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.
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My message this morning is a question.
And the question is, have you seen your
calling yet?
Have you?
Have you seen your calling yet?
And there are so many people who say,
Lord, just show me what you've called me
to do.
Lead me, guide me.
Give me understanding of what you've called me
to be and how you've called me to
live as a Christian.
And so many of that is the depressing
question, especially on the heart of a hungry
Christian.
Now, those that are not hungry for God
really don't even consider these issues.
These are really issues for those that have
that inward desire to live for God and
to live a life that is honoring to
him.
Father, I thank you for the anointing of
the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit, I thank you for your quickening
power.
I thank you for the life that you
give.
I thank you that if you come, the
word comes alive.
If you withhold your presence, it's only a
dead letter.
It can do no good for any heart.
And so, Holy Spirit, we acknowledge you.
We acknowledge your presence.
We acknowledge our need of you.
I acknowledge my need.
I dare never stand and speak the word
of God without your anointing.
Father, I thank you for the grace to
disappear, that Jesus, you may appear, that your
word may be larger than life.
God, that your truth may find a lodging
place in the hearts of all hearers that
you've gathered in this house today and those
that will hear this message in the coming
weeks.
Father, we thank you for it, God, with
all our hearts, that your kingdom is going
to advance and the name of Jesus Christ
is going to be loved and honored in
our hearts and in this house today.
We thank you for it in Jesus' mighty
name.
Exodus chapter 4, if you'll turn there with
me, please.
The second book from the beginning of the
Bible for those that are new to Christ.
Exodus chapter 4.
Have you seen your calling yet?
We're going to begin at verse 10, read
through to verse 17.
And Moses said unto the Lord...
Now, you have to understand that Moses has
been given an incredible call here of God,
which we're going to talk about.
And this is his response to the Lord.
And it's a typical response of many people
who are called by God.
And Moses said to the Lord, Oh, my
God, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor
since thou hast spoken unto thy servant.
But I am slow of speech and of
a slow tongue.
And the Lord said unto him, Who made
man's mouth?
Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or
the seeing, or the blind?
Have not I the Lord?
Now, therefore, go, and I will be with
thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt
say.
And he said...
Now, this is Moses.
Oh, my Lord, send, I pray thee, by
the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
And the anger of the Lord was kindled
against Moses.
And he said, Is not Aaron the Levite
thy brother?
I know that he can speak well.
And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet
thee.
And when he seeth thee, he shall be
glad in his heart.
And thou shalt speak unto him and put
words in his mouth, and I will be
with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and
will teach you what you shall do.
And he shall be thy spokesman unto the
people.
And he shall be, even he shall be
to thee instead of a mouth, and thou
shalt be to him instead of God.
And thou shalt take this rod in thy
hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.
Now, this man, Moses, was a man specifically
prepared of God for a mission that God
had entrusted to his life.
And I think it's important for all of
us, before we even get into this message,
to understand that God has a purpose for
your life.
You and I were not saved just to
come to church and experience his presence and
sing songs.
Now, that's part of it.
That's wonderful, because we are created to worship
him.
But we are created for a purpose.
There is a unique design that God planned
from before the foundation of the world for
you, even before you were formed in your
mother's womb.
God knew you.
And he had a plan for you.
And it's a calling that is very unique
to you.
No one else can fulfill your calling.
You have a unique spot, as it is
in the wall of the temple of God.
You are a stone that is being fashioned
individually by God's hand.
And no one else can do what God
has called you to do.
Now, the Lord gave Moses an incredible mission.
He told him, go and get your family
out of captivity.
You have, as it were, almost 2 to
3 million relatives, brothers and sisters.
We can liken it to you and I
today.
For example, we know all nations are born
of one blood.
We have family, as it is all throughout
the world, of every race, every nationality, color,
every language, every culture.
And God said to Moses, I'm calling you
now to go and get them out of
captivity.
They've been gripped by a horrible demonic power
that is now squeezing the very life out
of them and is causing their firstborn to
be put to death.
It's causing their hope and their strength to
diminish.
And I'm calling you now, Moses.
I'm calling you to stand and I'm going
to do something in you and through you
that is going to release millions out of
the captivity of darkness.
Moses, go get them and bring them into
a place of promise which I've provided for
them.
I don't see any higher calling on the
life of a Christian than to be God
-gripped, than to allow the Holy Ghost to
have access and sway to every area of
our lives and hearts and say, Holy Spirit,
grip me, grip my mind, my thoughts, my
heart, my actions, my past, present, future.
I surrender it all into your hands and
I ask you, Holy Spirit, to take my
life and use me to glorify the name
of Jesus Christ by bringing people that you
love out of captivity and bringing them into
the glorious freedom of Jesus Christ, that wonderful
victory that was won on Calvary 2,000
years ago.
And the Lord says to Moses, I'm not
just calling you, but I'm going to give
you power over their oppressors.
There's a power that is oppressing my people.
God said, I'm going to give you power
over this power.
In Exodus chapter 4, verses 3 and 4,
the Lord said, Verse 2, he said, What
do you have in your hand?
And he said, I have a rod, the
shepherd's staff.
And he said, cast it on the ground.
And he cast it on the ground and
it became a serpent and Moses fled before
it.
And the Lord said to Moses, put forth
thine hand and take it by the tail.
And he put forth his hand and caught
it and it became a rod in his
hand.
Now, some commentators say that the serpent was
the symbol of power in Egypt.
Many of the pharaohs would have the symbol
of a cobra on their headdress.
And there may be some validity to that.
Essentially speaking, God was saying to Moses, listen,
I'm going to give you to what I'm
about to do in your life and through
your life.
