welcome today to our online internet around the world church service i'm so happy that you are here and i believe that the word of the lord will strengthen you and will be spiritual food that you need today praise god let's take our bibles and go to the book of proverbs chapter 29 and let's take a look today at verse 7 and we we're going to receive the tithes and offerings but i want you to see a few reasons in scripture of why some people are poor even unfortunately even many of god's own people and there are reasons for that and of course we want to eliminate those reasons through biblical insight praise god proverbs chapter 29 verse 7 the righteous considers the cause of the poor so just for a few minutes before we get into the message today we want to consider the cause there is a cause there is a reason why people are poor we're going to consider the cause of the poor and from my observation what i have seen and i believe other ministers have noticed the same thing that the number one reason that people are poor including christians is because of the failure to follow and instruction the failure to follow an instruction and we see that in the word of god in proverbs chapter 13 verse 18. please look at this scripture with me as well here it says poverty and shame and of course they're sadly both associated together it's not an honorable thing to be poor and to always need a handout or to have somebody else take care of you all the time you want to be able to be a blessing to others so along with poverty you have that frustration you have that shame of being in a state of destitution or beggarly type state and it's a condition that humanity was not created to be in poverty and shame will come to him who does what who disdains correction so the person that disdains correction or instruction that doesn't understand the importance of an instruction and they're going to get in trouble because the instruction of god's word the instruction given of good advice and for that to be ignored and for a person to do their own thing because they think well i'm smarter than god or i don't need the instructions of the bible they're going to end up in a difficult place poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction it's important to realize that there are two parts of the gospel now this is something i didn't know when i was growing up but it is true i know it now there are two parts of the gospel and the two parts are these one you have the person of jesus and it is the person of jesus that prepares you for heaven but it's the principles of jesus that prepare you for the earth praise god and i'm i'm sure i'm confident that i'm talking to people that are here on the earth praise god so you not only need the person of jesus uh that takes care of your eternal salvation but you need the principles of jesus because you're on the earth and you need to work his principles praise god you could also say it like this it is the person of jesus that creates your peace of knowing your sins are washed away your life is right with god and you have heaven as your eternal destination so it is the person of jesus that creates your peace but it is the principles of jesus that creates your prosperity so you can know christ the person as your lord and savior and you can be a really good person you could be a missionary you could be you can go to prayer meetings all the time you could have have a real heart for god a real heart to serve the lord and and not have any extra money maybe you're scraping by maybe you're even coming up short why either lack of understanding of biblical principles excuse me of those principles or lack of an application of principles that perhaps you already have been taught that would be biblical principles you're just not following them for various reasons but my friends we want to take these instructions of god's word these principles very seriously and when you do you'll notice poverty and financial lack they just begin to move out of your life and you begin to move into a place of financial stability and it is a wonderful place to be in praise god now one of the reasons also that even god's own people do not have financial well-being is because they have no interest in money and for whatever reason they have been taught that money is not important but yet while they will say money is not important they'll turn right around and spend 40 hours a week trying to get it so it doesn't make any sense and money is very important it's important in the eyes of god and god is the originator the author of business and good business principles and you need to understand that money has a spiritual side to it and i've talked to a lot of christians that they they suffer in the area of finances and i'll ask them what kind of christian books do you have and maybe if they do have some they'll tell me well i've got some books pastor stephen about angels i'm like that's great who doesn't like angels so i mean i wrote a book on angels everybody wants to know about angels and then maybe they'll have another book about uh you know something supernatural or something like that and i'll ask them well do you have any books on money uh how many how many books do you have on money and often is the case they don't have any and it's shocking it's shocking in their personal library you can't find one book on money you can't find you know an mp3 download on money or anything like that and they think that they're being spiritual by not giving money any attention and that's not a sign of spirituality we need to have an interest in money and there are some christians they they don't want to discuss money they don't want to ever have a conversation about money even if somebody wealthy were around them even if somebody that could say hey let me teach you a few steps of how you can come into investing a few basic simple steps i'll even help you all set it up for you they have no interest in that no interest in anything like that and that is why many of god's own people are poor now a third reason is because they have not been taught they're they're not taught in the public school system think about this those of you that have already worked your way through elementary school junior high high school and now you're well into your career look back upon your days of education in the public school system do you ever remember a teacher standing before the classroom and say today we're going to talk about money and i want to teach you how to get a whole bunch of it never happened in 12 years of public education never happened and by the way don't expect it to happen it's not going to happen they're actually school systems are designed to educate you to read and write and be literate and you know to know your basics but they're actually designed i hate to say it but they're designed to keep you poor and so you're going to have to get outside of that educational box if you want to come into a place i'm not just talking about even middle class but if you want to go into what would be considered a wealthy place you're going to have to get some illumination because it's not there in the public school system they're not they're not ever going to tell you now when you get out of high school and one day when you get a job you're going to make this the you're going to earn this stuff that's called money and when you get it make sure that you always save something they're never going to tell you anything like that so you're going to have to learn this stuff