welcome today to our online internet
around the world
church service i'm so happy that you're
here
and i believe that there are the answers
that you
are looking for in the bible to every
question
that you have whether it's a natural
question
spiritual question or whatever it might
be god's word will supply
everything that you need and your life
will be made
whole by receiving the bread of life the
word of god
now let's go today to the book of
ecclesiastes chapter nine
and we're going to receive the the holy
tides and offerings we're going to bring
them into the storehouse of god
and i want to give you a scripture and a
scripture theme to help you with your
finances
this is of course found in the word of
god god's principles are timeless
ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse 16 i'm
going to
skip through the little story that
solomon is
speaking of here but he makes a
statement that is a very heavyweight
statement in verse 16
then i said wisdom is better than
strength now the context of the story
is a wartime scenario you have a great
army you have a small city
but you have a very poor man in the city
but the poor man's very wise and it's
really a parable
that solomon is telling here but he gets
to
the the thrust of what he's trying to
convey and this is what he's conveying
wisdom is better than strength
wisdom is better actually than a great
army and the wisdom
that this poor man had was enough to
deter
this mighty army now i have seen people
that work really hard but
even with hard work they do not pull
ahead
financially and when i was growing up as
a young boy
i was always told you know work hard do
a good job
and you'll be successful in life and
that's not really true
and it used to puzzle me why i would see
some people work really hard like a
ditch digger
or a bricklayer or somebody that's
having to lift heavy loads and
move bags or sacks of potatoes or flour
around
and you think wow that's hard work and
they're doing that all day long
but you'll notice that they're
uh being paid a very low wage maybe
maybe minimum wage or something just
barely above that and that
didn't make any sense to me as a young
man why do they work so hard
and yet they get paid so little and
that my thinking was due to a lack of
understanding or lack of the wisdom of
god's word
so you'll see that often some of the
hardest workers are actually
some of the lowest paid workers why
they don't realize that wisdom is better
than strength and the moment you begin
to realize the truth of that
the gears start turning up here in a
very good way
as long as you're working for money
you're never going to be rich
you're never going to get into these
areas of abundance it's not
until your money starts working for you
do you begin to pull ahead and have a
much
larger uh area of extra resources and
overflow
and so i'd like to speak just for a
moment about having
your money work for you instead of you
just living your whole life working for
money
literally living like many do paycheck
the paycheck
paycheck the paycheck and if that
paycheck
didn't show up whoo you know uh there
would be a mess because why there's
there's not the extra so let's consider
today that wisdom
the wisdom of god applied in our
finances is better
than uh going out and working 80 hours a
week
and after 80 hours a week uh you know uh
with all the overtime we're still just
barely making it so something
something has to change let me give you
just one of these wisdom nuggets there's
so many
in the bible but here's one i would
encourage you
if you haven't been doing it you need to
implement it
into your life just as soon as possible
dur maybe during your next paycheck or
anytime money comes into your hand or
however it might be
you really need to uh give heed to this
uh
little nugget i'm going to give to you
and it's found in the book of
deuteronomy
and it's really it's a principle
and what i'm going to share with you
if if you catch the revelation of it
then you should praise the lord because
i've shared it with people before and
it's like water on the back of the duck
uh it just
runs off you know certain animals they
have a uh
water repellent type stuff baked into
them into their skin or into their fur
or into their feathers
and there's not a penetration from the
water or whatever the case might be
some people you can't penetrate trade it
through
you could teach and teach but uh i think
a lot of times
it's because they're not interested and
if you're not interested in money
or you're not interested in having extra
then
oftentimes the truth won't penetrate
through that
because the person doesn't really want
the truth they for whatever reason
uh some people are just uh happy
to uh go through life just struggling
and that they're glad that they know
christ and one day they'll go to go to
heaven
but they just aren't too interested in
money i think a lot of that is because
of lack of wisdom
uh but you know we'll have all eternity
to learn the things that we didn't learn
down here
but while we are down here let's realize
that wisdom is better than strength and
implement that wisdom deuteronomy
chapter 28 verse
8 the lord will command
and it's not something he might do or
might not do he will do it
if you do your part the lord will
command the blessing on you
where in your storehouses
wow so let me stop there just for a
moment some translations say your barns
or in other words the place where you're
going to put the extra or the
the place that you're going to put your
savings so let's just stick with the
word storehouse
or it's actually plural the lord will
command the blessing
on you in your storehouses
every believer needs to be a tither
it tied the tithe ties you in
into a financial covenant with god and
then
on top of that when you operate in the
law of giving and receiving
seed time and harvest i'm talking about
the sowing of financial seed and the
reaping of financial harvest
then you move into a covenant platform
with the lord where the lord is
obligated to take care of you to be
involved in your life
in your area of finances praise god
but there's something in this area of
also working with principles
and this covenant a finances it's it's
unveiling
when you step into it and you get on
that covenant platform then the lord
begins to
unveil the mechanics of the covenant and
you begin to say
uh say oh now i uh now i understand how
god is going to bring increase
so he will command the blessing on you
in your storehouses if you do not
have a storehouse or preferably store
houses
how can god command the blessing on
something that you don't have
let's go back to elementary school uh
let's go to multiplication
tables now i i may be a little bit
behind
some of you i did not learn the
multiplication table until i was in
sixth grade
praise the lord but at least i i'm glad
i learned it they drilled it into me
1 times 1 is 1. 1 times 2 is 2 and on
and on it goes
12 times 12 is 144.
