i'm pastor stephen brooks and welcome
today to our online
internet around the world church service
i am so happy that you are here today
joining me here over the internet as
together
we have some church online whoo praise
the lord
amen no virus no
anything will stop us from being able to
meet together
because we have more ways than just one
that allow us to come together and it is
a joy
it really is that we can gather even on
the internet
praise god now let's take our bibles and
go
to second chronicles chapter 8
and we want to look at one verse which
is verse
16 and we're going to bring the tithes
and the offerings into the storehouse of
the lord
and this is our verse today it says that
all the work of solomon was
well ordered from the day of the
foundation
of the house of the lord until it was
finished so the house of the lord was
completed
now we are familiar with the great
wisdom
of solomon and along with that wisdom
we see one of his qualities one of his
characteristics
in that things are done in a way
where there is great order praise the
lord and i i like that
anytime you see wisdom you're going to
see order
and oftentimes when things begin to go
into a place of chaos
or disorder you know that the wisdom of
god is beginning to leave the situation
so all the work of solomon was well
ordered
from the day of the foundation that
would be the beginning
okay the foundation of the house of the
lord until
it was finished so the
building of the foundation and then
everything that went up
uh beyond that layer upon layer
was all done in a well ordered way
praise god now we have a special project
right now that we are working on
it's really two projects in one it is a
refreshing
of our internet studios where you see me
standing at right now
and also our smaller set which is used
for the
midweek bible study called morning glory
we want to refresh
both of them in a well-ordered way
the budget goal for this project
is 12 000 and i believe that as you
sow into it that anointing of
solomon wisdom that encompasses
things being done in a well-ordered way
will
just really touch your life praise god
you'll have such structure
and divine order in your life that
things go
smoothly even challenging things and i'm
praying for you that
in this time right now where so much of
the country
and so much of the world is shut down
that nevertheless your time be fruitful
and it'd be very well ordered
you know we had to completely call off
all of our
ministry trips that we had set up in
other parts of the world particularly in
europe
and right now americans are still not
allowed
to go to europe but my friends we just
rescheduled for a different time
and i believe that the latter time will
be
even better than perhaps what could have
been during this set time we would
actually would have been in europe right
now
but it's okay because the lord is
working
and he wants everything well ordered in
your life and i believe that as you
partner with this project you will touch
that anoint
that anointing of everything being well
ordered
you know i couldn't help but notice
over the last particular month that
even though there is a downtime where
maybe you can't go do some of the things
that normally you could do
those who are wise are taking advantage
of this and i really want you to
listen to what i'm sharing because
even if you have been laid off or even
if you are being
asked to work from home you know this is
a golden opportunity for you
when i look at all of the restaurants
that had to
close well
the good restaurants i can't help but
notice what they're doing
almost every single one is getting a
remodel from the top
to the bottom i look at uh the local
mcdonald's i look at the local wendy's
the
the bojangles chicken restaurant i look
at all these places
and these franchises these corporations
are smart
they realize this is a great opportunity
to do some of the
needed repair work or remodeling work
that needed to be done anyhow
and so they are taking advantage of this
time this season that we're in
and i'm seeing all of these restaurants
they're just getting
brand new signage brand new interiors
new furniture
new equipment many things that needed to
be upgraded and updated
they're getting it done and you know
what we need to do the same thing here
at the ministry
this mural behind me has been here now
for
uh since 2012 and it's time for a new
one praise god
hallelujah and the same thing with the
other midweek study
we need to we need to do some new
technology in there
and our i already have the vision of
what it is that we need to do
we just need to be able to get uh some
of the gear praise god and there's some
neat things we can do in here too
now i've also talked with local
contractors
uh here in the area you know what they
all tell me they're all
swamped with business every single
subcontractor whether it's an
electrician
or a plumber or a tile person they're
they're backed up
for months and months and months why
people are like well
hey if i'm laid off for work and there's
nothing to do i'm not going to just sit
around and
download movies all day i'm going to
work and get something accomplished you
know what many of them end up doing
they're thinking i'm going to remodel my
house and you know you can you can go to
youtube or
you know vimeo or whatever and just
watch videos it'll show you how to
repair your plumbing or
you know replace the kitchen sink or
whatever you want to do
but my friends this is an opportunity
for you to
refresh areas of your life that need to
be refreshed as well
i believe as you sow into this you'll
touch that refreshing anointing
and you'll also touch that anointing
where things are well done
in good order praise the lord thank you
jesus
now if we were to expedite this project
we could really get it done quickly if i
just had
10 people that would sow one thousand
dollar
seed we would be there with the budget
that's needed to complete this project
so the overall budget
is 12k but we're at a point now where
just 10 people gave a thousand each we
would be there praise god
and i believe we can do some really
creative things praise god
we're not going to try to make this like
the television studio set many of you
that have seen pure gold on tv
you know that's a very elaborate um
television set
and it took about four months to for
that to be created and so forth but this
is different this is internet but even
still
it is a platform where the gospel is
preached from and so we need to update
it so thank you
for sowing into this and helping us to
refresh this
because this is what everybody is doing
who's smart right now you're refreshing
things
you're repairing things you're fixing
things up
praise god and we're doing that in many
different facets
with the ministry with many areas of
technology and things like that so we've
got to touch
this area as well so thank you for
standing with us
as you bring your tithes and offerings
into the storehouse of the lord if you
have a special seed
for the internet studios just mark that
so that we know that's designated for
the refreshing project
and there is a header on the website
that's called projects
and you can go there and you'll see the
project for
the refreshing of the two internet
studios praise the lord so you can
give specifically into that project
