welcome today to our online internet
around the world church service i am so
happy that you're here
and i believe that by the ministry of
the holy spirit
there will be things spoken and said
from the word of god that will
be the spiritual food that you are
looking for
praise god now today we're going to
begin
in the book of second corinthians
chapter eight we want to look at just a
couple of verses
and we're going to receive the holy
tithes and offerings
we're going to bring them into the house
of the lord praise god
second corinthians chapter 8 verse 1
moreover brethren we make known to you
the grace of god
bestowed on the churches of macedonia
so we're looking at an aspect of the
grace of god
and so often when we think about god's
grace
we think about the forgiveness of sins
we think about salvation we think about
the goodness of god the love of god
but this grace also can be manifested
through
giving and through receiving
and paul says that he wanted to make
known to them the
grace of god that was bestowed on the
churches of macedonia
so he is sharing this with the church
there in corinth
and he says that in a great trial of
affliction the abundance of their joy
and their deep poverty abounded in the
riches of their
liberality so that is an amazing aspect
of grace
that grace can help you walk out of lack
of poverty of financial hardship
and in the natural what a person does is
when there is a financial test or
difficulty
is they pull back they conserve and they
hold on to the little remaining that
they have
but god's grace can come and it is
supernatural
just as supernatural as salvation is
we're saved by grace through faith but
in the same
saving way god's grace can come
and help you walk out of any financial
dilemma how did it work for the church
in macedonia
the grace of god came to them in their
financial poverty
and it quickened them it inspired them
to do what
to hold back no to give wow
it's a spiritual principle that
does not make sense on paper but it
works
when it's applied which is this
you give your way out of lack
if you want to come out of lack or
poverty you give your way
out of it because you're sowing seed and
then god can multiply your seed
give you a harvest and you start
climbing you start
walking out of that difficult spot
financially
praise the lord
see if you just keep feeding somebody
over and over a handout a handout
you enslave them to
becoming reliant upon the person that's
giving them
the handout but what we want to do is
help those who would be in need but also
teach them biblical principles
so that their need is
eliminated they are brought to a place
of maturity
where their needs are met and they have
extra
and now the person that was once in need
can be a blessing
now to others well pastor stephen how
did how does a person come into that
by giving by giving praise the lord and
then
we have one of the most amazing verses
in scripture
in verse 9. now i i want to share
something before i read this verse to
you
you have to understand the context of
chapter 8
and chapter 9. these are two chapters
devoted to the subject of offerings
and giving and what is pleasing in the
eyes of god concerning
a good offering praise the lord
hallelujah
so i'm about to read something in verse
9 that
deals with god's grace and automatically
some christians evangelicals they
instantly think oh that's the grace that
deals with salvation
well let's see what it says in context
for you know the grace of our lord jesus
christ that though he was rich yet for
your sakes
he became poor that you through his
poverty
might become rich well
those that do not understand god's
covenant plan for your finances which is
a good plan
they tried to spiritualize everything
i'm talking about those in the church
that wouldn't understand
and they say well that's referring to
being spiritually rich
but it can't be because if you try to
make that application
you're taking the statement now out of
context and paul is talking about
offerings giving and receiving he's
talking about
the gracious giving of the macedonian
church even when they're in poverty
and how god brought them out of that
place of financial difficulty
wow so we have to keep it in the right
context
for you know the grace this is actually
a grace of giving
and as well there is also a grace of
receiving
but it begins with giving the grace of
giving
you know the grace of our lord jesus
christ that though he was rich
well we can say in a sense that when he
left heaven he left a place of splendor
of streets that are made of pure gold
mansions and you know we have gates
that are made of solid pearls and we
have diamonds and we have things
of great wealth and splendor that are in
many ways beyond comprehension
so he left that though he was rich yet
for your sakes
he became poor when did he become poor
how where what was going on with his
becoming poor
on the cross in some ways you could say
just by leaving heaven
he became poor but
he actually when he was on the cross
he took all of our sins upon himself
we agree with that any good evangelical
protestant christian
anybody catholic anybody in the
christian faith is going to agree with
that while christ was
on the cross he took all of our sins
upon him but you have to understand
there was more to it than that
he took the full curse
of the law upon himself everybody
that's ever broken the law the ten
commandments
and the sub commandments six all 613 of
them
every broken promise every wrong thing
done or thought
every wrong action wrong deed all of
that came upon the lord jesus
the full curse that we deserved came
upon him
but in in the curse
deuteronomy chapter 28 verses 14
and onward you read about about the
devastating effects
of the curse the consequences of not
keeping
god's law and if you break the law this
would it be those curses well poverty
was a big one and the awful effects of
poverty
and the degradation of what it does
to people poverty is such a dirty thing
it is such a destroyer of grace
and beauty so you have to understand
that when jesus was on the cross
he became poor so the curse of
sin yes and the curse of poverty
absolutely it all came upon jesus why
why did he bear it for us so that we
could be free
and even in a financial context
it says that yet for your sakes that
would be you and i
he became poor that you
through his poverty might become
rich what does it mean to be rich it
means to have a full supply
and have extra so that you can be a
blessing to others
as well praise the lord thank you lord
jesus
that you through his poverty he became
poor on the cross
that you through his poverty might
become rich
well pastor stephen that seems a little
bit conditional might become rich
yes if you believe it and you receive it
but for those that doubt it
those that say oh that's just being
spiritually rich well
my friends you have to understand that
the salvation
that was purchased for us was a full
salvation that covered every aspect of
our human
lives not only the world to come but the
life that we have to live while we're on
the planet
and that included everything that you
need for your financial stability
and your financial well-being
he became poor that you through his
poverty
might become rich i
encourage you today to let your life
harmonize with the scriptures i
encourage
you today to let your life harmonize
with god's financial plan for you which
is what
that he might make you rich praise the
lord
that he might make you rich i know that
makes some christians very very nervous
they uh they have been taught a lot of
religious indoctrination not biblical
indoctrination
but mindsets of men
ideas and theories of men that perhaps
loved the lord greatly
but didn't get it right with the
scriptures
so we are going to stick with the word
and we see here
that christ went to calvary for us he
died for us
he released grace towards us
so that we can become
rich praise the lord think about that
full supply
everything covered every need met and