10 times 10 is 100. you know so you you
learn the whole thing
but what's what's 10 times 0
it's 0 what's 0 times 100 is it's zero
so anytime you're dealing with zero or
a zero storehouse how can god multiply
zero i mean you can't even multiply zero
on the
i mean you can multiply it but it's
going to give you what zero zero times
anything is zero
and god can command the blessing on your
storehouse
regardless of how small it is or big it
is i mean even
if we bring it to the most basic thing
the old-fashioned cookie jar
that most grandmothers used to have you
know that a lot of times the
the people that live through the 1930s
recession they were fearful of the
collapse of banks they thought i'll
never put my money in a bank again
at least not all of it and so they would
always keep some cash
and they would put their savings where
in a cookie jar
because you know they figured that was a
nice safe place some people put it in
the refrigerator
some people put it in the mattress uh my
grandfather on my dad's side
put his he turned it in the coinage old
coins
he put it into uh metal
uh cylinders that were made of tin and
then
as he got older he forgot where he
buried it at he went out and buried it
and
uh he forgot so um it's probably
corroded
and uh most of it's probably uh i don't
know maybe i could
go back to the old farm with the metal
detector and find it
i don't know don't really care the
problem is is that
uh it was not a good form of investment
for him to put it in the ground like
that because
he forgot at least with the cookie jar
you know where it's at
bottom line is you need to have
you need to have a savings account you
have a storehouse
and if you have it god says he'll
command
a blessing on it so here's what i'd
suggest
for any believer regardless of where you
live always honor the lord
with the tithe take
the 10 and be quick to make sure that
goes towards the house of god towards
the lord
praise the lord secondly i would
i would do the best that
i can to pull out something
for the storehouse something for your
savings if you can
take 10 if you're doing real good like
joseph
told the pharaoh hey we're going to have
some years like we've never seen before
let's let's take out 20 so when you're
doing really good maybe you could take
out more and do what put it into a
storehouse there came a time when they
needed it
but if you can't do 10 you at least
need to do something even if it's three
percent
now here is where there's a sticking
point for many christians
they say pastor stephen i can tithe i'm
going the tithe because
the lord instructs us to do that in the
scripture but after i tithe
and pay bills and have money for you
know for food
or whatever for living i don't have any
to put in the savings
that that's where they miss it
if you will now you have to have the
revelation on this
if you realize that even though on paper
it doesn't look like you can do this but
you do
something even if it's five dollars
if you just do something suddenly
suddenly
now god has something that he can
multiply he finally has something that
he can command the blessing upon
but if you don't have anything he can't
command the blessing upon it
praise the lord glory to god i would
also say
that your savings really
needs to go in the direction of a saving
investment an invested form of savings
because if it's just savings in other
words if it just sits there in the
cookie jar
and it just sits there for 10 years or
20 years it will actually
diminish in value because of the
you know inflation that we have every
year that drives down the value of
the american dollar or whatever your
currency might be
but you have inflation so it's actually
losing value unless
you invest it and through saving
investment
now can be increased
but god he'll command the blessing upon
it and if you just start
saving just start saving start saving
and and put it into that account and
then
put it into an area where it can be not
just money sitting not doing anything
but can actually become an investment
now what happens
now your money starts working for you so
it can get very exciting when you see
how the lord is commanding a blessing
upon what your storehouse and he
actually mentions store houses
praise the lord so you need to always
take something
and put it into the savings and if you
do that
god says i'll command the blessing upon
it but if you don't have it he can't
command the blessing on
zero he has to have something to work
with
the american investor warren buffett
really says uh that the emphasis
that he has learned is not so much
the gains through investing and he's
considered one of america's
you know um iconic investors having
started as a young boy teenager
actually i think he started before he
was even in his teen years
buying shares of stock and just holding
them for long periods of time and
making investments over over the decades
i think now he's worth about 89 or 90
billion
dollars but he said the focus for him
was never on the gains
although that's that's what it in a
sense is all about
he said the focus for him was really how
much can you put in the savings how much
more can you put into your savings
because even if it's a little and that's
what he taught even if it's a little
you're moving everything in the right
direction now
we as believers need to follow these
biblical principles there have been many
centers in the world who've actually
worked biblical principles and if you
work those principles
they'll work for you uh whether you're a
saint
or whether you're you don't even know
who the lord is
uh it's unfortunate that you have people
like warren buffett
or bill gates and they take their
financial resources and they'll take
big uh boatloads of money and they'll
give it to planned parenthood to support
the murder of little innocent babies in
the wombs of their mothers
and so they actually use their wealth to
fund uh
industries of death like that but you
know when you have
the money it's up to you to do with it
what you want
so that's why god's people need to
prosper because we
will do good things with the money so
make sure that in your strength
of working and your strength of working
a long day or a long week
make sure that it's not just strength
but it's wisdom
why wisdom is better than strength whoo
praise the lord hallelujah now you need
to be a hard worker yes you want you
want to be
a good worker because the bible has a
lot to say about diligence
and if you're diligent there's a promise
in the scripture that the diligent man
will not stand before normal men
he'll stand before kings he'll stand
before great people so that's the
blessing of being diligent a hard worker
really getting after it as we would say
but still along with that diligence you
need to have
wisdom so that that savings is there
the savings is growing because god is
commanding a blessing upon it
and now you see what i can put a little
bit more in there i could put a little
bit more in there and that starts
building and then you move that over
into an investment area
and if you don't know how to invest get
wise counsel on that so
that you don't you don't lose you know
everything that's been created
because that is uh one of warren
buffett's top tips
is that once you have wealth what do you
have to do number one
you have to protect it you don't want to
lose what has been accumulated
so as that savings grows then you move
it into the areas of investment
and now it starts creating money for you
praise the lord and you can
move into a place where that interest is
working 24 7.
