Now, Father, I just thank you so much,
Lord, for the anointing of your Holy Spirit.
I thank you for the strength of God,
the joy of the Lord that is so
evidently here today.
Lord, I thank you that the Bible says
that the entrance of your words gives light.
And so, Lord, would you give me the
ability to clearly speak what you put on
my heart and give us all the ears
to be able to hear it, hearts to
embrace it, Lord.
You speak to us for good and never
for evil.
Lord, you are good and your mercy endures
forever.
I believe that with all my heart.
Thank you, Lord, as we sang today, you
overlook our faults and you see our need.
And today we have needs in this house.
And I do believe that you will meet
many of them.
And I thank you for it in Jesus'
mighty name.
Psalm 30 in the Old Testament.
If you'll turn there, we're gonna begin there.
My message title is, Get Ready to Light
Your Lamp and Dance.
Get ready to light your lamp and dance.
I fully believe the joy of the Lord
is going to be our strength in these
last days.
Now, this is a song that David the
king wrote.
Psalm 30, verse one.
I will extol thee, O Lord, for the
house lifted me up and not made my
foes rejoice over me.
O Lord, my God, I cried unto thee
and thou hast healed me.
O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul
from the grave, thou hast kept me alive,
that I should not go down to the
pit.
Sing to the Lord, O ye saints of
his, and give thanks at the remembrance of
his holiness.
For his anger endures but a moment, and
in his favor is life.
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy
comes in the morning.
And in my prosperity, I said, I shall
never be moved.
Lord, by thy favor, thou hast made my
mountain to stand strong.
Thou didst hide thy face, and I was
troubled.
I cried to thee, O Lord, and unto
the Lord I made supplication.
What profit is there in my blood when
I go down to the pit?
Shall the dust praise thee?
Shall it declare thy truth?
Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me.
Lord, be thou my helper.
Thou hast turned from me my mourning into
dancing.
Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded
me with gladness.
To the end, that my glory may sing
praise to thee and not be silent.
O Lord, my God, I will give thanks
unto thee forever.
I love the honesty of the psalmist King
David.
I love the fact that when he writes
his psalms, there's an incredible mixture of faith
and honesty.
Talks about moments in his life when he
said, God, I feel like I've lost strength.
And when I felt strong, I said, I
shall never be moved.
And then suddenly it seemed like your presence
was gone.
And I was surrounded by sorrow and difficulty
in the grave.
And I got to the point of feeling
like dust.
And I said, Oh God, I have hardly
anything left to praise you.
Is there a point?
Is there a purpose to all of this?
And in the midst of it all, he
comes to the conclusion.
He said, weeping may endure for a night,
but joy comes in the morning, thus seasons
and times when God may allow forms of
sorrow into the heart for his own purpose.
But it never lasts for the true believer
in Jesus Christ.
You might be in a season of sorrow.
It might be a difficult time for you
right now, but joy is coming your way.
As a matter of fact, joy unspeakable and
full of glory.
I know that in my heart.
Now, Matthew 24 and 25, Jesus is talking
about in these chapters, the last days.
It starts with a question.
His disciples said, tell us what will be
the end times and what will be the
signs of your coming?
And what's the end of the world going
to look like?
And then he goes on in Matthew 24
and he describes spiritual deception will be rampant.
There'll even be people who are able to
do miracles, but they're deceiving and false miracles
leading to the worship of other Christs and
other gods.
There'll be wars and rumors of wars.
There'll be famines.
Diseases will begin to break out in the
earth.
Now he speaks of all these things, earthquakes
in different places, distress and perplexity among nations,
governments not knowing what to do, getting into
such a tailspin of trial, not knowing how
to get out.
Their hearts are failing them for fear.
Then he says something at the beginning of
Matthew chapter 25.
He said something very interesting.
There are gonna be two types of people
that have at least some form of profession
of knowing God.
They're in the house of the Lord.
And I don't know, some may have come
fully through and some are partway through and
some are just curious.
They're never really been serious about their commitment
to the things of God.
