good morning my friends i'm pastor stephen brooks welcome today to our midweek bible study called morning glory i'm so happy that you're here and i believe that today as you hear god's word it will provide the spiritual food that is essential to feed your spirit your soul and it will even bring strength to your body because it says in god's word that his word is medicine or health to all of your flesh so the message that you're going to hear today from god's word will bless your spirit your soul and your body praise god now today we're going to be in the gospel of luke chapter 21 we're going to talk about possessing your soul praise god let's open up in prayer heavenly father we ask that as we go into your word that once again your holy spirit that he would come and illuminate the scriptures so that we can understand them in a very clear and practical way and so that we can take your word today and apply it to our lives we thank you father that we are possessing our souls by the empowerment of your word and your spirit now we thank you in jesus name we agree and say amen praise the lord now let me just remind you that if you have any prayer requests please send them to me as i have been praying through all of the prayer requests now let me say whether you email me at contact stevenbrooks.org or perhaps you like to write a letter either way all emails are printed out all prayer requests by email are printed out i receive every single one they're put on my desk daily all prayer requests that come in through the postal service through mail through envelopes and letters and so forth i receive all of those too and i pray over every single one of them so i want you to know that i see every prayer request that comes into this ministry and i take them before the lord as i've done with all of those here and i pray through them one by one praise god well now pastor stephen if you do that you're not going to have time to go out to the golf course and hobnob around well i'll have plenty of time for golf when i get to heaven and there's something wrong with golf god is the creator of golf praise god but you know um life is short and i would rather invest my time in these areas of spirituality praise god now i'm not saying that ministers that play golf aren't spiritual i'm just saying that there is so much to do in the ministry that if um if if i don't stay on it it starts to overtake me and our ministry team so for me some of the fun things that others perhaps can do very often i can't do it because you know we're looking for the revival we're looking for the glory and i have to be honest i like it that the ministry places a demand upon me where it in many ways forces me to my knees to pray and look take any any reason to pray take it as a good thing and you'll find out that once you get immersed into prayer that really there's there's nothing better praise god and as much fun as shopping can be as as much fun as perhaps a golf course can be as much fun as so many wonderful life experiences can be really being in the lord's presence and getting into that flow of prayer where you go into the heavenly throne room there's nothing better nothing better praise god so thank you for your prayer request if you send them to me i will be certain to bring your request before the lord now there are some prayer requests that while i can't do this for all of them there are some that are of a nature that require my response and again because of all the prayer requests that do come in on the daily basis i could never take the time really to maybe contact every person i wouldn't simply have enough time but there are some that when i see them i sense that there needs to be communication so you'll find out that sometimes i reach out to you in a personal way that's usually in a case where perhaps well it's variable things that come together for example i received a email today from someone whose daughter is basically basically in agony and pain type screaming type pain and i sense that the father has faith and there's going to be a miracle so sometimes i do reach out and because i sense the holy spirit wants me to in that case but regardless of whether or not i personally contact you all i would ask is that you join your faith with mine that the petition that you're making before god and that you've asked me to pray concerning that we together can come together in faith and you'll find out that when there is a unity of faith that god will move on your behalf so whether your your email was sent to me from north carolina or maybe you're down south in alabama or maybe you're in south india i want you to know i've seen it i read it and i don't just love uh you know look at it and throw it away no i take time to lay my hands on the prayer requests that you have made because each one is printed out and i pray for you and i pray for that need and perhaps as often the case is sometimes the the prayer request is not for you maybe it is for a son a daughter maybe it is for a loved one or it could be for you you need a healing or you need a financial blessing or sometimes even a miracle praise god well be assured that i'm joining my faith with you and i believe that god can reach you meet you right where you're at i take a little bit of risk when i say that because sometimes people will think well pastor stephen call me get on the phone call me or personally email me back but it's very very rare and usually those are very desperate situations of people that are in um they're right on the edge right sometimes even life uh uh risking type situations so i can't i just can't personally take the time to respond to all of them but i am praying in faith with every person that emails me or writes me with a prayer request and i'm believing with you that god's going to move in your life and answer that request above and beyond that which we dare ask imagine or thank praise the lord glory to god hallelujah hallelujah praise the lord praise the lord prayer is good hallelujah look we'll look for every reason to pray let even difficult circumstances drive you to prayer hallelujah amen all right we're in luke chapter 21 verse 10 then he that would be jesus said to them nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and we see these types of things different nations i was just talking to a young man that is on his way to the ukraine uh to do some missionary work and uh by the way in in the ukraine and in russia there has been a really good response to our pure gold television program and some of that was strategic as my wife and i we noticed that rick renner was on at a certain time on god tv and there was a slot that opened i can't remember it was either right before him or right after him and rick renner's based out of moscow russia and uh excellent uh excellent teacher well we took that slot because it sandwiched us into a really good place between a couple of really good ministers and and so rick renner is very popular of course in russia so because we are bumped up right next to him we have caught some of that russian audience praise the lord and if you are watching me on the internet and you are from russia or you speak russian we actually have had one of our books how to operate in the gifts of the spirit that book has been translated from english into russian and if you read russian and you would like to have that book for free you can actually get it as a free download