even while you're sleeping uh money is
being created for you
checks can be coming in glory to god
hallelujah very exciting
the principles of the lord the lord will
command the blessing on you
in your storehouses praise god one more
story before i pray for you
i was in india some years back and i
taught this message about the blessing
of the storehouse that if you have it
god will command the blessing upon it
and my translator
he um heard me teach it i mean he's
actually translating it
from english into um i can't remember
what it was urdu or something like that
uh into the language of the people there
in india and uh
he said uh he said he was going to do
this now he told me he didn't have the
extra
he said i don't have any extra money to
do this so i'm just going to put
a little bit of what i can you know
which is maybe maybe for us it's like a
dollar
and for him that was really pushing it
to uh pull together a little bit to do
that
but he found out somehow that if you'll
just do it somehow you have it
and you realize you actually can put
money in the savings every
savings every time and so he went along
and he went for about 10 months
and it was looking really good he was
just like wow he said this is incredible
i've
i've never had this in my life before
and then suddenly
they were hit with a family medical
emergency it wasn't him it was somebody
else in the family
and he had the money to pay
all the bills now when i saw him a year
later and he shared the testimony with
me
he was actually very sad he said pastor
stephen he said that
he said that savings account which had
grown so large
he said i had to spend all of it during
the
during the medical emergency that arose
in my family and he said
it was telling me that he wasn't happy
that it was empty
i said well let me ask you a question i
said i know you're discouraged that it's
empty now but what would you have done
if you did not have that money in the
bank if you didn't have that savings
what would you have done
and his eyes got as we say biggest
saucers and he said oh my goodness
pastor stephen
he said we would have been wiped out he
said i wouldn't have been able to pay
for the bills i wouldn't have been able
to take
my family member to the hospital the
person could have died there's there's
no telling
um it's just um we would have been in a
mess
i said well praise the lord now you see
the value of having a storehouse
and he is so he got reignited again and
he was back on it
and uh you know the blessing if it works
before it'll work again
praise god so just jump right back into
it so make sure
that this is something that you
implement into your life you'll have
seasons in your life you'll have moments
in your life where something big comes
in
honor the lord pay the tithe that
belongs to god
and then don't go out and spend the
other rest don't just blow it all
no always take something put it into
that
savings into that barn into that
storehouse why because god's going to
command the blessing on that
and you may think well i'm putting a
thousand away or 2 thousand away or
or 200 away or whatever it might be
maybe it's a lot more okay
but that's great he's gonna turn it into
a whole lot more by commanding a
blessing on it
so that's why you've got to get some
into the savings
you're not just putting uh if you put a
hundred in there it's not like you're
just putting a hundred in there
because god can command the blessing on
it that hundred through god's ability
and
and the miracle of the storehouse
principle uh that
that'll start turning into more just
watch how it happens
it's an amazing thing to walk out all
right heavenly father i pray for your
people that as they're honoring you
today
with the holy tithe and also sowing
financial seed
father i thank you that you are teaching
them that wisdom is better than strength
and we thank you for strength you give
us strength but there must be the
implementation of wisdom
let that wisdom be distilled within the
hearts of your people with the
within the understanding of their minds
and may their storehouses
may they grow and grow and grow and grow
and may they even hit the
the area of not just being added to but
maybe they even go into the area of
multiplication
now father we thank you we thank you for
blessing your people
in jesus name amen those of you that
like to mail in your tithes and
offerings please send them to
stephen brooks international po box 717
moravian falls north carolina 28654
those of you that prefer to bring the
tithe and offering in
online is very safe secure highly
encrypted please visit the ministry
website
stevenbrooks.org there is a link on the
home page
it's a red tab it's called basically
says
give and it has a heart on it and you
can go there right now any time
day or night and you can bring your
tithe your offering
into the storehouse here into the
ministry now if you would like to sow
some seed you have it up on your heart
to give a special offering
we have two projects that we're working
on just click
the web header that's called projects
you'll see our projects if you would
like to sow into those
those would be a blessing as well praise
god forever now let's jump into today's
message
i want to talk today about what in the
world
is going on and we find a very
interesting text
in the gospel of john chapter 14 why
don't you meet me over
there john chapter 14 we're going to be
in verse 30 and let's open up today with
the sermon
uh by opening in prayer now father as we
go into your word
we thank you that the entrance of your
word brings light it brings illumination
it brings understanding
and so we ask that the kindle of our
heart be turned on
be illuminated by your word that we
could take it
understand it walk in the light of it
and enjoy
all that you have planned and intended
for us to experience as your children
in the earth we give you praise we thank
you for it in jesus name
we all agree and say amen praise the
lord
hallelujah now again we are in the
gospel of john
we're in chapter 14 and i would like for
us to drop down to
verse 30 praise the lord
now it says here i
will no longer talk much with you this
is jesus discussing
uh many things with his apostles
i will no longer talk much with you for
the ruler of this world
is coming and he has nothing in me
well the big showdown uh the greatest
showdown of all time
uh the the cosmic battle of the ages
was about to take place every demon on
the planet
was coming over to israel to uh
get behind satan and to make sure that
this
evil agenda was pushed through and the
angels are there
watching the lord all of heaven is
looking down
this was an amazing moment and we're
heading into that
and jesus says i will no longer talk
much with you
in other words he's going to get real
dialed in now real focused
forehead like flint focused on the
assignment
and also there's a place in the in in
this
intense battle you don't want to do much
talking
because you've already done all of your
preparation so now it's just time to
walk it out
and jesus when he was on this mock form
of a trial
and you know being ridiculed and being
beaten and whipped and all that stuff he
didn't do much talking
he had he had some times when he would
answer pilate or he would say
certain things but the most of the time
he just
zipped it and he was quiet because he
doesn't
he doesn't want want to make any
mistakes everything is on the line
there's only a few more
scriptures prophetically to be fulfilled
that were prophesied about him he's
going to take care of that
while he's going to go through the
scourging and so forth and then while
he's on the cross
he's going to get it all wrapped up
right and he said i will no longer talk
much with you for the ruler
of this world is coming and he has
nothing in me now that
ruler of the world is the individual
that we know
