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As I mentioned, these are very perilous times
and I hear people saying this is World
War III.
You hear it everywhere you go.
But this past week, I started writing down,
before I preach, I just want to tell
you something that should give you perspective.
You have to get a perspective from history.
If you just take it issue by issue
and event by event, you'll not capture the
full picture of what is going on.
Let me tell you my memories of just
what has happened in my lifetime concerning Israel
and the Mideast and all of the armies
that have gathered over the years.
And I just wrote this down.
I'm going to go through what my notes
are and then I'm going to preach.
I think we'll call this His Eye is
on the Sparrow.
His eye is not on the Mideast right
now.
His eye is on the sparrow, which means
you and I.
But in 1967, a terrorist organization called Al
-Fatah terrorized Israel and sabotaged.
And Syria started bombing the kibbutzes and their
settlements.
Gamal Nasser sent Egyptian troops into the Sinai
and announced that Egypt was prepared to declare
war on Israel.
King Hussein of Jordan put his army under
Nasser's control.
Iraq had joined with Nasser and King Hussein.
Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq declared war on Israel.
Israel mobilized on June 5th, 1967.
I'll never forget, as long as I live,
as a young pastor, because Israel made a
preemptive strike on June 5th, 1967, and bombed
all the airfields in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq,
destroying 452 planes in three hours.
The war lasted six days.
Israel marched toward Cairo, ready to take Cairo.
We thought, this is it.
This is World War III.
This is Armageddon.
It was preached by prophets, God's prophets all
over.
And it was from the pulpits where I
was.
I said the same thing.
This is World War III.
It's all over.
And this nation was in absolute panic.
And we thought that was it.
Israel smashed the Jordanian army.
They ran over the Golan Heights, dropped their
weapons, and ran frightened.
Israel moved to the very edge of Cairo.
Iraq was helpless.
On June 10th, they called a ceasefire.
Six-day war in Israel prevailed.
1973, this is 33 years ago.
Yom Kippur War.
Again, Egypt, Syrian troops massed at the ceasefire
lines again.
Israel mobilized again.
2 p.m., October 6th, 1973, Arabs struck
suddenly.
In the south, Egypt sent in 70,000
troops across the Sinai, 1,000 tanks across
the Suez Canal.
And in the north, 40,000 Syrian troops
moved in with 800 tanks and a huge
army.
Iraq sent troops.
Russia sent in all kinds of ammunition and
weapons.
Israel armed again and became a powerful
force against these.
And again, pushed the Jordanians back to within
25 miles of Damascus.
Again, pushed Nasser back to the border of
the Suez Canal.
And again, people said, this is the last
war.
All the armies, the prophets were saying, all
the armies are gathered around Jerusalem now, and
this is the end.
Israel prevailed.
The problem is Russia threatened to move in
with their own forces.
And you remember in 1973, all our forces
were on alert all over the world.
And there was a tremendous threat.
The world was in panic.
I don't know if some of you remember
that 33 years ago.
And remember the OPEC cut oil production 5
% on America and Holland.
Remember the long lines at gas stations.
It was a fearful time, and everyone said,
this is the end, this is World War
III.
1973, you remember that.
And then in 1974, terrorist groups from the
Al-Fatah began to plant explosions.
Explosions and human bodies were exploding.
PLO started using young men as human explosives.
Israel, 1979, a year later, could not take
it anymore, and they started bombing the headquarters
of PLO, bombed it, and held prisoners, the
leaders of PLO.
Now, again, in 2006, the Arabs have forgot
the lessons of history, and now we have
a terrorist organization called the Hezbollah.
Now, folks, this is not, and you've got
to understand this, I'm not a politician.
I'm not an expert in the Mideast, but
I know my Bible.
And I was there right after the war
in 1973 in Israel.
There, the Jordanian, they took us up on
the Golden Heights, and we were one of
the first groups in there.
At that time, the cross in Switzerland was
popping around the world, and I was treated
as a celebrity.
Allowed to go up on the Golden Heights.
Jordanian tanks were still burning.
We were one of the first to go
down.
The doors were open, went down, some of
the first Americans to see the Wailing Wall.
And I saw the hand of God.
I saw how God protected Israel.
That's when I became truly a burden for
the people of Israel.
And this is not a war between Israel
and Hezbollah.
This is a war of Islam against Christianity.
This is, folks, this is against Christ.
