How to Gain Authority - Hope Carpenter

Whatever way you found me here tonight, whether it's YouTube or Facebook Live, however you are joining, if you've never been a part of Hope Carpenter Ministries or listened to any preacher, I am so glad that you are here today. And I just believe that the word I have tonight is going to change you. It's going to shift you, it's going to elevate you, it's going to grow you. And that is exactly what God's word does for us. And it changes us, it shifts us, it grows us. You know, we're all on this journey of becoming more like Jesus. And that's my prayer for you tonight. So call somebody, text somebody, share this, give it to everybody you know, say, sit down, 30 minutes, God's got something for you. So are you ready? Let's go. I want to talk to you about how to gain authority. And we all want that, right? We all want authority in Christ. But truthfully, the way to gain authority is by. Are you ready? Are you ready? It's by submitting to authority. Ah, I wish it was some other way. I wish it was easier. I wish it was just because you were that good, you know that you're that good. And God's anointed you so much that he's just going to throw you out there and he's going to give you everything that you want and he's going to, you know, just take you from level to level to level to level. No, to get authority, we have to learn how to submit to authority. So God, I pray that you give us ears to hear. Help us, Jesus, help us. Sometimes take a hard word, a tough thing, Lord, where we have to beat our flesh into submission to hear it and to receive. God, give us ears to hear wherever we are in this journey called life, God. Because I know that everyone listening to my voice wants to be accelerated, wants to go higher, wants to do more, wants to accomplish. There's none of us listening in the sound of my voice who just wants to do nothing and to have nothing and to be nothing, God, you know our hearts, you know our giftings and our callings. So God, tonight help us take this word. Oh God. You said you word was sharp and it was powerful. It was more powerful than a two edged sword. So let it cut us tonight, God, Let it cut our heart, let it cut our flesh, God, cut off the things that you don't want in our life so that we can live and flourish and glorify you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So gaining authority by submitting to Authority. There's a story in the Bible. It's about two women. And if you know anything about the Bible, it's about Naomi and Ruth. And Ruth had married one of Naomi's sons, and he died. So you can go back and read this yourself. But after he died, she committed her sin to the authority in the house, which was the mother, which was Naomi. And she said this. She said, wherever you go, I'll go. Wherever you lodge, I'll lodge. Your people will be my people. Your God, My God. So she did whatever Naomi told her to do. She submitted herself. Then there's these other two people in the Bible, David and Saul. First Samuel 16:21 says, David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor bearers. Now, that word we do not hear a lot in church. We don't hear it hardly anywhere. We think that's just still one of the old, Old Testament words, and it does not have anything to do with us. I'm going to break this word down for you. It's fascinating to me that David was the one serving Saul, but David was the one who had been anointed to be king. David's position was that he would serve Saul, although David had been anointed for kingship. That'll preach all by itself. In the Old Testament, an armor bearer was responsible for carrying. Listen. Was responsible for carrying his master shield into battle. Do you understand that concept? Do you understand what that means? It means that he took the bullets first. He was responsible for carrying the person he served his master shield into battle, meaning he saw to the safety the one that he served. The primary Hebrew definition is the word called Nassau. The word for armor bearer, and it is to lift, to advance, to bear up, to carry, to furnish, provide for, to give, to help, to hold up, to pardon. What does that mean? Pardon? Come on now. I can't take all this time on this definition. Raise, regard, respect. And the second Hebrew definition is kalei. And that means to end, complete, finish, fulfill, bring, to pass, or to make clean. Ooh, this is so good. Listen. We live in a world where we know very little about laying down our lives for somebody else. We don't hear it. We live in a world of self promotion. We want to get the most followers. We don't want to tell anybody how we succeed. We want to keep it all to ourself. We hope we'll be the next, you know, TikTok fanatic or whatever, you know, we want it for ourself. It's all about me, me, me, me, me. But it is vital, especially if you feel called by God in any way. You will never flow in the anointing of Elisha until you have learned to serve and Elijah. Come on now. You will never flow in the anointing of Elisha till you learn to serve an Elijah. It just won't happen. You won't reap the reward of a Naomi until you serve like Ruth. I know it's