The Last Words of Joshua

Up to this point, I've been able to keep it together, and I hope I can through the end of this service and this final message, really, that the Lord's put on my heart for you as a senior pastor of Times Square Church. And it's been an emotional moment for me and for others that are just, even though there's only 10 of us here in North Jersey at the campus broadcasting, and I was thinking back with a chuckle in my heart to when I left the last pastor before this one in Canada, I remember walking in 26 years ago into the sanctuary, and it wasn't by design, but they were singing the song Gone At Last, the congregation, and it's an old Gone At Last, Gone At Last, All My Sins Are Gone At Last, and I found it so funny. And today, thank you, Greg, you know, for the sentiments. Thank you for everything that everybody has spoken on video today and in private, and you know, there's a common question that people have asked me, or if you haven't, you've thought it, and the question is, why does a pastor, a senior pastor in the prime of his strength, maybe in the fullness of his stride, why does he abdicate, in a sense, that position, and take on another? You know, because in much of secular society, that's just not done. People claw to get to the top rung as it is, and then once they're there, then they just, you know, they try to push everybody aside that might be threatening that position, and they hang on, and the dilemma is when that happens in the church, quite often you have leadership that hangs on past the calling of the Lord. We always, as servants of God, have to be willing to let God speak to us if He has something else for us to do. And even though it may not be easy to hear it, you can just imagine, I want to just, this is not my message, but I want to share with you from Philippians chapter 2, verse 5. God was speaking to me about this this morning, where Paul says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Now in other words, there was no higher position that he could obtain, but to be in the form of God and equal with God. It just doesn't get any higher than that. But in spite of that, one day I can see it in heaven that his father spoke to him and said, son, I have something else for you to do than to be here where you are, something that is, you're going to have to trust me in this. It's not going to necessarily be easy, but I'm going to make some promises to you, and you're going to have to trust that great good is going to be done through your obedience. Remember on the cross, Christ himself said, into thy hands, father, I commit my spirit. In other words, it's going to be really up to you to fulfill these promises that you've made to me and the promises that you say you're going to do for the sake of others through me. It's really all up to you, father, but I do yield my life and I abandon my future into your hands for this purpose. Now you have to consider Christ being in the form of God and equal with God, making himself of no reputation, taking upon himself the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of man and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even to the death of the cross. And so the way I see it is that God is giving me an opportunity to actually follow in the footsteps of my master, to learn what it means to be a servant to all. And I couldn't think of a better man that God is bringing in than Pastor Tim Delina to take this church into the future. And it will be my pleasure, my personal pleasure to take upon myself the form of a servant and to serve this man of God as I'm asking our elders and leadership in the church to serve this man who God has appointed. Now this is not a man's idea. This was not a committee idea. I was welcoming Pastor Tim to New York City 10 years ago. We were sitting in a restaurant and as we were speaking together, suddenly the Lord spoke to me and he told me, he said, this is not, he is not going to replace the man he thinks he is. He is going to be your replacement as senior pastor of Times Square Church. Now that's 10 years ago. And the Lord took Pastor Tim through the schools that he needed to go through to prepare him for this calling. And he has, in my opinion, graduated with a hundred percent, an A plus graduation. He's done well. And I just loved speaking with him almost daily and talking about the things of God and the plans for the future. And I honestly have to say it will be a pleasure for me to serve this man in the same capacity that you are going to be asked to serve him as the pastor of Times Square Church. I will still be here, but as I've told others, there will never be a co-leadership in this church. I will never let it happen. There can only be one pastor, only one senior pastor, and all the rest of us are in submission to that and are given the charge of helping the vision that God speaks through the senior pastor to become a reality. And I will throw my hat into that ring and be part of that. I'll still be at Pastor Tim's request. I'll still be giving guidance and some leadership to the Tuesday night prayer meeting at Times Square Church. I'll be available to help where I can. If he needs me to speak at any time, I'll be available to do that too as well. Now everything I do outside of the church will be found on a website called carterconlin.com. You will see that. It will be part of the TSC website. You can click on it. It will take you over to another website where if I'm speaking at pastor's conferences and radio programs and such like, all of that will be on that website. Now we're just simply doing that for the sake of order so that there's not this duplicity on the website so that everybody understands who's doing what and where they're doing it. And you'll be able to stay informed as God opens the doors before me that he is and I'm given the opportunity