This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit Series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
You're welcome to make additional cassettes of this
message for free distribution to friends.
However, for all other forms of reproduction or
electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply.
We thank you for your presence.
We thank you because your word is infallible.
What you have said, you are able to
bring to pass.
Thank you for faith to believe in your
word.
We thank you for your word that you
will release tonight to your people.
Lord, it shall be a word in due
season.
Father, I thank you because there's nothing I
have that I have not received from you.
And so I ask that you manifest yourself
to your people, that no man will see
me, but they will see Jesus Christ.
Lord, I thank you because we will not
forget to give you all the glory and
all the praise for what you will do
tonight, for the hearts you will touch, for
the situations you will change, for directions that
will come, for light that will come.
Lord, I thank you.
You said, if you be lifted up, you
will draw all men unto yourself.
Lord, tonight we lift you up.
Above us, we lift you up.
Above our plans, we lift you up.
And we ask that you be glorified in
the midst of your people.
Thank you, Lord, for hearing us, for we
pray in Jesus' name.
Hallelujah.
Amen.
Once again, it's an awesome opportunity to be
here.
And I just want to thank the leadership
of this church, Pastor Carter and my friend,
Sister Teresa, for having us.
Thank you so much.
Before I came here, we were praying with
the church and with the intercessors about Times
Square Church and about what God will have
me tell them.
And God began to speak to us about
what he's doing in this church.
And he gave us two pictures.
And one picture is like grown big fishes
that are seasoned and prepared, just ready.
That's the first picture we had.
And then the second one was the fruit
of the word that will come.
God said to us that the fruit will
be immediate.
The harvest will be plenty.
And the harvest will spread.
Now, if you look at this two ministrations,
so to speak, I believe that God is
saying that Times Square Church, the way we
interpreted it, is that this ministry has come
to a time and a season of maturity
and perfection.
And that's why God is giving to you
the kind of word that he's giving to
you.
You are a seasoned people.
He has prepared you for this hour and
he has prepared you for the walk ahead.
And I truly believe that you need not
fear, but you need to step out in
faith and do what God is asking you
to do for this time, for this hour,
for this generation.
I also believe that the word of God,
which you have consistently received and which you
are still receiving, will have...
It's almost like God is going to do
a quick walk in the hearts of the
people and in Times Square Church as a
ministry, and the fruit and the harvest of
his word will be so fast and it
will spread to the corners of this world.
And I truly believe that God is doing
that.
He just wants you to hook up with
what he's doing and he will be glorified
in this place.
Hallelujah.
Amen.
It's interesting because Pastor Carter sort of set
the tune for my message and the choir
too sang a song on whatever you want,
God's got it.
Whatever you need, God's got it.
And basically the message I want to share
with us this evening will just highlight a
difference between what we want and what we
need.
Now, the title of my message is, Don't
Give Me What I Want, O God.
We'll start our reading tonight from the book
of James chapter 4.
James chapter 4, and I will read from
verse 1.
Verse 1 to 3.
Thank you, Jesus.
And the word of the Lord says, Where
do wars and fights come from among you?
Do they not come from your desires for
pleasure that war in your members?
You lost and do not have.
You murder and covert and cannot obtain.
You fight and war, yet you do not
have because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive because you
ask and miss, that you may spend it
on your pleasures.
The word of the Lord says, We have,
we do not have because we do not
ask.
And then again, there are times that we
ask and we do not receive because our
motives for asking are wrong.
We want it for our, to satisfy the
lust of our flesh.
And that tells me that there are certain
prayers we pray and God does not answer.
And we need to begin to thank Him
for not answering those prayers.
Amen.
He says in verse 3, That you ask
and do not receive because you ask and
miss.
You do not ask rightly.
You do not ask according to my will
and my purpose.
You ask, you're asking and your prayer is
from the flesh.
It's from the lust of your flesh to
satisfy what you want, not what I want.
So when He does not answer us or
when God refuses to answer that prayer, we
need to come to a place where we
can thank Him for not answering that prayer.
Now the fearful thing about this particular verse
is that there are some times we will
ask for a particular thing and we're asking
and miss, we're asking out of the lust
of our flesh and God will still grant
it to us.
And that's the most dangerous place to be
at.