These, folks, the enemy is not Lebanon.
It's really not the Hezbollah.
This is probably going to have a ceasefire.
I don't see this as the end of
the war unless Iran comes in.
But an army official, the head of their
Israeli army, and their Knesset has said they
will not allow Iran to get a hydrogen
bomb or nuclear weapons.
Which means they have to bomb out all
of Iran's facilities.
And they know where they are.
They have the biggest spy agency in the
world.
And they will do it.
If that happens, then we are in the
Third World War.
But, folks, this is, you know, the Lord
has said armies will gather around Jerusalem.
Well, since 1948, that's happened five times.
This is the sixth time.
So we have to keep it in perspective.
But for us, we don't look at headlines.
If you are a lover of Christ, you
know the Shiites in the mullahs, they are
running it.
Shiites are hated even among many of the
other groups in Iraq.
And they're the ones that are causing the
problem.
They are the demon-possessed leaders of Islam
determined to wipe Israel off the map.
And every one that's left would have to
become an Islamic to survive.
And that is where it's headed.
It's a threat to the United States.
So when we pray for Israel, we are
praying also that Islamic forces will be driven
back.
This is absolute demonic war against the true
Church of Jesus Christ.
And until you see that, you watch the
news and you'll start taking sides.
And you'll see all of the devastation of
war.
But, folks, that is nothing compared to the
devastation.
And, folks, when we were in, how timely
our conference was in Israel.
Folks, I remember the first night when we
called all the people to prayer.
What a sound went up to heaven.
The weeping and the crying and the praying.
It was the Holy Spirit praying through people.
We've been receiving e-mails and they're saying
it was a visitation of the Holy Spirit.
It was not a conference.
And certainly after this war just broke out.
But I think God in some way was
trying to encourage the body of Christ.
We met Arab pastors.
In Haifa, I had meetings with some Arab
pastors and what Godly men.
In Lebanon, there are many believing Christians, many
of them having to flee.
And we hurt for them and we pray
for them.
When we talk about praying for Israel, we're
praying for God's people all over that region.
But God is moving in every Islamic country
on the face of the earth.
There's an underground church and God is still
moving.
And we can give Him thanks for that.
Having said that, I want to get to
my message.
And I want to speak to you about
the sparrows and the hair on your head.
Father, we thank you that we have a
hope in these days.
We're not bound by the events that happen.
We can look back to history and we
can see how God has had His way.
God has everything under control from the very
beginning to this day.
Lord, I pray you encourage and lift up
our spirits today.
We are not those that sorrow like the
world sorrows.
We do not tremble as the world trembles
because we have a hope that's based on
an eternal salvation.
Now, Lord, speak clearly to our hearts and
chase all fear from our hearts and let
us stand as believers.
Able, Lord, even in this time to rejoice
in you, not because of the suffering but
in spite of the suffering.
Nothing, no one can take this joy of
Jesus out of our hearts.
We magnify your name.
Now, Spirit of God, come and speak through
me.
Speak to us and let us be able
to walk away from this church this morning
with our hearts at peace and at rest
in the Lord.
Hallelujah.
We don't preach politics from this pulpit, Lord.
We preach the governing power of a sovereign
God.
Hallelujah.
And the glory of His Son through His
crucifixion and resurrection.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Beloved, every day you wake up now and
turn on the news, it's another frightening experience.
Terrorists blowing up trains in Spain.
Terrorists blowing up trains in India.
Hundreds and hundreds in India die through this
terrorism.
Disastrous earthquake last year in Pakistan.
Hundreds of thousands still homeless and still hungry.
After the mass tsunami, there are still thousands
and even hundreds of thousands homeless, hungry and
hurting.
You listen to these news reports.
Think of what's happened in the past two
years, especially even in the United States.
All the hurricanes in Florida.
Katrina strikes and destroys much of America, one
of America's major cities.
Even now, there are thousands upon thousands of
acres burning in Texas and Oklahoma, Utah and
California.
Never before in the history of the country
have there been so many fires, hurricanes.
And now the whole world is focused on
North Korea, where a mad dictator fires off
missiles and threatens the whole world.
And no world leader seems to be able
to know what to do about him.
A mad, devil-possessed dictator.
Now we have a mad, devil-possessed dictator
in Iran.
Iran declaring they're going to to have nuclear
bombs with one ambition is as to wipe
Israel off the face of the earth.