But you know, those who really never were
serious are gonna get caught in these days.
You know, it's possible to intermix with the
church, interfellowship, sing the songs, clap your hands.
But if there's some form of serious spiritual
deficiency in the heart, it's, I tell you
lovingly, it's going to catch you at this
time that we're living in.
So those who are going to see God
in the midst of trial, those are going
to have a clear view of Jesus Christ.
There's gonna be joy in them.
They're going to be, they're gonna have a
lamp, which is a type of God's presence
within them.
And there's something of excitement that's going to
be in their hearts and they're going to
lift their heads because there's an awareness of
the nearness of Christ.
They can actually see God in the midst
of their calamity.
And yet there are others who sat in
the same places of some form of worship
who say, I don't see what you see.
I don't see the presence of God in
all of this.
I don't know how God could be in
charge of a world that is dissolving into
chaos so rapidly.
And they come to those who can see
and say, well, whatever you got, can you
give it to me?
And the righteous say, we can't give it
to you.
You have to get it for yourself.
And it's really time to get oil now.
It's really time folks to make sure that
you are able to see the nearness of
Christ as he approaches.
We are quickly approaching the second coming of
Jesus Christ and we can understand how to
see him in the midst of all of
what we're experiencing by carefully looking in scripture
at the time of his first coming.
Now, all scripture that Bible tells us is
given by inspiration of God, is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instruction
in righteousness or that means what is right.
All scripture, even the Christmas narrative in Luke
chapter two.
And if you'll turn there with me very
quickly, please, if you would.
Now, in Luke chapter two, the society of
that day looked very much like ours is
becoming.
I want you to think about this just
for a moment.
Now, Israel was occupied, a foreign nation.
So godless elements had come into the land
and were attempting to impose rules and values,
which many of the people had been taught
to believe were not right according to the
word of God.
We're living at such a time in this
country today, when there seems to be a
value system which the majority of people don't
agree with.
We don't agree with same sex marriage in
America.
And it just seems that no matter how
many times people go to the ballot box
and vote against it, it suddenly becomes law,
irrespective of what the people want, it becomes
the law.
We're forced now to accept, it seems an
outside influence of the redefining of culture, the
redefining of family, the redefining of what is
right and what is wrong.
And it seems that everything that made America
good and what this country stood for is
suddenly being thrown to the wind.
And that must have been how the people
of Israel felt when they're suddenly just literally
invaded by godlessness and all of these rules
and values and regulations are being imposed on
them.
Day by day, there had to be new
rules coming.
And many people are just scratching and trying
to hold on to what they knew was
right.
It seemed as if the whole country was
being uprooted.
People were forced to leave their jobs and
their homes while being brought under the burden
of giving more, though oftentimes they had less
to give.
Cyrenius, the governor, got it in his mind
that all of the world, or Caesar Augustus,
rather, that all the world should be taxed,
which really means numbered for the purpose of
taxation.
And everybody had to leave where they were
and they had to go back to the
city or the town of their birth.
They had to register so that they could
be taxed.
And there was no mercy in this.
I mean, you can see it just in
the simple narrative of Mary being just days
away from giving birth, but yet there's no
mercy.
It didn't matter if a woman was in
their ninth month, still had to get on
a donkey and travel perhaps dozens, if not
hundreds of miles to go to a hometown
to be registered.
There was absolutely no mercy.
It was really just all about money now.
Religious leaders were increasingly politically motivated and they
were using their positions to establish for themselves
a place of seeming security.
John 11, verse 48, here's what they said
about Jesus.
If we let him alone, everyone will believe
on him and the Romans will come and
take away both our place and our nation.
Don't you find it interesting they put themselves
before the nation?
Like we've worked hard to get into these
positions.
We've worked hard to get influence in government.
We've worked hard to be politically correct.
We've worked hard to be accepted and palatable
to the masses.
And now if this nation turns to Jesus,
we're gonna lose what we have because obviously
it would be exposed as deficient, as deficient
as it actually was.
Society had become increasingly selfish to the point
where a young couple about to give birth
to a child were turned out into the
cold with few, if any, seemingly willing to
help them.