Because as believers, we think we are men
and women of faith if we'll come to
God in prayer and ask Him for something
and see Him answer according to our request.
But from James chapter 4, 1 to 3,
which we have just read, we know that
there are prayers that God does not answer
and it is His mercy that causes Him
not to answer us because we're asking and
miss, we're asking from our flesh, we're asking
to satisfy the lust of our flesh.
And the most dangerous thing that will happen
to us as believers is asking God and
miss and receiving it.
Because then we think that because we have
an answer to what we have asked for
that God is in it and He might
not be.
But He will grant us what we want
because He sees our heart and He sees
how insistent we are to have in our
way rather than His way.
And that has happened all through scriptures.
It happened in the life of Abraham.
It happened to Israel as a nation.
It happened to King Hezekiah and it also
happened to Esther.
And we'll start our study this evening by
studying the life of Abraham.
And you must be ready with me today
because we're going to go through a lot
of scriptures.
Amen.
Is this a reading church?
Hallelujah.
Amen.
Genesis 17 from verse 15.
Genesis chapter 17 from verse 15.
Then God said to Abraham, As for Sarai
your wife, you shall not call her name
Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
And I will bless her and also give
you a son by her.
Then I will bless her and she shall
be a mother of nations and kings of
people shall be from her.
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed
and said in his heart, Shall the child
be born to a man who is 100
years old?
And shall Sarah, who is 90 years old,
bear a child?
And Abraham said to God, Oh, that Ishmael
might live before you.
Oh, that Ishmael might live before you.
We know that Abraham is the father of
faith.
And we know that God refers to Abraham
as his friend.
Abraham was a friend of God.
He had a unique relationship with God.
He talked to God face to face.
And at this instance, Abraham was 99 years
old and he still had not seen the
fulfillment of the promise he had received from
God since he was 75 years old and
time was running out.
And God appeared to him to reconfirm what
he had spoken he would do in his
life.
And God said to him, Listen, I'm changing
your wife's name.
I'm changing your own name because of what
I'm about to do in your life.
You may be childless right now, but you
will become the father of nations.
And Sarah, your wife, will become the mother
of nations.
And Abraham just sort of, you know, brushed
aside what God was saying to him.
And it seemed as though Abraham was telling
God, he said, Look, God, you know, even
if you do, I mean, I'm 100 years
old.
Let's be practical.
I believed you.
It was credited to me for righteousness.
But let's talk with reality now.
I'm 100 years old.
I'm almost 100 years old.
My wife is 90 years old.
How do you expect her to have a
child?
Lord, you know, I love you.
I believe you.
And, you know, somehow you'll do it.
But just forget about this thing for now.
Let's talk about Ishmael.
Because God spoke to Abraham.
Abraham did not respond to what God said.
But his prayer was, Oh, that Ishmael might
live before you.
It's like, OK, Ishmael will do.
He's still from my lungs.
But you see, if Ishmael was not from
Sarah, he said, Let Ishmael live.
And that was the cry of his heart.
And God heard that cry.
And God answered his heart in verse 19.
God said, No, Sarah, your wife shall bear
you a son.
And you shall call his name Isaac.
I will establish my covenant with him for
an everlasting covenant, and which is descendants after
him.
And as for Ishmael, I have heard you.
God was not going to say anything about
Ishmael.
But because of the prayer of Abraham, because
of the burden in his heart for Ishmael,
because of the hunger and the longing in
his heart, because of what he wanted for
Ishmael, God heard him.
And God said to him, As for Ishmael,
I have heard you.
And behold, I have blessed him and will
make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly.
He shall beget 12 princes, and I will
make him a great nation.
And God granted Abraham the desire of his
heart concerning Ishmael.
Now, what is the result of that answer?
You will find the results in Genesis 21.
Genesis 21 from verse 9.
God fulfilled his word.
Isaac was born.
And in verse 8, talking about Isaac, the
child grew and was weaned.
And Abraham made a great feast on the
same day that Isaac was weaned.
And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the
Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham's coffin.
Therefore she said to Abraham, Cast out this
born woman and her son.
For the son of this born woman shall
not be here with my son, namely with
Isaac.
Now, what happened?
