This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit Series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
You are welcome to make additional cassettes of
this message for free distribution to friends.
However, for all other forms of reproduction or
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Thank you, Choir.
You've been praising Him all day, and we've
been so blessed by this Choir, don't you
agree?
If you've been in the house today, if
you've heard messages, how many have been at
one other service other than this one today?
That's quite a number.
And if you've been here at least one
other message, you have been greatly blessed and
fed.
The Lord has really been speaking so clearly
and so powerfully today, and we've been lifting
His name up.
And the Lord is teaching us how to
praise Him, not in our flesh, but in
our spirit.
How to lift Him up when we're tired,
how to lift Him up when we're distracted,
how to lift Him up when our flesh
doesn't feel like it.
And those are the high praises of God.
And the Lord is teaching us how to
do that on that level, because it delights
Him.
He gets a lot of honor when we're
learning to be led out by the Spirit,
not by the flesh.
And tonight, I have a message, and it's
kind of just an exclamation point to all
the messages that have been preached today.
But it came so easy, this was not
a hard message to write.
That that's usually a sign that though many
people will be edified and blessed, there is
someone here that this message is especially for
you.
There are going to be people here tonight,
and I know because of the way it
came so easily, that the Lord is saying,
everything is arranged for you tonight.
I'm speaking this word right to your heart
because I know you need it.
And it's going to be an on-time
word.
Let's pray.
Father, I thank You, O God, for this
one more time, for the privilege of lifting
You up.
For the privilege, O God, of worshiping You.
Lord, You're teaching us how to worship You
in spirit and in truth.
Now, Lord, I pray that You will take
this word, Lord, and that You will send
it like a mighty arrow.
And that You will strike it through the
heart of Your enemy.
That, Lord, one more time we will hear
how You are high above every power and
principality.
And in You we have victory.
Lord, You're going to make that a reality
tonight.
We're going to experience it tonight.
We're going to know it as Your body
that You've come to deliver us, to send
an on-time word that we may rejoice
and praise You.
For You alone are worthy of this praise.
We cannot deliver ourselves.
And, Lord, tonight we praise You as our
deliverer.
We praise You as our fortress.
We praise You as the God that we
can run to.
And You never cast us out.
And You never tire of us coming to
You.
But, Lord, we delight You when we come.
So we come empty.
We come humbly.
We come expecting.
Lord, we ask You to get all the
glory.
And we'll thank You for it in Jesus'
name.
My message tonight is called, The Steps of
a Good Man Are Ordered by the Lord.
The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord.
If you will turn with me to Psalm
37, you will find that exact scripture.
Psalm 37 and verse 23.
The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord.
And when it talks to us about a
good man, you and I that know the
Lord know we're not talking about a man
who naturally keeps the law.
We're talking about someone who tries hard and
someone who does a lot of things right.
We're talking about a man, a man, a
woman who has cried out to God and
God revealed His Son.
Someone who knew that they were a sinner.
And the message came that Jesus saves sinners.
Someone who knew, God, I don't and I
can't live a life that pleases You or
pleases me anymore.
Unless You come into it.
And You break the power of sin and
what controls me.
Someone who's had a heartfelt cry and said,
God, if You're real, meet me.
And God met you.
And revealed Jesus Christ.
And I've had my sin washed away.
And now the goodness that we have, it's
a gift.
And the goodness that we have, since the
scripture says that no one's good, not one.
We know that God gives us the ability
to obey Him.
God gives us the desire.
God gives us the power.
And so that's who we're talking about tonight.
There may be some here tonight that you
don't know Jesus.
You have never cried out.
You've never asked Him to come and save
you and to forgive your sin.
You don't know what it is to walk
with God and to have fellowship with Him.
But tonight, you can do that.
It's as simple as a heartfelt cry that
says, Jesus, Son of God, I give You
my broken life.
Come into it and change me.
But really, this message, though, is for the
good man.
The one that says, God, You've made me
good.
God, if there's any good thing in me,
it's You.
And God says it's the steps of that
man, that woman, that are ordered by the
Lord.
If you read with me in Psalm 37,
verses 23 and 24, it says, The steps
of a good man are ordered by the
Lord, and He delighteth in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly
cast down.
For the Lord upholdeth him with His hand.
Now, the Lord says, I'm going to delight
in the way that I'm going to lead
this good man.
I'm going to delight in it.
And though he fall down, He says, I'm
going to be there for him, and he's
not going to be utterly cast down.
And I'm going to uphold him with My
hand at the times when he feels he's
going to be utterly cast down.
And for those that have the Spirit of
God, this verse starts to get so exciting.
It's beginning to say, God, You've got my
life and my steps and the way I
should go planned.
You say You delight in it.
Lord, I hear a blessing here.
You say You're not going to fail me.
And I've heard it said this afternoon, it
was so real.
We begin to see the end of the
trip, and we're excited.
We begin, God says very clearly, now here
is the end of all things.
