The Gift of Repentance | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

go with me to the gospel of mark chapter number 10 and verse number 17. mark chapter 10 and verse number 17 where we begin tonight while you're looking for that i want to say i appreciate you being in the house of the lord tonight always very thankful that you would come to the house of the lord the way that you do and i never take it for granted that you're going to be here the only one that we owe anything to is the lord and but i want to tell you you're offering to the lord you know david said my cup runneth over your offering to the lord runs over and it makes one more happy pastor right here to see you wanting to come to the house of the lord and i do appreciate you many of you have come from work many of you have not had supper yet many of you have come when other things that were pressing but you have decided that there's nothing as important as coming to the house of god i love you and i appreciate your love and devotion to god's house verse number 17 and when he was gone forth into the way there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him good master what shall i do that i may inherit eternal life now just hold your spot right there in the bible because we're going to continue to read but would you pray with me right now father we pray over the word tonight god your word is our light your word is our lamp god it is your word that changes us it is your word o god that enlightens our eyes that we may spiritually see the things that we need to see father i ask you tonight to anoint your servant god help me to feed your sheep tonight help me lord to feed your sheep tonight in jesus wonderful name we pray amen and amen you may be seated i'm going to continue reading at verse number 18 but i want to go ahead and tell you what our subject is for tonight what i want to teach on this wednesday evening i want to teach on the gift of repentance the gift the gift of repentance now the reason i want to emphasize that is that if i had paused just long enough after the word gift you might have went ahead and filled in the blank and said of the holy ghost and no doubt the holy ghost is a gift but you do understand i know you do that had there not been the gift of repentance there would have been no gift of the holy ghost as a matter of fact i i plan to work on this a little bit um if you're on social media and you follow different churches you know that who whoever is over the social media outlet is very quick to talk in terms such as this we had four baptized today we had eight get the holy ghost today but you'll be hard-pressed to find some social media apostolic outlet that says two repented today two repented today four repented today somehow we must come back and review and re-examine the wonderful gift of repentance the wonderful gift of repentance it's verse number 18. jesus had stepped out upon the main road and was making his way on the journey when he's all of a sudden interrupted by a young man who was running toward him and when the young man reached jesus the young man kneeled at jesus feet and the young man made his request good master good master what must i do to inherit eternal life let's continue in verse number 18. jesus said unto him why callest thou me good there is none good but one that is god so now the first thing jesus deals with here is what this young man refers to him as good master he has the perception he has the knowledge someone has told him something about jesus to where this young man has the perception and he calls him good master jesus very quickly goes to work on this young man's perception how this young man sees him because jesus said why did you call me good what have you heard why did you call me good what have you heard about me and then jesus goes ahead and informs him that there is none good but one that is god now don't confuse that jesus was denied being god but jesus is working on this young man's perception how this young man views him because at this moment this young man doesn't have any clue that what he calls good master is none other than the master robed in flesh so he says now let let me let me just go to work on your your perception let's go to work on your perception you've heard something about me and you've called me good but i want for you to know there's none good but one that is god and then jesus in verse number 19 he begins by saying thou knowest the commandment now that alone ought to show that he's god that alone ought to show that he's god he didn't say do you know the commandments he said thou knowest the commandments so he goes ahead and lets this young man know i already know what you know i'm reminded of a story right now that elder johnny james told here at the church said that he had a sister that got misled into a cult of a man that claimed to be god his name he went by the title father divine father divine and he claimed to be god and his sister brother james's sister had got caught up with father divine and she began to tell brother james about father divine and johnny james told his sister he said i can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that father divine is not god said he said get me a meeting with him and so his sister arranged a meeting elder james walked into father divine's office or a throne room i guess and said father divine was dressed all in white white shoes white socks white suit white tie hands clasped and when johnny james walked in with his sister father devine said and who do i have the privilege of meeting johnny james looked his sister said come on let's get out of here if he was god he would know my name he's a fool let's get out of here they'll know us the commandments didn't say i i do you