good morning my friends i'm pastor
stephen brooks welcome today to morning
glory our midweek bible study i'm so
happy that you're here today why don't
you grab your bibles meet me in the
gospel of mark chapter 4. let's begin
today in verse 35
and this will not be our key verse but i
want to look at something briefly before
we go to our key verse
and when i say key verse i actually
believe
that the scripture i will take you to
today
is considered by many and considered by
myself to be the greatest
statement of faith
in the entire bible and i'm going to
take us there in just a moment
but let's begin in mark chapter 4 and
let's open up with prayer
heavenly father as we go into your word
we ask that your holy spirit would come
and illuminate the scriptures so that we
can understand them and apply them to
our lives today now father we thank you
in jesus name we pray
amen and amen praise the lord and today
this is the last message of the of the
year as in just a few more days we will
roll into the new year so it is my joy
to
sign off of this calendar year with you
in great anticipation for the coming
year
and let's build our faith up hallelujah
now mark chapter 4 verse 35
on the same day when evening had come he
said to them let us cross over to the
other side
so the this entire
story in the bible uh and mark is
excellent uh with this
it all hinges on the statement of the
lord let us cross over to the other side
you can never downplay the words of
jesus you can never treat them lightly
everything that he says is
the inspired word of god and when he
says let us cross over that's not just
like well maybe we will maybe he'll
change his mind or maybe he won't you
know this is an absolute thing that is
going to take place he is going to the
other side and nothing is going to stop
him and so when we
have the lord speak to us
we need to take that as the concrete
word of god and we need to move forward
with it even of course when storms
trials or difficulties will pop up and
of course they certainly do at times and
that's what we have going on here verse
36
now when they had left the multitude
they took him along in the boat as he
was and other little boats were also
with him
and a great windstorm arose and the
waves beat into the boat so that it was
already filling but he was in the stern
asleep on a pillow and they awoke him
and said to him teacher do you not care
that we are perishing then he arose and
rebuked the wind and said to the sea
peace be still
and the wind ceased and there was a
great calm but he said to them why are
you so fearful how is it that you have
no faith
so
watch out for fear fear is
not some kind of just intangible
something another that floats through
the air and affects people in the
negative way fear is a spirit
and we
do not have a spirit of fear that's not
anything that god has given to you and i
now there are many people out in the
world they get whacked with that spirit
of fear and it hits them and uh the next
thing you know you could have a crowd
lose complete control you can have
people in hysteria running around
screaming panicking and so forth but
that is something that is never our
portion or or our inheritance because
god has not given us a spirit of fear
but of power the exact opposite but of
power and of love and of a sound
mind praise god even
even should you receive the most
unsettling news nothing will shake you
you have a sound
mind in all things so
why are you so fearful
and then he continues by saying how is
it that you have no faith
well
in the church of course you wouldn't be
in the church
born again and saved unless you had used
your faith to receive salvation in
christ so when god speaks his word
it's not like you know
christians doubt
that
jesus was crucified there at calvary and
golgotha
and
they don't doubt stories like that they
don't doubt that
god worked through moses to split the
red sea and
moses and the israelites crossed over
there's no doubt along those lines it's
usually more of the doubting of the of
the everyday
situation that you're living in such as
uh let us go to the other side
well when the storm came there was
tremendous doubt a total unbelief as to
whether that even is going to be
fulfilled obviously they thought it
wasn't because they all thought they're
going to the bottom of the sea of
galilee
well we know the end of the story they
get to the other side
but
that statement of the lord let us cross
over to the other side you can't treat
that lightly that is the spoken it's now
out there that is the uttered word of
god
and god's word will not return to him
void so jesus is getting over there and
uh you know he is looking for us to get
to where we're supposed to arrive at and
we are we are going to arrive the exact
same way we're going to have to stay in
faith because when trials and
difficulties do come up
then
you have to really cling then to the
word of god and i'm not saying
necessarily that you have to cling to
the word that
god struck egypt and pharaoh were ten
plagues well you know that some of you
learned that in sunday school growing up
in the things of god in in the ways of
the church and so forth which is all
good but that's not always what he's
asking you to cling to while we do cling
to the logos word of god which is
scripture in its entirety
we're clinging uh rather instead
in context of what we're looking at here
in these types of situations where the
apostles would lose faith we're looking
at clinging to the word that was spoken
that pertains to our life praise god and
it's so pertained to their life but
they're supposed to go to the other side
and i would say today that there's
another side that you're supposed to go
to you're supposed to go into the next
year
well pastor stephen i i guess we're
going to go but i guess it'll just be
like another year like another year no
you you're supposed to go in faith
