Sitting Where True Love Is

I've got a message for you this morning entitled sitting where true love is Sitting where true love is and 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 If you'll turn there with me If I were to give it another title, I would call it am I sitting under a true message of God's love Now father I thank you Lord with all my heart For the joy that is here today Lord for the sense of well-being That you place within the hearts of those who belong to you those who know you and know your love Thank you Lord, there's no confusion. There's no despair There's no ambiguity about tomorrow. We know exactly who we are.

We know where we're going and we know What we will do when we get there Lord Jesus Christ, I ask you God to cover me with your hand covering my frailties Lord God speak through me and Give everybody in this house Those listening in Roxbury those listening online this morning. Give us ears to hear What you would speak to your church? And father I thank you for it in Jesus name 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 verses 14 and 15 the Apostle Paul writes these words Behold the third time I am ready to come to you and I will not be burdensome to you for I seek not yours, but you In other words Paul saying I'm not I'm not I'm not looking for anything from you. I'm looking to give you something For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you Though the more abundantly I love you The less I'd be loved Sitting where true love is now.

This is an incredible portion of Scripture in this little short vignette of the New Testament We see the the words of a man an apostle and a pastor to the people of that time. His name was Paul Paul was a man who's wholly given to God and He was one of the finest expressions of the self-sacrificing love of Christ For you and I that we can find in the New Testament anywhere Paul's heart and life are an embodiment of that of Jesus Paul was given for the people of God as every true servant of God is yet. We see that the more he moves toward them Bringing with him this heart of God's love the more he begins to see Certain people beginning to pull away Why would that be If I'm in the house of God and I'm sitting in a place where Somebody's telling me that God loves me.

Somebody's telling me that where I am worshiping is an expression of the true love of God If you and I were as fortunate as to have a Pastor like the Apostle Paul what conceivably would it be? within you and I That would pull away from the expression of love in such a man's heart Men fully given a man willing to travel through storm flood fire personal longing and want To be pressed above measure to the point in part of his journey. He despaired of even living To come to the people of God with a message of God's love only to find the more that love is expressed the more there are Certain people within that community that begin to pull away I Think the answer to that question is in chapter 13 in the first two verses Again, he says this is the third time. I'm coming to you in the mouth The two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

I told you before and Foretell you as if I were present the second time and being absent now. I write to them which heretofore are in other words, which before I come or in the past have sinned and To all others that if I come again, I will not spare You see Paul was a pastor Paul knew the deadliness of sin. Paul knew the peril of those who would fall into the trap of Continuing to justify wrong and that's that is the dilemma of the human condition.

The longer we do something that is wrong as Proclaimed in the Word of God Because we have an inner sin nature to be as God Remember when Satan sowed that nature into the human race in the Garden of Eden? He said if you bite into what I'm bringing to you, for example, you will be as God's and you will know The diff you will know what is good and what is evil That's our sin nature and the longer we toy with something that is wrong The more that our own fallen nature rises to the fore and begins to tell us That wrong is right That's what's happened to America as a nation We've fallen far from grace as a country and now we're paying the price for having rejected the God who was willing to be God to this people and willing to manifest his glory, but we Played with sin we toyed with the things of God We held them lightly like Belshazzar the final of the Babylonian Kingdom Drank in the in the holy things of God and proclaimed and praised the gods of wood and stone only to find out that He had crossed a line with a holy God There's a danger and Paul knew that danger and Paul was dealing with the Corinthian church that were coming out of a horrendous lifestyle folks they they had a major temple in the middle of Corinth that had over a thousand prostitutes and Prostitution was an act of worship in that society And every other thing that emanated from that there was there was such a moral abyss among the people wrong had become right in the thinking of the people now Paul had led them to Christ and In leading them to Christ as a a true spiritual father to that congregation he's attempting with everything God gives him to bring them into a right way of thinking in a right way of living and Paul knew the love of God sent his son Jesus Christ to a cross God so loved the world That he gave his only begotten.

