This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
Other tapes are available by writing WORLDCHALLENGE PO
BOX 260 LINDALE, TEXAS 75771 or calling 903
-963-8626.
None of these messages are copyrighted and you
are welcome to make copies for free distribution
to friends.
My message is entitled, How Bright Is Your
Light?
How bright is your light?
Go to Matthew 5, if you will please.
Matthew 5.
Thank God for the manifest presence of Jesus.
I've never believed you have church until Christ
appears, manifests Himself.
Matthew 5, begin reading verse 14.
Near the light of the world, a city
that is set on a hill cannot be
hid.
Neither do men light a candle and put
it under a bushel, but on a candlestick
and it giveth light unto all that are
in the house.
Let your light so shine before men that
they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven.
And then let's read this again.
A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid.
Light cannot be hidden.
Lord, I thank you for the unadulterated Word
of God.
Thank you for the Holy Spirit that comes
and takes that Word and makes it light,
anoints it, applies it, and drives it deep
into our hearts so it will be changed
into the glory of Christ.
For surely the Word of God cleanses us,
it molds us, it shapes us, it drives
out iniquity.
We're cleansed by it, we're healed by it,
we're molded by it.
And I pray, Holy Spirit, You come upon
the Word this morning.
I know that I've been with You and
I know that what You gave me is
for this day, this people.
I had no idea who would be here.
I had no idea who would hear this
message.
But Lord, You know exactly why You put
it on my heart.
Amen.
That they may see Your good works and
glorify Your Father.
The prophet Zacharias, the father of John the
Baptist, as he was speaking of the anointing
of the Holy Spirit, said of John, he
was a prophet of the highest, and that
he was going to go to give
light to them that sit in darkness and
in the shadow of death.
He said there are people in your society
that have lived God sees that darkness and
every believer has been given the same commission
as John the Baptist to go before his
face into the world and have
been commissioned to go into our world.
And I'm speaking to everyone here this morning
that labors at a job.
If you get up in the morning and
you go to work, you're surrounded by people
in the workplace, you have a career, you
may be self-employed, but you're in the
workplace.
And I'm telling you that is where God
is in the workplace.
You're surrounded by people in the workplace.
And the Bible makes it very clear that
you are the light of the world and
a city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid.
A city set on a hill with light
cannot be hid.
That light can't be hidden when it's elevated
on a hill.
And in a little small town, it was
customary.
You spent half the day.
And this is especially in the summertime.
We would go out and most of these
were hay
in the wagon with pitchforks.
And then about 5 o'clock, you had
a meal.
And just the other day, if you're thinking
about it, and I got very hungry.
But then after dinner, you visited until dark.
And so usually a visit, when you pass
the visit, you spend five hours in
Pennsylvania.
There was all 15 miles out in the
hills because there was a and
it was so dark in those days.
Now, this is, you know, 60 years ago.
There were few cars.
You see a few headlights coming.
It's pitch dark, very few streetlights.
But this hill up there, Balseno,
it's a huge city.
I mean, all these lights on that city.
So we go to Balseno.
Now, there's a hill called Calvary.
Listen closely.
It has to be there.
It cannot remain hidden.
And God will, in His grace, bring it
back.
He's going to bring you out of the
cave.
He's going to bring it out.
Oh, yes, He is.
If nobody, no coworker, no your light has
been hidden.
And the Bible says, let's take, for example,
how God Meshach
and Abednego.
Now, for a good while, they were and
these three men in their coming and going.
These had been set up.
And these three Hebrew children were put in
charge of these Jews.
People just read religion
in their stand.
And yet, one day, God allows a crisis.
A crisis that you're going to face if
you didn't hide your light.
Not that these men were hiding their light.
But God looks down on this dark period.
Because, you see, Nebuchadnezzar is dark.
Satan brought forth.
And so, God turned up the heat.
In your place of work, He will turn
up the heat.
You haven't had it.
And so, you remember the story?
The head of gold.
And everyone is commanded to three young Jews.
And now, the king, in his rage, and
suddenly, they say, our God is able to
deliver us.
And suddenly, all those rulers...
We are not going...
