I'm pastor stephen brooks welcome today to our online internet around the world church service i'm so happy that you are here and i believe that the lord has a word that will bless your heart that will be spiritual food spiritual nourishment to your inner being your inner man praise the lord let's go over today to the book of second corinthians chapter eight verse nine and let's look at one scripture that's very powerful we're going to receive the tithes and offerings we're going to bring them into the storehouse of the lord and i believe that god's financial plan for you is a very good plan and that it's laid out very clearly in scripture second corinthians chapter 8 verse 9 for you know now there are some who don't know but those under the teaching ministry of the apostle paul they certainly knew about it because he taught on it expanded it made it clear and easy for the people to understand and i also want you to be walking in the same knowledge of this particular element of god's grace for you know the grace of our lord jesus christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor when and where did that happen well it took place upon the cross we can't really say that jesus was poor while he was on the earth now some have taken a few scriptures out of context primarily the scriptures where it says that he had no place to lay his head foxes have holes in the ground birds of the air have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head well you cannot build a doctrine out of that because you can't take verses out of context and then try to build the whole house out of one stone no that's not a foundation stone that was one night where he was on itinerant ministry endeavoring to go into a certain town to minister and the leaders of the town said no we don't want you coming in here preaching we don't want your ministry we don't want your message and we don't believe you're the messiah so he was not allowed in and in times like that back in the ancient days it's not like you could say okay that's fine we'll just go check into the holiday inn over here i'll tell you what we're not going to use the holiday inn we're there last night we're going to go over here tonight we're going to check into the hilton uh so you know i guess you don't like my ministry that's okay we'll just check in over here to the hotel you and i both know they did not have those luxuries and if there were what we would call an inn it would be within the city walls with the gates closed at night so being told you can't come here uh which really irritated james and john but you know they had that very uh uh kind of like well they had an anger issue but the lord turned john into the apostle of love but they're pretty hot hey lord you want us to call down fire on these people and the lord's like no i didn't come to destroy people came to save them but nevertheless you know it's a night where you have to roll out the sleeping bag and just rough it a little bit but it wasn't like that every night but there definitely was a degree of sacrifice required if you wanted to follow the lord because you didn't always know how the crowds were going to be or how the message was going to be received but his needs were always met and he had 12 men on staff with him full time those men were married we know that peter was married of course you know jesus even healed his mother-in-law the lord peter's mother-in-law so obviously if he has a mother-in-law he's got a wife and you can easily see that they all were married and there is the responsibility for these 12 men to walk away from their full-time jobs which you know fishermen and other types of occupations tax collector or whatever it might be so the lord is providing for them and then there was also the 70 that he would send out and so those also would need financial support my friends the lord was not poor and when there was a need if it wasn't in the money bag if there was a need and it wasn't there well the lord wasn't in a bind he he could hear from headquarters he could get instruction from his father the holy spirit would convey that to him and even if it meant sending peter to the lake to go fish and to drop a hook in and to pull up money in the fish's mouth then there was always a way so this place of becoming poor technically doctrinally it happened when he was on the cross why did he do this that you through his poverty might become rich well when did jesus become impoverished that took place on the cross when all of the sin of humanity and sin is very vast the curse of the law in every awful thing that comes from breaking the commandments of god and those various punishments and all of the things associated with sin from disease and sickness all of these awful things that were never in the garden of eden initially when there was no sin but the moment sin came into the earth the breaking the transgressing of god's law god's instructions and all of these awful things were released the curse was released into the earth and in that curse was this awful thing called poverty and some in the church have tried to romanticize and what i mean by the word romanticize they've tried to make it appear good and we've seen dumb examples of that being done with other certain things that are bad and they can't be made to appear good even if they're necessary such as war and world war one really across europe the european mentality before world war one leading right up to it was that war can be good from the sense that uh you know it could it can cause men to rise up for a noble purpose and all this and that but hey once the bullets started flying and body parts started being blown this way and that the horrible reality suddenly washed away all of the romanticized mentality pumped into the young people sent to the front lines to get blown apart that this is hell on earth and it is you want to do everything possible to avoid war sometimes you can't but it's a mess yeah it tears apart people's bodies and tears apart people's minds it's a very difficult thing but as crazy as it was there's old writings and there's a lot of them too that romanticized war before just before the bullets started flying in world war one it's an awful thing poverty don't let anybody fool you it's it's evil it's bad it doesn't make people holy it makes people bitter frustrated upset it dishonors and it just really reduces humanity to a state of degradation that does not reflect in any way the image the beauty and the glory of god