It was love that sent Christ to a cross It was love that sent God to pour his wrath out upon his own son To nullify as it is the penalty of sin and to break its power over people It was the love of God That caused God to turn his back on his own son so that you and I could face God and call him father It was this love That dealt with sin and dealt with it powerfully dealt with it. Finally dealt with it victoriously Paul knew that if we continue to willfully do what is wrong if we make peace with those things that Jesus Christ died to set us free from That the victory of the cross could not rightfully be claimed as our own That those who do such things would be left with only an illusion And the illusion is knowledge with no power behind it remember Paul said in the last days there'll be a people as society degenerates as What is good becomes evil as as society becomes despisers of those that are good and represent God and folks If we're not there, we're looking at it from about a foot away from it right now Paul said in the midst of all of this there'll be a professing religiousness that has knowledge without power Knows the scriptures most likely knows some of it at least anyway some of the texts But the knowledge of what's written and contained in this victory that Christ won for us on the cross Has not translated itself into a victory inside of those who actually know it It's just an illusion folks Paul loved the people he was willing to be rejected in order that they might ultimately find acceptance with God Let me just make this statement If if I as your pastor and if any of these pastors on this platform if we love you We will challenge your lifestyle We will challenge your conversation We Will challenge your behavior We will challenge your concept of God we will challenge their direction We will challenge you because we love you the pastor who doesn't love you won't challenge you.

It's just that simple Paul said in 2nd Corinthians in Chapter 11 verses 2 and 4. I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy I've espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ But I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety So your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ For if he that comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached or if you receive another spirit Which you have not received or another gospel, which you've not accepted you might well bear with him Paul would have known The words of God to Ezekiel the prophet In Ezekiel chapter 3 I'll paraphrase it but God came to Ezekiel and said son of man I've set you a watchman over the house of Israel If you see a wicked man walking in his wickedness and you don't warn him Then I will require his blood at your hand If you warn him and he doesn't turn his blood will be on his own head and Not on yours and I I can't as a pastor as pastors as spiritual leaders that bear a tremendous responsibility because one day I Will be standing at the throne of God and I do believe I will give account for every one of you that are here today Everyone who particularly considers themselves part of this church. I will have to give an account for you And you imagine on that day That you're standing at the throne of God only to find out that all you had accumulated was knowledge without power That I told you God loves you in spite of the way that yes, it is true He loves you, but I made you comfortable in your sin in that expression of love I didn't challenge the way you're living It didn't put before you the victory of the cross didn't really talk about heaven and hell and the reason why God had to crucify his own son If I didn't unlock the full context of the Word of God and yes talk about heaven talk about the love of God But also talk about another place the people who simply do not move towards truth end up in forever the absence of comfort the absence of hope the absence of light the absence of God something so terrifying that our natural minds can't Even begin to comprehend it We can't fathom it the Bible has to describe it in ways that we could understand as darkness So thick we can touch it a fire so hot. It's never quenched There's no way to adequately depict today the anguish that will come into a heart The moment we find Ourselves, and I'm not including myself now I'm talking about people who are not walking with God find themselves in a place where God is not You see in this world God is omnipresent.

That means he's everywhere and when you're living like a reprobate He was following you down the street. He's whispering to your heart. He's wooing you into his house He's talking about something that you can almost hardly hear, but you can still hear it even if it's as a whisper Every rotten sinner in New York City Knows the presence of God in some measure because God is omnipresent.

That is not debatable That's what the scripture says. That means he's everywhere at all times But nobody understands fully nobody can explain what it will be like Having been created in the image of God and having had some exposure to the presence of God To finally and forever be in a place where God is not It is an anguish that is deeper than I can even ever hope to portray to you And if I love you I'll never let you go there without a fight You imagine people standing at the throne of God one day to find out they've been outside the kingdom the whole time looking at their Pastors who have to give an account for them and say you told me you loved me You told me that God loved me and yet you knew about this and for what justifiable reason Could you ever hold your peace and not tell me That liars don't go into the kingdom of God. You knew that you knew the immoral You knew those who don't turn to sin don't go into the kingdom of God for what? Justifiable reason would you hold your peace and not tell me? Here's what Jesus said in John chapter 10 verses 12 and 13 But he that is a hireling and not the shepherd Whose own the sheep are not sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf catches them and scatters the sheep the hireling Flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep That's the bottom line.

