good morning church family and ministry
friends i'm pastor stephen brooks
welcome today to our
online around the world internet church
service and i'm so happy that you're
here today because i believe that god's
word is able to build you up to do
everything that god has called you to do
and very importantly to be the person
that god has called you to be
let's take our bibles today and go to
the book of exodus
chapter 35
and we're going to drop down to verse 4.
i'll share something special with you
that'll bless your heart verse 4
and moses spoke to all the congregation
of the children of israel saying this is
the thing which the lord commanded so
notice that this is a direct commandment
from the lord saying
take from among you an offering to the
lord
whoever is of a willing heart let him
bring it as an offering to the lord gold
silver and bronze
so notice that even though it was a
commanded offering it still had to be
done
willingly with a willing heart in order
for the offering to be accepted by the
lord praise god we see this very
similarly in first corinthians chapter 9
verse 17
where the apostle paul
he's writing and says that concerning
his assignment from the lord to preach
the gospel he says for if i do this
willingly i
have a
reward but if against my will i have
been entrusted with stewardship
so a quality offering a quality life
yielded to god
flows
from a
willing heart
and it produces a what a reward that god
releases into your life and one more
scripture let's go over to deuteronomy
chapter 28
we're all familiar with the first 14
verses pertaining to the blessing
now look at verse 47 deuteronomy 28
verse 47 because
you did not serve the lord your god how
with joy and gladness of heart for the
abundance of everything therefore you
shall serve
your enemies so here we have from the
lord a very stern warning concerning the
attitude of our hearts to do things that
god would require to do them in a
willingly
and
joyful manner praise god and i believe
that according to this scripture that a
lack of willingness
and cheerfulness can actually
in a sense corrupt our blessings that
god wants to bestow upon us and greater
and greater degrees
excuse me praise the lord so my friends
we are doing things with the willing
heart
and i want to say a big
hallelujah and a big thank you to
everyone that sowed into the hanger
project praise the lord i tell you
we were deeply touched here at the
ministry by your sacrificial giving and
it was done with a willing heart and it
was done with a joyful heart praise the
lord now you may say pastor stephen did
you reach the goal of 400 000
well we did not reach that exact amount
but i'll tell you what the giving
nevertheless was quite powerful and i
was just amazed
by the army of the lord
and their willingness to give thank you
so much
now this positions us for several
options and i'm going to explore those
options with the funds that we have
and we will also hold steady and keep
this project open until we actually
reach that level
but my friends i'm going to continue to
pray about what the lord would have us
do because we have a substantial amount
but we want to
receive god's best in the sense that we
want to
not force something but we want to get
it just right i'm going to leave the
hanger project open praise god because
also people are still giving
and we're going to endeavor to reach
that goal and in the interim let's see
what the lord can do praise god because
we are in a very good position right now
hallelujah and again thank you for your
giving because it came from a willing
heart
and it came from a
a heart response to a call
to
step through an open door of opportunity
and i'm excited that as we have also
given
we have also prayed so let's watch and
see what the lord will do and i will
keep you updated from this pulpit praise
the lord and one thing's for sure it's
all good glory to god
now let us honor the lord with the tithe
the tithe belongs to him let's not give
it grudgingly but let's give it with
that same heart attitude of joy
and also willingness and let us continue
to sow seed to honor the lord and also
to position ourselves for future harvest
praise god
now those of you that are mailing in
your tithes and offerings please send
them to stephen brooks international po
box 717 moravian falls north carolina
zip code 28654
if you would like to bring your tithes
and offerings in online you can do so
anywhere in the world day or night
please visit the ministry website
stevenbrooks.org
there on the home page is a link that
says give it has a red heart you can
click that and it'll take you right to
the landing page to bring your tithes
and various offerings into
the ministry praise god i want to pray
for your finances and i want to pray a
blessing
over everyone that has sowed into the
hangar thanksgiving seed offering praise
the lord hallelujah i tell you my heart
is truly touched by your generosity
and i want to pray for you now just lift
your hands heavenly father for everybody
that sowed their hanger seed into the
ministry father god i pray that you
release
a miracle anointing upon their seed sown
oh father god there was such willing
giving sacrificial giving and it was all
done so joyfully father god bless your
people
with a mighty harvest father god that
would truly come from you and father we
thank you that as you give you give
through people you give through uh
special occasions where you can touch
the heart of a person to cause a special
blessing to be released of increase and
blessing so father god bless your people
let the blessing hit them from all
angles and we give you all of the praise
right now in advance for literally the
miracle harvest
that are going to come in praise god in
jesus name thank you father
amen
and amen whoa praise the lord
amen
glory to god now let's take our bibles
and i would like for us to go to the
book of exodus
exodus chapter 14. i want to show you a
principle that's very important in
scripture and then as we look at this
we're going to just briefly look at a
principle and then we're going to move
right into a real life example that
happened with the israelites i believe
this message has a prophetic anointing
upon it and i believe that it will speak
to you
in the place that you're at right now in
your life
heavenly father as we go into your word
let your holy spirit come
we ask right now and release wisdom and
revelation anointing so that the eyes of
our heart will be flooded with light so
that we may know what to do in christ we
thank you father god for the path being
brightly illuminated that we are to walk
upon and we give you all of the praise
and the glory in jesus name we all agree
and say amen
whoo praise the lord
exodus chapter 14.
let's go down to verse 13.
