good morning my friends i'm pastor
stephen brooks welcome today to morning
glory our midweek bible study i'm so
happy that you're here today
and i want to invite you to grab your
bibles we will be in matthew chapter 4.
we're going to start in verse 1 and i
want to talk about
when jesus went one-on-one with the
devil the adversary how he won
and how you can also walk in victory as
well
over the various temptations that come
against your life praise god
matthew chapter 4 verse 1 let's pray
first heavenly father as we go into your
word
we ask that your holy spirit would
illuminate the scriptures
so that it's not just a history lesson
not just intellectual information
but let it be a living word so that we
can take it and safely navigate
so many of the
spiritual icebergs that the enemy would
place
in front of our paths father thank you
for the illumination of your word
and for your holy spirit making it food
to us we give you praise in jesus name
amen praise god
chapter 4 verse 1 then jesus was led up
by the spirit
into the wilderness to be tempted by the
devil
well the holy spirit who is the third
person of the godhead
the holy spirit knew that the devil was
going to come
in a very
crafty
well-thought-out attack and because god
is god god knew that and so the holy
spirit needs to get jesus ready for this
big heavyweight match
it's a little bit like boxing
where you have two contenders
excuse me going up against each other
and there's going to be a clash so
before you have the big fight you have
preparatory training and the holy spirit
who is almighty god knows everything god
is um omnipotent and he's omniscient
and he knows all things and so he can
get you ready and he's going to get
jesus ready through the tried and true
method
of separating him
leading him into a remote isolated place
and helping him to be quiet and to get
into prayer and fasting
praise the lord for 40 days and 40
nights because the big showdown is
coming and jesus is going to be ready
praise god now let me just say one more
time that the holy spirit is an expert
in preparing you for
these clashes with the enemy it's not
like you're going to have like a major
throw down like this every every month
this is just something that's very very
special this is very important and the
devil is coming
with all of his diabolical
genius ability
and
the holy spirit is going to make sure
that jesus is ready and the holy spirit
also
will
quicken you during those special times
when you must withdraw and spend extra
time alone with god because it could be
that he's able to see the attack that's
on the way let's move on down now to
verse 2.
and after fasting
40 days and 40 nights
he was hungry praise the lord
well we all have
a reserve within our bodies
that even if you're a skinny person
you still have some reserves
and sometimes skinny people say well i
can't i can't fast pastor stephen i'm
too thin
well if there's a medical situation
certainly you would want to get your
doctor's permission but even skinny
people have reserves and you'd be
surprised how
how far you can go
but what has happened with jesus is that
after 40 days
he has now
burned through all of what we would call
the bodies natural reserves fat reserves
praise god
and so after fasting 40 days and 40
nights he was hungry now some people can
get to that
uh
place before 40 days they don't have
that many reserves some people can go
longer i've read multiple testimonies on
the subject of extended fasting one man
i think he was in ireland he went one
year with no food 365 days and he was
really really overweight his mom and dad
owned a fish and chips restaurant and he
ate there all the time and he got really
large
but he went 365 days he wasn't starting
off to do that but he just started off
and after 40 days the weight's still
coming off and he lost hundreds of
pounds
and i'm sure you know got a uh
you know a lot a lot of cleansing and
healing done in his arteries and his
veins and all of that stuff as well as
many other places of his body but after
after a year he ate some food and then
kind of resumed back into what you would
call a normal life because
uh going with no food for a whole year
that's certainly abnormal
and uh but he was able to keep
the excessive weight off after that and
lived a good life praise the lord but my
friends
at the end of your reserves something
kicks in
and it's called hunger and i don't know
if you've ever been to that place before
i'm sure there's a few of you that would
understand what i'm talking about but
when you are completely depleted
your body sends off a signal and it's
called hunger it means there's nothing
uh left to to burn there there is
nothing else that the body has to work
with at all
your system has been completely gone
through
and every bit of uh fat every bit of uh
you know maybe the body is
so it's so amazing how god designed our
bodies that
once it works through fat if there's bad
stuff say like tumors or cysts or things
like that the body knows switch over to
that now but if there's nothing
left to switch over to
that's bad or that can't be consumed
such as fat
then your body goes into a very
much survival mode and remember your
brain everything's working around your
brain with your physical body so your
physical brain
uh is basically like i've got to stay
alive so we have to sacrifice something
else so jesus is now
at a very vulnerable place where he has
used up all fat reserves and by the way
when you hit that spot a hunger kicks in
uh unlike anything you've ever
experienced before you you become so so
hungry and listen to me very carefully
if you ever get to that point you only
have a very thin
window you have only a very short amount
of time
to get food intake or your body will
switch into full-blown starvation
and it'll start cannibalizing your body
your body will start to consume itself
usually the first thing
if there's nothing else to work with
it's going to be the heart and uh it's
uh it's very very dangerous oh guess
what that's when the devil shows up
you know that's on purpose well pastor
stephen he just happened to arrive at
that time oh no he's standing back in
the distance
watching
he plays so dirty and he's very smart
don't ever
uh think that the devil is like uh some
kind of uh
uh you know uneducated type thinker or
something like that he's very very smart
he is a fallen archangel
not just an archangel that was that has
now fallen but he was also a covering
cherub so now
we understand that he is defeated and
that because we are in christ he's
beneath our feet but don't ever mistake
him for being some kind of a pushover he
is very very smart he is i would even
say superhuman crafty
and uh he can really bring the goods
when he brings the attack and we need to
be aware of how he operates
now
jesus was he was hungry and the tempter
came and said to him notice he's called
the tempter
