The Cost of the Fire | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

turn with me to the book of deuteronomy chapter number four verse number 24 deuteronomy chapter number four verse number greetings to all of you that have gathered tonight in this house of the lord for worship if you're here tonight and you're a first-time guest we welcome you into an apostolic pentecostal first century style of worshiping god and we're honored that you would come on this sunday evening and that you would be with us i i want to say sister carpenter asked in reference to the trendsetters that we need your name turned in tonight or by wednesday we need your name we need your name turned in so we can secure the tickets and i thank you i thank you for that i got to take just a second was that not one of the most awesome spring programs was that not just awesome you were here if you were here um i i'm going to tell you something i'm going to tell you something the students of aca don't have to take a back seat to dollywood nashville or even disney i mean these kids are flat out talented and i think they deserve just a great hand them the staff you know they're they're using their the young folks use new language now and even some of the pastoral staff brother hammond brother nolan and even pastor eric they use they use new terminology i don't understand it they'll say man that's sick and i'm thinking well let's pray for them you know i was in a family a family text feed and friday it came through and it said cheshire is killing the lights i said tell him to stop and it meant he was doing an extremely an extremely good job you know so you kids are sick y'all are sick man y'all just sick that's all i say you're sick a bunch of sick kids around here you know a week from tonight we will start a revival with brother mark brown the revival will go sunday night monday night tuesday night wednesday night monday and tuesday night we'll be very quick to get the man of god on the floor because we've come to hear the word of god we've come to pray in the altars and see what see what god is about god is wanting to do choir was singing tonight i feel a breakthrough god's power jail breakthrough i feel that breakthrough and i heard the lord speak in my ear he said you must begin to train the men and women of this church as never before to teach bible studies because it's going to take more than a shouting to have a breakthrough in the jailhouse somebody's going to have to go to the jailhouse with a bible study chart somebody's going to have to go to the drug house with the bible study chart somebody's going to have to go to the courthouse with a bible study chart somebody's going to have to go to the upper echelon neighborhoods with a bible study chart and i'm putting some things in my mind together it may be time to take those that want to teach bible studies it may be time for us to go to summer school and to be trained i need you tonight i need you i need you i know you'll probably think i'm not being truthful tonight you will think when i make this statement well he means well but he's not going to do what he says he's going to do but i am going to attempt in the presentation of the word tonight to be brief now the reason i'm going to attempt to be brief is because i want you to take the service and us to have an old-fashioned getting ready for the revival an old-fashioned re-dedication of ourselves to our god deuteronomy 4 and 24 for the lord thy god is a consuming fire even a jealous god hebrews 12 and 29 for our god is a consuming fire tonight i want to minister for a few moments on the cost of the fire the cost of the fire father i love you tonight lord i want to be ready for the revival lord i want to be stirred up i want to be fired up god i want to get anything out of my life lord that would be hindering your spirit to flow freely through me lord jesus tonight would you use me to present the word of god to these people that lord our hearts may be revived oh god we may be stirred in our spirits oh god we the church may be stirred god anoint me tonight and i'll give you the praise and the honor and the glory in jesus mighty name we pray amen amen please lift up your voice with a shout right now oh hallelujah you may be seated the cost of the fire in november of 1963 after john f kennedy was assassinated his wife jackie kennedy was very specific about the type of memorial she wanted that to ha him to have she had previously admired the eternal flame at the tomb of the french unknown soldier in paris france and felt that a similar tribute would be appropriate for her husband the ideal was approved and the washington gas company had about a day to design a propane torch that could be used at the funeral they pulled it off and the flame has been burning ever since it's called the eternal flame i begin to think about fire and revival because i can't i don't think that we can truly separate a pentecostal church from pentecostal fire i think we can truly separate living for god we use terms such as i'm on fire for god one of the many reasons we use this and it's a flame it's a flame that should never go out is because the bible simply tells us and god introduces himself to us as a consuming fire fire is represented as the symbol of jehovah's presence and the instrument of his power in the way either of approval or destruction notice this about the fire of god god's fire or god's presence can even can can either announce his arrival or that fire can announce his judgment fire can either signify that my presence is here or fire can be a symbol of god's judgment i believe i know how to answer for every man woman boy and girl here tonight we don't