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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I just want to bring a simple message
about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The gospel of Jesus Christ.
You see, I believe we're witnessing the feminizing
of the gospel.
The feminizing of the gospel.
There are two Christs.
The Bible said the last day there will
be another Christ and another gospel.
This other gospel has a sissy Christ now,
more feminine than masculine, taking away his masculinity
and feminizing the gospel.
And in the feminizing of this Christ, he
is the Christ now that is all for
marriage between gays and all of these new
things that are coming, and it's coming out
of the church.
The church, not the church of Jesus Christ,
but the organized church.
One of the Democratic candidates, John Dean, was
asked why he supports gay marriages.
And you know what he said yesterday or
this past week?
He said, it was born out of my
religious background.
It's born out of my religious background.
Well, I don't know what kind of Christ
he served.
That's the sissy Christ, another Christ, the feminized
Christ.
And the cry of my heart, oh God,
never let us stray from this Christ.
You see, the feminized gospel is a soft
gospel.
It's without power.
It's without authority.
It's just another philosophy and nothing more.
I want to this morning just go into
the word of God with you and show
you what the true gospel of Christ is.
I may not be able to raise my
voice, but I know in my spirit what
I feel from the Holy Spirit this morning.
You'll be able to recognize.
Now, you can judge this church by what
I'm going to share with you this morning.
If you're from another church, you can judge
your church.
Are you going to church that's really preaching
the true gospel?
And if Times Square Church is your home
church, you can examine us this morning by
what you're about to hear.
And if you're thinking of making Times Square
Church your home, go over this with us
in your heart and examine it.
We'll see.
I'm just going to give you five or
six definitions of the gospel of Jesus Christ
as I see it in the scripture.
And then I want you to measure it.
And I want you to think about it
when you hear somebody talk about their church.
If you'll just write these things down, don't
argue with them, but see if it measures
up.
Let's get right into it.
First place, the church or the gospel of
Jesus Christ is a gospel of a cross
and self-denial.
It's a gospel of a cross and self
-denial.
Now, Matthew 16 chapter, if you will, please.
Now, I have no revelation.
I just have scripture for you this morning.
And I want you to let these scriptures.
You can mark them.
And if anyone wants to ask you about
our church, I'm not boasting this morning, but
I'm telling you that if we don't measure
up to what I'm telling you, we're still
not there.
The 16th chapter.
You're going to have to bear with me
a little this morning, if you don't mind.
The 16th chapter, starting verse 22.
Then Peter took him and began to rebuke
him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord,
this shall not be unto thee.
But he turned and said unto Peter, Get
thee behind me, Satan, for thou'rt an
offense unto me.
For thou savourest not the things that be
of God, but those that be of men.
Then said Jesus unto disciples, If any man
will come after me, let him deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life will lose
it, and whosoever will lose his life for
my sake will find it.
Now, I take this to mean that if
you're going to be a part of the
true church of Jesus Christ, if you're going
to follow what I believe is the true
gospel of Christ, it means you're going to
do more when you come to the altar,
you come to the house of God, more
than just say, I believe in Jesus Christ.
If he does not take up his cross
and follow after me, the Bible said he
is not worthy of me.
I don't care what he's prayed, I don't
care what you say.
You see, I call it voting for Jesus.
So many churches, we just have people come,
they vote for Jesus.
I cast my vote on your side.
I'm in your party now, Jesus.
I'm a Democrat on this side, a Republican
here in the flesh, but in the spirit
now, I am one of yours.
I'm in your party.
I'm in the Christian party, so to speak.
Because I voted for you, and I took
a stand for you.
The Bible says it goes much further than
that.
The gospel goes much further than that.
He said there's a cross that you deny
yourself and you take up your cross and
you follow him.
And if you're not willing to do that,
the Bible said you're not worthy of him.
You're not called of him.
You're really not of his party.
You're not of his flesh and his blood.
You're not of his bone of his bone.
The scripture makes that very, very clear.
The Bible says that the true gospel is
going to make you rather despised by the
world.
The true church of Jesus Christ has never
been fully accepted.
Very seldom do you find a politician that
wants to come to a church that's preaching
the true gospel.
And very seldom do you find pastors who
really walk in with Christ to invite politicians
to do their thing.