he came to jesus and said to him
if you are the son of god
now i i know that when we see the word
if
if often denotes doubt
and sometimes you know i've heard
theologians or preachers say that really
satan is trying to create doubt in the
mind of jesus that he really is the son
of god
i don't think
i don't think that's really what he's
trying to do here now he says
if you are the son of god i mean the
devil the devil knows he's the son of
god remember these two remember each
other and uh
jesus knows where he came from before he
came to the earth he was the son of god
and from eternity past he was always
known as the word
and god the father son and holy spirit
uh you know god created lucifer
but lucifer rebelled got thrown out of
heaven so it's not like they don't know
each other and so although jesus has now
as the son of god been born into the
earth and he's taken on flesh and blood
and he's now a human
uh
this is not like they haven't met before
okay so
he's he's coming from a different angle
and watch this the tempter came and said
to him if you are the son of god
command these stones to become loaves of
bread
command these stones to become loaves of
bread now i want to ask you a question
jesus is in a place
of critical
desperate need for food
so
if you stand back and look at the angle
of how this temptation is coming in
there is a part of it where you can ask
um
hey what's wrong with this i mean what's
wrong with turning the stones
into bread i mean after all jesus you're
hungry
and i'm sure the devil was putting on
the heat because stop and think about it
just with your natural mind you're out
in the wilderness you're in the middle
of nowhere there's no grocery stores
there's no supermarkets there's no
convenience stores like right you know
like right down the block or something
like that where you can go and get a
fried burrito right
or something like that or a bag of chips
and a soft drink right you don't have
anything like that out there so
your your natural mind would say you
know i'm in trouble i i i need some food
and there's there's no food out here
praise the lord so the enemy
is
presenting something to him
that in some ways you could think well
what's wrong with that why not just
command these stones to become bread and
that's what we want to talk about
uh today
you know let me give you an example
of what we're dealing with here in this
specific temptation
in the early
1900s right around you know 1910
actually a little bit before that
probably 1909
pentecost or the spirit field experience
came to north carolina and it came
because
certain ministers mainly those that were
involved in the holiness movement heard
about what was happening in los angeles
at the pentecostal outpouring known as
azusa street
so you had ministers from south carolina
and particularly north carolina my home
state go to california to be in those
meetings to receive
what god was doing there and of course
many were filled with the holy spirit
they spoke in other tongues and they
received gifts of the holy spirit and
they went back to their home states and
you had certain ones come back to north
carolina and begin to present
the gospel
that we would call the full gospel
message
and
uh you know many were very
thrilled about this and excited about it
it was it was new for many it was a
deeper experience with god that many
were wanting to move into here's the
challenge though
you had some of those ministers here in
north carolina even after
after pentecostal experience of now
remember when i say pentecostal and
speaking in tongues speaking in tongues
is just the initial
uh
immersion of the spirit this is not like
you've reached the top of the mountain
this is the initial touch and
empowerment of god so that you can come
up against these things that are going
to come against you and so
there are quite a few pentecostal
ministers in the early 1900s
who
in their pulpits hammered against
the
nasty nicotine and the nasty plant of
tobacco and the smoking of tobacco and
they would really preach against smoking
and this was even before we discovered
about cancer and things like that but
they would preach smoking's not good and
they would really hammer it from the
pulpit
guess what what happened after sunday
was over
and monday morning would roll around
quite a few
quite a few of those exact same
preachers were back out on the farm on
monday
growing tobacco and the very thing that
they're preaching against they're
actually engaged in so they're
undercutting their message and even
though they're saying the right thing
and in in essence maybe doing the right
thing
there's something absent in the punch no
matter how much you shout no matter how
much you sweat when you preach if you're
not living it
the holy spirit's not going to come on
that message with power praise the lord
so
this is why we have to be very very
careful in what we do such as turning
stones in to bread we have to be very
very genuine with this praise god
praise the lord let me give you an
example let's go further turn the stones
in the bread
a couple years back there was a minister
now he's finished his course he's in
heaven now really good minister true
prophet
and although he lives in america or did
live in america and he was a bishop over
many churches
while he lived in america he would have
to travel quite often to other countries
to
check on the many churches that were
beneath his uh apostolic oversight
and he ran into something very
interesting in one african church
while he was out on the field visiting
all the churches well he went to this
one church
and it was in a very
uh
war-torn area
although the church had been established
and was functioning for several years
you know all of the
economic stress
all of the things that a war causes and
uh you know elements of famine and also
very hard to find what you would call
stable employment all of that is
circulating all of these hardships
so
something had taken place in the church
and while the pastor knew that what had
taken place
wasn't really right he didn't know how
to deal with it nor did the elders so
when the bishop came
the pastor and the elders presented
their
situation to
the bishop now here's what the situation
was
because of the present difficulties
within the church
and hard to get work
and economic pressure
we're talking real economic pressure
and people you know
wondered how they're going to meet their
needs and so forth
several of the ladies in the church
compromised
they looked at their situation they
compromised and
they went into prostitution
and you may think oh pastor stephen how
can something like that happen even in
the church well it happened and guess
what
the ladies that were doing this
justified it
and they even brought their tithes
into the church and they would put their
tithes in the offering baskets and the
elders would collect it and bring it and
the pastor would pray over it and the
