The Power of Believing in the Lord | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

if you have your bibles i invite your attention to the book of genesis chapter number 15 and verse number one and someone say a hearty praise the lord god is so good a lot of things we can choose can't stop what things happen in life but i can't control how i respond to it and how i react to it can change a lot of things that are happening in our world can't change a lot of things come our way but i can choose how i react so i want to go on record this morning to say i choose faith over fear i refuse to believe it is the will of god for the church of the living god to be paralyzed by fear i can't answer for you but i can answer for me and my house we're going to choose faith over fear we're going to choose worship over worry i'm going to worry about what's going on and what might happen i'm going to worship while it's going on and while it might happen i'm going to worship and i choose my bible over every news outlet i choose faith over fear i choose worship over worry i choose my bible over the news and i choose the church house over the white house so if you won't know where i'm standing i won't let you know where i'm standing today i am not standing in fear why foolish we would be to preach an almighty alpha and omega beginning and ending create a redeemer regenerator fourth man in a fiery furnace the one that can lock the jaws of hungry lions up the one that can walk on the water unstopped deaf ears loose dumb tongues cause the lame to walk and the dead to come out of the grave to come to this hour and start shaking i choose faith over fear i choose worship over worry i choose my bible over the news have i made it obvious where i stand today don't be troubled church don't be troubled it's the adversary's plan to trouble your mind because a troubled mind is a distracted mind and a distracted mind is a mind that's going down a road that it really doesn't know what's what's going what's going to end on that road but a worshiping mind is cool calm and collective when everything falls apart in their life they can get up and say these words the lord hath given and the lord had taken away blessed be the name of the lord come on should we just right now just rebuke all fear out of this house today i rebuke all fear out of our hearts today oh god you came that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly oh god your name is the name that is above every name that at the name of jesus every knee would bow and every tongue would confess of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth you are the almighty god that makes all things new and i praise you today and i worship you today hallelujah genesis 15 and 1 after these things the word of the lord came unto abram in a vision saying fear not abram i am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward and abram said lord god what will thou give me seeing i go childless and the steward of my house is this eleazar of damascus and abram said behold to me thou hast given no seed and lo one born in my house is mine heir and behold the word of the lord came unto him saying this shall not be thine air but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine air and he brought him forth abroad and said look now toward heaven and tell the stars if thou be able to number them and he said unto him so shall thy seed be and he believed in the lord and he counted it to him for righteousness and he believed in the lord now i got to tell you today that one phrase right there is spoken about in the new testament and he believed in the lord one more verse before you seated hebrews 11 and verse number 6 and he believed in the lord and he believed in the lord but without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him for just a few moments today and i hope we end up in the altar but i want to i want to minister teach and preach on the power of believing in the lord the power of believing in the lord father i love you now lord i ask today that you would anoint me touch my mind touch my body god but not only touch me today but open the ears of your people god as their pastor an under shepherd under you i feel you say to my spirit that we're not to have fear i feel today god that you would have me to minister faith in this congregation faith o god we are not of this world help us today in jesus name amen you may be seated the power of believing in the lord the power of believing in the lord as you study your bible if you come upon any questions in your bible that you have there's a simple tool that i use called the law of interpretation begins with the first mention if you really want to study a subject out then what you do you find out where that subject was first mentioned in the bible and you go back to the law of first mention you go back to the origin you go back to the place that this subject was first addressed you dig up the foundation now the bible tells us in this law of first mention faith is essential to us today you cannot be saved without faith you cannot be saved without faith faith is essential for us to have you must have faith he that cometh to god must believe that he is and not only that he is but that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek after him so we understand that faith is essential that we have to have faith in order to be saved so faith being essential we use the law of interpretation first mentioned and we go back to the very first place that this word believe is mentioned and this word faith is in operation god had called abraham or abram is his name at the time to come out of the land of his nativity and to follow him to a land that he knew not where he was going but attached with his obedience to come out was an attachment of blessing that god said that he would bless him and protect him and that he would make him he would make him a blessing some time goes by i know not the exact amount i could probably