This is God. Can You Hear Me

And for everybody who's with us tonight online, welcome. Again, we greet you in the name of the Lord and we thank God for you. We thank God for the folks that take the time to be with us every week. And it's such a marvelous thing to be able to come into your living room, your church, your car, your apartment, wherever it is that you are tonight. It's just wonderful that we can be with you and be part of what God is doing in your life. Father, I thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for this opportunity this evening, God. I thank you, Lord, for the truth, Lord, that we sang about, about how great you are, oh God. As one of the psalmists once said, he said, "'It is time for you, Lord, to work, "'for they have made void your law.'" Father, I thank you in Jesus' name that you're going to do something powerful in the lives of somebody online, somebody who's here in this sanctuary, somebody who needs to know that you're still God, somebody who's in a darkened place and they don't know how to get out and are living in a hopeless despair and they're not quite sure about what the future is gonna bring into their lives. Jesus Christ, thank you for all that you're going to do. We give you the praise and we give you all the glory for your presence and the strength that you give to your word. In your precious name, amen and amen. I've given the title to the sharing that the Lord's given me tonight and it's called, This is God, Can You Hear Me? This is God, Can You Hear Me? If ever there was a generation that needs to hear the voice of God again, it's this generation that we're now living in. There's so many voices vying for the hearts and minds of men, women, and young people, so many opinions. There's no end to all of this speech and all of the words that are filling every room, every mind, every heart, halls of academia as we prayed about this evening and generally speaking, just into the minds of people everywhere. But there's one voice that is above every other voice and the scripture bears witness that that voice can make a way through the waters, that voice can make a way through the fire, through the floods, that voice can give each of us a perspective on why we were born, what our life is really all about. That voice can lead the way to freedom no matter how strong our enemies try to be all around us. There is a voice above every other voice. It is the voice of the one who created the universe just by the words of his mouth. The voice of the one who looked at a little clump of dust in the earth one day and said to that little piece of dust, breathe, and that dust became a living soul. It's the voice of one who came to get us and said, come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden. Come and learn of me, I'm meek and lowly and hard, you shall find rest for your souls. It's the voice of the one who cried with such a cry in his last breath on the cross on Calvary that even a hardened Roman centurion said, surely this must be the son of God because he had never heard a cry ever given at a moment of death like he had just heard. If ever there was a time that you and I need to hear the voice of God again, it's right now. If ever there's a time a generation needed to hear the voice of God, it's right now. And so I am appealing to the words of Jesus Christ himself who once said, whatever you ask in prayer, believing you shall receive. Have faith in God, he said in Mark 11. For truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be thou removed and be cast into the midst of the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that the things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says. And I say to you, whatever you ask in prayer, believing you shall receive. Time for you and I to stand on those words that were spoken by the mouth of the son of God. He cannot lie, he does not exaggerate, he does not embellish, he does not add anything to anything. What he says is absolute truth. And if he told me that whatever I ask in prayer, believing I shall receive, then I am believing God for a spiritual awakening in my generation. I'm believing that the powers of darkness are gonna be pushed one more time to the sides of the field as it is, and a straight path is gonna be made right through into the heart of God. I'm believing that God is going to raise up young men, women, older men and women that are gonna stand in the strength, the anointing of God's Holy Spirit. They're going to speak in unison with God and God's voice is going to be heard again in our generation. I believe this with all of my heart. I believe we're going to live to see a mercy moment in this generation. No matter what has come against anyone in this world that we're living in today, there's a moment of mercy that is coming our way. John chapter five, beginning of verse 24. Most assuredly, I say to you. Now, Jesus Christ never has to say most assuredly to anything. He never, he just does it to put an exclamation point. In other words, listen like you've never listened before. Truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death unto life. He who hears my word and believes in him, which is Christ himself, of course, and the price he paid for our sin on the cross has everlasting life. Most assuredly, I say to you, verse 25, the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear shall live. So there's two things he speaks about in this verse. The hour is coming, so there's a future time when the dead are going to hear the voice of God and now is. There's a present time when those who are dead in trespass and sin can hear the voice of God again and live. Thank God. As the father has life in himself, so he's granted the son to have life in himself and has given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the son of man. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation. The hour is coming. The hour is coming, folks, when everybody who ever lived will live again. The hour is coming when everybody who's gone into the grave and it doesn't matter if you drowned at sea, if somebody drowned at sea was eaten by 100,000 fish and served as sushi in some restaurant somewhere, it doesn't matter. God knows where every molecule of your body is and when he says come back together and come to life, you will come back together and you will come to life. Everybody who's ever been born into the world, great and small, rich and poor, educated, uneducated, powerful and people who felt they had no significance in this world, people, the arrogant, who felt they could live their lives without God and somehow end up at a utopian end will one day be raised from the dead and they will stand before the throne of a holy and almighty God. John, the beloved apostle, he wrote down what God had revealed to him about what this day is going to look like for some. Revelation chapter 20, verse 11, he said, I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it from whose face the earth and heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. There's no place to hide, folks. When he calls you back from the dead, there's nowhere to hide. Adolf Hitler will not be able to hide from God. There's all kinds of people who are not gonna be able to hide. They're gonna stand there before the one who created them and has the right to give them life eternally or eternally with God or eternally without God. And I saw the dead, John said, small and great standing before God and the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. And death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. The hour is coming and now is. And the dead will hear. Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear will live. They will be brought back into life as it is, some into eternity with God and some into eternal punishment. That is the reality of what every one of us in this place and listening online will one day face in the future. But Jesus said these words. In verse 24, he said, most assuredly I say to you that he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life. He who hears me, not then, but now. In other words, this is God. He's saying, can you hear my voice? Can anyone hear me? This is God. I'm still calling out to the people in this world who still have an opportunity to believe that God the Father sent me to die on a cross, a horrible death to pay the price for the wrong that you have done so that you may go free from the wrong you have done against God, which the Bible calls sin, that you can go free if you can hear the voice of God and not be afraid of that day of justice, not be afraid of that day when you stand one day at the throne of God. You can be free from the fear of death. Jesus in John chapter 11 said these words to a lady called Martha. He said to her, your brother who had died, of course, will rise again. And Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. In other words, I know that one day he will live again. But Jesus said, was saying to her in essence, I'm not talking about living again then, I'm talking about the fact that I can raise people from the dead now. I can raise people out of the death and power of sin. I can raise them out of darkness. I can raise them out of impossible places. I can break their captivity. And we sang about it tonight. I can cause them to dance on what danced over their heads. I can cause them to dance upon the chains that once tried to bring them into bondage and bind them forever. But Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. I am. And he who believes in me, though he may die, yet he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? In other words, he's talking about now. I'm telling you now I am the resurrection and the life. I have the power now to call you out of death. I have the power to bring you into freedom. I have the power to roll the stone away from that you or somebody else put over your life, telling you there's no hope for the future. In other words, he's saying, this is God. Can you hear me? Can you hear me calling you now? There's nothing in the heart of God that wants to judge you one day. Listen to me, somebody online tonight. You're hearing these words and you're saying in your heart, oh, could this be true? Is it possible? Yes, it's possible. Jesus Christ was there in the beginning. By him, all things that have been created were created. He was sent by the father to die in your place on the cross. And if you can hear his voice, he can call you out of darkness and into everlasting life with himself. He can free you from your sin. He can cleanse you from that which separates you from God for eternity. If you can hear his voice, he's calling out to you when you're doing things you shouldn't be doing. He's calling out to you when you're in places you shouldn't be in. He's calling out to you when you're watching things you shouldn't be watching. He's calling out to you when you're thinking things you ought not to think. When you're making plans you shouldn't be making. He's calling out to you when you've given into despair that he doesn't want to rule and reign in your life. And he says to Martha again, did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? I'm telling you I can raise the dead. I'm telling you I can give life to you in your situation, Jesus says to you. Did I not say to you, if you would believe, you would see God do in your life what only God can do. You would be brought back to life. As a matter of fact, the Bible says you would be made into a new creation. The old things that once governed your life would die, would pass away and all things would become new. That's the promise of the word of God. I've come to give you life, Jesus said, and give it to you more abundantly, more abundantly than you ever could have hoped or dreamt that your life could be. I've come to give you life, eternal life in heaven with God and a reason to live here on the earth. You don't have to give in to imprisonment or despair in your life any longer. Did I not say that if you would believe that you would see the glory of God. In Hebrews chapter seven in the Bible, or chapter three rather, verse seven to nine says, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says today, if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tested me and tried me and saw my works for 40 years. Today, if you can hear my voice, Jesus says, don't harden your heart. Don't say tonight it can't be me, that this man standing here is talking about it can't be me. Don't say that you have gone too far. It doesn't matter what anybody else has said about your life. Maybe they said you're a loser. They declared you to be a forever liar. Maybe they declared you to be a thief or just an undesirable person. Whatever it is they said about you, there's always people willing to put you away in a grave and literally declare you dead before you die. But there's still one voice that loves you. There's still one voice that calls out to you. There's still one. And actually it's the one who created you. The one who's going to raise everyone one day from the dead. And many are going to stand at a throne just to face the judgment of God. But he's essentially saying, if