Now the message I'm about to bring to
you is entitled, Remember My Chains.
Remember My Chains.
It's not just a message.
It's something that God has spoken very, very
deeply into my heart this week.
And I liken it to when Joshua and
the people of Israel came out of the
wilderness and they came into what was the
land of God's promises to them.
When God miraculously opened the sea, Joshua told
the leaders to pick up certain stones out
of the bottom of the sea and build
a kind of a pile of stones on
the other side as a reminder of what
their calling is, a reminder of what God
had done, a reminder of what God is
willing to do when we turn to him
in living relationship, even if we make mistakes
or if we stray.
This message today, there've been messages preached in
this church that are reminder stones.
You can go back, you can listen to
them.
Some of you have taken messages, you've archived
them in your computer or in your heart
and you revisit them time and again to
just help us all to remember, who are
we?
Where are we going?
What did God establish us for?
And what are the pitfalls of our journey?
Are there things before us that you and
I need to be aware of?
Are there snares set for our feet that
we might not be fully appreciative of?
Is there something that God wants to speak
to us as a church?
This message I believe is one of those.
So I'm encouraging you, however you store it,
you download it, you get a CD.
I don't even know if we still produce
those things, but if we do get one
of those and keep this message and in
the years to come, go back and listen
to it.
If you outlive me, go back and listen
to it.
I'm serious about this.
Go back, listen.
If it's 10 years from now, go back,
listen to it.
Keep it as one of those stones that
come out of the river that speaks to
your heart again and again and again, so
that you will always remember what God's purpose
was for this church, what God's purpose is
for the future.
Why?
He has given us as a lighthouse, a
window into many parts of the world.
Our Tuesday night prayer meeting is now being
live streamed by people in 199 countries.
Unheard of folks ever, ever at any time,
to my knowledge in the Christian world, that
a prayer meeting like this goes so far
and so many people are now becoming aware
of it.
We had 20 Italian pastors visit just two
weeks ago to the church, just to experience
the presence of God on Tuesday night that
they're seeing on television throughout the week in
Italy.
Thank God for these things.
Thank God for what he's doing.
I've got a group of 20 Canadian pastors
coming here very shortly for the same reason,
having experienced, having seen so many people coming
together to pray on a Tuesday night, having
felt the power of God in their own
hearts, even through the internet, coming together saying,
we need to go there and we need
to experience it in person.
They sent an emissary and he said, can
you just give us two hours, pastor?
We have a lot of questions for you.
You see, God is on the move.
Something is happening now in the Christian world.
People are weary of powerless profession.
They want a living relationship with God.
And the Lord has blessed us for 30
years.
We've known his presence in this sanctuary for
30 years.
When we meet what you experienced today, if
you're visiting, we've experienced almost every time we
meet for 30 years, presence of God is
here for a divine purpose, but God help
us.
If we ever forget what that purpose is.
Colossians please.
The book of Colossians chapter four, Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians in the new Testament, chapter four.
Now, father, I thank you with all my
heart for the anointing of your Holy spirit.
I bow my heart and bend my knee
to your Lordship in this house.
You are welcome here.
Lord Jesus Christ.
I ask that you make your word live
today.
Give me the grace, the strength, the power
to speak this word to my own heart
first and to the people.
Help us Lord to love you, to serve
you and to never forsake you.
We thank you for it in Jesus name.
Remember my chains, Colossians chapter four, beginning at
verse 15.
Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and
Memphis and the church that is in his
house.
Now, when this epistle is read among you,
see that it is read also in the
church of the Laodiceans and that you likewise
read the epistle from Laodicea and say to
Archippus, take heed to the ministry, which you
have received in the Lord, that you may
fulfill it.
This salutation by my own hand, Paul, remember
my chains.
Grace be with you.
Amen.
Now, this letter of Paul, just as were
his others, was an impassioned plea from a
spiritual father for believers in Christ to retain
or return to the true fruit bearing faith,
which they had once received.
Verses five and six of chapter one, Paul
writes to them, he says, because of the
hope, which is laid up for you in
heaven, of which you heard before in the
word of truth of the gospel.
In other words, there's a word you heard.
The word you heard brought you to this
place that you are.
And there was a specific purpose for you
in what God called you to.
Verse six, he says, which has come to
you as it has also in all the
world and is bringing forth fruit.
Thank God it is as it is also
among you since the day you heard and
knew the grace of God in truth.
