Verbal History › Sermons & Teachings
sermon
The Power of Love - Part II | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter
Transcript of a published sermon by Kenneth Carpenter, transcribed from YouTube. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
Summary · Transcript · Scripture Index · Download transcript (.txt)
Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.
Yet For Love's Sake
- Paul, writing from prison to Philemon — a convert of his whose house held a church — says: yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
- Paul could have used his apostolic authority and commanded; love chose to beseech instead. That is the power of love this message is about.
Scriptures: Philemon 1:9
Receive Him as Myself: The Letter Walked
- In prison Paul converted Onesimus, a runaway servant who had stolen from his master Philemon and fled; under the gospel the unprofitable servant became a beloved brother in the Lord.
- Paul sends him back carrying the letter: receive him not as a servant but as a brother — receive him as you would receive Paul himself. Whatever he owes, Paul writes with his own hand: I will repay it — and, he adds, let us not mention how much Philemon owes Paul, who preached the gospel to him, baptized his household, and saw the church gather in his house.
- Paul is confident Philemon will do even more than he asks. In the family of God the converted runaway stands on equal ground: not rich or poor, educated or uneducated, bond or free.
The Measure of Love
- 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 — God gave his most precious vessel so that unprofitable ones could become the beloved.
- Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us — nobody took it; he laid it down — and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Scriptures: John 3:16; 1 John 3:16
Loving Those Who Are Nigh
- The elder brother could work hard in the field but stumbled at loving someone close: told his brother was home and the fatted calf killed, he was angry and would not go in, and to his father's pleading answered with years of untransgressed service — calling the boy not 'my brother' but 'thy son'.
- The father corrects the relationship: son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine; it was meet that we should make merry, and be glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again.
- If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? It is possible to weep and give for souls across an ocean and fail to love the brother across the aisle.
Scriptures: Luke 15:26-32; 1 John 4:20
The Eleventh Commandment
- Jesus added an eleventh commandment: a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another — loving one another would take care of most of the other commandments.
- By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another: love among brothers and sisters is the greatest evangelistic tool there is — greater than a choir, a building, or programs. The light that shines the farthest shines the brightest closest to home.
Scriptures: John 13:34-35
Ebed-Melech: Love With Long-Range Benefits
- Jeremiah, hated for prophesying the true word, was thrown into a dungeon with no water, sinking in the mire — a death sentence. Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, not even of Jeremiah's people, pleaded with the king for him.
- Ebed-Melech took men, fetched old cast clouts and rotten rags from under the treasury, and let them down by cords into the dungeon so the ropes would not cut Jeremiah under the arms; they drew Jeremiah up, and he remained in the court of the prison. Love is gentle about how it pulls somebody out.
- A chapter later the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah shut up in the court of the prison, for Ebed-Melech: I will deliver thee in that day; thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee, because thou hast put thy trust in me. Sometimes you are the one in the dungeon and sometimes the one pulling the rope — loving one another has long-range benefits.
Scriptures: Jeremiah 38:11-13; Jeremiah 39:15-18
Take Mark: When Circumstances Change Our Seeing
- Barnabas determined to take John Mark on the second journey; Paul thought it not good to take one who had departed from them and went not with them to the work; the contention was so sharp that they parted, Barnabas taking Mark to Cyprus and Paul going another way.
- Years later, from prison, Paul writes: only Luke is with me; take Mark, and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. It may not have been John Mark who changed at all — it may have been Paul: his circumstances changed his perception, and seasons like this one open the church's eyes to the value of one another.
- Paul wrote of Onesimus that perhaps he departed for a season so Philemon might receive him forever; this season's temporary losses of prodigals and workers may become lifetime gains: come on home — we need you.
Scriptures: Acts 15:37-39; 2 Timothy 4:11
Scripture index: Philemon 1:9; John 3:16; 1 John 3:16; Luke 15:26-32; 1 John 4:20; John 13:34-35; Jeremiah 38:11-13; Jeremiah 39:15-18; Acts 15:37-39; 2 Timothy 4:11.
