The message tonight that the Lord has put
in my heart, someone's knocking at your door.
I see people looking like, your heart's door.
I said that because people were looking at
the door over here.
Someone's knocking at your door.
Christian, will you pray?
I've seen some people walk in right off
the streets here tonight.
You folks that have walked in here tonight,
maybe haven't been in church, some of you,
we had about five or six who've been
sleeping down at the Port Authority bus station
over here.
I want you to know you're welcome here.
And I want you to know, already because
of the faithful work of some of you,
we're taking one boy into teen challenge now.
We're trying to make provisions for others.
And God has done a work, there's been
a lot of seed sowing.
And I'm going to preach a message you'll
understand.
You'll not be able to leave here tonight
saying, that was too deep for me, I
didn't understand it.
But first I want everybody, maybe some of
you have never been in a meeting like
this.
You saw people raise their hands.
You saw clocking and you felt a little
strange.
You're going to feel even more strange because
the Holy Spirit, when he comes with the
word, it's like a hammer and you feel
a knife inside.
He's trying to fill that emptiness, but that's
the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
And you'll feel it, you'll know it tonight
because the Holy Spirit's here.
We've got a lot of praying people who
love and care about you.
And then at the end I'm going to
give an invitation, give you a chance to
open your heart, and we'll take you to
another room where we'll minister to you again,
and you can give your life to Christ.
Now you may sit there and say, David,
preach what you want, I don't need it.
Well, you'd be surprised how you'll change your
mind when the Holy Spirit speaks to your
heart.
Everything's a bad place.
Heavenly Father, I pray for the Holy Spirit
to come down tonight in your precious loving
way, that you would show people they need
Holy Spirit.
I need you tonight more than I've ever
needed you in all my lifetime.
This is the first evangelistic message, Lord, strictly
for the lost and sinners that we've preached
here, that I've preached in this place.
It is the beginning, Lord, of many messages
that will come forth right here from where
I stand.
Many, many souls will be saved.
Many tears will be shed.
Many lives will be changed in this house.
Lord, thank you for having planted Times Square
Church.
Thank you already for those who've been saved
from their sins.
Now, Lord, send the Holy Spirit in a
mighty way.
Break through all the barriers.
Break through everything in Jesus' name.
Amen.
If you have the Bible, you can turn
to Revelation, the first chapter, and just leave
the book of Revelation open in your lap.
Some of you walked in here, you didn't
bring a Bible.
In fact, you didn't even anticipate being in
a church tonight.
But here you are.
So I'll make it simple.
You don't even have to have your Bible
because I'll put it for you, and I'll
make it very easy.
Now, in the book of Revelation, and listen
closely, in the book of Revelation, God's writing
a letter.
He's writing a letter to anyone who's ever
been in any church in their lifetime.
If you've ever been in a church in
your lifetime, this letter is for you.
Now, if you don't want God, if you
hate Him, if you turn your back on
God and say, I'm here just out of
curiosity, I don't want God.
Anything you say, the letter is not for
you.
It has nothing to say to you.
But if you're sitting here tonight, even though
you're cold and hard and you don't even
understand, God has written a letter, and He
gave it to Jesus, and it's such an
important letter that Jesus dictated it to a
prophet named John.
And John was on an island.
He was there because he had been prophesying
the gospel of Jesus and the leadership, the
hierarchy of the church threw him under the
side and locked him up, and Jesus appears
to him.
And when Jesus appeared to John, the letter
was so important to anyone who's ever been
to a church.
In fact, the letter is written to the
churches.
That's exactly what it's written.
What I'll show you, write it in a
book.
Jesus appears to John, and He says, I'm
going to show you something.
I'm going to give you a letter from
the heart of God, and I want you
to write it down and send it to
all the churches.
And it's to the Times, it's to you,
and it's to me.
And Jesus appears, and John used to lay
his head on his bosom, but now he
doesn't recognize Jesus because Jesus is coming now
in His holiness.
And he's standing in front of John, and
John doesn't even recognize him.
The Bible says that he had a robe
on, and he had a burden belt, or
a girdle, a burden belt around him.
That's his holiness.
And the Bible said his hair was white,
like wool, and his eyes were flames of
fire, just like lightning shooting.
He could see right through you.
And the eyes of Jesus are here tonight
too, and He just appears as He goes
right through you.
When Jesus comes to a meeting, like He's
been here tonight and is here now when
I'm preaching, it looks like, and it sounds
like when the preacher is preaching, He's looking
right through you.
He sees everything that's inside of you, and
sometimes it's like, who told Him about me?
Who told Him how I'm living?
That Jesus with His flaming eyes, and John
saw it.
And the Bible says John felt like a
dead man at His feet.
And John said, I fainted, I couldn't handle
it.
It was awesome.
And the voice came and said, stand up,
don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid.
And He said, I have the keys of
life and death.
Everything I write to you, everything I say
to you, write it down and send it
to the churches.
And when He said, I have the keys
of life and death, He said, this message
is a life and death message.
Now, the very fact that it's life and
death, and I'm giving you this unto the
Holy Spirit, what I'm giving to you is
just as much life and death as the
message when it was first given.
It's a life and death message.
In fact, your life may depend on how
you respond to what God said in this
letter.
Now, this letter that was given by Jesus
to John on this island includes seven messages.
It's one letter with seven messages to seven
classes of people.
And if you believe in the truth of
God's Word, then you're going to understand something
about yourself tonight.
In fact, I want to show you these
seven different classes of people that Jesus is
talking to.
And it's all here.
