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
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Now if you'll turn in your Bibles with
me to the book of 2 Timothy chapter
2.
2 Timothy chapter 2, I've entitled this message,
Disentangled Warriors.
This is a letter from the apostle Paul
to a young man who's heading out into
the ministry.
Paul has run his course, he's nearing the
end of his life, not too far actually
from the writing of this letter.
And he's giving some sound and solid advice
for this young man who's heading out, as
I feel in my heart, to give to
this young choir today and to this church.
Paul says it this way, he says, Thou
therefore, chapter 2, 2 Timothy chapter 2, Thou
therefore my son, be strong in the grace
that is in Christ Jesus.
In other words, you have a strength Timothy,
but remember this strength comes from God's goodness.
It comes from God's unmerited favor in your
life.
It doesn't come from any exuberance of the
natural man.
And to young people you'd be wise to
learn that.
You see, the true song of God comes
from a surrendered life.
The true song comes from a life that
is dependent on God.
We've seen this in the church, we've come
to understand this in the adult choir of
this congregation.
If you had been with us in Nigeria,
for example, on that first night, when everything
is calm, there's more than half a million
people in attendance, we begin, the first note
hits on the piano and a wind comes
from nowhere.
A strong wind blows down a wall on
part of our choir.
It starts raining from every side.
One of the men on the platform said,
I've never seen anything like this.
Now he's an African man, he said, I've
never seen this.
Rain is coming from two directions at the
same time.
He said, it just doesn't happen that way.
There was a circle of lightning all around
us.
And we knew immediately that we were in
a power and principality struggle.
Because witchcraft had dominated that area for as
far back at least as we were aware
of.
And I remember the choir started to sing.
The power goes out.
No musical instruments are left.
Only Harry's left on the drums.
And we began to worship.
The choir just began to worship.
And I saw the power of praise demolish
the strongholds of the devil.
I saw praise come and bring a calm
into what otherwise would have been a very,
very difficult, if not even a disastrous evening.
The devil wanted to cause a riot.
He wanted people to start fighting and shooting
each other.
For that's all they had been doing really
up to that point in time of that
particular meeting.
But I saw the power of purity in
praise.
The power of people's lives who said, this
is not just a song, but this is
a lifestyle.
This is a trust that I have in
God.
He has enabled me.
And I've never been triumphed over by the
powers of hell.
And so I'm going to stand up.
And I'm going to make this declaration that
Jesus Christ is faithful.
And this choir began to sing like I've
never seen it sing before.
And I saw the powers of darkness pushed
back.
There were witches chanting in the background.
Powerless, absolutely powerless to stop the grace and
the glory of God.
We saw over 100,000 people that night
come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
It was an amazing time.
But I have seen the power of praise.
I understand now when David's army went into
battle, why oftentimes the Levites would be sent
first.
Pure worshipers.
Those who had a deep, heartfelt trust in
God.
It's not about a song.
It's about a life.
It's about a decision that we make to
walk with God.
It's about singing through your pain.
Singing through your frustration.
As God is going to use you, you
can be sure that hell is going to
come against your mind.
You can be sure that circumstances are going
to come against you.
And the devil's voice is going to say,
you shouldn't be doing this.
You're not worthy to sing.
But beloved, I warn you, and I caution
you, and I also encourage you.
None of us are worthy to sing.
None of us are worthy to stand here.
If God marked iniquity, none of us could
stand.
Our song is not about ourselves.
Our song is about a Savior who defeated
the power of darkness.
Rose from the grave and sits now at
the right hand of all authority.
That's who our song is about.
It's not about ourselves.
And thanks be to God, it never has
to be and never will be.
Hallelujah.
Paul says, in the things that you've heard
of me among many witnesses, commit these to
faithful men who shall be able to teach
others also.
Timothy, God has planted grace in your life.
And through this grace, your life is going
to become an instruction.
You're not just going to be a sweet
song that people gather to listen to and
are unchallenged and unchanged in their ways.
But Timothy, commit it to others.
Let your life be an example of what
their lives are to be.
Thou therefore, he says, endure hardness, in verse
3, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Paul says, Timothy, it's not going to be
easy.
There are going to be wars.
There are going to be great battles to
be fought.
And of course, the apostle Paul was an
old battle scarred warrior for many years.
He himself said, don't bother me.
I bear in my body the marks of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't trouble me.
Don't try to lay anything on me.
I have everything I need in Christ.
I've borne in my body everything the devil
can throw at me.
And I now know that God is able
to keep everything I've entrusted to him.
Paul says, Timothy, hardness is part of the
walk.
It's not going to be just a cake
walk and a sweet song.
You're going to have to fight powers of
darkness.
You're going to have evil men come against
you, Timothy.
You're going to have times when you're going
to be pressed out even beyond measure.
And as we did in Asia, perhaps you'll
even despair of life.
But Timothy, have the sense of death in
yourself.
And trust in God who is able to
raise the dead.
