======================================================================== THE FORGOTTEN LOST MULTITUDES by David Wilkerson ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the need for a revival of the Holy Spirit's power and guidance in the lives of believers. It addresses the loss of God's touch and the importance of seeking the fullness of the Holy Ghost to be empowered for soul-winning and to be led by the Spirit in reaching the lost. The speaker highlights the significance of yielding to the Holy Spirit, seeking His direction, and being filled with His burden for the lost, urging believers to pray for a greater measure of the Holy Ghost and to trust in His leading for effective ministry. Topics: "Revival", "Empowerment by the Holy Spirit" Scripture References: Galatians 3:5, Luke 11:13, Acts 13:2, Romans 8:26, Acts 1:8, James 1:5, Ephesians 5:18, John 14:26, 1 Thessalonians 5:19 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the need for a revival of the Holy Spirit's power and guidance in the lives of believers. It addresses the loss of God's touch and the importance of seeking the fullness of the Holy Ghost to be empowered for soul-winning and to be led by the Spirit in reaching the lost. The speaker highlights the significance of yielding to the Holy Spirit, seeking His direction, and being filled with His burden for the lost, urging believers to pray for a greater measure of the Holy Ghost and to trust in His leading for effective ministry. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The forgotten lost multitudes, the forgotten lost multitudes. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the word. We thank you for your presence here, the manifest presence of Jesus. Holy Spirit, thank you for coming and making him known and real to us. Now Lord, sanctify me to preach this word, sanctify our ears to hear it, that no one be unmoved or unchanged by what is heard from this pulpit today. Let the glory of the Lord Jesus be upon us, that Christ be exalted and magnified in this church. Lord, we glorify you today. We love your word. Now speak to our hearts, in Jesus name, amen. The forgotten lost multitudes. In our time we've seen rock stars and rock bands come and go. You remember we've seen psychedelic rock, punk rock, grunge rock, but now we have what is called Antichrist rock. A new group has just come on the scene called Marilyn Manson. They played last night in New Jersey in the arena. Marilyn Manson is named after Marilyn Monroe and the killer Manson. They feature Antichrist rock. Their latest record is called Antichrist Superstar. They tear Bibles apart during their act. They are blatant devil worshippers, they have announced it so. And thousands and thousands of young people now are flocking to hear Marilyn Manson. Antichrist rock is the name of it. Antichrist rock. Their lyrics are blasphemous. Their lyrics feature mostly all blasphemous singing and remarks against Christ and God himself. Now I know that these groups come and go. The Beatles came and go. Remember the Beatles said they're going to outlast Jesus? Some of you don't even know who the Beatles are, do you? Some of the kids think they're animals. You see how soon it's forgotten? And Marilyn Manson will be forgotten and somebody listen to this tape five, ten years, some kids say, Marilyn who? It'll all be over. But folks, something has happened and I want to talk to you about it. Last night in fact, Friday night rather, they were performing in Washington DC and one of their road group tried to scale a wall and fell to his death. They went right on with their concert. I bring this to your attention because the blasphemous lyrics of Marilyn Manson's become the language now of our young people, mostly preteens, have the language now of Antichrist. I don't know if you know about it or not, I don't know if you've heard or heard these kids talking on the streets. I listened to a group of preteens, they were 13, 14, maybe 15 years of age and preteeners and they were in a group and they raised their voices and they were using four-letter words, blankety blank God, blankety blank Christ. And I listened, I looked at their faces and I saw the anger, I saw the rebellion and I saw the hatred, Antichrist. Not enough to be anti-establishment now, not enough to be satisfied with drugs or parties, not satisfied to rebel against the government or poverty, now it's God and his Christ. An Antichrist spirit gripping our young people, our teenagers all over America. It was absolutely blazing Antichrist language that I heard. I saw a newspaper of a group of young Christians about 15, 20, I don't know if it was in New Jersey or where it was, a group of young people, Christian young people, demonstrating in front of their arena. And I look at that tiny little group of young people standing up for Jesus Christ and yet I think of all of the thousands of young people going by mocking and hissing at them and going into this arena and getting high and turned on by Antichrist lyrics in Antichrist music and walking out with such an anger against God, anger against Jesus Christ. And I think of a whole lost generation, a generation of teenagers and young people that are lost. If you want to have, if you want to cry, if you want your heart broken, go one block from here, after the service, go over to 8th Avenue and 49th Street in the construction site. That fence all around has been painted. They've allowed young people to come in and paint signs all over. Go read it. Don't hit me anymore, daddy. Another one that says, my father hit me and my sister Maria and he didn't know it hurted us, but he felt good. Read it. Don't kill me. Read, just walk by and look at the sign. I walked by and I cried because this is the next generation. Beaten, slapped. Look at the sign. Don't