want the fire of judgment but we sure do desire the fire of his presence it's in the book of exodus that we find this so beautifully laid out in exodus we can find this exodus chapter 13 verse number 21 and the lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and by night how comforting it must have been for the israelites on that passover night when they were gloriously redeemed you know why i mention that word tonight i'm going to tell you i felt the presence of redemption in this altar this morning i felt the absolute presence of redemption here today how awesome it must have felt that night to be led out of 430 years of bondage and there the presence of god in a pillar of fire led them the way but that fire represented god's presence and god's acceptance but a few years later two of the sons of aaron tried to play around with god they tried to change the methods of worshiping god two of aaron's sons decided that they didn't have to follow the old paths that he'd have to do it the way that god had laid down the bible says and it simply says this that nadab and abahu they offered strange fire to god they offered strange fire to god the book of leviticus chapter 10 and verse number two records it after nadab and abahu offered strange fire to god the bible says and there went out fire from the lord and devoured them and they died before the lord here again we see we see the example of god's fire either being something of acceptance of his presence or we see god's fire bringing destruction and bringing death it would be in the form of worship a burnt offering of which you and i should continually strive to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to god as a burnt offering to him the law of the burnt offering the law of the burnt offering in leviticus chapter 6 and verse number 9 there was a law of the burnt offering the law of the burnt offering went like this command aaron and his sons saying this is the law of the burnt offering it is the burnt offering because of the burning upon the altar all night until the morning and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it he said let me explain to you about the burnt offering because you never want to get a body where there is not a fire you never want to bring a sacrifice where there is no fire to consume the sacrifice so god begin to say what makes this offering so special is that there's fire on the altar all night until the morning verse 12 and the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it it shall not be put out this fire was to never go out the priest shall burn wood on it every morning and lay the burnt offering in order upon it and he shall burn there on the fat of the peace offerings the fire shall ever be burning upon the altar anything you think god's trying to get something through to us the fire shall ever be burning upon the altar it shall never go out why are we having revival because pastor believes that the fire is getting a little low around here why are we having a revival because somebody needs to keep the fire burning inside of your life it's not good enough for your body to be here there needs to be a fire once the body is here to burn up the sacrifice so that it can be pleasing to almighty god i wish somebody would shout it shall never go out i wish somebody would shout it shall never go out let the fire on the altar let the fire of the altar never go out there was the cost of the flame as a matter of fact i did a little research into the eternal flame of john f kennedy and i have found out that there were a few occasions of which this fire has went out shortly after they lit the flame in 1963 a bunch of catholic students from a catholic school came to pay homage to jfk and they brought holy water or supposed to holy water to the site and as they poured out the holy water on the flame it extinguished the flame quickly a guard saw the flame it went out and he went and restarted the flame a few years later a bad storm hit washington d.c and the winds and the rains extinguished the flame and they had to start it again they went to great lengths to put electric ignition and things there that in case that it goes out that it starts again brothers and sisters ladies and gentlemen tonight i submit to you on this sunday evening at this apostolic pentecostal church that if the world would go to great lengths to keep a flame going for a dead president how much more should you and i strive to keep a fire on the altar for the living lord how much more should you and i desire to be a sacrifice holy and acceptable unto god somebody say it shall never go out god has a way of waking us up i currently believe that our nation in our world is in the grip of a hand of god that's trying to wake this nation up before the greatest event to take place the rapture of the church i believe that god has shook the world and that god is trying to wake up not only america but god is trying to wake up god is trying to wake up this world in israel god used several methods to wake up israel he used droughts and famines and wars and pestilence he allowed them to happen why because they had allowed the fire to go out we find this clearly given to us in the first book of the kings chapter number 16 and verse a political leader by the name of ahab a political leader by the name of ahab the son of omri did evil in the sight of the lord above all that were before him now look at ahab let's find him now he he did evil above everyone that had been before him could we not say about the moral climate of our nation and of our world that it appears that our leaders are taking us into greater sins such as never been committed he did more he did more evil than all