Paul goes on and says, Timothy, no man
that wars entangles himself with the affairs of
this life.
That he may please him who has chosen
him to be a soldier.
Oh, Timothy, you cannot have the world's mentality
and fight this battle.
You cannot be selfish like the world is
selfish.
You cannot be self-focused like the world
is self-focused.
You have to have God's mind.
You have to have a God heart.
You have to have a new nature or
you're never going to make it to the
end of the battle.
Do not entangle yourself, Timothy.
Don't get all wound up like the world
is.
Don't get ensnared by the things that ensnare
those who are outside of this army of
Jesus Christ.
Yet he says, if a man also strive,
in verse 5, for masteries, he's not crowned
except he strive lawfully.
In other words, Timothy, there is a reward.
But you've got to do it God's way
to get the reward.
There's an end goal.
There's a time of victory.
But you're not going to experience that victory
unless you do it God's way.
You have to do it lawfully.
There's no skirting around it.
Now, you're going to understand this as I
get deeper into this message.
He says, the husbandman that laboreth must be
first partaker of the fruits.
In other words, Timothy, the things you're going
to teach, you have to go through it
first, Timothy.
You'll have no authority to say, God can
take you through the storm until you've gone
through the storm.
You're going to have to go through a
storm or two.
You're going to have to have some waves
crashing into your boat.
You're going to have to have some times
when you need God.
There's nothing else.
There's no other resource to get you through.
You're going to need God.
And when he does come through.
When he is faithful to you because he
cannot fail.
He's not a man that can lie.
Timothy, you're going to have an authority then.
You're going to stand up and it's not
just going to be a song, it's going
to be a life experience.
The adult choirs move beyond singing.
I don't know if you've ever noticed that.
There are some services now in Times Square
Church where they've moved away from singing and
they've all moved into preaching.
I've seen it in our crusades.
I've seen it in the church.
You've seen the finger come out.
Have you ever noticed that?
They're singing like this.
That means they're no longer singing.
They're now preaching to the congregation.
They're now saying, God can.
Listen, I've been in the battle.
I've been in the struggle.
I've been in the hard times.
And not just now one preacher standing behind
the pulpit, but you've got 180 or 200
in the choir loft that are all now
preaching to you because they've made the choice
to walk in with God.
They've gotten something in their heart that says,
Lord, this is not a picnic.
This is a war.
And we've determined to walk together in this
war.
We've fought some battles.
If you understood some of the testimonies that
have happened to people in the adult choir
even since they have been there, you'd understand
there have been some wounds and some scars,
some deep battles.
But many have made the choice to sing
through it all.
They've been the first partaker of the fruits.
They're the first to say, I've walked through
this way.
I've gone through the fire.
And just as God's word says, it didn't
burn me.
I've walked through the water.
And just as God's word says, it didn't
drown me.
Hallelujah.
Paul says, consider what I say.
And the Lord give the understanding in all
things.
Many, many people claim to be disciples of
Christ.
But there are not very many that become
mighty in the kingdom of God.
And there are some characteristics of the mighty.
First Chronicles chapter 12 talks about the mighty
men.
As a matter of fact, the whole chapter,
First Chronicles 12, is about David's mighty men.
Distressed in debt and discontent that gathered around
him.
And by the grace of God became mighty.
Came out of a cave of despair with
a staff or a sword in their hand.
Beyond it all, they had courage in their
heart, which is not natural.
It was supernatural.
An ability to walk together.
The Bible says they were not of a
divided heart or a double heart.
They could keep rank.
They came out of that cave and they
marched together.
And these are the definable characteristics of this
army that God raised up.
They could walk together.
They could keep rank.
Every man knew where he belonged.
Just like on the platform, the pastors of
this church were able to keep rank by
God's grace.
We all know who we are.
We all know where we're placed.
We're not looking for another man's spot because
we realize that even in the pursuit of
another man's spot, we are bringing death into
our own lives, into our own ministry.
They can walk together.
It's an awesome thing when I know the
second seat is mine.
And if somebody should decide the third is
mine or the fourth, then I know that's
mine.
The issue is I'm in the seat that
God puts me in.
I'm in the ministry where God has called
me.
Where there's no striving.
It's amazing.
Remember Psalm 133 says, Where brethren dwell together
in unity, there's a glorious anointing of God.
It flows all the way down throughout the
whole body.
When you all are in your right place.
And whether you're in the tenor section or
the altos or whatever other toes there are
in the choir, I don't really know all
of these things.
But no matter where you are, as long
as you know that you are in the
place that you're supposed to be, as long
as there's no pride gets in the heart
and says, Hey, I could sing that solo
a whole lot better than this person.
And all of a sudden you find yourself
mighty in your own sight, but very small
in the sight of God.
The issue is they could keep rank.
I want to ask you today, Times Square
Church, can you keep rank in the house
of God?
If God makes you an usher, can you
be there?
Can you be content?
Now, we're not always picking on the ushers.