study and find that out but a period of time came by that abram began to interpret life through his eyes he began to believe that a servant that was born in his house would be his heir him and his wife sarah had never borne children and they were well in age and they had never bore any children but this god that called him out had made him a promise but abram had interpreted this problem and this promise and the bible says that the lord appeared to him and the lord said i am with you i am your shield and i am with you it was there that abraham said that god you have given me no children and one in my house born eleazar would be an heir let me interpret to you what abram is saying to god he is basically saying i am giving up on what you promised me and i am accepting something less i am i am going to stop living with high hopes of you coming through and us bearing a child and i am going to accept that one born in my house is my heir only to have the lord interrupt him and the lord said this shall not be your heir it must have been at night and of course why wouldn't it be it's in the night time that our faith is challenged it is not on the mountains that we have times of doubt it's not on the mountains that we have times of trying to figure god out it's in the deep dark valley is in the it's in the it's in the space in the song when god says no and so god brought him out in verse 5 of chapter 15 and god says to abram i want you to look up now toward heaven and tell the stars if you be able to number them and he said unto him god said unto abram so shall your seed be god said so shall your seed the law of first mention so shall your seed be in verse six and he believed in the lord and the lord counted it to him for righteousness now notice this today he believed in the lord this word believe here means to agree with what the lord has said to agree with what the lord has said nothing alters what the lord has said nothing alters what the lord time does not alter what the lord says circumstance and situation losses and gains never alter what the lord says if the lord says something's going to happen no man nor demon can stop the mighty hand of god when you have absolutely no understanding when you have no understanding of how what god told you would come to pass can come to pass you set back and you simply believe what the lord has said believing in the lord is to agree with what the lord has said it is it is to give god an amen it is when god says it for you to agree with it when god says it for you to agree with what god has said it also means to lean upon for support it means to lean upon it means to agree with it means to give him an amen so we see in a few verses where abraham goes goes from trying to figure god out god one born in my house is my heir to god saying no that is not your heir your heir is coming out of your own bowels not only that step outside your tent abraham and instead of looking around i want you to look up you know that may help us there a little bit instead of us looking around because if i look around i can get very discouraged if we just look around at what's going on around us we can get discouraged and and lose hope but god says i don't want you looking around i want you looking up and looking up he said see the stars abram yes he said if you can count them he said that's how many descendants that you're going to that you're going to have and at that moment abraham didn't know how and abraham didn't know when but abraham just gave god an amen he just said amen god if you say it i lean upon it if you say it i trust in it if you say it god i will not think about how old i am and how old my wife is and how long we've went without children i won't think about all the days we've had an empty home i'll begin to think about having a house full of kids because i'm going to believe in the lord you understand with me today you understand this today this is not a history lesson that i'm trying to give you i'm trying to tell you that the same god that marched abraham out of his tent and said i want you to look up instead of look around he's the same god that's here this morning in this congregation stopping at the end of hp hoping that you will instead of looking around today you'll begin to look up and say amen god god if you say i can live a blessed life amen god god if you say things can turn around amen god amen god amen god now i want you to understand something if there is just one phrase you remember about today's message if there's only one thing that if god would come down and say there's only a small phrase that they're going to remember about your entire bible lesson this morning here is my entire phrase please in your mind sit on the edge if you pew right now i want you to hear this here's what i would want you to go home with you are not saved because of promises you made to god but rather we are saved because of the promises god has made to us you're not saved because i made some promises to god no no no you're saved because god has made some promises to you now here's the big difference we make promises to god and break them but when god makes promises to us they are never broken the bible says that the world will pass away but god's word will march through because you're not here today because of promises you made to god you're here today because of promises that god has made to you that ought to cause you to rejoice a little bit faith becomes our foundation before you praise the lord you've got to have faith before you worship the lord you've got to have faith there's too many people that have faith in worship they think if they yell out enough run and i'm not knocking all that i do all that but my faith is not in my worship my faith is not in my hallelujah my faith is not in my praise the lord my faith is not in my hand clapping footstop and arm waving my faith is in god and when your faith is in god you will worship you will clap your hands you will stomp your feet