he said you already do know them do not commit adultery do not kill do not steal do not bear false witness defraud not honor your father and mother you know all these things and he answered verse 20 and he answered and said unto him master all these have i observed from my youth in other words he said master i have been going by this moral code i've been living this moral life i've been living this moral life i've been living this moral code from my youth and we could stop there for a moment jesus didn't rebuke him jesus didn't say no you haven't you haven't been living the moral code so i believe because jesus did not rebuke him that he was a good moral man he was a good moral man he he didn't commit adultery he didn't steal didn't kill didn't lie didn't fraud honored his he was a he was a good moral person but i got to tell you it takes more than just being a good moral person to have eternal life he said i've done this from my youth verse 21 and this is where we ought to turn the corner and i i should hear a few faint thank you jesus thank you lord i should hear some of those here in just a moment then verse 21 then jesus beholding him loved him and said unto him jesus behold in him loved him and said unto him one thing thou lackest go thy way sell whatsoever thou hast give to the poor thou shall have treasure in heaven and come take up the cross follow me i'm going to stop there for a moment do you know that we all we all will miss heaven if we do by one thing one thing our heart our heart can't preach enough about the heart our heart he said there's one thing he looked at him and i like to use this as he gave him a divine exam he gave him a divine exam he looked at him and that look that pause that beholding him he looked at him and he examined him and he found the issue it was his heart he said this there's one thing you're like you you're a good moral man you're good morally but he said there's one thing you you got a problem he said i want you to go your way i want you to sell what you have and i want you to give it to the poor and then i want you to know at the moment you exchange what you have here on this earth the moment that you exchange what you have here on this earth you will have treasure in heaven and then i want you to come and take up the cross the cross the cross of what the cross of poverty the cross of depending upon him and i want you to follow me i want you to follow me but you know this young man although he was morally good he had a chamber in his heart that god did not take control of he had a chamber in his heart that was off limits to god you know do you know that god will never push his way into your life that's why i have never been a big promoter of people going back and getting other people to come and pray going back i've seen them go back and plead with them and beg them and all of that i've seen people come to the altar but i've seen very few of them really really stick you know why they came to the altar maybe out of embarrassment they may have come to the altar just simply but let me just get y'all you've caught me off guard but god will never push his place his way into any of our hearts we've got to be willing to allow him to come in that young man had a place in his hearts that heart that was off limit to god it was his riches he trusted in his riches he placed his trust in his possessions now i'm not um i'm not advocating and i that god would ask us to be willing that god would ask us to be willing to sell everything that we have all right but i believe we should live our lives that god already has what he has asked us to give we should possess an attitude and of course that is that is tested and it's not on my subject matter to to teach on tithing offerings tonight but god doesn't ask for everything we have that is determined whether we'll give him at least 10 percent that's already god knows if you won't give me ten percent i dare not ask you for all you have if i ask you for ten percent you wouldn't give me all you had but it's amazing when you enter the covenant with him with 10 that you get to live your life truly feeling that everything you have comes from god everything that you have comes from god he had this place in his heart now look at his emotions his emotions could cause him to run he ran to jesus he didn't accidentally meet him in a corner he ran to jesus he was emotional he ran to jesus he said good master good master what must i do but when jesus opened the chamber of his heart and said this is what i want you to do i want you to go and sell everything you have and become poor you are going to give to the poor and giving to the poor you're going to become poor but i follow me closely with this tonight wasn't he really asking him to become like jesus would you become like me you know that's the only way that we're going to truly follow him is to become like jesus well how with that young man going and selling everything you have and giving to the poor how would that be more like how would that be like jesus well look at paul's writing at second corinthians chapter eight verse number nine second corinthians chapter 8 and verse number 9 for ye know the grace of our lord jesus christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich you know what helped us out tonight not when god was in heaven that celestial paradise that god lived in that didn't help us out any when god was in heaven in the unimaginable place called heaven that didn't help your eye out any what helped us out when he who was rich came down and took on the form of poverty and made himself in the likeness of sinful flesh when he that was rich became poor then we who are poor might become partakers of the riches of god's world aren't you think look at so he was