that were before him verse 31 it came to pass as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of jeroboam the son of nebat that he took to wife jezebel the daughter of f bell king of the zodians and went and served baal and worshiped him who is baal bell is the god of prosperity baal is the god of rain fertility baal is the god of entertainment he's the god of pleasure he's the wall street god ahab went built an altar under baal in the house of baal which he built in samaria ahab made a grove and ahab did look at look at this ahab did more to provoke the lord god of israel to anger then all the kings of israel that were before him he was topping every other king the bible says in his days in ahab's days did hale the betlanite bill jericho he laid the foundation thereof in abyrham his firstborn set up the gates thereof and his youngest sons according to the word of the lord which he spake by joshua the son of nun when joshua hundreds of years before this conquered jericho and destroyed jericho joshua prophesied over jericho and he said curse me the man that rises up and builds what god has destroyed curse me the man that builds the walls says that he shall lay the foundation in his firstborn hundreds of years before this he shall lay the foundation his firstborn he shall set up the gates when he digs the footer to rebuild jericho judgment will hit and god will take his firstborn now joshua is saying this hundreds of years before and joshua says when he sets up the gates judgment will hit and he will give his youngest son and although this prophecy was well known it was a sinful climate that activated the prophecy notice the prophecy had to do with the destruction of children our children not today in the forefront of our news are they not trying to tell us that our children belong to the federal government and we parents should keep our nose out of what they are taught between eight o'clock and three o'clock thank god for aca that's all i got to say so all i got to say they may take me off facebook tonight they may take me off social platform tonight but mr president you have no authority to say that our children belong to the government and we should mind our own business you have no authority to say that now i may they may give me a sign in a moment that i've been taken off of social media but let it be taken off but it's still the god's gospel truth our children don't belong to the federal government i got news for you our children your children don't belong to you either you know who they belong to god god gave them to you god said let me give you something take care of it bring it up in the way that it should go it'll glorify my name they've been messing with children for years now they've not been content to snuff out the lives of the unborn now they're trying to get into the lives and the minds of the born you're going to hasten judgment upon this world you're going to hasten prophecy upon this world it's going to come but during the days of ahab god said enough is enough and god allowed a three and a half year drought to hit israel god brought an ahab to his knees the bible says after three years and six months that elisha was told elijah excuse me was told to go meet ahab three years and six months of no rain and god speaks to ahab god speaks to elijah it says i want you to go show yourself to ahab it's very dangerous because ahab wants to silence sound familiar ahab wants to silence the voice of elijah the bible records this meeting in first kings chapter 18 and verse 17. the meeting the meeting after three and a half years of drought the bible said it came to pass when ahab saw elijah that ahab said unto him art thou he that troubleth israel is it an amazing how they've got it all wrong the world believes that people that hold bibles in their hands people that believe in right wrong and absolutes people that have that believe in a god whose name is jesus people that believe in morals that were the trouble of america we're the trouble here he looks at elijah and he said i want to know are you the one that has troubled this nation and he answered and said i have not troubled israel but thou in thy father's house and that you have forsaken the commandments of the lord and thou has followed after balaam you followed after the god of fertility you followed after the god of sexual immorality you followed after the wall street god you followed after all these other gods it's you that has troubled this nation and elisha says i want you to gather me to me all israel unto mount carmel and the prophets of baal 450 and the prophets of the grove 400 which eat at jezebel's table so ahab sent until all the children of israel and gathered the prophets together unto mount carmel you see now elisha elijah says to them i want you to bring all of these false prophets all of these promoters of sexual immoralities all of these prophets that tell about wall street and profits and gains and money and cars and status so i want you to gather them 450 false prophets and 400 prophets of the grove which are financed at jezebel's table they're financed at jezebel's table he said you gather them to me to mount carmel they gathered there on that hill and elisha gave a challenge he gave a challenge he said if baal be god served baal but if god be god serve god because he said how long are you going to limp and hobble between two opinions you can't make up your mind when the sun is shining and the rain is falling you're a bell worshiper but when the drought comes down and you have no food in your cover you hobble over to jehovah but elijah said you're going to have to serve one of them you can't haunt between two opinions not a word came