you will wave your hands you will shout with your tongue hallelujah praise god but it's because you have faith in god i don't have faith in church attendance i don't have faith in what i do i have faith in who god is because man can change at the drop of a hat but god never changes you see faith is our foundation with our walk with god no faith no walk no faith no worship no faith no joy no faith no peace no faith no blessing so if if if you've got to have this thing called faith let's examine it today let's go to the law of first mention faith is our foundation and our walk with god you know it was a man by the name of thomas that heard the report as a matter of fact that's how we get faith well how can i get faith faith cometh by hearing faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of god that's why one of the tasks is reading your bible and i hope you're reading your bible through with me that's why one of the tasks when you come to the house of god is to concentrate on the word of god because everything is going to be competing for your attention but faith does not come by church attendance and faith does not come by worship faith does not come by choir attendance faith comes by hearing the word of god you'll never get faith except by hearing god's word the report had come he's risen he's risen from the dead he is alive that is the word of the lord but john chapter 20 verse 24 introduces us to a man named thomas one of the disciples that had lost all hope thomas was not an average believer thomas was not a a one of the crowd thomas was one of the 12 apostles thomas lost all faith when he saw him crucified he lost all faith when he saw jesus crucified but a few days later the word of the lord came through mary magdalene he's alive he's alive but the bible says in john 20 and 24 but thomas one of the twelve called didymus was not with what was not with them when jesus came the other disciples therefore said unto him we have seen the lord now that is the word of the lord we have seen the lord but he said unto them except i shall see the see in his hand the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side i will not believe i will not amend this i will not lean on this i will not accept this unless i can put my hand in his hand and my hand in his side i will not believe after eight days again his disciples were within and thomas was with them you see that's a good thing today because unbelievers belong with believers if you're an unbeliever today you're in a good company because you are with believers the sad thing is when unbelievers keep company with unbelievers there's something about an unbeliever keeping company with a believer because if you're an unbeliever and you keep company with a believer sooner or later the lord is going to show up sooner or later the lord is going to show up after eight days again his disciples were within and thomas with them then came jesus then came jesus the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said peace be unto you then saith he to thomas reach hither thy finger and behold my hands reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing in other words the lord walked right up to thomas and said thomas i heard your conversation i heard your conversation that you said you didn't believe unless you would put your hands in my hands and your hand and my side and jesus just walked up to me and said here it is thomas go ahead thomas put your hand here and this is what happened and thomas answering and said unto him my lord and my god anybody that would deny the deity of jesus christ should be convinced with this one verse my lord and my god jesus saith unto him thomas because thou has seen me thou has to believe now hold up because this verse is for us today thomas because you have seen me you have believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed that's us we've never seen him like thomas did but i have the same faith as thomas had and jesus said thomas there's nothing special about you there's nothing really special about you because you had to see something in the natural to believe something in the spiritual but he said thomas there's coming a group of people about 2 000 years from now that'll gather in a building at 1331 william blunt drive in maryville tennessee and they've never seen me with their eyes they've never heard me with their ears but somebody preached to them the word of god and they have believed they have a man jesus christ is god jesus christ is god robed in flesh god came to this earth 2000 years ago through the womb of the virgin mary lived 33 and a half years went to a hill called calvary shed his blood for us for every sin we would ever commit every lie we would ever tell every sexual immorality we would ever commit he died for all of our transgressions not some of our transgressions but all of our transgressions and when he died from my offenses he rose on the third day for my justification i've been baptized i've been filled with the holy ghost i believe i believe i wish somebody would shout i believe i believe verse 30 many other signs truly did jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that you might believe that jesus christ that jesus is the christ the son of god look at this and believing you might have life and believing you might have life through his name now here's the problem it's addressed all through the new testament too many people have faith in self-behavior and not faith in god now i'm not advocating today that we don't live right i'm not advocating today that we don't strive to live above reproach i'm not advocating that today but i'm advocate i am saying that you will never live an overcoming life without believing upon jesus christ because you can either have willpower or god power willpower is a reformation a reform you're trying to reform yourself but god's power is regeneration it's a new birth you see and what paul dealt with under the law was there's a lot of