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The ministry of refreshing others.
The ministry, we're talking about a ministry for
every believer.
If you're sitting here this morning and the
devil's been playing a trick on your mind
that you have no use of the kingdom
of God and you've not accomplished anything or
have no ministry, you do.
In fact, it's according to the scripture and
what I'll prove to you this morning is
that this is the last day outpouring.
That there's going to be a one-on
-one ministry in the last days.
That this is the work of the Holy
Spirit.
It's not going to come simply through great
evangelists or television.
It's going to come in a very quiet
way, but widespread throughout the whole world.
Heavenly Father, give us ears to hear what
the Spirit has to say this morning.
I need your touch and I need your
anointing because I can't preach without it.
We have nothing to say without the Holy
Spirit.
And we have to have ears to hear
what the Spirit says.
Lord, you've given me this message for this
congregation at this particular time.
And we receive it from you in Christ's
name I pray.
Amen.
Would you go to 2 Corinthians, please, the
7th chapter?
And I'm going to read to you just
a few verses.
2 Corinthians, 7th chapter.
And let's begin at verse 5.
This is Paul speaking.
For when we were come into Macedonia, our
flesh had no rest.
But we were troubled on every side.
Without were fightings, and within were fears.
Nevertheless, God that comforted those that are cast
down, comforted or refreshed us by the coming
of Titus.
And not by his coming only, but by
the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you.
When he told us your earnest desire, your
mourning, your fervent mind toward me, so that
I rejoiced the more.
We're going to stop right there.
But let me give you the context of
what Paul is saying.
Paul is saying my flesh.
When he says us, he's speaking of himself.
My flesh had no rest.
But I was troubled on every side.
Without were fightings, and within were fears.
Now, if you look this way, let me
give you the background of Paul's statement.
Paul is not a God-man.
He's a human, just like you and I.
And if Paul the Apostle didn't go through
problems, if he didn't suffer the same distresses
that I suffer, if he's not tribulated as
I am tribulated, then he has nothing to
say to me or to the church.
If Paul the Apostle does not go through
down times, if he is not under stress,
if he does not experience the whole area
of difficulties that we as Christians face, then
his epistles are written in vain.
But Paul was an ordinary man, a godly
man, but he was flesh and blood.
And he's going through the most difficult time
in his life.
In the context of this, Paul had written
a letter to the Corinthian church, a letter
of correction.
There was a very difficult moral situation in
the church at Corinth.
Now, Paul loved the church at Corinth.
This was born in his heart.
This was his child, so to speak.
And he loved the Corinthian church with all
of its problems.
He loved it.
But he saw a situation and heard of
a situation that was not being dealt with.
It was a moral situation, a very serious
moral condition.
And Paul the Apostle waited for somebody to
deal with a situation that wasn't dealt with.
So Paul wrote a stinging, hard letter to
the church at Corinth.
In fact, he said to the elders and
to the people, You have been puffed up.
You're not mourning over this open sin.
You have not judged righteous judgment.
You have put you have not put the
perpetrator out of fellowship until you've seen and
you have not seen a true repentance.
Because, he said, the man who did this
has not repented and you have not dealt
with it.
You are overlooking it.
And then these hard, hard words, Paul said,
you must in the name of the Lord.
And since this is what he's saying, you
must deliver this man over to Satan for
the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit
may be saved in the day of the
Lord.
Now, even Paul later said, first, I regretted
sending that letter.
He knew it was a hard letter, but
he said he wrote it in tears and
fear.
He said it is because he loved the
church.
He could see where it was going.
And the church that had crept into the
church at Corinth, false prophets that were despising
his suffering.
They literally said if in essence of what
they were saying, if Paul the apostle was
a man of God, if he's a praying
man, if he truly knows God intimate, if
he knows this Christ intimately, he would not
be suffering like he's suffering.
And why all the reproach would he bring
on this church?
All this being jailed and beaten.
If he had faith, he would not be
suffering.
You still hear that accusation today among some
of the most righteous people that suffer.
And people look at those who suffer and
say there must be something wrong.
There must be some kind of sin.
There must be some reason there is so
much suffering in this life.
I knew a preacher.
He had suffered so much for so many
years that I and one day I was
standing for him.
I thought, what has this man done that
he suffered like this?
And the spirit rebuked me and said, he's
probably the holiest man you've ever met.
And if you just wait a little while,
you'll understand what's what he's going through.
And it took me many years, but I
found out that Paul was so concerned about
this letter that it would trouble the church
at Corinth.
In fact, he he was to go, but
he didn't go.
Later, he told me, he said, I didn't
come because I didn't want to come in
weariness.
My flesh was so weary.
And this was why he was weary.
Have I hurt God's people?