to travel and to speak in different places. And I trust and hope that it will be a great blessing to you. I'm not starting another ministry. Everything I do will be associated and lead back into Times Square Church. So that needs to be very, very clearly understood. Now this is the final message as senior pastor that I will be delivering to you as a congregation. I have to say it's been an incredible privilege for me and for Pastor Teresa to be here for these 26 years, seven of them as associate pastor to David Wilkerson and then 19 years as the senior pastor of Times Square Church. There have been great joys. There have been battles. There have been struggles. There's been floods and fire and trial and mountaintops. It's all been an incredible experience and I wouldn't trade a day of it for anything else that might be offered to me. I just thank God for this great, great and incredible privilege of seeking God on your behalf as the people of God. I can speak for Pastor Teresa and I can speak for myself that we have not been lazy in our seeking of God for your sake. As Greg said earlier, we've always sought for a fresh word from the Lord. We have never, in my knowledge, brought to you something that is stale or borrowed from somebody else. There's always been a word and I have always waited every week. I've waited. I've waited until the last minute sometimes. I said, I am not going to do what Saul once did. He panicked and forced himself to bring some act of worship and service before the people simply because he was afraid that he would look bad if he didn't have it. I would have always preferred to stand up in the public with nothing than to have concocted or crafted something to stand before the people of God that didn't come from the heart of God. So I can honestly say God has never failed me. Never. Not one time has he failed me. If it came down to a couple of times he gave me the word in my seat on the platform at Times Square Church. But sometimes it's just a test to see if we really trust him and we're willing to let him speak to the people. So it's been an incredible, incredible privilege to lead you into the ways of God. I believe that in measure the Lord sent me here and Pastor Teresa to Times Square Church as an example to you in a sense if you know our story and you know our testimony, we were highly disadvantaged when it comes to the kingdom of God. We both came into the kingdom of God with incredible amounts of hurt and pain and baggage and boundaries and walls around us and things that people had done and said that would have led us to believe that our lives could only amount to a certain thing and never go deeper or never go farther than that. But even in our struggles in the early years we believed God. There was something of faith that God planted in our hearts and because of it we were able to go forward and go into the pages of this book and we began to realize that everything written here is our inheritance. The Bible says that when Jesus rose from the dead he took our captivity captive with him and gave gifts unto men. Quite often people are happy to have their captivity taken captive but they don't claim their gifts. They don't claim the second part of this great salvation. The calling, the giftings, the power, the abilities, the supernatural ability that's given to take us outside of the confines of our physical bodies and take us into the fullness of what God has for us. I feel in my heart that the Lord brought us here to show you that it's possible. Now obviously we've still got a ways to go. We all do. Like Paul once said, I've not attained to the fullness of what God has for me but I'm constantly leaving behind what needs to be left behind and I'm moving forward to that high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I could say the same thing. I've not attained and I doubt we ever will attain the fullness of everything in this life but we have left behind many, many things that tried to convince us that they had the right to hinder our future. They tried to tell us that this is one box you're never going to get out of or one limitation you're never going to escape, one mountain you're not going to be able to climb or valley you're not going to be able to bridge it and get through it. And I've personally found all these things to be lies. You see because we are what God says we are and we go where God says that we're to go. We become what God says we will be and we accomplish what God says will be accomplished. And at the end of our journey it realistically is all about Him. I've learned over the course of my life to obey God. It's really no deeper than that. And this is why both Pastor Teresa and I are taking the path that we're taking now because God has something for us. I don't know fully what it is. I don't know. Abraham didn't either. He went out at 75. He had no idea that his simple obedience was going to be such a blessing to so many. And I said to somebody recently, I said well whether or not, whether or not it amounts to something great in the sight of men, I do have the satisfaction of knowing that I have obeyed God. And the greatest among you, the scripture says, is going to be the servant of all. So I do thank God for the ability that God's placed in my heart and the desire to be a servant. Pastor Tim and Cindy, I know you're watching this morning and Christian and Anna and Grace and Lauren, you are one of the more delightful families I've ever known. I've known some good families over the years, but you really are a delightful family. And I'm telling you, Times Square Church has already opened their arms and are embracing you, all of you, together because the calling is not just on one man. When a man of God is called, his whole family is taken into the calling with him. And I just look forward to those grandpa moments that I'm going to