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This morning that you are interceding for us,
as we have gathered to corporately worship you
as your church body, here in this place
and at this time, your heart, your mind,
your thoughts are towards us.
And so, Lord Jesus, I would ask for
the manifestation of your heart, the manifestation of
your mind, a manifestation of your word, to
be our portion this day in your house.
Lord, I thank you, God, for allowing me
to one more time stand and proclaim your
word, the less than the least, O God.
You saved me and empowered me, and I
stand not in my own righteousness nor strength.
I stand in your strength and I stand
clothed only in your righteousness.
And I thank you, Lord, for the privilege
of disappearing that you may appear, of not
being heard that you may be heard.
We desire to hear from you today.
Holy Spirit, we invite you to manifest the
presence of Christ, the risen Christ, in our
midst, and indeed to proclaim truth that will
set us free and give us great and
glorious liberty in Christ.
I thank you, Father, for strength, for anointing,
for your abiding presence.
Thank you, Lord, that you're going to touch
lives today.
You're going to provoke us to walk further
into you, Lord.
And we thank you for this in Jesus'
name.
Amen.
If you'll turn in your Bibles, please, to
the book of Joel, chapter 1.
The message is entitled, Beware When You Are
Full.
Beware when you are full.
Pastor David and I have felt to call
this church to a seven-day fast, beginning
on Monday, going right through till next Sunday.
Coincidentally, it's Easter Sunday.
We didn't call it.
It's not a religious thing.
We didn't call it because of that.
Just something that the Lord put upon our
hearts.
Now, to some of you, fasting is new,
and you may not even understand what fasting
is all about.
And I'm not going to go into a
defense at all today of why we should
fast.
Suffice to say that Jesus said in the
Gospel of Matthew, when you fast.
He said when you, he was giving instructions,
and he said when you give, you're to
give in a certain way, when you pray,
you're to pray in a certain way, and
when you fast.
The New Testament records clearly in the book
of Acts that the early church fasted and
prayed on a continuous basis every time there
were decisions to be made before laying hands
on people and sending them out, and simply
for personal purification and a deeper drawing towards
the heart and the ways of God.
Fasting was not a strange practice to the
early church, although I think safe to say
to this church generation, it is a truth
that has to a great degree been lost,
and many people don't understand the reasons why
we should fast in the spiritual as well
as the physical benefits that do come from
fasting.
Now, we're going to be fasting for seven
days, and there are some of you who
may choose to join with us in fasting
for seven days.
Now, for those who are beginners, I really
don't recommend that you fast for that long.
It may not do you a whole lot
of good, you'll not be able to get
your mind off of food after about the
first day and a half, and you'll think
you're going to die for the next five
and a half after that.
Anyways, mankind really does eat too much.
An Egyptian doctor wrote in the past, he
said, man lives off of one quarter of
what he eats, and we doctors live off
the other three quarters of what he eats.
There are many, many sins in every generation,
and overindulgence is one that will lead to
many, many things.
There's an excellent book out called God's Chosen
Fast.
The author's name is Arthur Wallace.
It's a little yellow book.
You can get further information about this down
at the book table in the lower rotunda,
and perhaps Brother Paul Steinman has some available
that you can purchase if you want to
really learn the ins and outs of fasting.
This is probably one of the most balanced
books ever written on the subject.
It will give you insight into fasting from
both a spiritual and a physical perspective.
We want to avoid in every case, and
in all cases, any forms of religious extremism.
People can take these truths and take it
right to the extreme end and bring discredit
to what should be a really valuable discipline,
a valuable exercise in the sight of God.
In no way and under no circumstance will
you die if you fast for seven days.
Your physical body is a wonderful machine.
It's designed by God that when there's a
sudden stop or an intake of food into
the system, that your body will automatically begin
to dissolve, begin to ingest, begin to burn
up, and use up all stored poisons, fats,
and toxins within the body.
For roughly anywhere from 21 to 40 days,
all your body is doing when you fast,
and I'm talking about the total fast.
The total fast, in a sense, is just
simply drinking water or juice and no solid
food.
Your body, at that point, anywhere from 21
to 40 days, is simply eating up toxins,
eating up fats.
Initially, your breath will smell horrible, your eyes
will turn yellow, and then eventually your eyes
will clear up, your breath will clear up,
there'll be a renewed strength come into your
body because a natural cleansing process is taking
place.
You'll lose weight, but it will be good
weight that you will lose.
It will not be muscle tissue.
Hunger usually disappears anywhere from nine days, seven
to nine days and onward, and doesn't return
again until actual starvation begins to take place.
Scripture talks about Jesus going into the wilderness
to be tempted of the devil.
It says at the end of 40 days,
he hungered.
That's when the devil came.
That's the time when your body is now
beginning to consume muscle tissue, when hunger returns.
That's the danger point.
That's where any and all fasts should cease,
and a person should then gradually begin to
add nourishment, supplemental nourishment to their body.
Under no circumstance should you ever go more
than three days without water.
You could literally impair your health considerably going
any longer than that, and in fact you
could die if you took that too far.
We do not recommend at any part of
this particular week that you abstain from liquids
at all.
If you abstain from solid food, that's fine.
You're not going to die.
You'll feel like you're going to die, but
you're not going to die.