jesus we give you praise today for what you've done hallelujah now it says here that through his poverty that we might become rich now i'm a bold pentecostal preacher if it's in the word i'm going to preach it and i'd like to tell you today straight from the authority of scripture that the lord became poor so that you could become rich god wants you to be rich for some of you about fell off your chair when i said that but you're going to have to get back up off the floor get back into the chair and you're going to have to look at this scripture and you're going to have to let it go into your spirit and ponder it consider it and let it do its work in your life because it could be shocking if you've been raised uh taught that god wants you to be poor don't you know that the world would like for you to stay poor and broke let me just say this god wants you to be rich you know why because if you're rich you know what to do with the money sinners don't know what to do with the money they spend money on the most stupid things they send money uh they spend money in ways that actually amplify their life and their cravings and so money is just an amplifier so it amplifies their sin it gives them free expression to express what they actually want to do and so much of that so many of times is just that of sin sin sin but when the believer has money it amplifies the desires that are on the inside of you which is to do what see the gospel proclaimed throughout the earth see the great commission fulfilled see people relieved of suffering see people saved and born again and diverted from a burning hell to the glorious gates of heaven and passed through those gates into their eternal reward well that that requires money to preach the gospel to print bibles to build christian hospitals by the way atheists don't build hospitals christians build hospitals good people that god is blessed with money christians they're the ones that build the hospitals and all of these uh beautiful relief works and on and on it goes whether it's christian television christian uh you know radio or whatever it might be my friends that's why god wants you to be rich that's why jesus became poor that you through his poverty that he bore on calvary that you might become rich there was divine exchange same thing with sin jesus bore our sin why so there could be an exchange so that we could become his righteousness while what a tradeoff who wouldn't want to accept what jesus has done for us now there would be some that of course try to how can i say get out of any scripture that would actually be for their betterment i don't know why some christians tried to do that maybe they have a uh you know maybe they feel condemned or something like that maybe don't they don't feel worthy maybe they don't really know who they are in christ that in christ you are worthy because he became uh we became his righteousness so our identity is in him it's not really in our self so but maybe for whatever reasons they just don't get it so they're always looking for a way to escape the promises of god and they'll say to you that this becoming rich is being spiritually rich and i'm sorry i can't help but laugh because that again is taking something out of context and trying to fit it into a paradigm that they have in order to support something that's already on very unshaky ground or shaky ground excuse me so uh look just keep it in context second corinthians chapter eight the entire chapter is about the giving of an offering it's about finances so this is not about your spiritual you know be be rich spiritually that that is just a horrible misinterpretation of scripture that you that you might become rich it's talking about finances just like the whole chapter is talking about finances and the giving of an offering and even the second chapter following chapter nine is also a continuation of the receiving of an offering and your financial well-being my friends just receive it as it is the lord wants you to be rich he's very open about it the the teachings of the apostle paul are very clear along this lines and throughout scripture we see that god gave us the power to get wealth if the wealth were wrong why would god give us the power to get it deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 18 and on and on it goes well pastor stephen wasn't jesus an old barefoot preacher walking around begging for a bologna sandwich handout no uh first of all he didn't eat bologna because that's pork uh you know he's jewish and second of all he wasn't barefoot by the way uh thank god for mr rockefeller the the very wealthy man uh years back the the um the tycoon who had all the money who said i'm going to put it in the hook worm and hookworm was primarily caused and still is in undeveloped nations of the world by people walking around barefoot so he began a major educational uh distribution of health teaching particularly throughout the southern parts of the u.s states that walking around barefoot is not a good way it's not a good thing to do you're going to end up stepping in little thing microbiotic real tiny things you can't see that are parasitic that are carrying diseases and germs that are so small it will go through the the skin of the bottom of your feet and it develops hook worms inside of your body so no jesus wasn't walking around a poor bear fruit preacher and a matter of fact when they uh crucified him they gambled over his clothing and i've never seen any hobo any homeless person any beggar i've never seen anybody gamble over a homeless person's clothing so it was a very nice garment so nice they were intent on not tearing it so no you can't have a bunch of full-time workers you can't have a treasurer you can't have all that be poor and broke it's just it's not possible i've never met a homeless person in my life who has a treasurer standing next to them holding a bag full of money i've never met a poor person ever in that situation so it's not possible that he was poor he became poor on the cross for you and me that we might become rich so the word might gives the potential for it you might become rich yeah if you believe it if you respond to it if you if you step out in faith and if you line yourself up with biblical covenant principles of finances you're on the way to becoming rich it's not guaranteed you might become rich if you believe it if you receive it just like all of the other blessings of god you say yes i believe it's in the scripture i take a hold of it i make