you're supposed to go into the new year
in faith believing trusting god
and that is really how the christian
life is centered in the sense that the
just
shall live by faith
and faith not in just some random
something another like you know let the
chips fall where they may no
faith in god's revealed and spoken word
to you faith of increase faith uh
for uh greater levels of peace
faith for greater levels of witnessing
faith for greater levels of giving and
on and on it goes so we're living
intentionally we're not just floating
through life we are living we're living
intentionally to cross to the other side
come storm or
waves or wind or whatever it might be
we're going to get to the other side and
of course
this would get into the subject of
authority and using the authority that
christ has delegated to us that was
something that the apostles were
beginning to learn
but really just wanted jesus to carry
them indefinitely so that they never had
to use their faith and jesus allowed
them to be in situations that would give
them the opportunity to rise up and
respond and use their faith and so we
have the same thing we know that our
faith is for more than just the
born-again experience that's uh that's
just getting out of the starting blocks
now that's all you ever experienced
thank god you got your ticket stamped to
heaven and you're on your way but
there's so much more especially when you
want to accomplish and fulfill what the
lord has called you to do it is a
continual faith walk and sometimes
there are storms that you cannot pray
away you cannot fast and pray and say
leave in the name of jesus
sometimes you have to go through them or
at least you have to encounter them and
through your faith
either the storm is subdued or
uh you have quite a boat ride but
nevertheless you get safe uh and secure
to the other side
so there's different means of getting
there you know paul the apostle got on
the ship one time that he said oh no
this this is not good that we're going
to all end up in disaster uh but because
he was a prisoner he was forced to go
anyhow because
uh the centurion over him and the
captain of the ship said oh no no we're
gonna go ahead and go we're the
professional uh mariners around here
paul you're a great theologian but you
don't know the seas like we do
well he didn't know maybe the seas like
they did but he did know the holy spirit
and he knew that that trip was destined
for disaster
and they're now in that storm and paul
cannot fast or pray to get them out of
the storm they have to go through
certain types of things now my friends
regardless of what you're going through
don't quit keep on going and when i say
keep on going i'm emphasizing stay in
faith
according to what god has spoken to you
through his anointed word
perhaps through the prophetic word
perhaps through a vision or a
supernatural encounter you hold to the
word of the lord so that you also may
get to the other side now
i had a situation in my life years back
where
uh i had a great financial test uh maybe
you could say i was like sailing along
in the boat and then the storm blew up
and began to rage and it's like uh money
just began to stop flowing into the
ministry for a couple of weeks and
that's that's all it takes is for a
couple of weeks to
cause some uh situations that could be
unpleasant and we had some reserves of
course but eventually go through the
reserves and then after a couple of
weeks
things got even slower
well i thought well i'm not living in
any type of sin i'm not
walking in any type of unforgiveness or
in other words i don't have doors open
that would allow the enemy to come in
here
and legally harassed me financially so i
thought what in the world is going on
well i i sensed in my spirit it's the
old dirty devil
up to his tricks trying to
hinder and uh basically frustrate the
preaching of the gospel and i i could
sense that that was going on behind the
scenes but nevertheless
the circumstances were still very much
real in
my natural life well what did i do well
i did what i had been taught to do
through the word uh through good mentors
and teachers that had previously spoken
into my life and you know you hold to
the word of the lord you stand in faith
and even though the winds are blowing
and the sea is raging you stand in faith
we're going to the other side well i i
did that and i kept standing and you
know what happened it got
excuse me it got worse
and i thought well surely i'm i'm a man
of faith uh uh you know my faith is
working well i believe it was working
but i just wasn't seeing any results
so what did i do
well i continued to stand in faith and
another week would go by
and there would be some unpaid bills and
then the bills begin to get further
behind and then it's like the enemy just
uh
caused circumstances to look uh almost
like hopeless
and uh the pressure was on and you know
what happened
after believing in god and trusting in
god for over a month and uh
you know doing all i could in the
natural and uh praying and seeking the
lord after about a month
there came a day there came a moment
during the day when i i let for the
first time i let doubt come into my
heart now the doubts were swirling
around my mind okay but i had never let
it come into my heart
and i thought i had a thought well
you know the lord has really pulled me
through before but i don't know what's
going on maybe i'm in uh
some type of new territory here and i i
don't know if god's gonna come through
for me and i did not verbalize that but
i had a thought that
you know i felt like well lord you've
let me down
and i so i did not say that out loud but
that thought for the first time
it came into my heart
and uh when i let that in i began to
kind of think a little bit well
yeah i i don't know what i'm going to do
i'm not quite sure how i'm going to get
out of this
and i'd never had thought anything like
that before because i just knew god's