If you have a medical condition, if you're
a pregnant mother, if you have a heart
problem, if you have any kind of physical
ailments, you may want to seek medical advice
before undertaking any type of a fast.
Now, fasting is not only good spiritually, but
it's also good for the body physically, and
doctors are not going to look at you
as if you've just stepped off another planet
if you talk to them about fasting.
As a matter of fact, many medical doctors
recommend it to their patients as a periodic
cleansing of the flesh, a cleansing of the
digestive system, and things like that.
And so, if you have any doubts at
all, please seek medical counsel on this.
Now, there are many different kinds of fasts.
You'll read about them in this book.
I'm not going to get into it all.
But there are fasts where you can abstain
from one meal a day.
There's the Daniel fast, where he abstained from
all meats and just simply ate vegetables for
a season.
There's the Esther fast, which was an absolute
total fast for three days.
There are all different types of fasting.
You can fast one meal a day, perhaps
come home at the end of the day,
especially if you're a hard-working person, and
come home at the end of the day,
and perhaps skip supper for every day of
that week, all week.
And spend that time, though, not on the
golf course, but spend that time alone, shut
in with God.
Let it be of a spiritual benefit to
your life.
There are those who may want to fast
the full seven days.
And if you want to, be sure that
your body is able to handle that.
And be sure that you have knowledge about
what you're doing.
We don't want anybody taking this truth into
an extreme.
And that's the way the devil very often
tries to discredit truth, by taking truths in
the Word of God and pushing them into
the extreme so that people will reject it.
Fasting is a wonderful, wonderful exercise that very
often in my own life has brought me
back into right perspective and renewed in my
heart a hunger for God.
And so we would encourage you, beginning on
Monday, to join with us in some respect.
Maybe there's just a particular food that you
can give up.
Maybe you would like to choose a day
or two.
Maybe fast on Tuesday, and then fast again
Thursday, and then fast again Saturday.
Something like that.
Simply depending on what you feel that you're
able to handle and what God reveals to
you in prayer.
There is no compulsion for anybody in this
church to join with us whatsoever.
It's totally a free will thing.
You're not less spiritual if you don't partake,
and you're not more spiritual if you do.
True spirituality is an attitude of what's in
your heart, irrespective of what we do.
You can fast and scrunch up all your
face and walk around looking like you're starving
and shivering all week, and Jesus said it's
absolutely good for nothing.
That's what the Pharisees did.
Those who do fast, don't make a big
deal about it.
Don't talk about it to other people.
Just let it be between you and God.
Hallelujah.
Joel 1, verse 14.
I want to talk about a specific instance
when God used a prophet to call.
This man was a prophet.
He used him to call a fast in
his generation.
Joel 1, verse 14.
Sanctify a fast.
Call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of
the land into the house of the Lord
your God, and cry unto the Lord.
Now, there were certain conditions in Joel's day
that caused the Holy Spirit to prompt him
to call God's people to fast.
Firstly, the land was in a despicable condition.
In verse 6, it says, For a nation
has come up upon my land, strong and
without number, whose teeth are the teeth of
a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth
of a great lion.
He hath laid my vine waste and barked
my fig tree.
He hath made it clean bare and cast
it away.
The branches thereof are made white.
There was a plague of locusts that had
come into the land.
These locusts had gone through the land and
simply stripped everything and eaten everything that was
good, everything that provided nourishment.
It was a devouring, or we can call
it an eating away plague, had hit the
country.
Now, there are spiritual applications to this as
well because Paul says in 2 Timothy chapter
3, he says, This though also that in
the last days perilous times shall come.
Men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, without natural affection, truth-breakers, false accusers,
incontinent, that means unable to contain anything that's
good, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more
than lovers of God.
It is safe to say that the enemy
has come in like a mighty flood into
our society, into this land, and like a
devouring, eating away plague, is consistently eating away
everything that is good.
In the last two decades, there's been virtually
almost a total reversal.
Everything that was good is now called evil
and things that were evil are now called
good.
Self-interest groups have risen up and taken
over so many agendas throughout the land.
And we now live in very, very perilous
times.
Anybody who's not aware of that, you mustn't
be able to see when you walk out
of these doors and you mustn't be able
to hear.
Because we are certainly living in perilous times,
as perilous as the days that the Lord
had spoken to the prophet Joel about in
the nation of Israel.
In chapter 1, verse 12, he talks about
the vine has dried up, the fig tree
languishes, the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also,
and the apple tree, even all the trees
of the field are withered because joy is
withered away from the sons of men.
Joy is gone.
We're living in a society when youth or
young people, there's no more joy.
I walk the streets oftentimes throughout Manhattan and
looking into the faces, very often I'll try
to make eye contact with the teenagers if
you see them on the street, maybe to
get a smile out of them or be
able to get them to say at least
hello or how are you or possibly even
have a conversation.
But I don't see any joy in this
young generation that has risen up.
It seems like joy is gone.
Even the young ones, the little ones, you'd
expect, I'm not that old, I'm only 42,
but I do remember when I was younger
that children played in the streets.
These children seem so hard, they're only 5,
10, maybe a little older than 5, but
10, 12, 13 years old and there's such
a hardness.
They walk two and three abreast down the
street with a scowl on their face and
just like the Prophet Joel was saying, the
joy is gone in this generation.
We had a prayer request on Friday night
of a Christian family whose 10-year-old
boy jumped out of the window on the
fourth floor to commit suicide.