God help us that we don't get like
that.
No matter what happens to the nations, God
help us as a church, as the people
of God, that we stay kind, that there's
never comes a knock on this door with
somebody in that kind of distress.
And we ever get to the point of
saying, listen, I'm sorry, the place is full.
There's no room for you.
You're on your own.
And so the question then arises, who's able
to see God in the power of his
hand at work?
Who's able to have joy and vision in
dark times like these?
Who will see God in our generation?
That's really the question.
So in order to answer it, we have
to look back at who saw God in
that generation.
Because the times were very, very, very similar
to where we're living today.
It started with shepherds.
Look to chapter eight.
It says that there were in the same
country shepherds abiding in the field and keeping
watch over their flock by night.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came
upon them and the glory of the Lord
shone round about them and they were sore
afraid.
The angel said to them, fear not, for
behold, I bring you good tidings of great
joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in
the city of David, a savior, which is
Christ the Lord.
This shall be a sign to you, shall
find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying
in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a
multitude of the heavenly host praising God and
saying glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace, goodwill towards men.
Then 15 to 19 tells us about them
going to see this child.
And verse 20 says the shepherds returned glorifying
and praising God for all the things that
they had heard and seen as it was
told unto them.
Who is going to be able to see
Christ in this generation?
Number one, the faithful pastor, the faithful minister
of God who is taking seriously the caring
of the flock of God, the people of
God.
Those that are listening today on the internet,
those who'd be listening in the future, the
pastor of 15, 20, 25, 30, 35.
You don't necessarily have a mega church, but
you're a faithful man or woman of God.
And you are watching over that flock in
the nighttime.
You know it's a dark time.
You're watching over that flock and you're encouraging
the people that God has placed under your
care.
You are seeking an honest word from the
Lord and you are seeking to speak into
people's lives and give them strength.
You will have vision in these last days.
You will see what the politically motivated don't
see.
You'll see what the selfish don't see.
You'll see what those that are using ministry
for personal gain don't see.
The watchful mother who cares about her children,
who's in the prayer closet praying for her
sons and for her daughters, whose only strength
is in God, who watches by night when
her sons are out, her daughters are out
in places perhaps she feels that they shouldn't
be, but should be there at home, praying,
watching, believing, guarding that little flock that has
been put into her hands, seeing her own
children as tender and precious jewels in the
sight of God.
You will see, you will see in this
dark time, you'll see something of God that's
gonna make you dance in the days ahead.
The caring friend, people who are living outside
of their own comforts and concerns.
People are sitting out, maybe today you just
feel outside of all the activity, you feel
outside, you feel like you have no say
in anything.
Everyone in Bethlehem was, historians tell us there
was only one major inn in Bethlehem and
they're all perhaps sending emissaries ahead of them
to reserve rooms, everybody's pushing for themselves, they're
all involved in, there's complaining, there's bitterness, there's
political argument going on and these people are
outside of it, they're outside in the field
at night.
And sometimes you can just feel like you're
living outside of it, all the hustle, the
bustle, the self-seeking, the culture of blame,
but you faithfully care for that which God
has given to you and you are suddenly
made aware of how much God cares for
you.
David, the psalmist said it this way and
I believe it's Psalm 8.
Just gonna pull it up for you very,
very quickly, I'll read it to you.
Listen to what he said, "'O Lord, our
Lord, how excellent is thy name "'in all
the earth.
"'You've set your glory above the heavens.'" David
had time.
If you're outside of it all, thank God
that you are.
If you're outside of all the argument going
on, if you're outside of all the endless
speaking about nothing, thank God that you're outside
of it.
If you feel all alone, thank God you're
all alone.
If the only comfort you have is a
Bible in your hand and the ability somewhere,
you might have to drive out to Staten
Island to be able to see the stars
in New York City, but at least if
you can look up and say, "'God, you
are so much bigger than everything going on
"'in this world.'" Sometimes you have to be
alone to be able to get an eternal
perspective, to be able to stop and think
about the things of God.
