welcome to day two Morning Glory our
midweek Bible study I am so happy that
you are here today and that you've
joined me I would like to invite you to
grab your holy Bibles and meet me in the
book of Acts let's go to chapter 17 and
take a look at some events in the life
of Paul and Silas and we're gonna talk
about the question of whether we should
retreat or go forward or perhaps
sometimes have a little bit of a
combination of both with the purpose
behind that so let's open up in prayer
Heavenly Father we asked it as we go
into your word today that your Holy
Spirit would move and would quicken and
illuminate the scriptures to the eyes of
our heart so that we would have
understanding of your word your will and
your ways thank you father for helping
us in Jesus name we pray and we all
agree and say Amen Acts chapter 17 verse
1 now when they had passed through and
Phyllis and Apollonia they came to
Thessalonica where there was a synagogue
of the Jews then Paul as his custom was
went into them for three Sabbath's
reasoned with them from the Scriptures
explaining and demonstrating that the
Christ had to suffer and rise again from
the dead and saying this Jesus whom I
preached to you is the Christ who
praised the Lord
and some of them were persuaded and a
great multitude of the devout Greeks and
not a few of the leading women joined
Paul and Silas so they were persuaded by
the preaching of the gospel but the Jews
who were not persuaded becoming envious
they launched into a certain thing now
let me say this our responsibility is to
preach the gospel to all people and what
they choose to do with it as individuals
because it comes down to an individual
decision what they choose to do with it
is their choice but my friends is our
responsibility to share
the message because we have had the
privilege of having heard it and I know
I'm speaking to a great audience that
said yes I want Christ and you've
received him but there are many who have
not yet done that they've never had the
opportunity so we have the
responsibility to share it with them now
of course the Jews there in Thessalonica
you had a group of them probably the
majority that did not want to receive
Christ as their Savior
and Paul explains what happened or
actually Luke the writer of the book of
Acts does verse 5 again but the Jews who
were not persuaded becoming envious took
some of the evil men from the
marketplace and gathering a mob said all
the city in an uproar now in order to
have a really good riot you have to have
a couple of ingredients you have to mix
them together but you can't have a riot
and had total pandemonium break out
without the key ingredient what's that
you've got to have some evil men you've
got to have some crazy people these are
just rogue ruffcut type people and if
you throw them a few dollars you know
and get them to get some bricks or
stones or whatever you can get these
people stirred up they can start what's
called the crowd spirit and then you'll
pull in a lot of I would call them like
neutral people because they don't even
know what's going on the neutral people
but they they will just go with the
crowd and sometimes stand in the crowd
not even know what they're there for
they're just going along with the crowd
but in order to start that riot you
always have to have that key ingredient
a group of evil men and there are still
men today that if you you know give them
twenty thirty or hundred dollars look
I'll do anything for you they'll start a
riot for you they'll uh you know they'll
do whatever long as you keep the money
coming and that you know nothing's
changed over the thousands of years now
they took the evil men from the
marketplace and gathered a mob said all
the city in an uproar and attacked the
house of Jason and sought to bring him
out to the people
when they did not find them they dragged
Jason and some brethren to the rulers of
the city crying out these who have
turned the world upside down have come
here too
now you and I know that from the
believers perspective that we are the
ones who are right-side up and the world
is actually upside down upside down and
they're thinking upside down and their
ideologies and it really is a culture
throughout the world today we're so many
times that which is wicked and evil has
actually celebrated and called good but
we know the truth because we have the
finding standard and that defining
standard is the Bible now verse 7 Jason
has harbored them and these are all
acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar
saying there is another King Jesus and
they troubled the crowd and the rulers
of the city when they heard these things
so nothing new there again it's just a
it's a effort to take things out of
context really when you study the early
church of the first century and the
second century even though the
Christians were greatly persecuted they
still had the highest respect for
governing authorities and even
oftentimes when many of these Christians
in the first century were martyred they
would not lash out and anger against the
authorities they would just say well you
know we disagree you're going to kill us
but Christ is still Lord and you need to
repent of your sins and get your life
right with God and you know it was just
amazing the patience that God was
displaying through so many of the first
century Christians many of them of
course were martyred but you know the
Lord also used that great persecution to
spread the gospel throughout the Middle
East and throughout to what we know is
Europe and a lot of that evangelism and
spreading of the gospel would not have
taken place without the scattering of so
many of the early disciples
because of the fierce persecution now so
when they had taken security from Jason
and the rest they let them go verse 10
here we go
now excuse me then the Brethren
immediately sent Paul and Silas away by
night to Berea when they arrived they
went into the synagogue of the Jews well
pastor Stephen they sent Paul and Silas
away and it sounds like they retreated
yes their work in a sense had been
accomplished there in Thessalonica and
of course the church is going to be
started Paul would be later writing the
letters or the epistles that we know 1st
and 2nd Thessalonians 2 the established
church there but my friends it's better
to have Paul and Silas pulled out and
kept alive because they are apostles and
they are greatly evangelistic and they
are now ready to go on to the next place
that would be right for the gospel if it
gets too hot it's better to just pull
back and live another day and preach
another day we want to use wisdom there
can be times to retreat to refresh and
also to preserve your life praise God
because if you you know this is not this
is not a compromise this is just wisdom
in other words you don't want to
needlessly die there are countries that
I could get on a plane from America and
I can fly to those countries and I could
I can find a way to cross the border to
get in now I might not be able to fly
