welcome today to morning glory our
midweek bible study
i want to invite you grab your bibles
meet me today in the book of acts
chapter 19
and we will begin in verse 19. and let's
start today with prayer
heavenly father as we go into your word
we ask that your holy spirit would come
right now and illuminate the scriptures
that we may have understanding of them
and we thank you for this father god and
we thank you for helping us to apply it
to our lives today
in jesus name we pray and we all agree
and say
amen acts 19
verse 19 also many of those
who had practiced magic brought their
books
together and burned them in the sight of
all and they counted up the value of
them
and it totaled 50 000 pieces
of silver well that's that's a lot of
books being burned
that was a lot of money some bible
scholars
who have brought this up to a modern day
equivalent
say this could be right around the area
of two
or three million dollars in silver this
was a huge amount
of silver some i've actually seen uh
some commentators that say
it was closer to five million dollars in
modern day currency either way they're
making a public declaration of their
faith in christ
and a public renouncement of their
previous lifestyle
that involved activity in
the occult now my friends this is not
really today's main part of the message
but as we're moving through this verse
it is good to go throughout your house
if this is new teaching to you in this
area
and look for anything that would be
displeasing to the lord
because if there are objects that are
evil
or that are bad in nature that can be
a legal door in the spirit that allows
demons evil spirits to come into your
house and cause
unexplainable problems and difficulties
for you
that you don't want to have going on in
your life so remove
those things if you have
old movies dvds horror movies
and things like that oh pastor steve but
i don't really watch them anymore
well that's not the point you need to
get rid of them
yes pastor stephen you're right i'm
going to sell it on ebay
no don't do that and then that's going
to pollute somebody else
just uh you might not be able to burn it
like what they're doing here
uh you don't want to start a fire in
your house but you could at least
you know smash it up so that if somebody
else happens to see it it's not like
they could use it
or break it or whatever it might be old
cds of
maybe old music that you used to listen
to that
was not good and you're thinking well
i'm going to get rid of that we'll just
break them or something like that but
get rid of those things if you
picked up objects while you're traveling
and you think it's cute
oh pastor stephen i got this mask while
i was in this foreign country and it's a
oh well that's that's an image of a
demon painted onto a mask
well yes pastor stephen but it's a
cultural it's just a cultural um
uh thing you know no it's a it's a
thing that those back in that ancient
culture knew
that they would conjure up demons when
they would wear these masks and do these
dances around the fire at night and
take all of this uh these plants as drug
paraphernalia
and have these visions and have all of
this evil sweep into their life
those types of things you don't want
anywhere anywhere in your house get rid
of them
now verse 20. so the word of the lord
grew mightily and prevailed
the word grew mightily and prevailed and
i want to say today let god's word this
year grow mightily in your life
when it does it will produce a
prevailing
environment in your life the word
has the strength to prevail over any
negative circumstance that would be out
there
that you have to come up against but the
word has to be mighty
in your life and it's working in this
community it's working in this
area of evangelism where the gospel is
being preached
but you have to really take the word to
heart and you need to really be into the
word
you know the priest in the old testament
system
they were they were scholars of the word
of god and they had to know the torah
the law of god the first five books of
the bible extremely well because they
have to judge
all types of cases and all types of
situations
and even in the areas of skin diseases
and
various types of scabs and lesions on
the skin
they have to have knowledge in all of
that based upon
the word of god now we are told in the
book of revelation chapter 1 verse 6
that in god we are now priests
and kings as a matter of fact let me
just read that to you because
this is an amazing statement and it's
something that we need to consider
more often verse 4 grace to you and
peace from him
who is and who was and who is to come
and from the seven spirits who are
before his throne
and from jesus christ the faithful
witness the firstborn from the dead
and the ruler of the over the kings of
the earth
to him who loved us and washed us from
our sins
in his in his own blood and has made us
kings and priests
to his god and father to him be glory
and dominion forever and ever
amen now the thing about being kings and
priests
again as i was saying in the old
testament system the priests
they had to have extensive knowledge of
god's word
and god's ways i believe as priest in
the new covenant which we are
in christ in god that we need to also
know the word of god and it's something
that we grow in and
we're continuing to grow in but we need
to know the word of god why
the priests in the old testament system
were instructors and teachers
of the word to the israelites explaining
the scriptures to them
and the intent of the scriptures and the
ways of god
we need to be able to do the same thing
so if we
are in the word consistently then we're