have with all of the kids, the fun times that we're going to have. And I'm looking forward to walking with you through your successes and your challenges, both, that will come your way. I just look forward to being there and to being part of your journey. God bless you. I love you. And I know that this is going to be an experience that will change the trajectory of the rest of your lives. I want to speak to you today from the last words of Joshua. At the end of his ministry, and he had something to say to the people of God. And so I'm going to do that today. But would you pray with me first? I'm going to go to Joshua chapter 23, and actually beginning at Joshua chapter 13, one verse and then go to Joshua chapter 23. So Father, I thank you, God, with all my heart. I thank you for the touch of heaven that's here today in this service. I thank you, Lord, for your word, which always has been a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. I thank you mighty God that you have kept us all these years. You have taken us on a course as you once took the people of Israel into a place where we have experienced our victory through Jesus Christ. We crossed over the Jordan of spiritual death into spiritual life. And Jesus Christ is our promised land. So Lord God, I'm asking you to help me to be able to convey the thoughts that you've placed on my heart. And I'm asking you to help Pastor Tim Delina in the future to take this church into the place that you are clearly speaking to us about. Give us the grace to follow. Give us the faith to believe. Give us the courage to endure. God, help us, any of all of us, not to turn back. And we thank you and we praise you for your word today that you will speak through one more time through this frail vessel. And we thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, at the end of this message, we're going to have communion together. So at some point, perhaps you might want to get some bread or crackers and some juice so at home you can partake of communion with us. Now, before I even say this, I just want to give such special thanks to my wife, Pastor Teresa Conlon. And Pastor Tim told me recently, you've married so far above your station in life. And I have to agree with you, Pastor Tim. God, that's been one of the blessings that God brought into my life. He gave me perhaps the most remarkable woman I could have ever hoped for in my lifetime to be my life partner. And I just, my heart is just brimming with gratitude for all that God has done and all that he's enabled her to do and will continue to do so in the future. Thank you so much, Jesus, for what you've done for us as a couple and for the lovely wife that you gave to me. Chapter 13 of Joshua says, Now Joshua was old and advanced in years. And the Lord said to him, You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land to be possessed. In other words, Joshua, you've served me well, the Lord said, and you've taken the people out of the wilderness and you brought them through the Jordan. They've seen the miraculous conquering power of Almighty God. They've seen the miracles and they've gone into the land and you've led them and you've led them honorably. Joshua had led them honorably because there were an incredible numbers of victories that had been won. But the Lord said to Joshua, Your time now, your time of leading the people has come to an end. And we always have to be open to that voice of God. We always have to be willing when God wants to speak and say, You brought the people this far and now your season of leading the people in this capacity has come to an end. Now, it doesn't mean we've come to an end. God, in my case, may give me something else to do that's going to glorify His name, possibly even in a deeper way, I don't know. But it doesn't matter. The Lord spoke to Joshua and said, There's much land yet to be conquered and you are not the one that is called to lead the people into this final push as it is into conquering the promised land. Of course, keep in mind now, the promised land for the believers in Christ, for Times Square Church and those that are listening is Christ. The promised land is the fullness of your inheritance. Now, it's one thing to be in the land. It's one thing to have crossed over from death to life, which the people had done. But there still remain much yet to be claimed. And this is my word to you today. There's very much that remains to be claimed yet in many of your lives. You're born again by the Spirit of God. You've made the decision for Christ. But you're not living yet in the fullness of what God has for you. There's more that he has. We are called to be lights that shine in the darkness. We are called to be signs as it is from God that are wondered at. As God once said to Abraham, Your seed are going to be so blessed that the whole world is going to be blessed through them. We are called to have something that can only come from God. And of course, not only in the Old Testament, but in the New, on the day of Pentecost, when the people came out of that upper room, it was a textbook example of the fulfillment of this promise, that there's much more yet to be conquered. Now, these people had just come out of this upper room. They're born again. They've been filled with the Spirit. But when you study this in the original languages, they were speaking about an anticipated outworking of the inward life of Christ that was in them. In other words, I am here. I'm outside of the upper room. The Holy Spirit is on me. I'm in the land of promise. But here is what God is going to do through my life. And you see, this is what happens to you and I when we get into the Word of God. God gives us a vision of the future. The Holy Spirit starts speaking about things to come. Remember, Jesus said He will take what is mine and show it to you, and He will show you things