directly into that these various
countries I won't say their names but I
could go to a neighboring country and I
could find a way to get across the
border and I could go in there and I
could start preaching the gospel but I
would be I would be dead before the Sun
went down I would be killed within hours
because the gospel is not allowed to be
preached in certain countries not at all
not at all under the penalty of death
well that doesn't mean I'm a coward
that doesn't mean I'm compromising
because I'm not going there it's just it
just means you have to be smart and you
have to use wisdom
and think well we're we're not going to
skip over those people's because the
people are subjected to evil rulership
and evil leadership so we just have to
find another way to work this whether we
we get the gospel in through the printed
page or today we use different forms of
technology such as satellite television
or the internet even if they're blocking
and restricting the internet in these
certain countries which they certainly
tried to do it's amazing how people are
pretty smart and they find ways to work
around that so as long as you're
endeavoring to steal get the word out
even in restricted areas it will begin
to percolate in so it doesn't mean that
you need to go in and just you know
needlessly die because if we stay alive
and we keep preaching we can do a lot
more work and that's what Paul and Silas
did it is a retreat it's not a surrender
it's just like okay hey we've already
gotten some people saved and the locals
are gonna they're gonna start a church
and raise a church up but since Paul is
two hot potato
let's get him out and is its traveling
companion cyclist cuz now at this time
Silas is also operating an apple stop
anointing so they leave and that's okay
now verse eleven they have now gone to
Berea these were more fair-minded than
those in Thessalonica
I like the King James Version where it
says the the hearers there in Berea they
were more noble minded and these would
be the Jews there in Berea now this is
why they were noble minded or more
fair-minded
in that they received the word with all
readiness and searched the Scriptures
daily not weekly not monthly if you're
not searching the Scriptures daily you
are not a noble Bereans who praise God
it had made have made a vast difference
in to the receiving of the message now
see Paul taught the same thing in
Thessalonica
and it was effective there were
salvations there were there were people
that gave their heart
Christ but there was so much persecution
that Paul moves over now to a different
location and found out really that the
Jews there yet they really wanted to
know the truth and that's one of the
greatest assets that you can have in
your heart is to be a seeker of truth
not what's popular not what the latest
fad is but to filter through all of
these things and find out really what
the truth is and that's why the Bereans
they were celebrated for being noble
minded they searched the Scriptures
daily to find out whether these things
were so may that same grace be upon your
life to literally be searching the
Scriptures daily while I tell you what
anytime I meet a man or woman or boy or
girl that starts talking to me about
scripture and they're what they're
studying that means a lot to me it means
a lot to me when I see a person that
takes God's words seriously and they're
studying it they're into the Bible
they're into the Word of God you're
looking at a person that's building
their life on the rock and they're going
to be okay
they're gonna be just fine now verse 12
therefore now I think it's interesting
that word there for joining verse 11 and
12 together the fact that they search
the Scriptures daily therefore many of
them believed so the more of the word
that you have in you which gives you a
nurse
a working knowledge of God's will
because his word is harmonious with his
will so the more that you have in you
the knowledge of that it just gets
easier to operate in the kingdom of the
Lord and to know his principles and to
know his ways and one of those primary
principles would be the love of God and
another one of those primary principles
would be that it is impossible to please
God without faith you have to walk in
faith as a believer so you start
learning all of that and you become very
solid and also very successful in life
praise God but when the Jews from
Thessalonica excuse me let me finish
that sentence in verse 12 therefore many
of them believed
also not a few of the Greeks prominent
women as well as men but when the Jews
from Thessalonica learned that the Word
of God was preached by Paul and Berea
they came there also and stirred up the
crowds you know it's just follow the
same formula again you could stir them
up you could do that that stuff today
just get you a couple of evil people and
if you can get more evil people together
you can stir up a bigger crowd in a
bigger city it will still work and it's
just it's just evil
its lawlessness all of those things will
be judged by the Lord one day verse 14
then immediately the Brethren sent Paul
away to go to the sea but most Silas and
Timothy remained there while they sent
him to the sea so he can catch a ship
and get out of there because again we
have another city shaking riot because
of the preaching of the gospel but again
a great work has already being
accomplished the seed has already been
sown there have been conversions people
have been born again and that work is
going to take off and it's going to
flourish and it's going to prosper
praise God
so work accomplished this is not a
compromising retreat this is a wisdom
retreat saying we have done a great work
now let's pull back because the enemy is
flaring up and you know what you can't
you can't be in constant riot mode
eventually that's going to call back
down that things resettle and the church
work can go on strongly praise God so I
think it's fascinating because you want
to ask yourself are you supposed to
retreat or go forward now when I'm
talking about retreat that could
probably be viewed from two aspects
here's the first aspect or the first
definition that I see going on quite
often in the church to retreat would be
would mean to abandon your assignment
that's what you never want to do or
there could be a retreating like Paul
and Silas did a retreating and pulling
back
to re-establish your next assignment and
to realize that the time frame for the
work here is accomplished let's pull
back let's save our lives and let's get
ready and get geared up for the next
work that type of retreat is okay the
first type of retreating and abandon
your assignment that's wrong and we need
to stay away from that now if you
abandon your primary assignment which is
the Great Commission then you're going
to become disoriented and you're going
to also be eventually discouraged
because there are believers today that
are they love the Lord but there they
are moving away from the primary
assignment of the Great Commission and
they're retreating they're not
