This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit series.
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Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
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This morning I want to speak to you
on the sound of his voice, the sound
of his voice.
Heavenly Father, this is just a dead letter
unless the Holy Spirit, unless you come Holy
Spirit and make it alive and open it
to us.
Lord, it's not enough that I've been able
to see something and bring it to this
pulpit, but it's something now that you have
to bring into our hearts and open our
minds and our hearts to receive it.
Lord Jesus, how we've learned to love you,
how we thank you for your awesome presence.
And I'm asking you, Lord, to fill this
house with your presence while I preach.
I pray that in the annex and in
the overflow rooms, your presence would be manifest,
that everyone will recognize your presence as the
word goes forth and the word would be
received in the presence of Christ.
Because when Jesus comes, all the hills melt
like wax.
Everything melts in your presence.
Lord, melt our hearts and help us to
understand and hear what the Spirit has to
say this morning.
We pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
I want you to turn to John, the
fifth chapter.
John, the fifth chapter.
And I'd like to just leave it open
on your laps.
I'll tell you where to go in this
fifth chapter in just a few moments.
Turn to the fifth chapter and just leave
it laying open on your lap.
And if you don't have a Bible, maybe
somebody next to you, folks, if you see
somebody next to you without a Bible, when
I direct you to the passage I want
you to be directed to, maybe you can
just kind of share your Bible and they
can see what we're saying this morning.
The sound of his voice.
Now, folks, Jesus lived his whole life on
earth wholly dependent on the voice of the
Lord.
He did nothing.
He said nothing.
He taught nothing.
No miracles performed.
Anything that he did, everything that he did
was done according to what he saw and
heard from his heavenly Father here on earth.
And John, the fifth chapter, beginning 19th verse,
bears this out.
19th verse, chapter 5 of St. John.
Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, the Son can
do nothing of himself but what he seeth
the Father do.
For what things however he doeth, these also
doeth the Son likewise.
For the Father loveth the Son and showeth
him all things that himself doeth.
And he will show him greater things than
these that ye may marvel.
For as the Father raises up the dead
and quicketh them, even so the Son quickeneth
whom he will.
You see, the Lord makes it very, very
clear that he was led daily.
This was a daily walk with the Lord.
When Jesus saw a crippled man at the
pull of Bethesda, he said to him, take
up your bed, rise and walk.
And he did.
And this was the Sabbath.
And the Jews were offended by it because
he did it on the Sabbath.
And they were wanting an explanation.
And what Jesus said, well, this is what
my Father told me to do.
I'm simply doing what the Father said.
Jesus answered them, my Father works here unto
and so I work.
My Father showeth me whatsoever things he himself
doeth.
These also doeth the Son.
He said, I've been taught by my Father.
I was told to do this by my
Father.
I got directions from my heavenly Father.
And Jesus spake very plainly, I do nothing
of myself.
But as my Father has taught me, I
speak those things.
That's John 8.28. And he that sent
me is with me.
The Father hath not left me alone, for
I do always those things that please him.
I speak that which I have seen and
heard with my Father.
That's what I speak and that's what I
see.
Look when did Jesus, when did the Father
speak to Jesus and when did Jesus see
the Father doing these things?
Was it in eternity before he came incarnate
in man?
Somewhere back in eternity before the world was
created did the Father say when creation is
finished on a certain Jewish day on the
sixth month so and so there's going to
be a man by the pool of Bethesda
and I'm asking you to just tell him
to rise and walk.
Was this daily plan of God mapped out
in eternity somewhere where Jesus said I knew
all this before I came?
Not at all because that wouldn't be relevant
to anything in our lives.
We couldn't relate to that kind of a
walk because Jesus came and set a pattern
that we as he is in the world
we would be we would walk as he
walked.
And that wouldn't make any sense to me
and I couldn't follow that kind of pattern.
But you see I believe that this was
a daily walk with the Lord with the
Father.
I believe that he went to prayer every
day and he heard there was a still
small voice inside of the Father that said
do this do that.
And he was taught by the voice of
his Father what to say and this was
a daily walk that the Lord himself practiced.
It had to be a searing seeing and
hearing there had to be an inner working
of that voice of his Father at all
times.
It was not something back in eternity it
was the way he walked because he came
to walk as a man to feel like
I feel and you feel to bear our
infirmities and he couldn't have done that unless
he walked this and expected his Father daily
to guide him.
Picture Jesus having to make a decision about
choosing 12 disciples out of as many disciples
had to choose 12.
Now where did he get this?
Did the Father tell him before he was
born as a child when he was with
the Father begotten of the Father in eternity?
Did the Father give the names of these
apostles?
If that was so why did he spend
a whole night in prayer?
The Bible said he prayed, listen closely to
what it said, he continued all night in
prayer to God.