out of their mouth not a word came out of their mouth and then elijah said i challenge you with this and it begins with verse number 22 of first kings 18. then said elijah unto the people i even i only remain a prophet of the lord but baal's prophets are 450 men let them therefore give us two bullets let them choose one bullet for themselves cut it in pieces lay it on wood and put no fire under i will dress the other bullet and lay it on wood and put no fire under call on the name of your gods plural because this world has a lot of gods call on the name of your gods plural and i will call on the name of the lord singular and the god that answereth by and the god that answer it by fire let him be god and all the people answered and said it is well spoken and elisha said unto the prophets of bell choose you he's doing everything that he can to let them know that he has nothing up his sleeve this is not a trick this is not some cheap magician's trick he backs off and he says you go first you choose the bullock you choose the altar you choose all this he steps back it's in the morning and they cut the bullock in pieces and they lay it on the wood on the altar and they begin to call out upon the name of baal oh they'll hear us oh they'll hear us and they cry out from the morning to the evening to the morning till noon o'bell hear us they got a little tired of crying out and they got demonstrative the bible said they began to leap around the altar they believed that they could stir up a little emotion that they could get a hold of baal it was then that elijah began to taunt them he began to taunt them he steps out over to the side and he says maybe you need to cry louder maybe your god is asleep and needs to be awakened maybe you need to cry louder he may be on a vacation and needs to come home he so incurated them that they took out small razor blades and they begin to cut themselves and to shed their own blood there now the evening time is coming now the evening time is coming church tonight i am not a gloom and doomed preacher but i am telling you we're not in the morning of the church age we're not in the afternoon of the church age would you set up on the end of your pew and would you hear this five foot seven inch green eyed preacher we're in the evening time of the church and if there's ever been a day that the pentecostal church is on fire it's now we have got to produce somebody say don't let it go out the fire we're in the evening time it's not time for us to stop talking about miracle signs and wonders it's not time for us to stop talking about deliverance it's not time for us to stop talking about god doing the miraculous if there's ever been a day that the pentecostal church needs to be on fire it's now we need to be on fire our building is not our fire our talent is not our fire our large crowd is not our fire the holy ghost is our fire elijah said you're finished aren't you your god hasn't answered you has he you see i believe that we're about to enter into a small window of opportunity such as we've never had before i believe that hungry religious people in this city are beginning to understand that their religion has not produced the fire that it told them it would produce i believe there's hungry sincere people we saw some today i believe there's hungry sincere people with their bibles out on their tables at the restaurant that are coming to the realization that they're still as empty as they were when they left one religion and went to that religion we're going to enter into a small window of opportunity when the apostolic pentecostal fire-breathing church can step out to a lost and dying community and say he's not answered you has he false religion has not answered you has he polluted dumbed down watered down religion has not answered you has it churches that are afraid to let the holy ghost move and let tongues begin to flow they're afraid that it'll get out of order it won't get out of order it'll get in order but you got to let the fire turn my god we're about to enter in you hear me brother erickson we're about to enter into a window there's people that are bleeding there's people that are tired they have prophesied and it's not come true they have cut themselves and it's not come true they have leaped around charismatic circles and it's not come through it's time for elijah to step out and produce the fire come on if you're with me tonight i want you to shout set up fire set a fire down in my cell that i can't contain that i can't control i want more of you god he said you're done we're done and the bible said that elisha elijah repaired the altar now you've got to really study your bible to figure this out because some automatically believe that he repaired the altar that they jumped on and tore down that is not the altar they repaired at mount carmel was the site of an old altar to jehovah it was the site of an old altar nolan where worshipers of jehovah had went begged god to send rain to the crops the worshipers of jehovah brought sick babies with fevered brows to that altar lifted them up to god and god answered but ahab moved in and jezebel moved in and they began to give them altars of baal and altars of convenience and they begin to give them all these altars until the weeds begin to overgrow the altar of jehovah the weeds begin to grow over the old fashion altar where saints got down and prayed until they prayed through not a little mamsy pamsy quick in and out prayer but i'm telling you a gut-wrenching prayer god i've got to have you tonight i'm talking about this church is built on the blood of saints that came to a prayer room and made such outlandish remarks i'm not leaving here till i