We're living in a generation when children are
now starting to commit horrendous crimes and lose
all hope for the future.
I'm told that in youth prisons now there
are children as young as 10 years old,
8 years old now, in prison, having committed
crimes that were virtually unthinkable in past generations.
A pastoral friend of mine told me recently
about a family that had a young daughter,
14 years of age.
She was in the top of her class
in school.
Seemingly a bubbly girl, seemingly happy, involved in
social activities in her community.
And then one day, only recently, the parents
came home.
She was supposed to be home.
They didn't hear her voice in the house.
They went downstairs and there she was hanging
from the rafters in the basement.
She had hung herself, 14 years of age.
She left a note.
In the note she said she apologized for
any harm that she might cause to other
people.
But she said, I don't see any hope
for the future.
I don't see any hope.
What an incredible day that we live in
when our children don't see hope.
Ten-year-olds jump out of windows and
14-year-olds hang themselves.
Shouldn't have to be any more than these
two to cause an alarm to rise up
within our hearts.
God help all of the people in our
present-day society that have been used to
the devil to take the Word of God
out of the public school system.
Those who have done so have taken hope
away.
One of the last hopes that our children
had, they've taken hope away from them.
And subsequently, the death of every one of
these young ones is going to be one
day late at their doorstep.
Also, God's heritage was in danger of being
overpowered by heathen leadership.
In Joel chapter 2 and verse 17.
Joel says, Let the priests and ministers of
the Lord weep between the porch and the
altar.
Let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord,
and give not thine heritage to reproach that
the heathen should rule over them.
Wherefore should they say among the people, Where
is their God?
We have all kinds of instances now throughout
certainly much of the western world where heathen
leadership has risen up over the house of
God.
By that I mean simply men and women
who don't know the heart of God.
They're leading God's people out away from truth
and into all kinds of spiritual excesses.
They should be bringing freedom, but they're bringing
the people into deeper and darker bondage.
And Joel said, Let the priests and ministers
of the Lord, let there be a weeping
in the house of God.
Let there be a crying out, O God,
don't give your heritage over to reproach.
Don't let the heathen rule over your house.
That the people in the nation should look
upon God's house and say, Where is their
God?
I think there are all kinds of graphic
examples, but I was gripped by one that
I read in the paper either this week
or last week.
There was a church that professes in the
United States, to know the doctrines of Christ
at least, professes as a matter of fact,
this church prides itself this denomination on knowing
the truth and holding to the truth and
not forsaking the truth.
And there was a story in the paper
about a couple who had a baby who
died.
And they buried the baby in that church
cemetery.
And then the elders of that church found
out that that baby was from a mixed
race marriage.
And they went and contacted the parents and
said, We want you to exhume your baby.
We want you to remove the body of
your baby out of our graveyard.
For our graveyard is reserved just for people
of our own particular race.
My heart, when I read that, I said,
God, what do the people around that city
and that town think of such a church?
Heathen men in leadership.
These are heathen men.
It was the elders.
Now, I thank God I understand that some
of the people rose up against them in
that church.
And I thank God they did.
There are certain times that rebellion is justified.
They rose up and said, No, you're not
going to do this thing.
But how did men with such hearts get
into leadership in the house of God?
Where they gather, what kind of worship do
they have in that house?
What do they sing?
I love you, Lord, on Sunday morning.
But in their heart, they're saying, I hate
my brother.
Doesn't the scripture says, If any man says
he loves God and hates his brother, he's
a liar and the truth is not in
him.
Heathen men.
And so the devil takes this and puts
it on the paper for the whole world
to read.
That this is what has become of the
church or at least a segment of the
church.
Instead of us just folding the paper and
say, Isn't that awful?
I really believe with all my heart it
should send us to fasting once again before
God.
And say, Lord, think of all the people
in that area that are going to be
turned away from heaven and turned into hell
because of that testimony of that church.
Think of all the wounds that are not
going to be healed.
Think of all the lives that are not
going to be changed.
And one day these men will all stand
before God.
They're going to stand before the throne of
Christ on his left hand and on his
right hand are going to be gathered with
him all nations, all kindreds, all tribes and
all tongues.
Every man, every woman from every background, every
skin color is going to be there.
All standing equal in the sight of God.
And then what will these men do on
that day?
What excuse will they give for what they've
done?
And how they've brought such horrible reproach to
the name of Christ.
Let the ministers stand between the porch and
the altar.
Let them lay and weep between the porch
and the altar and say, Oh God, God,
give not your heritage to reproach.
I believe that Jesus is interceding right now.
There are people down there in churches like
that in the western world and all over
the world that are good people that are
God-seeking, God-fearing people, but somehow corrupt
and blind leadership has gotten over them.
And I believe we need to cry like
we've never cried before.
Oh God, in the power of the Holy
Spirit, send revival once again to this country.
God send revival to this, to your house.
Cause these men, remove them, blow them out
of your house, oh God, and raise up
righteous, godly leadership over the people.
Look at Psalm 74 please if you'll turn
there with me.
Psalm 74 the psalmist cries out for the
house of the Lord.
Psalm 74 beginning at verse 2 he says,
remember thy congregation which thou hast purchased of
old.
The rod of thine inheritance which thou hast
redeemed.
This mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt.