And the king says, you read it in
Daniel 1, if this be so, if you
say that you love Jesus, you're His disciples,
if it be so, you will find out.
If it be so, the king comes to
us, oh, so?
You say you have a different God.
You say that you're not like...
We will not...
Oh, my brother, sister, you're going to be
given all...
Just like the Hebrew children.
All this big persecution was meant by the
devil to put out the light.
If it be so, if you are really...
If you are against this kind of religion,
after all, this is evil, we don't like
it, but...
And we will bow, but we want you
to know that it's under protest.
See, when the boss comes, and he tells
you to cheat, it's so easy to compromise
and say, I think it's evil, and you're
the boss, so I'll do it, but under...
These men were unbending, and you see them
heating up the furnace so hot that those
men who were stoking the fire are filled.
And I want you to know something, you
may not believe it, but let me tell
you what I believe, that as you see,
where there's darkness, there's emptiness, there's despair, there's
hopelessness, there's...
Just like your people, they
look at every scowl on your face.
Listen to me, please.
I'm talking about people who don't quench, who
don't compromise when the heat goes up, when
the furnace of affliction comes, and you have
to come...
And I want you to know everybody around
you is living in darkness.
Forget the smiles.
Where are they going to see the slightest
glimmer of light or hope?
But in God's people.
Who else does God turn?
You're not going to send angels down and
take your place.
This is our work.
I see those...
I see the crowd as these men go
in.
This is no father of
religion that had been instilled.
They have gathered all those he's worked with
and they see these men.
And he has a blooming...
I believe that the moment...
I believe...
It gives me no hope.
I believe the council, everybody said, we threw
three, but there are four.
Then the fourth one looks like the sun.
There is a God that is powerful.
This world is in...
I just heard on the radio yesterday that
our five most prosperous western states now have
the highest suicide rate in America.
In fact, our most prosperous states have the
highest suicide rate now.
You remember a few months ago they left
video messages.
There's no peace, there's no rest here.
Perhaps we'll find what we're looking for.
When rock singer Kurt Cobain committed suicide, a
whole host of young people, a 13, 14
-year-old girl here in an eastern state,
and those girls in this double suicide left,
life is not worth 13, 14 years of
age.
If you were allowed by the Holy Ghost
to see what he sees, and the clouds
were rolled back, you would see that almost
everybody on your job, everybody around you, though
they drink and laugh and curse and put
on this false front, beneath it all is
a darkness because the wages of sin is
death.
Death inside.
Emptiness.
So they drink it away.
But it doesn't work.
And God sees this darkness.
And folks, whenever darkness comes and settles over
a land, there comes a time when God
says that's enough.
And he has to come with crisis after
crisis.
He will allow it.
And even times, I believe in the Scripture
that he creates this very crisis to bring
out.
It has to be discovered.
There has to be a discovery.
And that's what this whole story is about.
Sins can't shine.
The light has gone.
What's in you has turned to darkness.
I could present to you this morning a
whole list of things that Christians are guilty
of, sins that drive out the light, leave
the soul in great darkness.
Jesus warned in Matthew 6.22. He said,
Make sure that the light in you is
not darkness for great then is that darkness.
To great darkness.
When you are to be shining forth and
set on a hill so that all men
can see who Jesus is.
And there's something in your life.
That light has been replaced by a great
light.
What the Scripture says, it's as plain as
anything you could read in the Scripture.
I want to present to you one sin.
And if you are guilty of this sin,
you have to repent immediately.
You've got to get that curse before you
could ever have it.
And I'm going to tell you as a
pastor, Yes,
I live the light.
Jesus is in my heart.
You can't shine and you will not shine.
One sin in particular that I believe, there's
nothing that shuts down light quicker than a
mean, a mean, unkind spirit.
Now suddenly this message has turned to God.
One sin
that I believe squashes the light quicker than
anything.
The Word of God says, He is kind
to the unthankful and to the evil.
Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also
is merciful.
Luke 6, 35 and 36.
He, Christ, or God, is kind to the
unthankful and to the evil.
Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also
is merciful.
Be ye kind, forgiving one another, even as
God forgives.
Do you know what it means to be
merciful?
Very easily understood.
