Getting Ready for the Next Move 0F God

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626.

Many of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. The Gospel of John, chapter 11. Very familiar, famous story.

I want to talk to you tonight about getting ready for the next move of God. Getting ready for the next move of God. And John, chapter 11.

I'll pick it up at verse 32. Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled.

And he said, where have you laid him? And they said to him, come and see. Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept.

And so the Jews were saying, behold, how he loved him. But some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of him who was blind have kept this man also from dying? Jesus therefore again, being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave and a stone was lying against it.

And Jesus said, remove the stone. And you see, you gotta remove the stone to get ready for the next move of God. Remove the stone.

Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be a stench for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, did I not say to you if you believe, you will see the glory of God? And so they moved the stone. I believe, I hope you'll agree with this opening statement that God is up to something.

As we view worldwide events at the end of 1989 and in the beginning of the decade of the 90s, it is very evident God is up to something. We are on the verge of some kind of prophetic door opener entering into the last days of the last days. I don't know exactly what the crumbling of communism means.

You may have heard that in Russia they're about to vote a plurality of governments or parties. And so we've seen the crumbling of communism, the crushing of the Berlin Wall, the apparent reunification or steps toward the reuniting of two Germanys, and the Eastern European nations turning from communism and embracing a Western form of government or democracy. And I believe that it means something as far as the unfolding of God's plan for the nations and the end time.

God is up to something. I believe also that the world spotlight will soon turn to Israel. Now the attention is on the demise of communism, but never take your eyes off of Israel.

As goes Israel, so goes the ticking of God's prophetic clock. I do believe the events now in Europe and Russia has resulted in a number of seconds where it's ticking off what I like to call the prophetic clock. Now that clock probably is set now somewhere between 11.55 and 12 o'clock midnight.

And when it strikes midnight, Christ is going to return. And it will no longer be p.m., it will be a.m. And do you know what a.m. means? We sing it here from the scripture, joy cometh in the morning. A.m. is the morning.

And the morning refers to past midnight when we shall see Jesus face to face. And that's also the meaning of the word joy. As I said, no one can know for sure what current world events mean as to how close we are to the end, but we're very, very close.

And I'm ready, very ready for God's next move. Now regardless of our inability to know the exact timetable of God's next prophetic move, and regardless of what the devil does in reaction to that move, and by the way, remember, God never reacts, he always acts. The devil has to react to what God acts.

And regardless of how the devil reacts, one thing I know for sure, it's as one fellow said, I read the last chapter in the Bible, we win. We win. And actually Jesus wins, and if you're on his side, and if you're open to his move in your life, then he's gonna take you over the goal line with you.

Hallelujah. My son told me the other day about a Christian song currently making the rounds, sung by a well-known Christian singer, and I thought it was interesting. He shared this with me.

And he told me that it deals with a conversation between Satan and his demons. And the demons report that there is trouble in the land. And so Satan wants to know what it is, what's the cause of the trouble, and he says, is there trouble in our abortion clinics? And the demons said, no, that's all fine, we kill 4,000 unborn a day.

And Satan says, is there something wrong with my pet project, television violence? And the demons said, no, no, we got that covered, from videos to cartoons. And Satan says, is there a disturbance in my false religions? And the devil says no, or the demons said no, business is booming. And so Satan wants to know, well, what's the problem? And the answer comes back, sir, the saints are on their knees praying.

And then Satan says, well, it's time to launch my final, most vicious attack. I'll just remind the saints of their past, how they were liars and they were cheaters and they were manipulators and they were moochers. And the demons answered and said, but sir, you know what will happen if you remind saints of their past.

And Satan says, and what is that? He said, if you remind the saints of their past, they're gonna remind you of your future. Yes, what a glorious future we have. Now, I bet you thought that this was gonna be a prophetic message.

Well, you're wrong. You see, we must prepare, we must be prepared and prepare ourselves for our glorious future. The only way to be ready for God's next move in the church and in the world is to get ready for his next move in your own life.

And that's what this message is all about. You see, we are to be a moving people. We must never be standing still or neutral or stationary in God.

When Joshua told the children of Israel and what he told them applies to us. In Joshua 3.3, it says this, don't turn there. It says, when you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, then you shall go after it.