yourself now if you were not taught it in the public school system which you know it's it's not being taught so that's not even an option of getting it then maybe maybe some of us had parents that taught us good principles but that's usually not the case except in families that already have money so if the family already has wealth then the parents usually in those types of families they teach your children the value of money the importance of money how you can get it how you can earn it and how you can keep it and how you can invest it and grow it and multiply it but if you're not in a situation like that then usually you're not taught at all now i grew up in a very godly home three times a week we're in church sunday morning sunday night wednesday night and if there were some other special event we would go there for that too there at church but never once never once in all of my young days of growing up at home and all through school and all of that never once while i lived at home did my parents ever teach me one thing about money they never said now son one day you're gonna go out and get a job and you're gonna earn this stuff called money through work and make sure that when you get it you do this this this with it we were never me and my brothers were never told one thing about money and you know if you are born into that and raised into that type of environment where you don't know you just don't know how the system works you're just in it and it's working all around you and you'll end up here's what happens you end up with a mentality which is this well some are meant to have it some obviously aren't i guess for whatever reason god chose that i just i'm not supposed to be a rich person and i'm supposed to be at this low lower level and i guess one day when i get to heaven i'll finally walk on streets of gold and i'll finally have some prosperity but it's just not meant to be down here well that mentality is formed out of not knowing god's word which is his will and not knowing the principles of god but when you begin to walk with the lord and he reveals the secret of his covenant to those that fear him he pulls back the veil on prosperity and then you realize oh it's not a mystery it's just a matter it's just really a matter of obeying biblical principles praise god and honoring the lord and as you do that you do that you'll begin to pull ahead you know i think about the book written by robert kiyosaki rich dad poor dad and how robert said when he was growing up he had a father that basically told him now son what you need to do is you need to go off to college you need to get education and then you need a good job and work a good job and then you can make some good money and then you can live life in a nice way but the nice way was just like what we would call mediocre you know you can't have the real wealth because that's only for special people all you can have is you know a nice home get a couple of cars and that that's life that's living that's that's what you have to expect well he got in contact with another man who was the father of a a friend of his and that father was a rich dad and he began to ask him questions about money how does all this work and so the rich dad had a totally different mindset different approach and told him this is how you come into it this is what i did this is how i came into it through real estate and and it just all began to fall into place and of course he goes on robert kiyosaki does to become very wealthy but it's about knowledge about what you know uh making proper application of that knowledge through wisdom what is wisdom one of the areas of wisdom is the ability to anticipate consequences if i do this and i do it right the consequences are going to turn out really good for me yes and so you know and if you work that you'll start to pull ahead praise god so you you can be a person that works the principles and maybe you never do a 40-day fast maybe you never have a deep spiritual experience but if you work the principles you'll start going up financially praise god so you really need to understand that and i would say be very attentive to the instructions of the holy spirit not just in the word but also through what could be considered wealth whispers when the holy spirit leads you to move a certain direction or to do a certain thing because that has a lot to do also with your prosperity so follow the instructions of god very very carefully and you'll see that god's blessing towards your finances really begins to work by the way proverbs 29 verse 7 the righteous considers the cause of the poor that's what we've been looking at some of the causes of the poor but the wicked does not understand such knowledge many that don't know the lord they think that you can fix poverty by just throwing more money at it and it won't work why because poverty is a spiritual problem and we see that very quickly in the gospel of matthew this would be chapter 26 matthew chapter 26 verse 11. jesus said for you have the poor with you always but me you do not have always you're always going to have poor people why pastor stephen because you're always going to have people that will not follow instructions no matter how clearly you teach it or how understandable and simple you make it for them to grasp and understand there are some that are just not going to follow it anyhow they want to do their own thing and so you're always going to have people that are poor and you could give them money and poor money and there has there's been certain undeveloped nations where literally billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars have been poured into those nations and today they're just as poor and they are just as corrupt as they were before the billions were poured into it so it's not a money problem it's actually a spiritual problem and you fix it by following the instructions of god's word very closely adhering to them and they will begin to turn any situation around and bring an individual or even a nation into a place of blessing praise god heavenly father i pray today that as your people bring in the holy tithes and the offerings into the storehouse that they give great attention to the instructions of your word that they follow the instruction that the tithe belongs to you lord that if you give you said that if they give you the ten percent which belongs to you you'll bless the ninety percent you would open the windows of heaven over their lives we thank you for that that you do that hallelujah with safety protection peace security we thank you o god hallelujah and father we thank you for the privilege and opportunity to sow seed as your holy spirit leads the financial seed so that you can multiply that back into our lives so father as the tithes and offerings are being brought into the storehouse of the lord father bless your people thank you let them always be mindful of following very carefully all of your instructions thank you father in jesus name amen praise the lord there are some of you that have struggled financially you'll never you'll never be lower financially than what you are right now you'll never know a lower place you're only going up from this day forward as you carefully follow the instructions of god's word as you obey his principles you will never know anything less than what you have right now praise god it's turning for you right now now those of you that prefer to mail in your tithes and offerings please send them to stephen brooks international p.o