good morning my friends i'm pastor
steven brooks welcome today to morning
glory our midweek bible study i'm so
happy that you're here today with me i
want to invite you grab your bibles
let's go to matthew chapter 13. we're
going to drop down to verse
24. i want to talk about
maybe we could call it a little bit of
an unusual subject it's certainly a
subject that's not very well explored
within the body of christ but it has the
potential to bear
very rich
productive spiritual fruit so we do need
to have an awareness
and a practice of this spiritual
discipline we're going to be again in
matthew chapter 13. let's meet at verse
24
then let's pray heavenly father
as we go into the study of your word
we ask that your spirit would come
and bring the spirit of wisdom in
revelation
that the eyes of our understanding
would be flooded with light
so that we can know christ deeply know
his word know his ways
know everything about him and we thank
you father for revelation flowing wisdom
flowing by the anointing of your spirit
as we're extracting this from your word
father we praise you in jesus name
and we all say
amen and
amen praise god amen you know i'm just i
was glancing over at the monitor and
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when i look in the monitor i realize
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everything shows you can't hide anything
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all right let's jump into the message
verse 24.
another parable he put forth to them
saying
the kingdom of heaven is like a man who
sowed good seed in his field remember if
you sow good seed you're going to have a
good harvest right that's what we're
after but while men slept his enemy came
and sowed tares
among the wheat and went his way
tears are no good uh they're worthless
you can't do anything with them
uh growing up
being very close to my grandfather's
farm and because both of my parents
worked
in the summer me and my brothers would
spend a lot of time with our
grandparents and my grandfather was a
he wasn't like a full-time farmer but he
did do a lot of farming and uh
but there were certain areas of the
pasture that were not
well taken care of and if you let it go
it's just amazing how thorns and
thistles and all these forms of tears
will begin to come up i think the worst
thing of all was the fire ants this was
back decades back before
we ever really knew what these fire ants
were now they're all the way up to south
carolina they don't really get over in
the north carolina it's almost like
there's a hedge the moment you get to
north carolina
uh in many ways the fire ants disappear
i think there's some form of blessing
from the lord on that now of course we
are in higher altitude and we're in the
foothills uh we're very close to the
mountains here where we live at but i
thank god the yucky fire ants can't come
boy they are some painful fellas but my
friends all of these things but whatever
various forms of tares these things were
sown
by the enemy the devil
he is plotting and he's working to do
his mischievous deeds
and he has sown the tares verse 26 but
when the grain had sprouted and produced
a crop
then the tares also appeared so the
servants of the owner came and said to
him sir did you not sow good seed in
your field how then does it have tares
he said to them an enemy has done this
now when
exactly did the enemy do this he did it
while men slept this is fascinating we
need to dig into this and i of course
want to use scripture but i think there
is a lot of wisdom also in examining
uh real life experience within church
history and as well as biblical history
let me talk to you just for a moment
about a great man of god
his name
is padre pio he was a catholic
capuchin monk
and he was a friar and he was a prophet
his prophetic ministry lasted over 50
years
and
when he died he had over 1 million
people attend his funeral and still
today although he's been gone for about
50 years he's been in heaven now he
passed away in the late 60s
even still today
every year there's about six million
visitors
that visit
his burial site and they they come to
pay respect for uh
such a great man of god whose ministry
uh touched the world
and padre pio would be a man that you
could you could classify him as a
charismatic catholic
all of the gifts of the spirit not just
some of them all of them were in
operation in his life
especially the gifts that would revolve
around
the office of a prophet such as
discerning the spirit's words of
knowledge and things like that but of
course many many miracles in his life
but anytime you start
uh reading the
biography or
you start looking into the life of a
person that is on the front lines being
used by the lord it's not surprising
very quickly to see how the enemy
would attack these great men
and these great women who stood on the
forefront of proclaiming the gospel
because when you're doing that you are
uh leading the the spearhead you're the
tip of the spear you're leading that
assault uh against the kingdom of
darkness and you're going after souls
and so the enemy
really brought the heat against padre
pio often times at night
and
this is very interesting because at
night time i'll give you an example one
of the
one of the young monks
went to visit padre pio at night when
it's time for everybody to turn in and
he just went to say goodbye uh you know
not goodbye but excuse me good night and
so forth and uh padre pio just kind of
kept talking and kept dragging out the
conversation and the young man said well
father i uh you know i need to go to i
need to go to sleep i'm getting tired
and he would say well let's talk just a
little bit more
and uh he just kept getting more tired
and he said he said i've got to go to
bed
and he said well i i like it when you
stay as long as you can because of
course as soon as you leave they're
going to show up
and he said who's going to show up he
said oh they always show up at night and
these were fierce demonic attacks
and in the early days of his
of his ministry uh
the men in the monastery the monks they
could hear the battle going on in the
room of padre pio now
in a monastery they would call it a cell