Transcript
if you have your bibles tonight i would like to draw your attention to the book of philemon the book of philemon it's only uh it only has one chapter i believe if i'm not mistaken some 25 verses and it's a letter that paul wrote one of the prison letters that he wrote while he was incarcerated and it was to a man a dear friend a person that paul had converted whose name was philemon and in philemon chapter 1 and verse number 9 paul says these words yet for love's sake would you say that with me right now yet for love's sake listen to that yet for love's sake i rather beseech thee being such a one as paul the age and now also a prisoner of jesus christ tonight for a few moments i'd like just simply to dovetail with this morning's message i'd like to preach for a few moments tonight under the help of the lord yet for love's sake yet for love's sake father anoint your servant tonight lord you said in your word that there was one way that i could show you that i love you you said if i would feed your sheep that that would be a sign that i love you and lord as the pastor of this church tonight help me father to feed the sheep tonight the word of god to strengthen them to strengthen their faith in you lord and if you will anoint your servant i will in return give you the praise and the honor and the glory in jesus name we pray amen and amen yet for love's sake the book of philemon as i told you was a letter written from prison by the apostle paul to a to a man that he had converted his name was philemon philemon was a believer philemon's wife was a believer and philemon's son was a believer now philemon evidently was a wealthy was a wealthy man and he had many servants that he had on his farm or he had that were employed for him but something else philemon had the bible says that philemon's church was in his home there was philemon's house was a was a meeting place for the apostolic church and so paul begins to write this letter and the cause of the letter of philemon was that while in prison paul had converted a young man by the name of onesimus onesimus and uh as paul preached the gospel to him and saw that great conversion even in prison the most unfavorable of a place to preach but paul preached in prison he preached wherever he could and there was this young man by the name of onesimus there and onesimus heard the message of the death burial and resurrection of our lord and savior jesus christ and uh onesimus fell under conviction god got a hold of his heart and he fell into conviction and paul baptized him and onesimus received the holy ghost onesimus was born again and as paul began to get to know onesimus a little bit onesimus opened up and began to tell paul about his past he said i stole some property from a man from my master and his name is philemon and i i ran away from him and stole some property and uh i found myself here in this prison well when uh onesimus said the name of philemon i can see paul kind of perk up a little bit and he says to onesimus i i know philemon i i preach the same gospel onesimus to philemon that i preached to you i know philemon he has a church in his home and and i know him and and then paul began to minister to onesimus and he began to tell onessimus what he needed to do onesimus you need to right the wrongs that you've done uh on ones as much as within you you you have got to right this wrong uh you you have got to go back to philemon and you've got you've got to to right the wrong but but uh i i can hear paul as he talks to onesimus and he says onesimus we're going to write a letter to uh philemon and you're gonna you're gonna go walking right back up the road to philemon's house and you're going to give him this letter and the letter of the epistle of philemon it's something like this it opens up with the apostolic reading and paul begins to say to philemon i greet you and your wife and your son i greet the church that's in your house and then paul said when i go to prayer when i go to prayer i'm always thankful for you philemon he said many of the church many of the saints are refreshed they are encouraged by you and then he told him he said there's a there's a little subject that i want to deal with philemon i i could use my apostolic authority i'm your pastor i have that apostolic authority and i i can use my apostolic authority and and i could just simply tell you how you need to behave and and i could tell you how this situation needs to be handled but he said these words he said yet for love's sake yet because of love you see there there's something powerful about love he said yet for love's sake i would rather present this to you and then he said i am talking about that runaway slave i'm talking about that runaway slave onesimus he was unprofitable to you but said now he is not a runaway servant any longer he is a beloved brother because he has been converted he has heard the message of the death burial and resurrection of jesus the gospel he has submitted his life to repentance to baptism and the spirit baptism and philemon he's now not a servant but now philemon he is a beloved he is a beloved brother now you see there's something wonderful about being in the church of the living god when we're in the church of the living god we hold the highest standard it's higher it's higher higher than a social standard it's higher than that than any kind of race or ethnicity it's higher than anything of this nature it is called the family of god it's higher than any of those things we are a part of the family of god and paul said to philemon he said now the gospel has changed onesimus because onesimus now is not the unprofitable servant that ran away and took your property onesimus now is a beloved he uses the word he is a beloved brother in the lord he is a beloved brother and he said now when onesimus comes he said i want you to receive him