you will believe, you don't have to be afraid on any day like that. Your name will be written in a book which the Bible calls the book of life. Those that have turned to God, they were able to hear his voice. When you heard him calling, you just stood up and you started moving towards his voice. Don't make it complicated. Don't make it complicated. As a matter of fact, you can hear him calling you, can't you? I'm talking to somebody tonight. You can actually hear him. It's a faint whisper, but you feel something drawing you out of where you are into someplace maybe you've always longed to be but never believed you could be. The one who's calling you is the one who created you and has the power to forgive you and raise you out of that place where now you are under, in a sense, the judgment of death and sin because of the way you've chosen to live and the things you've allowed into your life. But God's son has the power in himself. I am the resurrection, he said to Martha. I am the life. And if somebody believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And then he said to her, do you believe this? It's amazing. I say to you tonight, do you believe this? Do you believe that God can give you life from the dead? Do you believe that he can break the chains or are you just gonna sing about it? Or do you actually believe it? I challenge you tonight, take that step of faith. If you can hear him calling you, don't harden your heart. Don't say, no, it can't be God or it can't be me or I'll never change or I'm always destined to be in this place for all of eternity. Don't fall to that lie. Lazarus did something that you need to do tonight. He was all wrapped up in death. He had died and the custom was to put spices all around a dead body so it wouldn't stink really and just wrap it all up and put it in the grave with grave clothes. And he was all wrapped up and there's not much he could do but obviously he could still move his feet. Maybe he couldn't take long strides and sometimes we think when we come in the kingdom of God, we've gotta take these big long strides somehow, walk out of death and right into this incredible victory. Well, he didn't really when he was raised from the dead by the voice of the son of God, his steps were most likely very short and that's the way your walk is gonna start. It's gonna be day by day, little by little, line by line but as he began to walk, the command of Christ came to those around him and he told them, he said, loose him and let him go. In other words, that which bound you, that which wrapped itself in death around your life suddenly begins to be unwound around you and then your stride gets to be a little more confident. The testimony of your life is a little more pronounced. Your future is a little more assured. As a matter of fact, later on, the scripture tells us that Lazarus was sitting at the table with Jesus and people were coming mostly to see Lazarus, believe it or not, and also to encounter Jesus who had raised him from the dead. The scripture says because of Lazarus, they were coming to that place where Jesus was and I'm telling you, because of what God will do in your life if you will hear his voice, others will come to Jesus because of you. Your family will come. The loved ones you write in about that you're so concerned about will also come. People will see the change in your life and they will look at you and say, how is it possible that you so changed? Now, it didn't happen in a day necessarily, but we saw the change over time and how is it possible that you so changed? And your answer to them will be, well, it's Jesus Christ, the son of God. You see, I heard his voice. I heard his voice. It was a Wednesday night. It was November in the year 2023. And somehow I was listening to this message. I was listening to people pray about college students that they're believing can be brought back to life as well again. And I was listening to somebody speak from the word of God and suddenly I heard a voice. This is God, can you hear me? Jesus stood in that graveyard and he told the people, roll away that stone, that place of death, that impossibility, just roll that impossible place away. And he just said, Lazarus, come forth. Come out Lazarus, in other words, come towards me. Come towards the sound of my voice. And if you can hear him calling you, if you understand the depth of how much he loves you and what he did for you when he took your place on a cross 2,000 years ago. You know, some people say to me sometimes, why hasn't God, the Bible does say that one day he's going to literally fold up the earth and the heavens and recreate a new heavens and a new earth. Why doesn't he do that? Why hasn't he done that already? The only answer I have to that question is that he has been waiting for you. He's been waiting for you. He knew you'd be listening to this tonight or tomorrow, whatever your time zone is. He knew you'd be listening to the service. He knew you would hear this message. He knew and because he foreknew that you would be here tonight or tomorrow, he's waited. He's waited because he loves you. Don't make it complicated. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. You know, you can take the world out of that verse and you put your name in there. God so loved Alice. God so loved John that he gave his only begotten son. And tonight, if you could hear his voice, the voice of the one who created you, the voice of the one who has all power, the voice of the one who is the resurrection and the life, the voice of the one who can forgive you of every wrong thing you've ever done that has caused you to be separated from the life that God has for you, the voice of the one who told you, when you turn to him, he says, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. The voice of the one who one day when you are raised from the dead and you are standing before the throne of God in whatever capacity that's going to be, the voice of the one who's not going to judge you for the things you've done, those things will have passed away because you trusted in Jesus Christ for your salvation. But he will look you in the eye and he will say, well done, good and faithful servant. Well done. You heard me. You began to walk with me. You let me touch those areas of your life that you thought could never change. You began to read my words to you. You began to believe them. And you began to believe that I had the ability to transform you into the person that you were actually created to be before sin destroyed that and brought you under the power of death. Well done, good and faithful