh in jesus name oh look what the lord has done look what the lord has done glory to god oh glory to god glory to god oh i praise you lord come on let's just love him right now lead us sister lauren lead us sister lord lead us in a course before we go home oh god touch the people lord oh god touch the people tonight lord yah touch the people tonight y'all touch the people tonight lord sing it now with sister lauren oh yes have you found it oh thank you lord for this house god thank you lord for this house tonight god oh thank you for this house tonight god thank you lord to this house tonight father on this first night of this staff meeting series lord i pray that we will be sealed with the thought that you have saved us and now god it's time for us to turn and get in the boat it's time for us to begin to minister back lord jesus keep your hands upon this church keep your hands god upon the men that have been baptized and the women that have been baptized in the last week lord i thank you for the marvelous work you're doing on kenny jr i thank you lord for this young man's heart to live for you oh god be upon the youth of this church touch them god in jesus mighty name i pray and the church said amen god bless you church thank you for coming out tonight you're dismissed in jesus name you