He sees that coming actually looks in the text. He actually knows a Lot of a lot of the hirelings that are pastoring in this generation in America They can see they know what the scripture says, but they've made a choice to flee from it And they will not preach any message that will expose the danger of sin and the cost and might cost them Popularity and the affection of the people and that's the bottom line the hireling needs the affection of the people Cares more about the affection and the accolades of the people the largeness of the crowds than getting that crowd into heaven Listen to the words of Paul He spoke to the Corinthian church. Now you have to understand where these people were coming from I've always believed that Corinth was the New York City of its day Chapter 6 and verse 9 says no you not the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God Be not deceived Don't be deceived don't fall into this trap of Thinking that all is well if it isn't Now we're talking here in the context of people who just come to the cross come to Christ come to the love of God But may no make no effort really to turn from an old lifestyle They they want to live in sin and have heaven at the end of it We have a huge problem in this church that I'm aware of personally we have a New York City Anybody anybody in their 20s and wants to get married and have three kids and a mortgage in the garage is still in Nebraska Young people come to New York City because they're they want a career they want the excitement of the city life They they really don't want the commitment of marriage until they hit their 30s and 40s Then they start panic dating as I call it They don't want the commitment of marriage, but they don't want to live without sex either And so there's a huge deception comes into the human heart that says well, you know God understands my needs God knows If pastor Carter is not willing to tell me God loves me in spite of the fact that I don't hardly know the person I woke Up to next this morning.

That's fine. I'll go to another church that tells me I'm loved of God I'm continuing my practice be not deceived Paul said don't be deceived Don't don't receive another Jesus I'm not talking to people who struggle and want to walk away from their sin I'm talking today to people who are comfortable in doing what they know is wrong And you made peace with it somehow and you've allowed a twisted Spiritual thinking to tell you that wrong is right and now right has become wrong Paul said be not deceived neither fornicators as people who engage in sexual activity outside of the bounds of marriage period period Nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abuses of themselves with mankind nor thieves Nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God period Don't be deceived Paul says you can't have the kingdom of God and carry on in these practices It is assumed in the kingdom of God that when we do come to Christ we come acknowledging that we have sinned That's a great danger of having presented to Jesus to this generation Who's just there to meet all of our needs and make us feel wonderful about ourselves? No, no, Jesus went to a cross to deal with sin sin separates from God not self-image sin separates from God and Such were some of you Paul said but you are washed you are sanctified You are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Paul said some of you were these things But you came to Christ you came honestly You let your sins be washed away the Holy Spirit came to you You accepted the fact that in Jesus Christ you are as clean as if you've never sinned The Bible says you are the righteousness of God it would literally be blasphemy We're not written in the scriptures that you're as clean as God is when you come to Christ with an honest heart You let the Holy Spirit come upon you you believe the Word of God and now you're trusting the Lord God For that new life that is promised you while you live on this side of eternity You're leaving the old and you're moving to the new if Christ be in anyone He is a new creature the old things pass away behold all things become new You have received of God a new mind. You've received a new heart You have received a new spirit and you are walking away from the trappings You're walking away from the lust you're walking away from the fallen condition of a fallen world You have an honest heart.

You have a sincere heart. You're not playing games with God. Yes, you do fall.

Yes, I do fall Yes, we do make mistakes, but there's grace to cover that because God knows those that belong to him Paul also knew that under Joshua Another generation, we're about to go in to possess the promises of God. I Happen to believe that we are living at such a time again When everything looks hopeless When everything is shutting down when our society has tried to shut Christ out of all of its Institutions and out of the very fabric of its society and its conversation now Paying the price for such foolishness but another generation Another group of people who are just tired of the wilderness We're tired of the powerlessness or just tired of the name of Jesus being trampled in our colleges Trampled in our schools trampled in our society. They're tired of it They're like David's coming into the camp of Israel and saying Oh God, it's for your namesake.