Went alone on a mountain and began to
pray and he asked the Father who do
I choose?
And 12 names were given to him by
his Heavenly Father and he chose them and
he named them and while that same night
he's on the mountaintop praying along with the
Lord, God the Father gave him what we
call the Beatitudes.
He gave the very next day this wonderful
truth that he was teaching.
He said I don't say anything except what
I hear from my Father.
So that night before on the mountain he
heard this teaching.
This was something that came out of the
heart of the Father and he said as
my Father speaks so I speak and he
gave all the blessings, blessed of the poor,
blessed of the meek and all the woes
that came the Beatitudes the next day.
Jesus spent time daily I believe with the
Heavenly Father.
He spent hours after every miracle, after every
great sign, everything that he did he rushed
back to his Heavenly Father.
You see this clearly illustrated in the 14th
chapter of Matthew.
The scripture says that he had been brought
a message that John the Baptist had been
beheaded and the scripture says when Jesus heard
it he departed thence by ship into a
desert place apart.
He went way out.
I don't know if he went to the
same desert where John the Baptist had spent
many years but he got alone.
First of all there was a grief in
his heart, the human grief.
John the Baptist was a friend and a
respected worker of his and beloved prophet of
God and it was there in that desert
though that God began to direct him for
the very next day.
He shut alone.
You see it everywhere.
He's gone to a desert, he's gone to
a mountain, he's always talking to the Father
and Jesus came forth out of this desert
and saw a great multitude, was moved with
compassion and healed many.
In fact that very day he fed five
thousand with five loaves and two fishes and
at the end of the day he sends
them away.
Now folks he's ministered to five thousand people,
he's healed as many as came to him
for healing.
He fed the multitude, a busy heavy day
and what does he do after he feeds
the five thousand?
Is it a time to get alone with
his chosen disciple, maybe Peter, James and John
and just have a quiet meal somewhere or
did he go to Bethany a few miles
away and did he just say it's time
for me to be alone and recuperate for
a week or so?
You know when I'm out preaching and I've
had a busy day preaching twice to pastors
and then an evening big rally, I usually
go out and have a meal with my
wife and friends or those in my party
and we just talk about what God has
done but that's not what Jesus did.
The only way he wanted to recuperate, he
immediately escaped to a mountain to be alone
with the Father and the scripture said he
went up into the mountain apart to pray
and he's ministered all day and he goes
up and he prays and when evening was
come he was there alone.
Now folks, Jesus knew the covenant work that
he was to do.
That was all planned in eternity.
He was to come to set the captives
free, to loosen prisoners.
He was to heal the sick and open
blind eyes.
Those were covenant works that had been outlined
to him before he came but in his
daily walk he chose to be totally submitted
to the will of the Father.
He chose to do nothing even though he
knew these covenant works, these things that he
was sent to do.
Folks, there are things that you and I
are clearly instructed to do in the Bible.
There are things that we know that this
is our work.
We're to pray without ceasing.
We are to walk in his righteousness.
We're to study his word.
We're to minister to the sick.
We're to love one another.
There are many, many loving commandments of Jesus
given to us.
Love one another.
We know these things.
These are covenant works that are all outlined
in the Bible.
But you see, it's not just something that
is written here.
There are some things that are not written
here.
Daily things that we meet, daily situations, crises
that come and the walk that we have
with the Lord.
And we need that voice of the Lord
Jesus leading us, guiding us and speaking to
us for things that we don't see just
as a pattern or just a commandment.
It's something we have to hear immediately.
It's something that has to come to us
because we have no one else to turn
to.
And we need to hear that voice that
Jesus heard, the voice of the heavenly father.
For all things that I've heard of my
father, I've made known unto you, Jesus said.
He said, I told you the truth, which
I heard of God.
This did not Abraham.
He said, you religious Jews, I've come to
minister to you, but all you have is
the dead theology of Abraham, your father.
You're talking about the past.
He said, you have picked up some laws
that you've learned from the past and you've
had some rules and regulations for your life.
But he said, what I'm giving to you
is not something from a dead past.
He said, you're living in the past, you're
living in a dead theology.
And there are a lot of people satisfied
where they go to church, there's nothing but
dead theology.
And they hear often from pastors who have
been through seminary and all of the spiritual
life of Christ has been drained out of
them.
And there's nothing but a dead theology.
But Jesus said, I gave you something Abraham
didn't give you.
I've been talking to my father.
I was with my father last night and
I'm giving you a fresh word.
I'm giving you something I heard last night.
I gave you something I heard this morning.
I gave you something I just heard out
of heaven.
I'm speaking to you from heaven.
Abraham didn't do that.
John the Baptist said of him, what he's
seen and heard, that's what he testified, that's
what he teaches.
And no man receives his testimony.
Let me share with you where I am
in my life and my ministry right now
at the age of 70.