that part of my life glory to god i see many of you becoming rich because you embrace you embrace the teachings of the lord jesus christ you you embraced the teachings of the new covenant particularly those expressed through the uh god's servant the apostle paul hallelujah now let's honor the lord move forward move forward move forward in towards god's plans for your finances which is taking you into a place where you are rich praise god amen thank the lord now scripture says that the tithe which is 10 of your earned income or 10 of all monies that are placed into your life or that are brought into your life 10 belongs to the lord that's called the tithe and that belongs to him so we honor god we bring that to him and on top of that should you feel the lady of the holy spirit to connect with a kingdom assignment project then you can saw an offering you can sow a financial seed into that as well and that also places you into position to work laws that are spiritual and natural called seed time and harvest sowing and reaping it's natural farmers use it all the time we use it all the time in the kingdom for the sowing of financial seed to reap a financial harvest praise god all right so let me pray over you as you honor the lord with your tithe and as you sow financial seed let me pray for you right now father i pray for your precious people i thank you that any of those that have been frustrated financially will begin to turn it around based on the solid foundation of your word lord it is your desire to make them rich father jesus paid the ultimate price he became poor so that we could become rich now father god let your people embrace the divine exchange and step into their financial destiny of becoming rich fathers they honor you with the tithe they say so financial seed i thank you that you are certainly taking them to the pinnacle of the financial mountain you're taking to them to the top of the economic mountain and father it is for your glory they'll have money and they'll know what to do with it we give you all the praise in jesus name all around the world together as a family of believers we shout and say amen praise god now if you prefer to mail in your tithe and offering you can send that to stephen brooks international po box 717 moravian falls north carolina 28654 that's the zip code if you prefer to bring the tithe and offering in online which many of you do that who are international that's totally fine of course works great in the country here as well you can go to the ministry website right now anytime day or night stevenbrooks.org there's a link on the home page called give you click that red tab called give has a heart on it and it will give you the various options for online giving and you can bring the tithing offering in online we also have two special projects and that's under the header that's called projects if you click it you'll see the hanger project which is for the hanger for the future ministry aircraft but before we have the horse we have to have the stable before we have the the plane we have to have a hangar to put it in so we have that project and we also have the project of the television airtime praise god and that is an ongoing project because we are reaching one billion souls on a weekly basis but we want to expand that because there's still six billion more that we want to just get the gospel out there too and my friend both of those projects is good soil to sow into the sow your seed into now father i ask that you would bless your people they're bringing the tides and offerings in now bless them make them rich lead them guide them by your holy spirit let them apply biblical principles take them to the top financially and father i thank you they are champion givers for your kingdom cause in jesus name amen amen now use your faith do something maybe that some of you have never done before proclaim profess declare decree the word of god say it is god's will for me to be rich say that say it is god's will for me to be rich say i am rich say that as a confession of the faith in god's word say i am rich praise the lord blessed be the name of the lord forever now let's take our bibles today and let's go to the uh the last book in the bible which is very easy to find it's revelation chapter 3 and we're going to go today to verse 21 and i want to talk about something that should be essential on a regular basis in your life and it should be essential especially on the most important day of your life and really i actually believe by doing this it sets up those most important days of your life hallelujah let's pray father as we go into your word we ask for the quickening power of your holy spirit the quickening understanding of your word let us take it let us apply it to our lives beginning today we bless you in jesus name thank you father for your anointing your grace and your help in jesus name amen now verse 21 to him who overcomes i will grant to sit with me on my throne as i also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne so here jesus is speaking and he says to him who overcomes there are various things in life that we have to overcome and of course most of those things are going to be in the areas of the soul and the flesh and having to overcome them when the spirit is willing but so often the flesh can be weak but the spirit is willing so you're gonna have to overcome anything that would try to hold you back from stepping into the fullness of what god has planned for you and the good news is that you can and there are rewards there are blessings associated with any time you overcome to him who overcomes i will grant to sit with me on my throne as i also overcame sat down with my father on his throne so i see you overcoming i see rewards and blessings for overcoming that the lord holds before you and he always gives a reward because he has designed us in a sense with motivation the motivation the inspiration is because there is a beautiful reward attached to it and there are so many that the lord presents and let's talk about uh moving forward today overcoming particularly in one area let's go now to the book of proverbs we're going to go to proverbs chapter 8. praise god today praise the lord forever proverbs chapter 8 and verse 17 this is the personification of wisdom wisdom is a person personified speaking now we know that wisdom is christ we also know that wisdom is his word so let's jump into it verse 17. i love those who love me that would be wisdom speaking and