It came to a time that Ishmael began
to laugh at Isaac, began to mock at
Isaac.
Not just at Isaac, but at Sarah, his
mother.
It's almost like looking at her and saying,
Oh, this old mother.
How is she going to take care of
this child?
She's so old.
And he was laughing at them.
He was mocking at them.
And that's what Ishmael has consistently done.
And because God has blessed him already, Ishmael
today has the resources to scoff at the
children of Ptolemy.
We are living today with the consequences of
that one singular prayer that Abraham offered to
God.
Oh, that Ishmael might live before you.
And God answered him.
Was that the will of God?
His will was going to be established.
His covenant was going to be established through
Isaac.
And God was going to bless Abraham with
Isaac according to his word.
But it got to a point where Abraham
felt in his heart that Ishmael will do.
And therefore he offered a prayer to God.
Oh, that Ishmael might live before you.
And God answered that prayer.
And he blessed him tremendously.
Amen.
He blessed him.
And in Genesis chapter 16 verse 12, we
are also told about Ishmael that he shall
be a wild man.
His hand shall be against every man and
every man's hand against him.
And he shall dwell in the presence of
his brethren.
Are we seeing that today?
Where does terrorism come from?
Where do they have the resources for terrorism?
The descendants of Ishmael still have the spirit
of Ishmael.
Wild man.
Their hand will be against every man.
Every man's hand will be against them.
And they have the resources to do what
they're doing.
And we have to live with that because
God is the God of covenant.
And he promised Abraham, I will bless him.
Since you are so concerned about Ishmael.
We'll study another example in the scriptures.
And that's in 1st Samuel chapter 8 talking
about Israel as a nation.
We must be careful what we ask God
for because we just might get it.
And he might not be in it.
Hallelujah.
Amen.
Before this evening, we will learn how we
should ask God.
Amen.
Now 1st Samuel chapter 8 from verse 1
tells us the story of Israel as a
nation.
Demanding for a king.
Because they wanted to be like other nations.
And you can read the whole of that
chapter.
But anyway, let me read a few verses
from verse 1.
It came to pass when Samuel was old
that he made his sons judges over Israel.
The name of his firstborn was Joel.
And the name of his second, Abijah.
There were judges in Bathsheba.
But his sons did not walk in his
ways.
They turned aside after dishonest gain.
Took bribes and perverted justice.
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together
and came to Samuel at Ramah.
And said to him, look, you are old.
And your sons do not walk in your
way.
Now make us a king to judge us.
Like all the nations.
But the saints displeased Samuel when they said,
give us a king to judge us.
So Samuel prayed to the Lord.
And the Lord said to Samuel, heed the
voice of the people in all that they
say to you.
For they have not rejected you.
But they have rejected me that I should
not reign over them.
According to the works which they have done
since the day that I brought them out
of Egypt.
Even to this day with which they have
forsaken me and served other gods.
So they are doing to you also.
Now therefore, hear it again, heed their voice.
However, you shall solemnly forewarn them.
And show them the behavior of the king
who will reign over them.
Now what was God telling Samuel?
He was telling him, give them what they
want.
They want a king, give them a king.
They are not rejecting you, they are rejecting
me.
They want to be like other nations.
But God did not form the nation of
Israel to be like other nations.
He formed them to be a peculiar people.
A separate people.
A people through which he will show the
world what it means to have a relationship
with God.
What it means to call him as God
Almighty.
And to call a nation, my people.
That's what God intended for the nation of
Israel.
But the nation of Israel said, no, we
want to be like others.
You see, when you ask for what you
want.
God would have already shown you what he
wants.
He would have already told you what he
wants.
For your life, for your circumstance, for your
situation.
And it's up to you to line up
with what God wants for your life.
Or you can insist on what you want.
And when you insist on what you want,
God will give you what you want.
And you will receive it thinking that God
is with you.
But he's not there.
So God told Samuel, he said to Samuel,
heed to their voice.
He said it twice.
Heed to their voice.
There are times that God will heed to
your voice.
And that does not mean it's his voice.
There are things you will ask God for
and he will heed to your voice.
Because he sees your heart.
He sees that you are not interested in
what he wants for you.
He sees that you are not interested in
him making you a special people, a peculiar
people, a chosen generation.
