This message is one of the Times Square
Pulpit Series.
It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
Other tapes are available by writing to World
Challenge, P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771
or calling 214-963-8626.
None of these messages are copyrighted and you
are welcome to make copies for free distribution
to your friends.
I've not consulted with the other pastors except
just in passing, and I think they would
bear out what I'm about to tell you.
Now as we keep making more and more
progress here in Times Square, and people are
praying and interceding, the devil and all the
adversaries of hell have come out of hiding.
And this church is under tremendous attack of
Satan.
We don't give him glory, we don't give
him an edge, it's because the Bible said,
greater is he that's in us than he
that's in the world.
But it comes across, we have occult people
walk in here.
Their spirits are strong spirits they try to
overwhelm, but they can't overwhelm the spirit of
the living God.
And tonight, I would like every one of
you who believe that when the spirit of
the Lord, when the enemy comes like a
flood, the spirit of the Lord raises up
a standard.
And that's the power of the Holy Ghost.
And you have the Holy Spirit abiding in
you, don't you?
Tell you what I'd like you to do.
I know you've been standing and sitting quite
a bit, but I want you to stand
in prayer and help me in the spirit
of the Lord to take power and authority
over every spirit that would try to hinder
us from receiving the true word of God,
because we need the Lord to break through
to our hearts tonight.
I want you to raise your hands and
let's agree tonight that God will break through
here, and in every service of this church,
Heavenly Father, we pray that you would take
authority over every principality of power of darkness,
bind every lying spirit, bind that which is
of Satan, bind that which is of the
enemy.
Come forth in power and glory and unction.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, take your authority.
Let the word go forth with spirit and
unction and power.
Lord, you're sending revival at the time of
prayer to New York City.
Lord, reclaim it now.
We bind those enemy forces.
We bind everything that's unlike you, Jesus.
We take your authority tonight.
We take your authority, Lord.
It's not ours.
It's yours.
It's your authority.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus.
Hallelujah.
Oh, spirit of living God, bring forth your
holy word tonight.
Speak your word, Lord, and break every enemy
force.
Satan has no place in this house.
Satan has no place in this house tonight.
Glory be to Jesus.
Glory be to Him.
Hallelujah.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be His name.
Hallelujah.
You may be seated.
Thank you.
My message tonight, sudden destruction, sudden destruction as
to avail upon a woman with child.
First Thessalonians 5, start reading the first three
verses, please.
I'm reading from King James.
But of the times and the seasons, brethren,
you have no need that I write unto
you.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of
the Lord so cometh as a thief in
the night.
For when they shall say peace and safety,
then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as to
avail upon a woman with child, and they
shall not escape.
That's as far as I'm going to go
right now.
We'll continue a little further in the course
of the message.
But give me your good ear and look
at me right in the eye, please.
The judgments of God strike suddenly, but never
once are they without warning.
God always warns before He sends judgment.
God promises, in fact, that He'll do absolutely
nothing until He warns His servants, the prophets,
and His watchmen.
I'm reading from Amos 3 and 7.
Surely the Lord God will do nothing, He
will do nothing, unless He revealeth His secret
unto His servants, the prophets.
The lion hath roared.
Who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken.
Who can but prophesy?
Now here God promises, I'll have a trumpet
blasted before judgment comes.
He said, I'll roar like a lion to
bring the fear of me upon the people.
God says, I'll not judge, I'll not send
judgment upon you, upon your nation, upon the
world, until there's plenty of warning.
It may come suddenly, but it will not
be unexpected.
It will not come without warning.
And the Lord shall be seen over thee,
and His arrow shall go forth as the
lightning, and the Lord God shall blow the
trumpet.
That's Zechariah 9.14. I want you to
turn to Zephaniah with me, please.
Go to the last chapter, last book of
the Old Testament, and I'm doing this for
the new converts here.
And by the way, if you plan to
come back, your first time here at Times
Square Church, you plan to come back, please
bring your Bible.
You'll need it here.
Zephaniah.
If you go to Malachi and go four
books left, you'll find Zephaniah.
It's right between Habakkuk and Haggai.
Does that help you?
Zephaniah, first chapter.
Now, keep your finger on 1 Thessalonians, because
we're going to go right back to that.
Zephaniah, the first chapter.
Starting to read verse 14.
Zephaniah 1, starting to read at verse 14.
Do you have it?
The great day of the Lord is near.
It is what?
In fact, the prophet seems to emphasize, he
says again, it is near, it is near,
and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the
day of the Lord, the mighty man shall
cry there bitterly.
That day is a day of wrath, a
day of trouble and distress.
A day of wasteness and desolation.
A day of darkness and gloominess.
A day of clouds and thick darkness.
A day of the trumpet and alarm.
Because the fence cities and against the high
towers.
Against the fence cities and against the high
towers.
And I will bring distress upon all men,
that they shall walk like blind men, because
they have sinned against the Lord.
