good morning church family and ministry
friends i'm pastor stephen brooks
welcome today to our online internet
around the world church service
and i'm so happy that you're here today
i want you to grab your bibles and join
me as we jump into god's word today
because i believe that god's word is
able to build you up to do all that god
has called you to do
and also to become fully the person that
he wants you to become praise god
let's go today to the book of genesis
chapter 26 we're going to look at just a
couple of verses here in this chapter
we're going to receive the tithes and
offerings and honor the lord with our
finances
again genesis chapter 26 look at verse
1.
there was a famine in the land
besides the first famine that was in the
days of abraham
and isaac went to abimelech king of the
philistines in gerar
my friends there
are various types of
natural troubles
financial challenges and various things
that flow throughout a fallen world
system when i'm talking about a world
system i'm talking about
a world where sin is in the earth and
the consequences of the sin
affecting
the earth in which we live
even economics and so forth even weather
and so there are
cycles that the earth can go through
there are cycles that
the economy can go through you could
have a booming economy and then you
could have a recession or a depression
and all these various things and even in
the natural we have here an example of
famine and of course that would cause
great financial challenges as well for
everybody living in that region of the
world
where that famine is in effect
verse 2
then the lord appeared to him that would
be isaac
and said do not go down to egypt live in
the land of which i shall tell you in
other words live in the land right in
the middle of the famine
and don't try to run away sometimes
people make a mistake they think well
my country doesn't have certain
privileges or benefits
maybe doesn't have certain areas of
development so i need to leave and go
somewhere else
and in their efforts to do something in
their own strength and ability without
having been directed by the lord often
they run into
all sorts of problems whereas if they
would have just stayed put
like isaac did as instructed by the lord
there would be the wisdom that of the
lord that would manifest to show you
what to do so that not only can you
survive you can
thrive right in the middle of famine
verse 3 dwell in the land and i will be
with you and bless you for to you and
your descendants i will give all these
lands and i will perform the oath
which i swore to abraham your father so
he's like okay if that's what it is lord
that's what your word is i'm staying
here not quite sure how you're going to
give me the ability to survive
much less you know have the resources i
need to
take care of the things i need to do and
do the things i need to do but lord i'm
going to
obey and so he obeys the lord and he
stays and then the revelation
understanding comes to him well if
you're here you need to get about your
business and that would include sowing
even in the middle of famine verse 12
then isaac sowed in that land what land
the land
of dry parched ground the land that has
been withheld from the wonderful rain
and so there is famine there and that is
the type of land that is sowed in
and reaped in the same year a
hundredfold and the lord blessed him
well the philistines must have thought
that what isaac was doing did not make
any sense because during
great challenges or recessions or
covid 19 or covet 21 or
this variant or that variant and all of
the other things that that are now
impacted
by these challenges that we face
you have many in the world you have me
with the philistine mentality that would
say well we're going to just
uh really constrain ourselves and
conserve ourselves not do anything and
isaac is out there sowing and so god
honored his seed god multiplied it and
he reaped 100 fold that year glory to
god this is very very powerful because
even if you're in the last month of the
year or two months left of the year it
doesn't matter god can do a lot within a
little period of time and god has proven
this over and over again he doesn't need
full 12 months in order to manifest a
supernatural harvest like this
verse 13 the man began to prosper
and continued prospering until he became
very prosperous fred possessions flocks
and possessions of herds and a great
number of servants so the philistines
envied him but see while the philistines
envied him the philistines would not do
what he was doing in other words
during these times of covet or these
times of a new variant breaking forth or
whatever it might be my friends stay on
the rock stay on the teachings of christ
stay on the teachings of god's word and
in context of what we're talking about
today don't ever stop giving don't ever
say i can't afford the tithe
my friends with what we are dealing with
in the earth you cannot afford not to
tithe because the tithe ties you into a
covenant relationship with god that
affects your finances and that covenant
is a sure thing it is
god's
responsibility to watch over you and
take care of you when you are in
covenant with him hallelujah so the
worst thing that you would want to do is
just to pull back and stop your giving
my friends keep on giving you may in a
difficult time you may not have as much
seed to sow as you normally would but
the focus is that you should never stop
sowing you should always do the best you
can in the season that you're in and
sometimes you have to even sow
in extraordinarily difficult
circumstances which is what isaac did
and of course god honored that blessed
and god is the same he is the god of
abraham isaac and jacob and we are told
clearly in the new covenant in the book
of galatians the third chapter verses 13
and 14 that if we are in christ which we
are then we are abraham's seed whoa
glory to god so this same blessing
and and the blessing the word blessed
means empowered to prosper is now our
legacy and heritage by now being tied
into christ jesus glory to god now as we
honor the lord today with the tithe 10
which belongs to him and as we also just
sow seed and also in many ways you can
look at the tithe as a seed and just say
lord i'm always going to keep on giving
i'm always going to give the tithe
because that belongs to you but i know
dr oral roberts also viewed the tithe in
a sense as well as being a seed and he
was asking the lord to multiply that too
amen well i think we do have enough
scripture even in malachi chapter 3 to
validate the phenomenal blessings
covenant blessings of the tithe and that
it does also produce harvest as we also
sow anointed seeds into
anointed specific soil
led by the holy spirit praise god now my
friends let's be like isaac
who was emulating his father let's be
like isaac and let's keep on sowing
we're not looking at the world's economy
to base what we do although we're aware
of that but we also
want to always stay on biblical
principles regardless of what cycle
would be
floating through the world at any
various time praise god and especially
during challenging times we really want
to stand on the rock the teachings of
god's word now if you prefer to mail
your tithes and offerings in please send
them to stephen brooks international p.o
box
717 moravian falls north carolina the
zip code is 28654
and the post office is literally
right outside of the front doors of the
church when you mail it in it's a
literal uh either a ten
either a seven second drive
or or a 35 second walk and your mail is
received hot off the presses here praise
god now if you also to prefer to bring
your your giving in your tithes and
offerings online it's very safe very
secure and you can do so from anywhere
in the world anytime day or night please