Think about eternity, think about God who holds
the whole universe in the palm of his
hand.
And David says these marvelous words in Psalm
8, verse two.
He says, "'Out of the mouths of babes
and sucklings "'you have ordained strength because of
your enemies, "'that you might still the enemy
and the avenger.'" David is sitting on the
hillside, he's looking after the sheep that are
under his hand, he's looking into the heavens,
says, "'God, you're so powerful that if you
choose to, "'you can set every enemy of
God to flight by a baby.
"'You can do it through a baby if
you chose to do it.'" That was David's
conclusion, wasn't he right?
"'Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
"'you have ordained strength because of your enemies.
"'When I consider the heavens,' he said, "'the
work of your fingers, the moon, "'the stars
which you have ordained, "'what is man that
you are mindful of him, "'and the son
of man that you visit him?
"'You've made him a little lower than the
angels "'that have crowned him with glory and
honor, "'and made him to have dominion over
the works of your hands.
"'You put all things under his feet, "'all
sheep and oxen, beasts of the field, "'the
fowls of the air, the fish of the
sea, "'and whatsoever passes through the paths of
the seas.
"'Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy
name "'in all the earth.'" Oh, thank God.
You know, sometimes isolation is not fun.
I don't like it any more than you
do.
Sometimes when your life seems to be getting
very narrow and you seem to be outside
of everything, you seem to have no, you
just seem to be, it's just the only
comfort you're getting is from the Lord himself.
Do you ever stop and think that might
be God wanting to give you eyes to
see something that other people don't see?
The crowd in the inn can't see it.
The travelers, the soldiers, the politicians, everyone around,
those that are using their ministries to push
and influence the situation, the society don't see
it.
Do you ever wonder why God had to
go to shepherds to give a revelation to
the glory of his son?
I don't think anybody else was listening.
He did send his son to the inn,
but nobody would let him in.
There's just so much going on there.
Who knows, they might have a prayer meeting
going on in one part of the inn
for all we know.
And people are eating and they're making their
beds and they're putting their children to bed
and here comes the son of God and
there's no room in all of this.
So he has to go to a place
where people are outside of it all.
And you might feel like in society you're
marginalized, you're pushed to the borders as you're
outside of it all.
But today, can you just thank God for
it?
Because if history repeats itself, you are the
ones that are going to see what nobody
else can see.
In quietness and confidence, Isaiah said, shall be
your strength.
God himself said in Psalm 46, be still
and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the heathen.
I will be exalted in the earth.
And the psalmist comes to the conclusion in
verse 11.
He says, the Lord of hosts is with
us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still.
Take time, folks, in this book.
Don't go to the news before you go
to this book.
Take time to be still before God.
Take time to contemplate the things of the
Lord.
And secondly, in Luke chapter two, we see
a man in the temple called Simeon.
In verse 25, it says, there was a
man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
And the same was just and devout, waiting
for the consolation of Israel.
And the Holy Ghost was upon him.
And it was revealed to him by the
Holy Ghost that he should not see death
before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
And he came by the Spirit into the
temple.
And when the parents brought in the child
Jesus to do for him after the custom
of the law, he took him up in
his arms and blessed God and says, Lord,
now you'll let your servant depart in peace
according to your word.
For my eyes have seen your salvation, which
you prepared before the face of all people,
a light to lighten the Gentiles and the
glory of thy people Israel.
And Joseph and his mother marveled at those
things which were spoken of him.
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary
his mother, behold, this child is set for
the fall and rising again of many in
Israel, and for a sign which shall be
spoken against.
And yea, a sword shall pierce through thine
own soul also that the thoughts of many
hearts may be revealed.
I want you to picture this for a
moment.
The temple in Israel is, or in this
particular area is probably buzzing with activity because
people are traveling from everywhere.
And of course, the temple, wherever it was
located, is the center of religious life of
this society at this time.
And in the midst of it all, all
the activity, the sacrifice, the chanting, the praying,
the talking, in the temple, here comes this
poor couple with a little baby, just eight
or so days old.