It's to be gentle, forgiving, to show pity
and compassion, to temper your justice with clemency
or leniency.
Go ahead, take a stand, but it has
to be tempered, the Bible says, with leniency.
If you're right, if you're taking a stand
for truth, it even has to be tempered
with leniency.
The Bible makes it very, very clear.
Jesus commanded, be gentle, lenient, forgiving, compassionate, kind,
not only to those you approve, but also
to those you consider evil.
In fact, James, in 3.17, speaks of
mercy without partiality.
You see, we're merciful to those we love.
We're merciful to our family.
We're merciful to those we approve.
But he says, he is kind even to
the evil, to the unworthy.
You can't be partial in giving out your
mercies and tenderness, your paces.
You can't hug somebody here that you love
and smile and then turn around, make
you feel like nothing.
Be careful about saying amen for the next
five minutes here.
I want to prove to you conclusively from
God's word that all...
This is the end of side one.
You may now turn the tape over to
side two.
Alright, get your Bibles.
I want you to see it in black
and white and red.
I want you to go first of all
to James 2.13. James 2.13. In
case you may not believe it's in your
Bible.
James, second chapter.
Go down to verse 13.
Now, this is as clear as God can
make it.
Verse 13.
If you have King James, just...
Whatever your version is, it's clear.
For he shall have judgment without mercy that
hath show no mercy.
And mercy rejoices against judgment.
And in the original Greek, the meaning of
that, mercy overcomes or tempers judgment.
Look at it again.
For he shall have judgment without mercy that
hath show no mercy.
Look at me please.
If you have been unkind, if you've spoken
harshly, if you have turned to one of
God's people, you've turned on the job.
There's a harshness, there's a meanness that you
are responding in kind and you have a
spirit of revenge and a cunning remark and
a scowling look.
Someone you don't approve or someone you believe
has misused you or has spoken against you
and you're trying to get even.
And you show no mercy.
The Bible says, if you show no mercy,
you will not be shown any mercy.
That's part of this curse.
God says, you're cutting off your source of
mercy.
You're cutting it off.
I will deal with you as you are
dealing with others.
I'll deal with you in kind and I'm
going to show you, prove to you that
conclusively before I'm finished here, just a few
moments.
God says, I don't forget your ugly looks,
your hurtful words, your self-righteous, harsh, mean
-spirited looks, your cunning, accusing words.
You showed no mercy, so you shall be
shown no mercy.
I'm not going to temper my judgment with
you with mercy because you didn't temper your
judgment with mercy.
Make your judgment, but it's been tempered with
mercy.
Oh, how God's been dealing with me about
this.
He's shaken me to the core of my
soul.
Go to Matthew 6, 15, Proof number 2,
Matthew 6.
Now, these are the words of Jesus Christ
Himself, verse 14 and 15.
For if we forgive men their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Now, look this way, please.
That puts a shudder down my spine.
Look, the Lord says, don't come to me
and ask forgiveness for your sins.
Don't talk to me.
Don't come into my presence and ask because
you're asking me to show you mercy.
You're asking me to show you tender kindness,
but you have something in your heart against
something.
You're not forgiving somebody.
There's somebody that you're not forgiving.
You have this spirit on you.
You have this unforgiving, unmerciful spirit upon you,
and you are not forgiving.
He says, I will not, neither will your
Father forgive your trespasses.
Now, Jesus is speaking.
Jesus says, no, I will not.
My heavenly Father will not forgive your trespasses
because you are not forgiving others their trespasses
against you.
Remember the Lord's Prayer, forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
You say, well, Brother David, is that possible
that my sins are piling up?
Yes.
Can it be that many times I've gone
to the Lord and asked forgiveness, and I've
not been forgiven?
Yes.
Neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Now, stop and think.
And that person, one person, I don't care
how many there are, that you truly have
not forgiven from your heart, that you are
so unmerciful, unkindness to, and the Bible says,
Jesus says, my Father, even so, will not
forgive you.
What does he say?
Don't go to prayer.
Don't come to the altar.
Don't ask forgiveness until you repent and make
things right.
Go now to Matthew 18, Proof number 3.
Matthew 18.
If you find it, then look this way,
please.