as satan who used to formally be known
as lucifer
but he was uh terminated from his
heavenly post
and he was thrown out of heaven with one
third of the rebellious angels that
decided to side with him
and he is now down here influencing the
minds of evil men
and he is the ruler over this world
system
and he does
certain things through his workers
and the hierarchy the structure of his
dark kingdom
where he is giving them constantly
directions and instructions of things to
do
to constantly cause problems and for sin
to in his hope
to flourish but as believers
we are no longer under his dominion or
authority
we are no longer in the kingdom of
darkness we are now in the kingdom of
light
which is also called then scripture the
kingdom of god's dear son
and so we've been delivered hallelujah
he doesn't have anything on us either
praise god
so it is important to know that satan is
the ruler of this world
there will be a time he's bound for a
thousand years
by michael the archangel satan will be
thrown into what's called the bottomless
pit
then he'll pop out after a thousand
years he'll be loosed again
and only for a brief period of time to
cause a little mayhem
and that's really just a uh well it
would take me a while to explain all
that i don't want to get off track
but that's just a short-lived uh thing
as well
and then eventually satan will be thrown
into the lake of fire all the demons
will be thrown into the lake of fire
the beast and the false prophet they
will already have been thrown into
the lake of fire so the long story short
is that we win
praise god all right so we need to know
what's going on because the ruler of
this world
he's the one that stirs up problems uh
causes wars
causes fighting causes riots he now he
works through people
he works through people how can he do
that he is the ruler of this world
and he works through these spiritual
influences
we see this very clearly in the bible
second thessalonians chapter 2
verse 5 and i i have just got to read
this to you from the phillips
translation
i don't often use the philips
translation because
it it's highly paraphrased but it's
it's paraphrased so good that
particularly in the epistles paraphrased
versions can really shine
when you want to get the literal meaning
you've got to go back to more of a
literal translation
like uh you know american standard
version or new king james version which
is what i teach from
most often 99 of the time but often
uh in the epistles uh some of these
paraphrases versions like the jb
phillips which i'm going to read to you
is absolutely beautiful so i would like
to read to you
verses 5 through 12
and we're talking today about why things
are the way they are
what in the world is going on out in you
know in our country or in
the other nations of the world when we
see all kinds of crazy stuff happening
and i'd just like to talk about that for
a moment and read to you the words of
the apostle paul verse 5.
i expect you remember now how i talked
about this when i was with you
you will probably also remember how i
used to talk about a restraining power
which would operate until the time
should come
for the emergence of this man
evil is already insiduously at work
but its activities are restricted until
what i have called the restraining power
of god
is removed when that happens the lawless
man
will be plainly seen though the truth of
the lord jesus
spells his doom and the radiance of the
coming of the lord jesus
will be his utter destruction
the lawless man is produced by the
spirit of evil
and armed with all the force wonders
and signs that falsehood can devise
to those involved in this dying world he
will come with evil's
undiluted power to deceive for they have
refused
to love the truth which could have saved
them
god sends upon them therefore the full
force of evil's delusion
so that they put their faith in an utter
fraud
and meet the inevitable judgment of all
who have refused to believe the truth
and who have made evil their play fellow
praise the lord that's the j.b phillips
translation from 2 thessalonians 2
verses 5 through
12. my friends satan who is the ruler
of this world he wants to bring forth
the man of iniquity the man of
lawlessness and you see lawlessness that
would try to pop
up but you know what just can't quite
break forth just yet why
there is still a restraining force
that is in the earth and although the
enemy would like to run wild
he can't do it praise god he can't do it
can't do it yet
he can't do it yet and so some other
things
it's time for some other things now the
devil will eventually have his time
and his man that scripture is basically
known as the antichrist
will come forth just as slick
and as polished as can be good looking
smooth talker the nations will fall
before him and say this
is the man that we've been looking for
oh yeah he he is if you want a liar
if you want a fraud if you want a crook
there he is
because he's going to be full of the
devil and all kinds of
false fake signs and wonders and the
whole enchilada
of deceit and just the big mess of
lawlessness
there he is but you know what it's not
time yet praise the lord not time yet
the restraining force is still
holding back this desire of the enemy to
get this guy out there
praise god well pastor stephen what
is it time for what's it time for i'm so
glad you asked
we need to take a look at that today
because
it might surprise you but it's actually
time for
and it's actually your time praise the
lord
time for what pastor stephen time to
arise and shy
glory to god now let's go to that
chapter from isaiah chapter 60 a very
famous chapter
and i want to talk about a few things
concerning this today
isaiah chapter 60 verse 1 arise
shine for your light not the antichrist
not the devil's finest moment
no your light has come
and the glory of the lord is risen upon
you for behold the darkness shall cover
the earth and
deep darkness to people what is this
deep darkness
it's deceit and it's all of
the lawlessness it's sin running wild
and reaching its apex now
it says but the lord will arise over you
and his glory will be seen upon you
the gentiles shall come to your light
and kings the brightness of
your rising the challenge
that we face right now
is to be aware
of the darkness we could even call it as
scripture does
the gross darkness and i think we are
aware of that so and we need to be
but you can't make it your focus
although you're aware of it you cannot
make that your focus
well pastor stephen what should we make
our focus be
should we make it the glory i mean it's
talking about the glory coming upon us
should we make the focus to glory
um well that's going to be part of it
but
i wouldn't say that's really where you
put your attention at either
i would put the attention the focus on
this
arise shine for your lightest come what
does that mean
it means it's your time it's your time
right now right now whoo praise the lord
so i know that that statement
would seem to go against logic
why because of circumstances
circumstances would tell you
that this is the time of lawlessness it
looks like it's all going to collapse
and things are going to go really bad
and
everything is going to crash
everything's going to burn and it's all
over with and
you know we might as well get ready to
be beheaded by the antichrist or however
that's going to play out
no no he's still held back
and although there is darkness out there
morphing into gross darkness it's not
really their time it's in the eyes of
god
it's your time it's your time and you
really
need to believe that praise the lord
pastor stephen who is the restrainer
who or what is the restraining
force well i believe that as we're here
in isaiah chapter 60
that if you would really like to know
you can just go in reverse a few
scriptures
back up to isaiah chapter 59 and right
there in verse 19.