one of the most well-known stories in
the bible and moses said to the people
do not be afraid
stand still and see the salvation of the
lord which he will accomplish for you
today for the egyptians whom you see
today you shall
again you shall see again no more
forever the lord will fight for you and
you shall hold your peace now verse 15
and the lord said to moses
why do you cry to me
tell the children of israel to go
forward
well that is the principle that i want
us to briefly take a look at that god
always has a way for you to continue to
move forward sometimes it's step by step
sometimes there can be what we would
call big jumps or big leaps ahead
but
when you look at certain uh corporations
particularly the ones that would be in
the top 100 uh profitable corporations
here within our nation you know that
every year they have their directors
meeting and when they get all of the
directors together and they sit down and
they talk about uh their profit and
their loss statement
and you know how they're doing they
always plan for the next year with ideas
and
principles that they are going to
incorporate to do what to make more
money they never sit there
they never do in any director's meeting
and say you know what we had a good year
last year and this year let's just uh
let's just do the best we can but we'll
never be able to top last year or the
year before they never do that they
always formulate plans of how they can
move forward and have new levels of
increase
now the good news is that god is with
his children his believers
and he is able to work with you in the
natural and put his super upon your
natural so that you can supernaturally
go forward even though you may be
standing in a place where you feel
hemmed in and in the natural there is no
way
that's why it's such a necessity to have
a good understanding to know that the
god that we serve is not limited by what
would be going on in our country what
would be going on in society what would
be especially going on in the economy
because with the lord he doesn't have an
off day and the covenant doesn't have an
off day with the lord if we walk closely
with him
he will always have a way for us to go
forward
and he did for moses we see that in
verse 21 then moses stretched out his
hand over the sea
and the lord caused the sea to go back
by a strong east wind all that night
and made the sea into dry land and the
waters were divided so the children of
israel went into the midst of the sea on
the dry ground and the waters were
walled to them on their right and on
their left and my friends they went
through to the other side now we already
know the story the egyptians uh in their
army trying to do so they all drowned
because the lord caused the waters to
come back as moses had stretched his
staff out again and they were all of the
egyptians were drowned praise the lord
and now the israelites are on the other
side and they do a lot of dancing a lot
of praising a lot of shouting they were
very very happy but of course you know
doing all of that shouting and dancing
out in the desert kind of creates quite
a thirst
so
it wasn't long
that the shouts of victory and the
shouts of hallelujah were replaced with
um
where's where's the water going to come
from did god bring us out here to kill
us all of thirst
and so began a long journey of grumbling
and mumbling and complaining and things
like that and then god would do a
miracle and they'd shout some more and
praise the lord and they had this
situation of temporary memory loss where
they would see god do a great miracle
they would get delivered and then they'd
go a little bit further and they would
completely forget about such things as
the red sea crossing water coming out of
a rock
just all kinds of miracles that god was
constantly doing with the cloud the
supernatural cloud over them during the
day providing a means of air
conditioning out in the middle of the uh
hot blazing sinai desert so they had
protection of that they had fire at
night they had miracles all around them
but my friends
we are going to continue to go forward
not look back to egypt we don't want to
be like you know a good example would be
lot's wife who looked back and she was
turned into a pillar of salt
what a mess my friends we're not looking
back we're not saying that uh this is as
far as we can go and god can't do any
more no we're going to continue to move
forward in the plan of god the plan that
god has for us as a church in the earth
and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against the lord's church and also in
our personal lives even with respected
callings and assignments from the lord
remember there is always a way forward
even if it requires divine supernatural
intervention
praise god so that is the principle to
go forward
god said it
and they did it now
let's jump now into
this
principle walked out
especially
when
uh it's actually working and you're
going forward into new things new places
new areas
and
i think it's good to prepare our hearts
for this
as we're stepping
further and further into the canaan land
some perhaps getting into the canaan
land for the first time let's talk about
that today as we now move into our key
text and we're going to go forward and
we're going to dive into the torah we're
going to go into the book of deuteronomy
chapter 12
and what i'm going to share with you
today i don't know if you have ever
heard this
message
preached before or these scriptures that
we're going to cover
now if you're a torah fan
and you read your bible regularly i'm
sure you have worked your way through
this
but also
we are instructed to study god's word
not just read it and breeze across it on
the surface because we'll miss the gold
that's lying beneath and we're going to
take a look at this
golden text today that we're working our
way towards we're going to start in
deuteronomy chapter 12 verse 1
where the scripture says these are the
statutes
and judgments which you shall be careful
to observe in the land
which the lord god of your fathers is
giving you to possess
all the days that you live on the earth
now let's talk about the law just for a
moment because that in essence is what
we're looking at the unveiling of the
law the law is the moral code the social
code for the children of god the
israelites the hebrew children and
it is the foundation of society matter
of fact all of the good laws that we
have today all originate from the
testament their testimony which would be
the ten commandments and the law itself
praise the lord but here's the catch
um for hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of years
men lived back in those olden days
not really knowing about god and
before god had revealed himself
and god has always had his
voices his prophets in the earth even as
abraham was a friend of god but abraham
was also a prophet
but
it was not until the giving of the law
at mount sinai
that
people really knew
what god actually required because think
of it back in primitive days
you were if you were walking around and
you had no instruction book
and you had no knowledge of god
you would be wondering what is going on
there's floods