going to get me out god's going to get
me through but now i had let
a fiery dart of the enemy come in and it
got past my shield and thump it had
created some doubt in me
now
i i had decided to go down to the office
during the evening to pray now this was
years back so i go down to the office
and uh
it's after five o'clock everybody clears
out and so forth and i'm there by myself
kelly called me from the house and said
stephen
i see a few uh bills online that have
come in that uh we need to cover these
like immediately they're right on the
edge we can't go any further i said okay
so you know more circumstances
uh that all of this is like coming
towards me and i'm like well lord you
haven't done anything yet and uh oh oh
well you know just stack them up with
all the others and so i just went down
there and i began to start praying and i
prayed for quite a few hours and
i started to feel better uh and uh but
let me say this kelly had also called
again and she told me just of of a few
more and after that uh well actually
while i was still on the phone with her
during that call
somebody came into the office would you
believe this this is wild now of course
the front office door is locked um
everything's locked up but somebody came
into the office i knew they came in and
stood right behind my
left shoulder
and the moment uh this person came in i
knew exactly who it was and so kelly's
on the phone
she's updating me with some further
stuff and i said kelly i said i have to
get off the phone now it was probably
about nine o'clock
when this took place and she said is
everything okay i said yeah
i said i'll explain it later and she
knew exactly she knew somehow exactly
what i meant uh i didn't have to say too
much she knew what was going on so i
hung up the phone and i turned around
and their standing to my side was the
lord jesus christ
the head of the church himself
now
this is wild in the sense that sometimes
people say pastor stephen i've heard
your stories and some of the neat
experiences the lord has allowed you to
have and i'd like to have something like
that well i would actually prefer that
you not have something like this
and that you do some things right so
that you would not have
this type of supernatural encounter now
i'm i'm grateful for it
and uh but uh if the lord comes in a way
that is not a
celebratory type experience uh
then it's something that you're being
corrected on and that's what was going
on with me so no i wouldn't want anybody
to have an unhappy moment like this i
wouldn't call it unhappy but it
certainly wasn't joyful it was
corrective and when the lord was
standing there he was not happy
he was not smiling he's not like hey i
love you anyhow and my grace is all
sufficient no there was there was uh
none of that there was a real problem
here and he's there to address this
issue that i have in my heart now this
is something in the western church
with an overload of great of grace
teaching
that uh some christians may struggle
with the theology of this because they
just think that jesus is always your
buddy
god is your god the father is your sweet
daddy and uh everything's lollipops and
sugar cookies and uh if you sin or mess
up you know god's grace will just wipe
it all away and uh everything is just
always you know good good good to go
between you and god but that's not
scriptural it's certainly not scriptural
in the old covenant although there was a
lot of mercy and you do see elements of
grace
under the old covenant although they had
a law system but even in the new
testament with uh with the you know the
teaching of grace and
the law coming through moses and grace
and truth coming through jesus you still
see the right balance i think that's
where some are missing it there is a
balance you've got to get this thing
right because if you have a genuine walk
with the lord
and uh
you know there's a disobedience or
something like that it's not like
everything's okay and hunky-dory and
good when it's not and so if you really
want to please the lord and there is
something that gets off he will bring a
correction and it's not like oh this is
wonderful so when i turned and saw the
lord this is not one of like i've had
other times that i've seen him and it's
real happy and you know you you you can
enjoy the visionary experience perhaps
more but this is this is one of those
times i'm not looking to see what he
looks like
i'm not looking right i really don't
have any interest in what he's wearing
you know i i don't really care how tall
he is or how much he weighs or what
color his eyes are this has you
understand what i'm saying this type of
visionary experience uh is not that's
not what the focus is on the focus is
that stephen brooks is off and the
lord's there to get me uh corrected
and so the most amazing thing happened
the lord
he
supernaturally
stepped on the inside of me he stepped
into me
and then we began to go down
and we were going down on the inside of
stephen brooks now
years
ago when i was a young boy my parents
took me to carlsbad caverns in new
mexico and so what happens if you want
to go down to see the caves
then you go down an elevator in the
elevator just takes a long long time why
because you're going way way down that's
a little bit what this reminded me of we
got on this elevator on the inside of my
heart
and uh it's not like a real elevator but
it was something that was allowing us to
go down and we're going down floor after
floor after floor further and further
and further until we got to the very
bottom
of my heart or until we got to the very
core of my being
this was an amazing experience as a
matter of fact when we got to the very
bottom and kind of like you know when
you get to the bottom if you come down
from an elevator you get all the way to
the bottom it kind of stops it's a
smooth stop but it's still like a
you know it's like it's a solid stop and