the little room where the monk would
live
but i mean you could hear chains
rattling you could hear demons screaming
you could hear
physical
confrontations you could hear slaps
blows hits i mean it was off the charts
and all the guys could hear it and this
happened every night
and there were times they would come in
and uh
it looked like the check on padre pio
and it looked like he had been in an
all-out
physical violent confrontation closed
tore up hair messed up
it looked like he'd been beaten and
things like that and you you may think
initially well well pastor steven maybe
he didn't understand the authority of
the believer
he did
and he would exercise that authority but
the enemy would push the limits
on
doing what he could do to
really disrupt this man's prayer life
to
try to get him into a place where he
wouldn't have peace because see if this
goes on at night time in the morning the
moment the sun comes up he's in heavy
demand and uh
oftentimes his day would start at 4 30
in the morning sometimes they would have
mess
with people coming from all over to
attend the mass sometimes the mass would
start at 4 30. that means he's got to be
up by 2 30 to get dressed to put on the
religious garments that he would wear
and to purdue all the preparation so
the enemy knew that if he could attack
him in this area
it could create vulnerabilities in his
uh or chinks in his armor but i tell you
what these are things that you have to
understand
and i want to go a little bit further
with some more examples
let me tell you about
bob jones
prophet bob jones there's the bob jones
university in south carolina i'm not
referring to that
founder of that college i'm referring to
the prophet bob jones
but bob jones had a interesting
experience anytime you begin to walk
uh i wouldn't just call it the prophetic
walk but but a
consecrated committed walk to serve god
you're going to have
the enemy trying to mess with you at
nighttime he is going to try to sow
tares
he's going to try to do it at night and
he's going to try to aggravate your life
we have to know how to deal with these
things and padre pio
would always come out victorious
in these situations but it was a very
real uh very real battle at times now
bob jones talk uh he told the story
about the time where the enemy really
harassed him at night
particularly this went on he said for
two months severely during the month of
october and november and he said every
night the enemy would come with the most
diabolical disgusting horrendous
uh
fear-related dreams and he would have
one dream like a like a horrific
nightmare and uh he'd
fight that off and he'd wake up
screaming no
no because the enemy is insinuating
things through these dreams that he's
going to do a certain thing or and so
forth
and then after that dream would end he
tried to go back to sleep and then the
enemy would send another one you know
horrible horrible dreams and this went
on every night for two months uh the
dreams were very uh
different each time the dreams could be
about that of a wrong spirit they could
be like a financial dream like you're
going to lose all your money it could be
an emotional dream like you're losing
your mind
there could be physical uh elements in
certain dreams and then sexual
perversion and other types of dreams
and so it's the enemy doing an all-out
assault while you're just trying to get
sleep you're just trying to get sleep
and you know you could think what in the
world is going on
well these are attacks of the enemy we
have to be aware of how he operates
and the enemy would come with these
certain types of dreams and say
uh you're too old nobody cares about you
anymore you don't have an anointing
anymore you're now irrelevant you're
discarded god's not going to use you
anymore and he would wake up and he
would have to say i mean coming out of
these dreams he would have to say no
this is all a lie this is not of god i
resist this and rebuke this in the name
of the lord and then he would try to go
back to sleep but then the enemy would
give him another one what do you do when
something like that is going on but by
the way this is this is not something a
psychologist can fix we thank god for
those that try to bring
relief to those that have
agony in their soul but this is way
beyond the pay grade of any psychiatric
help why this is spiritual these are
attacks that are in the spirit realm so
it's not like you can see it put a sign
up and say uh stop don't do this
the enemy
does not respect uh those things that
are not
uh
that don't have their origins in christ
praise the lord excuse me i get a drink
of water
praise god
so this went on for quite some time
and
going into the month of december it got
worse the attacks got worse
and he got into the festival of hanukkah
and on the last day of hanukkah in
december
when the these nightmarish type dreams
were very very intense
and the enemy was suggesting things like
i'm going to kill all of your family i'm
going to burn your house down
have you ever had dreams like that where
maybe somebody is chasing you or hunting
you or trying to kill you or choke you
or suffocate you and you know this is
not god this is totally satanic
okay so we're talking about how to deal
with these types of things because they
often hit
on those that are on the front lines of
prayer that are on the front lines of
evangelism or involved in the work of
ministry this is
this is very very common in the areas of
ministry you have to know how to deal
with it
so
uh this
was highlighted the attacks were
highlighted on the final day of hanukkah
and
it continually was disrupting bob's
sleep and so he is going around during
the daytime exhausted because he can
hardly get any sleep at night because
the enemy is tormenting him at night so
he's got to stay up pray it off and he
just basically is losing all of his
sleep so one day he said it was about
four o'clock on in the afternoon
this is the last day of the festival of
hanukkah it's about four o'clock in the
afternoon and he thought to himself this
could be a good time to catch a nap
because the devil has been keeping me up
all night he's probably tired too he's