slap me anymore, daddy. Don't hit me. Don't kill me. That's the new generation. This is coming up. We have lost a whole generation. Think of millions of our youth now. They're no longer rebelling against society, they're rebelling against God and the things of Christ. I believe that the bloody riots that are coming to New York City and our major cities are going to come from this very group of young people who have been robbed of all of their moral courage. They have been told that there is no God. We have absolutely, legally tried to outlaw God from American society, out of our courts, out of our schools, out of everything, and bringing in sexual promiscuity, offering kids condoms, and now what do we have? We have payday. We are reaping it now. A generation not only, not going to church, but hating God and hating Christ. And folks, bloody revolution is coming at the hands of our young people. They're going, they're not going to be satisfied when there's unemployment. They're not going to be satisfied to be without their hundred-dollar sneakers. They're not going to be satisfied without their baggy pants, and everything that goes with it, and they're going to take it by force. They're going to knock the windows out of our stores. They're going to burn everything in sight. Something else hit me, walking the streets this past week. We're walking up Broadway during rush hour, and I looked in the faces of people of all nations and all colors, and a thunderclap hit my soul. I said, oh God, they're lost. They're all lost. They're all going to hell. This is a damned society. You say, don't they go to church? Haven't they heard? Oh yes, many of them have turned on television. They've heard a little bit of Christian television, but you know what they got? They got an abomination from television, Christian television. They got multimillionaire preachers, who are making multiplied millions of dollars, and still begging for money. That is not what I want to see represented of my Christ. That's not the gospel. There's no conviction in it. There's no power. The sinners laugh at it. They mock at it. You say, don't they go to church? Yes, Easter and Christmas, and the churches they do go to, most of them are so dead, they can't chase a single demon. I'm not trying to be facetious, folks, but there's no life. There's no conviction. There's no preaching with power. People sit in the congregation totally unmoved, and people who don't like to sit here and be convicted and moved by the Holy Ghost usually move to someplace where they're comfortable. And we have a whole list of those churches call my office. But every block I walked this past week, it hit me again and again, Lord, they're lost, they're lost, they're going to hell, they're going to spend eternity without you. And then I thought, here I am, I'm pastoring one of the largest churches in New York, and we are winning souls, people are saved here at all times. I delight in seeing all the people coming to the Lord, but this week on the streets I had to acknowledge before the Lord, God, I don't weep like I used to weep when I first came to New York City. I don't weep for the lost. I don't have your burden anymore like I once had. I thank you what you're doing in the safety of the four walls of Times Square Church, but in my heart I know I don't have the burden I had when I first came here. I came out of a little country town in Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania, a town of about twelve, fifteen hundred people, and I had a little green Chevrolet, and I drove to New York City week after week before I moved here full-time. And I remember what it was like to go into the woods and weep for days and hours before I came to this city brokenhearted before God. I knew what it was like to weep all the way to New York City over the steering wheel of that car, and I knew what it was to pull off the car and decide because I couldn't take it anymore, go into the woods and fall on my face and weep for the city. I know what it was like when we moved to Staten Island and get on the ferry boat every day to go to Brooklyn to our center and cry and wipe tears. People thought I was crazy. People offered to comfort me and solace me. But I had the heart of the Lord and I had a broken spirit and I wept and I cried. I had a little motor scooter and I scooted all over Harlem, Spanish Harlem, black Harlem. I scooted everywhere into the gang hideouts, everywhere praying for drug addicts, laying my hands on the filthy, going into dens, weeping and praying for the lost and the dying. Now I preach in one of the most beautiful theaters in the world. And now I preach to a congregation that's heard, some of you heard me for ten years, preaching on every subject possible from the Word of God. And I thank God. I pray every day and I thank him for allowing me to be a part of what he's doing here in New York City. I thank him night and day. I love this congregation and I know this congregation has an intensity for the Lord like I've not seen anywhere in the United States. And I thank God for you. But I fear that some of you are just like I am. It's been so long since you've wept for the lost. You're able to go to your job, you're able to go to your neighborhood and not even think about it anymore. Because you're trying just to keep your faith, trying to survive in a city that beats you down, trying to make a living, trying to protect your children. But the circle that you move in on your job, the circle that you move into your family, you're no longer broken about it, you're no longer praying about it, you don't weep over the lost anymore. In fact sometimes it just gets to you, if you had your way you might want to escape. A lot of people are doing just that, they're running. I thank God for what he's doing in