Have I wounded the people of God?
Years ago, when this church was first few
years of its inception, I was on the
stage and I preached.
What I had felt was a hard message.
Some of you may have been in that
meeting.
And I remember this spot right here being
stricken and fall in my face because the
scripture came to me.
Do not reprove the righteous and do not
bless or encourage the wicked.
And I was weeping and said, God, did
I cross the line?
Did I wound his congregation?
Now, every one of these pastors, when they're
called to prophesy or preach what would be
called a hard message or a difficult message
because it really goes deep into our hearts.
It wounds the man.
I've left this pope in terms wounded.
I've gone home to the apartment and I
sat there and told Gwen, I'll never preach
like that again.
I can't handle this.
It just tears my guts up.
I've heard it from Pastor Carter.
I know Pastor Neal.
Every one of these pastors have felt that
you go through that.
And yet that night for 45 minutes, I
laid here and I thought everybody was gone.
Nobody left.
Some people said they thought they heard angels
singing that night.
And God dealt with me.
And I know what Paul, the apostle, was
going through.
Did I wound the church?
And he said, for a season, I did
repent.
But then I didn't repent after I found
out the impact of my message.
But rather than go to Macedonia, he sends
Titus.
And he said, Titus, I want you to
go and I want you to tell the
people I love them.
Explain this message was was set in tears
because I love the church and I love
you.
The people tell them I mean them no
harm.
But this has to be dealt with this
time.
I love them.
And find out the impact of my letter,
because I can't handle this anymore.
I am grieved over it.
And he said, I'm going to go to
Troas.
He was going to Ephesus.
I'm going to go to Troas.
And after a short time, and they must
have had an agreement.
I want to meet you in Troas.
And you tell me what the impact of
my letter was.
Paul goes to Ephesus.
And at Ephesus, God pours out his spirit.
And they're worshiping the god Diana.
And the spirit of God comes down.
And the people are bringing their their occult
books about Diana and even their silver gods
that the silversmiths have been passing out and
selling and making a living on.
And God moves in the whole city is
stirred, the Bible says.
But they rose up all the merchants and
silversmiths and a riot ensued.
The whole city was in a riot and
went into an amphitheater.
And Paul, the apostle, wanted to go in.
He wanted so bad to go in and
preach to that mad crowd.
That was Paul's nature.
But his friends said no.
In fact, he was forbidden by his close
friends to go in.
And the Bible says that he even despaired
of his life.
Later, he said, we there was such trouble
and I was so cast down, I even
despaired of life.
And I think it's the time in Ephesus
that he escaped for his life because of
the mob.
And so he leaves.
Something happened in Ephesus.
We don't have the whole story.
I've looked through all my commentaries and then
not Calvin, not John Calvin, not any of
the theologians.
And it could find anything where it could
describe what he says in first chapter, second
Corinthians.
I was cast down, but not in despair.
And you know, it is the condition that
Paul was in.
He was weary.
He was tired.
He was a broken, wounded soldier of the
cross.
And he said, I want you to know
the trouble that we had.
He said on every side.
But there's something in his heart that he's
very anxious that he's on his way to
Troas.
I'm going to see my son in the
Lord Titus and I'm going to find out
what happens.
And the Bible says that when he gets
to Troas, by the way, he said he
was pressed out of measure above strength and
so much that he despaired even of life,
persecuted, perplexed and cast down.
Now, he has the burden of this letter
to Corinth that's troubling him weary in spirit.
And he goes now to Troas and he
he he needs somebody to talk to.
He is so down.
Paul, the apostle, never had been down any
more than this.
And he said, when I came to Troas
to preach Christ gospel, a door was open
to me of the Lord.
But I had no rest in my spirit
because I didn't find Titus, my brother.
But taking leave of them, I went on
to Macedonia.
Now, here's what the Bible says.
I just read it to you.
He said when I got to Troas, God
just opened up the doors for ministry.
Amazing.
And Paul did something he'd never done in
his life, something contrary to everything he preached.
He said, but I went on.
I just I walked away.
Later, he explained his weariness of spirit.
I didn't want to minister in spirit.
He didn't feel like preaching.
He didn't feel like ministering.
Paul, the apostle, is hurt.
He's a wounded man.
He said, we came to preach Christ gospel.
I had no rest in my spirit.
Why?
Because I found not Titus, my brother.
But he had a secondary plan.
The secondary plan was to meet him.
If you can't meet him in Troas, meet
him in Macedonia.
He goes to Macedonia, the most wounded condition
in in his ministry.
Titus is not waiting.
Titus is not there.
And this is when Paul reaches this low
point.
That was my text for when we were
coming to Macedonia.
Chapter seven, verse five, he says, when I
got to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest.
