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.
Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge,
PO Box 260, Mindell, Texas 75771, or calling
903-963-8626.
You are 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.
Joshua chapter 8, please, in the Old Testament,
if you'll turn there.
The title of my message today is, I
will never draw back my hand.
I will never draw back my hand.
Father, I thank you for the touch of
the Holy Spirit.
I thank you for your anointing.
Lord, I could never stand here without your
anointing.
If you don't come and quicken this word,
it's just dead letter.
It just falls to the ground and nothing
happens.
But when you come and quicken the word,
your word, Lord, becomes life in the hearts
of your people.
I ask for an anointing to preach, but
I ask also for an anointing to hear.
Lord, give us hearing ears today that we
can hear what you're speaking and lay hold
of it.
God, let the powers of hell be destroyed
in this house today.
Let every weapon of darkness be sent to
flight.
Show your hand strong on behalf of those
who have trust and confidence in you.
Lord, you will not fail.
You cannot fail those who place their confidence
in you.
We believe this with all of our hearts.
That's why we preach it and we live
it.
We thank you in Jesus' name.
Joshua chapter 8, verse 16 to 18, then
I'll read verse 26.
And all the people that were in Ai
were called together to pursue after them.
And they pursued after Joshua and they were
drawn away from the city.
There was not a man left in Ai
or Bethel that went not out after Israel.
And they left the city open and pursued
after Israel.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, stretch out
now the spear that is in thy hand
towards Ai.
For I will give it into thine hand.
And Joshua stretched out the spear that he
had in his hand towards the city.
Verse 26.
For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith
he stretched out the spear, until he had
utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
Now, we understand from this passage of Scripture
that Jericho and the promised land are a
type of what God has for the New
Testament church.
We are called out of captivity first.
Then we are called out of the wilderness,
a place perhaps of not fully comprehending the
plan of God.
And you and I are called to go
in and to, by faith, to inherit everything
that Christ won for us on Calvary.
And those things that Christ won are clearly
revealed to us by the promises of God.
It's the word of God that we stand
upon as the church of Jesus Christ.
Jericho was the type of the first initial
battle, that strong-walled city that wants to
remain entrenched in every person's life.
And then after defeating Jericho, they came to
this little city called Ai.
And it's interesting because when they came against
this little city, at first they suffered defeat.
But then God said to Joshua, He said,
hold up the spear that's in your hand.
Now, the spear that was in Joshua's hand
really was a type of the word that
God had given him.
In chapter 8, verse 1, the Lord said
unto Joshua, Fear not, and be not dismayed.
Take all the people of war with thee,
and arise, and go to Ai.
And I have given into your hand the
king of Ai, and his people, and his
city, and his land.
God said, Now, Joshua, don't be afraid.
I've given it all into your hand.
And that's my word to you today.
That's the Lord's word to everyone who's called
by the name of Jesus Christ.
When you came to Christ, you walked into
an incredible victory that you and I have
not bought for ourselves.
This victory was won for us 2,000
years ago on Calvary.
Christ died for our sins, rose from the
dead, and now He sits at the right
hand of all power and all authority.
And everything that He purchased on that cross
is now ours.
It's yours and it's mine.
We've got to settle this issue in our
hearts before we even go on in this
message.
And Joshua stood, and he raised up that
spear of confidence in what God had spoken
to him.
And because of that confidence, a great victory
was won that day.
Now, Ai is the type of the world
and all of its determination to conquer the
overcoming child of God.
In other words, this world and its world
system and everything that that really embodies or
typifies will come against you in its full
fury.
If you've never known the fury of evil,
you've not yet fully walked with God.
Yes, some have known the fury of evil
in an unsaved condition, and you've been defenseless.
There's nothing you could do.
Evil occupied your mind and your thoughts.
And the power of evil came against you,
and you cried out to God.
Or somewhere along the line, somebody told you
about Christ, and you found the saving knowledge
of God through Jesus Christ.
And you came, and you began to understand,
hey, God said, wherever your feet walk, I'm
going to give you the land.
Now, my feet are beginning to walk through
this book, and I'm starting to understand things.
And I'm starting to understand that if God
is for me, then no one can be
against me.
I'm starting to understand that I have an
inheritance in Jesus Christ.
And where the devil has formerly occupied, he
is now a defeated foe, and he has
no right to my life anymore.
He has no right to my mind.
He has no right to my heart.
He has no right to my home.
He has no right to anywhere I go.
And as I begin to walk and hold
up that sword of confidence in what God
has spoken to me through Jesus Christ, all
of hell begins to tremble.
Beloved, I have that knowledge in my heart
that when even the weakest saint of God
begins to understand who they are in Jesus
Christ, and begins to stand up, I believe
the devil trembles when the grandmothers begin to
stand up in their apartments at night, and
begin to call out the names of their
grandchildren to Almighty God.
I believe hell begins to tremble.
Hell begins to shake.
Because somebody has risen up who has begun
to understand that this kingdom is not just
in word, but it's in power.
There is power behind the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
There is power to set people free from
drug addiction.
There is power over mental torment.
There is power over the captivity of darkness.
There is power over all the weapons of
evil.
And nothing, the Bible says, nothing shall prosper
against those who walk and trust in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John tells us in 1 John 5, verse
4, that whatsoever is born of God overcomes
the world.
And this is the victory that overcomes the
world, even our faith.
Now, I'm going to define the world to
help you to understand, because, especially new Christians.
You know, older Christians throw out terminology that
new Christians sometimes don't understand.
We're not to be of the world.
We hear these things.
The new Christian says, well, where am I
to live then if I'm not to be
of the world?
Don't love the world.
Don't let the world into you.
And all these things.