having extra
so that you can be the blessing that god
wants
you to be always having the ability to
sow a seed a financial seed praise the
lord
now as you bring your tithes and
offerings today
into the storehouse of god
let that be the cry of your heart lord
let your will be done in my life
lord you became poor
so that i could become rich lord let
this scripture
manifest in my life as i believe it
praise god now take a hold of it now
in jesus name i see god making you rich
for his glory for his glory praise the
lord
hallelujah praise god father bless your
people as they're
honoring you right now with their tithes
and offerings bless them as their sowing
thank you father god make them rich a
full supply
thank you father god in jesus name
amen and amen praise the lord
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 the zip code is 28654
if you prefer to bring your tithes and
offerings in
online please visit the ministry website
stevenbrooks.org there is a link
on the home page that says give
and it has a red heart on it and you can
click that tab
click that link and it will take you to
a site where your giving
is safe encrypted and secure and it
comes right into the storehouse of god
it comes right into the ministry
so that we can continue to preach and
teach
the good news of god's word all around
the world praise god by the way what's
good news to a poor man
first of all that christ died for you
for the full redemption of your sins
so that you can have your life made
right with god
that's great news eternal life through
christ and
deliverance from the dominion of
darkness
but also because salvation is a complete
plan
it also is good news from the poor man
that you don't have to remain
poor that there's a blessing in not only
was there one in the old covenant
but there is a blessing in the new
covenant for those who are in christ
which is that through his poverty
we might become rich so i tell you what
you start getting the word
into you your situation will swiftly
begin to turn around
concerning your finances praise the lord
the word of god is the wisdom of god
and as that wisdom comes into your mind
comes into your way of thinking and
forms the way that you think
to be in agreement with god's word
you'll start making
such good decisions over and over again
and there will be swift healing in your
finances
praise god for what he's doing and thank
you for your giving
as we roll into a new and glorious year
in which i see god making you rich
praise the lord
glory to god now let's take our bibles
and jump into today's message
which is found in isaiah chapter 54.
now i shared just a few nights ago the
prophetic word of the lord
which is based out of isaiah 54 verses 1
through 3 the taking away of barrenness
the removing of
barrenness but i want us to look today
at verses two and three
because this is what you're going into
in this new year
but as you go into verses two and three
and as you step forward into this new
year there is something
that must be highly operative
in your life it's not optional
as you move into this you're going to
see that you'll have to even get better
at this we're going to talk about it
today
and so let's open up with prayer father
as we jump into today's
sermon we ask that your word would find
good soil in our hearts that we can take
this message
and apply it to our lives
today now father we thank you we thank
you in jesus name for the life
transforming power of your word in
jesus name amen and what i like about
god's word is that when we practice it
it produces peace such beautiful peace
in our lives okay so are you ready for
verse two here it is
enlarge the place of your tent and we
all like that
that god is going to enlarge every
aspect of your life
enlarge the place of your tent and let
them stretch out the curtains of your
dwellings
do not spare lengthen your cords and
strengthen your stakes
for you shall expand to the right and to
the left
now with this expansion which is going
to be both
spiritual and natural because by
the end of this year your walk with the
lord is going to have gone to a totally
new level praise the lord
god's doing an amazing work he is
putting you on the prophetic fast track
this year and you're already you're
already moving on it so
you have to you have to be very well
sharp in this area of increase with this
one thing that we're going to talk about
today now having given you a little
glimpse
of what you're going to get into this
year with which is this increase
this expansion on all sides this
enlargement
whoa praise god you must have this
special thing going on in your life and
i found
what to me is one of the most beautiful
examples of it
in the book of second chronicles chapter
8 and i would like for you to turn there
now with me
and see it with your own eyes because
this scripture is going to be a
scripture that you're going to work
a lot this year just like a tool
just like a screwdriver something that
you could use to fix
all kinds of things this scripture
will be well um worked in your hand
praise god second chronicles chapter 8
verse 16. now all the work
not some of it all of it all the work
of solomon now we know that solomon is
the king
of israel the son of david who is the
former king
and solomon is known for his tremendous
wisdom
and very broad uh
level of was just what we would call
knowledge and understanding
that was uh very very
vast he had incredible knowledge
now all the work of solomon was here it
is
well ordered please say it with me today
say well ordered
now all the work of solomon was well
ordered from the day
of the foundation of the house of the
lord
until it was finished
so the house of the lord was completed
when you go to jerusalem
and you take the tour it's a small group
tour
that allows you to go beneath
the area of the temple mount
and as you go down into history and down
into maybe in some ways the belly of
mount moriah
as you go down and down and down you
see the stones
of the western wall and
much of that of course was built
during the herodian era but as you go
down further and further
you'll get to the very spot where
solomon his workers had
placed the biggest stones for
building up that area so you're going
back really to the
first temple period going back a long
time back in history
and you see the tremendous order and the
structure
to build something like that and to
build upon that
well concerning not just the western
wall
which really wasn't ever considered part
of the temple structure just a retaining
wall basically
but up on top on the temple mount
all the work of solomon was well ordered
everything about it
from the day of the foundation of the
house of the lord
until it was finished so the house of
the lord
was completed now
you're not going to be able to complete
the assignments
and the projects that god has
waiting for you this year without
a good sense of order in your life
it's this order that qualifies you
to be a finisher see solomon
built the temple the most beautiful
structure
on the entire planet it was the wonder
of the world
and people came from all over the world
to see the temple
and to hear the wisdom of the man who
built it
but one of the reasons that he finished
it
was because of the tremendous planning
that went into it and as it began to
raise up
and as it was erected everything about
it was well ordered from start
to finish and you have to understand
a key principle here it says
that from the day of the foundation of
the house of the lord until it was
finished
everything was ordered my friends
you are the temple
of the living god god
lives on the inside of you well pastor
stephen i was getting real excited
about hearing about the temple i like
studying archaeology and i like
studying uh the history of israel and i
like hearing about all the chambers of
the
of the temple that's very exciting
pastor stephen tell me more about the
ark of the covenant and all of that
well that's all wonderful stuff it's
beautiful we need to