He says, Your steps are ordered, they're planned,
they're established by Me, and You're not going
to fail.
But it is the middle of this walk
that gets muddled.
And God says in Psalm, you don't need
to turn there, but Proverbs 16, 9.
He says, A man's heart devises his way,
but the Lord directs his steps.
He says, A man's heart is going to
plan, it's going to imagine, it's going to
think through plans.
And if you're a good man, if you
have the Spirit of God in your heart,
and the Word is preached to you, and
you're reading this Word, God begins to put
a burning in you.
God, I want to know Your way.
I want You to be led by You.
And we get a picture in our mind
of, God, what Your life blessing me means,
and how I'm going to become like You.
But you see, the Scripture says, we devise
these plans, and we start thinking up.
Now, this is how I get from point
A to point B.
This is probably what has to happen, and
I know I have to change here.
And if God will come and fix this
here, then we'll get there.
God says, you can plan, and you can
devise, and you can think of all the
ways that you need to change, and all
the ways that you feel that if you
change, this is the way that things will
happen in your life.
He says, you can do that all you
want.
And in some cases, we may be right.
In some cases, we may be wrong.
He says, A man's heart will plan that
out.
But He says, I'll tell you something.
Your steps are directed by Me.
How you may think what you may think
you need, and how you're going to get
there, you can do that.
But the actual getting there is going to
be directed by Me, because you don't know
the way God says to us.
He says, because you can't even begin to
see it.
Because it's a spiritual kingdom that the Lord
Jesus has come down now, and has put
eternity in our hearts.
That kingdom of God is within us, but
we can't see it.
We can't know it, except by the Spirit.
And only He can take us to the
place He wants to bring us.
So He says, you can't see the path.
You're going to have to lean on Me
to take you there.
He says, I'm going to direct the way.
I'm going to have to take you there.
And so tonight, I want to look at
a couple of ways that a good man's
steps are ordered by God.
One of these ways was in the life
of Abraham.
And in Hebrews 11.8, it says, By
faith, Abraham, when he was called to go
out into a place, which he should after
receive for an inheritance, obeyed.
And he went out, not knowing whither he
went.
And God has made a promise to Abraham,
and He says, I'm going to bring you
into a place, but you're only going to
get to it after.
He says, if you obey Me, I'm going
to take you to a place after.
And He said to Abraham, first of all,
you don't know the place.
You don't know how to get there.
So that's why you're starting out not knowing
where you're going.
And it's a walk of faith, because we
don't know where we're going.
We know the end.
We know that Jesus says, if you'll walk
with Me, if you'll never let go of
Me, if you will trust Me, I'm going
to take you to a place in Me
that is glorious, that the world is going
to see Christ in you and Me.
I'm going to answer you of yourself and
fill you with Me, and all those around
you are going to sense a Holy Spirit
in you.
But you don't know how to get there.
But He says, your steps are ordered by
Me.
And Abraham, they're ordered by Me.
He says, there's a clear, definite purpose that
I've called you, Abraham.
There's a reason why I've called you, and
there's a reason that I'm going to take
you to a clear and definite destination.
And beloved, for us who are in Christ,
we know the final end destination is heaven,
because Jesus saves.
Someday we're going to be awfully glad that
we bent our knee, because when we stand
at the brink of eternity and see the
glorious heaven, when we see what's been prepared
for us, when we get it in our
spirit that we have an incredible future.
We have a hope and we have a
future, and no one can take that from
us.
We have something to look forward to every
waking hour.
We have something to set our hearts upon,
and that is the promise of heaven.
But here right now, there is another place
in this life, and God's going to take
us there.
He's going to sow something in our spirit.
By faith we're going to receive it, but
there's going to be a harvest time in
this life.
There's going to be a harvest of grace
and peace and power if we'll go His
way.
There is going to be that harvest time.
There is going to be a place for
those whose steps are ordered and walk in
them.
And God says to them, go to a
place which after you should receive.
We might say, after what?
What was God referring to?
He says, after I've ordered your steps, after
you've followed me.
He says, not knowing where you're going, Abraham,
you're going to start on a walk of
faith.
And this walk is going to take you
right through the center of your own heart.
And this place is going to take you
right through the Red Sea of our own
heart.
There's going to be a parting.
And we're going to be able to see
on this journey that God takes us through.
He's going to see the parts of fear,
the parts of doubt, the parts of despair,
all that He sees.
He says, I'm going to take you through
it.
You're going to know things.
Your steps are ordered.
I want you, there are things you need
to know and understand.
But He said, because your steps are ordered
right through the center of your heart, they're
going to have to go right through the
center of my heart.
I'm going to take you into the center
of my heart.
Your steps are going to be ordered right
into my mind, right into my heart, right
into my way of seeing things, my way
of understanding things.
And when you've done that, the purpose is
that your ordered steps are going to be
able to go right to the heart of
those you love around you, of those that
I've called that your life touch.
I'm going to be able to expand your
heart and let you move in power and
touch lives around you.
Your steps are ordered that way.