Now, if they're born-again politicians, which is
very, very rare, and you find one that's
different.
But you see, you'll very seldom find a
politician.
I don't remember a politician ever been in
this pulpit since we've been here.
We have not invited governors or mayors or
presidents or anyone else.
We pray for them.
We love them.
We're faithful as far as citizens are concerned.
But you see, the Bible says men shall
hate you and they'll separate you from their
company.
I've always believed if you live for Jesus,
you don't have to separate yourself from the
company.
They'll do the job for you.
I mean, you take the stand and you
live the life and they will separate you
from their company.
And you shall be reproached.
You shall be cast out.
Your name is evil for the son of
man's sake.
In my church, all your needs are going
to be met by losing your life for
my sake.
You lose your life for my sake, he
said, and your needs are met.
It's different in most churches today.
We have what is a need preacher.
We preach about needs.
We preach to the needs.
But as I interpret what I'm reading in
the scripture here now, that that doesn't work.
Just the preaching to the needs.
When I'm preaching to you or any pastor
is preaching to you, if all I'm doing
is preaching to your need, you need comfort
or you need strength.
All these things are wonderful.
But if I'm just preaching to your need
and you're not willing to lay down your
life and follow him, that need is never
going to be met.
Your need is met, just not by my
preaching to your need, but by your willingness
to lay down your life.
Your need is met by the laying down
of your life and taking up his cross.
The needs are met through the cross.
They're met through that surrender and through that
giving up of myself.
Really to the point where my need no
longer is the most important thing in my
life.
My most important need now is that I
get to know him and walk with him.
And as I commune with him, my needs
are met because I'm laying down my life
for his sake.
And I'm not caring what the world thinks
about me anymore.
He said, if it's my church, he better
be prepared to die.
You see, this is a place of death
before it's a place of life.
If you came here and you say you
gave your life to Jesus Christ, I want
you to know that there's a place that
you can point to.
There's a time that you can remember.
And there's an experience that you can remember
when you died.
The word of Cade Millon, the law of
God slew you, absolutely slew you.
You were so convicted and you were slain
by the law.
It absolutely took away all your excuses and
all of your own ideas and how you
can please God in your own righteousness and
your own goodness.
And there had to be a place that
you died.
You've got to die first before you can
live.
And unless that gospel is preached that you
die to self, you die to self-will,
you die to self-ego, you die to
self-ambition.
If that's not being preached, the gospel is
not being preached.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not preached
in its fullness.
He said, it's a church without spot or
wrinkle.
You know what a wrinkle is?
That's some new concept, a new wrinkle.
Some new easy way to get somebody into
heaven without having to pay the price.
Let me take you a little further on
this.
The church is a place of repentance.
Now, folks, this is one of the most
important things I'm telling you.
It's something you know, something we all know.
But the church of Jesus Christ, if it's
his church and if it's his gospel, there
will always be open, unashamed repentance.
Open, unashamed repentance.
Folks, do you know that they're doing away
with what we call the altars in evangelical
churches, in Pentecostal churches?
The altar is just a place here at
the front of the building.
It's a place of stepping out.
It's a place where a man says, I'm
going to make a statement.
He said, if you confess me before men,
I'll confess you before the Father.
But if you deny me before men, I
deny you before the Father.
I'm making an open confession that I can't
live my life the way I want to
live it.
I can't live it with power and authority.
And I need help.
And I come to repent before the Lord.
And folks, it's not done in some back
room.
Jesus never did that.
When there was repentance, he never took them
off somewhere and talked to them silently about
it.
It was always open, unashamed confession with the
mouth.
With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.
With the mouth.
Now it's being preached.
You just quietly, silently.
Now, God can hear your cry.
You can silently repent at any time.
But you see, if the whole idea and
the concept is, I want you to be
quiet about it because I don't want you
to offend the people around you who don't
understand it.
I don't want you to offend anybody because
this is a non-offensive church and we
want anybody to come in here, Jew, Gentile,
whatever he may be.
Folks, no clapping, but I came to bring
a message.
And it will be broad, so just be
patient, okay?
Romans 10, 8, and 9.
The word is nigh you, even in your
mouth and in your heart.
If you shall confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shall believe in the heart
that God raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
Whosoever will believe in him shall not be
ashamed.
