Tri-State District Camp-meeting 2022! | "The Structure of the Apostolic Church" Bishop Carpenter

there's a statement that is made there's a statement that will be made in a few weeks from now that'll cause the people of east tennessee to give a shout but somebody will say it's football time in tennessee all right but tonight i get the high privilege of saying it's camp meeting time come on it's camp meeting time i believe the holy ghost is going to sit down on us tonight i believe you're going to get what you've come for this evening this week in the name of the lord is going to be a turnaround week you might have came in defeated but you're going to leave with the victory you might have come in wondering but you're going to leave with direction do you believe that tonight if you believe that give him a shout like you have an all-service law [Applause] great is the lord and greatly to be praised you may be seated for just a moment i want to take a time and just um i'm going to tell you every everybody ought to have a best friend like pastor mark mccool everybody ought to be as privileged as i am to have a best friend a district superintendent the pastor of this great church i give honor tonight to um to our bishop to our bishop um my precious mother-in-law lives with us and the other morning at breakfast she was talking bishop bishop does this and bishop does that and bishop and finally standing there in my house robe i said mother-in-law you don't have to call me bishop here and she looked at me she said i'm not talking about you i'm talking about our bishop bishop mccool so aren't you thankful tonight they are the bishop but i'm glad that we have our bishop tonight he and his precious wife and this family here at fac of knoxville and this wonderful district to be uh to be at home and i'm so very thankful for that this evening i'm glad to have in my family i'm glad to uh i haven't seen part of my family since uh since sunday we kind of passed in services but it's good i love my family and i want to tell you something there wouldn't be anywhere near what is in maryville and the work of god without the family that backs brother and sister carpenter up and i appreciate would you give my family a hand tonight my family nolan and flannery were flying out yesterday to go to texas to do a youth camp in texas and early yesterday morning bishop peter gray called and he said brother carpenter i need to get a hold of nolan uh he uh he's doing our youth camp and we have had here in texas we have had an outbreak of covet and we are we're going to have to postpone our camp meeting and so i immediately got on the phone couldn't get him by phone but i got him a text and they had just wheels up on the plane and he's headed to headed to dallas texas so there'll be a turnaround and they'll be with us tomorrow tomorrow night but pray for him pray for him he's been very upset for the last couple of days they lost his golf clubs and he's pleading he's pleading he's pleading the blood on his golf clubs i love my fac maryville church family i love all of you all that are that are here tonight and i appreciate my fac sevierville family that that is hero have a common little joke that we make on tuesday night my my wife goes down toward vanor to which god has opened up a door in a a place where a group of ladies are attempting to get their life back on track and they are seeking for help and it's called the trinity house so on tuesday nights my wife and i she goes down toward vanor to take a bible study chart there and teach a home bible study in a place called trinity house and i'm glad that we have baptized several in the wonderful name of jesus they've received the holy ghost from trinity house and i kind of have a common little joke that i tell my wife i say you know maryville is my wife maryville is my wife but sevierville is my girlfriend and on tuesday night i'll tell her sister mccool i'm i'm going to several to see my girlfriend and she said kenny you better you better be careful how you say that said that but i appreciate i appreciate so much 38 years ago today 38 years ago today just right up the hallway here stood kenny carpenter and penny bennett in front of bishop billy mccool and bishop dean livingston and 38 years ago today she said i said i do we became husband and wife and it's been a great 38 years i believe that we've spent most of those 38 years at a camp meeting somewhere at a camp meeting and i love her i uh you would just please remain standing with me i affectionately call her my million dollar my million dollar penny i believe tonight that i have a word pastor mccool i believe that i have a word for the tri-state tonight and if you would just um if you would just give me a little lead way to lay a foundation but i have prayed and asked the lord um for a word for the tri-state district i look forward to the morning services and what god is going to do just want the holy ghost to come sit down on us tonight don't you just want the holy ghost to come sit down on us tonight the book of exodus chapter 26 verse number 15 brother whitley i make i make no apologies but i'm going to read several verses tonight several several verses this evening starting with exodus chapter 26 and verse 15. you know elder johnny james said if you will read a lot of scripture even if you don't preach so good at least they got the word all right so i'm going to read several verses the bible said and thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle of shaidam wood standing up ten cubits shall be the length of a board and a cubit and a half shall be the breath of one board two tenons shall there be and one board set in order one against another thus shalt thou make for all the boards of the tabernacle and thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle twenty boards on the