And they come into the temple and I
can see the Pharisees.
Maybe they don't have watches, but looking at
the sun where it is in the sky
and saying one to another, oh no.
Here comes the poor couple.
You see they're poor because they only have
turtle doves.
That's the sacrifice of the poor that you
offer.
And obviously they have nothing to add to
our agenda.
They have nothing to add to the temple
treasury.
Who's gonna take the time now to minister
to this family and minister to this child?
And they're probably looking at one another and
figuring out who's gonna take the time to
do this, the nuisance that it must have
seemed.
You know, religion always despises the poor folks.
Whenever religion moves away from God, it always
despises the poor.
And that's why Jesus came in measure this
way because it tests the heart.
It tests the heart.
When the church begins to move towards the
middle and upper class, it has lost the
heart of God, folks.
Then Christ himself could come into the temple
and not even be recognized.
And yet there's this old man.
The scripture says he was an old man.
His prayer of his heart was, God, let
me see your salvation before I die.
And the scripture says he was waiting for
the consolation of Israel.
Now he's old and we don't know why
he's alone in the temple every day.
Maybe his family abandoned him.
We don't know his circumstances.
And a lot of people when they're alone
can start praying always about themselves.
You know, oh God, please comfort me.
Lord Jesus, I'm alone.
God, you can get into the temple and
be overwhelmed with your own situation and your
own need, especially if you feel alone at
any age.
But the scripture says he was a just
and devout man and his prayers were focused
on the consolation of the comfort of Israel.
He was in the temple saying, God, comfort
your people.
Comfort your people, oh God.
Comfort your people.
Lord, you won't let me die until I
see how you're going to comfort your people.
They're an occupied nation.
The whole nation is in upheaval.
There must have been atrocities being committed by
Roman soldiers because there were really no laws
governing them.
They could do to those that were not
citizens of Rome whatever they wanted and nobody
could say anything about it.
And it would be a time of incredible
hardship and trial.
And yet Simeon, rightly so, could complain about
his own situation, but he's in the temple.
He's just, he's devout.
And the scripture says the Holy Ghost is
on him and he's saying, oh God, it's
like you and I coming into the prayer
meeting and truly in our heart, yes, we
have needs and we might feel alone.
And yes, there's been wounding and we might
feel abandoned by family, but we come to
a prayer meeting and it's in our hearts,
oh God, comfort New York City.
Oh Jesus, don't let this city die in
its sin.
Lord, don't let me die until I see
what you're gonna do and how you're going
to comfort your people.
Then suddenly this poor couple comes in with
this little baby and he's led of the
Holy Spirit into the temple and he has
eyes that nobody around has.
None of the temple officials have these eyes.
Not even Mary and Joseph can see at
this time what he sees and not only
does he see the Christ, he sees the
cross.
He has a full panorama of what God
is about to do and how he's about
to do it.
Who will see the Lord?
The prophet Isaiah said, to whom shall the
arm of the Lord be revealed?
He comes out of the ground like a
dry root and when we see him, there's
nothing attractive about him that we should desire
him.
But here's a just and devout man whose
prayers are not for himself but for others.
Led of the Holy Ghost, his eyes open.
Can you imagine the temple priests?
Oh, there's that foolish old man here again.
Just hangs around here all day praying, groaning
and crying out for Israel.
Poor old guy.
He's just so blind.
Doesn't he see that we're occupied by Rome?
Doesn't he understand that there's only one way
out of this and we're working at it
and yet he groans and cries and what
a nuisance Simeon must have seen as he
interrupts in a sense, perhaps part of the
ceremony or the beginning or the middle of
the end, whatever it was, and takes this
child in his arms and it's as if
everybody has to stand back in the religious
world and just endure this man who's got
a vision given him of God.
The Holy Ghost was upon him with incredible
revelation and he brought words to Mary that
must have brought some comfort to her in
her deepest sorrow.
What he was essentially telling Mary is that
a sword is going to pierce your heart
because of this child.