to come. So we start seeing those things in the Word of God that are part of our inheritance. As I said earlier, it's one thing to know our captivity is taken captive, but it's another thing to receive the gifts that God has for each of us. You are called with a holy calling. You are called with a unique calling, each of you. There are no exceptions to this. You are called into something that will require the gifting of God to take you there. You can't go there in your own strength. And if you try, you will fail. You need the presence of God in your life to reach the fullness and to accomplish what God has called you to do and what God has called you to be. Now, Joshua chapter 23 and verse 4. Now, so from the time that the Lord spoke to Joshua in the beginning, in chapter 13, I believe it was, right through to this chapter 23, he has been dividing the land as it is, as an inheritance. And he is telling each tribe and the people, this is where you will go. This is what you will become. Now, only God can do that. Joshua, in a sense, is a Jesus type. May I say that? And only he can tell you what your inheritance is, where your strength will be, what your dwelling place on the earth will look like, how glorious that will be and what it will accomplish for that divine purpose of being a blessing, remember, to all the families in the earth. That's the ultimate calling of the church of Jesus Christ. In chapter 23, verse 4, he says, See, I have divided to you by law these nations that remain to be an inheritance for your tribes from Jordan with all the nations that I've cut off as far as the great sea westward. And the Lord your God will expel them before you and drive them out of your sight. So you shall possess their land as the Lord your God promised you. You don't have to figure out how you're going to become everything that God's called you to be. God, if you have faith in your heart, the promise is that God will drive out these things that have entranced themselves in the center of your promise. Fear that might be at the center core of your heart. A sense of self-loathing maybe that you don't even like who you are and you don't feel you'll amount to anything. Unbelief that wants to destroy you and convince you that your life will never reach the fullness of what God called you to be. The Lord says God will expel them before you. As you just make the choice and I make the choice to just go forward believing Him, He will expel these enemies from before you. He will. You don't have to do it. You don't have to take a course on how to get over the fear of failure. You don't have to take a course on how to do certain things. God will expel them. God will push them out of the place that they occupy that belongs to you now because you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Therefore, verse 6, he says, be very courageous. This was the word that had been spoken to Joshua even before he led the people out of the wilderness and into the promised land. Don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed. In other words, fear comes when you see your enemies that you have to face, the things of your own heart, your own life, your own heritage. Dismay comes when you start to assume that your enemies are stronger than you are and you forget that God is with you. Joshua had learned this. Joshua learned over the course of his life that whatever God asks you to do will be done. Where He leads you, you will get there. No matter what opposes you, no matter what kind of storm tries to convince you you're going to drown, you will get to the other side of where God is calling you in Christ Jesus. God will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight. I love that. Out of your sight. I mean, they'll be so far behind you, you can't see them anymore. They can't even go, boo, from the corner of your eye. They're not there anymore. The former fears, the former struggles, the former limitations are just so far gone behind you, you can't even see them anymore. And you shall possess their land as the Lord God promised you. So here's my word to you today. You will, if you go forward, if you will follow the leading of Pastor Tim Delina who's coming into this church, if you will follow the Word of God and what the Spirit of God speaks to you, you will become everything that God promised you to be. Every one of us will count for the glory of God. There will be ministries that will be born that will be mind-boggling. It could only be God. There'll be evangelists, pastors, teachers, leaders, church planters, civic leaders, godly people in the school system that will be given wisdom and boldness that's beyond our natural ability. It can only come from God. Therefore, be very courageous to keep and do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses lest you turn aside from the right hand or to the left. In our case, it's the Word of God to us today, to you today. The Word that you already know and the Word that will come in the future. Be very courageous. Don't turn away from it. Don't say, this can't happen to me. Don't say this is too far ahead or too impossible or the giants are too big or the chariots are made of iron. Don't fall into that trap. Don't turn to the left hand. Don't turn to the right hand. Look the devil straight in the eye and say, get out of my way. You are occupying the place that is mine. Believe God and watch what God will begin to do in your life. Lest you go among these nations who remain among you. Verse 7, you shall not make mention of the name of their gods nor cause anyone to swear by them. You shall not serve them nor bow down to them. In other words, don't let the thinking of this world become your thinking. Don't embrace it. As I said earlier, in the world you get to the top of the ladder and you kick anybody down who tries to get anywhere close. That's the