i'm pastor stephen brooks and welcome today to morning glory our midweek bible study and i'm so happy that you're here today i want to invite you to grab your bibles meet me in the book of john let's go today to the last chapter in this book that would be chapter 21 and we're going to look primarily today at verse 18 and i want to talk about supernatural comfort through prophecy praise god now before we jump into to message uh the message today let's pray heavenly father we ask that your holy spirit would come and bring supernatural illumination to the scriptures we thank you that your word is alive it's active and sharper than any two-edged sword so let it do its work today and let us walk in the spirit now father we thank you in jesus name we all agree and say amen praise god before i jump into the message i had a person ask me pastor stephen are you guys still uh you know there at the ministry raising funds for the aircraft hangar the answer is absolutely yes we had to focus for a period of time on the provision needed for the launch of the various networks for christian television and so we are up and running on those networks and at the same time we need to continue to work on that particular project as well which would be the aircraft hangar and once the hangar is acquired we want to bring in and a jet that has international range not all jets can go across the country uh they have various ranges but we want to get a falcon 50 because it is a proven aircraft that is able to go not only across america non-stop but it can also reach europe and that's very important with the assignment that the lord has for us to not only minister very effectively here in america but particularly the lord has special things for us to do in the uk and we have to keep that in the the vision of what god has called us to do and as we spread further and further through the radio and internet and also most importantly christian television we also have to be places in person and i was driving to get back from a television interview yesterday uh five hours uh i think a three hour drive is kind of fun anything be uh less than that is fun but when you go past a certain point you think wow this is just taking a little too long and then you have sometimes the unexpected traffic pileups particularly around large cities and it just slows things down and we really want to be able to move quickly and efficiently even as the the face of travel is changing so much right now you've probably noticed that airfare just domestic travel if you want to travel from one state in america to another has gone crazy the prices are about three times higher than what they would normally be sometimes even higher than that and i know people that they took a trip and they haven't flown back to their house or to their business yet because the either there are no flights airlines have canceled flights or there's not very many of the flights or the prices have just gone uh through the roof and we have international trips coming up the tickets are already purchased because we we tried to get them months ahead but i tell you what uh the international airfare out there right now the prices are almost triple of anything i've ever seen before so um there are just so many restrictions that are taking place with air travel unfortunately it's probably going to not get much better i think we have seen things shift and change to a degree where some of the the freedoms that we previously knew they have been eroded so i know that when it comes to particularly with international travel there will be more delays and more uh things to slow down so we really need as a ministry to move forward with this project because i tell you we're going to need that jet aircraft to be able to go and to do the things that god has called us to do so i want to say thank you for continuing to stand with us on that project by visiting our ministry website stephenbrooks.org you can click on the tab that uh excuse me the tap called projects and you will see the aircraft hanger project praise god you know it was months back and i was talking to the lord and uh you know for years i've been believing the lord for the aircraft and for of course when you have an aircraft you have to uh you need a place to put it you can't park it in your garage you have to have a hanger for it so i've been praying about those things and the lord spoke to me very clearly months back and this is actually literally word for word what he told me because i was thinking about the different projects you know different things that the ministry needs and this is what the lord spoke to me he said challenge your partners to go higher give them something to inspire them you know there's other needs here at the ministry like you know we we really need to resurface the asphalt in the parking lot and there's also some trees we took down and that area where the trees have been taken down that needs to be surfaced over with asphalt and the other areas that are kind of old needs to be spruced up but how many of you know that an asphalt project it's not like something that's really exciting we we do the things that we need to do but it's not like hey i'm really excited about seeing asphalt porn well if you have your own asphalt company maybe that's exciting but certain things they don't have that same element of intrigue or excitement but i tell you what when you look at the areas of aviation and aerospace it is the pinnacle the very height of technology and also you know it it really touches that area that speaks of excellence and that's where we want to go to so the lord told me challenge your partners to go higher give them something to inspire them and we'll always have what i would call you know work projects around the place because things need maintenance things need work and we'll knock those out but for something special the lord told me it needs to be the hanger because the the jet is going to come but you have to have the facility prepared for it ready for it and um we have a beautiful local airport and so we want to have our own hanger not because this is just like stephen's idea but no this is what the lord has put on my heart because we need it we need it praise god and so much of our calling is to the nations and yes we have a great heart for america and we'll use the plane to travel all over america and minister in many places and at the same time the plane needs to have long legs it needs to be able to fly and a falcon 50 can fly right out of here wilkesboro north carolina that's you know the airport is only about 10 minutes literally from my house and i don't i only live uh five miles literally from right here in the studio so we can be at the airport quickly we don't we wouldn't have to go to charlotte it takes two hours just to get to charlotte and if you're going on an international flight you've got to be there two hours before uh the plane takes off so that's now four hours and if there's traffic there's no telling what could happen so maybe you have to be there five hours before so you can see how it's just delay after delay after delay but by god's grace we're going to go to the new level so that's a really neat project for you to sew into which is the hanger project and we appreciate you doing that because that account is getting stronger and stronger and we'll get to the point we'll be able to go and either purchase a hanger that's down there that would be available or perhaps build a new one i would actually like to purchase one that's already standing i think you get uh better value for your money when you purchase a commercial type facility that is already built and that would be in reasonable condition praise god so that's part of the vision part of the plan thank you for standing with us on that and if you're out there watching and you're just thanking pastor stephen i think i'll just go ahead and take care of that hanger project for you please contact the ministry call the ministry and if you want to knock out the plane we'll just go ahead and pick it up too because i know exactly the ones that are listed that are for sale i know how much they cost and it is a buyer's market right now let me tell you that it absolutely is i know