visit the ministry website
stevenbrooks.org right on the home page
there's a link that says give it has a
red heart click that link and you'll see
the segment for the tithe you'll see
some other areas where you could give an
offering that you would desire and that
is available there for your convenience
praise the lord now lift your hands
father bless your people let that
anointing oh god of increase be all over
them just like it was on abraham and
isaac and jacob and these men became
very very prosperous and wealthy and we
thank you father god that you are still
working the 100-fold return and you are
even able to do it in one year even if
there's only uh
or within that year even if there's only
a few days left within the year lord
you keep your words we thank you for
your anointing on every seed sown we
thank you for your blessing on every
tithe brought into the storehouse and we
thank you for security in a world
where everybody craves security and we
thank you that we acknowledge that you
are the author and source of all
stability and we build our lives and
upon our actions to stand on the rock of
your word your teachings father bless
your people in jesus great name
amen and amen praise the lord
now let's take our bibles today
and go over to second corinthians
chapter three
and today we're going to talk about the
spirit of liberty i would really like
for you to pay
extra careful attention today because
nobody ever wants to end up in a crisis
nobody ever wants to end up in a
situation where something is now going
out of control
and we're we're trying to
uh uh divert
a bad accident or disaster
we want to see these things ahead of
time we want to stop it we want to
divert it or
if it's not possible to stop it we don't
want to participate in something that
would be detrimental to our lives and my
friends as we walk in the light of god's
word we also know that while
we lean on the word of god we also put
tremendous
stress and reliance upon the holy spirit
to guide us
because unlike the old testament god in
the new covenant with the with the
believer
god through the agency of the holy
spirit the person of the holy spirit now
lives on the inside of us
quickening the word illuminating the
word of god but also leading and guiding
us through the inner witness and here in
second corinthians chapter 3 i want you
to meet me in verse 17
and we're going to talk about
how the liberty of the spirit is a
tremendous indicator concerning god's
will
or his
uh check against something
in our lives but first let's pray
heavenly father as we jump into your
word we ask that your holy spirit who is
here in the earth and residing within
your people
that your holy spirit would come with
wisdom and revelation to illuminate the
scriptures to reveal to us the knowledge
of christ his ways
his
his method of living and so forth we
thank you father god for the light being
turned on and that we always know what
to do we thank you for your holy spirit
in jesus name we pray
and we say hallelujah
whoa praise the lord
[Music]
now verse 17
[Music]
now the lord
is the spirit
and
where the spirit of the lord is
there
is
liberty
now
think about that just for a moment where
the spirit
of the lord is
there is
liberty
if you get over into a place of a
religious spirit you get into a place
where you start losing the liberty and
the next thing you know you look sour
the next thing you know you don't feel
happy about serving god what's happening
it's not the spirit of the lord because
he brings liberty it's a form of perhaps
legalism perhaps a form of religious
bondage and then everything is looked at
as from a negative sense where god's
trying to spoil your fun or something
like that so we always want to
be
sensitive to the holy spirit who is what
the spirit of liberty
where the spirit of the lord is there is
liberty now let me make this statement
any form of inner constraint i'm not
talking about out outer constraint we're
not talking about being tied up with a
rope or
you know putting on a weight training
vest to
give us more uh weight to try to
overcome or something like that to build
muscles that's not what what we're
talking about but i
i want us i want us to look internally
any form of inner constraint
concerning
the step you are about to take
the decision you are about to make
if there's inner constraint
that can be an indicator that the holy
spirit is trying to hold you back from
making a mistake
in the direction you are wanting to go
or in the choice
that you are wanting to
make remember he is the spirit of
liberty so if the liberty is not there
and you think what happened to the
liberty remember liberty is uh
it brings joy
it brings happiness
and you know everything's right between
you and the lord and your your walk is
right with god but if that liberty
begins to evaporate
and then it's replaced
not only with an absence but it's
replaced with a resistance my friends we
need to be very uh alert in these types
of situations
a loss
of inner liberty
and there is the loss of outer liberty
you know you're
you're right to do this
you're right to do that we've seen a lot
of that within our nation and i know a
lot of our friends around the world say
yes we've seen a lot of it in our
respected country as well as certain
rights or being suppressed
but today we're focusing on the inner
a loss of inner liberty within your
spirit
is an indicator often that the holy
spirit is not involved in what you're
about to do
um
the loss of liberty remember he is the
spirit of the lord wherever wherever
he's at is what bondage no liberty
there's liberty there's joy there's
happiness glory to god hallelujah praise
the lord
and let's take a look at a great example
of this in scripture
acts
the book of acts
chapter 16.
let's move to verse 6.
now when they had gone through phrygia
and the region of galatia
they
were forbidden by the holy spirit to
preach the word
in asia
can you believe that
they were forbidden
by the holy spirit to preach the word
well pastor stephen what's wrong with
that
any time
there is a loss of liberty in here and
it's replaced with a constraint
where god himself
through the person of the holy spirit is
forbidding something
that means god's not in that for you
um
wow
okay so they're forbidden by the holy
spirit to preach the word in asia
after they had come to messiah they
tried to go into bithya
or bithynia
but the spirit did not permit them
hmm
well pastor stephen we're called to go
preach the gospel in all the world and
that means we're going to do it whether
god wants us to do it or not no
no god's not confused
god god never contradicts himself we
have to walk in god's wisdom
we have to have assignments given by the
holy spirit or you get all kinds of
stuff messed up in your life
now it doesn't mean that we don't try
to do certain things and move in the
right direction as the word instructs
but
as you move in the right direction it
has to be filtered out exactly which way
you're supposed to go
because even if you know that direction
there could be eight or nine variants of
which
path you're supposed to take going in
that direction
but the spirit did not permit them
well pastor stephen uh uh we need to get
in there and preach the gospel and
there's god's man there's paul right
there
well that's not paul's assignment at
least it's not now it's not the time for
it or he's not the man for that job
these are things that we have got to
learn in order to carry out
what god has assigned to us
verse 8
so passing by messiah they came down to
troas
and a vision appeared to paul in the
night a man of macedonia stood and
pleaded with him saying come over the
macedonia and help us now you can't have
a vision without the holy spirit
manifesting the gift of discerning of