box 717 moravian falls north carolina 28654 praise god if you prefer to bring the tithes and offerings in online you can do so anytime day or night please visit our homepage on our ministry website which is stevenbrooks.org there on the homepage there's a little red tab and has a red heart on it and it says give and you can click that and that will give you the opportunity to bring your tithes directly into the ministry storehouse and we use them to continue to preach the gospel around the world if you would like to sow special seed we have two projects right beneath the giving tab there's a tab right beneath it that says projects you click on it it'll take you to the two current projects of the ministry hangar and also of the pure gold television airtime outreach and you could sow seed into any one of those and it continues to move the ministry forward as well praise god praise god anytime you sow seed wrap anticipation and expectation around your seed for a harvest to be received back into your life father we thank you i pray that you bless your people with extraordinary extraordinary understanding great working knowledge of your instructions thank you father god we give you glory and praise father god bless their giving today we rejoice in you in jesus name we pray we agree and say amen praise god now let's take our bibles and go to the book of first chronicles chapter 20. we're going to look at some very interesting things in the scriptures i believe these are spiritual laws we're going to look at the great importance of getting there first and some of the incredible things that can come out of that praise god again we're going to be in first chronicles chapter 20. we're going to start today in verse 4. let's pray heavenly father as we go into your word we ask for the illuminating power of your holy spirit to be flowing today so that we can catch it so that we can get it so that the eyes of our inner man would see this and that faith spring forth and we can rise up and get there first now we give you praise in jesus name and we say amen verse 4 now it happened afterward that war broke out at geezer with the philistines at which time sibachi to who the hushathite killed sepay who was one of the sons of the giant and they were subdued again there was war with the philistines and el hanan the son of jair killed lommy the brother of goliath to get tight the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam well i tell you what goliath you know he had brothers and actually he had four brothers we know that because scripture says so and i really believe that when david picked up five stones he was ready for the family feud should the brothers jump in on the scene he only had to use one but i don't believe he got four others just in case he missed i believe he got one for each should some family members start jumping out of that crowd he was ready to do some serious giant killing so goliath had sons and he also had a brother now verse six yet again there was war at gath where there was a man of great stature with 24 fingers and toes six on each hand and six on each foot and he also was born to the giant so when he defied israel ah just like just like father son and father the father did the same thing son's doing the same thing the defining of israel all the arrogance boasting all that stuff so when he defied israel jonathan the son of shamaya david's brother killed him oh so david had a brother the son of shema also sometimes called shama he is one of the brothers of david so this would make this young man the nephew of david so david would be the uncle and excuse me this would be the nephew david's brother killed him all right now these were born to the giant in gath and they fell by the hand of david by the hand of his servants praise the lord this is very interesting we have to ask ourselves that when these men did these exploits of killing the giant's brother of killing the giants sons did they get the same rewards as david when the two men killed the two sons of goliath when they went back into the city did the city hold a big celebration and did they pull out all of the bells and whistles and bestow upon them things that were bestowed upon david such as when david killed goliath he received what was promised to him which was first of all a whole bunch of money and second marriage to the king's daughter and third tax exemption for the person that would kill the giant and of course not only for him but for his father's entire household now we know that was bestowed upon david but for these other men did they get the same reward no why well before we answer the question of why we must admit that they did get a very special reward in the fact that their names are recorded in scripture and their deeds wow praise god and to be placed into the holy canon of scripture where men were moved by inspiration by the holy spirit they were inspired to write this wow what an honor what a beautiful honor but all of the other things that david received did they get that no they did not why well because of something very important and i want you to consider this today in your heart the reason why was because they did not get there first whoo glory to god and the one that breaks through first is going to be on a different platform is going to be on a different level even though you may come along later and kill a giant yourself it's different if you break through first i feel today that i am speaking to those that are about to break through and do something that's going to be either a first or you're going to do something that hasn't been done in so long everybody has forgotten it or they've never seen it done and it's going to be a first again on the scene i believe i'm talking to those that are called to walk in the breaker breakthrough anointing and i believe that you're going to do something that will be identified as a first and trust me when you do it there are there are rewards for it i believe not only in this lifetime but when it's done in a way of course that glorifies god and we want everything that we do to glorify the lord there are eternal reverberations attached to what you're going to do get ready praise god i'm talking to some breakers today let's give a few examples though of the importance of getting there first this is very very important i'd like to talk for a moment about a man named roger bannister now i used to run track and field in high school and then ran uh you know ran on through four years of college and so forth middle distance runner you know doing also cross country and all that stuff but in uh may of 1954 to be exact it was may 6th and it was in the evening at six o'clock in the evening roger bannister did something that many people thought was humanly impossible to do and many had tried to do it and gotten close to do it but it seemed like a barrier that could not be broken and that of course was the four minute mile and on that day of basics 1954 roger bannister broke the four minute mile he actually ran it in three minutes 59 seconds technically three minutes 59.4 seconds and it was phenomenal pastor stephen who did it after him well although it's very difficult to do it even today history is aware of who did it second and third and fourth but nobody knows their names nobody knows their names matter of fact roger bannister's world make uh shattering you know world-renowned record it actually only lasted 46 days because somebody broke it that would be the second person to go under the