Now Jesus said, I have called sinners to
repentance.
And what he's saying, in my gospel, it
doesn't matter who they are.
They come the same way, they come through
repentance.
Jesus says, do you want to know what
I preached in my church?
Do you know what I preached when I
walked this earth?
Do you want to know what my gospel
was?
Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom
of God, saying the time is fulfilled and
the kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent ye and believe the gospel.
Now how strong did Jesus preach this message
of repentance?
Now folks, I'm telling you, the message of
repentance is being done away with in most
churches.
It is literally done away with now.
You don't repent, you just believe.
You don't repent.
There's no godly sorrow.
There can't be any godly sorrow until there's
Holy Ghost conviction that causes the godly sorrow.
How did Jesus preach it?
How strong?
Except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Now that's strong preaching.
That's the way Jesus preached repentance.
Didn't matter who it was, the high and
mighty, the low, the very lowest and the
very highest.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation that
shall not be repented of.
It was preached at the first church at
Pentecost.
Peter said, you took him by wicked hands
and you did both crucify and slay Jesus
of Nazareth.
You slew the Son of God.
The scripture said, when they heard these words,
they were pricked or convicted in their heart
and said unto Peter and the rest of
the disciples, what shall we do?
Peter said, repent and be baptized.
Save yourself from this wicked generation.
The word that was preached was so powerful,
so convicting, it pricked their hearts.
They couldn't stand still.
They couldn't sit in a seat.
They were so moved.
This was suddenly a life and death matter.
What do we do next?
What is the next step?
Peter was not interested in offending these people.
It wasn't a matter of trying to offend
them.
It was trying to show them that the
truth, when the truth comes, is going to
convict.
The truth is going to go down deep
and find sin, every hidden area of the
heart.
That's the work of the Holy Ghost.
When the Holy Ghost comes upon a preacher,
if it's truly the Holy Ghost, there's going
to be conviction for sin.
Hallelujah.
Ezekiel the prophet said to the false prophets,
with lies you have made the righteous sad.
In other words, by their lightness.
They were so light.
They told jokes.
They were so light.
And he said, you have absolutely made the
righteous sad.
And you have strengthened the hands of the
wicked, that he should not return from his
wicked ways by promising him life.
And from how many pulpits today, in what
are called mega churches.
Now folks, there are big mega churches.
There are seeker-friendly churches.
There are purpose-driven churches, they call them,
around the United States.
Some of them with large congregations.
And folks, I get letters from people who
attend those churches lately.
And some of them say, we have a
pastor that's really preaching the gospel.
There's a word coming forth from our church.
And I believe that there are many that
are preaching that.
But what you hear most, and what I
hear from our congregations, all the people on
our mailing list that go to some of
these so-called mega churches.
One pastor stood up two weeks ago in
his church.
He said, I'm German.
And I've got too strong a nature to
let things get out of control in this
church.
My nature is too strong.
Well, he doesn't have to worry about the
Holy Ghost bothering him.
He doesn't have to worry about the Holy
Ghost coming to the church.
What a tragedy.
To bring people into the house of God.
And to have a massive crowd of people
that are coming to church.
Let it be Sunday morning, let it be
any other time.
And many of these feel they've done God
a great favor if they have come to
the early service.
And been there a whole hour so they
don't miss the 11 or 12 o'clock
football game.
And they feel that they've got a little
ticket to heaven because they made sure that
they snuck a little bit of Jesus in
before the football game.
But one day I have to stand before
God and every preacher of the gospel has
to stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
And folks, I can't think of anything more
dangerous for a man of God.
I can't think of anything more dangerous for
anyone who calls himself a preacher of the
gospel of Christ.
To stand before a multitude on a Sunday
morning.
And not preach repentance.
Not dig down into the depths of sin.
All the hidden things that are in that
congregation.
And making people comfortable in their sins.
The scripture says, the prophet said with lies
you've made the righteous sad.
And you have strengthened the hands of the
wicked that he should not turn from his
wicked ways.
You've made him comfortable in his sins.
And folks, I get this so much that
it just stirs my soul.
And it drives me to my knees into
brokenness.
The letters from people who come say, I
take my children to this church.
I take my friends to this church.
And I've been going there for months waiting
for a single word.
Some single word can touch.
I know that my neighbor is about to
be divorced and I take him to church.