then you step out that's the way it was
we got to the very bottom
and
it was interesting because when we got
to the bottom
because
my eyes were open i could still see the
natural floor there in my office now
there's carpet over it but there's also
underneath that i know that there is a
slab concrete foundation so i somehow
happened to look right down at that
moment i knew we're on the slab
foundation we are on the bedrock of the
very core of my being oh glory to god
okay so the elevator door opens
and the lord and i step out together and
we're standing on the bedrock it
actually looked like that um
you know the ocean even in the deepest
part if you go to the mariana trench and
there who knows there could be something
even deeper than that but no matter how
deep it is eventually if you keep going
down and down and down you will get to
the bedrock and even at the ocean floor
if there's sand well underneath the sand
there's still you're going to eventually
hit rock well when we stepped out of the
elevator
of my heart and stood on the floor of
the core of my beam uh it seemed like
bedrock that we were walking on so i
knew this is the nitty-gritty this is um
this is where it's all at
and the lord said something to me he
looked at me
and now he does look like a man in his
early 30s he does look uh jewish but you
know if you're curious to me he does his
look is like sandy brown type hair and i
guess perhaps the traditional way that
people describe him although i have
never ever seen a painting that anybody
has made of the lord jesus that from
what i've seen him personally is
accurate to any painting i know a lot of
people they say well so and so this one
lady
young girl who's now grown up did a
painting of jesus and uh well if you
actually researched that painting
that was actually the plumber that came
over to her house and she said you seem
to me that you remind me of jesus i'd
like to paint you and i'm going to make
you like so she painted them and stuff
like that and
you know called the painting jesus so
everybody thought that's jesus well
that's actually the plumber that came to
her house
so you know
um
really the only way that you could
actually paint him is to be a good
artist and to see him and then you can
but you can you can only see jesus in
the vision and maybe in some ways
he doesn't really want perhaps that
likeness uh
or his his image
uh
accurately put on an oil canvas it just
could be something that he uh reserves
for everybody until you see him on that
blessed day unless you have a vision or
something like that that none of that
really matters but that is an
interesting side note praise god well
i'm standing there with the lord jesus
uh no smiles he's not smiling at me he's
not mad at me he's just he's but he's
disappointed in me
and so he looks at me and he says what
are you going to do about that
and he points to a billboard now this
billboard is on the inside of me this
all of this is going on on the inside of
me uh one of the things that hit me is
that within the capacity of my inner man
uh my spirit man i had no idea that
there was that much room that much
creativity that much space
and you're the same way
pastor stephen what are we going to do
for millions and trillions of years in
heaven oh
you'll never run out of ideas you'll
never run out of some type of capacity
to do something
else or new or it just it's going to go
on and on and on
so um
the lord
pointed towards
a billboard it looked like a billboard a
big sign he said what are you going to
do about that
and on the sign were written
these words which i believe
are
these that these words are the greatest
statement of faith in the entire bible
would you like to see what they are
let's go to the book of job
job chapter 13
job 13 and let's go to verse 15
though he slay me
yet will i trust him
wow that's
that is what was written on
the billboard now oswald chambers
uh who wrote the devotional classic
uh
my utmost for his highest
uh and you know he was a real famous
devotional writer oswald chambers said
that this verse right here though he
slay me yet will i trust him he said
that statement
is the highest level the highest
statement of faith in the entire bible
now i believe it is also now other
preachers have some favorite verses uh
that they would be their favorites why
that because the lord spoke something to
them perhaps my scripture and that's
their anchor stone for their life
but i had the lord personally tell me
this verse right here in other words
what are you going to do about that
though he slayed me yet will i trust him
well in some ways i felt like that's
what he was doing to me i felt like god
you're like you're like in a sense
killing me because you're not delivering
me
right
and so sometimes we can think
uh in our ideas maybe because of how god
delivered others or testimonies of how
god came through for others we think
maybe kind of like um
naaman uh the syrian leper thought oh
well surely the prophet he's gonna come
out and he's gonna do stuff like this
he's gonna wave a banner and he's gonna
we're gonna have news reporters and
cameramen and uh it'll be it'll be a
special healing like that well he had no
idea he never could have guessed in a
million years
that the prophet was gonna tell him to
go bathe seven times in the jordan river
he he thought that was the craziest
thing in the world well
we have ideas of how we think god has to
deliver us based upon maybe other
stories that we've heard or perhaps even
our own way of trying to map it out or
figure it out or stuff like that and
when god doesn't respond like that at
all
uh sometimes you're just like well god
hmm
i wonder what's going on well first of
all you have to understand that what is
going on is that god has not forsaken
you god has not abandoned you he will
never leave you nor forsake you you just
have to realize that
this can be one of those moments when he