And if you will trust my word, I'm
going to give you power over the power
that oppresses my people.
He said, throw it down.
It became a serpent and he ran from
it.
And you see that the man or woman,
the person who doesn't know God will always
flee from their fears.
And God said to Moses, no, I'm going
to do something so deep in you that
you're not going to be afraid of fear
anymore.
Fear is not going to have any power
over you.
Moses, you're going to stand before the most
powerful, wicked ruler in your generation.
And with nothing more than a stick in
your hand, confidence in God, you're going to
make a declaration to him.
You're going to say, let my people go.
And Moses, he's going to have to obey
you.
It's an incredible thing.
I often wonder as I read this story,
why did Pharaoh put up with this?
Why did Pharaoh for so long let this
old man and his brother come walking into
his presence and make these declarations and bring
these plagues upon Egypt?
You see, he was powerless to do anything.
There's only one answer.
God's hand was on the entire situation.
He is in control of everything that happens.
Nothing happens without his permission.
He said, listen, you don't have to flee
now any longer, Moses.
You don't have to run.
Moses had been running for 40 years from
fear.
He had in his own self-will slain
an Egyptian.
He had attempted to bring about deliverance for
his own people in his own way, and
it had been rejected.
Fearing the exposure of his self-effort, he
had run into a land called Midian and
had been there for 40 years, fleeing as
it is himself from the power of Egypt.
But the Lord said to Moses now, and
this is very significant, he said, put forth
your hand and take it by the tail.
Now, you see, if you know a cobra
or any kind of a venomous snake, they
don't turn their back unless they're running from
something.
I don't know if a snake has a
back.
I don't know if that's the appropriate thing
to say, but let's just say they don't
turn tail unless they're fleeing.
And a venomous snake doesn't flee.
A venomous snake by instinct stands and fights
with everything that it's got.
And God said to Moses, don't you run
from the snake anymore.
Because of what I'm about to do, the
snake is going to run from you.
And Moses, you run, you just go and
grab it by the tail.
You see, a snake keeper or charmer would
never grab a snake by the tail because
it'll turn around and bite him.
They would always pick them up from behind
the head.
But Moses says, no, the power of Egypt
is going to flee from you, Moses.
I'm going to give you power.
You see, Jesus Christ has commissioned the church
of which you are on our part.
He told us that we're to be witnesses
of the victory of Jesus and his power
over the powers of darkness in the places
that he sends us to throughout the entire
earth.
Acts 180 said, you shall receive power after
the Holy Ghost has come upon you.
You shall be witnesses of me in Jerusalem
and Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost
parts of the earth.
This is the call of the church of
Jesus Christ.
He says, you are not to run from
your fears anymore.
You're to face your fears.
You are to walk headlong and you are
to take what formerly chased you.
You're to chase it now.
And by faith, you're to take it up
in your hand.
Jesus himself said in Luke 10, 19, Behold,
I give you power to tread on serpents
and scorpions and over all the power of
the enemy.
And nothing shall by any means hurt you.
He didn't say, I give you power over
some of the enemy's power.
He said, I give you power over all
of the enemy's power.
And nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Now, leave a marker in Exodus chapter 4
and go to 1 Corinthians in the New
Testament, if you will.
Right after the book of Romans, you'll have
Acts, Romans and then 1 Corinthians.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul is speaking
about an incredible truth that thankfully some in
his generation were able to lay hold of.
1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 23.
He says, But we preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews a stumbling block and unto the
Greeks foolishness.
But unto them which are called, both Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power.
And the word power in the Greek text
means the enabling power.
We preach Christ, Paul says, as the enabling
power of God and the wisdom, or may
I also call it the enabling wisdom of
God.
Paul is saying to the Romans, We preach
Christ as everything a man needs to do
everything that God has called him to do.
We preach Christ as the source of entire
life and strength to fulfill the call to
the letter that God puts on every man
and woman's life.
He said, Because the foolishness of God, verse
25, is wiser than men.
In other words, if God were able to
make himself foolish, even as foolish as he
could make himself, he would still be wiser
than the wisest natural man.
And the weakness of God is stronger than
men.
For you see your calling.
My question was, have you seen yet your
calling?
For you see your calling, brethren, how that
not many wise men after the flesh, not
many mighty, and not many noble are called.
For God has chosen the foolish things of
the world to confound the wise, and God
has chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty.
Now there's a reason why those who are
naturally strong are not called.
There's a reason why the kingdom of God
cannot advance through people who rest on natural
talent and ability.
And you're going to see that in a
minute.
But God has made a choice.
He said, I don't want those that are
strong in themselves.
I want those who know they are foolish.
I want those who know that they are
weak.
I want those who know that they are
base.
They are the lowest things of the world.
I want those that everyone else has cast
out and despised.
I want those that the natural man in
the natural world wants nothing to do with.
These are the qualifications to be used in
the kingdom of God.
God has chosen these things, yea, the things
which are not to bring to naught the
things that are.
Or in other words, to take away the
power, to make idle it actually means.
To take away the existing power.
God said, I have chosen the weakest, most
despised, foolish vessels I can find in the
universe.
And I put my enabling power upon them.
That through them, the existing powers that captivate
the hearts and lives of millions of people
may be broken.
And others may be released from captivity into
the glorious liberty of Jesus Christ.
That all men may come to the understanding
it's not by human might.
It's not by human power.
It's by my spirit, saith the Lord.
It's by the grace, the almighty goodness of
God that we live, Paul says, and move
and we have our being.
Verse 29, he says, that no flesh should
glory in his presence.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
That according as it is written, he that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
You see your calling.
Now, listen to me carefully.