You see, I'm not interested in getting you
to shout right now.
That'll come.
I'm interested in the Holy Spirit right now,
speaking, delivering words, so that the light cannot
be hidden, that He wants you to be.
Otherwise, your testimony is in vain.
All of your witnessing is in vain.
All of your worship is in vain.
It's all in vain.
There's a story here in the 18th chapter
of a man who owed a great debt.
Do you remember the story?
It's all here in the 18th chapter, and
I had you turn it, because there's one
verse I want you to look at in
just a moment.
Don't try to find it.
Just listen.
This man, it goes to his master.
He says, I don't have anything to pay.
Will you forgive me?
And the master graciously forgives a huge debt
in today's dollars it would be hundreds of
millions.
And this man is forgiven his debt.
That master is our Savior.
And that great debt is the sins that
were piled on his back, that He freely
forgave you and me.
He forgave us all of our sins.
And folks, when you start holding a grudge
against somebody unforgiving, you've forgotten where God brought
you.
You've forgotten what you were like and what
was hidden deep in the dark recesses of
your soul and how God had by the
blood of Christ had to, Jesus had to
take this upon Himself.
He forgave you that great debt.
This man turns around and finds somebody owes
him just a pittance, a debt, a pittance,
and he takes him by the throat and
he begins to choke him.
Puts his hands on him and says, Pay
me.
And because the man, the man fell down
and said, I have nothing to pay.
Be merciful to me.
But he's unmerciful.
He lays his hands upon him and he
casts him into prison.
Oh beloved, the moment you put your hands,
this, this, this represents just, just holding on
to that grudge as somebody hasn't sinned against
you nearly how you sinned against Christ.
And you holding on to that, you've got
that thing by the throat and you're saying,
No, I'm not going to forgive this.
I'm not going to let this go.
It's wrong.
I'm right.
And you stand on that.
And the master heard about it.
And the scripture makes it very, very clear.
Verse 33, shouldest thou not have had compassion
on thy fellow servant, even as I had
pity on thee and his Lord was wroth.
And here's the curse and delivered him to
the tormentors till he should pay all that
was due unto him.
So likewise, shall my heavenly father do also
unto you if you from your hearts, not
your head, but from your hearts, forgive not
everyone his brother their trespasses.
So I'll do to you.
I'll turn you over to tormentors.
You'll be tormented in your home, by your
family.
You'll be tormented on the job and be
harassed.
You'll be tormented by your health.
And folks, more and more, the older I
get, the longer I walk with the Lord,
the more I converse with some of his
children.
Because I see God do things that I
know have nothing to do with chastisement.
Now he does love chasing those he loves,
but that chasing endures only for a while.
And he will come down when the lessons
learn and pull you right out of it.
But I've seen people who go on from
trouble to trouble and disorder and strife continually.
And I know, because I've seen it, I've
seen it in the ministry, I've seen it
in Christian workers, when all hell breaks loose.
And I say, well God, you have a
controversy.
There's something, it could be way back, something
forgotten, there's something hidden, standing up against one
of God's anointed, having gossiped in the past,
talked about somebody, shown unmercifulness, been unkind, been
mean-spirited to somebody, and it's been hidden,
it's been laying there.
But God didn't, he didn't forget you taking
your hands on these big chunkings of, he
didn't forget.
You've got to stop this.
There's something wrong.
And deal with it.
He's willing to turn.
Have you spoken ill?
Oh folks, I did that for years in
the pulpit.
Righteousness, I thought, but I was speaking in
human anger.
I'm not speaking in human anger.
I'm stirred in my soul, but I'm stirred
against the blindness that I had, the blindness
that may be in you now.
He said, so likewise shall my heavenly Father
do also, for the sin is by its
judgment.
Because God judges in like kind.
Look all through the Scripture and you'll find
the pattern.
It's very, very clear in the Scripture.
Jacob deceives his father, and so on his
wedding night, Jacob is deceived in the same
fashion.
He reaches out and he touches a cloth
that he thinks covers his wife.
And that cloth doesn't cover.
And he's remembering a cloth that covered him
when he deceived.
The Scripture shows it all over.