You don't have to turn to it.
You Christians are familiar with it.
First of all, there's a class called Backsliders.
Have you ever heard of Backsliders?
That's someone who once used to love the
Lord, and now their heart has grown cold,
and the Bible says they've left their first
love.
We've been preaching on these streets in the
summertime, and we've met so many people that
come up to us, and they say, I
used to go to church.
I used to love the Lord.
Some of them were preachers.
And now something's happened to them.
The city got to them.
Problems got to them.
And now they're not walking with Jesus.
The Bible says they left their first love.
And so, Jesus wrote this letter from the
heart of God, and all through the letter,
the whole message is repent or else.
Repent or else.
And then it tells you what that or
else is.
And I'm going to tell you what that
is tonight, because I'm giving you just what
Jesus said.
Now, it's not that I'm a great preacher.
It's just that I believe God wants to
make it so simple that if you were
a child, you can't stand on the judgment
day before Jesus and say, I went to
church, but I didn't understand the preachers.
They preached a message I didn't understand.
You won't be able to say that after
tonight.
You see, some of you heard Jimmy Swaggart
on television, or you've heard Billy Graham, and
you've heard the truth, and maybe there was
a time that you even went to church,
you were involved, you loved Jesus, you loved
the word of God, and you're sitting here
tonight and your heart is cold.
It's called backsliding.
And the Holy Spirit in this letter says
repent, or else I will remove even the
remaining love.
I'll take away what you already have.
That little bit you have left, repent or
you will completely grow cold and hard toward
me.
And that's the first message in this letter.
Then there's another group of people here.
In fact, those are called the Ephesian class
of people.
He names them after churches in Asia.
There's another group called the poor, suffering believers.
And this is a group they call the
Smyrna class.
And these are people who have been tested
and tried, and they're working among blasphemers.
They live and walk among blasphemers.
Now, I know in this city, some of
you work among those kind of people.
You go to a job and you almost
hate going to work because everybody around you
is cursing.
Everybody around you has an evil mouth.
They talk evil.
And I see that everywhere I go.
I've heard so many Christians here in New
York City.
It's not just New York, but it's everywhere
else.
How do you live clean in the midst
of all this?
But Jesus has written a word of encouragement
to all of these people, and He says
don't be afraid in the midst of all
this blasphemy.
When everybody around you has gone crazy, everybody
around you is blaspheming in the name of
the Lord.
Has there ever been a time you've heard
so much cursing?
I have never in my lifetime heard so
many four-letter words.
These sexual four-letter words.
Have you ever heard a time in taxi
camps, on subways, everywhere you go, that's all
you hear?
You hear it from businessmen.
Some people can't even put four words together
without using these.
And it's almost like you feel dirty going
to work, or just going in a cab
going anywhere.
And anymore I'm saying, hey, that's my Jesus
you're talking about when they take God's name
in vain.
But you see, the Lord's concerned about people
who have to work in that way.
He wrote a letter to this class of
people.
He said don't be afraid.
Stay true.
Be different.
Even if they throw you in jail for
what you believe, be faithful to death.
Until you die, don't quit.
Stay true and I'll be with you.
That's part of this letter.
And I'm going through these pretty quickly because
I want to get to the last class
because that's where most sinners are tonight.
There's another group called the compromisers, and he
called that the programist class of people.
These are those who use the name of
Jesus and they don't deny the faith the
Bible says, but there's mixed with them.
And you see this in the church today.
Somebody preaches bringing a mixture of the church,
entertainment.
I don't want to go to church where
there's entertainment.
Now, we heard some lively music, but they
were not entertainers here tonight.
These are young men and women who seek
the face of God and there was uncertain
anointing of the Holy Spirit.
I don't want to go to church where
there's rock and roll.
I don't want to be a part of
this mixture that's coming into the church.
The prophet said you bring strangers into my
house.
And I don't want anything to do with
that kind of mixture.
I don't want anything to do.
And he said repent or else I will
come quickly and I'll fight against you with
the sword of my mouth.
And you know, I've taken a stand against
the so-called Christian rock and roll that's
creeping into the church.
And really, if you're here tonight and you
go to discos and you go to rock
and roll, if you're a sinner, tell me
the truth.
Do you want to hear that same kind
of music in church?
Or do you want to come to church
and hear music that touches your heart and
moves you toward Jesus?
Makes you want to see God.
And I'll tell you, most Christians, our sinners
know the difference.
They come in and say, hey, I've got
that in the world.
Why would I come into church and get
a cheap copy of it?
And God says, I'll tell you what I'm
going to do.
I'm going to raise up a message against
that kind of thing.
And I'm going to prosecute and harass that
kind of thing.
That mixture.
And I know Jimmy Swagger takes a stand.
I mean, he thunders against all that kind
of strangeness bringing into the church.
I'd do the same thing.
I don't think I'd do as good a
job as Jimmy Swagger does.
But once I get started, I get it
said.
And I feel like I'm about to say
it again.
But you know, I took a stand recently
against some of that stuff.
And I didn't name the man, but I
named his soul.
And so I knew who he was.
And so he's going around the country saying,
why are these prophets of God, why are
these preachers persecuting us?
And everywhere I go now, these rock and
rollers are saying, why are you prosecuting us?
And the prosperity preachers, why are you prosecuting
us?
Well, the Bible says, that's exactly what God
says to the compromisers.
Return or else I'll come quick and I'll
fight against you with the sword in my
mouth.
I'll fight you.
And God's going to fight it.
I'm not in a fighting spirit.
I'm not mad at people.