south side southward and thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards twenty sockets under one board for the two tenons and two sockets under the other board for his two tenons and on the second side of the tabernacle on the north side there shall be 20 boards there's sockets of silver two sockets under one board two sockets under another board and for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards two boards shall thou make for the corners of the tabernacle and two sides they shall be coupled together beneath and they shall be coupled together above the head of it until one ring thus shall it be for them both they shall be for the two corners and there shall be eight boards and there's sockets of silver 16 sockets two sockets under one board two sockets under the other board thou shalt make bars of shidem wood five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle and five for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle five bars for the boards on the side of the tabernacle and for the two sides westward and the middle bar in the midst of the board shall reach from end to end they shall and thou shalt overlay the boards with gold and make their rings of gold for places for the bars and thou shall overlay the bars with gold and thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion whereof which was showed thee in the mount for a few moments this evening i want to minister to us on the apostolic church structure the apostolic church structure how many are glad to be apostolic tonight you're glad to be apostolic let's pray together father lord i love you tonight lord i thank you for the privilege god of being called to preach i thank you lord for the privilege to stand in this place tonight lord the very place where i received the holy ghost god the very grounds on which i was taught this wonderful word lord the very place that had structure god the very place lord that put structure in my wild life lord i ask you tonight god that you would use your servant and that i would speak a word god to all of our pastors and their wives and family lord that truly over the next couple of days that the holy ghost would come and just rest down upon us tonight we'll give you praise and honor and glory in jesus name help me preach tonight lord give the lord a hand to praise as you're being seated oh great is the lord and greatly to be praised they said i was one of the first i was the first boy to graduate from acs and i proudly say that i was also third in my class we only had four but praise god i was third in my class the apostolic church structure the apostolic church structure you know anything that almighty god loves anything almighty god loves you can trace it through scripture anything that almighty god loves he will place it in a structured environment if he loves it and he loves the church he places the church in a structured environment tonight when i begin to read about the tabernacle i must admit pastor whitley that the tabernacle is one of my most favorite subjects i i love the tabernacle i if i um if if i would have a fault uh it would be that i study the tabernacle i i there's so much the tabernacle in the old testament is so rich in bible typology it's uh so rich in the plan of salvation it's a it's the old testament illustrated sermon about the new birth that's in the new testament from i mean everything about the old the the tabernacle has typology in it uh of jesus christ and the plan of salvation it's been said that if you took an aerial view of the old testament tabernacle that the way the furniture is arranged that god said forms a perfect cross on the ground god wanted to get his word in this illustrated this illustrated sermon i i remember brother azar our missionary to lebanon told that in their bible class there in lebanon they were studying the tabernacle and they were stumped the students there got stumped on they could not find typology of the name of jesus in the labor the labor of water that the priests were told to wash their their hands and feet lest they die and uh they could not they understood that the labor with water in it represented baptism but they wanted to find out where the typology of the name of jesus and so brother azar said they took a break and they began to pray and seek the lord and said in just a little bit one of the students felt like he got the answer he asked the question he said they're in the middle of the desert where did they get the water at and they said well they had a miracle rock there that followed them through the wilderness that gave them the water and another young man said yes and the apostle paul said and that rock was jesus christ and so all through all through the tabernacle you can find topology and it's just it's just so it's so rich of course the very reason that we have the tabernacle can be summed up in exodus 25 and verse 8 when god said let them make me a sanctuary that i may not visit them but that i may dwell among them i don't just want to visit my people israel i want to i want to live with them i want to live in the midst of them chapter 29 and verse 45 once again god would say that i will dwell among the children of israel and will be their god of course this is nothing new you understand that israel after 435 years of bondage have been released from egypt and they they are a free people they've been brought out by the blood they've been taken through the red sea and under the cloud and all typifies the plan of salvation they've been brought up all all through this but you know a delivered people need a structure a delivered people have got to have a structure i i this is the difference between being born again and being converted a lot of people get born again but very few people get in the structure and they're actually converted it wasn't the