But I think about how those words must
have come back and reminded her as she
looked at her son on the cross that
God is in control of all things and
nothing happens without a purpose.
That God foreknew.
It had to bring, his whole reason was
to bring comfort to others.
And even the godly, if you're in a
godly church, sometimes you'll hear a word that
pierces your heart, but ultimately it will protect
you and ultimately it will give you comfort
in the day of struggle when you truly
need something from the Lord.
And lastly, there was this woman called Anna
and the scripture tells us that she was
of great age and she had had a
husband for seven years and now she's a
widow about, they didn't know exactly, Luke didn't
know exactly her age, she's about 84 years
old.
And she didn't leave the temple, but serve
God with fastings and prayers night and day.
And she coming in that instant gave thanks
likewise to the Lord and spoke of him
to all that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Anna's the type of person who's had, she's
had a hard life.
She's lost her dreams.
She probably really loved this man, perhaps so
much so that she decided never to marry
again.
We don't know how she lost him.
Says she was a widow.
Was he murdered?
Did he die of a disease?
We don't know what happened to him.
What we do know is that she chose
not to blame anyone for her situation, not
even God.
She accepted what life had given her.
It's sometimes, some people that are here today,
you've been dealt a hard place in life.
And I wish I could tell you it's
going to get better.
In the natural sense, it might not.
But in the spiritual sense, it can be
a wonderful place that God has placed you
in.
Your life might be one of sorrow.
And you look back and it's broken dreams
and the shattered image of what you thought
your life was going to be.
And the heartache just wants to eat at
you every day.
But she began to speak when she saw
this child.
She began to speak to everyone about him
who looked for redemption.
And in her heart, it was God.
I have looked, Lord.
I've looked for deliverance.
I've looked, God, all my life for a
way out of the situation I find myself
in.
And now I've seen it.
Simeon has seen this child as the one
who's going to bring consolation to all who
turn to him.
I've seen this child as the one who's
able to bring me out of sorrow and
heartache and difficulty and trial, and to give
me a meaning and purpose for my life.
Have you ever thought for a moment that
these things, isolation, the shepherds were isolated.
Simeon was old and lonely and somewhat vulnerable,
and Anna was a woman of sorrow.
Has it ever occurred to you that some
of these things might actually be mandatory for
you and I to be able to see
Christ in the midst of crisis?
For you and I to be able to
have oil, because in the last days, it
talks about a bride who are going to
see him in calamity.
Now, those who have used Jesus for other
purposes won't see.
Those who've had a casual relationship with him
won't see.
Those who have been political won't see.
Those who've been selfish won't see.
Might I suggest to you, those who have
suffered will be given a vision of God
that is second to none that this world
has ever known.
In the last days, it says, Jesus said
it will be like this.
There'll be five of 10 who had oil
in their lamps.
And oil means the ability to see in
darkness.
It means they can light a lamp and
actually hold it up and they can see
when nobody else can see.
And suddenly they start saying, behold, the bridegroom.
Can't you see the bridegroom?
Don't you see the nearness of Christ?
Don't you see the power of God unfolding
in this generation?
Don't you hear what I hear?
I have a vision in my heart.
I can hear, I can see heaven open.
I see that Jesus Christ is about to
do something profound.
I see the church about to leave this
earth and to be gathered together with him
and to forever be with the Lord.
I see that there's no calamity.
There's no foreign power.
There's no famine.
There's nothing can separate us from the love
of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our
Lord.
I see Jesus Christ seated at the right
hand of almighty God, filled with power and
filled with authority, never has lost control of
anything.
I see him as the head of the
church.
I see him as the one who fills
his body with oil, that oil of God,
that oil of life, that oil of Christ.
He fills his church.
His church is more than victorious, more than
conquerors.
God help us in this generation to get
ahold of this truth and realize that we
are in Christ and Christ is in us.
We are more than conquerors in Christ.
We're already seated at the right hand of
almighty God in Christ.
There's not an army of hell that can
come against what God did to his son
on Calvary.
When he redeemed you and bought you, you
were purchased, you became possessors, you were sealed
in the hand of God the Father, and
nobody can ever take you out of the
hand of God.
