The Church Has The Upper Hand | Sr Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

if you have your bible i invite you to the book of acts chapter 11 verse number 27. while you're looking for that passage of scripture i want to welcome all that have gathered here and all that are watching online this evening may the good lord bless you and may the good lord keep you and truly may the good lord keep us all safe going home tonight i want to say that i traveled to sevierville today brother sanders delivered a powerful word there at the sevierville campus but you know you're headed to toward the mountains and i thought man as we're getting closer to sevierville i thought uh pardon the pun as we got closer to sevierville i thought it would get more severe but it actually got better up there but as we turned to come back to mary maryville man did the snow ever start falling around here we heard a great we had a great message a great message today i'm just going to tell you tonight i'm here to preach faith to you i'm here to preach faith to you i'm here to impart into your spirit through the word of god that you are not a loser that you are more than a conqueror through jesus christ tonight i hope in just a few moments that there's a spark that ignites inside of your soul that you'll leave here and you'll say you know what it was worth every moment of driving to the house of god well let's go into the word of god acts 11 27 and in these days came prophets from jerusalem unto antioch and there stood up one of them named agabus and signify by the spirit that there should be a great dearth that's like a famine a great dearth throughout all the world which came to pass in the days of claudius caesar then the disciples every man according to his ability determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in judea which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands would everybody say by the hands say it again by the hands of barnabas and saul go right into chapter 12 verse 1. now about that time herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church he killed james the brother of john with the sword and because he saw it please the jews he proceeded father to take peter also then were the days of unleavened bread and when he had apprehended him he put him in prison and delivered him to four quadrants of soldiers to keep him intending after easter to bring him forth to the people peter therefore was kept in prison but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto god for him just for a few moments tonight i want to minister on this subject the church has the upper hand the church has the upper hand would you lift up your hands tonight there's going to be a word of faith imparted in this room lord tonight we are above and not beneath we are the head and not the tale we are your people we are your bride carries your name and where is your spirit lord tonight i pray that the word of faith would ignite in the hearts of every people here lord i pray that faith would ignite in the heart of a sinner tonight and the sinner believed that he can be saved i believe tonight and i hope that faith ignites in a child of god that's been serving for many years but has been under a trial and i pray tonight that the gloominess of their life would be removed and that a word of faith would come into their heart tonight that the church has the upper hand in jesus name i do pray amen and a man you may be seated in jesus name the church has the upper hand i looked up the term the the origin of the term having the upper hand has anybody ever heard someone use that phrase hey he's got the upper hand or hey she's got the upper up upper hand you ever heard that phrase well i'll tell you they've got the upper hand and and so i looked i looked up the origin of the upper hand and the upper hand simply means according to google the upper hand simply means the position of dominance it means to be in charge being in control or having the advantage it is most often used as get the upper hand or gain the upper hand some believe the idiom upper hand came from an american playground method of seeing who takes the first turn in a game brother hammond would you bring me my example up here tonight of having the upper hand let's see who has the upper hand here this evening in this place how they would determine who got the bat first was a simple method of doing this and this and this and this and this and this and guess who has the upper hand that means i have the upper hand now i know when i brought my example to church tonight jim goodman about passed out when i but can i tell you tonight that god wants us to know on this snowy sunday night thank you bro i think i'll keep it all right god wants us to know on this snowy sunday night that sometimes it looks like the devil has his hand but always remember that prayer will not might maybe most of the time you hear me tonight prayer always gives you the upper hand it always causes you i don't care what situation you're in in life don't care where you have found yourself how miserably set back you are prayer changes everything prayer gives you that position of dominance well let me show it to you tonight the bible said that a great dearth this famine was going through the land that's kind of how the enemy works this great dearth famine was going through the land and a spirit the spirit used a prophet by the name of agamus he prophesied to the church and told the church that a great dearth was coming throughout not just the land but the whole world and the bible says in verse 29 of chapter 11. follow closely now then the disciples every man according to his ability and i'm going to show you something i am so glad that god doesn't require someone else's ability of me because all men are not created equal in ability some have more ability some have less ability but thank god god only requires what it has to do of me my ability i have everything i need to have the upper hand the bible says that when they heard that this dearth was coming then the disciples every man according to his ability determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in judea which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of barnabas and saul so we see the church and you've got to watch this in the spirit because go ahead go ahead put