only two verses away from where we're
kind of camping today
you'll actually see a classic example
of who the restrainer is verse 19
so shall they fear the name of the lord
from the west
and his glory from the rising of the sun
when the enemy comes in like a flood and
doesn't it look like that's going on
with america and
not just america but nigeria and uh
other parts of the world that are going
through their various challenges right
now
when the enemy comes in like a flood the
spirit of the lord
will lift up a standard against him and
that word standard refers to a war
banner
the spirit of the lord will lift up a
standard against him
one translation actually says an armed
resistance
and so that's the spirit of the lord
just saying no
it's not your time you may think you're
going to overcome but you're not going
to and god himself steps in
now the context of isaiah 59 is really
all of the sin all of the lawlessness
truth falling in the streets
injustice everywhere bribery taking
place everywhere and
god looking at it and saying i'm not
really seeing
much intercession i'm actually not
seeing any
intercession or any standing in the gap
of this situation
and i'm not applying that to america i
believe there are many christians that
love america that are praying for
america
and many of you in other countries you
love your home country your home nation
but this was a scenario where god said
well if nobody else is going to
deal with this god basically says i'll
step in and i'll take over
and that's what he did and god has the
ability to
uh lead the course of a king even if
it's a wicked king
he can lead their heart just like the
water going through a river
god can turn it wherever he wants to and
he has that ability to do that
so you may think oh the you know the
enemy's just going to come in and
it's all lost we might as well just get
ready to meet the antichrist himself
we'll probably see him on tv any day now
but it's not it's not time yet when the
enemy comes in like a flood the spirit
of the lord will lift up a standard
against him
most theologians and i would give them
uh my thumbs up along with their
uh deter their how can i say their
opinion on this as well
they believe that the restraining force
is actually the holy spirit
and i believe the holy spirit is the
great restrainer
now others have said and there's good
points that it could be
governmental authorities that often can
be the
the case because governmental
authorities do implement laws
but i don't think that's it because
government authorities can become
corrupt even those that are appointed to
enforce the law can become corrupt
whether it's judges
whether it's law men or policemen or
whoever it might be so there can be
corruption
and bribery that just rife we see that
many countries around the world
where um you can't trust law enforcement
they're all bought out by the drug
cartel or whatever the case might be
so while there are various
opinions about who the restraining force
is some people think
some theologians think maybe that's the
church could be
in a sense from the perspective of the
holy spirit working through the church
but i believe when you back up and look
at it more fully also
from a biblical perspective the holy
spirit is the great restrainer
and here you see him doing that very
thing when the enemy comes in like a
flood
the spirit of the lord will lift up a
standard against him so the holy spirit
is the restraining force
and says devil you'll have your day but
it's not today and you may you may have
some skirmishes that you win
but you're not going to win the overall
war because it's already been one
through christ so there is a line
he can't cross there is an area that he
can't go past
why there's something restraining that
is the holy spirit praise god so i'm
here today to tell you
that you know you may look at all the
stuff going on and you may think what in
the world is going on
i'm here to tell you that what is going
on is that it's your time
it's your time praise the lord so let
that be your focus
and believe that and watch what god's
going to begin to do
in your life so
if you're if you're thinking which would
be logical if you're thinking well
pastor stephen if this
is my time then what should i expect to
see
concerning the manifestation of the
glory
because it says in verse 2 his glory
will
be seen upon you his glory will be seen
upon you
so if it is your time to rise and shine
and i'm telling you prophetically
because the lord has revealed this to me
that it is
then what expectation of the
manifestation of this glory can you
expect to see
even in this present moment praise god
even with circumstances out there that
would look crazy and goofy
saying it's the enemy's time no it's
your time and here
are three things that you can expect
now his glory will be seen
upon you one of the manifestations of
the glory
because the glory is is coming upon you
one of the first things that you can
expect
and it's very very important
is to receive visions
from the lord and i have scripture for
this
uh it's actually one of my favorite
chapters in the bible matthew chapter
17.
let's take a look at it just for a
moment
praise god matthew chapter 17 verse 1.
now after six days jesus took peter
james and john
his brother led them up on a high
mountain by themselves he didn't take
the 12.