Now, let me help to define what this
really means.
Now, the world is the sum total of
what men or mankind without God has done
or will do to God's created order.
It is an empire built with all that
man in his own sinful condition is.
This is the world.
It's a type, it's a kingdom.
It's the kingdom of man who has tried
to shut God out of his life.
Tried to create his own laws.
Tried to establish his own order.
Tried to determine his own destiny.
And tried to do it all without God.
And tries to impose that order as it
is on everyone in the world.
But when you came to Christ, God, when
he came into your life, he said, no,
I'm taking you out of this world order
as it is.
And I'm bringing you into another kingdom.
I'm bringing you into another place.
Because all that is of this world is
going to pass away.
1 John, just let me read it to
you.
Chapter 2 tells us that man builds on
all that his eyes were open to when
sin entered his life in the garden of
Eden.
Love not the world and neither the things
that are in the world.
If any man loves the world, the love
of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world.
Now, here's really what you find in this
world.
And you find it all in plentiful supply,
no doubt, in New York City.
The lust of the flesh and the lust
of the eyes and the pride of life
is not of the Father but is of
the world.
And the world passes away and the lust
thereof.
But he that does the will of God
will abide forever.
When sin entered into the human race, mankind
without God was left to build by what
he could see with his own eyes.
By what he could long for in his
own flesh.
And by the pride of what he supposes
will bring him life.
And mankind from the day of Eden has
been trying to build his own kingdom and
be his own God ever since.
And look at where it is leading the
world to today.
We have the capability now.
Folks, do you know that we stand on
the brink of eternity right now?
Everyone in this house.
We have the capability of destroying ourselves five
times over in the world today.
There's enough weaponry now to destroy the entire
civilization five times over.
This is where the knowledge of man has
brought this world to.
And man occupying that which God has created
and led by his own lusts will ultimately
plunge both himself and everything and everywhere he
controls into destruction.
The prophet Isaiah.
Let me read it to you in chapter
24.
Oh, you go there with me.
Isaiah chapter 24, beginning at verse 4, talks
about where mankind is going to lead this
world to.
This is where the world is heading.
If your trust is in just what you
see around you.
If your trust is in the advice of
man, the counsel of man.
If your trust is in the stock market.
If your trust is in anything but Jesus
Christ, here's where you're going.
Because the Bible says conclusively, this is the
end result of man trying to govern himself
without God.
Isaiah 24, 4.
The earth mourns and fades away.
The world languishes, that means ceases to thrive,
and fades away.
The haughty people of the earth do languish.
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants
thereof.
Because they have transgressed the laws, they have
changed the ordinance, and they've broken the everlasting
covenant.
In other words, they have changed the ways
of God.
They've tried to create their own statutes or
laws of what is right and wrong.
They've tried to defy absolute truth.
And then mankind's ignorance have not begun to
realize that there are consequences to walking away
from the truth of God.
Therefore, hath the curse devoured the earth.
And they that dwell therein are desolate.
And therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are
burned, and few men are left.
The new wine mourns.
The vine languishes, and all the merry hearted
do sigh.
The mirth of tabrets ceases.
The noise of them that rejoice ends, and
the joy of the heart ceases.
They shall not drink wine with a song.
Strong drinks shall be bitter to them that
drink it.
In other words, there'll be no consolation.
Now, Isaiah is talking about a day that
is probably soon coming our way.
Yes, this day has come from time and
season to various parts and people throughout the
world.
But there is a time coming when the
entire world is going to be engulfed in
the end result of living under the curse
of sin.
Living under the curse of following the lusts
of his own eye, his own heart, and
the pride of his own life.
They will even go to drink and try
to sing songs.
It says in verse 9, but it will
become bitterness.
There will be no joy.
There will be no comfort.
As a matter of fact, the Bible says
things will get so out of hand that
men's hearts are going to fail them for
fear because of the things that suddenly come
upon the earth.
The Bible seems to bear witness that even
the stars in heaven are going to be
moved out of alignment as it is.
There's going to be such an incredible shaking
it will even affect the heavens.
People will run to and fro looking for
comfort and not be able to find it.
Verse 10 says the city of confusion is
broken down.
Every house is shut up that no man
may come in.
Everyone now is going to run and try
to hide.
People are going to hoard.
They're going to try to bring goods and
false comfort into their house.
They're not going to let anybody in.
The hearts are going to grow cold.
The scripture says that every man is in
survival mode now.
There's crying for wine in the streets.
All joy is darkened and the mirth of
the land is gone.
Verse 12 says in the city is left
destruction and the gate is smitten with destruction.
All of the plans of man have come
to nothing.
There is a time and a season that
has been appointed of God.
It began in the Garden of Eden.
And from the Garden of Eden man has
tried to govern God's universe.
He's tried to govern the world.
He's tried to govern his own life.
And all he has done is brought chaos
and pollution everywhere he goes.
Disorder and destruction because his heart is not
right with the Lord his God.
All the plans of man are going to
come to nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
There's a day coming, beloved, where there will
be no comfort on any radio station.
There will be no mocking talk show host
with flipping easy answers anymore.
There will be no comfort found in any
other place but the Word of God and
the promises of God.
Now man has always tried to be God.
And that's why in general so many men
hate Christ.
Especially in North America.
I feel very sad for societies that were
Christian and have turned away from Christ and
now hate Him.
They hate Him.
You see, because John, the beloved apostle, says
in John chapter 3 that to meet Christ
is to encounter the truth about yourself.
To meet Christ is to come into the
light.
Jesus said it this way in John chapter
3.
And verse 19.
He said this is the condemnation.
That light has come into the world and
men love darkness rather than light because their
deeds were evil.