Now in chapter two and verse one, we
get an inkling that Paul had an inward
burden for the Colossians and the Laodiceans because
he had heard and received a report about
them.
And he says in chapter two, verse one,
for, I want you to know what a
great conflict I have for you and those
in Laodicea and as many as have not
seen my face in the flesh.
So you see folks, here's, here's how it
works.
God appoints leaders in the church and spiritual
people can see something in the future.
They may not fully understand it, but they
can see it.
There can be four bonings that come into
their spirit.
There can be warnings.
Carnal men don't see anything.
They don't see, they can even preach the
gospel, but they don't see anything.
But if those who lead you are concerned
about the glory of God, they're concerned for
your soul.
They're concerned for the future of what God
wants to do in your life.
Then he gives them a vision.
Even if they can't fully articulate it, they
see something in the future.
Paul said, I, I have a great conflict
for you.
There's, there's a good side to what you're
doing, but there's a downside to what you're
doing and to where you are.
And I want to speak to you about
these things.
You see, obviously he had received a report
from this gentleman called Epaphras in chapter four,
verses 12 and 13.
He says, Epaphras, who is one of you,
a bond servant of Christ, greets you always
laboring fervently for you in person.
Here's this man called Epaphras, who was really
concerned about the Colossians and the Laodiceans.
These two groups of believers who lived, if
you go back in Laodicea, they lived in
relative opulence.
That becomes as we do today, that becomes
obvious.
That's, there was a lot of material possession
around them.
There was a lot of diversion, a lot
of things they could get involved in that
could take them away from the work of
God.
Epaphras was praying, laboring, believing fervently that you
may stand perfect and complete in all the
will of God.
There was this man of God that was
praying, God, keep these people, help them to
stand.
Don't let them be taken aside from the
work that's been given to them.
He says in verse 13, he says, for
I bear him witness that he has a
great zeal for you and those who are
in Laodicea and those in Hierapolis.
In chapter four, again, in verse 16, his
report, I believe, prompted Paul in the spirit
to write to these young believers and to
have his words read publicly among them.
He said, now, when this epistle is read
among you, see that it is read also
in the church of the Laodiceans and that
you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.
Now, about 13 to 26 years later, Paul
was going to be dead before Jesus would
evaluate this church.
It was somewhere, most likely 13 to 26
years after Epaphras shows up, reads these words
to the Laodicean church that Jesus speaks to
this church about their condition.
It becomes obvious when you see it in
Revelation chapter three that a lot of the
people didn't listen to what the spirit was
speaking.
You see, we have this innate ability to
shrug off the word of God.
Don't forget the sin nature of fallen humanity,
the root, the foundation of your sin nature.
When we talk about sin nature, people think
about drunkenness, immorality, all that kind of stuff.
That's just fruit, but the root, the root
of the sin nature is that I can
be as God is, and in myself, I
can determine what is good and what is
evil.
That sin nature allows me to hear a
word right from the throne of God and
push it away and say, well, that's not
for me, or I don't agree with that,
or not for now, maybe later, but not
now.
It allows them to push it away, not
realizing that pushing away the word of God
can have eternal consequences, not just for the
person who pushes it away, but for the
people who are pushed away from the throne
because they've lost the savor of Christ.
Can you imagine if Peter Namawa had chosen
to stay here?
Imagine if his eyes and heart were gripped
by New York and all of its lights
and everything it offers.
He said, no, I'm not going back there.
Look at this church.
All they can do is build with sticks
and straw where I come from, and look
at the beauty of all of this.
Folks, listen, you might be struggling right now
financially, but you are rich in comparison to
a lot of people throughout the world.
I want you to know that.
Now, let me just read to you from
the book of Revelation 3, beginning at verse
14.
Jesus Christ, it was 13 to 26 years,
or it could have been much earlier.
Nobody knows for sure, but it was later
than they had received this word.
In verse 14, it says, to the angel,
that means to the pastor of the church
of the Laodiceans, write, these things says they
amend the faithful, the true witness, the beginning
of the creation of God.
I know your works, that you are neither
cold nor hot.
I wish you were cold or hot.
So then, because you are lukewarm and neither
cold or hot, I will vomit you out
of my mouth.
Actually, the original King James says spew, and
I think spew is more of an accurate
translation.
Now, the people there knew what he's talking
about.
Laodicea, according to historians, had no natural water
supply in its midst.
So they had to pipe their water in
from quite a distance.
