Noah's Biblical Worldview

Wow, such incredible energy, such a wonderful presence of God. Thank you, Lord. I'm just so thankful for all of the young faces I see here this afternoon. It just gives me such hope for the future because you are, believe it or not, the testimony that God is going to raise up in this generation to prove to this generation that he is indeed God. It's not about you. It's not about your skill sets. It's not about your strengths nor your weaknesses. It's about the presence of the living God inside of you. And as you begin to adopt his plan for your life, that means laying aside the things that we would just keep us in either in mediocrity or where our own mind wants to take us into the place where God has for us, then we enter into what I've come to know as a supernatural life. And when I say supernatural, it means in your natural strength you could never have done this. You don't have those words in your natural strength. You don't have those emotions. You don't have the courage that God will give you. You don't have the giftings that God will place in your life to do what he's called you to do. You'll never know the supernatural life of Christ until you start moving in the direction that he has for your life. And then you begin to know. Suddenly you're speaking words you hadn't thought of before. You're moving with emotions that you hadn't had naturally. You maybe start loving people that at one time you didn't care much for. And God begins to do things through you, gives you patience that you never had. Giftings, abilities, burdens suddenly come into your heart. Remember David Davis is an actor here on Broadway. As a matter of fact, he was in this theater for the ACTRA awards before it became a church. And he heard that he was a professor at Fordham University, and he heard that God was visiting people down at a theater called Lamb's Theater. And he said, not only is he visiting people, but they're speaking in languages they had never learned. And he said, wow, I got to see this. Now he's an agnostic. He's a skeptic. He's a critic. He's an intellectual. He has really no use for the things of God. But he went down to the Lamb's Theater, and that night he found out God had a use for him. And he himself was touched by the Spirit of God. Started attending this church, and I was here when he was commissioned, he and his wife Karen, to Israel. God gave him a burden for Israel, and he built a church on top of Mount Carmel where Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal that's still there today. And it's a pivotal church in Israel. So an actor on Broadway who has no use for God or anything else gets touched by God, and moving now in unison with God, ends up a missionary to Israel. And the testimony is still there today. David passed away a few years ago, and I had the privilege of being there for his homegoing. And what a great thing it is. When you begin to live for God, and that's what I want to talk about today, but in order to do that you have to have a biblical worldview. There's no way that in our natural mind we can figure these things out that God has for each of us. It's when we adopt his view of this world, and what this world is all about. And I want to share a message today called, Noah Had a Biblical Worldview, in Matthew chapter 24. Father, I thank you God with all my heart for the touch of your Holy Spirit. I thank you Lord Jesus Christ for the anointing, God for it is only the anointing that breaks the yoke of darkness and bondage. I thank you Lord that you have been willing all these years to take me in my frailty, and speak your word through me God. And I thank you for the numbers of people that have been able to hear, and have been encouraged, as you will cause there to be an encouragement in the hearts of your people gathered here today. Father God, would you give us a largeness of heart today to be able to receive your thoughts about us. Give us a largeness of heart Lord that so we can understand that you have a bigger plan for us than we have for ourselves. You have more strength for us than we could ever muster with our own natural ability. You have greater wisdom than we could ever produce with any amount of personal study. God Almighty, our plans for our own lives so pale in comparison to yours. God help us, especially in this generation when you are being so mocked by so many. Help us to stand firm and strong, and to build the testimony of your life within us God, as we open your word and begin to agree with truth. We thank you for it. Thank you for the touch of heaven in Jesus name. Amen. Matthew chapter 24 and 25 are an answer from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself when the disciples said, tell us what would be the sign of your coming, and what will be, what would the end of the age look like? When the world comes to an end, and you return, what will that look like? And so there's, I would encourage you to read these two chapters at some point during this week because it is an incredible, this is true, this is a biblical worldview. No matter what anybody says about the future of the world, this is what the Son of God said. He was there in the beginning with God. He is God. All things were created by him. He knows the future. He knows the past. He knows he made it all with his hands, and he knows how it's all going to unfold in the end. And he says something that really should catch our attention, especially in this generation, when we are witnessing now a wholesale rebellion against the lordship of Jesus Christ. In our society, in our culture, and not just here in America, but in many places throughout the world. The world is, in my opinion, launching its final assault against the lordship of Jesus Christ. Final assault against the people of