When The Lion Roars | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter

one more time before i read my text would you give god praise come on lift up your voice would you come on lift up that voice i i do not have a doubt in my mind today that god has given me a word for someone here i have no doubt in my mind and i just want to say before i read first before i read proverbs chapter 1 verse 17 what we're feeling right now in this room is the winds of the greater revival that we're going to have a greater move of god that we're going to have in this church proverbs chapter 1 and verse number 17 i have three passages i want to read but i do want to ask the congregation i do want you to read this one passage out loud together with me and i will begin surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird thank you i will read the rest first peter chapter five and verse number eight first peter five and eight be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour revelation chapter 5 verses 5 and 6 revelation chapter 5 verses 5 and 6. and one of the elders saith unto me weep not behold the lion of the tribe of judah the root of david hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof and i beheld and lo in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of god sent forth into all the earth for a few moments this morning i want to minister to you something that i am very calm i just know the lord has given me this for someone here today when when the lion roars when the lion roars god i thank you for your move for how you've already ministered today god i ask you lord for the next few moments to touch my lips of clay and may i be a conduit to speak god to someone on your behalf today god may i speak to someone in this congregation on your behalf and god may they receive it not is the word of a man but may they receive it today as the word of god in jesus wonderful name we pray amen amen when the lion when the lion roars i did a little research because god dropped a word in my mind and in my heart and the word went something like this tell my people to beware of the traps tell my people to beware of the traps and that spun my heart to praying and i looked up that first verse that verse in proverbs that simply says and of course the whole chapter is talking about a person being overwhelmed with greed a person getting overwhelmed with making money and the verses are referring to someone that takes their eyes off of god they take their eyes off of things that matter and they put their eyes upon money they put their eyes on things of this world and the wise man solomon just simply wrote and he says that the net or the trap is never spread in the presence of the one it's intended for the net is never spread in the presence of the bird the one setting the trap the one setting the net knows that a large part of their success is the net to be a surprise and the trap to be a surprise so if i could leave you with the word this morning as we go into this message always be on guard for the trap always be on guard for the trap i begin to study a predator the lion the lion that's been called the king of all beasts i began to do a little research on how a lion stalks their prey a lion many times has stalked their prey for days stalk their prey for hours i began to study about the lion and i i i was amazed and yet horrified at how the lion would attack its prey and with no mercy at all absolutely no mercy at all i begin to study how that when a lion would attack a prey that the lion always attacks the prey from behind from behind and that a lion always tries to position himself in the in in what we would refer to there's another name for it but it's like driving your car and when someone gets in what we refer to as a blind spot in other words they're they're just in that few feet beside you that your rear view has not caught them you you can't see them in your rear view mirror they're in what we refer to as a blind spot the lion normally attacks from the blind spot from from an angle from an angle most of the time the lion will crouch and move slowly and wait for the animal to turn his head in the opposite direction you will notice if you have seen these videos you would notice that the lion attempts when he makes his lunge toward the animal that he leaps up on the back to bite the animal i would be educated this week to the fact that it's just not a random random place that the lion is reaching for he is seeking to sever the spinal cord he reaches for its back he claws in and bites in to the spinal cord for he knows that if he can sever the spinal cord that he has done the first step in assuring his prey and that is paralyzed he knows that when the spinal cord is injured that the animal becomes paralyzed you will notice that if as you would watch that if the lion is not successful with a a moment or so of trying to sever the spinal cord he will then move to the face of the animal again it's not just a random place for then he is trying to suffocate them he is trying to cut the air off he will gnash about the nose and about the throat for again the animal understands that if i can suffocate the prey i may not be able to paralyze the prey but if i can suffocate the praise the pray i will be successful and the last thing he tries to do if he cannot paralyze the prey if he cannot suffocate the prey the last thing he tries to do is to knock his prey off balance because if he can get the prey off balance it exposes the most vulnerable part of the animal their stomach and having exposed the stomach it is easy to take the prey i begin to understand that the bible would let us know that in this