praise god thank you so much for that
and thank you also for honoring the lord
with the tithe as well
because it is the bringing in the of the
tithe the 10
of all of your earned income that allows
us to just
literally preach the gospel all around
the world
hallelujah and to increase to increase
the work
that god has called us to do now
heavenly father i pray for
all of your people that are
partnering with this ministry that are
bringing the tithe in and or even
sowing special seed those that would sow
special seed
father bless them and we thank you for
the anointing the wisdom
that solomon type wisdom resting on them
or everything they do that they would
touch for a refresh
or remodel that everything would be done
so smoothly that it would be done in a
way where it's
well ordered and it makes sense and it
comes out
as a finished product that brings you
glory father we thank you let that
anointing
touch them in jesus name it's going to
be a beautiful harvest
shout and say amen
praise god hallelujah now if you're
mailing in
your tithes and offerings please send
them to stephen brooks
international p.o box
seven one seven moravian falls
and the zip code is two eight six
five four i've had so many numbers going
through my head this week
that i almost hit the pause there just
for a moment to uh recall the p.o box
but it's good old p.o box 717 again
moravian falls
28654 and the state is north carolina
now those of you that prefer to bring
your tithe and your offering in
online please visit the ministry website
stephenbrooks.org
and there is a link on the home page
called titans and offerings
sew and reap and you can go there right
now and bring them into
the storehouse of god praise god
praise god amen thank you for your
generous
and faithful support now let's take our
bibles today
and go over to the book of philippians
and we're going to talk about something
fascinating
that has to do with the energy
of god whoa praise the lord
and the most remarkable thing
is that the energy of god can actually
work and flow in you
the energy of god if it were given a
color would be the color
orange and i have had experiences in
heaven
one of the actually the first time that
i was taken to heaven
into the third heaven when i was caught
up
just like the apostle paul was i saw
many of the colors in heaven
but one of the primary colors that i saw
and it doesn't mean it's primary all the
time but it was primary on the day that
i was there
was the color orange and it was
there were even colors moving like
ribbons
that were going through the the the air
and they would the colors would dance
with you they would swirl around you and
play with you they would the color could
even make you happy
and the color of orange represents
energy praise the lord in other words
if you take an orange like the fruit and
you peel it you eat the orange but the
orange peel
oftentimes is taken and you know they'll
uh
they'll scrape some of it the zest of it
and they'll put it in your tea
or it can be used for certain types of
flavoring but
that orange peel denotes a zest
for life so if you need a pep in your
step
if you need a boost today i want you to
listen carefully to today's message
because
it's going to help release the
energy that you need to accomplish
what god has called you to do that
beautiful thing that god has called you
to do
and to fulfill you're going to need more
than your own
strength you're going to need god's
energy working in you
and that's what we're talking about
today we're in the book of philippians
we're going to start
in chapter 2. we're going to pretty much
stay today in chapter 2. we'll look at a
few other things we're going to kind of
camp here today
and i want us to go to verse 3
and let's open up in prayer heavenly
father as we
jump into your word we ask that your
word would jump into
us and do the mighty work
that it has the power to do let it be a
living word we ask o god sharper
than any two-edged sword dividing
between
even spirit and soul thank you let the
motives and the
the intents of our heart be laid bare
by the working of the sword of the
spirit as we begin to let it operate
now in jesus name we pray and we all
agree and say
amen now verse 3
it says let nothing be done
through selfish ambition
or conceit that's that's big
let nothing be done if it's something
that you're doing
that you're only doing it because of
selfish ambition
and it is good to have ambition but it's
not good
to have selfish ambition because
even if you do it and get it done
it's going to work against you because
it was not
done from pure motives and god
is not obligated to honor something
that's done
in disobedience what is
selfish ambition it is the
accomplishment of an achievement
or a special distinction
that you allow to glorify yourself
instead of allowing it to glorify god
um we we have to examine these types of
things
again the apostle paul said let nothing
be done through selfish ambition
it's very very important now
any of you that have studied church
history particularly the
the era of the uh what was known as the
great
healing revival that happened in the
1950s now there had been healing
revivals before
it just had been a long time since
america had had one
and it was uh quite powerful
it was mainly in the 1950s it carried
over into the 60s but it began to
fade out quickly once it hit into the
60s
but you had such people as
a.a allen you had dr oral roberts
you had jack cole and you had many other
famous people william branham and so
forth
but some of these ministers blessed
their hearts they had tremendous
anointing out of this world
gifting but some of them had some
tremendous
egos they had they had uh
they had some huge egos and uh they were
they were greatly uh surrounded
by yes men and that can be very very
dangerous
so i'll give you an example oral roberts
had the largest tent not only in the
church
not only in america he had the largest
tent in the world
there was not even a sinner that had a
bigger tent
than oral roberts well you know
jack cole heard about that and he wanted
to have the biggest tent see that some
of these guys were real
um uh there it's just
it's really selfish ambition they were
very ambitious in a very selfish way
so while dr orr roberts was holding one
of his meetings at the tent
jack coe sent some of his men out there
to measure the size of oral robert's
tent
so that they could build a tent that was
larger
than his and they did they uh jack coe
had a tent built that was a little bit
big
a little bit bigger not that much bigger
but technically
uh and by the numbers it was bigger
therefore
he could proclaim that he now
has the largest tent in the world now
look
i can understand sinful businessmen
who say we must have the highest
skyscraper
and they build the world's tallest
skyscraper oh but that lasts for about a
year or two years
and then somebody else comes along and
then they build another one that's
bigger than that
and now we have one uh over there in the
middle east
that's the tallest one in the world well
it is
for now but there's already plans to top
that one and when somebody
eventually builds that one somebody else
will eventually come along
and top that one as well and a lot of
that
is ego driven it's uh it's pride
it's selfish ambition it's wanting to