And their blood shall be poured out as
dust, and their flesh as the dung.
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be
able to deliver them in the day of
the Lord's wrath.
Friends, all the wealth of America doesn't mean
anything when God sends judgment.
The prophets say they're going to throw their
gold and their silver on the streets.
They're going to walk on it.
It's going to be absolutely worthless.
And I'm telling you now, you people are
hoarding gold.
It's going to be absolutely worthless in the
day of judgment.
Absolutely worthless.
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be
able to deliver them in the day of
the Lord's wrath.
But the whole land shall be devoured by
the fire of his jealousy.
For he shall make a speedy riddance, a
sudden riddance of all them that dwell in
the land.
Now will you look at this please.
It's a time of gloominess, of darkness, thick
darkness, of judgment.
But it's also, verse 16, a day of
what?
The trumpet and the alarm.
It's a day of the trumpet and of
the alarm.
I wrote a book called Set the Trumpet
to Your Mouth.
And it's based on Hosea.
Don't turn there, but rather on Hosea, eighth
chapter and the first verse.
Set the trumpet to thy mouth.
And that's the name of the book.
Because for three months I heard a trumpet
sound.
I couldn't sleep.
I was standing on a wall.
I don't claim to be a prophet, but
one of his many, many watchmen.
God has thousands of watchmen set on the
wall now.
And they hear the sound of a trumpet.
And God made it clear to me, set
that trumpet to your mouth.
Ezekiel said, when I bring the sword upon
the land, if the people of the land
take a man of their coast and set
him for their watchman, if when he seeeth
the sword come upon the land and he
blows the trumpet and he warns the people,
then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet
and taketh not warning, if the sword comes
and takes him away, his blood shall be
upon his own head.
And that's the verse that prompted me to
go ahead because I was talking about a
hydrogen holocaust coming to America.
And how do you do that unless you're
prompted by this?
By the word of God that says if
you don't deliver your soul, the blood's upon
your own hand.
And the Lord said if you blow the
trumpet and they don't heed, then the blood
is upon their own hand, but you have
delivered your soul.
Now God blows the trumpet through the voice
of his watchman and his prophets.
Now the trumpet in Hebrew means a reverberating
blast, a warning.
A reverberating blast.
Listen to what Paul said.
Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trump, for the dead
shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be
changed.
1 Corinthians 15, 51 and 52.
Now we are excited about that moment, aren't
we?
Changed in the twinkling of an eye.
No Pentecostal song by the name of that.
Changed in the twinkling of an eye.
The trumpets will sound, the dead shall be
raised, we'll be changed in the twinkling of
an eye.
The Bible says at the last trump.
That suggests there were other trumpet sounds.
This is the last of a series.
Now I do believe there's going to be
an angelic trumpet blast.
The angels will come forth, as they did
on Mount Sinai.
That long, piercing, mournful blast.
When judgment's about to fall.
Now there's going to be a joyous sound
of a trumpet when the angels come back,
and we come back in glory with Christ.
I believe there will be an angelic trumpet.
But I also believe the prophets are talking
about the voices of men.
At the last trump.
There's coming a day when we will preach
our last sermon at Times Square Church.
There's coming a day when God is going
to raise up all of his servants, his
watchmen, and his prophets, and they're going to
preach the last trump.
The last trump's going to sound.
It happened to Noah.
In his wicked day, God said, I'm going
to destroy it, you have 120 years.
And God pinpointed the very day.
It was going to happen on the 17th.
Day of the second month.
This is 120 years later.
And on the 16th.
The last trump sounds for Noah's generation.
It's the 16th.
The second month of the year.
And Noah stands for the last time.
They've mocked him, they've ridiculed him, but God
told him.
Evidently, I'm sure there must have been some
inclination.
This was going to be the last time,
because God says, You preached it on the
16th, on the 17th.
They got into the ark.
Let me read it to you, you don't
have to turn to Genesis 7-11.
In the 600th year of Noah's life.
In the second month.
The 17th day of the month.
The same day.
Where all the fountains of the great deep
broken up.
And the windows of heaven were opened.
And do you know the story?
The earth was drowned in a mighty flood.
Everything that breathed died.
The last trump sound on the 16th.
Oh friends, we've got a God who keeps
a calendar.
He has it all lined out.
And the only reason he delays is in
his patience.
He may move up his calendar a little
bit.
As he did for Josiah.
Because under Manasseh, the nation was so wicked,
God said, I'm determined to send judgment.
Josiah comes along, and the judgment is delayed
for a number of years.
But God said, you will not see it,
but it's still determined.
Holden the prophet has said, the best you
can do, is to delay those coming judgments.
No wonder Paul the Apostle starts, I'll go
back to 1 Thessalonians 5.
No wonder Paul writes, the first verse again,
let's read it.
Now look at that.
How do they know perfectly that the Lord
is going to come as a thief in
the night?
He said, I shouldn't even have to tell
you.
I shouldn't even have to talk about it.
You know it.