pastor was just like something's uh
horribly wrong with this and uh i'm not
sure quite sure how to do uh what i'm
supposed to do about this situation so
the bishop showed up and they presented
it to him and they said what are we
supposed to do or
should we take their offerings because
it's like should we take their tithes
because we have so little money right
now we're all in survival mode and we're
feeling great pressure to accept this
we're feeling great pressure to
do this thing
and we have needs now remember jesus
was on the verge of starvation no food
no food for 40 days his reserves are
completely out and he is he he could
feel that pressure look
i've heard theologians say that this
whole thing was like a farce that this
was like a fake temptation that jesus
was god and it was impossible for him to
sin
uh well those theologians are grossly
mistaken this was a real temptation to
jesus who was 100 man and he could feel
it oh yes he was god at the same time
but he has also now become man and he's
feeling it and this is a real temptation
coming against him well back to the
story with the church in africa
the bishop wisely said men
let us fast for i think it was two or
three days and let's seek the lord for
his wisdom because even if you go in
there and say something's not right
about this we're gonna shut this off
well it needs to be done the right way
and there needs to be scripture and
there needs to be uh
you know healing and restoration and
forgiveness repentance and all this
stuff so he says let's just fast and
pray and seek god well he fasted and
prayed
and the the holy spirit gave him a very
unusual verse would you like to hear
what it is
it comes from the torah deuteronomy
chapter 23
verse 18
you shall not bring the fee of a
prostitute
or the wages of a dog into the house of
the lord your god in payment for any vow
for both of these are an abomination to
the lord your god
so you cannot
allow the prostitute to bring an
offering in and say well this is the
tide though or to bring an offering and
say well this is for the lord's work
it's it says in scripture that is an
abomination to the lord so
uh
the bishop shared that
and basically because of the scripture
and the teaching of the word revealed
that this is unacceptable we can't have
we can we can't sanction prostitution in
the church we all know this is wrong but
we're also not accepting that money and
so um
well pastor stephen
now this is serious stuff what happened
to that pastor and those elders and
those people in the church they all
starve and die
no
the bishop came in and taught them how
to stand on
on the covenant of the lord so that your
food
and your water are met and that god
takes care of your needs and that as you
worship the lord god will provide for
you and you don't have to degrade
yourself just honor yourself or do
something stupid
uh that the devil would try to get you
into because of pressure that would make
you compromise you don't have to
compromise at all hold to god's word and
god's principles
and god will get you through anything
praise god well
of course there were some ladies in the
church that need to repent it i need to
repent and there are of course men that
need to repent also you know for you
know kind of like
going along with it and you know because
of their need and so forth
even stop and think for a moment about
the the pentecostal preachers in
carolina that were growing
uh tobacco because certainly they were
justifying it doing the same thing that
they would say well hey yeah we're gonna
preach against it but what are we
supposed to do for a living it's not
like we can do anything else there's not
there's not any industry out here these
are the rural areas of north carolina
the only income the only way to make a
living seems to be to grow tobacco and
then you know we we grow it and we dry
it out then people smoke it what else
are we supposed to do surely god
understands
yeah
god understands that's called compromise
he understands they were compromising
and if you compromise and give the enemy
an inch
he's got you he'll come in he'll come in
by the way you don't want the devil in
your life in any way he brings this
thing called chaos
which is awful he will blow into your
life with chaos and he'll make your life
awful so you want to walk very closely
with the lord and watch out because the
enemy is very very sneaky on trying to
get you to compromise in certain areas
where you can you could try to like
rationalize well yeah surely god
understands yeah i'm starving out here
there's no grocery stores yeah
okay mr devil you're right
i'm going to just go ahead and do it
but he didn't do it did he that's not
what took place by the way
the reference here in deuteronomy 23
verse 18
referring to the prostitute and also to
the dogs the dogs uh is an analogy there
that's not talking about real dogs that
run around on four you know four legs or
four feet four paws actually that's
actually the word
pause is excuse me dogs is a reference
to
those that would be involved in the
pagan practices of temple
cult prostitution by the way that's what
verse 17 is talking about where god told
the children of israel don't let any of
your sons or daughters
ever be prostitutes or be involved in
this ritual cult type worship it's an
abomination
and that is what was taking place in all
of the surrounding heathen nations
around the jewish israeli people and all
of these other
heathen nations they worship their gods
but at the temple of their gods you
could go and bring an offering but as
you brought an offering there will also
be
cult prostitutes there
men that were involved in sodomy women
that were involved in prostitution and
that was also considered a part of their
worship to their god and so
that's what's being referenced to as
dogs
don't have anything to do with the
prostitution and don't have anything to
do with these uh the sodomites or these
other things that the bible calls
perversion stay completely completely
away from it and we also see that in
revelation 22 verses 14 through 15 where
that we know outside of the gates of
heaven
we are told by the lord jesus that's
where the dogs are at all those that are
liars all those that are sexually
immoral all of those that are the
unbelievers all of those that are
outside of christ
there are referred to through the
the analogy of being dogs praise god
amen now
there are certain things that are wrong
because if you accept it
if you accept it because of desperate
need or desperate hunger whatever it
might be
then your acceptance also basically says
that you approve
the means by which is which is it is
being done so this is a very
tactile
uh temptation well thought out by the
devil to try to get jesus the compromise
in this area in a very depleted state
that he's now in so really what is
this
temptation if we boil it all down that's
going on right here