please visit the ministry website stephenbrooks.org go to the online store and then go to i believe it's called the link that is called digital downloads and just scroll down and you'll see some free books that we have and one of those is in russian perhaps you're watching and you you speak and read mandarin chinese we have several books two right now that are available as free digital downloads the third chinese book is in the home stretch right now as it's being translated as well so my friends make yourself available to take those spiritual resources and if even if you don't speak mandarin or russian or you can't read it let somebody else know if you know somebody that that could be a blessing to just let them know hey there's a free book that would really bless you spiritually over at the website praise god but uh back to my story my friend going over to the ukraine and of course russia is basically saying that we're going to basically absorb ukraine because it really has belonged to russia they say for years and years in centuries past but but then again today ukraine is our own sovereign nation so you're looking at the threat of war it's a little bit of the same type of scenario with china and taiwan and i've been to taiwan multiple times beautiful sovereign nation it used to be called formosa which means the beautiful island or the beautiful land and it really is very very beautiful but china is bulim taiwan uh which is his own sovereign nation and china is saying hey we have a right to take over uh taiwan because we have this uh historical legacy going back for centuries that you know this island has always belonged to us therefore we have a right to take it and so you know you see these looming threats and uh all of this stuff all around the world where stuff could just blow up uh and get real bad real quick we always have the um you know the middle east all the strife and tension in the middle east and these things are going to continue nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and by the way let me just say this about taiwan um and of course i'm for taiwan having their own national sovereignty but it but it is true that if you are a chinese government official and you want to know the roots or the legacy of the chinese people well some of the most remarkable artifacts and some of the most specialized things that date back to the chinese people's identity going back for thousands of years many of those very special items are actually kept in taiwan so you have to go to the taiwan if you want to learn the roots of your chinese legacy so uh but you know uh things change over the millennia things change over the centuries and what was once this maybe not uh is the same uh is it's different you know things all change boundary lines change if nothing else because so many boundary lines are set by the course of a river but if the river changes course well that's going to uh affect things and on and on it goes but we know that until jesus comes back there's always going to be these underlying frictions sometimes erupting unfortunately into wars and we see that here nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be great earthquakes in various places and famines and pestilences and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven now you have to remember also this thing about the signs from heaven as we approach the last days of the end times in which we're living we're already in the end times we're just in the final innings of the game so to speak but um the sides in the heavens is going to really become spectacular and it was said that before the roman army led by titus the roman general came and surrounded jerusalem and really locked down jerusalem so that nobody could go in or out and uh there were signs in the heavens josephus the jewish historian who you know ended up being with the romans um he was captured so now he's with the romans but he's still jewish and he could understand the jewish culture and he's writing now as a roman historian he said the signs that were in the heavens basically warning the jews get out of jerusalem before this army locks you down that it was just incredible where there were literally angels that could be heard blowing shofars uh above the city there could even be heard with the audible ear proclamations of angelic voices saying flee from this city before destruction takes place but yet you had so many jewish people that overrode all of that but my friends the signs will be there and we're going to see signs in the heavens uh as we approach the last days that will be um not just cloud formations maybe you're struggling to try to make something out though there will be signs that will be unparalleled yes and uh i have seen remarkable uh cloud formations one of the most phenomenal ones that i ever saw was when my wife and i were leaving a certain city very wicked city now some good churches in the city uh trying to reach the wicked ones in the city but as far as the city itself goes it is a very very wicked city and when my wife and i drove out of that city we saw a cloud formation now when you see something like this also you're thinking is anybody else seeing this because we saw it off of a major interstate with all kinds of traffic going up and down the interstate but it seemed like uh as far as i could tell nobody else saw it but we saw a cloud formation set back in the mount in this area the cloud formation looked like it ran maybe 30 to 50 miles in in width and the cloud formation turned like a dark black clouds and there were literal thunderbolts and i'm not having a vision i'm seeing this with my own physical eyes this was not a vision but i saw a cloud formation uh formed with uh black clouds and lightning bolts shooting all through the clouds and in the center of it a gigantic throne seated upon the throne was almighty jehovah god and there were flashes of lightning coming out of the throne and he was looking at that city and it wasn't a good look it was a look of you are corrupting you're polluting you're defiling uh people and this is a city that uh where sex trafficking runs wild where perversion is celebrated and god was looking at that city and so unless there's repentance it's not good it's not going to be good when judgment is unleashed praise god but i'll say this there'll be plenty of warning signs you'd have to be willingly belligerent and stubborn to override the road signs and the heavenly signs that will be blaring repent repent time's running out real quick repent repent look no man knows the day or the hour when christ will return or as we would say also according to what paul wrote about first and second thessalonians the catching up of the church nobody knows that exact moment uh when that's going to happen but oh you're going to just know when it's when we're bearing down on it you'll you'll know because it will be unprecedented the miracles the signs and we're headed towards a grand finale you know we just cleared uh fourth of july which here in america is a celebration of america's birthday but anytime you see fireworks like a celebratory fireworks show you know the grand finale is always at the end no matter how spectacular the show is you're waiting for what when they just release everything at the end and that's what god is going to do and that's what we're winding up for and towards this next revival will be non-stop until the