actually saying take what you have make someone else's life better come and follow me number one see he's giving away everything he's got no he's gaining because he's getting treasure in heaven but he can run to ask the question but when he got the answer when he got the answer in mark chapter 10 verse number 22 when he got the answer he ran to jesus at first but when he got the answer and he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions man he could run to jesus he could kneel this is all signs of being emotionally moved he could run and kneel and ask good master but when god knocked on the chamber of his heart of which he trusted in it was there that the young man said that price is just too great to pay i just follow this now i just can't see it i just can't see it it doesn't make any sense i just can't see giving to the poor and having nothing and following after you i just can't see it and i think that's the prayer that we all should we should always pray god open my eyes god help me to see god help me to see you know um did i tell you he's a good moral man did i tell you he was morally good did it did i did i mention that to you he he obeyed his parents did i did i tell you he honored his parents he had all this moral thing down to a path you know but when he came to that one chamber of his heart that secret that secret chamber of his heart when it came to that one chamber of his heart he had a sign on it god do not disturb i read today in one of my commentaries that the root idea the word perfect is loyal to be loyal it's to be whole it's to be complete it's a it's a word that talks about just without any reservation turn with me just for a moment to second chronicles chapter 25 verse number one second chronicles chapter 25 verse number one amaziah was 25 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 29 years in jerusalem and his mother's name was jihadan of jerusalem now follow verse 2 very closely either in your bible or on the screen and he did that which was right in the sight of god but not with a perfect heart you see tonight i we we we we don't need to believe we don't need to be misled that we are good moral people of which i believe we are we don't need to get misled that well i i'm a good moral woman i'm a good moral man that's that's well and good but there's something else that goes with that are you serving god with all your heart don't just don't just get some rules down don't just get some rules of morals down don't just check the list off and don't steal or don't lie i'm faithful don't just check those lists off and then fold your hands and say i'm all right it is possible to be morally okay but to have secret chambers in your heart that god doesn't have access to but he asked me to become poor he has asked me i just can't see it look at what i'm being asked to do he's asked me to become poor oh sir if you could only see if you could only see what he's really opening up to you if you could only see there was a man that bragged about an apostolic church that was a pushover to come and get money from he bragged about a church he bragged to other people someone overheard him in a restaurant bragging that those are a bunch of softies and he says i go set i go set through the service at the end of service i can get 25 out of the preacher i can i can get 50 out of somebody in that place you fool don't you understand that setting in an apostolic church that you're hearing the treasures of god's kingdom being preached don't you realize why you're there wanting a few measly dollars that you could listen intently and they would tell you about the glorious gospel of jesus christ don't you know that you're settling for a few dollar bills when you could have the very power of almighty god oh god open our eyes tonight and help us see when god asked us for something that really in return he's going to open up is this all right tonight you know what i'm being asked god's asking me to do this and god's asking me to do that i'm a teenager here tonight do you know i i just can't see that stuff of dating in the faith i just can't see that stuff i've got to choose my mate from the church that has apostolic beliefs i just can't see that don't don't be a fool young man don't be a fool do you know what god is really trying to say i've got some young girl that's going to walk with you all the way through old age she's going to love you when you're making money and she's going to love you when you're not making money she's going to love you she's going to love you when you got big old muscles and she's going to love you when all her muscles has went south she's going to love you when you've got shiny black hair and she's going to love you when it's turned gray or turned loose she's going to love you through all oh you're not listening to me tonight you're going to hear me tonight but i'll become poor if this happens we'll read matthew 5 and verse number 3. matthew chapter 5 and verse number 3 it's the very first beatitude i believe jesus was saying brother nolan if you don't get this one down i don't need to go any further i don't need to tell you about a peacemaker i don't need to tell you about uh all the other beatitudes if you don't get the first one down and the first one goes like this blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven you get a man or a woman that's poor in their spirit and can i tell you the throne room of glory is opened up to them they can get a prayer through they can have god come down and answer prayers for them they have the abundance of contentment inside of them because they're poor in their spirit they're bankrupt in their spirit they know that their spirit needs god now listen to the psalmist in psalms 51 10 creating me a clean