those who seek me diligently will find me now some translations including the king james which i like because it's based off the masoretic text for the old testament which is a very reliable text others use good text as well but it'll bring out some gems that are very helpful uh the king james version says those who seek me early well pastor stephen some versions say diligently some say early which one's right good question the answer is that they both are now in the hebrew the the phrase that we see here in the english seek me diligently or kjv seek me early is actually one word in the hebrew and it's the word shakar s-h-a-c shakar and of course if you were to say that in hebrew with a middle eastern accent it would be a very thick pronunciation with the ours and i don't really have that uh hebrew ability to do that although my daughter says i do uh but you know that's not really uh made to you know do all of that because spit starts flying anytime i usually start speaking uh uh those heavy accented words in the hebrew but it's it's the word shaqar and it literally means to be up early at any task and it literally means to be up in the morning okay so we know it's in the morning and we also know that it means to be up early in the morning regardless regardless of what it is that is going on that day and those are the words of wisdom by the way verse 18 is pretty good too riches and honor are with me enduring riches and righteousness so we say yes to that now verse 21 wisdom continues by saying that i may cause those who love me and of course we know that those who love wisdom they're going to be up early in the morning with great diligence okay that i may cause those who love me to inherit wealth that i may fill their treasuries now some versions say inherit substance and i like that too i can agree with that because there is a weight that goes with anybody that really knows the lord or if you get really good at your thing regardless of what that is you carry a weight uh the word weight would go back to the word glory in the hebrew which would be the word kabad and it does mean a weight so there's a weightiness and so there can be a substance that's a weightiness we know that gold is extremely heavy but also wealth that there's something about wealth and all of these things that will flow out of this fountain of seeking wisdom or seeking the lord early praise the lord now proverbs chapter 31 also speaking of the early bird if we could use that expression proverbs chapter 31 this whole chapter is about the value of a woman who loves god serves god all of the attributes of her taking care of her family her husband it is a beautiful chapter and this was actually a chapter that was taught to king solomon it says king king lemuel but lemieux was the pen name used by king solomon and this was taught to him by his mother and that uh that is a beautiful story in and of itself but i want to get to verse 15 it says she that would be the godly woman also rises while it is yet night so she is up early before the sun ever comes up she's up very early in the morning and provides food for her household and a portion for her maidservants so this is not the lady that's sleeping in till 9 30 in the morning or you know uh 10 o'clock in the morning this is somebody that's just that they're moving they're getting a lot accomplished every single day so that would be in theme with the whole book of proverbs which is the book of wisdom now we are told in god's word that we are to look to the rock from which we have been hewn or cut out of and that is a direct reference to the man of god named abraham so i would like to start with him today and let's go today to genesis chapter 19 and you're going to pick up something very very quick because i'm just going to start unloading it to you i'm going to give it to you let it go into your spirit and you decide what to do with it after you have seen where you've come from i want to show you your spiritual dna i want to show you what they did and then when i show this to you you can decide what you would like to do with it are you ready because i'm going to run quick with you today praise the lord now genesis chapter 19 i want to talk to you for just a few minutes about abraham verse 27 and abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the lord he had talked with the lord about what was going to happen to sodom and gomorrah and he pleaded with the lord and kept getting the number down lower and lower and lower lord if there's only 10 will you preserve the cities and the lord said yeah i'll do it just for 10. we know that they could not even find 10 so the destruction was imminent but abraham it says he went early in the morning to that place and he's going to watch the events unfold and they certainly did unfold but notice that he's up early in the morning genesis chapter 21 we are now over in verse 14 and it says so abraham rose early in the morning could you imagine this great man that it says that was he was very rich with gold and silver and livestock could you imagine a man that had all these servants all this wealth and all of this stuff going on sleeping in till 9 30 in the morning i can't even visualize it and you can't because it didn't happen so abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and put it on her shoulder he gave it and the boy he gave it and the boy to to hagar so this would be the sending away of hagar and ishmael ishmael right around this time is probably right around the age of 16 years old but sarah can't take it anymore he said abraham they've got to go and so uh and the lord said hey listen to your wife on this one so they were leaving but notice with the departure that abraham is not like hey i don't really know what's going on i'm going to sleep in and pretend like i i'm not aware of this no he rose early in the morning he rose early in the morning genesis chapter 22 verse 3. are you ready for this one the biggest day of his life oh he had some momentous moments he had the cutting of the covenant he had encounters with the lord but this day was one that i believe topped them all and this was the day that something was going to happen to his life that would be in the old testament one of the most beautiful symbolic word pictures representing the father sending his son and the sacrifice of jesus at calvary and this portrayed it more beautifully than any other old testament portrayal and we see in verse 30 excuse me verse 3 on this epic day so abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and isaac his son and he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place in which god had told him on this big day the biggest day of his life notice he's still in he's still in theme he is who he is so abraham rose early in the morning do you see a trend do you see something consistent in his life yes you do and you're cut from the same spiritual stone the same dna is in you because we are through christ we're and we're in christ we are in christ the children of abraham praise the lord thank you jesus that doesn't do away with the jews the jews of course are the direct natural descendants of abraham but praise god hey we got grafted in when we got saved so we're grafted in glory to god and that same spiritual dna is now in us hallelujah so we see this beautiful uh cons consistency in the life of abraham may it also be displayed in your life now let's go to genesis chapter 28 and let's look at jacob whose name of course was going to be changed to israel israel the name of the the people of god but here we have jacob in genesis chapter 28 verse 18. then jacob rose early in the morning i wonder where he got that from i wonder where these similarities come from i wonder where where these principles of tithing come from they come they came from grandfather you have abraham isaac jacob and what abraham did was talk to his son and then what his son did was taught to his son and it's accumulating and it's continuing praise the lord then jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put at his head set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it and he called the name of that place bethel praise god and that happened when he got up early in the morning can you imagine the father of a nation sleeping in until 11 30. no i don't think so no no no he's up early in the morning praise god now we're going to go over to the book of exodus exodus chapter 8 praise the lord today and let's take a look at a day in the life of moses exodus chapter 8 verse 20 and the lord said to moses get up at 10 30 in the morning start eating your biscuits and gravy oh i'm sorry i've got a modern translation that slipped in on me that's not really what it says and the lord said to moses raise early in the morning that's what god's word says and records rise early in the morning and stand before pharaoh look if you want to get into the governmental anointing if you want to do some high high-level business you know those guys are moving in the morning you know by by by nine o'clock it's it's already full speed ahead praise the lord and you need to be up to speed by then which means you've got to get up earlier before that and get kind of get woke you know get everything woke up gets the system going physically spiritually very importantly you know your mind everything get everything dialed in so when you walk in you're not just well i'm just now getting going no no it's already rolling full speed so you have to be already merged into that trust me pharaoh was and the lord said to moses rise early in the morning and stand before pharaoh as he comes out to the water and say to him thus says the lord let my people go that they may serve me praise the lord exodus chapter 9 verse 13. then the lord said to moses last time you got up early but this time sleep in because my assignment for you is not really that important oh i'm sorry i keep slipping over to one of these modern translations let me go back to what the bible says then the lord said to moses rise early in the morning and stand before pharaoh and say to him thus says the lord god of the hebrews let my people go that they may serve me exodus chapter 24. verse 4 exodus 24 verse 4 and moses wrote all the words of the lord and he rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and 12 pillars according to the 12 tribes of israel praise god exodus 34 well pastor stephen by the time you get to exodus 34 he's an old man by then he's just sleeping in all day by by that by that time exodus 34 verse 4 so he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones then moses rose early in the morning and went up mount sinai as the lord had commanded him and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone abraham jacob moses but let's do a few more just to have a little fun here how about that joshua chapter 3 verse 1. oh not him pastor stephen he was the new millennial generation you know he got the mantle for moses and he does things differently he's the new cutting edge and they don't do it like the old-timers they've got a smarter and better way they don't need to do that old-fashioned stuff joshua chapter 3 verse 1 then joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from acacia grove and came to the jordan he and all the children of israel and lodged there before they crossed over seems to me that some of that old-fashioned wisdom is uh still working and uh still appreciated by joshua who's walking in the spirit of wisdom that his mentor had imparted into him praise god joshua excuse me yes joshua chapter 6 verse 12 and joshua rose early in the morning and the priest took up the ark of the lord praise god looks like this is something that's just not a one-time event for him seems like it's just part and parcel of who he is praise god joshua chapter 7 verse 16. so joshua rose early in the morning and brought israel by their tribes and the tribe of judah was taken how about that joshua chapter 8 verse 10 then joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people and went up he and the elders of israel before the people to ai praise the lord i could go on further with joshua but that's enough i think that you see there is some amazing consistency there with him as well all cut from the same rock all cut from that same rock and that my friends is what the lord put in the abraham that's why god chose abraham and god said that's my man i'm going to cut covenant with him and uh his identity is going to be in me and i'm going to work through him i'm going to teach him principles of faith and i tell you what he had an amazing influence upon the children of israel praise god now let's look in the life of gideon we're now in the book of judges chapter 6. and we see here in verse 38 and it was so when he gideon rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together he rung the dew out of the fleece a bowl full of water praise god hallelujah he's having a good time with the lord early in the morning now