water that converted me it wasn't the spirit that converted me it was the structure that almighty god placed us in that is the conversion before the fall of man anywhere god could have placed adam and eve anywhere god could have placed adam and eve but god didn't just place adam and eve anywhere the bible said in the lord god planted a garden eastward in eden and there he put the man whom he had formed so god had a structured environment god had a special place for this for this man we know this evening that we are living in a culture such as never before when this culture is doing everything it can to dimantle the structure we we see you know the the the the structure of society and even in our even in our government we see them tearing down a structure that has brought blessings and liberty to the great citizens of the united states of america they're trying to tamper with the structure there and we understand something that when people live in an environment that's not structured it's dangerous for them it's a dangerous place to be when there is no structure of law it's a dangerous place to be when two plus two doesn't equal four anymore it's a dangerous place to be when you begin to believe that you can determine your gender identity it's just it's just kind of being a dangerous place to be david david fought a battle david fought a battle and the bible says in second samuel 18 8 in this battle that david fought it says for the battle was scattered over the face of all the country and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured when david began to calculate what killed these soldiers it wasn't swords it was the unstructured environment of the woods it wasn't a sword or a dagger it wasn't someone threw a spear and got that man he simply got to fighting in an unstructured environment and it devoured more that day god knew when he brought israel out that israel needed more than just ten commandments god knew that israel needed a tabernacle they needed a structured environment but not just any structure a structure that could withstand the winds of the wilderness a structure that could withstand all of the environment of the of the wilderness the winds the rain the heat and so god began to order moses and the children of israel that they were to bring these boards it was only part of the tabernacle but it was an important part of the tabernacle the boards of which i read tonight are 15 feet high and two feet wide there were tenions or or connectors that were upon each board each individual board had the ability to be connected to another board and be connected to another board and uh these these boards as they were connected together the more that they were connected together the stronger that they became the more they were connected together and i believe that one of the things of covet that has tried to really rape the apostolic church is that we can be saved or we can be right and not come in a symbol together can i can i tell you we may have had to have online for a while but uh that's not something i want to get used to i am stronger when i come into the house of god i am stronger when i get back together with the people of god can you give him a praise right now stronger stronger these boards were fastened to the ground in sockets or sockets yes of silver it was the silver that separated the board from the dirt of the desert floor we know that all of this is typology and silver represents uh redemption and how that we are not touching the earth of being polluted again but that we are we're resting upon we're resting upon redemption well we keep going through the the study of these boards and we we come to the corners of the boards we come to the corners of the tabernacle and there's something about the corners because the bible tells us that when it came to the corners of the tabernacle that the corners of the tabernacle were reinforced the corners of the tabernacle were not only fastened on the bottom but the corners of the tabernacle were fastened on the bottom and on the top board because it would be the corners of the tabernacle that would bring stability to the wall the wall was strong when it was united with the other boards but when the wall slid into the corners it gained much more strength it gained much more stability when it was joined together to the corner now have it come tonight and you know to give you a lesson on building codes all of this has spiritual analogies tonight i'm glad to announce that uh jesus christ is our great chief corner stone you know what gives us stability tonight his name is jesus what gives us strip tonight is j e s u s did you wake up with him on your mind this morning did you think about jesus throughout the day can i tell you we wouldn't have repentance without jesus we wouldn't have water baptism without jesus we wouldn't have the infilling of the holy ghost without jesus somebody ought to shout his name right now we ought to take a moment and just praise the name of jesus come on just praise the name oh yes there was a lot of curtains that were that were that were instructed by god but curtains alone will blow away in the wilderness if it's not for the structure of the boards god gives us a structure the bible said he gave some apostles some prophets some evangelists pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the church for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god into a perfect man and to the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ listen to this verse that we henceforth be no more children you see a lot of times immaturity can be traced back to someone that has not submitted to the structure you cannot have the structure until you have the spirit of submission you can't stand alone and mature in jesus christ if there's going to be maturity we have got to yoke up