said
we must go to the other side and you're
going to have to hold to that word with
everything you've got because uh that
word will take you to the other side it
will get you to through the storm but
that's really what's being tested in
these types you know before i ever had
this experience and
what the lord came to me
while the money trial was going on i had
sought the lord and he gave me a word he
gave me a word if i'm correct off the
top of my head it was isaiah 41 chapter
41 verse 10
which says i will i'll hold you i'll
uphold you i'm going to take care of you
well that brought relief but when the
circumstances just kept swirling and
going from bad to worse i thought lord
this is this is really interesting
and uh so
that's when i had let doubt in so the
lord uh back to the vision the lord
pointed towards that sign and said what
are you going to do about that and what
was written on that sign were the words
though he slayed me yet will i trust him
some of you are concluding this year and
maybe you feel a little bit like that
maybe you feel like lord i had quite a
few plans and ambitions for this year
and i i thought surely lord i i would be
at this place or you this would would
have happened or this or that or the
other and you're like god um don't quite
understand what's going on well perhaps
god is slain pride perhaps god is uh
slain
skewed agendas perhaps god is slaying
certain things that
that just need to be taken off so that
we will embrace the cross
embrace
the specific path that's tailor-made for
us not only as a corporate church but
also as individuals to walk upon the
path that god has for you and everything
else just goes up in smoke hallelujah
praise god i do remember one time being
in a meeting with bishop bill hammond
and he talked about a wild experience he
was having with the lord of where the
pressures and the trials wouldn't relent
and they wouldn't let up and one day he
cried out he said god what are you
trying to do are you trying to kill me
[Music]
and the lord responded and said yes i am
i'm trying to not physically i'm trying
to kill
your ambitions that are not in harmony
with the path that i have for your life
uh your way of thanking this is the way
it's going to all unravel or roll out or
this or that or the other the lord's
like yes i'm trying to kill that part of
you that needs to die off
uh but
what it what the lord is doing is he's
also looking for faith in these times
he's never trying to hurt you harm you
kill you or anything like that all he's
wanting to do is for you to go through
this trial
this storm whatever it might be or these
um perhaps we could call them
unexplainable uh scenarios maybe it's
like being out in the bermuda triangle
right where they say weird things happen
your avionics and your plane may not
work right and all kinds of uh unusual
weather patterns and things like that
well maybe you're having some
unexplainable phenomenal and oftentimes
of course that's usually the devil
that's behind stuff like that just like
it was with job
but what job didn't really understand is
that god and the devil were having this
this uh shootout in a sense and uh the
lord needs somebody to represent him and
to represent his principles and his
character and there's only one person
that's able to do that so the lord needs
to use job job is god's man and there's
a lot that job is not allowed to to know
because that could
influence the outcome so he's just put
in the middle of this cosmic throwdown
and he doesn't realize until later what
is actually going on
but this is what he said in the middle
of all of that
though he slayed me yet will i trust him
and you may be in a place where things
can be uh uh pretty dicey the storm is
going on and uh you may not understand
it you may even think hmm i don't even
know if maybe god's trying to uh really
do a work in me and all kinds of things
are dying off or whatever it might be
but just put your trust in him
completely that's really all it comes
down to now when i saw that billboard
i felt grieved in my heart because i
knew i'd grieve the holy spirit
and the holy spirit is the voice of the
lord he's a person but he speaks on
behalf of the lord
but i knew i had grieved jesus
personally
and i i motioned to begin to speak to
tell him i'm sorry that i believe but he
said he said don't answer
he said don't answer right now he said
think about it
and uh then the vision lifted
he left the vision lifted next thing i
know i'm just sitting back there in the
office
you know by myself and i'm thinking wow
that was pretty amazing um
but i realized i've got to get this
ironed out with the lord i don't want
this to ever happen again so um for
about the next couple of days i just
spent extra time in prayer
and the holy spirit impressed upon my
heart
don't answer in a sense until there's an
anointing for you to answer back to him
what your response is and about three
days later when i was praying walking
around the office late at night there
came a real strong anointing like a
glory area also there in the office when
i was walking whenever i'd walk in a
circle and come to that little area it's
like there was a light shining down in
that area
and i thought well if i come around one
more time and that
glory is in that area i'll just stop and
i'll tell the lord uh how much uh i
trust him and i'm gonna cling to him and
and so that happened i got in that spot
and there was the glory the anointing
and i told the lord i said lord i'm not
going to doubt you again and i said i
let doubt come in but i'm not going to
let that happen again and i'm going to
stick with you
come
as we would say you know down south come
hell or high water it doesn't matter
what ever happens see the devil will try
to use circumstances to drive a wedge of
unbelief between you and god that that
wedge is something that he'll try to
drive in there so you get upset at god