How is it?
He's writing to the church of Thessalonica, and
like Times Square Church, this letter was received
when that church was only 6 months old.
6 months old.
And he's writing to a 6 month old
church.
And he's saying, you know perfectly, you know
very well, that that day of the Lord,
now that day of the Lord mentioned here
is the day of judgment.
He said, it's going to come suddenly as
a thief in the night.
And you know it perfectly well.
How could they know it perfectly well?
6 month old church.
It had to be because Timothy, Silvanus, and
Paul, who all preached at this church, must
have preached a lot.
They must have preached more.
They had the law.
They had the prophets.
Do you know they had the same warnings
that you and I have here tonight in
Times Square Church?
They had it all.
Paul was a faithful preacher.
He said, let me show you the way
God works.
Let me show you His pattern.
How He works on a time clock.
Let me show you how it comes on
the 17th day of the 2nd month.
In the 600th year of Noah.
Let me show you how it happened to
the very day in all the Old Testament
prophets.
In fact, this epistle was written 52 to
53 AD.
Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.
They were less than 20 years away from
the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus, of
the destruction of Jerusalem.
He was trying to set them in their
heart for what was coming.
He said, you know perfectly well it's going
to come like a thief in the night.
It'll come suddenly, when it's not expected.
You know what Paul was saying as far
as I'm concerned?
It's perfectly clear that God's judgments fall suddenly
like a thief, but no believer should ever
be surprised.
There should be nobody in this church ever
surprised at what God's about to do.
You should not be caught unaware.
That day should not overtake you as a
thief, the Bible says.
Not at all.
He said, you know God's Word, you've seen
the record.
And then Paul proceeds to tell them what
it's going to be like when that day
of judgment comes.
I'd like to try to open that to
you if the Holy Spirit allows us tonight.
And then how to act when this hour
comes.
On the brink of judgment, how should we
behave?
Alright, first of all, Paul says the day
of judgment will come when society becomes obsessed
with prosperity and security.
Do you think we live in that kind
of a day?
Look at verse 3.
For when they shall say peace and safety,
sudden destruction cometh upon them.
Now the Greek word that Paul uses here
for peace is airene which means prosperity.
The root word of that Greek word peace
is prosperity.
Look it up, it's very very clear.
The Greek word for safety is better interpreted
security.
Prosperity and security.
And the apostle says, you'll know, you will
see, I want you to understand it perfectly
because the sign is very clear.
When men begin to say prosperity and security,
when men's hearts become obsessed with riches and
money madness and greed and accumulating and hoarding.
Jesus warned us it would be a time
when men's hearts would fail them for fear
of watching over the things that are coming
upon the earth.
And men will begin to yearn for something
secure.
They'll want to find a place where their
investments won't melt away like wax.
Trying to find a retreat somewhere should the
bombs begin to fall.
Or a warning come.
A secure haven for their assets.
But the Bible doesn't say it will be
a time of peace and safety.
It says they will say peace and safety.
Because there is no peace to the wicked
the Bible says.
There is no security as far as the
world is concerned.
Never in history, never in history of this
nation, have men, have the Americans been so
driven by a quest for money?
It's called the American dream.
The American dream is success.
The American dream is a Mercedes.
The American dream is the biggest house you
can buy, even if you can't afford it.
The American dream is to be number one.
The American dream is not to fail.
But one of these days soon the American
dream is going to become the American nightmare.
Please, look up.
The American nightmare.
The stock market's become one gigantic gambling casino.
Millions of Americans are playing the numbers, they're
playing the lottery, hoping to strike it rich
suddenly.
This city has gone crazy with lottery, the
whole state.
The whole nation will become one mass lottery.
Everybody looking for an American dream, everybody trying
to get that little nest egg.
Peace, security, prosperity.
It's even infiltrated and corrupted the church of
Jesus Christ.
How Paul would have grieved if he knew
a day would come, if he could have
foreseen a day like ours, when preachers of
the gospel would take the precious covenant of
Christ and make it a covenant of cash.
Replacing the cross and putting a dollar sign
over it.
The church of Jesus Christ once stood before
the world as a testimony against greed, and
materialism, against the love of things, against self
-love, against hoarding, against covetousness.
But now the world sees the church as
its biggest competitor for the good life.
They turn on Christian television programs and all
they see is wealth.
And they hear people say, God wants you
rich.
I wonder what it would be like if
that lonely man, that lonely Nazarene came riding
in his donkey backstage, in his sandals, they'd
chase him out.
Because he hadn't been to make-up yet.
And not been for Caesars.
He had no place to lay his head.
But now the world laughs, because the church
has rejected the message of suffering of Christ
and Paul, instead decided to indulge in riches
and pleasure.
Now, sudden destruction does not necessarily mean only
a hydrogen holocaust.
Because one sudden event could strike America, one
single catastrophe, and the American dream could be
over.
In an hour.
The judgment that suddenly fallen on God's house
in America, is going to fall on our
society at home.