And a few verses later, it says, for you have not passed this way before. Now listen, if you've passed the way before, wherever you're passing right now, if you've passed that way before, it means you're going in circles. And the Lord doesn't want us to go in circles.

He wants us continually to move on and forward. And whether you've been saved one day, one week, one month, one year or 30 years, get ready. Get ready for the next move of God in your life.

We are either moving forward and onward or we're moving backwards. Proverbs 4.18 says, but the path of the just is as a shining light that shineth, and this is the part that I like, it shineth more and more unto the perfect day. And oh yes, it does shine more and more, but listen, unless you and I are walking in the light as he is in the light, we cannot be moving into the more and more and the unfolding of his revelation to us and in us.

And that's what God wants. And oh, I don't know about you, but it makes it so exciting. I'm still moving on.

I've been born and raised in the faith and in Pentecost, but I'm still moving on, praise God. The light shines more and more. Now let me take you to an example of how to get ready for the next move of God in your life.

The story of Lazarus is a wonderful example of how to get ready for the next move of God. Now, if you want God to call forth his purposes in your life, as he called forth and brought forth Lazarus, if you want him to call forth his purposes in your life, then you must do what they did here. And that is to remove the stone.

God's next move in our lives comes only if we remove the stone. And that's the very essence of my message. Now, there are some cast of characters in the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead.

That need to be brought to our attention or at least I never really paid much attention to them before. I preached on Mary and I preached on Martha and their reaction to Lazarus' death and the reaction of the disciples, but I never focused in and saw this other secondary cast of characters because they're very interesting. Because there was a group of mourners friends, relatives, neighbors who came and made some comments when Jesus came on the scene and I read them to you in my scriptures tonight.

And I see among them three types of people. Three people whom the Lord also addressed. When he said remove the stone, he was speaking to this group.

And I classify them this way. There are three of them. One I call the realist.

The realist. Second in the group was what I call the optimist. And the third is the pessimist.

And you're gonna see, I want you to see within these three things certain characteristics in our own life. And the first one I call the realist. Now when Jesus came on the scene and he saw the depth of the grief and the flow of tears, look again at verse 37 that he was deeply troubled or moved within, I think verse 33 it was and Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews came with her also.

He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled. And the first group came to him and he said to them, he said, where have you laid him? And this first group answered back and said Lord come and see. Come and see.

Now that group is what I call the realist. And the dictionary defines a realist as a person concerned with real things and practical matters rather than those that are imaginary or visionary. And so a realist is one who sees things as they really are.

The optimist sees things as he would hope them to be or he always sees the best side of everything. And the pessimist, you know what the pessimist is, he always sees the worst in everything and in everybody. For example, if an optimist, a pessimist and a realist are riding in a car and the gas gauge is right in the middle, you know what the optimist says.

He says well we're half full. The pessimist says we're half empty and probably the gauge doesn't work right. And so they argue back and forth as to what they're going to do.

The realist speaks up and says hey, there's a station right up over here. Why don't we go and fill up so you two guys can go and shut up. In our family I'm usually the realist.

I'm usually the realist except when we travel. When we travel, I hate to stop. I hate to stop to fuel the car or to fuel the stomach.

And my wife becomes a realist and I become the optimist because whenever the tank comes on, the light comes on that says your tank is almost empty, I always tell my wife well there's at least two more gallons in there and I know a cheaper station up the way. And when lunch time comes, I say well we'll just go 20 more miles which becomes about 40 more miles. Now also I'm a realist when it comes to money.

My wife is the optimist. You see when we pay the bills, I finish paying the bills at the end of the month and I have $100 left over, I say well let's save it. We'll put it in the bank and next month if we get another $100 we'll put that aside and month after that and year after year and I say honey, we'll have a little retirement.

But you see my wife, she's the optimist. She says you're the one that's singing soon and very soon. Why leave it for the devil? Let's spend it.

I knew I was going home alone tonight anyhow. My wife has to leave early. Well I don't happen to agree with my wife on that point.

But when it comes to other problems and situations in our lives, sometimes being a realist is a hindrance to faith and this is a stone that needs to be removed and let me explain it. When the mourners at Lazarus, we could call it a wake, when the mourners said, Jesus said where have you laid him? And they said come and see. They were being very practical.

They were being realist but they were not being men of faith. They were saying in essence come and see, come and see the grave. Come see for yourself.