Moses, in spite of all the promises of
God towards him and all the displays of
God's power.
God had given him signs.
He had shown him the serpent.
He was able to pick it up by
the tail and became by faith.
It couldn't harm him.
He gave him another sign of.
He said, put your hand inside your coat,
take it out.
It was leprous.
He put it back in again.
He took it out.
It was holy.
He said, I can do anything.
I can heal.
I can restore.
Leprosy was a disease, of course, which was
the ultimate uncleanness in that generation.
You were cast away as it is from
the society that you were part of, put
into an unclean place.
Never to return all of your life to
be walking around crying unclean everywhere you go
and having people recoiled from you in horror.
And God said to Moses, there's no longer
anything that I can't cleanse.
There's no situation I can't change.
He was giving him the displays of his
power in some very tangible ways so that
he could understand it.
And some of you, many, many who are
here today, you are an absolute testimony of
the changing power of God.
You know you're a living miracle.
You sit here today.
You say, I'd be in a mental hospital.
I'd be in prison.
I'd be dead of drugs if God's spirit
hadn't come upon me.
You were insane.
But now you sit here in your right
mind.
You are vicious and vile.
And God came and gave you a new
heart and gave you a new spirit.
You say, Pastor, this is true.
This is true.
There's nothing impossible with God.
He can change anything he wants to change.
And Moses knew this.
God gave him the sign and the knowledge.
He had the knowledge.
But somewhere along the line, the knowledge has
got to translate itself into a belief.
A heartfelt, life-changing belief that this change
is not just for me, but it's for
all who call on the name of the
Lord.
And lastly, he said, I'll give you another
sign.
He said, take water out of the river.
If Pharaoh doesn't believe, pour it and it'll
become blood on the dry ground.
He said, I can change any element.
I can change any situation.
I mean, the typology is obvious.
Ultimately, it was the blood of God Almighty
himself that was spilled on the ground, that
made the pathway to freedom.
And it's incredible when you begin to see
it, because everything points to the cross.
Everything is about the covenant that God made
with his son and about the new life
that he promises each one of us through
him.
But in spite of all the promises and
all the displays of God's power, Moses still
had to fight through the same struggles of
unbelief which you and I have through today.
We all fight with unbelief.
You want to know how I know why?
Because the Bible says every temptation, every trial
is common to all men.
I fight with it.
You fight with it.
We all fight with it.
It's a struggle sometimes when we look in
the mirror to believe that God actually can
do to us what he says he will
do.
We hear the distant voice of the spirit
calling and we make a mistake of looking
in the mirror and saying, God in heaven,
that's a wonderful idea.
I hope you sure find somebody that can
do it, because it's not going to be
me.
Exodus 4.10, Moses getting this incredible call,
he says, Lord, I'm not eloquent.
I've never been before and I'm not now,
but I'm of a slow speech and of
a slow tongue.
Moses was basically saying, that's an incredible thing.
You're calling somebody to stand before the most
powerful king that this world knows.
And I don't have the ability.
I don't know what to say.
I don't have the power.
I don't have the resources to do this
thing.
I have no commanding presence.
Nobody has ever listened to me before.
I mean, even Hebrew slaves wouldn't listen to
me.
I lost my influence in Pharaoh's court and
now you're calling me to stand before this
king?
Who's going to listen to me?
And you see, that's the very root of
what causes people to miss their calling.
It's that unbelief.
And then in verse 13, what God answers
in verse 11, it says, Who made your
mouth?
Do you not understand who you're talking to?
God says, I make everything.
I make all things.
I've already shown you I can change any
situation.
Why would you want to limit my power
now?
Remember the children of Israel, they did the
same thing.
They came out of Egypt through the leadership
of Moses.
And the scripture says in the Psalms that
they limited the Holy One of Israel.
They put parameters on them and said, well,
you can do this, but can you do
that?
Yeah, I know you saved me from drugs,
but really?
Calling me to preach the gospel?
Or be a missionary?
Or to go into a foreign culture that
I don't understand?
I know nothing about?
And to stand and make declarations of truth?
Then in verse 13, he says, Oh, my
Lord, I send thy praise by the hand
of whom thou wilt send.
Now, other translations all basically say the same
thing.
Lord, please send someone else.
That's the New Living translation says it that
way.
Please?
This is a marvelous idea.
God, I'm with you.
I'm with you in heart.
I did my part 40 years ago.
I killed an Egyptian.
I buried him in the sand.
You were there.
You saw it.
Lord, I'm with you.
And whoever you send, boy, he's going to
have my support.
And the scripture says, you know, that's true
because so many people come to the altar
to pray or go to a prayer meeting
and say, Oh, God, people are dying in
certain places of the city or certain areas.
There are people here today that pray, Oh,
Jesus, please send somebody into my office.
There will be a living testimony for you.
And here you are sitting at the desk
yourself.
And the same thing is in the heart.
Send someone into my neighborhood.
God, the kids are dying.
On every street corner they're dealing drugs and
I see the devil crushing them and they're
under the influence of wicked powers.
And I can see so many looking out
their windows and praying, God, send somebody.
And the scripture tells us that the anger
of the Lord was kindled against Moses.
Now, it's important to understand the next transaction
from verse 14 to 16.
You have to understand that this is done
when God's spirit is hot towards this unbelief.
It says, His anger was kindled against Moses.
And he said, Is not Aaron the Levite
your brother?
I know that he can speak well.
And also, behold, he comes to meet you.
And when he sees you, he'll be glad
in his heart.
You want natural ability?
God says, OK, Moses, your focus is on
natural ability.
Well, here's a man who has it all.
And you can take him with you on
your journey.