I've been asking the Lord Jesus if it's
possible for a man or woman today, not
just a preacher, but any believer, is it
possible to live the kind of life that
he lived totally dependent on the voice of
the Father?
Totally dependent on the voice of the Lord
Jesus.
Is it possible to live like that?
Is it possible to hear a voice from
heaven today giving moment by moment direction?
Can we live with a total dependence on
the Lord?
Is there such a place in God that
we could walk as Jesus walked, saying, I
don't speak except what I hear my Father.
And I don't do that which I've seen
of my Father.
Can we say because Jesus is Lord and
now he's in glory, can I hear his
voice?
Can I know his voice?
Folks, I've known the extreme joy of being
sudden with him.
And I've been preaching about feeding Christ, those
times when you're just silent.
And he said, my meat is to do
with the Father.
And the will of the Father was to
share his heart with his people and with
the lost.
And when you just sit and hear his
voice and let him minister unto you, that's
an extreme joy.
But I've not arrived at that place where
it becomes a way of living, where the
greatest joy in my life would be to
just shut in with him and then to
have an ear to hear what the Spirit
says at all times.
We live so beneath our privileges and what
the Lord has laid out here in his
word.
I've been asking, is it possibly wholly dependent
on you?
Or is this just something that I'm conjuring
up in my mind?
But then I read of Elijah in the
Old Testament standing before the Lord and hearing
his voice.
I read of Jeremiah standing in God's presence
in prayer, hearing and perceiving the counsel of
God.
Here's what he said, for who has stood
in the counsel of the Lord?
Who has perceived and heard his voice?
Who hath marked down his words?
In other words, who has their hearts marked
with his word?
And who has heard it?
Who's heard this voice?
And Jeremiah's saying, I've heard him.
I stand before him.
You know, you hear these prophets come before
Abraham and others and say, I come to
you the Lord before whom I stand.
They're saying, I've been shut in with God.
And here I'm telling you what God has
said to me.
And you hear it from Isaiah.
He said, I heard a word behind me
saying, this is the way, walk in it.
And folks, why wouldn't God speak in this
generation when there's so much fear, so much
uncertainty, and we need a voice from heaven
more than we have ever needed in any
generation that we do now.
When has there ever been a generation with
such fear and anxiety and terror and hunger
and thirst and reaching?
Why would God be silent today when we
need him more than ever?
And folks, I think it's criminal now for
pastors to go to the pulpit with a
borrowed message.
I think it's cheating the congregation.
I think it's criminal that men today are
not hearing the voice of God and coming
to the pulpit with, thus sayeth the Lord.
It can be criminal in a day like
this, in an hour that is so troubled
as we face in this hour.
In the New Testament, I hear these words
of John the Baptist.
John said, he that hath a bride is
the bridegroom.
But the friend of the bridegroom which stands
and hears him rejoices greatly because of the
bridegroom's voice.
This my joy therefore is fulfilled.
And in the Greek, it says, standeth and
heareth him means abiding and continuing with him.
And John the Baptist says, I've heard his
voice and that's my joy.
I heard it because I stood by, I
abided and I continued with him.
Folks, he's not talking about that short time
that he met Jesus at the riverside when
the dove came down and announced this was
the Lamb of God.
John just spoke a few words with him
at that time.
That can't be what he's talking about.
But John at a very early age went
out and isolated himself in the wilderness.
Now this is not the typical Christian thing
to do.
God's not calling you to go to some
desert and be a hermit as John the
Baptist.
But I can assure you he heard the
voice of the Lord.
That was before Christ was incarnated.
That was before Jesus.
Way back, God spoke to generations through his
own son.
But you see in the wilderness, John was
hearing a voice.
He was being trained by that voice.
Where did he get it?
He had no books.
He had no teachers.
All he did was pray and meditate and
wait on the Lord.
There were no teachers there.
This man had no fancy clothes.
He had no pleasures of this world.
He had no fancy food, no exotic food.
He had no bed to lay his head
on.
This man was in total fellowship and communion
with the Lord.
This is where he was taught repentance.
This was where he was taught, behold, the
Lamb is coming and I'm going to decrease,
but he may increase.
Who taught him?
There was no teacher, no preacher, no evangelist.
He was taught by the Lord.
The Lord taught him.
Let me tell you plainly what I'm preaching.
Plainly what I'm suggesting to you right now.
I'm saying that I'm believing that it's possible
to be given to daily prayer and it's
possible to give oneself up to waiting on
the Lord that he will speak his heart
directly into that life, even giving detailed instructions.
Did you hear what I said?
There's a walk that I see outlined in
the Bible.
I've not arrived there, but I am pressing
toward this place in him.
A place where you can give yourself to
prayer.
You make the time.
You see, Jesus went about doing good.