I consider that a very, very high calling.
It just happens to be the illustration that
virtually every preacher in America uses and Canada.
We talk about the ushers.
I don't know why we do that.
We just do that.
But if you happen to be an usher,
can you keep rank?
Can you say this is where God has
placed me?
This is what he wants me to do.
I'm going to do this with all my
heart.
I'm going to be a good usher.
I'm going to do it to the glory
of God.
And if God wants me to do something
else, he knows where I live.
He knows my phone number.
He knows my name.
As a matter of fact, he knows how
many hairs are on the top of my
head.
Nothing is hidden from him.
If he wants me, he knows where I
am.
But until then, I'm keeping rank.
I'm keeping rank.
I'm walking in unity with the brothers and
sisters that God has around me.
The scripture says they were not of a
divided heart.
And actually, the definition of that is found
in Psalm 12 and verse 2.
It talks about those with a double heart
are empty talkers or vain deceivers to their
neighbor.
They speak, David said, with a double heart
to their neighbor.
And it means empty talk.
It's that voice that says, I'm with you.
I love you.
But there's really no substance to it.
There's nothing behind it.
You see, unity, beloved, is not a feeling.
It's a choice.
A feeling may come.
Thank God for that.
But unity is a choice.
And we'll talk about that in just a
moment.
In 2 Chronicles chapter 5, I read it
for you this morning.
The scriptures talks about the power of one
voice.
I think of a choir when it begins
to sing with one voice.
And by God's grace, you're going to get
there.
You'll be that choir.
But when you begin to sing one voice,
2 Chronicles 5, 13 and 14, I'll read
it to you.
The scripture says it came even to pass
as the trumpeters and singers were as one
to make one sound to be heard in
praising and thanking the Lord.
You see, they were as one.
When the trumpeters and singers were in unity
and they were speaking with one voice and
they were praising God and they were thanking
Him, that means that talks to me about
there were battles.
There had been battles, difficulties, and they had
seen the faithfulness of God.
And they were praising Him and they were
thanking Him.
God, nothing worse than people who start out
and don't finish something.
Jesus said, count the cost before you attempt
to build this tower, lest you get halfway
through and you're not able to finish.
And everybody you've sung to begins to mock
your song.
Count the cost and let that commitment in
your heart be very, very sure.
They were praising and thanking the Lord.
And when they lifted up their voice with
the trumpets and cymbals and instruments and music
and praised the Lord and said, He is
good and His mercy endures forever.
God is good.
You know, the scripture says He's a good
and He's a rewarder of those who diligently
seek Him.
And you're going to have that song if
you've not got it already.
You're going to be able to say, God,
you've been good to me.
I've been seeking you.
And I have found that you have rewarded
me as I have pressed in to seek
you.
And God, thank you for your mercy.
Oh, you're going to need it.
You're going to understand it soon.
As many, many in this church already do.
I know that's your song.
Many are here today.
God is good and His mercy endures forever.
It's God, you've been merciful to me forever.
As long as I can remember, you've been
merciful to me.
You were merciful to me on the car
on the way into church today when I
lost my temper and started saying things to
my own family that I shouldn't say.
And you know what I'm talking about.
Many of you are living there right now.
His mercy endures forever.
When they sang that song, the house was
filled with a cloud, which represents the presence
of God, even the house of the Lord.
So the priest could not stand to minister
by reason of the cloud, for the glory
of the Lord had filled the house of
God.
And that glory is the very manifested presence
of Jesus Christ.
The glory of the Lord.
The presence of God.
Nothing more attractive than a surrendered soul.
Did you know that?
You come into the house of God and
perhaps you're a hungry person looking for truth.
You walk into the house of God and
there's something about a surrendered vessel.
There's something about somebody somewhere who has surrendered
to God and they are a worshiper of
God.
They don't have to put on a show.
They don't have to do it for anybody
around here because they're doing it just the
same way at home in their private quiet
times.
And there's something about the glory of God
filling.
Now the glory used to be in an
Old Testament building.
But that glory is now in you and
it's in me.
The glory is the manifestation of Jesus Christ.
The glory.
We experience it here when we worship God
many times in this house.
The glory of the Lord begins to be
manifested.
And the glory is manifested in lives.
No longer outward display, but in lives.
The glory is in your own heart.
It's in my heart.
When I lift up my hands to God
and say, God, you've been good to me.
You've been merciful to me.
You've been faithful to me.
I trust you, God.
I trusted you in the past and you
didn't fail me.
I trust you for today and tomorrow.
God, you will never fail me.
And you lift up your hands and say,
God, you've been merciful.
God, you've been good.
The glory begins to be released in your
heart.
These are the praises that God inhabits.
He inhabits the praises the scripture says.
It doesn't mean he comes down when we
hit the right note in our songs.
God's glory begins to rise up in our
own hearts.
When we lift our voices and say, Oh,
God, I trust you, Lord, for the future.
I trust you for my family.