But we were troubled on every side with
outward fightings and in with fears.
You see, when the enemy can bring unrest,
when the enemy comes to attack godly men
and women.
He comes first with this weariness, this tiredness
of the battle.
And then.
He begins to lie.
I can only imagine I can only try
to conceive and most theologians have speculated on
this, but knowing human nature, having lived for
74 years now and preached for 50 years,
some things I've learned by observing others and
by what I've learned in my own life.
When Paul is down now, Titus is not
there.
And I know what the enemy is about
to do.
He's going to tell Paul, even Titus has
turned against you.
Paul said, all ages turned against me.
And that's not so because he was loved.
And I could name you 10 different sons
of his in the scripture and others that
were just praying for him.
But in his mind, everybody has left me.
I'm forsaken.
I'm on my own.
And Titus does not show up in what
the devil is saying.
And there are two things, there are two
lies that the devil will tell you when
you are down.
You have been rejected.
And you're not effective.
You've lost your effectiveness and everyone is against
you.
And God must have a controversy with you.
And the lie that was coming to to
Paul, the apostle, this great man of God,
just as it came toward Christ himself.
Paul, Titus got caught up in the gossip
in Corinth.
Your letter was so hard, even Titus couldn't
handle it.
And now he's been sucked in.
He's been brought in by these false teachers.
Titus has turned against you.
And you can feel so alone and you
can feel like no one, there's no one
to go to.
And Paul needed somebody.
He walked in the Holy Ghost, but he
just needed a voice.
He needed somewhere, somehow to be comforted.
He was down.
I've seen pastors, I've seen Christians so down.
I've looked at some and said, how can
they ever get up?
What kind of words?
What can you give me, Lord, in the
pulpit or in some way?
How can I reach that person?
How will they ever get out of that
pit of this depression?
That fear that something has gripped their heart.
How are they ever going to get out?
And some of you here listening to me
now, you're in some kind of pit, you're
in something.
And folks, sometimes God will deliver a message
if there are only five or six people
in the whole house out of thousands that
need to hear it.
And if you don't need this now, as
I've said many times in this pulpit, keep
notes or get a copy of the tape.
You will need it someday.
Titus, he's thinking now, Titus has been caught
up in this.
I have wounded people.
And Paul's thinking, I am not affected.
I've been rejected.
Paul speaks because you find Paul defending his
call time after time, defending his chains, always
having to stand up before the church and
defend and defend and defend.
But this time, Paul can't defend himself.
This time, Paul is absolutely weary.
Does anybody here know what I'm talking about?
Is this just about a Bible character, Paul,
the apostle, great man as he is?
Well, I'll tell you what blesses me.
He's such a great man.
He's such a man of the word.
He's so humble and so broken.
If he hurts, then I'm sure going to
hurt because I don't come anywhere near.
None of us come near the walk that
this man had with intimacy with Christ.
Nevertheless, Paul says, God, that comforted those that
are cast down in the word there, one
of the Greek words is refreshment.
The God of all refreshment.
Who refreshes, but we will come to Mass
and our flesh had no rest.
We were troubled on every side within were
fighting and without were fighting and with their
fears.
There's fear.
He said, I was full of fear and
I had all of these lies flying around
me.
The devil's a liar, folks.
And he'd been lying to some of you.
He's lying to you that you've been rejected,
that you have no place in the kingdom
of God.
You have no ministry.
You're just sitting here taking up space.
And that's a lie from the pit of
hell.
And until you get the victory over that,
you can never get out.
Nevertheless, God, that comforter refreshes those that are
cast down.
Now, how does the Holy Ghost comfort people?
We talk about the Holy Ghost being a
comforter.
He doesn't send angels.
Yes, he's a spirit and he abides here.
But how does he comfort us?
Paul, the apostle, is in a pit.
How did the Holy Ghost comfort him?
God, the comforter of those that are cast
down, comforted me by the coming of Titus.
Titus shows up.
Oh, I wish God could have just torn
the curtain back when Paul was down and
cast down.
Fears within and fighting and without.
I wish the Lord could have showed him
what was happening at Corinth.
While the devil's lying to him, telling him
all these lies, a revival broke out because
of that letter down in Corinth.
People are repenting.
They deal with this man.
He repents and stands before the church and
said, I was wrong.
Paul, the apostle, is right.
And they were saying to Titus, quick, get
to Paul and tell him we love him.
And he doesn't know any of this.
Folks, if you could just have the curtain
pulled back just a little bit and God
could give you and I a peek into
what he's doing.
He said, my thoughts toward you are holy.
They are pure.
There are good thoughts while the devil telling
you it's all over and lying to you.
The Holy Ghost is at work.
He could call the curtain back.
They're all lies.