retreating to strategize how to win the
lost they are retreating to strategize
how they can survive in the end times
and they're buying bunkers and they are
moving out of country some are moving
out of state some are moving into remote
areas and they are really backing off of
the Great Commission now I'm all for
common sense I believe it is good to
always have some backups in preparation
for the potential for society to have a
hiccup such as coronavirus where you
know for a few days or a few weeks there
is no toilet paper we'll just have some
extra on hand for any type of societal
pickup that could go for a couple of
weeks could go for a month or something
like that and it's good to have some
extra food but I don't think you need a
30-year supply I mean it's good to have
you know something that might last you
know a month or two months but if you
start getting into this survival thing
you're gonna get off the Great
Commission and you're gonna lose the
focus and you're going to also pull out
of the flow of where God's blessing is
really at praise God there
there are Christians that are making
plans to leave the continental United
States and move to the most remote areas
of Alaska
I just don't think those things are are
where God's focused at I believe that
those are wrong moves and these are
people that are wanting to just go hide
out in the middle of nowhere and get
totally off the grid and I believe it's
a wrong focus that is the type of
retreating that I don't believe the Holy
Spirit is endorsing that I don't believe
he's behind that praise God
now if you do something like that and
you say pastor Steve and I've got to get
off the grid I want to get out in the
middle of nowhere to save my skin or to
hide out because you know society's
going completely into a phase of
lawlessness I don't believe you're
seeing the big picture not only that
you're gonna miss this mighty outpouring
of the Holy Spirit that's coming and I
think it would be good for you to know
that along with this mighty move of the
Holy Spirit will come an unprecedented
release of provision and wealth to fund
the global preaching of the gospel and
in proverbs chapter 30
excuse me chapter 13 verse 22 it tells
us that the wealth of the sinner has
been laid up for the righteous and I
believe it's been laid up for a long
time and I believe that there will be
sinners that get saved that have great
wealth that will release their wealth
into the kingdom work of the Lord and
they will get behind the work of God and
they will they will fund it and I
believe that there will be others
they're not gonna let go of it but God's
gonna do shakings and the wealth will
transfer through various ways which God
will allow but you don't want to be
sitting out in the middle of Alaska and
by the way I've never been to Alaska
Kelly has a beautiful state I'm sure
I've seen the pictures and you know you
have the Northern Lights and all of that
beauty and there
our viewers that watch from Alaska so
I'm not necessarily talking about Alaska
I'm talking about people that want to go
into this remote totally isolated places
where you don't have a neighbor for 200
or 300 miles because you're trying to
save yourself I think you're getting far
away from the heart of God and you're
getting away from the Great Commission
now you have to understand particularly
for those of you that are watching me in
western parts of the world such as
America such as Europe you have to look
at this at this end time scenario not
from an American perspective you have to
look at it from God's eye which includes
the entire planet and you need to know
this because this is this is hard data
this is not you know Pastor Stevens
you know suggestions this is this is the
reality right now there are over two
billion people who have never heard the
salvation message maybe maybe some of
them have remotely or distantly heard
the name of Jesus but they have no clue
what the Gospel message is not only that
there are there are multitudes who have
never even heard the name Jesus that
they they've never heard it their entire
life even if there's 70 or 80 years old
they've never heard it still today and I
know in the culture in which we live
with all of our tablets and smart phones
and televisions and everything digital
and all the connections that we have you
think how could somebody not know well
there there is over two billion people
that have never heard the gospel
preached to them and 90% of these people
that out of the two billion ninety
percent of these people live in places
that are extremely resistant to the
gospel and we're going to have to do all
that we can to reach them because I
believe before the Lord comes
to take the church home I believe there
is going to be a great wave of
evangelism around the world around the
world where it's gonna be a pulling in
of the harvest nets and we're gonna
catch a whole lot of fish that's gonna
be Souls I'm talking about literal fish
I'm talking about fish for presenting
people the souls of men and women and
we're going to see people saved all over
the world that's going to be a global
harvest before the end comes and the
Holy Spirit is going to work through
God's willing vessels to reach these
people who've never even had the
privilege to hear the Gospel message
preached to them Wow
praise the Lord so there can be a
righteous retreat or right just pulling
back to walk in wisdom and to strategize
strategize what's our next move but a
retreat to just drop completely the
Great Commission mandate and walk away
from that and go live in the middle of
nowhere
off the grid I mean what are you gonna
do preach the squirrels preach to a
grizzly bear my friends that's the wrong
move and I believe really those types of
things are rooted in selfishness and
perhaps even in an element of fear
praise the Lord you know I think also
people fall into that way of thinking
because perhaps of their views on
eschatology thinking that they're going
to go through the tribulation period and
so they have to be a survivalist and
they have to hone their hunting and
fishing skills and they have to you know
get off the grid and get ready for all
of that but I believe that when the Lord
returns he's taking the church out and
we're going to be with him and we're not
appointed for the wrath that the wicked
people left behind are going to endure
woo it's going to be cataclysmic it is
going to be on a level unseen of
punishment and
poor doubt that they're gonna cry out
for death but they're not going to be
able to die because the Lord is going to
punish them for all of their wicked ways
and we are God's children and it would
be 100% against the nature and character
of God to whip and beat and punish and
torment his own children he's not going
to do that he's going to take his people
out and so we need to be ready with a
heart serving the Lord and also putting
all out focus on where the focus is at
which is reaching the lost and
evangelizing the world praise God