I trust you, God, for the strength that
I need to fulfill the ministry that you've
given me.
God, I trust you for everything I will
ever require to live the Christian life.
The glory is being manifested in your heart.
The glory.
The strength.
The glory, actually, in the original text, it
means recognizing a person for who he is.
It's the recognition of Christ in you, which
is the hope, Paul said, of glory.
That's the hope of our glory.
It's Christ in us.
Christ in me.
Christ in you.
Thanks be to God.
Hallelujah.
Now, I want to give you an example
from the military.
My son, my oldest son, was a Marine
for four years.
And he shared with me some things about
the training that they go through as soldiers.
Remember that Paul said no man who's a
soldier entangles himself in the affairs of this
life, that he may please him who's chosen
him to be a soldier.
Now, firstly, Paul calls Timothy a soldier.
So I want to look at it from
the perspective of a soldier.
Number one, unity is a choice.
I said that earlier.
Not a feeling.
It's a choice.
I choose to walk in unity with Pastor
Neil, Pastor David, Pastor Patrick.
And I choose to do this.
It's not a feeling.
Because if it's feelings, it's not going to
last very long.
It doesn't take very long for something to
happen, something to be said, some wrong perception
of an event or a happening.
And all of a sudden, if the feeling
goes, and that's why so many churches just
start out so good and they just blow
apart.
Because there's no understanding that unity is a
choice.
I can choose to be unified with you
or I can choose just to walk by
my feelings.
Psalm 133 speaks of that.
And, of course, the blessing of that unity
is the commanding, as God says, of the
blessing of life everlasting.
When I walk together in unity with my
wife, there's a blessing of God that comes
on my home, comes on my children.
I remember my daughter just a few weeks
ago came to my wife and said, Mom,
she said, I would give anything to have
a life like you and Dad have.
She said, you have such an awesome life.
Well, that's an incredible thing.
You see, we just walk together in unity.
We love God.
We study the Word of God.
We have an open time of discussion, one
with another, if there are issues that need
to be challenged or changed in our home
or in our individual hearts.
And you see now your children beginning to
see that and saying, this is desirable.
I want this.
I want.
You see, that's the power of unity.
God says where there's unity, I command a
blessing.
Everything that is beneath that unity is the
blessing of God's life starts to touch it.
It's amazing when you begin to see it.
And there's incredible power in unity.
Could you imagine the U.S. military going
into Iraq and commanders saying, Well, I'll go
this way.
Another one says, Well, I feel like I'm
going.
I'll go this way.
I'll take that road.
I'll go over here.
You imagine how long that kind of an
army would last.
You see, in the Scriptures, whenever God wanted
to defeat an enemy army, he would send
disunity into their ranks.
And the end result is that they would
take their swords and begin to fight one
with another.
How many times do we see it in
the Old Testament?
Disunity ends up with infighting.
And that's why so many churches end up
infighting, because they don't understand the power that
is in unity.
I think of when I was a police
officer years ago, there were people that I
had to work with that I was not
personally drawn to.
And those things are part of life.
You come into church, and there are people
in the church that I might be more
inclined to be drawn to, and there are
others that I'm less inclined to be drawn
to.
That's just the reality of life.
You all understand that.
But I want to tell you something.
When we had to go to a call,
I could have been in a lunchroom, for
example, and having a very, very vocal discussion,
sometimes very negative ones.
I'm talking now my pre-Christ days, so
you have to understand.
And we could have a very, very vocal
disagreement about something.
And sometimes it could even get quite vocal.
And yet when I would head out, when
we would head out after we leave, and
we'd head out into battle as it is,
and a call would come in over the
radio, and one of those men, perhaps maybe
the same man, was in trouble.
There's never a moment's hesitation.
Because once you put on the uniform and
walked out the door, you were unified.
And there's power in that unity.
Never a moment's hesitation to go into a
violent situation, a bank robbery, whatever it is,
to go into a violent fight, whatever it
is, not a moment's hesitation.
There's an understanding that there's a unity that
is far beyond our mutual feelings, one for
another.
And there's incredible power in unity.
Now, of course, the church's unity is to
go beyond enduring one another.
God says, I'm going to give you a
loved one for another.
That's another dimension altogether, which we can only
arrive at by the power of the Holy
Ghost.
But we can't, by God's grace, get there,
to the point where we actually genuinely love
one another by the power of God's grace
within us.
In the military, my son Jason told me
that quite often they would go on very
lengthy marches.
And sometimes these marches would go for even
days, where there'd be no sleep, because they
had to simulate battle conditions.
When you're on the move, for example, when
the troops went into Iraq, there's no time
to stop and sleep.
Sometimes they were up for three, four days
straight, marching, moving, constantly.
And in that time, some of the soldiers
get weary.
They get tired, for whatever reason.
Some are just less physically able to keep
up the march than others are.
And he said, part of the training, they
would be marching together in ranks, sometimes five
abreast, long columns.