heart oh god and renew a right spirit within me everybody say a right spirit what kind of spirit do you want to have what's opposite of a right spirit boy you catch on quick created me what i don't want to have a wrong spirit not only that look at ecclesiastes let's check that off i don't want to have a wrong spirit i want to have a right spirit ecclesiastes chapter seven verse number eight i think this was our favorite verse during the building program better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof brother larry i every time i walk up that that outward hallway right there i'm reminded of that blessed glorious hallelujah thank you jesus about to talk in tongues sunday morning that we let everybody up that place there thank god better of the end of a thing than the beginning thereof and the patient you know how we got here don't you and the patient you know how you get to the end of something don't you and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit you know how we got here don't you to the glory of god all of us you know how we all got here debt-free don't you a testimony in our city a testimony in our city not only a testimony in our city not only a testimony in our city brother hammond brother nolan was told last week by a minister uh that uh is on tbn and and a minister that that that knows other renowned ministers on tbn and that minister told brother hammond and brother nolan last week he said you all don't know he said we sat down and we watched your telecast and your webcast because how you all were getting different angles and how you all were doing different things said i have sat down with more than one renowned tbn minister and watched your services and said look how they got this and look look what they did on here look what they did there and you know what to the praise and the glory of god none of those men and women up there had any formal training in this we just one day run into a man that said that he would bring some tv cameras to the church set him up we didn't even have the money to pay him we had to he said i'm just going to come set him up and and he came and set him up and we we told him how long we'd need to pay him and all that we didn't have they didn't go to school brother erickson but solomon these men they didn't go to school for this they just got up there on the hill and got to tinkering with things and shooting different angles and the first the first video or tape i i guess that's what program uh brother erickson the the tv station that was on was up in pigeon forge and he took it up there the first one we made he took it up there and he gave it to the manager and he said i'd like for you to look at this and said just help us out said just look at it this is our first one he said just look at it and tell me what you think about it not now please understand this is the first one we've ever done and he handed it to the man and the man went back and began to watch and the man came back out and he offered brother erickson a job he said we need a manager up here he said would you be would you need a job said whoever done this right here well can i tell you it's not us blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of god it's it's not us we're not a bunch of proud peacocks going around saying we've got a tv camera and we got a few no we're a bunch of humble people that says god if you don't help us we'll never get this thing finished god if you don't help us we can never figure this out the patient in spirit how we got here we were patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit get a bunch of pride in you you go to the bank to keep up with the joneses and only find out that jones is refinanced right you get a bunch of pride you get a bunch of pride you got to keep up with people but when you're just patient you just keep doing what you're doing we're going to get done look at isaiah chapter 29 verse number 24. isaiah 29 and verse number 24 they also have erred in spirit they also that aired in spirit aired means devere means to veer off the path well there's several things i know i don't want tonight i know i don't want the wrong spirit and i know i don't want a spirit that is erring off the path i i don't want a spirit that's getting off off of course one thing you lack young man one thing you lack go sell it give to the poor what image hit his mind what will i eat tomorrow what image hit his mind where would i stay what image come across his mind when he was told by jesus sell everything you have what did his mind start playing where would i stay tomorrow what will i eat what if i get sick next week what what image happened i don't know what image it was but whatever it was he dropped his head shuffled his feet made a few heavy sighs and he didn't run away from jesus he walked away sir can i tell you what you missed sir can i tell you what you missed had you went and done as jesus said had you allowed him entrance into that secret chamber you have that chamber that you get upset when people start pushing on the door you can live morally good and keep your composure but you normally lose it when somebody starts pushing on that secret chamber door that's when you can see people get out of kelter you see them coming glued you you can see them when you start pushing on that door oh i i i don't oh i don't i don't commit adultery oh i don't steal i don't lie but when you start pushing on that door the lord wants us to be modest people the lord wants us to have a dress code you can start getting people upset you know why some women have got that closed off to god now they're not going to commit adultery they're going to tell the truth but they're going to dress the way they want to dress they don't mind when you preach