That's the purpose of the ordering.
But in Genesis 12, you know God gives
that command to Abraham.
He says, okay, you're going to start out
now.
Leave your father, leave your home, leave all
that's familiar.
That's a walk of faith.
And he says, I'm going to a place
and I'm going to show it to you
in my time, he says.
And if you obey, he says, I'm going
to make you a great nation.
He says, if you obey, I will bless
you.
He says, Abraham, if you obey, I will
make your name great.
If you obey, you shall be a blessing.
He says, if you obey and follow these
ordered steps, all those that curse you will
be cursed and all those that bless you
shall be blessed.
And in you, all the families of the
earth will be blessed.
And I can hear Abraham hearing all these
promises right at the beginning of his journey
saying, Lead on.
This is incredible.
God, this is awesome.
Lean on.
It doesn't matter if I don't know where
I'm going.
This sounds too good to be true.
Let's go.
So Abraham departs.
He enters and journeys through the land of
Canaan.
But the scripture tells us in that part
of Genesis that there came a famine in
his promised land.
There came a grievous famine in his promise
of blessing.
There came a place of a land that,
figuratively speaking, beloved, this is the land that
God gives us today in the New Testament.
This is the north and this is the
south and this is the east and this
is the west.
All this land here, God says that I'm
going to give to you.
You're going to know a freedom in it.
And beloved, we begin the journey of walking
with God.
All of a sudden, after the initial euphoria,
we hear the promise and the blessing and
we sense that God's not going to lie
to us.
He takes us to a place like Abraham
where we had a famine, a grievous famine.
There's nothing in us that's fruitful.
We see who we are.
And the scripture says that to escape, Abraham
went south into Egypt.
And this is getting confusing because Egypt's enemy
land.
And he's getting confused and he's in enemy
territory.
And beloved, when we get into enemy territory,
I don't know about you, but I think
this is common in man, we get fearful.
And fear begins to operate.
And that's what happened to Abraham.
It tells us in Genesis 12 that like
an icy fear, like a relentless pitiful hand
will reach out and strangle out of our
heart and out of our mind.
Precious words that God has spoken to us.
And beloved, when a fear comes and it's
not checked by the Holy Ghost, it quickly
moves to panic.
That's the nature of man.
And a panic can drive out every noble
and high motive in our hearts.
A panic can come and the motivating force
behind fear and panic is save yourself.
And beloved, that's what happened to Abraham.
A man chosen of God, anointed by God,
yet he gets into an enemy territory.
He begins to fear and all of a
sudden you know the story.
He turns to his wife Sarah and he
says, you're fair, you're beautiful, we're in this
place.
And he says, I want you to lie
for me.
Tell them that you're my sister.
And the scripture says that she was taken
into Pharaoh's house because they thought she was
an eligible woman.
But beloved, now the worst kind of fear
that could ever grip a husband grips him.
And he could start to say, what have
I done?
In my fear.
God, you've made incredible promises to me, but
Lord, I seem to be ruining everything.
I started out on this journey and I
thought you were leading me and I've come
to a place where I'm hurting those I
love.
I have every good intention of following you,
but I don't know where you left off
leading and I started leading.
But I'm in a place where I'm hurting
those I love, I'm panicked, I'm being motivated
by a save myself mentality.
And beloved, we've all been Abraham.
We have all known what it is to
be dominated by fear.
Where we've been up against something and it
says, God, this can't be you leading me
here.
I see my reaction and I've heard about
the blessing.
But I see now, Lord, when you begin
to speak to me about certain things, I
just can't hear you.
Or Lord, I can't believe that's you.
And Abraham could start to think, I know
you spoke to me, but I'm in this
place, God, and I must have blown it.
I'm blowing it.
You've made incredible promises to me, but somehow
this is all turned upside down and I'm
hurting those I love.
And I've blown your promises to me through
fear.
God, I didn't know how this starts, but
I probably have sinned away my chance to
be something in you.
And what an incredible thing to think that
the blessing and the promises of God have
run through our fingers.
Because we lacked.
Because we were fearful.
Because in a place where we were supposed
to trust all we could think of is
save yourself, save yourself, Ron.
A place where every promise all of a
sudden seemed so empty and tin hollow and
nothing to stand on.
And I reverted back to the old ways
that I handle a situation and God, there
I am hurting people around me.
But beloved, what was the outcome of Genesis
12?
If you read all the way down to
the end of the chapter, the scripture says
that Pharaoh entreated Abram well for Sarah's sake.
The scripture says that Pharaoh gave Abraham sheep
and oxen and donkeys and servants and camels
for her sake.
When the whole story was brought to light
and all left Pharaoh's court unharmed, Abraham left
with more than he came in with.
Now beloved, are you saying that God is
rewarding fear?
No, beloved, I'm giving us a big picture
here.
What I'm saying is the steps of a
good man are ordered by the Lord and
he delights in his way.
And though we fall down, he shall not
be utterly cast down.