They'd be marching together in rank, and part
of the training is when you saw soldiers'
knees begin to droop, and you saw his
head go down, and you saw he's beginning
to lose his stride.
And of course, when everybody is marching in
unison, it's easy to spot somebody who's out
of stride.
And the moment you saw a soldier becoming
weary, part of the training is to begin
to encourage that soldier, as they march.
Amazing.
He said the guys on all sides would
begin to yell to him, you can do
it, and all this other stuff.
Left, forward, right, and just start calling out,
and just start infusing strength into that man
with words of encouragement.
Remember Paul, in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 7,
talked about a man who had to be
disciplined by the church, but then he goes
to the church and says, go to that
man now and encourage him, lest he be
swallowed up of sorrow.
Remember the song they were singing, God is
good and his mercy endures forever.
And part of the ministry of walking in
unity in the body is when we see
somebody out of step, we don't look for
fault in them, and we don't go and
broadcast it to other people.
We don't start talking to the person on
our left and on the right about how
weak this particular person is, and how they're
kind of missing the flow of everything that's
going on.
But they begin to shout out and encourage.
Oh beloved, would be to God we could
see that in the church all the time.
That we would encourage one another.
We see somebody with their head down, they're
a little bit out of step, and we're
quick to speak the Scriptures, and we're quick
to infuse life in one another.
We're quick to do just what natural military
powers learn to do.
And my son shared with me that many
times that's all a soldier will need.
His brethren around him just begin to shout
it up as it is, and as they
do, he's just infused with a new sense
of purpose.
And how many here this afternoon, you know
that there have been times in your life
that you've come into the house of God,
or perhaps some other fellowship place, and you're
ready to give it up.
And a word of encouragement what it did
for you.
I remember years and years ago while building
the church in Canada, I got so discouraged.
We started out with such great gusto, and
this is God, and this is wonderful.
All kinds of workers.
It was a big, well not big, you
could fit the whole thing in a rotunda
here, but it was a fairly big church
for there.
And you know we started out repairing it,
and there's this enthusiasm that week one you've
got 35, 55 people there.
Week two you're down to 40.
Week three you're down to 25.
Week four you're down to 15.
Week five it's the pastor who's left.
And I remember I was, that's the point
I was at.
So much work to do and so discouraged.
And the devil just climbed on my back,
and my head went down.
And I remember it was an evening, and
I was leaving the church.
I'd been painting on a scaffold, and I
was walking out the door just so discouraged.
So the weight of the lies of the
devil on me.
And my step was slow.
I was losing my balance as it is.
My head was down.
And I remember coming to the door, and
I saw this shadow because it was getting
dark of just two little old ladies come
walking in the church.
And they didn't attend the church.
They were from the community.
And one lady just reached out to me.
I remember she had a $50 bill in
her hand.
She pressed it in my hand.
She said, Pastor, you're doing a good job.
This is good for the community.
Keep up the good work.
We just want you to know we're for
you.
And I walked out of that building, I'm
telling you, just ready to take on the
world again.
Just a word of encouragement.
It's so important.
You see, that's why Paul says to Timothy,
don't entangle yourself with the affairs of this
life.
You see, because the entangled mind only thinks
about himself.
The entangled mind is all me and mine
and mine and I and my job, my
car, my house, my girlfriend, my boyfriend, my
this, my that, and totally misses what's going
on in the house of God, totally misses
what's going on in the army.
That's why Paul says, Timothy, don't let your
mind be entangled with the things that entangle
the minds of everyone in this life who's
without God.
Timothy, be singly focused.
Endure hardship as a good soldier.
Be careful.
You're going to have to teach others.
But you as I've encouraged you, Timothy, remember,
Paul had encouraged him.
Timothy was fearful.
And remember, Paul's words in the previous letter,
he said, God's not given us a spirit
of fear, Timothy, but power, love and a
sound mind.
Can you imagine when Timothy read that?
Oh, yeah.
Can you imagine that?
That's actually not understanding.
That's going to be the Bible one day.
But you get this letter from Paul and
Paul is encouraging you.
And I can see Timothy picking up and
becoming strong by these encouraging words.
Now, if even in encouragement as the march
is going on, my son said, if the
soldier is not picking up, perhaps he's sick,
maybe he's got some kind of an illness
on him, who knows what is happening.
But if it fails, if the encouragement doesn't
seem to be doing it, the next step
that they do is they take the load
off his back because every soldier carries about
100 to 150 pound pack on his back.
And I remember Jason saying to me, if
it doesn't work, the encouragement, then one of
us takes the pack and carries a double
pack.
So it now carries 300 pounds on his
back.
Amazing.
I was thinking, God, help me.
When I heard this, help us to understand.
Paul says, let me just read to you
in Romans, for the sake of time, I'll
just read it to you in Romans chapter
15 and verse 1.
He says, we then that are strong, oh,
go there, Romans chapter 15.
He says, we then that are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak and
not to please ourselves.
We ought to carry the load as it
is.