last hour that you and i are living in that the apostle peter would make a clarion call to you and i to be sober to be sober the opposite of sober would be what we would refer to as drunkenness sober-minded understanding the times of which we live church today just as sure is there is a god there is a devil and he hopes that you never become sober that he is stalking not maybe stalking you i'll go ahead and tell you he stalks me and he stalks you there's not a man woman boy or girl in this room or watching online today that that adversary isn't stalking your life and the best defense against our adversary is for us to let the adversary know we know you're here i'm going to tell you the name of jesus needs to be praised often but i'm going to tell you something else too the devil needs to be rebuked often the enemy needs to be rebuked often when you can't quite put your finger on it he would like for you to dismiss it his emotional problems he would like for you to dismiss it dismiss it as just health issues he would like for you to just dismiss it as part of life part of getting older but if you do he has one more time move closer into your blind spot can i tell you today we need to beware of the trap because there's a time that the lion roars you see we have often said beware of the devil as a roaring lion can i tell you if the devil is roaring it's too late because the devil roars the lion roars after it's got its prey and it's roaring to the other beast of the field to let the other beasts of the field know this one's mine so i'm not going to wait today for the lion to roar because it's too late for the lion it's too late for you when the lion begins to roar it's in the quiet times it's in the times you can't quite put your finger on it's when you can't really look around your house and think why in the world shouldn't i be the happiest person in the world but i got all this fall going on in my mind it's in those times that you ought to begin to say satan i rebuke you in the name of jesus christ you know you you know today stay with me now church not all thoughts come from the adversary but he will stalk your thoughts and he will put thoughts in your mind can i tell you thoughts of hopelessness are not of god i said thoughts of a hopelessness is not of god thoughts i've went too far is not of god he is able to say to the uttermost i am the head thoughts i'm just trash thoughts i'm just no good thoughts i've went too far for god to love me now i'm not really important those thoughts are not of god these are the thoughts that are of god i am the head and not the tail i am above and not beneath i am the beloved of the almighty god i want the adversary not only do i want god to know that i praise him this morning but i want that lion that stuck in my life to know i know you're there i know you're behind this situation i know that you're there i'm going to tell you i don't care how long you've been in church you are and please excuse me you are a glorified fool today to think you've made it you are a glorified fool today to think the devil couldn't get in your life i would be the biggest glorified fool of a pastor to ever walk with the presumptuous step of a know-it-all and think the devil can't get me he can get me if i lose sight that he's out to get me if i get lifted up in pride and i don't give god the praise because we can't even walk without him holding our hand i got to get up of the morning and say jesus i gotta have you today it's a battle for survival i daily meet the foe i'm out there on the battlefield sometimes i seem all alone but that's when i reach for my holy armor pull out my shield of faith i march onto the battlefield poured out my sword and say the battle is hard but it's not too rough come on today do you understand what i'm talking about the enemy wants to come up on my blind spot he wants to come up on my blind spot he wants to approach me he wants to paralyze me he wants to suffocate me he wants to knock me off balance let's just have a prayer for a moment and let this prayer go like this god may i never let the enemy paralyze me god may i never let the enemy suffocate me god may i never let the enemy knock me off balance god so how can i know if i'm paralyzed today are you moving from the event that happened to you paralyzed people can't move i said paralyzed people can't move you'll never get over some things but you ought to get through them there's some things you can't get over them but you ought to get through them you take a parent that we walk a child's casket out to a cemetery and put it in the ground don't you be so insensitive to say they ought to get over it they ain't never going to get over it but by the help of god they can get through it and the devil like a roaring lion the the devil like a stalking prey when tragedy comes to our life that adversary is just stalking to see are they moving are they moving are they are they continuing to do you know why the devil was not successful with job job was worshiping while he had things and job worship when he didn't that's why the devil couldn't get him is because regardless of losing things job went back to the main thing and worshipped god and it was job's worship that led him to the change that happened in his life things happen to all of us things happen to all of us hurts unexpected events of life happen to all of us but what the adversary is looking for today are they moving did they go back to the prayer room did they go back did they he's looking at you today he's looking at somebody that got laid off their their work and while they were working they made they make good money and now they find themselves