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, Lindell, Texas 75771, or calling
903-963-8626.
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Morning, Times Square Church.
God bless you this morning.
We'll keep you.
Special greetings from Pastor David today, who's back
on Part B of his vacation with his
wife, Gwen.
It's so good to have him back with
us last Sunday and to hear the word
that God's put on his heart.
He was going to stay true, actually, until
this week, and the Lord just gave him
a release to go and to rest.
You know, the Bible says that God gives
his beloved rest.
I thank him so much for that, for
giving Pastor David that ability to just go
and to rest and be rekindled, because the
Lord is going to use him, I believe,
much more powerfully in the coming few years
than perhaps ever before.
God is using him to touch the lives
of ministers now throughout the world.
And, of course, if you touch the life
of a shepherd, you're multiplying your ministry by
a thousand, perhaps, fold.
So I thank God for that.
And if you have a child, as Pastor
Neal has probably told you already, that begins
to cry during the preaching of the word,
please take your baby through Exit 7, and
then the staff there will look after your
child.
Please turn off cell phones, pagers, unless you're
a doctor or emergency personnel.
We'd appreciate that very much.
The last year has been a very hard
year for me, and most of you who
attend this church know that.
I've gone through a very, very difficult time
physically.
And three weeks ago, God touched me and
healed me.
I thank the Lord with all my heart
for that.
It wasn't a gradual thing.
I was in a recording studio recording a
song called, Not When I Don't Understand, but
In the Quiet Times.
And it was just in the course of
that song that the Holy Spirit just came
down and touched me and healed me.
And it's been three weeks now, and it's
wonderful to be able to breathe and to
have energy again.
Now, Father, I thank you for the anointing
of your Holy Spirit.
I thank you, God, for strength and for
power.
I thank you, Lord, that you have a
word that you want to give to so
many in this house today.
And I thank you, God, that I can
abandon myself into your hands, because it's not
about me.
It's all about you.
I have only a little, but you can
multiply it, and you can feed the thousands
that will hear this message.
I thank you, Jesus, for what you will
accomplish and how your name will be glorified.
In your mighty name.
Amen.
Matthew chapter 14, verse 22.
In straightway, Jesus constrained his disciples to get
into a ship and to go before him
to the other side while he sent the
multitudes away.
And when he had sent the multitudes away,
he went up into a mountain apart to
pray, and when the evening was come, he
was there alone.
But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with waves, for the
wind was contrary.
And in the fourth watch of the night,
Jesus went unto them walking on the sea.
And when the disciples saw him walking on
the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is
a spirit.
And they cried out for fear.
But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be
of good cheer, it is I, be not
afraid.
And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if
it be thou, bid me come unto thee
on the water.
And he said, Come.
And when Peter was come down out of
the ship, he walked on the water to
go to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind boisterous, he
was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried,
saying, Lord, save me.
And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and
caught him and said unto him, O thou
of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
And when they were come into the ship,
the wind ceased.
And then they that were in the ship
came and worshipped him, saying, Of the truth
thou art the Son of God.
Now, the disciples were, at this particular point
in Scripture, in the midst of a terrible
storm.
And undoubtedly, there are always many opinions, and
as there were, obviously, that day in that
boat.
There are always many voices in the storm.
We are living in a society today that
I believe is in a storm.
People are trying to find out meanings and
reasons for things that go on around about
us.
Why is society decaying the way it is?
Why is there an increase of violence?
Why is our economy seemingly teetering always on
the brink of collapse?
Why, all of a sudden, overnight, do our
borders seem to be vulnerable to terrorism from
without and from within?
Why is there such a breakdown in family?
Why am I not finding fulfillment in the
things that I've set my hand to do?
Even as a Christian, sometimes, these same storms
come into our lives and come into our
hearts.
And there are many voices.
And those voices, the Scripture tells us, come
from the Apostle Paul.
It says at one time in his life
and ministry, there were fears within and fighting
without, or vice versa.
And there are voices that come from within
our own hearts, even, as well as voices
that come from the outside.
So many opinions and so many claiming to
represent God.
And even in that boat that day, they
had opinions about God.
Verse 26 says, Some cried out and said,
It is a spirit, and they cried out
for fear.
God Almighty Himself is coming into the midst
of the storm.
And the men at this particular point are
unfamiliar with the fullness of His ways and
don't understand the things that He is doing
in their midst.
Apostle Paul warns the church that in the
last days, perilous times are going to come.
In 2 Timothy 3, I'm just going to
paraphrase this for you, verses 5 and 6,
Paul warns that there will be a people
who have a form of godliness, but it's
without any power.
And they creep into houses to lead others
captive.
I wonder sometimes if Paul, in the Holy
Ghost, foresaw television and radio.
It was foreign to him.
And I wonder if his hearers really understood.
But the Holy Spirit, you see, is not
bound by the limitations of time.
And the Holy Spirit can speak right through
into eternity.
For God is not bound by time as
we are.
Please, if you could lower this monitor, I'd
very, very much appreciate that.
Or take the treble off it.
It would really help.
A form of godliness without power.
Creeping into houses.
In other words, claiming to represent God and
going into the houses of people and even
having a sense that they understand or know
the ways of God.
And creeping into houses for the sole purpose
of bringing others into the same captivity of
powerlessness that they live in.