when you think jet aircraft you think uh astronomical prices well it is true that jets aren't cheap and uh and operating them is not either but the prices on jets have dropped dramatically they've never recovered after the 2008 recession and the aviation industry the private aviation industry is it's on good footing now but i tell you there's a lot of high quality used jets that are out there including some really beautiful falcon 50s that we could pick up for uh maybe we could call it a steal of a deal praise the lord but that is an intercontinental jet and would allow us to travel non-stop right from here right from our own location wouldn't have to go to charlotte wouldn't have to go through tsa you just follow your flight plan walk onto the plane and go praise the lord so my friends the lord knows what he is doing i feel a great joy being able to share this with you so thank you i would ask that you would pray into the hangar project and those of you that would like to sow a seed that is available and i am believing that as you sow into that project that god will give you your heart's desire and that the dream that he has put in your heart will be accomplished and fulfilled praise the lord now today let's talk about supernatural comfort through prophecy wow john chapter 21 and we're going to look at verse 18 and we're going to talk a little bit today about peter verse 11 says simon peter went up and dragged the net to land full of large fish 153 and although there were so many the net was not broken now peter was obviously a strong man he was a real man's man he wasn't confused with identity gender he knew exactly who he was and he was a leader and we're going to look at his life a little bit today i do believe that we see a lot of prophetic insight here by the holy spirit the net was not broken i believe in this great end time harvest that is getting we're getting very very close to it god's getting everything in order he's getting everything in order in your life be ready because i believe that the people i'm speaking to are called and destined by the lord to stand on the front lines praise god of this next great move of the holy spirit and the nets are not going to break we're going to pull in a massive harvest now we will be linking with other fishermen okay but together we are going to pull praise god and it's going to be remarkable we're going to get the job done we're going to get the great commission filled up hallelujah filled up i talked to dr wade taylor years back after after a meal we had a nice meal i said well i said wait are you are you full he said yep i'm fed up and so uh he was he didn't say that he was filled up he said he was fed up he was fed up with all the politics and church and a lot of other silly things that you know when you get old like that like what he was in his mid 80s you just you just talk freely you don't really care what um the status quo thinks i really enjoyed that about him so we uh we want to be on task stay on assignment because the empowerment the blessing the ability i'm saying everything is coming that you need to do what god has called you to do so get ready praise god the nets are not going to break now we had peter deny the lord publicly three times the the lord of course forgives him and restores him but takes him through three questionings where he is digging into peter's love and peter's commitment and each time he's asking peter do you love me he in a sense is getting off of peter that that conscience of having blown it so three public mistakes and then three times the lord has a question to help bring healing into peter's heart and that leads us now into verse 18. let's go through verse 17 first he said to him the third time simon some son of jonah do you love me peter was grieved because he said to him the third time do you love me and he said to him lord you know all things you know that i love you jesus said to him feed my sheep and the sheep of course would be the people of god the believers praise god verse 18. here we go verse 18. most assuredly i say to you now when he jesus starts using that that phrase most assuredly this means really pay attention to this this is something very important and this time this is being addressed to peter so this is super important for peter to understand what is being spoken it pertains to his life most assuredly i say to you when you were younger you girded yourself and walked where you wished and some of you know exactly what peter went through when you were younger and you didn't really know the lord maybe you knew him but you don't know him the way that you do now you kind of did your own thing maybe you heard about the teaching take up your cross and die to yourself and live for the lord where you heard that but you're like well you know that that's nice but i'm having a lot of fun i'm doing my own thing and uh lord don't interrupt me too much i still love you i want to go to heaven i mean after all who doesn't right and so lord uh i'm enjoying life i've got a certain things that i want to do i've got my kind of you know priorities and one day lord i'll make sure i work you in well that all changed when he met the man jesus and peter when he was younger he was like that now he's not young anymore and he's certainly not old but he would be in what would appear to be middle age and he's wiser and of course you know now the lord is on the other side of this thing because the lord has already accomplished his crucifixion his death burial resurrection and so this is a uh this is an appearing of jesus after his mighty resurrection so he's talking to peter and this is what he tells him most assuredly i say to you when you were younger you gird it yourself girding yourself in that culture of that day they wore these type of robes that were long and you would you would have a belt going around the middle but if you wanted to run what you would have to do is you kind of have to pull some of that front part of that robe up or you could get tangled up and trip and fall so you would kind of pull it up and tuck it in that way you could run that's part of that girding when you were younger you girded yourself and walked where you wished in other words and you know he's doing his own thing now that of course changed when he joined the ministry of jesus and traveled with jesus and uh you know was the lord's right-hand man okay and walked where you wished but now watch this when you are old you may want to underline that because this is something that the lord told peter about his personal life and it was important for him to value prophecy and if you will value prophecy you will find out that it will bring great assurance and comfort into your life at the times that you need it the most but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you in other words another will dress you up because something's going on with your hands where you can't do it yourself but tied up so to speak okay and another will gird you and carry you listen to this carry you where you do not wish this in a sense is again the lord redeeming every part of peter's life even areas where he's blown it you know if you went to heaven it's wonderful but if you went to heaven and you lived your life on the earth as a believer but there was something that conquered you and you never conquered it although you loved the lord and you would go to heaven you have faith in christ you always would kind of think you know what i sure wish i would have beaten that at least once or at least having or at least having overcome it at the end that way i could go off in victory it's like simpson he killed more of the enemies of god in his death than he did his entire life so he had a lot of failure failure failure but there at the end he pulled it all together and the lord is so good that through that one act it was an act of redemption for samson here we see an act of redemption for peter who you know was like a coward that's all we can come down to it he said i'll never deny you lord he said all the others may he said i'll never deny you though and he completely came unglued he came apart he denied the lord publicly he became in the eyes of many people a coward now we we know that he was a changed