God, the testimony of God in the earth, succumbing to the lower nature that was planted in humanity in the Garden of Eden. Remember, Satan came into the Garden of Eden, and he sowed a seed in humanity through our first parents, Adam and Eve. The seed that he sowed was the thought that we can be godly without God, and as God does, we in ourselves can begin to determine what is good and what is evil, and what is true and what is false. That's the seed that was sown in humanity. We don't need the word of God to govern our future and somehow to arrive at a utopian end when it's all over. We can figure this out ourselves, and we can now determine what's good and what's evil. You noticed in our generation, good is becoming evil, and evil is now becoming good, and humanity is succumbing almost like in a mass hysteria, but I put it that way, to this lower nature that Satan himself sowed into humanity that we don't need God, we can determine what is good and what is evil. So now, we're going to go to the story of Noah. God came down to the earth, and He saw that the thoughts of humankind were just wicked day to night, and there's a flashpoint with God where you just can't cross that line that has been drawn. And the thoughts, the Scripture says, of humankind were continuously evil, and God said, this world as we know it is going to come to an end. Now, before doing this, He established a testimony of mercy. That's what Noah's ark was all about. It was built in a high place, very, very visible to the populace of that time. It was, it was, it was built in a place where people could pass by every day and see it. It was visible, it was tangible, and the Bible says that Noah was not just a builder, but he was a preacher of righteousness. So, I can envision him in my mind. I don't know the exact scenario, but maybe every day he's, as the frame of the ark is being built, this huge boat that's being built of safety and provision, he's perhaps standing at the door as people take their kids on the way by to wherever it is they're going, whatever form of schooling they might have had at that time, and warning about the justice of God, and warning the society. We've crossed a line, and God's about to judge the world as we know it, but so very few were willing to believe him because they had adopted an alternate worldview. I want you to be really thankful that you have a pastor in this church, Pastor Tim Delina, that is now teaching and preaching on a biblical worldview. The Bible says. I don't know if you know how rare that is in the church world today, and I hope you're thankful for that. I know that I am, because in embracing a biblical worldview, you're going to find the strength for your life that only God can give to you. Matthew 24 37, but as the days, now Jesus is talking about the end of the age and his return. As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of Man be. They didn't know. They chose not to know. They had an alternate viewpoint. There's a testimony being built. There's a word being given that this world as we know it is about to end, but they said, no, in our opinion, it's going to go on for forever. And so they're just planning their own futures. None of these things were evil that they were doing. They're eating and drinking and marrying, giving in marriage, all good things. What the Bible is intimating, what Jesus is saying, they're completely unaware of the day that they were living in. I hope with all my heart that you are not unaware of the day we're now living in. We are watching this incredibly rapid degeneration of not only our society, but societies throughout the world. We're watching immorality on parade. We're watching good become evil, and evil become good. And truth, as Isaiah once said, is being trampled in the streets. And anyone who departs from this evil makes himself a prey. That's what Isaiah said. And anyone who tries to go back to truth becomes the laughing stock, or may I put it this way, the hater of their generation, according to this new revelation of truth that they had. We ask ourselves the question, why is a biblical worldview so important, especially today? And the answer is simple. It's the foundation that promises us the ability to see a secure future as hopelessness and lawlessness increases all around us. God promises to be the voice that says, this is the way, walk in it. He promises to be our strength. He promises to be our guide. And the Word of God brings us into that incredible provision of God that only His Word can give to us. Psalm 119 verse 130 says, the entrance of your word gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. The entrance of your words, it banishes confusion. All of the things that want to come to cloud our minds and to cause hopelessness to come into our hearts, all of these things are dissipated by the Word of God. Oh, thank God for His Word. I remember when I first got saved, you know, you embrace a lot of viewpoints. I embraced some viewpoints in college and from friends and other things. I just remember sitting—I used to work radar back when I first got saved. Now we call it radar. I don't know what you call it today, but it's a speed gun kind of thing, you know. And when it rained, it didn't work, so I would pray for rain. And thank God that year it rained a lot. And when it rained, I would just park behind a building and I would open my Bible and I would weep because it was washing me. It talks in the Bible about the washing of the water of God's Word. It was washing away old thoughts and old attitudes and old struggles and giving me hope for the future, even for areas in my own life where there still needed to be victories. One was, as I was reading the Word of God, it was just washing all of these things away. The entrance of your words gives