Lift up thy feet unto perpetual desolations even
all that the enemy has done wickedly in
the sanctuary.
Verse 4 he says, thine enemies roar in
the midst of thy congregations.
They set up their ensigns for signs.
Thine enemies roar.
Thine enemies roar in the midst of the
congregations.
I wonder what kind of lies these people
had on the sign in the front of
their church.
I wonder what kind of lies they put
in their literature.
Did they say a church for hurting people?
A loving friendly community church?
And they're not isolated.
That attitude of heart may not be as
graphic as this particular church, but it is
in churches all over America.
A man was famous according as he has
lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
In other words there was a season in
the house of God where people looked for
men of character and women of character and
it was important that they were skilled and
cunning craftsmen in the word of God.
But now, verse 6 says, they break down
the hard work thereof at once with axes
and hammers.
They cast down the truth of Christ.
They have cast fire into thy sanctuary that
they defiled by casting down the dwelling place
of thy name to the ground.
They said in their hearts let us destroy
them together.
They have burned up all the synagogues of
God in our land.
We see not our signs.
There is no more any prophet neither is
any among us that knows how long.
Oh God how long shall the adversary reproach?
Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever?
Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right
hand?
Pluck it out of thy bosom.
This is the cry of the psalmist.
And I believe it's got to be the
cry of every true child of God in
this generation.
For God is my king of old working
salvation in the midst of the earth.
You did divide the sea by your strength.
You break the heads of the dragon in
the waters.
You break the head of Leviathan in pieces
and gave him to be meat to the
people inhabiting the wilderness.
Thou didst cleave the fountain of the flood.
Thou dryest up the mighty rivers.
The day is thine.
The night also is thine.
Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
Thou hast set up all the borders of
the earth.
Thou hast made summer and winter.
Remember this that the enemy hath reproached, O
Lord and that the foolish people have blasphemed
thy name.
Oh listen to verse 19.
Deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto
the multitude of the wicked.
Forget not the congregation of thy poor forever.
Have respect unto the covenant.
You see the Lord made a covenant with
us.
Have respect for the dark places of the
earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
Oh let not the oppressed return ashamed and
let the poor and the needy praise thy
name.
Arise O God plead thine own cause.
Remember how the foolish man reproaches thee daily.
Forget not the voice of thine enemies the
tumult of those that rise up against thee
increases continually.
That was the cry of the psalmist.
Joel in chapter 1 verse 11 he says
be ashamed O husbandman O how O ye
vinedressers for the weed and for the barley
because the harvest of the field is perished.
The harvest of the field is perished.
We live at a time in America of
white harvest.
The harvest is ready.
Despair is deeply sown in the hearts of
many many people because the things of the
world have not satisfied and yet over the
house of the Lord there is such foolishness
in so many places.
Now I'm not saying in all because there
are definitely righteous men and righteous women the
righteous congregations that are seeking the face of
God and desiring a deeper revelation of truth
that want to know the heart of Christ
but really they have become the exception now
rather than the rule and I see in
the spirit multitudes multitudes of people who are
in the valley of decision wanting to know
which way to go like these young people
and passing by these houses and not able
to go in because they look at the
spiritual condition of the people and of the
leadership and they just shake their head and
said where is their God?
What they do is no different than what
the people in the street do.
How they live is no different than the
way people that I associate with live and
I see multitudes passing by.
What should be places of refuge?
What should be houses of freedom?
What should be washing stations where they come
in and hear the truth of Christ that
is able to unlock the prison doors and
heal the wounds in their heart and set
them free and cause them to stand upon
a rock and to be able to be
used for his honor and for his glory.
I sincerely hope that this incident reveals to
these people their hearts and turns them to
repentance.
If not, one day they're going to stand
before God and find out that they have
missed, with all of their religion, they have
missed out on eternal life.
You see, Joel called the people to fast
because he had a revelation of the power
of God.
In Joel chapter 2, if you're going to
fast, you and I need to have a
revelation of the power of God.
We need to understand what God can do.
We need to know his heart.
We need to look in this book and
find out his history and see his faithfulness
and to know that he does respond.
New York City is a tough city, is
it not?
The powers of darkness are literally rolling over
the city, but is it any worse than
a city in the past that was called
Nineveh?
And God raised up a man called Jonah
and sent him into that city of supposedly
three million or so people, and he sent
him into that city with a simple message,
repent for the judgment of God is coming,
and the whole city turned with repentance and
fasting and sackcloth and ashes, and God spared
that particular generation in that city because of
their attitude of heart.
In Joel chapter 2, verse 15, he says,
Blow the trumpet in Zion.
Sanctify a fast.
Call a solemn assembly.
Gather the people.
Sanctify the congregation.
Assemble the elders.
Gather the children and those that suck the
breasts, even the little ones, the infants.
Let the bridegroom go forth out of his
chamber and the bride out of her closet.
Let the priest and ministers of the Lord
weep between the porch and the altar, and
let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord,
and give not thine heritage to reproach that
the heathen should rule over them.
Wherefore should they say among the people, Where
is their God?
Then will the Lord be jealous for his
land and pity his people.
You see, Joel saw the condition.
He knew what needed to be done.
But Joel also saw the response because he
knew the heart of God.
God delights in taking impossible situations and turning
them around when his people, with clean hands
and a pure hearts, begin to call out
unto him.