probably taking one so i'm going to take
a nap also
[Laughter]
so he laid down on the bed and he said
the moment his head touched the pillow
he was gone in the spirit realm
and he was taken to the throne room of
god in heaven in a vision
and he found himself there at the throne
room with he and his wife viola and they
were standing there before the lord
jesus christ and he noticed something
very beautiful that was taking place
he said that
there would be couples that would come
up before the throne of jesus and they
would present gifts to him
and they would say happy conception day
jesus
why because jesus was not born on
hanukkah but jesus was conceived
during the feast of hanukkah
isn't that beautiful to know amen
and by the way yes life does begin at
conception
if you abort a baby you have murdered a
living child and if if anybody is
watching a woman if you've ever done
that there's forgiveness in christ but
when you get to heaven you're going to
meet that child that son or daughter so
if you haven't gotten that ironed out
with the lord please do so
because this is an awful lie being
pushed in our modern society
that um you know it's it's just they
call it a fetus well fetus is a latin
word that simply means an unborn baby
it's the baby inside who's alive and
living that hasn't come out yet but how
many of you know also that those lies
about conception and so forth
we're seeing really that all along these
uh atheistic um
liberals
they know that's a lie because now
they're wanting to kill the baby even
after it's been born so they're trying
to move the goal post as we would say
when it comes to truth but truth is
timeless truth is the same now
as it was a thousand years ago it's the
same now as it will be ten thousand
years from now the murder of an unborn
baby uh is a great atrocity in the eyes
of god so if you've ever had any part of
that you need to
uh and and even if you were the guy and
you didn't you know you're not the lady
that's actually going to the abortion
clinic but if you're the guy that
supported that and said yeah this is
what we need to do then that's something
also that you need to have cleansed and
you need to receive forgiveness for
because it was a it's a heinous act it
is murder and it's very very serious
there's something that god loves more
than anything else and that's people
that includes babies that includes the
unborn who cannot protect themselves so
we have to protect them praise the lord
hallelujah well bob noticed that these
couples married couples would go before
the lord and they would bring a gift to
him and they would say happy conception
day jesus
praise god
he watched as one couple
went before the lord with the mo he said
the most beautiful basket of sun-kissed
oranges by the way in these things
there's a lot of prophetic symbolism
sun-kissed oranges in other words kiss
the sun
oftentimes you get in the prophetic flow
with visions and many things they carry
certain meanings but they brought these
beautiful sun-kissed oranges to the lord
and they said happy conception day jesus
and then another couple would come
before the lord
and
one couple came before the lord with the
most beautiful peaches and they would
give the basket of peaches to the lord
and say happy conception day jesus
and when bob saw this going on he began
to weep
and he started crying and then a man
came up to him and stood by his side
and said bob why are you why are you
crying
he said because i don't have anything to
present to the lord
and by the way
bob said that every time he's ever
encountered that man he can never see
the face of the man why it's the holy
spirit
and i've noticed that about the holy
spirit i've had encounters with the holy
spirit but i've i've never i know it's
god i know it's he's in the form a of a
man of us of a of a god being but i've
never been able to discern his face
praise god
and so the holy spirit said bob why are
you why are you crying why are you
weeping he said i don't have anything to
present to the lord
and the man said look down and he looked
down and there was a beautiful basket
full of the most
luscious grapes bob said he had never
seen grapes like this ever before and he
was so happy now he and viola have
something to present to the lord so they
go before the lord together and they
present the basket of grapes to him
and something amazing happened jesus
said
uh bob do you know where you got those
grapes
and he said no
and this is what the lord said to him
every time you said no to the devil
during the last two months
you
were bearing
fruit
now i want to say something in context
and this ties into my message
technically he was bearing fruit when at
night did you know that you can bear
the most lavish
spiritual fruit in the eyes of god at
night time sure the day belongs to the
lord as well and you can you can have
wonderful things take place with the
lord we certainly wouldn't limit it to
an hour
or something like that or you know a
certain time or moment but i'm just
saying at night time you can have
tremendous encounters with the lord that
produce fruit so the lord said
to bob do you know where you got those
grapes he said no and the lord responded
every time you said no to the devil the
last two months
you were bearing fruit
praise god amen so this also brings us
into a different
area of thought that we have to consider
did you know that the lord can use the
devil
almost as
like a trainer or i'm not saying the
devil trains you but the the lord can
work through the devil's
aggravations and how he would try to
harass and he could actually use that
for our benefit
what do you mean pastor stephen well let
me ask you this
if you had not had that awful horrific
nightmare type dream
that caused you to wake up and it was so
disturbing and so unsettling that you
actually had to pray it off and pray to
get back into the peace of god
if you had not had had that dream which
was a product of an attack by a demon
would you have gotten up at two o'clock
in the morning to pray oh no pastor
stephen i would have slept all night
long see then the devil god can use the
devil even as in the sense as a servant
where god can take that bad and turn it