It's for your honor It's for your glory. Why is nobody standing up and fighting? Where has faith gone? Another generation was about to go in to possess the promises of God But Joshua chapter 5 tells us they could not do so until the reproach That society that had held them captive was rolled away from them And they were clearly separated and identified as the people of God. I happen to believe That we're going to experience an awakening In this country, it may spread even beyond these borders.

I really don't know but I happen to believe it I don't care if I'm the only one who believes it. I happen to believe it. I Want to live on the side of unbelief go right ahead live there But I choose to live and die on the side of faith I happen to believe that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever.

I happen to believe that with all my heart. I Believe that when God's people humble themselves and begin to pray and turn from their wicked ways I believe that as he did for the next promise the nation of Israel He also promises to us that he will hear our prayer forgive our sin and he will heal our land I happen to believe that I Happen to believe that just as Paul was brought to the deck of a perishing ship in Acts chapter 27 There's a window coming where God's voice to his people can be heard one more time It might be in a season of despair and panic in our nation It might be what all looks to be failing that somebody somewhere says where is that man? That said that we shouldn't go in this direction Moms and dads your kids are going to be around your table again Those who scorned you are going to be coming to you in the workplace and say tell me what one more time What is it that you believe and you find yourself like Paul just for a moment? An awakening is a moment that's only a short period of time where suddenly people stop to consider their ways One more time. I don't know what it's going to look like when we get through to the other side I know when Paul got through there was just a lot of wood of a broken-up ship all over the floor and there were miracles Happening and 276 people had an opportunity to consider the kingdom of heaven But the people couldn't go in under Joshua Until the reproach of Egypt was rolled away from them.

It was another generation another time Another people another opportunity. They were about to see the miraculous. They were about to see Jericho fall They're about to watch God fight for them They're about to actually encounter the pre-incarnate Christ when Joshua came across That initial journey across the river and the captain of the Lord's host, which most believe is Christ pre-incarnate Appeared to him They were going to see miracles They were going to go in and possess promises that are not available to people who walk in the flesh Only people who know how to walk in the spirit But Before they could go in to possess it there had to be they had to be marked as the people of God Set apart from the ways of a society that had once captivated them.

I Think the American Church Has been long captivated by this society Its theology had become the theology of many of God's people and now the Lord is calling his own and Telling us If you want to inherit the life that I died to give you You now have to make the choice to walk away From what is the common practice of a fallen society around about you? It's an hour of the miraculous again that I believe that you and I are living in And that's why at the end of the chapter That we started with the end of chapter 13 rather the next chapter Verse 5 Paul says examine yourselves whether you be in the faith Prove your own selves Know you're not your own selves that how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates examine yourselves Romans chapter 1 says if we hold the truth in unrighteousness if we learn but don't walk in it If we know where it's calling but won't follow If we know what it says, but won't do If it leads us to faith, but we won't believe Then we will just simply accumulate knowledge and eventually our own fallen nature will take over and we will we will form a deficient view of God That's called reprobation We'll have an idea about God, but it will be far short of the truth That's why Paul exhorts the people in this text he's this Corinthian group of believers He said examine yourselves and see whether or not you're in the faith And so some would say well, how do I do that? How do it's simple ask yourself some questions. I'm not living in victory How am I living in victory am I walking away from what I should be walking away from am I experiencing inside of my heart and life Something of God that I know has come from God for I couldn't break free from these addictions I couldn't walk away from these practices were it not Christ Giving me the power Examine yourselves over are you living in victory or do you just accumulate knowledge without power? Which is it? It can't be It's going to be one or the other is it do you know what to do but find yourself in a In a position like those who are not fully Surrender to Christ find themselves in Am I living in victory do I have dominion over sin or to sin have dominion over me Jesus died he broke the power of it. He rose from the dead He gives his Holy Spirit to those who believe in him for the forgiveness of their sins and promise us us That sin will no longer have dominion over us He promises that old things are literally cut to the root Yes, they may appear to have life, but they're dead.