And God is blessing while the devil is
lying to you.
Glory to God.
He said, I was comforted by a company,
not only of Titus, but not his coming
only, but by the consolation with which he
was comforted in you.
He said, I mean, what comforted me was
he was so refreshed by you.
He goes down to Titus, goes to Corinth.
He loves his spiritual father, Paul, and he's
burdened down and he goes.
He's afraid of what he's going to hear.
He's afraid.
He's going to take this message back to
tie it back to Paul because he's such
a he so loves this man.
And he is so refreshed by what he
sees.
He's so revived.
Can you imagine when Paul and Titus meet?
Paul is downcast and he's sitting there.
I'm sure he's praying and then walks Titus.
Brother Paul, I can't wait to tell you
you'll never believe what's happened.
And Paul's thinking, oh, no, I don't want
to hear this.
And he puts his arms around his spiritual
father.
He said, Paul, I am so happy in
Jesus and Paul's thinking good for you.
But there's a smile.
He's refreshed.
The spirit of the Lord is upon him
because of what he's seen and heard in
Corinth.
And he said, Paul, first of all, they
send me their love.
Everyone, all the elders, they're dealing with the
false prophets.
No one's despising your chain anymore.
No one's despising your suffering anymore.
Now they know they have gone through some
of that themselves.
And Paul, you have been used by the
Holy Ghost to shake all of Corinth.
Paul, later writing about that moment, he said,
I was so filled with comfort.
I am exceeding joyful in all my tribulation.
I still got problems, but now something's going
on in me.
I have been refreshed.
Who refreshed him?
No angel.
He was a man who had been refreshed
in his own spirit.
God refreshes those who are cast down by
other brothers and sisters in the body of
Christ.
They've been refreshed by the Holy Ghost.
I'm filled with refreshment.
I'm exceeding joyful in all my tribulations.
You can find this all through scriptures.
In Acts, the 27th chapter, don't turn there,
but he's on his way to Rome and
the ship stops at Sidon.
And Paul asked permission to go to visit
some believers on this island.
And here's what it says.
And Julius, captain, gave him liberty to go
to his friends to refresh himself.
To refresh himself.
You find it all through scripture.
In 2nd Timothy 116.
The Lord give mercy to the house of
Onesiphorus.
For he often refreshed me and was not
ashamed of my change.
But when he was in Rome, he sought
me out diligently and found me.
And in many ways, he ministered to me.
This is one of his spiritual sons.
And he said, I need a refreshment.
In fact, Paul was imprisoned at the time,
house in prison.
And he said, he sought me out.
He went all through the city asking questions
and he found me.
In other words, this ministry refreshment is seeking
out those who hurt.
Onesiphorus said he's in trouble.
He's in pain.
He needs help.
He needs somebody just to tell him God
is with him.
Tell him that he is needed in the
house of God.
He's needed in the work of God.
And Paul, the apostle, said so often this
man refreshed me.
So that's the work of the Holy Spirit.
We are not islands in ourselves where we
get the baptism of the Holy Ghost and
talk in tongues and sit there in front
of a mirror and enjoy it and say,
thank you, God, for filling me with your
spirit and giving me power.
He didn't give you power to look in
the mirror.
He didn't give us power just to raise
our hands.
He gave us power to refresh.
He's a refreshing spirit.
He is giving us power to refresh any
other brother and sister in Christ.
That is the power of the Holy Ghost.
We talk about the power of the Holy
Ghost and we want to see people fall.
We want to see people jump.
We want to see all these things.
Thank God for manifestations if they're genuine.
But, folks, the power of the Holy Ghost,
he's a comforter and he's a refresher.
And if we're filled with the Holy Ghost,
then he said there's going to be a
well of living water.
There's going to be cool water, refreshing, coming
out of your mouth.
But like on this verse, you're going to
search it out.
You're going to get up in the morning
and say, God, lead me to somebody.
You're going to hear about somebody in the
church that's in need and suffering and try
to get a telephone number.
And no gossip, no talking about anybody else
in the church, but just going up and
say, brother, I want to pray for you.
I've got a good word for you.
If you're going to give words to people,
make sure they're good words.
Make sure they're refreshing words.
I was refreshed by the coming of Titus.
You find it in the Old Testament as
well.
David's in the wilderness and he's been chased
by Saul day after day.
And he's weary and he's tired and he's
confused.
He's been told that he's going to be
king.
And this didn't look like kingship to David.
He's hiding in caves and he's weary and
he's really about to leave the country.
But God, who comforts those who are downcast,
Paul says, God moves on Jonathan, his dearest
friend.
The Bible says, And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose
up and he went to David into the
woods.
And Jonathan strengthened David's hand in God and
said to him, David, don't be afraid.