as you would receive me because when you're in the church of the living god our relationship with brothers and sisters and our standing in jesus is on equal ground he said when onesimus comes walking back up the road and he's got that leather parchment in his hand he said i don't want you to look out and see i don't want you to look out and see the unprofitable servant he said but i want you to see a beloved i want you to see a beloved brother and then paul said if he owes you anything if you if he owes you anything philemon he said i will repay it he said if whatever he owes you he says i have written this with my own hand he said i will repay what onesimus took from you and then i can hear paul pause for a moment he said how be it let's not mention let's not mention that's what that word means but let's not mention philemon how much you owe me let's not mention the fact that when i found you you might have been rich but you was wretched you you might have been a mighty man but you were a miserable man you might have owned a lot of property a lot of people but you were a miserable man philemon when i met you and do you remember i preached to you the gospel i told you about this one jesus christ i told you about the one who died for your sins rose again on the third day ascended into heaven and sent the holy ghost i was the one there that baptized you philemon i watched as you were baptized your wife was baptized your son was baptized i watched as you begin to witness and you gathered people until we put the church in your house the meeting place in your house and he says he said i'll repay it but he said he said philemon said i i don't want to mention how much you would owe me but then paul goes on and he says but i'm convinced i'm convinced you're going to do more than even what i you're going to do more than even what i've i've asked you and uh the story ends we don't we don't know but we can just surmise how wonderful the story ends uh onesimus comes and hands uh philemon the the letter and i can see in my mind as philemon reads the letter and embraces onesimus and then introduces onesimus not as a servant but now as a brother there's something there's something so powerful about love yet for love's sake and what we need today is a church and what we need today is a community and what we need today as a nation we need to shine love is greater than we've ever had love he said yet for love's sake i can use authority but yet the power of love one of the most familiar verses in the bible says for god so loved the world john 3 16 for god so loved the world what did he do that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life god created two men god created adam by the dirt of the ground in god by his spirit created the man christ jesus his only begotten son there he gave that most precious vessel in order that you and i you and i us onesimuses us unprofitable ones that we could become the beloved in christ jesus that we can be made known to sit together in heavenly places for god so loved yet for love's sake i'm going to tell you what's going to see us through it's going to be love is going to see us through i'm going to tell you what's going to cause the writing to cease it's going to be love that brings it to pass i'm going to tell you what's going to bring misunderstandings and not being able to relate to one another is when we gather around the lord jesus christ where there's neither rich nor poor nor educated nor uneducated nor bond nor free no white or black and we rejoice in the great love of god yet for love's sake oh the first epistle of john it's ironic that it's the first john 3 16 says hereby perceive we the love of god because he laid down his life for us we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren he said you want to know how we perceive the love of god because he laid down nobody took his life he laid his life down and then he said and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren you know the interesting point i'd like to make about philemon and i believe paul was bringing this out i really really believe that paul was bringing this out he said philemon you are so kind to the whole world he said philemon you uh you're spoken through how you love is spoken through it throughout the first century apostolic church you're a you're a giver you're a kind man you've opened the church up in your home you lodged strangers and and on and on and on he went and i really believe that he was saying don't be guilty of being able to love those who are afar off and not love those that are nigh to you sometimes we can cry and give and be concerned about people missionaries can come through and rightfully so they can show us pictures of people that we've never seen before and probably will never meet on this side of eternity but we can get so concerned for their souls that we'll cry and we'll give sometimes we'll even go and help them build churches but yet what good is that if we can't love those that are real very close to us what good is it that we can love someone across the atlantic if we can't love someone across an aisle what good is it and i believe that philemon was saying about onesimus philemon paul was saying philemon you're able to love people around the world but you've got a servant that ran away and it's time it's time to love those that are very close to you you know wasn't that the issue with the elder brother of the story of the prodigal he could be a hard worker in the field he wasn't a lazy man he was a hard worker in the field his baby brother had decided to to leave and run away and take father's inheritance and go squander it with harlots and wine and that brother just kept on working he he knew the farm needed to be tended to he kept on working in the field he kept on going out and and working and and one day the elder brother come home