and you feel like well god hasn't come
through for me the way i thought it that
he would
we'll just let all of that go and just
do what job said lord i trust you it
doesn't matter what happens god bottom
line is i'm it doesn't matter what
happens i trust you with everything in
me and so you're putting
your whole life
on the lord and when you're doing that
you're putting your life on his word and
you're just basically like saying i'm
all in so all this stuff can do whatever
it wants to do but i'm going to keep
working by biblical principles i'm going
to keep holding to the word of the lord
now when you do that what's going to
happen well i i don't know how it
happens because everybody's story is
different but i do know this you will
get to the other side
jesus said we must go to the other side
well then you can count on it he's
getting over there
because he only did what the father told
him to do so when he is with you
instructing you you have to just really
hold to that
and keep moving on that and uh you will
get there
praise god and i think it's important
that we understand
this aspect of the lord's character
because i think there is
uh
an irreverence sometimes in our churches
where we do not show god the honor and
respect that is due to him and we do not
treat his words with the great dignity
that we should
uh let me show this to you back to the
gospel of mark this is why i like mark
so much because of these uh
uh perhaps blunt
type encounters that jesus would have
with this with his apostles not mincing
words
just getting straight to the point
not wanting to give them a pat on the
back no little hug none of that stuff
like that
none of that stuff why it's not
appropriate in these types of situations
no no high five from jesus
none of that stuff when
uh we are looking for truth and we are
looking to live by faith now let's go
over to uh mark chapter 16 this would be
verse 14.
later he appeared to the eleven
as they sat
at the table
and he rebuked
their unbelief and hardness of heart
because they did not believe those who
had seen him after he had risen so
you would think wow lord you might be
kind of kind of easy on them they've
been through a lot well the lord knows
they've been through a lot but he also
expected them to believe and they did
not so he rebuked their unbelief and
hardness of heart and so the lord's
rebukes
or it's not like screaming and shouting
where jesus is yelling at you it's just
the lord coming and saying hey um
there's some unbelief here and this has
got to get fixed if you want to get to
the other side so that in the sense is
to rebuke
the confronting or facing the unbelief
that would be there now
i have seen people uh that are in the
church that cry out oh god
uh i want truth or i want revival or i
want this or i want that the fact of the
matter is is that if the lord actually
did come
uh he would bring absolute truth and in
in many cases i've seen that when he
does come to uh to get to you know deal
with it a lot of people don't want to
they actually don't want the truth
they're just they're like saying these
statements they don't they don't even
realize what they're saying
but if you really do
want to live for the lord
and you want to please the lord and you
want to accomplish what he's called you
to do
then he will come and he will work with
you one on one
and he won't
he won't uh let me say this like go easy
on you like you're one of his pet
students
it's like oh well so and so he's been
told and believe but he he's special i
like him he's going to pass anyhow no
you're going to have to
earn it
not through works or something like that
but by holding to the word of the lord
just like those that succeeded like they
did there's there's no free ticket in
the sense of you're being exempted even
though you don't believe no you have to
stay in faith praise god so i want to
encourage anybody
that may be in a place where you might
just be wanting to cry out like like job
did or like even some good ministers
have done god
what's going on are you trying to kill
me
and oftentimes those expressions come
because we live in a physical world and
unless the holy spirit unveils it you
cannot see what is going on in the
spirit realm
praise god well what do you do when you
can't
have that information that you would so
greatly desire to have you keep moving
forward by faith you keep walking in the
light of god's word
and uh don't let fear doubt and unbelief
ever get into your heart watch uh all
areas of what we would call complaining
or you know griping or stuff like that
stay away from that and just stay in
praise and stay in that place of full
surrender hallelujah glory to god
thank you jesus
glory i'm just um
thank you to many different situations
right now i know that when john wesley
was traveling across the ocean
and there was a big storm everybody went
into a panic because they thought the
ship was going to sink and including
himself and he had preached in many
meetings before then and
everybody was running around like a
chicken with their head cut off except
for some moravians
that were on the ship and the husbands
the wives and the children of the
moravians were all in 100
peace
they were in the total peace of god and
nobody could understand that and then
later john wesley talked with them and
said how how could you once once they
got through the storm how could you have
such composure and such peace
and such complete trust in god when all
of that was going on he said i i have to
know the jesus the way that you know him
and they were more than happy enough to
explain
how to come into that type of trusting
relationship
and a lot of that is just like coming
back to what job said lord despite all
of this and certain things i don't
understand i trust you 100
now
let me uh begin to wrap this up it was
only a few weeks after i had this
encounter with the lord and i got back