He was busy all the day, but he
set the example.
And I believe it's possible to have the
Holy Ghost set a heart so set on
seeking God daily, every day, giving him precious
quality time and be able to learn to
sit at his feet and just minister to
him and wait and allow the Lord Jesus
to speak his heart into our lives and
to be directed by Jesus Christ and be
taught by him.
I'm saying that this is available not only
to preachers, but to laymen.
And I give an example.
Cornelius was a layman.
He was a soldier and an angel appears
to him.
The Bible said he was a devout man,
one that feared God with all his house,
which gave much alms to the people and
prayed to God always.
He was always in prayer.
Now this is a busy centurion.
He's got a hundred men under his command,
his immediate command.
This man is busy, and yet he's praying
every spare time he has.
And in that prayer, the Lord speaks to
him.
He calls it, and the Bible says an
angel appeared, but Cornelius recognized him as the
Lord.
He said, what is it, Lord?
And immediately, the Lord held a conversation with
this layman.
Detailed counsel, he said, I want you to
go to a certain house by a seaside.
He named the house, he gave the address,
he named the man Peter.
And he said, I want you to send,
he told him to send two men, and
he gave him directions, what he should say.
And he said, he'll come with them.
You bring him to the house, you call
all of your family together, and I'll tell
you what to do next.
And at the same time, Peter's on a
housetop praying.
He's a man of prayer.
And suddenly the Lord speaks to him and
said, there's going to be some men knocking
on your door.
And they're going to tell you a story
and you're to go with them.
Detailed instructions.
He's in conversation with the Lord.
It's just a natural thing with this man.
Three times the Lord spoke to him, gave
him a vision, then spoke to him again
and again.
You hear it said, and there came a
voice from heaven and the Spirit said.
And you see what happened to the house
of Cornelius shook up the whole Pentecostal Jewish
church.
That God, the thing they couldn't comprehend, and
the thing that they didn't want to accept
in Jerusalem and the rest of the Jewish
Pentecostal church that had been baptized with the
Holy Ghost, supposed to be full of love.
They couldn't understand how an uneducated layman could
hear the voice of God so clearly.
To challenge to everyone in this house, Paul
testified that the revelation he'd been given about
Christ and his gospel was not taught to
him by any man.
He said, I got it on my knees.
He said, Jesus Christ himself taught me.
Listen to it.
But I certify unto you brethren that the
gospel that was preached by me is not
after man for I never, I neither received
it of man, neither was I taught it
by man, but I got it by revelation
of Jesus Christ.
Now folks, he's not against teachers.
Paul said, the Son was revealed in me,
not to me, but in me, that I
might preach him among the heathen.
I conferred not with flesh and blood.
He said, now folks, there were many teachers
in Paul's time.
They had received Pentecost long before Paul.
I'm speaking of Paul.
Peter was there, James, great teacher.
All of these teachers, there's Apollos, mighty in
the word of God.
But he didn't go to man, he went
alone and shut himself in with God.
And he said, it was there alone with
God.
Now he's not against teachers because it was
Paul who said, God has given some prophets,
evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
He himself was a teacher.
But he said, I'm going to face a
Godless, Gentile world.
I'm going to face unbelieving Jews.
And I can't have a secondhand revelation who
Christ is.
I can't have something I get.
He said, I've spent my life under teachers,
under Gamaliel, all of these Jewish teachers.
They filled my mind with all kinds of
theology.
But he said, I want an experience of
my own.
I want to hear Jesus for myself.
I want him to teach me.
I want to know who he is for
myself.
He didn't get it from somebody else.
He had his own touch from God, his
own experience of who Jesus was.
And from that time on, Jesus taught him.
You see, the deep things of Christ have
to be revealed by Christ himself.
Paul tells us that all believers, every one
of us can be taught by Christ.
Listen to it in Ephesians 4.21. If
so be that ye have heard him.
In other words, if you have an ear
to hear and have been taught by him
as the truth is in Jesus Christ.
Taught by Christ himself.
Taught.
Why is there so little revelation of Jesus
Christ from our pulpits today?
And in the lives of so many believers.
We've got a well-trained ministry now.
We've got so many PhDs in the pulpit.
And folks, when you think of men called
to minister the gospel, who spent years in
seminaries and in higher education, and all the
books that have to be read, and philosophy,
psychology, and ethics, and on and on and
on, and the hours, hours to get the
mind filled, to have the knowledge, and to
study Christ, to spend years studying who Jesus
is.
And then stand in the pulpit and it's
nothing but death.
Because the dear man has never been taught
by Christ.
He's never had his own experience.
He's had it filtered through the minds of
men.
And he's read everything but the book.
And what Paul's really asking is, he said,
how did you learn Christ?
He was saying, we have not learned Christ
as the others have, but he's asking us,
how did you learn Christ?