tough. Where would we be today if Jesus had not poured into the 12? The good news of the gospel that is spread across the whole world came from those 12. The good news that you got. The good news that I got. Where would we be today if Jesus had not taken time to invest in people? Oh, this is good. We must always have a heart to serve other people. No matter what platform we are on. We have to have a heart to pour into and to serve people. Then after faithful servanthood, God will send somebody, a protege, to turn around and pour into you. It's just sowing and reaping. You get what you give and you must have it settled in your heart. Listen, remember, we're talking about authority. You must have it settled in your heart that all authority is ordained by God. Romans 13. All authority is ordained by God. Are you ready for a deduction lesson? Refusal to submit to God's delegated authority is a refusal to submit to God. That is a tweetable moment. Get your phone out. Tweet it. Refusal to submit to God's delegated authority is refusal to submit to God. Listen, it's not the person. You got to stop looking at the vessel. You got to stop looking at their hair and being turned off by the things you don't like about them. Their car, their outfit, how they carry themselves, how they talk, how they chew. Come on. It's not the person. It's the office that they are operating in. Listen, consider a policeman. You don't know anything about him. You don't know if he's wild, a scoundrel, has 27 wives, drinks all night long. You don't know anything about him. But when that blue light comes on and he comes up to your door, what do you do? You obey. Why? It's not the person. It's the badge he carries. It's the office he walks in. You obey. You do what he says. You respect the office. It has nothing to do with the person. Listen, rebellion is the principle that Satan and his kingdom operate in rebellion. Rebellion. That's why the scripture says rebellion is as of the Sin of witchcraft, rebellion to authority is what got Satan kicked out and banned from heaven in the first place. Listen, we have to learn to submit to authority before God can ever turn around and bless you with authority. You might be saying, well, Pastor Hope, I have my goals, I have my dreams, I have my visions. And really, you know what, Pastor Hope? I'm more gifted than the person that I'm working for. I know more about X, Y and Z than the person I'm serving. Have you ever thought that maybe God is seeing? God is trying to test you to see if you can serve faithfully before he can ever give you your own. That is true humility. When you can walk in an area and a heart of servanthood to somebody that you know is a seven and you might be a nine, that's real humility. And in God's kingdom, it's backward anyway. We give to receive. We die to live. You humble yourself and then God exalts you. You must serve to lead. It's backward. It's backward math. In God's kingdom, Ruth served Naomi faithfully. She wore what she told her to wear. She associated with who she told her to associate with. She worked where she said work. She married the next person who she told her she was going to marry, all at the command of her ex mother in law. Why? Because she knew protocol. God help us. Help us. Help us to beat our flesh into submission so that you can use us. God. Ruth could have said, well, I'm a grown woman. You can't tell me what to do. My husband's dead. That was your son. I am no longer committed to you. I'm going on my own way. She said, no, your people's gonna be my people. Your God's gonna be my God. Because she knew the power of submitting to authority. Service always opens the door for promotion. If we could ever get that. Service is what actually turns the knob on the door of promotion. Listen, Ephesians 6, 7 says, serve wholeheartedly as if you are serving the Lord, not people. I got to read that again. Ephesians 6. 7. Serve wholeheartedly as if you were serving the Lord, not people. Like in as. Did you learn this in grammar school? There's similes and they mean that means the same as. Okay, so you serve the same as you were serving the Lord. You're really not serving your boss. You're really not serving your pastor. You're really not serving your mentor wives. You're really not serving your husband. You served the same as you were serving the Lord. Not the actual people. Why? Because these people are flawed. They're flawed humans just like you and me are, right? They get agitated. They get rude. They get cocky. Their breath stinks. They have bad days. But our service to them and for them should never be determined by them. Because Scripture tells us to serve wholeheartedly. As if you were serving the Lord, not people. Whoo. Sometimes you just gotta remind yourself, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for the Lord. I'm laying up treasures in heaven. I'm not doing this necessarily for a paycheck or an accolade or a pat on the back. I'm doing it for Jesus. I'm doing it because I love the Lord. Where has God assigned you? Who do you naturally love and who are you naturally drawn to? David said in 1st Samuel 16, he said, I saw and I loved him. I saw him