Trying to get a word about the sin
that sins the heart.
About his drinking problem.
About some of the things that are going
on.
He's running around with this young woman.
And there's not a word.
He leaves and he says, I like it.
And he feels so comfortable when he walks
out.
God help the man.
God help the people that can sit in
the church of any kind of church and
hate reproof.
And can't stand to hear a preacher preach
until it gets down to the very bone
of the marrow of the bone.
But soft preaching coming from the pulpit today.
But soft preaching.
And one of the prophets said, my people
love to have it so.
They want me to sing them a nice
song.
And that's what they want.
They don't want to hear a message that
will shake them and stir them about their
sins.
And the way they're living.
That has never been the way the gospel
is preached from this pulpit.
And never will be as long as Jesus.
Until Jesus comes or God shuts the doors.
And if it's changed, it'll shut the doors
for sure.
What a tragedy.
That more people are confirmed in their sins
in church than probably anywhere else on earth.
He says, you robbed them of eternal life.
You turned the house of God into a
den of iniquity.
Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness.
I'm not going to stop there very long.
I'm going to move on.
The gospel of Jesus Christ can be very
offensive at times.
Did you hear what I said?
It can be very offensive at times.
The new thing now is if you're going
to build a church or start a church.
But you move into a town with a
group of young college students with notepads.
And you go door to door and ask
them, say, we're thinking of starting a church
in your neighborhood.
What would you like your church to be
like?
Do you like choirs or no choirs?
Would you rather have just a piano?
Describe what kind of music would bring you
to the church.
And if there's a cross on top of
the building, would you rather the cross be
removed?
Does that offend you?
And on and on.
What kind of preaching?
How long should the preaching be?
15 minutes, 20 minutes, half hour?
And all of these questions.
I got a letter this past week from
a woman who decided, I can't handle this
anymore.
I go to one of these kind of
churches, a sinner-friendly church.
And I'm so tired.
Every time I go, they hand me a
sheet to judge the meeting.
Were we too loud with the music?
Was it too soft?
Would you give us, is it 80%, 90
% effective the way we handled the skit
today?
Was the skit too long?
Was it witty enough to attract people?
These were the questions.
She had a list of questions.
She said, Brother Wilkinson, can you believe that
this is being asked of me?
I'm sitting there wanting to hear a gospel.
I've got family and children dying and going
to hell.
And he wants me to judge the comedy.
You see, the whole thing isn't, they write
to me.
This is exactly what I hear.
And it's said from the pulpit, we're not
here to offend you.
And that's why they have in these churches
now, and there are some Islamic clergy.
Most of them are teachers in colleges.
And they're religious Islamics.
And they're going around to these mega churches,
Bible churches, evangelical Bible churches.
Trying to start a dialogue between Christian and
Islam.
Telling how peaceful Islam is and how close
to Christianity it is.
Go to John 6 chapter.
Verses 59, starting at verse 59.
John 6 verse 59.
These things said he in the synagogue as
he taught in Capernaum.
Many therefore of his disciples when they heard
this said, this is a hard saying.
Who can hear it?
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples
murmured at it, he said unto them, does
this offend you?
What if you shall see the Son of
Man ascend up where he was before?
It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh
prophet of nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they
are spirit and they are life.
And Jesus' disciples come to him and said,
the message you preached, don't you know you
offended them?
And Jesus said, if that offends you, what
are you going to do about this?
You're going to eat my flesh and drink
my blood.
You can't enter the kingdom of heaven unless
you eat my flesh and drink my blood.
Or you have no life in you.
Eternal life, Jesus said, comes from eating my
flesh and drinking my blood.
My flesh is meat indeed and my blood
is drink indeed.
But we hear it said, now people don't
understand this kind of talk.
They'll think we're barbarians.
Come to the house of God and hear
about eating the flesh of Christ, cannibals, drinking
blood.
And I've read what they write.
Now, I've listened to what they said.
Now, there are some things you can jettison
from the catalog of things that we say
out of habit in our church.
Things that the world really doesn't understand.
But there are certain things Jesus says, you
don't dare touch about my word.
One thing you will not do, you will
not change that which produces life.
Because the words that I just gave you
about drinking my blood and eating my flesh,
they are words of life.
These are eternal words of life.