And that's a question I ask everyone hearing
me now.
How did you learn what you know about
Jesus Christ?
Is everything that you've learned come from a
pulpit?
Has everything you know about Christ come from
a book?
Has it come from your Sunday school classes?
That's well and good.
That's knowledge.
But you need more than knowledge.
You have to have a personal word from
Christ himself, by Christ.
All need, the Bible says all truth is
in him.
All truth is in Christ.
And he alone can teach it.
Now we're going to get down to you
say, well, I thought the Holy Ghost was
a teacher.
We're going to show you that the spirit
of Christ and the spirit of God and
the spirit, the Holy Spirit are all one
in essence, in their work and labors in
our heart.
How did you get the knowledge of Christ
from just one or two hours a week
sitting in church?
I don't care how powerful the preaching is.
My preaching or anybody else's preaching.
You can get what I call the initial,
listen closely now, the initial one-time revelation
of Christ.
Now I want you to listen closely where
I'm going.
Everyone in this house that knows Christ can
say, I've had a revelation of Jesus.
Yes, you did.
Because it's only through the spirit of Christ
that the Holy Spirit that's come that opened
up to you that Christ is God in
flesh.
He's opened up to you the plan of
salvation.
That's the initial thing.
Paul had that.
He's knocked off his horse.
He sees the light.
Christ reveals himself to it.
But folks, he didn't go the rest of
his lifetime on that one-time initial revelation.
He had to go.
You see, that one-time revelation is just
an open door to the deeper things of
Christ.
It's an invitation to come and learn of
Him.
It's an invitation to have a lifetime of
prayer and seeking His face and opening your
heart and let Christ come in and tell
you all about Himself, who He is, His
glory, His power, His might, His goodness, His
mercy, His long-suffering in your life.
It's an invitation.
And many are satisfied with that initial one
-time revelation.
They can say, yes, I have a revelation
of Christ.
And this is very, there's a very telling
example of this in the 16th chapter of
Matthew.
Jesus calls His disciples together.
He says, who do men say that I
am?
You see, Christ at this time was totally
rejected.
Everyone had rejected Him except His few disciples.
Even those who said they were disciples, His
word was too hard and they forsook Him.
And He said, who do they say that
I am?
And Peter, speaking for the disciples, said, you
are the Christ, the Son of God.
And Jesus said to Peter and to His
disciples, no man revealed that unto you, but
my Father in heaven revealed that.
You didn't get it just by looking at
me, not even with walking by me, but
a revelation came to you.
A revelation came to you that I am
the Christ, the Son of the living God.
I'll tell you what, turn to Matthew 16.
I want to show you something.
Matthew 16.
In verse 13, Jesus is saying, whom do
men say that I, the Son of man,
am?
Verse 15, you see, but whom say ye
that I am?
Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God.
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona.
Flesh and blood has not revealed it unto
thee, but my Father, which is in heaven.
Now, verse 19, I will give unto thee
the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Whatsoever thou shall bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven.
Whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven.
Now listen to this.
This is an amazing scripture verse, verse 20.
Then charged He His disciples that they should
tell no man that He was Jesus the
Christ.
Now, think of it.
God Himself has already proclaimed Him to the
world as the Lamb of God.
They've just had a revelation that Jesus is
the Christ.
And Jesus looks at Peter and says, don't
preach it.
Don't talk about it.
Why would He do that?
Because all He had was the initial one
-time revelation.
He really didn't know who Christ was, because
you find Him very shortly after when Jesus
began to teach them and show them who
He really was and the cross.
Peter reneges about it.
He says, you will never go to the
cross.
How would Jesus allow Him to go out
and preach a gospel when He doesn't have
an adequate revelation of who Jesus is?
And what the Lord is saying, unless you
have a personal knowledge of me, unless I
have taught you, you have no business preaching.
You have no business proclaiming Christ until you
allow Him to work in your heart and
show you who He is, so that you're
not preaching somebody's theology.
You're not preaching doctrine.
You have walked with Him.
You've talked with Him.
And He's come and revealed Himself to you.
I know who He is.
I have had a revelation.
He's in my heart.
He speaks to me.
He's shown me His heart.
Do you understand?
Because the very next verse it says, and
from that time forth began Jesus to show
unto His disciples how that.
In other words, He began to show Him
Himself.
He said, you're not ready.
You say, well, can't I go out and
witness?
Yes, you can.
God will honor His Word, but He's not
going to see you through the lifetime of
travail and what you face in the days
ahead and the pain and the agony you
have got when crisis comes, when death comes,
when sickness comes.
You have got to know Him.
You have got to know Him intimately.
You have to be taught by Him.
Now, I perceive a question in the mind
of some, a question.
Brother Dave, isn't it dangerous to open your
mind to a still small voice?