I'm talking to you about a God who
takes us through the fear in our heart.
I'm talking about a God who he brings
to light all the sin that surrounds fear.
He brought it all to light that Abraham
lied and that she really was his wife
and not a sister.
She was not an eligible woman.
It all came to light.
But by the time they left Egypt, they
left with more than he came in with.
God's saying, I'm taking you through the fear
land.
Because that's how your steps are ordered in
me.
You're not going to run from fear.
I'm going to take you through it.
And if you will grip me, and if
you will let me allow you to confront
the deepest fears of your life, if I
tell you, you're going to go out blessed.
You're going to go out with more than
you came in.
God is saying, do not give up.
If you are in a strange land where
you have fallen prey to fear, God says,
if you keep following me, I will make
it right.
Because by following me, you will confront the
fears and you'll confront what's at the root
of your heart.
Abraham, you're willing to sacrifice those dearest to
you in the worst time of your life.
And though Abraham had to confront that more
than once in his life, God was faithful
to him.
And God brought that man through the fear
land.
God brought that man through the deepest part
of his heart where something he thought he
could never do, he did.
Yet God brought him through.
Because his steps are ordered of God.
Because God says, I delight in the way
that I'm leading you.
I delight in bringing you to the center
of your heart, and you see what's there,
and you grip me more.
And I take you through.
I take you through it.
I don't forsake you.
I don't, when you need me the most,
turn tail.
At the most, when I show you it's
at the core of your heart and you
hate yourself, I'm there to remind you I
love you.
I'm there to remind you I've ordered this.
I'm there to remind you I'm delighting in
the process of setting you free when you
confront the truth I show you.
And then you find out I don't abandon
you, but I lead you through the fear
land.
And I take you out with more than
you brought in.
Our steps are ordered of God when he
takes us through a land of despair.
Our steps are being ordered by God.
A good man's steps being ordered by God.
We are going to go through a land
of despair.
Our life in Christ is one where our
wants, our wills, our desires are slowly, one
by one, being replaced by his desires.
And I'll tell you something, that exchange doesn't
happen except by despair.
So if you're in the land of despair,
I want you to know you're right on
target.
If you're in the land of despair, it's
because God has a plan for you and
he's working in you.
If you're in the land of despair, it's
because God's saying I have to take you
to a deep place that I can take
you to a high place in me.
It's those that refuse to go to a
place where I lead them that lead a
very shallow surface existence in me, but they
only get that shallow little bit of me.
God says I order the steps of a
good man.
He says you're going to go through a
land of despair.
Because in the land of despair, it's where
all of a sudden the flesh is saying
I don't want to go there.
The flesh is saying God I gave you
the reins of my life, but I don't
like where you're steering it.
And that's a good place.
Because when we come out the other side
of despair and we find out that God
is faithful, you'll find something else out.
We'll find something else out.
Pride has a way of being totally destroyed
coming out through the other side of the
land of despair.
In the land of despair, it's a place,
beloved, where God nails your foot to the
floor and you can't run.
The land of despair is a place, you
know, where we give God all our arguments,
and they're good ones, we think.
We give him all our arguments, but we
get no agreement from God.
The scripture tells us that Joseph was brought
through the land of despair.
You know, God gave him a word when
he was a young Christian, when he was
a young believer.
God said, you know, everything you see, those
you value, everything around you, someday is going
to bow down to you, Joseph.
And the word to us is that if
we will allow God to keep nailing our
foot to the floor in the land of
despair.
Kind of an oxymoron, because although our foot
is nailed, we're being led through a land
of despair.
Keep following me, he says.
Because someday on the other side, that which
torments you, that which is a grievous temptation
to you, your fears and your failures will
bow down to you.
Because when you come through there, you're not
puffed up, we're not puffed up, we're not
full of pride, we're just so grateful to
be alive.
And though God can trust us then, God
can trust us to trust him then.
We don't get puffed up by things then.
But Joseph knew what it was, to have
this word, these things are going to bow
down to you.
You're going to be Lord over everything you
see one day, Joseph.
But the scripture, you know, I love that
way Joseph gets that word as a young
man.
He runs out and tells everybody, look what
God told me.
And you can hear him, well, let's get
going.
Let's get down to the bowing stuff.
I like this.
But you know his story.
And as his life unfolded, it was literally
one trial after another.
And the scripture says that he knew betrayal
by those closest to him.
That's enough to wound you for a lifetime.
He knew the envy and the jealousy and
that hatred and strife that comes out of
envy and jealousy.
Envy and jealousy always breed strife.
And they hated him and there was strife
and there was envy and jealousy because he
was loved of his father.
Because in his heart there was a longing
to do right.
And you and I, we come into the
kingdom and we find out we're loved and
protected by a father.
And he put in us a heart to
do right.
And for some unknown reason, why are we
suffering the envy and the jealousy of people
around us?
Why aren't they rejoicing of the fact we
finally found something worth living for?
But this is common demand.