establish a name for yourself
and if you do that you've made a wrong
step
[Music]
let nothing be done through selfish
ambition
it doesn't mean that you can't be
ambitious it doesn't mean that you can't
do great exploits
but if you're doing it just to get your
name on the front of the paper
if you're doing it just to get your face
before the television use cameras
if you're doing it for selfish ambition
then
all of that will be burned up on the day
in which god gives rewards and he will
not be able to reward anything
that is done contrary to his word um
the book pigs in the parlor it's a good
book
i'm trying to remember the man's name
that wrote it i think it was uh herald
something but
i'm thinking uh hh was his initials or
something like that nevertheless
the book pigs in the parlor was written
by a man that before he went into
ministry
he had an esteemed reputation
uh in uh as a law man
and he had an experience where he had to
stand before the lord
and the lord said everything that you've
done all of your accolades and all of
your rewards it all
glorified you and every time
i'm thinking howard pittman was his name
okay so every time he would try to
defend himself before the lord
uh through this supernatural experience
the lord said no no no
all of that stuff that you did glorified
you and you never gave me any credit for
it
you never you never mentioned my name
you took all the glory for yourself
and it was all because of selfish
ambition
so by the time the conversation was over
he was completely disarmed and said lord
i have i have no rewards and the lord
was like yeah you're right you don't
because it was all for you
so he got things right and uh
ended up receiving revelation from the
lord wrote the book pigs in the parlor
and the book blessed many people and
still blesses many people today because
now you can just download it online for
free and stuff like that
but the thing is is that if you don't
get this worked out
you could be uh on a wrong direct
trajectory
and you're consumed with it and you have
no idea
that it's all in vain wow these things
are very important
let nothing be done through selfish
ambition
by the way if you're going to accomplish
it
and god's not in it that means you are
going to use all of your energies all of
your strength
and that that's not good that's not good
you need god's energy god's strength
that way you can
uh you can put forth the effort
but in a sense it's the lord working
through you
and you'll get a whole lot more done you
know these things that are done out of
selfish ambition
they don't last i think about one
minister that
had had a world renowned ministry i
won't say his name
but really wanted to
have a uh
a sports coliseum so they built the
sports coliseum
now they've got all the men's women's
sports and stuff like that
and uh and then the you know the
minister that
raised up the sporting uh look i i'm not
saying that's wrong
but i'll tell you this when the time
comes for me to start a school of
ministry there ain't going to be no
basketball team
there's not going to be no volleyball
team if you want to play basketball and
volleyball or something like that
go somewhere else i'm here to raise up
men and women of god i'm not
here to show you how to dribble a ball
that's fine if you want to
do that but what in the world does that
have to do with
you know you know i i mean
really you're going to pray for a cancer
patient and you say well hey i can make
free throws really well no they don't
have no interest in stuff like that
they don't want to see how high you can
jump they they're they're they don't
want to see your biceps
they want to see something from god in
you praise the lord
well the man of god wanted to raise up a
coliseum
and he did and he wanted to have a uh
and then that wasn't enough then he
wanted to have the basketball team
go division one because he wants them to
win the ncaa title
and then that will that will bring a lot
of attention and then
and then the senators will see yes that
you know you got to watch out for all
this stuff
some of these people they just get
consumed with always wanting bigger
bigger best you know oh you've got that
well i've got to get something bigger
than faster than that
and then something eventually tops that
now you got to go top that and it's a
never ending chase
whoo so today
that same coliseum the man of god that
raised you know the funds for all that
and
had the vision for that he's you know
he's died going on the heaven
and today in order to
meet budgetary expenses that coliseum
is used to host the most vile
and filthy concerts by rock bands
and pop bands with every type of profane
word
and uh and you know
lewd lewd dancing that you could imagine
there
there in the coliseum that had to be
built well now
now the devil can have a heyday in it
whenever his group shows up
but you know what you got to watch out
for things like this hallelujah
and and don't don't surround yourself if
you're a leader
don't surround yourself with yes people
oh yes that's a good idea
yes look somebody tell me the truth
and somebody speak from your heart do
you think this is a good idea
well uh you you need people like that
praise the lord let nothing
let nothing be done through selfish
ambition
or conceit who they both
go very close together now what is
conceit
conceit is an excessive opinion
of your own ability or importance it's
really an over
inflation it's an exaggeration
it's it's a false reality
it's an excessive opinion of your own
ability
or your own importance
don't do anything in conceit
wow these are things that we have to
filter
through as we are
focused on what god has called us to do
or as new things merge in new ideas
new potentials all of this has to be
filtered through
the work of the power of the cross in
your life
does this bring god glory is god in this
or is this just me and myself
wanting to somehow gratify this and
you know roll it over on the lord
somehow too at the same time you know we
can be real good at that well the lord
told me to do it
oh that that's wonderful so uh you know
go
go ahead knock yourself out but you know
what if that's
if that's not god that's you that's
going to cost a lot of energy
and here's the thing if that's not of
the lord and you're going to do it
anyhow
it means that the thing that that is of
him you're not doing that
so not only are you not doing that
you're going further away by going in
this other direction
we have to examine these things let
nothing be done through selfish ambition
or conceit
but in lowliness of mind
now some translations say in humility
in humility and i think that when we
walk
in humility and we walk in the love of
the lord we're not jealous of others
pastor steven have you heard about what
brother so-and-so is doing
well no i haven't but more power to him
praise the lord you know just
you stay focused on the lord and you do
your thing
you do what god has called you to do and
you endeavor to be the best at it
but in lowliness of mine let each esteem
others
better than himself that each of you
look out not only for his own interest
but also for the interest of others
i like how kenneth copeland
prophet copeland was he was out and
about somewhere and
saw a jet that was a great
jet and you know he already had his
