The Two Roads of a Believer | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

have your bibles for a few moments today i invite your attention to the book of matthew chapter 28 verse number one as you're looking for that passage of scripture i want to tell someone that's here today that in the early morning hours i was awakened and several times since then i have felt a compelling to tell someone today that you are going to be to begin your journey you're going to be to begin to begin your journey today and living for god is a journey you might have a lot of experiences and god knows we we do but living for god's a journey i'm on a journey and uh it seemed like god just told me he said tell someone their their journey is going to begin today and it may be someone that you resume your journey today you may pick your journey back up and you may you may start fresh and anew chapter 28 and verse number one in the end of the sabbath as it begins to dawn toward the first day of the week came mary magdalene and mary the other mary to see the sepulchre and behold there was a great earthquake for the angel of the lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and set upon it his countenance was like lightning and his raiment white snow and for fear of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men and the angel of the lord said unto the women fear not ye for i know that you seek jesus which was crucified he is not here he is risen as he said come see the place where the lord lay and go quickly tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead and behold he goeth before you into galilee there shall you see him lo i have told you and they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy and did run to bring his disciples word and as they went to tell his disciples behold jesus met them saying all hell and they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him then said jesus unto them be not afraid go and tell my brethren that they go into galilee and there shall they see me now when they were going behold some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief priest all the things that were done and when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel they gave a large money unto the soldiers saying say ye his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept and if this come to the governor's ears we will persuade him and secure you so they took the money and did as they were taught and this saying is commonly reported among the jews unto this day then the 11 disciples went away into galilee into a mountain where jesus had appointed them and when they saw him would you say that with me and they worshipped him but some doubted i want to minister for just a few moments today on the subject the roads of a believer the two roads of a believer two roads of a believer put your bibles down father in the name of jesus christ today i stand before you lord i rejoice with those that rejoice today and i rejoice because you are worthy but now we stand between time and eternity today and god the only thing that can change a person's life is your word lord today i ask you to reach for those that are in the bondage and the grip of darkness i ask you god to reach for those that have once seen the light but turned from the light i ask you god today to touch your people and strengthen us lord that we will remain faithful until you come anoint your servant today for i need your anointing i need you god we need you in jesus mighty name we pray amen and amen you may be seated thank you for standing the two roads of a believer we are given according to romans chapter 12 and verse number three every man every man every person at birth is given by god our creator every man according to romans 12 and verse number three is given a measure a measure of faith every man is given a measure of faith you are given that measure of faith when you are born not when you are saved born again you every person alive is given a measure of faith and god gives us that measure of faith because without faith it is impossible hebrews 11 states it is absolutely impossible to please god we have no way of coming to god outside of this god-given measure that is called faith now when we couple faith today with knowledge you couple faith with knowledge that knowledge that you couple faith with determines the direction of your life whatever knowledge you couple your faith to whatever you believe in whatever knowledge you yoke your faith up with determines the direction of your life it not only determines the direction of your life but it determines the fruit that your life will produce all faith coupled with knowledge will determine the direction and what your life produces consider with me today church man's first choice man was given a choice man's first choice had to do with a tree it was the tree of the knowledge see the connection the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil it's the only tree that gives two different kinds of fruit it bears the fruit of goodness it bears the fruit of evil but man simply has one choice to make the choice that he has to make is obedience all that he has to do all that he has to do now is simply obey god's word and not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that's all he has to do he has to take his god-given faith and believe god's word and not eat of the fruit of the tree of the fruit of knowledge knowledge good and evil now just stay with me for a moment it's all he has to do he's obedient he takes his god-given faith and he places his god's god-given faith into god's word and god's word says do not eat of the fruit god's given word but we understand that into the garden came satan and satan began to plant seeds of doubt pertaining to god and his word and we know that somewhere in the transition that man chose to move his faith from the god column and move it over to what the serpent was saying didn't take long for them to understand that they had made a horrible irreversible mistake they had placed their faith in the wrong one didn't take long to see that they had been lied to they had been deceived and so now we live on the other side of that tree church we live on the other side of that tree and what we have to take our our