They're not to be changed, no matter how
offensive it is.
Even though it may be understood only by
revelation of the Holy Ghost.
The revelation will come.
Stand boldly and preach what I tell you,
no matter how offensive it may be.
Folks, we don't preach the gospel because we
worry about how offended people will be.
We try to preach it with grace and
love and through tears.
We're here to stand before God one day
and answer for your soul.
But there are going to be things that
we say that are from the word, the
red letter word of Jesus Christ himself.
His very words about the cross, about following
him.
And it's going to offend you.
Folks, the true sign of a Christian who's
really surrendered to the Lord is that he
loves reproof.
Because of what it produces in his heart.
It produces life.
These words he said, they are life.
Does this offend you?
Are you offended by my words?
But these same words that I speak to
you, they are spirit and they are life.
What Jesus is saying, don't touch the blood.
Folks, it's true what you heard.
Some churches that have literally gone through, wherever
they've gone, they've thrown the hymn books.
But even if they use the hymn book
for mid-service, they've taken all the blood
songs out of the Bible.
With nothing to do, they don't want to
hear about the blood in the church.
They talk about sacrifice.
They talk about all kinds of atonement, but
they will not use the word blood.
Jesus preached in the synagogues in his own
country.
And he preached, the Bible said, wisdom with
authority.
Yet they were offended.
Then came his disciples and said unto him,
knowest thou not that the Pharisees were offended
after they heard your sayings?
The Bible said the message was preached to
the multitude that Christ had called together.
This was his multitude.
In other words, he called the body together
and he preached the very thing that offended
the Pharisees.
He said, don't you understand the Pharisees?
The religious leaders were offended by what you
said.
But that's not what the Bible says about
the multitudes.
The multitudes that came to him, every one
of them, those that came said he spake
as no other man spake.
And they came time and time again to
hear it.
Folks, the sinner that comes to the house
of God, he's not coming just to be
part of a number.
He's not coming just to be counted.
He wants something to come and touch his
heart, dig into his life, expose what is
there and show him the way out.
He's had enough sleepless nights.
He's had enough people tell him how good
he is.
He knows in his heart he's not good.
He knows he's bound for hell.
He knows his heart condition and he doesn't
need a preacher or Christians to tell him
you're okay.
He wants to know that he's been in
the house of God and he may not
have liked what the preacher said.
He may have even got mad and stomped
out, but he didn't forget what he heard.
And the Holy Ghost has something to work
with in his life.
Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not
planted shall be rooted up.
Preach that in churches where they're looking for
numbers only.
Jesus said, if I haven't planted them, they're
going to be rooted up.
And how are they going to be rooted
up?
The first message they hear that gets down
to their sins and deals with their daily
problems, they're going to be rooted up by
that scripture and they're going to leave because
they didn't come for that purpose.
They wanted to come in their sins and
be comforted.
Nothing to clear out a church of that
which is false, that which doesn't want truth,
than an outpouring of the Holy Ghost, a
genuine moving of the Holy Spirit.
Not of flesh, but of the Holy Ghost.
Let the Holy Ghost manifest Himself and see
what happens.
I say this with kindness.
The Bible said, Jesus is the cornerstone of
His church.
As it is written, behold, I'll lay in
Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of offense,
and whosoever believeth in Him shall not be
ashamed.
Peter said, He's the head of the corner,
a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense.
Even to them that stumble at the word,
being disobedient, were unto they were appointed.
Peter calls Christ a rock of offense when
Jesus said, I'm going to the cross.
Peter said, no, not at all.
And Peter knows what he's talking about.
He'll never forget those stinging words when Jesus
turned to him and said, Get behind me,
Satan.
What he's saying, no, that's too offensive a
message.
The crowd's not going to receive this crucifixion
truth.
The blood and all this you're talking about.
No, Jesus, that's not the way we're going.
That's not the way you're going.
And he will never forget that.
Peter never forgot that moment when he defended
the crowds.
He would rather be concerned about the offense
of people who heard it rather than the
truth that came from the very heart and
lips of Jesus himself.
Now, before I close, I'm going to close
in just about five minutes, let me show
you the heart of Christ for his church.
How would Jesus start a church in your
town, your city, or for that matter, here
in New York City with all the churches
we have?
And he said, I want to start a
church here.