Blasting the nation.
And nobody seems to be able to deal
with it.
And then came Gaza and Lebanon.
And all these things are breaking out.
It's amazing what is coming in the way
of bad news.
This is a bad news generation.
This past week, I heard a doctor just
attended leaders, world leaders, scientists and others about
the avian flu.
And I had to turn it off.
I just couldn't handle it.
They said there's no question about it.
Over 15 now humans have died from the
avian flu.
They're waiting for a mutation.
And if that happens, they say one fifth
of the world's population is going to die.
Folks, we get this input from all over.
Every day you turn on the news now.
Almost every hour it's changing.
And now the world, the secular world says
there are no more solutions.
Everything is spinning out of control.
Every time I go into a restaurant, almost
every time, you see this look on the
face of people.
My daughter had the waiter sit down and
said, what's happening?
Found out she was a Christian.
What's happening?
I'm scared.
Everybody around me is scared.
There's an absolute panic.
Folks, I've been through this before.
I've been through these panics.
They say the people, the secular people, especially
those who are in the very liberal column,
say that there is no divine governance.
There's no governance now.
No one is governing the universe.
In other words, nobody's in control.
Everything is spinning out of control.
Now, we've been warned that God said he'd
shake everything that can be shaken.
So we should not be surprised.
We understand that.
But, folks, unless you and I get a
hold of something from the scripture, unless we
get our faith founded so strong, you're going
to have to do it because it's going
to be intensified.
There's no going to be letting up.
There will probably be a temporary ceasefire where
we're at now.
But things are happening that have never happened
before in any of these past events that
we've been talking about.
And everybody knows something is about to break.
James Robinson, a friend of mine who's on
television, sent me his latest warning and asked
me to sign up on it.
I didn't feel led to sign up.
But he said God has shown him and
then Pat Robertson that a great world-shaking
event is going to come and change the
course of the earth and the world and
civilization as we know it.
Some of us have been saying that for
a long time.
But, folks, that's not the message of the
church of Jesus Christ.
We can see these things.
We can hear them.
But when they tell me that there's no
divine governance, when there's nobody in control of
the universe, all we have to do is
go to our Bible.
All we have to do is go to
the word.
Isaiah the prophet said, Come, listen, all you
nations, and hear this, all you people of
the earth.
That's Isaiah 34.
He said, I want you to give me
your good ear.
And then he proceeds to tell them.
And this is what he said.
For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he
is the governor of all nations.
He is the governor of all nations.
Isaiah 40th chapter.
Behold, the nations are like a drop in
a bucket.
They're counted as small dust in his balance.
All nations before him are as nothing.
They're counted to him less than nothing.
It is God who sits upon the circle
of the earth.
And the inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
To whom will you liken me?
That's the word of God.
Of course, God knows everything that's happening on
the face of the earth.
Nothing happens without his knowledge or his governance.
And he is in control of all things.
And he knows where it begins.
He knows where it is now.
He knows how it's going to end.
But I want to tell you that the
eye of God is not on ten God
dictators around the world.
His eye is not focused on world events.
I want you to hear me close.
That's not where his focus is.
He has that.
He knows the end from the beginning.
There is a map.
There is a plan of God.
And it's coming to fruition.
But in the meantime, while you and I
sit here and listen to the news, where
is his eye focused?
What is the focus of God's eye?
What is he looking about?
What is his greatest concern right now in
this particular year, this particular month, and this
particular day right now?
God said of the leaders of the world
and the dictators and these mullahs, these demon
-possessed mullahs, No sooner, Isaiah said, for the
chapter, no sooner are they planted, no sooner
than they take root, I blow on them,
and they wither, and the whirlwind sweeps them
away as chaff, and I reduce them to
nothing.
Now, folks, I have lived through a world
war.
When I was a boy, about seven years
old, I was riding with my father in
the hills of Pennsylvania.
We were coming from a meeting he had
conducted.
Soft music was playing on the radio, and
suddenly it's interrupted by a news bulletin.
Pearl Harbor has just been bombed.
Hawaii is in panic.
Warships have been sunken and destroyed.
And my dad said, this is it.
This is the end.
This is what we've been prophesying.
Then came the blackouts, and we lived in
a little town, and they had blackouts, and
sirens were ringing.
A little town, there were no bombers around,
but everybody all over the country was in
great panic.