The rich man who refuses a crumb to
the beggar at his gate is not given
a drop of water in Hades.
King Asa puts the prophet's feet in the
stocks, and he dies of disease in his
feet.
The Bible says that King Adonai Bezek, a
heathen king, was chased down by Israel and
Joshua.
Joshua catches him and takes him captive, cuts
off his thumbs and his toes.
And listen to the testimony of this heathen
king.
And Adonai Bezek said, 70 kings with their
thumbs and their big toes cut off used
to gather up scraps under my table as
he has repaid me.
He was ruthless, unmerciful, and every king that
he captured he cut off their thumbs and
their toes and then he put them in
a prison house and he said, I fed
them scraps.
And now God says to Joshua, cut off
his thumbs and his toes.
You can tell the sin by its judgment.
God says, so will my heavenly father do
also unto you.
I preach mercy, I preach grace, I have
a high priest and I believe in the
imputed righteousness of Christ.
But I believe every word Jesus said.
I believe it now.
I've seen that in my own life over
the years and that's why the fear of
God is in my heart.
By the fear of the Lord men depart
from iniquity.
Let me tell you something, the good part.
Sounds a little heavy right now.
You can have this curse removed immediately.
You can have the light burst forth in
you before you walk out of this church.
Hallelujah.
Let me ask you, are you a merciful
Christian?
Are you merciful to everybody, even your enemies?
Can you sit here this morning and think
of anybody that you've got to make things
right with?
Woe to him to whom offenses come better
for a millstone that were hung about his
neck and he be cast into the sea.
If you're one who's offending people, better a
millstone cast about you, thrown into the sea.
Jesus said.
Folks, it's not enough to go to the
Lord and ask his forgiveness.
That that is readily available to you.
The Bible makes it very clear.
It's not going to give it to you.
He's not going to forgive you until first
you go and make it right.
The Bible says if you bring your gift
to the altar and there remember that your
brother or sister have ought or something against
you, leave your gift at the altar, go
to that person, be reconciled, then come and
offer your gift.
And by the way, when the Bible said
anyone has ought or something against you, very
often that something against you is something that
you inflicted by a look, a word, a
deed that was unmerciful.
And that person can't understand.
They don't understand at all.
They say, that person supposed to be a
good Christian, that person testifies, especially if it's
on the job and you wounded somebody.
They've got something against you, but that something
against you is something you inflicted.
And the Bible says, you go to them.
I believe that's what that scripture means.
It's something you afflicted and you go to
them because you are the problem.
You are the one who caused this ought
against you.
Go to that person and make it right.
A few years ago when this church was
being tested, God spoke to my heart.
He said, David, you know that some people
in this church are dissatisfied with the way
you have been pastoring this church.
And they've spoken against you.
But I'm gonna bring to your mind people
that you offended and you've forgotten about it.
And folks, I got on my face and
God showed me, I think the last count
was 15 people, that I had to get
on the telephone.
And the Lord said, I'm gonna make it
clear to you, David.
I'm not going to keep the anointing on
you.
I'm not gonna keep my hand on you
till you deal with this.
I'm letting you see how it feels.
See how hurt you are?
How innocent you believe you are?
There are many that were just like that
and they have something against you, they have
ought against you because you caused it.
And I got on the phone and I
started telling people.
Many of them were ministers and I've been
harsh with.
Some have been former employees and so many.
I began to call and everybody I called
said, It's true, Brother Dave, you wounded me.
What you said, you thought was, you know,
God anointed, but you said in the spirit
that wounded me and cut me.
You hurt me.
And they began to weep and cry and
we were reconciled.
I'd found all but one and my wife
and I were in California and I prayed,
Oh God, he's in California somewhere here.
I've got to get to him.
This man had worked for me and I
found out he'd been drinking on the side
and I just, I got so angry at
him that I just cut him off without
pay.
I said, Just get out of my sight
and I threw him out.
And the Lord said, That was wrong.
He was wounded.
He was drinking because there was a problem
and you didn't even hear it out.
You're standing up telling everybody God can deliver
drug addicts and alcoholics and you had no
mercy on this man.
You were totally unmerciful.
And I was wounded and I'd forgotten about
it.