spirits
and
it takes the holy spirit to do that so
this is the holy spirit revealing the
direct assignment that they're supposed
to be on
yes we're supposed to preach the gospel
but yes where it's a really big planet
okay so they're trying to at least move
forward in this and they're trying to
feel it out that is our responsibility
okay
and now comes
specific instructions from headquarters
verse 10 now after he had seen the
vision
immediately we sought to go to macedonia
concluding that the lord had called us
to preach the gospel to them well that's
an easy conclusion to draw why because
the holy spirit gave that vision god's
not a trickster god's not devious god's
not like deceitful god is straight up
100 percent truth 100
light
and the lord has now illuminated exactly
what they're supposed to do and now my
friends they move forward with great
boldness and confidence and very
importantly now great effectiveness
praise the lord
well let's see if we can balance this
with another scripture found in the word
of god from the words of jesus himself
in mark chapter 16
as we now go into verse 15
and he said to them
go into all the world
and preach the gospel
to every creature well pastor stephen
what about those people in asia would
you know modern-day turkey what about
those people in
bethania what about those people well
again
it's a big planet and so yes if that's
if that is the the assignment you need
to go but you have to go in the way the
format the manner that god wants you to
go
okay so that also doesn't mean that if
you're called into the medical field or
if you're called into the banking world
or if you're called to
uh
the medical
realm or whatever it might be it doesn't
mean that you say oh i've got to leave
all of that and i've got to go off to
mongolia and preach the gospel no
you can do your part through the
specific instructions of the holy spirit
about the role that you're supposed to
play because some are supposed to go and
some are supposed to go in the sense
through sending someone that they
support
through prayers and through giving so
you have to get the details worked out
with the holy spirit
again and he said to them go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every
creature he who believes and is baptized
will be saved but he who does not
believe will be condemned so we're on a
planet right now with almost eight
billion people so you have to you have
to know your lane you have to know your
assignment and you have to get plugged
into
the plan that god has for your life so
that you do your part and when we all
sync up and do our part
we get the job done praise god and your
job is not to do everything because you
can't the world is just flat out too big
now i didn't say the world's flat
because it's not
it's round pastor stephen well
technically it's spherical we won't get
into that different subject but it's
just too big there's no way even if
you're the largest ministry on the face
of the earth that you can uh cover the
whole thing there's just no way it takes
the the body of christ corporately
collectively globally all of us pulling
together to do what we're supposed to do
to move the kingdom of god forward
can you say amen praise the lord
you know um
go into all the world well i could go to
some places i could even go to some
christians to endeavor to strengthen
them in the faith and i could take i
could take one of my books and i could
say this book has teaching
and uh has revelation on certain areas
of scripture this would bless you you
know what they don't want my book they
don't want my style they don't want the
anointing that god has given me they
don't connect perhaps with my
personality and if i gave them my book
you know what they do with it they take
it through the trash can they wouldn't
even give it maybe to some other
believer just for the sake that it would
bless somebody but they they don't have
an interest in it so why in the world
would i go there and waste my time
when i can go somewhere else and just
it's just you know they eat it up
very very interesting
very very interesting i go where i'm
celebrated not where i'm tolerated
praise god i uh received
somebody saw this on instagram and sent
it to me
and uh
this is amazing on the other side of the
world okay so here i am in north
carolina and you know i teach preach uh
do tv internet write books and stuff
like that and so on the other side of
the world
there is a group in nigeria of young
people
and
i saw a picture of them and they're all
sitting in chairs beneath a beautiful
tree and they're sitting there in the
shade of the beautiful tree and they're
all
sitting there studying guess what
my book
and they're reading it
and they are they're not just reading it
they're studying they're having
conversations about it uh what do we
glean from this chapter what is the
highlight from that chapter they even
had notes they even had like like a
cheat codes of how to uh compress
condensed this chapter down into the
main points and they were dissecting my
book they were consuming it
why would i go somewhere where they
don't even want to hear me the pre hear
me preach or don't even like the the
grace that god has given me why would i
go there and pour it out on the ground
and waste it when there's other people
that are
this is the greatest thing i've ever
read outside of the bible
do you see what i'm saying
why would god forbid
the great saint
the apostle paul from going here going
there why would god do that why would
the holy spirit do it with an inner
resistance and paul's just like man this
is not working we we can't get in here
nobody will give us a ride there we
can't even get a donkey to ride on we
can't get a camel to ride we can't even
walk there nothing's working out
seems like the winds
not of adversity are blowing against us
it seems like god is not in this
inner perception
say that inner perception
and i'm telling you right now god knows
what he's doing the holy spirit
is he knows what he's doing
whoo hallelujah we must be sensitive to
this inner guidance of the holy spirit
praise the lord all right now
whenever your spirit
and your spirit is the is the is the
the fullness of who you are because you
are a spirit you have a soul your soul
is your mind your will and your emotions
that that comprises a lot but that is a
big emotional compartment okay so you
are a spirit you have a soul and you
live in your body
uh your body is just the house if you
were to fall dead the body falls to the
floor and you leave your house and your
spirit and soul go to be with the lord
praise god and
and at the final trumpet call the bodies
of all the saints will be raised up and
you'll get your new
glorified body hallelujah praise god
it's going to be amazing now
whenever your spirit i'm not talking
about your body
whenever your spirit is suppressed
constrained
held back
resist it
then be be cautious
because it very well can be the spirit
of god who is actually doing that
constraining on the inside of you
that's why
you may think it's good you may even be
excited but something is reverberating
on the inside that
be very careful
that you don't override that because of
an external exuberance or even because
of others that are putting pressure on
you to do it because they think it's
good or they think you need to carry it
out or whatever the case might be praise
the lord i want to give you an example
of something
i had never experienced anything like it
before until it happened to me on one
particular day
when we first moved to moravian falls
which is where our ministry is located
at
the lord did several supernatural things
to confirm
that we were in the right place
the first thing that happened is that
even when we were in california the lord