you had the circle of the 12 his closest
ones to him
but out of the 12 he took the three
which we could call
the inner circle praise god and
it's like that even in the body of
christ you have the you have the outer
court you have the
you have the inner court you have you
have the holy place you have the holy of
holies there's always different levels
of those that really want to get close
to the lord and that's something that's
a personal choice a personal decision to
make
based upon how you live your life with
god now
of course the benefit of being close to
him is that you get to go up on the
mountain praise the lord
so verse 2 and he was transfigured
before them
his face shone like the sun and his
clothes became as white as the light
what's going on
manifestation of the glory so they're
seeing
the lord in a fuller expression of his
glory this is not the jesus
that they see on a normal basis oh yes
they've seen him signs wonders miracles
the love compassion opening of the uh
blinded eyes of the leper and so forth
they've seen that but you know they see
him every morning get up you know
uh you know have to get dressed brush
his teeth use the restroom go off do the
thing you know
eat food and stuff like that sleep they
see all of that but this
this is a new expression they're seeing
they're seeing
more of an expression of his deity than
they've ever realized before
he's all man but at the same time
he's all god now he laid the god power
down
to operate as a man but he he never
stopped being god and he still hasn't
today he's still god
and he's still man pastor steven i don't
understand that that's okay it's called
the divine mystery
and it's a wonderful thing to ponder on
praise god verse 3 and behold moses and
elijah
appeared to them talking with him what's
taking place here
a vision a visionary experience really
it's a collective vision
that they're all entering into peter
james john
jesus is seeing it but the others are
pulled into the vision as well
we know that from verse 9 now as they
came down from the mountain jesus
commanded them saying
tell the vision see it was a vision it
was a vision tell the vision to no one
until the son of man has risen from the
dead
the moment that glory starts coming up
on you the light the glory is rising on
you
get ready get ready this this realm of
visions
is very very real and this is something
that the lord wants to do
long as you're a child of faith you're
child of god and you love the lord and
you're open
i i don't care if you're a pentecostal i
don't care if you're charismatic
i don't care if you're episcopalian or
you're baptist
or you're catholic or whatever you might
be if christ is in your heart
and you're open to receiving the things
that god has for you
get ready because when the glory comes
and i'm telling you the light
is here it's your moment now visions
visions can take place and some of you
have had some visions before
but it's been a it's been a long stretch
praise god i'm here
i'm here to tell you i'm here to tell
you get ready for
a vision for some of you it could be
your first one
i'll never forget my first uh one in
which i saw the lord because it happened
when i was riding
in a pt cruiser now um
that was made by chrysler if i'm correct
and
you know what just the other day i saw i
saw a purple
chrysler pt cruiser right next to me
when i pulled up
and i said lord i know what's going on
there because every time i see that
it's like ringing a bell get ready
get ready that always reminds me of when
i had that versed
vision praise god now they discontinued
making that car
years ago so if i see one sometime
that's usually to me an indicator
uh get ready praise god but i'm just
here to tell you these these experiences
are very real i'm not talking about
something you imagined or
something that you know in your in your
mind i i think i've seen something while
uh if you really are seeing something
you really will see something i'm not
saying this is something that you would
try to fabricate this is something that
is real
from god praise god but when the glory
comes in your time
get ready for uh i wouldn't just call it
inspiration
i call it what the bible calls it a
vision you're seen
into the spirit so whether it's a
spiritual vision a trance or a
full-blown open vision like this one is
get ready
uh get ready because these are high
water mark
moments in your life and the lord
doesn't want them to be
uh you know these uh these things that
only happen
once and maybe what we would call a blue
moon or super rare experience
praise god
get ready for a vision praise the lord
hallelujah pastor stephen what else can
i expect
this is my time i see the chaos going on
out there i see the gross darkness
but the glory is coming up on us what
else can i expect
as i'm walking in the light praise god
well that light will bring such a
distinguishment from
your life as to those that don't serve
the lord
and one of the things you're going to
see is found in the book of malachi
chapter four let me just read that to
you
and let me start in verse one just for a
moment and just give uh this won't
pertain to
you but it will pertain to those that
are out there in the world
loving lawlessness loving wickedness and
actually uh celebrating it
uh this verse one would pertain to them
for behold the day is coming
and let me tell you it is there's
nothing they can do to stop it
there's nothing anybody could do to uh
block it it's going to happen it is a
predetermined prophetic event on god's
calendar and it will
come to pass for behold the day is
coming burning
like an oven and all the proud yes
all who do wickedly will
be stumbled that means they're going to
get burned up
and the day which is coming shall burn
them up says the lord of hosts
that will leave them neither root nor
branch
now verse 2 i want to talk to you now
because of the glory the light being
upon you praise god
but to you who fear my name that you
hallelujah respect you honor
the name of the lord who he is his
character praise god
but to you who fear my name the son of
righteousness
shall arise with healing in his wings
many of you are going to experience
hear me very carefully you're going to
experience a transformation
in your health praise god
i see longevity for you should the lord
tarry
should the lord tarry if he comes back
sooner than we think praise god
we're out of here that's fine with me
but at the same time should the lord
tarry
you're going to live a long life praise
god
and i see that because of the glory
and the guidance of the holy spirit on
you and upon you
i see things taking place with your body
all the creaks and the squeaks and all
the moans and the groans
that stuff is going to just begin to
leave you praise god
and you're going to be healthy many of
you are going to lose weight
and you're going to get to what the lord
designed to be your set body weight
before you're ever born
god had the plan
for your body's structure and he's going
to help you to
walk in that place of
optimum health praise god that does
doesn't mean that maybe you can go out
tomorrow and run a marathon i i
i'm not saying it means something like
that i'm not saying that within two
weeks you're going to be able to bench
press