I'm mad at the devil.
I'm mad at the blindness that people and
preachers can allow it.
You hear somebody say, dear Lord, where's the
discernment?
Where's the discernment?
And God is raising up more and more
preachers with a holy backbone to stand up
against this kind of thing, the compromisers, the
pergamos kind of people.
And that's what God's doing now.
He's raising up a strong, strong message with
men of God who don't compromise, who are
not afraid.
And God says, don't you be afraid or
I'll confront you before their faces.
Hallelujah.
And I thank God for that kind of
backbone.
And I hope God's put that backbone in
you.
Hallelujah.
Then there's another class called the proud ones,
and that's the Thyatira class of people.
And here's the kind of people, they're kind,
they'll do anything, they're full of goodwill, they're
full of charity.
And I meet a lot of people like
this.
They say, hey look, I'm as good as
any Christian.
And really, you see them, they smile, they're
very kind.
I know so many people like this class
here, they're called the Thyatira class.
That was a church in Asia.
And they will give anything they have to
help you.
I mean, they'll reach in their pocket, they'll
go out of their way, but there's a
kind of a pride in them.
The Bible says they're very proud.
In fact, it's called a Jezebel spirit.
They have a Jezebel spirit.
And Jezebel was that proud, arrogant woman who
appeared to be one thing in public, but
she was a seducer in private.
And you can be sitting here tonight and
say, I really don't believe I need any
more than I have because I'm good.
I'm really good.
And you are!
People like to be around you.
You're not like those around you.
You're not like the drug pushers.
You're not like the alcoholics.
You're a good person.
And you know that because you look at
them and you see and you say, Hey,
I'm glad I'm not like that.
But you see, the Bible would classify you
as a Pharisee because the Pharisee said the
same thing.
He looked at himself and the Pharisees were
good.
They went about doing good and they kept
the law and they'd go to church and
they would get up and say, I thank
God that I'm not like all of these
dirty, filthy sinners around.
And a lot of churches are full of
these kinds.
But then there was a man called a
publican, the tax collector.
He went to church and he wouldn't even
hold up his head.
He said, I'm just a dirty, filthy sinner.
And the Bible said he'd smite his breast.
And he said, I'm not worthy.
And that's the one that God looked to.
God overlooks all these proud and He goes
to the one.
If you're here tonight, you've got that kind
of pride in you.
God can't break that until you humble yourself
before Him.
And that's the Thyrotoric.
And God says, I give you space to
repent.
I'm going to give you time.
I'll give you some time to repent.
He said, you have not known the depths
of Satan.
You've not gone down to the gutter.
You're a good man.
You're a good woman.
You've not gone down.
But God says, you've got to be broken
just like the potter that breaks the clay
to make it over into a vessel.
You've got to be broken.
And God's going to do that tonight for
some of you.
He's going to break your spirit because there's
been pride there.
Then there's a fifth class of people, and
He called them the Sardis class of people.
And those are the ones who are just
about to give up.
They've tried so hard, but the enemies come
in.
You have a name that you live, but
you're really dead.
You have a name that you live, but
you're really dead.
So He said, strengthen what remains, what's ready
to die.
And He says, hold on, repent.
And there are some of you, look at
me now, everyone in the building.
There are some of you here tonight, you
have fought so hard, and the enemies come
in to throw everything against you, trying to
destroy you.
And this letter is for you.
He says, strengthen what is left.
Strengthen it.
Move on, don't be afraid.
And then, of course, the sixth class of
people, that's the Philadelphia class of people.
These are the ones that stayed holy, stayed
pure, while everyone around them was backsliding.
People were turning to sin and iniquity.
You've kept My word, God said.
You've not denied My name.
So I'll keep you in the time of
temptation.
Listen, Christian, that's why I think it's so
important that sinners be able to look at
Christians and see an example, because they're encouraged
that if God can keep you, He can
keep me.
He said, I'm going to keep you because
you kept My word when everybody else was
failing.
I've just given you six classes of people
to which this letter was written.
Now, I want to get to the heart
of my message now.
And I want to zero in on the
class of people that are going to be
living in the last days.
We are living in the last days.
And the last day class of people, the
Lord Jesus called Laodiceans.
And this strictly means the last day people.
The last day people are those that are
here in this building tonight.
You know we're all last day people.
Something's about to happen in this world.
The Lord said He's going to shake everything
that can be shaken.
You know the news right now says that
everything is okay, that there's the least unemployment
in all of history, in American history.
The stock market is booming.
But you know, all the things that God
is going to do is going to come
out of the Middle East.
And that war will soon break out and
it will flash out.
The Bible says there's going to come a
time that men are going to be so
shaken by what they see happen to this
earth, their hearts are going to fail them
for fear of watching those things that are
coming upon the earth.
You know, you wake up one day, like
we did the other day, we've got friends
here from California, and you hear of an
earthquake.
And then today they had another five point
earthquake.
You wake up one day, and the news
is there.
You don't expect it.
And He said, at the time you least
expect it, then it's...
This is what I see.
Now, if you're here tonight, you say, Brother
David, I'm not a Christian.
I don't claim to be a Christian.
But I'm telling you right now, God has
told us all about you in the Word.
He's exposed it.
And I want it to you and see
if you'll be honest enough to accept God's
diagnosis of where you are.
And as I speak now, it'll be...
I'm not a psychiatrist.
I'm not a psychologist.
But you're going to see like a mirror.
You're going to look at yourself, and you're
going to hear something from God's Word now.
Alright.
Who are these Laodiceans?