First of all, the Bible says he would
go on a weeping tour.
When he was come near, he beheld the
city and he wept over it because they
that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing his seeds
with him.
How different that is with all the strategizing
and the plotting and the planning and all
the experts and told that you can build
a church only with all whites or all
blacks or all Hispanics, but don't dare mix
them.
Well, send all those experts to Times Square
Church.
Let them talk, walk among the people and
see 99 to 100 different nationalities all worshiping
together in one, never been polled.
Would you go to a church with blacks?
You're white.
Will you go to church with blacks?
You're Hispanic.
Would you go to church with Koreans?
Folks, that doesn't matter anything here.
There's only one color and that's the red
blood of Jesus Christ and nothing else.
What would make Jesus weep over the city
if he came to New York, literally came
to New York in body form?
What would make Jesus weep?
I assure you it wouldn't be Times Square.
I'm sure it would not be homosexual community.
If he came the day they had the
homosexual parade and half a million people parading,
I don't think that's what Jesus would be
weeping over.
I don't think he'd be weeping over all
the drug addicts, alcoholics.
Yes, that would grieve him.
That's always been the grief of his heart.
But I think what he would weep over
most of all would be what he saw
as he wandered into church after church after
church.
And he felt the death.
And there was not a word, nothing that
he could relate to, nothing that his Holy
Spirit could take hold of and turn it
into life.
The death.
He would weep over that.
I don't think he could get out of
a service if there was no man at
an altar.
If there had never been a man at
that altar, it would be Jesus walking down
and just kneeling and weeping over that church.
Weeping for that pastor.
Weeping for that congregation.
Weeping for the Sunday school teachers.
Weeping for all of those.
You are blind to the times, he would
say.
Judgment is at the door.
The end of all things is near.
And he would weep over that because there's
no redeeming of the time.
There's more and more of a trend and
sweeping away toward the things of the world.
The world now looks, the church looks more
like the world than it's ever looked ever
in history.
Where is the line?
Oh God help us that we would never
ever soften the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We would never from this pulpit and wherever
you go to church, if you have a
pastor that's really preaching the gospel, put your
arms around him, love him, weep with him,
encourage him, because there are very few of
them left.
Times Square Church was birthed in prayer.
In brokenness.
And folks, is it next week Pastor Carter
you're going to prayer?
Is it two weeks?
Starting the year again in January in prayer.
I told you there's nothing profound what I
was going to tell you this morning.
There's no great revelation.
But there's something in the heart of God.
There's something for this church.
Folks, I don't boast in having a part
in the raising up of this church.
I don't boast in any of that.
I just thank God every day he let
me have a part in it.
But I want to tell you something.
That which brought this church into being is
the only thing that's going to keep it
in the center of God's will.
And that is people who are not just
Sunday morning people.
The one fear I've had, one concern that
I've had from the day this church was
opened, in the first year, especially when everybody
is so enthused, I said, God, I've been
looking down 10, 15 years, how many of
these people are going to be just Sunday
morning Christians now?
Like every other church.
And then Sunday night begins to dwindle.
And they begin to close that down.
First of all, now that won't happen here,
but many churches, they'll show movies, they'll bring
in superstars, some kind of speakers, and try
to hold the crowd together.
And folks, when it comes to the time
when people, leadership trying to hold a crowd,
God, help us.
And my prayer is, oh God, don't let
that happen.
We have said from the very beginning, you
expect your pastors.
Now, I've been here from the beginning, and
these pastors are here committing their very lives.
They're not looking into some greener field.
They're not looking for money.
They're not looking for prestige.
There's not a pastor in this church that
esteems himself higher than anybody else.
I'm an older man, and these men esteem
me higher than myself.
I'm an older man, and I esteem these
men higher than myself.
In turn, it should be expected of the
body of Christ.
Not because of the pastor's love for you
or your love for the pastors.
But it should be something of our hearts.
The easiest thing is to lose the burden
of prayer.
And to lose the brokenness for families that
are unsaved.
And just let it happen.
Don't let that happen.
We have a good gospel here.
We don't boast.
We're not saying it's better than any place
else.
But we do know it lines up with
the scripture.
It lines up with the word of God.
But folks, along with that, if we don't
have people that come on those Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday nights of these prayer meetings.