Call forth to show his praises.
But you want to be like other nations.
And so he said to Samuel, heed to
their voice.
They have not rejected you, they have rejected
me.
Listen to me people of God.
Most times when we insist that Lord this
is what we want, we are rejecting him.
We are just rejecting him.
We are telling him he does not know
what is good enough for us.
We don't trust in his goodness.
We don't trust his love.
We don't trust that he is an omnipotent
God who knows all things, who knows the
end from the beginning.
We're telling him we're smarter than him, we're
wiser than him.
We know what is good for us.
And God will give us over to the
loss of our flesh and the desires of
our heart.
God said to Samuel, heed to their voice.
They have not rejected you.
They have rejected me.
And listen to me.
Samuel categorically explained to them the manner of
the king that will rule over them.
Because God wanted to be their king.
And he told them all these things.
He said the king will bring you into
bondage.
The king will enslave your daughters and your
sons.
The king will make you slave for him.
The king will do this.
The king will just make you suffer.
They said yes, we want it.
That's what happened.
Let's read the scriptures from verse 11.
The word of God is very capable of
preaching itself.
In verse 11, Samuel said this will be
the behavior of the king who will reign
over you.
He will take your sons and appoint them
for his own chariot and to be his
horsemen and some will run before his chariot.
He will appoint captains over his thousands and
captains over his fifties will set some to
plow his ground and reap his harvest and
some to make his weapons of war and
equipment for his chariot.
He will take your daughters to be perfumers,
cooks and bakers and he will take the
best of your fields, your vineyards and your
olive groves and give them to his servants.
He will take a tenth of your grain
and your vintage.
That is you will tie it to him.
And that literally means because that literally means
he will become your God.
Because who do we tie it to?
We tie it to God.
So God was literally telling them that this
king that you want will become a God
to you.
And look at what he said again.
He said and you will be his servants
and you will cry out in that day
because of your king whom you have chosen
for yourself.
And the Lord will not hear you in
that day.
Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice
of someone and they said no, but we
will have a king over us that we
also may be like all the nations and
that our king may judge us and go
out before us and fight our battle.
And Samuel heard all the words of the
people and he repeated them in the hearing
of the Lord.
So the Lord said to Samuel, heed their
voice and make them a king.
Heed their voice and make them a king.
God knew that a day would come when
the children of Israel will demand for a
king.
And God was ready to choose a king
for them.
But they were not interested in God's choice.
They wanted their choice.
They wanted to be like all the nations.
They didn't want to be a peculiar people.
They don't want to be a special people.
They don't want to be God's chosen people.
They rejected God because they wanted to be
like all the nations.
Now, if you go back to Deuteronomy 17,
you will see that God knew a day
will come when they will make that demand.
And he had made a provision for it
before.
But they would not listen and they would
not heed.
So Deuteronomy chapter 17 from verse 14, Deuteronomy
17 from verse 14, it says, When you
come to the land which the Lord your
God is giving you and possess it and
dwell in it and say, I will set
a king over me like all the nations
that are around me.
You shall surely set a king over you
whom the Lord your God chooses.
One from among your brethren, you shall set
a king over you.
You may not set a foreigner over you
who is not your brother.
For he shall not multiply horses for himself,
nor cause the people to return to Egypt
to multiply horses.
For the Lord has said to you, you
shall not return that way again.
Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lift
his heart on away, nor shall he greatly
multiply silver and gold for himself.
Also, it shall be when he sits on
the throne of his kingdom that he shall
write for himself a copy of this law
in a book from the one before the
priest, the Levite, and it shall be with
him and he shall read it all the
days of his life that he may learn
to fear the Lord his God and be
careful to observe all the words of this
law and this statute, that his heart may
not be lifted above his brethren, that he
may not turn aside from the commandment to
the right or to the left, and that
he may prolong his days in the kingdom,
he and his children in the midst of
Israel.
Now, this is the king that God wanted
to give to the nation of Israel, but
they said no.
This is the manner of the king.
He was not going to oppress them.
He was not going to take from them.
He was not going to just multiply wives
and this was the character and the pattern
of king that God wanted to give to
the nation of Israel, but they would not
heed.
They would not heed.