on track got my faith back online got my
faith back up and active and of course
repented and the lord's grace and
forgive mercy was there to wash it away
instantly
got back on track and then it wasn't too
much longer after that that the largest
offering that the ministry had ever
received up until that point came in and
it wiped out every bill it replenished
every account it was like a tsunami
a blessing
that came in and then it was also on the
other side you know when you jesus said
we must go to the other side it's when
you get to the other side you realize
oh man god had this thing the whole time
why did i what in the world did i allow
my myself to have a breakdown for
especially now that i'm standing on the
other side of the shore
well you're when you're out in the
middle of the of the water though and
the storm's raging yeah it's the test
but i tell you what he'll get you to the
other side and you're going to see the
glory of the lord the goodness of god in
levels that you have never seen before
i've had some very unusual encounters of
the goodness of god this year the glory
of god this year hallelujah beautiful
sacred things but i know that the year
we're coming into the lord is really
going to move in some beautiful powerful
ways even some ways that we have not
seen before and i'm excited about that
so my friends stay in faith and fully
commit your heart your life to the lord
there is so much fear right now there's
people saying well if i don't take the
jab you know i'm going to get laid off
of work or this or that or the other
well these things are tiny
little bitty things what in the world
would somebody do when
they bump up against the point where
there is the real mark of the beast not
these little precursor type things but a
real mark that if you don't take it you
cannot buy or sell you can't even get
food you know if you cannot go out and
buy or do anything unless you take that
mark and the bible says if you take that
mark you have damned your soul for all
eternity
by the way that mark is something that
they'll be able to
uh uh upload
your your um
how can i say almost like your soul
it'll be synced and linked to external
controls they'll be able to control you
even externally there's such wicked and
diabolical uh demisings of wicked men
planned for these uh coming days of what
will eventually lead to the times of the
great tribulation but i know
that god has not appointed his church
for
wrath there will be protection
deliverance one way or the other so you
have to just there's a point in your
life where you you make a commitment and
you give yourself over completely to the
lord and the lord delivered me
and what did god do for job he delivered
and restored him
completely he got back everything he not
only got it all back he got it back
double so sometimes we can read these
stories and we think oh this is nice but
when it really begins to roll in your
life and you really want to serve the
lord
it's it's it's times like that you're
going to have to really get serious
about this and believe this
uh and hold to it
because
god has a he has a whole remnant
group of people that are not playing
games uh that are not just um
you know into perhaps what you could
call um hollywood-style christianity
he's got people that are very very
serious about
living for him serving him and
fulfilling their assignments in him so
this is going to take
a complete abandonment to the lord
and when it's all said and done you'll
see that god's been with you the whole
time and the whole thing is a setup from
the lord for tremendous blessing and
also for great testimony
praise god heavenly father i pray for
your people that are watching today
that there be a complete abandonment to
faith and trust in you regardless of
what would be swirling around them even
if it's something so close as extreme
family difficulties or work difficulties
or whatever it might be
or just problems within the nation of
this or that or the other financial
challenges or whatever it might be i
thank you father god you have a plan for
your people and the plan actually
involves your lifting of them to new
levels but father we must be completely
given to you in trust no doubt no
unbelief aloud so father we give you
praise we thank you for the corrective
measures of your holy spirit for jesus
himself
helping us to get to the other side by
staying in faith now father we give you
praise in jesus name
amen
and
amen
hallelujah i'm thinking right now the
story of uh
of uh
oh his esteem will come to me in just a
minute a wonderful prophet of god
walter butler who had a promise from the
lord
and an instruction from the lord to go
and do a certain thing and he went there
and it was not unfolding the way that he
thought it would have to unfold and he
got into unbelief and god actually sent
an angel to an airport where he was at
to correct him and the angel even held
up a book he was reading and the book
had written on the front of the cover
the very word that god had spoken to him
what happened it got him back on track
it shocked him and jolted him to get
back into faith and that angel smiled
and got up and walked away that angel he
said look was dressed like a some type
of
european prince and he walked away with
that book smiling
and butler got back in faith and then
after that some of the most amazing
things happened
out of his obedience to step out and do
what god had told him to do whoa praise
god but these things are very real
hallelujah hold to the word of the lord
now if you're watching today and you
don't know jesus as your lord and savior
then you need to come to christ and get
your life on the rock and get off of the
sand
of
of lies and uncertainty and of a passing
world system where we're already at the
end of the age you need to come over to
the kingdom of god and be born again so
if you would like to receive
forgiveness of sins and eternal life in