going to see it also producing
mightily in our lives the word of the
lord grew
mightily and prevailed hallelujah this
is going to be a prevailing year
for you and as you really are in the
word
studying the word a student of the
scriptures and that's what the lord
wants you to be a
student of the scriptures look if you've
been in the church
saved and born again for over six months
and you still can't find the book of
genesis you don't know where it's at
something is not is not working right
there
you need to know the word well pastor
stephen god loves me i'm saved by grace
through faith yes
yes but we are called to make disciples
of all nations and you can't disciple
people
if you don't know the scriptures you
cannot instruct them the ways of the
lord
if you do not understand the
instructions yourself
praise the lord so
that's what we're doing praise god we
are living
in the prevailing power of the word
of god now verse 21 when these things
were accomplished
paul purposed in the spirit when he had
passed
through macedonia in acai to go to
jerusalem
saying after i have been there i must
also see rome now
he wants to go the apostle paul does he
wants to go
to jerusalem now at this time in this
portion of scripture luke who is the
author the inspired author of
the book of acts he doesn't mention
here paul's purpose for going to
jerusalem
but we do know from other scriptures
what that purpose
is and it's one of those examples would
be found in
first corinthians chapter 16. this is
why he wants to go to jerusalem
verses one through four now concerning
the collection
for the saints as i have given orders to
the churches of galatia
so you must do also on the first day of
the week
let each one of you lay something aside
storing up as he may prosper
that there be no collections when i come
and when i come
whomever you approve by your letters i
will send to bear your gift
to jerusalem but if it is fitting that i
go
also they will go with me
so that we know here the apostle paul
he has plans to go to jerusalem
so that he can bring that special
offering that he has been collecting
from
various churches and he's going to pull
all of that together
and he's going to take it to jerusalem
praise god so that's
one of the purposes of him going there
but
in verse 21 we have one of those
gold nugget statements that is made in
scripture
inspired by the holy spirit and we need
to talk about it today
it says that paul
he had this purpose in his spirit again
verse
21 when these things were accomplished
paul purposed in the spirit
woo praise the lord he purposed in the
spirit please say that with me
he purposed in the spirit
now i believe this is a reference to
the holy spirit because paul does not
say
that he purposed in his spirit now
you are a spirit you have a soul and you
live in your body
paul did not say that he purposed in his
spirit
he said that he purposed in the spirit
so i believe that is a reference to
the holy spirit and there's many of
course bible translations
that capitalize the s on the spirit
referring this as being the holy spirit
so here paul purposed in the spirit
he purposed in the holy spirit to do
several things praise god now i found it
very interesting because when i
saw what he was purposing to do i
thought well lord that's
that's quite interesting because number
one he purposed
to go to jerusalem and then after that
he purposed
to go to rome now last year because
of covet 19 we had to cancel
our entire international
travels that were already booked that
were already
planned and you know already mapped out
so to speak
but the whole world was pretty much on
shutdown concerning
international travel but this year
it's very interesting because we
are scheduled to be in jerusalem later
this year
well pastor stephen where are you going
to go after jerusalem
well that's quite interesting after
after israel after jerusalem
we go on of all places to rome
so uh this statement really stood out to
me about paul
purposing in the spirit and where he's
going
just happens to be the same place that
my wife and i will be traveling to
later this year now you may not be
traveling to
those same identical cities but i do
believe there is something very
important that we need to look at about
purposing
in the spirit what does it mean to
purpose in the spirit
well first of all the greek word
for purpose is the word tathemy
and it means a determination
to make an appointment and to go and see
it through
praise the lord that's what you're going
to do this year
[Music]
you're going to have a determination to
make
an appointment you're going to make the
appointment
and you're going to go and you're going
to see it
through praise the lord so that's what
it means to purpose
to purpose in the spirit you need to
determine in the spirit to do some
things
this year praise god well pastor stephen
like what what should i determine to do
i would i would begin with this question
what do you want to do um
because this is what i'm trying to get
to the holy spirit
he's going to work with what you purpose
whoo this is rich i want to go slow
through this
the holy spirit is going to harmonize
and he's going to join up with you in
what it is that you appoint
and that you purpose to do
praise god
well pastor stephen what should i
purpose i haven't really done this
before i want to purpose
i have a purpose with the holy spirit
now what should my purpose
be where should i pick up at well i
believe we also have insight for that
look at verse 21 when these things were
accomplished the next thing that we see
is that paul
purposed in the spirit your purpose
for this year should be a continuation