light. And when you have light, you can see farther than in the dark, can't you? When you have light, suddenly there's a path that opens up before you. You start to see what God wants your life to be and start to see the power He's willing to give you to fulfill the calling that He's placed on your life. It's not just for me or a select few. It's for all. It's for you. God has a plan for your life. Did you know that? He has something bigger than your thoughts about yourself. He wants to affect the world around you in a way that perhaps you haven't even considered yet, especially for young people. You have a plan, and your plan might not be a bad one. You know, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, it might be an okay plan. But what if it's not God's plan for you? What if it falls short of the glory that God wants to reveal about Himself through your life? Are you willing today, or in the near future, or whatever the case is, to let your plan go and say, God, I want your word in my life. I want what you say about me to begin to be what I say about myself. The entrance of your word gives light. For example, I'll give you an example. God said to Peter one time, Peter didn't want to go to the Gentiles. And the Lord said to Peter, whatever I have cleansed, you have no right to call common or unclean anymore. Now that's the word of God to you. If God has cleansed you, you don't have the right to call yourself unclean any longer. You don't have the right anymore to disagree with God. You are not God in this area of your life. He went to the cross, shed His blood, died for you. If you've opened your heart to Him, He has cleansed you. The Bible says you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. The Bible says you are as clean as God is. You say, oh, but pastor, you don't know my struggles. Maybe I don't, but I know what the Bible says. If you have received Christ, your sins are washed away, and you have a cleanness in the sight of God that has been given to you as a free gift from God when you opened your heart to Jesus Christ. See, that's what the Bible says. The entrance of your words gives light. A Bible worldview, a biblical worldview, determines our direction. It determines our decisions, our passions, our pursuits, and the people we hang out with, our associations. It actually changes the complete course of our life. It moves us in the direction of God and God's divine purpose for each one of our lives. And I said it this morning, it determines our associations. For example, for young people that are here, the Bible says do not be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. For those who are considering getting married, consider this scripture. It's only one scripture could save your life. I'm telling you one thing, if you don't pray before you get married, I guarantee you you'll pray after. I guarantee it. You will fast, you will cry, you will howl, you will weep. You ask me how I know? Because I've had a lot of people in my office over the years howling and crying. Oh, what was I thinking? I said, well, you were thinking everything but what God's Word says, because if you had been thinking His Word, you would have walked away, or you would have waited. At least wait. If this person is going to get saved, let them get saved before you pursue a relationship. Second Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 to 4, Paul says to Timothy, I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead that is appearing in His kingdom, preach the Word. I hope you're thankful that you've got a pastor in this church that preaches the Word. I love listening to Pastor Tim's messages. Be ready in season and out of season. Preach the Word when it's popular and preach the Word when it's not. Preach the Word in seasons and times when people embrace it as the Word of God. Preach it in times where they consider it hate speech. Don't back away from the Word of God. Nothing else can give life but the Word of God. Nothing else can give direction but the Word of God. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. Now, it doesn't mean they won't go to church, but they will not go to church to hear the Word of God. They will not want to be challenged. They will not want to be deepened. They will not want their behaviors to be brought into the light. No, they want to go to a place where they're told stories. The word fables is muthos in the Greek, and it just means nice stories that have somewhat of a meaning, and they can even move you to tears. They can move you to applaud, but they can't change your life. They're not the Word of God. They're just entertaining stories. That's all they are, just entertainment in the house of God. And so many people today in America are just gravitating to places to be entertained. Thank God this is not one of those houses. Thank God the Word of God is being preached here. And the evidence that you are receiving into your hearts the Word of God is the intensity of your worship in this house, because the entrance of God's words gives light and brings us into the place of light that is ours in Jesus Christ. Yet they turn aside, but they still go to church. A glaring example of this is years ago when I was a pastor in Canada. We had a Christian school, and I became aware that two of the students in our school, a brother and sister, their mom and dad were attending a church in a nearby town under the leadership of a man that I knew to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. He had a pattern. He would go into churches, and he would tell everybody that it's God's will that you should be rich and happy and prosperous. There's no trouble ever in the Christian life, no difficulty, and the more you give, the more you get. If you give a thousand dollars, you're going