man after the baptism in the holy spirit the empowerment of the spirit standing up and preaching with incredible anointing and authority and then god's healing power was all over him and so then he's walking fully in the office of an apostle the preeminent apostle actually out of out of the twelve and so it was just an amazing turnaround but the lord is going to give one more opportunity and he's going to get it right at the end to not be a coward in the sense where when the pressure becomes severe you back off he's not going to do that he is going to and most theologians believe that he was martyred crucified and even that upside down so that's why the lord is saying and another will gird you or dress you because you can't do it yourself most likely your hands are spread out and you're tied up you can't do it and carry you where you do not wish so there is something about pain or trauma being inflicted upon your body that causes a natural drawing back jesus said and carry you where you do not wish so the agony of death the pain of death especially a crucifixion would be something that would be a normal recoil from the natural standpoint but yet but yet god rose up in peter and peter went all the way through did not deny the lord but was strong and basically demonstrated hey here's how you do it here's how you go out and even later throughout church history as so many christians were martyred that even later when you see people like polycarp right around 168 d he was the bishop of smyrna and polycarp was old when he was martyred he was 86 they think he was right around that age 86 years old but he was a personal disciple of john the beloved the last apostle to die and so people really loved polycarp because he's like hey you knew the last living apostle and you were mentored by him so polycarp was given opportunity to renounce christ and you know he'd be led off the hook but just before he went out into that uh you know furious angry coliseum full of people that wanted to see him killed uh he heard a voice speak to him polycarp did he heard an audible voice speak from heaven and say polycarp play the man play the man in other words be a man man up you know this is not wallflower moment this is not snowflake this is not a territory for any snowflakes this is this is real men and a lot of women were martyred too those were real women that just said hey go ahead and light the fire go ahead and turn the lions loose we're not backing off at all you know do your thing go ahead and do it you know we're not yielding so peter while he finished he finished very very strongly and he went out the right way well was he crucified in rome we we don't really know uh i know that many within the catholic church claim that peter is buried there in rome there at the vatican uh in a certain crypt there and they say they have found you know the ossuary that his bones were kept in and stuff like that but the more you you look into that and look at what the archaeologists have recorded and have written uh we we don't really know because the proof is inconclusive and then you have uh you have others in other parts of the the middle east to say no he's buried over here and some say well he never left jerusalem well he probably didn't leave jerusalem because of the persecution but we don't really know for a fact if he actually went to rome or not and really even regarding all 12 of the early apostles we don't really know where they're buried at now i've been to the supposed tomb of thomas the apostle and he is buried in chennai india that would be south india but then again you know the early church did not venerate the apostles they did not put them on you know podiums they they just looked at them as great men of god as the the 12 chosen by the lord and they loved their teaching and they loved them but it's not like they were idolized or made out of made into icons or something like that so for the first 150 years of church history nobody knew where they were buried at and so it was only until way into the second century that you know certain believers you know really kind of got into this thing like hey so-and-so was buried here and yeah you know and some of that was church politics also because uh some of the leadership within the catholic church said well we we really need in order for our doctrine to be established we need we need peter to have died in rome so we're going to make this fit we're going to make it fit somehow because there was competition in the eastern orthodox church uh you know because they were claiming hey you know no we descended from from peter and we have the true church over here so they were like oh no he we have it over here because he died over here and so on and on it goes and stuff like that and this politics in the church and silly things like that even take place today i'm sure you've noticed probably the best article if you want to read it or study that subject was peter ever in rome was an article written in 2008 by peter nathan so if you want to search that on the on the internet just type in was peter ever in rome and then type in the name peter nathan it's a very scholarly article and the conclusion of the article is basically we don't know where he's buried at there is no conclusive proof at all from any leading authorities of where he's buried at we simply don't know nor do we know really where where the rest of them was at was buried at like i said i've been to india where thomas was buried but uh all they have is a fragment of his foot which is part of the the heel bone and i looked at it you know i well i thought well yeah it looks like a part of the foot yep that's him well you know i mean how in the world can you tell you can't tell so it's you know that was that the cave you know that's really close by where he lived at most likely most likely because there is a lot of church history but on certain areas we don't know and it wasn't important you know really in the eyes of the lord uh for some of these things to be known anyhow praise god but one thing that we do know is that jesus said to him i say to you i say to you when you were younger you girded yourself and walked where you wished but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and that would imply a roman form of execution that even that phrase stretch out your hands was something that was known among early martyrs in the church as being a crucifixion but you have to remember also that the roman government stretched enormously over such a vast amount of territory that you know there are people getting crucified all over the place by the romans that's just how they did it against certain criminals or political misfits or whatever the case would be or those that wouldn't conform to their hedonistic paganistic forms of idolatry and religious practices uh and so they really went after the christians now he said but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish so we do we do think most likely that he was crucified we just don't know where and there's some good stories out there but you know one day when we talk to him in person we'll find out but nevertheless he had prophetic insight from the lord about his ending praise god now i'm here to tell you today sitting in front of the camera to tell you right now that you're in a season where prophecies are going out to let you know about your tomorrow okay let me see that again prophecies are being released right now spirit of prophecy is being released right now it's going out to let you know about your tomorrow before your tomorrow ever gets here praise the lord thank you jesus so you know i want you i want you to be expecting the word of the lord to come to you and it is coming and the gift of prophecy is very very beautiful and can be very very helpful especially when it seems like you know there's there's no way that's going to happen but when it comes from the lord and it's a true prophecy then you can stand on it completely and you can trust it now let's go to the book of acts chapter 12. we're talking about supernatural comfort through prophecy acts chapter 12 verse 1. now about that time herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church then he killed james the brother of