this church. I thank God for those that still have the burden. But I'm talking about those of us including myself. I'm not here to put you on a guilt trip. I'm here to tell you before all-consuming God, the eyes of an all- consuming God and the Holy Ghost that many of us sitting here now are absolutely satisfied to make our way through this city on subways and buses and walk through our neighborhoods and through our buildings and not even think about the salvation of the lost anymore. And we come here to glorify God and we're satisfied. Jesus told us that his mission on earth was to save the lost. Luke 19 10, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. The Lord is saying this is why I came, this is why I was incarnated in human flesh. I came to reach and to save the lost. Then he said that too is your mission, the mission of everyone called by his name. Go you into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Now think of it. Our Lord's speaking to a small band of believers, perhaps the 120 that went to the upper room. And what an impossible task he lays before them. Go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. Now stop and listen to that a moment. He's saying go to Rome where these proud, egotistical Caesars sat on a throne saying there could be no king before me, saying I'm king of the whole world because Rome ruled the world. And now Jesus is saying you go into Rome and you tell Caesar, you tell the household of Caesar, you tell the Romans there's only one King, Jesus. You go to Athens where paganism rules supreme. You preach that Christ is the only way, that there are no idols, there's no other God. You preach God, you preach Christ as King and Lord even in pagan Athens. You go where philosophies and ancient religions and false gods and superstitions rule. And you preach cross of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of Jesus. You demand of them that they surrender all and follow him. You go to nations where their languages you don't understand, nations you've not heard of. You learn their languages and you hold up Christ and preach resurrection. You lay hands on the sick, you heal them, you cast out infirmities in the name of Jesus. You go to the very seat of Satan and you preach the power and victory of a risen Savior. Think of it, he's talking to ordinary, insignificant, untrained men and women. And when you stop to think of it, when Jesus left he put the burden of his whole church, the future of church on their shoulders. If the world is to be saved it's going to be because they lay hold of what he said and something's going to happen. Can you imagine the conversation when Jesus has gone, ascended finally into the heavens? Can you imagine the conversation if they made their way back to Jerusalem? Did I hear him right? Into all the world? Us? We're penniless. We're the offspring of the earth. We can't even get to Jericho. We have no money. We have no education. Learn languages? Go to all the world? You mean to the Eastern nations that we've heard of and only the traitors tell us the stories of these heathen tribes? They're speaking then of India and China. You mean we're going to go to the Turks? Those wild mobs that come down over Europe and we're to go there? We don't even understand their language. We're to go to Rome? The Romans are beating us and killing us here? What are they going to do when we get there? Doing that to us in Jerusalem? What are they going to do us when we get to Rome? You think of the absolute impossibilities of a little handful of people, the followers of him are uneducated and insignificant. And he says, you start a revolution. You take the world from me. Amazing. It's a little bond of believers had to be aghast. How could he ask such an impossible thing? How can ordinary, insignificant people like us start a revolution? How do we take Christ to a people who killed him? He's despised, rejected. He's the song of drunkards. You want to go out and tell them he's king and lord now, while they sing of him in their bars. And today our challenge is just as overwhelming, especially here in New York City. The overwhelming challenge to the church of Jesus Christ in this place. The Bible tells us that every succeeding generation grows worse and works wax exceedingly more sinful. You think of Rome, you think of Athens, and you think of Nineveh, you think of all of the cities in history. They had no ungodly, filthy television. They had no pornographic movies. They had no pornographic literature. They didn't have computer sex. They didn't have all these exotic, sinful lusts and temptations that this generation faces. We face now in America a government who's trying to legally outlaw God. We face a generation now that is greedy for money, especially here in Wall Street. We face a media that is absolutely liberal and godless. We face now a tidal wave of homosexuality. We face a generation that is cursing the Christ that we're supposed to preach. Now folks, Times Square Church has been overflowing with people, but we're still a small band compared to the 17 million people that live in this great metroplex. We're a small band even if you consider all the Christians in this city are still an insignificant band. And most of us are insignificant people. I know I am. Untrained. And yet this command is still valid to this small remnant. First of all, we've got to acknowledge that New York is lost. Our country is lost. Our country is going to hell. Say what you will about revival. Say what you will about God moving through the land. The mass of people in America are going to hell. And you know it and I know it. Paul looked over at Goliath's multitude in Athens and his spirit was moved in him. And I've experienced that every time I look out of the city, living on the 30th floor next