Then the Lord will be jealous for his
land and pity his people.
Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto
his people, Behold, I'll send you corn and
wine and oil, and you shall be satisfied
therewith, and I shall no more make you
a reproach among the heathen.
But I will remove far off from you
the northern army and will drive him into
a barren land and desolate with his face
towards the east sea and his hinder parts
toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall
come up, and his ill savor shall come
up, because he has done great things.
Fear not, O land.
Be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will
do great things.
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field,
for the pastures of the wilderness do spring,
for the tree bears their fruit, the fig
tree and the vine do yield their strength.
Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and
rejoice in the Lord your God, for he
has given you the former rain moderately, and
he will cause to come down for you
the rain, the former rain and the latter
rain in the first month.
This is the end of side one.
You may now turn the tape over to
side two.
You shall be full of weed, and the
fats shall overflow with wine and oil.
And I will restore to you the years
the locust has eaten, the canker worm and
the caterpillar and the palmer worm, my great
army which I send among you.
You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your
God that has dealt wondrously with you, and
my people shall never be ashamed.
And you shall know that I am in
the midst of Israel, and that I am
the Lord your God and none else.
And my people shall never be ashamed.
The situation may be beyond our control, but
it's never beyond the power and the mercy
of God.
I remind you that in the book of
Esther, when a decree by a wicked king
was signed that all the people of God
should be destroyed, Esther called all of the
people of God to fast for three days
and three nights.
And then she went in unto the king,
and after the people had fasted in desperation
before God, you see, it was out of
their control.
It's not really in our control to change
anything anymore.
We've got to call it to God like
we've never called out to Him before.
And God moved His hand and touched the
king's heart, and a second decree was sent
out where the people were allowed to stand
up and fight for themselves.
And God won a mighty, mighty victory through
that time of fasting and prayer.
Even wicked King Darius, even egotistical King Darius,
fasted all night when his friend Daniel was
thrown in the lion's den for a foolish
decree he had signed.
He prayed and says he fasted all night.
I don't even think he knew the Lord,
but he fasted anyway.
And God delivered Daniel with a mighty deliverance
by shutting the mouths of the lions.
And the king made a great decree, and
a great victory was won.
I'm not saying it was because of the
king's fasting.
It was because of Daniel's stand with God.
But nevertheless, even the king knew enough to
abstain from food when he prayed because it
was a desperate situation that required desperate measures
before the Lord.
Now, the last reason why we feel the
Lord calling us to fast as a church
body, it's for those who are moving forward
and who understand the true motive of fasting
before God.
The prophet Isaiah warned in Isaiah chapter 58
about fasting for false motives.
He says you fast for debate and you
fast for strife.
In other words, you fast to prove yourself
spiritually superior to others.
He was using this as an illustration of
a fast that had absolutely no value in
the sight of God.
He said, others, you fast, and in the
day of your fast, you exact all of
your own pleasures.
In other words, you're fasting, but on one
hand, you're appearing to deny yourself, but on
the other hand, you are living the rest
of your day, and you're alive for yourself.
And you're seeking out pleasures while you fast,
and he said that's of no avail either.
But he talks then, he goes on, and
he talks about the fast that he has
chosen.
He said, the fast that I've chosen, in
other words, the reason I have called you
to fast is to loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo heavy burdens, to let the
oppressed go free, and that you break every
yoke.
It's to deal bread to the hungry, to
give shelter to the poor, and clothing to
the naked.
I firmly believe with all of my heart,
as a matter of fact, I know that
this church is a church that has laid
hold of these truths in Isaiah 58.
And you are a church that is moving
forward.
There are over 30 ministries in this church.
We meet with the leaders every month, and
spend a time of prayer together.
There are over 30 ministries that go out
meeting the needs of the hungry, the needs
of the poor, the needs of the lame,
the needs of the deaf, the needs of
the blind, the needs of the oppressed, the
needs of people in the streets, the needs
of people in the parks.
There's food given to the hungry, clothing given
to the naked.
And it's a good thing.
And we must never stop.
We must always be sure that our motives
are pure in the things that we're doing.
I believe in the book of Revelation that
Ephesus was also such a church.
Look at Revelation chapter 2 please with me
quickly.
There was a church in Revelation that was
doing these things.
And Jesus spoke to this church in Revelation
chapter 2 and verse 1.
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus
write, These things saith he that holdeth the
seven stars in his right hand who walks
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
I know your works and your labor and
your patience.
Now patience we find the book of Romans
comes out of trial.
So this church had known trial.
And many of the people had known trial.
And they had come out and the fruit
of patience was interwoven in their character.
I know you cannot bear them which are
evil.
You've tried them which say they are apostles
and are not and has found them liars.
And so this is a church of the
word.
These people were in the word in Ephesus.
There's no other way that you can try
those that say they're apostles and find them
to be liars unless you know the word.
And you've got to really know the word.
And so this church knew the word and
they were a laboring, bearing, patient church.
And verse 3 says you have borne and
you've patience and for my name's sake.
They were doing what they were doing in
the right name.
They weren't doing it for their own name.
They weren't doing it to try to build
up some great name about their own church.
They were doing it for Jesus' name.
It says for my name's sake you've labored
and you've not fainted.
They were moving on.
They were pressing on.
They were a church that believed that scripture
that says in due season we shall reap
if we faint not.