people working to be acceptable with god working under the works of the law paul addressed this in the book of romans chapter 4 verse number 1. he says what shall we say then that abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found for if abraham was justified by works he hath whereof to glory but not before god you see if i try to work myself then i'm the one that gets bragged on but i choose to believe in god and when you believe in god you glory to god because of the change that god has wrought to where there's men and women sitting here on the pews today that have been delivered from things and they would be the first to stand and say had it not been for the lord they'll say i didn't quit smoking on my own the lord helped me i didn't quit this and i didn't quit that on my own the lord helped me you see if you if you quit if you quit by your own power then you break your arm patting yourself on the back but when you know had it not been for the lord has any of you all ever had those awakening moments where you just figure out where you're at and think how in the world did i get here oh praise god oh how in the world did this happen oh thank you jesus you know what you begin to realize you be begin to realize had it not been for the lord abraham or paul speaks of abraham and says if he was justified by his works he hath whereof to glory but not before god for what saith the scripture abraham believed god and it was counted unto him for righteousness now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt in other words if you're working and you get something it's a it's a debt god owed you it's something you work for but it's not of grace grace is strength verse 5 but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justified the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness now please i know i know this world where we're dealing with something totally different than what paul did because what we're dealing with we're dealing with a society that says all you have to do is believe and they condemn any act of faith that we have toward obedience to god's word as a work oh baptism work separation from the world work they're not works they're obedient to the word of god that is founded in faith does that make sense it's founded in faith well paul goes on down to verse number 13. for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to abraham or to his seed through the law but through the righteousness of faith they were all hung up on the law but do you know faith abraham was before the law he lived many years before the law and he was justified made right in god's sight not under the law but when he believed in god and so paul is signed to say don't you understand that you talk about abraham but abraham was before the law verse number 14. for if they which are of the law be heirs faith is made void and the promise of none effect because the law worketh wrath for where no law is there is no transgression therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the law but that also which is of the faith of abraham who is the father of us all as it is written i have made thee a father of many nations before before him whom he he believed even god who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were that's my foundation i choose faith over fear i choose worship over worry i choose bible over news why because of my faith in the god of the bible and the god that has been preached to me who is this god he quickeneth the dead do you know that god can bring back to life those that are dead do you know that god has and that god will and not only liken it to people but liking it to situations if he can raise people back from the dead then there may be things that are dead in your life that god can bring back to life he can quicken the dead not only that he calleth those things which be not as though they were in other words god is god he can speak of things which are not as though they already are in existence existence why because he is god i don't know why anybody would embrace any other message than this message there's no bottle that can give you this confidence there's no clothing that can give you this confidence there's no popularity that can give you this confidence why doesn't everyone just be a believer in a god who can quicken that which is dead and a god that can speak of things which are not as though they already they were listen to abraham now in verse 18 who against hope believed in hope i read this verse for a long time and i believe that that as i read it who against hope believed in hope now wait a minute against and in who against hope believed in hope and i really believe this first little sentence here in verse 18 is talking about two hopes now the bible says that if you can see it you don't hope for it for why do you hope for something that you see but you only hope for that which you cannot see and the bible said that abraham who against hope believed in hope i believe there's two hopes here i believe there is our humanistic hope that has a standard that has a standard and once that standard is met we lose that hope for example mary and martha believed god enough jesus enough to heal lazarus but they had a standard brother erickson and that standard was death and when lazarus died they lost their faith their hope that they lost their hope and when jesus got there they were full of complaints such as if you had been here our brother had not died and so that human hope that god is one thing but the second hope that abraham had was a god hope it was a god hope that that it couldn't be computed it couldn't be put under a microscope and figure it out it couldn't have it couldn't in our minds it it couldn't fit in in our minds that's why faith begins not in your mind but faith begins in your heart it doesn't begin in your mind in your intellect because you can't figure out how god can change your life because you feel like you're hopelessly bound to always