it is a temptation for you to get
done
through to get whatever it might be done
through a method that god has not
authorized for you to use
be very very careful
god
through the holy spirit never told jesus
to
turn those stones into bread well how
else is he supposed to eat out there
that's up to god
to reveal but jesus is not going to do
something that god has not instructed
him to do by the way did you ever notice
how pushy
the devil is very very pushy especially
when you're weak just go ahead and do it
go ahead turn these stones and everybody
go and do it there's ample justification
for it just do it just do it
he's very pushy
the devil's kind of like
the person
when you're driving down the road at the
speed limit and you're comfortable
you're enjoying your drive and somebody
comes right up behind you tailgating you
like a raving maniac they can't perhaps
get around you because maybe you're on
a one-way lane and you can't you can't
move over and they can't pass so you're
driving the speed limit but they come
right up behind you that's just like the
devil and that you know maybe honking or
flashing their lights and you're going
60 at the at the speed limit but they
want to go 85 so they can't get around
you so what do they do try to push you
try to push you
and of course if you were to yield to
that and try to speed up well i'll just
speed up for a while because they're
driving me crazy guess who will probably
get the ticket you would
you'd get the ticket and the cop would
catch you on the radar and the the
lunatic behind you uh you know will go
off and somehow not be seen or something
like that don't let the enemy push you
into doing something that would cause
you to compromise on anything
glory to god he's very very pushy
especially when you're weak this is his
operating style
praise god
thank you lord jesus
you know you stop and you think about
moses
god told him to speak to the rock and he
struck it
and the water
still came out didn't it but see
on that occasion the holy spirit god did
not authorize
did not authorize moses to strike the
rock well yeah but pastor stephen the
water still came out
well i have a feeling that if jesus
would have commanded those rocks those
stones become brit i have a feeling it
would have happened but how many of you
know
it's game over for the destiny now the
devil got him
but he the devil didn't get him because
jesus knew exactly what was going on
and jesus knew i'm not authorized to do
this and i'm not going to do it
thank you lord jesus now
if you do it
even if it works and you do it anyhow
but you're not authorized to do it the
enemy has you so you want to be very
very careful in this area this is high
pressure
temptation
glory to god they are pre-planned
attacks that's why you need the holy
spirit
in your life you need the holy spirit in
your life working in your life praise
god let's continue on
back we go to matthew chapter 4
matthew chapter 4 praise god
now
he answered it is written man shall not
live by bread alone but by every word
that comes from the mouth of god so you
actually live by the word of god
you live by the rhema
of god praise the lord
how does faith come faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the word of god
but when it says faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word the word there
is rhema so it has to be a living word
praise god
praise the lord and that's what gives
you life and that's what gives you
strength and that's what gives you
victory
praise the lord amen now here we go to
the next one
then the devil took him
to the holy city let's stop there just
for a moment the devil took him
notice jesus didn't say hey i'm not
going along with you i know who you are
you're a crazy person i ain't going with
you
notice the devil took
him
there are some things you can't avoid
there are certain temptations that even
though you pray it even though you fast
there are some things that god has
prepared you for
and this
this is what
is the difference between holiness
and innocence
holiness
has been tested and you resisted the
temptation
okay so innocence is you're just pure
and sweet but you've never really run up
against anything you're sweet you're
innocent but holiness is totally
different holiness is the devil threw it
at you presented it in his very best
ability
you've said no
whoa glory to god hallelujah
so he took him
pastor steve and i'm going to rem i'm
going to move to a remote island out in
the middle of the pacific ocean with
nobody on the island because i'm tired
of temptation and i want to get away
from the devil
he'll be on the island trust me he'll
and he doesn't need a boat he don't need
he doesn't need an airplane he just has
this ability remember remember he's a
spirit being
you know so a spirit being can just you
know they can do things that a physical
human can't so sooner or later trust me
he'll show up on that island and it
wouldn't surprise me if day one he's
there to greet you
he's uh
he's attempted now god will never allow
you to be tempted with more than you can
bear
but yeah he can get around the enemy can
get around pastor stephen i have a
different strategy i'm going to lock
myself in a monastery with castle walls
that are three feet thick
how many of you know that a spirit being
can go right through the walls you know
jesus can't you know angels can well the
old devil can do he can walk right
through a wall and if if for whatever
reason he has a green light from heaven
to come i mean he obviously has that
green light here
he's got the he's coming and he's
bringing the temptation don't think that
you can somehow avoid everything now we
ask god to lead us away from temptation
we're certainly not going to walk into
something i have no desire to walk down
to the bar walk into the bar and sit
there and just try to run into some good
old temptation no i had no desire to do
that neither do you
but should it come be ready because god
will strengthen you
and he will get you through it praise
god amen so he took him
and jesus couldn't say oh i know i'm not
going along for this no the devil had
this uh permission or whatever to tempt
him just like he tempted adam now then
the devil took him to the holy city
and set him on the pinnacle oh that must
have been the ability to go up in the
sky to go up in the air and we see that
in scripture he is called the prince of
the power of the air
okay so he set him on the pinnacle of
the temple now when you go to jerusalem
and you go on tour and i hope that you
come on tour with me at our upcoming
tour more information on the website
that you can find out about our tour to
israel in may of 2022 but you can
actually see that when the temple was
torn down
and that upper
uh
pinnacle area
that that is also where the uh one of
the priests would blow the trumpets
announcing the various feasts and so
forth
but many theologians believe that's