study the temple so that we have a
better understanding of
christ his ministry but you also have to
see that the temple
while so many things in the temple were
representative of the lord jesus christ
in the new covenant the apostle paul
said that
god dwells inside of the believer
so with the temple of solomon
being well ordered and everything even
after it was built it was well ordered
the function of the priests the function
of the levites
the way the singers were set up and the
way the musicians were set up
the way the sacrifices were done the way
the the water was brought into the
temple
it was just extreme levels of order and
it had to be
because this
temple was only going to get busier now
we know that temple was eventually
destroyed
but another temple was rebuilt by
zerubbabel
and then later along comes king herod
and he decides to
use the same foundation just make it
larger and he builds
a a very grand temple himself
doesn't have nearly the gold and some of
the precious items
the way solomon was able to pour into it
but nevertheless herod built
a great temple but my friends josephus
said
that it was normal during the great
feast
primarily the three big feasts passover
pentecost
and tabernacles for 2
million jews to come
as pilgrims to come up to jerusalem on
the feast days
that doesn't count the jews that are
already living in jerusalem
so you've got an influx of 2 million
pilgrims how about this
josephus said during one year and by the
way josephus was a jewish historian
he actually was from a uh from the
priestly tribe
but as far as we know he never served in
the temple as a priest
but he was an eyewitness to all of these
things during the ministry of jesus
during that era of time
so josephus said during one
of the feasts during one particular year
during one feast
2.7 million jewish pilgrims came up to
the temple oh by the way for those
theories and and crazy rumors that the
temple was somehow
in the old city of david that's
i don't want to really insult the
authors that have written these silly
books but that's total baloney
there's no way the temple that jesus
went into the temple of herod
nor the temple of solomon ever ever was
in
what's now known as the old city of
david why
there's there's no room for it you've
only got 14 acres there
you need something gigantic to put that
temple on oh so the only place
is the temple mount so you have to
understand with all these people coming
in
there is a demand upon the services
there there is a demand upon
people wanting to worship god and you
know what if you've got 2.7 million
jewish pilgrims think about all of the
livestock
that they're bringing for sacrifices and
for offerings
it's running into the millions where do
you put all those animals
extreme order where do you put all the
the tithes and all the first fruit
offerings where do you pull all of this
stuff
at extreme order and yet at the same
time with all of those animals there
how come you don't hear any noise of
animals
everything was so extremely well thought
out
and and remember if you have 2.7 million
jewish pilgrims and they're bringing all
of their their animals for sacrifice
what are you going to do with all of
that blood how do you wash all of that
blood away
when these offerings are being done how
do you get all that water in because
that's going to take tremendous amounts
of water and it did
and it was all being brought in from
jerusalem
high levels of aqueducts uh extreme
underground networks of bringing that
water in and don't forget the water
must be living water it has to flow the
the water in order for it to be brought
into the temple could never
have a 90 degree turn in any pipe or any
conduit that you're bringing it in on
so there were aqueducts that sometimes
were 10 or 11 miles long
and they they were very smooth flowing
and if there was a
turn it was a very soft gentle curve why
it had to be living water
and it wasn't living if it was not
flowing continually
if you ever took a couple of buckets and
put it into that water
and you pull that water out in the
buckets uh it's now
no longer suitable for temple usage
my friends we're talking about levels of
order that were so
highly structured that it took a lot of
people to pull it off
and that's why during the the times of
these
special feast days you would have
thousands and thousands of priests there
why it's all hands on deck
because you've got all the people there
and all the sacrifices
whoo praise the lord so you're never
going to be able to do what god has
called you to accomplish
if you do not have levels of
order in your life that really start
bumping up into the level of excellence
you're going to have to implement order
in
your life order again it qualifies you
to be a finisher now
here's an example unfortunately of what
can happen
if you don't have order in your life
even if you have talent
even if you have beauty even if you have
something good going for you and you're
the best at what you do but if you don't
have
order this is what perhaps could happen
the 1972 olympics were held in munich
you have two american men that are
head and shoulders above the rest of the
competition
one of them who's ranked number one in
the world he's actually the world record
holder
and the person that's ranked second uh
is also uh there that they're two
americans they're ranked first and
second
and they're pretty much uh they're going
to win the gold and silver
medals it's just a question of who's
going to get the bronze medal really
well there was a tragic mistake
because their coach he
he was looking at the starting times of
when the the heats are
because you you go through some
preliminary heats you win your your heat
and then you go
into the finals well the coach
he got the he got it out of order he got
something mixed up on the timing
and so what happened is is that these
two guys
these two american sprinters they're
sitting in like the abc commentary booth
on you know watching television and
they're watching
what is the start of the men's 100
meters and they thought well that just
must be like a replay
of one of the previous preliminary heats
that we've already cleared
and then somebody rushed into the room
and said no that's the live event
you guys are supposed to be there right
now and so they they ran
uh you know as quick as they could
grabbed all their stuff and uh got to
the track and
got in and stuff like that and they
missed it
it was already over they missed it why
something was out of order with the
timing with the schedule
and instead there was a russian man that
crossed the finish line first
and he won the gold medal well
would he have won if the other two guys
were there
no probably not he was a great athlete
but no he just
just wasn't as fast as the other two
guys but here's the thing if you don't
show up you can't win
and this thing of not having good order
if if if you don't get that fixed it can
come back and bite you at the worst
possible time there are some times
uh when it's all on the line that you
cannot afford
to miss that why you may never
get another go with that again well
pastor stephen you know they have it
every four years you know they could
just show up
that's a long time four years is a long
time and you never know
if you're going to have that same edge
that you have
at that moment that you're in right now
so
you know and things like that while yes
the coach made an error you can't blame
the coach
you're gonna have to take responsibility
for your own life that means
you look into it also get another pair
of eyeballs on that
okay so we're sure this is the time okay
this is when we're leaving this this is
when it's going on
yes get all of that ironed
out praise the lord and i would
encourage you
and i feel prophetically stirred to even
tell you
that concerning special events that
you're supposed to be at or that you are
it's already in god's mix for you to be
somewhere not only be there
how about this get there early
