Transcript
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Could you just lift your hands for a moment? Just bless them. Just say, God, we give you all the praise, we give you all the honor, we give you all the glory for who you are, Lord, we bless you. Thank you, God. Thank you, father. Thank you, father. Thank you, father. Lord, we thank you for all that you're doing. We pray in these next few moments, would you challenge us with the Holy Spirit? Just guide these next few moments in Jesus name. And everybody said amen. God bless you. Remain standing. Just before we get ready to go into the word, we always say welcome to not only those that are here. We say hello to our Jersey campus, Pastor Brad and Lisa Geiss. We welcome those that are watching couldn't get into the building from our annex. And we just want to say God bless all of you. And we also love to welcome those that are watching from around the United States and around the world. We want to say hello to. These are the nations that are live with us today. We say hello to South Africa and Malawi. We welcome Namibia. Eswatini live with us is Nigeria, Liberia, Kenya, Namibia, Ethiopia, Tanzania. We say hello to Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Lesotho. We welcome those in Asia from Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong. We say hello to South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, India, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates. We welcome Turkey, Australia, New Zealand. We say hello to those in Europe. The uk, North Ireland, Scotland, Greece, Germany. Island, Romania. Poland. The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, France, Norway. Get ready. Italy. We do welcome Ukraine and Russia. And in Jesus name we're believing a stop to this war right now that God you would intervene with. We say hello to Kosovo, Spain, Hungary. This is. We welcome Iceland. Can we say a little Iceland today? Sweden, Canada. Always great to see the first nations from Navajo nation on this one. Mexico, Jamaica, Barbados, Haiti, Bahamas, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Dominica St. Lucia, Belize, Nicaragua, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Suriname. And the last two, we always leave for last, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. We welcome all those that are watching. We also say hello to some 46 states. Last Sunday it was hilarious. We had 49 states join us. We found out it was those people from Hawaii. And then someone sent a text to me with a picture of them watching from Hawaii. And so I said, okay, you made the list. Our series, we have a few more weeks to go. Our series is called One billion starts with one. This series is for those who are not content to go to heaven alone. Let me say that one more time. This series is for those that are not content to go to heaven alone. But I Don't know if you're with me. I want to bring as many people as I can with me. Even this morning when I was getting off the elevator, met someone in the apartment building. I said, I want to take you out for lunch. They work in D.C. a few days a week. And I said, let's go to lunch. And I just. This is one of those moments. It's kind of a fight, fight miracle. He's behind a wall, but I just felt like the Holy Spirit said, keep bringing him out from behind that wall. Let God work miracles. And the series is to equip, it's to awaken and at some points, to even convict. Times Square Church is on a mission and a mandate to stay laser focused on the road to a billion souls. We want people one to Christ in every single nation. That's why when I read those names of the nations, I want you to be excited when you hear the nation that you're from, but I want you also to be praying when those nations come up. If we say a nation, if we say Lesotho, South Africa, pray for salvations and revival in that nation. There is an army that is made up primarily of volunteers. It's called the French Foreign Legion. It's a core in the French army composed of volunteer soldiers from around the world. That's still in. It's still growing today, including French citizens. It was established over almost 200 years ago, and it was to bolster the French military. And this is what they said. This volunteer army is known for being tough and elite fighting force volunteers. And I love their motto because I said, God, let this be my motto. Their motto, motto is this. If I falter, push me on. If I stumble, pick me up. And if I retreat, shoot me. That's the way I feel. I want anybody with me on that. I want to go all the way. I listen. No retreating here. How many are with me? No retreating, only forward here. I want to do this till I die. And as long as God gives me breath, I want to bring as many people to Christ as I can. This army, to lead a billion souls from all over the world, is a volunteer army. It's not a paid army. It's an elite fighting force. And I'm going to talk to you about that, Father, in these next few moments, come speak to us. I believe that you're raising up an army around the world and we want to see a billion souls come to Christ. God, don't let us ever retreat. Let us move forward, no matter how difficult it may be in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. Look at the person next to you and say, I'm not retreating. And then you may be seated. God bless you. Thank you. To those on the West Coast, Los Angeles, California has really gone through a lot this year with so much happening even in our world. People have forgotten what took place in LA just about five months ago, that in January 2025, Los Angeles wildfires began to cause significant damage from some 29 deaths, numerous injuries. 