And when you went to school, they passed
out these little cartoons of Hirohito, the world's
Satan.
And we were taught to hate the Japanese,
and Hirohito, and the emperor of Japan, he
was the great Satan.
And, of course, in Germany, there was another
dictator.
A tin god had set himself up, terrorizing
all of Europe and then into Russia.
And it was a terrifying time.
Wars were going on all over the world.
Bombs were falling.
Millions of soldiers were dying.
There were gas shortages, and food shortages, and
coupons.
And Hitler seemed unstoppable.
He was going to take Russia, then move
to England.
He wanted to take the whole world, wanted
to be a world dictator.
We had Hirohito in Japan.
We had Hitler in Germany, in Europe.
And then we had Stalin in Russia, murdering
millions of his own people.
And I remember the cartoons, and I remember
all of the pictures.
And I remember the panic, and I remember
the prophecies, and I remember all these things
that come by.
But, folks, I live to see the day,
and I'll never forget the picture of Hirohito
on a battleship.
And MacArthur was there, and with his head
down in humility, he was signing papers of
surrender.
And Hitler dies in a bunker of suicide,
and they can't find anything but his ashes.
Stalin dies a wretched death.
All gone.
God said, no sooner are they planted, no
sooner they take root, I blow on them,
and a whirlwind carries them away.
Saddam, who terrorized Iraq, is now a dying
man sitting under terror, ready to be executed
in a very short time from now.
Where are all these world leaders?
Where are all those that caused panic in
the world?
Folks, there's been a lot of panic in
my lifetime over the years.
I don't panic in what I see today.
I've been through it before.
I know that at the end, I don't
care how I go, because if I go,
I don't care what happens or how it
happens, that's instant glory to me.
It should be instant glory to you until
we lose the very fear of death.
The devil can't hurt you.
No noose can hurt you.
The moment you're ready to lay down your
life and say, I'm not living for this
world, live or die, I am the Lord's.
These emperors are gone.
Turn to Luke 21, and just keep in
mind what Jesus told us to do.
The 21st chapter of Luke, starting at verse
25, Luke 21, verse 25.
There should be signs in the sun and
the moon and the stars.
And what does this say?
That upon the earth distress of nations with
perplexity, the sea and the rays warring, men's
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking
after those things which are coming on the
earth for the powers of heaven shall be
shaken off.
Folks, remember what Jesus said, then you're to
look up, look up because your redemption draws
nigh.
He said, when you see these things begin
to happen, just begin.
That means when you start seeing these things,
lay hold of your faith, anchor your faith,
get into the word of God, seek his
face, draw nigh unto him, and get this
solid, unwavering faith established in your heart because
it's going to intensify.
I don't think anybody could stand in this
pulpit and tell you, nobody knows how terrifying.
According to one of the national news services
yesterday, they said the next thing is a
dirty bomb is going to shake the world.
Everybody is anticipating something.
Folks, we should be on anticipation of anything,
of this world, anticipating only one thing.
Then shall the Son of Man appear in
his glory and in his might.
Jesus said, when you see these things begin
to happen, then look up.
And in a time of all shaking, I'm
telling you, his eye is on the sparrow.
I want you to follow me through.
He said, behold, I'm reading from Psalms 33,
18.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is where?
In the Mideast.
No, the eye of the Lord is upon
them that fear him and upon them that
hope in his mercy.
Don't fear those who can only kill the
body, but not the soul.
Fear only him who has the power to
destroy both soul and body in hell.
Well, that's in Matthew 10.
We just turn left to Matthew 10.
Tenth chapter of Matthew.
Folks, these are familiar scriptures, but you need
to anchor them.
We need to anchor them in our souls.
Matthew 10, let's look at beginning of verse
28.
Fear not them which kill the body are
not able to kill the soul, but rather
fear him that's able to destroy both soul
and body in hell.
Verse 29, are not two sparrows sold for
a farthing?
And one of them should not fall on
the ground without your father.
Now, folks, listen to me.
Barclay, a wonderful, godly professor who is now
dead.
Barclay said the original is from a root
Aramaic word that says to hop or skip
along the ground.
And it's a picture of a bird that's
fallen out of the ground.
It's not just God, Jesus or God, the
father, counting the birds, the little sparrows that
fall to the ground.
But even their wounded hop, even their wounded
fall from the nest.
It's not just that.
He said it in first Jesus is inferring.