christ pray this prayer right now pray
it after me say jesus
i give my life
to you
i turn from my sins
save me
now
wash me with your precious blood
write my name in your book of life
and from this day forward step into my
life and lead me and guide me
thank you jesus
in your name
i pray
amen
and amen praise god welcome to the
family of god i'm so glad that you
have given your heart to jesus the
angels are rejoicing
and
we are too hallelujah praise god now
let's take holy communion this is our
last communion together of the year
hallelujah
grab some unleavened bread
and some grape juice and let's pray
heavenly father thank you for the
the bread
and the juice we sanctify it and set it
apart as holy
we thank you that this is now
the body and the blood of jesus
so father as we receive his body his
flesh we just thank you
that we are holding to
the word of the lord we're going to the
other side we're going to see
everything fulfilled that you said would
take place and we thank you for miracles
and a great a great experience along
along the way hallelujah thank you
father in jesus name let's receive the
body of the lord
praise god
heavenly father thank you for the blood
of jesus that washes all of our sins
away father if there has been any that
that are watching any of your people
they've had unbelief or just doubts or
just as we would say they threw in the
towel
which is what a boxer does when they
want to quit they don't want to go
another round
i pray father god that they be infused
with strength and right now that there
be forgiveness of sins forgiveness of
fear and doubt or any unbelief and we
thank you father god that your word will
come to pass in our lives in jesus name
thank you for cleansing father in jesus
name
amen let's receive
praise the lord
before i say goodbye
and greet you in the new year i was
walking
through the fellowship hall area
which is on the other side of the
building here
and i have up on the wall a big world
map
and as i would walk by it and i was just
praying in the spirit
every time i walk by that map and i see
those hawaiian islands
boy something stirs in my spirit
and
[Music]
you know we have we have an opportunity
to broadcast over the hawaiian islands
through television
we are on the world harvest network
and that is on uh direct television so
that reaches about 20 million people
which is a lot of people but they also
own a tv station in hawaii
and there's a lot of people in hawaii
that may maybe they don't have directv
but they watch that local television
station
which is called k-w-h-e honolulu
and it has been there for 30 years
and it covers
000 homes and it covers all of the
hawaiian islands i would love for us to
be able to get pure gold onto
kwhe
and
maybe that's something that you would
like to sow into
and and if you would you could even do
it before the year is complete and i
would call the uh
the uh
the person who's made this available for
me to get onto uh
this uh television station which is
world harvest and i'd say we'd like to
get on there because
um you know to be able to preach to
everybody in hawaii would just be
fantastic to share the gospel with them
and i feel that it would be good soil so
if that's something that excites your
spirit and maybe you even live in hawaii
and you you might think pastor stephen
we'd love to have you on television over
here covering all five of the uh
actually all of the hawaiian islands
then
this could be something special that you
could sow into so if you would like to
do that just go to our website
stevenbrooks.org there's a link
on the home page has a red heart that
says give and you'll see the section for
pure gold and when you give into the
peer pirgo section just write hawaii
okay and i'll know what you're talking
about and for those of you that maybe
you like to travel and maybe you like
islands and maybe you like all of that
this could be a good area for you to sow
some seed amen sow some seed believe god
to give you a harvest
the summer nice and sunny and warm
hallelujah praise the lord
but i do believe also in the coming year
that we're going to take it to some of
the islands of the world and uh i i
really want to hit
um not only of course populated areas
but see pure gold
even get in some of the most remote
places of the world i do know that they
watch us on uh out at the thoreau
islands and uh some of these places that
come in that are watching the programs i
actually have to look them up
on the globe because some of these
places i really not familiar with some
of these little islands and things like
that
but i believe we will fulfill prophetic
scriptures of taking the gospel to the
islands of the sea
and i can't think of any better place to
start concerning the islands than the
islands of hawaii so thank you for uh
your best gift into that and i would
just love to be able to cover a whole
year of air time for hawaii get pure
gold on kwhe honolulu and let it just
hit all of the islands of hawaii that
would be so wonderful so anything that
that you sow into that a hundred dollars
or five hundred dollars maybe you could
even do something special a thousand or
more
you know what we'll just uh we'll just
get it signed up and get it playing
praise god i'm happy to say that our
season 3 of pure gold is now being
uploaded to all of the various networks
that we're on and they're taking it boom
shooting it up to the satellite praise
god so
new things and good things are happening
we're about to step into a tremendous
year thank you for your love your
prayers your financial support
that you have brought to us throughout
2021. it's been a golden year and we're
coming into something even greater i'm
praying for you pastor kelly and i and
our whole team we're praying for you
believing god's best for you
and next time i'll speak to you will be
in the new year god bless you
and thank you for your giving bye-bye