to get ten thousand back. Okay, that's what he would preach, and then he would get everybody to give their money, and then he would take the money bag and take off. That was his M.O. That's what he always did. So I had them come into my office. They sat at my desk, and I said to these parents, I said, listen, you've got your two kids in our school, in our high school here, and I said, you just need to know that we teach your children that what your pastor preaches on Sunday is a lie. I said, you need to understand that. I just don't want to be putting duplicity in these young people's lives. You know, you're at liberty to attend whatever church you want, but you have to understand that there's a problem here. And they looked at me and said, no, we're okay with them coming to your Christian school and hearing what you teach. And so I took the Bible, and I just opened it. This is where it got interesting. I read a passage of Scripture, and when I read it, they looked at me, and they said, well, that's your opinion, but we believe. Now, I'd never given an opinion. Then I turned to another passage of Scripture, and I read it, and they said again, well, that's your opinion, but we believe. You see, the point being, they knew what the Bible said, but had chosen an alternate worldview. It's really that it's simple, and the delusion was obvious. And of course, their pastor, I don't use the word, he wasn't really a pastor, he's a wolf. He did what he'd always done. He took their money and took the money bag and took off. That was his pattern. It was not long after that that their children, they took their children out of school, probably because they were broke, for real, because this wolf had taken everybody's money and left one more time. I can't talk about the season we're living in. I can't say it any better than an article that I came across in the Full Life Study Bible, and the article is called The Age of Antichrist. In other words, when this Antichrist spirit more or less takes over this world. Now, it's going to lead to a world leader at some point. Whether the church will be here or not be here at that point, that's not for today to discuss. But the point being that this world is going to spiral down and move its hand against Jesus Christ. That's why it's called The Age of Antichrist. Let me just read it to you. Both Jesus and Paul paint a dismal picture, morally, spiritually, and doctrinally, as the present age closes. Paul, in particular, stresses that the churches will be invaded by godless elements in the last days. This falling away within the church world will have two dimensions. Theological apostasy is the departure from and rejection of a part or all of the original teachings of Christ and the apostles. False leaders will offer salvation and cheap grace while ignoring Christ's demand for repentance, separation from immorality, and loyalty to God and his standards. False hopes that center on human activity and goals of self-interest will become popular. Moral apostasy is the severing of one's saving relationship with Christ and returning to sin and immorality. Some leaders may proclaim right doctrine, yet abandon God's moral law and standards of righteousness and thereby corrupt the truth and loose deception. Many churches will tolerate almost anything for the sake of numbers, money, success, and honor. The gospel of the cross with its call to suffer, to radically renounce sin, and to sacrifice for God's kingdom and to deny oneself will be unpopular. Both church history and the predicted falling away at the end time warn believers not to be naive about widespread corruption of the gospel. At some point in church history, rebellion against God and his word will reach astounding proportions. The day of the Lord will bring God's wrath on those who reject his truth. The ultimate triumph of God's kingdom and his righteousness in the world, therefore, depends not on the gradual increase of the professing church's success, but on the final intervention of God when he breaks into the world with righteous judgment. Matthew chapter 24, the people were simply unaware of the day that they were living it. Again, I'm going to say it because they had embraced their own worldview. They were being warned, and when God's about to judge a society, when he's about to judge a country, when he's about to judge the world in the end times, as in Noah's day, he established a testimony of his willingness to show mercy. This testimony was a boat, in a sense, a huge boat that was being built in a very, very visible place by a man who had to endure significant ridicule, probably for decades of his life. He was building a boat in a place where it hadn't, many say it had never rained, so I mean it would have looked ludicrous to the people. Peter, the apostle, said in the last days there will be scoffers will arise, and they will say, where is the promise of his coming? All things exist just as they have for the last 2,000 years. Why should it be believed that he's coming now more than in other times? But God sent this testimony of mercy. That's why you are here in this moment in history. That's why I am here. You are the testimony of God's mercy. You are a demonstration of this place of safety that God is building for anyone who wants to be redeemed through Jesus Christ. You are the testimony that God by his Holy Spirit will build in a very visible place, and you will have to endure the mockery of a fallen generation. Let me just put it out to you straight. You're going to be laughed at. You're going to be mocked. I can just see the people passing by in the morning, as I said earlier, with their kids on the way to school or whatever it is, and Noah is pleading with the people. God's about to judge this world. We've crossed the moral lines in