thank you Jesus now in case you have
never heard of what the Great Commission
actually is I'll read it to you right
here from the words of Jesus Matthew
chapter 18 excuse me Matthew chapter 28
verse 18 and Jesus came and spoke to
them saying all Authority has been given
to me in heaven and on earth go
therefore and make disciples of all the
nations now jesus said go he didn't say
you know debate about it or talk about
it or decide whether or not we should or
we could you know no he just said go go
therefore and make disciples of all the
nations baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the son of the Holy
Spirit teaching them to observe all
things that I have commanded you and lo
I am with you always even to the end of
the age so we are to go and make
disciples of all nations that's every
ethnic group upon the face of the earth
we need to take the the Gospel message
to them and have it presented to them
now what they choose to do with it
that's their own personal choice but we
want it we want to present it in a way
that is so simple and easy to understand
and have it have it brought before them
in a way consistently I would say
multiple times so that they can hear it
and really let it sink in
and then they can make a very solid
decision and you know what multitudes
literally millions are going to receive
Christ praise God and we're going to be
involved in that on the front lines now
let's go a little bit further let's go
back to the book of Acts and this is the
same chapter with Paul and Silas
retreating and at times Paul you know
they're they're trying to save his life
so that he could continue doing these
wonderful works of evangelism and
apostolic pioneering of churches and
reaching the unreached people and taking
the gospel to people who've never heard
it before so there were the times of
retreating let's move him to a different
City get him on a ship move him out of
here and the Lord was really with him
and protected him
you know John Wesley the founder of the
Methodist Church was greatly used by the
Lord in in England and also in America
but he was a very short man right at
five feet tall and he only weighed 120
pounds but he was a lot like the Apostle
Paul in the sense that he was a soul
winner and he had an anointing to bring
the souls in and it caused literally in
many places those that were against the
gospel it caused riots it caused certain
people to put out death hits upon him
they tried to kill him many many times
and they never could and he only weighed
120 pounds and the devil couldn't take
him out but you know there is a
protection when you walk with the Lord
and when you're on assignment for the
Lord and you're busy about the Lord's
Kingdom there is a protection that
doesn't mean you go out and do something
foolish or crazy you have to you have to
use wisdom but there is a protection
when you're in your lane doing what God
has called you to do God will bless you
and even when the enemy doesn't like it
as long as you stay with the Lord and
stay in that assignment stay on task
God's blessing and protection will
surround you even if you're called to
live in the most dangerous city with
highest murder rate in your nation if
that's where God has you on assignment
then my friends God will protect you
through his mighty angels pastor Steven
why should we keep this the focus why
should we go forward with the gospel and
instead of retreating and you know it's
very interesting when we had the
outbreak of the corona virus there in
America in California in Silicon Valley
with many of the tech giants as they
called them and you have you have a lot
of multimillionaires many of them got on
private jets chartered flights and some
of this was already pre-planned a lot of
what was pre-planned where if something
like this happened they knew what to do
from a natural way of thinking well when
the coronavirus began to open up and
break out they would I say they I'm
talking about the the wealthy elite they
got on private jets and they flew to New
Zealand down to the bottom of the world
let me be the first to say that the
pictures of New Zealand look
breathtaking I've never been there but
it looks absolutely beautiful we have
online church members there we have
ministry partners that live in New
Zealand and of course Australia down
there at the bottom of the world so to
speak and so all of these Silicon Valley
wealthy multimillionaires flew to New
Zealand because they had bunkers already
made and stopped with food and stuff
like that let me be the first to tell
you that when the wrath of God begins to
get poured out in the tribulation period
there is no bunker that you can hide in
that's going to protect you from what's
coming there's no mountain that can hide
you there's no there's nothing the the
torments and the terror and the torture
and the punishment that is coming in the
Great Tribulation are going to be on a
scale of human understanding the only
way somebody could go through it would
be if you were one
the 144,000 and you're called
you know that that's the Jewish men
12,000 from each tribe if you're called
to be in that group then you know you're
gonna you're gonna have an element of
exemption you're somehow be able to walk
through it and the radiation won't kill
you and the poison waters and the
poisoned everything else won't won't
kill you yeah you'll be exempt from all
these demons walking around stinging
people and on and on it goes but if
you're not in that group you wouldn't
want to be here okay and there's others
there's others perhaps that could have
exemptions such as the two witnesses and
there could be others that have that
holy mark upon their forehead okay and
we know there's going to be an evil mark
upon the foreheads and upon the right
hands of those who accept the Antichrist
as their you know leader and basically
their God and it says in the Bible the
book of Revelation anybody that takes
the mark of the beast you are doomed
forever in the lake of fire it's not
like you can change your mind later oh I
didn't really mean to take that no you
took it and if you ever take it there is
no going back by the way if you take
that mark the reason you can you can't
repent later is the moment you take that
mark don't they control you they will be
able to control what it is you do they
will be able to make you work sixteen
hours a day whether you want to or not
and you will be forced into this
controlled situation where they're
controlling you with that implant and
it's all literally like a type of hell
on earth so my friends the Apostle Paul
said in Acts chapter 17 in that classic
message there on Mars Hill preaching to
the great philosophers of the day the
Epicureans and the Stoics he said this
in verse 31 that God has appointed a day
on which he will judge the world in
righteousness by the man that would be
Jesus by the man whom he has
Dean he has given assurance of this to
all by raising him from the dead so
everybody is going to have a judgement
everybody
mmm-hmm and we want to do all we can to