and use it for good to develop you and
next thing you know europe praying at
two o'clock in the morning now the the
uh
the conditions
that got you up and praying perhaps
perhaps you would have desired a more
positive wake-up call
but but nevertheless what's the end
result
uh it's dark it's the middle of the
night and you're up doing what you're up
praying
and you know the whole thing is that you
might realize hey
i didn't like the attack but i do like
getting up and praying wow what a
peaceful time to pray
and so you come into discoveries and so
the lord can work through these types of
things whenever i visit
nations that would be
predominantly
the religious influence would be islam
and i hear the call of prayer and you
know you have the five calls of prayer
that uh go along with the muslim
religion so if i'm in indonesia or
somewhere like that and i hear the call
to prayer and the first one is usually
right around 5 30 maybe like 5 26 in the
morning well i get up
i get up i why well first of all because
of the noise it's going it's going to
wake you up you know the big you know uh
it's it's the sound and that's the voice
of the of the man that's calling the
people to pray well i'm like well i
heard it woke me up might as well get up
and pray they're going to get up and go
spend time with the um
the god that they uh have yielded their
lives to well i'm going to get up to a
bit so just use it just use it use all
things for good use anything for good
that can
get you closer to god praise the lord
and you know what you'll bear fruit
praise the lord thank you jesus so fight
through these things these attacks at
night get up and pray don't just lay
there in some kind of a
you know
slumber where the enemy is just pounding
you
no no get up get up and pray spend time
with god wake up and shout no
no no devil no no no no no get up and
pray get back into the peace of the lord
this is something that those that walk
particularly in what we would call like
the mystic path
are very very familiar with
this is par for the course and you have
to you have to know how to deal with
these things you mainly do it by getting
up and praying praise god
by the way did you know that every
morning at three o'clock the dalai lama
is up praying to the
uh
to the source that he serves the to the
uh to the kingdom that he belongs to
he'll be up every morning three o'clock
doesn't matter when he goes to bed
whether it's nine o'clock ten o'clock
midnight or whatever three o'clock he's
up and so what i'm trying to demonstrate
through that example is that there is a
price tag for spiritual power regardless
of what kingdom you are in whether it's
the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom
of light which is the kingdom of god of
god's dear son that's the only kingdom
of light
and so
you want to engage the spiritual price
tag
for power for uh for a close walk with
god thank you lord jesus hallelujah well
let's go over to psalm 16.
i want us to see something over here
psalm 16.
praise the lord verse 7.
psalm 16 verse 7 i will
bless the lord who has given me counsel
now the lord's counsel is priceless
right can you imagine going to a
counselor
and you pay him you know maybe 75
dollars for uh 30 minutes of counseling
he tells you all he knows and does what
he can do to help you but what if you
could sit down on the blue couch and
have jesus the counselor address your
concerns address your problems and your
questions
you can i will bless the lord who has
given me counsel my heart
also instructs me when
in the night seasons so there is
instruction uh that flows from god that
is unveiled in your heart and you
receive instruction
from your innermost being the aramaic
translates this as
actually in your kidneys now it's not
actually down there in your your your
kidneys that are you know filtering your
blood and stuff like that but it's it's
a
metaphorical statement to help you
understand that out of the very core of
your being god can bring forth the truth
that you need the instructions that you
need so contrary to popular opinion the
nighttime is not designed by god solely
to be used for sleeping okay
yes you're going to need some sleep but
if that is being disrupted
then
use it for good for the purposes of god
if the enemy is busy all night why
should we be sleeping all night
you know when you do get older you don't
need as much sleep as
you did when you were young you know if
you're in your 20s you think okay i need
my sleep because you know i got to be
active and energetic and stuff like that
and that's all good you know uh that
that's a lot of fun to have that spring
in your step so to speak but when you
get older there's a trade-off
and you realize wisdom is way better
than strength and also
you just begin to realize i don't need
as much sleep as i did when i was young
and you can utilize that to your benefit
now meditating
deep prayer during the day
all of these things if they're if
they're carried out during the daytime
can be challenging and in some
situations if we're honest
really just flat out impossible to
really meditate or get into deep prayer
when the phone can ring at any moment
and it usually does and plus you're
thinking hmm well i'm really trying to
focus i hope the phone doesn't ring
and then right when you get dialed in
you start to focus then the phone rings
or you know the text messages are going
off or all this all this stuff and
there's a demand upon your attention or
you know or you're just at work and you
can't do it
and so this is why so so much of these
things can be done at nighttime such as
meditating deep prayer and everything
and at nighttime it gives us the ability
at a very high level to meditate on the
word of god and to do something very
essential which is to analyze the word
scrutinize the word
break it down into small parts so that
you can assimilate it and understand the
process
pray and reflect upon scripture
this is the blessing of nighttime
and our faculties of reasoning can be
very very sharp at night i want to show
this to you from isaiah
chapter one i really like
this scripture praise the lord isaiah
chapter one
let me catch up over here and we're
going to go to verse
18.