you know 600 pounds or you know maybe
join the olympic team for 2021 in tokyo
you know i'm not saying that but i am
saying
god's going to do a work in your body
and i see health coming to you
i see you being able to walk i perceive
being able to laugh
i see you being able to travel i see you
being able to do
the things god's got assigned you to do
because health
has sprung up in your body and that
begins now praise the lord
healing in his wings so cooperate
with the holy spirit cooperate with the
lord
and that glory upon you praise god and
god will get you
exactly to where he has planned for you
to be thank you lord jesus the lord is
certainly good
praise god he's going to help you get in
shape
now understand i i think i need to say a
little bit a little more on that because
of balance
uh that doesn't mean that you know
you're going to be living in the gym
you know it doesn't mean that you turn
into um
one of these people you know uh you know
you just you come
like a fitness guru or fitness fanatic
and then you lose all of your
spirituality because you're so now
you know focused on that but i am saying
there is a place
for uh giving attention to that and the
holy spirit's gonna help you with that
and he's going to expedite it so allow
him to work with you
knowledge will flood into you and it's
going to be
it's going to be an easy transition
because the holy spirit's going to help
you
praise god and next
and i'm just giving you the top three i
want to give you uh three very important
things
the next thing that is going to come out
of this being your time
and the light and the glory being upon
you is also found in the same verse
verse 2 of malachi chapter 4 but to you
who fear my name the son of
righteousness
shall arise with healing in his wings
and you shall go out you ready for this
and grow fat like
stall fed calves praise the lord
the lord is going to establish through
his glory resting upon you
he's going to establish financial
strength
in your life when you see the phrase
grow fat that is a hebrew idiom
that refers to growing strong
financially
praise god you're going to grow fat
you are going to grow strong in your
finances
praise the lord and i believe there will
be those of you
if you have an interest you know god
won't take you somewhere that you don't
want to go
but if you have an interest in this
there are many
that the lord is going to lead into the
status of millionaires
the lord is going to lead into the
status of multi-millionaires and then
there will be others
that he will take further along that
journey some have a
designated assignment to go into that
realm
there's others that may uh just think
i'd like to go there lord just
uh just because i'd like to be a
blessing praise god
there's room on the financial blessing
bus for you too
so get on it hallelujah and grow fat
financially the glory the glory is going
to transform
your finances let the weak say
i'm strong praise god and you can make
that confession over your finances you
may not
have a lot right now but you're going
you're going to grow fat
your finances are going to get stronger
and stronger and stronger
praise god so let the holy spirit help
you in that area
i heard something very interesting
that the holy spirit just brought to my
heart just before
coming up to the pulpit and i'd like to
share that with you in the same context
of growing fat financially this would be
found in the gospel of matthew
matthew chapter four let's turn over
there just for a moment
matthew chapter 4 this would be the area
in which
jesus was tempted by the tempter himself
matthew chapter 4 and let's go to verse
8.
again the devil took him
up on an exceedingly high mountain
and showed him all the kingdoms of the
world watch this
and their glory
and he said to him all these things i
will give you if you will fall down and
worship me
now uh some have said this was a false
temptation
satan really didn't have it he's just
kind of like trying to bluff jesus and
you know that but no no we we know this
was a real temptation he actually had it
uh that's why even jesus said as we
started off in john chapter 14 verse 30
he is the ruler of this world he's he's
got all of that
he got it from adam when adam turned it
over to him through his sin
original sin there in the garden of eden
so here we see
that satan is making a play
to offer these things that he has under
his control to the lord if the lord
will only uh fall down and worship him
jesus in verse 10 he responds
then jesus said to him away with you
satan
for it is written you shall worship the
lord your god
and him only you shall serve praise the
lord
now i heard my spirit by the holy spirit
the words legitimate riches
whoo praise god there is a lot of wealth
out there that could be considered
perhaps its legal riches but just
because it's legal
doesn't mean in the eyes of god it's
moral but god
is going to bring legitimate riches
to his people who seized the moment
of realizing that what many have
prophesied particularly uh
charles capps prophesied what he uh
received from the lord as the prophecy
called the financial inversion
where provision is going to begin to
flow to people
who have prepared their hearts who are
solid with the lord
in principles and in character and
it's going to begin to flow to those who
will steward it
wisely praise god so the lord wants to
put
legitimate riches into the hands of his
people because he knows
they'll use it for the right cause for
the furtherance of the gospel
praise the lord for the relief of
suffering for the blessing
of people primarily for the preaching of
the gospel
glory to the lord so i would i would
highly encourage you
to open your heart to this because this
all
goes along with the glory being seen
upon you because remember satan said all
of this
glory has been given to me and i can
distribute it to anybody that i want to
so he's actually calling wealth
and the resources of nations
which you know it turned into an
economic sense turns into basically what
we know as
finances and money he called it glory
and jesus didn't say oh no that's not
the glory the glory is really
the glory on the ark of the covenant no
jesus didn't argue with him
he knows that is a accurate reference to
glory because you see the same thing
with solomon
and the glory of the the kingdom of
solomon
uh because of all the gold and all the
uh tremendous financial
wealth that they had so the lord is
going
to bring that into the lives of his
people
so this is a time for visions
this is a time and by the way the
visions you know
what to do with your assignment you know
your assignment you know how to walk it
out
and this is a time for health and
healing being brought to you on
it's like it's coming in on wings it's
going to come into your life on wings
that's why i'm saying there's a grace to
it
you're going to get in shape you're
going to get in shape praise god what
normally maybe could have taken a year
it's going to take two or three months
and you're just going to go forward
you're going to maintain that
praise the lord and also this is the
time to grow
fat financially now again your
challenge will be to believe the word
or to believe circumstances that are
going
on out there in the midst of gross
darkness but just realize