Who are these people that are going to
appear...
A whole class of people that are going
to suddenly appear on the last day.
And God describes in this letter...
In fact, He warns us what they're going
to be like.
Let's find out if you're a Laodicean class.
If you belong to this class of people.
There are some Christians that are in this
class also.
First of all, the Bible says in this
letter, it's in the first, second, and third
chapter, mostly the second, third chapter of Revelation.
You don't need to turn there, but I'll
be quoting these Scriptures for you.
First of all, they are afraid, the Scripture
says, to get too religious, yet they don't
want to be all bad.
The Bible says they're neither hot, they're not
completely cold, but they're what?
They are lukewarm.
They don't want to be too religious.
They don't want to be too bad.
They want to be somewhere in the middle.
And they look at Christians and they'll say,
it's okay for you.
I see that everywhere it goes.
It's okay for you to be a fanatic.
It's alright for you to talk about Jesus.
You're different.
I can tell there's something about you that's
just a little different.
You smile when others don't.
You're kind when others are not.
And I see something different about you.
I feel something different about you.
And that's alright for you, but it's not
for me.
I don't need it because I'm really not
bad.
And it's probably true, you're probably a notch
higher than those around you.
There's no question about that.
But God says, all your good works are
filthy rags in my sight.
You can be the best person on the
face of the earth and die and go
to hell.
You can die and go to hell because
you've never really heard the voice of Jesus
speak to your heart.
You've never received His Word.
The Bible says that, you must understand, I
believe this, that a junkie, a junkie out
in the street stands a better chance of
entering the kingdom of God than somebody who
wants to be right down the middle.
Not too religious, not too sinful.
To be able to go home and say,
I'm not a junkie, I don't push drugs,
I'm not an alcoholic.
But I don't want to be over-religious.
I don't want to be orbital.
I don't want to have to be reading
the Bible all the time.
I don't want to have to be praying.
I just want to be myself.
I don't want to hurt anybody.
But let me tell you what God sees.
He sees your heart.
He looks at your heart and no matter
how good you may be, let me examine
your heart now.
Here's what the Bible says.
Know what I say.
The Bible says your heart is wicked if
God is not in all your thoughts.
Your heart is a wicked heart.
The wicked, through the pride of his appearance,
will not seek after God.
God is not in all of his thoughts.
That's Psalms 10-4.
You see, this person worries what people say.
They keep up their appearance for appearance sake.
The wicked, through the pride of his appearance,
he won't give up his macho appearance.
He won't give up his cool.
He doesn't want to be numbered among the
fanatics.
He sees people coming into Times Square, or
rather, Times Square Church, they see them coming
in and say, good for you, but that's
not for me.
And you know what's in his thoughts?
Sex, girls, money, sports, almost anything, but no
God.
And you know, the Bible says a man's
heart is wicked if they go all day
long in their waking hours and they never
give a thought to God.
I ask you, when you get up in
the morning, what thought?
Talking to the sinners.
I'm talking to those who are not walking
with Jesus.
What do you think about?
What about breakfast time and the rest of
the day?
What about lunch time and what about the
rest of the day?
You've got those 15, 16 hours that you're
awake.
Forget when you're sleeping.
When you're awake, do you ever think of
God?
You say, well, I'm a good man.
I don't need to be religious.
I'm a good woman.
But the Bible says your heart is wicked.
Your heart is wicked if God is not
in your thoughts.
And the Bible says God is not in
their thoughts all the day long.
They spend a whole day.
They go day after day, week after week,
and God's not in their thoughts.
And some of you here tonight, and you've
been forced to have God in your thoughts
because you're in the presence of God.
And you must face God now.
And maybe for the first time in weeks
or months, God is face to face with
you.
And you can't think about your girlfriend, your
boyfriend, or money, or sex, or anything else,
or sports.
You can't think about the Giants.
You can't think about the Mets.
You've got to think about God because He's
facing you right now.
The Bible says you have a wicked heart
if you're not thinking about God.
And one thing that most Christians do is
that in every waking moment God's in his
thoughts.
You say, is that possible?
Yes, every time.
Sure, I think of other things, but as
soon as I get away from it, automatically,
like a magnet, I'm pulled right back to
my Heavenly Father.
I think about Him all the day long.
I wake up with Him on my mind.
You say, that's crazy?
No, you may not understand that, but that's
what gives you strength.
That's what gives you power because He's always
there on your mind.
Hallelujah.
The Bible says your heart is evil.
You've got a wicked heart if you in
private mock the righteous people.
If you mock them.
The Bible says, listen, the wicked privately shoot
at the upright at heart.
They shoot at them in their mind.
They shoot these thoughts.
And they're real nice to their face and
say, hey, grace.
Some even say, God bless you.
But in their minds, they're shooting these thoughts.
All Christians are hypocrites.
I don't know a good one.
I don't know anybody that is really honest.
All television evangelists are crooks.
Every preacher is after money.
Inside he's laughing, he's poking fun.
And the Bible said, that's the worst kind
of evil heart.
The worst kind of evil heart privately in
your imagination.
You are mocking, ridiculing Christians.
And by the way, these young men that
are here, they used to be, you know,
used to call people holy rollers, didn't you?
Used to make fun of them.
Crazy Christians.
Then you became one of them.
That's the story.
Everyone that's serving Jesus now has gone through
that.
The Bible says, you've got a wicked heart
if you don't have the fear of God
in it.
Your heart's wicked.
Listen, the wicked flatters himself in his own
eyes.
There's no fear of God before his eyes.