same god-given faith that adam had and that same god-given faith that every human being has we have to take that faith and now it's not a tree that we have to choose it's a pathway that we have to choose we have to choose between the pathway of evil and the pathway of goodness and it takes knowledge it takes knowledge you must have knowledge i submit to you today that if all man had the knowledge of god that we could not build sanctuaries fast enough and large enough to house everyone if everyone truly had the knowledge of god why don't we stop this morning for just a second for a praise break aren't you thankful you have that knowledge today you're glad you're in your right mind today is anybody glad that you can see evil for what it is today is anybody thankful today that you made the right choice years ago you put your faith in the right column so now what we need is knowledge today in second corinthians chapter four and verse number six for god who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ so our knowledge today our faith must begin and our first grade knowledge must begin at the foot of the wonderful savior's cross today it is all about jesus i love him i worship him i believe in him my faith is in him he has never done me nothing but good he has been far better to me than i have been to him but i love him so this morning i want to publicly tell you i don't want to dazzle you with some kind of story today i love jesus christ he is alive and i've stopped saying he's alive and well because to say as well has meant that he's been sick he has never been sick jesus christ is alive this morning jesus christ is alive this morning they wrote the song years ago if god is dead then who's this living in my soul ephesians 1 17 that the god of our lord jesus christ the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him philippians 3 and 8 yeah doubtless i count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of jesus christ my lord second peter 1 and 2 grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of god and of our and of the lord jesus christ grace and peace would be multiplied the more you know him the more strength you have the more you know jesus the stronger you are and the more you know jesus matters not the darkest night matters not the blowing of the wind matters not the turmoil that comes your way he's able to give us peace in the midst of our storm second peter chapter 2 verse number 20 for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ you want to you want to get out of sin get a knowledge of him you you want you want to get out of sin sin jesus christ will give you the knowledge to come out of sin to see sin for what it is church to see it for what it is and then in second peter chapter 2 and verse 3 verse 18 but grow in grace but grow in grace and in the knowledge of jesus christ now i want you to know that here we are today there's no neutral there's no neutral nobody's in neutral today your faith is either in the column of god and the pathway of god you either see the path of goodness for what it is or you have obviously not had your eyes open because anyone in their right mind with their eyes open sees that it's a far better path over here than it is here and you would move your faith everybody has faith today everybody has faith today it's just when you move your faith from this path to the right path i am one of the blessings one of the blessings of having a son go to bible college is that all those books that we got him i get to go up and steal them from him and read them all right and so uh well i didn't steal it um i borrowed it prolonged borrow but one of the books he was required to have at urshan is a book written by david s norris and the book is titled big ideas and there's a story in the book that i'd like to share with you today it says i have a friend named joey when he was 15 years old he traveled hundreds of miles from home to attend valley forge military academy that's where i met joey he was a sophomore at the academy joy did well at the military academy but he did stand out a bit he was pretty good in sports and when he wrestled and played football and the like he was very noticeable because joey's clothes covered up a bit more of his body than everybody else's that's why kids initially came up to him in his dorm dorm room to find out what sort of deal this was what kind of a religious nut was this kid joy shared with them where his faith was at he shared with them what he believed in and who he believed in it didn't matter to joy they laughed at him he didn't matter to joy joy knew who he was and it didn't matter he had a faith that grounded him joey joey had a friend by the name of thor thor was on the football team and wrestling team with joey thor was a pretty tough guy one day they were all jumping and they all decided to jump off a side of a hill into a lake but when thor jumped it didn't work out so good for him he hid in such a way that his ankle broke and the big bones in his legs cracked under him first came the pain then the ambulance then came the hospital then the cast and the hobbling no more sports or working out with joey in the gym thor was thoroughly bummed out and would not stop complaining joy finally said to him one day four stop your moaning and groaning you can be healed if you want to thor replies are you talking about that religious stuff some of the kids in the room laughed he said you can if you want to you can be healed the subject was changed but a couple of hours later when they were by themselves thor asked joy hey man do you really think god could heal me absolutely joy replied do you think god could heal me before lunch absolutely joyce said meet me in my room in five minutes joy went to his room and started praying a couple of minutes later thor walked through and joyce showed him some scriptures about healing pain searched surged through thor's leg every time he put weight on it but it didn't matter joy prayed for him he said by the authority of the word of god and by the power of the name of jesus i take authority over these broken bones this ankle i command that they be made whole in the name of jesus christ right in the middle of prayer a boy named peter lee from south korea walked in the room joy