For everyone that does evil hates the light
and neither comes to the light lest his
deeds should be reproved.
But he that does truth comes to the
light that his deeds may be made manifest
that they are wrought in God.
Now folks, to come to Christ is to
encounter the truth about yourself.
To come to Christ is to make an
admission that Lord God, I have tried to
be God in my own life.
I've tried to govern my own life.
I've tried to create my own systems of
right and wrong.
I've tried to change times and laws because
that's men and lawlessness, that's ultimately what he
does.
I've tried to change everything and tried to
make it suit my opinion about who I
am and ultimately even who God is.
But to come to Jesus Christ there is
no option but to come into His light.
To be exposed as it is to His
perfect truth and it's finally to lay down
one own agenda and to be turned to
the ways of God.
He that does truth comes to the light
that his deeds, his thoughts, his motives, his
ways of doing things are made known.
Initially that they have nothing about, there's nothing
of God in them.
Very little of God in anything that we
do apart from Him.
And subsequently to lay it all down and
to say, Jesus Christ, I acknowledge that you
are the Son of God come in the
flesh.
I acknowledge that you died on the cross
on Calvary 2,000 years ago.
Your death was God's absolute mercy reaching out
to a rebellious creation that are trying to
be their own God and heading to their
own destruction.
I healed my life.
I acknowledge that I was born in sin.
I acknowledge, oh God, that sin is in
me.
I acknowledge that my ways are not your
ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts.
And now I healed my life.
I confess that I'm a sinner and I
ask you, oh God, to forgive me and
come into my life.
And give me a new heart, give me
a new mind, give me new thoughts and
new ways, give me eternal life.
And as Christ said, give me full life
here on this side of eternity as well.
Now the world, the Bible tells us, is
going to ultimately produce a lawless man.
Now this is a man who walks only
by that which is right in his own
sight.
Daniel, the prophet, saw this lawless man.
Now we've come to know a world leader
that's going to rise and seemingly will have
a solution to the land problem in Israel.
And the Bible says that this man will
come initially as a man of peace, but
he's a lawless man.
And you see, that's all that the world
can produce is a lawless man.
The best that the world will make of
you is a man who may even have
a semblance of a peacefulness or a peaceful
nature, but ultimately in the core, without Christ,
if you are not saved, if you don't
have the Spirit of God within you, you
are still a lawless man, even though you
might have a facade of being a peacemaker.
If it's not the peace of Christ, the
Bible calls it lawlessness.
This lawless man will walk only by that
which is right in his own sight.
Daniel spoke of him.
In Daniel chapter 7, let me just read
it to you.
And said, he shall speak great words against
the Most High, and shall wear out the
saints of the Most High, and think to
change times and laws, and they shall be
given into his hand until a time and
times and the dividing of time.
The Antichrist will be the final fruit of
man attempting to be his own God in
this world.
He will not be a unique, he will
be, in a sense, a unique individual, but
he will just simply be the culmination of
all of humanity that's wanted to be God.
Ultimately, just like the children of Israel at
Sinai built a golden calf and said, this
is God, humanity will finally find a man
that they elevate in their hearts, because that's
what's been in the hearts, is to worship
man himself and not God.
And so they will finally find a man
that appears to be a man who has
the solution to all of the world's problems.
And they will elevate him.
And they will make him as a God.
And it seemingly is, everything in his hand
will begin to prosper.
He will conquer, the Bible tells us, not
by war, but he will conquer through diplomacy.
Until the day that he enters into the
temple in Jerusalem and declares himself to be
God.
This incredible season is not too far ahead
for the church of Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us he will attempt to
dominate by force and violence everyone he can,
and occupy every place that he is able.
You see, that's ultimately what's at the heart
of humanity.
That's at the heart of man without God.
He will come to you initially peaceably, but
if you will not yield to what man
wants man to be, then ultimately he will
attempt to dominate you by force and by
violence.
That's all man in himself is without God.
That's all he can ever be in his
fallen condition.
Unless someone greater than himself comes to help
him out of this condition.
The apostle John asks, he says, who then
is he that overcomes the world?
Who can overcome this spirit, this strong spirit
that is going to seduce nations?
Folks, the Bible says that there are entire
nations that are going to give the powers
of their army to this man.
This man who is just simply the byproduct
of humanity trying to be its own God.
A man who has a sense, a semblance
of peace, but is inwardly evil right to
the core.
A man who is just like every other
man who is without God.
Irrespective of the exterior facade, there is an
interior corruption that is in all of us
that has to be dealt with.
It has to come to the cross of
Jesus Christ and accept the forgiveness that God
offers.
It has to have someone greater than himself
come in and begin to overpower this old
nature or this old nature will continue to
lead him and dominate him and guide him.
John says, he that believes that Jesus is
the Son of God is the one who
overcomes the world.
In verse 4 he says, in chapter 5,
this is the victory that overcomes the world,
even our faith.
God says, I've given you a way to
victory and it's faith in the finished work
on Calvary.
I came 2,000 years ago as a
man, I died for your sins, the Lord
says.
I came to forgive you, I came to
enable you to be another person than what
you are.
I came to raise you literally from the
dead even where you stand.
Even if you think you are alive, you
are in fact dead in your sins if
you are without Christ.
He says, but I came to quicken you,
I came to give you life.
I came to bring you into eternity.
I came to bring you to sit with
me where I am, Christ says, in heavenly
places.
I came to give you power over all
the powers of darkness and over all the
weapons of the enemy.
I came to give you the anointing of
the Holy Ghost that will cause you and
enable you to rise up above all the
beggarly theologies of this world.
All its impositions and all of its philosophies
about God and about life.
I came to lift you up and give
you a new mind and a new heart
and a new life.