They don't really know Him and His power.
They don't know His victory.
They don't understand His life.
But yet they're on television or they're on
radio and they're coming into people's houses and
they're claiming to speak for God.
And even more so, in times of storm
and distress.
Beloved, we are undoubtedly as a world in
totality entering into a time of storms.
A season of great storms.
And anyone who doesn't know that is just
simply out of touch with reality.
That's the only way I can say it.
There is a release, as it is, of
the very things that Jesus spoke about in
Matthew chapter 24.
Ethnic culture.
Ethnos rising against ethnos.
You're seeing it all over the world now.
Ethnic culture rising against ethnic culture.
We're seeing that season of distress He spoke
about.
And more than any other time in history.
It is so important now that you and
I begin to know the voice of God.
We have to know Jesus' voice.
Jesus Himself said, My sheep know My voice
and they follow Me.
Jesus warned in Matthew chapter 24 that many
false prophets are going to arise and deceive
many.
Now, He warns that they're going to attempt
to point others to Himself.
But they don't know Him and they don't
even know where He can be found.
He says in verse 26, If they say
to you, Behold, He's in the desert.
Go not forth.
And behold, He's in the secret chambers.
Believe it not.
If they come to you and say, He's
in Oklahoma manifesting there.
Don't believe it.
If they say, He's doing this over there.
Don't believe it.
Jesus said, You want to know why Jesus
said that?
He said, Because I'm not in some other
place.
I never have been.
I can be found right wherever you are.
In whatever storm or situation you're in, that's
where I am.
I'm not limited.
I'm not unipresent.
I'm omnipresent.
That means I'm not just, God says, I'm
not just in one place.
Oh yes, God can do special things in
certain places in certain seasons.
And beloved, people will hear the message that
I'm preaching today.
They will hear it all over the world.
The tapes from this church go out into
hundreds of thousands of different homes throughout the
world.
And there may be people who get a
tape and say, I've got to go to
Times Square Church to get a touch from
God.
You don't have to go to Times Square
Church to get a touch from God.
You can get a touch from God in
your apartment.
You can get a touch from God in
the subway.
You can be sitting at your desk in
your place of employment in the middle of
hell itself.
And you can get a touch from God.
You can have your own personal revival in
the midst of that storm.
You can be sitting in a hospital beside
the bed of someone you love who's sick
or dying.
And you can get a touch from God
in that hospital room.
You can be touched by Jesus.
You can hear His voice and know His
presence and His power right in the middle
of your situation.
Jesus didn't come and die for you to
hide from you.
It's so important to know that.
And some people have a needle in a
haystack theology.
That's what I call it.
He's here.
He's there.
As if He's hiding and He appears in
the world and goes peekaboo.
And that His whole church would go running
to try to find Him.
Folks, people who don't know God do that.
People who don't know God run all over
the world looking for signs and wonders and
statues that bleed and things like that.
Those are people that have no inward working
of God.
But you and I who know Him, we
understand.
You want to have revival?
Find a couple of other people to pray
with you.
Find one other person.
If you can't find anybody, the Holy Spirit
Himself will come so that the Scripture that
says where two or more are gathered.
I am there.
If you can't find another person, ask the
Holy Spirit.
Say, I'm all alone.
There's nobody around that will pray with me.
Holy Spirit, will You come?
Will You come so that two or more
will gather and pray?
Will You come so that I can have
revival right in the midst of my situation?
Hallelujah.
The writer of Hebrews said that Jesus said
it this way.
This is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days,
says the Lord.
I will put My laws into their mind.
I will write them in their hearts.
And I will be to them a God
and they shall be to Me a people.
And they shall not teach every man his
neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord.
For all shall know Me from the least
to the greatest.
He said, It's level ground at Calvary.
And irrespective of who it is, from what
background, what education, what social state in life,
whoever comes to Me, He said, I'm going
to, and trusts Me for their salvation.
I'm going to come in the form of
the Holy Spirit and take up residence in
their lives.
And I'm going to write My nature upon
them.
The very essence.
He said, It's as if God comes with
a pen and begins to write things in
the heart.
Do this.
Don't go there.
This is how I am.
This is what I do.
This is what I don't do.
And He said, Not only will I write
it, but I'll give them the power to
live it.
It's amazing.
The Bible says that when we're born again
by the Spirit of God, the old things
just simply have to go.
Because something new and more powerful has come
and taken up residence in our lives.
And by virtue of His presence, we begin
to change.
He begins to teach us.
This book opens and the Word of God
comes to life.
Absolute life.
Revelation chapter 3, verse 20.
Jesus said to those who had lost touch
with Him.
And sometimes in the church it happens.
We go through storms, trials, or perhaps, sometimes
it's in the good times that we lose
touch with Him even more than in the
hard times.
But He said to those who had lost
touch with Him.
He said, I stand at the door and
knock.
And if any man hears my voice and
opens the door, I will come in to
him and sup.
That means I'll sit down with him and
have a feast.
And he with me.
I stand at the door and knock.
And if any man hears my voice.
So important to know the voice of Jesus
in the midst of your storm.
The question, I guess, that we ask ourselves
today is with so many voices.
Voices without.
Voices within that are claiming to speak for
God.
How can I know which voice belongs to
the real Jesus?
You ever gone to prayer and you get
on your knees and you hear a voice
right away?