ignored him and told thor said just keep on thanking god just keep on thanking god thor sat up and took a step on his bad leg and he winced in pain he almost fell but joy came to his side and encouraged him he said just keep praising god don't worry what it feels like you are healed when thor raised his hands and kept praising god when in faith thor on his own own started jumping up and down saying there's no more pain there is no more pain none whatsoever the doctors told thor they had never seen a leg healed so completely and so quickly peter peter lee the young korean boy that walked in the room he began to weep when he saw the miracle of four jumping up and down and a couple of weeks later peter lee received his own miracle when in that same dorm room god baptized peter lee with the baptism of the holy ghost how did that happen thor had someone talk to him about where his faith was it's really not hard to live for god satan tries to convince you that the way of living for jesus christ is impossible or if you tried it's very difficult when it's the exact opposite the enemy knows that his way is hard the bible says the way of a transgressor is hard not the way listen in the pathway of living for god there's joy unspeakable and it's full of glory didn't say i wouldn't have any dark nights didn't say i wouldn't have any unexpected twist and turn it just said that all along the way i've got a god that says i am victorious over death hell in the grave and i will be with you to the end faith what did it take for thor to get his leg healed faith what did it take for peter lee to receive heaven's sweet gift of the holy ghost faith and what will it take my dear brothers and sisters for you today to move from one road to the other faith when at the same time at the same time thor was getting his leg healed because a young man named joey decided to testify at the same time that peter lee was getting the holy ghost at the same time in california a young man named jeff approached two other young men he seemed sincere enough a big smile was on his face he said he said do you know that the comet is coming toward the earth perhaps you've heard of it it's called the hellbop comet yes we've heard of it jim was surprised and continued to share the news help bob comet is coming to the earth and he began to share the news well behind the comet is a spaceship that's going to evacuate believers from the earth the two men on the bench looked at each other and smiled then one asked so what do i have to do to get to the spaceship well you need to join the group it's called heaven's gate we're getting ready to leave this world and be transported up to the spaceship now let me go to you let me go let me take you when you hear this on the radio this day in history on march 26 1997 following an anonymous tip police entered a mansion in rancho sante santa fe an exclusive suburb of san diego california and discovered 39 victims of a mass suicide the deceased 21 women and 18 men of varying ages were all found lying peaceably in matching dark clothes and night sneakers and had no noticeable signs of blood or trauma it was later revealed that the men and the women were members of the heaven's gate a religious cult whose leader preached that suicide would allow them to leave their bodily containers and enter into an alien cr a spacecraft hidden behind the hellbop coming now can i tell you something i think these two stories prove that if you put your faith in truth good things are going to happen if you put your faith in truth there is healing that is available if you put your faith in truth you can receive the best gift ever given to man the wonderful infilling and the baptism of the holy ghost that will change your life for the better it will change your life for the good it'll take the hatred out of your heart it'll take the bitterness out of your heart it'll take the revenge out of your heart it'll replace it with sweetness and joy and love it will cause you to forgive those that have wronged you but put your faith the same faith for received he heard a boy he heard a young man joy tell him about a god that could heal him and he believed it and he was healed and filled with the holy ghost two educated strangers sitting on a park bench told a story by a deceived man he told him a story about a spaceship that was coming and all he had to do was join this heavens gates group and they could be transported to that's they could be transported to that spaceship and and there there they could be the same story but isn't that the way faith really is today even here in this building isn't that the way faith is today you would think to see the risen jesus christ you would think to see the risen jesus christ would you not think that everybody in the choir everybody in the crowd would be acting like the choir today not so not so the bible says in matthew 28 and verse 17 and when they saw him they worshiped him what see the choice to where you put your faith if i could choose for you i know what i would choose but i can't choose for you you have to choose on your own which path you want to go down now the enemy will do his best to to to to to to smear the christian walk he'll do your he'll do his best he's not going to try to get you to believe there is no god he knows better than that he's not going to do that he's just going to smear the church or he's going to cause you to always remember somebody that claimed to be a christian that wasn't a christian maybe a preacher that's supposed to do right he wasn't doing right and all of that i'm not saying that doesn't happen but can i tell you this all the people that say they live it and don't live it should deter you from the beautiful pathway that god has for your life some worship some worship and some doubted some worshipped and some doubted well it's nothing new it's nothing new in hebrews chapter four and verse number two when paralleling paralleling the people of god the church in the church of today with the children in the wilderness going between egypt and the promised land paul just writes in hebrews 4 and 12 and says for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it look at that today with me they came out of the egypt land they were headed to a land flowing with milk