this world. Our thoughts are continuously evil. Join with me and start building your own arc of safety. It's a type of the Christian that starts calling out to this world. Folks, this world is under the judgment of God, and one day, one day, it's going to be over. One day. And until that day comes, will you build with me? Will you join with me? Yes, you're going to have to join into the mockery in the last day situation like we're living in. There's no chance now that you're going to be—when I first came to America in 1994, I was stunned. Everybody was Christian here. Anybody—you probably weren't old enough, most of you, to remember that, but politicians were Christians, athletes. Everybody was a Christian. It was really popular, it seemed, to be a Christian. I thought, this is just awesome. Now, in less than 30 years, you're just watching it go the other way, where now it's not popular to be a believer in Christ. You're now considered to be a hater. You're now a divider. You're now somebody that's unnecessary and unwanted, and eventually probably rejected in totality by a backslidden society. They didn't know, but God left a testimony of mercy, even though the testimony was rejected. God has you exactly where you need to be. If you're pushing a broom, that's where you need to be, because the other broom pushers need to know there's a merciful God. If you're at the unemployment office looking for a job, the other people there need to know that there's a purpose and a plan for their lives. You and I, we can't all be in the same place, you understand? We have to be salt, scattered about through society in every place we are. So instead of moaning about what we don't have, we need to start saying, God, thank you that you've called me to build a your confidence in my life right where I am. One day, you're going to know an incredible anointing of the Holy Spirit's going to come upon you, because the promise of Scripture is that in the last day, God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. That means your sons and daughters will begin to speak in unison with what God is saying. They'll understand, they'll have a biblical worldview. The biblical worldview is not just about judgment, but it's also about mercy. It's about the cross of Jesus Christ. It's about God's willingness to forgive. It's about the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Peter the Apostle, stepping out of the upper room, said in the book of Acts, save yourselves from this crooked generation. What you see is the Holy Spirit of God being poured out on all people. It is promised in the last days. And the promise is to you, the promise is to your children, the promise is to all that God will call until the day that He returns. The promise is to you. Oh, hallelujah. What a glorious day to be alive. What an amazing time. If we are willing to come back to a biblical worldview, we begin to understand why we're here. Why are we being ridiculed? Why are we being mocked? Why is my testimony of my life suddenly standing out as such a contrast to what's going on around me? It's because God is showing His mercy through you. Because, folks, mercy always triumphs over judgment. If God, when God told Noah He was going to judge the world, He could have done it in a day, but yet He waited decades to judge the world and send a man to build a testimony of His mercy. Calling that society out of their darkness and into life that was being freely offered them through a man who had heard and embraced the Word of God. They thought in Noah's day that their world could only go on forever and just get better and better. They thought perhaps with their their own plans and their own unity that they had managed to cultivate that somehow it was going to ensure this wonderful utopian future. Proverbs 11, 21 talks about it. It says, though they join forces, the wicked will not go unpunished. The original King James says, though hand join in hand. So this world is going to offer some kind of a unity that's going to bring about this incredible euphoric moment on planet earth. But, folks, it's not going to work. The Bible says, when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction will come upon them. That's a biblical worldview. Isaiah chapter 5, Isaiah paints a picture of the people of another specific time where the justice of God was coming on the nation. And in Isaiah 5, 13 to 14, he says, therefore my people have gone into captivity because they have no knowledge. Their honorable men are famished and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore Sheol or hell has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure. Their glory of their multitude and their pomp and he who is jubilant shall descend to it. Isaiah is talking about they're going farther and farther and farther away from God. They're adopting their own worldview. They're calling evil good and they're out now parading it. And they're jubilant as if they are entering into some kind of euphoric society that's going to answer everybody's needs and how wonderful this is going to be. And so here they go down the road. This is the picture Isaiah paints. Jubilant, dancing, parading. Yes, hey, we're free. We're loving. We're accepting all this stuff. But they're walking right into the mouth of hell. And they have no idea what they're doing in their time. Then finally one day, the justice of God came to this world as it was known in Noah's time. And he and his family were lifted up above the destruction of their world. And so too in our time. The Bible says in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the trumpet of God will sound. And the dead in Christ are going to be raised first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be gathered together with them. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. I believe that this is going to happen just before the final destruction comes on this world as we know it. As humankind is allowed to go the full gambit of their rebellion against God and bring about their own peril as it is. The church is going to be taken from this world. I've often hoped it'll happen during church service when we're worshiping. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. How awesome that would be. How awesome. You know the Bible says the dead in Christ will be raised first. That means every saint that ever died and is buried in the cemetery somewhere here in New York City will be raised from the dead first. Wouldn't it be awesome if they had time to come to our church service and walk down the aisles. Oh hallelujah. There wouldn't be anybody of you, anyone left in their seat. I'll tell you that right now. You'd be out of your seat. You'd be running to this altar and howling and screaming for mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Then we are going to be raised with them. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. But there's a second raising coming. May I call it a first before the second. The first one is that God is going to empower us as his people to live above the darkness in our time. He's going to empower us to stand. He's going to empower us to speak. He's going to empower us so that we're not swallowed by the waters of confusion or the fires of evil passion. We're going to stand as a testimony of who God is, his keeping power, his strengthening power. We're going to stand in our generation. May I say it this way, we're going to be raised twice. As Paul the apostle in Acts chapter 27, he was relegated to the belly of the ship with the other prisoners, a type of the church. We know you told us not to take this journey, but we set our judgment above the Word of God that you say was in your mouth. And we don't want to hear from you anymore, so go down in the belly of the ship with the prisoners. But in Acts 27, the Bible says, when all hope that we would be saved was taken away, somebody said, where is that man that told us not to take this journey? Where is that man who said he had a word from God? I want to hear from this man again. After long abstinence, Paul the apostle is now standing on the deck of the ship, and he's gone from captive to captain in 10 minutes of time. That's coming your way, my friend, my brother, my sister. As all hell begins to break out in this world, and as hope continuously and increasingly starts to be lost, people will be banging on your door. Tell me, I hear you singing in the morning, tell me why you have a song in your heart. People on your job will be saying, you just, you seem to have this rhythm and this song in you when you're washing your dishes. Give me a reason now for the hope that you have in you. Paul had a word from God. He knew what his life was about. He had a biblical worldview, and he knew the mercy of God. As he made the choice to go the pathway that God had before him, God says, Paul, I'm giving you the 275 people on that boat who are traveling with you, just because you have a biblical worldview and you're willing to do it my way. God will give you souls in the days ahead, folks. It's not just going to be pulpits that are going to — thank God for pulpits that will be winning souls, but it will be you too, wherever you are, whatever house you're in, whatever apartment you live in. I'm telling you again, don't live your life trying to get out of somewhere that God put you into. We can't all be on Park Avenue, you understand? We can't all be in the same place in the city. We're scattered about through the city, because there's a day coming when people are going to need a testimony of who God is, and God is building that testimony into your life right now. Until that day, you have to be willing to endure the ridicule of a perishing society, the scorn, the derision, the threatenings, the accusations. Noah bore it all, and in the midst of it all, I can hear the pleading in him, won't you consider, man, won't you consider bringing your family into this place of safety? God gave me the pattern. God told me that this vessel will be lifted up above the destruction that's coming on the world of our time. Won't you come? And then a day came where they went inside, Noah and his family, and the Bible says God closed the door. The biblical worldview tells me when God closes the door, no man can open it. Noah couldn't open it from the inside because he didn't close it. God closed it. There is a day coming when mercy is over. The moment of mercy is finished, and the justice of God has come. But till that day, the doorway of God's mercy is still open, and if you don't know Christ as your Savior, I shared this morning, when I get to the throne of God, it would be so sad to be on one side of the throne because the Bible does tell us that there will be a separation there, those who know Christ and those who don't, those who are going into everlasting joy with the Son of God and those who are being cast away from the presence of God. And can you imagine if I'm standing on this side and you are on that side, how difficult it would be for me personally, I'm just speaking to know you were here today. You had a chance. You had a chance. Today, if you can hear his voice, Scripture says don't harden your heart. That's also a biblical worldview because David Wilkerson used to say every time you resist God's offer of forgiveness, there's another layer of hardness comes into your heart until eventually you get to the point where you can't hear it anymore. They used to call it, the preachers of old time, way back in the 30s and 20s, called it gospel hardened. I've heard the message too many times and rejected it