and a building upon your previous
accomplishments so paul has already
accomplished some things
when these things were accomplished then
he purposed in the spirit to do what
move on to
the next assignment move on to the next
appointment
that he appointed that he purposed
to do now this is what some christians
do
pastor stephen i'm just waiting on god
because whatever he tells me to do
i'll do it well there
are those times you have a sovereign
instruction
that is relayed to us from god maybe
through a
prophetic word maybe through something
that we pick up
uh as uh being a supernatural experience
an angel comes from heaven and says this
is what god wants you to do
or maybe you have something on the
highest level which would be a vision
and in the vision you see the lord or
maybe you're taken
into heaven with a third heaven type
experience
and you're told something that god
has purposed for you to do but
outside of that if god's not saying
something directly
then the move is yours and you need to
do something
praise the lord you need the purpose to
make an appointment
and to carry that thing out and to do it
and get it done
and when you make that determined
decision when you purpose in the holy
spirit to do this
the holy spirit comes along with that
purpose
and he joins with it and the next thing
you know
that thing is starting to move forward
and you're going to see it
come to pass i think it's interesting
because
when we allow our minds to go back
to the days of the apostle paul there
were no
jet planes there were no automobiles
yes they had they had boats they had
ships
but they were driven by wind through the
sails there were no motors
there was no you know let's just you
know get on the cruise ship and go
no jerusalem
the distance from jerusalem to rome
we're looking at about 1400 miles
well let's purpose something pastor
stephen that we can have accomplished
within
one week well there can be smaller
things that you can plan out that you
could put on the calendar that you could
appoint
to get done that might be that simple
but this is what i would suggest that
you do
let's follow the example of paul
knowing that he appointed some things
knowing that he
purposed some things that would take a
while to accomplish
probably within a year time frame and
we're right at the beginning of the year
you've got 360-something days to work
with
on what i believe could be two things
paul mentions two things knowing
that from jerusalem to rome
you're not going to be able to pull this
off overnight not in a week
most likely not in the month because
even when you get on a ship
back then ships didn't directly sail
from one
hub to the other they would stop they
would pick up some more cargo
maybe let some people off at a you know
at a closer location
and then when they've got that done then
they get back on uh
back out in the mediterranean they go on
to their destination before they reach
their final
spot and not only that there are certain
times in the mediterranean you can't
you can't sell it's not just flat out
not safe you can't sell
in the winter you don't want to do it in
the you know early
uh you know january or parts like that
so you have to wait till the spring
you have to wait till summer so this is
going to take a while
so you move towards it you you get it
on on
an itinerarating schedule praise god of
how this is going to walk out
praise the lord now i would suggest that
first
of all the first thing you do is that
whatever
these items are going to be that you
write them down
and that's what luke did he wrote them
down and we know it as the word of god
and i would also say that as you're
going to write these down
it's good to keep them
close to you because there's only going
to be a couple of things
and keep them close to you and
let them be before your eyes maybe not
daily
but i would say pretty pretty
consistently
i have my uh briefcase down here on the
floor
the briefcase goes with me everywhere i
go every day that i come into the office
the briefcase goes with me when i go
home it goes with me when i get on an
airplane
it's with me pastor stephen what's in
your briefcase
well my bible my notepads
and my folders praise the lord and in
these folders
i have things that i'm working on faith
projects
also itemize things that i need to do
and get done
but i also have in here
things that i purpose in the holy spirit
to get done this year and i want you to
do
the same thing i want you to get a
special folder find any color you want
you can get
blue for the prophetic green for uh new
life
maybe uh orange to give you some energy
red to get you excited praise god who
knows maybe yellow to make you happy
your colors create different emotions
but find one
that you could use for me it's blue
for the things that you're going to
purpose in the spirit
to get done this year and put it in
there
and take it with you everywhere you go
and from time to time
maybe it's not every day but it should
be pretty often multiple times
throughout the week
to open it up take a look at it consider
it
uh gauge how you're doing as you're
moving through the
the itinerating steps to reach your
location
praise god it may not be a travel
planner or something like that in the
sense where you're going to rome or
something like that
but you're going somewhere you're going
somewhere with the holy spirit because
there's all kinds of things that you can
do and you need to sit down
and consider what you want it to be
praise the lord now let's look at verse
21 again
when these things were accomplished paul
purposed in the spirit
and that is something that i want you to
do today
before the day is over i want you the