john with the sword so herod means business he's he's really wanting to squelch this movement of this religious movement uh known as christianity and because he saw that it pleased the jews he proceeded further to seize peter also now he plans on killing peter just like he killed james he would like to take peter out and have him killed also and they've got me they've caught him this is the main guy wow now it was during the days of unleavened bread so when he had arrested him he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him intending to bring him out or to bring him before the people after passover well bringing him before the people all the people are going to want him killed because those would be the people the religious crowd [Music] the judaizers that rejected anything to do with jesus or any message being taught by the apostles and so it was it would be a very hostile crowd and then herod would just you know gain more favor from them by killing peter so that was definitely the plan peter was therefore kept in prison but constant prayer was offered to god for him by the church praise the lord i'm sure the prayer the prayers were very very good would would it be said that the prayers were were maybe necessary uh or let me say it like this were they essential maybe i think god has got some things covered whether we pray or not i do think prayer just makes it better in other words you know there was the potential that even before they tried him and were going to kill him that you know hey the guards could rough him up you know could knock his teeth out and stuff like that and i mean i mean how often would it be when you had guards that were sincere and nice so these guys probably mocked him probably laughed at him probably probably told jokes about him and said hey man tomorrow your head's going to be off enjoy your last few hours on the planet i mean these were some rough guys and uh it's very easy uh excuse me it's very interesting and easy too how the lord can turn the tables so quickly um and i would say that for those of you that feel like a certain type of injustice was done god is going to turn the tables he's not done yet give him time to work and in the meantime just trust the lord and take a nap like peter did well which is it was a lot more than a nap he was in a deep sleep now verse 6 and when herod was about to bring him out that night peter was sleeping bound with two chains between two soldiers and the guards before the door were keeping the prison so he's asleep and the next day would be a day of execution if everything goes as planned praise the lord well pastor stephen he sure is relaxed wonder why he could sleep in the middle of something like that i mean pastor stephen i don't know if i could sleep if i did i probably couldn't sleep very well well when you have inside information you can sleep when you have god's word on it which overrules any circumstance or any present situation situation bearing down on you when you have god's word on it then you can sleep you can rest and when herod was about to bring him out that night peter was sleeping bound with two chains between two soldiers and the guards before the door keeping the prison and then it goes into the dramatic rescue by the angel sent by the lord to deliver uh peter and to get him out of there even with all of the soldiers there he was taken out in a very very miraculous way how was peter able to have such comfort in the midst of what would look like the following day is going to be the end of his life because of what jesus prophesied to him what did he say pastor stephen what did he say well the lord told him this he said when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish and maybe for a little bit peter thought hey this is not looking good boy i might i might just be going to heaven tomorrow but i think he realized no i'm not going anywhere this doesn't look good and i don't know how this is all going to play out but i know one thing i'm not dying today and i'm not dying tomorrow why pastor stephen how could he say that because he's not old he's not old yet still here in the book of acts he's not old he's not going to be old until later he's going to live a long life and when he is old he's not going to be able to retire move to the golf course buy a condominium or a town home and just play golf and drive around on a golf cart and drink iced tea and uh you know have a nice time you know writing books and uh selling bestsellers uh within the christian community that's not going to happen the lord had a different plan for him he's going to go out as a brilliant star and he's going to go out as a martyr and he did praise the lord but not today not today he's not that's why he had comfort that's why the comfort was even supernatural where he could even sleep just lay down and go to sleep and really he needed his his energy and his strength because he is going to make his escape and he did wow what about all of those soldiers who i'm sure gave him a hard time probably said some things to him that were like hey you know enjoy your head it's going to be off it's going to be gone tomorrow or you know all the silly jokes and all of the things they make well well isn't it interesting that the next day they're they're dead the next day they're executed then as soon as it was day there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of peter but when herod had searched for him and not found him he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death and he went down from judea to caesarea and stayed there well the very guards who probably mocked and ridiculed him they got executed praise the lord because what the enemy would have planned for you it's not going to happen it's going to get reversed and it will go back upon the enemies of the lord now i like how peter escaped and the angel of the lord got him out of that prison leads him down a street and then he goes to a certain house where the prayer meetings going on now peter continued knocking and when they opened the door and saw him they were astonished but motioning to them with his hand to keep silent he declared to them how the lord had brought him out of the prison and he said go tell these things to james and to the brethren and of course james at that time had become the pastor of the church there in jerusalem and he departed and went to another place so peter left and went to another place now some say this is when he left jerusalem and really left the land of israel and went to rome but we don't know that we just don't know i do think it would be very odd though for peter and paul both to be in rome and that somehow not be recorded or mentioned or said but it appears that you know we just don't know but we do know that paul was in rome absolutely but my friends where did he go where did peter go after he had to probably lay low or get out of town because he was the hot potato there in jerusalem they really would have loved to have captured him again so you have to use wisdom in life and uh and peter did just that so he left and went somewhere but my friend she got out of there so prophecy has the ability to show you your future you know your future before you ever get there and you stay on track and you stay happy and you stay in the joy of the lord we are told in first corinthians chapter 14 verse 3 but he who prophesies speaks strength and encouragement and comfort to men so when the gift of prophecy is going forth and it's being spoken it will do three things in the most basic sense and this is what they are number one it will be what paul calls edification and that means is it will strengthen you it will make you strong prophecy will make you strong and prophecy will exhort or encourage you it will greatly greatly encourage you and lift you from a point of thinking i wonder if i'm going to die today to knowing no i'm not dying today i'm not even old yet i'm going to live a long life praise the lord that's what happened to peter and so that greatly encouraged him and prophecy will also bring comfort so we have three things strength encouragement and comfort and the comfort is really nice it'll bring comfort to you when it looks like you're going to go under but you know