I came to do a work in you
that can only be done by God.
Christ sits in glory today and he reaches
down to raise us up out of our
inherited fallen condition.
You see, Daniel saw this lawless man and
he said he will speak great words against
the Most High.
And folks, that's just exactly what you and
I were without Christ.
Those that were without Christ who are now
Christians today, you remember how you spoke about
God, incredible things that we used to say
and how we cursed his name and walked
our lives and treaded these streets in New
York City or whatever part of the world
we came from as if we had a
million tomorrows, not understanding that only the grace
of God, only the goodness of God even
allowed us to draw our next breath.
God in his mercy kept us even when
we cursed his name.
Talk about a merciful God.
He shall speak great words against the Most
High and shall seek to wear out the
saints of the Most High.
Folks, I did that.
I did everything that this man and Daniel
says the Scripture says he's going to do.
I remember Christians trying to tell me about
Jesus Christ and I remember trying to wear
them out.
I remember speaking against them.
I remember trying to provoke them with counter
-arguments.
I remember trying to make them angry to
see what's really in them.
Trying to wear out as it is the
saints of the Most High.
It's in all of us, not just this
end time man that's going to rise up.
He shall think to change times and laws.
This is what's happening all over the Western
world now.
Times and laws are beginning to change as
man turns farther and farther from God.
They want no mention of Christ now in
Christmas.
And I think it won't be long before
you'll find that there's a revulsion to even
celebrate anything to do with Jesus Christ.
It's happening in Canada now.
It's beginning to happen in America.
It's so tragic attempting to push Jesus Christ
out of our school system and then standing
back in disbelief when our children start shooting
each other because they have no moral absolutes.
They have no foundation to stand upon.
Looking back in bewilderment saying, well, what's happening?
Not understanding it's because man has become his
own God.
Push Christ out of his life.
Push Christ out of his borders.
And wonder why now violence is running rampant.
Wonder why immoral agendas are starting to take
over government and all facets of our society.
It says, I've been given into his hand
until the time and the times and the
dividing of time.
Yes, it seems that man prospers for a
season even in his ignorance and rebellion.
But verse 26 says, but judgment shall sit
and they shall take away his dominion and
consume and destroy it unto the end.
Judgment will sit.
Daniel said, I see a judge.
I see him coming to the bench.
I see him sitting down at the right
hand of all authority and power.
I see everything being put into his hand.
And he shall judge the world in righteousness.
He shall judge those who have risen up
and attempted to be their own God.
He shall judge every devil of hell and
every power of evil.
He shall judge everything that has been contrary
to sound doctrine and to truth.
He shall judge it with the purity of
Almighty God.
Yes, the man of lawlessness seems to prosper,
but judgment is coming his way.
It's coming his way.
Just like every man and woman who's here
today, you don't know Christ.
And you feel free to speak anything you
want about God.
Feel free to live your own life your
own way.
And yes, you appear to prosper for a
season.
You can dominate.
Perhaps you're an executive and you can dominate
those under your authority.
Maybe you're just a little executive.
You can go home and dominate your family.
Dominate your wife and dominate your children.
But your day is coming.
The Bible says you're going to stand before
the judge.
And you're going to give an account for
the knowledge that God has given to you,
even this day.
You knew truth, but what did you do
with it?
And the kingdom and dominion, Daniel says, and
the greatness of the kingdom under the whole
heaven shall be given to the people of
the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom.
And all dominions shall serve and obey him.
And Daniel said, Hitherto, or this is the
end of the matter.
In other words, there's another kingdom coming.
The kingdom of man, the kingdom of this
world is going to pass away.
The apostle Peter says it's going to dissolve.
It's going to be actually burned by fire.
The end time judgment of this world is
to be judged by fire.
Never by water again.
But you'll read it in the Old Testament
through the prophets.
You'll also read it very clearly in the
New Testaments that a day of fire awaits
this present world.
And the kingdom and the dominion is going
to be given to the saints of the
Most High.
Now, there is an everlasting kingdom.
It is not of this world.
Jesus himself said, if my kingdom were of
this world, my servants would fight.
But my kingdom is not of this world.
No, it's nothing to do with this world.
But it's a kingdom that is everlasting.
It begins in the hearts of men.
And long after this world is gone, it
will continue.
From everlasting to everlasting, he is God.
And those who trust in him will live
with him.
They will rule with him.
And they will reign with him.
Christ in glory will take away the power
of the devil, the sin in this world.
And bring you and I into this place
where he lives.
It's a new kingdom that cannot perish.
It cannot be taken away.
It cannot be perceived with the natural mind.
It cannot be seen with the natural eye.
It cannot be understood with the natural heart.
It is a kingdom as real as this
city that we're standing or sitting in right
now.
It's even more real because what we're in
now is going to pass away.
But the kingdom of God is eternal.
Jesus said the kingdom of God doesn't come
with outward display.
Don't look for it because you're not going
to see it.
Behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
The kingdom of God is the literal presence
of the living God in the life and
heart of every man, woman, and child who
has trusted in him as their Savior.
This is the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is within those who
trust in Christ today.
You already are part of the new kingdom.
The old things around you are all passing
away.
The influence of the world that got into
your life is passing away.
The dominance of false theology is passing away.
The old corruptions are passing away.
And all things are being made new because
the kingdom of God has come to you.
Christ is alive in you.
Hallelujah.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6.14, God
who raised up the Lord Jesus Christ will
also raise us up by his own power.
He will.
Go with me now to Matthew chapter 9
in the New Testament, please.
Matthew chapter 9.
I want to talk to you about the
difference between the two kingdoms now.
You're going to see two kingdoms in a
very simple parable.
Not a parable, a story of Christ.