There is a new life. There's a new source. There's new power There's new victory.

There's new. Hope there's a new future Are You begrudgingly walking away from what you used to do are you joyfully running away from what you used to do you fully Translated your heart into the kingdom of God. Are you fully belonging to Christ? Are you are you fully embracing this new life? Not only eternal life But the new life that God offers are you and I fully Wanting the change that God promises so that we can bring glory to the name of Jesus on the earth Am I changing can I honestly say am I changing When I first got saved it was I was so far behind Everyone else in the church that I was going to a church and everybody looked like saints and I looked like the worst sinner ever born in my own heart They're just so far ahead their conversation was ahead of mine.

I didn't understand half of what they were saying using words and talking about Blessings here and the blessings in the family and blessings in the field and and I'm just so far behind But I remember reading the text of Scripture and say God if that is mine Then I'm not staying here I'm not going to justify being selfish. I was selfish to the core of my being So I'm not gonna justify being selfish. The Bible says that I'm to love my wife as Christ loves the church So I'm going to do that by the power of God within me I'm gonna trust God for the strength to do that.

I'm gonna be a father to my children I'm gonna put alcohol out of my life. I'm not doing that. I was reading my Bible I was coming home from my night shift a brand new Christian and had a habit when I'd come home I'd stop at a restaurant.

They had an awesome ham and eggs at this restaurant I would stop there because my house was 36 miles from from the police department station. I would stop on the way home. I Would order a bacon ham and eggs home fries the whole deal big big thick whole wheat toast Jam and butter and a beer 730 in the morning and my Bible.

So here I am sitting at the table I'm Sitting at the table You got a picture now 730 in the morning ham and eggs whole wheat toast home fries Bible and beer sitting there Love the Word of God love the Word of God. I got to the portion in the Gospel of John where the angel appeared To Zacharias told him you're gonna have a son past age. I'm going to supernaturally do something Even though you're past childbearing age and your wife is pasture I'm going to give you a son this son is going to be filled with the Holy Ghost from his womb Said he's going to turn the hearts of many towards God He's going to prepare a straight path for people to find their way through to God and alcohol will never touch his lips And there are moments of choice and I looked at it.

I said God I want to be a man who turns people to God I want my life to count for something I want to be supernaturally empowered to point the way to Jesus and tell people this is the Christ follow him I want what this man was promised I wanted in my life and so I put my hand out and I pushed that bottle of beer to the other side of the table 35 years ago, and I've never touched it since It's so there's some choices that have to be made Not gonna tell you I didn't like the taste of it I did Not gonna tell you I didn't like the the the feeling it gave me I did like it That's why I was drinking it in the morning. Oh But taste and see that the Lord is good David said Once you have touched of the Spirit of God You look back and say whatever was in my mind that I thought this idiotic substance would somehow Gratify me And all it would do is dull me it would dull my thinking would dull my voice it would dull my testimony and it would it would hinder that which Christ wanted to do in my life and Until the day comes that we begin to see sin that way We begin to see sin as an impairment even if we could present an argument say well This is not so bad. Other people are doing this in society No, if you are not going to know the life of Christ, there's a point where the reproach of Egypt has to be rolled away And you don't even try don't even try Don't even open your mouth and try to tell me there's some cultural value to alcohol in America.

I'm an ex-cop I've seen the dead bodies I've seen the broken furniture and the broken homes and the beat-up wives and children Don't even remotely try to tell me there's any cultural value to it Am I changing Is my life a testimony of Christ are people asking me for a reason for the hope that is within me Especially now when it seems to be such a hopeless dark time and there's such a foreboding in the future I've been talking to people who don't know Christ and every almost to a person they say the same thing There's I have an inner sense that everything is going wrong We're heading to some kind of a cliff and we're not even able to stop ourselves or we don't fully get where we're headed for Is the love of God for me drawing me forward towards this purpose for my life Am I drawn by the love of God?