The Bible says that Joseph, you know, rejected
of his brethren and thrown down in a
pit.
Picked up by some wayfaring men and put
in a household.
The scripture says that he begins to prosper
and it looks like, you know, life is
turning a little bit of a corner.
But then all of a sudden he's assaulted
by temptations.
All this by a man that's struggling to
say, God, I've given you my life.
Have you taken it?
Do you see where I am?
But the scripture says he must have felt
that God was with him.
Because he was able to serve faithfully in
Potiphar's house.
But then the temptations came.
Unrelenting temptation.
In Joseph's case, it was an unrelenting sexual
temptation.
And beloved, it's not a sin to be
tempted.
But the enemy would want to try to
think that he was sinning.
But he kept refusing that.
And he was successful in refusing that.
By the grace of God.
But then he came under false accusations because
of it.
And the scripture says that through these false
accusations, the little he seemed to have, the
little ground, the little blessing, the little fulfillment
of the word that God gave him when
he was young was taken away.
Scripture says something very revealing, beloved.
In Genesis 39-20, you don't need to
turn there, but you might want to make
note of it.
It says finally that Joseph is now put
in prison.
Only the scripture says he was put in
the king's prison.
Beloved, a place where the king's prisoners are
bound.
Now this must be an incredibly hard place
to try to believe that God is ordering.
There is a measure of grace for every
step God leads us through.
But a prison house seems so opposite to
what God promises.
But the scripture clearly says he was in
the king's prison.
Not Satan's prison.
Not there bound by the enemy at his
will.
Not bound by the power of sin where
his mind is shut down and he is
tormented day and night.
But the scripture says he is in the
king's prison.
His steps are being totally ordered.
God is taking him through the land of
despair.
Because he needs to go through it.
God is taking him to a place that
he could not imagine that God would lead
his child through.
God has now lodged him in a prison
house.
And you know what happens in a prison
house?
A lockdown can come into our mind and
our mentality.
And all of a sudden the driving place
if you are in prison is I want
to get out of here.
I want to get out of here.
I don't want to be here.
I don't want to be facing this.
And beloved if you are called by God.
If you are anointed by God.
If you have something that God has ordained
for you.
I tell you something.
You are going to find yourself in a
place you don't want to be and it's
of God's ordering.
It's a place where we cannot run.
But it's a place with such intense longing
to be somewhere else.
Doing something else.
Doing anything else when we get to the
end of it.
For some you know there is such a
longing for a partner.
There is such a longing for a mate
that we can get in shutdown mentality.
That that longing becomes the only thing that
pounds through our mind.
We can't seem to grasp the scriptures that
say that they who are married are going
to have to concern themselves with the things
of this world and to please their mate.
And that those that are single are devoted
totally into the Lord.
In other words there is a ministry that
singles have that is unique and a privilege
to them alone.
That they can be totally devoted to the
Lord.
That he can bring them to a place
where he so solely and singly owns them
and they are so full of Jesus.
That is not available to the married person.
There can be in us a place where
we are longing to escape.
If you will turn with me to Psalm
105.
We are going to read about Joseph's I
think final run in the prison.
A place where he desperately does not want
to be.
A place the scripture says where his feet
hurt in Psalm 105.
Starting verse 17.
It says he sent a man before them,
even Joseph, who was sold for a servant.
Whose feet they hurt with fetters.
He was laid in iron.
Beloved when that scripture says his feet they
hurt with fetters.
That is such a picture, a description of
this man is clamped down and his feet
hurt.
Because if he could get out of these
fetters, if he could run, if he could
be anywhere but there he would choose it.
And even though he knows that he is
chained there.
Even though he knows for that season there
is no escape.
There is still that spirit in him that
chafes against it that his feet hurt.
Beloved that is a picture of us in
a land of despair.
It is that place where we have moved
from revival hour to survival hour.
It is that place in God where we
end up having to have an hourly surrender
to the place we are in.
Not a daily, an hourly surrender.
A place where we can finally cry out.
And we mean it and it costs something.
Not my will but thine.
Because if God has nailed our foot to
the floor we don't have any other choice.
But you know we can be stubborn and
rebellious in our spirit even though our feet
are chained our heart can be folded over.
And we can end up in our heart
being so resistant to the spirit of God.
But God says I am going to send
a grace to those who I am leading
through.
Who I am ordering their steps through the
land of despair.
And those that find their feet in iron
are also going to find the grace of
Jacob, of Joseph.
And finally there is going to be those
that God spared upon that their arms are
going to be removed from their heart.
And they are going to say God not
my will but thine.
And beloved every time that said a drop
of peace like a soothing oil.
Will come into your spirit.
The Bible says he was laid in iron.
That means his soul came into iron.
That means there came initially where he was
shut down to what God was trying to
say.
He was so desperate to get out.
He didn't want to hear what God had
to say.
He wanted God to hear him.
Get me out of here.
God wants it to you.
You could snap your fingers in a moment.
I could have someone by my side.
God wants it to you in a moment.