full gospel is preached all through the earth and then the end is going to come but you're going to see a spectacular fireworks if i can use that where the glory is going to be manifested we're going to come into the fullness of the power gifts uh the special faith the working of miracles the gifts of healings in full power full power and so trust me you want to stick around for this this is the grand finale and this also follows principles that we see in god's word that he saves the best for last we saw that demonstrated in the first miracle that jesus ever did recorded in the gospel of john where he saved the best wine did the miracle at the wedding uh ceremony the best wine was brought out at the end and that was a miracle turning water into wine and so you're going to see god bring out the mighty power gifts and the signs and wonders and just all out move of the spirit get ready because the best is yet to come there'll be a lot of shaking going on as we know from isaiah chapter 60 verse 1 gross darkness will increase we know that but the glory will arise upon you and i upon the believers upon the church and the lord jesus will re return for a glorious church a glorious bride that's you and i get ready for total transformation a total makeover hallelujah something that uh makeup and hairspray could never do something that a tan or botox could never do praise god and no i don't use botox praise god i'm i'm just going to be natural until i go home to be with the lord or until jesus takes me i know plenty uh plenty of pastors that do take all of that shots and injections and a lot of plastic work praise god but i personally have zero interest in that my wife and i are the same way we are who we are and when you meet us in real life you don't see a totally different person and i've seen uh some ministers where you see them on camera they are so powdered up and they are so cosmetically enhanced that uh when they're not uh on set you would hardly recognize them and you know that that's okay if they want to do that that's fine that's their life that's fine but i just like being who i am i like uh being myself praise god not i'm not into all of that praise the lord now let's continue on verse 12. but before all these things they will lay their hands on you and persecute you delivering you up to the synagogue and prisons now while we have seen certain pastors here in america arrested and some also in canada arrested we still do have to you know to a certain degree and i'm praying that this will hold up and that there's going to be a reversal of the insanity that we're seeing with the communistic atheistic ideologies that are being expressed now in america and also in canada our neighbor up north but we we still do have certain protections where unlike some other countries where they can just make you disappear and kill you or lock you up in you know some kind of a mass uh prison death camp uh i won't say what country that i'm thinking about that that does that right now um but we still have some rights where you just can't uh do that in america uh unless you know you're really pushing your liberties in a sense where yeah you give them something to hang their hat on and they're going to try to lock you up for some reason now that has happened to some good ministers but we still do have some protections left here in the west where it's not that like they can just lay their hands on you and go out and beat you up or at least not do it publicly you know there's a lot of junk that goes on behind the scenes once they do uh kind of do it in a civil way and then that back behind the scenes they can kind of rough you up and stuff like that but even still you can have lawyers and you can have proofs that they realize they've got to be careful about what they do with you especially the more you broadcast and talk about it then the more exposure that you bring to it so some of that persecution that they went through back then and also would still take place in certain countries today uh here in the western world we still have some rights and protections and to the best of our abilities should we have to we will certainly use that and remember the time that the apostle paul who'd already been beaten and whipped over and over so many times and it looked like it's about to happen again he said well before you do that you should know that i'm a roman citizen and when he said that they stop why they're about to take him for another beating but when they heard that they backed off why it means he has certain rights and privileges he's a roman so be very very careful how you treat him matter of fact they had already arrested him and they'd already done things that against a roman you're not allowed to do so they knew they were hot water so now they tried the back pedal and so forth to smooth out the situation so sure use the rights and privileges that you have the civil rights and privileges that you had because they were paid for at a great price and our founding fathers really i mean they laid it all on the line the founding fathers of america uh i know there's been a lot of corruption of the truth of the character and for many the godliness that so many of them had but it was true if they did not hang together they all knew they were going to hang separately because the king of england was after them it was after their heads and they risked their lives to give birth and many their blood to give birth to a country that's not perfect but we're thank god at least we can have freedom of religion freedom of speech where i can come on here and preach the gospel and not be concerned that somebody is going to kick the door of the studio down and come in here with machine guns and haul me off and you never hear from me again now that is a real reality in some countries but we thank god that we do have certain privileges still here in america now they will lay their hands on you and persecute you delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons most of the persecution still that we face here in the west is fierce verbal persecution uh being ostracized and things like that but it's not like it's not like they're you know rounding us all up and beating us up with baseball bats so it's still primarily these outward forms of uh uh being being expressed through verbal persecution praise god which which for those that have ever felt that heat um it's tough absolutely uh everybody wants to fit in everybody wants to be loved everybody has a human tendency to want to be accepted so when you are maligned and when you are ostracized and lied about and so forth or presented as some kind of uh you know weirdo or something like that uh nobody wants that there certainly is uh persecution involved in that that's not enjoyable now you will be brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake verse 13 but it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony that my friends is very very important i want you to always look for an opportunity of course not just amongst christians because then you're really just preaching to the choir but as you're out and about in your daily life look for those opportunities to share your testimony that's something that we can all do you may not be able to eloquently present like a sermon that that would explain the the gospel you know in what actually jesus accomplished at calvary but you know what all you need to do