spoke to my wife and said you're through
a dream you're supposed to move the
north carolina to moravian falls and so
we have to look it up and find out
information about this little place that
we had only heard of
uh
maybe you know like from the uh just in
a
short means of passing or something like
that so we didn't know anything about it
uh
and all of our ministry had been on the
west coast pretty much a few mid state
areas but so it was a total uh start for
us of like a new phase for ministry
and so we got out here and the lord
began to do several supernatural things
to confirm that we were
in this very center of his perfect will
one of those things is that after having
been here
for only uh
only a short while not too long
a a very
gracious man spirit-filled
christian man i'm friends with him today
he donated
land to
the ministry
and uh
very very nice p piece of property but
it was in it was way out in the woods
and
it was given to the ministry
and so
uh i was a little puzzled about what i
should do with it because
i mean there's trees all over it and
thickets and briars and bushes and i
thought well
there's only one thing to do with it
let's begin to get it cleared off
because i i thought well we'll build a
ministry center here and not only is
there a room for the mentor ministry
center there's room for uh like a
parsonage you know a house for my wife
and i and i could just start getting all
of this ready so
with great exuberance
and you know i was i was of course
younger in those days i went out there
and began to
manually clear the land and sometimes
some friends would come over
and uh we you know i had brush cutters
and stuff like that
but eventually
eventually i said if i if i'm going to
get serious i need to get out here with
the chainsaw and just cut some of this
stuff down and uh you know
take this clearing this area out to a
new level so i had maybe for about two
months tinkered around with cleaning
cleaning brush and
cutting bushes and stuff like that i was
having fun you know what it was really
it was just like
uh i think from god's perspective it was
me getting good exercise i enjoyed it it
was kind of therapeutic because i would
do it after i came off the the ministry
field if i went out to go preach i would
come back i have a few days before i go
back out again so it was just kind of
fun to go out there and cut the brush
and do stuff like that and i was making
some pretty good progress uh some people
that live locally back in that area of
the mountain
here in the raven falls they would drive
by and say stephen you're doing a good
job i tell you it looks it looks really
good i mean this is like
kind of like a
you know like a rural area but still
you're just making it look nice we
really appreciate that they had some
houses close by so um they were very
happy that i was trying to make the
place look better you know my place
looks better it makes everybody's look
better so i'm out there doing my part
and this went on for about two months i
i was happy i'd go out there and stuff
like that
but i got a chainsaw and this thing
honestly was like uh
well i got a the first chainsaw i got
was a little bitty uh tiny thing you
know that you could cut a tree down that
maybe the tree the tree was like that
big okay
i said this thing's never gonna work i
went out got a real like uh crazy like
uh professional logger chainsaw with the
you know the blade is like that long and
when you start it up it sounds like
you're you're you're holding a
motorcycle in your hands and the you
pull the you know the trigger of the dot
the trigger whatever you call it and the
thing starts spinning that blade that
saw blade is spinning so fast you're
like man this is terrifying and it was
but i was having fun
[Laughter]
so i just for about two days i was out
there with that chainsaw and i was
cutting stuff and i was having i was
really going to it
and then one day i went out there
and
there was a restraining on the inside of
me
that
it's over with there was some kind of
knowing that
you don't need to do anything else to
this property don't touch it anymore i
somehow even knew that everything i had
done thus far was just like fun
therapeutic
fun for the soul good
calorie burning work you enjoyed
yourself now stop it now i did not hear
a word from god
but i just sensed stop don't do anything
else
well i thought well hold on hold hold on
a minute i've got this chainsaw now i
can i can do some professional damage
out here now i can i can really go to it
and it was a beautiful morning and i
just thought
i'm gonna do some more and i started
that chainsaw up and i'm out there you
know uh uh you know cutting and stuff
like that and i started slipping
and i would fall and i never would do
stuff like that that would never fall i
would never lose my balance and i would
lose my balance and fall with the
chainsaw you know
you know you know stuff like that going
on and i thought this is dangerous
and
i would get this
uh almost like overwhelming
uh
thing in my spirit
that's enough stop it
not a voice but just a like a like a
repressing like because it cost the
liberty that i had previously had while
working out there and fun and praising
the lord oh lord a beautiful day and
brushed cutting and stuff like that
there was liberty and fun but that was
now all gone and now
i'm gonna get this done you know yeah
i've got to develop this property for
the ministry center we'll put that over
there and we'll put the house over here
and i'm just you know
and i'm i'm going full bore and i
slipped again with the blade spinning
full speed ahead and slipped and and
then one time i fell completely
backwards and i thought this is getting
real real dangerous
and i didn't stop
i kept on going and i i get going real
good and somehow
my whole and i couldn't have done it if
i would have tried somehow my legs got
tangled up in brush and i began to fall
back again with the chainsaw going full
power
and i just got this overwhelming thing
in my spirit
that's enough
stop
right now
before you get yourself really messed up
out here
and i turned the chainsaw off
i sat it down i said but god
i said my wife and i have never owned
property before we own it we don't owe
any money on it we own it why would you
tell me to stop
but i knew
do not turn that chainsaw back on do not
cut one more branch stop the whole thing
and i did
didn't know why but i did i also thought
i'd better stop or i'm going to kill
myself
glory to god
you know i was at that time i was
i was pretty strong physically you know
i could bench press a lot i could just i
could i could you know i had no physical
limitations no reasons why i should be
losing my balance and falling and all
the stupid stuff that didn't make any
sense that was happening but i stopped
because i knew something not good was
going on
and it was only
a few days
not a few days
a few weeks after that
when we had the opportunity to buy
this
historic church building
that i'm standing in right now in the
sanctuary built in 1877 this is all all
the wood in in this sanctuary is now
extinct it's an ancient pine that no
longer uh is alive in the earth anymore
i've been told that by several people
including the building inspector
this pine doesn't exist anymore you
can't find it anywhere
and
what had happened is that
when this became available i said we
need to sell that land we sold the land
and
had a cash buyer
they paid for it and with that money we
had the ability to put the down payment
and buy this property and it was a
miracle how we brought this property
because the previous church that owned
it had a board of directors
and
everybody involved in the sale
uh of the property and you know i'm
talking about the real estate agents and
uh
you know the attorneys that were