against you know keeping people morally good but start talking to them about their hemline that's true start talking to them that the dress needs some more material start talking to them they need to cover themselves up start talking to them that they need to have a dress long enough their thighs are not showing start talking to men about money see that secret chamber see i feel it right now and i'm not preaching i'm just kind of hinting around about it brother atkinson i i don't know if you have this effect on some women but i have an effect on some women when i get around them they start pulling with their clothes like they got fleas or something you know they're just pulling around i'm thinking to myself you knew it was that way when you got up this morning you knew it was that way when you walked out of the house what is the presence of a preacher got you all shaken about you know why because when the preacher shows up he's at that door that secret chamber that that place that you're not letting him in into because you know you know that man doesn't approve of what you're doing you you know that man come on now you you see what i'm saying you see what i'm saying tonight that secret place you can't have any secret place you ought to be willing brother to do whatever god asked you to do you you you should be you should be willing the the the uh the uh brother oh help me uh jesus and sister carpenter helped me the brother that was here i hope he's not watching tonight the brother was here from alabama arab uh cheryl brother shirl brother cheryl and jesus need to help you too doesn't he brother shirl said that he had some men that he's went into god got to got to saying what's this suit and tie business at church how come you got all his suit and tie why why are you dressing what's his suit and tie business going on brother shirl happened to know that the man talking was about to go see the judge next week and the judge could sentence him or make it light on him he said hey you're going to see the judge next week said what you going to wear he said the best i got you ever seen in a courtroom you ever seen it some men in that courtroom wearing them suits remind me of women walking in high-heeled shoes that are not accustomed to it you know they it's a true you know why somebody went and bought some big money to put that boy in a suit that never has what wore suit because he's standing before a judge and he wants that judge to have a good image of him and so he'll wear his best to that courtroom well can i tell you something the bible says judgment begins at the house of god that's why we're not going to get into any of this casual business around here because it's a life-and-death situation i'm going to wear the best i got when i get here because i'm not coming to any old place i'm coming to the house i'm coming now i understand tonight some of you men have come from work please please please please please please i'm not throwing up on any of the men here tonight in jeans and some of you have come right from work and all that understand that but on as a whole when we come to the house of god we shouldn't come in some kind of old sloppy outfit we should go to our closet if our best is a pair of overalls and a white t-shirt put your best on and come to the house of god because we are coming to a place that determines whether we're going to walk on streets of gold or whether we're going to spend eternity in the devil oh i push on somebody's door tonight somebody's getting a little uncomfortable somebody would i i got my arms photo i know you got your arms folded because i'm pushing on that door tonight i i know i know you got you all right i know you got your head conquered i know you're because i've done went from quit talking about the gay people and i've started talking about your secret chamber and you don't want to let me in i've seen people that can yell like comanches when you're talking about gays and everybody else but they get as quiet as a church house mouse sir sir you had image of sleepless nights you had images in your mind of digging through garbage cans but can i tell you what you missed you missed watching jesus turn water into wine you missed watching jesus take a boy's lunch and turn it into a a feast of feeding thousands of people can i tell you what you're missing keep your secret chamber that's up to you i can't repent for you and you can't repent from me i can just preach to you and try to persuade you you ought to open up that secret chamber and say god whatever you want me to do god i'll do it god whatever you want me to do god if you want me to stand on my head and gargle peanut butter god i want you to know i'll do whatever you tell me to do god whatever i need to do i i'll let you into my life can i tell you i don't believe i'm the only one here tonight that's got this testimony but brother denny livingston was preaching for us when we're up on the hill and he got to preaching one night and he said i believe if you'll give god something you've never given him he'll give you something that you that you don't have he'll give you something that you've never had and in my little mind i i'd heard people talk about holy rollers brother marshall i'd heard people talk about holy rollers and brother livingston was talking he was in y'all know how he preached and get in a big way and and he he was saying you'll give god something you've never given he'll give you something you've never had and i thought to myself i've never rolled i've never rolled i've never rode in the floor i've heard of holy rollers all my life been accused of being one but never done it of course you know the true holy rollers don't you the true holy rollers are the people that get up on the holy day and