16,000 structures burned to the ground. 50,000 acres literally just charred. If you want to know what that sounds like, that's like losing all of Brooklyn. 50,000 acres is gone, damaged, destroyed. Thousands evacuated. The fires in those in those areas of La Palisades and Eaton had such a devastating impact. They said within four decades, they've never seen damage like this. The damage, they said, is moving up towards $200 billion in damage. The most devastating winter winter wildfire Southern California has ever experienced. That started on January 7th. Fueled by drought, the Santa Ana winds. Thousands of firefighters from all over the US battled those 45 square miles and watched it burn for 24 days over and over and over again. 24 days, it began to go on. And when it became into the spots and became the worst, the men and women who would fight in the worst spots when the fire was at its hottest and raging, they called a group of elite firefighters Hotshots. These are the men and women that would go literally into a wall of hell and fight to try to bring an end to this fight. It was the hottest part of the fire. As I saw pictures of, of some rare footage of these men and women that would go, I'm just telling you, it was it. It. It brought shivers and to my soul as I would see these flames and you'd hear the sound of what these men and women were putting their lives on the line. They said there's only 100 Hotshot crews in the US than most are in California. I come from a family of firemen and policemen, but this is a different breed of firemen. A hotshot crew is some 20, 25 elite firefighters that respond to the hottest part, to the most dangerous part, that go right to the center. While people are running, they're running into it. While people are running away, they are running, too. I read one of the hotshot stories, and they said this. We were carving, he said, a burned area to stop the flames before they reached down to the town. And the fire, he said, was moving so fast. It was 200 yards, two football fields away, and we heard the noise Building the embers were flying through the air and starting other fires that was getting ahead of us. And then we began to hear a particular sound. He said it was the sound. And I would hear this many times about in the south, about tornadoes. We'd hear the sound of. Of a freight train is what he said. An out of control wildfire is bearing down on you. He said, Makes a sound like a freight train or then he goes like a hundred freight trains coming at you. He said the sound would be ripping through your ears. He says, and when you hear this, listen to these words. He says, when you heard that sound, basically it was over for you. That wasn't the sound that you wanted to hear. He said if the wildfire caught me and Chris, who I was working with, we'd be dead. He said when we heard that sound, we knew that the fire was coming. We'd either be dead or suffer 100% of body burns. Think of that. You're hearing a sound. And at that moment, he said, we had no other options. He said my partner was shouting. His voice was being sucked in by the howling of the fire. And he says, and our brothers were on the other side of the wall. He said, I saw daylight, but I just couldn't get there. Here's the part I want you to hear. Last two sentences, he said, because I saw the asphalt where the fire couldn't burn. And he said, out of nowhere, while I was in this fire, the freight train is coming out of nowhere. I've had this arm reach through this wall, grab me and jerked me to clean air. He said we sucked it in greedily. He said, I felt pure joy surging through me that we even got out alive. I mean, just. He said it was an arm that came through a wall of fire and pulled me out. That's what I want to talk to you about. I want to talk to you about that arm that goes through that wall of fire. I want to talk to you about a people that jerk people from the flames of hell so they can feel joy again and breathe heaven again in their lives. Their names are contained. This new group of hotshots as we talk about 1 billion, starts with 1. Their names are in a little tiny book, second to the last book of the Bible called Jude. Let me read to you about their training before I tell you what their name is. Their training is this. Listen to this verse 20. But you beloved, building yourself up in the most holy faith, praying in the Holy spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. Have mercy on some who are doubting. Listen to this training of these spiritual hotshots that reach to bring people from hell, see joy, come and breathe heaven one more time. He says these are people that will build themselves up in the most holy faith. These are people that are praying in the Holy Ghost, that are in a service that they're not waiting for even music to lead them to pray in the spirit. They'll pray in the spirit when they're getting on the subway, which is the best place to pray in the Holy Spirit. They'll keep themselves in the love of God and they'll wait for the Second Coming. That's what their training is. And then those are the people. I want you to hear what