purpose
in the spirit to do something now here's
a couple of examples
when he had passed through macedonia and
the ki
he he purposed in the spirit to go to
jerusalem
saying after i've been there i must also
see rome two things
two things and really we know the
reasons one he's going to go to rome
to minister to the christians
christianity the gospel is already
spreading throughout rome he's going to
go there
he also has an assignment from the lord
to go there we know he's going to go to
jerusalem because he wants to make a
special offering he wants to bring that
to the saints there in jerusalem
and he says i must also see rome
connect your confession with your faith
in other words he said i must so you
sense that strong
purpose that he has in the spirit to do
this
so he mentions two things and over these
two things
you need to make the good confession
like paul said i must go to rome
you need to say over those two things i
must
get this done i must do this for the
glory of god
praise the lord thank you jesus now
i find it very interesting that on these
two things
that he's mentioned one of them is
actually
for the the for the purpose surrounding
going to jerusalem
is to bring it off free and maybe maybe
you just
want to consider that that later in the
year
you purpose to give a special offering
and it may not
even be for this ministry you may be
watching and i'm not
particularly your pastor maybe you have
somebody else who's your pastor you go
to church somewhere else
but it could be that in your heart you
just purpose in your heart
that you know what during
pentecost or during the feast of
tabernacles
i purpose to bring a special seed a
special offering and
you may not be bringing it to jerusalem
but it could be that that may be one of
the
things that the holy spirit works with
you on as
it's something that's already cooking on
the inside of you to sow a special seed
maybe months from now but you know you
plan that out
you purpose it in your heart and i
believe i believe you'll be doing it
praise the lord glory to god and
number two this is interesting because
when you purpose in the spirit this is
not like what's known today in the world
as a bucket list
have you heard that expression i have a
bucket list of things i want to do
and you know it could be anything people
you know in their bucket list they have
you know like i want to skydive
well that that's nice uh personally i
don't
you know because something could go
wrong and i have no interest in doing
that
so other people have other desires
pastor steven i want to
i want to go to india and i want to see
the taj mahal
and so it's like a bucket list and then
they want to check them off they've done
all of these
things i actually have a friend that
went
uh to see the taj mahal and uh
you know this is this is not what this
is what they don't tell you on the
travel
brochure he went there he's from india
but you know he wanted to go see it too
but when you get there
it's like he told me he said you realize
hey um
this is nothing but a big tomb and
the story surrounding the whole thing is
actually quite
sad and disastrous so sometimes when you
know the truth or something you're like
well i don't really want to go there
after all
praise the lord but that's that's just a
bucket list people you know like i want
to do this
and i want to say i've been there or i
want to see this and
you know that that's something different
but i'm not talking about that i'm
talking about purposing
in the spirit there's a purpose
and when that purpose is right
when that purpose glorifies the lord and
it's a good
purpose it's clean it's honorable then
the holy spirit he'll come along
with that and he'll bring agreement to
that there'll be a
harmonizing of that and you know what
you're going to get it done and paul did
paul got the offering to
jerusalem and we all know that paul made
it to rome
praise the lord so my friends when you
purpose
in the spirit you have to realize
that some of these desires that you have
i'm not talking about bucket list
desires
but some of these desires some of these
things that are
brewing on the inside of you uh it's
it's time it's time and as you purpose
to do it
the holy spirit will come along you know
there was a point in my life
where when i was younger in ministry i
wanted to go around the world
i wanted to do a round-the-world
ministry trip with a whole bunch of
stops
all in between stopping from country to
country and
literally working my way around the
entire circumference of the planet
and so when i was young in ministry i
thought that would be so cool to do
to do that and i remember when the year
came
where that that in my heart became so
strong and i purposed
in the spirit that year to do that
i just purposed in my heart to do it
that year i just knew this is the year
and it was agreeable to the holy spirit
so he comes along
and joins with me on that purpose and it
happened
that year i remember i left
from the the state and the city i was in
and flew to the other side of the
country stopped there
and then flew to another nation stopped
there and kept going and kept going and
kept going and doing meetings and
meetings and meetings and meetings
over and over some countries i would
stay in for multiple days
others were a little bit shorter but
every time i landed
i would go there and i would minister
and preach
and uh it just kept on going and so
before i knew it
weeks and weeks later i kept working my
work my way around the whole planet
until i ended up on the other side of
the world and came all the way back
from the other direction and
landed totally tired wore out but i felt