I'm not driven by a sense of duty That can happen that's not part of my life anymore I'm drawn by the love of God I'm drawn by an inner knowledge that the Lord has plans for me as he said to Jeremiah to the people of Israel I have thoughts about you for good and not for evil to bring you to an end an expected end a Place that your heart's always long to go to and God says a place where my heart longs to take you I'm drawn by the love of God not driven by a compulsion to minister.

There's a huge difference Am I sitting where true love is That's a good question am I sitting where true love is do you feel condemned or loved today I Have nothing in my heart. I know the pastor Patrick and pastor William are the same I have nothing but the love of God I I don't want to it would be a sorrowful moment for me to get to the throne of God and you are not there That Somehow I failed to convey to you The fullness of God's counsel the sense of wonderment that if you make the choice to turn from sin It's not God simply denying you a former pleasures or making your life miserable with a bunch of rules No, it's it's it's God drawing you into a life that is supernaturally incredible And the moment your heart is open to it, it's amazing it just you you get to go places You never thought you could go you do things you were never capable of doing you have new thoughts new attitudes new abilities Come into your heart That were never there before But these things this is the type of Joshua's generation going into the promised land But they couldn't go in until the reproach of Egypt is rolled away Until they are marked as the people of God Until there's no more hiding Everything is out in the open in a sense and they are clearly identified and marked as God's people Paul said the love of God constrains us the love of God Moves us the love of God causes us To continue to be given to you though For some The more we love you the less we are loved so be it I Used to remember the words of pastor David when he preached from this pulp And he said rather you get mad at me and go home and change Then live in sin and end up in hell Prove yourselves Paul said Hall hallelujah The Christian life is an awesome life There's nothing like I don't I don't say this, you know, you can say well, that's fine and dandy for you You know, you're on the you're in the you're standing a pulp and you preach to thousands you get to travel That's great for you.

You know, I work at Walmart You know, I'm gonna cash register every day No, no, no. No, it's not about it's not about what I do. It's who I am It's it's I'm I'm getting older and one day.

I'm not gonna be able to do this anymore But my identity is not in ministry, this is just what I happen to be doing at the moment My identity is in Christ I found what my heart has always longed for and when I get too old to do this I'm gonna find a church somewhere maybe even this one and just blend in with everybody else and Get a box of food and take it to hungry people and be just as fulfilled then as I am today because it's about Jesus Christ inside Are You sitting in the place where love is if you really are there's something in your heart that will compel you To move towards what God has for your life. There's something in you that will compel you to let go of what needs to be forsaken Attitudes practices relationships no matter what it is It's different things for different people and it won't be just a one-time thing. It'd be all of your life Leaving Behind what needs to be left behind Paul said I press forward to the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus And that would be an everyday thing the things that I just need to leave behind I'm going to leave behind and I'm going to move forward to what God has for my life.

I Want to give an altar call this morning For people who can honestly say pastor you have Just preached my the sum total of my life at the moment Now, you know what that means and God knows what that means and that's nobody else's business today There are certain things that you might need to be letting go of Practices you need the courage to stop doing Places you need the power to stop going But I tell you That if you make the choice to get up and go God's way you're going to find life You're gonna find it more abundantly. You're gonna find it eternally You're going to find the joy. You've experienced joy.

I have no doubt. There's been such a wonderful presence of the Lord in This worship today, but I thank God with all my heart that I serve a take-home Jesus. I don't have to leave him here I get to worship when I'm all by myself at home I get to lift my hands and sing shout just like we do here and I thank God it's got nothing to do with the exterior It's something inside that causes us to worship Now I know how it's difficult to change but not impossible you can't do it in your own strength, that's what makes it a miracle But there are certain things that some are facing today And I believe that I'm speaking directly to many people who are willing to say I Don't want to be deceived I Don't want to end up fashioning another Jesus that lets me live in defeat and somehow I Think I'm serving God.