let's look at something very beautiful with hannah who became the mother of the very trustworthy prophet samuel so let's jump over the first samuel chapter 1 verse 18 and she said let your maidservant find favor in your sight so the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad then they rose early in the morning that would be hannah and her husband then they rose early in the morning oh pastor stephen you know she don't need to be getting up that early she's had a big day before you know you know running into the high priest and having a conversation with him and all the drama the day before she'd probably drain she needed to sleep in no no apparently not then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the lord and returned and came to their house at ramah praise god and elkanah knew hannah his wife and the lord remembered her hallelujah what a blessing what a blessing praise god now let's look in the life of the prophet samuel we know that his mom and his dad were up early but maybe maybe he's not going to be like that maybe he's going to be a sluggard maybe he's going to sleep in somehow he's going to he's going to be the prophet of israel but somehow he's going to maybe sleep in until you know 10 30 in the morning let's see if he thinks he can do that first samuel chapter 15 verse 12. so when samuel rose early in the morning to meet saul oh well he's still still holding on the old-fashioned principles praise god raised there in the tabernacle of the lord raised by uh those who worked there the the high priest the other priest he was mentored there in the house of god and my friends he's he's got some good stuff going on on the inside of him he's got a calling he's got an anointing but he's also got structure in his life so when samuel rose early in the morning to meet saul it was told samuel saying saul went to carmel and indeed he set up a monument for himself and he has gone on around passed by and gone down to gilgal but my friends samuel is up early he wants to know what's going on he is a prophet but in so many ways it's it's like he's the leader uh you know saul doesn't really know what he's doing and saul's the first king so everybody really has their eyes on samuel and trust me he's got the qualities inside of him the ca the the character character qualities that are needed to be a go-to guy praise the lord and he's up early in the morning by the way do you see a trend happening with the great men and women of god in the bible i'm sure that you do let's continue on a little bit more we can just move one chapter over in two chapters let's go to first samuel chapter 17 and take a look at a day in the life of david verse 20. so david rose early in the morning do you see do you see these are people that god's picking hallelujah now watch this so david rose early in the morning left the sheep with the keeper took the things and went as jesse had commanded him and he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle what's going on he's stepping into the greatest day of his life stepping into the greatest day of the life of his life and very very soon he's going to be walking out onto the battlefield the face the giant goliath good thing he was up early in the morning and i believe when you incorporate this secret of success that your great days they're already prepared because of the great things that you're doing they may seem small but you're doing them consistently and it builds something into you of great character great faith great strength great courage and great backbone praise the lord hallelujah now let's continue on job chapter 1 verse 5. so it was when the days of feasting had run their course that job would send and sanctify them and he would rise early in the morning here's job with all of this wealth oh a pastor steven he's got all that money he can just sleep in let somebody else run the show for him in the morning let the general manager oversee it he he's probably tired he needs some extra rest no he's up early he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all wow how about that isn't that beautiful isn't that absolutely amazing very quickly let's go to the new testament there's so many so many in the new testament but just just a couple just a couple john chapter 20 verse one now on the first day of the week mary magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark how's that for early sun's not even up well you know pastor stephen you know it's dark outside it could be dangerous uh she's a lady probably just stay home they haven't invented flashlights yet it's dangerous out there it's dark she probably shouldn't be doing anything until the sun comes up no no when you've got when you got something to do and somewhere to go just go in faith hallelujah trust god and just go praise the lord that's what she did she went to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb and that was a trait in all of the mary's especially mary the mother of jesus but we don't have time to cover all of those acts chapter 5 we're moving over to acts chapter 5 praise the lord today and i want you to see verse 21 and let's see how the apostles ran their day verse 21 and when they heard that they entered the temple that's the apostles they entered the temple early in the morning and taught well if they're teaching early that means they would have gotten up even earlier to prepare a message because you can't just you know get out of bed grab some food and just walk out and say you know hey sit down i want to teach you something no you have to have it prepared so they they were up very very early getting the word getting the message you know from the anointing of the holy spirit and they're going out and they're ready to teach so they were already at the temple early in the morning and they taught whoa praise the lord so you start your day with the word of god get yeah get some prayer going get into the presence of the lord and then get a scripture that you can chew on for the rest of the day something that will build you up something that you can meditate on throughout the day because the just shall live by faith and that's that's not just faith and you know some kind of ethereal something other no that's faith in the word so you get the word unto you in the morning take that with you throughout the day you have a prayed up day you have the word with you you're ready to go praise god and that's the way the apostles ran their daily routine glory to god okay very quickly