there's hurricanes there's tornadoes
there's sickness
there's disease and primitive man would
think well
the the gods must be angry we're having
a famine right now so the rain gods must
not be happy what do we need to do to
appease them i don't know maybe they
want some fruit and so they would sit
out a watermelon and some cantaloupe or
cabbage or stuff like that you know
anything to do what try to make these
gods happy because it seems like
they're angry all the time and so you're
always walking around back in those
times you would be walking around
wondering uh is god
or whoever these gods are
is this is this supernatural realm of
gods or whatever mad at me or anger at
me why is my child sick why did i get in
the wreck why did i break my leg or
whatever it might be and if they are mad
at me what are their requirements so i
can appease their anger and we can get
along and good things happen to me and
not bad things so you have to understand
that's the way it was for the nations of
the world
and before really god revealed himself
through what we know as the word of god
or the torah
which were the instructions of what of
how to please god of who he is
what his commandments are and you know
what he did he spelled them all out he
said here they are here's 10 of them you
got to keep these 10. and here's other
areas that you're going to have to focus
on these two these statutes and
judgments and so forth you have to keep
those two and finally
you have a people
the hebrews that say oh
okay now we know what to do while all
the other nations of the world are still
wandering around in spiritual darkness
trying to
uh
to do whatever it takes to please a god
even
even if they think it means burning
their own child then the fire giving
your own child is an altar and you know
you see the uh the history of some of
the
south american nations uh with the
aztecs and so forth or the incas where
they would they would take their child
up on the ziggurat up on the pyramid and
then you know kill the child and take
the heart out and all kinds of
perversion this is all stuff where
people are actually man was trying to
please the so-called gods and really
what they're trying to do is they're
trying to appease the cravings of demons
so just gross spiritual darkness so
so god is now talking to his people god
is revealing to them what he expects of
them how they are to live how they are
to conduct their lives these are the
statutes and judgments which you shall
be careful to observe in the land which
the lord your god of your fathers is
giving you to possess all the days that
you live on the earth okay so now you
know what to do you know what god
requires and there are rewards for
obedience many many rewards for
obedience praise god
now verse 2
you shall utterly destroy all the places
where the nations which you shall
dispossess
served their gods
on the high mountains and on the hills
and under every green tree so these
pagan worshipers thought well if we get
up a little higher
perhaps the gods will like that or if we
go beneath the green tree perhaps the
gods of the trees were like that and so
they had all kinds of spots and all
types of locations where they would do
their acts of pagan worship verse 3
and you shall destroy their altars
break their sacred pillars
and burn their wooden images with fire
you shall cut down the carved images of
their gods and destroy their names from
that place you shall not worship the
lord your god with such things
instructions instructions instructions
of how to please the lord all spelled
out so that anybody can obey them praise
the lord
so now we know what to do
verse 5.
but you
shall seek the place where the lord your
god chooses out of all of your tribes to
put his name for his dwelling place and
there you
shall go
wow praise the lord
this is very very interesting because
we're about to see a major shift
take place with the israelites that has
not happened before
again we see
verse 5 but you shall seek the place
where the lord your god chooses out of
all your tribes
now we know that that place ultimately
is going to be jerusalem and all worship
is going to be done there in jerusalem
but guess what
they have been out wandering around in
the wilderness
way down south in the negev even further
south than that many even thinking uh
what are some uh modern-day areas of
saudi arabia they also wandered around
in that area so they were wandering all
over that place
and of course when they were wondering
they're all wondering together they are
a very
close-knit cohesive group and when they
would camp everything is in a structured
order you have the tabernacle in the
center you've got tribes here tribes
there
north south east and west everybody is
in their spot and if you have to go to
the bathroom you go outside of the camp
and there's even instructions about how
you're supposed to use the bathroom and
what you're supposed to do with your
excrement because god knew about disease
and sickness before people even had
microscopes so the lord had it all
figured out all you have to do is follow
the instructions that he outlined for
them so they've been going through the
wilderness all very closely knit
together they would all camp together
they were all very well acquainted with
each other because we all went together
all three million of them all moving
about together
going from desert oasis to desert oasis
praise the lord but
you're about to see my friends here in
the bible a major change why
well it's about time to get across that
jordan river
and then things will happen
very differently why
once they get across the jordan river
these 12 tribes are no longer going to
be joined together in one little spot in
one in one encampment they're going to
begin to spread out and they're going to
begin to each take or endeavor to take
their own allotment of land so you'll
have some tribes way up north you'll
have some down south you'll even have
some on the other side of the jordan
river and then you'll have some over
here by the mediterranean oh wow that's
a pretty large land mass area yeah it
sure is and it's going to change
many of the dynamics of how worship took
place among the israelites
and also something that god was trying
to teach them in the wilderness
that they are now supposed to
walk in that understanding
with their newfound freedoms
in the canaan land glory to god
i think when you get into your canaan
land
and you have a new level of expansion
that you haven't had before
you're going to be able to look back and
say ah
now i see the wisdom of god of why there
were certain constrictions
and why
there were certain difficulties
that i don't have now so i want you to
pay careful attention because we're not
just talking history although this is
very real history we're talking
prophetic understanding of our lives and
the journey that god has for us as
followers of christ and the processes
that we go through in order for god to
bring us into maturity can you say
amen
thank you jesus all right well
of course
this spreading out is going to
is going to greatly affect them you have
some way up north some on the other side