when you get there early then you're all
relaxed and calm
and you don't leave an opportunity for
something to go wrong
that could go wrong at the last minute
and
if you see people that continually show
up late i'm talking about christians
that love the lord that
shout hallelujah but yet for some reason
they
constantly show up late what you're
seeing
really is an absence of well-defined
order
in their life and that's something that
needs to be
tightened up and fixed because this year
is going to go quick
and this year things are going to be
expanding and they're going to be
enlarged and if you have small
levels of disorder right now or you have
messes right now then what will happen
is when a greater demand
comes upon your life and you go to the
next level
is that you'll see if you don't fix this
the small messes and the way that you're
living
by tolerating these things to be out of
your order even if they're on a small
level
you'll go to the next level and now
you're gonna have a bigger mess oh no
faster steven i'll fix it when i get
there
no you're the same person when you get
there as you were when you're at a
different spot
it's just that you haven't fixed that
and if you haven't dealt with it
you're going to create a bigger
situation that would be negative for you
when you get there so you have to have
your life in order
you are the temple of the holy spirit
the holy spirit lives in
you the holy spirit wants to bring
divine order
into your life just like there were high
levels of
excellent order within the old testament
temple
systems praise god extreme order they
had to have that because
of all the activity all the activity
going on
wow your life is going to have to
reflect
the same image praise the lord thank you
jesus what is order
order is simply the proper arrangement
of things it doesn't matter what that
thing is it's the proper
arrangement of it and also order
is a beautiful manifestation of wisdom
and again solomon was known for his
wisdom and it's not surprising
to see that as that wisdom is displayed
you see tremendous levels of order
praise god now when your life is well
ordered it makes your life smoother
and more enjoyable praise god
whether that's a trip and you you plan
the trip
out it's well ordered or whether it's
some type of an event and
it's well ordered everything is already
worked through
it makes everything more enjoyable
praise god
you know when i was younger and uh
in my let's see this would be very early
20s
i remember as i began to volunteer for
things in the church
that sometimes i would run late and as i
became more volunteered in the
the campus ministry there on campus
that what would happen i remember one
time i was supposed to be there to lead
the youth group there at campus
and i'm one of the students and i waited
to the last minute
to pick up uh my friend and to go over
there
and when i picked him up i looked at my
car
at the gas and the gas was just right
there on
empty and it ran out i actually ran out
of gas
while we're on the way and my friend was
saying stephen we're late i said yeah
we're gonna have to we're gonna have to
get some gas so we ran out
of gas right by a gas station so we just
pushed the car over and got some gas
but what what does that create it
creates unnecessary pressure
uh for me and him it created some
unnecessary sweat
and then you show up and you're supposed
to lead
but you have to now get back into your
zone get back into your relaxed states
or you kind of
you know you don't want to have to do
that you want to be able to walk in and
go
so what does that mean it means planning
it means order
it means make sure that the night before
the car has gas in it
it means that make sure the night before
you you're going to get up early and
pray the next morning
that your coffee maker already has the
water in it have it filled up with water
have your your cake up or whatever
already sitting out have things ready
have things ready don't let things
uh come in there that will interrupt
something that you're looking forward to
and you're expecting
particularly at the last moment make
your life as smooth as possible
by implementing excellent levels of
order
praise god now why do we want order
in our lives you want order so that you
can establish
the atmosphere that you want in your
life
and that is an atmosphere of peace that
is an atmosphere of calm
you never want chaos in your life
because if there's chaos it's never from
god it doesn't originate from god
so you don't want chaos you want to have
a beautiful atmosphere and that's what
comes
out of having order praise god you know
as an example
you can drive through a troubled city
and
notice that there are troubled areas and
you know various cities and so forth
and you think wow there's uh this place
is really
run down this place is a real mess oh
pastor stephen
it's like that because they don't have
money no
it's not a money issue it's because they
don't have any order
there's no order and and that's why
because there's no order there's no
money and things are just crazy
things are totally crazy and you can
drive through another city
or go maybe to the other side of the
city and you see a beautiful subdivision
and you see that every lawn is mowed you
see that everything is neat everything
is is nice
oh well pastor steven that's different
that's because those people they those
people have money
no it's not it's because those people
have order
they like order they want to be in an
atmosphere
of order or an atmosphere of peace
so they know that's created by order and
when you create that
that atmosphere praise the lord then
you're getting things in the right
sequence
of events now let me say this
slow everything down in your life
to the speed of accurate decisions
i want to say it one more time slow
everything
down in your life to the speed
of accurate decisions and when you do
that
you'll start to see the beautiful order
of god
established in your life we make so many
mistakes
when we rush when we just push through
things
and we waste money we waste time
and we don't want to do that
particularly this year
because the stakes are too high praise
god
now it is good
to slow down and get these very sharp
decisions
especially in the area when making large
purchases costly things
well pastor steven it's okay we'll just
go ahead and buy it well
maybe you've noticed that if you do
stuff like that
you're going to end up with what i would
call just a bunch
of clutter and it's stuff that maybe you
use a few times but because
the buying decision was rushed or it was
done on an emotional high or something
like that whatever the reason
you didn't even get what you really
wanted maybe you'd even buy what you
really need it
you just saw something else and you got
it and now because it's
it's not going to be used it becomes
clutter
and that clutter begins to spread
everywhere and you keep replicating that
over and over
and now you've got a mess you've got a
mess
slow down on those decisions you know i
know a minister that
years back purchased a boat i don't know
maybe he thought it was going to be fun
to have a boat he bought a boat
and put it in his garage and the boat
has not been out of the garage for 12
years
oh that that's all right pastor steve
maybe one day he'll take it out yeah
he'll take it out and start the engine
and the engine won't work
because if you let it sit that long and
it has he hasn't started it up
hasn't started the engine once but it's
sitting there in the garage
now you can't even park his car in the
garage why the boat's in there
and so you can end up with all kinds of
clutter big
goofy pieces of clutter small pieces of
clutter
and either way it's things that
represent
decisions that were made out of order
praise god so start with the small
things
because if you have a small mess and you
don't fix it and then promotion or
increase comes isaiah chapter
54 verses two and three then you'll find
that somehow this
this mess just follows you and it gets