My father will never find you.
You're yet going to be king of Israel
and I'm going to be sitting next to
you.
Think of what there was for David.
It was not an angel coming down.
It was no theophany.
It was a man, a friend.
This is I've got to get to David.
David is in need and God sends this
man.
Folks, there are people that need you.
They need to hear your voice.
It should be that every time you come
into this church, there should be a prayer
that you are breathing.
Lord, lead me to somebody today who would
just need a hug and a word of
encouragement and say, brother, I just I just
feel that God wants you to know that
he's with you.
And that's what Jonathan told David.
Jonathan said, David, you may not feel like
it.
It may not look like it, but God
is with you.
He's not left you.
You're right in the center of God's will.
And what he promised you is going to
come to pass.
He's told that not by an angel, but
by another human being refreshed by a refreshed
man.
I could go on and on through this,
but he strengthened David's hand in the Lord.
So we go on.
Sometimes I have a tendency to make it
short.
Lately, the older I get, Paul teaches us
there's a there's a glorious purpose in all
of our sufferings and our tribulations.
And if you don't understand the reason for
your suffering, if you don't understand why God's
taking you through what you're going through now,
you can spin out.
You can spin out into bitterness.
You can spin out into a depression that
no one can touch you and pull you
out if you don't understand it.
And let me tell you, this has to
be this has to be understood by every
believer that is being tested and going through
what Paul, the apostle, went through.
And what Paul came out of this in
that second letter to another letter to the
Corinthians, who said, let me tell you something
now.
Many have despised my sufferings.
They can't understand it.
But he said, I'm going to tell you
the real reason for it.
He said, it's not about me.
It's about you.
He said, I'm suffering because of what God
wants to do in you.
He said he's going to let me be
an example.
He's going to let me go through things.
Paul's looking out over mass of people over
church that he loves, and he sees in
the spirit all these trials and suffering.
He sees the persecutions that are coming.
He said, so God, I'm a pattern man.
He said, I'm going through all of this
so that the Holy Spirit can comfort me.
He's going to teach me the spirit of
comfort.
He's going to teach me the ways of
comfort so that I can come to you
and I can comfort you.
And you'll know that my words have power
because, you know, I've been through it.
I didn't just write you a book.
I didn't just send you a note having
not experienced it.
You know what I've been through and because
you know what I've been through and you've
seen how God has come and comforted me.
He's consoled me for your sake.
Here's how he put it.
For whether I'd be afflicted, it's for your
refreshing, for your salvation, which is effectual in
the enduring of the same sufferings which we
all suffer.
It's for the consolation and salvation of the
body who comforts us in all our tribulation,
that we may be able to comfort or
refresh them that are also in trouble by
the comfort by which we've been comforted.
In other words, the very way that I've
been refreshed, the ways and means that God
came to me and pulled me out.
Now I can go.
I can go to any brother.
I can go any sister.
And I'll say it and say, I have
a word.
I have something from God and make sure
that you pray.
Folks, if the Holy Ghost abides in you
and God puts you next to somebody that's
suffering or in pain and needs a word
from you, you don't have to get down
underneath.
Oh, God, please, quick, quick, quick.
Give me a word.
He abides here.
He'll speak to you.
He'll put words in your mouth.
He told his servants, you don't even have
to worry when you get up before kings
and princes, because you don't have to study
about it.
I'll put words in your mouth.
And if you have a heart like on
this surface that you just want to be
a refresher, that is the ministry.
And you're going through it.
It's for the sake of somebody to say,
can your family, if you're a teacher, your
students, whoever it may be, God is taking
you through this for a reason.
God doesn't get any pleasure out of seeing
any of us suffer.
No, no, no.
He he God would so want to jump
in immediately to show you where it's going.
He wants to show you the future and
the glory and the blessing and the honor
to his name that you're going to bring.
He can't do it otherwise.
Otherwise you would not endure the suffering and
you would not need the consolation.
You need the consolation so that you can
give consolation.
Is that simple enough?
Now, before I close, I want to show
you from Micah.
I'm rather Malachi.
Please go with me to a third chapter,
Malachi, the last chapter in the Old Testament.
I want to prove to you that this
ministry of refreshment by the body of Christ
is going to be the last day outpouring
of the Holy Spirit.
And is, in fact, happening right now.
Malachi, the third chapter.
Begin with me with the 16th verse.
Then they that feared the Lord.
What?
Spake the king, James's spake often one to
another and the Lord hearkened and heard it.
And a book of Remembrance was written before
him for them that feared the Lord and
that thought upon his name.
Now, look this way, if you will, please.
It says then this that's when the ministry
begins.
Then when?
What is the context?