of the river as i just said so they're
going to they're going to all begin to
start thinking this question hey um
moses
where are we supposed to worship at when
we get over there into the canaan land
and by the way moses um
not only the act of worshiping the lord
and so forth but also the worshipping of
our
animal sacrifices
are we supposed to bring them there too
so give us some more information and
that my friends is what's going to take
place wow this is amazing
look at verse 8
you shall not at all do as we are doing
here today every man doing whatever is
right in his own eyes i'm going to come
back to that in just a moment and
explain that in just a minute for as yet
you have not come to the rest
and the inheritance which the lord your
god is giving you
but
when you cross over the jordan and dwell
in the land which the lord your god is
giving you to inherit and he gives you
rest from all your enemies round about
so that you dwell in safety
then
there will be the place where the lord
your god chooses to make his name abide
there you shall bring all that i command
you
your burnt offerings
your sacrifices
your tithes
the heave offerings of your hand and all
your choice offerings which you vow to
the lord now remember before
before this it was different
they were out in the wilderness together
oh yes they would move from place to
place but also there were times where
they encamped together the whole nation
and in the center was
the tabernacle
and so if if you want to
bring a sacrifice to the lord well oh
you can see the tabernacle just right
over there it's got the beautiful
curtain around it and the priest and the
levites would be working there and on
the inside you had the brazen altar and
then you had the brazen laver and then
you had the holy place and then you had
the most holy place
you had that beautiful system of worship
set up to please the lord according to
his instructions and so if you wanted to
make your sacrifice well maybe you
walked 200 yards and there you are
but what do you do well now maybe uh
you're in northern israel maybe you're
the tribe of manasseh and you're way up
there and now the place of worship is
way down here what do you do with all of
your animals that you would like to
sacrifice what about what about the
tithes that you're supposed to bring
to uh to honor the lord with the tithe
how do you do all of this now so a major
change is taking place
and it's unfolding right before their
eyes
verse 12
and you shall rejoice before the lord
your god you and your sons and your
daughters see we talked about that
during the the time of tides and
offerings that this is something that we
do of serving the lord with a joyful
heart praise god okay and the levite who
was within your gates since he has no
portion nor inheritance with you now
verse 13 again another stern warning
take heed to yourself that you do not
offer your burnt offerings in every
place that you see
but in the place which the lord chooses
in one of your tribes there you shall
offer your burnt offerings in there you
shall do all that i command you
however and here we go
verse 15.
however
get ready major change
major change from what they have been
doing earlier
and god's about to really free them up
and i believe for many of you god's
about to free you up and you're going to
come into some new levels of freedom in
the holy spirit and it's been something
that has been planned by the lord
because the lord loves you
cares for you and even though you may
not have even known it has always been
working behind the scenes so that you
live the best life
that he has planned for you excuse me
just a moment while i'll take a drink of
water
however
you may slaughter
and eat meat within all your gates
whatever your heart desires
according to the blessing of the lord
your god
which he has given you
the unclean and the clean may eat of it
of the of the gazelle and deer alike
only you shall not eat the blood you
shall pour it
on the earth like water
praise the lord
now
they are preparing for life in the
promised land where they may not be
close to the place of worship where they
may not be able to
bring all of these animals with them
because now they live so far away
so here comes the new instructions
they are now permitted to eat meat
without the meat first having
been required to be offered as
a sacrifice
think about the major difference that
we're dealing with right here
previously
if any israelite no exceptions if any
israelite wanted to have a barbecue
you have to understand that that
that animal and these by the way god
only accept it for offerings domestic
animals
uh he did allow them to eat other kosher
meats we see here mention gazelle and
deer but remember you're out in the
wilderness you're way out in the desert
so it's not very often that maybe you
would even have a chance to kill a deer
or somehow
shoot an arrow and catch a gazelle that
would be extremely rare so
the only way that you would probably
have
more of an opportunity to eat meat is
that if you had an animal
if you had a cow or something like that
and you want to have a barbecue but
remember you can't just kill it start
eating it you have to take that animal
and first do what take it to the
wilderness tabernacle you'd have to
bring it to the priest and present it to
them and then they would kill that
animal it's a sacrifice it would kill
the animal and a portion of the meat
goes to the lord it's going to be burned
a portion of the meat goes to the priest
and levites and then with whatever is
left and sometimes it might not be much
you got to take that that belonged to
you
and you might think well this is great
but see here's what you have to remember
back in those days
there's no refrigeration
and while
they did know how to make beef jerky
uh this is still a rare experience to
slaughter a big animal like this
you know i was talking to my
my son-in-law and we were having a fun
conversation because he really enjoys
these survivor-type shows and he watches
these
uh men and women that get put out in
remote locations and they're just told
to basically survive
and they have a means of hunting perhaps
as bow and arrow
and uh they have to find their own food
they have to build their own shelter and
they have to do it in very very harsh
living conditions
now here's a misconception that people
think
they think well that's not that hard
just get a bow and arrow and go out and
shoot an elk or go out and shoot uh you
know like a a deer or something like
that and then just now and then now that
you've shot it and you kill it then just
you know take the meat you know skin the
animal and uh and take the meat and now
you have plenty of meat but it doesn't
work like that in real life
in real life especially if you're one
person and you kill one of those animals
it takes all day
just to skin it and clean it
and do all of that and it's extremely
messy you're going to end up being
covered with blood and what if you don't
have running water and so that's
something they have to have all of that
there for the priest to set up because
all of this
sacrificing had to be done in a very
prescribed way