and honey a land where god would take care of all their giants a land where they needed water they'd get water when they needed bread he'd ran it down from heaven when an enemy stronger bigger than them would come out against them no problem god would fight the battle but the vast majority of them died and was buried between egypt and the promised land all over one word where their faith was do you realize today it will not be a person that will keep you out of heaven do you realize today it will not be a layoff it will not be a divorce do you realize today it will not be some event that happened to your life that that kept you out of heaven do you know the only thing going to keep you out of heaven is faith the lack of where you put your faith is going to determine whether you walk on streets of gold or whether you spend eternity in a devil's hell well you would think today it would be simple first corinthians chapter 15 and verse number 12 paul begins to write because the lie had begun to circulate you remember you remember that when we started off the text this morning when the angel came down from heaven and rolled the stone away and sat on it the keepers the ones trying to keep that no one would steal his body the keepers did shake and tremble it was the keepers of the prison it was the keepers of the the tomb that made their way back to the religious people and it was the religious people that gave them a large sum of money and say and it doesn't you can can you imagine i could win the case in court i could win the case i'm not even a lawyer i can win that case because what they're going to say is while we slept his disciples came and stole him away boy i'd like to have fun with that while you slept go to the stand with me for a moment sir so you're saying the disciples of jesus christ stole the body of jesus is that correct that is correct how do you know that for a fact well i just know what were you doing when they came i was asleep i rest my case your honor but they told that tale until people begin to believe it first corinthians 15 12 paul says now if christ be preached this is how important this day is to us now if christ be preached that he rose from the dead how say some of some among you there is no resurrection of the dead but if there be no resurrection of the dead then christ is not risen listen to me today this is how important this day is to us i love pentecost i love being spirit-filled i love all the goosebumps and the feel-goods that go with salvation but i got to tell you something emotions can deceive you this is how important this day is to us and if christ be not risen then is our preaching vein and your faith is also vain yea and we are found false witnesses of god because we have testified of god that he raised up christ whom he raised not up if so be that the dead raised not for if the dead raised not then is not christ raised and if christ be not raised your faith is in vain ye are yet in your sins then they also which are asleep have fallen asleep in christ are perished in this life only if in this life only we have hope in christ we are all men most miserable but now is christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept for since by man death came by man also the resurrection of the dead do you see this today christianity is not a philosophy it's not some set of rules that have us living happily ever after down here on this earth christianity is a belief in the based on truth that when we die we go to be with jesus christ when we die we and we sorrow not as others that have no hope and many times at a funeral we have to kind of tell people that don't understand the gospel that we're not being disrespectful to the deceased we do mourn we are sorry that they're no longer with us for a small period of time but we don't mourn as others which have no hope for if in this life only we have hope he's just a philosophy we are of all men most miserable but listen to me today the gospel of jesus christ says that after death there is life that's what he meant when he said i have come to give you life and i have come to give you that life more more abundantly so today church we need not fear death if those of you that are getting older in age you do not have to fear death because jesus christ has conquered death hell and the grave it's not all there is to living is down here on this earth if in this life only we have hope we're all of the most miserable among men but thank god he was victorious would you give him a praise this morning thank you jesus thank you jesus thank you jesus for the life that you have given me thank you jesus i choose to put my faith in you today and i choose to put my faith in your word today thank you jesus years ago a man preached a message entitled one solitary life i'd like to share just a part of that sermon with you today here is a man who was born in a in an obscure village the child of a peasant woman he grew up in another village he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. then for three years he was an itinerant preacher he never owned a home he never wrote a book he never held an office he never had a family he never went to college he never put his foot inside a major city he never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born he never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness he had no credentials but himself while still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him his friends ran away one of them denied him he was turned over to his enemies he went through the mockery of a trial he was nailed upon a cross between two thieves while he was dying his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he owned on earth his coat when he was dead he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend centuries long centuries have come and gone and today jesus christ is the centerpiece of the human race and leader in the column of progress i am far within the mark when i say that all the armies that ever marched all the navies that ever were built all the parliaments that ever set and all the kings that ever reigned put together have not affected the life of man today upon the earth as the past powerfully as the one solitary life of the lord jesus christ it might be as simple