bigger and you can't afford to do that
with where you're going and the increase
the expansion that god's bringing into
your life
praise the lord glory to god
hallelujah let's see an example of the
of the way to do small things right
the gospel of john chapter 20
and let's go to verse 5 and he
stooping down and looking in saw the
linen clothes
lying there yet he did not go in that
would be referring to the apostle john
when he was a young man verse 16 then
simon peter came
following him and went into the tomb and
you know peter
uh he's older and he's more daring so
he's not uh you know afraid of a tomb or
superstitious maybe we should say in a
sense
and he goes right in then simon peter
came following him and
went into the tomb and he saw the linen
clothes line there those would be the
clothes left behind
by the resurrected jesus verse 7
and their handkerchief that had been
around his head not lying with the linen
clothes but folded together
in a place by itself now some people
uh or theologians say that the the
leading cloth being folded set over to
the side
had uh you know that could be
interpreted as having
spiritual meanings a symbolic meaning by
having done that like a
certain jewish custom and it was
referring to something that we need to
be mindful of
and i can understand there's different
points of view on that but let me say
this
regardless of what it potentially
prophetically could mean
he took the time to stop and fold it
and set it to the side oh not me pastor
stephen if i've been resurrected and i'm
going to go out i'm going to save the
world
i'm out of here let somebody else take
care of that i'm not making my bed
i've got things to do well
you do have things to do and you do have
great
accomplishments in front of you but my
friends if we
if we miss it on the small things we
will find a compilation
and the small things turn into medium
things and then the medium things and
the larger things
before you know it there's just uh
there's messiness
all around us and we can't have that and
so
making your bed is a great place to
start in the morning
you know many years back when i worked
uh
with a plumbing company we had all these
parts thousands
maybe maybe even hundreds of thousands
of parts
everything from all these plastic
fittings with one box
holding you know maybe a thousand
fittings you go to another box
of a different type of a fitting
thousand there and just
rows of them just rows and rows of stuff
like that
so we had tons of parts and at the close
of each day
because during the day hands are going
all through there with you know people
trying to get parts to fix things at the
close of the day
wrong stuff has gotten in wrong boxes so
we would always close the day out by
going
past these boxes and quickly trying to
work through them
where to a degree what belongs in this
box is there and
people don't mix things up because
they'll take it out of this one and look
at it that's not the one i want they'll
throw it over here
so we tried to fix that up but one of
the guys
he said you know i don't know why we do
this it's just gonna all get messed up
again
well what if we had that philosophy with
our hair
why should we comb our hair it's just
gonna get messed up again
why should we brush our teeth they're
just gonna get dirty again
why should we put on deodorant it's just
going to wear off again and on and on
you can go with that but that's not the
mindset that you want to have
you want order you want order in your
life it makes
everything easier can you say yes
even if it's a small thing like folding
the handkerchief
before you leave praise god
so order in small things what's a small
thing
that surrounds you right now ladies what
about your purse
is your purse in order men how about
your wallet
is your wallet in order
where are your keys kept at do you put
them in the same place
every time or do you constantly lose
your keys because
you can't remember where you last put
them well that can be fixed by having
order
every time you put the key down the key
goes here
it hangs on this thing right here but by
doing that
you'll you'll make your life easier
because whenever there's stress
whenever there are these moments
of difficulty what happens is this
there is a convergence of other
difficulties that all
sweep in at the same time some people
call it murphy's law
in other words it's not just one thing
that can
potentially go wrong because we live in
a fallen world it's that
yes that can happen but why does it seem
like when that happens wait a minute
something else negative is coming from
this direction too something negative is
coming from this direction too
and you throw all of that in the mix and
then
you didn't put your keys there now
suddenly with all this other stuff
swirling around you that you weren't
expecting that's
of a negative element wait a minute
where are my keys and you need them
because now you've got to be somewhere
quickly
and you can't find your keys you know
it's true story
that when the titanic hit it out on his
maiden voyage which was his first and
last voyage
when it hit it out they were
going to be going through an area of
known icebergs
oh oh that's okay pastor steven they
have lookouts yes
they had two full-time lookouts that
would be up in the crow's nest
the high point view watching for
icebergs
oh there's a problem
uh where are the binoculars where are
the binoculars
guess what they couldn't find the key
for the binoculars they were there the
binoculars had been put away
in a locker and locked and
nobody knew where the key was at where
uh well there was a former man that was
uh involved with the ship at the last
minute
they they said we're not going to have
you sail on the titanic we're going to
put you over on another ship he was a
worker
for the white star line and they said
we're going to move you over here he's
the guy that had the key and he had
he had kept the key in his pocket but
they transitioned him from the titanic
over to this other ship so quickly
and that rush caused him to forget to
take the key
and hang it back on the hook where it
always goes
the key was supposed to always hang in
that one
spot and so when the ship pulls out
and they are uh the captain's going
pretty quick because he wants to impress
everybody
uh how fast the ship is they want to set
a new record
so they're going to kind of push it
through the iceberg area oh that's okay
we got lookouts
you got lookouts with no binoculars why
we don't know where the key is at and so
you see that
life has a way of throwing things at you
quickly all of a sudden
all of a sudden and if you don't have
that order
you you could hit the iceberg and that's
exactly what happened
they didn't see it first of all it's
dark it's at night
and you know it's just too hard to pick
that up without
the binoculars and after the ship sunk
to the bottom
and over 1500 people died and then later
you know there's a court case and
you know there's lawsuits and stuff like
that and there was sworn testimony given
about hey you know if we would have had
the key
and we would have had the binoculars
this could potentially the whole thing
could have been
avoided because we could have seen the
iceberg
well those are things that only god
knows from a sense of
what could have been done to truly
divert it
and i don't think we can place the blame
of the sinking on the ship
solely on the lack of not having
binoculars but was it a contributing
factor
absolutely absolutely and i'm here to
tell you today
that if you have god's order
in your temple in your house in your
life
it will pay off for you when you need it
most
and when it's working for you and you're
moving smoothly ahead
trust me you'll see others that are
floundering why they had no plans
they had no order and while they're
struggling to run and to move
you're sailing smoothly why well ordered
plans the steps of a righteous man are
ordered
of the lord praise god
thank you lord jesus hallelujah first
corinthians chapter 14.