all of the blood had to be drained and
poured on the ground that all had to be
done in what we would call a kosher way
which was also a very humane way of
killing an animal
so that the animal goes unconscious very
very quickly and dies
uh
almost a pain-free type death
praise the lord but my friends uh it's
very difficult to just kill an animal
and think oh we got plenty of meat no
you don't have a lot of meat because
it's gonna spoil within two days so
you've got to eat all of it and if
you're by yourself that's not possible
so what do you do with all this meat
well now you have you have neighbors you
can give your neighbors some meat
but there's other requirements of why
even though the animal's already been
given as a sacrifice and you've got some
of it back for yourself there's still
other requirements that may not allow
other israelites to eat that meat i'll
get into that in just a minute so i want
you to see that something that was
previously
almost like a restriction and very very
rare god's now saying this is different
now you don't have to do all of that
anymore
he says in verse 15 however you may
slaughter and eat meat within all your
gates why they're spread out all over
the place now in the land of canaan
whatever your heart desires according to
the blessing of the lord your god which
he has given you
meet my friends back in this time was a
very very rare experience
and let's talk a little bit more about
this um
why
did god make it so hard for them to eat
meat
in
the wilderness
why did god make it
where if you look at everything that
he's requiring it's like a huge
inconvenience to actually
have a barbecue
think about it for a moment what if you
want to go to the tabernacle and you
want to give an offering of an animal
to the lord but you go to the tabernacle
and there's a line
maybe a long line well you've only got
so much time and not only could there be
this weight that delays you
but also there's not that many priests
and levites that are working there and
they're working in a relatively
small area so you've only got so many
knives and you've only got you know this
altar over here where the animal's going
to be burned at there's only
so much of an operation that they could
run through here so you're limited in
time scope and space
but here's something that's very very
important
if you were ritually unclean
you were richly unclean let's say you
had a scab
maybe the scab was kind of like not
formed yet well you couldn't even go to
the temple well not temple tabernacle
the temple had not yet been developed
but you could not go to the tabernacle
if you were a lady and you were having
your menstrual cycle you could not go to
the tabernacle
what does that mean
it means that if you were richly unclean
not only can you not go to the
tabernacle well if you can't go to the
tabernacle you can't eat meat that's
exactly what that means it's it's almost
like god is making it incredibly
incredibly hard for them to have a
barbecue
and don't forget they craved meat oh
they wanted meat oh so bad
they wanted meat so bad well pastor
stephen why is god making it so hard
well there could be those random moments
where maybe an israelite
shot a gazelle okay that's kosher okay
so they could uh kill it the proper way
and they could eat that but you could
not take those type of animals and offer
them as a sacrifice they it was only
domesticated animals that got authorized
that could be sacrificed so
you could possibly get some meat if
maybe you were a good hunter but
remember you're still out in the middle
of a hot desert it's not like there's
deer just walking all over the place and
i've been down into the negev
and uh it's just it's just desert and
you know some rolling hills and baron
barren area well pastor stephen there's
rabbits well you can't eat rabbits not
kosher the rabbit does chew the cud but
the rabbit does not have a split hoof so
he's he's not good to go
so i remember when i grew up
in mississippi
it's like anything that moved was fair
game but so we had no knowledge of the
word of god so my grandparents said
everything they'd ate they possum
uh i don't think they ate skunk although
i think they had tried it one time and
it wasn't good well i i could imagine it
wasn't but any type of bird just about
they would eat uh even an uh what we
would call an unclean bird uh they
didn't eat vultures but they they ate
some other things that uh
you know creepy stuff so we ate
squirrels and uh you know i used to
catch them too not when i say catch them
i'd shoot them and i'd bring them to my
grandmother and uh she would cook it but
sometimes i'd have to do all the
skinning and if i shot it with buckshot
get all the little buckshot pieces out
of it and uh you know get it all cleaned
up and throw away the part you're not
going to use and keep the meat and then
she'd go cook it and fry it or something
like that
and all of those non-kosher items i
never did like anyhow because they never
tasted good no matter how much um
no matter how deep fried they were or
how much seasoning was put on them uh it
never tasted good to me
but uh we we just didn't know these
types of things that god designed for a
higher quality of living and long-term
health praise the lord nevertheless
nevertheless we did have uh
various things that we could hunt you
know we had a lot of deer and we had a
lot of fish and so we lived off a lot of
that praise the lord but my friends
the israelites it was tough
it was tough there's hardly any meat
anywhere except for their own animals
and yet it's now god's made it so hard
for us to have a barbecue
we have to go through all these rules
and regulations and it's blocking us
from eating meat the thing they craved
hmm
it's very very interesting praise god
why
was god making it so hard for them to
have a barbecue
it was it because god's not happy is it
because god's in a bad mood it's because
god doesn't want them to have their
hearts desire no here's the reason why
here's the main reason
he's trying to keep them from decimating
their flocks
because the little animals they have
if they just start eating them because
they love meat so much they're gonna
they're gonna consume all of their
livestock
and
it's the animals that are producing uh
you know you have goats goats produce
all kinds of things you could even make
clothing
out of their their hair and some of the
items in the temple that were woven were
woven with goat's hair and others with
other types of uh animals hair
but you know goats also make really good
cheese all kinds of things they're
producing so you don't want to kill your
your goats because you need them and you
don't want to kill your cows you've only
got so many of them
and you know of course every now and
then you know you can kill one but it's
not like we've got a lot of them so god
is trying to hold them back hold them
back why because he knows later they're
going to have plenty of freedom plenty
of expansion and then they can be free
but right now there has to be a very
high level of self-control because we
are in areas where god is preparing us
and teaching us to walk in the fruit of
the holy spirit now they didn't know