is show your testimony that's what we can all do your testimony is what god did for you how he saved you and what he means to you and look for opportunities to share that in the various places that you're at such as the grocery store maybe there's nobody in line you're at the checkout counter and it just that conversation there's a good connection with the person you're talking to and just work it in work it in and god will honor that god will bless that god will bless you praise the lord and who knows maybe the person will want to receive christ but at the least you're sowing seed and also you're sharing one of the most powerful tools if not the most powerful tool you have as a christian which is your personal testimony how god saved you from sin how god purchased you how jesus purchased you with this shed blood and now how you have peace and joy and you have the assurance of eternal life that is something that we can all do look for that occasion for testimony you know we do see in the book of revelation chapter 12 verse 11 and they overcame him in other words they overcame the accuser of the brethren which is satan they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death so your testimony is very very powerful and look for opportunities just to bring it up and let me say this that the more that you share it um even when you know okay i'm swimming upstream to bring this into the conversation just do it because you'll actually get more comfortable with it you'll build up your faith in this area that i wouldn't call like you know like direct evangelism in a sense but it's just you love people and you want to know hey is your life right with god and you just bring it in and if you do it with with love and you shared your testimony i tell you what it really really uh makes people think and it's it is often that within a few days a person is ready to get their heart right with god and they'll they'll certainly think about what you shared with them praise the lord thank you jesus now let's go back to luke 21 luke chapter 21 therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer for i will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers relatives and friends and they will put some of you to death and so that's why you don't want to love your life even to death just be willing to stick with the lord all out now the first century christians really you you had to be uh all in because the persecution was going was very soon after jesus you know he's raised from the dead and then he ascends into heaven and then things really start going well for the church but then the persecution hits and the persecution becomes so fierce in jerusalem that many of the disciples many of the christians they have to flee to other areas literally to save their lives so they move into other areas they preach the gospel there but for for the first 300 years of the church the persecution was intense and uh you know particularly in certain areas like rome where you had uh and you have to also remember that rome had a huge area that it governed that he that it conquered and so you didn't have to live in italy to be under that roman control or that roman rule and uh it was a very paganistic uh very idolatrous type government and very cruel very vicious and so you had very bad emperors that would pass uh just perverted legislation sometimes legislation that said if you did not worship the emperor then you're going to be killed and so my friends you have to really be committed to the lord praise god again we thank god that we have a nation that gives the freedom of religion praise the lord and i believe i believe that as desperate as things look i believe there's going to be a great move of god's spirit and the wind of the spirit will come and it's going to push back much of this fog that has descended over the nation and has caused the nation to go into uh really what the enemy would like to take it into is really if we're honest about it is really satanism where the enemy doesn't just want atheistic beliefs the enemy wants to take it into these areas of grotesque abominations but god is going to move the best is yet to come god will preserve the church god will preserve you and god is going to do some things in the nation that will stabilize the nation so that his purposes will be carried out but i think it's also important to know that this move of the spirit that's coming is global so i want you to have a higher perspective and not just be looking at the nation because there's other countries that are in a lot more desperate situations than what we're in right now there's other countries like nigeria where you know the church is under a lot of pressure as strong as the church is in nigeria they're under a lot of pressure and they're not getting a lot of relief hardly any relief from the government so you know that that muslim spirit tries to um take over in a sense but the church continues to pray and as long as we continue to pray here also the gates of hell will not prevail praise god beware of what i would call a false gospel here in in the western church which is becoming like a i would call it a spirit of conservatism yes while we want concert conservatism because we don't want to end up like uh some of these other countries that basically end up bankrupt when they go into socialism and uh socialism always leads to one thing eventually you run out of money and when you're taking money from somebody else and you're distributing it eventually those that you're taking it from whether it's the rich or the middle class you destroy all of that and then you're left where everybody's poor except just a few ruling elite and eventually that collapses also and the whole thing's a big mess and so while you have a lot of people that are not even saved they're not born again they still have enough sense to know that hey socialism marxism all of these isms these things lead to a collapse in a doing away a destruction of prosperity and being able to have your own business being able to do well in life that's all over when things go in those directions so they have enough sense to say we need to have conservative principles because if we want prosperity we have to continue on this certain path and so they also become conservative but just because you're conservative and just because you can understand certain biblical values doesn't mean you're born again so you need to be saved whether you're republican or whether you're democrat or whatever you are everybody needs christ and he's the only solution praise the lord not being a good person because technically there is no good person all of our righteousness is as filthy rags and um i'm not going to go into what that is actually representing with the filthy rags but i would say this that we have no inherent righteousness so that's why we need a savior that's why christ died not so you can be a good person so that you can be born again and saved from all of the wretchedness that is in the heart of sinful man jesus didn't just die to redeem axe murderers he re he died on the cross to redeem all humanity because all humanity has a sin problem sin separates man from god and without the remedy for sin which is faith in christ you are on your way to a burning hell i'm not here to try to scare you i'm just trying to tell you that that is the truth that jesus died to save sinners and we're all sinners outside