four-minute mile well i've never heard of them no you won't unless you're just a historian and you like to read the the information about that but all of the focus was on who did it first as a matter of fact as of right now when i last checked and i think it's pretty current as of this time period 1497 men have now run a mile under four minutes that would include some proteges in there uh some what we would call high school phenons that the 11 11 guys in high school have actually run it under four minutes but you have to understand also they're they started training you know usually when they're eight years old or ten years old and they're betrayed they're being trained by a very high level and by a very good coach but it's still extremely rare you've had about five thousand people get to the top of mount everest but less than fifteen hundred that have actually run under four minutes for the mile so it's still a very difficult thing to do but it was a physical barrier but the greater barrier was that of a psychological barrier where people thought it probably can't be done and even if somebody maybe could do it they would probably drop dead if they you know if they succeeded so it's very important because i want to talk about some of the factors involved in breaking through and getting there first i remember i think there are quite a few of you that are familiar with david and goliath but i don't think many of you that if i were to ask you just you know sit down and we take a quiz who is sibichai what did he do in the bible most people are going to even a lot of christians that are pretty knowledgeable of the word they're going to say i don't even know who that is and if we mention jonathan they're going to think well i i didn't know that he killed the giant and uh and so all of these things elhan they just they're not familiar with these names why they didn't get there first yes they still did it but there's a breaker anointing coming into the body of christ right now we're in it to do some very unusual things because it's the one that breaks through first that can give the glory to the lord in a greater way praise god let's look at another man that broke through in a very unusual way and that would be neil armstrong who did something nobody had ever done before on july the 20th 1969 he was the first man to put his foot upon the moon amazing first man on the moon now if i were to ask you now some of you know this who would be a space buff or maybe you've watched a lot of tv about science and things like that you could probably tell me who the second person was on the moon but then again most people don't know who was second although neil armstrong put his feet on on that planet and only 19 minutes later here's number two and by the way that was a man named buzz aldrin but most people don't know buzz aldrin they only know neil armstrong and as a matter of fact 12 men have actually walked on the surface of the moon but if i were to ask you who was their second most people don't know now yes it was buzz aldrin but 12 others you know total 12 12 and totally walked on the moon most people don't know the others who was the last man to walk on the moon most people don't know that either his name was eugene cernan he was the last human to step foot on the moon and i think that was in 1972 if i'm correct and since then we haven't been back ever since praise the lord but my friends there's a breakthrough anointing that's coming who here's a question for you who killed goliath and i see all the hands going up across the internet world hands are going up pastor stephen pick me i've got the answer i know who killed goliath i even know where he was from where was he from he was from gath and what small nation was he from he was a philistine and what was his name and everybody shouts not just in the church but outside of the church everybody shouts his name was goliath and why why do we know that because that was the first breakthrough for david and he established a platform of giant killers glory to god but he broke through first hallelujah and i believe today there is a release for an anointing watch this to get there first for the glory of god if you break through first the rewards are very very different as compared to those who get there much later even if it's second even if it's second because usually nobody even knows who got second place nobody knows who got there second they don't know but who gets there first can be the mouthpiece for the lord praise god now i want to get into this just for a moment listen to this statement if your breakthrough is significant you could become what in the world is known as an icon pastor stephen what is an icon well in the eastern church in the byzantine era which is a error i really like i i love their history an icon in the byzantine church was a painting of jesus done on wood and they would take that painting and they would what we would call venerate it they would actually put it up in the church building and they would say the painting is sacred because it is a holy painting of jesus and there would be icons of john the baptist icons a whole bunch of them of mary the mother of jesus holding the baby infant jesus and you had all of these icons and it grew into iconography where you have these different biblical scenes and they're very very beautiful in their own special way but we have what has morphed from icon of religious art into what can even become a cultural icon or a pop icon neil armstrong became a cultural icon why because when his foot left that lunar module and he's coming down that ladder and he came down and that foot of his touched the moon it was being broadcast to the whole world and it was said that 20 of the global population were watching live on their televisions when that happened so he instantly became a cultural icon and american hero because of that special moment praise the lord roger bannister he became a sports icon and today he's identified as being a barrier breaker and when he crossed that finish line the next day every major newspaper not only in london not only in england not only in great britain every major newspaper in the world new york times all of them had a picture of him breaking the the finish line tape and it said the the impossible has been done wow praise the lord so overnight he became a sports icon representing breaking impossible barriers david became an icon an icon of what of the underdog the person that wins against impossible odds you'll hear it in sporting events you'll hear it even in uh business transactions sometimes it's when the little guy beats the big guy and everybody's betting on the big guy and they think there's no way there's no way this little guy is going to be able to win this so david became this ageless icon of the underdog representing one of the greatest if not the greatest upsets of all time not just on the battlefield but on any field and he is the symbol of the great upset and he is the symbol of the giant killer pastor stephen i want to step into that barrier breaking anointing i want to step into the getting their first anointing i want to step into the i would even call it the iconic anointing because if you get it right timing's right everything's right there can be an iconic anointing that's released and whenever people think about this there's an image that's associated with that and you know you go back a couple of decades and all you had to do in the church or outside of the church and if you said