from the field and when he came home from the field he began to hear music and he began to hear laughter and he began to hear dancing defeat patterning on the barn floor he began to hear all kind of dancing and and and he said to somebody he said he said in luke 15 26 he called one of the servants and asked what these things mean what what in the world's going on what what's all this music what's all this laughter what's all this dancing going on and and he said unto him thy brother is come and thy father had killed the fatty calf and because he had received him safe and sound and he was angry listen to this and he was angry and would not go in therefore his father came out and entreated him and he answering said to his father lo these many years do i serve thee neither transgress i at any time thy commandment and yet thou never gave us me a kid that i might make merry with my friends but as soon as this thy son was come which hath devoured thy living with harlots you notice that he didn't say my brother he said he's your son he he he's not my brother he didn't say my baby brother he said but you're just as soon as your son it is amazing that sometimes we can love people afar off but we have a hard time loving those that are just maybe even in our own home in in our own family in our own church we can have a hard time we can cry over people over the atlantic or the pacific we can cry over folks we've never seen before but yet we've got a baby brother yet we've got a brother that needs that love and he didn't even call him my brother he said he he is your son and uh he said he has transgressed now and you never gave me a kid that i i might make merit my friends but as soon as this verse 30 as this thy son was come which hath devoured thy living with harlots thou has killed for him the fatty calf and he said unto him son thou art ever with me all that i have is thine it was me that we should be merry and be glad for thy brother listen to that he reminds him now now the brother said he's your son but the heavenly father said he is your he is your brother your brother has come home doesn't this fit with first john 4 20 if a man say i loved god and hated his brother he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love god whom he hath not seen i believe that paul was saying to philemon philemon you have no problem having a church in your home philemon you have no problem giving to the to the churches around and your name philemon when it's mentioned people are glad but you've got an onissimus right now show how strong you are in your love with god not by giving to those that you can't see but show how strong you are by loving those that you can see you see he said show how strong you are brother he's your brother and it was only right that that elder son that that the elder brother he had no problem working hard in the field but he had a problem loving somebody that was close to him i believe that this is what we need more than ever before we need a good baptism in loving one another as a matter of fact jesus said it this way it's really the 11th commandment somebody said there's ten commandments well there was there were ten until jesus came and when jesus came he gave the eleventh commandment and the eleventh commandment is john 13 34 jesus said a new commandment i give unto you so if there was ten commandments jesus adds another one here's a ten here's the eleven he said a new commandment i give to you that ye love one another as i have loved you that ye also love one another he said the eleventh commandment is love one another you know it we'll love one another that'll take care of a lot of the other commandments if we love one another we wouldn't lie to one another if we loved one another we wouldn't lust after one another's property if we loved one one another we would honor one another if we loved one at one another we we would we would fulfill all of these commandments he said that you love one another as i have loved you but listen to verse 35 this is the reason that the church needs to shine brighter than ever before this is the reason we need to shine brighter than ever before in this world with writing in this world that's upside down at the moment this world this is the reason by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if you have love one two another you know the greatest evangelistic tool is not a good choir do you know the greatest evangelistic tool it's not a it's not a big beautiful building you know the greatest evangelistic tool it's not a bunch of programs that keep people tethered to the church but the greatest evangelistic tool is when we brothers and sisters love one another care about one another lift one another up encourage one another that's the greatest tool that's what causes the world to look around and say oh man they're disciples of jesus they they love one another my blessed bishop and my pastor bishop billy mccool i've heard him say this a thousand times i believe he'll say the light that shines the farthest shines the brightest closest to home the light that shines the farthest oh how we want to shine the light as far as we can but the light that shines the farthest shines the brightest closest to home see there's a benefit sister carpenter there is a benefit to loving one another there is a there is a benefit when we as a church body love one another and love doesn't always come easy it's not always easy to love your brother or your sister it's not always easy to get along you gotta really work on your focus and what's important uh as a matter of fact the bible at one time talked about giving god a sacrifice of praise sometimes it's it's not easy to to praise god sometimes when you're in the midst of a covet you're in the midst of all kinds of things going on sometimes you have to give god a sacrifice of praise there's benefits there's