He said, But I want to give you
an ominous warning.
Those who would rather trust in natural ability
than trust in the living God.
He said, I give you a warning.
And it's in verse 16.
He said, He will be your spokesman to
the people.
And he shall be to thee instead of
a mouth.
And thou shalt be to him instead of
God.
He said, I'm going to let him go
with you on your journey.
But I warn you that this type of
a man doesn't hear from God.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2.14, The
natural man, now that's the man who's governed
by his fallen instinct.
That's what the original Greek text means.
The man who is governed, led by, thinks
through, plans with his natural fallen instinct.
Receives not the things of the Spirit of
God, for they are foolishness to him.
And neither can he know them because they
are spiritually discerned.
He walks and charts his own course.
Proverbs 14.12 says, There's a way that
seems right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death.
Beloved, beware of the self-trust and natural
abilities which accompany all of us on our
journey.
It is these things more often than anything
else that will lead into error and away
from the pathway of victory that God has
destined you and I to walk in.
Firstly, go with me to Exodus chapter 32,
please.
Go ahead in your Bible.
I'm going to speak a little bit about
natural ability.
God says, alright, you want him, you got
him.
I know he can speak well, but he
doesn't hear from me.
Incredible.
I'm going to show you where natural ability
will take you and I.
See, the man who follows his natural ability
will chart his own course.
He will not go where God calls him.
He will go where he thinks he can
be best suited to the cause of Christ.
We don't see it that way, but often
it's a different path than the path that
God has called us to.
He doesn't call us where we are strong
necessarily.
Now, it can happen.
But quite often he calls us where we
are weak.
He calls us where we need him.
He calls us where we can't trust in
our own resources because when we begin to
trust in our own resources, we begin to
distance ourselves from the very source of our
life and power.
Firstly, Exodus 32 tells us that natural ability
cannot be still and doesn't know how to
wait on God.
Exodus 32, here's...
Moses has led the people, or God has
led the people through Moses out of captivity.
He's brought them to the mountain that he
told Moses.
He said, this is going to be a
sign.
You're going to bring them out and you're
going to worship me on this mountain.
He's giving Moses now the instruction, the law.
He's talking about the places of promise to
him.
Moses is locked in, shut away with God.
The people are down near the perimeters of
the mountain and they haven't heard from God
for a time.
You see, natural ability gets nervous when it
hasn't heard from God.
Natural ability has a tendency to take over
when it feels that God somehow has gone
on vacation.
Exodus 32, verse 1, it says, When the
people saw that Moses delayed to come down
from the mount, the people gathered themselves together
to Aaron.
Remember this man, Aaron.
God says, you want him?
You got him.
And said to him, Up, make us gods,
which shall go before us.
For as for this Moses, the man that
brought us up out of the land of
Egypt, we don't know, we want not what
has become of him.
And Aaron said unto them, Break off the
golden earrings, which are in the ears of
your wives, of your sons, and of your
daughters, and bring them to me.
You see, in times when faith alone is
needed, the natural man will move to create
his own solution.
The natural man will always do this.
He says, I've got an idea.
And that's very dangerous in the kingdom of
God.
And all the people, verse 3, broke off
the golden earrings which were in their ears
and brought them to Aaron.
And he received it at their hand and
fashioned it with a graving tool after he
had made it a molten calf.
And they said, These be thy gods, O
Israel, which brought thee up out of the
land of Egypt.
The natural man, in times when faith is
needed, will redesign God to fit his own
distorted viewpoint of God.
When flesh is leading, God gets very strange
looking.
And beloved, we're living in a generation like
that right now.
When flesh is leading, you can hardly, you
can't recognize Jesus Christ any longer.
He takes on another form as men's hands
begin to fashion Him.
As they say, Well, I had a vision
and I think God looks like this.
And I feel that He acts like this.
And they set their hands and they begin
to create and reform because natural ability is
leading.
It's no longer the Spirit of God that
is leading the church.
And when Aaron saw it, he says, verse
5, he built an altar before it.
And Aaron made a proclamation.
He said, Tomorrow is a feast to the
Lord.
Natural ability will build its own altars.
And it will determine its own focus of
worship or level of dedication.
And ultimately, verse 6, will bring the people
to a place where faith is no more
and the flesh is ruling.
And they rose up early on the morrow
and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.
And the people sat down to eat and
to drink and rose up to play.
It's party time.
That's exactly what Aaron told the people.
He made a calf.
He charted his own course because he wasn't
hearing from God.
He made his own altar.
He made his own level of worship and
dedication and then declared a party.
It's party time.
Here they are living in a time of
wilderness searching.
They're living in a time when they're being
led out of darkness.
And a fleshly priesthood now has taken dominion
for this season over the people of God
and is leading them into poverty.
Party time.
I've heard that a lot in the last
several years in the charismatic church.
It's party time.
When Moses finally came down, Moses saw what
was happening.
It says, verse 25, it says, Moses saw
that the people were naked, for Aaron had
made them naked unto their shame among their
enemies.
If you can see it with me, you
can see the people of God rejoicing while
being stripped naked and exposed to shame before
their enemies.
Natural ability will be quick to look to
place the blame when its pathways end in
dismal failure.
You see, natural ability can't lead in the
kingdom of God because you can't even see
it.
Let alone lead.
And the ways of flesh will always fail.
You see it throughout scriptural, throughout church history.
You see people rise up that really don't
know God and proclaim that they're leading the
people in this glorious new revelation about the
ways in the kingdom of God.
And they travel down the road and you
can hear the partying, the shouting.
Look what we've found.
Look who we are.
Look at the great truth we have that
no one else has laid hold of.