be who you are but if god can ever get some faith inside of your heart you can't understand it you can't really see how it's going to happen but you live a life saying i'm going to be blessed things are going to change so abraham who against hope believed in hope the standard had been met but now he goes to another hope he goes to the god hope that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken sound familiar so shall thy seed be the power of faith the power of faith just takes a just takes a few words so shall thy seed be and it seemed to go throughout abraham's life i believe god so shall thy seed be but now verse 19 we've got to add that and being not weak in faith he considered not his own body now dead which means he stopped he stopped dwelling on what didn't work he stopped dwelling on history of the have not he did not he did not consider his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old neither the deadness of sarah's womb he staggered not at the promise of god through unbelief staggering has to do with your feet he did not allow unbelief to alter the steps of his feet he stayed in a direct line if god says it it's going to happen i don't know how i don't know when but god said it and i'm it's going to happen now you know what i'm going to pause here for a moment and tell you we have heard about the coming of the lord since we were little children we have lived with messages preached about the coming of the lord and quite honestly i do believe that we are close and for a number of reasons the bible said he'll come as a thief in the night the world is unaware the world is not expecting him to come it's the church but i tell you i have lived my short time in the ministry my short time in the ministry i know the temperature of the church there was a day you could preach on the coming of the lord and there were if there was a sinner in the house they were in the altar you could preach about the coming of the lord and you could look back and every pew would be empty and men and women boys and girls it didn't matter how long they'd been in church had their face planted in the carpet wanting to make sure that their heart was ready for the coming of the lord but nowadays you can preach the coming of the lord and people will stifle a yawn while you're preaching about the coming of the lord you'll preach about the coming of the lord and they will not give a second thought about changing their life they have been numb that one day they're going to wake up and one day they're going to turn around but i'm here to tell you today i believe just as sure as i'm standing here that a trumpet is about to sound and the dead in christ is going to rise first and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the lord wherefore comfort one another with these words can i tell you when all kind of chaos is breaking out in our world we ought to be talking about the coming of the lord when all kinds of things are upside down and what might happen and what this is going to do and what that may do come on now where's your faith god is in control nobody can touch us unless god lets them touch us and if god lets them touch us it's going to work workout for our good oh i wish somebody would believe me today i believe it i believe it i believe it you better wake up knowing that this could be the day that jesus comes this could be the day too many people staggering today too many people staggering he staggered not at the promise of god through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to god let me tell you something friend praise is not some kind of thing we want to hype you up you ought to be praising god because as you praise god it is the it is the gauge on your spiritual dashboard that you have faith in your heart no praise no worship don't talk to me about your faith don't talk to me about your faith in god if you have no praise and you have no worship now i'm not talking about running the aisles and jumping pews we're all different we all respond to god differently but there ought to be some basic signs of life if you have a question where somebody's alive one of the first thing that you check is a universal thing are they breathing everybody's not going to be a an eye runner a pew jumper a spinner a dancer everybody everybody hey you know while i'm talking about spinning i always think about our brother bruce uh that he went out and take a little update on brother bruce he went out colorado and he was out there helping out and the pastor the pastor got sick and i believe that he's either not pastoring the church or maybe my memory served me right the pastor has passed away and brother bruce had been texting me saying help me pray brother carpenter because i i've been kind of put over this group and they're looking to me for spiritual guidance so i thank god that god could bring somebody through our church for a few months give them a little faith a little direction a little little anchor to a church here but just let me preach to you today everybody ain't going to be a pupil listen don't don't you ever think brother carpenter is wanting everybody to leap and everybody to run everybody to do a certain cookie cutter praise no that's our diversity today that is our diversity and there's beauty and diversity that's our diversity today but there ought to be a universal praise unto god you ought to sing when we're singing you ought to sing you can at least sing and matter of fact the bible doesn't say everybody run but the bible does say everybody sing you ought to sing you ought to be you ought to be singing it takes more than just being here to get touched from god you ought to sing that are they alive i know they ain't breathing i don't much believe they're alive spiritually they ain't singing you walk up on somebody laying down is he alive well is he breathing oh i think he's breathing he's got some breath you see if we're singing we got some breath in us you ought to sing about the