I Want to walk with God I Want to push your way what needs to be pushed away And I want to lay hold of what needs to be laid hold of and I'm going to have to trust God for the power To do it. I want my life to count For his kingdom and for his glory There will be no awakening In your life this church or this city without these things being taken seriously The Lord cannot walk with us in the measure he wants to if we're not willing to walk in truth But Jesus said you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free So this might be a difficult altar call for some But it's for those that are willing to say I'm in something I need to get out of it's that simple and I need the power of God To walk away from it I have abandoned my character. I can't change but I know that Christ in me can change it And so I'm gonna have to trust him for the power to do it.

I Need victory over something that I just simply can't get the victory over but I'm not willing to play a dishonest game with God I'm not willing to create my own Jesus. There is only one God He calls me to victory and I'm going to walk in that victory. I'm going into the promised land I'm going in as a child of God.

I'm going to get the promises that God has for my life If that's the cry of your heart today, we're gonna stand. We're gonna worship for five or ten minutes. I'm gonna ask you in Roxbury to stand up between the screens, please if you will in the annex as well and here in the main sanctuary just join me at the front of this auditorium and We're gonna pray together and we're going to believe God for miracles This is a time and a season to believe God for that.

So as we stand, would you just come those are watching at home? You can kneel in your living room if you want to or wherever you find yourself, we're gonna pray we're gonna believe God together You know a lot of people whose struggle come to an altar like this and you know expect a kind of a magic moment That gives them the absolute victory I've never experienced that other than one time in my life when God set me free from fear most of the time it's just agreeing with what was true and Just as praying a simple prayer Lord. I want to walk this way. I Want to be this kind of a person.

This is what you say is mine, and I know in my heart. I can't do it And I know that there's a bend and made moving in that direction that I that may always fight against the truth But you promised me victory You promised me a source of life stronger than my own fallen nature that will lead me into this victory and make my life a testimony of The fact that Jesus Christ is alive from the dead and does live inside of me And many many times over the years as a young Christian, I'd walk away from an altar like this I wouldn't feel any different than when I came But as the days progressed I would know that God heard me and he knew that my prayer was sincere Knew that the cry of my heart was was genuine. I really do want to walk this way When I was young I was selfish to the core And that's not an understatement.

The whole focus of my life was about myself Made me a lousy husband and not a very good father and not much of a friend either and Then I saw the cross I saw Christ and I said Lord I I want to be a different man and I remember one time my wife Teresa prophesied over me. She said before you die You're going to be known as a man of incredible love and I laid hold of that by faith. I Made hold of it.

I said God I want that I believe that I don't even know how it works But I know it's true and little by little line by line Bit by bit, he's been guiding me and teaching me and helping me just as he will you we're all We're all on the same journey, there's no weak people and strong people it's just people of faith and people with no faith and It's amazing. It's quite often the weakest ones that get the greatest victory because we simply believe Hallelujah father I pray for my brothers and sisters at this altar today God you know what we struggle with But Lord you won the victory You destroyed the power of sin You demolished its right to govern our lives and then you told us That we could have a new life Based upon new promises with new hopes and a new future You Helped us to understand that the God who created the universe by his spoken word now Took up residence inside of our earthly tab our earthly bodies And so now we turn to you and simply agree with you. We want to walk your way Lord.

We want to we want to do, right? And we trust you for the power to do, right? To speak right to live, right? To have an honest walk with God Before God and before men You help us Lord not to try to take this wonderful salvation and make it into a crooked thing Help us Lord Jesus Christ to recognize that you love us and you are more than willing to give us the victory And father we thank you Lord We thank you That you're not a demanding taskmaster that stands behind us driving us forward But you're a loving shepherd that stands before us say come this way here. You will find pasture here. You will find strength Here you will rest beside the still waters Here you'll find the goodness and the mercy of God And so father I thank you Lord Father we pray for this city in the coming days that What you begin to do in the church's New York City be a moment of truth a moment of the incredible awareness Of the life that you freely offer those who turn to you in truth Let our lives be a testimony of that let us bear witness to it And father we thank you for it God Almighty open every prison door today give every blinded eye sight Every wounded heart bring healing Show us Lord the pathway to victory and we thank you for it in Jesus name.

Amen