you can't because the word of the lord was was you will go over praise god now you can get prophecy from god's word when a word is quickened to you by the holy spirit and that word just leaps off the page into your heart and it's so alive and so living that when you get a word like that in many ways it's as if the lord were standing there in person and told it to you that's how real that can be that is a real word and those words can be in that season for your life or it could be something even speaking later but it is a real true word that comes to you and you could also get a pr a prophecy through a prophet or a christian who is able to flow in the gift of prophecy and may that be you because this gift is so beneficial to the body of christ he who speaks in the tongue edifies himself but he who prophesies strengthens builds up the church so when you prophesy to another believer you're building them up and if you have a prophetic word that's for a company of believers or for the church then that can build up the whole church so this is a gift that's very very important and it will really help you it will really bring comfort and you know i was doing a television interview yesterday talking about the gifts of the holy spirit and we got over to the subject of prophecy and prophecy is very interesting because i have been able to receive some remarkable prophecies from prophets who have ministered to me very accurately by the holy spirit and at the same time i've also been able to minister to many people in a prophetic sense where i can give them that prophecy that word of the lord and it is proven to have greatly helped him but but an interesting story that i shared went on that television program was something that happened in january of 2017 when my wife and i were in washington dc and we happened to come across prophet bill hammond now bill hammond is a bishop over a very large apostolic prophetic network and over many churches but we saw him sitting at the table and we went over and said hello to him and talked to him and you know he was just sitting there i think he was drinking something had a few snacks but when you walk with the lord you can you can just kind of get into the spirit at any time and that's the way he is when it comes to prophecy so he could be eating or he could be in a place like he was with a room full of hundreds of people all kinds of activities going on and people talking but you can just get into the spirit and you could you can flow in the gift of prophecy and i said bishop hammond i said tell me what the lord says go ahead and record the word because anytime i get around a prophet and when people get around me they take their their phones because you can record just hit you know video it that's what i always do just take my phone and video it but i'm mainly wanting the the audio to be recorded and you need to always be ready to do that okay so that you can um receive a word and also if you're giving a prophecy to somebody you need to tell them hey this needs to be recorded so that you can keep it and uh be aware of it meditate on it so what had happened is that a few weeks before we went to washington dc i had a personal visit from jesus in a vision and he came and stood right in front of me and he he shared some really sacred things with me some of those things i can't tell they were for me just personally but he also shared something with me that i can share publicly and the lord told me he said you have completed phase two of your ministry and you're now in phase three of your ministry and if you ever follow the teachings of prophet kenneth hagin you'll know that brother hagin taught about the time he had a vision from jesus and jesus came and told him that in the light let me say it like this in a minister's ministry they every minister has four phases of ministry and if you follow the lord and follow the holy spirit and obey god you will work your way through your ministry to where towards the end you will be in the fourth phase and you will complete that but it's fascinating because kenneth hagin said that jesus told him most ministers get ready for this most ministers live and die without ever getting out of their first phase of ministry that's amazing so i was very encouraged when the lord told that to me because that was you know that's also about four years ago now so when the lord told me that you finished phase two of your ministry you're now in phase three and you know we're well up and running in phase three now i knew i've only got one more so praise the lord so i was excited about that but when i was in washington dc a few weeks later and there sits bishop bill hammond i said uh bishop heaven what does the lord say and i i've got i've still got it on my iphone so i hit record and kelly's there too she got it on her phone he says this is what i hear the lord saying okay let me say this before i tell you that the last time he had prophesied over me was about 12 years earlier so i hadn't i had not had a prophecy from him in a long time and i hadn't seen him in a while either but he said this is what i hear the lord saying you have just finished phase two of your ministry and so he was telling me word for word what the lord had told me he said you're now in the next phase of your ministry and you've gone from hebron to jerusalem just like david did and he began to just in some ways repeat back to me what the lord had told me personally in a face-to-face conversation what is that that's prophecy that's prophecy what does it do well it strengthens you strengthens you like crazy it encourages you and it also does what it brings comfort brings a lot of comfort lord i'm on track hallelujah glory glory glory i mean it feels good feels good thank you jesus look i don't know what stream of christianity you're in i don't know where you go to church at i don't know what teaching maybe you often sit under i know of course many of those that are watching these programs you're following what we would call a pentecostal full gospel spirit-filled type type flow but i'm saying this wherever you're at in the body of christ you need the gift of prophecy hallelujah and if you have to get in your canoe and paddle out of your stream and get over in another stream just to get a prophecy well then do it if you have to go to a meeting okay if you don't know where to go just get in one of my meetings and come up to me after i finish preaching if i don't get you in the service and tell me pastor stephen i've never had a prophecy would you prophesy over me i will do the best that i can okay to be able to do that uh depending on time and you know other factors and stuff like that but those of you that know me uh know that um it's not often that i get out quick of any meeting uh i usually i usually stay sometimes too long uh hours sometimes why people want ministry they they want they they want to and they're pulling on the anointing that god has put in my life so that they're wanting uh prayer for healing or prayer for the sick or whatever it might be or for the gifts to flow and operate and that anointing is there so yeah it's not unusual for me to stay hours after a meeting i can't always do that especially if i got another meeting coming up just right after that within a few hours later gotta recharge a little bit praise god but yes the gifts flow hallelujah and it's one of my favorite things it's just prophesying over people the word of the lord why because i know what it does it will strengthen them it will encourage them and it will also bring comfort into their lives and so you need the gift of prophecy to be operating in your life and you need to be able to receive it and you need to be able to give it praise god hallelujah hallelujah and if you've never had either if you've never received a prophecy or if you've never given one i'm just telling you get ready because the word of the lord is coming the word of the lord is coming prophecies are going out today to tell you about your tomorrow and you're going to know your tomorrow just like peter did thank you lord here's something fascinating first timothy chapter 1 verse 18 and this is what the apostle paul said this charge i commit to you son timothy so he's writing