If you read that, you'll find that he's
talking about a time that is coming.
When the devourer has devoured so much fruit.
Words have been spoken stout against the Lord.
People have said it's vain to serve God.
What profit is there in it?
And we keep his ordinance that we've walked
mournfully before the Lord of Hosts.
And now we call the proud happy.
Yea, that work wickedness are set up.
Yea, that tempt God are even delivered.
And what what the prophet Malachi is saying,
and he's speaking now that this is not
only to Israel.
He's speaking now to the church to come.
He said they're going to come a time
of weariness when people look around and they
see people in compromise being prospered.
They see people that are not living.
See, he's talking about those who are people
of God.
He's talking in this whole book.
He's addressing the people of God.
He said some some live lives that are
not worthy of the Lord and they prosper.
And then those who have labored so hard,
there's going to be a temptation coming to
say, why should we struggle so hard?
Look, look at all these people into prosperity.
Look, look at all these people and they're
being blessed.
And I'm serving, I'm fasting, I'm praying and
I'm suffering.
I'm going through all of this.
And you read the third chapter and you
read the book of Malachi and you see
that this this is a mirror of our
present day.
Everything we're going through now is here in
this book.
And this is how the Old Testament closes.
And he's about to introduce the new covenant,
a new testament, the way God's going to
work in the last days.
And in the last of the last days,
I believe this is how God is going
to do something marvelous and glorious in his
church.
Then after all of this, all of this
talk of it being vain, it doesn't pay
to suffer.
It doesn't pay to go through these hard
times.
It doesn't pay.
Why?
Why this back off?
Take it easy.
Don't don't work at it so hard.
All this fasting and all this praying and
all this seeking of God and all of
this, this this difficult walk.
Then they that feared the Lord speak one
to another.
They are refreshing one another.
And God is so pleased with this ministry.
He is so pleased that God's people are
speaking now one to another.
And they are not, as I said, gossiping.
They are not talking against pastors.
They're not talking about others in the church.
They're not into any racial bigotry.
They're folks.
God forbid these things be in this or
any church that calls itself by the name
of Jesus Christ.
No, no, no.
That should be the every one of us.
We begin to lay hold of this.
And you sit in this meeting today.
This is your ministry.
This is your calling.
And it's my calling.
And the Bible says God's going to has
a book of remembrance, a special book of
remembrance.
This is not the book that we've been
reading about revelation.
This is another book.
Just a book of remembrance of all of
these individuals who are speaking one to another.
And every word of encouragement, every bit of
refreshment is being recorded.
And the Lord said, when I count up
my jewels, I'm going to read that book.
I'm going to name them out of this
book.
These are my jewels.
He's not talking about name evangelists.
He's not talking about those that are popular.
He's talking about individuals.
They, they, they speak one to another.
It's a one on one ministry.
It's my ministry.
It's your ministry.
And now, more than more, I thank God
for the numbers of pastors that come.
And I thank God for preaching to the
great numbers here in Times Square Church, wherever.
Folks, I'm seeing more and more that the
most glorious thing now is to be able
to pick up a telephone and call somebody.
I got a letter.
Let me give you an example.
I got a letter this past week from
a former nun who is now an ordained
minister.
And she's 59 years old.
And she had a stroke recently and fell
into deep depression.
So she's planning her funeral.
And she wrote her own obituary.
And she wanted to share it with me.
Here's here's here's her obituary.
No one's wife.
No one's mother.
Estranged from my family because of my salvation.
Accomplished nothing of importance in my life.
Lived in poverty.
A real loser has died.
That was her obituary.
But I would tell you something.
I have been so refreshed.
Someone handed me a letter.
You preach at Times Square Church.
I've labored in vain.
And she said that was everything I was
going through.
God sent a man with the word.
A pastor gave her the letter.
You see, God uses people.
God bring us down from these visions of
big dreams and these visions of having somebody
prophesy over you.
You're going to win thousands.
You're going to go to China.
You're going to go to India.
Forget it.
Most of you are not going to India.
You're not going to China.
But you have the power of the Holy
Ghost to go to somebody in this church
or somewhere else that's hurting.
And you can bring refreshment.
Let's stand and give.
Let's refresh the Holy Spirit.
Let's just refresh the Lord with our love.
Raise your hands and love Jesus right now
with me.
In the annex, wherever you are.
Come on, lift up your hands and say,
Jesus, make me a refresher of men.
Holy Ghost, lead me and guide me into
a ministry of refreshment before you.
Glory be to God forever.
I feel like preaching again, but I'm not.
I'll do that next Sunday.
Now, as I prayed about this service and
how it should be closed, this is what
I felt.
I heard from the Holy Spirit that there
were going to be those in the service
this morning in the annex and here in
the main floor, maybe elsewhere behind me.