Now, the pipes were probably above ground and
the sun would beat on them and the
water may have been pure and clean, but
as it came through the pipes, by the
time it got to the center of Laodicea,
it was lukewarm.
It was no good for tea and it
was no good as a cool drink to
a passing stranger.
And people who are not aware of the
lukewarmness of the water in Laodicea would have
a tendency to go to whatever source it
was flowing from, cup the water in their
hands or a cup and drink it, and
it would be so lukewarm, they would spit
it out.
So the people were completely aware of what
Jesus was talking about.
The water was neither hot nor cold.
They weren't really passionate for the things of
God, but they weren't cool to the things
of God either.
They were just stuck in the middle.
And what happens when we get into that
kind of a condition is that people are
not interested in what we have to say.
They're not interested in the word that's supposed
to be living water that flows from us.
Well, the water, if it's not hot, if
it's not cold, people are not interested in
it.
They're not interested in our opinion.
They're not interested in our God or anything
that we say.
And this is what was happening to this
church.
Because you say, I am rich and have
become wealthy and have need of nothing.
And do not know that you're wretched, miserable,
poor, blind and naked.
In other words, they had been captivated by
the pursuits of the society around them.
The value system of the world became their
value system.
As long as they had achieved what they
thought would make them happy in the world,
whether it's a retirement plan, kids in college,
I don't know what it is, just to
have bread in their cupboard.
Whatever it was, it had taken them away
from the pure passion of what the work
of God really is, which is the redemption
of the lost on the earth and the
glorifying of Christ in these earthen temples, which
are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
And he says, I counsel you to buy
from me gold refined in the fire.
In other words, you get your money in
the wrong place, your hearts in the wrong
place, that you may be rich in white
garments, that you might be clothed, that the
shame of your nakedness may not be revealed
and anoint your eyes with eyesalve that you
may see.
Then he goes on to say, as many
as I love, as many as I love,
as many as I love, I rebuke and
chase him.
Be zealous therefore and repent.
I stand at the door and knock.
If anybody can hear my voice and open
the door.
13 years or so after Paul had sent
this letter to them, Jesus is pleading at
the door of this church.
Is there anybody left that can still hear
me?
I'll come in and dine with him and
he with me and to him who overcomes,
to him who overcomes this lukewarm spiritual condition
to him, overcomes this.
Well, I'm in, but I'm not quite in,
but I'm not quite out.
I'm just going to stay in the middle.
It's nice to know I'm going to heaven,
but I don't want to get too serious
about this Christ stuff.
So I'll come to church and I'll, I'll
pretend that I'm part of the game, but
I'm not really in, I'm not full in.
To him overcomes, I'll grant to sit with
me on my throne.
We sang about it.
I can only imagine as I also overcame
and sat down with my father on his
throne, as I also overcame, as I also
overcame the, the tendency to say, God, I
don't, I don't want to do this father.
If it'd be possible, remove this cup from
me.
Nevertheless.
In other words, Christ is just saying to
his own father in Gethsemane, this is not
appealing to me.
I don't want to do this.
It's not the path I want to take.
And if there's any other way you can
do this, God, would you do it that
way?
But nevertheless, nevertheless, you know, sometimes our decision
is just a, nevertheless, it's not like we're
fully engaged with it.
It's not like we just say, God, I,
I'm just going to hop, skip and jump
to Calvary.
So happy.
No, it's, it's a, it's a, a decision
we make in the midst of our own
need, in the midst of our own pain,
in the midst of our own, not complete
understanding, even the ways of God, it's a
decision we make because we know it's right.
And we know it's the will of God.
I'd rather not go to prayer meeting.
I'd rather go home.
I'm tired on Tuesday night, nevertheless, not my
will, but thine be done.
He wasn't here.
Let him hear what the spirit says to
the churches.
And now the main point is that they'd
not taken the heart, the words that, that
God had sent to them.
So I want to take a journey back
in time.
You are the Laodiceans, no offense.
I am Epaphras.
And I'm coming to you today from the
apostle Paul, full of hope, full of zeal
for your future.
And I want to read to you the
word of God.
So I'm just going to walk away from
the pulpit for a minute and I'm going
to turn around.
I'm coming back.
Now we're, we're back thousands of years.
You are the church in Laodicea.
You are the church in this huge city.
That's just filled with distraction, wealth, customs, a
value system is completely contrary to the ways
of God.
Now I'm coming to you saying greetings to
you from the apostle Paul, a man of
God who has in his heart, a heavy
burden for you.