The church woke up one day, didn't it?
Years ago, to a terrible, terrible tragedy that
made the whole church blush.
Because we were told that American charismatic evangelist,
television evangelist, spent three million dollars in one
year buying fancy cars and jewelry, an air
-conditioned doghouse.
And I'm not laughing, folks.
And you shouldn't be either.
Three million dollars, and the world laughs.
The barrooms went buzz, and they held up
their drinks, and they were toasting hellfire preachers
who drive Mercedes.
And we all blushed, because Jesus became the
song of drunkards.
The ungodly laughed and they mocked.
The name of Jesus became the butt of
jokes and satire.
And then once again, just recently, in one
hour, a newscast.
And suddenly, judgment again on the house of
God.
Because suddenly the whole world was told the
nation's number one sin preacher was caught in
sin.
In Times Square Church, when this was announced,
I heard some screaming.
I heard people groaning, and people came to
me and said, Please tell me it wasn't
so!
And now we watch the destruction.
Amidst all the sham and the shame, these
awesome words of the Scripture from Peter come
back.
For the time has come that judgment must
begin in the house of God.
Why are we surprised?
Why are we so shocked?
Judgment must begin in the house of God.
We've been telling the world for years that
judgment's coming.
And if we've been telling the world that
it's coming, it begins in the house of
God.
You can't preach judgment on the world without
waiting for it to hit the house of
God first.
God's willing to let His name be mocked,
just to wake up the church and give
one last trumpet call to the world.
And if it begin in us, listen to
it, 1 Peter 4, 17, just listen.
And if it begin, that's judgment, if judgment
begin in us, His house, His people, what
shall the end be of them that obey
not the gospel of God?
And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where
shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
Now God's judgment in His house are sudden,
and they're frightful, and God has warned, He
said, I'm going to send judgment on my
house, it's going to make everyone's ears tingle.
You can go to the Old Testament, you'll
find Scripture after Scripture.
Now, don't turn, just let me go through
some of them with you.
God was about to destroy the house of
Eli, because there was sin in Eli's house.
He had become indulgent, He allowed His boys
to commit fornication, His sons to commit adultery
right at the temple gate, right at the
tabernacle door.
And He wouldn't, He wouldn't correct them.
And here's what the Scripture says, God said,
I will do a thing in Israel, at
which both the ears of everyone that hears
it shall tingle.
I will judge his house forever for the
iniquity which he knew all about.
God came down through the prophets with another
message during the time of Manasseh.
Corruption had spread, Bob mentioned it this morning
in his message, the great Manasseh caused Israel
to sin above all the kings of the
earth.
And when God sent the message, He said,
I am going to bring such evil upon
Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever hears it, both
his ears shall tingle.
2 Kings 21-12.
You see it in Jeremiah.
Jeremiah was told that sudden judgment was coming
on Israel.
And God said, tell him this, I'm going
to do such a work, He said, of
judgment, that whosoever hears it, his ears shall
tingle.
Now what's He mean?
You find it all over the Old Testament.
God says, I'm going to judge my house,
it's going to be so awesome, it's going
to be so incredible, everyone who hears it,
their ears are going to tingle.
Now that word tingle in Hebrew means to
rattle the ears and make them red with
shame.
God said, I'm going to rattle your ears.
I'm going to make your ears blush.
He's talking about the whole world, the wicked,
are going to have blushing ears.
I believe what's happening in the church has
caused the world to blush even.
The judgments are so awesome.
And folks, it's not just happening to television
ministries that are well known.
Jesus Christ, our Lord, is shaking up the
entire church around the world, and especially in
America.
All He's doing is turning over the shovel.
To expose all the worms.
Because He wants a true planting.
All He's doing is tearing down the veil.
You know when the veil was went in
two?
It started at the top, didn't it?
And then came all the way down, so
that the Holy of Holies could be seen.
He started at the top, and He came
right down.
It split, the veil split from top to
bottom.
That's what He's doing now, from the top
to the bottom, He's splitting it.
And thank God, I'll tell you why.
What really stirs my heart and breaks my
heart.
Do you see what the devil thought he
was doing?
He thought he was going to discount all
holiness preaching.
He's going to discount everything that has to
do with hellfire and brimstone.
He's going to try to stop and silence
the voice of the prophets in the land.
He's going to make the watchman seem to
be nothing but preachers of darkness.
Oh, how many letters I've received in the
mail.
And they said, well, Vance was so and
so, preached against sin.
He preached holiness, and he had this thing
hidden in his life.
And I can hear what they're trying to
say.
They don't want to come out and say
it, but it's hinted at.
You preach righteousness if there's something hidden in
your life.
And so now there's suspicion.
Everywhere, absolute suspicion.
But I want you to know, it wasn't
the devil that did all the exposing, it
was the Holy Ghost.
And if the Holy Ghost exposed it, He
knows how to handle it.
He knows how to handle it.