Lazarus is dead and they accepted the reality and finality of Lazarus' death and they apparently were inviting Jesus to come and to pay his last respects to a situation that was a closed case or a closed casket. But you see there is a lesson to be learned from this. Be careful how you view the sorrows in your life Be careful how you view the sadness or the sickness or the tragedy or the trials in your own life because you can take on a realist attitude, an acceptance attitude as it were a come and see attitude and this can become an attitude of self pity, of resignation, of acceptance and of finality and such realism can destroy your faith.

Now you see there are times when we must be realistic and accept the finality of certain things but I believe that there are other times when we give in too soon to certain things. We give in too soon and we accept what God does not want us to accept and we close the door to a situation that God hasn't closed and he says remove that approach remove that attitude that's a stone you'll prevent me from moving in your life if you view things that way. When Jesus said remove the stone the realist was at the stone and Jesus spoke to him and he speaks to someone here tonight who has given in to self pity or you've given in to accepting a personal defeat and you've said it's all over and the Lord would say to you tonight remove that stone and get ready because I can enter in and I can move into that situation.

You see the words come and see can mean Lord come and see what you did to me. Come and see Lord the mess that you made for me. In fact isn't that wasn't that Martha's attitude? Mary said Lord if you had been here you would have not died.

I believe that was a statement of faith. Martha said the same thing but it wasn't faith. And so it is here.

They say come and see and it can mean Lord see what you did to me. See how you failed me. See my plight.

Some people go around wanting everybody else to come and see their tragedy or sorrow. Not so that somebody can pray for them but that so somebody can pity them. I remember when I was a little fella I got a real bad burn one time on my back.

And so it was all bandaged up and everything and I remember I left my shirt off. I left my t-shirt off and I prayed it all around the neighborhood. And I wanted everybody to see I had a big burn.

And I had a great big boo-boo and I wanted everybody to have pity on me. And finally the neighbor lady came to me and she said you're very proud of that aren't you? And even as a little fella I realized what I was doing. Have you ever seen people like that? Have you ever been a person like that? Going around look at my boo-boo.

Look what's happened to me. And you see some people go around parading their hurts. Parading some so-called injustice.

Parading around some little pet peeve. And you know when a man has a pet peeve it's remarkable how often he pets it. Remove the stone of self-pity so God can bring forth his purposes in your life so that he can take you on more and more towards his perfect will for you.

You remember John was sulked under a withering gourd. Elijah was bitter under a juniper tree. Job complained on the ash pile.

And each of them in their own way were having a pity party. And you know when you have a pity party there's only one party there. And that's yourself.

And if anybody else is there if they're smart enough they'll get out of there as soon as they can. And that's, even men of God have had that. And pity parties have only one person at the party and it's the sulker.

And while he sulks he says God you're not producing for me. But I want to tell you there's a cure for self-pity. And the cure for self-pity is the mind of Christ who emptied himself and took on the form of a servant wherefore God highly exalted him.

In other words, get your eyes off of your situation. Get it off of that. Remove that stone of self-pity so that God can come through into your life.

If you indulge in self-pity and the luxury of self-pity and see self-pity is a luxury. It's kind of a luxury. You know, I remember when I was a kid when I would get sick I'd get all kinds of attention.

And then when I got better it was business as usual. And so you kind of wanted to linger on the sickness you know, for a while. And I've seen people, the reason they can't get healed is because their situation has been a means of saying come and see, come and see, come and see.

And it becomes a focus. And if you indulge in self-pity and the luxury of self-pity it means that you have forgotten that you have been purged from your old sins and that you have put on a new man in accordance with the life of the Son of God in you. And so there is the realist at the tomb.

And then secondly, I see the optimist in the crowd. Look at verse 35. It says, Jesus wept.

And so the Jews were saying, behold how he loved him. Now the dictionary describes the optimist as one who takes the most hopeful or cheerful view of matters or expects the best possible outcome. And so here was a group seeing Jesus weeping over a very sad situation and they try to make the best of it and to see the best in everything and so they say, why my goodness Jesus must have loved him very, very much.

You see, an optimist practices looking on the bright side of everything. He looks at life through rose-colored glasses. Everybody else sees the gauge half empty, he sees it half full.

The economy may be bad, but he says it's only temporary. You tell the optimist you're sick, he says at least you're not dead. You tell him your car's broke down, he says you ought to be glad you got a car.