come now and let us reason together
can you imagine reasoning together with
god now you know his reasoning ability
is
so sharp
but god says come now and you and i
let's reason together says the lord
though your sins are like scarlet they
shall be as white as snow though they
are red like crimson they shall be as
wool so there is a reasoning
that god wants to do
between you and him
and this word reason together in the
hebrew means to prove out anything
wow so you can have some amazing
conversations with god
at night time as you and he are
reasoning back and forth together
you might say well god why should i do
this why should i do it this way and the
lord begins to reason to you and begins
to prove these things out to you and
here's something very interesting the
phrase
reason together in the hebrew also has a
figurative meaning and it means
literally are you ready for this to be
in the sunshine
so here's the thing
at night time because it's so quiet and
peaceful you and god can reason back and
forth together so even though it may be
taking place at night time
figuratively it actually means in the
bible to be in
the sunshine
wow and you can reason with god
concerning verse 19 how about this one
if you are willing and obedient
you shall eat the good of the land now
you can reason that out you and god you
can say god this is amazing
is this like for real and god will say
yeah it's real that's my word by the way
it's impossible for god to lie
[Laughter]
numbers chapter 23 god cannot lie it's
impossible for him to to lie
if you are willing and obedient you
shall eat the good of the land and you
reason back and forth with god god what
are the potentials in this verse in this
word that you have stated here well it's
off the chart because god also is he's
able to do above and beyond that which
you can ask
imagine or or think so if you're willing
and obedient you shall eat the good of
the land so you can be up at night maybe
the devil aggravated you and gave you a
bad dream well you're up now you're
praying you're having good conversation
with the lord and you can reason with
the lord over this scripture god i'm
willing and obedient i'm ready to eat
the good of the land lord what do you
have for me to eat well if he wants you
to eat the good of the land he wants you
to live in the best of the land he wants
you to drive the best of the land where
the best of the land and that's what it
means it means you're going to have the
best that is available and you can
reason that out with god in the dark and
and in god's eyes you're in the sunshine
it's time for you to live in the
sunshine moment and let it be a
perpetual moment with god
thank you jesus
hallelujah
thank you lord
let us reason together i love that now i
want to encourage you make use of the
night season and tap into god's wisdom
and heaven's strategy in order to never
lose a battle and in order to overcome
any attack or obstacle that the devil
will will put in your way he's going to
do his job he's going to do his thing
but allow it to actually develop you and
train you to be the spiritual warrior
that god wants you to be
and i would say today
as an admonition to you
no more
excessive
sleeping
no more excessive sleeping
excess excessively sleeping christians
are defeated christians
that that's a strong statement and in
some ways i don't even want to say it
because i don't want to
uh
wound anybody but i think this is an
area where many christians if they'll
look at this they can realize
i can do better
and it offers great potential to bear uh
spiritual fruit
again excessive sleeping
excuse me excessively sleeping
christians
are defeated christians
you can't expect to uh jump into
a full-blown attack of the devil and
you're not prayed up you haven't been
meditating on the word and just think
well i'm going to win
there's a price tag for spiritual
victory you have to be willing to pay
that and when you do you can move any
obstacle out of your path and go forward
no matter what is being thrown at you
praise god glory to the lord mark
chapter four let's look at jesus mark
four
we're going to go to verse
37 praise god
lord we give you praise today
and the great wind storm arose and the
waves beat into the boat so that it was
already feeling but he was in the stern
so he's in the back
asleep on a pillow and they woke him and
said to him teacher do you not care that
we are perishing
it appears that
peter or
some of the other apostles
they have
they have fabricated or made some type
of small private sleeping quarter area
for the lord where he could go into this
little area and lay down
and
get some sleep
because the waves were breaking over the
boat and uh
you know if you're getting hit with cold
water you're going to wake up so he's
not waking up so because he has coverage
and
although the water is coming over it's
not hitting him so we know that he had
some type of little covered area
has his own pillow he can go in there
and lay down and get some sleep and here
we really do see the the humanity of
jesus we know it's the mystery of deity
and humanity together in one person
but here we see
his humanity and you may think well why
is he so tired why does he have to get
to sleep well it's not that he has
the need for
uh sleep because you know stayed up too
late tonight before watching television
or you know whatever the case might be
or wants to go in there and just you
know well fellows it's about that time
of the day one o'clock i'm gonna go in
here and disappear for a little while
and check the news no he's tired because
of the demands upon his life for
ministry and the need to really be
prayed up going into the days so he's
not getting a lot of sleep at night and
there there is an understanding among
elite soldiers when you are being
deployed on secretive missions and you
don't know how long it's going to last
or how it's all going to unfold because
everyone's different every mission is
different but there's this understanding
concerning sleep you just simply get it
when you can because you don't know when