aircraft situation taken care of
and he calls up jesse duplantis this was
decades back
and he said jesse i found your jet
and uh you better come get it quick
right i want to get it it's such a good
deal
you know it's a real low uh uh total
time on it and uh
engines have very low time it's great
condition
uh great pedigree and uh it was just
the perfect jet for somebody moving into
the jet category
uh and so he called them and said hey
this this is this
would be perfect for you well it's great
when others watch out for you
it's great when others think hey
that would be really a good setup for so
and so
and it's good to have people that uh
they care about you praise the lord
you know i'll never forget it one time
there was a minister
maybe i should be a little more direct
he was a wannabe minister
oh he was highly successful in the
corporate field and he came down here
from washington
dc oh a lot of experience in government
a lot of experience in the corporate
arena and had a resume
that was very very impressive but he was
going to come down here and he was going
to start a minister
a ministry he was going to be a man of
god i personally didn't even think he
was called into the ministry
but he was a nice fellow and he asked me
to come to a meeting
where he was going to present some
minister some ministry ideas he had of
launching his own ministry i thought
well i'll go and
you know he's been a nice person and
i'll go to the meeting he wants me to go
small meeting just
him and a few others
well i get there and also at the meeting
is one of my baptist pastor friends he
has a nice church about 500 people
he'd been invited to come he's there too
he and i knew each other
so we go to this meeting and uh so this
man with his vision starts to
uh unveil his vision of all that he's
going to do
and uh you would have thought he was
ready to take over billy graham's
ministry
you would have thought he was ready to
take over everybody's ministry he had so
many lofty goals
he's going to do this he's going to do
that that me and the baptist pastor kind
of looked at each other like
kind of like smile like this guy doesn't
know what he's talking about it doesn't
work like that
and then and then because you know he's
coming from the corporate world
and then he said now he said he said now
what we have to discuss
is who is my competition
and when he said that me and the baptist
minister and all the others we all kind
of looked at each other like
hey we're not in competition we're all
here to support each other
be a blessing to each other now we all
have our own assignments we all have our
own callings we have to stay focused
on that but hey if if there's something
we could do to be a blessing over here
over there
we're not we're not trying to hinder
anybody we're trying to help each other
we're trying to push each other along
and he said i need to know who is my
competition
and they see in the corporate world if
you're presenting you know your your
business plan
you need to know the competition and
stuff like that and and so he looked at
all the you know the various ministries
around and i
i just said i said uh i said brother i
said
in in ministry it doesn't work like this
i said in the business world you might
want to be aware
of who your competitors are but even in
the business world what would be called
competition
is actually good because when you have
competition that that's going to pass on
uh lower cost to the consumer and also a
better
uh end product to the consumer but i
said ministry doesn't work like that
if you look at ministers as being your
competition like you're out to
get them before they get you or get all
the money before they raise all the
money or so
this is this is like uh uh
you know you need to reevaluate all
these types of things but
but my friends that area of conceit oh
he had greatly esteemed himself far
beyond really the position that he was
in
that area of selfish ambition oh he was
going to do so much
but that area also lacking of humility
and lowliness of mind instead of asking
for
insight wisdom or opinions he already
knew everything
and sadly sadly i found out a little
while back
he died he didn't live much longer after
that
i actually think it's very dangerous for
anybody who is not called into the
ministry now when i say ministry i'm
talking full-time ministry
of either apostle prophet evangelist
pastor teacher
that's that's a ministry office only god
can set a man or a woman in a ministry
office
and if you intrude into it on your own
it's actually very dangerous back in the
old testament
you had the office of the priest but you
just couldn't
make yourself a priest you had to be a
descendant
down through the lineage of aaron
you had to come down the priestly line
and
you just couldn't like you know be from
the tribe of uh
you know simeon or from the tribe of uh
reuben and say oh
i want to be a priest no you can't
you're not allowed to
and so if you intrude it into that
office
there are examples in the old testament
of those that died
they died by endeavoring to do that so
i really believe that's what happened to
him nice guy good man
but he got off track i don't know why
every time i've seen a businessman
look at ministry fascinated by it
but but thinking i can do that
without realizing that the ministers are
doing it by the grace
that god has given to them every every
businessman that i've ever seen
step over and they're going to do it too
they have fallen
they have fallen so hard i've never met
one yet that didn't lose
completely his business and ended up
either in bankruptcy or financial ruin
thank you jesus so you have to stay in
your lane
in life you have to do what god has
called you to do whatever that is
and stay out of these dangerous areas of
selfish ambition
and conceit because it will it will
delude you into a deception
and you're off running in hot pursuit
god told me to do this
no you that that's you doing your own
thing
and it will drain you it will drain you
of energy
we need to walk in the safeguards of
lowliness of mind humility of mind
and esteem others better than ourselves
praise the lord that just means be
humble love others praise god doesn't
mean that like you're a doormat
or act like you don't know anything it
just means uh
be sweet to people love people be kind
to everybody
praise the lord and very importantly the
thrust of what paul is saying here
is follow your own path follow your own
destiny and stay on track filter through
what god wants you to do and what is
just soulish
what you just need to let go of praise
the lord
let's let's dig deeper into this because
when you get on track
you begin to contact a supernatural
energy
that's beyond anything that you could
ever create it comes from god
philippians chapter 2 same same book
same chapter let's drop down to verse
12.
therefore now when you see that word
therefore all although we're dropping
down about you know nine or ten verses
you have to understand it's tying
together the word therefore
is tying together with a sum total of
everything that has been
placed before of the context or the
paragraph
before it and some of that included this
area
of really staying pure with your motives
and staying
in your lane and doing what god has
called you to do now we move into verse
12.