first corinthians chapter 14 verse
33 for god is not
now i know some people like chaos and
confusion
but i'm just trying to tell you uh that
that's an area that needs healing
for god is not the author of confusion
well pastor stephen i like sirens
blaring and i like
shotguns going off and i like chaos and
i like
i like war descending and i like no no
no uh that that's not the conducive
environment for any good thing to take
place in
and those that are in the military
those are in special forces know that
when you go into
war you're going into chaos you're going
into
a lot of unknown elements and so the the
more order
you have and you're all on the same page
the safer
you're going to be because when all of
that starts flying
and everything starts going crazy what
holds you together
is a well-ordered team praise the lord
for god is not the author of confusion
but of peace as in all the churches
of the saints i don't like disorder
in my closet i like the jeans in this
section
i like the t-shirts in this section
i like the other type of shirts over
here
i like the suits over here the dress
pants
over here the ties the ties over in a
different segment
and i like order i don't like confusion
i i don't like pulling open the sock
drawer and you know
there's you know 1500 pairs of socks and
uh i'm so confused that all i can do is
just wear the same pair over and over
again because
you hit overload no i like order i like
it all there
i can see what i've got and it's easy to
make the decision praise god it is time
my friends to put god's order
in your life now verse
40 let all things let all things
your purse your closet
your garage hallelujah let all things
be done decently and in order now pastor
stephen the context here
is referring to spiritual gifts and
speaking in tongues in a public assembly
and having the proper order the the
supernatural protocol
of order for uh tongues and
interpretation yes
i understand that but uh you have to
understand also
why we want order in the house of god we
want order in church
we want order in the temple you also are
in a mystical way
the temple of god and god lives on the
inside of you
and so we look at the fullness of this
scripture
let all things all things
be done decently and in order not just
when you're in church
because you don't live your life in
church you don't live your life
at the house of god you have other areas
other times
when you're doing other things that all
things be done decently and in order
now before i came into the ministry and
was
more intentionally
raised up in ministry even before that i
had served another minister
for about two years traveled with him
and uh
basically in a sense carried his
briefcase when he went to meetings and
and he would travel and preach i would
go with him at the same time
while i did not know kelly at that time
because she's living in another state
and so forth we didn't know each other
she's serving
a a woman minister and later when i
would move
to the states she lived in which was
california i was
able to meet the lady that my my wife
kelly was serving
now we went to a larger church and we're
under the pastoral covering
of that pastor but this church was an
apostolic church
and there were many ministries uh many
full-time ministers that
had that church as their home base and
so one of these full-time ministers
my wife was working for her was serving
her
and so kelly would drive this minister
to the meetings that she would go to and
she had meetings all over the place and
she spoke in some of the largest
churches in america
and she had a good ministry and
while she was having a good ministry she
never though
reached what i i just i thought i wonder
why she's not breaking
out she she has a really good anointing
she has
a good message that she teaches she
comes in prepared with the message
but where is she missing it at because
something
something always kind of seems a little
bit off
well i couldn't put my finger on it but
as time went by
i was clearly able to see what it was i
went over to her house one time me and
kelly were over at her
house her husband was there and uh this
woman of god she said to me she said
brother stephen
please go into my garage you'll have to
look around for it but there's this
certain item
i need uh grab it and bring it to me
well she had a
she had a larger home she had a
three-car garage
and so i was inside the house so i'd
never been in a garage before
and uh i walked through the kitchen area
there's a little side area and then you
open that door takes you into the garage
and when i opened the door to the garage
and turned the lights on
i saw something that i've never seen
anything like it
since i've never seen anything like it
since
i saw the most uh confusing
garage ever the whole garage
three-car garage was packed full of
stuff
i saw trash bags full of stuff i saw
couches
i saw chairs sofas tables i saw anything
and everything you could think of
thrown in there most of it was turned
upside down i saw
big lazy boy recliners turned upside
down there were there was like a
motorcycle in there with stuff thrown
all over it there was
and it was packed all the way to the
ceiling
wall to wall from the floor to the
ceiling jam-packed a three-car garage
with nothing but clutter it was the most
confusing
chaotic thing i ever saw and i i said um
i said i'm having trouble finding the
item that you're looking for she said
well it might take you a while to find
it
i thought yeah it probably is and
you know then i began to see that while
she had a great presentation
before the people this woman of god did
behind the scenes
behind the scenes in her normal life
because remember you don't live behind a
pulpit as a minister
behind uh the scenes in her real life
there were some um i would say highly
developed levels of disorder
i would even call it confusion and so
that's why
although she had a true anointing a true
calling
i just don't think she's ever reached
her
the fullness of what god had for which i
i thought clearly
would be a global type ministry an
international type ministry
but it never um i think her and her
husband moved and it never got out of
the state
um pretty much a very very small
localized type ministry which which is
you know there's a lot of honor
in that if that's what god has called
you to but she had a calling that was
way beyond that
but um when when she would try to
prophesy sometimes
she would she would force and rush the
prophecy
and she could get a little bit close
because there's an anointing
but it would always be off because she's
rushing it so she could pick up on some
things but then
turn it the wrong way because it seemed
like
everything was rushed and everything had
a little bit of a
edge of you'd have to look very
carefully to see it but almost like of
chaos
anytime you see that god's not in it
god's not in it so we have to remember
while we want outward excellence it
begins with us it begins with the temple
and as solomon had that temple i mean in
order
it was in top order that is a
representation of
our lives as we host the holy spirit
and he lives on the inside of us praise
god very quickly one more scripture
titus chapter 1
verse 5. well verse 5 verse 4 is