And he's written words for you to hear,
which he says he was given by the
Holy spirit of God himself.
You and I know that to be true,
because this is part of the inspired text
of God.
This came from the heart of God.
And so Epaphras, you can see Epaphras standing
and Paul said, make sure you read this
letter.
And so he's, he's up in a pulpit,
probably similar to this one.
Says I've great news for you.
I've prayed for you.
I am believing God for you.
I'm believing God for your future.
I brought a report to you, to this
great man of God named Paul.
You've not met him yet, but he's an
apostle means he's commission of God to establish
and strengthen the churches.
God is doing some phenomenal things to this
man's life.
He's in prison at the moment, but nevertheless,
he sends handkerchiefs from his body and people
are healed and devils are fleeing.
Unusual miracles are happening from this man's hand.
He has been given an ability to speak
in the Pharisees are stunned at the knowledge
that God's given them.
Yet he can speak to the simple who've
never heard about God who sit around an
altar that says to the unknown God.
He had an experience with God.
His eyes were open.
God sent a man to pray for him
and scales fell from his eyes.
And now he says he's called to be
an apostle and he sends his greetings to
you.
So let me read to you what he
has to say.
Beginning of Colossians chapter one in verse three,
we give thanks to the God and father
of the Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for
you.
Since we heard of your faith in Christ
Jesus and of your love to all the
saints, because of the hope, which is laid
up for you in heaven, of which you
heard before in the word of truth of
the gospel chapter one, verse six, which has
come to you as it has also in
all the world and is bringing forth fruit
as it is also among you since the
day you heard and knew the grace of
God in truth.
And Paul was saying, lay out the sins.
You have born good fruit.
Continue to bear it.
Don't be diverted.
Continue to bear fruit.
Verse nine.
He says for this reason, also, since the
day we heard it, do not cease to
pray for you and to ask that you
may be filled with the knowledge of his
will filled.
That's the cry of my heart as your
pastor, that God would fill you with the
knowledge of his will.
Drive out all the confusion.
You would go into the prayer closet and
get into the word of God and say,
I know what I'm called to do.
I know it all for all of us.
There's a commonality.
We are called to win the lost to
Christ and disciple them, be there for them,
pray for them.
Yes, that's the general burden.
But then there are specific callings that God
places in his church.
The Bible says, as he sees fit, he
places us in his body to do what
he has called us to do.
And Paul says, I'm praying for you that
you might be filled with the knowledge of
his will.
In all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you
may walk worthy of the Lord, not haphazardly,
not half-heartedly, not lukewarm, not saying, well,
thank you for dying for the world, but
I'm out.
If the opportunity arises, I'll speak, but God,
I'm not going out of my way, even
though this is the most important work in
the history of the world.
And you've invited me into it.
Lord, I'm just not really fully engaged in
it.
If you don't mind fully pleasing him, being
fruitful in every good work, bearing that mark
of God that only God can make happen
through you, increasing in the knowledge of God,
that means spending time in this book, learning,
studying, knowing what the word of God says,
strengthened with all might, according to his glorious
power for all patients and long suffering with
joy.
In other words, receiving inside of you, the
power that God wants to give you so
that you can go through hardship.
You can suffer rejection in this world.
You shall have tribulation, but be of good
cheer.
I've overcome the world.
Jesus said, giving thanks to the father who
has qualified us to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in life, giving thanks.
Oh God, thank you for using my life
for your glory.
Thank you, God, for the good places.
Thank you for the hard places.
Thank you for the easy places.
Thank you for all the places.
Thank you for every time you give me
an opportunity to speak your name.
I was shopping the other day.
I always buy roses for pastor Teresa when
she comes home on the weekend from the
school.
I went to the supermarket to get flowers.
I'm not looking for glory.
I'm just telling you the story.
If I look for glory, my reward is
gone.
I was just buying flowers and there's a
gentleman my age beside me.
I've had a dozen red roses.
He had two dozen white ones.
I just reached over those plastic bags.
You put your flowers in.
I said, hey, you need a bag for
this.
We started talking and I said, it's just
awesome.
I said, my wife and I are going
to be married 40 years shortly.
I just love her more than I ever
have in my life.
He said, yeah.
I said, my wife and I, it's our
42nd anniversary.
I said, oh, congratulations.
Congratulations.
I said, we're going to be celebrating.
I'd start talking.
He says, well, I'm going to the cemetery
to celebrate.