let people know hey there's a judgment
and if Jesus is not your Lord and Savior
you have you have a problem it's called
the sin problem that has separated lost
humanity from God and the only remedy is
faith and trust through Jesus and His
atoning sacrifice at the cross at
Calvary he is the only way to eternal
life he is the only way to heaven there
is no other way there is no other
religion there is no other God Jesus is
the only man pray used the Lord and God
has appointed a day on which he will
judge the world in righteousness by the
man whom he has ordained that's Jesus
he's going to judge the whole world one
at a time you will stand before the Lord
and those that never accepted him as
their Lord and Savior they will be
thrown into the lake of fire mm-hmm we
need to warn people we need to tell
people that heaven is real and hail is
real also why so you know one of the
doctrines of demons that is circulating
today is that there is no literal hell
Oh what an awful lie mm-hmm and some
preachers have sold their souls to the
devil for temporary fame temporary
financial gain and they have gone so far
to say that there is no such thing as a
literal hell they're liars
they're absolutely total frauds and
Liars they are they are false prophets
let me tell you that heaven is real and
heaven and hell for with all of its
awful torments beyond description I I
have been taken to hell before in a
vision by the Lord Jesus and he has
shown me certain parts of Hell and the
terror and
fear that our in that place you can't
even you can't even describe it oh yes
there's the pain of burning in fire
burning in flames but the torments of
also the the atmosphere of fear in the
horror that's in that place or
undescribable it is very very real and
if there's any lie the devil would love
for people to believe would be the lie
that that that there is no literal hell
but ho it's very very real and it will
never end until Hell itself and
everybody that's in it are thrown into
the lake of fire Wow
whoo agony and pain beyond description
the lake of fire a place so awful that
God never intended for humans ever to
even go there it was created for Satan
and all of the rebellious angels that
fell with him it was intended solely for
them huh but wicked men will be thrown
into that place and it will never in day
and night their torment goes up in the
smoke forever and ever and ever
oh what an awful place my friends we
must warn people about it we must be
very serious about the gospel oh yes
have some extra supplies have a few
ramen noodles over there on the side you
know get a little shelf food some of
this food could sit on the shelf for
10-15 years and you can open it up five
years later and it's still just as good
as the day that they prepared it I like
beef jerky you can you can you know let
it sit there for a couple of years in
its and it's good and it's good is taste
good too it's good for you but my
friends don't don't lose the focus of
what we're supposed to be doing we're
not going back to the Stone Age
technology in the last days is going to
increase exponentially and Daniel talked
about that Daniel saw the vast increase
of knowledge through technology and I
want this ministry to be on the cutting
edge of technology and we are doing some
things behind the scenes do I have any
shared yet I'll just let you see it when
it's when it happens of new levels of
technology and we want to see God's
glorious provision so that we can use it
to branch out in every platform in every
type of evangelism that we can through
the printed page through books through
the internet through television through
every form available whoo and we want to
do it all with excellence praise God
mm-hmm hallelujah I'm telling you that's
where the blessing of the Lord is that
it's on those who have a heart for the
kingdom I've seen the lost saved and
God's people built up and strengthened
praise the Lord
mhmmm mark chapter 16 Jesus also again
shares the Great Commission and he said
to them go into all the world
there's your commissioning right there
you don't need a Deacon board to approve
it you don't need you don't need
somebody to say you know I think we
should do this know Jesus already said
you should okay and that's what we're
involved in go into all the world well
pastor Steve and I'm just only really
concerned about my local neighborhood
well Jesus said that we need to have a
global focus on this now stop and think
about it so many of you that are
watching me you're saved you could say
it like this your ticket to heaven is
stamped you're washed with the blood of
Jesus you're ready to go but what if you
didn't know the Lord wouldn't you want
somebody to reach you whew
we have to do all we can we have to do
all we can because if you were lost see
there was a point you were lost but now
you're found aren't you glad that
somebody somehow did something to
Minister the gospel in some form where
you heard it you understood it and with
that understanding made a decision to
receive Christ and
moment you did that the spiritual death
that was in you was taken away and a new
heart a new life was put on the inside
of you you were born again aren't you
glad who praise God
aren't you glad that you're good to go
but what about the billions that don't
know now there's 2 billion that we know
that never heard the gospel and and
there's another at least 2 billion who
have never received Christ so you have
at least 4 billion people on this planet
that do not know Christ as our Lord and
Savior so what are we going to do go buy
a shack out in the middle of the woods
and get off the grid and just sit around
and you know live off the land while the
world goes to hell no we're not going to
do that we're going to do all we can
using the state-of-the-art technology
and using the power of the Holy Spirit
and the love of God to reach as many as
we can
I want this ministry to reach 1 million
souls for Christ I believe God will give
them to us and I believe that as we work
together we will all share and that
harvest I've said it before I don't want
you to go to heaven without inheritance
I'm not talking about just making heaven
I made it pastor Stephen I'm in I want
you to make it and have an inheritance
waiting on you and the inheritance that
we can take with us his souls praise God
go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature will you help
me do that he who believes and is
baptized will be saved but he who does
not believe will be damned it's heaven
or hell mm-hmm and these signs will
follow those who believe in my name they
will cast out demons they will speak
with new tongues they will take up
serpents and if they drink anything
deadly it will by no means hurt them
they will lay hands on the sick and they
will recover praise God praise God
when
you put first things first the Lord will
add all of the other things to you that
the sinners who don't know God they
strive to get and they grasp after it
and they thank day and night how they