block over here, looking over New York City, we see the skyline we can see all the way down to the Statue of Liberty. And I look over this and I see these buildings. I've told you before they look like tombstones to me. Some of them are beautiful buildings, but they're full of people who are dying, going to hell. And I cry, Oh God, how do we reach them? How in the world do we make an impact? They're going to hell. And one day we stand before God and we answer for the witness that we were when we were there. Jesus knew all about these impossibilities. These overwhelming oppositions, the problems. He knew what that little band would face. He knew it well. And he knew looking down through history what you and I would face. Here in New York City, all over America and around the world, he knew what would happen to this society. He knew evil men were waxed worse and worse. He knew that there would be a moral landslide. He knew all of this. He knew that the devil would be mad and he would spit out of hell a river against the body of Christ. He knew about this moral landslide that we face. He knew all about it. And this is why Jesus sent them to the upper room. He was telling them and he's telling us, you can't do it unless you're full of the Holy Ghost. You are absolutely helpless until you're clothed with the Holy Spirit. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, that tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be endowed, endued, means clothed with. You go to Jerusalem, you stay there, don't move, don't evangelize, don't strategize, don't plan, do nothing. Because if you go out the way you are, you're going to fall in your face and this thing will die in just a short time. God says, I know what you face and I'm going to give you a power that's greater than any power in this universe. You'll be able to stand against every king, every prince. You'll be able to stand against governments. You'll be able to stand against demon powers. And the power that's in you is going to be greater than any power in the world. Go and wait for it! Hallelujah. Jesus would have never sent them forth unless he knew that the power he was going to bestow upon them would be more than sufficient to meet every need, every opposition. And when the Holy Ghost came upon these men, now remember these are the same men who when they came to get Jesus, ran from a little motley crowd of would-be priests and followers of the priesthood. These men I don't even believe had swords, they had sticks. And these men ran in fear. These are the same men that went fishing because they were afraid to take a stand. And now here they are, this timid, uneducated, untrained, insignificant little group of 120 people. The Holy Ghost comes, falls upon them, clothes them, baptizes them. And suddenly they're fearless, suddenly they're bold, and suddenly 5,000 people are being saved. And suddenly the whole multitude are afraid of them. There's a fear of God upon the crowd. Suddenly they're in the temple and the words that they preached that fell to the ground are now like piercing swords and people are convicted. And the Holy Ghost is now working and moving and opening hearts. And the gospel is being preached with power and authority. Why? Because they had the Holy Ghost upon them, in them. Suddenly fear came upon every soul. Now folks, the best part of all is now they're getting direction explicitly from the Holy Ghost. They are not mimicking a move. They're not doing a thing. They're making no plans until they get alone with God and fast and pray. And then the word of the Holy Ghost comes. The Holy Ghost not only filled them, the Holy Ghost began to direct every move they made. Every move. The scripture makes that so clear. First of all, how do you reach the Gentiles? The Jews were being visited by God now. The Holy Ghost was moving among the Jews through these spirit-filled men. How do you reach the Gentiles when Jews weren't even talking to them? Not even the preachers. You didn't even allow a Gentile garment to swish your clothes without going wash your clothes. You didn't say can't, you didn't touch a Gentile. And Jesus said to every nation, to every person, every creature. Now is that going to happen? How are the prejudices, the walls going to come down? Folks, the Holy Ghost took over. The Holy Ghost visits Peter on the mount, on the rooftop and he says, don't you dare call unclean what I've sanctified and what I've cleansed. You go, there's gonna be some men knocking on the door of the Gentiles. You go with them and you preach Jesus. The Holy Ghost solved it overnight. The Holy Ghost opened up the Gentile world by speaking. He said it three times, so he made no mistake about it. Three times the Holy Ghost spoke to him. It was direction from the Holy Ghost. Now God's opening my eyes to something. I've been in this city now, this church is ten years old now, and I feel a burden in my soul like I haven't had in a long time. And I'll tell you, there's no strategy. You get together. I see this among ministers. They get together and groups, they say, he says, go into all the world and preach the gospel. I've heard evangelists and preachers and pastors get up and say, all you need is the mission. It's there, the command is go. Go, go, go. Get out, go to nations, go to Africa, go to China. Folks, if you don't go to the upper room first, you better not go. Until you're full of the Holy Ghost, you better not go. You have no direction, you have nothing. You have nothing to offer. And we have preachers getting together and they're strategizing. We've got thousands of young preachers sitting at their computers, networking with everybody, figuring out how to evangelize the world. Cutest thing I've ever seen. And you know what you get when you strategize without the Holy Ghost? When you try to go out and win the loss without the power of the Holy Ghost, you know what you get? You get balloons for Jesus. You get Jesus parades with little caps, Jesus saves. And you know what the crowd say? Yeah, Jesus saves! Green stamps. They mock it. They laugh at it. You get the Jesus buttons. You get the big smiley face. You get these little carnations. You get all of these cute, sweet little things trying to win the world and the devil laughs at it. Because there's no Holy Ghost, there's no Father, there's no conviction. But now listen to what the disciples did. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Acts 13, 2. You know what the Holy Ghost said? Send Barnabas and Paul to the places that I will lead them. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed. And you know what the Holy Ghost told Paul and Barnabas? He said, first you're going to go to Lucia, then you're going to go to Cyprus, then Solomus, you're going to go to Paphos, you're going to Perga, then you're going to go to Antioch. And we got the other place where he said, no, you're not going to preach there. Don't say a word, they're not ready. And the Holy Ghost forbid them. They never made a move. So they got along with God and they fasted and prayed, said, Holy Ghost, how do we reach this city? Which city? When? Where? How? And by whom? And the Holy Ghost gave them explicit, clear direction. Not a move was made without the direction of the Holy Ghost. And folks, how much more do we need that today? How much more in this society that's many, many times more wicked than theirs? The truth is, we don't even know how to pray as we ought, let alone evangelize. Didn't he say we don't know how to pray? The Holy Ghost has to come down and teach us. By the way, folks, all of these, all of these how-to books on how the secrets of prayer, how to prevail, and all of these plans, and all these concepts and ideas on how to pray. Don't spend a dime for those books. They're not going to do you a bit of good. Unless it's going to tell you that you have to get down, allow the Holy Ghost to pray in you and through you, and that you're going to wait on the Holy Ghost and you're not going to make a move, you're not going to say a word, you get up in the morning and you get alone with God and you say, Holy Ghost come upon me, lead me in my circle to whom you will, and give me the right words, prepare the ground, and send me forth unto your anointing. Now I know a lot of Christians are dissatisfied to have prayer meeting and just pray and pray and pray, that they don't expect to ever be called on God to go out and win the lost. That's not enough. I don't care if we become the prayingest church in America, if we don't pray with this view in mind, Lord empower us. Why are you empowering us? A lot of people want power only over their sins. We are so focused on our own problems now, and the more we focus on our own problems and forget the world out there, the more we're just going to be all wrapped up. We're going to have meetings where we just share our burdens and our problems, and we try to encourage one another while the whole world is going to hell. God says no, that's not enough. And by the way, God said if you go out there and get interested in other people's problems, yours will pale in insignificance compared to what you're going to see and hear from others. No, it's not just go. You first go to the upper room. Now when the Holy Ghost is upon you, you don't have to strive to weep. You don't have to strive to get the burden of the Lord. Now here's something that I'm so glad the Holy Ghost has been teaching me, and if you don't get anything else out of this message, get this, because most of you that are hearing me now, deep in your heart, you want to win souls. Deep in your heart, you don't want to see your friends and family go to hell. And some of you may be praying for them right now, and some of you sitting here now, you have got somebody in mind that you really desperately want to see saved. And maybe you have to make a confession that I've made here this morning publicly that I don't have that weeping broken spirit, and I don't have sometimes the direction that I want to have on how to evangelize and how to go out. It'd be so easy because I've got an inventive mind, and you talk about plans. When I first came to New York City, I had more plans than you can imagine. I've told you about them, how I tried to evangelize America. Oral Roberts had that great big land cruiser, General Motors built it for about a half million dollars, its side opened up like a clam, it had stage, it had loudspeakers, it looked like a vehicle from Mars. And I saw a picture of that, he had it down in Mexico, I said that's it, that'll win more souls, I've got to get that up here. I called Oral Roberts, he gave it to me, he brought it up here, it got one mile per gallon of gas, tank of about 300 gallons, and I got that, and I thought I'm going to do this right, I'm going to put it right in front of the church down in Brooklyn where they had a great revival a hundred years ago. And I pulled it in front of that church, and I opened up that, I had a choir and everything, and boy the crowd came and went, all I did was run around looking at that thing. I mean just every direction. They weren't hearing anybody preach or sing. True, when I finished, two people left. I shut it up, I went home, I said Lord that's not working. Well you know, I finally sold it to a man up in Yonkers who charged 50 cents to go through the thing, tourist attraction, that's true. I'll tell you what, I need street pulpits with with telescopic flagpoles and a speaker in the middle and altar rails. And I announced a big rally at Glad Tidings Tabernacle on 33rd Street, and I was going to unveil this, I'm gonna