it down in your playbook any time you stretch your hand out be well assured the enemy is going to try to put his hand on top of your hand anytime you get ready to do something you got to get ready for the next day of the enemy saying not so quick not so quick not so quick so now without without chapters and verses in the bible it would go immediately to this i want you to see this the church stretched out its hand would you go ahead and do that tonight with me would you just stretch out your hand all right the church stretches out his hand their hand i'm stretching out my hand to god wait a minute now chapter 12 and verse number one watch what happens now about that time about what time what time we talking about about the time the church stretched out its hand about that same time herod the king what does he do look at verse one he stretched out his hands two vex certain of the church get ready get ready anytime you put your hand here because the position of dominance is not that the devil never messes with you it's that when he puts one hand on you put another hand on and he puts another hand on and you put another hand on because when you understand the great power of prayer when it comes to the end of the bat i'm going to tell you who's going to be holding it you're going to be holding it because the enemy cannot overcome a praying young per person the enemy cannot overcome a young marriage the enemy cannot overcome an elder person that may be suffering with some handicaps in their life if they can just keep on praying they'll always have this upper hand so harry decides that he's going to stretch forth his hands he's going to vex certain of the church he killed james the brother of john with the sword now that's interesting he got a hold of james and beheaded him and because he saw that it pleased the jews he proceeded also to take peter he said man he said i'm a political leader and i kind of like pleasing the multitudes it's pleased the multitudes that i got james i'll go ahead and get the ring leader i'll go ahead and get the preacher of pentecost i'll go ahead and get the key man i'll go ahead and get the man to have the keys to the kingdom and when he did he reached out and got him and he put him in prison but now i want to do a little surmising here because something happened when peter was incarcerated that didn't happen when james was incarcerated the bible says that when they had apprehended him and put him in prison and delivered him to four quadrants of soldiers to be kept intending to after easter to bring him forth peter was kept in prison but look at the final words of verse 5 but prayer was made of the church unto god without ceasing now i have to go out on a limb here tonight dear and i have to go out on a little bit of a limb to prove this point but i wonder did the church get together and say you know what we set oddly by when herod got james and nobody did anything you know when herod arrested james nobody got to pray when herod arrested james and took james into prison none of us got stirred up and because we were prayerless herod had the upper hand and i just wonder if somebody didn't say hey it's time to get the upper hand on herod we tried to do something for god and you're going to see servant god is this system of you reaching your hand out and satan reaching his hand out but it's not who does it who does the handout it's the prayer that you end with because the devil will mess with all of us he'll mess with our minds he'll mess with our marriages he'll mess with our kids he'll mess with our church and we can sit idly by but somebody says my authority is in the prison the key man peter is in the prison and it's time that somebody prays oh herod just really bouncing around he was a very prideful man you can tell that the bible talks about the clothes that he wore he was an egotist he was an a maniac he was an egotist he was pridefully reeked with it man i can just see o'hared now bouncing around the kingdom because i i've got old peter down there in the prison got 16 got 16 guards watching him got 16 got him inside the maximum secure i mean i've got him i i mean he is in the deepest hole in my prison that you could ever be in and i've got 16 soldiers keeping watch over him but you see oh herod you just can walk like a peacock if you want to but there's a little band of men and women meeting over at john mark's house there's a little band of men and women that believe in the power of prayer and they get over at john mark's house and they get down on their knees and somebody said we're going to pray without ceasing how long is this prayer meeting going to go on this prayer meeting's going to go on until simon peter is brought out of prison how long are we going to pray i'm going to tell you how long we're going to pray we're going to pray until the answer comes it might come tonight it might come tomorrow some of you might get your prayers answered before the end of the month but i want you to know that we are going to pray until the answer comes how long this prayer meeting going to go on i'll tell you how long it's going to go on it's going to go on to simon peter gets out of prison and the night before they were going to behead him you know it's amazing god always works the night before somebody said god god is never early and he's never late but he's right on time i mean the night before the next morning peter is going to be beheaded very lays surrounded by guards inside of the maximum security prison when an angel of the lord becomes invisible walks through walls and goes into the inner maximum security and there he touches peter on the side peter wakes up now that's that's a whole sermon right there when you're walking with the holy ghost how can you sleep when you know the next morning they're going to behead you i i don't know how you'd get any rest that night knowing that tomorrow you know tomorrow but god has a way of causing us to sleep the night before all the trouble supposed to come i'm talking about having the upper hand the angel touches him on the side tells peter to put his robe on tells peter to put his sandals on and i'm not adding to this the angel says put you put your robe on i don't guess he wanted to take no naked preacher out of the prison he said put your clothes on now and put your shoes on and peter