you're going to be able to get it again
so it could be that you you just lay
down
for 20 minutes while a couple of guys
watch and stand guard and you just lay
down and you get about 20 minutes and
then you get up and you keep going again
and that may be it for the next 12 hours
you know because you may not be able to
later especially if bullets are flying
you have to be awake but there is
something about sleep that is very very
sweet
when
it's earned or
uh you know you're you're really tired
and you really could use it then it
means a whole lot to you praise god now
here's
one of my books i've written called
manifesting the blessings of god and in
this book i've got a couple of chapters
about praying at night one of the
chapters is called the nighthawk
and one of the chapters is also called
your first and second sleep and i've had
a few scientists actually tell me sleep
scientists say pastor stephen it is very
rare to hear somebody speak on the
subject of your first and second sleep
because that's almost lost knowledge in
today's world and just those two
chapters alone are worth the the price
of this book
but
i want to encourage you to have this in
your spiritual library because
the whole book is is good the whole book
will help you but those chapters on
praying at night and your first and
second sleep those things can really
propel you into a place where even at
night you know how to handle the devil
and you know how to draw near to the
lord and even take the enemy's tactics
and use it against him for your
spiritual benefit praise god
you know let me read a little something
to you
that i think you'll enjoy
from
my book
this is from the chapter your first and
second sleep and i want to share
something for a moment that the jewish
rabbis have known for centuries really
for millennia and let's talk about that
just for a moment this is from page 132.
it says
it appears the awake time
in between the two sleep cycles has been
a long running practice for the jews and
for other cultures as well
back before the days of electricity when
it got dark guess what people did they
went to sleep why there's no electricity
there's no tv to watch there's no radio
to listen to there's no youtube the
stream there's nothing the lights are
out and if you don't have the oil to
burn to produce a light
um
that you can't you can't see so what do
people do they go to sleep and in in the
winter
when it gets dark much earlier if if
it's dark at 5 30 you know what they did
they went to sleep at 5 30 and if it's
summertime and it's doesn't get dark
until nine o'clock well then they had a
little more sunlight and they would go
to bed at nine but let's say you're in
another time of the year and it's
seven o'clock and it's already the sun's
down it's completely dark what they
would do for thousands and thousands of
years is they would simply just go to
sleep
but when you go to sleep at seven it's
not like you need 12 hours of sleep
guess what what happened with your
normal body clock you wouldn't wake up
usually right around midnight why you've
been sleeping for about five hours and
scientists call that your first sleep
and then
your body once you're up naturally wants
to stay up for a little while and people
throughout millennia stayed up
for an hour two hours and what the
rabbis would do is they would study
torah between the first and the second
sleep they would study the scriptures
other people would get up have a snack
it wasn't uncommon for people to go
outside of their house and talk to their
neighbor or say oh what a beautiful moon
tonight okay but this was just normal
people would get up right around
midnight right around one o'clock or
something like that
and then you would start to get sleepy
again and then you would go back and get
your second sleep and then you would
sleep for another four hours or
something like that and get up when the
sun
came up praise the lord okay it appears
the awake time in between the two sleep
cycles has been a long running practice
for the jews and for other cultures as
well in some ways we have only touched
the tip of the iceberg concerning
prayers at night
many rabbis prayed from midnight until
three each night but this time slot was
expanded due to basically coffee
and because of coffee
some of the rabbis would go from not
only midnight till three they would go
from midnight till six
and they would operate on about three
hours of sleep
these things are covered in my book i
want you to get this book it's available
on my website stevenbrooks.org
go to the online store click on the
section called books
and you can have it you could also
download it if you want it immediately
you can download it as well
and uh that's uh those downloads are
available on
you know uh apple and
different kinds of platforms but help
yourself
to grow in this area with the knowledge
that you need but it's very fascinating
rabbis they would get up and they would
they would pray but they would also
study they would study torah for hours
and hours and hours and hours and hours
and
i have been in jerusalem at the western
wall
at one o'clock in the morning two
o'clock in the morning you might think
pastor stephen what were you doing there
for uh i was curious i'm like what goes
on at the western wall at three o'clock
in the morning did you know at three
o'clock in the morning there are still
yeshiva students that will come out the
whole class and they will pray at the
wailing wall at two o'clock in the
morning now the class is really thin out
around three but you'll still see these
young orthodox jewish students a yeshiva
student is a orthodox jew that is
attending a
seminary or what they would call their
version of a bible college
what are they doing they're up all night
learning torah well when do they sleep
pastor stephen oh they they figure it
out they they don't get a lot of sleep
though but i'll tell you what if you
want to talk with them about jesus you
better know the word because i'll tell
you they certainly do they've got the