So God gave them a man after their
heart and he gave them Saul and everything
about Saul represents the flesh, is a man
of the flesh.
God gave them a man of the flesh
to satisfy the lust of their flesh.
They were not interested in the will of
God or the purpose of God.
They were not interested in God's kingdom.
They were not interested in God's choice.
They wanted to be like other nations.
It's what they wanted.
Be careful what you want because God might
just give it to you and you end
up the worst for it.
The children of Israel went into bondage.
Their children went into bondage.
It was almost as though they were back
to the days of Egypt, but they wanted
it that way and in Hosea 13 verse
9, you don't have to turn there.
I will just read it.
The prophet was lamenting Israel made in insisting
for a king for themselves, in rejecting God
to be king over them, in rejecting the
choice of God and he said, Oh Israel,
you are destroyed, but your help is from
me.
I will be your king where there is
no other that he may save you in
all your cities and your judges to whom
you said, give me a king and princes.
I gave you a king in my anger
and took him away in my wrath.
We know what happened to the nation of
Israel and how they suffered under the reign
of this king.
It wasn't just Saul, but you know, Saul
was not interested in the kingdom.
Saul was disobedient to God and he was
rejected as king and then David came and
then Solomon came and it was divided to
Jeroboam and Rehoboam and then the nation of
Israel ended up being divided into two and
if you look at the history of all
the kings of Israel, one testimony consistently stands
out except for a few of them and
that testimony is that they did evil in
the sight of the Lord and caused Israel
to sin against God.
That has been the consistent testimony of the
kings of Israel.
There were only a few that would turn
the nation back to God, that would turn
the nation to worship God, but the next
king that will come will first of all
kill the existing king and his household, become
king and then introduce the whole nation into
idolatry.
God gave them what they wanted, hallelujah.
May God deliver us from the loss of
our heart, from the desires of self, from
insisting on having what we want, not what
we need.
God knows what we need and he's very
able to give to us that which we
need, not what we want.
And a lot of times when we insist
and say, Lord, we must have what we
want, we're rejecting him as God over our
lives.
You are bought with a price, you are
not your own and if Jesus Christ paid
the price with his precious blood, then he
has the right to be Lord over our
lives and he has the right to give
to us what he thinks is best for
us.
It's time we grow up from, I want
this God, I want this Lord, I want
that Lord.
Oh, my friend, she has a car, I
want that car too.
Oh, my other classmate, she's married, I want
to be married too.
Oh, I want this, this is the man
I want to marry.
It's either him or nobody else and God
will give you that which you want and
you will find out that's not what you
need, hallelujah.
God has not called us to be like
others.
God has called us to be a peculiar
people, a chosen people, separated and seek for
his views.
Now we are in the church and we
want to be like the world, but friendship
with the world is enmity with God.
We can't be friends with the world and
friends with God.
We cannot want the things of the world
and still want the things of God.
We have to either serve God or serve
mammon and a lot of times we want
to serve mammon and we want to serve
God.
May God deliver us from the desires of
our flesh.
And my prayer this evening is, oh God,
don't give me what I want, give me
what I need.
And that should be the prayer of every
heart.
Let my will line up with your will.
Let my desire line up with your desire.
Let the purpose for my life line up
with your purpose.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
That's what it's all about.
It's about kingdom.
There's a difference between kingdom and church.
We can be in church and play church,
but when we talk about the kingdom, then
he is king.
Hallelujah.
In the kingdom, Jesus Christ is king.
And we are submitted to his will and
to his purpose.
Hallelujah.
Is thy kingdom come, not thy church come.
Is thy kingdom come and thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven.
And we need him to unveil to us
what is being done in heaven and what
he wants done on earth here.
Hallelujah.
He has the blueprint and if we will
seek his face, he will give it to
us.
Hallelujah.
Praise the name of the Lord.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus.
Amen.
I will mention briefly in passing the life
of Hezekiah.
We know the story of Hezekiah.
The word of the Lord came to him.
He says, put your house in order for
you will soon die.
And he turned his face to the wall
and began to cry.
And God sent a prophet.
He said, okay, I have heard your cry.
I will give you what you want.
I'm giving you 15 more years.
And within those, and you know, he was
just so excited.