got up and he thought he was seeing a vision he thought man this is a sweet dream i'm having i i'm having a sweet dream here and they will go walking out and and the chains fall off and the other of the guards are sleeping and the prison doors open and then there was this huge iron door that opened up to the street and peter and this angel walks up and and the bible says the iron door and this is back before garage door openers and all of that this this iron gate just swaying open of its own accord i mean it just swaying open and peter and the angels step out into the street and when they step out into the street the angel leaves peter and peter wakes up and says man this wasn't a dream this is real this is absolutely real god has sent his angel and isn't it amazing that when god begins to do things that peter knew exactly where to go the bible says he went to the prayer meeting he went down and began to knock on the door and i got a little sermon i'll talk to you about that he began to knock on the door of the prayer meeting because he knew what had caused his deliverance hey do you want the upper hand learn how to pray do you want to have the upper hand just learn how to talk to god just learn how to ask god to help me lord when pain and depression causes you to want to stay in bed all day in pain and agony because you don't want to beat down if you can just somehow go to god in prayer the enemy may have his hand here but through prayer you're going to be able to have so he began to knock on the door of the prayer meeting he's knocking on the door they were in there praying oh god deliver peter oh god set peter free oh god you know we need our pastor oh god you know that you're able lord you created the heavens and the earth god you said let there be and there was light god you said let the earth bring forth and it did god you kept the the three hebrew children safe in the fiery furnace god you kept daniel safe in the lion's den god you brought moses and israel through the red sea god if you can do all that you can bring peter out of prison and peter's knocking at the door a little old girl hears him knocking and goes to the door and sees peter and the bible simply says she thought she saw his spirit she goes back in and she says hey i'm telling you peter is at the door and they said oh honey peter's not at the door peter is in prison he he's not you know that's amazing sometimes we can pray for things but we need to start looking for things to come if you're going to pray for rain for god's sakes carry an umbrella if you're going to ask god to send the rain put your waders on if you're going to ask god to give you rain carry an umbrella in the middle of your drought and when somebody says what are you doing you're going to say i've got the upper hand because i'm going to prayer the bible says that old proud peacock herod the next morning took his seat and waited for them to bring peter out of prison they came to him and i can see him sitting there on the throne waiting for that execution hundreds of thousands of people had gathered together i can see some little carrier bringing a note to him and i can see herod reading that note and that note simply reads simon peter is not in prison we can't find him can i tell you i believe that through prayer we can be hell's biggest disappointment you hear me i believe we can be hell's biggest disappointment i believe hell's wanting to make a display of some of our lives this year brother mike but i believe through prayer when the devil says hey this is the day that we're going to get him hell is severely disappointed because somebody got the upper hand with prayer the bible says that herod ordered the death of all the soldiers that kept peter but the story's not over herod decides that he will deliver a speech in the book of acts 12 says that when harry got up and herod gave his speech as a matter of fact some of the commentaries says that herod loved to deck himself with gold when he would speak so that when he would speak in direct sunlight that the beams the sunlight would beam off the gold and he would appear to be a god and it happened herod gave this speech that day acts records and when he gave that speech the people begin to say this is not a voice of a man but this is the voice of god this is the voice of god the bible says that herod gave not glory to god and god smote him with the disease and herod died but it's interesting how the 12th chapter ends sister maynard it's interesting how the 12th chapter ends you remember how the 11th chapter ended how did the 11th chapter end paul and silas were taking the money to the poor saints they had stretched out their hands guess how chapter 12 ends after herod dies chapter 12 ends with two verses it says and and barnabas and saul came back and told the brethren we have completed our mission can i tell you hell may go up the bat with you a few times and it may look like he has the upper hand but church here this pastor tonight pray church pray church call on god church if you'll do that you will have the upper hand can i tell a sinner here tonight can i tell somebody that's lost in their sins hell has got its hands upon you hell has got its hands on your mind and your heart hell has got you on a course of destruction misery and agony a found story john chapter 8 some men self-righteous i would go as far is to say maybe not devil possessed but strongly influenced by the devil because any time you become an accuser of people in their sins the bible says that satan is an accuser well it was a group of men that wanted to flaunt their self-righteousness well they had been eyeing a certain woman now never mind the man never mind the man because they're so male chauvinistic never mind the man but hey we've been eyeing a certain woman that seems to frequent a house we suspect that this woman is sleeping committing adultery oh god forbid with this man i believe if we set up watch i mean never mind we could invite her to the temple and show the word of god to her i mean never mind that someone may try to reach them with the love of god but i believe we set up watch we could probably catch her in the very act now notice this the bible says they caught the woman and it says in the very act can you imagine those judgmental hands that grabbed that woman can you imagine the