can get it but if you'll just serve the
Lord and live for him and have his
commission upon your heart god we've got
to get we've got to get them they're
gonna go to hell Lord if we don't give
them the opportunity to receive Christ
they won't know they'll die in their
sins and they'll be judged by as what
Paul said Romans chapter 1 they'll be
judged by the fact that they knew they
knew they can look up at night and see
the stars and that in itself through
nature itself was preaching the gospel
to them there is a creator there is a
God who made this mmm
praise the Lord but when you engage when
you engage in God's efforts to reach the
loss he will bless you and there's many
ways you can engage through volunteering
through giving through praying through
serving hmmmm through partnering with
this ministry as we reach out and throw
the harvest Nets praise God you know I
want to I want to give an example to you
I'll give you a couple but I remember
that prophet Kenneth Hagin had a vision
and he talked about the time Jesus came
to him and Jesus in this vision was
holding a crown that Kenneth Hagin said
it was so beautiful that it went beyond
the ability to describe its beauty in
words
you just couldn't and he asked Jesus
what was that crown Jesus said this is a
soul-winners crown this is for those who
win souls and Jesus explained to brother
Hagin how so many of his own people were
indifferent to souls dying lost and
going to hell how so many of his people
rejoiced and shouted and chirps because
they were saved and they were going to
heaven but they had no care no interest
for those who were lost
and didn't know so the soul withers
crown goes to those who have a heart to
win the lost
mmm-hmm the prey is God may you reach
the soul winner's crown may you stand
with those in ministry as we reach out
you know we're airing now on these
various networks we're getting emails
we've never heard from people before
from various places products are going
out the places we've never heard of
before God's moving God's moving I'm
telling you we're not we're not about to
up plant this ministry and move off out
in the middle of a desert somewhere or
move off to the North Pole this ministry
is expanding on all sides we are going
to build up God's people through strong
faith preaching and teaching and we're
going to get the lost we're going to get
them we're going to send this message
all over the world in a way that we've
never done before
mmm-hmm once you come along with this
for the ride for the fishing trip go
fishing with this hallelujah supporters
in prayer supporters with your finances
and we're going to get them we're gonna
get them and you'll cross over having a
harvest and they'll thank you one day
you'll get to heaven and they'll say
because of your giving to support the
preaching through the man of God that
was preaching I'm now in heaven and it's
because you had a part in that
mmm let me tell you God's a phenomenal
record keeper he'll make sure that if
you have an inheritance it'll be there
for you he'll know he'll know mmm-hmm
here's one that's fascinating this one's
pretty modern this happened just a
couple of years ago I think about three
maybe about three or four years ago okay
so here's how the story starts this is a
brother from Nigeria
he says eight years ago on my way to
Abuja for an official assignment I was
attacked by armed robbers and shot at
close range this led to the total damage
of my elbow and I was taken to the
orthopedic hospital for treatment so a
shot at close range in his elbow and it
completely destroyed
thereafter I was referred to India for
an elbow replacement surgery and a cast
was fixed on to my arm since then I
suffered excruciating pains when I went
to the hospital I was told there was no
solution except I returned to India or
travelled to the USA for a further
operation however every effort to make
that trip proved unfruitful as I lacked
the required funds later my doctor
agreed to remove the cast despite the
high risk involved the total estimate
for the treatment was over two million
naira and so he explains how he made
some of the pauses and was able to have
a certain operation done okay
he had the operation done then as a
result he said of that operation the
pain persisted so they put an implant
into him I wish I would have brought my
iPad today for you to see this but let
me uh I'm gonna hold it up to you right
here and maybe let's see here I'll hold
it like this here's the implant
that's a little ways away okay you'll
see the artificial bone and then you'll
see the other part of that metallic
implant which I don't know what it's
made up looks to me like stainless steel
or titanium or something like that that
was actually put into his elbow to
replace the fractured busted elbow now
I'm sorry I don't have a larger image or
I might be able to have this image
popped in later okay so that you can see
it on the screen I'll try to do that
we'll do that in post-production but
that's what was put into his elbow and
the device was made in India it was
laser engraved with the identification
number on the device and the surgery it
was put into his elbow now he said that
the pain though persisted and I can
imagine so you have an artifice
object in your in your body and it's
never gonna work like the real thing now
he belonged to winners chapel pastored
by Bishop David Ojeda Pole
he said when Bishop Aliana PO announced
the theme of the month for June and he
the theme was serving God pays nos think
about that so the bishop announces that
the theme for our church for this month
is serving God pays hmm he said
immediately I knew it was my month and
during the last outreach of that month I
advertised and shared and proclaimed my
Jesus he said Magdalene like a mad
person and within two hours she said God
gave me 14 souls so while out and about
sharing about Jesus to people that
didn't know him he 114 people to the
Lord now watch this and keep in mind the
theme for the church that month was
serving God pays praised the Lord
so he's 114 people to the Lord that day
when he got home when he got home the
Holy Spirit said to him in response to
your obedience go to sleep I want to
operate on you he said there after I
slept off fell asleep and a divine
operation was performed successfully
when I woke up I discovered the
excruciating pains had ceased then I
felt when he said he woke up you see I
felt a persistent push on my arm when I
checked in other words when he looked I
discovered that my arm was open it had
been opened up as I looked at it closely
I saw that that metal that was fixed
between the bones and it was dangling it
come out and wanted to fall off and he
said I grabbed it when I decided to look
inside the open spot I felt the
force grabbed my hand and that spot
closed up during the entire process or
the surgery this is heavenly surgery I
felt no pain and there was no shedding
of blood
since then life has been restored to my
arm I give all the I give God all the
glory and of course Bishop well yet a
