Boldness In The Last Days

Praise be to God. Does that qualify as a country in Western? That's kind of close. Country gospel? It's close, right? Sort of semi-heaven's music, no matter what you call it anyway. Thank God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for the promise that the Lord makes is that He gives us a new song, a song that people can see, and it turns their hearts to believe that God is real. And we see that with these young people that are here tonight and those that are worshiping with that God is doing a marvelous work, and I want to thank you so much. Before I speak to you tonight, I want to remind you that we have communion at the end of this short sharing of God's Word this evening, and then following this prayer time, we encourage you at home to stay and pray. Just stay where you are for just a few moments, if you can, and pray that God fill you with His Holy Spirit. We can't walk this walk. We can't finish this journey without the indwelling presence of God's Spirit inside of each of our lives. So I really want to encourage you with that, with all of my heart. Pastor Therese and I were in Florida this week where I was speaking at an event, and we had the opportunity to meet one of the alumni of the school, a young lady, and she married a young man, and they went as missionaries to Haiti. They have a little son called Carter, and he's five years old, but he has cancerous tumors in his chest, and Carter literally needs a miracle. I'd like to pray for him tonight before I speak. And also another lady, her name is Amy Joy, and she's 30 years of age, and she's suffering from quite serious seizures, and she needs a miracle as well. And so this is a situation with two people, Amy Joy and Carter, that really need a miracle touch of God in their lives. So could you join with me now? And we want to lift them up before the Lord. So Father, tonight we lift up little Carter to you, God, and he needs a miracle. His mom and dad are believing you. They have served you. They live for you, Lord. And God, we lift him up before you, and we ask, Lord, that you touch these tumors in his chest and make them literally disappear. God, smite this disease that's trying to get a hold of his body and take his life. And Lord, we just lift this boy up to you tonight. We don't know what else to do, but we know that when you went to the cross, you destroyed the power, every power that would stand against the virtue of your life being released inside of this young life. So Father, thank you, God. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ. And for Amy Joy, Lord, we lift up this young lady, and God, we ask you to deliver her from whatever's causing these seizures in her life. Do a miracle, Lord, that maybe she could stand here in this pulpit one day, not too far into the future, and give testimony of what you've done in her life. This is what we ask for. We ask, Lord, for testimonies of your healing and your power and your glory so that others throughout the world might know that you are God, might turn to you and receive the healing that only you can offer in each of their lives. So Father, thank you, God. Thank you for hearing our cry this night and for answering our prayers in Jesus' name. Amen. Also, please remember Sunday at Times Square Church, Nikki Cruz is going to be speaking at the first service and at the second one. And Nikki Cruz is one of the, if not the original miracle of David Wilkerson's life and ministry. Nikki Cruz was diagnosed in his, he was raised by witches. He was abused. He lived in a violent atmosphere. He was shut away in a closet and even made to drink pig's blood because of the witchcraft sacrifices that were being offered in his home. He knew no love whatsoever. He was raised to believe that he was hated and he had no purpose in life. He became so violent in his youth that he was diagnosed by psychologists and psychiatrists as unredeemable. And yet David Wilkerson stood on, in 1958, stood on a street corner in New York City and talked about the love of Jesus Christ. Nikki Cruz eventually gave his life to Christ. And this man diagnosed as unredeemable has preached the gospel to over 30 million people around the world, has lived a wonderful life, still is preaching the gospel in his eighties. Pastor Therese and I were recently with him in Tanzania and it's amazing to see when the Holy Spirit comes upon him, you would swear you're listening to a 25 year old man speak. There is an unction of God that is indescribable that comes on his life. And even though he's in his eighties and still giving his all for young people out there who need to believe that Christ can transform their lives. So Nikki Cruz will be speaking on Sunday. If you get a chance, anybody online to see that, you need to see that. And I believe that Nikki was given to Times Square Church and to Pastor David as a sign of what the Lord Jesus Christ is willing to do in this generation, especially the one that we're now living in where so many are in need of transformation and touch from heaven in their lives. Father, as I share this word tonight, I ask you for a touch of heaven on your word, on my physical body, on those, the ears of those who are hearing it. God, would you give us the ability to believe you again? God, would you, would you take us out? Even Paul, the apostle said our faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. So father, would you help us Lord to understand that it's in your heart to heal. It's in your heart to raise us up. It's in your heart to do things inside our physical bodies and with our lives that can only be done by the hand of God so that your name might be brought to glory again in the earth. And so we pray Lord Jesus Christ, God almighty, let this particular time, this moment in history be marked by miracles