Of course, it's your own heart half the
time claiming to speak for God.
How dare you come into my presence?
After the kind of a week that you've
had.
And you have the audacity to think that
I'm going to receive you.
This is the Lord speaking.
You ever had that happen to you?
Oh yes, you have.
Don't look at me like that.
It may not have been quite those words.
But that feeling in your heart.
As if it's the.
And our own heart.
The Bible says, if our own heart condemn
us.
He is greater than our heart.
And quite often when we think that we
failed God.
And we try to come into his presence.
And our own heart will condemn us.
How dare you?
And try to masquerade itself as the voice
of God.
Telling us, how dare you come into my
presence?
You just heard what you just said to
your husband, your wife, your children.
What kind of a week you've had on
the job.
How dare you?
And you see, it can be the devil
too over your shoulder.
Because he knows the mercy of God.
You see, the devil has been around a
long time.
And he has seen over the years what
happens.
When the weakest saint of God.
Lays hold of the mercy of God and
the power of God.
And rises up in that power.
I'm always touched by the story of D
.L. Moody.
Many of you don't know his name.
But he was a young man that was
touched of God.
And God used him as a great evangelist
over much of the known world of his
day.
Many years ago.
And I love the story of when he
was a shoemaker's apprentice.
And one day he was sitting outside the
shop on a small park bench.
And a friend came and sat, who was
a Christian, sat next to him.
He was only a teenager.
He was illiterate.
He could barely read or write.
And the man sat next to him and
just made a statement and said.
He said, Dwight, the world has yet to
see.
What God could do through a man who
was fully surrendered to him.
Or a vessel who was fully surrendered to
him.
And he just made the statement and walked
away.
And he sat on that bench and I
read his autobiography.
And he said, By the grace of God,
I shall be that man.
By the grace of God, I shall be
that man.
And God raised him up.
And he began to be used of God
to bring revival to the known church that
had fallen asleep.
And to see multitudes, hundreds of thousands, without
mass media come into the kingdom of God.
One of the most powerful preachers of his
generation.
A simple saint that just said, By God's
grace, I'm going to be healed unto the
will of God.
By God's grace, I'm going to let God
do whatever He wants to do.
I'm not going to be limited by my
lack of education and inability to spell.
And all these other things.
And what people have told me.
And what society tries to tell me.
That there are limitations on what can happen
through my life.
I'm throwing that away.
And by the grace of God.
You see, he heard the voice of God.
It's important to hear the voice of God.
He heard God's voice through this man.
And he laid hold of it.
And the Holy Ghost dripped that faith.
And took a simple man.
And he became a powerful, powerful preacher of
the gospel.
Hallelujah.
He defied all tradition.
The Holy Ghost did.
He was in England one time, I believe.
He was preaching the gospel there.
And very much were given to form and
tradition.
And they introduced him as the Honorable Reverend
D.L. Moody.
And they asked him when he came to
the pulpit.
Would you please thank the Earl of Stratfordshire
for his divine benevolence.
In providing the funds for this magnificent crusade
that we're experiencing.
And D.L. Moody came up to the
pulpit.
He said, well, first of all.
I have to correct a couple of things
before I speak.
First, he said, I'm not the Reverend anybody.
He said, I'm just plain old D.L.
Moody.
And secondly, he says, I don't see any
reason why we should thank the Earl anymore.
He should thank us for being here today.
And then he began to preach the gospel.
Amazing.
And thousands, thousands would come to the saving
knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Matthew chapter 14 and verse 26.
And when the disciples saw him walking on
the sea.
Now this is the first time that Jesus
speaks to them in the midst of their
storm.
They were troubled and said, it is a
spirit.
And they cried out for fear.
But straightway Jesus spake unto them saying, be
of good cheer.
It is I.
Be not afraid.
This is the first thing in the midst
of your storm that you have to understand.
When Jesus Christ comes to you.
When it's his voice speaking to you.
The voice of Jesus will always come to
you offering you hope.
Always.
100% of the time.
He will not come to you to condemn
you.
He will come to you and offer you
hope.
I will prove this to you.
Go to John chapter 3 with me for
a moment.
Just go right ahead in your Bible.
John chapter 3 verse 14.
Jesus said as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness.
Even so must the son of man be
lifted up.
That whosoever believes in him should not perish
but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world.
That he gave his only begotten son that
whosoever believeth in him.
Should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his son into the
world to condemn the world.
But that the world through him.
Might be saved.
He said I didn't come to condemn anybody.
There is a day coming of justice.
God's everlasting justice is coming.
But he said until that day.
I have not come to condemn.
I have come to save.
He said to the men in the boat
be of good cheer.
And be not afraid.
And the original translation means.
Take courage be comforted.
There is no cause for you to be
terrified or to run away.
You don't have to be afraid.
You don't have to run from me.
I understand your weakness.
I know that you fail me quite often.
I know that your hearts are prone to
giving away to your circumstance.
And to being overwhelmed by that which comes
against you.
The scripture says the wind was contrary.
They were making no progress at all.
They knew him.
They had had fellowship with him.
They had experienced some of his miracles.
But yet now he comes walking in the
midst of a storm.
And perhaps deep in their hearts they had
expected another rebuke.
Perhaps they had expected something else.