important because paul said to titus
to titus a true son in our common faith
so he is a spiritual son to the apostle
paul
so paul has trained him has taught him
the word of god has uh
you know shared uh and released that
apostolic grace towards this
precious man and then in verse five for
this reason
i the apostle paul left you in crete
that you should set in order the things
that are lacking
and appoint elders in every city as i
command it you
now when it says i left you in crete
that is the same greek word when he
mentioned
that he had left his cloak and some
books and he wanted those brought to him
in other words it was a temporary
leaving
not an abandoning so he has assigned
titus to minister to the christian
people
and this is not a permanent apostolic
post for him
but paul's got him there now to
accomplish something special what is
that
to put in order in the church leadership
and to establish doctrine within the
church
praise god and he was the man for the
assignment because he had the anointing
to do that
because he has been mentored under paul
the apostle
himself that you should set in order the
things that are lacking
well it's a little bit humorous but
honestly there would have to be a lot of
things lacking amongst
these believers why where they're
they're from crete
and even their own poets their own
people
had written stories and humor about how
much the crete the christian people were
liars
where gluttons were just lazy and all
that was just part of their culture so
when you have a culture
like that that has no respect for time
that has no respect for order then
you're going to have to come in and
teach them that
and no you can't say you know what i'm
taking all of you and i'm gonna
i'm gonna send you all off to the
military i can't handle you you're gonna
go to the military
and i'm gonna enlist you into the
marines they're gonna teach you order
i'm gonna put you in the army you can
finally learn learn
order i can get you out of my hair no
that's not the solution
the solution is get somebody in there
that understands apostolic order the way
god's kingdom
operates and begin to teach them
and train them and look for those that
can lead
appoint them as elders in the church
make sure they meet these various
qualifications
and let's get the church up and running
in a strong
and stable way and that works around
the order that comes within the kingdom
of god praise god there's many many
levels of order and it's something that
it's not optional if you want to go to
the top it's going to be
necessary very necessary and the higher
you go
the more structured it has to become i
was
privileged to know and still do a world
leading
evangelist and he told the the funny
story one time
of when he was in a very large meeting
when he was real young
he was real young and uh he was actually
really
not that much into the things of god he
did love the lord he did know that god
had a calling on his life but
his mother had been a prayer warrior
ever since he was a child
and he was like her
samuel she was like a hannah she had
pleaded for a child
a son that god could give her through
her husband
and that they could raise this boy up
and he would preach all over the world
and so that was going to be his destiny
like it or not well he's growing up and
he realizes that so
you know he's open to that he does love
the lord so he's sitting in a meeting
one time a
large meeting thousands of people in the
meeting and
one of the most world's best known
ministers was speaking
and he stopped right in the middle of
the service
and begin to prophesy to this man that i
know that has gone on to become this
great evangelist and he said to him
the prophetic word was something along
this line my son from your youth i've
called you
and you're going to basically travel the
nations and you're going to
you're going to win the lost many lost
you'll have a international ministry
that reaches around the world and it was
a it was a spectacular word
spoken under the anointing by a seasoned
international minister that everybody in
the church
knows well my friend he got all excited
he thought well praise the lord i'm
going to be an international minister
hallelujah hallelujah he was all excited
and then soon as the service ended which
was just a few minutes after that
another prophet another prophet came
over to him in person now this prophet
was in the
in the service he came to him uh in
person to my friend
in person and gave a private personal
prophecy
that my friend told me about pastor
steven we
we know the public prophecy what was the
private prophecy
well he said the private prophecy was
this you're going to have to get your
life in order
and my friend said this prophet began to
prophesy so
accurately to him he he said now how did
he know about all those french fries
from mcdonald's that i spilt in the
backseat of my car
he had all kinds of things out of order
the car was out of order
you know even if you have an old car
even maybe if it's a clunker
if you'll just wash it and vacuum it and
keep it clean
it can look honorable praise the lord
maybe maybe somebody will look at it and
think oh look at that beautiful classic
car
you know the thing is is we if we just
implement
order into our lives things will go so
much smoother
why because it's an aspect of god's
wisdom
so my my friend said you know what it
was then that i realized
after both prophecies not just one not
just a grandiose prophecy
like isaiah chapter 54 verse two and
three but this other area
i'm gonna have to i'm gonna have to
tighten up in this area
praise god and he he did this
minister who went on to have his own
world renowned ministry and still does
he's sharp he's one of the sharpest
ministers i know everything is sharp
everything about his life is excellence
praise the lord he will not tolerate
anything less than that within his own
life
within uh what represents his ministry
why because it's he's an ambassador for
the lord
jesus christ and if you see disorder
and you see chaos that does not
represent the lord
that represents the fallen world system
and we know who's behind that
praise god my friends right now the holy
spirit is working
to identify critical areas in your life
that must be addressed where
there is disorder praise god
and the lord wants you to go to work on
it
with great zeal and make it right praise
the lord
make it right praise the lord thank you
jesus
you know you can't go around putting
other people's lives in order
but you can put in order what is under
your control
what is under your authority and the
area that you have been given
to govern over praise god let me pray
for you right now
heavenly father i pray for everybody
that's watching that is anticipating
a breakout year of isaiah chapter 54
verses 2 and 3
of great expansion and increase i pray
father that as your spirit is moving
upon their hearts right now
that they will begin to implement
greater levels of order
and structure in their life that
as the temple of solomon was looked at
with such admiration because everything
was so well ordered
i pray father that the life of the
person watching right now
will be transformed into that same level
of excellent glory
thank you father god thank you father