the word evangelism instantly one person comes to mind an iconic image of of one person billy graham no matter where you lived in the world even if you were not even a christian everybody the moment you heard about anything to do with evangelism that word evangelism or the word salvation instantly you would think billy graham billy graham i believe there's going to be some new breaker anointings released into the body of christ and it's imperative that god's people follow that leading of the holy spirit and as you do you're going to realize you're going to get there first to the glory of god i would have to say that in some areas the church did get there first but we fumbled the ball sometimes we we didn't value the ball or protect the ball other times maybe we even despised the ball itself the ball representing various things where the church showed up first and didn't know what to do or viewed it in a bad way let me give you an example television probably the biggest fumble that the church has ever made maybe even in the history of the church up to this point where when television began to pick up steam and began you know you know you start to have the formation of channels you know abc cbs nbc and things like that you had preachers that went off the rails saying television is strictly of the devil and if you watch it it's all evil it's all bad and you should stay away from it you shouldn't have a tv and we shouldn't have anything to do with it but you had a few you had a few that saw it as a platform for reaching others with the gospel of christ people like oral roberts and others that realize no it's not the devil it's just a tool it's neutral you can use it for good or bad it's whatever you want to do with it and they moved ahead and because they moved ahead uh they reaped great benefits out of that but for the most part the church pulled back and said no this is not for the church this is not for god's people so what happened the world took it and boy did they take it did they ever take it and so it wasn't until decades after the 50s decades later before there was finally the first christian television network and it you know it took miracles literally for that to be founded well we could have done that back in the 1950s but the church refused to touch it so god's going to want his people to get there first but we have to first of all be able to see the value of getting there first and also the value of what this can mean if we get there first and take take the ground praise god praise god all right pastor stephen i want to i want to get there what do i need to do let's talk about four things that are required for you to get there first number one you're going to need an opportunity please say that today say opportunity you're going to need an opportunity and i am here today to tell you that the opportunity is going to be presented to you i would call the opportunity an open door well now uh pastor stephen now that you mentioned that i have noticed a door that's open but um doesn't seem like anybody wants to go through it there's a reason for that there's a reason not too many people wanted to get into the nasa space flight astronaut program because you're going to sit on top of basically in some ways what's nothing more than a potentially large bomb if you have a problem because you've got all this rocket fuel and you're in this little capsule on top it's called the rocket but everything beneath your capsule it's all it's all ready to be ignited and it's a propellant but what if something goes wrong well you're going to you're going to die you're going to you're going to go up in flames and so it had high risk the astronaut field had high risk and there were astronauts that almost died in space there were those that died in practice when going through rehearsal on the landing pad on the on the launch vehicle and so forth uh very tragic deaths and then of course you later we had the challenger death and thing you know the episode of those that perished in that but the space industry is very very high risk but at the same time you know neil armstrong must have said hey i'm in i know it's risky but i'm in and so he went for it and you're going to have to you're going to have to look for the opportunity same thing with roger bannister there were those that said the four-minute mile is humanly impossible nobody can run that fast and even if somebody did they could they could die well what happened to roger bannister is when he ran three minutes and 59 seconds when he crossed the finish line he actually started to collapse and somebody caught him so it's not like he fell out but somebody caught him but what he did say later is that he said he started to black out and he lost all vision his heart rate just uh excuse me his blood pressure dropped and he he was in a fainting process so if somebody had not grabbed him he would have passed out well when people saw him stagger like that and start to kind of like lose it there were those that said oh we're right he's going to die he's going to die his heart's exploded or something like that but uh you know he recovered quite quickly but there can be risk when you go into the unknown by the by the way today's world record in the mild is three minutes and 43 seconds that's uh done by hakeem el gorouge maybe maybe it'll never be broken it's going to be very very hard to break that if you've ever gone out to a track just for fun to see how fast you can go around one lap and you time yourself well he did each lap averaging 55 seconds a lap that's going to be a very very difficult world record to break and it's stood now for quite some time but you're going to need an opportunity and you're going to notice the risk you're going to notice the challenges i'm not going to tell you that it's not going to be there because it is what about david david had the opportunity so that everybody else standing there in the in the israeli army while goliath showed up every day mocking taunting ridiculing the israelis and blaspheming god all those men had their opportunity but see david had an opportunity and he decided to take it well pastor stephen you know god was with him well hey god could have been with anybody that wanted to step out and trust god and had the faith for it but nobody else moved they were frozen in fear they were really paralyzed by the the threats the intimidation is a terrorism spirit released by goliath that hit that army so david going out there there this is a very real threat this is a very real potential that you're gonna you're gonna not only die but you're gonna die in a very humiliating way in front of your family members your brothers and you know the nation that you belong to but you know what he was he was aware of all of that but he was more aware of god's covenant-keeping ability he was also more aware that hey i've already killed a lion of article the bear and this guy is going to be just like them these things i've done had been done in private but today's my day to do something in public god's with me let's get it going praise the lord and so so you're going to need the opportunity and you'll see you'll see risk but god's going to give you that opportunity praise god i need to mention this concerning the opportunity let me just pull this up a little quote actually on my phone here and this is very very important about opportunity your opportunity will not last forever i would call it even a window of opportunity and all windows potentially can close