In verse 4 he says nevertheless I have
somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy
first love.
Jesus was saying you're doing all of these
things.
I want you now to remember he says
in verse 5 where you've fallen from and
turn back that's what repent means here and
do the first works.
Or else he says I will come quickly
and remove your candlestick out of its place
except thou repent.
In other words you won't you'll lose a
revelation of who I am if you don't
turn back and continue to do the things
that you're doing but do them because you
love me more than very life and breath
itself.
Do them because you love me more than
your past, more than your present and more
than your future that's to come.
Remember those who are here who know Christ
and you've been saved.
I challenge you today to remember what it
was like when you first came to him
and how you loved him.
You got into ministries in this church because
you loved him.
And because his burden was birthed in your
heart.
And you heard the word and because of
the love relationship in your heart you wanted
to go out and you wanted to do
the things that God called you to do.
And so it became as natural as breathing
to feed the hungry.
As natural as breathing to clothe the naked
and do these other things that his word
tells us we should do.
You did it because you loved him.
You did it because his love his nature,
his character was birthed within your life.
But if we're not careful there's a sudden
shift that can take place.
And it's a trap of the enemy and
it's not a trap for the pew sitter.
It's not a trap for the backslider.
It's not a trap for the lukewarm in
heart.
It's a trap for the zealous for God.
It's that we begin to do works and
in the process of doing those works we
forget what it was all about right in
the beginning.
And the works become all consuming.
We come home after a day of doing
things for God and no longer have any
time for him and his word.
No longer long for that secret intimate time
with him in the prayer closet.
Something begins to happen in the heart.
The whole focus shift now is on the
works and not on the first love.
And Jesus was not condemning.
He was commending this church.
But he loved this church so much that
he was calling her back.
And he was challenging her to remember.
Remember.
Remember what it used to be like.
And you don't have to go from there.
Get back to there.
Keep doing what you're doing.
But do it with a first love motive.
Do it because you love me.
Put me back in the place of being
first in your life.
And all of these things will be added
unto you.
All of these things will be as natural
as swimming in water.
It will be as natural as breathing air.
If you're involved in a ministry and all
of a sudden the ministry has become burdensome
to you and it's become labor, then you'd
better take a look at what happened to
that love relationship that first birthed that desire
in your heart.
We fast to keep our first love intact
with Christ.
In Deuteronomy chapter 8, if you'll go there
please.
Deuteronomy chapter 8 in the Old Testament.
I'm almost done.
Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 11.
Moses now is warning the people of God.
They've wandered through the wilderness for many years
and they're about to go into the place
of promise and now he's warning them.
And human nature has not changed.
We might be in another era, but the
very essence of who we are is the
same as these people.
We have to beware of that human nature.
And here's the thing that God warned them
about in Deuteronomy 8, 11.
He says verse 10.
When thou hast eaten an artful, then thou
shalt bless the Lord thy God for the
good land which he has given thee.
Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy
God in not keeping his commandments and his
judgments and his statutes which I commend thee
this day.
Lest when thou hast eaten an artful and
has built goodly houses and dwelt therein when
thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy
silver and thy gold is multiplied and all
that thou hast is multiplied that thine heart
be lifted up and thou forget the Lord
thy God which brought thee forth out of
the land of Egypt and from the house
of bondage.
David said Lord teach me to number my
days that I may know how frail I
am.
God said through Moses to these children beware
lest when you are full you forget God
and you forget where he brought you from.
I was saved at 24 years of age.
I was saved from a lot.
I can honestly tell you today that I
don't want you to misunderstand what I'm about
to say but I think that normalcy was
out of my reach.
I suffered horrible horrible anxiety attacks that are
virtually crippling.
I had an uncontrollable temper which would have
stopped me from being a good husband or
a good father.
I really didn't think I could ever be
a good father.
I was selfish and the list just goes
on and on and on.
I had a lot of desires but they
were outside of my grasp and that's the
way it is for most of us when
we come to God.
You have things that you want to do
and you want to be but they're out
of your grasp and then you come to
the Lord and you so need God you
find God like I did when I was
24.
I remember when I was first shared with
me that if any man be in Christ
he's a new creature.
The old things pass away.
In my heart it was like God there's
a chance that I could attain to everything
that I've ever wanted in my heart and
in my life.
That I could be those things that I
would like to be but are out of
my grasp.
Some of you here today, maybe you've watched
in the past shows like Little House on
the Prairie or something like that and you've
seen what a family could be.
And you'd like to have a family like
that but it's out of your grasp without
God.
And then you come to the Lord and
all of a sudden the principles of God
begin to take effect because your heart is
hungry for the Lord.
Chains begin to break, things begin to change,
your heart changes.
He puts love where there was no love
before.
Maybe you were so driven by the fear
of loss that you were financially always struggling
and all of a sudden you begin to
tithe.
You begin to obey God.
And you see the windows of heaven open,
a blessing is poured out there's not room
enough to contain.
You see it's in the heart of God
to give to His children.
It's in the heart of God to change
His children.
It's in the heart of God to bless
His children.
It's in the heart of God to fight
for His children.
It's in the heart of God to so
fill us with Himself that we stand in
Him perfect and entire wanting nothing but more
of Him.
And then the things that were out of
our reach all of a sudden are within
our reach.
He gives us the patience to come home
and not yell at our children.