next. Jude says, what these people do that. Do these things, listen to them. These are the ones that, when you read this, they're building themselves up in the holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping themselves in the love of God, waiting for the second coming. And then these are the ones that get to run into the firestorm. And this is what Jude calls them. He says, I want you to save others. Look at these words. Snatching them out of the fire. That's the phrase. I wanna just take a few minutes and not call you hotshots, but I wanna call you Fire Snatchers for just a few moments. I want you to be trained to rescue people from. From that burning wall. Jude's name, Fire snatchers. In fact, King James calls it, says it's pulling them out of the fire. Which fires is Jude speaking of pulling people out of? Solomon answers the fire question. That hand, that prayer, that witnessing, that lunch, that confrontation that's going through the firewall. He uses something very interesting. He uses fire and sin simultaneously. Here in Proverbs, chapter 6. In fact, he begins to isolate even one area of sin. And he calls it. He says, those that would be finding themselves in immorality, sleeping or adultery, sleeping with another man's wife. Listen to what he calls fire. Proverbs 6, 26. For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man's wife will cost you your life. Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire? Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet? So it is with the man who sleeps with another's wife. Did you see what Solomon does? He begins to talk about that firewall using immorality and adultery, saying, that's the fire. That's the fire that goes up this is what I want to challenge you with today. Because Jude gives me the name of the elite firefighters. The elite firefighters, he calls them fire snatchers. Solomon gives gave me the name of the fire sin. But it's Abraham that I want to walk you through with. Gave me the tools and the story. And it's the story of lot. In Genesis 13 and 14, I learned about fire snatching from Abraham and Lot. Abraham had to get in to the heat of that battle to rescue his nephew, Lot. Why is Lot in trouble? But because of the choices he's made, the two are about to separate. And they get to choose. Lot got to choose first where he wanted to live. And the Bible says that Lot chose to live in a place called Sodom and Gomorrah. Highly flammable city. Listen to this. Verse 10 of Genesis 13. Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan that was well watered everywhere. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. So Lot chose for himself all of the valley of the Jordan. Lot journeyed eastward, and thus they separated. Abraham and Lot separated from each other. But Abraham settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley. And he moved his tents as far as Sodom. Now, the men of Sodom were wicked and exceedingly sinners against the Lord. Isn't that interesting? He chooses Sodom and moves his tents that way. And as soon as the separation took place, I want you to see this next verse. And the Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, don't miss those words. And the Lord spoke to Abram after he got Lot moved out and said, now you lift up your eyes while he is looking this way to Sodom. You're gonna lift up your eyes and look from the place that you are, and I'm gonna show you north, south, east, and west. Pause here for a second. This is not going to deal with really where I want to bring you. But I have to pause here on an important thought. God wanted Abraham to separate from Lot so he can show him something bigger. While Lot sees Sodom, Abraham was going to see the four corners of the earth. In fact, listen to it for all the land. This is the next verse, which you see. I going to give it to you and your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth. So if anyone can number the dust of the earth, your descendants can also be numbered. Arise. Walk about the land through its length and breath, for I will give it to you. Listen to me carefully. Look up here for a moment. When Abraham separated from a man that sees wickedness, that sees what's in front of his eyes, when. When he could get him to separate from that relationship, God can show him bigger things. Some of you sit here and you may have to separate from some relationship like that. Folks, listen to me, because there are some people that bring you in and all you see is what's right here. Your eyes are wanting to see larger and bigger and wanting to see what God sees. God says you, you want to hang out with Lot that just sees Sodom, or do you want to hang out with me and be a friend of God? I'll show you north, south, east and west. I'll show you sand and stars. Remember, God later goes, look at the sand, look at the stars. You can't even count them. That's what your descendants will be. Some people only hang out with those that see what's in front of their eyes. I want to hang out with people that see sands and stars. East and west, north and south, folks. That's why I can't spend much time with Sodom. People look at the person next to you and just give them a little side eye for a second that you may have to leave pretty soon. Not if you're married. Not if you're married. Not if you're married. So Lot moves to Sodom, and in less than a year, it's under attack. Five kings came against that city. And this is what happens. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled. They fell into them. But those who survived fled to the hill country. This is what the enemy did then. They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food supply and departed. And they also took Lot, Abram's nephew. This is where he parked his tent. They took Lot, Abram's nephew, his possessions, departed for he was living in Sodom. Look at me for just a moment. Sodom was a fire hazard. He's living in a place that's flammable. He's doing what. He's doing exactly what Solomon talked about. He's taking fire into his lap and he's going to be burned. He's playing around with something. He's playing around with relationships. He's playing around with something that looks like wickedness, not believing that it's gonna burn him. And finds himself behind the firewall, needing a hot shot, needing a fire snatcher to reach through to get him out because he's stuck. He's not going anywhere. Was flammable and would be set on fire in the years to come. Would be less than a year since Lot chose this place and he's taken captive. And when Abraham heard that his family member was taken captive, he went into action. He went into action, suited up and got ready to go. And listen what happens when Abraham heard that his relative had been taken captive, he let out his train men born in his house 318 and went in pursuit as far as Dan, divided his forces against them. By night, he and his servants defeated them, pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. He brought back all the goods and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions and and all the women and all the people. This man was doing, in a sense what Jude talk about save others, snatching them out of the fire. That phrase snatching is an interesting phrase in defining snatching. The word means to come with a force and to pull out. And it's interesting. It's the same word we use for the Rapture. Listen to these words. Then we who are alive and remain will be snatched up, caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, so we shall always be with the Lord. Snatch and caught up are the same word. So I kept thinking of this. Let's snatch them out so they can be caught up in the Rapture. Let's reach through snatch so they can be caught up in the Rapture. So let's talk about this for just a few moments. What God has helped me with. William Booth, who founded the Salvation army his whole life starting in the London streets, was pulling people from that fire. William Booth and his wife Catherine talk about arms that would go in and pull people from the slums, from the worst parts, from addictions. They would reach through those firewalls to bring people through to joy. They can breathe again and see deliverance and freedom. They would be snatched so they could be caught up. Booth said these words. He said, put your ear down to the Bible and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to these scriptures to be burdened, agonized of heart for humanity and listen to its wail for help. This is what Booth is challenging all of us. He's challenging the body of Christ not to sit here and just be content to go to heaven by yourself. He's challenging us to say, build yourself up in the Holy Ghost, pray in the most holy faith. Pray in the Holy Spirit, keep yourself in the love of God, Wait for the Rapture in the Second Coming. And with all that being said, don't sit here. Snatch people from the fire with those things are part of our lives. We'll snatch them out. That's what. That's what Booth was saying. There's some powerful principles here that I want to just give to you, but just for a moment, as we go through this, think of one person on the other side of that firewall. Think of a person right now. Put a name to what I'm saying. Who is someone. I have two names in my mind right now. Who is someone on the other side of that firewall that you know is on their way to hell. And unless someone reaches in and snatches them, that they will be consumed. Let's learn for just a moment with these next few moments, how Abraham snatches Lot out from that passage. I want you to write this down and get ready to follow with me on a journey. Because I want to give you some things that have helped me in fire snatching. I'm not an expert. I'm not. But, man, I've been asking God, I said, lord, I want to move forward till the day I die, seeing people set free. Men and women that were on their way to hell. I want them snatched. I want to snatch them so they can be caught up to meet Jesus in the Rapture. I want them to come to joy. I want them to breathe heaven again. I want them to gulp like the hot shot said. I want them to gulp air going, there is freedom. I'm not going to die. Here's what I've learned from Abraham. Jot these down. Number one. This is some of the principles for fire snatching. Number one. Get all the help you need. Abraham did not go alone. The Bible says he got 318 men to go on this mission to rescue Lot. This was amazing to me. Listen to it. He let out his train. Men born in the house. 318. Can I just tell you this? There are times when you are dealing with those that are caught in fire, caught in Sodom, that you need all the help you can get to get them home. You are going to need people. Get people praying. Get people believing with you. Believe for those that will be witnessing with them.