There's no fear of God in his heart.
They don't have faith.
Listen, you know, God brought this Scripture to
me the first time.
You write it down.
It's Deuteronomy 29, 19.
Write it down.
But look this way, please.
The Bible warns that you can have peace
in your heart.
I used to think that if you had
sin in your heart, if you had a
wicked heart, and I used to go around
witnessing to people, come to Jesus, He'll give
you peace.
Well, He does.
But so does the devil.
Just Deuteronomy 29.
Peace.
Though I walk in the stubbornness of my
own heart, I will have peace.
And you can be sitting here right now
and say, David, I've got peace.
I've got peace in my heart.
I'm not afraid of God.
I'm not afraid of going to hell.
I'm not afraid of anything.
And the Bible said that's what a wicked
man says to his heart.
He flatters himself that he's alright.
He flatters himself.
I'm going to make it.
You know what he does?
He just puts God out of mind.
Doesn't even think about God.
And the Bible says they walk around and
say, I have peace.
Though I walk in the stubbornness of my
own heart.
And I tell you right now, it's really
not a peace, it's a stupor.
It's just a blind stupor.
It's like a drunk.
When someone's drunk and he doesn't feel anything.
I don't understand.
I don't understand at all people who don't
have the fear of God in their heart.
I don't understand walking the streets and seeing
people dying in sin and then they hear
about the power of God that changed their
life and they don't want to accept it.
I don't understand that kind of blindness.
I've never had that kind of blindness.
I don't understand it.
But it's a terrible kind of blindness and
God wants to take that away from you
tonight.
And then the Bible says you've got a
wicked heart if you look at Christians just
to find sin in them to excuse your
own sin.
You look at Christians just to find fault
in them so you can justify what you're
doing.
The Bible said the wicked watches the righteous
and seeks to slay him.
In other words, seeks to get an excuse
for the way he lives.
Listen, if you want an excuse to not
serve Jesus, you can look at me real
close.
If you look long enough, you're going to
find something that will give you a perfect
alibi not to serve Jesus.
And you can look to every Christian in
this building tonight and you can find an
excuse.
Now, I try to live as modestly as
I know how.
I don't own the place I live.
I rent an apartment and it's a nice
apartment.
But you see, my heart is not after
that.
If I know my heart, I don't want
the riches of this world.
But you can look at me, you can
look at anyone and say, hey, look, they're
all hypocrites and you keep looking and you
keep looking and you're going to find something.
And that's the devil to try to keep
you from Jesus.
Well, if you want an excuse, you look
at PTL.
Because if it's in your heart and that's
what the Bible said, you've got a wicked
heart.
If you're just looking at Christians to find
hypocrites, you'll find them all over the country.
But I'll tell you what, for every hypocrite,
I'll show you two that are still on
fire for God and love Jesus and living
true.
You're just looking through the wrong eyes.
You've got the wrong attitude.
The tendency is to say, see, they're no
better than I am.
Why do I need Jesus?
Why do I need that?
They're not living any different life.
No, that's true.
There are a lot of hypocrites.
It's true that you can look at a
lot of Christians and you don't see Jesus
in His power and fullness.
But that is not an excuse.
Now, see, God says you've got a wicked
heart if these things are in your heart,
if these things are there at work.
Now, secondly, and listen closely now, this Laodicean
kind of person that's living in the last
days is so consumed with making it, so
consumed with money, life to him is just
getting ahead.
It's just getting ahead.
It's a money madness.
The Bible says very clearly, here it is,
He says, I am rich, I'm increased with
goods, and I'm in need of nothing.
And the original Greek in that, it means
expectations.
I expect to be rich.
I expect to be increased with goods.
And what they're saying is, I really don't
need God.
I don't need anything but more money.
If you give me more money, if you
give me a better job, if you let
me make it, every need in my life
will be met.
Now, that's the philosophy that's sweeping New York
City and the country today.
Give me enough money and all my problems
are solved.
They say in their hearts, I'm going to
be increased, I'm going to be rich, and
I won't need anything else.
And that's what it's saying here in this
letter.
God's saying that.
Jesus wrote that down.
He said to John, you tell these people
in the last days, you tell them there's
going to be a class of people just
like that.
Now, you tell me if there isn't a
class of people like that today.
Everywhere I go, it's an effort.
I want to make it.
Just let me make it and everything will
be alright.
And there's a money madness.
And I'll tell you what, right now by
the power of the Holy Ghost, I'm putting
my finger on it because this letter from
God is very clear.
There's a generation that thinks to themselves that
money is the answer to everything.
We were in Poland for Crusades and that
same thing was in Poland.
We heard from thousands and thousands of Polish
young people that came forward and many of
them said, we've lived in poverty for so
long.
There's drunkenness in Poland.
I love the Polish people.
I love Poland.
We hope to go back in a year
or two for Crusades again.
We had over 11,000 receive Christ, came
up weeping and praying, seeking God.
Many, many of them young people.
You know, they were looking to America.
They were looking for this flow of dollars.
There was a kind of a saying going
around.
In fact, a comedian on radio and television
said, the way to solve our problems, let's
declare war on the United States and surrender
the next day, let them send their dollars
and take care of us.
Declare war on America, surrender, you know, then
we can get the lend-lease and the
aid that comes.
And how shocked I was, even among some
ministers, to believe that the American dollars would
solve everything.
God's letter warns here, if you get hung
up on making it, that's going to blind
you to the reality.
You're going to be spiritually poor.