with something and we have got to become submitted to the structure there's nothing like the apostolic church there's nothing like what you and i do in the structure together [Applause] that we be not that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine jude also told us in jude 1 and 11 woe unto them for they have gone in the way of cain they have ran greedily after the era of balaam for reward perished in the gained saiyan of korah these are spots in your feast of charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear clouds they are without water carried about of the winds trees whose fruit withered whose and whose trees withered whose fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots don't just visit the apostolic church get in the apostolic church well i've been coming for a few months and there's no change in my life you've got to add a little submission to this you've got to understand it takes more than just coming and feasting among others you've got to cement yourselves come on give him praise this evening corners corners corners corners corners corners are very important jesus christ is essential corners are important if the enemy's going to attack us anywhere he'll try to attack us in the corners the enemy knows the corners is the strength of our lives enemy knows it's the corners of our lives that cause us to have stability is it any wonder when we read job chapter 1 and verse 19 is it any wonder when satan was given permission to touch the family of job that job 1 19 says this and behold there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house and it fell upon the young men and they are dead and i alone am escaped to tell thee that's why the enemy knows if i'm going to bring the house down upon job's children i'm not going to strike the middle of the wall i'm not going to strike somewhere around the side of the wall i know i've got to strike on the corners of the house to bring the house down the enemy is still using that today the enemy would like to strike the corners of our house but i've got good news to you if you will stay connected to the corner hell cannot defeat jesus christ the chief cornerstone if you'll just your lowest trial get jesus on your mind your deepest temptation get jesus on your mind the corners there is strength in the corners there's something about the corners that i want to preach about for a few moments there's strength in the corners as a matter of fact pentecost is typified in the tabernacle we have the beautiful day of pentecost in the tabernacle in leviticus chapter 23 and verse 15. here it goes it says in leviticus 23 15 and ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath from the day that ye brought the sheep of the wave offering seven sabbaths shall be complete even unto even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath ye shall number fifty days that is pentecost we have the day of pentecost right here in this reading you see we wouldn't have pentecost if it wasn't for calvary i'm glad for the upper room but i'm so thankful for calvary the blood of jesus christ when god came down from heaven robed himself in flesh walked among us and gave his life so that you could believe on his name and i could believe on his name there'd be salvation in his name but after he was crucified 50 days later came pentecost i was beginning to read this the other day i was intrigued because i kept reading and the subject is still on pentecost it's still talking about it's still talking about pentecost comes all the way down to verse 21 of chapter 23 of leviticus still talking about pentecost and it says and ye shall proclaim on the self same day as pentecost that it may be a holy convocation unto you you shall do no servile work therein it shall be a statue forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations still talking about pentecost and when you reap the harvest of your land thou shalt not make clean radius of the corners of thy field when thou reapest neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of the harvest thou shalt leave them unto the poor and to the strangers i am the lord your god can i tell you something about the corners those were talking about the jews the jews got the whole field but god said i've got some gentiles down in knoxville tennessee god said i've got some gentiles in east tennessee god said i've got some gentiles up in kingsport god said i got some gentiles over in north carolina and those gentiles they don't have the name of abraham they don't have a pedigree of the old testament but those gentiles are going to get in the field and i want them to go to the corner i'm telling you there is pentecost in the corner oh sharecropper's family from southeast missouri they weren't jews they weren't a part of the line of abraham but god said i'm going to let them wander into the corner i'm going to let them get in the field and that sharecropper's family is going to get over they don't have a name nobody's going to know the name mccool nobody's going to know that name they're going to wander in the field but somebody's going to say you belong over there in the corner in the corners where you're going to get this can i tell you tonight i've come on the first night of this camp meeting to tell somebody that hell has beat you down told you that you're nothing but trash told you that you'll never amount to anything told you you got a record at the courthouse told you that you're a divorcee told you that you're an ex-con told you that you're a druggie told you all of that i've come to tell you there's a corner waiting on you there's a corner of the field where you come on give him praise right now there's a corner would you shout structure shout it again structure structure there's no pentecost without structure i said there's no pentecost without structure