And within those 15 years, Manasseh was born.
And Manasseh was one of the kings that
did the most atrocities in Israel.
He killed innocent children.
He made them pass through fire as a
sacrifice to an idol.
He introduced the whole nation of Israel to
idolatry that has never been heard before.
Manasseh was a product of what Hezekiah wanted,
not what God wanted for him.
God felt that his assignment was accomplished.
His time was up.
It was time for him to come home.
He began to cry and weep.
I don't want to come home.
And God says, okay, you love the world
so much, you can stay there.
He gave him 15 more years.
And in that 15 years, what happened was
the Babylonians came.
Hezekiah took them all through the palace and
showed them all the treasures of the temple.
And you know, they came back and took
everything from a heart that wanted what he
wanted, not what God wanted.
It was time for him to go.
And God foresaw that if he lived anymore,
this was going to happen.
You need to read the atrocities that Manasseh
committed.
It was worse than anything that's ever been
mentioned in Israel.
Hallelujah.
How should we ask?
Esther chapter 2.
And we'll end there.
The book of Esther chapter 2.
Praise Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
Esther chapter 2.
Now we have to be careful how we
pray and what we ask God for.
Because God might just give us what we
want.
And what we want might not be what
he wants.
I just pray that from tonight, our will
will begin to line up with his will.
Because he has a plan for our lives.
He starts to us as a source of
good and not evil, to give us a
future and a hope.
Hallelujah.
Now, you know about the beauty competition?
Competition.
A time came when Vashti the queen was
rejected, and a replacement was sought for.
And then there were these virgins that were
brought, and they were prepared for one whole
year to appear before the king.
And we are told in the book of
Esther chapter 2 from verse 15, that when
it came for the son of Esther to
appear before the king, she asked for nothing
except that which the what the eunuch had
recommended for her.
She asked for nothing.
Now the other brides and the other beauty
contestants, you know, they had all kinds of
things to appear attractive before the king.
And they used all manner of things, you
know.
But Esther did not take anything except what
the eunuch gave to her.
Now the eunuch is a type of the
Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit knows the heart of
the father.
He knows the mind of the father.
Now this eunuch was able to give to
Esther exactly what he knew would turn the
king on.
He knew the exact perfume that the king
loves.
He knew the exact clothes that the king
loves to see on a woman.
And so he gave it to her.
And because she asked for nothing, she did
not use her senses.
She did not depend on her beauty.
She did not depend on her preparation for
one year.
Because there were so many other contestants, she
depends solely on the eunuch who is a
type of the Holy Spirit.
And only he that knows the heart and
the mind of the father can reveal to
us.
And so of course he gives her exactly
what would turn the king on.
And of course when she appeared, you know,
the king stretched out his scepter to her
and Esther became queen.
That's how God wants us to ask.
He does not want us to come with
our made-up minds, with our made-up
motives, with our made-up intentions.
But he wants us to come and ask
for nothing except what our eunuch will give
to us.
The Holy Ghost, the Bible says, will lead
us into all truth.
And he knows the mind of the father.
He knows the will of the father.
He will reveal all truth to us.
Without the Holy Ghost, we cannot ask right.
We need the Holy Ghost to ask exactly
what is in the mind and the heart
of the father, so that the father can
say, Oh, these people are asking according to
my will and my purpose.
And when we walk with the Holy Spirit,
when we ask him to lead us, when
we allow him to help us, when we
give him room to teach us, then he
will take us to the throne room.
Hallelujah!
That's the safest place to be.
In fact, that's the safest place to be,
because you can't miss it with the Holy
Spirit.
He knows the father.
He's the spirit of Jesus Christ.
He's part of the Trinity.
He's the power of God.
He is able to bring to pass the
purposes of God.
And as we yield with him, as we
yield to him and we walk with him,
he is able to take us to the
very heart of the father.
And you will find that your prayer life
will change.
It's no more, give me, give me, give
me God.
It's always, what is your will?
What is your purpose?
What will you have me do, oh God?
What do you want to do in this
nation?
What do you want to do amongst the
people?
I want your will for this nation.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness, and then you don't have to
ask for anything.
Because the Bible says that all things, every
other thing shall be added unto you.
It's time to grow up.
Hallelujah!