therefore my beloved so again he's
continuing to speak to the christians
in philippi this is written to believers
therefore my beloved
as you have always obeyed not as in my
presence
only but now much more in my absence
work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling i had a
excuse me a minister very liberal really
oh yeah hearing him preach was like
it's like trying to shave with a banana
peel i mean it's like
it's so dull all of his messages uh
i never heard one that had any kind of a
bite to it ever
and one day he asked me he said stephen
he said what do you think about this
verse
in philippians chapter 2 verse 12
where it says work out your own
salvation with fear
and trembling and i shared just briefly
what i
thought about it but it troubled him let
me tell you why because
he was so lethargic with his calling
he just wanted to cruise he just wanted
to like
everything just to be kind of like uh i
don't know
almost like hand it to him and he had
his idea
or his vision of what ministry should be
and it was it was a long way away from
what i would call an apostolic ministry
or even a prophetic ministry
even when i look back i see that he was
called to the ministry office of a
teacher
but his problem was he wasn't spending
enough time in the word to present
messages that would
feed his audience and so
he was troubled by this verse where it
says
work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling but
but paul is certainly not just talking
to ministers
he's talking to the church he's talking
to the body of christ
he's talking to you as well that we need
to work
out now the the phrase work it out work
it out
it means to bring into fruition or
bring it into a completed state of what
the original intent was meant for that
hallelujah it's going to be good god has
something beautiful
concerning you and the completed project
of your life
and the completed assignments that are
destined for you to fulfill
praise god so he wants you to bring it
to fruition
he wants you to work it out now
this when it says
uh concerning work out your own
salvation
well there is there's two parts here
one is the element of your original
born again experience you're saved
you have been regenerated on the inside
and you belong to god
hallelujah you're ready for heaven
because
you've received christ as your lord
and savior but my friends although
you're born again
and although you are saved and it is
the finished work in the sense that when
jesus said it is finished he had fully
paid
that penalty and his redemption
is complete when you put your faith and
trust in him
but as you've noticed you
still have your life in which
you live and god loves you
he loves you just the way you are
but he doesn't want you to stay in that
state
in which you were originally saved he
wants you to grow
he wants you to develop he wants you to
mature
he wants you to overcome things even as
the apostle paul
spoke of in the book of hebrews about
certain
besetting sins he wants you to be at a
place
where you arrive at maturity where those
things don't overthrow
your life anymore we see that in hebrews
chapter 12
verse 1 therefore we also
since we are surrounded by so great a
cloud of witnesses
let us lay aside every weight and the
sin
which so easily ensnares us
and let us run with endurance the race
that is set
before us any type of besetting
sin that would ensnare you that would
entangle you
that would trip you up the lord doesn't
want you to just tolerate that
the lord wants you to overcome to
overcome those things
so that you move into the place of being
a mature
believer work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling in other words
work that out work that out
walk with the lord praise god work that
out
now there's other elements of working
out
the path of direction that god has
for you to take and that is still
probably
one of the greatest questions that any
believer would ask
which is this what is god's plan for
my life well the number one plan would
be
now that you belong to him would be for
you to become
conformed into the image of jesus
in character in other words if a
besetting sin
such as anger was something that
previously would just trip you up
over and over and you lose control and
you're you know you're
you you act like a crazy person then
that is something that you need to work
out your own salvation work it out with
fear and trembling
where this thing no longer trips you up
and gets the upper hand
on your life and so you need to find out
what's going on with that
and overcome it and get into the word
get strengthened
walk with the lord establish a prayer
life praise god
so that you're strong so that you're
strong amen so that's an element of it
the other element concerns direction
what should i do
where should i live where should i work
at uh
you know should i own a house or should
i rent an apartment or whatever it might
be
and on and on it goes life with this
many many
questions well god
has direction now i get many emails
sometimes people ask me questions such
as things
uh pastor stephen i'm thinking about
moving
should i move and for those that i
know partners and church members that i
know
that that have been with the ministry
for a while i'll start to get a sense
of god's plan for their life sometimes
when it's a total stranger
it can be a little more i i could get
some insight from the lord but i have to
wait on the lord
and see what the lord would say but
here's the thing
prophets are not put in in the church to
lead or guide the church prophets are
put there to
give confirming witness to what the holy
spirit would lead that person
to do praise the lord so sometimes
people ask me pastor stephen uh should i
move to australia
pastor stephen should i move to israel
should i move to
brazil and really
in some in some situations the the
answer is i have no idea
no idea i don't know you're going to
have to work that out in your own life
that is your life you have to work that
out that's part of your salvation part
of the plan that god has for you
and you have to work it out with fear
and trembling why fear and trembling
well you don't want to end up in the
country you don't want to make a major
mistake
you you don't want to marry the wrong
person
work out your salvation work out god's
plan
his destiny his his path that he has for
your life
and work it out with fear and troubling
thank you jesus some things you can
correct
if you make a wrong turn others uh
maybe you can correct it but it's going
to leave some collateral damage
so you want to work it out with fear and
trembling because
it is very very important now
concerning this let me just give one
scripture for this
romans chapter 8 verse 14
for as many as are led by
it doesn't say prophets
some people think prophets are there to
lead you
well if they did have the divine
authority to lead you then that would
mean that they could lead you not just
once but twice
and now three times and before you know
it you would want them leading you all
the time
even to the point you'd call them
prophet where am i supposed to eat lunch
at today
uh thus says the lord today you are
supposed to go to burger king
good thank you man of god the phone
rings again
prophet yes where am i supposed to have
dinner at uh
thus says the lord you've had too much
too many burgers
the lord says that you need some seafood
tonight
you're supposed to eat at the seafood
which one
uh long john silvers thus says the lord
goodbye
and on and on it goes and you know this
thing that question that question
and no human
no human has
the ability to sustain something like
that which is why
anybody that says they can they always
turn into a cult leader
i i know what god's will for your life
is all the time
24 hours a day i know everything about
you uh no
you're a false apostle you're a cult
leader and
you know no we're we're dismissing
anything
uh that you would say or do because
you're cuckoo
praise the lord so for as many as are
led by
the spirit of god these are sons of god
oh yes god has worked through many
prophets to give me beautiful words
that confirmed what god was already
stirring in my