and david made his move on goliath what was goliath he was a giant yes he was a giant opportunity also but you know what it could have been that maybe somebody else the spirit of the lord would begin to move on somebody else if david didn't do what he was supposed to do because somebody's going to kill that giant eventually so there is this thing of opportunity of the open window and it doesn't last forever you need to be very very aware of that does it mean that you rush and get into something that you're not supposed to be into but it does mean that when you know uh you're gonna have to make a decision now uh roger bannister later in his writings he recalled his trepidation on the blustery night of may 6 1954 when franz stumpful his coach implored him to run an attract meet between oxford and the amateur athletic association and this is what banister said he said the coach said to me although the conditions are not ideal and let me interject for a world record and for a barrier breaking moment you would prefer ideal conditions the wind not blowing the sun shining everything just right but it wasn't like that it wasn't like that it was the situation of the weather was not ideal everything was damp and it could rain it could you know cloudy all that type of stuff but the coach said to me although the conditions are not ideal if you don't take this opportunity you might not forgive yourself for the rest of your life and he was right he was right why you've got two americans you've got one australian they've already run four minutes and two seconds and so they have realized that the barrier is mainly psychological and they're going after it and they're pushing hard and uh the competition also was hot on the pursuit of mr bannister like i said i think it was only 46 days after he broke it somebody else broke it so the coach said look we're going to have this track meet we're going to set this up and you need to commit to this and we know what time of the year this is it's probably going to be a day that could even could have moisture could rain or something like that but sometime during on that day we're going to get this race in and even if our conditions aren't right you're gonna have to do it why there's others there's others that they're they're on it and so what happens with every opportunity it's a window that if you don't move it could close on you and somebody else is going to go through that door and if david didn't come out david didn't come out and take that fight uh eventually that anointing of faith would lift and somebody else is going to go out there god's going to be with that person now if somebody else would have done it it wouldn't have meant that they were called to be the king but like david was but my friends i have confidence that you'll step out i have confidence that you'll do it even though it may not be the way that you would prefer to be maybe you wished you had more money maybe you wish you had more support maybe you wished that you didn't have so many other things going on but when the opportunity is there and it's time you're going to have to really step out and go for it praise god praise god he said to me although the conditions are not ideal if you don't take this opportunity you might not forgive yourself for the rest of your life it was that opportunity that made him world famous it was that opportunity that he took advantage of of that made him a cultural icon to the whole world as a barrier breaker even today even today he's still talked about although he passed away some years back his life is still celebrated today so number one you're going to need an opportunity number two you're going to need what i would just call a real solid knowing in your life you can't do everything i take it that you figure that out by now you can't do it all you have to stay in your lane you have to stay in your assignment we're all like that you know michael jordan really good at basketball but um i never saw him on the olympic swim team and you know you could have you could have a dentist really good at fixing cavities and removing a bad tooth and putting a new a new tooth in and making you look real nice with your teeth and stuff like that but you know what you go to get your brain operated on where's the dentist how come he's not there that's not his area so you have to stay in your field and in your field you will have these opportunities to do some special things you can't do it all but you will have those special moments and you have to know that what you can do that's your thing and you can't try to do it all or you're not going to end up doing anything you've got to go for those special things and put all of your focus on that well pastor stephen how can i know that i know well you'll sense this is the one i've been waiting for and when you start to get a witness of the holy spirit an inward confirmation that yep this is it this is the one that you've been thinking about this is this is the dream this is the open door then i would suggest that in order to preserve that opportunity and keep it reserved for you for the first place that you really spend some extra time with the lord in prayer i would i would encourage you maybe to do a little fasting and push the plate back and devote that time to prayer and waiting on the lord and just get it straight from the lord lord is this the one praise god you know i went into the prayer closet one day and i said lord i can't wait any longer i said i have got to know the name of the television program because once you name a television program or half hour television program you can't change it later because then if you change it you'll confuse your viewing audience and then then you may lose them because they don't know how to find your show now it's got a different name so it's not like you can just like change it all i didn't like that name and six months later change it again and you know eventually we'll get it right no some things you've got to get it right from the start and i went into the prayer closet and i said lord i said i like the name pure gold but i said i don't know if that is the name that i should really you know put in cement because once it's there you know i'm gonna have to have it trademarked and then we'll we'll put it out there and it starts to get branded you understand what i'm saying you can't have coca-cola's thing what we'll change our name let's get a different name for the company you can't have rolex change their name you can't do that why you have created more than just a logo you're now branded and that brand image has uh wealth attached to it by the way what is the number one brand what is the most valuable brand today in the world i'm not talking about the most valuable company but what is rank the number one brand in the world today it might surprise you it's ferrari it's ranked the highest most valuable brand in the world praise god so you know if that's your brand you're not going to change that so i said lord i've got to hear from you what would you say to me and i was on my knees and the lord spoke to me and he said the name of your program is found in exodus chapter 30 verse 3 and he said go there i'll i'll reveal it to you and i turned there and it was about the altar of incense and it said it's overlaid with pure gold and when i read it when i turned there and read it the words pure gold they became almost like a hologram and they lifted up off the scripture page and they were illuminated they looked like they