pope shared this testimony at his church
his church has over 400,000 members now
when this band woke up what he is saying
is that he solved that insert coming out
of his arm and falling next to his arm
and he picked it up and he could still
see inside this open surgery of his
elbow and he was going to touch it but a
hand pulled this hand back and it just
all miraculous miraculously closed up
but guess what he has that implant now
with his hand with the laser engrave on
it
and he gave it to visible Yetta po
Bishop Ojeda PO traveled to America and
showed it to prophet Kenneth Copeland
and there it was and you're seeing that
and you're able to see that this is a
miracle
now don't forget because this man had a
heart to win the lost for Christ he came
home after having 114 people to the Lord
those 14 of course being added to the
church he came home and the Lord told
him goest go to sleep and he did and a
surgery was performed on him by the
power of the Holy Spirit and it was
actually an angel that came under the
authority of the Holy Spirit it was an
angel that came and actually took that
out of his arm because the brother later
shared how he actually saw the angel
walk away after the surgery had been
completed what is that that's when you
put the Great Commission first God has
everything else to you even crazy things
like a creative miracle and not even
dissolving what was in there but taking
it out and it's a Rob Mericle very very
powerful miracle praise God you know
I've always used
my trucks you know I would own a truck
and it seemed like when the church was
being remodeled nobody else's was
available for but mine and I remember on
the first remodel phase when I had a
particular truck there's a lot of stuff
that needed to be hauled to the dump I
just said well throw it in the back of
my truck and I'll haul up to the local
dump which is about 20 minutes from here
and I hauled literally thousands and
thousands of pounds of demo material
everything from old cabinets to old junk
and cement and all kinds of stuff all
ended up at the landfill because you
know I said well I'll make my truck
available to do that and I remember
after having made I think it was 44
trips to the land field each trip just
load it with usually about a fifteen
hundred pounds or right there at the max
carry capacity 2,000 pounds I remember
after having done all those trips and
used it for other stuff too I said Lord
Lord I think I've wore out my truck on
your behalf and I kind of said it kind
of funny not even thinking anything
about it but you know the Lord has
always kept me in the best vehicles the
best trucks there are with all the bells
and whistles and the truck I have now is
top of the line pickup truck and it was
just uh just recently where we were
doing some more landscaping and we need
it to get several pound several thousand
pounds of you know hardscaping material
and you know boulders and stones and all
kinds of stuff and I was just like well
I've got my truck I'm gonna pick it up
with my truck they can load it in the
back and I'll bring it over here and uh
I can be unloaded and the work will
continue
but I've always have done things like
that and uh it was just a couple of days
ago we were doing another landscaping
project when I realized you know Lord
the bed liners it's just kind of gotten
all tore up and I but I realized what
the Lord is doing he's always kept me in
absolutely wonderful wonderful vehicles
and I've never I've never driven around
a clunker
except decades many decades ago when I
didn't know these principles all I'm
trying to say is that when you engage
your life even if it means your vehicle
anything in the service of the Lord and
this is God's house this is God's
property we're never going to let it run
down and look like something that's a
bad witness I believe that what is done
for the Lord should be the best should
be done in a spirit of excellence and I
believe that his property his house
should be a place of beauty and that
includes the landscaping whatever it is
but as we have endeavored to serve the
Lord in in the preaching of the gospel
with our lives with our prayers worth
their giving if you'll put your whole
heart into it even if that's your
vehicle you know I'll tell you what God
jumps in there and you'll start working
in your life and the next thing you know
what you might not really know how but
you're just like Lord I'm going from
glory to glory I remember what I used to
drive Lord now I look at what I'm
driving now and it's all because of
putting first things first Great
Commission first and I'm not about to
take my truck and load it up with
survival gear and move out into the
middle of the nowhere and let the Great
Commission fall to the ground no way
that is our mandate as a ministry as a
body of believers and we have the honor
and the privilege of engaging in it and
as you do that you'll see God do great
miracles of blessing in your life mmm
thank you Lord Jesus signs wonders
miracles
will literally follow after you praise
the Lord
so pastor Stephen should I retreat or go
forward well you should never retreat in
the sense of backing off of the Great
Commission you may want to retreat just
to take a little refreshing and to think
about perhaps the next strategy for the
next target but keep on moving and go
forward with the the work of the Great
Commission because my friends if people
die without Christ they go to hell that
is the Bible truth and we want as many
to go to head
as possible now if they hear the gospel
and they reject it you know that's
that's a choice that they have made but
we least want them to hear it and for
some they need to hear it multiple times
so that they can begin to understand it
and begin to you know grasp it so we
want to do all we can thank you for
standing with us as we continue to
preach the gospel around the world
praise God praise the Lord now if you're
watching today and you've never made
Jesus your Lord and Savior my friends
the Bible is true the Bible tells us
that it's appointed unto man once to die
and when your life is finished and it's
a wrap you know you can't you just can't
change things you have to make your
decision now and so I invite you to look
to the Lord Jesus Christ who loved you
so much that he died in your place and
if you'll just put your faith and trust
in him all the penalty of your sin was
put on Christ at Calvary it all went on
him but you cannot receive the benefit
of that unless you accept him as your
Lord and Savior and then the redemption
that he purchased for you will become
yours okay so if you would like to
receive him now and receive forgiveness
of sins and be born again pray this
prayer after me say Lord Jesus I repent
of all of my sins I ask you to come in
my heart right now I asked you to give
me your newness of life make me brand
new Jesus in my spirit thank you Jesus
for taking away that old sinful heart
and giving me the new spiritual heart on
the inside
Lord Jesus I belong to you now thank you