There are times that you and I have
just got to do something.
It's not enough just to say, God bless
you, be warmed and filled and all the
rest of that.
But there are times it's got to go
beyond that.
We have to do something about this person's
situation.
There's a load on them, whether it's stopping
to finally counsel and pray or maybe just
saying, look, I'm going to call you every
day for a week.
I'm just going to pray for you.
Whatever the load is, whatever the enemy is
using to destroy this person of God, we've
got to go beyond just words sometimes and
take on the load.
He said, and let every one of us,
verse 2, please his neighbor for his good
to edification.
In other words, we're to take on the
weaknesses as it is of others, not living
for ourselves, and let us do good.
Let us do to our neighbors that which
brings them to a place of greater strength.
For even Christ, Paul says, pleased not himself.
As it is written, the reproaches of them
that reproach thee fell on me.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written
for our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
Now the God of peace and consolation grant
you to be like minded one towards another,
one towards another according to Christ Jesus.
That ye may with one mind and one
mouth glorify God, even the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
He says, Paul says, if you are in
a position of strength, you see a brother
who is weak.
Go beyond just words and take whatever that
load is that they're carrying and help to
carry it.
Whatever the situation is, move beyond just issues
of personal comfort.
Remember that Christ did this so that we
might be one in heart and song with
both God and with one another.
Next, if all of these things fail, you'll
see a group, and I could picture this
as he was sharing with me.
The soldiers were marching.
Now there was one, usually the strongest one
there, had 300 pounds on his back, and
the others were encouraging, but it wasn't working.
This soldier is still beginning to buckle.
The next thing they were to do is
to support that soldier.
Sometimes the one in the back would grab
their shirt and lift them up, and one
on either side would hold their arms, and
they would begin still speaking.
One is carrying the load, and the rest
now are supporting this particular soldier.
Amazing.
What a picture of what the church should
be.
Isn't it amazing?
Paul says, support the weak, comfort the feeble
-minded.
He says in Acts chapter 20, I have
showed you all things, how that so laboring
you ought to support the weak.
And remember, Jesus said, it is more blessed
to give than to receive.
We are to support one another.
We are to carry one another.
We are to hold one another up.
And finally, the last thing, if all else
fails, and it's obvious that that soldier is
going down.
You know there's a motto in the military,
I think you probably know it, we leave
none behind.
It's in the Marines.
We don't even leave the dead behind.
Nobody stays behind.
And there's a point where they just simply
carry the fallen.
There's another soldier, and my son has seen
this, it's been part of their marches, where
finally one soldier just has to reach down,
pick that person up, put him over his
shoulder.
There's a specific way they learn to carry.
And now marches at the same pace with
that soldier on his back, over his shoulder.
One's carrying the pack, they're still encouraging it.
Now the encouragement comes to the one who's
got the fallen soldier on his shoulder.
But he said, the rule is, nobody is
left behind.
Nobody is left behind.
Would be to God we would get that
in our hearts in the church of Jesus
Christ.
Nobody is left behind.
Not one.
Not one in this house is left behind.
The devil doesn't gain advantage over one of
you.
Discouragement doesn't take one of you down.
That we could say one to another, brother,
as long as I'm sitting beside you, or
standing with you, the devil will never take
you down.
As long as God's given me strength and
a word to speak, and arms to carry,
and the strength to walk with you, the
devil will never take you down.
You will never be overpowered by the power
of evil.
We're going over the finish line and we're
all going.
That was the very grit that Moses had
in his heart when he stood before Pharaoh.
It's the very principle he had in his
heart.
When Pharaoh said, let me make you a
deal.
How about the women and men go out
and sacrifice and leave your young ones here.
Remember Moses stood and he said, I make
no deal, Pharaoh, no deal with you whatsoever.
We're all going.
Our young are going, our old are going,
our wives are going, our children are going,
our goats are going, our cattle are going,
our sheep are going, and half of your
stuff is going with us as well.
Hallelujah.
Carrying the fallen, carrying those that have had
difficulty.
There has been a saying in the church
over the years that it's the only army
in the world that murders its wounded.
And it's tragic.
When we fall, we've got to learn to
pick one another up.
We've got to learn to carry one another.
In the church of Jesus Christ, Paul says,
Timothy, the Lord give you understanding in all
things.
My son Jason told me of a time
in a forced march on one of the,
it was either a Balkan country or it
was Japan.
I don't quite remember.
But they're on a forced march and a
terrible storm came and a soldier, they were
in a wooded area, was wounded somehow.
And he told me, he picked him up
and carried him out.
And I said to him, did you get
a medal for that?
I said, you should get a medal for
doing that.
And he looked at me with this funny
look and it was like to say, dad,
don't you understand?
You don't get a medal for what you're
supposed to do.
Medals are only for exemplary service.
You know, beloved in the church, we don't
get medals for what we're supposed to do.
We're supposed to lay our lives down as
a living sacrifice for the purposes of God.