great my spirit
and i felt so happy in my heart why
because what i had purposed
to do was accomplished
well when you've accomplished something
pastor stephen what do you do next well
you
then you're ready for something
different then you purpose
something different in your heart praise
god and that's something that
is probably already beginning to surface
on the inside of you so
what i would like for you to do today is
before the day is over
just sit down excuse me sit down with
the lord
in a quiet place and get a sheet of
paper maybe a notepad and a pen you're
gonna only need one sheet of paper
and just say well lord paul the apostle
he purposed in the spirit to do two
things
so this year i also am going to purpose
in the spirit to do two things
now lord help me to identify them
and help me to get them written down on
paper
and then help me to kind of talk it over
with you and
and i'm going to do it whoo praise the
lord and then
as the year goes on make a good
confession over it
i'm going to do this i must go to rome
or whatever wherever or whatever it is
you're going to do
praise the lord praise god because as we
know
what you say is very very important and
when you speak
a faith-filled confession the positive
faith-filled word of god over your plans
then that's very very powerful if you
sit back and say oh it's never going to
happen
well then that's not that's not the way
to conduct
yourself as a believer whose life
is based upon the word of god and you
walk by faith and not
by sight praise the lord heavenly father
i'm praying for those that are watching
right now
that you help them to grab those two
things that are just
they're already floating at the top they
can in their mind
they can easily sort out what these two
things are
father help them to get it on paper
and let the let there be that
harmonization of what they purpose to do
with the holy spirit
so that they purpose in the spirit and
let them
write it down like luke did and let them
confess it like paul did and we thank
you father that it's going to be
accomplished this year we give you
praise
in jesus name amen so
what you want to do get your paper get
your pen
write it down put it in your folder
and take it with you everywhere you go
this year
whoo because this will be with you when
you get it done when you do those two
things this will be with you
praise god amen glory to the lord
hallelujah if you're watching today's
program
and you're thinking well how do i
purpose in the spirit
but you don't know christ my friends it
all begins with
knowing jesus as your lord and savior
because when you know
jesus then you know the holy spirit then
the heavenly father will be your father
but it all begins with a saving
relationship
through christ if you would like to
receive christ right now as your savior
pray this prayer after me say jesus
i am a sinner but you died to save
sinners jesus come into my heart
wash all of my sins away
give me your newness of life
and write my name in your book of life
and jesus i take you i accept you and
receive you
right now as my lord and savior
thank you jesus for saving me in your
name i pray
amen and amen praise the lord
and the lord has heard that prayer and
my friend
you now belong to him praise god
let's take holy communion today and as
we're taking communion
those two things and there could be more
that you purpose in the spirit to do
will be crystallized in your
understanding
praise god let's grab
some grape juice some unleavened bread
if you don't have these little wafers
one of these little wafers just
you could use a saltine cracker that'll
be just fine and let's pray over it
father thank you for the bread
and thank you for the juice we bless it
in the name of jesus we
set it apart also as being holy
we consecrate it and we thank you father
this is now the body
and the blood of christ our savior
father as we receive the body of jesus
we thank you that the holy spirit lives
on the inside of us
and that as we purpose to do a certain
thing
as we even put it down and write it down
as an appointment to get done we thank
you that your holy spirit will join up
with this assignment and will empower us
anoint us and give us the wisdom to see
it through
to accomplishment thank you father we
now receive the body
of jesus in faith believing that these
two things
will be done this year for your glory in
jesus name
amen let's receive
heavenly father thank you for the blood
of jesus
and it's cleansing power we ask o god
that if we have committed any sins
that you would forgive us of all of our
sins wash them all away
we thank you that our sins and our
iniquities you remember
no more father thank you for the blood
of jesus
we ask also that you would lead us away
from temptation
and that you would lead us away and
deliver us from
evil we give you praise thank you father
in jesus name amen let's receive the
blood of the lord jesus
praise god praise god
well pastor stephen i don't know if i'm
really getting anything well
remember the holy spirit will work with
what
you purpose well i'm just waiting on god
still no
he will work with what you purpose and
you purpose
in the spirit but you have to purpose
you have to
decide what do you want to do
so right now make that decision it's
coming
it's coming praise god for some of you
you've already got it
and you know what to do with it and so i
look forward to seeing you back
next week as you continue the purpose in
the spirit
and that as you make your plans and that
as you take that with you throughout the
year
it's going to be done father bless your
people
we thank you for your word in jesus name
amen