And put everything aside.
And say, this is the most important thing
now, to lay hold of God.
And not ride on anything in the past.
Not ride on past achievements.
Not at all.
But say, we want the fire of the
Holy Ghost to burn as brightly now as
it did the first year.
And folks, it will burn not only as
brightly, but far brighter.
Far brighter.
Even now while I stand here in the
annexes full, overflow rooms.
It's not a matter of just getting people
together.
It's a matter of having the presence of
God so strong here.
It's having the conviction of the Holy Ghost
falling on it.
It's every pastor that stands here, and the
pulpy stands, and the Holy Ghost comes upon
him.
The Spirit of the Lord falls upon him.
And you know that when that happens, you
can be assured every sinner you brought, everyone
in your family is going to hear from
God.
Because that's not just the preaching.
It can be simple.
It can be any one of us who
stand here.
But when we stand, and suddenly the Holy
Ghost comes.
The Holy Spirit comes upon the pastor.
Comes upon the speaker.
Then all heaven opens up.
And the devils begin to run.
They begin to flee.
And God holds together that which he has
created.
Let's stand to our feet, if you will,
please.
Lord, I thank you for the strength of
the Holy Ghost.
God, the Holy Ghost is all over me.
And the Holy Ghost is all over this
congregation.
And Lord, there are people that need to
get down to this altar and get right
with God.
Lord, there are people that have been hearing
so much preaching from this pulpit.
And they're still harboring sin.
They're still flirting.
There are things you're speaking about.
Things that you've warned about.
And now, Lord, you're going to get very,
very strong.
You're going to speak a word and say,
you've got to come now while there's time.
Because time is slipping away.
And your heart's going to get hard and
you'll never hear again.
Oh, Holy Spirit, speak to hearts right now
while I stand here.
Up in the balcony.
I won't prolong this.
And here in the main auditorium.
And in the annex.
Those of you in the annex.
If you feel the Holy Spirit coming on
you.
Convicting you.
Of sin.
And something else that God put in my
heart.
Before I started preaching.
Why is he doing the invitation?
And it's this.
There are some of you now living under
great condemnation.
Terrible condemnation.
Because, you see, you felt that you haven't
been able to live up to the kind
of message that you've heard here.
A strong message, yes.
But also message of hope.
Covenant and everything else.
You've heard that.
But I've been living under condemnation.
Folks, that's the one weapon of the enemy
that'll get you quicker than anything else to
give up on the things of God.
You have got to get rid of all
condemnation.
And that condemnation comes because you don't rest
in the work Christ has done already in
your life.
Some of you are here now because you're
condemned.
Because you say, just like this past week,
I could have condemned myself into the worst
feelings I've ever had.
Because I didn't have any strength or energy
to do the things that are part of
my life.
But, oh, I just said, no, I will
not.
I refuse all condemnation in Jesus' name.
I'm under the blood of Christ and I
walk by faith.
Some of you need to take that step
of faith on the blood of Jesus Christ
right now and say, I will not be
put aside by the enemy.
If you're here and you say, I need
to confess things in my life that have
to be made right with God, or you're
living under that cloud of condemnation, get out
of your seat and come.
I've just come back from a little bit
of a vacation time in Florida.
And while we were in Florida, I spent
a considerable amount of time watching Christian television.
Now, this is something I don't do.
I've been out of that loop for quite
a few years now.
But I began to watch it because I
want to know what people are listening to.
Now, there are a few good things.
But, beloved, I was astounded, especially a lot
of these larger ministries, I was astounded at
the foolishness, astounded at the false theology, the
smooth talkers.
They speak so quickly and move so rapidly
that the average person can't even discern what
they're saying.
And I felt a strong warning on my
heart for a long time now for Times
Square Church, that if we are going to
grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus
Christ, beloved, you've got to make the choice
to turn off most, if not all, Christian
television.
You have to turn it off now.
Turn it off.
Open your Bible.
Begin to spend quality time with God.
Read the Bible.
Read it every day.
Read it carefully, concisely.
Read it prayerfully.
Read it with an attitude to saying, this
is the guide that God has given for
my life.
Holy Spirit, make this a reality now to
me.
Teach me and guide me through this.
We are living in perilous times, absolutely perilous
times.