Verse 18, Matthew chapter 9.
While he spake these things unto them, behold,
there came a certain ruler and worshipped him,
saying, My daughter is even now dead.
That really takes faith, doesn't it?
Jesus, I love you.
I worship you.
I've got a dead child at home.
He says, But come and lay your hand
on her, and she will live.
And Jesus arose and followed him, and so
did his disciples.
Verse 23.
And when Jesus came into the ruler's house
and saw the minstrels and the people making
a noise.
Now, here's the world's worship.
I call this the song of the world.
The Bible calls it a noise.
They gathered around and they're singing their songs
of despair.
Oh, woe is us.
Woe is me.
Here's a situation that's gone too far for
anything man to do about.
And the world can only offer its song
of despair for those its false hopes have
been unable to satisfy.
I know there are people here today that
the world is singing its sad song over
your life.
Too bad you've gone too far.
There's no hope for you.
You'll never get out.
You'll never change.
You'll always be the way you are.
Just take drugs.
Just numb your mind with barbiturates or whatever
you can get your hands on and hope
for the best to the end.
And that's the sad song that the world
now is singing over your life.
And here they are.
Jesus himself walks into the situation.
And they've got their guitars out and they're
singing their choruses over this dead girl that's
in the midst of this man's house.
And he said to them, this is Christ,
give place.
In other words, step aside for the maid
is not dead but sleepeth.
And they laughed into scorn.
And isn't that exactly society today?
Singing their sad songs.
All you have to do is tune into
any country and western station out there.
Listen to all the sad songs that they
sang.
But they scorned Christ at the same time.
Keep singing your sad song and keep scorning
the living God who became a man and
shed his blood that all who trusted him
may have everlasting life.
That's exactly what the world is doing.
That's exactly what the world is offering for
those in society who are falling through the
cracks as it is.
But listen to what Jesus did.
When the people were put forth, he pushed
them out.
He said, get out of here.
Literally.
Everybody, take your sad song and get out.
There's a time, folks, when you've got to
do that too.
There's a time in the midst of your
struggle and situation that you've got to take
the counsel of the world and say, I'm
just shutting you off.
I'm turning you away.
I'm putting you out.
I'm not listening to you anymore.
You've got nothing to tell me.
All you can do is find somebody to
blame.
Why has this girl died?
Oh, it's the grandmother's fault.
It's the mother's fault.
It's the father's fault.
It's the neighbor's fault.
All the world can do is blame and
sing a sad song over the death that's
all around us in society.
But Jesus said, and had to have obviously
the man's permission, there's a time to put
the voice of the world out of your
life.
There's a time to get rid of all
the counsel of man.
All the foolish counsel that thinks that it
has an answer for a spiritual condition that
can only be touched by the hand of
God.
And when the people were put forth, he
went in, and he took her by the
hand.
And the maid arose, and the fame thereof
went abroad into all that land.
He took her by the hand.
Beloved, it's time for you and I to
ask Jesus to take our sons and daughters
by the hand.
It's time to pray now with faith.
It's time.
The Holy Spirit's been speaking to us so
loudly, so clearly.
Yes, I know many people here today, you've
got sons and daughters who are not living
for God.
And they seem like they're dead in their
sin.
But it's time to call out to the
one who can make a difference and stop
listening to the sad song of the world.
And say, Jesus, my son is dead.
But if you'll come and take him by
the hand, he's going to live.
He's going to live.
Hallelujah.
We have a mother in our choir who
prayed for her son.
Wave your hand at everybody.
We prayed for her son for eight years.
A son who became a Muslim.
And she began to cry out to God,
God, I'm tired of my son living for
the devil.
God, I'm tired of the death that's reigning
in his life.
Lord, save him.
And that boy, Islam, drove him to the
top of a building, and he leapt from
a six-story building here in New York
City.
And he landed on his feet and survived.
It was a miracle.
You want to know why he survived?
He survived because Jesus had taken him by
the hand.
And today he wants to go to Bible
school and be a preacher of the gospel.
And I have a witness in my heart.
A witness in my heart, he's going to
be a mighty man of God.
The devil tried so hard to destroy him,
but a mother cried out for him.
Christ took him by the hand, and now
he lives.
He lives.
Hallelujah.
Times Square Church is filled from one end
to the other in this sanctuary today of
testimonies of miracles.
People whose situations were beyond help and hope.
But God came and touched you and set
you free.
He took you by the hand.
You didn't even have the power to raise
your hand to God.
But God came in his mercy and took
you by the hand.
And began to whisper and speak into your
ear words of faith that raised you out
of the dead.
When Joshua went to Ai, the first sin
had to be dealt with.
If we're going to know the victory of
God, we've got to deal with sin.
We cannot drag the sin issue with us
into the kingdom of God.
They first went against this little city and
experienced a defeat because a man in the
midst of them had taken that which was
forbidden.
We must deal with the sin of loving
and trusting in this world.
And of setting our own judgment above the
word of God.
That's exactly what this man Achan did.
When they fought against Jericho, he saw a
garment.
He saw some silver.
And he thought, well, what harm could there
be to touching this, even though I know
that God said we're not to do it.
And beloved, so many people want the victory,
but they don't want to deal with the
sin.
Folks, it's not optional.
If there's going to be victory, there's going
to be a wholehearted trust in God.
We're going to obey Him.
We're going to do right in our financial
matters.
We're going to deal honorably with all men.
We're going to forgive those that have wronged
us.
We're going to trust in God and not
mammon.
We're going to lay our lives down for
the purposes of God and not chart our
own course for the future anymore.
We're going to say, Jesus, take my life.
Guide me, lead me, use me for your
glory.