You tell him you're losing your apartment, he says be glad you didn't lose your job. Ever know anybody like that? Now the trouble sometimes with the optimist is that he denies reality and he or she practices a lot of self-denying by living in an unreal world of self-made cheer, self-made brightness and false hope. And you see, that is often practiced in the church and among believers.

Jesus spoke of those who look at the indications of the weather and they say, oh, it's going to be fair tomorrow. And this is what I call the fair weather Christian. Everything can be going wrong in their home, everything can be going wrong in their marriage, in their personal walk with God, things are out of order because there's sin, there's disorder, there's disobedience.

But you ask them how they're doing, how are you doing? And they say, oh, everything's wonderful, everything's fine. But of course you know it's not. And storms are breaking out all around them and they say, oh, the weather is just beautiful.

And these are the people who say, oh, I know that God loves me. And just like the Jews said, oh, look how Jesus loved Lazarus. Now it's true that he loved Lazarus and it's true that he loves you.

But if you've got death inside of you, if you're living in sin, then Jesus loves you. But he does not love the condition of your soul any more than he loved the condition of Lazarus' body in the grave. And if you're to get ready for the next move of God in your life, you may need to remove a stone of denial and get real and get honest before God.

And until you move that stone, until you get honest before God, he can't move in your life the way that he desires to. Turn to Matthew the 16th chapter, if you will. Matthew the 16th chapter.

Here Jesus warns us about looking at the wrong signs in our life as proofs of his love. And there are people I see today in the church that are very typical of what Jesus talked about here in Matthew the 16th chapter. He answered and said unto them, when it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red.

And in the morning it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but can you not discern the signs of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. Do you know the sign that many in the church are following today? It's the sign of red sky at night, sailors delight.

These are the Christians who believe that peace and prosperity is a sign of God's blessing and God's love. And so that's all they ever see. That's all they ever look for.

And preachers tell them that the sky is red. The sky is the limit. You can have whatever you want from God, materially speaking.

And every message and the only message some preachers preach is the red sky message. They tell people everything is all right. And they teach Christians to look for such signs, but they don't teach them to look for Jesus.

Of optimism, but not of faith. And there is a great deal of difference between a man-made optimism and a God-given faith. And I'm seeing more and more that some of the so-called prosperity or faith preachers are not really faith preachers.

They're mere success motivators. They're optimists. They're cheerleaders who are blinding the eyes of their followers to the fact that there may be a stone in front of their door and that Jesus will not come inside until that stone is removed and that the resurrected man can come forth out of their lives.

Matthew 16, verse 4 says, an evil, adulterous generation seeks after a sign. He said, oh, yes, and a sign will be given it. Will not be given it except the sign of Jonah.

And Jesus, of course, is referring to himself. Jonah is a type of Christ in that he was swallowed up, as in death, but he was also resurrected. And the only sign that we are to follow is Jesus, not your feelings, not self-made optimism, and certainly not the teachers or preachers who say all is well, all is well.

They prophesy a fair weather, but they never ever tell you that you have to remove anything from your life, remove any stones before he can come into your heart. Look at verse 4, note verse 4, the last sentence. It says, and he left them and he went away.

Oh, that strikes fear in my heart. I never want Jesus to leave me or depart because I'm not discerning a problem. I'm not seeing something within me that God wants to get at or deal with in order for him to bring about the next move in my life.

I don't want to close him out so that he has to depart and move on. Now thirdly, note the pessimist. This is represented in Martha.

However, she was probably not the only pessimist in the crowd. I believe she's a representative person. When Jesus said, remove the stone, listen to what her reaction is.

She is aghast at the very thought of it. She says, Lord, by this time there will be a stench for he has been dead four days. Martha, you see, is the classical, typical pessimist.

Now the dictionary defines pessimism as the tendency to expect misfortune or the worst outcome on any circumstances. The practice of looking at the dark side of things. And also, the pessimist is a complainer.

In verse 21, Martha lets Jesus know how upset she is. She said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Now, when Jesus says, roll back the stone, Martha does not see that as a positive sign.

She does not see that as something positive or hopeful. She sees and expects the worst. All she can think about is how it's going to smell.

You see, this is a picture of the pessimist. This is a picture of how many people live. Life is very difficult.