the lord told you that the gross
darkness would be taking place among the
people
and along with that is your moment he's
going to
rise over you and his glory will be seen
up on
you praise the lord so rise shine
for your light your light has come
get the focus over on what god is doing
for you yes we're very aware out there
all the noise all the ruckus
but again get back into the secret place
and in that place of peace and quietness
the lord is saying
this is your time to rise up and go i'll
bless you
i'm going to do these things in your
life the glory is coming on you
praise god expected visions healing and
growing fat financially father i pray
for your
people that they be aware of the gross
darkness that they be aware of the
deception and lies
and they distance themselves from that
and they stay strong in the light the
light of your word the light of your
kingdom
and father god they choose to believe
what you say about the situation
and not what all the negative voices of
the darkness would say we thank you
father god that this is
the time where you're moving you're
moving and we thank you father god for
allowing us the privilege to be on the
front lines
to actually demonstrate it to others and
others will see in the body of christ
what you're doing and we thank you
father god they'll be in too
we thank you father for the first wave
that's coming which is divisions
visions are coming father pray prepare
your heart
prepare the hearts of your people to
receive
a vision thank you father god
thank you father god and i would ask
father god that they
that you would help them to remember
that once the vision is over
help them to immediately write it down
and get it into a recorded form so that
it can never
be lost or that maybe later on they
won't have any questions about did he
say this or i thought he said that lord
let them write it down immediately
thank you father thank you let us
treasure your word
father everything that you said you had
it written down and so father when you
speak to us through a visionary
experience
let us treasure your word let us write
it down and show honor
and respect to that which it is you
would say to us father we give you
praise
we thank you in jesus name let us all
agree and say
amen praise god my friends if you're
watching today
and you don't know christ as your lord
and savior and you're in the kingdom of
darkness
and you know it and you're not happy
about it because
you know the end of where that's all
going to go and you want to come into
the light
christ makes salvation available for you
today
why don't you receive him right now into
your heart pray this prayer out loud
pray it from your heart pray it after me
say lord jesus
i'm a sinner but i come to you today
and i ask you to save me jesus
wash away my sins give me
your new life write my name
in your book of life and from this day
forward
step into my life take full control
lead me and guide me thank you jesus i
receive
you now as my lord and as
my savior in your name
i pray amen and amen and my friends the
lord has heard that prayer
and he has answered his saved your soul
you belong to him
live for him praise god welcome into the
kingdom of light
welcome into the family of god now my
friends let's take
holy communion today grab some
unleavened
a little wafer will do just fine grab
some grape juice let's pray over it
heavenly father we thank you for the the
bread the juice
we set it apart as holy this is now
consecrated as the body and the blood
of our savior father as we receive
the body of jesus we thank you father
god that we choose to believe your word
that it's our time and father
you so often move in times when we would
think
maybe retreat or pull back or be quiet
but so often that's when you would say
go and you're saying that
this is the time the glory is rising
over you the light is here
go forward and we thank you father god
for the release
of healing of growing fat financially we
thank you for the release of visions
a close walk with you and a hotline
that's
open with you between us and your voice
we thank you father god we receive
all that you have for us we receive
visions
we receive your blessings in jesus name
amen let's receive the body of jesus
hallelujah father thank you for jesus
thank you for the holy spirit the great
restrainer
holding back the lawless one holding
back the enemy's plan
just to run wild it's not time for that
it's not time for that yet we sit we see
elements of it
but father we thank you there's still
the restraining work of the holy spirit
we thank you that he lives within us we
thank you father for jesus and his shed
blood
and father we ask that if we have
committed any sins that you would
forgive us
you would wash all of our sins away and
we forgive anyone
who is sinned against us we forgive them
completely and father we ask that you
would lead us away from temptation
and that you would deliver us from the
evil one father for yours is the kingdom
and the power and the glory forever
we thank you for the blood of christ in
jesus name amen
praise god let's receive
praise the lord hallelujah glory
glory to god praise the lord
thank you jesus i really believe that
the lord is going to touch some of these
billionaires
that are out there praise the lord
we need to pray for them oh pastor steve
we don't need to pray for them just let
no no
we need to pray not only for the poor we
need to pray for the rich everybody
needs jesus
doesn't matter if you're poor middle
class rich it doesn't matter
everybody needs the lord we need to pray
for them
praise god i believe the lord's going to
get some of them
hallelujah and there'll be a blessing to
the kingdom
they'll be a blessing to the extension
of preaching
of preaching the gospel praise the lord
hallelujah and it could be that some of
them have been raised up for that
purpose and they don't even know it
praise the lord thank you jesus praise
the lord
so father we just asked that you would
you would save
many of these wealthy people they don't
know you they've never heard the gospel
it's like although it's out there
they've it's never
broken through to them so we ask for
their salvation we pray for mr warren
buffett
father we pray for his salvation
we pray for him to come to know you even
if he never gives a penny
into your kingdom yet father jesus died
for him
and we ask that the gospel would break
through to him that you would give to
him the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of jesus so that he
could understand the message of the
gospel
we pray for bill gates we pray for these
men father god that
they don't know you we pray that they
would come to know you
and even if they never gave one dollar
father to the kingdom
but yet christ died for them we pray
that they would not
perish in their sins but they would
receive christ as their lord and savior
thank you father thank you
thank you father for hearing this prayer
we lift it up to you in the name of
jesus
amen and amen praise god my friends
thank you for joining me today i look
forward to
seeing you back next time till then walk
in the light
walk in the glory and watch watch as a
visionary experience
is very soon coming to you
it could come today be ready may the
lord bless you bye-bye