And you don't even need a set of
binoculars to see them all as the dust
rises, as they begin to fall not too
far down the road.
Because natural ability will always fail.
It knows nothing about the kingdom of God.
But it'll be quick to look and to
place blame.
In Exodus 32, when Moses came down from
the mountain, verse 21, the scripture says, Moses
said to Aaron, What did this people to
thee that thou hast brought so great a
sin upon them?
Aaron, did they torture you, Aaron?
No, Moses was serious.
What did they do to you?
Did they threaten you?
Did they put a knife to your throat?
What did they do to you that you
have brought them into such nakedness?
And Aaron said, Well, let not the anger
of my Lord wax hot.
You know the people that they are set
on mischief.
Incredible, isn't it?
Just like in the Garden of Eden.
The woman made me do it.
Well, the serpent made me do it.
And nobody will take the blame.
Nobody will look within.
That's the sin nature.
That's the natural man.
Will not look within his own heart because
of the pride that is resident there.
And at the same time, he's still trying
to attach some spiritual meaning to his own
actions.
And Aaron said, Let not the Lord thou
knowest the people that are set on mischief.
In verse 24, he said, I said to
them, Whosoever has any gold, let them break
it off.
So they gave it me.
Then I cast it into the fire.
And there came out this calf.
Now, the Bible tells us that Aaron fashioned
it with his own hands.
But you see, he's trying to make something
spiritual out of it.
He says, You know, Moses, this had to
be God.
How else could this have happened?
We were seeking Him.
We wanted to know who He was.
We just took all our gold.
And you see, that's where a lot of
theology comes from today.
We took all our gold, kind of threw
it in the pot, and out popped this
calf.
It has to be God.
In the early 90s, I was invited to
be a keynote speaker at a very large
charismatic church conference in Canada.
The Holy Ghost came on me.
He gave me an ominous warning for the
church.
I warned them that they were creating a
calf.
And they were going to refashion God to
suit their own lust to party.
Sought in the spirit that people were gathering,
not because they wanted truth, not because they
wanted the will of God.
No missions focused.
No yielded surrendered life.
No, it was, we want to party.
We want to run the aisles.
We want to come to the altar.
We want to jump up and down.
We want to shake.
We want to vibrate.
We want to feel good.
And today, the charismatic churches, especially in Canada,
have no boast.
But myriads of diminished or ruined churches.
Wandering, confused souls on every hill without shepherds.
This is exactly what the Holy Ghost gave
me to speak.
I said, the people are going to be
wandering on the hills, not too many years
down the road, because they have no shepherds.
Here's the scripture from Micaiah, where Micaiah stood
before the king, and everyone is saying, go
and prosper.
They're all standing around saying, go, go, do
this thing that's in your heart.
And Micaiah said, no, if you do this
thing, it will be the death of you.
And today, we see the devastation throughout the
country.
See, charismatic churches in complete disarray.
People wounded and bruised.
Church leaders that have stayed to the word
of God are telling me they're starting to
filter in now, and they won't raise their
hands.
They don't want to worship God.
They sit in the back.
They don't want to get involved in anything.
They mistrust all leadership now.
While the self-willed leaders that were leading
them still tried to attach some spiritual meaning
to having stripped God's people naked before their
enemies, still stand there and still say, well,
it had to be God.
It had to be God.
We were seeking Him, and I popped His
cap.
Whether or not it looks like the Jesus
of the Bible seemed to be insignificant.
It even got so brazen that there were
preachers standing and saying, put away your Bibles
now.
God is doing a new thing.
Don't examine it by the Bible, because they
knew it couldn't stand the test of Scripture.
And now we see people stripped and wounded
and naked.
Pentecostal churches have become a laughing stock.
In the province of Quebec, Canada alone, there
were 100 or so Pentecostal churches.
Small towns fighting hard, digging in for many
years.
Most of which embraced the things that had
passed through in the last 10 years.
Almost all the churches are diminished to at
least half, and some are gone of their
membership.
They are the absolute laughing stock of their
communities today.
Stripped naked, while those who led them to
this nakedness still stand back and say, well,
you know the people, what they're like.
And others justify their spiritual poverty by saying,
well, you know, God is purging His house.
That's always a convenient scapegoat for the preacher
that has lost touch with God.
You know, God is purging His house.
Forever purging His house.
Now, the Bible tells us, back in Exodus
chapter 4 again, Moses headed out to do
the will of God.
And I believe that there are many here
today who are like Moses.
You are hearing something of God.
You are hearing it deep in your heart.
And you've begun to see that the calling
of God is not for the strong.
The calling of God is not for the
naturally talented.
The calling of God is for those who
know they need a Savior.
Who want Him.
They want His heart.
And you're beginning to see it more than
you ever had.
And the Bible says that Moses headed out,
just as many of us are heading out
on our journey today.
In verse 24 it says, It came to
pass by the way in the inn that
the Lord met him.
That's Moses.
Exodus 4, 24.
And sought to kill him.
That's an incredible thought here.
God calls a man.
He finally yields to the call.
And then God seeks to kill him.
Now, first of all, it's important to understand
something.
The Lord doesn't seek to kill anyone.
If He wants to kill you, trust me,
you are dead.
No, you see, it's not Moses God wanted
to kill.
It's something in him.
You see, Moses had been a man of
the world.
He had lived 40 years in Egypt.
And he had also lived 40 years in
the land of Midian.
And the world's ways were still in him.
And he was not yet fully in his
heart separated to the Word and to the
will of God.
He had a son that was born in
Midian.
And because he had a Midianitish wife, he
hadn't bothered to circumcise his son.
And you see, circumcision was a sign of
the covenant.