But some of you did.
Of course, the majority of it could sound
being tested and being tried.
I'm not talking about being tested and tried.
I'm talking about those that came this morning.
And you are totally, absolutely in need of
refreshment.
Now, this morning, I'm your Titus.
I'm not boasting.
That's on the word of God.
If God uses man, I'm a man.
And I love the body of Christ.
And I'm standing here.
I'm your Titus.
I brought you good news.
I told you God loves you.
I told you God's with you.
I told you everything that was told Paul
the Apostle.
Now, I want to embrace you in prayer.
But please don't come unless it's a crisis
where you say, Pastor, I'm in a crisis,
a real crisis.
If it's marriage, I don't know what it
may be.
But it's in a crisis.
You're in that situation where all around is
trouble and inside is all fear.
And you're at that place now.
Now, open your heart and examine yourself.
The Lord knows just who you are.
And he will refresh you.
He will lift your spirit.
I'm not going to pass out Prozac.
I'm going to give you Holy Ghost better
than that through the Holy Spirit.
I invite you to step out of your
seat and up in the balcony.
Come and stand here in the front.
Please don't come unless this is what I'm
really talking about.
You know what I'm talking about.
Pastor David, I've been to all the calls
many times.
But this has to be something that's very,
very critical in your life upstairs there.
And in the annex, just move ahead and
stand between the screens.
I don't think we'd have room down here.
But just go and stand between the screens.
You can hear me, and I'll pray for
you there.
But I want to be your Titus, and
I want to encourage and pray for you
this morning.
And the body will join me.
Step out from wherever you're at.
I'm not going to preach my sermon over.
I just want to say this.
How is it that Paul received the message
of Titus?
Because he knew the man.
He knew he wouldn't lie.
He knew he could trust the words of
this man.
You see, this is where our trust is
founded here.
But you have to believe what it says.
I just want to give this to you.
The Lord just led this on my heart
from that 140th Psalm.
David's in a real battle.
He's in another huge struggle in his life.
In fact, he said he prayed, God, deliver
me from the evil man.
Preserve me from violent man.
He's talking about the devil himself.
He said, my enemies imagine mischief in their
heart.
Continually, they gather together for war against me.
Continually, these demon powers, these lying spirits gather
together.
And David said they sharpened their tongues like
a serpent.
Poison is under their lips.
And he says, keep me, O Lord, from
the hands of the wicked.
Preserve me from the violence who have proposed
to overthrow my goings.
You see, the enemy is set to overthrow
you, overthrow your faith, destroy you.
David said the proud have laid a snare
for me.
They've spread a net for my way.
They've set traps for me.
And that's what the devil has done.
He tries to trap you and get you
down in a pit of despair so you
can't come out.
But a word came to David, just a
simple word.
Oh, God, strengthen my salvation.
You have covered my head in the day
of the battle.
You've covered my head.
David, you see, he's talking about his mind.
You have covered my mind.
All these lies that come against me, all
these fears that are coming against me.
But David looks up.
He said, oh, no, no, no.
He said, you have covered my mind.
And I'm going to ask the Lord to
just cover your mind right now.
Will you believe God with me right now?
First of all, if you've sinned against the
Lord, if you're not walking with Christ, if
you don't know Christ as Lord and Savior,
ask Him right now.
Repent of your sin first.
Say, Lord, forgive me.
I repent of my sins.
I don't think you can get saved just
saying, I believe on Jesus Christ.
That doesn't save you.
Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You repent in your heart and let there
be godless sorrow arise by the Spirit of
the Lord.
And then you have every right to pray
with us now.
Look this way, please.
I bring you a Titus word right now.
And hear it in the Spirit in your
struggle and your pain.
He feels it.
He knows it.
And he's going to go with you through
the battle.
And you're not going down by a lie.
I don't care if it's a husband that's
hurting you, a wife that's hurting you in
a troubled marriage.
Those things that are thrown against you.
Would you just learn to say this?
The Lord has covered my head in the
battle.
The Lord has covered my head in the
battle.
Now let me pray for you.
Father, I pray for a miracle now.
That you would come by your Spirit and
do what I cannot do.
What no human being can do.
And can be done only by and through
the Holy Spirit.
And that is to refresh our minds, our
bodies, our spirits.
Right now, Holy Spirit, come.
And I pray, Lord, that every lie of
the devil be exposed for what it is.
Just a lie.
And Lord, let us know that the suffering
and the pain and that which we go
through is just for a season.
And the Bible said these things will pass
away.
He said tears may happen through the night,
but joy is going to come in the
morning.
Joy will come.
Joy will follow.
Would you lift up your hands in the
annex and hear those that have come to
pray.