Maybe they were gripped by the sense of
their failure.
And that quite often happens when Christian people
are in a storm.
The enemy comes and sends the full force
of hell.
Against a man or woman who wants nothing
more to do but to live for God.
And in the midst of that storm there
is that sense of failure.
That sense that when God comes and speaks
to me.
He is going to be upset with me.
He is not going to receive me as
I have known him just shortly before.
But he said no.
The first words be of good cheer.
In the midst of your storm you have
got to be careful.
To understand that when Christ comes he says
be comforted.
You don't have to run away from me
or be terrified.
I am not your adversary.
I have come to save you because I
love you.
I have come to give you strength.
I have come to take you through the
midst of your trial and your storm.
I have come that you might have life
and have it more abundantly.
I have come that you might understand my
power.
I have come that it might be released
in your life.
So that you now can tread upon the
serpent and the scorpion and all the power
of the enemy.
And understand that the devil has no power
to hurt your life.
He has no power over your life.
All he can do is try to make
you feel as if somehow you are cut
off from the mercy that I have come
to give you.
I think of the tomb in Matthew chapter
9 or 28 rather.
When the two Marys came to the tomb
and they didn't find him.
Only a keeper there.
And the keeper told them that he is
not here.
He is alive.
And as they went to tell the disciples
Jesus met them.
And the very first thing he said to
them.
All hail.
Translated means rejoice and be glad.
And then he said be not afraid.
The very same words he said to the
disciples really on the water.
Rejoice with me and be not afraid.
In other words you don't have to run
away.
You don't have to be terrified.
A marvelous victory has been won.
And by grace I have now invited you
into that victory.
Luke chapter 24.
The disciples were assembled together.
They were terrified.
In the midst of a horrific storm.
The savior that they had trusted had been
crucified.
He was gone.
Out of their sight.
The only testimony they had at that point.
That there was any life or hope were
the two men from Emmaus road that were
among them.
Trying to tell them what had happened when
they had broken bread with this stranger.
On this particular road they were traveling on.
And at that particular time the scripture says
Jesus came and appeared to them.
And the very first thing he said when
he came into the room.
Now these are his disciples.
And they had fled.
They had fled.
Now you got to understand.
Peter had cursed himself with an oath.
Basically saying I've never known the man.
I don't know who you're talking about.
I've never met him.
I have no knowledge of him whatsoever.
John the beloved had fled.
They had all run.
They had all abandoned him.
They had failed him in Gethsemane.
They had failed him at the cross.
There were so few other than John really
the beloved that was standing there with his
mother.
The rest were all at a distance.
They had all run.
He walks into the room.
And all he says to them when he
greets them is peace be unto you.
And the word peace in the original Greek
text means a state of untroubled or undisturbed
well-being.
Isn't that marvelous?
The voice of Jesus in the midst of
the storm.
In the midst of the failure.
He says don't be troubled and be undisturbed.
Don't let your well-being be taken away
from you even by your own sense of
having failed me.
You remember the apostle Paul.
I love this story.
If you go there to the book of
Acts chapter 27.
The apostle Paul in the midst of the
storm.
When they're throwing everything off the ship.
And everyone is terrified.
I love this.
Because you have to have God in your
life to even envision how this could even
happen.
Everyone is terrified.
They're throwing the tackling off the ship.
They're throwing the provision for the future off
the ship.
Everyone is abandoning ship.
And you know that very well could happen.
The Enron scandal.
The recent Enron scandal could quite rapidly spread
to many other sectors of our society.
And you may see a lot of people
bailing out very shortly.
Throwing everything overboard.
Throwing over their own tackling.
Their own trust.
And even their own sense of getting out
of the difficulty that had come upon them.
And in the midst of it all.
A man that history says was just a
short little guy.
With a rather large nose.
Whether or not that's true or not.
That's what history says.
And he stands in the middle of the
ship.
In Acts 27, 22.
And what does he say?
Now this is a man speaking for God.
He says, be of good cheer.
You imagine they can hardly hear his voice
for the storm.
The waves are crashing over the ship.
They're hanging onto the ropes and the rails.
Whatever's left.
They're half seasick.
They're fearing for their lives.
And here comes Paul.
He's been shut away down in some little
closet corner of the ship.
And Paul comes out as a prisoner.
I mean, if anybody shouldn't be in a
good mood.
Because normally, normally prisoners would be killed.
If a ship was going to go down,
they would kill all of the prisoners so
they wouldn't escape.
Because a centurion who let his prisoners escape
would have to give life for life before
his commander.
So it's very rare, if ever, that the
prisoners would be allowed to go free.
And Paul, who's in this situation, he's been
in the hold of the ship.
And you know that the facilities would not
be very good there.
No chance for a shower or anything like
that for days on end.
Everyone is sick and the ship is tossed.
And I see little Paul coming and standing
in the middle of the deck.
I'd like to be like that.
I'd like to be like that in the
midst of the storm.
I don't know about you.
And Paul just says, be of good cheer.
He said, there shall be no loss of
any man's life among you, but the ship
is going to be lost.
Yeah, the ship is going to go down,
Paul says.
But nobody's life is going to be lost.
For there stood by me this night the
angel of God, whose I am and whom
I serve.
Saying, fear not, Paul.
Remember?
What does God speak?
What are the things that He speaks?