way they do it in the world. But not in the kingdom of God. Don't serve the gods of this world. Don't let your thinking be wrapped by the things that people are saying who live outside the kingdom of God. Get your direction. Get your guidance. Get your strength from the word of God. You shall hold fast to the Lord your God as you have done this day. For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations. But as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. And that's the truth. There are many here today. You were in a stronghold and God has driven out from before you things that were too strong for you. I'm talking to people today who used to be addicted. You were substance addicted or you were addicted to something, to a thought pattern or a thought process or something that got a hold of you and you knew you couldn't get out on your own strength. You may even have been addicted to a sense of self-loathing, whatever it was, or a hopelessness for the future, a shame and regret for your past. But God drove those things out from before you, bought you with his blood on the cross where Jesus died for you 2,000 years ago. And no one has been able to stand against you to this day. The devil couldn't come and take that back from you. The Lord Jesus Christ drove it away from your life. Not one man of you, he says in verse 10, shall chase a thousand. For the Lord your God is he who fights for you as he has promised you. Therefore, take careful heed to yourselves that you love the Lord your God. Here's the point. God says, nothing has stood before you to this point and been able to keep you away from me, and nothing will stand before you in the future to keep you from becoming everything that I've called you to be. Look to me. Look to the author and the finisher of your salvation, the author and finisher of your faith. Look to the one who conquered death, rose from the grave on the third day, and promised that by his spirit, that raised Christ from the dead, you shall also be quickened in your mortal body, brought from death and into life, brought from a place of weakness into the power of God, brought from a place of not even being able to get up in the morning or see a future, to suddenly seeing something that only the spirit of God could give to you, not just for your sake, but for the sake of others, that you might be the fulfillment of the promise that God made to Abraham and through Christ Jesus become a blessing to people all around you in the world, to which might I add there is no limitation to that. You can start by being a blessing in your marriage or your home or to your own children or to your friends or associates, and there's no limitation to where God will take that. There's no limitation to what God can do. He can use your life to bless countless numbers of lives that you've not even considered that he would in the future. So my final word to you is don't turn back and don't think you've arrived and don't think you're as far as you can go. You're going to be under the leadership of a man now that's going to take you into the next probably 15 year period and your life as a believer in Christ and he's a good man and he has a word from God and he's a man of faith and he's lived righteously and God has kept him and he has a good mind and a sound mind. He's got a devotional life and a prayer life and if you follow and the promises of God start opening up to you and there's nothing in your heart that says I can't achieve this, you will come into a fullness of God and listen to me, you're going to need it now. We're in a season of storms now. We're most likely entering into a season of sorrows in this world and people are going to be drowning in hopelessness and they need your voice at this time. They need you to be standing in the power of God. They need you and I to be standing in the fullness of our inheritance in Jesus Christ. This is not a time to play church. This is a time to be alive by the spirit of God. This is a time to be speaking, God speaking through us to this perishing world all around us. It's a time to be saying to people, follow me as I follow Christ and leading others into not just their salvation as wonderful as that is but the giftings of God and the victory of God and the power of God and the future that only God can give. Paul the Apostle says in the book of Philippians chapter 2 in verse 12, he says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now in the context of what I'm speaking today, Paul is not talking about do good work so that you can be saved. That's not what he's speaking about. He's saying there is a pathway that your salvation brings to you and for you that you have to determine in your heart that you're going to find that pathway and you're going to walk on that pathway with this constant sense of awe that only God could be doing this. As we take this salvation and we look in the word of God and we say, Lord, these things belong to me, so I'm going to go forward with this sense of reverence and awe and trembling in my heart, and I'm going to believe that every promise that you make in your word is for me. Don't sit down and become idle. Don't be content just to sit in church and sing some songs on Sunday. This is a seven-day-a-week, 365-day-a-year walk, and you should always be growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You should always be able to look back from season to season and say, thank God I'm not the fullness of what I should be, but I'm not what I was a month ago or a year ago, whatever the situation is. He goes on and says, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It's God. It's God that's putting the thoughts of what you could be. Just like Joshua defined these places of inheritance, he's putting before you the thoughts of what your life could be, of what the fullness of your salvation offers