And God says in this letter, the most
wretched people, He said you're not going to
know that you're wretched, that you're miserable, that
you're poor, that you're blind, you're looking for
the wrong reality, you're looking for the wrong
thing to make you happy.
And I want you to know there's some
things that money cannot buy.
I was talking to someone not too long
ago and in fact it was last summer,
it was quite a while ago, last summer.
And she lived up in Harlem and God
bless her heart, she lived in one of
the poorest areas.
And she had a little light bulb that
hung down in her crib to keep the
rats away at night.
And holes everywhere and roaches.
You know if you've lived in New York
here very long, so many, many apartments like
that all over.
This city, many, many poor suffering people.
And she heard me speak along these lines
and in essence it was this, hey, you
give me all of that, I'll show you
how to be happy.
Give me a chance.
I believe that every person has a right
to a living wage.
And my Bible says that God's going to
judge those bosses, these money mad bosses that
keep people from making a living wage.
God's going to deal with them and you
can be sure if you're sitting here tonight
and you're working for somebody that's cheated you,
they're going to stand before my holy God
and they're going to answer one day and
their day is coming.
The Bible makes that clear.
And every wage earner has a right to
a living wage.
And in these major cities, and folks, I
tell you honestly, I'm for you making as
much as it's possible for you to make.
Absolutely make.
God bless you and prosper you in every
way.
I wish that for you.
But those that have been there, those who
thought it could buy happiness, those who thought
they could make it, it would change everything.
It only compounded their misery.
It only compounded their wretchedness.
And then it blinded their eyes so they
couldn't see.
And then you go on a buying spree
trying to buy happiness.
And of all the things money can't buy,
it can't buy happiness.
The Bible says that it leads to a
horrible situation and here it is.
Now listen closely to me.
The person who has their eye on the
material, forgetting spiritual things, they forget their soul
and they're only interested in their body.
And I see it in this city, there's
a greed, there's a money madness.
And really, it's not just that.
I think there's some people here tonight that
live in New York.
And your rent's going up.
And the food costs are going up.
And everything around them, there's pressure.
And I'm just beginning to see that and
beginning to feel it.
Believe it or not, if you know me
or anything about it, everyone of our group
here, including myself, we also live from paycheck
to paycheck.
We can show you the books.
We live from paycheck to paycheck like everybody
else.
But you see, there are people now, I'm
not talking about that.
I'm not talking about that burden that you
have to make a living.
And that need for more money.
And I pray that God bless you and
prosper you that you may be able to
meet every need.
God wants to meet your need.
But I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about a spirit of greed and
covetousness.
And when you set your mind, according to
what the scripture says here, you set your
mind on making it, you set your mind
on the money, and you try to put
it all together for the future.
And you forget God.
The Bible says it's going to bring you
to a critical place.
And here's what it is.
I'll read it to you.
The wicked will bless the covetous whom the
Lord hates.
You'll start blessing the covetous man.
You will look at a person who steals
and you'll say, Hey, get it while you
can.
You will look at the Wall Street manipulators
and say, Wow, they're smart.
Get it while you can.
You'll wind up looking at people getting rich,
gamblers, everything else, and you'll say, So what?
Everybody's out to make a buck.
You'll be so perverted.
You'll be so blind that every time you
hear the man leaving $10,000 in a
taxi and he doesn't find it, no one
has enough honesty to return it, you'll say,
Hey, wasn't that a lucky guy?
Good for him.
Wish it were me.
You'll start blessing the covetous.
You'll start blessing the gambler.
You'll start blessing the man who cheats and
takes shortcuts and gets rich.
That's the whole American system now.
The big heroes in America now are the
cheaters and the gamblers who take shortcuts.
We've lost our honesty, we've lost our righteousness,
and now we bless the covetous, just like
the Bible says.
Am I telling you the truth?
We're Christians like that.
Get it while you can.
You know what?
I saw in Dallas, Texas, I used to
live in Dallas before I moved here, and
I saw on a Rolls Royce this model.
You ever see those bumper stickers?
Bumper sticker.
And it says, He who dies with the
most expensive toys wins.
He who dies with the most expensive toys
wins.
And that's the American mindset right now.
That's not the Christian mindset.
That's the law-abiding mindset.
That's the mindset of those who are going
into the doctrines of prosperity.
The Bible is against that kind of thing.
I'm not saying that all those who preach
it are going out after covetousness, but the
whole thing is there.
It's mine.
It's my right.
I'm going after it.
I'm going to get it while I can.
The Laodicean person is always trying to buy
that happiness.
I'll tell you what.
Money can't buy happiness, and I'll tell you
something else it can't buy.
It can't buy anything to fill that emptiness
that's in you.
After you've been out to the party, and
after you've spent Friday and Saturday night out
with your friends, and you come home, you
turn on the television, you sit, and you
say, is this all there is to it?
There's got to be more to life than
this.
Every person in this building that's not walking
with Christ, I don't care what you tell
me on the outside, on the inside, you
know what it is to have a knot
right down here.
You know what it is to wake up
and say, what's the use of getting up?
It's just going to be another day.
What's the use?
Is this all there is to it?
You get up and you're in a rut.
You're in a terrible rut.
And I'll tell you, all the money in
the world making it is not going to
fill that empty spot that's inside your heart.
Nothing that you do, you'll try everything.
You'll go on buying sprees.
You think that...
I know many people think, if I could
just get this.
I had an acquaintance who saved for 10
years.
He wanted to get a red Cadillac Coupe
de Ville.
He saved and saved.
He did everything he could.
He got cash together.
This was a few years ago and it
cost about $12,000, $15,000.