actually also where
uh satan took jesus and that's that high
pinnacle has now actually been thrown
down and you can see it praise the lord
then the devil took him to the holy city
and set him on the pinnacle of the
temple and said to him
if you are the son of god throw yourself
down
for it is written
oh how about that look at the devil go
quoting scripture whoo quoting the bible
look at the devil go would you believe
such a slick
smooth
uh i mean he's quoting the bible and
he's quoting it really good he's even
quoting it accurately
if you are the son of god throw yourself
down for it is written he will command
his angels concerning you and
on their hands
they will bear you up lest you strike
your foot against the stone
um praise the lord
here we have a very dangerous thing
where
this element approve yourself
you know uh show us who you really are
show us what you've got jesus
and of all things the devil quoting
scripture now he's quoting out of
context
and i would say he's doing something
even way more sneakier than that it's
not just quoting out of context and i
want to talk about this different angle
that he is now taking
praise you lord jesus
let me give you an example i was at the
home of an esteemed prophet some years
back
at that time
some people said that perhaps he was the
greatest prophet in the earth at that
time i'm not sure it's a big planet but
i know one thing he was known around the
world as a true prophet of god
i'm sitting at his house my wife and i
were there with he and his wife
and he told me about the time
that there was a mission trip a certain
church that he knew knew the pastor
and knew all those in the mission
department and stuff like that
that church was going to take a mission
group some of the people in the church
were going to take a mission group
overseas to a certain african nation
and uh
they were going to preach the gospel
bring the young people and preach the
gospel sounds good right
sounds real good
and this prophet
was warned by god
to warn the pastor
warn the adults
warn the parents
this trip if you take this trip
it will end
in horror
don't do it
and he plead it with them don't do this
you know what they said
oh
oh but
we have psalm 91 and the lord will
protect all these young people and
should anything happen well well that
that's all right because the angels of
god will protect us and they quote it
psalm 91
how about that
and this prophet told me
that when he saw that they were not
going to listen
to him
and saw
that they could not
distinguish a rhema word from the logos
word
you know
he knew they were in trouble and he said
god
he said i'm praying
for this group that's leaving anyhow on
this mission trip
he said lord two of them are my
spiritual sons
and they're all going to die
unless you intervene i'm asking you
please at least have mercy on my two
spiritual sons
that group got over there
claiming
psalm 91
we're quoting psalm 91 no matter what
happens we're here to preach gospel
that's what god wants us to do and the
angels will protect us
they got over there and got caught in
the middle of a coup a governmental
overthrow
and some bad people rose up
grabbed some machetes
killed all of the young people
chopped them up in pieces
and threw
their parts into the river and fed them
to the crocodiles
pastor stephen they're quoting psalm 91
guess who else quote psalm 91
the devil
and you have to be able to discern
what is faith
what's foolishness is and what's
presumption
well i just presumed i just presume that
god will protect those people pastor
stephen and i just presume that god will
do the same for me
oh
that's what the devil wants you to do
he wants you to presume that that word
is for you but did the holy spirit
speak that word to you
well patrick stevens i'm standing on the
word of god
that's a big book
what part of it are you standing on well
i'm standing on all of it
did god speak all of it to you all at
the same time
and expect you to walk all of it out
today within a 24 i i mean
the rhema word is that specific living
word that the holy spirit has breathed
upon and given life to you you can't
just go through the bible claiming
scriptures i claim that one i would like
that one i claim that one yeah that's
good i'll claim that one too
that's real good
the devil
the devil knows with christians like
that
eventually
he can get them
he can get them because why
they don't
know
how to get into the word
and get that living word so if the devil
can fake them out with the fake
oh but pastor stephen how can it be fake
when it's god's word because god didn't
speak it to them
and if he didn't speak it to you and
you're about to walk into something
that's over your head
hmm it's not going to go good you know
what i call that
i call it fake faith
whoo
and it's still circulating pretty
strongly through the body of christ
now i don't want you to be paralyzed
i don't want you to be worried that you
can't make
big decisions because you're going to
make a mistake
but i'm saying that
on especially on big things or very
important things or if you're on the
front lines ministering the word like
that young people trying to go over
their minister word
you really should
have some guidance and direction from
the holy spirit
and not just try to grab things and
claim things and stand on this and stand
on that no you need to you need to know
what you're doing where you're going and
be able to discern that witness that
leading of the holy spirit especially
should the world's
foremost prophet speak to all of you and
say this is going to end in complete
disaster you're all going to get killed
well you go sit down old man you don't
know what you're talking about we're the
next generation and we got the angels
protecting us
[Music]
praise the lord praise the lord i was at
a conference one time i could tell you
stories like this i could sit down with
you for hours and tell you stories like
the one i'm not about to tell you
i was at a conference one time overseas
powerful powerful conference
i wasn't the only speaker but i was one
of the main speakers
and i had a great a great conference
the conference wraps up
and when it's over
there was a man and his wife from a
neighboring country i won't say which
one
they were very wealthy he and his wife
were very wealthy and they said stephen
we want you to come and minister in our
nation
at our church
and it will be a gigantic crowd
and the offering
will be
tremendous
please come
please come oh pastor stephen you must
have booked your ticket you must have
been ready to roll
something didn't seem right
i went to the conference host who knew
that couple
this man the conference toast is a true
apostle and a personal friend
in privacy i asked him hey what's your
take on that couple over there and their
church and that in the neighboring
nation
and their ministry
he said pastor stephen
he said i wouldn't touch it if i were