gospel of luke chapter six just a couple of more luke chapter six you're seeing a pattern it's a biblical pattern these people were not successful by luck chance or coincidence stop putting success over on luck it doesn't work like that it works because they're doing certain things right this is a major success secret that we're talking about today luke luke chapter 6 first 13 and when it was day a very important day time to select the the disciples he called his disciples to himself and from them he chose twelve whom he also named apostles praise the lord so he's up early he was up early how do we know that verse 12. now it came to pass in those days that he went out to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to god just just prayed all throughout the night and just kept on praying all morning long why on big days these major epic days don't let me see if i can say this sweetly don't you dare sleep in don't you dare sleep in on a big day you cannot do that if you want to sleep in you know uh get uh you find a day if you can when it's low profile but on a big day you know you're gonna choose the 12. well that's not the day to sleep in that's today you're going to have to pray all night on yesterday you have to just throw down you you're going to have to pay the price uh you know crucify the flesh and rise up and be the person god's called you to be and push to sleep back you may not have to pray all night it's not it's not every day that you're going to choose to 12 that's a once and done done moment that's a major thing major thing you can't afford to get one wrong mmm so you pray until you get the answers glory to god that's all night all night now here's my favorite you guys know which one this is this is mark chapter 1 mark chapter 1 verse 35 now in the morning having risen a long while before daylight he went out departed to a solitary place and there he prayed i'm not going to reteach that i've taught it quite extensively and we could do deep dive into that verse and open that up and talk about it uh easily for an hour much longer than that actually but my friends uh you'll you're seeing you're seeing some tremendous discipline across the spectrum of these biblical characters that god worked through these men and women and they were all up early in the morning all up early in the morning praying getting ready for the day getting the word in getting ready for the day receiving wisdom receiving the manna from god the revelatory knowledge of god's word getting that early and you walk into the day and you're ready for anything praise god thank you jesus one more one more mark chapter 16 hallelujah we'll finish with this one mark 16 verse 9 referring to jesus now when he rose early on the first day of the week he appeared first to mary magdalene out of whom he had cast seven demons oh now pastor stephen he's resurrected he's got his resurrected body and uh you know he can he can afford to take it easy now i mean let me just let him show up at 10 o'clock in the morning no that's not his style he's already rolling whoo hallelujah and things are moving so you need to be moving too see it says now when he arose early early on the first day of the week he's up he's appearing to people visitations supernatural encounters divine experiences praise god amen so structure and plan your day so that you could incorporate a proven principle into your life i don't like to preach anything that doesn't work for me hallelujah and i'm not saying there's things in the bible that don't work um if somebody's doing something they think it's biblical and it's not working they're not interpreting those scriptures properly because the word works trust me it's like a tool this is this is like a tool book you can take these instructions and you work them and you follow the instructions right they're guaranteed to work with phenomenal success so the things i know are the things i've learned and when i say the things i know i'm talking about i what i've got revelation on what i have understanding on it's a big book i i can't i can't implement it all i don't know it all and should i live to be a hundred uh should we have time should the lord terry with this return i'm still not gonna be able to learn at all so i can quote teach it all unquote that's not possible it's too dense it's too thick it's too layered it's too deep it's too rich it's too packed but what i do know and what i do have revelation on that's what i live by and also that's what i teach and what i'm giving to you today these 12 examples of these various people that i've just mentioned and just have gone through very quickly i'm just telling you that i know this works and they do too and i would highly suggest that you pray about it consider it think it and implement it into your life and you'll find out that it does open you up to that realm where proverbs promises wealth and riches for those that seek early and as it means in the hebrew it means up early in the morning it is a path to riches praise god hallelujah hallelujah praise the lord father i pray for those that are watching that they'll take these scriptures to heart that they'll consider their spiritual dna abraham and all of the others that walked in this including the messiah the lord jesus the savior of the world himself as a father we thank you we take it and we enjoy it we practice it i would ask for grace father for your people grace grace grace to merge into this lane of walking where the spirit comes first the flesh uh comes second and flesh can figure out where it and how it's going to get its sleep but as far as the early morning hours that's devoted to you so father we give you praise in jesus name that there be an impartation of grace for your people to merge into this prophetic walk in jesus name amen and i would also call it apostolic because we know that the apostles practice this as well let me say this there is a grace and i believe i believe so often it even requires it from the lord if it's not something that maybe your parents put into you or something that came easily maybe because even of your the way you are it's still something that you can merge into and if you'll ask the lord for it he he is very keen to help you on this which tells me that's he's a big believer in it and we know he is because we see all the scriptures of what he did including one of my favorite verses if not my favorite verse in the bible which is mark chapter 1 verse 35 of how he got up early to pray but let things