Paul said this is reasonable service.
There's nothing unreasonable about it.
To lay our lives down.
We're supposed to walk in unity.
We don't deserve a medal because we do
a good deed.
Many people do a good deed and say,
well, you know, nobody recognizes it.
So I just decided never to do another
one.
You don't get a medal for doing what
is reasonable.
It's reasonable to walk together.
It's reasonable to encourage each other.
I want to close with Isaiah chapter 46,
if you will, please.
Isaiah chapter 46.
Beginning of verse one.
The Lord says, Belle, bow down.
Nebo stupid than their idols were upon their
beasts and upon their cattle.
Your carriages were heavy laden.
There are a burden to the weary beast.
Now he's talking about his own people.
They had made false wrong choices.
And because of it, there was a heaviness
that came on them.
They stoop.
They bow down together.
They could not deliver the burden.
But themselves are gone into captivity.
No, the beast couldn't pull it.
And they themselves could not get free from
it.
Then verse three says, Harken unto me, O
house of Jacob and all the remnant of
the house of Israel, which are born by
me from the belly, which are carried from
the womb.
And the Lord says, verse four.
And even to your old age, I am
he.
And even to whore hairs will I carry
you.
I have made and I will bear.
Even I will carry and deliver you.
God says you made a mess.
In other words, he's speaking to his own
people.
You made a mess and you got into
such a mess.
You couldn't even go forward.
But he says, I want to remind you
of something.
I started carrying you the day you were
born.
The day you trusted in me, I began
to carry you.
And I make a promise till the day
that you're old and your hair is gray.
I will continue to carry you and deliver
you.
You've not made this journey on your own.
You've made it because my strength has been
given to you.
I will carry you.
And the amazing thing about the scripture is
that God does this through his church.
He doesn't send angels to carry the weary
and the weak.
He sends his church.
He sends me.
He sends you.
Because he lives in us.
We now become the expression of this carrying
power of God.
I think many churches in our generation have
not learned this.
And because of it, they have been grossly
deficient in the knowledge of God.
Because they've been terribly deficient in the practice
of God.
I am part of the body now.
And I am responsible to have that heart
of God to carry those who need to
be carried for a season.
In the church of Jesus Christ.
I deliberately didn't read two cards today from
those who were being baptized.
I'm only assuming, but I feel from the
writing that these are younger people.
And I want to read to you what
they said, those that are being baptized.
Since coming to Times Square Church, there's more
peace and love in my heart.
I have a long way to go.
But with all the great people here and
their prayers, I'm getting closer to God.
That's an amazing thing.
There's a young person saying, I've got a
long way to go.
It's been a tough road.
And there's a lot I have to learn,
but there's some great people here.
And I want you to know that people
coming into this church are looking to the
church for strength and help.
Ultimately, yes, we point them to Christ, but
don't forget that Christ is in us as
well.
And here's another one.
A young man, he says, I got saved
while serving a prison term.
And since my release, I've experienced the peaks
and valleys of David.
In the last four months, it's been real
tough because the choices I've made were in
the flesh.
But by the grace of God, the Lord
has touched my heart.
And now by grace, I'm back on the
road that leads to eternity.
It's been real tough.
This young man says, I come out of
jail and I've made some wrong choices.
I guess my question is really, when God
sends people who need help to this church,
are they going to find disentangled warriors?
People whose minds are the mind of Christ.
People who walk by unity by choice, in
unity by choice, not feeling.
People who have learned to encourage the weary
because they too have been encouraged in their
times of weariness.
People who will say, let me help you
with this.
You've taken on something that's a little too
big for you.
Maybe your aims, objectives, maybe it's just a
personal problem, but let me stop in my
busy life and give you a hand.
It's people who take time to support those
that are falling down.
Become the hand of God.
Become that extended strength of God to those
that are weary and weak in the walk.
And finally, those that get to the point
and say, I'm not letting the devil have
you.
I'm not letting the devil have you.
There's a young lady in this church that
I'm praying for personally, that the Lord's put
on my heart, that has a great future.
Was part of the fellowship here and was
worshiping God in this church for some time
and yet fell captive to the lies of
the enemy.
And I'm just not willing to let her
go.
I've gone to the prayer closet and I've
encouraged others to pray and say, I hate
it when I see the devil gain advantage
over any child of God.
And I'm not willing to say, well, what
the heck, you know, we've got 8,000
people here, so what's one?
No, that's not the heart of God.
Remember that Jesus left the ninety and nine
and went after the one.
Went after that one that was lost and
the enemy was getting advantage over.
And for a season, some of these will
come back and they're confused and they've got
all kinds of questions and very few answers
that they understand.
And there's a time where we just simply
have to learn to carry them.
I thank God that that heart, I believe,
is in this church.
I do believe that true Christian love and
charity begins at home.
And of course, for us, many of us,
that's the new family we have in God.
This is where it begins and then it
extends out from here in the coming days.