this demonic spirit that goes through our land that tries to tell you that you don't need a pastor and you don't need a local church and you'll just tithe wherever you want to whenever you want to can i tell you something you'll never develop how you should develop because you don't have the structure i'll bring you out of egypt i'll drag you out of egypt by my blood i'll take you through the red sea but when it comes to making you the people that's a royal diadem it's going to take a structure i've got to put you in a structure folks don't fight the structure don't buck with the structure the structure is trying to help you to become all that you can be the structure i wish somebody stayed in structure a structure a structure structure it's a lot of fighting of the structure and i fight the structure you you you mean i gotta sign a handbook to be a sunday school teacher it's called a structure because we just don't want just anybody in our sunday school class right it's called a structure how can two walk together except they be a agree it's called a structure you you mean i have to be faithful to be the youth pastor yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah it's called structure you you mean i have to come to church even when i'm not asked to sing the special in the choir yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah it's called structure that's that's what it's called it's called structure you mean i have to come on wednesday night are you yeah that's called structure lord have mercy help me jesus tonight some might say structure you don't have let me tell you god only feels what is structure god doesn't feel empty space he comes down where there is structure structure pastor i feel like god's out of my life ask yourself the question do i have some structure do i get up of the morning the first thing i do check my email or peruse you may be seated peru's facebook do i get up in the morning and do everything else but what i should do you know that studies are even saying now this is not even this is this study's not even tied into going to church but studies are saying if you will get up and the first thing you will do is find five things to be thankful for that you'll have a good day can i tell you we've got a hundred things to be thankful for this is the day that the lord has made i will rejoice in it and be exceedingly glad for the lord is my helper the lord is my life whom shall i fear if you feel like god has left you you need to ask yourself the question of what kind of structure do i have do i know more sports stats then i do the word of god do i know the latest of this and the latest of that that may be a reason pastor our marriage is falling apart just feel like we need god in this marriage could you set us up on a counseling session sure but i got one word for you in that counseling session structure structure you got to have the structure of coming to the house of god how do you raise a good family first be a man that's got good structure how do you become a good mother be a matter that's got good structure and that good structure begins with you having connection with the corner jesus christ a praying man a praying woman a bible reading man a bible reading woman a woman or a man that's got god on their mind god entertainment god songs god books that they're reading well how do you raise a good family pastor mark mccool how did you raise your good family how did you raise sister ashley and brother anthony how do you raise them to be in the house of god i'm going to tell you they didn't wait for ashley and anthony i say that respectfully brother anthony pastor anthony sister ashley they didn't wait for them to get 12 years old and say ashley baby are you going to serve jesus it's left up to you whether we memo and papaw mom and daddy don't want to push it off on you all we're going to let you make up your mind they didn't do that train up a child sound like structure train up a child in the way that it should go and when they're old it will not depart structure structure if your children have to ask you this question you don't have structure are we going to church tonight they said they waited four years to get me the way i'm preaching they may wait 40 more years to get me if they have to ask are we going to church in the morning you probably don't have structure if they have to ask are we taking our church clothes on vacation are we going to dress this way on vacation you you probably don't have structure you want to raise a good family it's going to take more than wednesday night sunday morning and sunday night that's just the attitude you've got to have structure in your home you've got to have structure in your life everything has got to be about stretching let me just go down through second chronicles seven and one second chronicles seven and one is the dedication of the temple now when solomon had made an end to praying the fire came down from heaven notice the fire comes after the prayer consume the burnt offering and the sacrifices sounds like structure the glory of the lord filled the house after structure the priest could not enter into the house because the glory of the lord had filled the house when the children of israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the lord fell upon the house they bowed themselves upon their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshiped and praised the lord saying for he is good his mercy endureth forever then all the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the lord verse four structure the king offered solomon offered sacrifices structure verse number six is structure the priest waited on their offices that is structure solomon hollywood the mental court that is structure solomon kept the feast day that is structure verse nine the eighth day they