too many times. Can't hear it anymore. You say, Pastor, are you trying to scare me? Yes, I am. If you're not a Christian, you need to be scared. You could be a breath away from eternity, a breath away from eternity without God. As Pastor Tim always says every every sermon, and I'm so thankful for it, coming to Christ is as easy as ABC. Admit, admit you can't save yourself and need a Savior. Admit that your ways are not God's ways. Your thoughts are not God's thoughts, God's thoughts. Believe that God sent his son to a cross to die for your sin. And he took upon himself the punishment that you and I deserve for the things that we had done against a holy God. And then confess him with your mouth, Jesus, you're my Savior, you're my Lord. Don't make it complicated. The thief on the cross, all he said is, remember me this day when I, when you get to your kingdom. And Christ said, I tell you truly this day you'll be with me in paradise. I pulled over on the side of the road in 1978 and I'd heard this kind of a message and I, I just said, Jesus, if this is true, then I open my heart to you and I invite you in to be my Lord and my Savior. It was an if, but it was a sincere if, and God took it. And I have so changed and been taken over most of the world today to tell others about what he's done for me. It's, that's not more complicated than that. And I've adopted a biblical worldview. I see things the way God does. If you're not a believer in Christ and you'd love to open your heart to him today, I'd like to pray for you and pray with you. I'm just going to ask you to, a simple act of faith, just raise your hand, just wherever you are, just go ahead. Thank you. Anybody else? God bless. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. You're all the way in the back, but God sees you. God sees you as he did somebody way up in the balcony this morning, sees you where you're at. This is the greatest day of your life. There'll never be a day in your life greater than this day. The day you open your heart and your sins are forgiven, the sins being that which has separated you from God is forgiven, and Jesus Christ becomes the Lord of your life. Let's all pray this together, and then I'm going to give another altar call. Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for dying for my sin. I admit that I need to save you. I can't save or change myself. I believe that you took my place on a cross so that I can be forgiven and become a child of God. Right now, Jesus Christ, I open my heart to your forgiveness, and I receive you in my life as my Lord, as my God, and my Savior. I believe that I am now forgiven. I am loved by God, and when I die, heaven will be my eternal home. Thank you for saving me in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Praise God. Thank you, Lord. If you're online and you prayed that prayer, just text the word decided to 51,000. Decided 51,000. Somebody will be in touch with you by video. Now here's my altar call. God, use my life for your glory. Help me to embrace the worldview that you gave through the Holy Spirit that was written by those inspired by the Holy Spirit. Help me to embrace this as truth. Let this become my truth, and I ask you, God, to use my life for your glory. I ask you for the courage, as Noah once did, to be able to withstand the ridicule that I know will come my way because of what I believe, but I believe there's a higher cause, as Paul shows us, than just preserving myself. I want to be an ambassador of your mercy in my generation to my family, to my friends, to my enemies, to my neighbors, to my workplace, to my community, and God, you'll show me how to do that. You'll give me the courage and strength that I need. If that's in your heart, that's where I started 40-something years ago in a church service like this. I just came forward. I said, God, I just give you—as a matter of fact, I said, I have nothing to give you, but if you can use nothing, here I am. And He took my self-view, and He took my worldview, and He took everything, and He changed it and gave me His perspective on life and His perspective on my purpose in life and my purpose on the earth. There's not much more I could say to you, but taste and see that the Lord is good. That's what the Bible says. I can't make you eat. I can only tell you, but you have to make the choice to taste. I can take you to the best restaurant here in Manhattan and show you the menu, and I can tell you I've eaten there and how good it is, but until you go in and try it yourself, you won't know. But if you want your life to make a difference—now, God will take you. You don't have to come up with a plan. He'll give it to you. Trust me. There's no way Noah could have come up with build this humongous boat on the top of a mountain. I mean, humanly, you don't come up with plans like that, but God will show you His plan for your life. It could be as simple as start singing at work. I'm serious. It could be as simple as let your singing in the morning just be a little louder for the sake of a neighbor who needs to hear it. Just listen. He has a plan way bigger than you and way better than yours. We're going to stand now, and if that's you, I just want to pray, and I'm going to pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to come upon you. It's that simple. I pray that God give you an empowerment of the Holy Spirit to build a testimony to His mercy. Let's stand together. If that's you, just come, and we're going to pray together. Just make your way here, please, if you will. Slip out the balcony. You can go to either exit and come down if you want. In the main sanctuary, just slip out. Make room for those that are coming. We're going to pray. God, give me the anointing of your Holy Spirit, the promises to you, promises to your