roll over and go back to sleep all right those are the true holy rollers so i thought for a moment maybe had just a tinge of pride i thought well why not do it i just laid down on one side in the floor and i rolled all the way across the altar at that church and when i got up on the other side i thought i've got i'll give you something i've never given you before and when i got up i noticed a little band of people gathered around fouling did a little girl what six years old i had a little band of people gather round foul and they were just rejoicing and praising god because there was my six-year-old baby our six-year-old baby girl just talking in other tongues can i tell you we shouldn't have to have re we shouldn't have to have black and white things written out there ought to be some things we're just willing to do for god number one if we really believe in the power of the ministry i'm not mixing kool-aid up for anybody i'm not raping you of your finances i'm not trying to get a plane and getting a bunch of you all over in uh ghana somewhere i'm i'm not trying to get you to drink any kool-aid or or believe that i'm fathered about i'm just simply trying to tell you save yourself from this untoward generation i'm just trying to tell you there's a heaven to gain and there's a hell to shun there are some things just like this i don't and if you really believe in the power of the ministry there'd be some things that you know there's a lot of things let me let me preach i appreciate y'all standing but i need you to be seated i don't preach so long y'all respond long there's things i was asked to do in my early walk with god that i did not understand but i had confidence in the man of god and the word of god and a lot of things i didn't see at first but when i started to do them and get some time behind me eyes got opened up i wonder what would have happened had that young man sold everything he had and started following jesus i i wanted that first miracle of turning water into wine or i wonder if that miracle of feeding the multitudes or what about this what about when he watched jesus being crucified on the cross and then three days later come out of that tune or what about 50 days later that same you know what you miss sir you miss me and in the upper room he tried to give you a ticket to be in the upper room as a matter of fact in some of my study about this jesus told the man to come take up the cross and follow me in some of my studies it is commonly believed among scholars that jesus knowing that judas would fail that this man was really the replacement for judas which would put paul being plan b not plan a but because but but because this man did not answer the call god had to choose a man and it's called he said i was born out of due season he was given a ticket to be an apostle come follow me take up the cross and follow me but because he would not allow him in the secret chamber of his life he forfeited all of that i wonder what's on this on the spiritual horizon of our lives i wonder what glorious i i can only tell you this i can only tell you this he came that we might have life and life more abundantly i can only tell you this living for god it gets better and better and better and better and better and better and better and better and better well that's not happening for me open up the secret chamber of your heart because he just keeps getting better and better and better and better and better oh i started serving god when i was 16. but by the time i got married at 24 i looked back god how good you been to me but when i'm 34 i look back and say man it's got even better and when i'm 44 i look back and say god has got even better and when i'm 54 i look back and say god it's not even and this month i'll turn 61 and i'm just looking around saying god you're good you're so good god i just love you lord i just praise you but you would forfeit oh my you would forfeit all of that if you keep up that secret shame would you just lift up your hands and praise him for a moment will you just lift up your hands and praise him for a moment come on now oh god i love you lord oh god i love you lord why don't you contemplate on letting him in right now why don't you just contemplate on letting him in right now why why don't you just contemplate on saying you know what i i'm going to let him in i'm just simply going to let him in i i'm god god loved me enough to give me a pastor god loved me enough to put me in a church and god loved me enough to give me a pastor god loved me enough to give me a watchman on my wall god loved me enough to give me a man of god now you may be seated i'm going to say something i'm going to say something i may read one more verse and we'll go home but i want to say something because i think there's a couple of things that we need to be reminded of as a church number one pastor has a standard i have a standard and i want to tell you what that standard is if you're in this church and you're a single young woman and a young man comes in this church and gets the holy ghost and gets baptized my standard is don't you date him for six months good god who died and left him god you can see it that way if you want to i'll tell you why because there's young ladies whose lives are shipwrecked because they wanted to get married so much that the first thing that was male walked through the door first off that young man needs to get established in the church so my standard is not the the clock don't start ticking when he walks through the door don't bring him to me well you know he really passed by the church five months ago and god tried to get him to come on in and he didn't he's been here for 24 minutes and now you know i'm it's a standard it's a standard and vice versa if you're