Oh folks, it's just begun.
It has just begun.
And if it begins in the pulpit, He's
going to touch the pew.
Do you think for one moment He's going
to judge those who are known and not
judge you?
Remember when I said you might get mad?
God's judgment in His house are so frightful,
men's ears will tingle.
But I want to tell you, God's going
to rattle the ears and cause them to
be red with shame, because there are going
to be fearful judgments following society.
Because God said, if it begins in my
house, can you imagine if the righteous are
going to be under judgment?
Where will the wicked come in?
What's going to happen to the society?
If God is willing to expose His name
to all of this shame, if God is
willing to say, I'm going to clean up
my house, if you won't do it, the
Holy Ghost said, I'll do it.
Some of you people didn't, so many people
didn't have discernment.
Some of us have been crying out for
five years against sending money to build swimming
pools and all this garbage.
We've been preaching it for years, and yet
people send thousands and thousands of dollars.
And God said, if you don't have the
discernment, I'll shut it down for you.
And I can say that knowing in my
heart, I pray every day for those who
are involved and love them in my heart.
Not angry at them at all.
Just angry at the devil who made the
nation so blind.
But I'll tell you what, the media, television,
newspaper, whatever it may be, they had better
delight themselves and make hay while the sun
shines, because it's all about to change.
It's all about to change.
The judgment of God's house is going to
come down.
Let's look at the next verse.
Sudden destruction will come as travail upon a
woman with child.
Sudden destruction.
We're talking about this in verse 3.
And when they say peace and safety, then
sudden destruction coming upon them as travail upon
a woman with child.
And they shall not escape.
Look this way, please.
This is God's inspired word.
The Holy Ghost inspired everything of it.
And God chose His words carefully.
It's not an accident that God, the Holy
Ghost, made the coming judgment a type of
a woman about to give birth.
And that judgments were likened to birth pangs
of an expected woman.
Now the woman here is a lost, wicked
god to society.
And she's about to give birth to a
monster.
Judgment's coming out of her very own womb.
And as sure as an expected mother can't
hide her pregnancy, the impending judgment is going
to be obvious to everybody.
The closer the mother gets to the birth,
the more evident it is that she's bearing.
The closer we get to judgment, the more
obvious those judgments must be to us.
The Bible says, Paul the Apostle is saying,
these sudden judgments are going to come like
birth pangs and labor pains.
And the closer you get to the birth,
the more frequent and more intense those labor
pains are going to become.
Every one of you here, as mothers who
have born a child, know exactly what this
means.
This is the end of side 1.
You may now turn the tape over to
side 2.
What am I talking about?
First they came, what, an hour apart?
And then half hour apart?
And then ten minutes apart?
I don't know when you were rushed to
the hospital.
And then the pains became ever increasing and
ever intense.
And then suddenly you were in labor and
you were rushed into the labor room.
And the spiritual application is very, very clear.
The final destruction that's coming to America is
going to come with intensified, accelerating warnings and
catastrophes.
These are going to be birth pangs.
Now, even though the child is said to
come suddenly, there's been an incubation time.
There's much evidence that the child is there,
that something's about to come forth.
And he's saying, look at it now.
You shouldn't be surprised.
Any more than you should be surprised that
your wife is bearing a child.
The evidence is there.
The pains are coming.
The pains will increase.
They will intensify.
They will accelerate.
Until finally there's going to be travail, which
is labor.
Now, I believe America is already ambulatory.
I believe the United States of America is
already headed and being rushed into the delivery
room of divine judgments.
Didn't the ears of the whole world tingle
when our spaceship spun out of control and
you saw the scripture fulfilled in the last
days?
Blood and fire and vapors of smoke.
Three vapors of smoke and blood and fire.
Didn't the ears of the whole world tingle?
Weren't they rattled?
Didn't they bust with shame and fear when
they heard how could believe that a nation
so mighty who sent men to the moon,
five astronauts, are plunging to earth while mankind
stands helplessly by?
Labor pains.
Close by that event, what was it, 260
marines?
I don't remember the number.
Suddenly blown into eternity.
And this nation, supposed to be the greatest
nation on earth as far as its armaments,
stands helplessly by like a little child, unable
to do anything about it.
Labor pains.
An airplane, an airliner, bringing over 150 of
our soldiers over near Iceland, the plane goes
down and you saw the President of the
United States, President Reagan, standing in front of
those rows of caskets, weeping, you saw the
tears in his eyes?
Labor pains.
AIDS has been declared a national plague by
doctors who can't understand why our government is
not isolating these people.
Listen, I'm talking about homosexuals who refuse to
stop doing what they're doing even though they
know they have AIDS.
And it's a plague and every doctor I
talk to say, David, I don't understand it.
We are not even beginning to know the
extent of this plague.
And their projections are awesome, they're frightful.
Labor pains, travail, drug epidemic.
I started here in New York City in
1958.
There were probably 30,000 known heroin addicts
at the time.
Now look what's happening.