I watched on Christian television the very things
that the prophets, Pastor Dave talked about today,
warned about, where they are bearing rule by
their own ingenuity.
And the prophet of God said, it's astounding,
and my people love to have it so.
To watch, in one case, a congregation of
probably 10,000 to 20,000 people, a
man who is a spiritual lunatic, I can't
describe him as anything else, but a spiritual
lunatic, walking the aisles, absolutely deceiving the people,
and to see them nodding their heads in
agreement, being led down a terrible path.
And, beloved, to grow in grace, you've got
to turn it off now.
I say this with a broken heart.
It's a tragedy, what's happening to the Church
of Jesus Christ.
But God's going to give us the Gospel
that's always been the Gospel.
There has been a Gospel for 2,000
years that's been preached.
We don't have to change anything.
We don't have to do any new thing.
Nothing different.
God still will come when the Word is
preached, when hearts are opened, when people decide
to repent, to yield before God and give
their all to Him.
He still comes.
He changes lives with miraculous power.
He gives callings and giftings that are supernatural,
that are designed to be an evidence of
His power, His life, to our generation, and,
of course, to encourage our own hearts.
But it does come with a repentant heart.
It comes with a heart that says, God,
keep me from every crooked way.
Keep me, God, from listening to and moving
in directions that grieve your heart.
God, help me.
God, help us as a church today.
I believe that's why many of you have
come to this altar, because you want a
sincere walk with Jesus Christ.
I believe that with all my heart.
Let's all pray together.
I'm going to pray for you today and
pray for this church, and I'm going to
ask you simply just to agree with me
and agree with the Holy Spirit as He's
spoken to us today.
Now, Father, we come before You today.
We ask Your Holy Spirit to guide us
and govern us as Your people.
Lead us into Your Word.
And we ask, Lord, that even the bitter
things would be sweet to us.
You give us hearts, O God, that want
to hear the full counsel of Your Word,
not just for the church itself, but for
every heart, for my life, for every life
here.
We ask You, Lord, to speak to us.
We ask You, God, to keep those in
leadership, and those who stand behind this pulpit,
Lord, keep us in tune with what is
in Your heart and Your mind every time
we gather, every time we meet.
We ask, Lord, that there be a conviction
of sin in this house.
Lord, that sinners not ever be comfortable in
their sin in this place until they are
right with God.
Father, we thank You for the unity that
we've known and the joy that's been in
this house.
And it's been here because there's been a
truth that has set us free.
Jesus, we thank You for it.
God, we praise You.
And I'm asking today that You give everyone
at this altar, Lord, the conviction of heart
and the purpose of heart to walk in
truth.
Lord God, You said that if we know
there's truth, if we embrace it, it will
set us free.
Father, we just thank You for it.
Thank You for truth finding a lodging place
in every heart.
Thank You, God, for those that are turning
away from sin today and those who are
living for You, climbing out from under the
devil's condemnation.
Jesus, we give You the praise and the
glory.
For Yours is a church that You say
is a triumphant church, a church that is
going to walk through the fire and through
the flood with a song on our lips,
O God, and a testimony of the keeping
power of Jesus Christ to our generation.
We ask You, God, to use us for
Your glory.
My God, come in power.
Come in great grace.
Use us for Your glory.
Be magnified in this house.
Be pleased, O God, to walk the aisles
of this church.
Be pleased, Lord Jesus, to come.
Be pleased, O God, to dwell in the
praises of the people that You assemble in
this house, O God.
We ask, Lord, that You would use us
as a catalyst, O God, to encourage those
that are falling by the wayside, to lift
up those whose hands are hanging down.
O God, help us, Lord, to graciously instruct
those that are going away on a crooked
path into eternal destruction.
O Jesus, thank You for the unity.
Thank You for the power of the Holy
Ghost.
Keep us, O God.
Keep us unified in the love of Christ.
Keep us in the truth of the gospel,
O God.
Father, we thank You for it.
Thank You for this house.
Thank You for Your faithfulness for these years,
O God, and the testimony of Yourself, O
God, that You have kept alive in this
house.
O God, we ask You to keep us.
Keep us by the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Keep us.
Father, we thank You for this from the
very depths of our heart today.
In Jesus' mighty name.
Amen and amen.
Hallelujah.
This is the conclusion of the message.