to timothy a spiritual son according to the prophecies okay so a charge he's given him a charge a directive a command and he says it's according to the prophecies previously made concerning you that by them that by what by those prophecies you may wage the good warfare what is the good warfare it's the fight of faith the stay in the faith to do what god has called you to do to stay on task to stay on assignment to stay in faith pertaining to god's will and plan for your life well how how do you how do you fight what really helps you those prophecies those prophecies and every solid prophecy i've got it on paper yes i've got it on audio and i've got it on paper praise the lord and i look at them i review them and when they're fulfilled and they're completed that i know that that's done i follow them away but others that are still hot potatoes oh yeah i look at them some of them every day meditate on them and think wow see the they're supernatural because all gifts of the holy spirit are supernatural whether it's the word of wisdom word of knowledge whether we get into special faith gifts of healings working of miracles prophecy discerning of spirits or tongues or the interpretation of tongues all nine of the spiritual gifts are all on the supernatural plane and paul said there are for your prophet they're for your benefit they're for your good so prophecy is able to give you great insight into what's coming now you still have to live your life by faith we do not live our lives by sight if you knew everything coming and you knew how everything was going to unfold there would be no faith in that at all you just be walking around walking by sight and that's not how god works he says we walk by faith not by sight so you're still going to have to go by faith but it is very comforting in your faith to know hey i've already got the victory before i ever get into the battle praise the lord i you know you may be 30 years old but you've already got a word from the lord hey yeah i'm gonna be keeping on going for a long time to come praise god so these words can really really stabilize you and help you when i say stabilize i'm talking about staying on target staying on path you don't want to drift you don't want to get over in the areas that god has not called called you to it's very important to stay focused and prophecy prophecy true prophecy from the lord it will bear witness with that purpose and direction that god has for your life thank you jesus i got a crazy word from a lady one time it was a totally um uh carnal prophecy it was out of her soul and my wife when kelly heard it she knew that it was very soulish it was um it was not accurate this was somebody that tried to prophesy and she was a minister but basically she came to the meeting not prayed up okay and so she got excited and gave me a word and uh it was it was a goofy word why it was a word that was going in a direction that i'm never going to go it was a word pertaining to something that um it was not me i don't know who maybe it could fit somebody else there you quite hundreds of people in the meeting maybe it was you know somebody else but it certainly wasn't for me but she gave it to me this is for you and she shared it and uh you know sometimes you smile and you're nice but you're like man i'm not even gonna record that not even gonna want to hear that again that's totally dumb but you know what if you will pray and you will be sincere and say lord give me a prophecy give me a word to bless your people then the lord will give it to you and this is this is what's amazing about the gifts of the holy spirit and here is a great guideline something that will really help you with motives for the spiritual gifts and this is found in first corinthians chapter 14 verse 12. even so you okay that would be you even so you since you are zealous for spiritual gifts let it be for the building up for the strengthening of the church that you seek to excel okay so you want to excel in spiritual gifts why to build up god's people to build up the church that is the greatest motive which is a motive of love that you can have lord i want the spiritual gifts why so that you can build up the people of god and one of the greatest of the gifts is prophecy because it just lifts people it lifts people and oftentimes a prophecy will have some of the other gifts intertwined within it such as word of knowledge which is supernatural knowledge that gives even more validity to the prophecy that's coming so you know i was in a meeting uh last year and i was teaching all the prophets the the host pastor uh or the apostle got all of the prophets together we went into a room these these were many prophets ministers from all over the uk and we went into a room and so i did some teaching to encourage them to strengthen them in that in the prophetic ministry and so uh one prophet had a word for me total stranger he's actually a bishop in london and the word was uh it was beautiful it had a the prophecy was great but what even gave more strength to the prophecy were all of the crazy words of wisdom that were involved in it he called out my spiritual father uh his first and uh his first and last name he called out one of my dearest friends an apostle in singapore and named him by name and then he called out dates of things that had taken taken place with me stuff nobody would know except kelly or the lord and then after just really dropping some very supernatural words of knowledge then he goes into this prophecy about my ministry and it was it was pure strength encouragement and comfort praise the lord so my friends the other gifts can begin to get mixed in there as well particularly word of knowledge when you give a prophecy so if you have a prophecy ask the lord to to give some depth to it in other words you don't want to just give somebody a word that says i i hear the lord saying that he loves you well that that's great can you give me a little more meat on the bone okay so ask the lord for that and he'll give it to you he'll give it to you and exercise the gifts again the apostle paul said bodily exercise profits a little and there is some benefit in it but godliness has great gain not only for this life but for the life to come wow praise god so exercise the gifts of the spirit and you start getting your word for somebody well you know get give that word and if you're in a if you're in a certain like a church or something like that there's there's structure we call it protocol for for doing that because you can't have just everybody going around giving words to everybody there has to be protocol in order but if you're just you know by yourself and you're with uh somebody uh you know you have a word for them then that's a different scenario you can use the wisdom of the lord and share that praise god but i'm i'm telling you my friends um the gift of prophecy is supernatural and it can bring great comfort into the lives of people now i want to pray for you right now that prophecy find you that a prophetic word find you and come to you and believe me god knows right where you're at oh pastor stephen i'm in new zealand i'm at the bottom of the world well we have people from australia new zealand watching the programs all the time god can get you right down there there's prophetic people all throughout that part of the world as well so the word can come to you and it might not be too far away it could already be close glory to god could be somebody coming tomorrow or today with the word of the lord for you all right so heavenly father we thank you that signs and wonders follow the preaching of the word so i have preached and taught on the subject of prophecy and how it brings supernatural comfort and i'm praying father god that the prophetic word find your people that prophecy would come to them hallelujah glory glory glory glory glory glory and father if somebody would feel that they are in a place of isolation where they don't know how they could receive the phone call or the word the prophecy father i just pray that you would override those boundaries those limitations and that you would get it through anyhow to them thank you father we thank you that the prophetic word is coming and we thank you that we give