And Jesus saying every sparrow that falls from
its nest and hops along the ground wounded.
He has the knowledge of that.
He understands it.
Now, folks, this was given to the disciple.
Look at the next verse.
The very hairs of your head are all
numbered.
So fear you not.
Therefore, you're worth many more sparrows.
He said, I value those little sparrows.
There's some value to those.
And I'm concerned about every detail of their
life.
Think of it.
The apostles had just been called to go
forth into various cities.
And they are told that they're not going
to have a place to live.
They're told not to take any money.
They're told that they're going to suffer.
They're going to be brought before synagogues and
judges and they're going to be persecuted.
And he starts naming all these things that
are going to happen to them as they
set out to do his will.
Godly man in the center of God's will.
He said, you're going to be hated.
You're going to be despised.
You'll be stoned.
And that had to be a very fearful
time because the Lord already told them he's
going to leave them.
And here are these fearful disciples facing the
bleakest outlook of life.
What kind of a ministry is this?
What kind of a future?
And the Lord is really trying to tell
them one day you're going to drink of
the cup that I cup that I have
to drink.
And they know that's death.
So this is almost like a death sentence
to to obey God and to fulfill his
mission on Earth.
And I'm sure the Lord sees the fear
and senses the fear in his disciples.
And so he comes up with the Lord
makes it so clear that a child can
understand it.
And he says, look, he said, don't don't
fear all that.
But let me give you an antidote against
fear.
I want to give you an antidote.
This should take away the fear of your
life.
He knows that they're going to be walking
among sparrows and birds.
And he said, you just look at that
sparrow.
Look at the one hopping along the ground.
I know all about it.
I have the knowledge of everybody.
Now you think of this.
Now, modern theologians say that this is just
a quaint saying of Jesus, almost like it's
a flippant thing.
Suddenly, Jesus thought the last moment.
No, Jesus never plays with words.
He's speaking the mind of God because he
is God in the flesh.
And he said, you're going to have hard
times.
But everywhere you go and you are down,
just look at the little bird.
Look at the little sparrows fall around and
look at the cloud, sometimes black with sparrows,
black with it.
It's not just a spare.
It's all the little birds and the birds
of the universe.
And think of all the birds in the
universe.
And God says, my eye is on the
sparrow.
Your father's eye is on the sparrow.
Now, that doesn't mean anything to you until
you ask the Holy Ghost to make it
real.
I got this message and I took one
of the doctors past week and I'm sitting
in a chair and there's a big window
floor to ceiling.
I'm looking out and there's a little sparrow
playing right there in front of me, right
on the other side of the window.
He just chirping away and playing and picking
up worms.
And I said, look at him.
Get it.
My eye is on that bird.
What makes you think my eye is not
on you?
What makes you think I'm not concerned about
every detail in your life?
There's no detail in our lives that he
is.
And then he says, furthermore, I've numbered your
father's number every hair on your head.
Now, if you don't have hair, sir, he's
numbered it.
He knows it's zero.
Now, I'm not trying to be facetious, folks.
Jesus is saying to his disciples, look, I
want to show you how your father cares
for you in hard times.
Every detail, your money, your house, your family,
your husband, your wife, your marriage, your bills.
Everything in your life.
He knows about it.
He's concerned about it.
He's a loving father.
He said, now, don't fear.
Don't be afraid because your father knows.
Folks, I have seen and heard.
I've been reading so many letters of those
who write to us from around the world.
And I can honestly tell you, if you
love Jesus and you're sitting here, I would
say ninety nine out of one hundred of
you could say that you're going through one
of the worst testing times in your life.
This has to be majority.
Now, maybe you just got married and you're
on honeymoon and it's honeymoon time, but it
won't be long.
These tests come, Mr. But it's more than
that, folks.
It's the bad devil who knows his time
is short, who is pushing the Shiites now
to take over all of Israel and take
over all of the Western bloc.
And so are these two bloc.
And so this is a time of great
testing.
I got a letter this past week.
It just blew me away.
So pastor, a godly pastor of a church,
small church in the south, about 50 people.
And he has a five year old grandson.
And the mother is alone now, his daughter.
I think it was a divorce.
And so he's been babysitting that child while
the mother works as much as he could.
So he became so bonded to that five
year old son.
And he put him to bed.
This had been a few years ago.
He put him to bed when he woke
up.