I will praise you Lord.
I will give you the glory.
But you know the scripture says that his
soul was laid in iron.
And finally he would not resist anymore.
Because he kept talking to God and talking
to God.
It gets us nowhere if our foot is
nailed to the floor.
Believe me.
When our foot gets nailed to the floor
beloved.
It's time for God to do the talking.
And so finally what I believe is the
scripture says.
That in verse 19.
Until the time that his word came.
The word of the Lord tried him.
The word of the Lord the promises and
everything that he had said to Joseph.
Tries him and works in him.
And he remembers the time.
Lord I thought I was a Christian that
had it all together.
I remember there was a time when I
used to walk into church.
And I had the faith of a Daniel.
I had the praises of David on my
lips.
I could walk like a King Solomon.
Rich in the blessing of God.
But now.
God I hop.
Hobbling in.
In a land of despair with a sore
foot.
Because you unnailed it for a couple hours
for church.
But I know when I head back out
there.
I'm nailed back.
But beloved we know that it is God's
doing.
And all those promises.
He has placed in us.
Are turning in their trying.
But the scripture says until.
The word of the Lord came to him.
In other words God saying there is a
day.
When I take a heavenly hammer.
And pull out that nail.
And I say to you.
That what I have what I purpose.
What I ordained for that time.
Has been established in your spirit.
In your soul.
And it's not going to be ground.
Again.
It's not going to be something that I.
That you have learned.
And you're going to walk away from.
But it is something now laid in iron.
In your soul.
And when you walk away.
You walk away free.
But you walk away with a heavy.
Where I'm heavy in you like iron.
I'm solid in you.
You're not going to be blown away by
adversity.
I have worked something in you.
The word of the Lord tried you.
Till the word of the Lord came.
And its promise and its glory.
Broke into our soul.
And we believed it.
And we wrapped ourselves around it.
And we started declaring his praise.
Because we knew it was true.
And that's what happened to Joseph.
The scripture says.
That he finally when he got free.
It says in verse 20.
The king sent.
And loosed him.
And that's what happens to us.
Even the ruler of the people.
And let him go free.
And the scripture says.
He made.
You know what I can barely read that.
He made him lord of his house.
And ruler of all his substance.
To bind his princes at his pleasure.
And to teach his senators wisdom.
Beloved there was a time.
When with our foot nailed to the floor.
It seemed like the enemy had access.
To come and torment us.
And to bind us up.
And the Lord said no this whole process.
Was that when you get free.
That you and I are going to bind
the enemy's princes.
That's why the land of despair.
Pride can't survive there.
Ambition can't survive there.
And I can invest you with an authority.
And an anointing.
To come against the forces of darkness in
you.
In your family.
And you're going to believe it.
You're going to see it.
Because my word's going to come in loose.
And you're going to know what to do.
You're going to understand the ways of the
enemy.
And you are going to bind him at
your pleasure.
That is the heritage of the saints.
That's why God brings us through.
That's why God takes us through lands and
places.
We don't understand.
Because after we've gone through that land of
despair.
Like Joseph.
He says I set you on high and
I make you a ruler.
And you are going to bind the darkness.
Where the scripture says when finally this Joseph
stands before Pharaoh.
This released man brought through the land of
despair.
That good man whose steps were ordered of
God.
And God delighted in everything he taught him.
Knowing that Joseph was going to come out.
Being a man.
Knowing that it says in Genesis 41-38.
When Joseph stood released before Pharaoh.
He says can we find such a man
as this.
A man in whom the spirit of God
is.
Beloved that is the hope of when our
steps are ordered by God.
That those around us says this is a
man in whom the spirit of God is.
And all that came in contact with Joseph.
Knew that.
The steps of a good man are ordered.
Of the Lord.
And then he says after I take you
through the land of despair.
At my chosen time.
He says you're not going to have a
fleshly rulership.
Prison took care of that.
But he who has the spirit of God.
Is fit to rule over his enemies.
He who has the spirit of God can
see.
He who has the spirit of God is
fit to rule.
And it's not going to be a fleshly
one.
But it's going to be a powerful one.
Beloved what does a finished work look like.
In the life of a good man whose
steps are ordered by God.
One who has fallen.
But whose hand the Lord outstretched and brought
him out.
A man who has had his steps ordered.
And now he is going to taste the
fruit of it.
A man who has arrived to that place
of destiny.
That was promised Abraham.
And that Joseph was brought to.
What does that life look like?
I believe that the apostle Paul's life at
the end of his life in ministry looked
like that.
In Acts 28 it talks about.
A Paul.
Who himself has been brought through the land
of fear and a land of despair.
Through a land of unexplained trials.
But Paul towers as a man.
Whose steps have been ordered.
And that God has brought him to a
place in him.
In 2 Timothy 3.12. Paul is able
to declare.
Yet all who will live godly.
In Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
He says that's a given.
I've learned that.
That when the Spirit of God came on
me.
And the Spirit of God led through me.