He goes into the Cadillac agency and he
lays down $12,000 cash, red convertible, white
top, white leather.
He gets in that Cadillac and he's waited
all these years to get this Cadillac.
He thought that's the one thing that's going
to make him happy.
And he drives out and he goes down
the block and he said, I waited for
it.
It's a good feeling to hit me.
And he said, it didn't hit me.
I felt sick.
I drove another block next top light and
I said, well maybe it'll hit me again
another mile and it goes down about another
mile and it stops.
He said, there's a sickness in me.
He said, I thought I'd be happy.
He drove another mile and he kicked the
tires.
And he told me, he said, this should've
made me happy.
It's what I thought would make me happy.
And he said, it's a pile of junk.
Now I know some of you say, give
me that Cadillac and I'll show you how
to be happy.
You get that big TV set, that big
stereo going to make you happy?
No.
Or you might enjoy it for a while
but that's not going to be the thing
that makes you happy.
You got friends, you say, well my happiness
is in my friends.
Yeah, as long as you've got a buck
in your pocket.
As long as you've got some booze in
your bar, as long as you've got some
drugs, as long as you've got something, you've
got friends.
But that product will run away.
The Bible said, when he spent all his
money, all his friends left him.
Now, Christian friends don't do that.
They stick with you.
They don't want your money.
They want your friendship.
They want your love.
They want to give love.
But often, you say, don't knock my friends.
I tell you what, where are they when
you need them?
When you're sick?
Where are they when you've got that emptiness?
When you can't sleep at night?
They have their own problems.
And by the way, what is all that
going to do for you on the judgment
day?
When you stand before the judge?
You stand before Jesus.
Everything you've accumulated, everything you have, how much
time is that going to buy you?
When you stand before Jesus, the judge.
The Bible says it's appointed on the man
once to die, and after that, he stands
before the judge.
The judgment day.
Now, suppose you make it big, really big,
you've got no more worries.
But suddenly, you wake up one day, you
reach under your arm and it's a little
lump.
I'm thinking of a friend of mine.
He was a publisher.
And he was so wrapped up.
He was a young man and he was
doing his best and well-paid and really
looking forward to little children.
They wanted to publish one of my books.
I still remember, he came into my motel
room and he had just taken a shower.
A young man.
He says, I found a lump.
He said, my father died with a cancer
like this.
In three months he was dead.
And you get to thinking, all of this
pushing and all of this struggling.
And then suddenly you get up and there's
a lump and it's all over.
You know, the struggling to make it all
over the city is going on right now.
And then, somebody, the dear brother, gets up
one morning and he's coughing.
And he feels weak.
And he looks in the mirror and he
sees his face sunken a bit and he's
losing weight.
And he knows, he can feel something changing
in his body.
And his friend says, you ought to go
to see a doctor.
And he knows before he walks in that
he's got a death sentence hanging on him.
And the doctor gets back the report.
AIDS.
When a man hears that AIDS, then what,
what do you do then?
Where do you go?
You're still going to keep trying to make
it?
You still believe that money is the answer?
No, because you're going to stand before God
now.
You know what I'd like to do?
I would like, if I could, to, if
we were able to go beyond the grave,
or to be able to talk to Howard
Hughes, one of the wealthiest men in the
world.
This man spent his lifetime accumulating all his
wealthy goods, putting one great institution together, one
conglomerate together after another.
But something happens to that man, his friends
start leaving him left and right.
I don't know if you could only talk
to Howard Hughes today.
A man who dies without a friend.
A man who dies, his cheeks sunken.
A man living every moment of his life,
scared to die.
Ask Howard Hughes, that diseased, paranoid man who
dies, weighing about 85 pounds, and only two
people at his funeral.
And you watch people fighting over his money
now, if Howard Hughes were able to see
it, and he saw how they're trying to
tear about everything he spent a lifetime to
build up.
Everything falling apart.
That great airplane, wooden airplane, is just decaying
to pieces.
Every part of his empire falling apart.
You tell me if it pays.
You can go to the Waldorf Restoria Hotel
right now, and you go down 17 floors
underground.
That door opens and you wind around step
after step.
It's 17 floors down under the Waldorf Restoria
here in New York.
You know what you'll find?
You'll find old private railroad cars.
Very plush railroad cars that the Astors and
the Rockefellers used to use.
And all the rich people from New York
City and Washington D.C. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
had one of them.
And they would bring the railroad car right
into the basement of the Waldorf Restoria, and
there was a elevator, and they'd go up
to his suite.
And if you were able to hear the
voices talking from those boxcars, those old abandoned,
dusting, rusty private cars that cost millions of
dollars, you could hear them speak of the
parties, the wine that sold for thousands of
dollars a bottle, and the violinists that were
strolling through the private parties, the chefs that
were brought from France, the imported foods, the
caviar, all of the parties, the private meeting
with kings and princes down there.
If those old cars could talk, what a
story they would tell of a time of
glitter, a time of riches, a time of
parties, a time of money, wine, flying!
They didn't even get an account of it!
Fours!
Diamonds!
Where are they?
Where are all those people?
I'm going to stand before a judgment.
I'm going to go down there.
It's all rusting away.
I'm trying to get permission to go down
and see them sometime.
I just want to go down there and
see.
And I know you can almost sense the
death all around.
Oh, God, it's dead!
It's over!
Yet we have people saying, I want to
be rich and increased with goods.
That's going to solve my problem.
Go up here to the Dakota, up on
West Side, and look at the entrance there
where John Lennon came out one day.