God, whatever it is you have for me,
I yield to it.
And I trust that you will always provide
for me and you will always keep me.
And God will be faithful to every promise
He ever makes to you.
But we've got to deal with the sin.
The sin is this whole theology I've been
talking to you about of the world.
It says, I can lead my own life.
I can govern my own path.
I can chart my own course.
I can be my own God.
And God says there will be no miraculous
power until this is dealt with.
This has got to be out of the
heart.
It's got to be put away.
You've got to be a people.
We have to be a people that are
yielded to Him.
Willing to obey Him.
Trusting for the power to obey Him, which
He promises to give those who trust in
Him.
Now again, in Joshua chapter 8, it says,
All the people that were in Ai were
called together to pursue after them.
And they pursued after Joshua and were drawn
away from the city.
Folks, you've never known hell until you begin
to live for Christ.
You've never understood the full fury of hell
until you stand to preach the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
Until you begin to pray and say, I'm
not going into heaven alone.
I'm taking my wife.
I'm taking my sons.
I'm taking my daughters.
I'm taking my grandchildren that are not even
born.
My whole family is going into the kingdom
of God.
Hallelujah.
You begin to stand up and say, I'm
not taking this mental torment any longer.
I'm not being wounded.
I'm not letting the devil twist a knife
of pain in my heart any longer.
I'm standing up against this, all this power
of hell and evil.
I'm standing against it in the power of
God.
And the moment you begin to stand, and
you begin to raise up the word that
God has spoken into your heart, all the
inhabitants of Ai came out against Him.
There was not one man left in the
city.
Everything you've ever learned will come and try
to fight against the new knowledge of God.
Every theory, every philosophy, every false concept of
God, all the doubt and unbelief, all the
old memories, all the woundings, every devilish voice
will now come out of the city against
you to try to stop you from raising
your hand in trust and faith to God.
Try to get you back into unbelief again.
There was not a man left in Ai
or Bethel that went not out after Israel.
And they left the city open and pursued
after them.
And the Lord said to Joshua, Stretch out
the spear that is in your hand towards
Ai, for I will give it into your
hand.
And Joshua stretched out the spear that he
had in his hand towards the city.
Stretch out the spear, folks.
That spear represents the Word of God to
you and I.
It's full-trusted confidence in that which God
has spoken to you.
Joshua stood back.
And you can see this fury coming out
of this little city against the children of
Israel.
Previously, had won a defeat.
But now Joshua turns.
He makes like he's running from the enemy.
And at the Word of God, he turns.
Folks, there comes a time when you just
have to stop and turn and face your
enemy.
Face your enemy.
If there's sin in your heart, deal with
it.
And when you know the sin is dealt
with, when you know it's forgiven, how do
I deal with it?
If we confess our sin, He's faithful and
just to forgive our sin and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
Confess it.
Say, God, I don't want to live there
anymore.
I don't want it dominating my life anymore.
I don't want it in my thinking anymore.
And you begin to confess as you're running
away from your enemy that all of a
sudden the Word of God comes to you.
It's more real than life itself.
And God says, stop and stand against your
enemy.
Stand.
I put promises in your heart.
Stop and raise up your hands to Me.
Raise.
You'll never find a man or woman mightily
used of God that wasn't called to raise
up their hand to God.
We see Moses fighting against the Amalekites with
both his hands in the air.
God said, just raise up your hands of
trust and confidence in Me and I will
come and fight against all of your enemies.
Joshua stops and raises up the spear.
Can you imagine the faith that got into
the hearts of the people at that time?
When they see their leader.
Can you imagine your children when they see
their father?
Standing against alcohol.
Standing against pornography.
Standing against evil in your house.
Standing up, not with dominant fleshly violence, but
standing up with a gentle faith in Almighty
God.
Unmoved by circumstance and adversity.
Standing up and raising your hand to God
and saying, Almighty God, You have promised me
this land.
You have promised me peace.
Standing up and looking the devil right in
the face and saying, Hey you, you're occupying
my place of promise.
Listen, I'm speaking to you.
You're occupying my place of promise.
Hallelujah.
Depression, you're occupying my joy.
Torment, you're occupying the peace of mind that
God has promised me.
Suicide, you're occupying my abundant life that I've
been promised in Christ Jesus.
Alcohol, you are occupying the new wine of
God's presence that I've been promised by the
Spirit of Almighty God.
Selfishness, you are occupying the place of Christ's
love in me for others.
Mediocrity, you are occupying the place of God's
plan for my life.
God said He's going to raise me up
and use me for His glory.
Hallelujah.
It's time for some people to say, Devil,
how'd you get in my house?
Let me show you the way out.
I have lived what I'm speaking to you.
More than one time.
Brand new believer.
Nine years of hell.
Most of you know my story, but for
the benefit of those who don't.
Nine years of hell, suffering panic attacks that
would put me in the hospital.
Nine years of being unable to even occupy
a small room lest I should be singled
out and begin to panic.
Nine years of self-hatred.
Fear.
I came to Christ, and one day, not
too long after becoming a Christian, I was
reading the Bible and God gave me a
promise.
That's where the Apostle Paul said, If Christ,
if God be for us, who can be
against us?
Normally, when I would feel one of these
attacks coming on, I would go down into
my living room, or wherever I was, and
I had Valium, and I would fill my
face with Valium.
And try to get into such a drug
stupor, because that's what I was told, that's
how I was going to cope with this.
Nine years of taking these pills.
Went down into my living room that night,
and just something rose in my heart on
one promise from God's Word.
And I said, Devil, and I spoke it
out loud, All you can do is kill
me.
And if you do, I'm going home to
be with God.
So I invite you to throw everything you've
got at me.
And I throw back what I have at
you.