He says, be of good cheer and fear
not.
This is what the messenger of God said
to Paul.
He's bringing the words of the Lord.
Fear not, Paul.
Thou must be brought before Caesar.
And, lo, God has given thee all them
that sail with thee.
Wherefore, he says, be of good cheer.
For I believe, God, that it shall be
even as it was told me, howbeit we
must be cast upon a certain island.
Now, Paul was just reporting what God had
already spoken to him.
Now, when you begin to hear his voice,
Now, know this.
That you will soon be brought to a
place where, in his strength, the storm no
longer has the mastery over your life.
And that's exactly where the voice of God
will take you.
Paul's saying, yes, the storm appears to have
the mastery, but I have laid hold of
someone who lives above the storm.
And that voice of God that has come
to me is faithful.
God has never failed me, Paul is saying
to those on the ship.
And he has given me a promise that
has put good cheer in my heart.
And I'm bringing it to you now.
We're going to lose the ship, but it
doesn't matter.
Everyone's life is going to be spared.
So, be of good cheer.
Because God's messenger stood with me this night
and told me not to fear.
So, therefore, I'm telling you not to fear.
Incredible.
His voice will always bring you to that
place of calm.
That place of undisturbed trust in the midst
of your storm.
Back in Matthew chapter 14 again.
Verse 28.
Right after Jesus spoke.
And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if
it be thou, bid me come to thee
on the water.
And the second thing that Jesus said.
One word.
Come.
The voice of Jesus Christ offers an open
invitation for you and I to join him
where he walks in victory over our circumstances.
A simple word.
I want you to be at rest, at
peace, he said.
Be of good cheer and don't be afraid.
And once confidence in our hearts is established
that we are hearing from God.
And that God's voice is going to lift
us out of the storm that he gives
the invitation.
Come.
What an incredible invitation that is.
The Jewish people were having a religious feast.
And there was a lot of noise and
a lot of celebration.
And religious feasts are infamous for that.
Irrespective of what particular church people may attend.
But the Bible says in the book of
John chapter 7.
On the great day, the last day of
the feast.
Jesus stood and cried.
It's almost as if in the heart of
God.
He's saying, okay, everybody that's had their belly
full of religion.
Everybody that has been a participant in all
the traditions of coming to my house.
And celebrating all the celebrations and remembrances and
washings.
And commandments and ordinances.
And you are thirsty.
And he gives the invitation at the end
of all the religious exercise.
He says, if anyone among you thirst, let
him come to me and drink.
And he that believes on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly will
flow rivers of living water.
He said, if you're thirsty, come.
If church attendance has not done it for
you, then leave it and come to me.
Come to me that you might have life.
Come to me, he says, and I'll give
you something that no amount of exterior ceremony
will ever provide for you.
I will pour my very life into you.
And there will be such an abundance that
it will literally flow out of you.
You won't be able to contain it.
It will be like a mighty river.
It will flow because there will be such
life that you can't contain it within your
earthly vessel.
In another season of ministry and preaching, he
looked upon the crowd.
And again he gives the invitation.
He said, come to me, all ye who
are weary and heavy laden, burdened down, and
I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, learn of me,
I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you
will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 9, 13.
If you're sin sick, he says, I've not
come to call the righteous, but I've come
to call the sinners to repentance.
If you are sin sick, Jesus says, come
to me.
If you're weary of the bondage, if you're
weary of the oppression, if you're weary of
the chains of the slavery that comes with
sin.
He says, come to me and I will
set you free.
And I'll give you life.
To the rich young ruler, he gave an
invitation.
And he said, if you want something worth
living for, come to me.
Sell what you have.
Give it to the poor and you'll have
treasure in heaven.
And he said, and come and follow me.
Come and follow me.
Incredible.
Oh God, if this is you, bid me
come.
I heard that voice about 22, 23 years
ago.
I heard it in May 1978 when I
first came to Christ.
When I was told that I could have
a new life.
My sins could be washed away.
That God could give me a brand new
life.
That he would use my life for his
glory.
I pulled over on the side of the
road, 3 o'clock, 3.10 in the
afternoon, on May the 12th, in my uniform
as a police officer heading to work.
And I prayed a simple prayer because I
heard an invitation.
I said, Lord Jesus, if what Irv, that
was the Christian policeman that was sharing Christ
with me, his name was Irv.
And I said, if what Irv has told
me is the truth.
If there really is an invitation for me,
I want you to be my Lord and
Savior.
I want you to come into my life.
Hallelujah.
Peter said, God, if it's you, bid me
come.
You know my story.
Many of you attend this church that I
was bound by fear.
I suffered panic attacks from the time that
I was 15 years of age until I
was 24.
I had to take volume to attend classes
in school.
So that I could go into a room
full of people.
If I was so sick, I was so
bound by fear that if I was singled
out in a room full of people, I
would begin to panic.
Especially if they asked me to say something.
And I would have two choices.
Either run out of the room or have
a panic attack.
Three times, panic attacks put me in the
hospital.
One time, it could have been fairly serious.
I remember starting to attend the church and
I heard a message that with God all
things are possible.
I heard that there's nothing that Jesus can't
do.
There's nobody he can't take.
There's nowhere you can't go.
If you're willing to yield your life to
God, God can take you.
All folks, I was in a horrible storm.