involved at the closing and so forth
they all admitted it was a miracle that
everybody on the board
somehow came together and things were
sold and things were transferred and
everything was done the right way and it
was all signed and done because it was a
very interesting group the the group
that used to own this before was a biker
church
and so there was a you know
some rowdy ones in there and so that for
to actually pull it off
for them to sell it and us to buy it and
it took a miracle god did it and god
knew that day you ain't never building
nothing up on that mountain he knew that
and i here i am thinking god i've got to
i've got to and god's like you better
stop
you better stop because you've had some
fun i'll let you have fun but now uh you
got to get focused on this new phase
you're going into
and
god means business in these areas when
you can't get in
it's not the devil sometimes don't blame
it that's the devil
that's the devil
that was the holy spirit keeping paul
out and that was the holy spirit
basically resisting me in a sense stop
it here you're not going to do anything
here at all
very very interesting
the reality of the person of the holy
spirit he is a person he can resist he
can also
he can also witness it internally inside
of you in a very very
unmistakable way praise the lord
oh let me give you a scripture to
validate that i thought it was
fascinating
you're talking about looking at a verse
in the bible and saying i know what
that's like look at this one ii samuel
chapter 18 verse 6. i had read this
before when i was younger and i thought
well that's interesting don't really
understand that let me tell you i
understand that fully now
so the people
went out into the field of battle
against israel
and the battle was in the woods in the
woods of ephraim oh
the people of israel were overthrown
there before the servants of david and a
great slaughter of 20 000 took place
there that day
for the battle there was scattered over
the face of the whole countryside watch
this
and the woods devoured more people that
day than the sword devoured
i can exactly understand now how the
woods can devour you i got so tangled up
in vines and in shrubs and in bushes i
had i got so tangled up i literally
could have killed myself out there
without a chainsaw
[Laughter]
crying crazy stuff was going on and that
was happening you had people dying out
there in the forest the forest was
killing them god was working through his
creation to destroy those who are
opposing his kingdom purpose
glory to god
hallelujah i want to share a story with
you
uh from the life of bishop david oyedepo
uh the great man of god in nigeria
and i'm glad he shared this kind of
sounds kind of crazy a little bit like
my story that i went through
now today his church has 400 000 members
he's a very very honorable man of god
and i want you to
listen to something very similar that
took place with his life and ministry
and my friends we have got to understand
that when the holy spirit
is resisting
don't try to override that
we've got to become sensitive to this we
have got to grow up be mature
now i know there is grace and growth
within the body of christ god gives
allowance for that
but
we have to learn this quickly hallelujah
hallelujah and i'm glad i can share some
things to help you
now this again is bishop david oyedepo
he said when the great man of god oral
roberts
visited nigeria
in the 1980s
he said i was one of those to welcome
him
as i was about to leave for lagos i had
a constraint in my spirit at the airport
in kaduna and i told my companion on the
trip i am not going on this trip i have
no release
but he said sir we have to go
everybody is waiting there and we have
to be a part of it otherwise it might be
misinterpreted as pride
even after i got on the plane i said can
i have my bag please i am no longer
going but again
my companion said no sir please please
no sir so he forced me to continue on
the trip
our plane took off from konduna from
kaduna but we were unable to land in
lagos due to bad weather
rather than take us back to kaduna we
were taken to elorin where we waited for
about six hours the plane took off for
lagos again and we arrived at about five
o'clock p.m
meanwhile the event we were going for
had taken place at 11 o'clock am
that morning
a flight for bennen was scheduled to
leave at five o'clock p.m
since oral roberts had moved to bennen
we decided to join them in bennen but at
five o'clock the benin flight was
canceled
can you see everything's going wrong
everything's going wrong
hmm
i think the devil then took over at this
point as i said we must get to benin
today by all means
in other words oyedepo is now saying now
the devil's trying to push him and work
through him
he initially resists it but now he's
like okay i guess i might as well get on
board with it and
and so it's going to get worse he said i
told my companion
get a taxi that will take us to bennen
at any cost
as we put our bags in the car and we're
about to shut the door the taxi driver
said i am not going again
i then asked him can you get us to any
ben and motor park as we must get to
been in now
well we again took off for the benin
motor park where we got a rickety old
station wagon car that agreed to take us
but as i was about to step into the car
the voice of the lord came to me saying
if you move one more inch you will be a
dead man
whoa
so frustrated and dejected we returned
to the airport we took off for kaduna at
11 o'clock p.m and arrived at midnight i
knew i had been walking in disobedience
and had paid for it
glory to god
let me say this in regards to the
context of what was going on with him
in ministry
in the areas of
meeting divine connections
if you try to do it in the flesh you can
tamper with your future destiny and and
you can mess something up
in the spirit you have to connect the
right way the connection between elijah
and elisha must be done in the spirit
this is not something that you can make
happen by i'll just go to the meeting
meet the person and the next thing you
know will be covenant buddies it doesn't
ever ever work like that well i'll just
get in the line when he comes down the
line i'll shake his hand and then we'll
talk we'll meet and then we'll be
connected together for the next 50 years
no it doesn't work like that it has to
be
in the holy spirit and these things are
very very important that you must do it
in the spirit or
you can you can muddy the waters real
bad and you can mess up
divine destiny that god has for
you whoo don't
don't present yourself when it's not
time or if it's not in
the right setup that god prefers it to
be in
very very important i don't think i'm
quite explaining that
perhaps the best
with the best clarity that it should be
but i hope you get the gist of what i'm
trying to convey to you
it's very important that you meet
certain people the right way
um
praise god
i could say more but i think i'm gonna
i'm gonna let that rest on that praise
god
thank you jesus now
let's go over to
acts chapter 27
acts chapter 27
wow
[Laughter]
glory
some of you are probably still thinking
well but what's wrong with meeting oral
roberts how come he couldn't be there to
meet him
it's
when you're in ministry you know exactly
why you you can't do these things out of
order you have to do it the right way
and there was also a trajectory that god
had for a yeti po
that was not to be just a localized
known ministry or even a regional or
even a continental type ministry
strictly limited to africa it was
supposed to be global and so when god
sees you in that light you have to walk
in a certain level
of
of authority and it's it's not pride
it's humility but you have to come in on
the right way
thank you lord jesus
acts chapter 27
let's go to verse
verse 9.