made a solemn assembly structure kept the kept the dedication structure verse number 11 after all the structure let me read verse 10 and on the and and on and on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents glad and mary in heart for the goodness that the lord had showed unto david david's not there and to solomon so he says i want to thank god for the structure there are those that are not here today but they add to our structure if it wasn't for those that have already passed on sister mccool's father uh brother cook that brought this message that's they're not here but sister mccool we're building on the structure that they they gave us bishop g d peters he's not here but we're building on the structure that he gave us last night bishop and you would have probably known a lot of these people i i recognized just a few of them but seventh year 70th anniversary of the district and they had a wonderful presentation and i i saw men like jael pipkin i saw men like bishop j frank wilson i saw men like jt payne i saw your pastor uh brother parent i saw a brother hancock from from charlotte north carolina i saw all of these men some of them i never got to meet but i sat there and i thought they're not here but we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the structure that these men have given to us structure david's not here but solomon is david's not here but solomon is there's some men that are here building on the structure that david give and the bible said unto solomon and to all israel but verse 11 is really what i wanted out of the whole how of the whole reading look at verse 11 real closely ii chronicles 7 and verse number 11 thus solomon finished the house of the lord and the king's house and all that came into solomon's heart to make in the house of the lord and his own house he prosperously affected prosperously we are living in a day of the chief prosperity gospel we're living in a day when they're preaching to us prosperity but listen to this man tonight tell you there is no true prosperity without structure you can't have friend this is not a pyramid scheme this is not give ten and get a hundred this is not a cheap some kind of cheap sweepstakes we're trying to win it's structure structure structure structure structure no person drove by here and stroked a 8 million dollar check or a 10 million dollar check or however much it costs to build this house no man drove by so i just want to i just want to pay it off no sir what you're looking at this evening is many years of structured giving structured giving just structure see a man walking with his family in the church tonight just see one thing underneath there's a lot of structure there there's a lot of structure no evangelist is going to lay his hand on your head and tell you what you ate for breakfast and what your social security number is nobody's going to come by and give you a word from the lord if you want to come out of the dilemma that you're in make up your mind on the first night of camp meeting i'm going to start putting structure in my life we're going to start going to church on wednesday night whether we feel like it or not if the church doors are open i'm going well don't you know don't don't you know that i i go to church and i hear the same old thing keep on going it's called structure just keep on going it's called structure of us have got out of the choir because it had some structure get back in the choir get the handbook and find out what it's going to take to be in the choir pastor erickson tonight i got to tell you that our structure doesn't look like the world's religious structure too many of us want to compare ourselves with the false structures of the world our structure doesn't look like their structure our structure doesn't look like their structure there's a lot of times that i hear things that kind of baffle me about the world structure such as having a healing sunday i thought god would heal every day of the week well we got baptism sunday coming up i'm sorry i said it i'm sorry but i thought any time of the day or not they baptize people in the book of acts gay or not they baptize people our structure doesn't look like their structure oh did you see on tv that pretty structure that they had oh they panned the audience and all of their people when they pan the audience have their bibles open and all the people are nice looking people and well-dressed people there's not a kid you can listen to some of their programs there's not a kid hollering out there's not there's not somebody the camera pans the audience and somebody's going to the restroom or somebody's asleep don't be deceived by the false structures of this world they don't have what we've got we have been connected to jesus christ one lord one faith one baptism one god one father of all above all through all and in you we've got the right structure our structure doesn't look like their structure our structure i'm going to say it again and again and again and again because they're people being drawn away because they're not truly submitted to this structure well they'll let me sing over there yeah i know they'll let just about anybody sing over there and then if we don't watch and i lord don't i don't want the superintendent to come out in me if they don't watch we begin to buy into this false ideal that if we will remove some of the structure from us that we'll get more people well which do you want more people or more god and the truth of the matter is i've lived long enough to see some of them take the structure out of their church lower every standard get all the standards around they didn't grow they diminished in their number come on church it's a day not to take structure out of the church it's a day to put structure in the church gonna take something to preach the gospel around here gonna