again. Father, thank you for it and we give you praise in Jesus name. Isaiah chapter three is where I'm going to start and then I'm going to second Timothy chapter three shortly after that. And I want to talk about boldness in the last days. Isaiah chapter three, beginning at verse eight, for Jerusalem stumbled and Judah is fallen because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord. Think about this, a society that is in its speech and in the arrogance of its heart turning against God, not realizing that they are bringing about their own destruction and their own downfall in doing so. Somehow boldly believing that though they say things that are against the revealed word and the revealed will of God, that somehow there are no consequences that are going to be incurred because of this. But their tongue and their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory. The look on their countenance witnesses against them and they declare their sin as Sodom. In other words, they are involved in sin that the Bible calls evil. And not only do they boast of it, but they actually parade it in the streets as Sodom once did. They do not hide it. Woe to their soul for they have brought evil upon themselves. But verse 10 says, say to the righteous that it shall be well with them for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. So we're talking about the last days. The last days when sinners are going to become exceedingly bold in their sinning. They're going to stand against the ways and the word of God and they're going to declare their sin publicly. They're going to have pride in their sin as it is. They're going to stand against everything good, godly, and holy. And they're going to do it as if they're standing on the side of virtue and truth, even though the word of God clearly warns that even though hand joined in hand, it actually says in the Proverbs, even though hand joined in hand, hell has opened wide its mouth to receive them. There is only one righteousness. There is only one way to eternal life. There's only one name given unto men whereby we might be saved. There's only one pathway to follow that Jesus will lead us on if we will allow him to do so. In 2 Timothy chapter 3, Paul talks about the perilousness of the last days. Talks about men being lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. In other words, they're standing boldly with a false assurance and a false confidence against all that God's word warns them about. They're unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. Always learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And then verse 8 talks about a false ministry that will boldly misrepresent the ministry of Christ in the last days. They will stand and actually resist the ministry that was represented by Moses when God sent him into Egypt to bring the people of God out of captivity and into a place of liberty and freedom where God himself would become their God and they would become his people. So there will be a ministry that actually resists this freedom, and they propagate another gospel, they propagate some other forms of truth. They stand, Paul warns Timothy as two sorcerers actually once did, who had some kind of a faux spirituality, and they were drawn to power, and they wanted access to power, they wanted access to admiration and the people's being spoken well of in front of the people. But when a man shows up with his brother to bring the people into freedom, they'll actually resist it. They resist the true gospel of Jesus Christ, may I put it that way, and they propagate another gospel in the earth, as Paul says earlier, with full of a form of godliness, but the real purpose and power of God is denied by them. And of course that purpose we know is to bring men, women, and children out of the darkness of sin and into eternal life through Jesus Christ, and to have the purpose of God for their lives outlaid before them, so that they might grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, and because of Christ in them, become everything that God intended them to be, bringing the name of Christ to reputation in the earth, and ultimately bringing other people into freedom through the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the ministry of the cross. Now this is an era we're living in today where that boldness is on full display. They display their sin as Sodom. They boast of their evil. They call evil good, and they call good evil. The people of God are now being vilified as haters and dividers, and it's getting more, the vitriol against God's people is getting more severe all the time. And we know historically where that could lead, and it could become a very, very difficult time for many of the people of God who want to stand up and live for truth, that not going along with this evil agenda we will be called dividers and haters, and ultimately considered unworthy of even being partakers of this new-formed and newfound world order. But Hebrews chapter 4 tells us there'll be another group of people that have another type of boldness in this last day, and that's really what I want to focus on. We know the wicked are bold, but I want to say to you tonight it's time for the people of God to become bold. It's time for you and I, as Sophia said tonight, it's time to knock, and it's time to seek, and it's time to ask. It's time to drop all timidity and go into the presence of God for whatever it is that we need. If it's freedom, if it's, as Paul once said to Timothy, God's not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Whatever it is that we need, the time for boldness in the people of God. We can't just let the evil parade their boldness. It's time for the people of God to ask God, give me a holy boldness, give me the ability, as Scripture says, to go boldly into the throne