And really what it means is that Moses,
in his heart, was not fully committed to
living for God.
And God said, before you go, I have
to go after that and kill it.
I have to get that out of your
heart.
I have to pierce between soul and spirit,
joint and marrow.
And I've got to go right in and
discern the thoughts and intents of your heart.
Moses, I've got to show you some things
in your life.
Because if you don't see it now, you're
going to get out there and you're going
to get killed.
I've got to show you where you're trusting
in yourself.
I've got to show you where natural instinct
has taken over for the Word of God.
You are not separated to me, Moses.
Let me just read this to you.
Jesus Christ himself said in John chapter 15.
Listen to this.
I am the vine, and my Father is
the husbandman.
And every branch in me that bears not
fruit, he takes it away.
And every branch that bears fruit, he purges
it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Now you are clean through the word which
I have spoken to you.
Abide in me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself
except it abide in the vine, and no
more can ye except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
And he that abides in me, and I
in him, the same brings forth much fruit.
For without me you can do nothing.
Without me you are wasting your time.
Even preaching the gospel, you're wasting your time.
You can do nothing without me.
It's not about natural ability.
This is not a natural kingdom.
This is a supernatural kingdom.
It is a spiritual kingdom.
The Holy Ghost is the only one with
the blueprints for the church of Jesus Christ,
and the plan of God for all humanity.
We make a tragic mistake when we start
substituting natural ability for faith in God.
We have a church age full of ideas,
men and women, for God.
And all they've been able to produce is
four steps, three steps, seven steps, twelve steps.
And no victory.
No victory.
Just principles to live your Christian life by.
But no supernatural victory.
There's no six steps to anything, beloved.
There's one step.
Get out of your seat and believe God.
Trust Him.
He can't fail you.
You've never known spiritual life until you begin
to trust Him, and begin to walk with
Him, and begin to look away from your
inability, and begin to rejoice in God, the
supplier of my every need.
Hallelujah.
He said, If a man abides not in
me, he is cast forth as a branch
and is withered, and men gather them and
cast them into the fire, and they are
burned.
If you abide in me, in other words,
if I am the source of your life
and strength, if I am the one guiding
you, and my words abide in you, you
shall ask what you will, and it shall
be done to you.
If you abide in me, He said, ask,
and I will do it for you.
You need power to speak?
Ask.
You need love?
Ask.
You need enduring patience?
Ask.
You need long-suffering to go through your
trial?
Ask.
He said, I will do it for you.
I will do it for you gladly.
I will do it that your joy might
be full.
I will do it that you might bear
much fruit, and my Father might be glorified.
I will do it so that no flesh
will glory in its health, but all men
will glory in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I will do it so that you will
have a testimony.
You can stand before hundreds of thousands and
say, God has given me strength in life,
and He can do it for you.
Hallelujah!
That's the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The ground is level.
The way is open.
Whosoever will, lame, blind, prostitute, drug addict, whatever
you are, God has a plan for your
life.
He will take you and fill you with
His Spirit, cleanse you with His blood, and
make you into a new person.
He will cause you to stand among princes.
He will raise you out of death and
despair.
Hallelujah!
He will take you where you can't go.
He will make you what you can't be.
He will cause you to do what you
couldn't do before.
Hallelujah!
The Lord was saying, Moses, there are great
battles ahead of you, but I can't fight
for you.
If you are not fully persuaded that in
every area of your life that I am
worth being your God, I can't fight for
you, Moses, until I am God in everything.
Until I am God in all.
Then I can fight for you.
I want to close with Exodus 17 today.
I want to talk about the first battle.
They come out of captivity.
And the very first thing that they had
to battle is the very first thing that
you and I will have to fight when
we respond to the call of God.
Exodus 17.8 says, Then came Amalek and
fought with Israel in Rephidim.
Now, Amalek is the grandson of Esau.
Now, Esau is the natural man who sold
off his birthright for soup.
The man who didn't want the things of
God.
There's an Esau in all of us, folks.
There's a nature in us that doesn't want
the things of God.
This was the very first thing that he
had to come up against.
His own nature.
And Moses said to Joshua, Choose out men
and go and fight with Amalek.
Tomorrow I'll stand on the top of the
hill with God in my hand.
Now, Amalek, if you go to the end
of that chapter, it says the Lord swore
that the Lord will have war with Amalek
from generation to generation.
God says this is going to be an
ongoing battle.
But I'm going to show you how to
get the victory.
I'm going to show you where your life
comes from, where your strength comes from.
So Joshua, verse 10, did as Moses had
said unto him and fought with Amalek.
And Moses and Aaron, remember Aaron is the
type as it is of the natural man,
and her went up to the top of
the hill.
And it came to pass when Moses held
up his hand that Israel prevailed.
And when he let down his hand, Amalek
prevailed.
There's a type of something here.
When Moses raised up his hands and surrendered
to God, when his dependence was on God,
the kingdom of God began to advance and
go forward.
And when his hands came down, when the
weariness of his own flesh began to overpower
him and he began to lose confidence, in
a sense, as a physical type of the
man who loses confidence in God.
And when he let his hands come down,
then Amalek, the descendants of Esau, began to
prevail against the children of God.
And Moses' hands were heavy, verse 12.
Scripture says they took a stone and put
it under him, and he sat on that
stone.
And virtually every commentator, at least that I
looked at, talks about that stone being an
absolute type of Jesus Christ.
And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands,
the one on the one side and the
one on the other side.
And his hands were steady till the going
down of the sun.
And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with
the edge of the sword.
Now, beloved, listen to me.
Natural talents and abilities may be yours to
accompany you and I on this journey.
It's not wrong to have natural ability.