A young man takes a pistol and shoots
him.
If you could talk to him now.
Hey, Joe, what was it like to be
one of the most popular men in the
history of the world?
What was it like to have made it
so big?
What was it like to stand one day
on British television and say, our popularity will
last forever.
We're going to outlast Christ.
We're going to outlive Jesus.
And all those millions of dollars, and all
of those homes you own around the world,
and all the private airplanes, and the meeting
of kings and princes, and all the wealth,
and all the fame and riches?
John, what's it like now to be remembered
with a strawberry patch in Central Park?
And I'm not putting it down.
I'm just saying, if these men could speak.
They're dead and gone.
They have to stand before a holy God.
They have to stand before Jesus Christ.
What about...
Liberace spends a lifetime collecting all these cars,
travels the world, spends so much time, all
these antique pianos.
What would Liberace say if he saw it
now, and they're selling these things off so
cheap?
Would Liberace give everything he owned, if he'd
had a chance before he died, to be
given just five more years without age?
Just five years?
Maybe even one year?
Would he have given everything he had, even
for another month to live, without age, with
health?
Would he have given everything he had for
health?
I believe he would.
And so you say, I want to make
it.
You see, in the midst of all of
this, Jesus right here says, I stand at
the door and I knock.
Right while you're trying to make it, while
all these things are going on in your
heart, suddenly a message comes.
Someone invites you to church tonight.
You sit in the presence of Jesus.
I'm not going to preach long, I'm not
preaching down at you.
But here you are tonight, listening to me
speak.
And the Bible says, Behold, I stand at
the door and I knock.
This is Jesus speaking.
And if you hear my voice and you
open the door, I'll come in to you
right now.
You know, that's what Jesus did to Saul
of Tarsus.
He came to him one day and he
knocked.
It was lightning that he knocked.
I mean, he hit this man and knocked
him down.
Right off his horse.
And the first thing he asked when he
heard the knock, Who's there?
That's what the Bible says.
Who art thou, Lord?
Let me tell you something.
Jesus is knocking at the door of your
heart tonight.
And the least thing you can do is
say, Is this really you, Jesus?
Is that you knocking on my door?
Is what I feel tonight, Is this reality?
Is this something I've been looking for all
my life?
This knocking I'm talking about is a pull,
It's a tug at your heart.
It's something that says, Maybe it's right.
Maybe it's true.
Maybe Jesus is the one that I'm looking
for.
Maybe this is what it's all about.
And you feel that tug and pull of
your heart right now.
The least you can do is not ignore
him.
The least you can do is say, Jesus,
is this you knocking at my door?
Do you really want to change me?
Do you want to give me a new
mind and a new heart?
I want to tell you something.
It's quiet here tonight.
And it sounds dead, but it's not.
This place is alive with the conviction of
the Holy Spirit.
And God's going to do something miraculous for
some people here tonight.
I'm looking up in the balcony.
I feel drawn over to this area, Especially
these two areas over here.
Because I feel up there and some other
places here.
That you came in tonight.
You didn't know what to expect.
But you came in here.
And Jesus spoke to your heart and he's
knocking right now.
Saying, I want to come into your heart.
And I want to change you.
I want to give you reality.
And I want to break the power of
sin in your life.
And I'll give you my true peace.
I'll make you a new man.
I'll make you a new woman.
I want every head bowed in this place
right now.
Everyone bow your heads.
Christians, will you pray with me right now.
That the Holy Spirit will speak to hearts.
Heavenly Father, There are people that came tonight.
Here to Town Hall.
That didn't know what to expect.
But Holy Spirit, you spoke to them right
now.
You said tonight, I'm knocking.
It's me.
I've knocked before and you've turned me away.
But I'm knocking tonight.
And I'm saying, don't turn me away.
Open the door.
And I'll come in.
I'll come in.
And I'll sit down with you.
And I'll share my heart with you.
I'll turn your life around.
I'll satisfy that hunger in your heart.
I'll fill that empty place in you.
I'll be everything to you.
I'll be what you need.
It's not money you need.
That's not what you need.
You don't need to make it.
You need me, Jesus says.
You need me.
I'm the answer.
Now, I'd like to pray for you.
And wherever you're at in this building.
I want you to be honest.
Because while I'm talking, That little pool you
fill with your heart.
That's Jesus saying, Tonight, don't turn me away.
I need you.
I want you.
If you want a miracle in your life,
And say, David, And by the way, I
believe there's some people here tonight That used
to know Christ.
You've turned your back.
You've gone so far away from God.
And the Lord brought you here tonight.
God brought you here tonight.
He brought you here to change you.
To bring you back to His love.
If you're here tonight, You say, David, I've
never really opened my heart to Jesus Christ.
But I want to open my heart.
I want you to...
Jesus said...
You know what Jesus said?
If you're ashamed to confess me before men,
I'll be ashamed of you before my Father
And all the angels of heaven.
But if you confess me before men, I'll
confess you before my Father And all the
angels of heaven.
Right now.
Being honest.
Without being afraid.
Without being embarrassed.
Because God's here by His Spirit.
Say, David, please pray for me.
I hear Jesus knocking at my door.
And I want to open up.
And I want to do it tonight.
I want you to stand.
Your feet.
I just want you to stand up.
And don't be ashamed.
Don't be afraid of Jesus.
Don't be ashamed to say, Down here on
the main floor.
That's it.
And up on the balcony.
You just stand up and say, David, pray
for me.
I need a miracle in my life.
That's it.
Just keep standing.
Wherever you're at.