You hear it on the news every day.
The gangs now, look at Los Angeles.
Thousands and thousands of teenagers now roaming the
streets.
Not only do they have shotguns, they have
machine guns.
They have Uzis.
Here in the streets of New York now,
roving gangs, all out for crack.
This mason's gone crack crazy.
From the White House, all the way down,
it's in the Senate, it's everywhere.
Cocaine snorting everywhere in this mason.
Even 12 and 15 year old kids.
It's getting mind-boggling.
And the Bible said these things are going
to accelerate, they're going to intensify.
Just as a woman, about to go into
labor.
Did the ears of mankind tingle when the
stock market crashed?
October 19th, I was down there.
Brother Phillips was with me.
I saw the fear.
I kept the newspapers of that day.
And I looked at it this afternoon, the
daily news.
The headlines said, Panic!
Doll plunges through the floor.
508 points.
And you know what Paul says?
It's going to be like a mother with
child.
It's going to be like an expectant woman.
The pains are going to get worse.
And more timely, and intensified, and accelerated.
You shouldn't be surprised, saints of God, when
you turn on the news one morning, and
you find that the stock market is beginning
to melt down about 12 o'clock.
The panic hits, and by 4 o'clock,
they may not even be able to keep
it open until 4 o'clock, when the
meltdown comes.
And if you think I'm preaching gloom and
doom, you ought to read some of The
Economist.
I don't preach anything regarding gloom compared to
what they're preaching.
God is quickening the pace now, of troubles
and sorrows.
And simultaneously, the Bible said, I read it
to you in Zephaniah, when it's a day
of darkness, impending judgment, it's also going to
be a day of the trumpet and the
sound of the warning.
You know it, as well as I know
it.
Never since you've served the Lord have you
heard so many warnings, by so many prophets,
by so many watsmen, the judgment's coming.
Have you ever, in your lifetime, heard so
many warnings?
So much so, that we're turning them off.
We don't want to hear it.
I talked to some very godly people recently,
that for the last 10 years have been
prophesying watsmen, and have been comparing notes, and
you know what many are saying, Brother Dave,
I feel like giving up, I don't feel
like saying it anymore, because nobody's listening, it's
all being turned off.
God had to really work on me to
preach this tonight.
My heart.
Jesus did say, when you see all these
things begin to happen, look up and rejoice,
because redemption doth nigh.
But there's a condition to that.
Not every Christian's going to be able to
look up and rejoice.
There's a condition.
Who are these?
And that brings me to my third point
that I want to make clear to you
tonight.
In this time, in our society, when we're
at the brink of judgment, God is calling
for people to watch and be sober.
On the brink of judgment.
To watch and be sober.
Now, Paul, look at verse 6.
1 Thessalonians 5, chapter 6, verse.
Therefore, let us not sleep as do others,
but let us watch and be sober.
Then Paul goes on further down, he says,
You are not of darkness.
You are not children, but you are children
of the light.
And the children of the day.
We are not of the night.
We are not of darkness.
Now look this way, if you would, please.
What Paul is saying here, What appears to
be destruction and tragedy for the world, Listen
closely now.
What is destruction and tragedy for the world,
Is the dying of a new day for
God's people.
Do you want to hear it again?
That day of darkness that's coming, The Lord
said, has nothing to do with you and
me if we're walking in holiness.
Has nothing to do with us.
Because he said, you're not of the day,
you're not of the night.
That's a nighttime situation.
That's the darkness of destruction to the wicked
and the ungodly.
But you are servants of the day.
You walk in the day, and what is
going to be judgment on this world, Is
going to be resurrection for you.
Hallelujah.
He said that day of darkness has nothing
to do with you.
Don't thank God.
He said, God, appointment with wrath for them
is your appointment with glory.
As these labor pains increase, Hallelujah.
God is going to do something in the
heart of his bride.
Every crisis is going to be one crisis
near a home.
And with every crisis that comes and every
bad news that comes, Did you see the
labor pains happen?
And the AIDS spread?
You're going to be standing on scripture after
scripture, No plagues will come nigh thy dwelling.
You're going to have the word of God
come so loud to you, You're going to
absolutely live from this book.
You're going to live on your knees.
We're not going to have to beg you
to pray in those days, folks.
Because you're going to see the judgments fall
like lightning, striking one after another.
Hallelujah.
Someone said, well, what if there's food shortages
in New York City when those things come
in?
I said, well, I don't know how God
does it.
He may just let a potato truck hit
a pole and roll all the potatoes down
your street.
You've got to pick them up.
God has a way.
David said, I'm old and gray and I've
yet to see God's people after beg for
bread.
The Bible said, Yeshua, you're not of this
world.
You're not destined for darkness and destruction either.
For God, look at verse 9, For God
hath not appointed us to wrath, But to
obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hallelujah.
One of these days, Wall Street's going to
become Whale Street.
Wailing.