Isn't that where people have gotten in trouble
hearing deceiving voices telling them to believe and
do ridiculous things?
Oh, I've heard some of the most ridiculous
things people say God told me, that God
spoke to my heart.
And they're all dumb things that anybody ought
to know that God wouldn't talk like that.
And what about the devil coming in and
knowing that your heart is sincere?
What about the enemy comes in and he
whispers and he pretends to be the voice
of God, still small voice.
And what about the voice of the flesh
that comes and mimics the voice of God?
Isn't it dangerous?
And then others will say, well, isn't the
Bible the only voice?
And isn't the Holy Ghost the only teacher?
Let me talk about it for just a
moment, if you would please.
I believe, let me talk to you about
the Holy Spirit, first of all.
I believe the Holy Spirit is in Himself
a distinct, living, powerful, intelligent, divine person.
Not a human person, but with a personality.
I believe that.
The Bible says clearly that the Holy Spirit
rules the church, He comforts, He strengthens the
weak, He brings divine order, He teaches the
riches of Christ.
He's the teacher.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit.
That's just a part of it.
It's much broader than that.
Yet in the Scripture, listen very closely, yet
in the Scripture, it's called, He is called
the Spirit of the Son.
Galatians 1, 14, 6, God has sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into your hearts.
It's also called the Spirit of Christ.
What time the Spirit of Christ, which was
in them, did signify, 1 Peter 1, 11.
In Romans 8, 9, if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
of His.
Now, if Jesus is God, then the same
Spirit is in both.
Because He's God, God's Spirit is in them.
And the Holy Spirit has been sent by
the Father and by the Son.
And He represents the mind.
He is the mind of Christ.
It is the Holy Spirit speaking the mind
of Christ.
And it is Jesus.
He said, I will come to you and
I will speak to you.
Folks, don't try to figure out some theological
thing and that the Holy Ghost is some
kind of a human form.
He's not.
He's a Spirit.
He's everywhere at the same time.
And He's come to glorify Jesus and to
manifest Christ in our lives.
And everything Jesus said.
Now, folks, faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God.
But that Word, every word that He speaks
divinely in our hearts, that can be backed
up by this Word and absolutely conforming to
this Word, we can trust.
Let me give you the Word of protection.
How to detect.
First of all, the voice of the flesh.
Now, folks, you're not going to hear a
word from the Lord until you give Him
time.
Go, as I've said before, pray.
Make your petitions.
Worship.
Praise Him.
Pray for your brothers and sisters.
Pray for pastors.
Pray for the world.
Pray for missions.
Pray for workers of the harvest.
Spend your time in prayer.
But then there's quality time with the Lord.
And when you stop and say, now, Lord,
this is your time.
And just quietly worship and say, Lord, speak
to me.
And folks, I'm not talking about saying, Lord,
do I go on vacation on the 5th
or the 10th?
Do I wear black or green today?
I've heard people say, God told me to
wear green today because this is a green
day for the Lord.
He feels green.
Folks, that's foolishness.
That is utter foolishness.
No, you see, if you really want to
learn the voice of Jesus Christ, you go
to Him to be trained.
You go to Him and say, I want
to learn about you, Jesus.
And all I want to hear is about
you.
If you're there just to learn about Jesus,
everything else comes out of that.
All education, all direction, everything comes out of
learning who Christ is.
And if you go there focused on that,
first of all, the flesh is not patience.
And I'm telling you, the secret of knowing
His voice is in the waiting.
It's in the waiting.
See, the flesh doesn't wait.
It wants instant gratification.
And when you get along with God, if
the flesh is speaking, it's going now, now,
now.
You've been here long enough.
You heard now, go.
There will be a rush to it.
And it'll be focused on you.
All the flesh is not patient.
I want it right now.
God, you promised that I want it now.
And the flesh will be demanding upon you.
It will be impatient.
And it'll leave.
That voice won't last very long, because it's
so impatient.
Now, the devil's voice is patient to a
point.
Listen closely.
The Holy Spirit revealed this to me last
night.
And it's been a protection for me.
I want it to be for you.
The devil is patient to a point.
He will come as a still, small voice.
And he'll wait for a while.
But folks, when you don't accept any voice
right away, and you hear this voice, and
you say, thank you, Jesus.
I'm going right to my Bible to test
it.
The devil will expose himself immediately.
And when he knows you've heard the voice,
and you just park it in the back
of your mind and say, thank you.
And you don't know yet what the voice,
you can't discern the voice.
And you just remain still, just say, well,
I'm staying here, Lord, just to love you.
I'm just going to stay.
Lord, show me something about your nature.
And I'm going to tell you, that's when
the devil is going to lose his patience.
And it won't be a still, small voice
anymore.
It will be a railing voice.