children, as many as shall call upon the name of the Lord from generations to come until Christ returns. This is our promise, and I'm not willing to live beneath my inheritance in Christ. There's no way. I'm here at the altar with you. I want a deeper anointing than I've ever known in my lifetime. God, I want your presence. I want your Holy Spirit. I want the courage. I want the plan. I want the ability to build in a way, God, that only you can give it. Hallelujah. Elder Vicki, please just lead us in the song. In every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, Lord, Lord. He is risen. He is Lord. He's risen. He has risen from the dead. And he is Lord. In every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Father, I just, I see the drawing of the Holy Spirit here. I can see it. It's not an emotional moment only that you're drawing people who are looking for the courage to stand and make a difference. So, Father, in Jesus' name, I ask for an anointing of the Holy Spirit to come upon those who desire, the desire to live for you, the desire to serve you. You said through the Apostle Peter, the promise is to you and to your children and to as many as shall call upon his name. God, we don't want to live without the power of the Holy Spirit. We don't want to try to live trying to reason our own strength and our own path forward. God, we want your word and we want to make a difference in our generation. So, Father, I'm asking for an empowerment, an empowerment, callings, giftings of the Holy Spirit, abilities being given now to do things that people never thought they could do. Courage beyond the normative courage that we all naturally have or don't have, but courage to stand. A voice to speak, God, that will make even our enemies be at peace with us at time. God Almighty, we ask for the giftings of the Holy Spirit to lay hands on the sick and see them recover. Take authority over devils and watch their power be broken, God. We ask for this ability that only the Holy Spirit can give. God, we want to be your church, your church in this last hour, your church, your testimony, your people building your testimony of your mercy. Help us to live in a high place and not in a hidden place. As you said once that the truth is not to be put under a bed but put on a candlestick and so that all can see it in the house. So, Father, we thank you, God. We praise you. We praise you, God, for all that you're going to do. So, just start talking to him right now. Those that have come forward, just lift your hands and your heart and just talk to the Lord right now. Just tell him what it is that you want and let him give you the strength that you need. Let him give you his Holy Spirit. Don't back away. Don't draw back. Let him give you the Holy Spirit in great, great measure. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Lead us in prayer, Elder Vicki. Just lead us in prayer right now. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. God, we want to be your hands and feet, Lord Jesus. Lord, help us to build a testimony, Lord God. Lord God, in our homes, Lord God, and in our communities, Lord God, wherever you take us, Lord God, help us to be light and salt, Lord God. We want to represent you, Lord God. Lord God, we want to be your witnesses in the earth, oh God. God, we acknowledge today we need your Holy Spirit, God. We can't do it without you. God, we need your courage, Lord God, your strength, your power. God, if we're going to stand to declare your word. Lord, we need you. We can't do it without you. God, we ask you, Lord God, that you would make us lights upon a hill, Lord Jesus. Lord, that people all around us, Lord God, would see, they would find their way to you. Make us that light, Jesus. And God, put your word in our mouths, Lord God. Oh God, when, Lord God, when they come for prayer, when they come asking questions, God. God, fill our mouths, Lord God, and give us the courage, God, to speak what only you tell us to speak, Lord God. God, we want to be your witnesses, Jesus. Lord God, when your disciples left that upper room, they left with power. Oh Jesus, to be your witnesses in the earth, Jesus. Fill us again, God. Fill us again, God. Equip us, Lord God, with all that we need, Lord God. Lord, that when we leave this place, Lord God, Lord God, your light, Lord God, will be seen in and through us, Lord Jesus. Lord God, fill us with your word, God. Fill us with your word, God. Fill us with your word, God. Help us to stand, Lord God. Lord God, not to bend. Lord God, not to bow, God, but to stand on your word, on your truth, Jesus. God, you are our God. You are our God. Lord, you said when we put our trust in you, Lord God, we would not be put to shame. God, we stand on you. We stand on your truth today. Lord, there's a world around us, Lord God. There's dying, Lord God. Oh, Jesus. I watch Jesus. Not on our watch, Jesus. Our family, Lord God. Friends, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Show us, Lord God, how to speak, what to say, God, in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Can we close with that song, The Mountains Tremble, The Demons Howl? You know that song? And I want you to picture your own life, empowered by the Spirit of God. And these things that are mountains in our present world, Jesus himself said, whoever says to this mountain, be thou removed and be cast into the sea. He has not doubt in his heart, but believes that the things he says will come to pass, he or she will have whatever they say. I want you to see the mountains moving that seem to be so immovable in front of you. I want you to see demon power being broken over people's lives, demonic thought being broken. And it's you that God's going to use. I want you to see it as we close with this song. Let's sing it a little bit.