You might be today a natural leader.
You might be a natural speaker.
You might be a natural singer.
You might be a natural Bible teacher.
You might be a natural missionary.
You might be a natural planner.
You might have incredible planning ability in the
field that you work in, but God is
calling you into His kingdom.
And it's not wrong to have these abilities,
and there will always be an Aaron following
along with a Moses.
They're types, in a sense, of the two
natures in the same man that God calls.
But make sure, make sure that by God's
grace, the natural man and natural ability stay
servants to faith in God.
You see, all Aaron did was, Aaron was
holding up Moses' hands.
The natural man became a servant to faith.
And that's what God is speaking to us.
If you have inabilities, don't glimpse me by
those inabilities.
If you have abilities, keep those abilities servants
to faith.
Don't let your natural man begin to lead
you because it will lead you and those
that follow you astray.
Let your natural talents, let your natural ability
always give place to faith in God.
There is no other way to victory in
the Christian life or in the kingdom of
God.
Hallelujah.
Have you seen your calling yet?
Have you seen it?
Have you yet understood it?
Are you open now to the voice of
God?
There are people here that you're going to
have some tough decisions to make in the
future.
Because if you press in, God's going to
speak to you.
There are some here that you've come from
countries that I can't go to, but you
can.
God's going to speak to you.
It'll have to be God.
No preacher here will ever lay that kind
of a burden on you.
It's got to be something God speaks.
Have you yet seen your calling?
Do we yet understand that we are called
to bring men and women out of darkness?
Bring them to Christ, that they might have
life.
Over the course of my life, in the
course of ministry, there have been many times
I've leaned on the flesh and I have
failed.
I've leaned on my own understanding.
And by God's grace, it has come to
nothing.
Every time I leaned on the flesh, the
one thing I'm really thankful for is that
I found that there's a place of forgiveness
and restoration for me.
God has been very merciful to me, beloved.
I've made every mistake that Moses made and
then some.
But God's been faithful.
Some people here, you've tried to solve your
marriage by shouting, feeling whoever gets the last
word in is going to win.
That's leaning on the flesh.
You've not trusted God.
You've never come to the point where you've
just raised your hands up.
I said, Lord, I surrender it.
I surrender it all.
I put it in your hands.
And I make my natural tendencies and abilities
servants to faith.
I yield to you, God.
I don't understand.
Some of you have lived in frustration for
years because you've been in the church and
you've wanted to know the will of God,
but you've boxed it in.
You've said, yes, I want to know your
will, but it has to be in this
direction.
A profession that you love or a career
that you've chosen.
And you say, God, I'll go anywhere in
the legal field and serve you.
God says, no, I didn't call you there.
I called you somewhere else.
So you fight and fight and fight and
lean and try and push and try to
make ministry happen.
And it's just a source of absolute frustration
because it's in the flesh.
It fails.
There's no life.
There's no satisfaction.
There's no joy.
There's no change.
There's no sense of living in the supernatural.
There's no morning by morning seeing new mercies,
new miracles, new strength, new giftings because it's
in the flesh.
And it's wearisome.
When you make your own God, it's wearisome.
First of all, it points you in the
wrong direction.
When Aaron made that calf, the very first
thing they wanted to do was go back
into Egypt.
And secondly, if they would have stopped to
consider it, a God who once carried them,
they would now have to carry him.
How wearying it is when you create your
own God, folks.
How wearying when you've got to hold this
golden calf on your shoulder and trudge through
the wilderness, pretending that you're in love with
Jesus.
No, you want to fall in love with
Him?
Find His will.
Walk with Him.
There are times, there are people here today
who would say, Lord, I want to repent
of areas of my heart where the Holy
Spirit has shown me that I'm not fully
surrendered to the Lordship of Christ.
I don't know sometimes in the church if
we really realize how dangerous these areas are.
One little thing that Moses hadn't done, and
God said, you either have to do this
or I can't send you.
I've got to take your life.
Because you will ruin my heritage.
And I know that as I've been speaking
today, the Holy Spirit is also speaking on
a multiplicity of levels.
He's not bound by my voice.
I mean, the Holy Spirit will take a
word and it will fragment into a thousand
pieces and touch every area of every heart.
And many here today, you know exactly what
it is that God is speaking to you.
Areas where you say, I'm not surrendered.
I'm still pushing, planning, scheming.
I'm frustrated, I'm tired.
God, I want to go where you're calling
me.
I want to be what you want me
to be.
And there's others who just say, Lord, I've
seen my calling.
I know what it is.
Take my life and by faith use me,
lead me, guide me.
Send me to get people out of captivity
and bring them to life in Jesus Christ.
Send me, oh God.
Send me.
And Father, I thank you today.
You have been here in such power.
You are so speaking to us.
We live in a very dark world, a
very dark generation.
But Jesus, because you live, there is hope
for all men.
Oh my God, I ask you to get
a hold of my heart.
Give me the grace to see and surrender.
Ask you, to take Times Square Church and
use us as a torch of life, as
a beacon of light to people who live
in darkness.
We thank you for what you're speaking.
I do pray that we would never limit
you.
Pray that you give us a heart to
love you.
I thank you for it in Jesus' name.
Let's all stand.
If the Lord, if the Holy Spirit spoke
unto you today, and you would feel a
need to come to this altar to respond
to God's voice speaking to your heart, I
invite you to do so.
The balcony you can slip out.
There's no pressure.
It's really a choice that you have to
make with God.
But if the Holy Spirit is speaking and
saying, you're saying, Pastor, I'm hearing something.
Does there even exist a God?
There is.
I've got to lay down.
There's things in my life I've got to
get right.