It will be a demanding voice.
It will be an ugly voice, and it'll
be exposed in the presence of the Holy
Ghost.
Because you see, the devil knows, and God
knows, and the angels know that you have
set your mind to wait.
And that's why the Bible keeps crying out,
wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord,
wait on the Lord.
Because it's in the waiting, all the other
voices leave.
Glory be to God.
Hallelujah.
I'm going to close in just a minute.
You know, in Jeremiah 42, Jerusalem has been
destroyed, and a remnant, a renegade remnant came
to Jeremiah, said, we need direction.
Would you go to God, get direction?
We don't know whether to go to Egypt
or stay right here in the land.
We have no direction, but we'll do anything
you tell us from God's hand.
The Bible says, Jeremiah sought the Lord for
10 days.
And on the 10th day, God spoke.
He waited till the other voice was God.
For the devil knew that this man is
not going to be settling for anything but
the voice of God, the voice of the
Lord.
And folks, that's patience.
And we're so impatient today.
We don't have people that go to the
Lord and wait, praise, and then just patience.
Because you see, there's a program on television
that's calling.
Raymond's calling.
Is that what it is?
I don't know what it is on television.
Somebody out there is calling.
And if you listen to that voice, you
listen to that call, you know it's the
flesh.
You know you haven't heard a word from
God.
You're going to hear from God when this
time with Jesus is the most important thing
in your life.
More than your family, more than your husband,
more than your wife, more than your children.
And when you get in there and you're
married, you tell your wife or your husband,
don't call me.
If the call comes, I don't care what
it is, what emergency it is.
I'm staying there.
I'm coming out.
When I come out, I'll call back.
And you put it, you just say, this
is it.
Because I want to hear the voice of
my Lord.
I want to know it.
And I want to walk.
And then what'll happen, you become very sensitive
to his speaking.
He'll tell you times that you're going to
have to pull away from certain people.
Loving them, yes, but you're going to have
to pull away.
You can't have fellowship with that person.
And sometimes it'll break your heart.
It'll be sometimes the Lord is so loving
your voice.
He so wants your fellowship that sometimes you'll
just pull away for a season.
You just back away to see if you
will persist.
And there's sometimes you won't hear his voice.
You'll go through what they call a draw
spell.
But you see, those are the ones that
he most wants to reveal his heart to.
Those are the ones the Lord said, if
you will pass this test, if you keep
coming to me because you haven't heard for
a while.
I spent an hour last night.
I'm learning this walk.
I'm far from it, but I'm learning it.
And about 11 o'clock, I said, Lord,
from 11 to 12, it's your time.
Speak to my heart.
It's just, I'm feeding you.
Just silence, silence.
And I'm thinking to myself, well, Lord, does
this really work?
I'm going to preach it tomorrow.
And finally, after about 45 minutes, just waiting,
worshiping.
So, Lord, you can say anything to my
heart.
You know what he said?
I love you, David.
You're tired.
Go to bed.
That's right.
It was the sweetest thing.
And he said, and give me time when
you're not weary so that I can speak
clearly and you can hear it.
He's not a hard task master.
He's a loving Savior.
Oh, how he wants to communicate with us.
He wants everybody hearing me to be able
to come to the house of God so
excited.
You see, last night, he spoke a word.
He opened.
You're reading a verse and you don't understand
it.
Take that verse into prayer.
And when you're alone and you're feeding Christ,
wait a minute.
Say, Lord, I don't understand this.
Speak it to my heart.
And suddenly, just keep quoting that verse before
him.
And suddenly, it'll be opened up to you.
And he'll be speaking to you things that
you've never heard.
You've never known.
And you're getting it.
You're getting it.
And you come to God's house.
You don't boast about it.
They don't humble you, but you'll come here
worshiping the Lord as you've never worshiped him
before.
And you'll know things about your house, your
home, your direction.
All of that will follow.
But first of all, Lord, just teach me
who you are.
Will you stand, please?
No clapping.
No, please.
No clapping.
We don't applaud men here.
I know you want to tell you what
you can just say a great hallelujah to
Jesus.
Hallelujah.
We praise you, Lord.
We give you honor.
We give you thanks.
Will you stand in his presence?
I had asked the Lord, you remember how
I prayed before I started preaching?
Lord, fill the house and the annex and
every room with your presence that this word
could be received in your presence so it
could melt our hearts.
I wonder how many there are here listening
to me now.
While I was preaching, and listen closely, while
I was preaching was there something in your
heart crying out, that's what I want.
I want to hear his voice.
I want to know his voice.
I want him to teach me.
I want this experience for myself.
I don't want to get it just from
the pastors.
I don't want to get it from the
Bible school here.
That helps, yes.
That's to create hunger and thirst in you.
Yes, all of that.
But I want, I want to be taught
by the Holy Spirit.