lord because it's good to sing about the lord you ought to praise the lord because it's good to praise the lord because faith causes me to sing and faith causes me to pray and faith causes me to lift my hands because i believe that just as sure as he came why would we doubt he's coming again when he came the first time we have a big celebration called christmas it's all centered around old testament prophecy being fulfilled if he came to bethlehem i believe he's coming in the sky if he came to bethlehem he's coming again you ought to get ready you ought to stay ready you ought to be ready yeah being fully persuaded that what he that he staggered not at the promise of god through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to god and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed unto him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up jesus our lord from the dead who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification that wasn't just written for abraham but it was written for all of us claus if we believe on him that raised up christ jesus from the dead do you believe well i'm just really not sure it comes from the root of an old man that god made a promise of a child coming through his loins you don't believe i'm telling you today you've got to believe that god raised jesus from the dead he was crucified for our offenses and he was risen again he was raised again for our justification as a matter of fact hear me today strength does not come until you believe strength this is another thing i want you to listen to me strength grace does not come till you believe strength grace now we need a little re-educating grace is not mercy i know we sing the song amazing grace how sweet the sound and most of us are thinking about mercy but grace isn't mercy grace is the strength of god that's what grace is it is the strength of god that's when paul had a thorn in his flesh it was a message of a messenger of satan it was a thorn in his flesh not once not twice but three times paul asked god help me lord help me god remove the thorn help me god i don't want this thorn in my flesh but on the third time god gave him his answer i'm not removing the thorn but i'll tell you what i'll give you my grace is sufficient for you for my grace is made perfect in your weakness that's why we sing i am weak but thou art strong but you don't get strength until you get faith but once you get faith strength comes strength that you didn't have willpower that's a god power life-changing power life-altering power when you get faith you get that strength galatians chapter 3 verse 22 but the scripture hath concluded all under sin we've all sinned and come short of the glory of god that the promise by faith of jesus christ might be given to them that believe but before faith came galatians 3 22 3 but before faith came we were kept under the law shut up unto the faith we should afterward be revealed wherefore the law was our school master to bring us unto christ that we might be justified by faith but after that faith has come we are no longer under a schoolmaster for we are all the children of god by faith in jesus christ let me tell you this one verse right here is the answer for all the turmoil in this world today this is what we need to get busy not protesting but witnessing this is the answer there will be no world peace without jesus christ the prince of peace forget it forget it there's no peace in humanity without jesus christ i don't care how they try to blend everybody and put everybody on a level playing field there is no peace without jesus christ for we are all the children of god by faith in jesus in christ jesus for as many as of you as have been baptized into christ have put on christ there is neither jew nor greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in christ jesus and if you and if ye be christ then are ye abraham's seed heirs according to the promise can i tell you what the issue is with race the lack of the gospel the lack of the gospel hear me now today don't get nervous this is not something to get nervous with what all this race issue is about is a lack of the knowledge of jesus christ because when we're baptized into christ we we retain our identity of male and female bond and free jew and gentile we still retain that distinction and that diversity but we have a relationship that tops all of our diversity we have a relationship that when you are jesus christ you can be a man standing here today that didn't go past the third grade and you could have a man standing beside him that's a graduate from harvard or yale and in jesus christ they are on the same level field in jesus christ you can take a white man a black man a hispanic man an asian man you can take all ethnic groups but put us in the body of christ and we become one oh god come on do you believe do you believe today that's what this world needs this world doesn't need a cozy blanket of love they need the gospel of jesus christ they need to be baptized there's neither junior gent nor greek bond or free male or female if you are one in christ no wonder believing takes on such a big thing in the bible my my ministry today is i embrace a culture that has been told that you believe and stop i embrace that's right mother tharp we embrace a culture today it says just believe on jesus christ and they put a period at it that's not the bible belief the bible belief says you start with believing and then you go into the obedience to the word of god nicodemus you're a religious ruler musicians would you come please nicodemus you are a religious ruler you know ezekiel you know where i said that i'm going to take the heart out of you of stone and give you a heart of flesh you know where i talked about sprinkling water over you you know in ezekiel i spoke about a new birth but nicodemus said to him how can a man be born again when he's old why did nicodemus bring that subject up because jesus looked right at nicodemus at the