now when much time had been spent
and sailing was now dangerous red alert
watch out for the natural this is not
all spiritual
so often what the holy spirit will try
to alert you and keep you from having
disaster there's already natural signals
there's already things in in the natural
you should be saying
this is probably not the best time to do
this right now
maybe we should hold back just a little
bit to get a clearer
identification
so
it was already dangerous to be hidden
out of the harbor
this is the you you've already missed
your open window now you're you're
dealing with uh
an area where
it's not favorable towards you
well we're still going to get it done
well
watch out for the natural if you're
overriding the natural you're probably
already going in the wrong direction
when you are
you're just working against good common
sense
well now we can fly into that storm we
we we can handle that
yeah but
why don't we go around it or just uh
let's just take lunch let it pass by and
then we'll go
well
these are interesting things
now when much time had been spent and
sailing was now dangerous because the
fast was already over paul advised them
saying
men
i perceive he didn't say god told me
he didn't say an angel
with a blue robe and a and a golden
scepter hit me over the head and said do
not get on that boat you're all going to
die he didn't say that he just simply
said i perceive
where
in his big toe
no
in his elbow
no where did he perceive it at
in in his mind no in here
in here warning bells going off
something restraining
going off the this is not good explain
it to me i can't i can't it's just
something i perceive because god lives
in me oh we don't we don't really
understand that well i'm not asking you
to understand that but i and i'm not
going to try to get into that i'm just
going to tell you i perceive something's
not right here
now watch what he says i perceive that
this voyage will end with disaster and
much lost god never verbally spoke to
him in a sense the saith god get on the
boat you're all going to die god didn't
say that he didn't work like that this
is inner perception
man i perceive that this voyage will end
with disaster much lost not only of the
cargo and ship but also our lives
but he got overridden
by those who thought they knew better
also they have an agenda
they have a motive
and they got to get something done they
gotta make some money
well
what happened
they they got in a mess
they got in the mess and paul's a
prisoner he can't say hey well you guys
could just go ahead and kill yourselves
you know
because i'm not getting on this boat
he's in chains he has to
he's like oh boy
all right here we go y'all get ready for
one
one
wild ride oh paul weather's perfect you
watch and see everything's all right
although yeah everything was all right
for just a couple of hours they got out
of the harbor got out there and boom
the the your rock ladon or the
nor'easter i have been in areas where
nor'easters have blown in i was going
through
the area of amarillo texas one time
where a nor easter from up north blew in
it blew and so strong it almost blew our
motor home off the road we're driving
from california the north carolina
another trends uh american across the
nation
ministry trip and it blew in so strong
it
we actually we pulled over its top we
thought it was going to literally blow
the motor home off the road and i have
seen trucks 18 wheelers blown sideways
off the road before it was that strong
that's what hit them in a boat
[Laughter]
day and night
two weeks
no tv to watch
just day and night up and down and the
boat riding down those waves and just
plunging to the bottom have you ever
been in the boat where the waves are so
big that when you go down into the
trough you go down into it you can't
even see you can't even see the land you
can't even see the horizon anymore
you're down and you're and then when it
hits the bottom of that it slams the bow
of the ship slams into the water and
water goes flying everywhere and then
you go back up and you do it all over
again and all over again lord have mercy
i've only been in one situation like
that when deep sea fishing
and i thought this is crazy
but i was a lot younger and i guess my
body calibrated a lot quicker i didn't
even get seasick and i was the first one
on the ship to catch the kingfish praise
the lord
glory to god but my friends we have got
to be alert to this
perception
where
you have these times the spirit of
liberty pulls back
and there's now no liberty but some kind
of constraint that's holding you back
that's god trying to preserve you and
protect you
glory to god
thank you jesus
i had a situation in my life
when
i was
being mentored
in the plumbing field by kelly's father
my father-in-law and he was a master
plumber had done it for like about 40
years or something like that there was
there was nothing really about plumbing
that he didn't know from the very basic
repairs all the way up to installing the
most complex uh plumbing systems that
money could afford and commercial
plumbing and residential plumbing and
everything in between he done it all and
so i'm working with him and he's
teaching me about plumbing and so he and
i would drive around the van all day
long and have a
fun time you know working these plumbing
jobs
and i'm learning from him as we go
and
uh
although bill was catholic and you know
really
you know loved the catholic church and
in a sense loved god he was not born
again and so sometimes you know he get
he'd get frustrated or mad at something
and you know and he'd cuss and he he
cursed god's name he'd say the gd word
he'd say it often i'd say bill please
don't curse god's name that's not a good
thing to do but you know sometimes he'd
just do it
driving you just come out of his mouth
i'd say bill please don't profane god's
name that's not a good thing then you
know he wouldn't be happy about the the
country or the economy so he then he'd
curse the president and you know
uh you know and you know always
profanity and stuff like that said bill
don't don't do that that's not good but
you know he was he was a person with an
incredible work ethic
and uh had
in some areas of his life extremely
rare fantastic manhood qualities
but he just didn't know the lord
and he had immigrated over from ireland
and so he was a full-blooded ironman
excuse me irishman and he came to
america and you know just began his life
here
and so
i i worked with him and i know i knew
the lord of course because i'm
i'm saved filled with the spirit and i'm
already you know doing a lot of ministry
usually on the weekends i'm i'm i've got
a meeting lined up for every sunday but
at that time i was still
doing the plumbing work
and um
he wasn't saved and i knew the lord
wanted me to
minister to him not through preaching to
him but just being around him
and mainly as odd as it was to eat lunch
with him
every day now i did not eat breakfast
with him i didn't eat dinner with him
but uh we we would always start work
after we've had our own individual
breakfast at home then we go to work but
we always ate lunch together every day
and i would always pray over our food
because i i'm not just going to open up
the burger and start shoving it in my
mouth you know i would always say bill
let's pray for the food oh oh okay
steven uh you know real thick irish
accent even after having been in america
for decades real thick accent oh oh oh
okay stephen you go ahead and do a do
the prayer and so i would say the prayer
and in the name of jesus you know we're
blessed food thank you father and all
that stuff
every day i do that and here's the
situation though he always wanted to eat
at carl's jr
and while i have nothing against carl's
jr
um if you had 100 restaurants i i might
put it at like number 98 or 99 because i
just i don't really prefer it i don't
know why some people do bills certainly
did now i'm talking freely because
bill's in heaven now okay he's his
journey has ended but
yeah i just didn't connect with uh
carl's jr we've actually got one in town
the the uh east coast version which is
called hardy's okay so anyhow i i didn't
like carl's jr but every day lunchtime
steven let's go to carl's jr and uh so
off we go to carl's jr and i didn't like