of christ once you come into christ you're no longer classified as a sinner you're now classified as a saint a blood washed child of god praise the lord so don't just be conservative become born again glory to god and then you're really conservative then you don't want then you don't want to kill babies then you don't want to go into all of these isms that are all teachings that were propagated by men who hated god who were atheists praise the lord glory to god you want a good society you want a stable nation you want a stable government you want good government you want a stable economy because you want to do well praise god so i'm praying i'm praying for our national leaders i'm i'm praying that the lord's hand would stay upon this nation and that we can we can go forward we can go forward that god would hold this nation together and that he would have mercy and that this revival will come in and i believe it will i believe it's going to praise the lord and that's what we're getting ready for praise the lord now let's continue on verse 17 and you will be hated by all for my name's sake but not a hair of your head shall be lost well pastor stephen that sounds like pretty scary times we'll disbelieve verse 18 then hold to that but not a hair of your head shall be lost the lord can protect you the lord can keep you regardless of all the shakings that are going on out there and he will he's going to now verse 19 is what i have been working towards by your patience possess your souls by your patience patience is very very important this is not something that we can work out overnight although we're going to keep working on it every day and every night but there is a place where you become rock solid where you do become secure in the lord when you do become stabilized and i would call you move i would call it moving into that place as being a mature believer okay by your patience possess your souls so even with all of the nations rising up against each other even with the various persecution that is going on even with all the difficulties that would be in the earth you can continue in the ways of god standing on the word of god learning the word of god learning the principles of god operating them in them and it will stabilize your life and you'll be on a rock even when all this uncertainty is swaying back and forth sometimes in scripture you see certain types of prophetic imagery and oftentimes biblical imagery of the sea or what maybe we use the word oceans or the c-s-e-a the sea is used to represent peoples kind of like big waves raging and uh you know ungodly people raging we're going to do this we're going to do that we're going to lock up all the christians and all this and that and all and all it goes you know what it says that god sits in the heavens and he sees all of that and he laughs and of course in ephesians chapter 2 verses 6 through 8 we see that we have been raised up and seated with christ in the heavenly realms and you know what from that perspective you can sit there with god and laugh at it also because the enemy you know it's not going to happen the way he wants it to happen it's going to work out according to god's plan and god's plan is that we win because christ has already won it for us by your patience possess your souls so stick with biblical principles stay prayed up and you're going to walk right through any dangerous situation and your soul will become possessed praise god and you can always always even in the midst of war there have been saints that walked into this place of deep peace and joy in their souls even in the middle of a war with bombs going off and bullets flying you stay in that place of protection well pastor stephen what happens if i get killed and die well you go to be instantly with jesus in heaven so it's nothing but victory victory victory praise god but i'm here also today to tell you that you're going to live your life out fully according to the fullness of what god has called you to do and you will live your life out to the full age that god has assigned for you not a hair of your head shall be lost by your patience possess your souls now the soul also in scripture can have a different i would say focus depending upon the context of what is being uh implied for example the soul can be used to represent the totality of of yourself and we see that for example where peter said that in the days of noah eight souls were saved they went into the ark and so those souls were saved so you see in that context the soul was in reference to a person's life their whole life was saved their soul was saved by going into the ark now we also know that the ark had symbolism was a type of christ that when you go into christ you're safe from all the raging waters praise god amen but at the same time there is a different application of the soul there they can actually the spirit and soul can actually be divided and we see that by the writer of hebrews the apostle paul that the word of god the rhema word of god in other words the living word of god is like a sword that is so sharp it can actually discern and divide between what is spirit and what is soul so the fact that spirit and soul can be divided tell us that they're actually different and that is true so the soul sometimes can be used to represent a person's entire life but other times it's used to represent a certain compartment of the life of the human okay so you are a spirit you have a soul and you live in a body by the way it is impossible for a spirit a soul to ever cease to exist there are some that wrongly and falsely teach by the way those that teach this heresy you'll find out that the apostle paul said that heresy is actually a work of the flesh so when you usually see this wrong teaching this heretical teaching don't be surprised when you find out there's works of the flesh going on within that false teacher's life here's what i'm trying to say that heresy would be there are those that say that for the sinners that go into hell and then they're cast into the lake of fire that eventually out of the mercy of god their lives are extinguished and they're suffering their pain is no more no that's a lie you cannot extinguish a spirit being and you are a spirit being so your spirit is either going to go to be with god in heaven or for the spirit for the individual the man or woman that rejects christ if they reject christ they're going into hell and then eventually upon the final judgment they are then cast into the lake that burns forever and ever with fire and brimstone that's also where satan is going to go that's where the antichrist the false prophet will be thrown into that's where all the sinners all the unbelievers are going and it's not like they're going to be there for maybe 10 years and god says you know what that's enough we're going to just extinguish their lives now because i don't want them to suffer anymore no you cannot ever extinguish the life of the spirit and soul they are eternal they are eternal scripture says that if somebody teaches otherwise they're in the flesh not only in their teaching but if you were to look carefully you're going to see a bunch of other yucky stuff they're also perpetuating also praise the lord glory to god thank you jesus by your patience possess your souls okay so you are a spirit you have a soul you live in a body what is your soul in scripture we see that the soul of man it's the same for