The baby was dead from SIDS, sudden infant
death syndrome.
His jewel, the apple of his eye.
No warning.
The child was healthy and strong.
He said it was a devastating time in
his life.
And that wasn't the end of it.
The mother couldn't handle it.
This is the pastor's daughter.
And his daughter couldn't handle the death of
her son, the five year old.
So she overdosed on Oxycontin.
And he got a call.
He wasn't in town.
He got a call and said your daughter's
dead.
But she survived.
But she was brain damaged.
And now for the past few years, this
dear pastor has been caretaking his daughter 24
hours a day, seven days a week.
She can talk.
And she's alive.
But her body, the rest of her body
is paralyzed.
And then he goes into a study and
he said, my God, my God, what's going
on?
And the next year, this past year, he's
in the ports in the back and his
teenage, his youngest son comes to him and
says, Dad, I've got some heavy news, but
I know you have a heart problem and
you can't take it.
He said, well, son, I have to know.
He said, I've been indicted for two murders.
I killed the pusher who gave drugs to
my sister.
This was the daughter that was paralyzed.
And he said, I'm indicted for his murder
and his girlfriend.
Now, let me stop for just a minute.
I'll come back to the story.
But let me tell you, when that man
is in his office and he is overwhelmed,
he took out the picture of his little
five year old grandson.
I'm not telling you a tear jerking story
because I just talked this man two days
ago.
And I called him.
Wonderful man of God.
He said, well, Dave, I took my baby's
picture out of the door and I had
a number of pictures and I just lost
it.
I just lost it.
Let me ask you something.
Do you think that man's thinking about the
Mideast?
Do you think he's talking about thinking about
the war, the economy?
You think he's focused on any world event?
No.
He's he's focused on one thing.
I am in over my head and I
don't know what to do.
Folks, let me take it a step further.
If this man's sitting at his desk, he
looks out the window.
And there's a sparrow's nest and he just
looks across the pain, outside the pain, and
that sparrow falls to the ground and the
father sees it.
And the father knows it.
Who would tell me that on the other
side of the pain where a pastor sits
weeping and broken and not knowing which way
to turn?
How can you tell me how can anybody
say that God's interest in that sparrow, but
not interested in this man?
That his focus, if it's there, it's here,
surely because he's of such value to the
Lord, that man.
And when I talked, he said, brother, I
was sitting there overwhelmed and thinking, why fight
anymore?
It's enough.
He said the presence of Jesus.
He said the door opened.
And the presence of Jesus came in the
room.
And I sensed that he was sitting opposite
my desk.
Beautiful, incredible presence of Christ.
And he said the Lord spoke to him
and said, I know.
He said, I'll give you two options.
If you want to quit, that's your option.
You can tell everybody about your problems.
Every passerby, everyone who knows you, everyone in
your circle, anyone, you can tell them why
you're quitting.
You can tell them about the death of
your grandson.
Tell them about your daughter.
Tell them about your son who's now in
prison awaiting a death sentence.
Now, can you imagine a father sitting in
his office knowing his son is awaiting a
death sentence?
He said, you have an option.
Your option is you can quit and I'll
still love you.
You can tell people your story.
A lot of people will sympathize with you.
He said you have another option.
And he spoke with such love and grace.
He said, just kindly put the picture back
in your desk.
And trust me, just trust me now.
Nothing's going to happen to you except in
my will.
And I know what I'm doing.
And I'm going to give you the grace
that you need.
Your option is to just go ahead.
You can quit.
You can go that way.
And I'm still your father.
But the other option is get up.
Take courage and walk out and face your
future because I'm not finished with you.
He said, Brother Dave, I just put the
picture away.
He said, I'm not going to sit there
and mourn over it anymore.
And he said, I was filled with peace
and grace.
It's been almost a year now.
He said, Brother Dave, I'm still not over
all my battles, but I know his hand
is on me.
And I quote him as scripture.
We do this.
We so flippantly throw people who are suffering.
We throw a scripture verse.
And I said, well, Pastor, the Bible says
many are the afflictions of the righteous, but
the Lord delivers them all.
He said, please, Brother Dave, I'm not there
yet.
I'm not there yet.
I believe it, but I'm not that year.
So that doesn't help me.
You see, sometimes people hurt so much.
They're so bound up and a heavenly father
understands that.
I don't believe Jesus comes to somebody like
that, hurting and bruised.