unemployed getting an unemployed check you know what the adversary's stalking the the law before he's stalking the lobby to see if you're going to go get a tithing on bella because the adversary understands that you can be obedient to god when you can understand life but how about when life is not understandable can you still go back what did the devil say to god in pertaining to job he said you have a hedge around him you have built a barrier around him now all of us today have hedges around us that god has put and there's only one of two ways that the devil can get through the head you hear it there's only one of two ways the devil can get through the hedge number one for god to allow him to come in and if god has allowed him to come in it is to test our faith the second way is for me to let him in and if i let him in because i'm going to preach on two lions today because it isn't it amazing that in the bible not only is satan referred to as a lion but our lord and savior jesus christ he's referred to as the lion of the tribe of judah oh i tell you he'd like to tear your sin up today oh i tell you he would like you see the difference the difference between the adversary being a lion and our sweet savior jesus christ being a lion satan comes to consume jesus comes to conquer satan comes to devour jesus comes to conquer us oh you ought to want to be conquered by him you you ought to want to be conquered by him do you you know he wants to conquer not only your sunday do you know he wants to conquer every day of your week do you know that he wants to conquer every every area of your life he wants to conquer that and when the conqueror comes in he's never done us nothing but good you ought to want him to conquer every area of your life conquer my personality conquer my marriage conquer my family lord i want you to conquer come up with somebody shout out conquer i wish you'd shout out conquer conquer my conquer my personality when the lion roars it's a trap it's a trap in the first book of kings chapter number 22 is an interesting chapter the judgment of god was to fall upon a wicked man by the name of ahab ahab's judgment timetable had ticked to midnight it was time for god to usher the judgment of death upon ahab so the 22nd chapter of first kings tells us a story about the throne room of god and the throne room of god in second in first kings 22 god speaks from his throne and he says to the heavenly host of angels he said how can we persuade ahab to go up to ramoth gilead and fall in battle how can we do that how can we convince ahab that he needs to go up to battle one said this and another said that but i want you to notice the bible says there came forth a spirit this spirit had not been around the throne room this spirit came to the throne room which may i add satan may have lost his residence status in heaven but he still to this day has a visitor's past because the bible says there was a day when the sons of god the angels came before the lord to present themselves and satan came also and the bible says that satan is an accuser of the brethren isn't that amazing he takes your accusations to god he'll come to god he'll come to god and say god look at that man look at what that man's doing god but you know what he'll also go to a man and say man would you look at how god's treating you he'll work both ends of the deal as long as he can get you to doubt god satan has lost his residence status in heaven but he's always got a visitor's past so he comes into the presence of the angels and he says i'll tell you how we can get him to go how is that he said i will go and i will be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets i will go be a lying spirit his prophets the way or he gets his direction spiritually i'll be a lying spirit that's why brothers and sisters you look up here at brother carpenter this morning that's why we got to take this book right here we don't need to add anything to it we don't need to take anything away from it this word is truth this is where we get our direction from the infallible word of the living god i'll go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets now let me start with verse number one of first kings chapter 22. and they continued three years without war between syria and israel and it came to pass in the third year that jehoshaphat the king of judah came down to see it came down to see the king of israel which was ahab and the king of israel said unto his servants know ye know ye that raymond gilead is ours and we be still and take it not out of the hand of the king of assyria now notice ahab your days done your day's done and the only way god is going to fulfill this is the lying spirit has to get you discontented with having peace three years of no war can i tell you it may be a trap if you're just discontented in a time that you ought to be happy i've seen people make moves in their lives all because they'd simply say i'm just not content oh i'm speaking to somebody in the holy ghost this morning it could be a trap i'm not saying god may not move you but you better move slow because it could be a trap so he he says ahab says to jehoshaphat he says hey joseph that said what are we doing sitting still when raymond gilead the land belongs to us why don't we go take it verse 4 and jehoshaphat and he said unto jehoshaphat he said to him will thou go with me to battle to remote gilead and jehoshaphat said to the king of israel i am as thou art my people as thy people my horses as thy horses he fully committed himself he fully committed himself he said sure my people's your people my army is your army the horse's mind's yours and all