get what i need from god some of you children are the products of gray-headed grandmothers that pray through but if we don't watch it will that prosperity oh shut up oh well that fancy suits and dresses and fat bank accounts modern conveniences and vacations every two or three weeks we'll let it take the place while the vines grow on the altar elisha said you may be seated elisha said he said come with me where are we going he pulls back some briars and some thickets he pulls back look what looks like a weed patch brother troy and there's a few old charred bricks there a few old charred bricks and he begins to rip it down and till they stand and they see something they've never seen before he pulls back the briars and pulls back the weeds and maybe a tear trickles down o elijah's face as he remembers days when he shouted around the altar he shouted around the altar days at youth camp when you were slain in the spirit telling you something some of you young people will never get away from experiences you've had at mars hill you'll never get away from sweaty altar services and waking up on the floor that that auditorium and it's midnight and you're praying you never get away from that i don't care if you do get married i don't care if you do get that job it's that old altar he pulls that brush back and he repairs that altar and puts up some stones that have stumbled down and maybe some graffiti by the bell worshipers are written on the side and he scrubs around a little bit he builds repairs the altar and then he gets a shovel out and he does something to his altar that they didn't do to their altar he dug in the world uses their altar temporarily we dig in at our altar he dug a trench all the way around the altar he cut the bullock in pieces and then he said i want to remove all doubt that there's a shenanigan here i want to remove all doubt this is this is an emotional fervor that you get worked up into i want to remove all doubt he said bring me four barrels of water water was the most precious thing of that day can i tell you we're not going to get the fire in our church like we needed unless we're willing to give god what's most precious to us see y'all y'all we're having two extra services absolutely and i wish everybody was as fired up as him well i need some fire for my backsliding sun i need some fire for my backslidden daughter we need some fire for our marriage you're gonna have to put some precious things and it's called time it's called time we have allowed the culture to tell us the days of two or three night revivals are not possible the culture is a liar we need to have the time and the fire four barrels four more barrels four more barrels which were twelve barrels which looked impossible the slaughtered bullet was soaked the wood was soaked and there was water filling the trench how long did the bell worshipers pray without an answer all day long but elijah steps out and i've counted it in a king james version elijah steps out and prays a 58 word prayer and at the end of 58 words that begin with god of abraham isaac and jacob at the end of 15 number one it ends with this god let them realize today that you were the one that told me what to do you were the one that said the god that answereth by fire let him be god you were the one that put that into my mind because there is no god like our god there is no lord like our god he can answer by fire and upon the 50 would you stand with me right now up on the 58th word the heavens opened and divine fire swirled down consumed the sacrifice first consumed the wood second was so hot that it consumed the stones third and then as if to say thank you god licked up the water in the trench and the fire went up and then he said you gotta kill the prophets of baal look up here at me tonight there are voices i'm battling right now tonight in your mind there's voices that swarm around the youth that say he's outdated he served his day he doesn't know what i'm going through he's not a t he he can't relate to me there's voices i'm fighting for you right now baby i'm fighting for your little brain right now because we got to kill the prophets of baal we got to kill the voices of the false prophets elisha turns around and he says after they begin to say the lord he is god he said take the false prophets and kill every one of them there's voices that need to be killed there's voices of past condemnation there's voices on our older people tonight just like on our younger people voices that i'm detached you you don't relate to me there's voices over the gray-headed saints that say it can never be what it used to be the days of the old camp meetings are over the days of the shekinah glory of god are over i'm telling you let's kill the voices of the false prophets it's our time it's revival time it's time for the holy ghost fire to fall it's time for renewal of the day of pentecost it's time it's our time it's our time church if you believe it musician's time listen to me please listen to me he said take the boy there's voices oh i rebuke those voices in the name of jesus christ i can never get back what i want your head that's a lie from the pit of hell you can get back and more i said you can get back and more sister charlotte you can get back and more said the kathy you can get back anymore he said kill every one of those false prophets somebody say after say it after after he killed the false prophets he said i hear the sound of the abundance of rain why don't you tell me when the fire falls you hear the sound because the sound is muffled by the sound of 450 false prophets the sound of revival is swirling all around you to give you hope and expectation but until you kill the prophets