put 50 to 100 of these out on the streets. The only problem is it got too heavy to carry. By the time they finished it, it was, I mean it was half a ton. Expensive. I could only afford half of one. What I showed that night was half of it. Embarrassed. I'm the one who invented the flip-top box. In fact the cigarette company finally got it. It's a collapsible flip- top box that we invented, and it looked like a pack of cigarettes, and I had five little booklets in there, chicken, all these famous tracks that I'd written, and I had eight of them in a pack, and you opened it up, and you set it on your desk at school, and you pass out these, look like packs of cigarettes, and they open this up. What a disaster. I wound up $25,000 in debt. And one day I went to prayer, laid down, said, oh God, you know I have a burden for New York City. I gotta do, what am I gonna do? You know what the Holy Spirit said to David? Stop your foolishness. Stop your planning. You haven't even talked to me about this yet. Now you get a hold of the Holy Ghost now, and you know what came out of that? Get a little flag, because you have to have a flag over your head, and just go out with a little hand microphone and preach Jesus. Most inexpensive thing I ever heard of. So we started doing that, and so God saved left and right, and the crowds came, Nikki Cruz, all of these people came through all of that. I know what I'm talking about. I've been down the road. Now let me speak to this congregation in closing. By the way, there's a scripture that is really holding my heart this past week. Galatians, don't turn there, but just let me quote it. Galatians 3, 5. I can't shake this verse. He that ministers to you the Spirit and works miracles among you, does he do it by the law or by the hearing of faith? He that ministers to you. Now the word there, ministers, is measure. God who measures you, the amount of the Holy Ghost, the measurement of the Holy Ghost, and does miracles among you. How does he do it? Now look at me, folks. You know that he's going to take the Holy Ghost, and I know it's going to take the Holy Ghost. It's going to take his guidance. It's going to take people fasting and praying and asking God how to reach your circle. You're only responsible for your circle. God's not going to put the burden of somebody in China on you when you're not even touching your circle. Your circle includes your family, those you work with, those that you know. You begin there. You begin to ask God to convict them. You begin to ask God how to reach them, and let the Holy Ghost speak to you and empower you. And until you're willing to get busy in your circle, you don't have anything else to think about. Now he that measures you, the Holy Ghost, and Jesus is the only one who got the Holy Ghost without measure. He had the fullness of the Holy Ghost came upon him. You and I have measurements of the Holy Spirit. He measures. God measures him out. Now folks, there are measurements. There are some in the Old Testament that were full of the Holy Ghost. It was measured out to them, godly giants. And even today, there's some of you who have a bit of the Holy Spirit. You do not have a fullness of the Holy Spirit. And he said he gives it only to those who ask. And he gives it to those who ask in faith. My prayer every day for this church and for me as an individual, oh God, I want a greater measure of your Holy Ghost. I want to be full of the Holy Ghost. I want nothing that would hinder the flowing of your ability or your desire, Lord, to give me more of the Holy Ghost, more of the Holy Spirit. You see, you don't have to strive to weep because the Holy Ghost is the one who does the weeping. You don't have to strive for the burden because he comes and abides with the burden. He has the heart and the mind of the Father. And all the burden, all the weeping, all of that comes through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in us, so that there is no condemnation, there's no guilt. It's a matter of seeking the Holy Ghost with all my heart in faith. And that's why I'm out right now. I am not under condemnation because I don't weep like I used to weep. I don't, I am not trying to invent a burden of the Lord. I'm not trying to work it up. I'm saying, Holy Ghost, you have it all. It is in you. You know the mind. You know everybody in this city that's under conviction because you're the one who convicts them. You know everyone that is ready. You know every tear that's being shed in the quiet of the night in this city. You know everyone that's desperate or in my circle. Oh God, if you know Holy Ghost who they are, and I'm full of you, you leave me. I'm just a vessel. I'm a vessel. I'm an instrument. Oh, I see people, Christians everywhere trying to work up a burden. Trying to squeeze out a tear or two. That's all flesh. That's not going to stand before God. No, it's a matter of going to say, God, I don't have it, but I know where to get it. I know Holy Ghost that you have it, and I've been told that the Holy Ghost is given to those who ask. And he's given in greater measure if you keep asking. And I'm going to ask and ask and believe until I'm full of the Holy Ghost. Some people think because you talk in tongues you're full of the Holy Ghost. No way. No way. That doesn't mean you're full of the Holy Ghost. It means the Holy Ghost has begun to work in you. He's trying to empower you for one reason, and that's to get out on the streets. So that you can speak in a heavenly language in your secret closet. So you go out having that blessed communion. You're full of the power and the fire of God. You have a word to say. That will be piercing and loving. Now if you sit here in this congregation this morning, and you can walk to your job, you can walk through your neighborhood unmoved, you