of that watch how backwards this is verse 5 and jehoshaphat said unto the king of israel inquire i pray thee at the word of the lord today backwards you don't commit till you find out what god's got to say about it there's been times that i'll have somebody come to my office and say pastor i want you to pray we're thinking about moving well we'll certainly pray give me some time to pray about this and they've got the keys to the u-haul in their pocket and again i'm not saying people don't move but you ought to be aware of the trap beware of the trap don't make the foolish mistake jehoshaphat made he committed himself oh yeah my horses are your horses my arm is your army we're all in ahab and then he said hey let's talk to the lord about this so did they ever talk to the lord well sure they did verse 6 then the king of israel gathered the prophets can i add they've got a lying spirit in their mouth together about 400 men and said unto them shall i go against raymond gilead to battle or shall i forbear and they said go up for the lord shall deliver it into thy into the hand of the king see y'all go up well how many knows that's a lie he put a lying spirit but you know sometimes if you if you've got any spiritual perception at all can't you kind of see through some things verse 7 and jehoshaphat said is there not here a prophet of the lord besides that we may inquire of him he says i mean 400 400 men say go up to remote gilead and prosper and jehoshaphat he's got a little bit of spiritual perception he says and something don't quite feel right something just don't quite can i tell you if something don't quite feel right might be a trap it's only the world it's only the world that sings if loving you is wrong i don't want to be right you understand what i'm saying if something don't feel right be cautious it might be a trap all right i really don't do this often i'm not really a big promoter of this but would you turn to somebody beside you just simply say it might be a trap all right all right i've never seen so many people tell another person about a trap with a smile on their face all right he said is there not is there not another prophet verse 8 and the king of israel said unto jehoshaphat there is yet how many men huh how many there is one man michaela the son of imla by whom we may inquire of the lord but i hate him for he doth not prophesy good concerning me but evil and jehoshaphat said let not the king say so don't can i tell you something and i'm not i'm not a preacher i'm not even saying this today to the congregation that i pastor because there's those folks you're visiting from out of town you start getting a bad attitude towards your pastor turn to your neighbor and say it might be a trap because i promise you it won't it didn't start with me and it ain't gonna start stop with me either most people that have issues with authority have issues with all authority just not this authority that's the truth yeah there's one i hate him oh why you hating him because he never prophesized anything good you know i just think that if he never prophesized anything good that the problem wasn't with the man of god it was with ahab so my somebody said about a sermon i preached one time they had the they had they told me they said that just rub that just rubbed the cat the wrong way i said well turn the cat around just turn the cat around i hate him i hate him he doesn't prophesy good concerning me but evil then the king of israel called an officer and said hasten hither mckay i the son of emma say go get him and the king of israel and jehoshaphat the king of judah this is interesting note this set each on his throne having put on their robes in a void place in the entrance of the gate of samaria and all the prophets prophesied before them now wait a minute while they're going to get the answer because michaela is the answer while the truth is on its way they decided to sit in a void place put their robes on and set and avoid place i found out last week in study that this was a threshing floor a threshing floor is for separating the valuable for the from the chaff it is a place of separating can i tell you that to get the right answer you'll always have to go to a place of separation the truth and the error are only separated at the threshing floor now while they're going to get this mecha and only for time's sake it's right there read it when you get home today this officer goes to get michaela the real prophet and when the officer goes to get him the officer said to him he says now my chao you listen to me buddy you listen real quick we got 400 fault we got 400 prophets every last one of them have said that ahab is to go up to raymond gilead into battle every last one of them has said go up and prosper and you better speak the same thing and he looked at the guy and he said i've always told you i'll only speak and that sounds like to me that he had been asked before not to preach the truth he said haven't i always told you and can i just tell you this today as a man of god as a pastor and other of the pastors and men of god in the house i would never accept to ever go preach anywhere where i was told i couldn't preach the truth that's not bragging that's just simply saying you should never accept to go anywhere that you could not tell them the truth he said haven't i told you before that i will only speak that which the lord gives me he said well yeah you've told me that before but you better be popping up with the 400. so meanwhile the 400 prophets have put on a production you think our walls are something you ain't seen nothing these 400 prophets brother perry got out there and they had made them