And to those that are lonely and isolated
and suffering, I'm telling you today, thank God
for it because you're going to have a
vision that others don't have in this last
hour of time.
You're gonna be able to see because of
your suffering if you've made right choices, if
you've chosen to forgive, if you've chosen not
to blame God for your situation.
If you decided to come out of the
crowd that just spends their whole day bellyaching
about the situation, you've gotten alone with God
and looked into the heavens and said, Lord,
thank you that you're in control of everything.
Thank you that your plan is so much
bigger.
No wonder it says in the scriptures, you
laugh at the heathen.
You laugh at those that say, we're gonna
break the chains of God off of us
and of God's people, and we're gonna be
free from the control of God.
It says you sit in the heavens and
laugh.
The foolishness of these little specks that you'd
need a microscope from the throne of God
to see.
And shouting into heaven saying, there is no
God.
The foolishness of humanity.
Behold, he comes.
We sing it, riding, riding.
Behold, he comes.
Jude said, with 10,000 of his saints,
he comes.
King of kings and Lord of lords to
rule and to reign forever.
Speak of him to those that are looking
for comfort.
Speak of him to those that are looking
for consolation.
And like the shepherds, the scripture says they
returned glorifying and praising God for the things
they'd heard and seen and as was told
unto them.
The shepherds had oil in the midst of
the night.
They returned glorifying and praising God.
Folks, it's nice that you and I can
sing in church, but we gotta be able
to sing outside of church.
We gotta be able to sing on the
subway now.
We gotta be able to sing in the
workplace.
We gotta be able to sing on the
street, folks.
Glorifying and praising God, not because it was
a good service, not because the choir hit
all the right notes, not because you got
a bonus paycheck last Friday, if you even
have a paycheck.
Folks, it's not because of that.
It's because of what you are seeing in
your own heart and in your own mind
of God.
It's the vision of Christ that you are
getting from God himself.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
When you see these things, Jesus said, lift
up your head for your redemption draws nigh.
That's why David said, I will extol thee,
O Lord, for you've lifted me up and
not made my foes to rejoice over me.
There are so many here today that the
devil is after you.
You're a loner, you're isolated.
If you're serving God, why is there sorrow
and loss in your life?
Why are you old and lonely if you're
serving God?
You bite into the lie and all you're
going to do is look down and end
up with no vision for the future.
But David says, O Lord, I cried to
you and you've healed me.
And there's a time when we just simply
have to cry to God and say, Lord,
take me farther than myself.
Take me farther than my own struggles and
farther than my own needs.
God, help me to see, Lord.
Help me to see where strength is.
Help me to see your redemptive hand in
my situation.
He said, O Lord, you brought my soul
up from the grave.
You've kept me alive that I should not
go down to the pit.
Sing to the Lord, he said, you saints
of his.
Give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
Anger endures a moment in his favor, his
life.
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy
comes in the morning.
Psalm 30, the last three verses.
He says, hear, O Lord, and have mercy
upon me.
O Lord, be my helper.
You've turned for me my mourning into dancing.
You've put off my sackcloth and girded me
with gladness to the end that my glory
may sing praise to thee and not be
silent.
O Lord, my God, I will give thanks
to thee forever.
David said, you've turned my mourning into dancing.
You've helped me to put off this garment
of mourning.
This garment of woe is me.
This garment of why is my life so
hard?
You've helped me to put off this garment.
You've opened my eyes and you've clothed me
with gladness.
I know some people, life has been very
hard.
But think of it this way.
Just think if you'd been born a billionaire,
lived in the Caribbean, you had 10 yachts,
houses on every continent.
You'd probably be going to hell right now.
And so rather than have you go to
hell, the Lord had you born in the
Bronx or Brooklyn, gave you an
old rusty car or a few subway tokens,
a longing in your heart for something real.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
It's time to light your lamp and dance,
folks.
Time to light your lamp and dance.
Behold the bridegroom.
I don't, when I go home, I don't
see a mansion and I don't see a
brand new car.