I've been pushing in the flesh, and I'm
tired.
There are things that I have to let
go of now and let you do it.
I speak specifically to those that are just
bound by your own sense of inadequacy.
Give it up, folks.
Give it up.
God's not concerned about this.
It's faith.
It's absolutely by faith that the kingdom of
God will advance to your life.
He has no interest in your talents at
all.
It's faith.
You and I come empty-handed to God.
He gives us everything we need.
Education addicts, you can go forward between the
screens.
We'll be praying for you momentarily.
It's the Holy Spirit speaking.
Young people, would you consider?
We have so many college students now attending
Times Square Church.
Would you consider giving your life to Jesus
Christ?
Would you consider yielding your path?
There's no greater call in the universe.
You may have a plan, but your plan
is so short of what God has for
you.
Your plan...
What a terrible thing to get to the
end of your life and look back and
say, I missed God's calling.
I tried to ram Jesus as it is
into my personal agenda, and it didn't work.
Would you consider?
Because you've got life ahead of you.
And if you can hear my voice, you
are the hope for much of the world
that sits in darkness today.
In New York City, you're the hope for
tomorrow for many.
If you will yield your life to Him.
Give Him the rights of every area.
Let Him be God in every area of
your life.
And follow Him.
Amazing, amazing thing that God will begin to
do.
Then you're going to start to see miracles
and no fulfillment.
I'm so happy that so many college students
are starting to attend here now.
It tells me that there's great hope for
New York City.
Oh Jesus, thank you.
Thank you.
You see, folks, you don't know the destinies
of people's lives that are going to be
changed.
We look at Times Square Church, we see
a few people trickling down the altars.
But you don't know the destinies of people's
lives that are going to be changed.
We don't see the whole picture.
A lady, a man, a young person comes
to this altar and gives their all to
Jesus and God sees the next 20 years.
Sudi Tarian sees the multiplicity of souls that
are touched.
The lives that are transformed because somebody said
yes.
God, I do make you Lord of my
life.
I give you my all.
Hallelujah.
Now before I pray with these that are
at the altar, I want to give an
opportunity for anyone in this sanctuary, Education Annex
balcony, who can say honestly, Pastor, I am
not a Christian.
I would love to like that you're speaking
about.
I would love to respond to God, but
I don't even know that my sins are
forgiven yet.
If today you will acknowledge that you are
a sinner, if you will acknowledge that God
became a man and took your place on
a cross and paid the price for your
sins, shed His blood to the last drop,
that the wrath of God may be poured
out upon His own Son, that you might
be saved from the wrath of God, if
you will acknowledge that Christ died for you,
invite Him into your life to be your
Lord and your Savior, the Bible says today
that God will save you.
Salvation is not works.
Salvation is faith in a finished work that
happened 2,000 years ago.
It's trusting in the fact that God loved
you so much that He came and died
for you, that through believing in Him, you
should not suffer the punishment of eternal hell,
but should have everlasting life in heaven with
God.
Salvation is a wonderful opportunity to enter into
the work of God and the power of
God here on this side of eternity.
To know Him and to be able to
say, I have met with God, my sins
are forgiven, and I know His life, and
I know His power.
And if that's you today, anywhere in this
church, join with me now and raise up
your hand nice and high.
Do it right now.
God bless you.
All over the sanctuary, up in the balcony.
Don't be ashamed.
At the altar, raise up your hand.
He's not ashamed of you.
Raise up your hand to Him if you
want to receive Christ as your Savior.
God bless you all over this place.
Hallelujah.
Thanks be to God.
The most important decision you will ever make
in your life is being made right now.
You are giving your life to Jesus Christ.
Let's all pray together for those that are
coming into God's kingdom.
Lord Jesus, I am a sinner.
I thank You, Jesus, that You loved me
enough that You would come to this earth,
die on a cross, and pay the price
for my sins.
This day, I acknowledge that You have a
right to my life.
I yield my life to You.
I invite You to come into my heart
to be my Lord and my Savior.
I believe, Jesus, You are the Son of
God.
You died for my sins.
You rose from the dead as living proof
that my trust in You is not in
vain.
I believe at this very moment You have
heard the cry of my heart, You have
received me into Your kingdom, and by faith,
Hallelujah.
Saved.
Hallelujah.
The Bible says the angels of heaven are
rejoicing round about Christ's throne this very moment
just because You came into the kingdom of
God.
Isn't that an amazing thing?
Let's all pray together now.
Lord Jesus, forgive me for areas of my
life.
Where I have not made You Lord.
Tell Him now.
Tell Him what area.
You go ahead and just whisper it to
Him.
Tell Him where you've not made Him Lord.
It's so important to get it out.
Is He Lord of your eyes?
Is He Lord of what you read?
Is He Lord of your steps?
Is He Lord of your conversation?
Is He Lord of your plans and ambitions?
Is He Lord of your career?
Just tell Him where you've not made Him
Lord.
Now Lord Jesus, I see Your calling.
You have called me.
And You will give me all I need
to be a living witness of the fact
that You died to give men life.
Use my life as a key that unlocks
prison doors, gives sight to the blind, sets
free those that are bruised in heart.
That all men, all women, all young people
may have the gospel of Jesus freely spoken
to them through my life.
I yield my life to You.
My plans, my ambitions.
I ask You Jesus to guide me from
this day forward.
Help me to by faith follow You and
never to lean on my own understanding.
Thank You that You promised me victory.
You promised that my life will bear much
fruit.
And through this, You will be glorified in
me.
I thank You for it.
In Jesus' name.
Now thank Him.
Thank Him.
Thank Him for what He's going to do.
The fruit of faith is a thankful heart.