I found out that there were enemies of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
I found out that those that say Jesus
I walk with you all the way.
Shall suffer persecution.
But he also says.
What persecutions I endured.
But out of them all the Lord delivered
me.
He said out of them all.
There was not one thing that was able
to keep me bound.
Everywhere God led me to.
Where he didn't always explain himself.
And where I did suffer.
Every time he brought me through.
To a higher place.
A deeper place.
A richer place.
I found out that Jesus Christ was my
all in all.
That he was enough.
I found out that every time he led
me to a place.
And then led me through.
I was a richer man.
That I was more powerful in Christ.
That I was more humble before him.
That I was able to begin to taste
the glory of Jesus Christ in me and
through me.
I began to see men's spirits bow down
before the words I spoke.
I began to see the kingdom of darkness
break out before the Spirit of God.
I began to see that a people could
be able to stand in a time of
persecution fearless.
He began to see in a spiritual realm.
That he saw Jesus Christ was Lord of
all.
And that everything did bend its knee to
him.
And he did not cower because he began
to move in a realm that few saw.
And fewer understood.
But he said through them all.
The Lord Jesus Christ delivered me because he's
the king.
And I never doubted it.
The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord.
Paul said yes, I knew what prisons and
whipping and beating and stoning and shipwreck.
I knew what it was to be hungry.
To thirst, to be cold.
But he said I didn't stop following.
I knew what it was to go through
beatings and stonings.
But I did not stop following.
Because he said I believe that the Spirit
of God was deposited in him.
And there was an urging on of the
Spirit.
That began to be able to say he
was going to say at the end of
his life.
He could say that I am more than
a conqueror through him who loved me.
And gave himself for me.
The deposit of the Holy Spirit and came
urging him on.
Saying I'm going to take you through this
land Paul.
I'm going to take you through all that
you have to endure.
But in the end you're going to come
out more than a conqueror.
You're going to be an occupying army.
You're going to be able to take the
ground that I take you through.
And you're going to fully possess it.
You're not going to back down.
Your fear is not going to cause you
to retreat.
Your misunderstandings.
When you have trials and tribulations to go
through.
When your own heart wants to deceive you.
When there are times where you feel like
giving up and you're so tired.
He says the Spirit of God is going
to come upon you one more time.
And it's going to revive you.
And I'm going to take you through.
And the ground that you pass is going
to be yours Paul.
You don't have to give up ground because
it's the Spirit leading.
It's the Spirit taking it.
You're going to know a freedom in your
spirit Paul.
That when you preach and when you teach.
That those are going to recognize it's not
the human spirit teaching.
But it is the Spirit of God.
And they're going to start to dwell in
truth.
Those that sit in darkness are going to
see a great light in their spirit.
Those that are bound you are going to
see chains fall.
And those that follow behind you as you
follow Christ.
They're going to keep the ground too.
Because you're not just a conquering army you're
an occupying army.
And I love the story where you know
Paul goes through that shipwreck.
He warns before they start on that journey.
I know in my spirit it shall not
be well.
But they disregard him.
And they all get on this ship.
And the ship does no shipwrecking harm.
And finally at the end when the ship
is about to get down.
Finally Paul is finally said it is as
I told you.
It wasn't I told you so.
It was coming out of a heart of
love.
And a heart that's going to witness that
the Lord God speaks to him.
And the Lord God speaks truth.
And he's going to say I told you.
But if everyone will stay with the ship
no one will know harm.
And the scripture says that the ship broke
up.
And they all grabbed onto a piece of
wood.
And they went into shore.
And it was raining and cold.
And the people that lived on that island
of Melita.
They had prepared things for them.
And the scripture tells us that Paul was
gathering wood for a fire.
And he put a bundle of wood on
the fire.
And many of you know the story how
a snake came out.
And fastened on his hand.
But by this time beloved.
Paul had been through too much.
And he looked at that snake attached to
his hand.
And just one more time he just shook
that old snake off.
And landed in the fire.
Because everything had taught him he could.
Because everything that the Lord Jesus had brought
him through.
He was able to look at a poisonous
snake.
And the life in him was overcome the
poison that was trying to be injected in
him.
Because his steps were ordered.
And they were ordered through a land he
didn't always like.
And a place he didn't always understand.
But he declared my God is faithful.
And he has ordered my steps.
And he will establish them.
God delights in the way he's leading me.
Because it's forming something in me.
And I've become a man that can shake
a snake.
A poisonous snake into the fire.
And the life in me overcomes the death
in it.
And beloved the scripture tells us.
That that hand that the snake fastened on.
That he went and he made hands on
the sick.
And they recovered.
And that tells me.
That the same hand where the enemy tries
to attack us.
Can be used for God's glory.
Says in me you're going to shake it
off.
And I'm going to use it for my
glory.
Because the steps of a good man.
Are ordered by the Lord.
And that's the fruit that I produce.
That's the fruit.
But beloved I want to end up.
With one last thought.
That says when we're being brought to a
place beloved.