the burgers and uh and i know why bill
wants to eat there because it's cheap
that's all he ever thought about where
can we get the cheapest gas to fill up
the van
and where's the cheapest place to eat
lunch because he's you know he had that
old
uh irish mentality of having gone
through you know famine and when he was
a child they walked five miles on sunday
to go to church
and uh he would walk five miles back
home after church so he knew religion
but he just wasn't saved he he knew what
it meant to have moral uprightness
but he just wasn't born again and of
course he could certainly cuss pretty
good too now he was a heavy drinker
earlier but the doctor had told him if
you take one more drink you have so
destroyed your liver if you take one
more drink it's probably going to kill
you well there was one day he took one
more drink and he almost literally died
they rushed him to the hospital and did
some final things and then he realized
it is true if i'd take one more drink
i'll die so you know he had that type of
a background
anyhow back to carl's jr every day
carl's jr
cheeseburger which i don't didn't like
the taste of it and then fries i didn't
like the way they did their fries and
right next door in and out burger right
over here is a another burger place and
it's just every day every day every day
and you know month after month after
month after month every day carl's jr
month after month another carl's jr
burger and one day
i i didn't want to do it anymore
and it's time for lunch
stephen
you ready to go carl's jr and he pulls
into the parking lot of carl's jr and
we start to get out i said
bill
i don't want to go to carl's jr today
what do you mean stephen you don't want
to go i i don't want to eat there bill
i'm tired girls junior can we go over
here to mcdonald's oh no steven we need
to go to carl jr
and i said i said i can't do it today
bill i can't i can't now the whole time
i'm telling him no
there
for some strange reason
the holy spirit
of liberty
thump the liberty is gone and suddenly
there is this thing on the inside of me
like
do not resist this go with him to carl's
jr do not resist as i'm thinking but
what is it matters just a it's just a
30-minute meal and i've got to endure it
i don't even like the food it doesn't
even taste good isn't food more than
just nutrition shouldn't it also be for
enjoyment perhaps not just like god
i'm not doing it
and enter inwardly i'm saying i'm not
doing it while the holy spirit is
resisting with this like you're making a
major mistake you're making a major
mistake and why what's going on the
liberty the liberty of the spirit is
completely gone and now it's being
replaced with this all this other
turmoil and stuff going on on the side
of me but i said bill
i said you go ahead i can't i just i
don't want to eat there today
and when i said that he he literally he
dropped his head like that
it didn't say anything and began walking
towards the carl's jr
and i saw him walk to carl's jr he
looked like he got totally deflated and
he goes inside see the door open he goes
inside and i thought okay i'm going to
mcdonald's and i start
walking to mcdonald's
puffed up in my pride that i'm going to
do it the way i want to this time after
all lord what could be wrong with it i'm
trying to justify it right all this is
playing out within a matter of minutes
so i'm walking to mcdonald's
all happy
and god is my witness i'm in a concrete
jungle i'm in southern california
anywhere you look there's there's
asphalt parking lots
there's buildings there's no
country nothing there's no trees there's
no
there's no outdoor animals maybe
occasional bird but this is city 100
city
and as i'm walking to that
mcdonald's which is only now about
30 yards away from me as i'm walking
across the parking lot to it suddenly
out of nowhere
the angriest hornet on the planet earth
came dive bombing into me i never even
saw him coming but he hit me with such
force that knocked me forward and he
stung me on the back of the neck
oh lord did that hurt and instantly
my whole neck began to throb with pain
and i reached back there and pulled the
barb out
that was still dripping with venom that
he had planted into me
and uh
oh it hurt and
i knew god spoke to me i sent a stinging
rebuke to you because of your rebellious
pride
that's an old god
i said god i don't want to eat there
he said it's more than food he said i'm
interested in his soul
and you being around him is influencing
him
i said god i said how does eating a
burger have an influence and the lord
said that's my business you better get
back over there or the next thing will
be worse than a hornet sting it'll be
worse to the rebuke
i said oh god
i'll do it never in my life was i so
happy to walk into a carl's jr
[Laughter]
was i excited about the food no i oh i
just didn't want calamity i'd already
had a stinging rebuke
and i walked in that carl's jr and bill
saw me and the moment he saw me his face
lit up with the light
stephen
what are you doing i i thought you went
to the mcdonald's
bill i
i changed my mind let me get my
cheeseburger and fries and
i'll join you at the table hey man now i
didn't know
at that time
that later once i left california of
course you know even while i was in
california eventually phased out of
plumbing and into ministry and stuff
like that
but later when bill
and his wife mary kelly's mom came to
visit us here in moravian falls and we
we took the motorhome and we took a trip
to washington dc and when we drove back
when we drove back it was only bill and
i driving back in the motor home and
kelly and her mom and others came back
in another vehicle so i had five hours
with him not to corral him and force
something on him
but no just to talk with him
and that was the only time he was ever
open to really
listen from his heart
i said bill don't you want to go to
heaven
get your life right with god
why don't you pray the sinner's prayer
stephen
you're right
i'll do it and i led him
into a genuine repentance of sins
he asked christ into his heart and that
day he got saved that day he gave his
life to jesus amen now of course
his life ended
and he is now
he lived his life out he's now in heaven
saved hallelujah amen
but all those times of praying with him
over the meal
softened him up
softened him up because everybody else
in the family
besides kelly or maybe some of the
grandkids all they fed him was religion
just be religious
go to church and you'll be right with
god but he wasn't right with god he
wasn't even born again he had never even
asked christ into his heart he never
even asked the lord to forgive him of
his sins
you know
going to church doesn't make you right
with god me standing in my garage does
not turn me into a ram pickup truck
no it's just a dude standing inside of a
garage right so going to church you
being in church doesn't mean that you
are right with god
receiving christ into your heart by
faith receiving his salvation by faith
that's what
causes you to be born again
jesus said you must be born again glory
to god
hallelujah amen
what are we talking about the absence of
the spirit of liberty
when that happens be alert
if your spirit
is not celebrating within you
what you're about to do
it could very well
be a signal to stop
on the flip side today
something happened earlier today for my
wife and i
that was so of god
that was so favorable
that was so enjoyable
that was such a blessing that while she
and i were doing this and carried out
this
this blessing that the lord had
made available for us
while we were doing it within our
spirits
the spirit of god
was so
uh pleased with the whole thing that i
felt like jumping up and shouting
hallelujah
i just felt like saying praise god this
is the lord
[Laughter]
why what the spirit of the lord is there
is what liberty
joy
happiness praise god everything
associated with liberty glory to god
thank you lord jesus
so watch
out for the liberty
be looking be sensitive for the liberty
in your spirit in every step you take
particularly every important step every
important decision that you make and let
me let me say this
god expects us to take
this inner witness
the presence of liberty or the absence
of it
he
he expects us to take it just as