and we also receive we receive yes and we also give we thank you father it's more blessed to give than it is to receive thank you thank you but we have to we have to flow in this both ways we thank you father in jesus name amen and amen i was driving down the interstate 40 for those of you in other parts of the world interstate 40 is a highway a super highway in america it goes from california all the way to north carolina so you can cross the whole country just by staying on that one freeway going from west to east or east to west and i was driving on the interstate 40 one day and i'd been a little bit discouraged because of something that had happened uh with the pastor a pastor did something that wasn't very nice to me and i said lord it's all right i forgive him just keep on going and i said he knew he did that when he did it on purpose and i you know sometimes people do things that the just kind of reveal that they need some healing so i said lord i forgive him he obviously maybe somebody get him wrong sometime that maybe that's why he's acting like that but i forgive him the lord that it's not like it didn't hurt what his his behavior so i was driving down the interstate 40 still feeling a little discouraged because of that and by phone ring and at that time there weren't uh there weren't many people that had my private cell phone number so uh the call coming in is a caller id i didn't recognize so the call came in i answered it and uh the person said is this prophet stephen brooks i said yes it is he said this is apostle so-and-so called him from dallas texas i said oh i said hi i said how did you get my number he said the holy spirit gave it to me glory to god hallelujah i could tell you about the prophet who got the president of the united states's uh phone number this was a few presidents back okay that's a different story but god gave this prophet who actually lived just a few miles from here gave him the phone number of the president of the united states of america and he called him uh multiple times actually uh that that was that's some pretty crazy stories but anyhow so this this apostle calls me and he says and you're stephen brooks i said yes he said the lord told me that he's going to give you that jet that you're believing him for and when he said that woo glory to god all discouragement all discouragement just lifted i felt so happy i felt strengthened encouraged blessed and comforted hallelujah sometimes the lord will do those things to lift you up to lift you up when life has maybe kind of bruised you up god will lift you up and he'll make you happy again and on you go praise god thank you lord jesus my friends god's got a miracle for you and in order to see sometimes these miracles manifest your faith needs that extra boost and it will come through a prophetic word that's going to supercharge your faith get ready i like superchargers i like cars with superchargers i i've got a vehicle that has twin turbo turbo's good but you always have that little delay you stomp on the gas and you have that one second pause but with a supercharger it's instant power right there the moment you hit the gas pedal so i see god supercharging your faith there's going to be an instant boost because the word of the lord is coming to you and i would also encourage you to pray and lean into the lord so that you can be sensitive to the holy spirit so that when the lord wants to give a prophecy to somebody else you can be that person you can be that person don't let there be a prophetic vacuum in your life or around you where there's this void where there's no prophetic anointing don't live in an environment like that of that that's a desert that is a spiritual desert and god doesn't want you to be in a place like that so you need to find somewhere where you can drink from okay hallelujah glory to god yeah glory to god you may not be able to live in another area where it's at all the time but you've got to you've got to have some type of a source where you can plug into that every now and then or you can get out and grab it praise god [Music] we have people come to our meetings from catholic churches from presbyterian churches all types of churches that you may maybe they can't always get a drink in certain places but but i'll tell you i'll tell you another thing i know i know some catholic churches you can drink all the prophecy you want at some no that's definitely not the case at most but i know some you you need a prophetic word yeah i can tell you i can tell you when to go to in a certain state or in a certain country but doesn't mean there's places like that everywhere but there are places where if you need a drink god's got the new wine of the spirit for you but you have to be hungry and thirsty and go get it praise god i also see it coming to you so be ready the word of the lord is coming to you so father we thank you we sealed this message we thank you that the birds of the air the the evil forces the uh that would pray and try to steal the word that we we bind it we sealed this word by the spirit's power and by the blood of jesus we thank you that our true word is coming to us father we give you praise that person watching right now the word of the lord will come to you believe it receive it say i receive it in jesus name amen and amen praise god let's get ready to take holy communion we're going to grab some grape juice and some unleavened bread and if you're watching today and you don't know jesus as your lord and savior but you're just liking all this stuff about god you're liking all of this well god loves you god likes you a whole lot and if you would like to get to know him you get to know him through his son you come to the father through the son he is the bridge that connects lost humanity to god and there is no other bridge there is no other way besides jesus christ the one and only savior of the world if you would like to get your heart and your life right with god right now pray this prayer after me say lord jesus i come before you as a sinner and i ask you to wash my sins away and i ask you to give me your new life right now thank you jesus i commit my heart to you fully and completely write my name jesus in your book of life thank you for saving me i believe in you and you are now my god and my savior jesus in your name i pray amen and amen now if you're watching me today and you are a christian who has fallen away from the lord and your life in by any means is not right with god you have drifted from the lord and you're just all tangled up in junk and you want to come back right now is your opportunity pray this after me say jesus i come back i come back to you jesus washed my sins away strengthen me strengthen me with your faithfulness and lord i will never depart or drift from you ever again thank you jesus restore me thank you jesus for doing it right now in your name amen and amen and the lord sets you free right now praise god restoration is something that the lord specializes in let's pray heavenly father we thank you for the communion we thank you for the bread and for the jews we set this apart as holy through this prayer we consecrate it and we thank you it is now the body and the blood of christ our savior thank you father god for complete and total victory in every area of our lives we thank you father god that even if there's those that are watching that are there in the latter part of their life it's not too late just like it wasn't too late for samson it wasn't too late for peter to have an epic victory where they get the last laugh in so lord we just thank you [Laughter] we just thank you for nothing but victory we give you praise we give you praise thank you father god for even peter's martyrdom was a victory for to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord we thank you o god that one day we'll be with you we thank you o god that you will preserve us and keep us until that day thank you o god thank you father in jesus name amen let's receive the body of christ there's a real anointing for a comeback and the enemy would try to mock and laugh and say i shut you down i got you off the air i i did this i frustrated you there's going to be a comeback i also want to speak that to god tv because