about what we would call the fruit of
the holy spirit of love joy peace
patience kindness goodness gentleness
faithfulness and self-control but god
was trying to get them to get control of
their passions and get control of their
appetites even though
god wanted them to have
good meals
but these were times where god is
training them
and trying to teach them certain things
that are very very very important for
them to understand let's move forward
verse 19
take heed to yourself
that you do not forsake the levite as
long as you live in your land
the levite back in that those days you
of course would work at the at the
tabernacle system doing all kinds of
tours and stuff like that and they would
basically assist the priest the priests
were the only ones allowed to actually
carry out
the sacrifices and those specific acts
of worship
but it's basically saying here incense
from the new testament looking back the
same take care of the ministers take
care of the ministers because we have to
make sure they are taken care of because
that's their whole focus
now a major shift is happening
god
is going to move them from being
almost like bedouins
walking through the desert
and he's going to move them into an
agricultural society and that's part of
god's plan he already has got it mapped
out for them there's the seven feast the
seven feasts all revolve around
the
growing and producing of crops
and all of this beautiful agriculture so
that's what god is setting them up for
but he's got to get them into the canaan
land to experience that so this whole
measure of dialing things down is done
on purpose so they don't eat all of
their animals now they're walking around
in the desert and there's no milk
there's no cheese
or anything like that restrictions of
all sorts god's trying to help them just
as much as possible but my friends
during times like this
you have to praise the lord
hallelujah you might not always be at
the five-star steakhouse and if you're a
vegetarian you might not always be able
to get the organic gourmet veggie meals
you might not always have access to
certain things
well i'll tell you one thing pastor
steve but if i don't get it there's
going to be some noise around here
no that's what god is trying to work out
of you he's trying to work self-control
in you because he knows where you're
going he's taking you to a place of
abundance and the last thing he wants
you to do is when you get into the place
of abundance it's just to throw off all
restraint because now that you're here
and have access to it you're going to go
hog wild
praise the lord so the lord is working
for our good every day of our lives
verse 20
when the lord your god
enlarges your border as he has promised
you
now he's going to do that just like he
promised them these are all types and
shadows the apostle paul said these are
all experiences that are for our
learning our betterment we can look at
their lives because we were following a
spiritual course
and the lord was going to enlarge their
border he's going to do the same thing
for you
whoa
he's going to do the same thing for you
just as he promised
when the lord your god enlarges your
border as he has promised you
and you say
let me eat meat
because you long to eat meat you may eat
as much meat as your heart desires
when's the last time you ever heard a
preacher preach a service or a message
on you can have just as much meat as
your heart desires
brethren
sisters in the lord after the sermon i
encourage you to go and just wipe out
the steak buffet go and have two filet
mignons and then for dinner later
tonight have three cheeseburgers well
this is fascinating the lord says if you
say let me eat meat because you long to
eat meat the lord says you may eat as
much meat as your heart desires
wow pastor stephen watch out i've got
the green light from the lord i'm about
to go totally out of control
well remember
you are going into the canaan land now
when you come into the blessing when you
come into the canaan land and you begin
to take your land possessing the
promises of god through faith and
patience
what you're going to begin to experience
some of you it's going to be brand new
you're going to begin to experience what
i would call breathing room
hallelujah
you're going to start to have extra
you're going to start to have strength
you're going to start to have
these new levels of creativity that you
can express because now you have extra
money you have extra resources and you
have extra help and so now you're like
now you're able to live hallelujah
so
what do you do in places like that
well
you want to exercise self-control
and i know that even those
that would be out in the world that do
not profess christ as their savior
yet the lord has worked through certain
individuals to accomplish certain things
to bring certain technologies into the
earth that were in harmony with the will
of god think about bill gates just for a
moment who brought us the
you know laptop computer and microsoft
word and many other
contributions to the realm
of computers
i saw an interview one time when bill
gates was asked
mr gates
what's it like being a multi-billionaire
at that time he was the wealthiest man
in the world of course he's not anymore
but they asked him what's it like
being a multi-billionaire and you know
the interviewer was kind of like asking
like he has no idea
no concept of what it must be like to
have all this money have all of this
freedom to do anything literally let you
want
and so he asked him what's it like to be
a multi-billionaire you know what bill
gates said
he said it's just another hamburger
now stop and think about that just for a
moment there's a lot of wisdom in that
even though he does not profess christ
is lord there's a lot of wisdom in that
answer
pastor stephen i crave meat
maybe i'm jewish and i don't know it
maybe i'm an israelite i've never known
it i crave meat
okay now
i want to show you something that will
help you turn back to verse 8. i told
you we'd come back to this verse 8
you shall not at all do as we are doing
here today
every man
doing whatever is right in his own eyes
here is the problem
god had previously told them if you want
to eat meat
previously if you wanted to have your
barbecue first bring the animal to the
tabernacle let the priest take it
through the ritual sacrifice that i
require to be done the proper way
the priest will take their portion
because they do this full time they have
to eat also they're going to get some of
the meat
then another part of that meat is going
to go onto the altar the holy altar it
will be burnt by fire then what's left
comes back to you but you had those that
still wouldn't obey that they're like
well that's too much trouble look at
that line
i can't wait in a line like that to get
to the tabernacle i'm going to take my
cow out behind this rock and i'm going
to kill it and i'm going to eat it
myself
and that's what many of them did they
did their own thing and the lord says
we can't be doing this type of thing
anymore
all of you need to stop doing that and
it was wrong that you did it but you're
coming into a new place where you must