heart of the problem i'mma tell you what this world needs we don't need protesting we need witnessing you need to be ready on your job in your neighborhood among your family members to tell them about the born-again experience the born-again experience will take hatred out of your heart the born-again experience will regenerate you you know we talk about genes dna that's what regeneration is all about it's not reformation it's not curving your bad behavior and you're you're just a little bit better now it's regeneration it's a rebirth that's why he said he walk got right to the heart of the problem he said you must be born again and nicodemus whether he's being sarcastic i do not know but he said how could a man be born again when he's old could he enter his mother's womb the second time and be warned whether sarcastic or not i do not know but i do know the answer the lord gave him he said no nicodemus that which is born to the flesh is flesh you would just be twice the sinner you are if you could go back and have a fleshly rebirth but i say you must be born again of the water and the spirit you must be born again you see today baptism at this bible believing church has a little different meaning than what it does in most because most tell you just believe upon jesus christ as your savior period but that's not what the bible teaches the bible teaches believe thou upon the lord jesus christ beginning beginning it's why nicodemus when he said born again of the water in the spirit he said how you read the whole third chapter it's very interesting a lot of people get all uh john 3 16 is our favorite oh that that's what that's what sinners need to hear is john 3 16 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life but study your bible completely do you know that who jesus was speaking to when he spoke john 3 16 nicodemus because nicodemus was a religious leader but he was oblivious to a new birth how how can these things be and jesus kept taking him step by step it's kind of like it's kind of like a child enrolling in school struggling to do 10th grade subjects and a wise teacher will take that child and find out what they know and begin from what they know and begin to bring them up and so jesus says oh you don't know about the new birth uh you're a ruler you're a teacher a ruler and you don't know uh well then let's go all the way down to the end and let's start nicodemus for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth whosoever says amen to the gospel whosoever leans upon it whosoever believes in my promise of salvation shall not perish but have everlasting life i end with this today i feel like that many times i'm trying to reach for people that need to be baptized people that need to receive the gift of the holy ghost on the other hand i've got a church there's a story in the book of mark you would allow me not to read the entire verses maybe somebody can relate here today a mother and father had a son and this son began showing some rather destructive behavior a small child this young son began to show destructive behavior toward himself may have been may have been cutting himself whatever it was was destructive behavior and it concerned his parents it wasn't long as the boy was 10 12 13 the boy became suicidal his mom and dad had to watch him all the time scripture says he didn't eat skin and bones they had to watch him day and night because if there was a fire in the fireplace or the male he would try to throw himself in the fire the dad had to hold his hand real tight when they walked to town and passed by a pool of water because he would try to drown himself what a tormenting life outside of god like a parent's love for a child there's no greater love if you could only understand something mom and dad love you more than anything don't you ever let anybody speak into your life and tell you they love you more than mom and dad they don't they don't mom and dad one day heard about some men coming through and doing some unusual miracles and they went and they took their boy to these men they prayed over him but nothing happened somehow as faith would have it they ran into jesus and they said jesus is our son from a little boy and he says it from a child he's been destructive could you help us could you help us the bible said the man cried out with a loud voice because jesus had said this one simple phrase if you only believe all things are possible and the man cried out and again another verse that needs help i believe help thou my unbelief i believe but would you help my unbelief you know what the interpretation i think of that is god i believe you can do it for somebody over here god i believe you can bring somebody's child off of drugs somebody's sitting over here but god where i struggle it's not that you can do it for somebody else but where i struggle at today is would you do it for me can i tell you today he's no respecter of persons if you will believe upon jesus christ all things are possible this sunday morning would you stand with me right now only believe only believe you got pain today you got pain today come on singers you got pain today listen to me you got pain today he'd like to take your pain do you have sickness today he'd like to take that today you got you got things in your life that you need help with today he'd like to take it or is this just going to be another message that you hear say brother carpenter why do you always try to pull us around the altar i'll tell you why you walking down here is a outward sign of your faith so i believe i can stay right here in the pew god would hear me well you know what you can but you know something there's something about your flesh not wanting to do that they say i i'm going to help today brother carpenter i want help today we just lift your hands right now if you're hurting you're coming around this altar today and believe god you've got situations and circumstances oh god in the name of jesus today he's able to help