were glistening and the lord said the name of the show is pure gold hallelujah glory to god if if you don't know you need to find out why because this is the big one this is this is a destiny moment this is one of those things you can't do everything but the things you can do let's do it right let's get it right praise god so that's very important take time so that you have absolute certainty when you step out this this is something that is the opportunity that is for you praise the lord and again don't don't wait too long but at the same time make sure you get it right so you're going to need an opportunity you're going to need an inward knowing and number three you're going to need unusual courage praise god we see this in proverbs chapter 28 verse 1 the wicked flee when no one pursues i've actually i've actually seen that happen i've seen people get hit with a spirit of fear and run they don't even know what they're running from they're just running the wicket flee when no one pursues but the righteous that's you that's the people of god the righteous are bold as a lion you're going to need that boldness praise god you're going to need that courage that faith no wavering no doubting hallelujah this is my moment hallelujah i mean you could see the boldness coming out of david it was on an extreme high level when he went up against goliath and goliath in his big mouth and all of his blabbing and threats and no fear in david i mean he talks back to the giant says today i'm taking your head off and that big body of yours i'm going to feed your dead carcass to the birds whoo i mean there's there's boldness boldness so there is that rising up when you know when you know this is my door and i'm going i'm going up hallelujah there's boldness in it let that flow out of you it's not arrogance that's not pride we know what that is because arrogance and pride are in the flesh but there is a boldness in the spirit that um is very very powerful and i see that being upon your life praise god i would say some of that will mix with the gift of special faith the gift of faith is different from normal faith where you have faith in god and you you trust god you believe god special faith can come upon you and will rest upon you to do that special thing praise god and number four very important you're going to need you're going to need inspiration this has to be something that excites you this has to be something that moves you in the very core of your being where you realize that's my moment this is me this is what i was made for i mean david's thinking hey goliath hey you know i'm not quite sure how you turned into a giant but you know what i've already had practice i've been to the lion i've been to the bear you know what this this is a setup for me and uh and it was so it's that it's that thing that inspires you you know yep this is it this is the thing yep i'm in on this woo you need an inspiration praise the lord and that inspiration will help you when the times can be tough i remember that dr robert schuler he was in the process of building the crystal cathedral there in orange county southern california and he's building something that in many ways had never been built before especially by a minister no no preacher on the planet had ever built something of what he was building the crystal cathedral and he got he got into it and it got difficult it got difficult he was having all kinds of red tape from the county all these permits and all these codes you need to do this you need to do this and we you need to re-engineer that and you know of course it costs more and more money to do all of that and then you have all these all these challenges and plus you're raising the money to do it it's a faith project and so dr peter daniels the christian businessman said that he went to go visit robert shuler one day and robert schuler was in the midst of all of this building this facility and all of the problems and all of the headache and mr shuler just collapsed in his chair and he said to peter daniels you know what this is so difficult i have so many problems and so much stress from all sides he says i just wish i could have a glorious heart attack and die and go to heaven and be relieved of all of this and peter daniel said he said no you can't do that he said why he said because you wrote the book possibility thinking whoo what was that book about it it was a book about although negative influences and negative things are everywhere saying you can't do it it's impossible you can't do it when you look to the lord and trust him and you stay in faith then all things become possible to him who believes and so basically peter daniels said you wrote that book so you're not getting out of this [Laughter] praise god but see you have to go back to that inspiration why this stirred you why this drew you into this and it will really help you that inspiration is like fire and it'll help you to keep on pushing when times can be difficult especially when it's something maybe that's not going to get accomplished overnight see david killed goliath in one moment in one day but there's other things they fall they're giants they will fall but they fall in a different way and maybe it doesn't happen overnight or even in a week or a few months but as you stay with it you will get it done and of course crystal cathedral did get built and really there's no telling how many people were saved because uh he had that beautiful facility and then he's also preaching and teaching on the television programs that's going all over the world and a lot of people got saved through his ministry praise god but they would also see the word backed with a very beautiful evidence or manifestation of his faith and they could see that something very beautiful that's also what i like about dr oral roberts yes he was a great preacher yes he had a great healing ministry but he also built a first class university where you could go and you could you could see it oh you could touch it oh there's buildings there's professors there's there's something that he has built yes praise the lord and in many times that is something that the lord desires praise the lord you need those four things you need opportunity you need a deep inward knowing you're gonna need courage you're gonna need to be as bold as a lion and number four you're gonna need to be inspired it has to be something that stirs within you brings a great inspiration within you even when you think about it praise god and if you will follow this you will end up getting there first and you can use it for the glory of god praise god there are many things that the enemy has captured that he has actually held them for so long they used to even belong to the church but he's held them for so long the church has even lost the understanding of the origin of those things that are now in the enemy's camp well there's going to be breaker anointings and many of god's people or they're going to rise up and they're going to get there first and they're going to bring it back now it's been gone so long that there will be those that will say this is a first and in some senses it is but it's it's a first because we haven't seen it maybe in 200 years or 400 years or 1400 years or whatever it might be but my friends get ready praise god to be on the front lines you have to move quick you're going to have to move quick praise god and if you if you can see this very very clearly anything that you need to get there to the get there first god