If anybody suffers panic attacks, you know the
hell on earth that that is.
It was a horrible, terrible storm that I
lived in for a season.
Oh yes, there were times, there were weeks
or months even sometimes of seeming normalcy.
But then without warning, these things would come
upon me again.
But I heard an invitation.
And like Peter, he said, Oh God, if
it's you, it seems like it's impossible.
You're asking me to walk on water.
And you have to understand, where I was
looking from in those days, speaking to a
crowd of people was an impossibility.
I might as well have been asked to
walk on water.
But I said, Oh God, if it's you,
speaking to me, then they come.
I'll go.
I'll step out of the boat.
I don't want to live my life in
the boat.
I don't want to live my life bound
by fear, trying always to roll against the
storm and being victimized by circumstance.
I want to live about it, God.
I want to walk where you're walking, Jesus.
I hear that you walk about the storm.
I hear that you walk on the very
circumstances that threaten to swallow me.
And I want to walk there.
I had nothing in particular to offer God.
Just a heart that responded to an invitation.
No different than Peter, the bumbling, stumbling fisherman
who's always sticking his foot in his mouth
at the wrong time.
But I heard in my heart something.
I heard the voice of Jesus.
Bidding me to come and experience life.
Life, to come and live in the miraculous.
Come and begin to walk in a place
where few walk.
Eleven were in the boat, folks.
They never got out.
And many people, even who attend church, never
get out.
They live in the boat.
And week to week, it's just rowing, rowing,
rowing.
And every Sunday, it's just, come and just
encourage me in my struggle.
Encourage me in my rowing.
And Jesus says, that's not where I called
you to live.
I told you to walk with me above
your circumstance.
Amazing what God can do.
Amazing grace, John Newton said.
How sweet the sound that saved a wretch
like me.
I once was lost, but thank God I'm
found.
Thank God.
Hallelujah.
I was blind, but now I see.
Paul said, oh, to the Ephesian church, that
your eyes would be opened.
Oh, that you would understand that Jesus Christ
sits at the right hand of all power
and authority.
That He is the fullness, the one who
fills all in all.
He is the head of the church, that
you would see the exceeding power of His
might and glory.
Oh, folks, I felt like Peter when I
first stepped out.
I responded to God, and I began to
speak to little groups of people as the
Lord.
You don't even understand the step of faith
this was.
When I was first asked by the Holy
Ghost.
When I first responded and said, Lord, I
give you all I've got.
I haven't got much.
I've got less than the little boy who
had a lunch that you took and fed
over 5,000 men and women and children
with.
I've got less than he had.
But what I have, I give you.
And God, I'm hearing something.
You see, you can't hear it with your
ears.
You've got to hear it in your heart.
It has to go beyond your ears.
There's got to be something that causes you
to step out and defy gravity as it
is.
And I began to hear it and began
to step out.
Little groups of people.
And the Lord is always gracious.
He doesn't put you before a crowd day
one, folks.
It's one and two and three and four.
Little groups of people.
And I remember I would be sick.
I'd have to speak before a dozen people.
I would be sick.
I would be sick, sick, sick, sick.
Right up to the moment when I had
to stand and begin to speak.
And the devil was right at my doorstep.
Saying, you can't do it.
You're going to sink.
It's not going to work.
All of hell would come against me.
But I would step out on the water
in faith.
And within just a few minutes, the power
of the Holy Ghost would come upon my
life.
Hallelujah.
And I would forget that I'm standing on
water.
And people would begin to, you'd see the
tears in many cases start to come.
Simply because there was a surrendered vessel there.
Nothing special.
No ability beyond anybody else.
In fact, I believe I was coming from
farther back than most of you are living
here today in this sanctuary.
The scripture says, when they came into the
ship, the wind ceased.
Gospel of Mark, the writer Mark says, talking
about another storm.
It says Jesus arose and rebuked the wind
and said to the sea, peace be still.
And the wind ceased and there was a
great calm.
And Matthew 14, 33 says that they were
in the ship, came and worshipped him.
Saying, of a truth thou art the Son
of God.
They began to worship him.
Go to Psalm 29, please.
I'm going to close with this today.
They worshipped.
When the storm ceased.
And a calm came.
They said, you are the Son of God.
For only God could speak to these things
and cause their mastery to cease.
Psalm 29, verse 1 says, give to the
Lord, O ye mighty.
Give to the Lord glory and strength.
And I see that verse in a particular
way.
The mighty, I believe that David, the psalmist,
is speaking about is those that God has
given.
He's planted might in you.
Give him glory.
And bring back to him a report of
the strength that he's given you.
Praise him for what he's done in your
life.
Glorify him.
Raise your hands.
Folks, you've never known praise until you begin
to live in the miraculous.
When you begin to live where God takes
you where you can't go, then you have
a reason to raise your hands.
You have a reason to sing to him.
There's an expectancy.
That song that I've shared with you so
many times, it says, morning by morning new
mercies I see.
It's like, God, you brought me here to
this place.
I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
I can hardly wait to see what you're
going to do.
I know I have no power.
I know there's nothing in me of myself.
But your life is now in me.
And there's no limitation to where you can
take our lives and what you can do
with us and through us.
Give him glory and give him strength.
Give to the Lord the glory.
Do his name, verse 2, and worship the
Lord in the beauty of holiness.