Will you pray this prayer with me, please?
Lord Jesus, I believe this.
You have covered my head.
Protect me from the lies of the enemy.
Let nothing destroy me.
Put a wall of fire round about me.
And I will trust you.
I thank you, Lord, that you have refreshed
me.
Now touch me and give me a ministry
of refreshing others.
Lead me to those who need it.
And let that be the joy of my
life.
All right, now look at me, please.
When you wake up tomorrow morning, the first
thing you do when you get out of
bed, pray this prayer.
And I'm doing it now.
Lord, lead me to somebody.
Show me somebody.
Bring somebody into my path.
And you'll know the spirit will quicken.
There'll just be something leaping in your heart.
And so what you need to do, remember,
don't just go quoting scriptures at people.
Sometimes people need more than just a scripture.
Sometimes we need a ministry.
I know he needs two dollars more than
he needs a scripture.
And I give a scripture, too, but I
make sure that there's an act of love.
This is about loving the body of Jesus
Christ first and then reaching out to the
whole world.
And if every one of us have this
ministry, what a time it's going to be
in the house of God when we come
all refreshed in the spirit and have that
refreshing.
Let's leave.
Would you just one last thing.
This is a praying church.
We have just prayed for Pastor Carter and
Therese and all the team from the church
down in Argentina.
And God is going to break through.
There's no question.
Nothing going to stop or hinder that.
I ask you to join me in prayer
for Belarus.
It's in the newspapers today.
Was there two years ago.
This in Minx, the capital of Belarus.
This is one of the last communist strongholds.
It's ruled by a vicious dictator.
And there's a statue of Lenin right in
Minx Square.
And I stood there and Holy Spirit told
me to prophesy in their service that night
that that Lenin statue was coming down.
We came and they had this church begin
to pray.
Now, it's been two years.
They've not been able to build churches.
There's very little, if any, religious freedom.
But I so believed it was of the
Lord.
We sent.
There were five denominations cooperating in our meeting.
And we sent seed faith.
We sent thousands of dollars to each group
seed faith for the time that that statue
comes down.
And they were able to build churches.
There's a seed money to build new churches.
Well, some of the pastors.
I got word this past week.
Some pastors were very discouraged that Pastor David
prophesied this is coming down.
It hasn't happened.
Instead, we were suffering more than we've ever
suffered.
And I know the devil would like to
come and lie to me.
Well, you're a false prophet.
But I'll tell you something.
I didn't say what has happened.
But if you read your paper today, there
are 250 students now camped out in that
same court near that statue.
And the statue is just a symbol of
the communist stronghold, this dictator.
And I want you to pray that crowds
will gather just as they did in Ukraine
and brought down the communist regime there.
That God will bring down the communist regime
and bring religious freedom to Belarus.
While you're standing here now, they are there
being persecuted.
Some even expect to die.
But that number, we pray that that number
grows into thousands.
And I saw that statue being removed.
And when I announced that in the meeting
in Minsk, everybody began to shout.
The spirit of God came down.
Would you pray with me?
I'm not trying to be validated because I've
never claimed to be a prophet.
You know that.
But would you pray with me that right
now God would stir that whole nation?
These are young people that want to be
free.
And the pastors have been timid.
Would you pray that the church rise up
now?
That Christians rise up?
And that God break that stronghold?
It's such a hungry nation.
The nation is so hungry.
And I told the people, I said, there's
going to come a day that we're going
to be able, our church from Times Square
is going to be able to come into
Minsk, into a stadium, and you're going to
see thousands of people saved.
Just like it's going to happen down here
in Rosario in Argentina.
Would you join me?
In the balcony, in the annex.
Folks, please pray.
This is a burden.
Father, you're the one who brings down dictators.
All over these years and centuries, dictators have
risen up and they've mocked you.
God, bring down this dictator in Belarus.
God, I pray that the crowds grow.
Bring thousands into the city square.
Bring down that statue of Lenin.
But more than that, oh God, bring down
this government.
Bring freedom, Lord, to Belarus.
So that the gospel can be freely preached.
And a revival break out in that country
where God's people can be free.
Lord, this very hour I pray in faith
with thousands of believers here in Times Square.
We care for those around the world.
Now, God, I'm asking that even today people
begin to pour.
Don't let it stop.
It's the beginning of a fire.
Let it explode now into a mighty fire
that will burn.
And bring down this government.
Bring it down.
Cast it down, oh God, in the name
of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Oh, God, do a miracle.
Lord, bring your prophetic word to pass.
You said it, I believe it, now settle
it.
Settle this issue now.
Settle it, oh God.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Now we give you thanks because you hear
us when we pray.
We give you thanks.
Glory be to God.
And this is the conclusion of the message.