She died two months ago.
When he said it, I started to cry.
He looked at me and it should be
him crying, not me.
I said, can I pray for you?
Can I pray?
He said, oh, please, would you?
Then he started to cry.
The two of us are in shop right.
We're both crying.
I put my hands on him and he
put his arm around me.
I just started to pray for the comfort
of God.
The Lord would help him and meet his
need.
He said, I don't know what to do.
He said, I feel like my life is
over.
Imagine sitting at the cemetery to celebrate your
anniversary.
Anyways, then he turned to me and says,
what time do you guys meet anyway?
You might even be here this morning.
When is your church and when do you
meet?
And suddenly just this interest because somebody had
reached out and I'm not trying to, I'm
just trying to tell you that being a
Christian should be very natural.
It should be very natural.
In chapter one, verse 15, Paul says, he
is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn over all creation for by him, all
things were created that are in heaven and
on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or principalities or powers, all things were
created through him and for him.
And he is before all things.
And in him, all things consist.
In other words, Paul is saying to the
Laodiceans, as well as the Colossians, Jesus must
be first in everything.
Even when it's not convenient.
And even when it's hard, we have the
knowledge that Jesus Christ must be first.
In verse 26, he tells the church, Christ
in you is your treasure.
And we must bring that treasure to all
people so that they can know him just
as we do.
The mystery says, which has been hidden chapter
one, verse 26 from ages and from generations,
but now has been revealed to his saints
to them.
God will to make known what are the
riches of the glory of this mystery among
the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory, him, we preach warning every
man and teaching every man in all wisdom
that we may present every man perfect in
Christ Jesus.
That ought to be the cry of the
heart of every Christian that, that every man,
every woman, every child, every one ever born
would know Christ as we do now in
chapter two, verse one, again, Paul says, I
have a great conflict for you.
And for those in Laodicea, and as many
as have not seen my face in the
flesh, I have an inner conflict and true
men of God and women of God have
that inner conflict.
We feel for the church.
We live for the body of Christ.
We feel the passion of God for his
house.
And verse four, he says, now this, I
say, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive
words, verse eight, beware, lest anyone cheat you
through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the
tradition of men, according to the basic principles
of the world and not according to Christ.
Beware, beware Laodicea, where you're getting your water
from.
Beware, beware, beware.
I know there's people going home and you're
just surfed the internet and you're bringing water
in from everywhere.
You're going down to Florida.
You're going to Texas.
You're going all over the country.
And a lot of that water is lukewarm.
Beware where you're getting your water from because
a lot of it has human philosophy in
it.
It has empty deception in it.
And the principles of the world are behind
it, not the principles of Christ.
It is designed to turn you away from
the simplicity of Christ and the mission of
Christ.
And to one more time, get you enamored
with the things of this world, somehow causing
you to believe that if you reach out
and grasp as much as you can in
this world, that somehow even God is in
that you might be absolutely fruitless for the
kingdom of God, but somehow can end up
as Laodicea convinced that you're rich, increased in
goods and have need of nothing.
In verse 18, he says, let no one
cheat you of your reward, taking delight in
false humility and worship of angels, intruding into
those things, which he's not seen vainly puffed
up by his fleshly mind.
Beware of those whose whole theology is angels,
dreams, and visions.
Beware of them.
Stay in the word of God.
Keep the cross at the center of your
theology.
If what you're hearing is not giving you
a passion for the lost and shut it
off, turn it off, get rid of it.
Open your Bible.
Begin to read the word of God.
Beware in chapter three, beginning at verse one,
he says, if you were raised with Christ,
seek those things which are above where Christ
is sitting at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things above, not on
things of the earth.
You died.
Your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ is who is our life appears,
you will also appear with him in glory.
Therefore put to death your members, which are
on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire,
and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Because of these things, the wrath of God
is coming upon the sons of disobedience.
Don't go back to what you left behind.
Chapter three, verse 16, he says, let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly in
all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in
Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly with all wisdom.
When you get up in the morning, take
time to read the word of God and
ask the Lord, say, God, give me a
thought which will stay with me all day,
which will start to form my character.
It's not the volume of what you read
every day.
It's the quality of whether or not it
gets into your heart when you read it.
I've lost my place here.
Chapter four, verses two and three, continue earnestly
in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving,
disciplined.
It's at the front of your heart.
If we were in Laodicea, Paul would say,
don't forget Tuesday night.