entire first five books of the bible
memorized by the age of 12. and so if
you're going to talk with them you have
to know the word and you you want to be
able to get into the word and receive
the revelation now we have the holy
spirit the holy spirit gives the
revelation because i've read a lot
of the
jewish commentaries you know the taliban
and on and on it goes i've read the
great jewish sages
and sometimes it's sad
how little illumination they actually
have of what that actually means why
because despite their great their great
intellectual genius you can't understand
spiritual things unless they are
revealed to you by who the author the
holy spirit
and so um
you know
i'm not saying don't be intimidated or
anything like that but i am saying uh
you still need to have good knowledge of
the word so when you're up in the middle
of the night yes you can have you could
have wonderful prayer times because
what's going on between that first and
second sleep is that your body
your brain releases a chemical
and that chemical is called prolactin
and that goes throughout your
bloodstream and throughout your body
it's the same chemical that a
hen chicken releases when that hen sits
on the eggs and i remember when i was a
little kid on my grandmother's farm i
would look at all these nesting hens
and i would think boy that sure is
boring sitting on an egg for two three
hours
wow that looks really boring not to the
chicken that chicken is just as happy
and content to sit there for hour after
hour why
those
those uh enzymes and chemicals are being
released into the body and that's what
happens also when you get up in the
middle of the night to pray and spend
time with the lord these secretions take
place in your brain and you're able to
to
just talk with the lord and you're able
to reason with the lord reason with the
lord and analyze things and make sense
of things in the scripture
praise the lord
thank you jesus one more scripture
from the book of ruth praise god
i hope these things are helping you and
giving some inspiration to draw near to
the lord
in your own way at night praise the lord
we're in ruth chapter 3.
verse
verse 7
and after boaz had eaten and drunk and
his heart was cheerful he went to lie
down at the end of the heap of grain and
she came softly and covered his feet and
lay down
now it happened at midnight
that the man was startled who knows
there are some that say he was waking up
or he was startled of course but he's
waking up why he's in between the first
and second sleep
well he certainly makes a uh quite a
discovery doesn't he now it happened at
midnight that the man was startled and
turned himself and there a woman was
lying at his feet
and he said who are you
so he answered
excuse me so she answered i am ruth your
maidservant take your maidservant under
your wing for you are a close relative a
kinsmen redeemer
okay so we have
a beautiful love story here but it's
also portraying the relationship between
christ
boaz
and
the church symbolized by ruth
and let me say this
jesus has very few visitors
at night oh pastor stephen everybody
knows this what you're teaching
everybody knows this hardly any
christians know this
fewer still that even know it actually
practice it
so this is what i want to say
boaz
was startled this is unusual he's
startled by ruth there's a woman laying
at his feet in the middle of the night
it startled him the scripture says it
startled him this is what the lord
shared with me
if you will startle him
at midnight
or you know at what we would call these
nighttime hours if you will startle the
lord at midnight he will startle you
with revelation
as your reward
he will unveil things to you from his
word
he will speak and give you
a reward
for
meeting him at such an off time when he
has
so
few
visitors
very very few christians ever startled
the lord at night
why don't you be like ruth and be a
little bit adventurous
and
go to meet the lord
and
startle him and say hey lord it's me
the lord might say well this is
interesting what are you doing here at 1
30 in the morning you're usually asleep
yes lord i am but i'm here to hang out
with you
to be at your feet to sit at the
master's feet to be taught
by you i humble myself oh god to receive
revelation truth from you
praise god again if you startled the
lord at midnight by showing up okay
these uh times of devotion
if you startle the lord at midnight he
will startle you
with revelation as your reward praise
god
amen lift your hands i want to pray
grace for you to walk in this
father i pray for your people that are
watching
fresh revelation
fresh
inspiration
to be like ruth
and to meet the redeemer
at night thank you father even as
midnight can denote that specific moment
on the clock but father we also know
they didn't have clocks back then so
it's it's also speaking of just that
hour
we thank you father god we thank you
father god let revelation flow and let
mysteries be unveiled let the reward be
experienced firsthand by your people
of startling you
by meeting you
in these very very unusual nighthawk
times we give you praise father let your
grace be released to your people to walk
in this and enjoy this
and to treasure it in jesus name
amen fabian
i praise god the temple
that was built by solomon and then later
the temple that was built by herod the
one that jesus actually went to
um
[Music]
they they had guards there were openings
there were various openings i think of
the temple that herod built if i'm
correct right off the top of my head
there were i think there were 23 gate
door openings to the temple every one of
them had to be guarded
the majority of the gates were guarded
or the door openings regarded by the
levites and i think about three of them
were guarded by
some priestly families but did you know
there was actually
a
temple guard supervisor that would make
the rounds every night and you didn't
know when he's coming but if you ever
fell asleep as an appointed guard a
security guard if you ever fell asleep
it was serious serious business because