big iron uh ram ramming boards and and they were out there and here ahab and a josefat setting on their thrones all dressed up and man they were putting on the production i mean to tell you uh tbn's never seen it any finer i mean they were they were putting on a production they were they were go up they were put one group was acting like the inhabitants of of raymond gilead and the other group was acting like jehoshaphat and and they would push the inhabitants and and they would fall back and they put on that big old production go up to raymond gilead and prosper look at look at these big ram horns we got pushing them back and about that time the truth got there he said there's the one man michael he said what says the lord he said what says the lord go up to raymond gilead and prosper it's an odd story because then ahab gets mad and ahab he comes in you know there's some folks you can't please them he said go up now now i got to tell you something he's being facetious he's filled with sarcasm he just kind of joins in the group tiny tim tiptoeing through the tubes he just he just joins a group you know well go up to rhema go up to raymond gilead and prosper ahab voted off his throne he said how many times that must i journey that you speak nothing to me but the word of the lord oh it's the word of the lord you want oh well i'll tell you the word of the lord for i saw i foresaw heaven open and god was sitting on his throne and god said how can i persuade ahab to go up to raymond gilead and be killed in battle and one said this and another said that and then a spirit came forth and said i will go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets and ahab said he looked at jehoshaphat didn't i tell you didn't i tell you it's going to go this way and about that way about that time one of the false prophets come out and he took his hand and he smote michael on the side of the head and he said tell me where the spirit came tell me which way the spirit came to tell me to come and smack you and make i prophesied and said there'll come a day that you will hide yourself and want to know the answer in other words you can go ahead and beat the truth up all you want to but you look up here at me this morning there'll come a day that you'll want truth you know there's an interesting story in the book of proverbs that talks about god mocking us when calamity comes matter of fact that was a tongue's interpretation the night that i got the holy ghost sister martha lee gave tongues interpretation said when the day of your judgment comes i will market you now friend we have been inundated we have been pickled in a god of only mercy but when you peel the pages of this book back you'll find there's a god that'll say if you want to beat up the truth there's a lot of things that has happened in our nation that should have never happened but god allowed them to happen because you just can't beat the truth up and go on your way he said when he came and he smacked mckay outside in the face he said which way i went the spirit of god he said you you'll want to know that one day when you hide yourself and then they said you take mikaela back and you put him on a ration of bread and water said you just i want you to put him i i want you to keep him poor i want you to keep i want you to keep him half starved bread and water and he said when i return i'll deal with him and the man of god looked at him and said ahab if you return i'm no man of god at all so they went on to battle they went on to battle and this is where this is where let me you need to be careful who you join up with you can be right and join up with the wrong person and there's more ways than just marriage to do that there's friendships you can do that with there's business partners you can do that with y'all may be seated today i know this be careful who you join yourself up you know why turn to somebody and say it you know why why it might be a trap you see when you join yourself up with the wrong people sometimes you don't think right your thinking gets haywire and i'll prove it jehoshaphat and ahab come to the battle they're almost ready to engage the battle and ahab says hey josh fat said i'm going to slip out of my my robe i'm going to take my crown off my head i'm going to i'm going i'm going to slip out of my robe and and and i'm gonna put a common robe on like the other soldiers got and said you just stay there with that big bull's-eye i mean crown on your head it's there the bull's-eye part's not but it's there all right you just stay there with that big bull's-eye on your head and i'm just going to kind of slip into the battle like a common soldier well on the other side the captains the the other army had already said don't fight with the peons don't fight with the small guys he said only shoot your errors toward the king and core here here all of a sudden jehoshaphat they had the problem of committing before he got the word of the lord all of a sudden jehoshaphat's chariot begins to be pelted with arrows and he's dodging arrows here they come it seemed like and and he begins to cry out i'm the king i'm the king and and and they took joseph out of the battle but it looked like it looked like that ahab was going to win the day the battle's over and joha and ahab has got raymont gilead but that other group knew that they had lost and a man was about to put an arrow up when he just thought why not shoot this arrow and so he just pulled back the bow held it up over the over over the army of israel he just held it up and he let it go the only vulnerable part ahab was covered with armor except right through the joints right through here right