servant. You may have not done a whole lot of big things in the sight of people in the world, but God looks at you and says, well done, because you heard my voice. And because you heard it, you live. Oh, hallelujah. How wonderful it is to know that one day you and I stand at the throne of God and we don't have to be afraid. How wonderful it is that we'll be suspended there and there's nobody, there's no army that can save anybody there. You're suspended by the power of Almighty God and you're standing there and all you can feel is the incredible depth of his love for you, which is for all of eternity. So tonight, if you can hear his voice, don't harden your heart. Don't stay in your grave. Be like Lazarus did. Just get up and start to walk forward. Admit that you can't save yourself. You know, a lot of people listening online right now, you're listening and say, hey, I got that one down. I know I'm a sinner. Nobody has to convince me of that. I know the way I live. I know how I think and I'm everything other than what, at least I partly understand I should be. And believe that God sent his son to die for you in your place that you might be forgiven and have everlasting life. And just confess it with your mouth. Don't make it difficult. Jesus, thank you for dying for me. Thank you for opening your heart to me. From this day forward, I trust you will give me the strength I need to be a forever follower of you. Hallelujah, hallelujah. I don't know who it is I'm talking to tonight out there, but I'm happy for you tonight. I feel something in here. I'm happy for you. Pray this prayer with me right now. Pray it by faith. Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for loving me. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for paying the price for my sin. You suffered the punishment I deserved and you promised me that I would be forgiven when I opened my heart to you. So that's what I do tonight. I open my heart to you and I invite you into my life to be my Lord and to be my savior. I will walk with you, Jesus, as you show me the way forward. And I will believe you for the strength to be the person that you have destined me to be. Thank you for loving me, for saving me, and for receiving me. I believe tonight that I am now a child of God. I don't have to be afraid of death because eternal life is before me in heaven with God. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Praise God. If you prayed that tonight, text the word decided to 51,000. That's gonna be your first act of faith tonight. Text the word decided, 51,000. You'll get a video from Times Square Church and we'll talk to you about what do I do now? Where do I go from here? We have a lot of help available for you. Do that. And then if you have a chance, get some bread or some juice in your house and we're gonna have communion together. Now, communion is just celebrating the victory that Jesus won for you on the cross. And we're gonna celebrate tonight and we're gonna celebrate for you. Thank you for deciding tonight and joining the numbers of people every week. If you look in the comments, if you go to Facebook and just look at the comments, you'll see, after tonight's service, you'll see decided, decided, decided, decided, decided. There's so many people that will come through to the salvation of Jesus Christ tonight. Let us know that you've done that. God bless you. We'll be back to share communion together in just a moment after this song. ♪ Bless you, Lord, so I could live ♪ ♪ In the freedom you died for ♪ ♪ Life is yours and I will sing of your goodness ♪ ♪ Forevermore worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy, worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Be exalted now in the heavens ♪ ♪ As your glory fills this place ♪ ♪ You alone deserve our praise ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that 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 heat 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 covenant in my blood. And 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. In other words, you proclaim your trust in his redemption until the day he comes and takes us all home to him. And what a day that's gonna be. It's not a day of fear for us. It's not a day of sorrow. It's not a day of trepidation. It's a day of incredible awe and wonder. It's a day of basking in the most beautiful, brilliant love that any of us have ever known and ever will know. What a day that is going to be. We're gonna close in prayer before Pastor Pavel comes. Dr. Theresa Conlon's gonna close us in prayer tonight in giving thanks for what God is doing and what God is about to do in the days ahead of us. Lord, Jesus Christ, you are our resurrection and you are our life. You're our life in this life and you're our life in eternal life. You are nothing but life. So tonight we celebrate that. We thank you for every person, Lord, that has heard your voice tonight, that recognize it was God speaking. And they, Lord, are believing. I thank you no matter how hobbled or how bound that person is, Lord. You are life and they are moving towards you, Lord. I think you're gonna unwrap so many lives tonight. You're gonna unwrap so many lives on our campuses. You're going to unwrap so many bound lives, O God, in the days to come because you are life. So I thank you tonight as we celebrate you, Jesus, that you are our resurrection from death to life and ever so will be. We proclaim the freedom of life over this nation, over the campuses on this nation. We speak your life, O God, that is greater than the death that is trying to swallow so many in. And we believe you tonight. You will be our miracle. You will be our life, O God. I thank you, Lord. Unleash our tongues to speak of you. Unleash our hearts to praise you. Unleash our spirits to pray to you, O God. And I thank you, you will be heard, you will be found, and you will save us, O God, and many in this nation. So we thank you, Lord, for your word going forth. Make us all preachers because if we preach, people will get saved. I thank you tonight for the filling of the Holy Spirit over your body, the church. You will be faithful to us and you will allow us, O God, to speak life and counter the death over this nation. There is a hope because you live. There is a hope because you are our life. There is a hope because you are the hope. And I thank you tonight. I give you all the glory for what you're doing, for touching us in worship, in prayer, and in the word, O God. Receive all the glory and we celebrate you, our life, tonight. And all God's people said, amen and amen. Hallelujah.