You see, by the power of his Holy
Spirit, he gives us the power to live
lives that bring honor to his name.
He gives us the power to have the
victory over sin that so easily besets us
and wants to carry us away from the
will of God.
The voice of the Lord, David says.
See, David is a man who heard God's
voice.
The voice of the Lord, he said, is
upon the waters.
The God of glory thunders.
The Lord is upon many waters.
In other words, he's saying that the Lord's
voice is more powerful than many troubles.
That all storms, places of impossibility and difficulties
that will ever encounter us, there is a
voice beyond every other voice.
And the voice of the Lord is upon
the waters.
He rises above the waters.
He walks on the water.
He leads his people into the victory that
he himself has entered into when he rose
from the dead.
The voice of the Lord, verse 4, is
powerful.
The voice of the Lord is full of
majesty.
The chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to
arrest Jesus Christ.
And they came back to the priests and
Pharisees empty handed.
And they said to them, why have you
not brought him?
Why did you not take him?
And the men stood there and said, never
a man spoke like this man.
Never.
I mean, it's like they went in to
get him.
They had a purpose and they heard his
voice.
And they couldn't move.
They said, we've never ever heard a man
speak like this man.
Of course they haven't because he wasn't only
a man, he was fully God.
Verse 5 says, the voice of the Lord
breaks the cedars.
Yea, the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes them to skip like a calf.
Lebanon and Syrian like a young unicorn.
Let me paraphrase that for you.
The voice of the Lord breaks the hard
places and brings us into new life.
New life.
The hard places.
Those areas that hell itself and the human
heart says will never change.
God says, no, if you will hear my
voice, I will break those hard places.
And I will bring you into joy.
Like a young calf released from a stall.
Most of you have never lived next to
a farm.
That's for sure here in New York City.
But I have seen, I live next to
a dairy farm and I've seen young calves
released from the stall.
And I've watched them leap and dance through
the fields.
And that's what he says.
They leap and they bound and they jump
and they spend the next few days just
doing that.
For the incredible freedom.
They've been locked up, they've been penned up
with their mother.
And all of a sudden they're let out
for the first time into freedom.
And they're free from the confines around them.
And they leap and they jump and they
dance.
You saw Pastor Patrick do that during worship
today.
The voice of the Lord, verse 7, divides
the flames of fire.
God says, I'll not necessarily take you out
of your circumstance, but I will bring you
through.
If you'll hear my voice, I'll make a
way through the impossible for you.
The voice of the Lord, verse 8, shakes
the wilderness.
The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of God breaks the power of
barrenness.
And there's forever wandering in dry places.
When we begin to hear His voice, all
of these things begin to break.
Verse 9, He says, the voice of the
Lord makes the hinds to calve.
In other words, brings life and discovers the
forests.
The voice of the Lord reveals things to
us that were previously hidden.
Shows us His mercy and makes for our
feet a plain pathway through places that before
we couldn't see.
We didn't know how to get through, but
God's voice takes us through.
And in His temple does everyone speak of
His glory.
The voice of God produces an awe in
His people.
They speak because they partake of His life.
They speak of His glory where God's people
are.
There is a testimony.
Let me tell you what God is doing
in my life.
Let me tell you where He has taken
me from.
Let me tell you where He is taking
me to.
In His temple, everyone speaks of His glory.
Verse 10 says, the Lord sits upon the
flood.
The Lord is King forever.
The Lord will give strength unto His people
and the Lord will bless His people with
peace.
Be still and know that I am God.
Now go back to Matthew 14.
Let's close there.
There is one last thing the voice of
the Lord will do.
One more thing.
Verse 31.
He said, O thou of little faith, wherefore
didst thou doubt?
He was saying to not only Peter, but
everyone else in the boat.
You have heard My voice.
And when we have heard His voice, He
will come and challenge everything that separates us
from His life.
And that life being manifested in us.
He will challenge us very lovingly.
Very kindly.
If you are harboring sin in your life,
He will come and tell you why things
are not well.
He will tell you why you are not
experiencing victory.
He will challenge everything in you that is
unlike Him.
That is separating you from His life.
He will challenge it not because He delights
in pointing His finger at people.
He will challenge it because He delights in
giving life to those that are His.
He will say, I want to talk to
you about why you are sinking in your
storm.
You are sinking because of the things perhaps
you are listening to.
You are sinking because of what you are
reading.
You are sinking because of improper financial dealings.
You are sinking because of that immoral relationship
that you are involved in.
You are sinking because you don't seek Me
anymore.
And He will point it out because when
you go through the Scriptures, it is inarguable.
That it is God's desire and design to
give life to those of us that He
has created.
Humanity that He has created in His own
image.
His desire, His intent from before the foundation
of the world was to redeem a people
and give us life.
Now, we really have to ask ourselves, whose
voice are we listening to in this storm?
And if things are not well today between
you and God, would you like that to
change today?
God says, you have heard My voice.
Peter said, Lord, if it is You, bid
me to come.
If, listen to me, education, annex, balcony, every
room.
If you are hearing God's voice today, something
in you is saying, come.
You are looking now at an area of
weakness, inability, where you are not living in
victory.
You have a besetting sin in your life.
Something is separating you from the life of
God.
Or perhaps, you are living, right, but the
Holy Spirit has been calling you into a
place that you, it's like, God, you better
have another look in the heaven's phone book.