thank you thank you Jesus for hearing my
cry and my call and I thank you that
you've answered and you've given me your
new life just like that it's happened
he's already saved you praise God now
live for him
and serve him and walk away from the sin
that you've been living in or practice
see and begin to walk with the Lord and
learn his ways if you are someone that
used to serve the Lord but you have
fallen away from him and you've gone off
in the sin and the darkness but you
still you your heart aches because you
know you're not living right come back
to him right now and he will wash all of
your sins away and he'll break you free
from any chains of addiction that would
try to pull you back praise God so just
pray this prayer Lord Jesus forgive me
for having left you and walked away from
you Lord Jesus I come back to you with
my whole heart right now wash all of my
sins away thank you Jesus and plug me
back into your kingdom
work thank you Lord Jesus amen and amen
thank you at Lord for your delivering
power right now also upon that person
and upon their mind hallelujah and for
freedom to serve you with joy again
thank you Oh God praise the Lord forever
my friends go forward go forward
hallelujah go forward praise God don't
shut your business down expand your
business so you can be a blessing to the
kingdom hallelujah praise the Lord
mmm glory glory to the Lord let's get
ready to take Holy Communion grab some
unleavened bread grab some Greg juice
praise God if you will just get in the
flow of God's plan you'll be in the
blessing you'll be in the blessing let
me say this about Israel the Jews have a
covenant with God but it is not a
covenant of salvation okay so you have a
lot of Jewish people they don't know the
Lord Oh pastor Stephen they're Jewish
they have a covenant they die they'll go
to heaven no they won't nobody goes to
heaven without coming through Jesus and
if you reject Jesus you can't go you
can't go
and you know there's a lot of well-known
famous Jewish people in the news right
now you had you know Epstein you have
all these people that have done we have
come to have been found out of course a
lot of it has been known for years
anyhow that that they were doing awful
evil things behind the scenes sometimes
not even behind the scenes out and open
and they die don't tell me they went to
heaven mm-hmm there's no child molesters
in heaven there's no murderers in heaven
okay you have to come to Christ and
receive forgiveness of your sins and
receive eternal life
the Jews need Jesus and we'll do all we
can of course to present the gospel to
them as well you can't get to heaven by
being a good person there is no person
good enough by keeping the law you can't
keep it you don't even have a temple you
don't even have anymore a system of
animal sacrifice to push sin back for
another year you don't have any of that
you're lost in your sins without Christ
he is the only answer and the Messiah is
Jesus whoo hallelujah glory to God so
everybody needs Jesus and we're
preaching Jesus to all praise the Lord
all right let's take holy communion
together Heavenly Father thank you for
the bread and the juice we pray over it
we bless it in the name of Jesus this is
now the body in the blood of our Savior
thank you Father that we have had the
privilege of having heard the gospel and
we received Christ and we're never
letting go of him ever and he's never
letting go of us we're gonna finish
strong and make it all the way to the
end until time runs out and our life
ends or the Lord comes back to take us
home with him should he interrupt our
time here on earth that's totally fine
but father we thank you for Jesus we
thank you for his body we thank you for
empowering us to do the work you told us
to go
so Lord you've commissioned us and we're
going to do it we're going to go further
father faster than we've ever gone
before and we thank you that you are
with us leading us and guiding this so
as we receive your body we thank you for
strength strength to do what you've
called us to do in Jesus name Amen
let's receive the body of Jesus
praise the Lord
mmm-hmm father thank you for the blood
of Jesus hallelujah praise you O God
father we thank you that Jesus is the
savior of the world but in order for a
person to receive that salvation they
must put their faith and trust in Christ
Oh God we praise you we praise you Lord
we ask you to open mighty doors mighty
doors so that we can proclaim the gospel
thank you O God we ask for unique doors
special doors wide open doors thank you
go God where we can proclaim the gospel
Oh Lord we thank you for all that you've
done all that you're doing we thank you
Lord for the mighty anointing that you
have released and the greater the
greater glory that's even coming Lord we
thank you that we're stepping into it
even by faith right now hallelujah thank
you Father for financial miracles of the
funding and the provision of the gospel
Lord we give you praise we give you
praise thank you Father thank you for
the blood of Jesus and it's mighty sin
cleansing power and we thinking that our
sins and our iniquities when they're
cleansed and forgiven you remember them
no more
Lord we received that and believe it
thank you Father for the blood of Jesus
in his name we pray amen and amen
praise God hallelujah praise the Lord
hmm glory to the Lord glory to the Lord
may you have that wisdom to know the
balance a little retreat to strategize
the wisdom to have some extra batteries
in your house maybe even a generator you
know or something like that I would like
for this ministry here to have a
generator we actually lost power
yesterday because some trees went down
one of you have a generator just
switches over automatically you don't
miss anything we certainly wouldn't want
to miss that
you know when servers are running and uh
your streaming or your broadcasting or
something like that we want everything
smooth as can be but smooth so that we
continue the preaching of the gospel and
I believe that God's gonna hold the
mavericks together and that the grace of
the lord is upon this nation there are
many people right now that are believers
that are praying and fasting for this
country I know things can look shaky in
some areas and it can look like
lawlessness it's breaking out but if you
look if you look carefully a lot of the
lawlessness that's breaking out is
breaking out in cities that are already
in many ways just kind of been
lawlessness going on there anyhow just
now it's increased to a greater level
but God has raised up great works he's
going to continue to do that and God is
pouring out his spirit for those that
are standing on the front lines of
fulfilling the Great Commission praise
God we're ready we're ready for the next
great move of God's Spirit praise God
father bless your people bless your
people to be empowered for this work we
thank you in Jesus name Amen my friends
thanks for watching today I look forward
to seeing you back next time till then
stay richly blessed bye-bye