He gives us the love that is found
in Ephesians 5 to come home in His
strength and be the husband that we should
be and to our wives and the wives
we should be to our husbands.
He takes evil and casts it away and
replaces it with Himself.
And all of a sudden we're full and
there comes a day in the life of
every...
there's a time a season in every Christian's
life when you and I are driven by
our need for God.
But there comes a day when we're full.
There comes a day when you come into
the house of God and even if He
never gives you another thing you can stand
and raise your hands and say I'm full!
I'm full!
You've paid me in full!
God you've given me everything that I've ever
wanted.
You've not withheld a thing from me.
You love me so much.
All I had was a heart for you.
I had nothing else.
I had no skill and no integrity, no
talent, nothing.
Just a heart.
And God you responded and you filled me
to overflowing with yourself.
That's what Moses was talking about.
Beware lest when you're full you forget God.
And you say my own hands, my own
skills, my own might, my own power has
gotten me this place that I'm in.
It never was and never will be.
It was God.
It will always be God.
Many, many people fail to make the transition.
Because there is a transition that takes place.
We come into God and our relationship with
Him is based on our great need.
And then we come and continuously come.
That's why folks that respond to this altar,
if you go to respond, 10,000 times
respond.
You just come.
Maybe you don't even know sometimes why you're
coming, but if the Holy Spirit is prompting
you, come.
And God simply fills and God cuts away
old branches and God opens prison doors.
God changes your ways of thinking and fights
against your enemies.
They come against you a hundred ways, they
flee 10,000 ways.
There are things going on in the spiritual
realm that you don't even see and you
can't understand.
God is there fighting all the time for
His children.
And then one day, one day, you come
into the house of God and you stand
and the realization hits you, I'm full.
I'm full.
Yes, you want more and we should always
want more, but there's something inside that says,
I'm full.
I'm not driven by my need anymore.
And many people at this point sit down
and die.
The whole life just becomes going to church.
They lift up a cup that's overflowing and
they're saying, fill my cup, fill my cup,
fill my cup.
There's no more room.
It's full.
And they fail to make the transition.
They fail to understand that there is a
need in the heart of God.
Did you know that He has needs too
just like you and I have?
That's why He created us.
That's why He loves us.
That's why He saved us.
That's why He makes intercession for us right
now at the right hand of the Father.
Did you know that God has a need
to be loved?
He has a need that we love Him.
Did you know that there's other needs that
only we can fill?
Do you know that there are many many
out there that He died for?
Do you know that He wept when that
14 year old girl hung herself?
Do you know He cried?
He cried because He wanted her to know
Him.
There are needs that God has.
And only you and I can meet those
needs.
There comes a point when we've got to
stir ourselves up to seek God.
And like the lepers after they discovered this
great treasure even though they may not have
felt good about themselves, they said, Oh God
it's not good that we keep to ourselves
what we have found.
We've got to go because God you have
a need.
My needs are met but now I'm beginning
to understand that you have a need.
And through my life I invite you to
come and meet that need.
Firstly in your heart that I might love
you with all my heart, my soul, my
mind and my strength.
That I might have a continual love for
your word.
You remember the children of Israel, He told
them when He sent Manna down, He said,
Don't gather up more than you need for
the day.
And when they gathered more some of them
disobeyed and they gathered more it rotted and
stank.
And many many people lose out on that
understanding that we have a daily continual need
for God.
They try to live on yesterday's experiences and
old revelations and past victories and you can't
do that.
It's give us this day, He said, our
daily bread.
This day.
A continual walking relationship with God.
And lastly we need to ask God for
a continual outpouring of His heart in us
for the lost.
Jesus thank you for meeting my needs but
now may I have the privilege of meeting
your need.
May I have the privilege Lord of you
pouring your light through me unto death if
necessary that others can come to know this
wonderful relationship that I have with you.
God I come to present myself as a
living sacrifice before you.
I trust you for everything that I will
ever need.
You send me anywhere you want me to
go.
As long as it's you I know that
I will have the tools and the equipment
to do what you sent me to do.
It wasn't me in the beginning and it
won't be me in the end.
It will always and only be you.
They that sow in tears, the psalmist said,
shall reap in joy.
If you weep Jesus, I want to weep.
If you have sorrow in your heart for
the children in the city, then I want
sorrow in my heart.
I don't want a different spirit than the
spirit that you are of.
I don't want different thoughts than the thoughts
that you're thinking.
Jesus I want you in me to find
a friend.
I want you in me to find a
lover.
I want you in me to find a
bride.
Somebody that you can draw right to your
heart and you can share the very essence
of the thoughts that are in your heart
with me.
And Lord, if you're weeping, I want to
weep.
If you're dancing, I want to dance.
If you're suffering, let me suffer along with
you.
Let me bear in my body the marks
that you want me to bear.
Imprint your character upon me, oh God.
They that sow in tears shall reap in
joy.
He that goes forth weeping, bearing precious seed
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his
sheaves with him.
I have prayed and I will continue to
pray for this church and for my life
and for Pastor David's life and for all
who are in leadership in this church that
we would always, at Times Square Church, be
a first love church.
Always.
We'd never lose our first love for Jesus
Christ.
Never substitute it by works.
Never let religiousness take us over.
Never become cold and complacent to the things
of God.
Never get to the point where we say
I'm full and I'm satisfied and sit down
and begin to die.