And I prayed and prayed, God, I don't
know where, I don't know how to reach
him.
My wife and I were holding crusade in
California and I looked down and there he
is.
I couldn't wait to get done preaching.
I took him outside that big tent and
I began to weep and cry.
I said, I hurt you.
And I tell you, that man broke and
wept.
One other man I'll never forget.
It was 30 years before, 30 years when
I first came to New York.
I caught him in a sin.
And I was passing him on the street
and I just heard about it.
I said, pack your bags, get out of
here.
Just get out.
No mercy.
I saw him.
He was one of the 15.
He too came to one of my meetings.
He had moved to California.
I go off the stage and I don't
even recognize him and his wife.
He had his head down.
And he said, I'm going to give his
name.
I took him by the hand.
I said, I'm so sorry for what I
did to you.
It was mean spirited.
It was ugly.
I should have helped you.
And he and his wife began to tremble
like children shaking.
He said, Brother Dave, all these years I've
been in misery and hell because of what
you said to me and how you treated
me.
And I couldn't understand how God blessed you
and I'm hurting so bad.
He said, you've just healed my soul.
You've healed me.
He hugged me and folks, that was all
gone and all of that pain and misery
is gone.
You have to make it right.
Don't come to this altar.
Don't get on your knees.
Don't go to a secret closet.
Go to the person you wanted.
And your light will suddenly start shining.
And I'll tell you, everyone I went to,
I felt so good.
I felt so clean.
And finally, the last one, I said, Lord,
when does this end?
And the Lord said, as soon as I
stop showing it to you.
That's why I stand here this morning, a
free man.
Now, if I can just make this work
good in my home and be the kind
of husband I ought to be, merciful and
kind and none of those double whammy looks
when things don't go my way.
Come on, husband.
I'm talking to you as well as to
myself.
How much of this unmercifulness, how much of
this meanness goes on in our own homes?
And God says enough.
I think I've got somebody going to remind
me of this in my home.
And that's what I want.
You can get rid of that curse if
you just allow the Holy Spirit to come
to you right now and remind you.
Say, Lord, turn on the searchlight.
I'll obey you.
I'll do what's right.
I promise you, you'll be free.
God will set you on a hill and
your light will shine.
Hallelujah.
And it will shine brightly.
Stand with me, if you will, please.
Heavenly Father, send the Holy Ghost probe deep
into our hearts.
Don't let anybody seeing or hearing this message
now walk away saying this is not for
me.
But I know this is for me.
And that should be what everyone in this
building is saying.
This is a message sent from God to
me to save my soul.
Because, Lord, I believe that many people who
have this are not even saved.
They've lost the light.
They've lost the anointing.
Oh, God, restore your people.
Bring healing.
Cause people to make things right before it's
too late.
To make it right.
In Jesus' name.
Folks, while you're standing, could I read to
you something?
Somebody put this on my desk this week.
Here's a cabbie who's letting his light shine.
All he did was give a book away.
That's all he did.
The Holy Spirit told him to give a
book.
He says, during the Vietnam War, and this
is an article that was sent to me,
during the Vietnam War, Mr. Crist was driving
a taxi in San Diego.
He told me that he used all his
tips to buy good books to give to
his customers.
He remembers visiting with a fearful young marine
on his way to Camp Pendleton in Vietnam.
Mr. Crist gave him a copy of The
Cross and Switchblade by David Wilkerson, requesting him
to pass it on when he was done
with it.
Two and a half years later, Mr. Crist
received a call from a marine who wanted
to see him.
They sat down in a restaurant.
The marine pulled out a dirty, ragged, coverless
book from his pocket and presented it back
to Mr. Crist.
He said, the marine's returning your book, sir,
as a tribute to you.
Mr. Crist said that there must have been
a thousand signatures filling up every margin and
empty space in the book.
No one knew the fate of the first
marine.
All that was known for sure that he
was giving a book to someone else was
giving it to someone else.
It had traveled two and a half years
in men's pockets all over Vietnam, bringing the
wonderful gospel of hope and life in Christ
wherever it went.
Amazing.
One man spending his spare money to buy
books at Cabi to pass it out.