of grace to find help in my time of need. In spite of my struggles, in spite of my trials, as Sophia did and shared with us tonight, to get out of our seats and go to that altar of grace. And if our prayer is just only God help me, then let that be our prayer, because God will answer that prayer. And then God use me, and then God take me, and then God make me, and then God send me, and then God empower me, and then God give me everything I need to bring your name to reputation. It can't be just the evil that are parading in the streets. There have to be a people through whom the glory of God is made known in the earth one more time. A people who are not just an argument about the existence of God, having knowledge but denying the power, as Paul says, but a people who know the power of God. A people who can say to this generation, let me tell you what God has done for me. A people who stand not in the strength of their natural abilities or cower under the voices of those who are parading their sins, but a people who stand up in the strength of God. And even though they might be facing tremendous opposition, remember the scripture records when Stephen stood on that day and gave defense for what he believed just before his life was going to be taken. It says even the sinners there, they beheld his face as if he looked like an angel. The glory of God was upon him. And I have to believe because there was a young man there called Saul who was holding the coats of those who were about to kill Stephen. I have to believe that was the moment where the prods of God, the conscience of God began to touch him. Because later on on the Damascus road, the Lord said to him after he had began to speak to him, he said, it's hard for you to push against these prods of God that are trying to move you in a different direction. And I believe that seeing the countenance of Stephen was the maybe the first pang of conscience in this enraged lunatic that was out to kill everything else unlike him and his worldview that he possessed at the time. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 14 says, seeing then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Therefore, let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace. I see in this last hour of time that we're now living in, I see the addicted, I see the afflicted, I see the marginalized, the depressed, the nobodies and nothings of this society suddenly rising up and boldly coming into the throne of grace. Not groveling, not coming in with our heads hanging down in shame, but coming into the throne of grace as invited sons and daughters of God. That's where the boldness comes from. We are family. We are called children of God. We have the right to go to the throne of God. He says, come in. It really infers coming into the throne of grace with confidence in our heart that we're coming to a God who wants to bless us, who wants to enable us, who wants to empower us. As Isaiah once said, or the Lord said through Isaiah, come all you lame, come you maim, come you blind, come and buy milk and wine and sustenance without money and without price. Stop trying to procure your own future and your own strength. Come to me and I will give you the things that you need and you require to live for me in this and every other generation. Come boldly to the throne of grace. I want to challenge those that are are living for God. It's not just the marginalized, the addicted, but those that are already living for God. It would be a fallacy to say we've come as far as we can go. There's no limit to what God can do through my life or your life, and the only limit is the limit we choose to place on God, or the limit we put in our hearts. Part of the boldness is saying, God, you said that the latter part of our lives should be greater than the former. You showed us in scripture that whatever we ask for believing we shall receive. You didn't put an age limit on moving mountains and seeing them cast into the sea. You told us we could tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing would by any means hurt us. There was no little asterisk at the bottom of the page and said I'm only speaking to people between the ages of 18 and 49. You didn't do that. You said, whosoever will. It's a whosoever will call to this or any other generation. So God, I'm asking you for the courage to come boldly to the throne of grace. I'm asking you to make me more than I am today. I'm asking you to make me far more than I could ever be in any amount of my own strength. Give me more words than I have in my own vocabulary. Give me thoughts that I've never even thought about thinking before. God do things in my life that are so far beyond me that when I get to the end of the race I could only all I could do is jump up and down and say only God could have done this. Only God could have done this. Give me a voice that stands out in this confused marketplace where the wicked are boasting of their wickedness and give me a voice to stand up and say let me tell you what God has done in my life. Let me tell you who God is. Let me tell you what God could do for you. In the book of Acts when threats were being made against the this early church and they got together and they began to pray and they said Lord now consider their threatenings and grant to us that with all boldness we may speak your word by stretching out your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done in the name of your holy child Jesus. And the scripture says when they prayed when they finished praying the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak the word of God with boldness. It doesn't mean arrogance. It doesn't mean being argumentative. It means confidence. They spoke the word with confidence. Let me give you an example of what that looks like. Jesus can set you free. That's