you. He's putting it before you both to will to go in and then to accomplish everything that He's called you to be and that He has determined to do through your life. Do all things without complaining and disputing. In other words, don't talk yourself out of your inheritance. Remember the children of Israel. That's exactly what they did. They saw it all. They saw the milk and the honey. They saw the bough of grapes, and they just saw everything, and they said it's exactly as God has said, but the giants, you see, are too big for us, and we look like grasshoppers in their sight, and they talked themselves out of their inheritance. Don't do that. Don't talk yourself out of your inheritance. Be careful of your speech. Be careful that you don't let unbelief get a hold of your lips and you start confessing your own defeat because ultimately what you begin to believe, that's the pathway that you're going to follow. That you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Paul is saying, keeping this word that I have given you so that when the day when Christ returns and gathers us home and we stand one day on the cross, I may not be left with the feeling that I've run in vain or labored in vain. I think there would be no more of a tragic feeling for a pastor than to get to heaven and realize that the people that he led didn't embrace the fullness of what God had for them, that in great measure his speech fell to the ground. Even though it may have been sent of God, the people didn't embrace it. But I am persuaded, Times Square Church, of better things for you. I have watched you. And the one thing I love about not only New Yorkers, but particularly New Yorkers and those that are online, is that you are fighters. You are. You have to fight to survive on the street. I know that. I get that. But I want you to challenge that nature into something that's going to bring glory to God and in his kingdom. Fight for your inheritance. Fight for your families. Fight for the truth. Fight for the lost. Fight against their own salvation. Become everything that God's called you to be for their sakes. It's not just about you and me. It's about them. It's about others. We're already secure. We're already in the Lamb's Book of Life, in that book that God has written in heaven with our names in it. We are already destined for the throne of God. Heaven is already our home. So now we stay, not for our sakes, but the sake of others, that we might become the fullness of what God has us to be so that we can shine as lights in this crooked and dark generation. This is my final word to you as your senior pastor. I've had the privilege of leading you as senior pastor for 19 years and seven years as an associate pastor. I've walked with many of you through your trials, your struggles, through your successes, and through your failures. And if there's been one message on my heart, it's always been get up and keep walking because I know what the grace of God is. I have been a great recipient of great grace. He's kept me. He's carried me. He's led me. So don't get down if you struggle. Get up and keep walking with God and fight for your full inheritance. You fight through faith. You say, God, I believe. You open the door and I'll walk through it. You put it in my hand and I'll use it for your glory. You put it in my heart and I will follow where you lead me. And you watch what God will do. For Times Square Church, I honestly believe the best days are just ahead of us. The promise of scripture is the glory of the latter temple will be greater than the former. And the wine at the end of the banquet will be better and sweeter than at the beginning. I do thank God. I do thank God for Pastor David Wilkerson and the early years of Times Square Church. I do thank God for the role that the Lord gave me to play in the development and ongoing journey of this church. But I honestly believe the best days are just ahead. In my mind's eye and in my heart, I see an absolute explosion of salvation coming into the church. I see a church that's going to reach this generation in the way that they need to be reached. I see young men and women heading out to do the will of God who are not even saved yet. I see some things in the future that God allows me to see from time to time to know in my heart that the best is yet to come. Pastor Tim, I just so look forward to walking this journey with you. I so look forward to you and I being able to show the church world and our generation what a transition in churches should look like. I so look forward to serving one another. But I do recognize that you will be the leader. You will be the pastor of Times Square Church. And all the rest of us will be servants to the vision that God plants in your heart. And I couldn't be more confident or happy to be under the leadership of a better man. This is going to be an amazing few years of my life. I don't know how long. I'm 66 now. I don't know how long I've got. But whatever I do have, it's going to be a pleasure to walk it with you. The best is indeed yet to come. Now, we're going to go to communion in just a few moments here. And I'm going to ask you to join with me. And here's the request that I have in my heart. That as we take this communion, recognizing that we've been brought together into one body by the battered body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, that we would be in unbroken fellowship for the rest of our days. That the hallmark of Times Square Church would be that according to Psalm 133, we walked together in unity. And because of it, God commanded the blessing of life. And I honestly believe there is no limitation to how wide and far and high and deep that blessing of life can be. On our part is to let the Holy Spirit lead us to walk in truth, to take the lowest seat in every room and to believe that God will command the