Those who are the children of the darkness,
the children of the night, The Bible said,
are going to be drunken in the sleep
when that day comes.
For they that sleep, sleep in the night.
They that be drunken are drunken in the
night.
Let us, who have the day, be sober.
I'm going to talk about that word, sober.
This has to do with any kind of
earthly intoxication.
To intoxicate means, listen now, to intoxicate means
to excite the human spirit to a high
fever pitch.
To excite your human spirit to get all
wrapped up in something ambitious.
Now this is one of the most powerful
warnings Paul ever gave the church on the
brink of judgment.
Listen to me, rich or poor, high or
low, employed or unemployed, black or white, whoever
it may be, listen to what Paul is
saying.
He's saying, on the eve of destruction, don't
get excited about anything on this earth.
Don't become intoxicated, don't get high over anything
but Jesus.
Now I know that we've got to occupy
until Jesus comes.
We've got to be diligent.
We've got to provide well for our whole
household.
The Bible said if a man neglects his
own household, he's worse than infidel and he's
denied the faith.
God expects you to provide.
And in all things we're to do our
very best is unto the Lord.
But, he said above all else, be sober
and be watchful.
And the word sober here in the Greek
means to be discreet, discerning, cautious.
And what Paul is saying, don't let anything
you do take a hold of your heart
on the brink of destruction.
Don't let anything that you're involved in.
Now you can say I won't let it
happen, but that's the war of your eternal
soul.
And if you don't get the victory over
that, and I mean victory, it'll destroy and
damn your soul.
It can be all wrapped up in some
new romance you have.
It can be wrapped up in your career,
your job, your business.
He said, be sober, be discreet, discerning, cautious.
Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the
devil has a roaring lion, is walking about
seeking who may devour.
However, he's just steadfast in the faith.
And Paul said, Christian, watch out.
Watch out and be warned.
You may be right now drinking the wine
of destruction, the wine of busyness.
You're intoxicated.
You walk around thinking you're not, but it
already has your heart.
He said don't be drunk and be sober.
Be cautious.
It doesn't mean you have to take a
poverty vow.
It doesn't mean you can't be blessed.
But God is saying whatever it is, it
can be your ministry.
It can be something you want to do.
You get so wrapped up in that, so
wrapped up in doing, you miss the whole
purpose of what he's saying here.
Be sober, be watchful, be vigilant.
You see, there's a holy remnant people today
that will never be tripped up by pornography
or adultery or fornication or any of these
kind of evil things of the flesh.
But, Bob mentioned it today and I want
to back that up and emphasize it.
Satan tries to use something good, something worthwhile,
something legitimate to take your heart.
I feel it so strong.
I've got to say it to this church
again.
Hear it in the spirit.
Hear it in the heart.
Hear it in your spiritual ear.
Don't just say, I won't get over-involved.
Don't just say, I won't get intoxicated by
what I'm doing and what I have in
my life or my job, my career, my
family, my love, my ministry.
Because I find that a daily battle in
my life.
Because the Lord's been weaning me.
The Bible says he's going to lay the
axe to the root.
Now that means first of all he's going
to take away the Jewish heritage because they
rejected him.
He's going to cut off the roots of
Israel at that time.
He said that because they rejected him.
But it's also, God said, I'm going to
have a people who are going to let
me take the axe and cut away everything
that ties them to this earth.
And I don't know you folks, but I've
been letting Jesus chop away at every root.
Hallelujah.
There's still some there, but I'm saying chop
away, Jesus.
When you come, I don't want any roots
on this earth.
Hallelujah.
Go to 2 Peter, please.
Glory to Jesus.
2 Peter, 3rd chapter, verse 9, beginning.
2 Peter, chapter 3, beginning to read verse,
let's start verse 9.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,
as some men count slackness.
But his longsuffering does word, not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come
as a thief in the night, into which
the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat.
The earth also and the works that are
therein shall be burned up.
Why don't the kingdom now people see that
verse?
Why do they overlook that?
The earth and also all the works that
are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be
dissolved, means destroyed, what manner of persons ought
you to be in all holy conversation and
godliness?
In other words, your lifestyle should be holy.
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of
the day of God.
Now stop right there a minute.
You and I are commanded by the Lord
to yearn for this day of judgment.
Look at it.
Looking for and hasting, which means yearning for,
earnestly desire, the coming of the day of
the Lord, wherein the heavens being on fire,
shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat.
Can you believe what God said?
I'll say it again, can you believe what
God said?
You're to earnestly desire that day.
You say, well that's sadistic.
No it isn't.
Because the only way the new heaven and
the earth can come is they all be
burned away.
Hallelujah.
And that new heaven and new earth is
going to be where righteousness dwells.
Where Jesus is king.
A new heaven and new earth.
Glory be to God.
He said, earnestly desire this day of the
Lord.
Verse 13, nevertheless we according to his promise
look for what?
New heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such
things, be diligent that ye may be found
of him in peace.
What's it say?
Without spot and blameless.