And I said, In the name of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, I resist you.
And folks, I want to tell you something.
That very moment, 25 years ago now, from
the very soles of my feet to the
top of my head, it was like a
heat, a fire hit me.
And I don't know the theology of it,
but I know this one thing.
I was set free.
I was set free in a moment of
time from what had occupied my promise for
nine years.
There is a time that you and I
have got to stand.
And the Bible says in verse 26, Joshua
drew not his hand back wherewith he had
stretched out the spear until he had utterly
destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
He didn't draw his hand back as they
ran towards him, as they shouted their obscenities,
as they chanted their false reasonings about their
ability to triumph over the power of God.
He stayed his course and raised his hand
to God.
And in his heart, he said, In the
power of Christ, I will conquer you.
I will never turn back my hand.
I will never draw back my hand from
you, God.
Something got into my soul that day.
And I said, Lord Jesus, for the rest
of my life, I will never again run.
By the grace of God, by the power
of God, I will never run from another
enemy.
I will never run again.
I will put out my hand.
And like the psalmist David said, Though ten
thousand camp against me, I will not be
afraid.
My heart is fixed, David said, trusting in
God.
Joshua says, I will never draw back my
hand.
And Christ says to you today, Nor will
I.
You reach up to me in your dependence
and faith, and I will reach down to
you with the power and the triumph of
Calvary.
And we will join hands together in victory.
Beloved, it's time.
It's time to stand up to depression.
It's time to stand up to torment, thoughts
of suicide, alcohol.
It's time to stand up to drugs and
selfishness.
Immorality.
It's time to stand up against the lies
of the devil that try to tell you
you'll never amount to anything in Christ.
You know why he fights so hard with
that lie?
Because he knows history.
He knows that the men and women that
God has raised up have been the nothings
and the nobodies of this world.
The devil still shakes at the thought of
another D.O. Moody rising up with very
little education, could hardly speak properly the English
language, but would shake the very foundation of
hell that had been established in the church
of Jesus Christ.
The devil very well knows that it was
not Jerusalem Bible College that Jesus used, but
it was the shores of Galilee where there
were ignorant fishermen, impulsive, oftentimes not understanding God,
but they had a heart for Him.
And as much as they were willing to
stand up and fight for what they believed
for on the dock, when God got a
hold of them, they were willing to stand
up for the truth of the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
The devil shakes and trembles whenever an ignorant
Pharisee running in his own religious zeal has
an encounter with the living Christ and turns
that zeal to the kingdom of God, for
he fully well remembers, Paul, that God transformed
and even in prison couldn't shut him down.
The devil couldn't shut him down even in
jail.
Even in jail he starts writing what ends
up being most of our New Testament Bible
today.
Couldn't stop this man.
The devil knows what happens when the least
of the least and the weakest of the
weak and the foolish of the foolish just
simply rise up.
Who followed him in Galilee?
Was it the intelligent?
Oh, there were perhaps a few.
Was it the rich?
There may have been a few of those.
There were, I suppose, that ministered to his
needs.
But who were the rank and file of
his crowd?
Who was the church of Jesus Christ?
I'll tell you who they were.
They were prostitutes.
They were the drug addicts of their day.
They were the thieves and the tax gatherers,
the blind, the lame, the lepers, the stinking
and the maids.
That was his church.
And this is the church that on the
day of Pentecost were filled with the Holy
Ghost and began to shake the whole known
world with the power of God.
You've got to believe the devil shakes.
When the least of God's children begins to
lay hold of this truth and turns and
stops running, stops fleeing every time somebody says,
boo, and stands simply placing his hand or
her hand in the hand of God and
says, I will not run anymore.
I believe that through the power of Christ
I have triumphed already over all the weapons
of darkness and nothing formed against me can
any longer prosper because I'm now in the
hand of Christ.
I believe that God has a plan for
my life.
He has a destiny for me.
I believe that sin by faith has been
confessed and it's now out of the way
and I now have an open heaven to
God.
And I believe that He will take my
life and He will use my life for
His glory.
He will lead me.
He will guide me.
I believe there's no limitation to what God
can do through my life.
He can set me before a dozen.
He can set me before a million.
It makes no difference to God.
He can do whatever He wants to do.
And He will be glorified.
There's enough potential in this sanctuary and education
annex today to bring revival.
Holy Ghost revival.
To Manhattan.
All of Manhattan.
All of the Bronx.
All of Brooklyn.
All of Queens.
All these areas throughout New York City.
Into New Jersey and Connecticut.
Different places.
Different countries that are represented here.
If God can find a man who will
stop and stand and just say, Lord, by
grace I will never withdraw my hand.
And God says, by grace I will never
withdraw my knee.
You reach to me in your need, I'll
reach to you in my power.
You reach to me in faith, I'll reach
to you in my faithfulness to you.
I will do such a work in you
that hell will tremble.
You'll walk into a drug infested neighborhood and
every devil of hell controlling those young people
is going to begin to shake.
Because a man or woman of God has
laid hold of truth one more time.
Let's begin to believe today.
First, raise your hand to God where your
need is.
Where your need is.
Let him touch your life.
Let him set you free.
Let him lift you out of bondage and
oppression.
The dominion of sin.
And the false theology of this world.
Let him lift you into the realm of
victory.
So that you have a message.
See, the Apostle Paul himself said, Our faith
is not to rest in the wisdom of
men, but in the power of God.
God says, you come to me, I will
give you a living experience of my delivering
power.
And you take that message to others who
are in captivity.
You tell them what I can do.
And in the face of adversity and mocking
and scorning, raise your hand to me and
never run from your enemies.
God said, I won't fail you.
I'll keep you.