a woman saying for the child of course that we're referring in essence to mankind i'm using man as the example the soul of a man comprises your mind not your not necessarily your brain because the brain is the organic material okay that's what's inside of course your skull but your mind is associated with your brain okay so we're talking about your soul comprises your mind your will and your emotions and your will wow it's just such a gift from god because you can you can will to choose whatever you like pastor stephen i don't understand why god put that tree the knowledge of good and evil in the garden i don't know why he did that he had to he had to and he told them don't eat of it he had to give them an option god didn't make unite like uh like robots pre-programmed with artificial intelligence but we really have no choice to choose no god made us in his image he made us in his see the animals are not made in the image of god yes animals can be sweet and i love animals i'm sure you do too but they're not created in the image of god and if you believe evolution you've been sold or really it's not just a lie it's really a stupid lie it's a lie that is designed to degrade humanity and the devil loves it because the devil is so jealous of man why because we're made in the image of god he's not and i love angels and that you have guardian angels i have guardian angels and uh you could also get more than just guardian angels you can have other types of angels that are also assigned to you but even the angels are not created in the image of god but man is and it's the ultimate degradation of man to look at man and say he came from an amoeba that crawled out of a swamp or he came from a monkey that's just utter stupidity on purpose trying to dehumanize the humanity and the splendor of man praise the lord so my friends you have a soul that is your mind your will and your emotions whoa praise the lord well i'm kind of thinking of a funny funny event that took place in my life i might as well just pause for a moment and tell you about it when i was a young boy oh i was maybe eight years old i had gone to the public school of course and um i you know of course back then in the you know in the 70s uh it's not like the schools are today you you actually had christian teachers and uh school would be open with prayer and uh you know it was wonderful in some ways but still it was still there's still secular schools state funded and so forth and so well somewhere along the line there i guess there was a teacher somebody that told us in class that we all came from a bunch of monkeys well i went home and uh uh and because my parents were working when i me and my brothers went home at the age we'd go stay with our grandmother until my parents came home so i went home and uh went to uh well technically went to my grandmother's and uh went to my grandmother's house and uh i was i guess kind of excited and worked up about what the uh evolutionist uh science teacher had taught and so i went home and stood up on the couch of my grandmother's couch as a little eight-year-old boy and i shouted man came from monkey and my grandmother heard me say that she she came out and said what did you just say i said man came from monkey she said who in the world taught you that lie i said well grandmother i said it's true i said uh we've been taught this and uh is taught in books and she said you've been taught a lie she said god created man you didn't come from no monkey and i said it one more time i was really defiant man came from monkey she said if you say it one more time i'm pulling you down off that couch and i'm taking you into the bathroom and i'm sticking a bar of soap in your mouth and we're washing your mouth out with soap and water and i said man came from monkey and the next thing i knew i was in the bathroom with a bar of soap in my mouth on my tongue she's cleaning my tongue she said don't you ever say such a horrible thing ever again in my house and then of course my dad came home you know she told my father what i had said but she said don't give him a spanking he's already been uh he's already had his mouth washed out and i never said it again praise the lord amen but thank god for godly grandparents a godly grandmother that had enough sense to understand psalm 14 where it says in the bible the fool said in his heart there is no god well pastor stephen i i don't believe in god well god god calls you a fool and i'm not saying that god said that now i i agree with god because there is enough evidence to suggest to prove to verify that god exists and really if you boil it all down and you kind of get an atheist one-on-one when there's no camera running no tape recorder running and you uh you ask them hey come on there's enough evidence everywhere you know there's divine design i mean we're we're ignoring the elephant in the room here um why don't you personally tell me because i already know why don't you just go ahead and personally tell me why you won't accept or believe in the reality of god and the truth is this the truth is because if they admit that god exists and that the bible is the written word of god then it means they are morally responsible so they don't want a god because they don't want to be told that the things that they want to do and even if they don't do but yet they would agree with they don't want to be told that now they're morally accountable for what they have done or what they think or so often what they practice even as one atheist just came out and said i don't believe in god because if i do that means that all these things i've been doing are wrong and then i'm responsible for all of my wrongdoing at least you have enough guts to admit it praise god all right by your patience possess your mind by your patience possess your mind your emotions let the word of god ground you let the word of god stabilize you so that nothing moves you as all of these things that we've read about even earthquakes don't let anything move you my wife and i were at the church one day this was maybe a little over 10 years ago and would you believe it there is an earthquake right here in north carolina right here in moravian falls and it it it shook i mean it shook this place powerfully now i think the epicenter was actually in washington dc but we've all felt it all up and down the atlantic seaboard area even inland as far as we are here five hours from the beach here but it shook the church sanctuary one of my workers was up on the ladder and he said pastor stephen is that what i think it is i said yep that's an earthquake now i lived in southern california for 10 years uh they were it wasn't anything strange or unusual to me uh pastor kelly she's been in many earthquakes she was born and raised in southern california so it wasn't anything to her but still it was a violent shaking but you know what um there were some people close by we had stepped out of the church because of the shaking that was going on and it's so through some people that how can i say we're very religious you can be really religious but that doesn't mean you really know god that doesn't mean you have peace in your soul that doesn't mean you've possessed your soul and we saw people come literally unglued with fear and terror there was one lady that went into an extreme panic and pastor kelly had to grab her and say it's okay calm down and she said what we're supposed to