And I don't even see, I don't see
a lot of things in this world attached,
but I do see eternity.
I see a savior.
Hallelujah.
I see glory.
I see reason and purpose for my life.
Hallelujah to the Lamb of God.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
I see my sons and daughters coming home.
I see my family alive in God.
I see a mansion being built for me
right now in glory.
Hallelujah.
I see those that are close to me
that I love worshiping God.
I see this choir in heaven one day.
We're going to have a reunion.
We're going to sing when we get to
heaven.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Glory to God.
Oh, the religious crowd are going to be
so left out.
They're going to accuse you.
They brought in the blind man and said,
you agree with us, this man is a
fraud.
And he said, well, I don't know what
he is, but I know one thing.
I once was blind, but now I see.
Hallelujah.
I can see.
Thank God I can see.
Hallelujah.
No wonder the prophet Isaiah says come dance
ye lame.
Come sing ye that had no voice.
Come see the Lord ye that couldn't see
anything.
Thank God.
Thank God for spiritual eyes and a spiritual
heart.
I want to give an altar call for
everyone who feels lonely and outside and sorrowful
and are in need of comfort.
I want you to come and do something
in the spiritual realm.
Just light your lamp and begin to rejoice
and say God thank you that I am
who I am.
I live where I live.
I was born where I was born.
Instead of mourning it, start thanking God for
it.
Thank God for the life you've had.
Thank God for the home you were lived
in.
Thank God it brought you here.
It brought you to him folks.
It's good enough.
It brought you to him.
It brought you to understanding what Christmas is
all about and who Christ is.
Glory to God.
We're going to worship for a few moments
and if this applies to you and you
just feel like coming to this altar and
you just want to spend some time rejoicing,
I'm going to invite you to come.
Give God thanks for your life.
Instead of mourning, give God thanks for your
life.
Let's stand together in the annex.
You can stand between the screens.
Balcony would either exit, but it's time to
thank him.
It's time to thank him for where we
are.
Thank him for your home, your marriage, your
children, your job, your lack thereof.
Just it's time to thank him.
Thank him for giving you eyes to see
spiritual things.
Hallelujah.
Just slip out of your seat.
Come, but I don't want any weeping here.
This is a time to rejoice.
This is a time to hold your lamp
up.
Praise be to God.
What we're going to do is pray a
simple prayer.
Those at the altar and those who'd like
to pray it.
And it's just, it's this simple.
Lord, thank you for who I am.
Thank you for where I am.
Thank you for what I am.
Thank you, Jesus, that you've opened my eyes
and opened my heart and you've allowed me
to see the wondrousness of God.
I love you, Jesus.
Thank you for giving me life and vision
and a clear path and hope and joy
and a word of comfort and a fresh
vision to get through the days that are
ahead of me.
God, thank you for loving me so much
that you've given me these things.
I love you, Jesus.
I love you, Lord.
My prayer is that others through my life
may be comforted in the same way that
I feel your comfort this very moment.
Help me to look away from my own
needs and to be able to see others.
Oh, Jesus, thank you.
Hallelujah.
We sing joy to the world.
You know, the difference between the genuine Christian
and the religious is that in these hours
that we're living in, there'll be someone saying,
where is God?
And you'll be singing joy to the world.
The Lord is come.
Let every seemer give.
Let every heart prepare Him room.
And heaven and nature sing.
And heaven, heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the world, the Savior reigns.
Let men their songs employ.
While fields and floods, while jails and plagues,
repeat the sounding joy.
Repeat the sounding joy.
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
and makes the nations move.
The glories of His righteousness, and the wonders
of His love, and the wonders of His
love, and the wonders, wonders of His love.
Joy to the world, the Lord is come.
Let every seemer give.
Let every heart prepare Him room.
And heaven and nature sing.
And heaven, heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the world, the Lord is come.
Let every seemer give.
Let every heart prepare Him room.
And heaven and nature sing.
And heaven, heaven and nature sing.
Give a shout of glory to the Lord
today.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Glory to God.