Never.
Doing what Christ asked us to do and
never letting works substitute for our love for
him.
Joel says in Joel 2 16, let the
bridegroom go forth out of his chamber and
the bride out of her closet.
Let the bridegroom go forth.
The Lord was saying I want a face
-to-face meeting with my church.
I want to reason and reckon with every
last one of you.
I want to touch your heart in a
new and fresh way.
That's what we're fasting about this coming week.
That God would keep us alive in him.
Would you stand please?
Hallelujah.
There are some here today that the Holy
Spirit's already spoken to your heart and so
you know that you're to respond not to
the preacher.
You're to respond to him.
There are some that you can honestly say
Lord I'm in danger.
Your Holy Spirit has spoken to me today.
My love is growing cold.
I need to come back.
Brothers and sisters, I have to fast.
I have to as a preacher of the
gospel.
I have to as a Christian.
Whether I was preaching or not wouldn't make
any difference.
I have to.
And every once in a while I find
that coldness starting to come into my life.
I find that I'm reading the Bible and
all of a sudden it's just words.
It's not ministering life to me anymore.
Then I know that something is not wrong
with him.
He's constant.
Never changing.
It's something is wrong with me.
And there are certain things I know to
do.
And one of them is to stir myself
up again to seek God.
And if that means denying of the flesh
then that's what it means.
At any and all cost that I would
be stirred up to seek Him.
He can set me free.
He has.
He can do wonderful things in my life.
But if I lose my love for Him,
I've lost it all.
There are some here today your love is
growing cold and you need to come back.
I'm going to encourage you in the balcony.
You can go to either aisle.
Exit and come down the aisles here to
this altar today.
You're responding to Him.
To the need in His heart.
The main sanctuary you can come to as
well.
You need to come back.
And there's another group of people, the Lord
that you would say to the Lord, God
give me your heart.
Give me the strength to deny myself.
Give me the courage to fast and to
cry out for those who no longer have
a voice to cry for themselves.
Jesus, rid me of indifference.
Rid me of always self-seeking.
Give me your heart.
Lord, use my life.
Use my life.
Whatever it means.
Whatever you have to do.
God, use my life.
That's why you're coming to this altar today.
Let's move in close and across the front
to give everybody an opportunity.
If you're not saved today, if you don't
know Christ as your Savior, you can come.
And if you're willing to turn from your
sin and believe that He died in your
place, you can be saved.
Your sin can be washed away and you
can be a new person in Christ Jesus.
Hallelujah.
We want to be a church that shares
your heart.
When you look down upon us, and you
say that this is a first love church,
Lord, for my own life, God, whatever you
have to do, I would just invite you
to do it.
I don't ever want to lose my love
for you, Lord.
What good would it be, oh God?
Oh, Jesus.
There's no life apart from you, Lord.
There's no hope, there's no future, there's no
direction.
No fruit can be born apart from you.
Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit,
draw us this week as we fast, even
those who can only fast for half a
day.
Lord, you're no respecter of persons, and it's
not the length of anything, it's the heart.
I ask you to look upon our hearts
this week, oh God.
You're the resurrection, you're the life.
God, raise up a church that knows your
heart.
Give us compassion for those that have fallen
by the wayside.
God, grant to us the ability to intercede
for those churches that have wicked leadership raised
up over them.
Lord, we don't desire fire to fall on
them, we desire repentance.
God, that you touch them, Lord.
Turn them, oh God.
Turn them, Lord.
Turn them, Jesus.
Lord, we offer up our lives to you,
to meet the need in your heart.
Forgive us, Lord.
You said in your word that days on
end you have forgotten me.
For there's a need in your heart.
God, forgive me for the days that I
have forgotten that need.
The days I've gotten consumed with my own
daily affairs, and I've forgotten you, Lord.
Forgive me, Father.
God, I thank you, Lord, that I can
come before your throne.
That you're a loving heavenly Father.
You cleanse and purify and strengthen your children.
Oh Lord, oh God, oh God, let there
be a fire from heaven come upon this
church that will never be extinguished by the
cares and concerns of the day.
That will never be extinguished by any trials
or tribulations that come our way.
Lord, that we will walk through, loving you
with all our heart, our soul, our mind,
and our strength, and loving our neighbor as
ourselves.
Let there be a shout of freedom in
this house, a cry of rejoicing among your
people, oh God.
Hallelujah to the Lamb of God.
We bless your holy name.
You're our strength.
You're our life.
You're our breath.
You're our eyesight.
You're our hearing, oh God.
You're the direction we walk in, Lord.
You're the giver of life.
You're the author, the finisher of our salvation.
Hallelujah to the Lamb of God.
Hallelujah to your holy name.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Father.
Hallelujah.
Those that have come this morning, take courage.
God's going to give you strength.
Nothing we do is in our own strength,
and so knowing this is your freedom.
It's Him.
It's all in Him.
It's His strength that He gives to us.
Lord, I ask that you bless the people
today.
Bless your body.
Those who are going home today, let there
be an impartation of strength and a new
resolve to lay hold of the hem of
your garment and like Jacob to say I'll
not let you go until you bless me.
Lord, thank you.
Thank you that we come into your house
and you meet every need, every time.
We love you, Lord.
We honor you.
In Jesus' name, amen and amen.
Hallelujah.