seriously as we
would if we heard the audible voice of
god speak
that authoritative voice of god oh yes
pastor steven i'll do that for sure god
expects you to obey that but also
that witness of the lit spirit of
liberty just as seriously as you would
should you hear
the
authentic authoritative voice of the
lord speak to you by the holy spirit
praise
god this could affect so many areas of
our lives
you know a really
really good minister
he lived to be a very great age he just
passed away
but he told the story about his daughter
who was getting married to a preacher
but this preacher had some he had some
real issues he had an anger problem that
was out of control
people began to realize that and see
that and pick up on that
and
had some other character flaws that were
issues that could not be overlooked
but the daughter had already gotten
engaged a wedding had been planned it
stood out the day of the wedding
this man of god is actually the one
that's going to perform the wedding
and
on the wedding day before you know with
people in the church and stuff like that
and everybody taking their positions
he's in the back room with her and she's
she's getting this thing on the inside
oh
see complete absence of liberty she's
getting this thing on the inside
and her daddy said listen
listen honey i love you and let me talk
with you just for a moment
what you're about to do you do not have
to do it it has not been done yet we can
stop this whole thing right now we just
call it off
and she said no no no no no daddy it's
too late and people expect me to go
through with it now and you i don't know
what he's going to do if i don't go
through with it and uh and she went
through with it
when the holy spirit
the his liberty was gone and there was
nothing now but
roadblocks roadblocks roadblocks
she's pushing them over right and
overriding them
even her own fault she wouldn't listen
to her own father
and things got really bad after that and
once those two were married uh there was
a lot of abuse
he the father had to go over one time
just to check on her and he answered the
door and said if you ever come over here
again i'll take my gun and shoot you and
kill you right here on the property all
right you're talking we're talking about
a wicked person
and she married that person
as a spirit-filled believer she married
that person with the holy spirit living
on on the inside of her trying to give
her every warning every hindrance
possible for her to put the brakes on
wow
listen the bible says in a multitude of
counselors there is safety if you have
others
that know god
mature that are returned the lord and
the lord the lord and there they there's
they're in agreement saying
you know shaking their heads i i don't
think this could be
you should really give heed to that
praise the lord
because you can always find those
that'll say yeah yeah yeah we need to do
this this is a respectable thing to do
we've made a commitment here we need to
blah blah blah and all that stuff
not if god's not in it just humble
yourself and back out
back out praise the lord because there
is a point if you don't and you cross a
certain line
now the only way to get out is a lot
heavier consequences such as what the
ship paul was on they lost the whole
ship all the prophets now are laying at
the bottom of the ocean including the
ship itself
lift your hands heavenly father i pray
for those that are watching today that
we begin to understand the spirit of
liberty the holy spirit the spirit of
the reverence of the lord the spirit of
the fear of the lord so that we have
great respect for you
and great value
to guard to protect
our assignment our calling to not be
deviated
and to go in the right direction
we thank you father you're putting
everybody in their place in the body of
christ for this positioning of the great
end time harvest we must be in our place
running our race and not something that
you have not assigned us to we give you
praise we thank you for the spirit of
liberty father today we celebrate your
holy spirit the spirit of liberty living
on the inside of us leading us and
guiding us
into all truth thank you father for
these beautiful
witnesses and manifestations of your
spirit help us to be very developed in
this area of sensitivity
to your spirit in jesus name we pray
and we all say
amen praise god
if you're watching today and you don't
know christ as your lord and savior
my friends make today the first day of
your life
where
you get your life in order with the lord
you get on the right track and you're
prepared to spend eternity with god in
heaven hallelujah if you would like to
do that turn from sin turn from darkness
and turn to god right now pray this
prayer
after me
say lord jesus
come into my heart
wash me of my sins
i give my life to you
save me now
write my name in your book of life
thank you jesus
i give my whole life to you
in your name i pray
amen
and amen
welcome to the family of god the angels
are rejoicing because of your salvation
lift your hands and thank god for saving
you right now lord we give you praise
glory to god
amen
hallelujah praise god
some things you don't always know
the exact route like with paul he's he
knows he's supposed to preach but he's
trying to fill out that specific
direction
my friends we also have to walk by faith
we don't always have
this super high resolution ability to
know
the exact
steps that we're supposed to take we
just know just keep going and if that's
not there then there must be something
else so sometimes just move forward stop
for a moment pray wait okay and then
you'll get clearer guidance praise god
now let's take holy communion together
today
grab some unleavened bread
and some grape juice
let's pray
heavenly father we thank you for
the bread the juice we bless it
we sanctify it set it apart as holy
we thank you this is now
the flesh and blood of the lord jesus
christ father as we receive his flesh
we thank you for protection against
all forms of
flu
all forms of bacteria all forms of
sickness and disease we thank you that
you are covenant keeping god and divine
health is in the covenant thank you
father we receive the flesh of jesus now
in his name we pray
amen let's protect together
heavenly father we thank you for
the precious blood of jesus
father if there has been times
where we have knocked over the
stop signs and
ran over the uh barriers
and we're just determined to do our own
thing
lord help us
help us to really learn quick in these
areas
thank you father god because the time is
short we do not have time
for
wrong turns
uh
fake detours and all kinds of other
things that we should not get off on
lord help us to be very focused
in this hour
and to move forward with the right pace
in the right direction father thank you
for the blood of jesus protecting us
from every false path
in jesus name we pray
amen
let's drink together
praise the lord
glory to god
i am familiar with another story of a
wedding
where
the bride found out that
the groom
had been up to no good even the very
night before of the wedding
and uh he just wasn't going to change
his ways
uh and the daddy said to his daughter
look don't go through with this he's not
going to be faithful to you let's call
this off i'll stand with you i don't
care what anybody thinks i'll stand with
you
she said thank you daddy if you'll stand
with me we'll call the whole thing off
they went and uh he was very wealthy the
the father
and so this was a this was a wedding
that
massive amounts of money were spent on
nothing was held back i mean all
everything was already paid for and
everything they walked out together
and she made the announcement the
wedding's off
she said i apologize for the various
inconvenience i don't want to embarrass
anybody she said the wedding's off and
her and her daddy turned around and
walked off together
and that young woman as difficult as it
was and also it caused of course some
inconveniences and i'm sure some red
faces but they all knew
she did the right thing praise god
it's never too late to do the right
thing heavenly father bless your people
we thank you for the witness of your
spirit the spirit of liberty
we give you praise in jesus name
amen thanks for watching
see you back
next time