It's time to grow up and stop asking
for things for ourselves.
I've learned recently to stop asking for things.
I just ask for his purpose.
I ask for his will.
I ask, what would you have me say?
I ask him, what would you have me
do?
I just let him know that his will
is important to me.
I just let him know that his purpose
is my purpose.
And that's a safe place to be.
Hallelujah!
I say that's a safe place to be.
Because when you pray the mind of the
father, you will get resolved.
And it will be resolved that will glorify
him.
And it will be resolved that will establish
his kingdom on the face of the earth.
It's time to grow up church.
We have to rise above self.
We have to rise above the lust of
our flesh, our selfish desires and motives.
Why do you want the things that you
want?
If you check your heart, ask yourself this
question.
Why do you want the things that you
want?
In what way will it glorify God?
In what way will it bring people into
the kingdom?
In what ways will it show forth his
light and cause the world to see him?
And if you cannot answer those questions, maybe
you have to think again about the things
you want.
We need to pray a prayer tonight.
And we need to say, oh God, save
us from the things we want.
Don't give in to our foolish desires.
Because he could.
He could give in to our foolish desires
and we think, oh, we have an answer
from God.
But he's not part of it.
And that which he has given to us
from the lust of our flesh will end
up destroying us.
It will not build his kingdom.
I'm talking to seasoned Christians, mature Christians.
You know, I'm talking to people who are
moving on to, pressing on to perfection.
I'm not talking to babes.
You know, my little girl can come every
day.
Mommy, I want this.
Mommy, I want that.
And I keep on teaching her.
I said, listen, it's not I want, it's
may I have.
So when you say may I have, I
have the option to say yes or no.
Amen.
You know, some of us need to grow
up because we go to God.
I want this.
I want that.
I want this.
I want that.
You know, and we're not interested in, do
you want this for me?
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus.
You are God Almighty.
You are our God.
We are no gods, O God.
We lift ourselves up from the throne where
we have put ourselves.
And we enthrone you tonight.
We enthrone you as God over our lives.
We enthrone you as Lord over our lives,
over our situations, over our circumstances.
We enthrone you as God over this nation.
We enthrone you as God in Times Square
Church.
We enthrone you as God in our homes.
We enthrone you as God in our relationships.
We enthrone you, O God, as God in
our lives.
And we ask that you take your place.
Take your place from tonight, O God.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
Let your will be done in our lives,
O God.
Father, deliver us from the loss of our
flesh.
Deliver us from the desires of our hearts.
Deliver us, O God, from those things that
will cause us to reject you.
Cause us to grow up.
Cause us to mature.
Cause us to rise and press on to
perfection, O God.
That your will becomes our will.
That your purpose becomes our purpose.
That your kingdom becomes priority in our lives.
That's our prayer tonight, O God.
Save us from what we want.
Do not give us what we want, but
give to us that which we need.
Give to us that which is fit for
this hour.
Deliver us from self, O God.
Deliver us from self.
Deliver us, O God.
Thank you, Lord.
It is not of he that willeth or
runneth.
It is the Lord that showeth mercy.
Father, we ask for your mercy tonight.
We ask for your mercy.
That you will not give in to our
foolish desires.
That you will not allow us to self
-destruct, O God.
But your mercy will restrain you from answering
our prayers.
We thank you for your mercy.
It is because of your mercy that the
sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Your mercy has kept us.
Thank you, Lord.
We bless you, O God.
We give you praise.
Father, I pray for my brothers.
And I pray for my sisters.
For as many, O God, as are struggling
with self, with will, O God.
Lord, I ask that tonight they will drop
it at the feet of the cross.
Lord, I pray that tonight they can lift
up their voices and say, what would you
have me do?
What do you want, O God?
Let your will be done in my life,
not my will.
I thank you, Lord.
And I give you praise.
Thank you for a new day.
Thank you for the new thing that you're
doing in our life, O God.
Thank you, Father, for a revelation of who
you are.
Thank you for growth and maturity in the
things of the Spirit.
Thank you for the Holy Spirit that you
have given to us to lead us into
all truth.
Let the workings of your Spirit be made
manifest in our lives from this day forth
and forevermore.
We give you praise, Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
This is the conclusion of the message.