It's not where we're going.
That is a concern of God.
It's what we are becoming.
It's not where we're going.
But it's what we are becoming.
You know.
So many times.
There can be a deadly thought.
Come into our hearts.
And that is we begin to compare ourselves.
One to another.
The scripture very clearly says.
Comparisons are obvious.
But we.
And our humanist will start to compare.
One to another.
And many people will sit in the house
of God and say.
I'm not doing anything great for you God.
I'm not leading any miracle crusade.
And hundreds aren't coming to the Lord.
Under my ministry.
And they begin to compare themselves.
And they say God.
I'm not.
What am I doing for you?
And beloved that is where.
If we can hear what God is saying.
I've called you.
And I've ordered your steps.
If you are mine.
And I am delighting in the way.
Of the what is being formed in you.
And though you fall down.
God says you're going to find me faithful.
And when you get up.
And you keep walking with me.
He says I am building a freedom.
Into your spirit.
And you are going to be able to
love.
Where you could never love before.
He says I'm breaking in.
And freedom in your life.
I'm breaking into freedom in your home.
Do you believe it?
I'm breaking into freedom.
I'm going to give you the power to
witness to work.
Yes you are going to open your mouth
there.
He says I'm going to put.
Freedom into your spirit.
Where you can rejoice.
In adversity.
I'm going to put a freedom in your
soul.
Because your steps are ordered by me.
That you're going to know a shock.
Of joy at the most.
The unseemly.
When there's no time to rejoice.
There's going to be a shock of joy.
But not the joy that the world gives.
But the joy that Jesus brings.
A joy.
That just floods our soul.
And God says Jesus you walk with me.
And you are changing me.
And you are giving me power.
And a freedom in my spirit.
That all around are coming to say.
The spirit of God is in that man
or woman.
The spirit of God is in them.
Beloved where the kingdom of God is.
Where the spirit of God is.
There is liberty.
And not just for ourselves.
But that spirit of God spreads to those
around us.
And we become the hope of those around
us.
Where once we were anything but hope.
It's amazing.
But if we can hear it.
We are the answer.
We who walk with Christ.
Are the answer to a lot of people's
questions.
We are the answer.
We are Christ's answer to the world.
We bear him.
And as such we are the answer to
the world.
God says but I've got to get a
people.
That are beginning.
That will believe that.
And let me lead them into a place.
Where that light breaks forth.
And I'm seen and I'm heard.
The answer can be seen.
And the answer can be heard.
God says it's not about.
Where I'm leading you to.
But what are you becoming in me?
What are you becoming in me?
Beloved our hope is.
That someday.
As we believe every place.
That God leads us they are ordered by
him.
Chosen by him designed by him.
For a purpose in our life.
And someday like Paul.
We are going to be able to say.
Hell you can throw whatever you wanted me.
But heaven will swallow it up.
Our steps are ordered beloved.
Our steps are ordered.
We may be going through the fear land.
The despair land.
The boredom cold land.
But if we say God.
Being ordered by you.
And you're delighting what's happening to me.
God then I embrace it.
Then I say whatever you have for me
at this moment.
Whatever I'm facing in my life.
I embrace it.
I say you're good.
I say that I say right now.
The enemy has been trying to say.
For those that are good.
That are not trying to run away from
God.
But are saying God.
I need your strength to be where you
place me right now.
I need your strength.
To be able to say do it all.
Don't cut short the work.
Don't let me run.
Don't let me be overpowered one more time.
God keep me steady in the place that
you've ordered for me.
God I want to be able to glorify
you here.
God I want to be able to say.
I know that you've chosen this place.
You've ordained it.
And it's working for my good.
And it's working for your glory.
And so I'm not going to believe the
lie of the enemy.
That tells me I'm out of your will.
That I've sinned away my grace.
That the promises don't apply to me.
That I must be on hold.
Because God doesn't play with our lives.
We are not on hold.
We're being held.
So tonight beloved we're going to stand.
And we're going to believe that word.
We're going to rejoice.
In what he's ordered for us at this
moment.
If you'll stand.
While the musicians come.
I believe that for many in this place.
That God wants us to rejoice by faith.
That God wants to say.
Lord I release myself.
I'm not going to fight up anymore.
I've heard your word.
If I've trusted Christ.
And my steps are being ordered.
And for many that's going to be a
sacrifice of faith.
But for there's some here tonight.
And God is bringing you through a land
of despair.
And a land of fear.
There's some here tonight.
That you've never surrendered to Jesus Christ.
You may know about him.
But you've never made a heart surrender.
Where you know.
Like you know that your sin is forgiven.
You come forward.
God says I make an altar here.
God said I'm going to save you and
forgive you.
For those that do know Jesus Christ.
You're saying God I need strength now.
I need your strength to hold me steady.
I need your reassurance.
That the place that I find myself in.
And the battles and the temptations.
You know about.
And since you've ordered them.
You're going to be with me in the
middle of it.
This is the conclusion of the message.