somebody could come in and do something
to try to defile the temple
so um
you know
i won't say what the
temple supervisor would do but he would
do some things that would be humiliating
he might he might even take his torch
and
set your um your robe on fire
well that'll wake you up
what's that burning i smell something
burning yeah it's your clothes
he found you asleep and he just took the
torch and lit the bottom of your robe on
fire hope you get put it out real quick
might want to start rolling around
well pastor stephen that's a pretty
severe penalty they considered a severe
disrespect
to fall asleep on temple guard duty some
of you actually have a calling
an assignment
to patrol the night watch
to be on the night watch praise god
praise the lord that is actually an
assignment some of you have
walk in that by grace by grace
praise the lord
father we thank you we thank you we give
you all of the praise
say this say well not i will not fall
asleep
on my watch
praise the lord i remember one certain
nation got hit with some real trouble
and a senior prophet spoke to one of
these intercessors and said you're
supposed to be covering that that
wouldn't have happened if you'd been
covering that in prayer she said oh god
forgive me i completely stopped praying
and getting up at night to cover that
and so
what happened the enemy came and sowed
tares
praise the lord i know the lady that
kind of fumbled the ball well she picked
it up really really quickly after she
was
i wouldn't say rebuked but certainly um
admonished in a very
uh unsmiling way by the prophet
praise the lord some of you are going to
have remarkable heavenly encounters
at night you're going to start of the
lord you're going to think you're
startling him he's going to startle you
praise god all right if you're watching
today's program and you don't know
christ as your lord and savior you can
receive eternal life right now by
putting your faith and trust in him
if you haven't done that do it right now
pray this prayer after me say lord jesus
i am a sinner
but you died to save sinners just like
me
jesus
i give my life to you
take my life
save me now
wash me with your blood
write my name in your book of life
and lord jesus
strengthen me
to live for
you
in your name i pray thank you for saving
me
amen
if you're a christian that's backslidden
you've gone away from god and you're not
in right standing with god you've gotten
off in the sin
but you've heard today's message and you
want to get back to god come back right
now pray this prayer after me say jesus
forgive me of my sins forgive me of my
backsliding lord restore me
back to you in the right relationship i
recommit my life to you thank you jesus
thank you for forgiving me and restoring
me in your name i pray
amen
and jesus if you'll live for him he
promises he promises to make up for the
years locust the cankerworm and the
palmer worm have eaten away if you live
for him he'll offset the lost years and
he'll make up for it in a compressed
siri
event of time so start living all out
for him right now praise the lord let's
take holy communion together
grab some unleavened bread and some
grape juice
let's pray
heavenly father thank you for
the bread the juice
we consecrate it set it apart as holy
through this prayer and we thank you
that this is now the body and the blood
of jesus
and father as we receive the flesh of
jesus we thank you
we just thank you for the mystery
of
the night hours of prayer devotion let
us use utilize it for eternal reward and
eternal
benefit
thank you father in jesus name somebody
going to be translated at night
you're going to be carried in the spirit
at night and it will not be a one-time
event
look when you learn to ride a bicycle
it's not like you got to relearn it all
over again once you're up and right
you're writing
then you can get back on the bike
anytime and go praise the lord some of
you are going to be taken into that walk
of traveling in the spirit get ready
father we receive the body of jesus we
give you praise in his name
amen let's receive
praise the lord
hallelujah glory to god
father we thank you for the precious
blood of jesus
we ask that if we have committed any sin
you would forgive us wash all of our
sins away we ask you would cleanse us
from all unrighteousness we thank you
father that we are in right standing
with you because we're in christ and
we're walking in forgiveness and father
we forgive anybody who has sinned
against us we forgive them completely
and we go on in the rich
life that you have planned for us thank
you o god for abundance in every area of
our lives
thank you for
empowering us to enjoy
our inheritance in real life experience
we thank you father in jesus name
amen
and amen let's receive the blood of
christ
i think
this practice of spending time with the
lord at night will help many of you
to move from a place of
knowing what the truth is knowing the
reality of what god promises to
actually
begin seeing it manifest it praise the
lord because
you will have won the day before the sun
ever comes up
now you may be a little bit tired you
may be quite a bit tired but also
there's grace if you do this the right
way there's always a sustaining grace
because the last thing you want to do
also is go off to work and you're all
wiped out at work and you can't work
well because your head's not focused
because you know you think you're tired
any time the lord's in it
there is a sustaining grace to be at
your very best
so i'm talking about not something
that's just done out of some type of
great iron wheel
although there is that element of
pushing yourself but i'm talking about
something where you're writing
you're riding on grace
it's like being on a surfboard and the
waves carrying you you just got to stand
up and stay on the board
but you're being propelled by another
force that's moving you that's what the
lord will do and you'll be fresh you'll
be just fine
it really is a kingdom mystery my
friends thanks for watching i look
forward to seeing you back
next time stay blessed bye bye