of baal prosperity politics all the things of this world you will never hear the prophetic verse but i want to say this in case you're listening i hear the sound of the abundance of rain yes yes yes yes yes yes i hear the sound i want you praising for a minute while i catch my breath and this shall come to pass in the last days that i will pour out of my spirit upon our flesh he's gonna restore the broken yes he's gonna yes yes i hear the healing coming i hear the healing coming i hear the sound of the abundance of rays yes hear the sound don't you hear the sound don't you hear the sound god is coming joy peace happiness go ahead talk your turns go ahead get the fire yeah yeah yes hey hey i hear the trumpet i hear the show fire fire fire fire fire hey folks something got a hold of me right now something got a hold of me right now fire fire go ahead let it get on you let it get on you go ahead let it get on you get your wife by the hand get your kids by the come on hey fire fire it's gonna burn out everything unlike the lord it's gonna burn out of your jealousy it's gonna burn out of you lust it's gonna fire fire fire fire if you believe you're on fire put your hand over on somebody if you believe you got some fire in you fire fire fire of the holy ghost fire of the holy ghost higher fire higher go get my children fire fire there's fire in this house fire it's gonna burn up everything unlike the lord that's why we need the fire sweet lamb of god sweet lamb of god sweet lamb of god the fire shall never go out we cannot have flesh and no fire we gotta have the fire let me tell you something for me let me tell you something for a moment go back no no no let me tell you something for a moment you know why there's pentecostal churches that are full of gossip backbiting power struggles can i tell you why those churches are there no fire you can't have flesh and no fire if you got flesh i don't care how many you got in church 500 800 a thousand if you don't have fire you got a bunch of flesh you'll have fornication rampant you'll have adultery rampant you'll have pornography rampant you'll have all kind of sin but we'll still call ourselves an apostolic church you can't have people without a fire that's why he was so emphatic it shall never go out it shall never go out don't you ever let the fire go out why because in the morning there's going to be a line of israelites that are going to give a burnt offering and if there's no fire there's no consumption no fire we need fire fire will make you walk right fire will make you talk right fire will cause you to love your brother fire will cause you to shut your gossip and mouth up fire will cause you not to bring up somebody's failures fire hey yeah i feel some fire in this house tonight i feel some fire in this house fire will take the custom out of you fire will take the less than out of you fire will take the hatred out of you fire fire fire fire i told you the very beginning two times god manifest himself with fire to even announce his presence or to announce judgment it's not ironic it's not happen chance that the only two places we find fire in the new testament and when the day of pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind it filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire and he set up on each of them and they were all filled with the holy ghost and began to speak with other tongues fire fire that's the fire i want the second fire the second fire i don't want it and to you who are troubled rest with me when the lord jesus christ shall reveal himself from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not god and that obey not the gospel of our lord jesus christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the lord and from the glory of his power don't know about you but i want that first scripture rendering i gave i want holy ghost fire i don't want the fire of judgment i want holy ghost fire my god yay fire there's a cost to the fire there's a cost to the fire there's a cost to the fire well brother carpenter it's 15 to late well carpenter i got some friends on facebook that go to other churches well about carpenter we've been here an hour and 46 minutes i got friends on facebook their service is 55 minutes i'll tell you don't check the time check the fire get you an express check out at the grocery store but not here not here anybody remember my title anybody remember my title you do you do remember i told you that something and i still didn't keep it right you do remember that anybody remember my title the cost of the fire yeah it might cost us a little bit more it might cost us another monday and tuesday but if i get ready for the coming of the lord what's it matter fire fire next sunday morning is mother's day be bringing a mother's day message sunday night mark brown will be here to start a revival i don't want to wait till sunday night i want him to come here next sunday night and we're already burning bright i want us to do this before we go home tonight somebody say fire you may feel like you're on fire i feel like i'm on fire tonight i'm fire fire fire fire fire i want you to pray with somebody to be dismissed by just praying with one another honey you come up here i want to pray for you right now fire fire fire just get with somebody i and i'm not trying to be cute come on pray with somebody right now break off into twos and pray with somebody right now reba yeah oh god that's right that's fire fire fire oh god shot a fire in my soul set a fire in my soul that i can't contain that i can't control father use this church father used first apostolic father use us tonight come on pray one for another right now before we go home