Hallelujah.
Will you look at me again?
Can you imagine people hearing this tape saying,
doesn't anybody look at him?
This is not a time to be settling
down.
This is not a time to be at
ease in Zion.
I'm going to read you a scripture from
Zephaniah, don't turn there, but listen to Zephaniah
1.12. And it shall come to pass
at that time, that's at the time of
judgment, the day of the Lord, that I
will search Jerusalem with candles, and I'll punish
the men that are settled on their leaves.
That say in their heart, the Lord will
not do good, neither will he do evil.
In other words, everything's going to continue as
it was from the found days.
Nothing really changes, crisis after crisis comes.
We've outlived all the crisis, nothing's going to
happen, that day will never come.
And they're settled on their leaves.
Now leaves happen to be the sediment of
a wine that's being cured.
And that's the dregs, the sediment that settles
at the bottom.
And he said, you've settled down, you don't
want to be stirred.
You know, we have a lot of people
that have never come back to Title Square
Church because they don't like what's happening here.
They come here and their heart gets stirred.
And all that junk, all that dregs, all
the sediment gets stirred up and they can
see it.
They want to go to a church, they've
walked out of here long ago.
They've walked out to find a nice, comfortable
church where nothing stirs them.
So that all that junk can stay at
the bottom of the heart.
They're settled on their leaves.
They've settled down on the sediment and the
junk.
They don't want anybody to convict them.
I've had people say, Brother Dave, words to
this effect, I've got a friend who won't
come here.
They see it's too heavy, the preaching is
too strong.
And every time you go there, somebody's hitting
on sin.
One lady walked out, she said, I can't
take all those problems.
Oh, so many problems in Times Square Church.
Well, we may have a busy stall, but
we've got the oxen.
Hallelujah.
Listen to me closely now.
If you don't want your heart stirred, don't
come to a church like this.
There are other churches like this in New
York City, I know.
In Brooklyn and in New Jersey, beginning to
stir hearts.
But folks, on that day of judgment, when
that hour comes, you'll thank God that your
heart was stirred.
Because the prophet spoke of Moab.
Moab is settled on its leaves and refuses
to be emptied from vessel to vessel.
Refusing to be emptied from vessel to vessel.
And that means that they were unconcerned.
They said, don't bother me, I don't want
to be involved, I don't want to be
involved.
Yes, there are times I've wondered, oh Lord,
here at this church, are we preaching too
strong?
Are we coming, you know, because you're poured
from vessel to vessel.
You'll get it Sunday morning from Brother Phillips.
And then you pour it out Sunday night,
here.
Then you come Tuesday, and you pour it
from another vessel.
You come Friday, and Gary pours you into
another vessel, and you pour it from vessel
to vessel.
And all the junk is stirred up.
But as it's being stirred up, it's being
skimmed off the top.
Hallelujah.
Glory to God.
I want my heart stirred.
I listen to these men, I get shaken
up too, just like you do.
Lord's shaken me tonight.
I tremble in my knees when I think
of what's coming to this nation.
Settled on their knees, unconcerned.
God says very clearly that there are people
who want to be quiet and peaceful, undisturbed
in their prosperity.
But there's a powerful prophetic utterance by John
the Baptist, and I just give it to
you, and I'm going to repeat it as
I close.
He's going to lay the axe to the
root.
Well, I'll tell you what, folks.
I've got my bags packed.
I'm all packed, and I'm ready to go.
I can't name you one thing here on
earth that's worth staying for, except the body
of Jesus Christ, and to win more souls
for Jesus.
I just want to stay long enough until
he gives me the last soul that I'm
supposed to win, or this church is supposed
to call.
But one day, God's going to make it
known to us.
I believe he's going to wake up every
one of his prophets, he's going to wake
up every one of his evangelists.
They're all going to be speaking the same
language at their last labor pains when travail
of judgment comes to America.
They're going to be on the street corners,
they're going to be in pulpits, and they're
going to say, The day of the Lord
has come!
The day of the Lord has come!
And we're going to go to sleep at
night, and the Holy Spirit's going to say,
In the morning you'll be with me!
In the morning it's all over!
You don't have to warn anymore, you don't
have to preach it anymore, it's all over!
Hallelujah!
That excites me!
Are you packed?
You know what that means?
A heart, a flame for him.
Loving Jesus with everything, that he's the only
thing that matters anymore.
Every day I get up now, every day
and all day long, Jesus, there's nothing left
in this world that I want, it's all
you!
Folks, think of every dollar you have in
the bank.
It's all going to burn!
Your cars, your house, your apartment, it's all
going to burn!
And I'm not about to take an offering
right now either.
I'm telling you the truth.
You can look at everything.
That's why we're just praying that God give
this Times Square Church a permanent home.
We're just wanting a roof over our head.
Not looking for anything fancy, just a roof
over our head.
Because it's all going to burn.
Hallelujah!
Let's pray.
This is the conclusion of the tape.