judgmental uncaring unloving hands that grabbed her we've caught you now all death with you death and public embarrassment those hands took that woman and marched her right down can you imagine that woman what she was thinking when those hands grabbed her she's probably pulling at the covers to cover herself and they drag her out in the street and of all places you're taking me you're taking me to the temple of all places and i see this woman i see this woman trying to cover her face much like criminals we see on tv i see her trying to cover her face but they made a mistake they brought her down to the temple and they said and the bible says they sent her that's their hands they set her and they said to jesus oh jesus i'll just have a little fun with this because we can trap jesus if he says she needs to be stoned he's in trouble with rome we can't sentence somebody to death if he says let her go he's a law breaker he's a law breaker if he says let her oh boy can't you see them rubbing their judgmental fingers together and can't you see them oh we got him we got him we got him look at him now they set him down but the bible says jesus stooped down and with his hand he began to write and when he looked up he said those of you that be without sin cast the first stone now i'm going to tell you jesus could have cast the first stone he could have reached down and got a stone and cast it at the woman and he would have been the one without sin but they thought we this woman's life is over we've got the upper hand but they placed her in the hand of the wrong one because when it was all said and done jesus was saying woman where are your accusers where are those that are accusing you go and sin no more oh don't you love god tonight to have the upper hand i've got the upper hand oh let me close tonight musicians would you come the old devil is seen clearly in this one called goliath in first samuel 17 45 david goes out the bible says first samuel 17 45 then said david to the philistine now follow this now thou cometh to me with a sword and with a shield a spear and with a shield but i come to thee in the name of the lord of hosts the god of the armies of israel whom thou has defied this day will the lord deliver thee watch it church watch it this day will the lord deliver thee what into my hand hasn't goliath been bellaring long enough in some of your lives come on now has hasn't goliath been bellowing and condemning and reminding and pushing you down hasn't the devil given you enough titles as it is why don't you stop wearing the labels that satan wants you to wear divorcee ex-con trouble unwanted as hasn't goliath ballard long enough i think it's time for a david to get out on the battlefield and say you have reproached the living god you have reproach the living god this day will the lord deliver thee into my hand and i will smite thee take thy head from thee and give the carcass give the carcass of the host of the philistines this day and to the fowls of the air and to the wild beast and all the earth may know that there is a god in israel and all the assembly shall know that the lord saveth not was sword or spear for the battle is the lord's and he will give you into our hands came to pass when the philistine arose and came nigh to meet david that david hastened ran toward the army to meet the philistine david put i'm sorry but i'm i'm emphasizing everything of this david put his hand in the bag i might have lost some coming up the ram run there might have been times i i thought i was on top until he put his hand down there and i thought i was on top till he put his hand there and i thought i was on top until he put his hand there but i'm telling you 20 22 and 21 days of prayer when the devil says i got it i got it somebody's gonna start praying and say no i've turned the whole situation around in my family i've got the upper hand on you now i'm one ruling from dominance i'm tired of you trash talking me i'm tired of you waking me up in condemnation i wasn't made for all of this my home wasn't made to be a place of chaos and confusion my life wasn't made to be a place of torment i am going to have the upper hand you can have it in prayer would you stand with me right now praise team would you come on out you know i know we battle a lot of things now and we battle a lot of things now well if you do this and you got to watch and all this stuff and this might happen if you do this but i just wonder if our altar call tonight couldn't consist of people that would just walk up here to the front grab this bat and put their hand right here as if to say no devil i'm going to have the upper hand on this and after you do after you hold this back for a moment maybe maybe somebody else wants to come and worship god for a moment and let it be on this sunday night that we make a proclamation and a declaration to the enemy i have the upper hand i have the upper hand you've had the upper hand for a lot of times but i i have the upper hand right now as they begin to sing right now is there anybody that would like to come and just grab the end of this bat just grab the end of it like that sister yates and just begin to say i have the upper hand i have the upper hand oh god we have the upper hand lord god you know what's went on god lord you know what the enemy has meant for absolute defeat but oh god in the name of jesus oh god i will have the upper hand i will have that upper hand through prayer i will have that upper hand i will have that upper hand through prayer i will have that upper hand through prayer tonight oh god i will have that upper hand through prayer lord jesus lord jesus lord jesus i will have that upper hand through prayer tonight oh i will have that upper hand through prayer been waiting god god i will have that upper hand god oh i will have that upper hand god i will have that upper hand god tonight lord through prayer lord oh god i will have that upper hand tonight i will have that upper hand tonight god i will have that upper hand and i will go i will have that upper hand and my god i will have to believe it believe it rhonda believe it rhonda oh i won't have that upper hand tonight i will have that upper hand tonight go ahead oh god i will have the upper hand i will have the upper hand i will have the upper hand god through prayer through prayer through prayer