spirit but i've also had prophets who
missed it
pastor stephen thus says the lord you're
going to move to texas
and you're going to be given a large
french style house with lots of cattle
and lots of livestock brother i don't
want no cattle no i see many cattle
with big horns long horns brother i
don't want no cattle
no i see the cattle coming no no
no
[Laughter]
whoo praise the lord
praise the lord well i thank god for
prophets i would say
that 90 of the prophecies i've ever
received
have been accurate and the ones that
were off
you know what uh maybe they were just
going for it and they just you know
and you leave room for grace you lean
leave room for error or mistakes
and uh i remember one prophetess
she was uh pretty good pretty accurate
pretty good really with the
with the prophetic anointing she said i
don't know about this brother stephen
but i'm just gonna go for it because i'm
gonna i'm gonna just see what i can do
to go into a new dimension and i'm going
to go for it
well she went into a new dimension all
right it was really weird and really
goofy
and everything that she said was just
like cuckoo
and um and of course none of it ever
came to pass either
and i wasn't expecting it to praise the
lord but those things are few and far in
between
but even still even when you get a
spectacular word
flowing through a prophet that comes
from god and it's flowing through a
prophet
you know what that doesn't give you an
exemption where you think oh
i don't have to use my faith anymore
i've got the word of the lord well
well yeah but now you need faith to
fulfill that prophetic word
because prophecy is unveiling the will
of god unveiling god's plan for your
life giving you insight into that
and so now that you have clear insight
well you're going to use your faith
so it's never like you get a faith
vacation you have to stay
on task on faith all the time can you
shout
yes while here we certainly celebrate
prophecy
now for as many as are led by the spirit
of god
these are sons of god
and that is also a part of maturity
you know when i was young in in the
charismatic pentecostal movement
i when i was new to it and uh you know i
uh and
the church i was at was a very prophetic
church and they would bring in
uh many heavyweight prophets uh any any
well-known prophet you've heard of
they would bring them in and sometimes
they bring in a whole group of them
and you know uh uh when they would
release the prophets to prophesy
everybody would run and i would too you
go over here to get you'd wait in line
to get a word from the great prophet
and then you'd run over here to get a
get a word from his son and then you run
over here to get a word from the other
visiting prophet
and before you know it you could you
could gather 10 words
10 prophecies all in a basket and the
amazing thing is so often they would all
mesh together it is tremendous anointing
and gifting
but you know what i have found over the
years that
that the word comes when i need it
oh i still would enjoy prophecy i i like
that and i give them too praise the lord
but i have found that the strongest most
beautiful
uh words with the greatest clarity they
come
when i kind of walk into them i just
maybe show up somewhere
and somebody says you know pastor
stephen i was just praying for you and
that the lord was showing me this i had
no idea you're gonna walk in
but this is what the lord is saying and
i i just kind of walk into these
prophecies sometimes
and it's as the lord kind of opens it up
praise god
and it's all good verse 16
the spirit himself bears witness with
our spirit
that we are children of god so a prophet
doesn't bear witness with your spirit
that you're saved
because maybe they might think well they
don't look safe to me
no that's the holy spirit that does that
job
and so on the most important thing that
you need to know in life which is what
the security of your salvation how do
you know
through the holy spirit bearing witness
on the inside of you that yes
you are a child of god so the number one
way of leading is by the holy spirit
through the inner witness
what you should do where you should work
at who your spouse should be
if you've got to run to a prophet to get
a word on on on you know who you're
supposed to marry
maybe you're not ready for marriage yet
praise god now it
i think it is good to get uh the insight
or the blessing of the man of god in
your life praise god
or or the the minister of god in your
life but
the the main person the main person that
you want to hear from
is not your pastor or because maybe he's
on vacation he can't he can't give a
thumbs up or a thumbs down
but it's god it's the holy spirit what
does the holy spirit think about this
person
[Laughter]
holy spirit is this the one
you know so he'll bear witness on the
inside
yes no you know so it's amazing praise
the lord so that has a lot to do also
with discerning god's path for your life
filtering out what is what what is
something that the lord
approves what is something that he
doesn't prove it but the timing is not
for now
oh these things are very very important
now let's go back
let's go back to the book of philippians
chapter 2
work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling verse 13 for it is god
who works in you so so he's working on
the inside of you
both to will and to do his good pleasure
now i want to ask you a question
why do you like the things
that you like i believe
that although there could be some
desires that could be
filtered out i believe when you shake it
all out
and what's really left of who you are
and what you like
i believe it's from god it's not from
the devil that you
are attracted to certain things that you
like certain things i'm talking about
things that are good of course
it's not it's not from the devil that
you like that
god put that in you that's from the lord
praise god some of that can pass down
from the lord through your family maybe
your father or mother
like certain things i told my mom about
a certain thing that i i
enjoy she said you know what she said
your dad always loved doing that
i thought isn't that interesting i
didn't even know that was like uh
one of the things kind of like in his
own you know
private time that he enjoyed doing but
my mom said yep he that was one of
his uh happy things that he enjoyed so
and it was a good thing that was in my
dad i've got that same bug so to speak a
good thing
these things come from the lord praise
god they're part of who you are
god put those things in you now this is
very important
it is god who works in you both to
will okay so that word will there in the
greek can also be translated as desire
watch that again god works
in you both to desire and to do his good
pleasure
okay so god works in you to desire
certain things that he is in agreement
with that he wants you to do
or that that are okay for you to do
god works in you to desire
god works in you to desire
if you don't like what you're doing
you're highly likely to
never become good at it
you can learn anything if you love it
wow if you really love it
you can learn it now i don't know
calculus well pastor stephen why don't
you why don't you learn calculus
because i don't have a desire for it not
that you couldn't use it
perhaps in certain areas of your life
even if i wasn't going to use it but i
loved it
i would still learn it but because there
are certain things in life
that they just don't interest me i have
no interest in learning them
but you can learn anything
even if it's complex even if it's
complicated if you
love it a foreign language
praise god i'm not good at languages uh
if you had a reason to learn that
a desire you could you i can guarantee
that you could learn it regardless of
what it is
they say that mandarin uh chinese is one
of the hardest language
for uh english-speaking english-speaking
people to learn
but i guarantee you you could learn
mandarin if you
uh if god put a desire on the inside of
you to learn that
praise the lord and that you could even
become
completely fluent in it
but you have to love it it has to be a
desire
god works with your desires that's what
i'm saying
these desires can be in you because god