And the Lord won't come to you and
judge you.
He understands the pain.
He's touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
And he's saying, just just remember, all you
have to do is touch the head of
your hair and just remember.
I have numbered every hair.
And every time you see a little bird,
I'm trying to make you understand that I
understand that I care.
And, folks, Jesus did come to that man.
And that's been the hope.
He said, I believe that Jesus has given
me courage as I go.
And this man now has he has an
understanding of the love of God like he's
never understood before in his life.
And now he's laying everything down.
I'm praying with him about one certain battle
he has.
And he said they don't need to know
my name.
But I do want you to pray, folks,
in these days that are becoming so overwhelming.
And I don't think we understand that.
I'm going to close here in just a
minute.
I don't think we understand how much we
need one another.
How much we need to have a comforting
word from God.
And some of these scriptures, I'm asking God
to give me wisdom, know how to use
the word of God.
Because, you see, even Joseph, when he was
in his worst trial, the word of God
tried him.
The word of God tried him.
You look at some of these scriptures.
All things work together for good to them.
The people of God are called according to
his purpose.
And you wait and wait and wait and
you can't see the good.
And all the time God is working.
God is saying, if you if you just
rest in me now, just don't even try
to measure your faith.
Don't try to figure it out.
I was walking down the road praying at
a place I call my Emmaus Road.
And I'm walking down the road and so
overwhelmed.
And I said, well, I don't know if
I have great faith right now.
I don't know if I have little faith.
I don't know if I have much faith
at all.
I just hurt.
And I think I may have said this
last time.
I said, Lord, just hug me.
I don't want to figure it out anymore.
I just want you to hug me.
And I want you to know that your
eye is on me and you're in control
of everything.
And as long as your eye is on
me, I'm going to be OK and I'm
going to come out on top.
Will you stand, please?
Oh, beloved.
Stay close to the word.
Hide this word in your heart.
Go to the word and find your answers.
There's no counselor.
There's no one going to be able to
answer the questions.
Your counselors are called of God.
Yes, you go for counseling for marriage or
whatever it is.
But in the final analysis, you have to
have the Holy Ghost give you a word
from heaven.
I think it was Pastor Neil who was
given the words to a song we sing
here.
Just one word from heaven.
Everything's all right.
Now, Father, we face days that are going
to try the hearts of men.
Men's hearts will fill them for fear.
But I pray you, Lord, that everyone in
this house and everyone within the sound of
my voice, O Holy Spirit, help us to
understand that God, a loving father, will allow
nothing in our lives.
He will allow nothing except for the purposes
of his own nature.
It will be according to his love.
And, Lord, you said there's going to be
sufficient grace.
My grace is sufficient.
My grace is enough to see you through.
My grace is enough to bring you to
victory.
So we will face the future, Lord, fearless.
Oh, Lord, we'll have those natural fears that
come upon us.
We thank you, Holy Spirit, for your presence.
Lord, everyone here that's been walking in the
spirit, help us to recognize your presence, to
acknowledge your presence and to wait for your
voice, to hear that still small voice of
the Spirit, which is the Spirit of Christ,
who is the Spirit of Christ.
And, Lord, let us hear that inner voice,
that inner all-knowing voice saying, I'm with
you, my eye is upon you, I've seen
you, and I will hear and I will
answer in my time.
But meanwhile, I will give you the strength
to bear it.
Lord, I'll give you the strength to endure
it.
Oh, God, we thank you for your faithfulness.
Audience, those in the annex, can we just
lift our hands and thank God for his
faithfulness, how faithful he has been, how faithful
he is, how faithful he will be in
the days ahead.
Father, we raise our hands to say thank
you.
You've taken us thus far.
We've been through the waters, we've been through
the fire, and, Lord, you're going to take
us through until Jesus comes or until you
take us home.
Lord, lift every spirit of worry and fear
and bondage and fretting.
We have nothing to fear.
Lord, even the President Roosevelt once said we
have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Oh, but, Lord, no, he said we're to
fear him who can cast into hell.
We do have the fear of God in
our hearts for the sake of the whole
world, but, oh, God, we have a father
who cares.
Your eye is on the sparrow, so I
know it's on me.
Hallelujah.
Now, give him thanks for that.
Lord, we give you thanks.
We give you praise.
There are some of you that are here
tonight, this morning, that are really not walking
near Jesus.