you i said thank you that's all i need
to know oh my pastor stephen you're
leaving a lot of money on the table oh
mr stevens
that doesn't move me
my friends that that's the devil saying
jump
jump
no
no no no no no no no do not test the
lord and you do that through
silly
presumptuous acts that we call faith
it's not faith
no
oh
when they saw that that wasn't really
moving me that couple
they wouldn't ask another minister that
spoke at the conference
same thing they offered him
dangle the big money
angled it out in front of him guess what
he went
oh
pretty sharp guy too but he even asked
he even went and asked the conference
host what's your take on him oh i
wouldn't do it
he didn't care he's going to go do it
he's not going to turn that down for
nothing i won't say who he is
[Laughter]
he's had some rough times since then
which could be expected when you do
silly things like that
and uh even the conference host told me
he said yeah he asked me to and he said
he went guess what he went
spoke of that meeting
and almost
died he he almost died i i if i'm
correct maybe he even did and they had
to
bring him back to life and uh he barely
got out of there with his life why he's
in disobedience
now i can i can only imagine what would
happen if he had died oh we have heard
that brothers hoe and soul a minister of
the gospel a pentecostal preacher has
died in a foreign land preaching the
gospel surely he's a martyr and jesus
gave him the martyr crown no he would
not have had a martyred crown he would
have had an idiot crown
i i believe he would have gone to heaven
he's a child of god good minister
could flow in the gifts of the spirit
but that that thing of jump that that
was too appealing to him because of what
was involved
surely god understands god i have a
ministry budget to need to meet lord
understands the needs of the ministry
and they're going to give me a good
offer i'm going
despite
clear warnings
clear warnings
personal exhortations not to do it
[Laughter]
i heard a preacher one time stand up in
the meeting
and say you know some of you just need
to take a risk and go out and open up
your own business even if you don't
really know what to do and just trust
god and just throw yourself in the arms
of god and if it doesn't work out trust
him to catch you
i thought well you might as well just be
the devil standing up to telling people
to go jump off of a cliff and hopefully
an angel will bear you up and catch you
before you hit the rocks but that's not
going to happen you're going to hit the
rocks and then the financial realm
that's called bankruptcy
you imagine a preacher saying something
like that uh i mean it's like he's just
letting the devil speak right through
him
and this this stuff wow you have to
watch it you have to watch it woo the
devil he's smart he's sharp he's been
around for thousands of years
and he knows how to try to come against
the human intellect he knows your
weaknesses and he will try to hit in
these areas
but jesus
is just too much for him
jesus said to him again it is written
you shall not put the lord god to the
test
wow
praise god look at this scripture in
first samuel
chapter 15 verse 22
this is samuel the prophet speaking the
saul
who's completely blown it already as a
king he's already made a major mistake a
mistake that's so big
he can't recover from it it's it's so
bad
and the prophet goes to him
and samuel said
has the lord as great delight and burnt
offerings and sacrifices as in obeying
the voice
of the lord
my friends you can never substitute for
obedience no matter whatever types of
things you do
behold to obey is better than sacrifice
and to listen
than the fat of rams now listen to this
verse 23 for rebellion
is as the sin of divination oh yes
pastor stephen that's of the devil stay
away from rebellion that's only what
rebels do
and
presumption
presumption
job
got to work it out brother just go for
it god will take care of it
presumption
is as iniquity
and idolatry
wow
wow presumption well god's in this
are you sure well i sure think so
brother let's go
i have to know and unless god speaks to
me i'm not going i'm not going
there was a minister
very famous died in a plane crash
uh only a couple of years ago it was all
over the news even the secular news all
over the christian world famous minister
pentecostal minister
died in a plane crash
people said oh
oh how could how could that have
happened
well there's various reasons why it
could have happened
but i do know that there was one man
um
i won't say who he is
but there was one man that was not even
a preacher
that went to get on the plane and the
holy spirit said don't get on this plane
and so he he backed out backed out
and uh said i'm going to take a
commercial flight i'm not getting on the
plane and they all looked at him with
the puzzle look you know when you are a
world famous preacher
and you have your entourage
it's very difficult for your entourage
who sees you as the great man of god to
ever speak anything to you that could be
a word of like maybe i wouldn't say
correction but a word of like hey man of
god something's not right because they
all expect him to be right all the time
and if he's off or he's in uh he's being
pushed or he's like well you know you
know there's a big storm they're flying
into and uh that's stretching the
maximum range limit of the aircraft but
gotta work it out let's go well it
didn't work out
they crashed they were running extremely
low on fuel just before they crashed
flying into
a major storm
and so you have you have all this stuff
coming together
and that's usually what happens there's
usually almost impossible for there to
be one mistake usually when there's a
plane crash it's multiple errors all
compiling together
that create a sequence of events that
lead to the tragedy
but one guy said i'm not getting on that
plane and he wasn't even a preacher he
said the holy spirit showed me do not
get on that plane and he wasn't even a
minister
how about that praise god praise god
hallelujah well pastor stephen he should
have just got it gone ahead and got on
that plane and god would have covered it
because the angels are with that plane
uh you cannot
you cannot take a scripture and try to
just make it work for you if the holy
spirit has not given that scripture to
you that's presumption
well it's in the bible
and it lines up with god's will and it's
even in the new covenant i've got three
verses in the new testament that back
that up yes yes that's all there that's
ink on paper did the holy spirit speak
it to you
um
very few people
would jump off of a cliff
but but you have to understand that the
enemy is doing this
to
try to
get the lord to act on a word that is
not a word to him
and he'll try to do the same thing to
you he's a master tactician
praise the lord jesus let's continue on
let's continue on there's one more to go
and at this point