put those things on the inside of you
years back prophet kenneth copeland said
that his father told him
one day he said kenneth
you know i think that if i could somehow
open up your head
that if i were to open it up airplanes
and helico
airplanes and motorcycles would start
coming out of it because that's just
all kenneth copeland you know
had an interest in a desire for and
that was really from the lord and today
he's a
he's a minister who of course can fly
his own airplane
has given many airplanes away
and of course also loves motorcycles
praise the lord but that's something
from the lord
thank you jesus and he takes those
desires
and those loves and uses them as
evangelistic tools where he's had the
motorcycle rallies
and many people many people have been
saved through the motor
motorcycle rallies and many people have
also been
ministered to through the aviation
ministry praise the lord
but these desires are very very
important for
is god who works in you both to desire
and to do his good
pleasure now god works in
you this is god working on the inside of
you
let's talk about this a little bit this
word
of god working in you god works
in you is drawn from
the greek word that
we get our modern day english word of
energy
from god's energy
working on the inside of you with your
desires
to fulfill the good pleasure of god
god's energy working on the inside of
you
to empower you to work to fulfill
his good pleasure what would be the good
pleasure of god
that god would energize you to do
whoo and you love it you love it
some of you you've lost your zest for
life
and you're going through life almost
kind of like in a
monotonous mode you're going through
life like in grayscale
you need some color you need the orange
energy of god you need the zest for life
back into you and what happens is when
you connect
with the passion that god has put on the
inside of you
and you work with that what happens is
that
god's energy starts flowing through you
and that's exactly what that word means
for it is god who works
god who works not on the outside of you
in
you and that word works in greek
is our english word for energy god's
energy now here's what's fascinating
every time that word inner jail or
energy
or god working in the life of a believer
is used in the new testament
every single time it refers to
supernatural miraculous energy
pastor stephen i'm running on red bull
five-hour energy
monster energy and rock star drinks
well god bless you praise the lord
you're probably quite acidic
but that's your own choosing what you
would prefer to drink
truth be told i enjoy a nice red bull
every now and then myself not very often
maybe once a month praise god
but there's a different kind of energy
that comes from god that will do what
caffeine and certain herbal stimulants
can ever do and it was what was working
in the early apostles
it was what was working in the apostle
paul and it is what is working in the
lives of so many believers who are on
target with what god has assigned them
to do
and they love it
[Music]
there's energy released from the lord
praise the lord
and this energy is to do his good
pleasure
something that makes him happy whether
you're called to
raise a hospital i like the catholic
saint
padre pio who raised up a world-class
hospital there in italy san giovanni
rotundo raised up a hospital
at that time uh decades back when there
was nothing there
but a remote mountainous area
but today one of europe's leading
hospitals
leading the way in many areas of science
and medical technology
is there operating because that man
who was a monk now remember monks are
required to take a vow of poverty
and they're never allowed to oversee any
kind of money at all
yet the pope made an exception for padre
pio
because padre pio was called to raise up
that hospital
and others knew it was a work of god and
the energy of god
flowed through that man that even the
pope said we're going to make an
exception for you
and provision poured in and it was all
put into the establishing of that
miraculous
work which was for the relief of the
suffering
praise god still going on today even
though that great man of god has gone on
to heaven
that hospital still stands ministering
to countless people and it's grown
quite a bit in size maybe god has called
you
to raise up an orphanage to feed
many many uh hungry children
perhaps in a war-torn country or an
impoverished nation
where some people could use a little
help praise god
um well pastor steven all i can do is
thirty dollars you know
a week or something like that you'd be
shocked at what thirty dollars can do in
some of these countries
i've been in uh some of these countries
that are uh
not developed in certain areas where
they're you know
i won't go into uh certain limitations
they have but
oh thirty dollars
that can feed a lot of people that can
feed a lot of people not just daily
even weekly by a lot of rice
and beans and spices and other types of
things
for very small amounts of money food in
america has become
very expensive uh there's a there's a
bad agenda that's behind that
but uh you know if you think a steak
cost 18
uh look beef is not that expensive there
are forces behind the scenes
that are intentionally trying to drive
up uh prices to escalate food prices but
truth be told
the reality is that food is actually
very very cheap
so it only takes a little to be a great
great blessing
i prophesied over a minister recently
i said i don't know why but god's called
you to raise up an orphanage i had no
idea that he was raised
from childhood in an orphanage that
meant so much to him
and he's on the trajectory to get that
accomplished
now perhaps god's called you to start
your own business
maybe even more than one but of course
you would have to start with the first
one
but god can give you the energy that is
beyond your human ability
to get it done maybe god has
called you to start your own ministry
maybe
uh your own blog network or an online
internet radio station or perhaps to
start your own christian
television station something like that
yes
you'll need wisdom yes you'll need
provision but one of the things that you
can never
overlook is that you're going to need
the capacity
to run to get that stuff done and that's
where the energy of god
comes in and we see it all throughout
the new testament now one more time
before we move away from philippians
chapter 2
verse 13 for it is god who
energizes you on the inside
both to desire and to work
with energy for his good pleasure
so this labor that you're doing in the
assignment that you
love and desire to do energy from god
is flowing to you on the inside and let
me tell you a secret right now
it's why the apostle paul was able to
get
so much accomplished in such a
short amount of time and i believe that
you're going to do amazing things too
your zest for life is coming back you
need to rise up get back on task
oh pastor stephen oh there's coronavirus
and
everything's shutting down and i'm
hearing rumors about a global economic
collapse why even do anything
that's a wrong that's a wrong mindset
look people that are smart or remodeling
they're refreshing they're getting ready
for the next big push
and you need to also you need to get
your zest
and your energy for life back and when
you do god adds his energy to it
and life is full of color and right now
we're focusing on the color of orange
praise god colossians chapter 1
verse 28 in reference to
christ this is what paul said in
reference to christ
he said him we preach warning every man
whatever happened to preaching where you
warn people
hey there's a heaven and there's a hell
there is a right
and there is a wrong there is an
eternity
of where you're going to stay and it's
based upon your decisions in life of
rejecting or receiving christ
whatever happened to preaching where we
warn people
whom we preach warning every man
and teaching every man and all wisdom
that we may present
every man perfect mature in
christ jesus verse 29 to this end
i also labor striving
according to his working
which works in me mightily
all right get ready for a major energy
surge
i'm about to share something with you