take something to be a janitor around here gonna take something to be a sunday school teacher around here it's going to take structure structure in jeremiah chapter 12 verse number 9 god begins to talk about his people israel he calls them his heritage his heritage he calls his people you're my heritage you belong to me you're you're my heritage and in jeremiah 12 and verse number 9 listen to god when he says my heritage is unto me as a speckled bird the birds round about her are against her come ye assemble all the beasts of the field come to devour her he he likened israel to a odd-looking bird he he likened it to a great speckled bird and she didn't look like the other birds that were around her and the other birds that didn't look like the great speckled bird wanted to devour that great speckled bird isn't it amazing that we live in a culture that can tolerate any people but those that stand for absolutes they they they they can tolerate any kind of lifestyle but if you go to a church that embraces biblical absolutes they begin to spew out venom against that church we become judgmental you know what they're trying to intimidate us to devour us to destroy us but we have got to understand we are an odd duck in this world and thank god we don't look like this world we don't act like this world we don't talk like this world we are god's people of structure [Applause] i'm sorry i'm sorry sister erickson said to fallon erickson and sister ashley whitley i'm sorry you probably won't hear this on hill song or wind song or there won't be a song writing session that's going to come out with this but i i got a the lyrics of an old song i'm going to sing you right now no i won't sing it what a beautiful thought i am thinking concerning a great speckled bird remember her name is recorded on the pages of god's holy word all the other birds are flocking around her she's despised by the squad but the great speckled bird in the bible is one with the great church of god all the other churches are against her they envy her glory and fame they hate her because she is chosen and she has not denied jesus name desiring to lower her standard they watch every move that she makes they long to find thought with her teaching but really they find no mistake somebody ought to shout because we got structure we've got some structure in this house structure structure bc i won't know how many of you saints how many you saints of god were ringing your hands and worried about when we had gmc the last few weeks ago and your pastor headed off to gmc to our general conference how many of you sat around and worried are they gonna get in a room and there decide that homosexuality is no longer a sin let's start licensing homosexual homosexuals and lesbians and let's start doing all of this none of you did that you know why you are safe and secure in a structure that is above every structure you want to take courage in that tonight tri-state district hear me tonight you hear me tonight you are a blessed people because you're not going to church wondering where your pastor stands you're not going to church wondering are we still going to obey what we've been obeying for years you're going to go to church and that pastor is going to get a bible study out on first corinthians 11 or deuteronomy chapter six that take comfort take comfort [Music] [Applause] structure structure structure she is spreading her wings for a journey she's going to leave by and by when the trumpet shall sound in the morning she shall rise and go up in the sky talking about structure talking about structure that tabernacle had to be moved tabernacle had to be moved from time to time which meant there had to be some people that were willing to go with the tabernacle when it was dismantled anybody can stay with the church when it's good but what about when it's been dismantled a little bit listen to this and musicians would you come i'm not done but it'll make everybody feel better numbers 4 and 31 this is the charge of their burden according to all their service in the tabernacle of congregation the boards of the tabernacle the bars thereof the pillars thereof and the sockets thereof the pillars of the court round about and their sockets their pens their cords and all their instruments and with all their service and by name you shall reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden this is the service of the family of the sons of mirai according to all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation under the hand of ithamar the son of aaron the priest it was a certain family of the levites they were over the heaviest material of the tabernacle was those boards those boards combined those pins those sockets combined was heavier than the altar heavier than the labor heavier than the ark of the covenant heavier than all the curtains was the heaviest job in the entire movie of the tabernacle and god gave it to one certain group one certain group numbers chapter 8 verse 23. and the lord spake unto moses saying this is it that belongeth unto the levites from 25 years old and upward they shall wait they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle in the congregation and from the age of 50 years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof and shall serve no more but shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation to keep the charge and shall do no service thus shalt thou do unto all the levites touching their charge so you understand that i'm 25 years old i've got the strength i've got the mentality i'm 25 years old i'm going to be tearing the boards down i've got strong muscles i'm 25 years old i'm in the prime i'm going to work at this tearing the boards down and reassembling them until i am 50 years old and when i am 50 years old [Music] i will no longer be tearing the boards down i