Life for the pessimist is very difficult. Not only do they see the dark side in everything and in everybody, for them, life, if you'll pardon the expression, life is a stinker. Life is a stench.

This stinks and that stinks and he stinks and she stinks and everybody else, they see the worst, they smell the worst in everything and everybody. Now, do you know people that have that kind of attitude problem? You see, among non-Christians, it is called pessimism. Among Christians, it is called unbelief.

We know it was unbelief in Martha because Jesus spoke directly to her and to her unbelief. In verse 40, Jesus said to her, Jesus said to her, Oh, that's another stone that has to be removed. The stone of unbelief.

You see, it was not Lazarus that had a stench. It was Martha. If there's anything that turns God away, it's the smell of doubt and unbelief.

Jesus said to Martha, He's referring back already. He had said previously to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall live even if he dies and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this? And she said to him, Yes, Lord. I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, even he who comes into the world. In other words, she makes a very theological statement.

She said, Oh, yes. It's in our doctrine. It's in our creeds.

But that's not what Jesus asked her. He asked her again. He comes again.

And he said, I say to you again, did I not say to you, if you, Martha, believe, if you, Martha, believe today, today you shall see the glory of God. And I say to you tonight, just like Martha, do you stand before a tomb? Do you stand before a situation, pardon the expression, that stinks, that's not a very pleasant thing, something that has left a stench in your soul? Well, then the Lord has the same message tonight for you that he had for Martha, and it is this, if you believe, you shall see the glory of God. Hallelujah.

Now, what happened when the stone was removed? Verse 41, that little line in my Bible that says, and so, and so they removed the stone. After all of their arguments, after all of their resistance, they removed it. And you see, when the stone of self-pity or the stone of self-assurance or false hope and unbelief is removed, God is able to take the next step in our lives.

Do you know what God's next move in your life or what he wants it to be in your life? What he wants to do in and for every one of us? This is what I believe it is, and it's in this story, and I see myself in this story. I believe that he wants to bring forth a new man. He wants to bring forth a new man.

Lazarus went into the grave a dead man. He came out a live man. He went in bound, but he came out free.

And tonight, if you're here and you are dead in your trespasses and sins, then I want you to know that that stone, if it's drug addiction, if it's homosexuality, if it's lust, whatever your stone represents, if you will let him move it, if you say, yes, I want it moved, then Christ can call forth a new man out of your tomb. Hallelujah. That new man is called a new creature in Christ Jesus.

But listen, the call to Lazarus is not just to the enslaved sinner. It's to all of us. At any stage of our spiritual walk, God is wanting to call forth a new work, a new thing, a new revelation, a new change.

Hallelujah. 2 Corinthians 3, 18. But it says, But we all, with open faith, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.

Didn't Jesus say to Martha, If you believe, ye shall see the glory of God. And Paul says that glory is for us. Remove the stone so that the glory will go into the grave and Lazarus can come forth.

And Paul says those who behold the glory are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord. Another translation of the same verse goes like this. It says, We are transformed in ever, I like this.

We are transformed in ever increasing splendor into his own image. And the transformation comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. We are a people who are constantly in process.

I remember a young convert spoke to me as I was going out of the church one day. And I said, How you doing? He said, Well, he said, The Lord's really, really digging deep. He's really getting down at some things.

He said, Does it ever stop? I said, No, it doesn't. It never stops. Oh, you know, it's a different degrees, but it never stops.

Listen, we're always in process. Like the caterpillar turning into the butterfly, we're continually emerging from one level to the next, from one change to the next. Think of it tonight.

Consider, consider where and what the Lord has already brought some of you from. The scriptures speak of what we once were. It uses terms like this.

It calls us, it talks about the man of corruption. It talks about the wretched man. It talks about the unrighteous man, the vain man, the natural man, the defiled man.

But you see, when you confess your sins and when you gave yourself to the Lord, Jesus interceded for you before the Father and a Lazarus began to come forth. Hallelujah. And who is this Lazarus? Listen to how the scriptures describes it.

When old things pass away and behold, all things become new. Here's just a few examples. We go from being an old man to a new man or woman.

We go from a dead man to a raised man. We go from a carnal man to a mature man. We go from an optimist to a man of faith.

We go from being a double-minded man to singleness of heart. We go from living on the outward man to living by the inward man of which the inward man is renewed day by day. We go from a man of flesh to a man of the spirit.