and I loved him. He knew something was wrong with Saul. He knew Saul's flaws. He said, but I saw him and I loved him. What you make happen for others, God will make happen for you. Not the person you're serving, but God. See, some of y' all standing at the wrong window waiting to get paid. You think your boss is supposed to open the door for you? You think your boyfriend or your girlfriend or that famous person you know on Instagram is supposed to open a door for you? What you make happen for others, God will make happen for you. Listen, Elisha's only job description. You are not going to believe this. Elisha's only job description. Guess what was to pour water on the hands of Elijah. That was his only job description. To pour water on the hands of Elijah. And because of his proximity, because of his closeness, because he took care of something so simple for this man of God, he received double the anointing. His mantle was thrown onto him. Do not despise the day of small beginnings. Do not look at your task as menial. Do not look at what you are doing as it does not matter. God is watching you. God is watching how you serve. And do not grow weary in well doing, because in due season you will reap if you do not faint not. Listen, I've had three babies. And it does not matter how agitated I get. It does not matter how fat I got. It doesn't matter how swollen my ankles got. It did not matter if I wanted that baby to come on an even number versus an odd number. My children were going to come in due season. Due season. But you cannot get weary in well doing. Listen, or you will not reap. You will not reap. You cannot make January be June your life. And sometimes you just have to outlast the pain. Sometimes you just have to outlast the struggle. Don't give up in due season, Due season, shout due season. Don't grow weary in well doing. Listen, God is a good accountant. He keeps perfect records over your life. See, we think sometimes, God, this is not fair. God, how can this be happening? How can you allow all of this injustice? Listen, your God keeps good books. He keeps an account of every tear that you have cried. And it may seem like everybody else is getting theirs and you're missing out. But keep serving, keep working, keep pressing. And God will exalt the humble. He will bring down the proud, but he will exalt the humble. Listen, I got good news for you today. The kingdom's backwards. If you've been trying to do it like the world, you're going to get the world's results. I don't want the world's results because it doesn't last. I want the blessing that comes to stay in my life. I don't want the blessing that fades away. Because there's always going to be somebody better. There's always going to be a better singer, always going to be a better preacher. Somebody who can do it better than me. But if God's hands on my life and if I commit my ways to God and if I serve as unto like I'm serving the Lord, if everything I do, I'm doing it for God and not to for man. Oh, what a blessing that comes to my life. I've seen it. That is my prayer for you today. Yes, we get tired. Yes, we get frustrated. Yes, it gets old to see what we think, the wicked prospering. But I promise you, God is a good accountant. He's got perfect books on your life. He has not missed one thing that you've done. He's kept an account. He's got a running ledger. And God is going to give you everything that he has for you. Don't get weary. Don't give up. Serve. Find somebody to serve. It's more important who you're under than who you're over. Why? Because the oil comes down the head to the beard, to the very bottom. Get under somebody and serve. Push them. And what I promise you, what you make happen for others, it's God's responsibility to make happen for you. I love you. Be encouraged. Share this with somebody that you know that needs it. I love you. God bless you.

Hey there. Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us here tonight, today, wherever you are, all over the world. We truly appreciate the investment of your time into the ministry of Hope Carpenter Ministries. If these messages have been a blessing to you, why don't you hop on over to my YouTube channel, subscribe, be a subscriber, follow, like, share, and anything you can do. Listen, if you can get the word of God in your heart on a daily basis, it can never hurt you. It's always going to make you better. There's tons of messages on there that you're going to love that will empower you to be the best you that you can absolutely be. Because God wants you to live that life, a powerful life, an overcoming life.

But you've got to get the word.

Of God in your heart also. If these messages have blessed your life in any way, would you consider sowing into this ministry so that we could continue to pay these bills and these technicians and these cameras and the time that it takes to make these videos and get them all over the world?

I want to reach everybody that we can all over the world.

And I need your help as a partner. If God lays it on your heart to help. Thank you so much. And you can find all the information on hopecarpenter.com God bless you.

See you next time.