God has opened a window to the world
to you.
Don't forget Tuesday night.
Don't just stay home because of convenience.
Don't get lazy.
Remember, this is the work of God.
Remember, this is what you were called to
do.
Remember, God answers prayer.
Remember, there are people all around the world
looking to this moment in this church at
this time.
Remember, it's about more than just you and
me.
It's about others.
It's about people in Africa.
It's about Nicaragua.
It's about Australia.
It's about China.
It's about Israel.
It's about the multitudes that are streaming in,
hearing prayer and believing with us that God
answers prayer.
Meanwhile, praying also for us that God would
open to us a door for the word
to speak the mystery of Christ, for which
I am also in chains.
Paul says, I'm in jail and I'm chained,
but pray that God would open doors to
me.
Pray for me.
Don't forget my chains.
Pray for me that I may have an
opportunity to preach in many other places.
I wonder if Laodicea prayed for Paul.
I wonder if they even cared.
There was a man of God in jail
that God was going to use to touch
the whole known world.
In verse five, he says, walk in wisdom
towards those who are outside, redeeming the time.
Walk wisely.
Don't let the ways of the world get
hold of your heart again.
Don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
Love them, pray for them, but don't be
yoked with them.
Don't let their thoughts become yours and their
value system become yours.
You're called to something much higher than that.
Walk wisely, walk wisely.
In chapter four, verse 17, and say to
Archippus, take heed to the ministry, which you
have received in the Lord, that you may
fulfill it.
I don't know who this man was, but
God had given him something to do.
And maybe the report came to Paul that
he was starting to draw back from what
he was called to do.
So Paul singles him out.
The Holy Spirit singles out this one man
in the church.
It says, finish what God gave you to
do.
God gave you something to do, my friend.
My brother, my sister, finish what you're called
to do.
To the orchestra, finish.
Finish the work that God gave you to
do.
Don't cut it short.
Don't sell it out because of hardship.
To the elders of this church, finish the
work.
To the pastors, finish the work that God
gave you to do.
To the choir, finish the work that God
gave you to do.
Don't cut it short.
Finish it.
When you get to the end, long for
those words that only Christ can speak when
he looks at you and says, well done,
good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful over a few things.
Faithful, finish what God gave you to do.
I'm speaking to my own heart as much
as to yours.
Finish what God gave you to do.
Run the race right to the finish line.
Cross the finish line in victory.
Finish what God gave you to do.
Finish it.
Don't cut it short.
Don't be sidetracked.
Don't give in to the lukewarm waters of
this world.
Finish it.
Don't fall into the deception because you've got
money in the bank or retirement plan or
kids in college, or you got the dream
car, the dream girl, the dream guy.
Don't fall into the deception that that's all
the Christian life is about.
Finish the race that God's given you to
run.
Run it with passion, fervency, knowledge, vision, heart,
everything that God is willing to give you
and through you is desiring to give others.
Finish the race.
Times Square Church, finish the race that God
has set before you.
Run it with passion.
Run it with sincerity.
Run it with truth.
Run it with a singleness of heart and
mind.
When you fall, get back up again and
start running all over, but run the race
and finish the race.
Lastly, Paul says, I'm signing this by my
own hand.
Paul, remember my chains.
Remember that there is a personal cost to
following Jesus.
Remember my chains.
He's not looking for sympathy from Laodicea.
He's looking for them to consider something that
they were not looking at, that we are
not called to a life of self-gratification
and ease.
There's a cost.
But oh God, when we get to the
throne of God one day, there's a bigger
cost to not following Christ, to not obeying
his will, because now is only temporary.
Do you know that?
Your job is temporary.
Your house is temporary.
Your car is temporary.
Your bank account is temporary.
One day it's going to all be gone
in a moment of a twinkling in the
twinkling of an eye and then eternity begins
and only what you brought to Christ is
going to be with you.
Everything else is gone.
When you get to be, I'm not old
and I get rebuked by somebody in the
choir every time I say, but I'm going
to be in heaven probably in 20 years
or less.
That's just a reality.
I am.
So what really matters?
What matters?
I don't have to come here Tuesday night
to pray.
I could assign Pastor Patrick.
He leads a great meeting.
I could stay home.
A lot of times I'm really tired.
I've been in 13 services this past week,
preached six of them, traveled to two countries,
landed last night.
I don't even know what time we landed.
I have no idea.