do and kelly said nothing there's nothing you can do there's nowhere to run there's nowhere to go you just it's over with now there's going to probably be some mild aftershocks but this is not like you know there's a hurricane bearing down on us she said just relax now go calm everybody down in this my wife talked to her just for about 30 seconds that person who was a leader went and calmed down many many people that were under her directive because none of them knew what to do they had never had the experience of having the ground you know it's a weird feeling when the ground underneath you starts moving i've been in southern california before where it's not only shaking you could see it like i mean it looks like an ocean and you're hearing snap crackle pop as things are breaking and uh i'm sure that's nothing like what they experience in japan or along the um that pacific rim area but my friends let let your soul your mind your even your emotions be established by your patience where you're rock solid i'm just i'm saying you're just absolutely rock solid praise god by the way this i would call it soul prosperity when you fully possess your soul and you're just full of god you just love god sure you enjoy life you enjoy all that life has to offer but really you're just you're just totally like in love with the lord you're just you're you're on it with your prayer time you you can't live without the word don't want to you don't want to find out what it's like to ever you know drift from this rock solid place i tell you what when you do when you do that your soul will prosper you'll have joy when others are engulfed with fear you'll have peace when others are troubled and they'll see the glory on you praise god third john which is the third epistle third john verse 2 beloved i pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health so we have prosperity and health both in the same verse just as your soul prospers it's very important that you possess your soul your mind your will your emotions possess yourself and when you do when your soul is prospering in god then you'll find that these other areas of financial prosperity prosperity in your body with health all of those things come right along as the icing on the cake praise god you know you could be a person who has a lot of money maybe even a billionaire but if you're not in christ and your soul is not prospering in god you are an impoverished person and money while money can bring joy in certain areas it cannot though bring that deep happiness which only god can satisfy and fulfill and bring and god created us and he designed us to have a vacancy within our hearts that only he can feel praise the lord and friends marriage family all these things are wonderful prosperity all those things are nice but only god can cause your soul to prosper praise the lord thank you lord jesus now one more verse here's a good way to possess your soul jude verse 20 but you that would be you and i but you beloved building yourselves up on your most holy faith praying in the holy spirit you know just stay with the lord until you're filled up you know i don't like just putting a little bit of gas in my vehicle i like filling it all the way up my vehicle has an extended tank and i was very happy that i got that model that had the extended tank why well i just like to be really full and i don't even like for it to go below halfway and so i just like to have extra endurance extra range praise the lord and so you could have your soul filled up just begin to pray pray in english pray in the spirit and pray in the spirit is sun ominous with praying in other tongues you could just begin to pray in the spirit yeshua baba there's some things you want to pray in your native language such as english then do that but then if you've prayed in english and you're still not full then just pray in the spirit pray in the spirit building yourselves up on your most holy faith well now pastor stephen we don't do that in our denomination we don't do that in our church well with all of the stuff going on out there earthquakes and wars and rumors of wars and persecution and the pressure being applied i would highly suggest that you receive all that jesus has made available for you praise the lord glory to god take it hallelujah let jesus baptize you in the holy spirit and speak in other tongues and just look just enjoy the lord just enjoy the lord so often in prayer when it's really cooking the longer you stay the sweeter it gets why would you leave and before you're full i mean that's like you're having a really good meal and while the meal is just at its best you just walk off and leave no no enjoy until you're full praise god hallelujah and the thing about the lord of course is like it's not like you can't overeat i mean just go ahead consume all of god that you want because uh with your human body you get so full and you don't want to stuff yourself now you're you're kind of lethargic and bloated but spiritually you could just pour pour in pour pour in and pour in and what will happen is it will create an overflow where you just start getting around others in that glory you're in the overflow and you always please remember this you always want to minister from a position of being in the overflow you want to minister in the overflow where you are filled up and now you're in the overflow hallelujah got enough for others got enough for others glory to god so you have to possess your soul if you possess your soul you will be stable and others will see that they'll be curious they'll be curious praise the lord because i've seen real suave sophisticated cool as a cucumber type people come undone completely in situations that go beyond mental capacity or ability to deal with there are some things that your brain that you can't it can't get you over certain things there are areas of difficulty there are areas of things where you need to be with god you need to walk with god you need to possess your soul praise the lord glory to god hallelujah father i pray for those that are watching today that they take full possession of their soul what their soul watches what their soul looks at what their soul is fed with and they become so stabilized in you i thank you father so anchored in you thank you father that your strength literally be displayed through them father we give you praise we give you praise hallelujah that we're living in days that are not so different from what the early disciples lived in perilous times but yet at the same time great glory great glory and the great moving of your spirit so father we thank you that we can't be slack in these types of times in which we live let us be filled up let us take full possession of our souls let us be completely filled with you now father we thank you we thank you for the glory we give you all the praise in jesus name bless your people to take full possession of their souls but they can be completely given over to you your ways your principles your teachings your instructions your commandments in jesus name let me say one more thing my friends don't play around with sin don't think that as a christian you can just continue to perpetually practice some form of sin and you're just tolerating that and you're treating it softly almost like it's a pet petting it thinking well god understands yes he understands that you're sowing and eventually if you don't stop that there's