Folks, those who are near him, he said,
draw near to me and I'll draw nigh
to you.
More and more, that's becoming the theme of
my life and the call of my life.
Just spend time drawing near to the Lord.
On the subway, wherever you are, just keep
drawing nigh to the Lord, drawing closer to
him.
The greatest thing in my life as far
as keeping all anxiety, it's not just my
scope of history and what I've seen, but
more than that, it's the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit, that he is here.
He's not out in the universe.
He's not out trying to take care of
some world event or some crisis.
He's not in the middle of a crisis,
or though he's there, he's everywhere.
But his main focus, the main work is
right here.
How many believe the Holy Ghost indwells you
that he is here?
Raise your hand right now.
Well, then, why would you ever again fear
anything, any news, dirty bomb, clean bomb, unclean
bomb, any kind of bomb, any kind of
tragedy?
Don't go through this city in subways wondering
what's going to happen.
Glory be to God.
Just every time I get in the airplane,
I used to be afraid of flying, but
now I just say, I have a conscience
clear before God and before man.
Jesus, if I go down, I'm going straight
to heaven and I'm going to be standing
beside you.
That takes the fear out of it.
If your conscience is not clear,
that's when the fear comes.
Clear conscience before God and man.
Now, if you're here this morning, and I
say this in love, we don't try to
put people on the spot, but there is
such a thing as taking a stand.
If you're here up in the balcony and
here and in the annex, you've not taken
that clear stand.
You're not walking close to Jesus.
Maybe you know, have known the Lord.
I'm meeting so many.
We use the word backslid, means sliding away
from the presence of the Lord, sliding away
from that intensity and that love.
And if you've been slipping away, call it
what you want, slipping away, just not right.
And you know it.
And it becomes clearer to you because the
thermometer of fear keeps rising in your heart.
So I invite you to step out of
your seat and come and let me pray
with you and for you.
And this church will pray with you to
believe that you walk out of here and
now.
And some of you brought a heavy, heavy
burden.
I talked about what happened to this dear
pastor.
Something very serious is happening in your life.
And it's caused you maybe to question, God,
where are you?
You can have your faith renewed.
Sometimes it's the best to take a step.
And so I'm stepping out of that unbelief.
We don't count heads here.
We don't know how many come.
We don't take a record of that.
Only the Lord does.
And while I pray, I'm just going to
pray for you right now.
I'll put a balcony.
Go to the stairs on either side.
And in the annex, just step forward between
the screens so you won't block the screen.
Because the Lord's there.
And I'll pray with you and be just
as effective as if you were here in
the main auditorium.
Step out while I'm praying.
We're not looking for masses of people.
We're just looking for those who are honest
before the Lord right now saying, Pastor Dave,
I've got to have a touch from the
Lord today.
I need my faith renewed.
You may be not even serving Christ.
You don't know him.
You've been running from God.
Or you don't even know Jesus.
I want you to come and join these
and let the Lord do a miracle work
in your heart today.
Heavenly Father, I pray for every hurting spirit,
every hurting soul and body, everyone in this
house that is desperately in need of a
touch.
Lord Jesus, we all need a touch.
But I'm talking about those who are a
point of desperation.
Those who are a point of being overwhelmed.
Lord Jesus, we believe that here at this
front of this church, right now, you can
answer prayer.
You can do a mighty work in their
hearts.
In Jesus' name.
Follow these that are coming now, please.
My help comes from the Lord, which made
heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to be
moved, and he that keepeth you will not
slumber.
For he that keepeth you shall neither slumber
nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper.
The Lord will preserve you from evil.
He shall preserve your soul.
The Lord shall preserve your going out and
your coming in from this day forth, even
forevermore.
The Lord said, I'm going to preserve your
going out and your coming in.
Father, now pray this with me right now.
Lord Jesus, I bring to you all my
fears and my unbelief.
I come, Lord, asking you to give me
faith.
Give me your faith, Jesus.
I want to have confidence in you.
And for the rest of my days, I
want to trust you.
Cleanse me, purge my heart from all that
is not like you.
Lord Jesus, thank you for your promises.
I take it to my heart that the
Lord has promised me to keep me from
falling and present me faultless before the throne
of his Father.
Now let's give him thanks.
Lord Jesus, we give you thanks.
We give you praise for you are worthy.
Glory be to God.
This is the conclusion of the message.