And the Lord is taking us from being a man or woman of little stature unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Or what about putting off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, a man whose conversation is ungodly. And we put that off so that ye can put on the new man which after God is created to righteousness and true holiness.

Or some of you, he's taken you from being an angry man, an angry woman, and he's made you a gentle man and a gentle woman, hallelujah. I could go on and on describing the man of God that we are ever emerging into. Philippians 3.12 says, Not that I have already laid hold of it or that I am already perfect, but I am pressing on in hope of winning the mastery as Christ Jesus has won the mastery over me.

Hallelujah. You see the Lord is calling forth a church today. He's calling forth a people without spot or wrinkle.

And he wants you therefore to get ready for the next move of God in your life. And that means removing the stone so that he can take every spot, he can press out every wrinkle, hallelujah. It says, Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we are ever laying aside one garment and putting on a new one in Christ. One more verse and I'm going to close with this. Look at verse 44.

Verse 44. And I close. Well, verse 43.

And when he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And not only has Lazarus come forth, but he keeps coming forth. And then it says, And he who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with cloth.

And Jesus said to them, Unbind him and let him go. I see that's what the Lord is doing in some of you. The Lord's unbinding you.

In fact, he is continuing. He is continually unbinding the grave clothes of the old man, the man of sin, and perfecting the new man. This is a continual process.

I look back over my life. I was thinking, praying about this today. I look back over my life, and I have left a trail of grave clothes.

I've left a trail of them. Starting when I was about a teenager, and I guess for the last umpteen years or so, thirty-some years, whatever it is, the Lord has been unbinding me, loosing me from that old man. And he keeps unbinding me.

He keeps unwrapping me. And you know what I believe, Brother Bob and Brother Jimmy, I believe there's a man of God down in here somewhere. I believe if I keep letting him unbind me, I'm going to finally get there, hallelujah.

And he's going to keep unbinding us. Get ready, get ready for the next move of God in your life. He wants to unbind you and let you go.

Have you ever got one of those gifts? You open it up, and it is a package. And you open that up, and in it is another package. And you open that up, and there's another, you know, you feel a little silly, and you get a little mad, and you keep going and keep going, and finally, you know, it's a great big box, but it's a very little thing.

Ah, but listen, that's, I see, I see that's the process that I'm talking about. The Lord keeps opening, and he keeps, there's a gift inside there somewhere, hallelujah. And one day, one day, I'm going to be able to present it.

One day, I want to be able to present a perfect man unto him. A man that walks, oh, I don't mean a sinless man, but I want to be that man who's living in the full stature of Christ, hallelujah. And you know, you know, when we, when this service is over, and you're all out of here, we have a crew that goes through here.

I don't know when they do it, but they clean up. They clean up all the debris, and you know, thank God, I don't think we're a real dirty church. I haven't asked.

Oh, here's one of the ushers saying yes, one of the workers saying yes. And you know, they come through, and they clean up all the paper and everything. But you know something else that's beautiful? I believe the Spirit comes through and picks up all the grave clothes, all the grave clothes that have been left behind, all the things that God's dealing with, people who he's liberating, people who he's changing, people who he's saying yes, I'm speaking to you.

Lay down that hurt, lay down that attitude, lay down that jealousy, lay that thing down. God puts his focus on some other sin, and especially around, oh, there must be a stack of them at the altar. He picks them all up, hallelujah.

This is a place to leave it. He is unbinding us, glory to God. That's the process.

Get ready for the next move of God in your life. There's some more clothes to come off, hallelujah. Let go and let God have his way in your life tonight.

Are you ready? I don't know what God's saying to you, but listen to me, I believe that he's saying something to every single one from this front row back to the last row, every single individual, every one of you. You're at some point of time in your spiritual walk, and God may have done great, marvelous victories for you, but whatever it is, whatever stage you're at, he's not finished with you yet. He wants to open another package.

He wants to take off some more grave clothes, and he wants a Lazarus to come forth. He wants to bring glory into your tomb, as it were, and let a new Lazarus come forth. Will you let him do that tonight? Praise the Lord.

Shall we stand together? When you make great, great, tremendous promises to the Lord and can't fulfill them, or other times when you're ready to deny your faith, the Lord doesn't want you to swing that way. He wants you to swing right in the center of his will.