benefits to loving one another there's long reigns benefits to loving one another it was a prophet in the bible by the name of jeremiah and because jeremiah prophesied the true word of god he was hated by the king he was hated by the king um because the king's false prophets were telling the king one thing and jeremiah would come up and he would say thus saith the lord it's not going to happen we're not going to be we're not going to be free anytime soon there's going to be punishment and jeremiah had that kind of a ministry and one time uh he prophesied and uh they got so upset with him they got so upset with jeremiah that they took him and they threw him in a dungeon they threw him in a pit and the bible says that he was in this pit and there was no water in that pit and he sunk in the mire he sunk in the mire i've done a lot of study on this and some say that he was it was a death sentence it was an absolute death sentence that they actually threw him in the sewer system and uh they they they put him in the sewer system and there was no water and he was he was sinking in the mire the sewer of the city uh where there was all kinds of rodents and disease and everything and it was it was a death sentence they just threw him down there but there was a man there was a brother and his name is ebed melech and i'd like to share a little bit about him tonight he's found in he's found in jeremiah chapter 38 verse number 11. oh e macmillan heard what they what they did to jeremiah and old ebay e-bed melech he went to the king he went to the king and he pleaded with the king about jeremiah now he went to the king now ebad milak went to the king and he began to plead with the king about this man named jeremiah and the king gave ebed melech he gave emed me like permission to go down to the pit and he gave him permission to pull jeremiah out of the pit and so in verse number 11 says so he met melek took men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury and took fence old cast cloths old cass cloths and rotten rags and let them down by cords in the dungeon to jeremiah and ebed like the ethiopian oh wait a minute now wait a minute now it doesn't say he bed me like the jew it said he bed me like the ethiopian that's a strong possibility that oh ebed melech wasn't even the same color as jeremiah wasn't even he wasn't he wasn't ethiopian that wasn't a hebrew wasn't a jew he wasn't ethiopian yet for love's sake can i tell you that when we start talking about the great love of god the great love of god transcends jew and gentile and race and education and all of that the great love of god oh he met me like he had compassion on jeremiah he did you know he had compassion on him and and he went down and got some ropes and some old rotten rags and and under and said put them under your arm holes put them under your arm holes under the cords and and jeremiah did so so they drew up jeremiah with cords and took him up out of the dungeon and jeremiah remained in the court of the prison look at this can't you imagine oh jeremiah he's down there and in the dungeon he's down there there's no water he's down there fighting rats he's down there fighting the smell knowing that death is at any time and all of a sudden he looks up and uh he sees a man not the same color as him he seems a man he he's not the same nationality and he sees a man by the name of ebec milac yet for love's sake and oh he backed me like he said jeremiah jeremiah take these old rotten rags and tie them up under your armpits put these old rotten rags up under your armpits jeremiah because i'm going to throw this rope down there and pull you out of the mire i'm going to pull you out of the mire i don't want to have rope burns on you i i want to be easy how i pull you out can i tell a lost world something tonight i want to be easy how i get you out of the dungeon of sin i want to be easier how i pull you back some of you the devil's got you in the cesspool of sin and you're waiting to die but you hear me tonight yet for love's sake we're coming to you with the rope of the gospel and the mercy clause and we're telling them put them under your armpit and we're going to drag you out of there and they pulled o jeremiah up and he didn't have any rope burns under his arms and they pulled him up they pulled him up from there and the bible said he remained in the core of the prison but now listen now pastor told you tonight pastor told you tonight and anytime you love it has long ranged benefits oh he bet me let he got a group of men down come on let's inconvenience ourselves i i know we got other things we can be doing but there's a he's a man down in the dungeon there's a man down there that's gonna dive we don't get him out there's a man down there and he he took the time out to show love he bet me like took the time out to show love pulled o jeremiah but remember i told you love has long range anytime you love one another sometimes you're the one sometimes you're the one in the dungeon and sometimes you're the one pulling the rope love will have you in the dungeon and love will have you getting pulled out of the dungeon because just another chapter later in chapter 39 of 15. you listen to this now the word of the lord jeremiah 13 15 now the word of the lord came into jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison that's not that dungeon it's another place saying god spoke to him and said go and speak unto ebed melech the ethiopian saying thus saith the lord of hosts the god of israel behold i will bring my words upon this city for evil and not for good and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee but i will deliver thee in that day saith the lord thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men whom thou art afraid for i will surely deliver thee and thou shalt not fall by the sword but thy life shall be for a pray