will help you to do it david ran ran toward goliath praised god didn't want anybody else taking his blessing didn't want anybody else taking that opportunity praise god i want to pray for you right now and i want you to understand that it's also possible to accomplish something for the glory of god in such a way when certain factors come together that when it's all said and done it can have an element of of being an icon praise god where you do something that it stamps a memory in the image screen of people's minds hallelujah glory to god the actual act may be just for a moment but the but the the imprint can last like it did for david not just for lifetime for generations for generations and generations people still talking about it praise the lord that's the value of a holy spirit iconic moment something that is lifted up that honors god that in many ways is timeless father i pray for your people let that breaker anointing come upon them let that iconic anointing come upon them lord the church the church should be iconic the world celebrates pop icons the world celebrates all kinds of iconic stuff that's not saintly that should not be venerated that should not be lifted up so lord you're gonna you're gonna move in some very very powerful ways that will bring glory to you so let that iconic anointing rest upon your people but father they've got to get there first so help them help them to be able by your grace and wisdom to get their first for your glory thank you father let the opportunity come for them let the inward knowing be established let the boldness be there father let the inspiration be burning fiery hot within them thank you thank you father god and seal it within their spirit right now in jesus name amen praise god praise god be looking for that door to open praise the lord if you're watching today's program and you don't know christ as your lord and savior well there's no higher name than jesus and jesus went to the cross to die on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of humanity and if you'll just put your faith and trust in him and turn from your sin and receive him as your lord and savior then you can receive what he accomplished for you while he was on the cross which was the payment of every sin that you've ever committed and he'll give you his eternal life within your heart so if you would like to receive complete pardon and forgiveness of sins and eternal life in christ pray this prayer after me say lord jesus i'm a sinner but you died for sinners to save us from our sins so jesus come into my heart wash all of my sins away jesus i receive you as my lord and savior write by name in your book of life and from this day forward step into my life and lead me and guide me in all that i do lord jesus in your name i pray amen and amen and my friends the lord has heard that prayer the lord has heard that prayer and you now belong to him welcome also to the family of god to the church of the living god praise god praise the lord forever well now let's all take holy communion together and celebrate jesus today hallelujah glory to god um blessed be the name of the lord i don't believe you'll ever look at an iconic picture the same ever again anytime you hear that word icon you're going to think lord you're the one who's high and lifted up and you can touch your people to carry your name and to exalt your name and you can release that same anointing for us to break through and get there first hallelujah i believe there's an iconic anointing coming up on your life praise god thank you father now grab some unleavened bread grab some grape juice let's pray over it heavenly father we thank you for the bread and the juice we bless it we consecrate it we set it apart as holy and we thank you this is now the body and the blood of christ our savior father when we look at it we still see a wafer and we still see grape juice but it is the body and blood of christ under the veil under the form of bread and juice so father as we receive the body of christ we thank you for all that jesus has made available for us thank you father god that as we lift up christ as we lift up christ you'll take us many places and you'll do many many things that will bring great honor thank you father god thank you let there be or break your anointing let there be a breaker anointing come upon your people father we thank you the door that is going to open in jesus name let's receive the body of christ we are told in romans chapter 5 verse 1 that we are justified by faith and we're also told by the apostle paul that we're justified by faith through the shed blood of christ now justified does carry the meaning of just as if you never sinned so when you're justified in the eyes of god god sees you with your sins forgiven and your although we commit sin is when we repent and confess it it's just as if we never sin now the meaning though is is deeper because in romans chapter 5 verse 1 when it talks about justification romans 4 talks about the imputation of righteousness so if we were only justified if we sin and we repent god washes the sin away well we're right back to that state of being justified again just as if we never sin but justification also go along goes along with righteousness so the righteousness is imputed to us so that we are in a place of being justified yes just as if we never sinned but we're also righteous because we are in christ and when god the father sees us he sees us in his son and so we are the righteousness of god in christ jesus praise the lord so we are justified just as if we never sinned and we also are righteous because we are in christ woo praise the lord everything is right between us and god hallelujah and our sins are washed away just as if we had never sinned in the first place thank god for the blood of jesus thank god that jesus went to the cross to pay the awful penalty of sin hallelujah the punishment that should have come upon us for our sins was placed upon him and he bore the wrath of god so that we can be justified and so that we can be righteous praise the lord hallelujah now as we receive the blood of jesus father we ask that if we have committed any sins that you would forgive us we repent and turn from any sin and father we forgive anybody who has sinned against us and we ask that you would lead us away from temptation and we ask that you would deliver us from the evil one thank you father god for keeping us safe protecting us and thank you father god for the anointing to break through for your glory father we thank you in jesus name we pray amen let's receive the blood of jesus praise god praise the lord thank you lord jesus be looking for these four things be looking for the open door the opportunity be looking for that deep knowing and that's something that you can and the boldness will come and also my friends the inspiration will be there thank you father it's all going to come together we are in a time right now of convergence maybe you've noticed it where things are coming together in a good way it's there can be a bad convergence when bad things come together but we god's people are in a convergence where all of the good things are coming together at the right time and because of that convergence you're going to end up there first for the glory of god and you'll give god all the glory um so be looking for a convergence of these four things we've talked about today thank you for joining me today i look forward to seeing you back next time till then stay richly blessed bye