help you you know when i'm in certain countries whether it's indonesia like jakarta or if i'm in israel in jerusalem listen when that muslim prayer call call to prayer goes off over the loudspeakers at four o'clock in the morning i just go ahead and get up i'm planning on getting up anyhow but when i hear that i'm just like well they're getting up to pray you know a lot of them are doing it out of religious why all of them you know actually that are doing that they're doing it out of uh uh so much of the world's religions are based upon as we would call good works let your good works out while you're you're bad works and then hopefully you'll get into heaven we know it doesn't work like that because all have fallen short of the glory of god and nobody's good enough to get to heaven but uh they're they're getting up to do their thing you know when i hear the call of the prayer i i'd like well lord i want to get up too hallelujah you know it's making so much noise anyhow i'm just going to go ahead and get up so just use stuff use anything that would happen well pastor stephen i've been having some bad dreams lately well look we can put an end to that i've done done teaching on how to bring a remedy for that but the thing is is that should that be happening we'll just go ahead and get up oh pastor stephen had a really bad dream at four o'clock in the morning well get up and pray and then stay up praise god hallelujah and let stuff like that use it as a springboard should the devil do something bizarre bad or troublesome use it as a springboard and uh let that let that be something that can even be turned in a positive way where you can get up and get going into that early morning prayer when i was in charlotte just over the last uh three or four days we were recording programs for season three of our pure gold tv show and every morning right around uh it was no later than 4 30. here comes the train oh pastor stephen you won't hear a train in the big city too much no no i every morning here comes their train you know you know going i don't know where it was but pretty close to the hotel you know because you know we're going to be recording early in the morning but in order to do that i've got to get up extra early because you know i'm running through all these messages every day so you know hey there's the train well that's just an extra boost i've got the alarm set anyhow i've got that alarm i got the train you know going crazy on the horn i would the engineer must be really happy maybe he thinks it's funny to you know make that much noise in the morning but either way getting up praise the lord oh i'm just going to roll over pastor steve go back to sleep let these things help you the lord will work through these uh circumstances and events to help you you get up you have to go to the restroom you know it's five o'clock in the morning well just go ahead and stay up you know it's so and sometimes not only it actually wakes you up and you you kind of want to wish you go back to sleep well you're already awake anyhow just go and stay up go go and pray go spend time with the lord use it all as impetus for getting into that early morning time with the lord there's so much in this we're just touching the very tip of the iceberg and it's on most icebergs uh the bulk of the material is beneath the water you can't really see it we don't have time to dive deep into it today but trust me this is a major success secret in the bible praise god father thank you for grace let there be grace even outside circumstances that can be used to help your people to get up and pray loud sounds or whatever it be or that wake them up lord we just thank you for everybody that wants to step into this good grace to get going and emerge into this thank you father in jesus name and we thank you for the amazing things that await us in your presence in jesus name amen if you're watching today's program and you don't know jesus christ savior of the world the invitation stands open to you right now to receive eternal life through him if you would like to get your life right with god don't wait another day don't wait another moment right now pray this prayer pray it out loud just pray it after me say lord jesus a sinner but you died to save sinners jesus i give you my heart come into my life wash all of my sins away write my name in your book of life jesus from this day forward step into my life take control take over lead me and guide me jesus i take you now as my lord and savior i take you by faith thank you jesus in your name i pray thank you for saving me amen and amen my friends let me be the first to welcome you to the family of god god loves you god loves you so much so keep serving him now walk with him and god has beautiful things planned for you glory to god hallelujah now let's take holy communion if you've never done this before jump in and let's do it all together church family gather together around the world grab some unleavened bread grab some grape juice i use these little wafers you can use those or find something else that would be similar to this father we thank you for the bread the juice father jesus said that when we receive it that it is his body and his blood so we pray over it and set this apart as holy this is now the body and the blood of christ father as we receive the body of jesus we thank you that we receive his promises and we also receive his principles so let us walk and operate by biblical principles we thank you father god for the early morning anointing spending time with you so that all of our days are ordered by you father in the name of jesus we pray amen let's receive the body of christ father thank you for the precious blood of jesus our savior father as we receive his blood now we thank you for forgiveness of sins we thank you that we are saved through christ and that we are on our way to heaven father we give you praise for his blood we thank you we thank you we praise you father we if we have committed any sins we ask that you would forgive us and we forgive anyone who has sinned against us father we bless you in the name of jesus in jesus name amen let's receive the precious blood of jesus hallelujah glory to god my friends thank you for joining us today i look forward to seeing you back next time and so go seek the lord early and the best day the greatest day of your life really will be the greatest day of your life because you're actually ready for it whoo praise the lord see you back real soon bye-bye