unto thee because thou has put thy trust in me saith the lord you know what the lord said the lord said jeremiah said there's a the sword is around the corner said this city is about to be wiped out but said i got a word for you for that man he bet me like the ethiopian that man yet for love's sake that man that took the time out to love you that man that pulled you out you tell him it's his time now to be the beneficiary of that great love you tell him the sword's coming but it's not going to hurt you you tell he bet me like trouble's coming but i'm going to deliver you he met me luck because you put your trust in me church tonight one reason we need to love one another because one day you may be in the prison and i'm doing the pulling and the next day i'm in the prison and you're doing the pulling but you don't want to be there alone yet for love's sake one of the most ridiculous things in the bible one of the most ridiculous things in the bible the bible talks about the power of two it talked about woe be to a person if they fall and they're alone one of the most ridiculous things in the bible is the story of cain and abel cain gets rejected because of his stubbornness he gets rejected by god his worship is not accepted but cain his brother his brother the one closest to him not his cousin not somebody way off in another tribe but his brother knows how to worship but the most cain does the most ridiculous thing in all the world what does cain do he kills his brother the very man that could have sat down and say well brother i can tell you what your problem is brother i can tell you what you need to do to listen to the voice of a man that knows how to worship and get the fire on his altar but he didn't have him because he killed him he got him out of his life you know some people wake up friendless because they kill their friends because their friends tell them something they don't want to hear they go ahead and unfriend them they go ahead and get them out of their lives you know the bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful there's people that would rather have somebody deceitfully telling them what they want to hear than to have a real friend that can get fire upon their altar to tell them brother cain this is what you need to do but cain wakes up one morning without a brother without an educator doomed to be a vagabond because he killed he killed his jeremiah i submit to you that he met melek would have died he bet me like his wife and his family would have died with the babylon sword had he beed me like not invested love in jeremiah you see loving one another has long-range benefits i'm reminded of the story in the book of acts the apostle paul in barnabas and a young helper by the name of john mark john mark was a young upcoming minister that went on a missionary journey with barnabas and paul we don't really know what happened homesick there's a lot of great messages that have been preached whatever happened john mark just went home after some days paul wanted to go back and wanted to visit the churches and he told barnabas he said let's get ready let's get our suit cases packed and let's get ready acts chapter 15 verse 37 and let's get ready and let's go on another journey and the bible said that barnabas determined determined to take with them john mark john whose surname was mark but paul thought it not good to take with them to thought it not good to take him with them who departed from them at pemphilia and went went not with them to the work and the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from another and so barnabas took mark and sailed to cyprus and paul took titus uh paul went another direction that must have been something that conversation between barnabas and paul and paul i want to take bar i want to take john mark and no he he left us he didn't go to the work with us and he's not going and barnabas evidently was strong about it going and it come down to this well paul if john mark doesn't go i'm not going well all right if that's the way you want it i'll just take i'll take silas with me i'll take another one with me and and and we'll go that way that's good i'll take john mark we'll go on and they split up they went different ways sometime later paul's in prison and in second timothy 4 11 paul's writing he's in need he's in need he's not packing his suitcases the sun is not shining he's not packing his bags getting ready to go traveling visiting the churches he's incarcerated it's a different time he writes and he says in second timothy 4 11 only luke is with me take mark bring him with thee for he is profitable to me for the ministry and today as i was praying over this message i saw something i've heard a lot of great things i've heard a lot of great messages preached about this that somewhere between john mark not going going home and paul getting in prison john mark matured and john mark changed and john mark was now profitable but could i give this to you for your consideration was it john mark that changed or was it paul that changed was it was it john mark that actually changed you know it's easy when you're getting ready to go travel and get in your bags it's really easy to know what you can take and what you don't need it's it's real easy when you got a bunch of options that you can choose from but what about when you're in the prison i submit to you tonight it may not have been john market changed it may have been paul's circumstances that changed sometimes circumstances changing can change our perception sometimes it can we things that we think really matter if you've had this happen i'm sure to you tragedy there's a lot of little things get on your mind you're troubled about the car and the front tire is out of balance you're troubled about this and that but let a tragedy come and all of a sudden you forget about the front end of