the pressure
cooker
is now on the devil
at this point the lord has denied two of
them
he has overcome through the anointed
word the rainbow word of god that's what
he's responding with
not just he's not just responding with
blanket scriptures he's responding with
rhema words
and it's hurting the devil and now when
you read this next temptation
you see something in the devil
that you've never seen before
and you know what it is
desperation
cold
sweaty
desperation he's running out of options
and he knows it
and you know what he does next
what he's going to do next because he's
he he you can only pull so much out of
the you know his
his artillery
what he's going to do next because he's
losing
is basically he's just going to offer it
all and his brazen it's crude
if i can use this word it's actually
vulgar but my friends this is vulgar
desperation and he's gonna throw it all
at him because
this is his only this is his last big
shot watch what he does
again the devil took him to a very high
mountain
and showed him all the kingdoms of the
world and their glory i'm sure he showed
him the roman empire i'm sure he showed
him the the chinese dynasty i'm sure he
showed him all of the wealth of south
america and all the inca gold and all of
these things all these empires around
the world so the devil took him to a
very high mountain and
look jesus couldn't say hey i'm not god
i'm headed i'm not going along with you
on any more trips nope the temptation is
not over with yet and the devil is
rightfully going to squeeze out of this
all that he can
again the devil took him to a very high
mountain and showed him all the kingdoms
of the world in their glory
and he said to him
all these i will give you
now we are aware that in the gospel of
luke also luke chapter 4
that
the devil actually says there he says
all these i will give you because it's
been given to me
and we know that the person that gave it
to him was adam
adam compromised adam gave in and satan
came in and he took all of that
authority that originally was invested
into adam
but see the the devil's stuff worked on
adam it worked on adam and eve
but thus farts not working against the
lord
all these i will give you
there's one cavite
if you will fall down and worship me
that's so vulgar
i mean he's desperate now i mean that
this is just
this is just crude
idolatry this is just crude worship hey
look i'll give you all the stuff
you can run the whole planet except
you're going to be under my dominion and
under my authority but i'll let you have
all this stuff all you have to do is bow
down and worship me
he's desperate then jesus said to him be
gone
satan
for it is written you shall worship the
lord your god and him only shall you
serve so it's a living word and it's
like a sword and it's hurting the enemy
so bad
then
the devil left him completely defeated
completely flustered completely
demoralized like how
how he's just like i i don't understand
it it's worked on every single human
in the last 4 000 years
so
my friends
these are things that you're going to
run into
you must stand on
the word of god the living word it's
that living word that gives you victory
not just a whole bunch of knowledge and
you're going to gain knowledge as you
read the bible as you study the bible
but it's the living words that put you
over that's what you live by that's how
you conduct your life
but it has to be a word spoken to you
a word spoken to you if it's not if it's
not and you're trying to act on
something
that is not a living revelation to you
it's fake faith it won't work it won't
work in a temptation and it won't work
when the rubber meets the road
um
praise the lord then the devil left him
and behold angels came
and were ministering to him
now if you will not compromise
if you will not compromise
the lord will take you into the fullness
of what he has for you
and
the enemy would present it like well if
you do that
you're just going to die out here you've
got to do this be you've got to turn
these stones in the bridge you're going
to die out here there's no stores
there's no food
walk with god refuse to compromise and
if god has to
if it requires it he will send angels to
minister
to you
woo praise god that's why you don't have
to compromise
and the the enemy is basically saying if
you if you just compromise worship me
you'll get it all well jesus is going to
get it all anyhow but he's not going to
compromise to do it
praise god
hallelujah did you hear that
he was going to get it all anyhow he was
going to win it all back
the right
way
the right
way don't ever violate biblical morals
or principles and you may feel the
pressure i know the lord did because
this is the jet the devil's bringing the
heat and he knows how to do it he can
bring it you can feel it you may even
sweat
uh i mean i mean he can bring it but
just stand on those words that give you
victory praise god praise god praise god
this is why we've had so many christians
that have tried to
present faith by standing on the word
and doing this and confessing this and
confessing that or you know i've got the
victory or this or that and then it
never the prayer is never answered or
they die or there's some kind of a
something that just went wrong
and then people are left wondering hmm i
wonder what happened
well what happened is they never got the
word themselves and when these
temptations come if you don't have the
word
um
wow it's it's not going to be good so
you got to be very very sharp in these
areas don't let the devil push you
into compromising don't let him get you
into this place where
you're in presumption where you think
this is of god yeah we're going to do
this
you need to know
this is of god well i'm not really sure
pastor stephen
well then you need to find out praise
the lord spend time with the lord until
you get that living word don't jump i'm
not saying don't jump off of a you know
off of a cliff or something like that
of course don't do that but don't jump
either into something if god's not in it
well i think he is that's not good
enough
that's not good enough you have to know
especially when it's big
this is how you live your life
by that living word praise god
i see victory coming to you through the
rhema word of god the living word of god
and i see
substance i see provision coming to
those that refuse to compromise or bow
oh oh pastor stephen i'm going to have
real financial problems if i don't give
into the system they're asking me to do
this and surely the lord understands
surely the lord understands
yeah he understands that
you don't really have a revelation that
he's jehovah jireh oh but i even pastor
steven i know the song jehovah jiren my
provider
yeah that's nice we all know the song
and other songs as well but if that's
not a living word to you it's just
another song
it's more information it's good stuff
but i tell you it's got to be it's got
to be sharp
a sharp sword