speaking with boldness. Jesus will set you free if you will turn to him. He will save you. He will give you his Holy Spirit. He will transform your life. You will become a new creation. Your life will have meaning and value and purpose so far beyond anything you could have ever imagined it could be. That's called speaking the word of God with boldness. An open declaration of who God is and what God does. Remember one time I was coming home. I had taken my middle son to a hockey game or tournament. I forget what it was. And I was coming home with a couple of other players in the car and back in those days we you know there was a small church, small salary, small car, the whole thing. It was a miracle we could fit all four of these guys in the car. And we're heading home and we stopped at a hamburger place and everybody at this we're in line at a Burger King or whatever it was and everybody's counting their pennies and my son Jared was I was at the back of the line he was at the front and he turns around to his friends and says put your money away guys my dad will pay. Now that was a boldness. There was a confidence in it. I wish he would have talked to me about it before he said it. But I would not dream, I would not dream of embarrassing my son. I don't care if it's next week's gas money. It didn't matter what I had to pull out, where I had to find the money and where it was going to come from or what budget it was going to be taken from. I would not dream of embarrassing my son in front of his friends. How much more? When we stand he stood with confidence my dad will pay. It was a fait accompli as they say in French. It was done. It was going to happen and I did and you all these hockey players suddenly were supersizing everything and one hamburger turned into two or three and it was just like it took everything I had but I would never have dreamed of embarrassing my son. How much more? When we stand with confidence and we just tell somebody Jesus will save you. Jesus will change you. Jesus will give you a reason to live. Jesus will heal your family. Jesus will restore your marriage. Jesus will give you a sound mind and we stand with confidence. You see this is the boldness I'm focusing on in the last days. I'm not focusing on the boldness of the sinner. Sinners will do what sinners always do. They're forming a parade and hell has opened wide its mouth for the whole lot though hand joined in hand but I still can with boldness warn even the deepest sinner that there's room in heaven. There's room at the cross. There's mercy with God. There can be a reason and a purpose to live and you can find something in Christ that no mount or measure of sin will ever get put into your life. Thank you Lord. So we may boldly say Hebrews 13 6 the Lord is my helper I will not fear what can man do to me that we can boldly say and so I want to challenge anybody that's listening online tonight and everybody that's here in the main sanctuary be bold in this generation. Be bold with God that that means confidence. Come into the presence of God with confidence. Come into the presence of God knowing we have a high priest who is touched with our weaknesses. He struggled with the things that we struggle with yet the scripture says he was tested or tried with them but yet without sin. He is he understands our struggles and he's touched with the feelings of our weaknesses and invites us to come in with confidence says come to me I'll help you. Come to me you who labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest. Come learn of me I'm meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your souls. Come and find the strength you need to be the person that God's calling you to be. Find the healing for your mind, the healing for your body, the healing for your marriage, the healing for your children, the healing for your family, the strength to be everything that God's called you to be. That's why Nikki Cruz is coming one more time to Times Square church. I know in my heart this is a sign from God. Probably one of the most disadvantaged men in the original in the natural that I've ever known to become one of the most powerful preachers that I've ever heard. An indisputable anointing of God. I was in Tanzania Pastor Teresa and I we heard this man pour out to thousands of street kids and we saw probably one or two thousand. I don't know how many there were. You couldn't count the crowd at an altar of kids that you'd never think would ever be touched by the presence or power of God. Through one man who boldly speaks to them about what God can do because he has been at the throne of God and the Lord has given him a great victory. So Father thank you tonight thank you Lord that this will be a day of boldness for your kingdom's sake. Thank you Lord for delivering your people from timidity. Lord Jesus Christ we ask you for the grace in our personal prayer times to come boldly to your throne for the things that we need the victories that only you can give us. The courage the giftings the leadings that can only come from your spirit. We want to be a people who are used for great good and for the eternal purpose of God. Deliver us Lord from everything God that would keep us from that place of confidence in you and give us great grace oh God. As we heard in the song tonight though it take a while the victory will be ours. Lord we want to give you thanks and give you praise in Jesus name amen. We're going to go to the communion table and we're going to celebrate this incredible victory that God gave us through his son Jesus Christ and so it's an opportunity for those that are at home tonight to get some bread or crackers and some juice and we will very very shortly share in this victory that God won for us through his son Jesus Christ. Be right back in just a moment. God bless you.