I do believe with all my heart that
this choir, you're going to have a call
in the commission.
You already have it.
God's given it to you.
But you're going to have to learn to
walk in unity.
You're going to have to go back and
hear this tape and periodically play it again.
You're going to have to decide to make
the commitment to what it is that God's
commissioned you to do.
And we will stand behind you and support
you.
We might be here with the stuff and
you might be traveling on the road and
going into colleges and doing all kinds of
wonderful things and seeing the glory of God
manifested.
But it will not be without a battle.
It will not be without scars.
It will not be without people to get
weary.
There must be a compassion.
You must ask God for the grace to
look beyond your own needs and to look
to the needs of those around you.
And then one day soon, you're going to
have a song that's going to shake the
very foundations of hell itself.
You're going to have a song that can
open prison doors like Paul and Silas and
set captives free.
At midnight, they sang praises to God and
prayed.
They'd come through a difficult time.
Their backs were sore, but they were still
caring one another.
I could see Paul encouraging Silas and Silas
encouraging Paul to the point where, in spite
of their pain and discomfort, they decided to
praise God.
And as they praised God, they had a
song in the midst of that fellowship of
encouragement that caused prison doors to just literally
fly off their hinges.
They saved an ungodly Philippian jailer and his
whole house got saved.
And it's just like the overflow of that
song just kept going.
There was no stopping the overflow of a
simple song at midnight.
Amazing, isn't it?
Just a simple song of praise in a
time of adversity.
And hell's gates were shaken right to the
core.
Beloved, let that anointing be on this church,
especially this coming here.
I have a word now.
See, this altar call is really more for
the church.
I want to pray for the church now.
And myself, Lord.
Father, God, I ask you in Jesus' name
to help me, to help this body to
be aware that there are so many people
in our midst that are discouraged and weary.
And some are even falling over in their
walk with God.
Help us, Lord, to not be entangled with
the same thinking, the same selfish thinking of
the society all around us.
God, help us to be sensitive.
Help us, Lord, to reach out and to
be an army that walks together in unity,
true, godly unity.
Lord, help us to not be singing a
song that is false, but a song that
is true, that we can walk hand in
hand and we can sing God is good,
his mercy endures forever.
Lord, you're good and you're merciful.
And we ask you, Lord, for an anointing
on Times Square Church.
I feel in my heart this is a
divine moment for this church.
And I do ask for an anointing to
rest on us of compassion.
Lord, an anointing that takes us out of
selfishness and away from all the entanglements of
such a busy time.
So many thoughts just permeating the airwaves and
people's minds and lives.
And help us to understand that we've been
grafted into a body, the body of Jesus
Christ, a mighty army, oh God.
Help us, Lord, to have care and compassion
one for another.
God, help us to put away evil thoughts
and selfish thoughts, oh God.
Help us, God, to make the choice to
walk together in unity, not to walk by
our feelings, but a choice deep in our
heart to say this is right.
This is the way of God.
This is the way I will walk.
Father, I thank you, Lord, for this is
what you're going to do in this church.
God, I believe it with all my heart.
That's why you sent this word today.
Lord, we ask you to do this for
us, oh God.
And help us this coming year.
Now, Father, we pray as a church.
Now, the whole church, let's pray.
We pray for these who have come to
the altar today.
God, we ask, Lord, that you encourage them.
We ask, oh God, that you give us
the ability to lay a hand on someone's
shoulder, to speak a good word into their
ear, to take up a burden if necessary,
oh God, and to carry those that are
falling down.
Lord, we ask that in our hearts that
there be something that is birth of God
that says not one is left behind.
Not one.
Not one is surrendered to the enemy.
Not one is left on the road.
God, because this is the church.
This is about compassion.
It's about Christ.
It's about caring, oh God.
This is not empty religious talk.
This is the body of Jesus Christ, the
church of the living God.
Father, God, help us now.
Help all of us, Lord.
And Father, I ask that you bless those
who have come to the altar.
Bless them, God, with the strength that only
you can give.
Bless them with a word, God, a word,
oh God, that can only come from heaven.
Father, I thank you, Jesus.
I thank you, Jesus.
Now, for those who have come to the
altar, listen to me carefully.
This is what the Lord gave me for
you.
Now, thus saith the Lord that created you.
Oh, Jacob informed you.
Oh, Israel, do not be afraid.
I've redeemed you.
I've called you by my name.
You are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I'll be
with you.
And through the rivers, they'll not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will
not be burned.
Not even the smell of smoke is going
to come upon you.
You are honorable in my sight.
I have loved you.
I am with you.
Do not be afraid.
I will bring your seed from the east
and gather them from the west.
I will say to the north, give up.
And to the south, keep not back.
Bring my sons from afar, my daughters from
the ends of the earth.
Everyone that is called by my name, I've
formed him for my glory.
Yea, I've formed him.
Yea, I have made him.
The Bible says, every weapon formed against you
will not prosper.
It will not prosper.
This is the conclusion of the message.