through here that was all open to add mobility and so ahab thinking that he had won the battle possibly raises his hand let's go home when all of a sudden the sting of the arrow pierced him through his heart he tells them take me out of this battle i'm wounded they took him down to jezreel and there he bled so much that the bible says that the blood ran out of the back of the chariot and there he died just let me say this to you today in closing beware of the traps beware of the traps don't enter into unfamiliar territory without prayer reading your bible and counsel with good godly people that can give you direction it might be a trap as our musicians are coming and i want you to hear this i want you to hear this and i know there's they're moving around i want to keep your attention right focused on me for a moment because the next few moments as you study how that the lion kills its prey how connected all of the animal kingdom is because a vulture is tracking the lion that's tracking you literally in the animal kingdom brother troy the vulture the scavenger bird because the lion is not going to completely consume all of its kill it's only going to take the life and eat till it's full and then the vulture comes down but it's amazing that not only does the vulture track the lion all kinds of wild dogs wolves keep their eye on the vulture because they know wherever the vulture is there must be a kill the wild dogs will follow the vulture because the vulture comes down and the vultures got a small space of time to eat until the wild dogs come and completely destroy drag bones off into caves dismember to where there's a fresh scene for the lion to make a new kill i told you today that satan is referred to as a lion and i told you today that jesus is referred to as a lion and i read just a couple of scriptures job chapter 28 verse number 7 there is a path which no foul knoweth and which the vultures i hath not seen can i tell you today that god is able to find you before the vulture does god is able god is able to find you some in this congregation today the lion has got to hold paralyzed suffocating and off balance but god there's a way no foul north and no vultures i have not seen the lions welp have not troddened it nor the fierce lion passed by there's a place that only the king lion gets to rule and honey that's right here this morning there's a place the vulture doesn't get to circle around here because we don't have death going on in this house we have life going on in this house there's a place now there may come in and there is this morning there may come in some people on stretchers that the lion has got a hold of your life but i read my last verse amos chapter 3 and verse number 12. can we just pray for a moment there's life in this house there's life in this place oh there's life in this place there's life in this place oh there's life in this place come on just pray for a moment i want the holy ghost to move there's life in this place pray with me right now please pray with me right now somebody's on a stretcher this morning someone the enemies had a hold of your life somehow somehow he convinced you he convinced you that just doing this one time wouldn't bother but now you found yourself in chains and shackles and if you found yourself surrounded by the vultures amos chapter 3 and verse number 12. look real closely thus saith the lord as the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of ear so shall the children of israel be taken out that dwell in samaria in the corner of a bed and in damascus and a couch can i tell you something god never gives up on you i want to use this scripture for that god never gives up on you he said a good shepherd will go and if all he can find is some legs and a piece of ear he's willing to he's willing to work with you if all he can find is some legs and a piece over here i wonder today if there's someone that wouldn't use your legs to walk down to this altar this morning i wonder if there's somebody that would hear the voice of god say it's not too late i'm the lion of the tribe of judah i'm able to overcome is there somebody today would you stand with me right now oh god in the name of jesus lord in the name of jesus today god in the name of jesus today lord speak to the bruised lord speak to the bleeding lord speak to those today that the lion our adversary has got a hold of them lord speak to them today oh come on why don't you use your legs right now why don't you use your ear right now in the name of jesus christ in the name of jesus christ here they come this morning would you come i begged you to come would you come don't let the adversary kill you don't let the adversary destroy you would you step out of that seat this morning would you step out of that seat you've got your legs the enemy hasn't got your legs you've got an ear you hear what god is saying today would you come right now would you come church help me pray could somebody on each pew begin to pray right now you're the one to work in god you're the one to work in god you're the one to work in god if you we're gonna dismiss church today by way of the altar and we're going to dismiss church by way of the altar today prayer time is 5 30 tonight in the prayer room brother evan grizzly's going to be preaching tonight but could we come down around the front before we go home he's a miracle-working god sorry he can deliver you sir he can deliver you the devil is a liar you can be completely delivered ma'am you can be delivered you can be delivered today you can be delivered right now oh god pray church pray church before you go home pray right now oh god in the name of jesus god