that's the only thing that backs the
enemy off and that's what will cut you
through to victory glory glory to god
glory to god somebody's about to get
some angelic provision it's it's a lot
better than the 7-eleven hallelujah it's
better than the fried burrito hallelujah
that's been sitting there on the cooker
for three days turning over and over
praise god hallelujah hallelujah
glory glory
glory lift your hands glory glory glory
glory to god
lord we give you praise we thank you for
your grace your anointing your strength
to overcome the enemy
thank you thank you father thank you
father we give you praise in jesus name
amen
amen praise the lord
if you're watching today's program
and you don't know christ as your lord
and savior but you you're ready to get
your life right with god right now pray
pray this prayer after me and escape
the dominion of satan
escape out of his kingdom come to christ
now pray this prayer say lord jesus
you died to save sinners
and i'm a sinner
jesus save me from my sins
wash me
with your precious blood
write my name in your book of life
i give my heart to you
and i turn from my sin
in your name i pray
amen
and amen praise god
and those of you that have prayed that
from your heart christ has saved you you
now belong to him live for him glory
glory glory to god
let's take holy communion
the devil's not going to
pull another victory off on you you're
going to be ready you're going to be
ready let's take holy communion
grab some
unleavened bread and some grape juice
the holy spirit's getting you ready
praise the lord
father we thank you for the bread and
the juice
we consecrate it
we set it apart
through this prayer
this is now the body in the blood of
jesus
father we thank you for the flesh of our
savior
that as we receive it
we thank you o god that the holy spirit
is strengthening us
the holy spirit is making specific
scriptures alive unto us
and god we give you praise and it's by
those scriptures
that we live
we give you praise
we thank you that faith is coming
by the hearing of the rhema living word
and by that we live
thank you father we give you praise
let's receive now my friends the body of
jesus in his name amen
praise god
heavenly father thank you for the blood
of jesus
thank you
for the mighty cleansing power of the
blood of jesus all of our sins washed
away
we ask father we have committed any sins
that you would forgive us now
wash them away cleanse us from all
unrighteousness thank you father and
shielders protect us and deliver us from
the evil one
and we thank you that you will
in jesus name we pray thank you almighty
god
amen let's receive
praise god
hallelujah
glory to god
my friends before i say goodbye
we have a ministry need of
a new camera we have two cameras
one
that you're watching me through right
now is beginning to fail
and
we've put a lot of hours on it and i
would say we have certainly gotten our
money out of it but it's starting to go
at times uh it will go from full color
into grayscale i was recording a message
for an audience in asia just a couple
days ago and the camera just completely
went
kind of haywire on us
and
it can't be fixed it's getting kind of
old anyhow so we need to step up to a
new camera
and i'm gonna i'm gonna use this one
just a little bit longer i certainly
don't trust it
because it's it's already failed me
several times
this week
seems to be holding together right now
but we need to phase it out and get a
new camera and i would really like to
bring in a cinema camera that we can
start streaming with that those are
really nice
and they're pricey uh the one i would
like to get is 7 900
if you would like to contribute to that
once you sow a seed towards it you can
go to the ministry website
stevenbrooks.org
click on the giving link and you're
going to see a new category that i've
just opened up
and this is for the camera now i believe
that we can get this quickly because we
need it quickly so all you have to do is
just do what the holy spirit would place
upon your heart to do
the the price all the bells and whistles
uh all tax everything
seventy nine hundred dollars and this
would be the best camera that the
ministry has ever had and it's a cinema
camera and so we would use it not only
of course for streaming in this studio
but we'll also take it with us when we
take trips such as to israel or other
countries i'm taking this camera with us
so that we can record in cinematic mode
it's beautiful it's nice praise god
you're actually seeing an image right
now of our studio right here studio b
and uh you can see the camera back in
the corner i'll pop up another image
there is the current camera
kind of towards the left up high and it
served us faithfully but my friends
let's take this opportunity of having a
camera beginning to go out on us and
just step it up to something that would
be a real blessing for the ministry do
we need a cinema camera uh we could
probably get by with something less
but let's
let's step into a a new level let this
be a new level we've always had good
gear
but let's step it up to a new level and
bring a cinema camera in again the cost
is seventy nine hundred dollars if you
would like to sew towards that it would
mean a lot and if you would like to do
something extra special go ahead and
just knock it out praise god and once
this budget is met the moment this
budget is met i'm taking this off of the
uh the web link for giving because it's
not like we we need to keep giving
towards it because once it's done it's
done praise god so let's knock it out
quick thank you for your giving father
bless your people as they sow towards
this immediate need so that we can stay
in full color and go into even better
color thank you father we're going from
glory to glory faith to faith hallelujah
thank you father for the new camera i
believe i receive it for this ministry
for the preaching of the gospel and i
thank you father that everybody that
sows into this will see the
fruits of their labor because every time
they watch the midweek service there
they will know they are looking through
the very lens that they sowed towards
giving
and they are reaching their seat is
reaching multitudes of people so father
we thank you that they
have a part in the eternal rewards
and
i just thank you father that we can't we
can't preach it without uh a format and
the tools to do that
and
and if we don't preach it they can't
hear it and father we thank you that we
can't believe what we don't know we
can't we can't receive what we're not
aware of so thank you father everybody
right now that's sowing
into
this cinema camera for the highest level
of internet streaming the gospel we give
you praise thank you father bless your
people
bless the seeds they're sowing
and thank you father for shielding us
and protecting us from the enemy in
jesus name
amen
and amen thanks for watching i'll see
you back
next time bye bye