get control of your cravings praise the
lord nothing wrong with meat we clearly
see here that the lord said you can have
as much as your heart desires but let's
not limit it to barbecue or meat because
perhaps a vegetarian is listening to me
and they're thinking this doesn't really
pertain to me pastor stephen i don't
crave meat well it doesn't matter
whether it's a hamburger or a filet
mignon or pair of shoes
um
remember the lady that was the uh the
wife of the prime minister of the
philippines some decades back
and uh
you know you had many uh
many people in the country that were
starving didn't have enough food
but yet
when that lady was kicked out of office
they found out that she had something
like uh like 50 000 pairs of shoes
pastor steven that's a serious craving
for shoes yeah and you can only wear one
or two pairs a day
but yet she had
thousands and thousands and thousands of
pairs of shoes and just had a craving
craving for shoes
what what are shoes they're they're just
shoes
it's like bill gates said it's just it's
just another hamburger my friends you
have to look at life from
an eternal perspective
you're only here for a while
and that it passes very very quickly
and even if you are a multi-billionaire
and you get a big big yacht
that's you know longer than a football
field and costs 500 million dollars well
you're only going to live what what 30
more years
if you're 60 you've only got what maybe
22 or 25 more years and then your whole
life is over and then you step into
eternity it all goes very very quickly
and not only that you get on the yacht
you get seasick
it's just people do all kinds of crazy
things they think this is it meat and
the israelites it's all about meat we
want meat we crave meat and god's like
look i don't have any problem with meat
and when you get into the canaan land
you can have all of the meat you want
you don't have to go to the tabernacle
anymore you can eat it right there in
your own house and somebody says i'm
gonna develop a barbecue grill i'm gonna
make a fortune
and people are still making money today
by
developing different types of grills and
cooking methods and cookbooks and stuff
like that and it's all good it's all
fine but it's also all what it's just
all it's still just all meat
there there is a certain level
of a ceiling a maximum level you can
just only have so much fun with meat
or anything else that's why you need god
that's why you need god don't go wild
over meat don't go wild over shoes
nothing wrong with shoes have as much
meat have as many shoes as you want
but really when your heart is totally
into god and keeping his commandments
you realize i don't need fifty thousand
pairs of fuse unless you're wanting to
sow what if that lady would have said
i've got all these shoes i i didn't know
the lord and i went crazy and lusted and
craved shoes now she gets saved
boy i could i could just so i could sow
like
40 000 of them and still have 10 000 for
myself
you know i'm just saying
that we have to look at this from the
way the lord develops us i want my
freedom pastor stephen i want to get in
that land of canaan because i've got
some things to do
that's good god's going to take you
there and when you're there and you
start to conquer and you start to have
this new freedom and you start to have
this new uh prosperity and you have the
ability now to have all the meat you
want
remember
to put the lord first
and remember that it's not just about
freedom i can do this now i can do that
you can do anything you want in a sense
no as long as it's not going against the
word of god
and so you have a very wide latitude of
liberty and freedom in christ
but
you want to watch out for cravings you
want to watch out for things that will
just engulf your time
and
steer your heart away
from
the lord
praise you lord jesus thank you lord
so the lord
loved his people the children of israel
when they went through the wilderness
and the land of snakes
and scorpions
and blistering heat and he protected
them from all of that
now they had some problems with their
rebellion where the snakes came out and
did a whole lot of biting and a bunch of
people died but outside of that all the
lord was trying to do was take care of
them
reveal himself to them
and that's what
some of them caught they caught a god
that they could actually know when i say
caught i'm talking about caught the
revelation god i can know you how
through obeying your commandments the
walking in the light of your word and
now that the holy spirit lives on the
inside of us as believers in christ
we have the word of god written upon the
fleshly tablets of our heart not written
on hard stone and so many of their
hearts were like stone they never
understood
the uh the love of god it was all about
craving
and satisfying those cravings
and it grieved the lord's heart
and then
for so many of them they didn't
understand how to please the lord by
faith
in his word not just a blind random
faith a faith in what god said
god will take care of us
god is a good god
and as we walk with him and obey him his
blessings overtake us and that sin is
dangerous stay away from it
praise the lord my friends
you're coming into your promised land
when you get there and you have those
freedoms
watch out for cravings that would try to
pull you into a place of excess
where now it's no longer a freedom or
liberty now watch out it's a bondage
[Music]
praise the lord
glory to the lord
glory to the lord
now this is why you must move forward
this is why you need to cross the jordan
river why
because of the expansive freedom
of the
wide open areas
of your ability now to develop into the
fullness of what god has for you you i
mean they're coming now into land
ownership they're going to have their
own homes they're going to have their
own vineyards they're going to have all
of this stuff they've never had before
it's like they were like i had said
earlier bedouins just walking around
from oasis to oasis
and just wandering and
wandering
look they're coming to the place all of
that's over
and it's all because of the goodness of
the lord so you must move forward you
must not let a spirit of contentment
just hold you back where you don't get
into the promised canaan land glory to
the lord so keep moving
keep moving today keep moving right now
and as it opens up this expansion in the
canaan land honor the lord stay close to
the lord you'll see all kinds of forms
of idolatry and
the breaking of god's commandments all
around you by those in the world you see
it every day you hear it every day but
you stay close to the lord because this
is a lot more
this is a lot more than just having
freedom or just the ability to go out
and eat a steak anytime you want
this is the freedom to serve the lord to
worship the lord and god took them into
the seven feast and how out of those
seven feasts three of them all males
aged 20 and over are all required to go
to jerusalem and god again made it so
good because he loves them so much and
he knows their humanity knows what
they're dealing with he said look if
you've got too many cattle and the
journey is too far
sell the cattle and take the money take