will no longer when i'm 50 years old i will no longer be putting the heavy load on my shoulder no that doesn't mean i'm not going to be around i'm going to be around to assist in the tabernacle now i want to ask this evening and i hope logistically this is not a nightmare but i'd like to ask if you're between the ages of 25 and 50 would you stand right now you're between the ages of 25 and 50 would you stand can i tell you that right here standing among us is the engine of our church is the strength of our church right here standing among the 25 to 50 is the families that are being raised in our churches across our fellowship right here is the levites that have the mentality that have the strength that have the muscle to put all of that to put all of that in the most important thing in your life the tabernacle i preach to you tonight and tell you in a world that wants to drag you away to making money in a world that wants to try to tell you when you're a teenager the devil will tell you to wait till after you're married to start serving god and the enemy will try to get in your mind tonight and tell you you know you really need to make all that you can right now and when you retire you'll get involved at the church don't believe that for right for one moment we need you you that are standing we need you and we need you right now be sold out to the message be sold out to the apostolic faith if we're ever going to keep moving please don't you stop coming to church please don't you stop being faithful please don't you stop just remain standing 25 to 50 just remain standing with me for a moment those that are 19 years old and under would you stand right now you're 19 and under would you stand you're not yet carrying the boards of the tabernacle you've not yet been given a job to do [Music] but you're going to be well versed because you've watched daddy move the tabernacle you don't have the burden yet you don't have the burden yet and you really don't know why mom and dad get to church a half hour early to have prayer you really don't know why that's going on but but one day you're gonna understand that prayer before church moves the church in power i i know you don't understand it yet i i i i i know that you you don't have that burden yet you you don't have that that burden yet but you're watching mom and you're watching dad when it comes time for you to turn 20 25 you're gonna stand up and you're gonna say i know how to move the tabernacle i know when things get a little quiet around the church i know how to i know how to move this tabernacle i i know how to move but now wait a minute there's one last group and i fit in that last group and that's those that are of the age of 51 and up if you're 51 years of age and up would you stand with me right now oh brother carpenter i used to be between that age of 25 and 50 and well back in my day we did this for the church and we did that for the church but i just don't feel like i'm much of use anymore you couldn't be further from the truth [Music] that shouldn't be further from the truth you see you got a testimony with that wide head you got you got a testimony you got a testimony a lot of people can say i'm going to serve the lord all the days of my life but you're showing it in living color you're showing every time you come in with your walker or every time you come in and you're not moving as fast as you used to you're a living testimony that this is worth living for [Applause] the number one thing i have a precious family here tonight they follow me and sister carpenter about all over the country we affectionately call them our grandparents brother and sister z ender they met bishop mccool brother and sister zender met in the nursery class as infants in brother ryle's church in south bend indiana they met for the first time they've been married over 65 plus years they live for god they've lived for god all their life one thing they'll continually tell me about oh no [Music] they can't carry the boards anymore they had their day they don't have the stamina that they used to have but they preach one thing to me with tears streaming down their face they'll say please don't change [Music] please don't change [Applause] please don't change you know what we need to be 51 and up we need to be encouragers to our pastors coming around saying please don't change please don't change keep on talking about water baptism keep on talking about the way please don't change let me see if i can do this this evening from right here from right here over right here over i'd like for every young person 19 and under see if you can gather as close in this area right here from right here in the altar right here over right here over to that wall if you can just gather in right now would you come somebody say structure from right here over to the wall 19 and under 1900 19 right right here come on i'm gonna see if i can get everybody [Music] all right come on come on that's it that's it that's it structure somebody say structure structure structure structure how about a strong tower how about a strong tower we've got structure don't we from right here look at my hand from right here all the way over to right here i want 20 to 50. if you're between the ages of 20 and 50 i want you from right here at this pew all the way over i know we we may not get everybody here but i'll get as many as i can structure structure structure structure structure structure structure god help us structure a structure god oh the winds of the wilderness are blowing i need structure could you just move on in come on come on move all the way move all the way in i may have to have you feel this i may have to have you feel this aisle up over here i may have to have you feel the aisles up over here just see if you can get right here see if you can go that way as far as you can