the car that needs to be aligned you forget about this little irritant over here and the child's not making so good at grades in school and you forget about a lot of little things because something major has come could it be could it be sister carpenter could it be tonight and it wasn't john mark that changed at all could it be that paul his circumstance his surroundings him to say i see something in him that i didn't see on that day that i didn't want to take i see something i i really believe that seasons such as we're in right now can be an eye-opener to us the church that we can begin to see the value of one another like we've never seen the value before i go back to my opening story of philemon one of the verses that paul used on philemon he said it may be that he had to depart from you for a season that you might have him for a lifetime it may be that you had to go through a season you see our temporary loss may be a lifetime gain we're in a season right now and that that that temporary loss that we've got that temporary loss you see what we saw when we were packing our bags and some of the pre-recorded services you see this building packed with people worshiping god way back before covet hit you see the people in here worshiping god you see now that it's easy to stand in that day and pack in our bags but now with the season that we're in we may be getting our eyes open to some things that we need some john marks that we need to say come on home we need you protocol we need you prodigal to come on home those of you that are watching tonight that used to be workers in this church you used to be workers in a church you used to be on fire for god i'm telling you this season has caused us to see you as never before come on home come on back we need you john mark we need you it's not you that's done the changing but it's the church that realizes us never before that we need you paul said philemon he may have had to leave you for a temporary time in order for you to have him forever as a brother oh my friend these temporary losses may help us to understand that we can have a a lifetime a lifetime of gain i had a few sermon illustrations tonight this is our prodigal vase it's filled with names of our prodigals men and women and young people that lost that lost their way john marks that lost their way and we pray over them we pray over our families we call the names of our families out to god oh friend yet for love's sake it's easy to open the door for a complete stranger sometimes a husband fails to recognize he needs to open the door for his own wife it's easy to find ourselves recognizing the ability of something in a young person all the while we look right over the heads at children that are trying to get our attention yet for love's sake would you stand with me there in your homes right now and we're going to go back into a time of praise and a time of worship a time of just praying over our families and first lady said carpenter would you come and stand on the other side of the pulpit as we pray over our first apostolic church family as never before i'm not asking for anybody's pity tonight i'm simply being as transparent with you as i know how to be 36 years i pastored this church and i have never seen a season such as we're in right now our faith is being shaken but our roots are going deeper in god i feel a clearness about talking to god my my prayer life is as if god is sitting across the table and listening to my prayer so we pray tonight if you're a prodigal there in your home if you're watching this tonight you've got a prodigal there with you you look over and you see that prodigal with their head hung right now why don't you just lay your hand over on them right now and why don't you just begin to pray right now as they go back in to take us back into worship about our family father i pray in the name of jesus tonight lord i pray god for our families that are watching right now father i pray god that you would move upon them right now god i pray that you would touch them tonight oh god lord i pray for my family for my sons and for my daughters lord i pray right now tonight god i pray lord jesus that you would touch oh mighty god lord right now go ahead prodigal right now lift your hands up by the eye of faith lift your hands up right now begin to pray maybe a husband wants to pray with his wife maybe children will gather around and pray for one another right now oh god in the mighty name of jesus we pray in the mighty name of jesus we pray tonight lord i pray over our congregation i pray o god over our congregation right now lord god that you will touch the lord we're gonna be free i is freedom from my home i declare freedom from my daughters i declare freedom for my feel of sons i see i declare everything is broken we're gonna be free in the name of jesus tonight in the name of jesus tonight i want to remind everyone this evening before we go that starting tomorrow night at seven o'clock eastern standard time we're calling this the hour of power tomorrow evening at seven o'clock will be brother zach hammond our youth pastor we'll be having praise and worship and then a word from brother zach hammond tuesday evening at seven o'clock eastern standard time an hour of power with brother nolan carpenter and then the only slight change on wednesday evening will be at 7 30 pastor chet erickson will be bringing us the word of god and it will be on wednesday night that we're going to give you a special announcement about the ladies and something that we're planning for our ladies and we'll be giving that announcement on wednesday evening until then first apostolic church the victory is ours in jesus name
Scripture references as spoken: Philemon 1:9; John 3:16; 1 John 3:16; Luke 15:26-32; 1 John 4:20; John 13:34-35; Jeremiah 38:11-13; Jeremiah 39:15-18; Acts 15:37-39; 2 Timothy 4:11.