that's the equivalent of drinking
10 of the bottles of five hour energy
here it is
to this end i also labor striving
according to his miraculous
energy which energizes
me mightily and the word
mightily comes from the greek word
dunami and it means miraculous
power
and the great men of god who filtered
and sorted through what was soulish and
needed to be
uh not uh engaged in and what was the
assignment
of god they took a hold of it the energy
of god
swept into them and that's why you had
men like dr lester sumrall
who was able to acquire all of these
television stations
and and make them christian television
stations not only in america but around
the world and we're on the world harvest
network which was founded by him
which in america reaches over 20 million
people
every week
praise the lord how did he do that
through god's energy working through him
go go go that's what the energy will do
it will empower you to go go go oh yes
you can still be tired at times you'll
need your sleep you'll need your rest
you'll need to eat
you'll need to have some breaks and
stuff like that but there is something
from the lord that just energizes you
just like it did paul and you're going
you're going
you're going whoa praise the lord and
before you know it
you notice you know you're expanding
you're you're increasing and you know
what
you're loving what you're doing even
like paul
you end up in a prison cell well you
know this is ideally where
i wouldn't want to be but time to write
another book
time to write another letter inspired by
the spirit of god
and of course those writings have
blessed us now for
two thousand years praise the lord
god's gonna do beautiful things through
your life
but you need his energy you need his
energy to go
upstream in a world that wants to go
downstream thank you jesus
just lift your hands right now father if
there have been
any abandoned assignments anything
where your people have taken their hands
off the plow uh they did more than just
look back they just took their hands off
the pile completely
father we ask for grace and restoration
and grace that would make up for any
lost time and they get their hands back
on the plow now
and finish the project finish the
project bring it to completion that they
would work out their salvation with fear
and trembling knowing that their calling
is a high calling
that their assignment is important and
nobody else can do it the way they can
do it
so they must not abandon it they must
get it done
thank you father let there be a sense of
urgency and let there be
energy released into their lives as they
contact that plan
as they embrace it and lean into it with
all of their energy and strength
i thank you i thank you father god for
your unstoppable anointing upon their
lives
that even before this year is completed
they
are going to finish major assignments
and it will bring you much glory thank
you father god it will it will fulfill
your good pleasure we give you praise
in jesus name amen
and amen shout i'm going to get it done
now
new energy new strength on the inside
enabling you to do what paul said that
he
worked that it worked in him mightily
mightily
mightily supernaturally glory glory
glory
glory glory the ideas of how to do it
are flowing
the wisdom of how to set it up is
flowing
and the energy to stay with it is being
released right now
your miracle is closer than you think
don't give up
thank you jesus you must have your zest
for life
that zest for living thank you jesus
it's what excites you it's the dream
that vitalizes you
praise god that ignites your spirit
father thank you in jesus name
hallelujah now if you have watched
today's program
and you're enjoying the message but
but you don't know the god who is able
to release this powerful energy
and you don't have your assignment
because you don't know the lord it comes
from the lord
then right now you have the opportunity
to get your life right with the lord
praise god if you would like to turn
from sin
and darkness and turn to the
almighty god and receive his forgiveness
and love and eternal life then pray this
prayer
pray it out loud right now say lord
jesus
i'm a sinner but i come before you
seeking your salvation jesus
i give my heart to you save me
right now write my name
in your book of life and forgive me of
all of my sins and grant unto me
your eternal life lord jesus
in your name i pray i receive your
salvation
now thank you jesus amen
and amen and god has heard that prayer
he has answered your prayer
and you are now born again you are now a
child of god
if you're watching this and you're a
christian who has fallen away from the
lord
and you're engulfed in sin and filth
but you're convicted by the power of the
holy spirit and you want to come back to
the lord
pray this prayer right now say lord
jesus i've drifted
and i'm in a mess jesus rescue me
and save me i'm one of your lost sheep
save me jesus praise the lord
he is forgiving you right now he is
washing all of your sins away he is
breaking any addictions or habits
right now turn your heart back to him
and come back to him right now
he receives you and accepts you with
open arms
say jesus i'm back nevermore to rome
thank you jesus for saving me thank you
jesus for getting me back
into the sheepfold thank you lord jesus
you are my good shepherd
amen and amen now go and serve him
all the days of your life praise the
lord
and let's take holy communion right now
now that your life is right with god
praise the lord hallelujah
grab some unleavened bread i use these
little wafers
grab some grape juice
and let's pray over it heavenly father
we thank you for the bread
and we thank you for the juice we bless
it
in jesus name we thank you that this is
set apart now as holy
this is the body and this is the blood
of jesus our savior
father as we receive the body of christ
we thank you for his energy on the
inside of us
empowering us to do whoo
with a super human strength what we are
called to do
we thank you father god that we need
sleep
but you're going to energize us to a
point where we don't need as much
sleep we thank you father god for the
passion
burning strong in us
thank you father god thank you oh god
that you put this in us
we give you all of the praise lord may
everything that we do
be done in a mindset
of humility and may it all glorify you
in jesus name we pray amen let's receive
the body of jesus
praise the lord hallelujah
father thank you for the blood of jesus
washing all of our sins away no
condemnation for those who are in
christ jesus
father we thank you that any memory of
past sins
is nothing but burned out ashes has no
power over us at all
it's just a memory that's an empty shell
has no power no ability to harm us or
hurt us
we think that all of our sins are
forgiven and cleansed and washed away
through the blood of jesus and father we
receive
his precious blood right now we thank
you for the complete forgiveness of all
of our sins
in jesus name amen let's receive the
blood of christ
praise god my friends it's a new day
it's a new anointing whoa
praise the lord
i see you doing mighty exploits and they
are the exploits assigned to you by the
lord
hallelujah you know the thing about
grace
is that we have all received grace
but certain types of grace fall upon
certain people
and i see others in the body of christ
that have
beautiful touches of grace to do certain
things that i can't do
and i look at that and i say that's
beautiful and that's wonderful
but my friends you have certain levels
of grace and i look at how god has
blessed you
and i say it's beautiful it's wonderful
what you can do so the thing is is that
we must all recognize the different
parts that comprise the body of christ
appreciate and love each other and at
the same time
do the unique thing that we are all
called to do because let me tell you
this
nobody else can do what you're supposed
to do the way
that you do it you've got to get the job
done
you are god's man you are god's woman
you are the person that god has called
he didn't make a mistake
now rise up with this energy and go out
and get it
done praise the lord thanks for watching
i'll see you back
next time bye bye