I didn't know what day it was, but
yet I feel quickened by the Holy Spirit
to do the work that God's called me
to do.
Christian life is not about convenience, self-gratification
and ease.
Now, I'm not giving you an altar call.
Your altar call is Tuesday night.
You have between now and Tuesday night to
get out of your seat and come to
the altar.
The Holy Spirit told me to give an
altar call though, not for the message I've
just preached, but for those who are suffering
depression.
You're going to be set free.
God is going to set you free.
So we're going to stand in a moment
and in the balcony, the main sanctuary over
in the education annex.
I would like people who are suffering, struggling
with depression to come.
And I believe that God is going to
set you free today.
Today, North Jersey, you could step up to
the front of the sanctuary in the annex.
If you could stand between the screens and
God is going to set you free.
He spoke to my heart this morning and
said, preach what I've given you.
Then give an altar call for people struggling
with depression.
And so if that's you today, I'm going
to ask as we stand, we're going to
worship for just a few moments.
Just come.
I'm going to pray for you.
And God is going to set you free.
Jesus Christ is going to touch your life,
bring you out of that despair so that
you may serve him and walk with him,
sing about him, talk about him, tell about
him.
He's going to set you free.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Lord.
Listen, King David said, King David, he was
a king.
Just like you, your royalty, you're all royalty
in the sight of God.
But he had a time in his life
where he just sunk into the mud.
He couldn't get out.
And he said, but the Lord reached down
and pulled me out and set me in
a solid place and give me a new
song, a song that was so deep that
people would see it and fear God because
of it.
That's what he said.
They would see it and say, surely there
must be a God.
Why is he singing that kind of a
song?
We know, we know what his life looked
like.
We know how down he was, how deep
he was sunk, but it's the work of
God to lift us up.
It's the work of God to give us
hope.
It's the work of God to give us
sight, to see a future.
It's the work of God to open our
prison doors and to heal our hearts if
it's been a wound that's caused us to
be despairing.
It's the work of God.
That's what he does.
That's what the cross is all about, to
forgive us and lift us up.
And so that's what God's going to do
today.
Father, thank you.
Thank you, God, for lifting these people, these
men and women, children, God, at this hour.
Thank you, Lord.
You are the God of the breakthrough, Lord.
That's who you are.
You are the one who opens prison doors.
We declare you just to be who you
are.
You're the one who heals the wounded heart.
You're the one, God, who gives hope when
there's no hope.
You give sight when we can't see, God,
a way forward.
You give strength when we can't get out
of bed in the morning.
We see no reason to live.
You're the one who gives hope.
You're our strength, our power.
You're our grace.
You're our glory.
You're everything, Jesus.
You're everything and all in us, Lord.
And so I take authority in the name
of Jesus Christ over the works of the
devil.
I take authority over depression.
You have no place.
These people are the temple of the Holy
Spirit.
Satan, you have no place here.
You have no place here.
This is not your ground.
You go where you belong, but you don't
belong here.
You don't belong in any of these lives.
These people belong to God.
These people are the temple of God's Holy
Spirit.
So we rebuke you in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
We command you to depart.
You can't torment their minds any longer.
You can't remind them of their failures.
You can't paint your picture of hopelessness for
their future any longer before their lives.
You can't keep them afflicted.
You can't keep them addicted.
We stand against you in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ, because every person here
has a new future, a new heart, a
new nature, a new song that is birthed
of God, birthed of the Spirit of God,
because the Lord is in his holy temple.
The Lord is in his temple.
So Satan, we banish you.
We banish you in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ from these lives.
We banish you.
We banish your power.
We take full authority over you.
You have no place.
You have no place in these lives, no
place in these minds, no place in these
hearts.
We resist you in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Now God planned a new song in these
hearts.
Put a new song, Lord, in every one
of these lives, Lord, a new song, a
new song, a new future, a new hope,
a new touch from heaven.
God Almighty, we are not satisfied.
We will not ever allow defeat in the
house of God.
We will not allow defeat in this house.
A new song, a new future for you,
a new future for your daughter, a new
future for your family, a new future for
you, a new future, a new song, a
new heart.
God Almighty, the Lord is in his temple.
The Lord is in his temple.
He makes all things new.
That's what the Bible says.
He makes everything new.
That's who he is.
That's what he does.
If the same spirit that raised Christ from
the dead is in you, he will also
bring your bodies to life.
He will quicken you by his spirit, give
you a new heart, a new mind, a
new hope.
Praise be to God.