I want Christ to come and reveal himself
in me, not just to my brain, but
in my heart.
If you want that, it's yours.
But I'm going to tell you, listen closely,
it's a holy obsession.
It has to obsess you.
It has to be something every morning you
get up, say, God, I want this more
than I want to live.
If I can't have this, Lord, you gave
it all through the Bible to other men,
Lord.
You said it's for me, and it is
for you.
You can walk out of this house today,
sing Holy Ghost, make this real to me.
And I want you to speak to me
now.
Here's my invitation.
We have a number of visitors here from
all over the world in all of our
rooms and here in the auditorium.
And I'm speaking also to some that are,
Times Square Church is your home.
I don't know about you, but I, I
cannot quiet this cry in my soul.
I can't help the hunger and the thirst
that is growing in my heart.
I want my last days, the time that
I have left, to be wholly given to
him while I'm still busy pastoring, writing books,
and doing all these things, but have that
time for him.
And that's what this is all about.
And some of you have been neglecting him.
And I'm going to open this alters for
those who are honest enough to say, I've
been putting my own needs and desires, my
own things before I, the things of the
Lord.
Some of you have been slipping away from
Christ.
You've been backslidden.
You're not even praying anymore.
You're not seeking God.
Now that's going to take an honest confession.
I want you to step out of your
seat right now, wherever you're at and come
here to the front.
I'm going to ask God to give you
a touch from the Holy Spirit and that
you'll not let this truth evaporate, but you'll
take it and ask the Holy Spirit to
make it real to you.
In the annex, in the annex, I'm going
to ask you, if God's been stirring your
heart, would you just move forward between the
screens?
Don't block the screens, but just move right
out of your seat and stand right in
the front.
And if you're in an annex, just follow
these, moving right to the front of your
auditorium there in between the screens.
I'll pray for you in just a moment.
But as they sing, you feel up in
the balcony, go to the stairs.
You come down and join us here.
Don't leave this church cold.
Don't leave this church empty inside.
Don't leave this church going back to your
old ways.
Don't do that.
Let the Spirit of God move you and
change you today while he's moving in our
midst.
We come now to offer ourselves as a
living sacrifice to give ourselves more completely to
you, to give everything, Lord.
We have held back.
We've neglected you days on end.
We have put ourselves above you.
We have put our time above your time,
our needs above your needs.
Lord, forgive us.
Here I am, Lord.
Here we are.
Come and change us.
Create a hunger and a thirst in our
hearts for you.
Help us to spend more time alone with
you, to follow the example, Jesus, that you
set, to just get alone, to get alone
with you, to learn of you.
Teach us, Lord Jesus.
Teach us of yourself that we may see
you clearer in the days ahead, Lord, that
we may have something we can give to
the world, a living, a living experience, a
genuine personal experience in us and not to
us.
Thank you, Jesus.
Lord, I pray for those in the annex
who've come forward in here in the main
auditorium.
Lord, by your Spirit, touch them right now.
Ignite a fire in their souls.
Put a fire in their bosom.
Put a hunger.
Put a thirst.
Let them cry out, Lord, I do want
you.
I need you.
More of Jesus, more and less of self.
Lord, for those who've
been neglectful, God, convict them with love and
then woo them and draw them back into
your arms.
Lord, do that for us this morning because
you're gracious, Lord, and you love us and
you so want to communicate with us.
You so want our fellowship and we would
give it to you, Lord Jesus.
Lord, I want to be your friend.
I want to be a friend of the
Lord Jesus.
I want you to look at me, Jesus,
and say, there goes my friend.
There's my friend, Lord.
Let that be said of everyone in this
congregation that reaches toward you.
There's my friend.
She's my friend.
He's my friend.
Oh, God, give us that friendship, that fellowship
with Jesus, our Lord.
Draw us and woo us to yourself.
Would you just lift your hands and love
him?
Just love him.
That's all right now.
Just love him.
Lord, I love you.
I worship you.
I love you, Jesus.
I worship you, Lord.
Hallelujah.
We worship you, Lord.
We praise you.
We give honor and glory to your name.
Blessed be the name.
Lord, go with this congregation with peace, the
peace of God, and the joy of the
Holy Ghost.
The days ahead, Lord, let us rejoice and
be glad in you for your loving kindness.
Amen.
Now, I'm going to ask in the annex,
in the overflow rooms, and here in the
mandatorium, balcony, wherever you are, please don't just
walk out of here.
Please fellowship with the saints.
By this, O men, know you're my disciples,
if you have love one for another.
That love has to be expressed in some
way.
Women hug women.
Men hug men.
That's fine.
And just a good handshake.
God love you.
Try to meet as many as you can,
and just a good word to as many
as you can as you leave.
Amen.
This is the conclusion of the message.