You have got the wrong number here.
Me?
Africa?
Me?
Malaysia?
Me?
Australia?
Me?
My neighborhood?
But God, they know what I used to
be like.
They won't listen to me.
It will be a storm.
I mean, I will set out in my
neighborhood to live for you and it will
be a storm.
And Jesus stands above the storm and says,
come, come.
Oh God, oh God, if it is You,
bid me come.
God, if it is You, bid me come.
If it is You, I can tell you
only one thing.
One thing that I have done that I
feel is right over the years of walking
with God.
When He invited me, I accepted the invitation.
And He has never failed me.
And He will never fail you.
He will keep you.
Use you for His glory.
Give you His life.
Oh God, let that be in your heart
right now.
God, if you are speaking to me, this
looks so impossible.
But if it is Your voice, bid me
come.
And He immediately said, come.
My Father, You know, Holy Spirit, the work
that You are doing in the people who
have gathered in this house today.
I don't want anyone to move because they
are compelled by anything that is not of
the Holy Spirit.
But Lord, You know what, You are speaking
to every heart.
There are two, three thousand people here today,
but You are speaking to every heart individually.
You are not limited.
There are things You want to do in
every life.
Places You want to take every one of
us.
Strengths You want to release.
Victories You want to give us.
You stand on top of our impossible places
with an invitation.
Come.
And today, I am asking that You give
grace to those that You are speaking to.
To leave these places of powerlessness.
And to come and join You by faith
in Your victory.
I ask this in Jesus' name.
We are going to stand together in a
moment.
And when we do, if the Holy Spirit
is drawing you and speaking to your heart,
feel free to join me at this altar.
In the education annex, you can go forward.
Perhaps between the screens, and we will pray
together momentarily.
As the orchestra comes and leads us in
a song, let's all stand together.
Balcony, you can go to either aisle.
Main sanctuary, you can slip out.
God bless you.
I want to ask this morning before we
pray, does anybody here this morning can say,
Pastor Carter, I'd love to walk in victory,
but I'm not even a Christian.
I've never given my life to Jesus Christ
as my Lord and Savior.
I've never till this day understood that He
came and died on a cross to pay
the price for my sins.
I've never understood that salvation is not a
religion.
It's a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the
Son of God.
And today I want to turn from my
sin.
I want to repent.
I want to give my life to Christ.
To trust you, Jesus, for my salvation.
And from this day forward, to believe that
you will take me and use my life
for your glory.
If that's you today, I want to ask
you to unashamedly, balcony, annex, anywhere in this
sanctuary, and at the altar, to join me
and raise your hand right now.
Do it.
Nice and high.
God bless you.
Raise your hand up.
All through the sanctuary, those who want to
receive Christ as your Savior.
Keep it up.
It will encourage others who are in that
valley of decision right now.
I want Christ, God bless you, all up
in the balcony and throughout.
Now let's all pray together for those that
are going to make the most important decision
of their entire life right now.
To give their lives to Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus, I am a sinner.
I thank you today that you came to
the earth.
God became a man.
And paid the price for my sin by
dying on a cross.
Giving your life that I might be set
free from the power of sin.
And have an assurance in my heart that
when I die, I am going to heaven
to live with God forever.
Today, I acknowledge my sin.
Jesus, I accept your offer to me of
forgiveness and eternal life.
And today, I open my heart.
I invite you in to be my Lord
and my Savior.
Jesus, thank you for loving me enough to
give your life for me.
Today, by faith, I receive your salvation.
And I return thanks to you by giving
my life to you.
I ask you now, from this day forward,
to teach me and lead me and guide
me.
Help me to understand your word.
And to understand how, by your power, I
can live a new life that brings honor
and glory to you.
I believe that you are the Son of
God, died for my sins, and rose from
the grave.
As proof that my confidence in you is
not in vain.
I trust you for my salvation and for
everlasting life.
And I believe, at this very moment, I
am saved.
I am saved.
Hallelujah.
We have New
Believers classes every Friday night.
For those that have prayed that prayer and
you've really meant it.
And now, for the rest, are you willing
to trust God?
For your life, for your circumstance.
The greatest truth I ever learned, next to
my salvation, is that God is not limited
by my inability.
He's only limited by my unbelief.
That's all that limits Him.
Thanks be to God.
Hallelujah.
Jesus, help me.
I've heard your voice.
And I want to go into that place
where you are calling me.
That's a place of life.
And it's a place of victory.
I believe it.
And I'm believing this day.
That you are giving me the courage.
To step out of my storm.
And to grab hold of you.
That you will keep me.
You will strengthen me.
And you will walk with me.
You will bring peace.
And calm to my life.
In the midst of my circumstance.
I ask today.
That through my life.
You might be honored.
And you might be glorified.
Lead me.
Guide me.
And empower me.
I believe today.
You will never fail me.
And you will never forsake me.
Because you are God.
You should be happy.
I know it's an awesome thing.
When God begins to speak to your heart.
It's going to be wonderful when we get
to heaven.
I'm looking at your faces here at this
altar.
And find out where you ended up in
this world.
It's going to be awesome.
Look me up.
I'll be on Golden Avenue just down from
the throne.
Look me up.
When we all get to heaven.
This is the conclusion of the message.