go day after day to your job unconcerned, you come home and there's no concern about the lost condition of all those around you. If you can sit in this church, in Times Square Church, and this is your home church, and you can be satisfied just to worship and praise the Lord and say that's all that's required of me, then you are not of His. His Spirit is not abiding in fullness in you. It's not enough, Saints. It's not enough. How about your sons and daughters that we talked about this morning? What about your husbands, your wives? What about your parents? What about those that you work with? What about Him? Now, folks, sometimes preachers will preach like this because they've got empty seats as you see people standing everywhere here. It's not to pack the pews. It's because Jesus said so. And we have to stand one day before the throne of God. We have to answer for obedience to this commandment of the Lord. To deal our bread to the hungry. The bread is what we get. I'm giving you bread now. This is the bread of life. And the Lord said you're to deal that bread to the hungry. And this whole city, believe it or not, they're hungry. They are hungry. I don't, I have to tell you as a pastor, as one of the pastors of this church, I can't stand here and tell you we've got a plan. We don't have a plan to evangelize this city. I do know that we need to be out in the streets. I do know that what God's saying to me, that I have no right as a pastor to send you out there and get involved in your circle until I've been faithful that myself. So I'm busy at that right now. I'm praying about that right now. He's directing me. He's leading me right now. And I believe that if everybody in this congregation would allow the Holy Spirit to make this real and you got busy in your circle, folks, I can't tell you how many folks would be saved, how this city could be reached by the hundreds of thousands. Believe me, it can be done. The greatest works are not done in big mass crusades. They're done one-on-one, one reaching one, every saint getting the burden of the Lord. I'm going to ask you to take this to prayer. I'm going to ask you to plead with the Holy Spirit in faith and plead with him, Holy Ghost, I want more of you. I would advise more fasting or you get along with God and say, Lord, I don't have the burden, but the Holy Ghost does. Holy Ghost, come and work your burden through me. Pray through me. Doesn't the Bible say he's going to pray through us? Then he can weep through us. If the Holy Ghost groans with utterings that we can't even understand the groaning of the Spirit, certainly there are tears of the Spirit. And you'll find that I've found it even though I don't think I've arrived. I'm still far from it, but I do know in the past few weeks there's been a stirring like I've even stronger than when I first came to New York, a flowing. And God wants every one of us to have his burden, not our burden, but his. If you get it yourself, it'll destroy you. It'll give you a nervous breakdown. You'll have no fingernails left. You'll always be under guilt and condemnation, but that's the wonderful thing, the reason he gave us the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. That if we would just become yielded vessels, totally, that's what all I hear from God. David, if you will simply yield to the Holy Ghost and fully, completely trust him, acknowledge him in all your ways, he will direct your path. He will direct the church. I turned to Brother Carter while the kids were singing, while the children were singing. I said, Pastor Carter, only the Holy Ghost could do that. Only the Holy Ghost could bring children from all languages and all colors and put them up there together in arm and arm, singing love one another. Only the Holy Ghost can do that. I had a pastor recently, and with this I closed, he was looking at the buildings and he's looking at, it was up in the offices, and he said, everything is so in order and everything is so clean and everything. He said, how are you doing this? In other words, how many meetings, how many committees? I said, we have one meeting a week with the pastors. Every Tuesday we meet at one o'clock and we pray. We pray. We don't plan. We don't strategize. We just try to keep up with the Holy Ghost. We don't get ahead of him. We just try to follow the Holy Spirit, the way he's leading. Oh yes, there are decisions that have to be made. There's discernment that has to be shown. A lot of these things, these buildings and all these things, there's a lot of planning and that, that everything is on the knees. You know, we're going to move soon. In fact, next Sunday, all of the children will be in the new building over here on the fourth floor. And some of you know that we needed an extra set of stairs. And the Holy Ghost had us poke a hole in the wall. We found those secret stairs. Now folks, that's the Holy Ghost. That's the Holy Spirit. You know the Holy Ghost has been working in your life, don't you? You know that you wouldn't be sitting in Times Square Church this morning, loving Jesus like you are, believing him like you do, unless the Holy Ghost had done something in your heart. Now, let him take you further. Let him take you deeper. Let him take you all the way. Hallelujah. I want everything he has for me. I don't know about you, I want everything in. Will you stand please? Isn't it wonderful being in a church where there's no sweat? Nobody's striving. We're just calling on the Holy Ghost to come and do it. And we are best who said, well, we'll do anything, we'll go anywhere, but just cleanse us, empower us, and lead us, and we will go. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the peace of God that passes all understanding. He said, Jesus, you said my yoke is easy, my burden is light. Lord, if we go out in our strength, if we go out and try to make these things happen, it's just going to be terror, disappointment, and sweat, and most to no avail. But Holy Ghost, when you come, all things are possible. Lord, minister more of your Spirit to this body, to the pastors, to the staff, and to this congregation. Lord, measure out a greater measure of the Holy Ghost on this church. Pour out more of your Spirit on this city, and oh God, lead us. Make us soul winners. God, I want to be a soul winner as never before. I want to be able to reach everybody in my circle. God, you'll even tell us who our circle encompasses. You'll tell us who's in our circle. And Lord, if we'll just reach our circle, Lord, then you enlarge it. You enlarge, you reach the small circle, you enlarge the circle. Thank you, Jesus, for your Word. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your truth. Hallelujah. Call from the balcony, the main floor, those who have lost the touch of God. You had his touch. I mean, his hand was really on you. You knew how to pray, you know how to seek God, but something's happened. You've lost his touch. You've lost the hand of God, and a great measure of the Holy Spirit's had to be lifted from your life. You do not sense the moving of God's Spirit. There's a coldness now where there's to be such fire. You've lost that touch. Up in the balcony, just go to the stairs on each side, and come down any aisle, and meet me here. God's going to do something miraculous in your heart today. If you're backslidden, if you're unsaved, you don't know Christ, you come with these that are walking down these aisles now, and the Lord will do a work in your heart. You say, oh, Brother Dave, I don't want to lose the touch of God. I must have the touch of the Holy Ghost. I need the touch of the Lord. I don't want to get cold and indifferent to my Lord. Most of you love Jesus, but there's something missing. You don't have what you once had. Come as these come, if you will, please. You that are here and in the aisles, listen to me carefully for just a moment, please. You know, the Bible said he's more willing to give than you are to even receive. You came here wanting to receive more of the Holy Spirit. The Father says, I'm more willing to give him than you are to receive him. He said he gives the Holy Spirit to them who ask. And he said, let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. Otherwise, you can't receive anything from God, let alone the Holy Ghost. How many of you want to be absolutely filled and full of the Holy Ghost and clothed with the Holy Spirit? You know, that's where your strength, that's where your comfort, that's where your guidance, that's where everything comes from. That's where he's the one who makes Jesus known to you. Listen, hear me, hear me, please. The Holy Ghost will not sponsor anything. He will not bless anything unless it's focused on Christ. Unless it needs you to Jesus, the Holy Ghost has nothing to do with it. If you came here, say, I want to know Jesus. I want to be full of his love. I want to be like Christ. Then the Holy Ghost will certainly come to answer that cry. He will make you more like Jesus. He will convict you of every little sin. You know, it's possible if you'll trust the Holy Spirit for him to tell you exactly momentarily as you're about to do something that he stops you. He will speak to you and say, don't do it. Turn. There'll be a voice in you, a clear, clear word from the Lord. It will be there and you'll become sensitive to that. And he wants to lead you every decision you make on the job in your home, about your marriage, about your relationships. He wants to take full charge of your life. I believe this with everything. I practiced this. He wants full charge. And that way you don't have to worry about it. You can go about your way, praising Jesus and loving Jesus and turn the whole thing over to the Holy Ghost. He'll tell you exactly what to do, when to do it and how to do it and by whom. I want you to pray this prayer with me right now. Jesus, I ask you to give me the fullness of the Holy Ghost. Teach me to pray, Holy Ghost. Teach me to witness. Help me in my walk, my direction. Guide me, comfort me, empower me. I trust you, Holy Spirit. I've come to Jesus for forgiveness, for cleansing, to be revived, to return to my first love. Now, Holy Ghost, put your fire in my soul. Draw me, woo me to Christ. I want to be more like Jesus. Give me a hunger. Give me a thirst for more Christ. Now, right now, I want you to just in your own language, raise your hands and ask God to give you more of the Holy Ghost. Ask him right now to send the Holy Ghost upon you right now, while you're here, on the aisles, right now, right out loud. Jesus, you said you give the Holy Ghost to those who ask. Send the Holy Spirit. Give me the Holy Spirit. Everyone in this audience, raise your hands, make it an altar. God, send the Holy Ghost upon me. I want more, more of the Spirit of the living God. I want to be full of the Holy Ghost, full of the Holy Spirit, full of the might and power of God, that he would work miracles in our midst. Hallelujah. Miracles of conviction, miracles of salvation, miracles of healing. Talk to him right now. Talk to him. Everybody, talk to him. Talk to him right now, Lord. Forgive me. Strengthen me. I come to you, Jesus. Oh, God, by your Spirit, do it. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit. You're faithful. Good work you've begun, you will complete. Until the day of the Lord, until the day of Jesus. Come, Holy Spirit, we need you. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/77Pw1m-Nn_I.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/david-wilkerson/the-forgotten-lost-multitudes/ ========================================================================