Even to the end.
Hallelujah.
Father, I just thank you that you have
enabled me to deliver your heart today to
this congregation.
This church that you have raised in New
York City, you have given me the power
to speak your heart.
And now, Lord, we need the power to
respond.
It has to come from you.
If you don't give it to us, we
can't even respond to the word.
But today we ask that you meet us
in the area of our need and set
us free and give us a message of
God for our generation.
We ask it in Jesus' name.
Now, in a moment I'm going to ask
you to respond to an altar call here
in the sanctuary and also in the education
annex.
Everyone who's suffering from depression and torment, thoughts
of suicide, alcohol addiction, drugs, selfishness, mediocrity, torment
in your mind, besetting sin.
I'm going to ask you to join me
at this altar.
We're going to pray.
I believe in God for a mighty deliverance
for your life today.
I want to give an opportunity this morning,
firstly for those who could say, Pastor, I'm
here today.
I'm in this sanctuary.
You may not even be at this altar
here.
You may be in the annex, any of
the other overflow rooms, the balcony, and you
say, I would love to have this life
of victory, but I'm not even a Christian
yet.
The sin issue in my life has not
been dealt with.
Now, if you will acknowledge that you're a
sinner, if you will acknowledge that God became
a man, Jesus Christ, He came to this
earth and because He loves you, He paid
the price for your sin.
He was spit on, whipped, bruised, hated, rejected,
and suffered the wrath of God, His Father.
The full wrath that you and I deserve
for our sin was satisfied by Him.
And on the third day, God raised Him
from the dead as an evidence to you
and I that our trust in Him is
not in vain.
Just as He was raised from the dead,
so will you and I be raised from
the dead when we trust in Him.
We will be quickened and raised first from
the death of sin that is in every
life that is without God, and ultimately we'll
be raised from the dead if we do
die before Christ comes.
We'll be raised to live with Him for
all of eternity.
We will rule and reign with Jesus Christ.
There are a lot of theories about God,
a lot of theories about religion, but beloved,
as the saying goes, the proof is in
the pudding.
The evidence of God's presence is a transformed
life, a changed life.
If you are in Christ, the Bible says
you become a new person.
I want to encourage those who are without
Him today and want to surrender their lives
to Him.
This very moment, this is the greatest decision
you'll ever make in your life.
There'll never be a greater decision than the
one you're about to make all the days
of your life because this is the decision
between heaven and hell, between knowing God and
not knowing Him.
But if you have the courage today to
say, Pastor, I'm a sinner, I want you
just to pray for me.
I'm going to join you now and just
raise up my hand all over this sanctuary
saying, I want Christ, I want to be
saved.
Will you do that right now?
Downstairs, go ahead, unashamedly, in the balcony.
God bless you.
Put up your head if you're coming to
Christ and hold it up there.
It gives courage to others.
All over this sanctuary, in the back, you
might not be at this altar.
God bless you.
All over.
There are hands being raised up in the
balcony, all across.
Thank you.
God bless you.
Education annex as well.
We're going to pray a prayer for those
that are coming to Christ today.
You'll never be the same.
You'll never be the same again.
Your life is going to be changed.
I promise you, in the name of Christ,
you're going to change.
God's going to give you power to change.
Let's pray for all these that are coming
to the Lord today.
All together.
Lord Jesus, I am a sinner.
I thank you, Jesus, that you died for
me.
You paid the price for my sin.
I am sorry for living in sin and
sinning against God.
I don't want to live this way anymore.
I ask you to teach me the right
way.
Show me what truth is.
And give me the power to live a
life in that truth.
I invite you, Jesus, to come into my
heart this very moment and save me from
my sin and be my Lord and my
Savior.
I believe at this very moment that my
name is recorded in heaven.
You have washed away all of my sins.
And by the grace of God, I am
saved.
I am saved.
Thank you, Jesus.
Go through this sanctuary.
See somebody with a white sports coat.
See somebody, and they'll give you a Gospel
of John.
So you can start.
No charge.
So you can start reading the Bible for
yourself.
And they'll tell you how to get into
New Believers class.
And for the rest, are you ready to
face your enemies now?
You're ready now.
God says you can't do it in your
own strength.
But in my strength, you can.
All things are possible to him who believes.
God says, I'll give you the power.
I'll give the victory.
You stretch out your hand to me, and
I'm going to stretch out my hand to
you.
Isn't that an amazing thing?
I want you to, in the Spirit, just
feel today at this altar, God reaching down
and taking you by the hand.
Just like He reached down and took that
dead girl by the hand and raised her
up.
And the Bible says the fame of Him
went through all the land.
Ask God to do such a powerful work
in you today that the fame of that
work will go through all the place where
you live.
It'll go into your workplace, in your community,
your home.
There'll be a fame, in a sense, of
God's presence coming into your life, God's power.
Father, pray with me.
Father, in Jesus' name, I reach out my
hand to the God, Jesus Christ, who sits
at the right hand.
I believe your promises and your power.
I'm not going to let...
Now, name your struggle, whatever it is.
I'm not going to let it.
Just name it.
Depression, torment, suicide, alcohol, selfishness, whatever it is.
I'm not going to let this dominate my
life anymore.
Today, I turn to face my enemy in
the power of God and by the promises
of Christ and the victory of Calvary.
Because in Jesus Christ...
Remember, when you walk out the door and
your enemy goes, Boo!
You don't run anymore.
You don't run.
You stop.
Do the very first thing is raise your
hand to God.
Say, Lord, you promised me.
No more torment.
No more drugs.
No more suicide.
No more depression.
You promised me, oh God.
Touch my life and do a work in
me that brings fame to your name.
God says, I will.
This is the conclusion of the message.