the tithe out of the money and bring
that to the place where you're supposed
to worship me at in other words the
lord's not trying to say now bring your
300 cattle and take them through the
desert and get them over here somehow
and if you don't you're in big trouble
he made all kinds of concessions for
them to make it as easy as possible to
come why so they can engage in worship
and obey the lord praise god because the
feasts were festivals
it's all about rejoicing
diving into the word of god coming up to
jerusalem having the priest teach you
just a time to rejoice in the lord have
a nice meal have some more barbecue
praise god but it's all about getting
closer to the lord because we're only on
this planet for a short period of time
hallelujah we must not be distracted
even by good old barbecue praise the
lord
we all have our things that we can be
passionate about but make sure that
nothing ever would supplant the place of
the lord jesus and your worship and
devotion to him first we live in the
culture and society where there's
options all over the place just like for
them like barbecue stores start barbecue
restaurants start popping up all over
the place and they're probably thinking
this is the greatest thing we we knew
that moses said the land of canaan would
be good we never knew that there were
barbecue restaurants here wow
and that's all good that's all fine
but watch out for cravings that would
try to get you into places of excess
that actually ensnare you
and then trap you
and it's not a freedom anymore but now
it's a bondage
lift your hands father i pray for your
people freedom
and the fullness of the canaan land
experience where lord they can have as
much meat as you want
lord that's what you said you could have
as much meat as you want so father i
thank you for freedom i thank you for
joy i thank you for these various
expressions of liberty whether it's now
a big barbecue or whatever it might be
let your people prosper and flourish but
let them always keep you first
lest we end up like the pagans
worshiping under some green tree or on
top of a hill somewhere and going back
into darkness
and spiritual death father we choose
life we thank you
and father we thank you that your spirit
writes your words your instructions upon
our hearts so everywhere we go 24 7
we are endeavoring to please you
and bring you honor and glory
father we thank you
that even as paul said life is
the kingdom of god is not about
food and drink
it's about righteousness
peace
and joy
in the holy spirit so father help us
always see the bigger picture which is
christ father bless your people in jesus
name we pray
amen glory to god
[Laughter]
now if you're watching this program
this message and you don't know christ
is your lord and savior i know perhaps
that you think this was a message on
barbecue but this is a message on
walking with christ if you don't know
him it begins with the salvation
experience by being born again
if you would like to receive jesus as
your lord and savior and receive
deliverance from sin
spiritual death
and
a place that's called hell
more horrible
than any person could ever imagine
receive christ right now into your heart
pray this prayer say jesus
i give my life to you
come into my heart
save me now
create
a clean heart a new heart
in me
a soft heart
thank you jesus write my name in your
book of life
thank you for saving me
in your name i pray
amen
and amen praise god welcome to the
family of god those of you that have
prayed that prayer for the first time
now as a church family let's take holy
communion together
praise the lord
i'd like to encourage you to grab some
unleavened bread
i use these little wafers if you don't
have one of these you can get a little
cracker something like that something
similar
and here i have grape juice if you don't
have grape juice until you get some you
can use something else to temporarily
suffice praise the lord
let's pray heavenly father
we thank you for jesus and his mighty
sacrifice upon calvary for the full
redemption of our sins
as we have put our faith and trust in
him
father we now bless the bread the juice
and through this prayer we set it apart
as being holy
we thank you that this is now the flesh
and the blood of our savior the lord
jesus christ the messiah the mashiach
the savior of the world
and father as we receive the flesh of
the lord jesus we thank you that
to the pure all things are pure
and to the ungodly everything's
perverted but oh god we're going on with
you walking in truth and righteousness
father let us beware of cravings even
good cravings
and and let the fruit
of the spirit of self-control be
exercised in our lives in a way that
brings you glory
thank you father father we that many
times that means letting others go first
thank you father god we give you praise
we thank you we receive the flesh of the
lord jesus now and his name
amen
let's receive
say i'm going forward
and to my canaan land
heavenly father thank you for the blood
of jesus
we thank you for cleansing from all sin
and all unrighteousness
and father we have sinned against anyone
we ask that you would forgive us and if
anybody has sinned against us
we forgive them father in christ's name
hallelujah and father we thank you for
the blood of jesus
we thank you father god
for
the crucifixion of the adamic self
nature that would try to rise up
and get us to crave excessively
but father we give you praise we thank
you that even
even
through the wilderness you loved your
people and you were with them
but father so many died because of their
unbelief
and they perished
never seen the promised land
but father we just thank you for taking
us in by your grace
we thank you there's
grace for grace
we thank you o god for your goodness
upon our lives
we give you all of the praise in jesus
name
amen let's receive the blood of christ
praise the lord
well pastor stephen
what should i do now after having heard
the word of god well perhaps you want to
go have a nice steak praise the lord
or whatever your heart would desire long
as it glorifies god
long as is within the parameters of
scripture and enjoy yourself
jesus said my yoke is easy my burden is
light
hallelujah and as you're enjoying your
life and enjoying
the wonderful journey
always remember we're only here for a
very fleeting period of time
you know um before my father passed away
he said stephen
he said it just seemed like yesterday
now he told me this when he was in his
late 70s he said it just seemed like
yesterday when i was a little boy
carving my initials into the tree with a
little pocket knife and i i know that
where that tree is at my dad and his
brother
two other brothers my dad uh has two
brothers so i've got two uncles they
they all carved their initials into the
tree
and he said it just seems like yesterday
but yet
it was over 70 plus years and now he's
gone on to be with the lord my friend's
life is very fleeting live for the lord
jesus christ enjoy life but never forget
life is a lot more than just a good
barbecue hallelujah father bless your
people we give you praise in jesus great
name amen
and amen i'll see you back
next time