going to be a reaping you'd be very very serious in dealing with sin i'm not saying that you're ever going to be some kind of perfect person although you can become a perfect mature believer but i'm saying if you're practicing sin please for the mercy of god please stop it deal with it confess it lay it down and serve god with all of your heart and god will put a protection around you well those things cannot get through to you anymore you'll be free but you have to be willing to make a clean break praise god glory to god now perhaps you're watching today's program and you have never given your heart to god well my friends it's a very dangerous world and i'm not saying receive christ because you're trying to escape hell but i'll tell you this hell is real i have been taken there in the spirit before we have enough scripture to see it to know that it's real god's word is true but i've seen it with my own eyes the terror and fear and the horrors are beyond anything i could ever try to describe to you you do not want to go there and it's where everybody goes that rejects christ and does not receive him there is no other way to god except through christ he's the only way he is the only mediator between god and man praise the lord call upon him right now he'll save you pray this prayer after me say lord jesus i'm a sinner but you died to save sinners like me jesus i believe you died on the cross and rose again on the third day jesus you paid the penalty for my sins therefore i ask that you be my lord and savior come into my heart i give my life to you save me right now thank you jesus thank you write my name in your book of life thank you i know it's there jesus in your name i pray amen and amen welcome to the family of god and let me assure you that your name is written in the lamb's book of life blessed be the name of jesus christ the eternal savior lord god and king praise god hallelujah hallelujah now we're going to take holy communion together please grab some unleavened bread and some grape juice and let's pray that this is an opportunity from for some of you that are christians but you're trying to sit on the fence you know what i mean by that you want to serve god on one side but there's the other side of the fence where you're kind of enjoying something that you shouldn't be doing and your soul is never going to prosper your soul is actually there's a part of your soul that's actually in agony when you live like that it's literally a miserable state to live in as a christian not only that if you don't stop it eventually there's going to be the reaping of something that you don't want to encounter but i believe that if you will shut it off right now there can be the mercy of god and you'll never see that bad harvest and god will give you blessing instead as you walk with him and live for him but you can't be playing around in these days in which we live you must live for the lord and this is the seal of those that belong to him all of those that belong to him depart from iniquity what is iniquity it is the willful practice of sin it is the willful practicing of doing something that you know is not right so depart from every form of iniquity that is the true seal of those who belong to the lord now there's grace come running come running into the arms of jesus right now his blood is ready to forgive you of all sins now father we thank you for the bread and the juice we consecrated as being holy these are not some form of elements this is now the body and the blood of jesus thank you father your son and father as we receive the flesh of christ we thank you o god that we are busy possessing our souls we possess our souls so that we are people of peace and joy and more than anything else people who walk in agape love where we actually even love our enemies and we bless and pray for those that would persecute us now father we give you praise for the body of christ as we receive it we thank you that you are helping us and strengthening us to possess our souls through patience in jesus name amen let's receive through your testimony you're going to bring the christ some real trophies it's not like you're even like in a sense trying to be evangelistic but just because you love people and you want to make sure they have had an opportunity to hear you'll press through that initial you know what they think about me if i bring this up and you'll just go for it and just ask them about do they know god do you know anything about jesus and then just tell them what he's done for you when you do that you're going to be quite surprised to see that you're going to you might not see all of the results i'm sure you won't in this lifetime but there's going to be some trophies that will be won for the lord through the sharing of your testimony some you may know about others you may not but watch what god will do to even reach those that would seem unreachable that the world would say they're gone they're worthless they're the scum they're the the they're just forget about them watch what will happen when through love and your testimony god will reach the unreachable and save what would appear to be unsavable he's going to work through you be ready be ready praise the lord father we thank you for the blood of jesus we ask that if we have committed any sin that you would wash all of our sins away thank you oh god i pray for those father anybody that's been dabbling in some practitioning of things they know that are wrong let there be the clean break right now the release of your grace to come into your arms into the safe place i speak over your life that thing that has held you will never hold you again it breaks now as you receive the blood of jesus and father we also forgive anybody and anyone who has sinned against us we forgive them we bless them and we go on with the heart of forgiveness father we give you praise we thank you for the precious blood of jesus in the lord's name we pray amen let's receive the blood of christ praise god praise god praise god praise god hallelujah oh yes yes i was told by many when i got baptized in the spirit spoke in tongues started believing in miracles started praying for people i was told by many stephen you've lost your mind praise god hallelujah is all i could say praise god i now have the mind of christ and many of those who used to think i was such a crazy nut job they can't help but see that you know steven's got something going on with god we used to think he was a fruitcake but you know what he's still preaching the same thing and he hasn't backed down at all matter of fact he's still just as wild and as crazy as ever yep i sure am look you you've got to be willing to let yourself be a fool for christ get past all this stuff what people think who cares just go for it go for it share the gospel love on people and let jesus be magnified and glorified through your life um just go for it with your prayers just go for it well pastor stephen there's people watching good good they probably need to hear just do do it even louder on purpose and you'll find out that when you're bold like that you get really really good results and that anointing of the spirit even that ministry of reconciliation which is reconciling those that are lost back to god will be with you as you share your testimony praise god my friends continue to possess your soul through patience and i'll see you back next time stay blessed bye bye