god that even others would look at their
lives and say wow
everything is so in place in your life
and in what god has called you to do
how do you do it how do you do it and
father we thank you for opportunities
to witness about you and the principles
of your word now father we thank you for
showing these areas
that we can do better in we thank you
for grace
we thank you there's no condemnation in
christ but we thank you also father you
don't want to leave us where we're
at you want to take us from glory to
glory strength the strength
order to even greater levels of order
now father we thank you in jesus name
let your grace for apostolic order be
released
now in jesus name
amen praise god praise god
thank you lord jesus glory to god
if you're watching i'm kind of smiling
because i know the holy spirit showing
you
those exact areas it could be something
physical
could be the temple itself that maybe
you think i need to
i need to work on this it could be
something physical it could be something
in your
in in the soul area could be something
in this spiritual area
it could be something very much in the
natural area
praise the lord glory to god but the
holy spirit's highlighting that right
now
now if you're watching today's program
and you don't know
christ as your lord and savior if you
don't know
him as your lord and savior your life
may have natural order in it but your
spiritual life is out of
order and outside of christ you are in
the kingdom of darkness
well god made provision for man's
salvation
through his son and by putting your
faith and trust in christ as your lord
and savior
your life is put in divine order and
your sins can be forgiven
hallelujah if you would like to cross
right now from spiritual death
in the spiritual life pray this prayer
after me say father god
i come before you in the name of jesus
and i know that jesus died for me
at calvary oh god
i am a sinner save me
right now jesus wash away
all of my sins with your precious blood
and give me your new life
thank you jesus write my name in your
book
of life thank you lord i receive you now
i take you now jesus as my savior and
lord
in your name i pray amen
and amen my friends god has heard that
prayer he has answered that prayer and
you now belong to him and keep walking
with him
and obeying his word and his principles
in his word
and your life will be well ordered
praise god
hallelujah it was the lord's will for
you to hear this
message today the steps
of a righteous man are ordered of the
lord my wife and i were ministering to a
man one time
and we asked him what his name was and
his name was
steps s-t-e-p-s
and we said well your steps steps your
steps are ordered of the lord praise god
we were able to pray
for him and minister to him so god's got
it all mapped out
and you're gonna finish it you're gonna
cross the finish line
because it's well ordered praise the
lord
today let's take holy communion together
grab some unleavened bread
and some grape juice praise god
and i would like to read a verse to you
from the book of hebrews chapter 10.
verse 16 this is the covenant
that i will make with them after those
days says the lord
i will put my laws into their hearts
and in their minds i will write them
pastor stephen i don't have the whole
bible memorized i don't know everything
i'm supposed to do
just by being saved and the holy spirit
living on the inside of you all of the
laws of god
those things are written on the inside
of you and the holy spirit trust me he
knows them all
and he is on the inside of you basically
directing you
this is right this is wrong go this way
keep following the lord
praise god and we thank god that the
holy spirit lives in us
then he adds their sins
and their iniquities their lawless deeds
i will remember
no more now where there is remission or
the taking away of these
there was no longer an offering for sin
praise god
well we don't need the old testament
sacrificial system
where we are constantly sacrificing
innocent animals to have their blood
temporarily cover our sins we have a new
high priest
he is the lord jesus christ and his
sacrifice
was the propitiation for our sins
the covering over and the taking away
fully of
all of our sins and we are told
that the lord remembers our sins and
iniquities no more
that he throws them into the very bottom
of the depths
of the sea
praise god god does not remember your
sins or keep your sins against you he
forgets them
he forgives them praise god hallelujah
now as we take communion today let's be
mindful of that
father as we receive the bread and the
juice we
bless it and consecrate it we set it
apart as holy
through this prayer and as we receive it
it is now the body and the blood
of christ our savior father as we
receive
the body of jesus we thank you for order
being established in our lives a life
that is pleasing to you
a life that has plans
that are understood concerning your
direction and your path
for our life thank you father for your
holy spirit
who is helping us even right now to put
things in order in the right sequence of
events
we give you praise for helping us to
prioritize our decision-making
thank you father in jesus name amen
and amen let's receive now the body of
the lord jesus
i see you removing the clutter from your
life
and i see you also making decisions
if you haven't touched it or you haven't
used it in five or seven or ten years
you're never going to touch it again
you're never going to use it why not be
a blessing to somebody
why not sow that into the life of
somebody else that could use it
that would appreciate it and it would
have a special meaning to
these things will be considered praise
god the holy spirit is working
praise the lord because so there are
some things that you have
perhaps they have special value
but it's never been used it's locked
away or put away
never will be maybe it's even forgotten
about well
we need to pray about removing the
clutter praise god
hallelujah father thank you for the
blood of jesus thank you for
complete forgiveness of sins even our
sins you wash away
and you remember them no more
father thank you for the blood of jesus
that makes it possible we give you
praise in jesus name
amen let's receive the blood of jesus
praise the lord glory to god
well my friends i believe today's
message can be applied
in some certain area even if it's a
small area and you tackle that
the moment you do and the moment you put
that in order you know what's going to
happen
joy will come into your life why
because by establishing order you are
creating the atmosphere
that makes you happy and an atmosphere
that brings happiness is an atmosphere
of order
praise the lord and all kinds of good
things flow out of that
creativity brilliant ideas
thoughts from god are picked up on
praise the lord and that's
the realm that's the world that you want
to live in
heavenly father bless your people with
the life of order
let their life be like the temple
that solomon built well ordered
everything about it well
ordered and we thank you o god that we
are the temple
of the holy spirit we give you praise
bless your people
bless your people with a well ordered
life in jesus name
we all agree and say amen
and amen thank you for watching i'll see
you back next time