their israeli outreach network they had started a network called shilanu and it has been pulled by the israeli government off of the air and the motives of god tv were 100 pure which is the love the israeli people and to present the word of god to them in a format that fits their culture and even in their native hebrew language but you had adversaries you had the enemy you had satan working behind the scenes to try to frustrate that beautiful outreach but i believe there will be a comeback it may have a different name this uh israeli network but it will come back and the lord the lord will bless it and it will it will be stronger it will be stronger than what it could have even been before praise the lord hallelujah god will not be mocked ever ever praise the lord any time you have a heart for evangelism and you are endeavoring to reach those with the eternal gospel anytime you do that the blessing of the lord is going to rest upon your life pray use the lord there can be some setbacks but with god there will be a comeback and i see that come back for god tv being very very large and as those of you watch know we are on god tv monday mornings at 10 30 every monday praise god thank you jesus i see a comeback in your life with great acceleration and moving forward further into god's plan for your life hallelujah god will make up for you any lost time now i i know i'm not speaking to everybody on this but for those of you that you've had some you've had some wrong detours uh in life and maybe you feel like you've even lost a few years or a decade when you turn to the lord he will help you catch up this this the most amazing thing and you will know the grace of god you'll catch up financially you'll catch up spiritually and you'll have a very powerful testimony as well you'll know some things and you're going to be able to help a lot of people praise the lord so just lean on the lord lean on the lord receive his guidance is direction praise god [Music] thank you jesus some of you the lord will share some things one on one what was told to peter was one on one and the lord talked to him now the lord had also talked to john about some things one on one as well i feel for some of you there's a group there's a number i won't say the number of people but i see a number of people that it would even be a personal instruction from the lord praise god don't don't think that to be extreme i've had numerous visitations from the lord now i won't say i've seen him hundreds and hundreds of times but i've had i've had quite a few talks conversations with the lord face to face in through personal visitations and it's not like i'm used to that it's not like that's anything common it's always it's always spectacular okay it's always over the top anytime something like that happens with jesus but i'm saying at the same time don't think that that can't happen to you because i see for some that it's even appointed for a visitation you're going to get some marching orders straight from headquarters straight from the top from the from the general himself praise god jesus the head of the church known in scripture in the new testament through the septuagint as lord of sabiyath that actually is from the old testament jehovah sava lord of hosts captain of angelic armies in the hebrew language technically he's captain over any army army of ants army of locusts he's over a army of planets star systems he's over all of them he's the ultimate general praise god so get ready for some of you you will receive a very keen prophecy from the lord just like peter had father thank you for the blood of jesus it's mighty cleansing power that allows us to have such close and wonderful and enjoyable fellowship father we give you praise we give you praise in the name of jesus hallelujah uh the fragrance of uh it's coming to me clothes uh the fragrance of cloves is very very uh present right now in the most thick thick way hallelujah it's like a cloud now cloves represents divine protection from the enemy who is a thief and oftentimes in the spirit realm when you are smelling cloves it is an indicator that what the enemy has stolen from you time money even maybe relationships it is coming back god's going to restore it so i'm smelling clothes right now that means supernatural restoration of what has been lost and again let me say the lord knows how to make up for lost time glory to god [Music] father thank you for the blood of jesus we receive it now with great thanksgiving in your name amen praise god let's receive praise the lord praise the lord well that fragrance is just getting stronger and stronger i'm not wearing any clone or anything like that and there's nothing in the room just uh me and the lord and you hanging out with me praise the praise god praise the lord my friends get ready get ready the glory of the lord is going to come suddenly upon many of those who've been crying out for the empowerment for this next move and this is a time to really try to be on the edge of walking close with the lord what i said talking about an extra push an extra push maybe that you wouldn't normally make but these are very unusual times and the enemy has been having a heyday in america but the lord is about to release something that's going to catch the enemy off guard he knows it's coming eventually but he just he doesn't know when but it is the empowerment of the spirit on the new level for god's people and it's going to be it's going to be extraordinary you have to get ready for that you have to sometimes i have emails where people say pastor stephen should i do this this this well there's a part where the apostle paul said work out your own salvation with fear in trembling you have to take your destiny and god's purpose for your life here on earth serious and we're in the final stages and there's something glorious coming from heaven and when it when it's going to come it's going to come quick it's going to come on those who are hungry and it's fire it's fire from heaven it's fire from god and you will be inflamed with the glory of god and for many of you it will it will be a dramatic change in your life so just keep living for the lord i'm not saying change anything just hold steady keep serving the lord walking with him but i'm telling you something beautiful is coming now the clothes are also speaking of a portal that can be very similar to frankincense but we're in that right now praise the lord there's going to be some major restoration now this is what i'm getting from the lord also that for many of you that you've sown seed financial seed i'm not talking about watermelon or cantaloupe seed those of you that have sown financial seed you haven't seen the harvest and the enemy has laughed because he's been able to do things behind the scenes in the spirit realm that have blocked or have hindered harvest from coming but your payday is coming and your harvest is coming in so continue to praise the lord because it's gonna not just be like one seed in the harvest off that it's gonna be like a plethora of seeds that just all boom broke through and they're gonna be pulled in through the angels and the harvest is going to come into your life it's going to be big it's going to be big praise the lord get ready for that praise god hallelujah glory glory glory to the lord well my friends thank you for taking the extra time to hang out with me this morning and just spend time with me as we work our way through these things the scriptures and also what the lord is doing right now but that spirit of prophecy is very present it could get so strong on you that once this program ends you may very quickly and it wouldn't surprise me you may very quickly get a word for somebody a prophecy for somebody well i would just encourage you to um email them if it's not too early maybe you could call them or something like that some words that are really good they need to be delivered kind of like in person but um it's always good to write something out as well too but my friends just let the holy spirit work through you step into these things of god and walk with the lord okay so father we give you all the praise we thank you in jesus name amen and amen thanks for watching i'll see you back next time bye