a young single young man and a young woman comes into church don't you date them i do not approve of it i do not approve of it see this is the difference between having a preacher and having a pastor see the people clapping have a pastor the people looking at their watch wondering when this is going to be over have a preacher all right i i do not approve of it i believe it's wrong i believe it's i believe it's unwise i believe it's just wrong to do that and i'll tell you another standard i'm gonna work on it i'm gonna work on it we used to have a curfew around here for our kids we used to have a curfew a church curfew now mom and dad now if your parents have a 10 o'clock curfew and our curfew is 11 o'clock your parents trump me you need to be home at 10. ain't nothing good happens after midnight wonder some people can't feel good i just don't feel good oh i just didn't feel good this morning i couldn't get up for school i didn't feel good no you didn't no you didn't feel good because i was coming in from out of town preaching and circled the parking lot and you sit now here on the hood of your car at 2 30 in the morning ain't nobody going to feel good and nothing good happens ain't nothing good happened lord jesus help me to land this it's called being pastored it's called being pastored i'll tell you something else i'm going to talk about and we're going to we just i mean i may not even read my last scripture i just say this men pray with men and women pray with women we have designated elders that know where and where not to put their hands on the opposite sex all right now we can allow our good to be evil spoken of stand folks this is the house of god this is god's house men you lay your hand as a matter of fact that's a very serious thing because you're transferring your spirit i had my wife stop a woman one night laying her hands on people here at the church and brother thorpe i had my wife i told go stop that woman right now because that woman was bound by nicotine and i said to my wife i said go stop her i don't want that transmitted to these people you can't be in bondage and lay your hands and transmit victory it well let me break it down to you let me break it down to you if your battery's dead you don't go find another dead battery and hook it up because you know what you got don't you two dead batteries all right if you got one dead battery you know what you need you need an ever ready you need somebody's got victory in their life not only are they a good moral man or a woman they have also have every chamber of their heart opened up to god they're allowing the holy ghost to flow through them they're allowing the holy ghost to flow through their life and brother when they start laying their hands on people the power starts going the power starts i got a call from many years ago got a call from pastor mccool in knoxville he said i want you to go online and he said i want you to watch dad i want you to watch daddy tonight so once you watch dad he said a man came out of the audience and obviously this man was not of god he said this man came out of the audience and tried to lay hands said my dad thought he was wanting prayer he said dad went to laying down at the the platform to listen to him and said the man started laying hands on my dad's head and he said he's a pretty big tall man he said i i want you to watch my dad drive that big old tall man all the way down across all and into the pew you know why that man had no right no authority to come laying his hands and transferred you this is real serious i i kid you not this this is not everybody needs to lay hands on you that's a there's a lot of there's a lot of spooky goofy stuff going on in it let me tell you it's kind of spooky and goofy it's getting true story the woman's sitting right here she comes out city carpenter comes out was it uh hobby lobby you came out of and the woman had her hood open on her car i think it was was it was it back when walmart used to be how many members when walmart used to be at hobby lobby can i get a witness i got it yeah that was it wasn't it so sister carpenter comes out and a woman's got her hood open on her car and and the woman said she says would you pray would you would you pray with me and so she struck carpenter said well sure sure would you pray with me about my card and it says carter started praying and she overheard the woman said god help my car to speak in tongues i said penny if i'd have been there i'd have got on the other side and i got that horn i started going there's a lot of spooky goofy stuff going on and we operate in the spirit but we're not a bunch of spooky and goofy and odd looking things we we operate the right way and the power of god comes down the right way because we are the first apostolic church in this city and what does that mean that means we do all things decently and in order that's what we do come on lift up your hands we're about to go home tonight come on give him praise right now open up every chamber of your heart right now oh god i'm yours tonight oh god i'm yours tonight god oh god i belong to you lord oh god i belong to you lord oh god i belong to you jesus i belong to you god god i don't want you to be anything in my life that's not pleasing to you god search my heart and know my ways and see if there be any wicked way found in me let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable unto the old god oh created me the right spirit lord oh i praise you right now i praise you right now i praise you right now i tell you what i'd like to ask you to do tonight i'd like to ask i'd like to ask everybody that's got the breath of the holy ghost to end this service with the loudest praise you've given god all night long give him praise right now