as simple can be today but i want to tell section one he's alive this morning i want to tell section 2 jesus christ is alive today jesus christ is alive today jesus christ is alive today jesus christ is alive today jesus christ is alive today are you miserable are you heartbroken are you discouraged are you confused do you not look forward to the morning come to face another day i need to introduce you to jesus jesus is alive jesus is alive hallelujah he's alive this morning you may be seated my favorite song of all songs right now i'm going to have it i'm going to have the ladies come because i i want to end my sermon today with my greatest song right now it's on the top chart of my list today there is jesus there is jesus revelation chapter 21 5 i want you to look very closely at this today revelation 21 and verse 5 and he that set up on the throne said behold i make all things new and he said unto me right for the words for these words are true and faithful and he said unto me it is done i am alpha and the omega the beginning and the end i will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely he that overcometh shall inherit all things and i will be i will be his god and he shall be my son but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death wait a minute verse number eight but the fearful but the fearful but the fearful do you know that our first step to coming to god is based on fear it's based on fear no wonder the bible says i want you to hold that place in revelation 21 8 for a moment but the bible says in proverbs 9 and verse number 10 the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom but when god got to telling the beginning of those that would go to hell he says but the fearful i want you to see the two because it's two paths it's two paths the pathway of god it's hard to explain it i fear god today i fear god no not in the fact that if i have a thought that shouldn't have he's ready to zap me he's got me in a house of mirrors like at the circus and he's just tickled at watching me trying to find my way through life i fear god today it's more of a reverential ah god i was made for better than this as a 15 year old boy already smoking marijuana and already being drunk and already trying to things of the world somewhere in that 15 year old boy's mind i couldn't help but think it's a better life for me it's got to be better than this god for my joy thank god for somebody that came around and told me about the gospel of jesus christ told me about the love of god and how god would love me and i just chose i love you jesus that life-changing morning and that chapel service in that christian school when i just walked to the front and i said my name is kenny carpenter and i love you jesus you know what happened that morning i took my god-given faith from a column going down the drug road and i said there's got to be a better life than this there's got to be something better for my life and i moved it over here to the god column you know he filled me with his spirit i was baptized in his name i began to preach his gospel the blessings of god begin to flow a few years later i met and married the love of my life we've got three children five grandchildren and a wonderful church of believers today oh praise god but fear got me going down that road and the first thing that happens to you today right now i'd like to go to that altar when they begin to sing i'd like to go to that altar and i i'd like for that preacher to pray with me i'd like to go to that office and have that preacher i'd like to i'd like to go that altar and have a preacher pray for me but i'm afraid what somebody might think the fear of god will put you in heaven the fear of man will take you to hell they're not the ones suffering with you they're not the one laying why should you care about people that may not even care about you why don't you get delivered today from the fear of what people say and think about you today just look with me for a moment in revelation 21 8 what starts what's the first step revelation 21 8 but the fearful and you know what the fearful does it leads you to unbelieving unbelieving he said you said faith no the unbelieving part is i don't believe that pathway over there i don't believe that's the pathway people will end up in hell because they were afraid and fearful of what people thought about them image driven image driven and somehow when they're fearful like that they write off the only exit to heaven they write off the only thing that'll take them to heaven but i'm going to tell you whoever you are today i'm just going to kneel right here and the ladies are going to sing my favorite song you got cancer today there is jesus got suicidal thoughts today there is jesus been walked out on there is jesus being cheated on light on set back there is jesus whatever you're going through today there is jesus every time i try to stand start to fall all those lonely roads that crashing to the ground when the friends i had were nowhere to be found i couldn't see them but i can see there is there is jesus when i didn't know where is jesus i'm not perfect so i thank god every day there was jesus i couldn't see it there was jesus for forgiveness i'm not perfect so i thank god every day buried in the broken or couldn't see in the shadows of the alleys there was jesus broken pieces there was jesus every time i try to you'll just begin to worship jesus the same god that healed thor somebody might think about you just lift up your voice and begin to worship jesus broken pieces i couldn't see it there was jesus forgiveness at i'm not perfect so i thank god every day there was jesus broken pieces i couldn't see it there was jesus no i've never walked on a road there's jesus in this house this morning don't you leave here today without getting your touch he's alive the tomb is empty he's alive today he's alive today come on before we go home is even when come on lift up your hands one more time and let's give him praise and give him thanksgiving he's always there come on in our moment of need he's always there he's always there oh thank you jesus lord god protection deliverance salvation healing you're always here for us oh god oh we bless your name we bless your name we bless your name amen