It goes all over Vietnam with thousands of
signatures of men who were touched and moved
by the gospel of the book.
God wants to set you on a hill.
If you're here this morning, God the Holy
Ghost has dealt with you.
That's all I'm going to say.
Come and make it right.
But folks, don't come unless you've already made
your decision that you're going to go to
that person or those persons that you have
wounded or hurt and make things right.
If it's a letter, if it's a call,
it's best to do it person to person.
Make it right.
And if you're not right with God, if
you're backslidden, you don't know the Lord, come
with these that are coming right now.
Up and about they go to the stairs
on either side.
Now folks, it's going to take a lot
of honesty for you to step out here,
but come only when the Spirit moves you.
Come only if the Spirit of God is
dealing with you, please.
No one needs to know as between you
and the Holy Spirit, but open your heart.
We're going to ask God to give you
a miracle and set you free and lift
this curse.
Just lift it.
Amen.
Whether it's me you have to come to
or when the pastors are staffed or another
pastor, begin there.
If there's something in the past and you've
just covered it, get it out in the
open.
The Holy Ghost wants to bring it because
God hasn't forgotten it.
God hasn't forgotten.
You say, well, the Bible says when I
confess my sins, He casts them in a
sea and forgets them.
But remember, Jesus said, you're not forgiven if
you've not forgiven others.
It's not been cast in the sea.
Folks, I'm not trying to put a heavy
burden on people.
I'm not trying to get you down.
But I would rather you go down until
you see the truth.
I would rather you go down to rock
bottom.
And I would rather despair hit your soul
until you see the truth and then the
truth sets you free.
And then the joy comes.
Then the victory comes.
This demands of us right now, heart searching.
It demands of us to get alone with
God and the Holy Spirit, not just at
this altar now, but to go home and
pray Holy Spirit throughout the day to day.
Lord, show me anybody.
And don't be afraid to go to that
person.
Make it right.
Say, I have done something wrong towards you
or I've had an unforgiving spirit.
I've not shown you mercy.
I've not shown you love.
You cannot continue in that and maintain the
blessing of God.
I'm interested in you being a light to
those around you, to your family, to your
co-workers, wherever you are.
I want you to pray this with me
right now.
In fact, audience, up in the balcony, everyone
hearing me right now in this church this
morning.
Shouldn't it be your desire, even if you
can stand here this morning free and say,
best I know, I've not wounded anybody.
I've had a forgiving spirit and a merciful
spirit.
I doubt that very much, because I can't
say that.
I don't think many Christians can.
There's something God's dealing with in our hearts,
all of us.
If you receive it now, say, oh God,
today in this service, I want you to
change me.
I want you to put the spirit of
Christ upon me.
I want to be Christ-like in my
home, Christ-like on my job.
I want to be reminded of those I've
hurt and I want to make it right.
If you have that in your heart, if
you've made up your mind with the help
of the Holy Ghost, you will make everything
right.
I want you to raise both hands.
I will make everything right that God tells
me to make right.
Everything God shows me, I'll deal with by
the help of the Holy Ghost.
All right, pray this with me right now.
Jesus, I acknowledge my sin, my unforgiving spirit,
that unmercifulness, that meanness, those things I've said
and things that I have done and fought,
forgive me, Lord, as I forgive others.
Lord, I know You will freely forgive me
as I forgive others.
I can trust You for cleansing and healing
of my spirit and my body.
Dear Jesus, I want order in my life.
I want this strife to end.
I want Your peace and joy.
Father, I
thank You this morning for sending the Holy
Spirit and dealing with us so kindly.
Lord, You could have written us all off.
You had every right when we are mean
-spirited.
Lord, when we transgress Your laws and Your
commandments, You had every right to cut us
off, but You didn't.
In Your mercy and Your love, You've been
so merciful to us.
You've forgiven us such a great debt.
Now, Lord, give us a forgiving spirit.
Lord, there are people in this church that
need to go to other people in this
church.
People in the choir that have to go
to other members of the choir.
Maybe in the orchestra.
I don't know.
Wherever it is.
Staff.
Lord, make it right.
God, help us to make it right.
That's our part.
Our part is to make it right.
This is the conclusion of the tape.