blessing of life because he's truthful and can't be anything other than who he is. Thank God for that. If we will walk in his way, he will give us this blessing of life. Praise God. If you'd be kind enough to bring them to me and we're going to go to the Lord's table together. Praise God. Maybe, Greg, if we could just have a song while people are waiting at home to get their bread and their juice together. Holy, holy Are you Lord God almighty Worthy is the Lamb Worthy is the Lamb You are holy Holy Are you Lord God almighty Worthy is the Lamb Worthy is the Lamb Amen For the Lord God almighty reigns For the Lord God almighty reigns Holy Are you Lord God almighty Worthy is the Lamb Worthy is the Lamb Amen For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. The Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So Father today, God almighty, we just ask in the future that we would have this great privilege of being in unbroken fellowship with you and with one another. We ask you Lord for the privilege of being the full testimony of what you have already destined Times Square Church to be. And Times Square Church being everyone who feels an affinity with the church, whether they're on the physical facility or online around the world. Thank you God for raising up this testimony at this time. We ask you Lord for a special touch of heaven to come on Pastor Tim to lead his life. God that he would lead us in the manner that you have determined we should go forward into the fullness of our inheritance. Thank you Lord Jesus Christ that we will follow as you lead. We give you the praise and all the glory for how good you have been and how great you will be to all of us in the future. In Jesus name. Now if you're with us online today and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, it's very easy for you to become a believer in Christ and to enter into that place I've been speaking about of promise for your life. Not just eternity in heaven but a purpose for living on the earth. And as Pastor Tim always says it's easy as ABC. Admit that you're a sinner. Admit that you can't save yourself. That all of your good works and all of the things that you could try to do to change yourself can't deliver you from the penalty or power of sin. Only the blood of Jesus can that was shed in your place on the cross for the punishment you deserve he took your place. And believe that because of that sacrifice that God is willing to forgive you. He's willing to bring you from death and into life and show you the things that he has for your future. And thirdly just confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. So I'm gonna lead you in a prayer and if you want to give your life to Jesus Christ, if you want to pass from death to life, if you want to be the person in the fullness that God has for you, if you want to know the things that I've been speaking about not just in your head but in your heart and in the practical expression of your life, then I'm going to lead you in a prayer, a short prayer but just make it your own. Repeat these words after me out loud or in your heart, either way. Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you that you love me and you love me so much that you left your throne and you came into this world to die on a cross in my place to pay the price for all the wrong things that I have done. Thank you for making a way for me to come back home and be in a living relationship with the God who created me. Jesus Christ, I open my heart to you today and I ask you to come into my life and be my Lord and my Savior. I confess with my mouth this day that you are now Lord of my life. You have forgiven my sins that when I die, heaven will be my home and while I live, Jesus Christ will be my place of promise. Jesus, from this day forward, I have decided to follow you. Amen. If you just prayed that prayer and you really meant it from your heart, I'm going to ask you to text the word DECIDED to 88202. That's DECIDED to 88202 and somebody from our staff at Times Square Church will get in touch with you by text or email or even a telephone call depending on which way you want us to communicate with you. And even if you don't want us to contact you, please just text the word DECIDED to 88202 and let us rejoice with you at this new and wonderful life that God has just given you. If there's any young people out there that are making the choice to go into the fullness of what God has for your life and you're challenged by the word today to say there's so much more that God has for me, I want to encourage you to attend our Bible school at Summit International School of Ministry. I will be there this coming year. I'm going to be part of the staff. I'm going to be teaching from time to time. When I'm available and not traveling, I'll be teaching. And I want to speak in particular to those who feel a call of God on their life and share with you some of the things that I have learned over the years. And you can text the word SUMMIT to 484848. That's SUMMIT to 484848 and one of our staff there will get in touch with you and talk to you about the process for application and some things that might be available to help you to attend our Bible school. You need to be there, especially young people because this generation now needs you and needs your voice. God bless you. Love you so much. Thank God for you. This is the close of a chapter in my life. It's been a great chapter for both Pastor Theresa and myself. It's been awesome. We've made lifelong friends. And I mean that with all my heart. Lifelong friends. And I'm so looking forward to the next stage of our journey and the journey of Times Square Church. It's been such a pleasure. God bless you. Love you. I think we're going to have a blast from the past right now and that's how we're going to close it out. Love you so much. See you soon.