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We want to welcome all of you here today. What a blessing to have you here that are here on this rainy weekend in New York City. I know you don't see that around the country and around the world, but we do welcome you not only here, but around all the United States. And also for those that are watching around the world, we love to let to tell where you're watching from. So this is our joy to do this. So we welcome Asia. We welcome all those watching from Qatar, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong. We welcome the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, India and South Korea. We say hello to Europe, the United Kingdom, Scotland, Wales, Germany, France, Sweden. We welcome Russia and we're believing in Jesus name for a stop to that war right now. We believe for that. We say hello to Spain, the Netherlands, Italy. For those that don't know our our Italian interpreter for our Italian station is here, Pastor Mila, who also pastors in Rome. We welcome her here. We welcome Norway and Poland, Denmark, Romania, Greece, Belgium, Ireland, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. We say hello to our friends in Africa, to Kenya, Liberia, Eswatini, Nigeria, Zambia, Togo, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia, Rwanda, Botswana and Uganda. We also say hello to Guam, Australia and New Zealand. We welcome all those from Suriname, Bolivia, French, Guyana, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Guyana, Brazil, Canada, Navajo Nation, Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Belize, Bermuda, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, Mexico, Barbados, Guatemala, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. We welcome all those of you, some 71 nations joining us in 46 states. We always pray for those four states that are holding out on us and we'll pray that God would get a hold of your hearts today. They usually join us in the middle of the week or by the next service. Let me give you just a quick and I'll go into detail in the next service. I mean in the message. I want to give you just a Pastor Carter update. My predecessor, our general overseer, he will be discharged in the next few days, which is such a joy. We're so excited to hear those things. He is really going from strength to strength. And every day I have seen him, he is stronger and stronger and stronger. I'll give you, as I said, a bigger update shortly in the message, but let me just talk to you about the message just before we pray in a second. Yesterday my heart was challenged by something. It was a thought that began to sink into my soul and I put aside everything I was preparing and I sat there for a little over an hour with Pastor Carter, shared my heart. And as we started to share back and forth. I knew that this was what the Lord wanted me to share. Today I want to talk to you about living on the border of what could have been. Living on the border of what could have been and talking about all the stories that if I should have all those things. I want to talk to you about that and I'm going to explain where this came from. Let's pray. Father, thank you for what you're going to do today. Father, I believe you're going to challenge people. I believe this is a day of movement. You're going to move us into a life of faith for some that may start with salvation from not only here, but all over the world and around this country. I believe there's others that are going to begin to take a step that maybe God, they have been delaying, they've been paused. Maybe they've been paralyzed from fear or even God from the words of others. But God, today I pray there would be movement here. No more regrets, but God for us to say we have trusted God and he has been faithful to us. So God come in a special way. We bless you in Jesus name. And everybody said amen. God bless you. You may be seated. Thank you, musicians. Thank you so much. Thank you. Choir. I want to say to you that Summit International School of the ministry, your Bible college. I want to say this is alive and filled. Amazing students this semester. You should be proud of your Bible school. In fact, the word International I want to highlight because here are the countries we have that are both there and returning this year to our Bible school. Right there in Pennsylvania, Australia is there Botswana, Canada, Dominican Republic, Ghana, India, Ireland, Kenya, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Madagascar, Malawi, Mongolia, Pakistan, Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. It truly is an international Bible college to see what God is doing there. This Wednesday, I had the privilege of speaking to the student body. They do a thing there called a student seminar where you get. You speak for 20, 30 minutes and then you take an hour of questions. And so I did that and then I did the worldwide prayer meeting while our general overseer is recovering. So at the student seminar, I was asked a question that I'd been asked before. But something was different this day. There was something I saw a little bit clearer and a question I've been asked by young pastors over and over and over again. And it was this. What was the biggest regret you had at our age? These were 20 and 22 year olds that were speaking to me. They said, what was the biggest regret you had at our age? When you're looking back in retrospect of 42 years of ministry. It's a question, as I said, I've been asked before. I've never liked my answer until this Wednesday. And this is what I said. I said, I regret that I've had access at an early age to some of the most important Christian voices in the world, not because of me, but because of the people, my parents and others that were connected in our life. And I said I didn't take flight fullness of advantage of that. I've received much more than anyone else my age could have from Christian leaders. But I should have done better, should have done better with David Wilkerson. I should have done better with people and voices like Leonard Ravenhill. I should have gotten more. I said, I wish I could go back. I say this to you. I wish this is what I told them. I said, I wish I had more stories and more wisdom I can talk to you about. I'm so grateful for the times that I've spoken here for 10 plus years before I came here in this role and the times I've sat in the back or sat in his apartment. But there was more that I missed. There was more that I should have, that I should have leaned in on. I had access because of my father, because of who my dad was. And I didn't make the most of it. And I challenged those students. I said, with Pastor Carter here, Pastor Teresa, your president, and some of the voices that come through this college, don't miss it by hanging out on the peripheral with your peers when you could begin to lean in to hear some of the wise, great leaders that you have access to. I said, that's where I feel like I've missed it. I was struck by that thought, really on Saturday, that a thought that changed really my whole message. And I stumbled on something I never knew. It was about the people of God in the Old Testament that had access, kind of like I did, but never took advantage of it. They lived on the peripheral. And that's what I want to talk to you about today. You may not ascribe that to you, but I want to speak to you about it. Here's the background. The children of Israel have just come out of 400 years of bondage and slavery. God performed 10 miracles to break the Egyptian hold on them. And they saw a seed divide in two, saw miracle water and food in the desert. And in just about three months they landed at the border of the land that was promised to them that they would have access because of a promise from the Father. Now you have to just keep this in mind, the border city that all of this was going to be at a crossroads with the promised land is a city. Allow me just to talk about an ancient city for a second was Kadesh Barnea. That's where all of this began to become the crossroads and went awry for a moment. Just a few more seconds on some history of this. Numbers 13 and 14 is the story of the 12 spies. They go into Canaan. 10 bring back a bad report. 2 bring back a good report. The multitudes believe the bad report. And they forfeit entry into their destiny and destination and into their purpose. That decision would result in 40 years of. Of wandering in the wilderness. For every day God said that you spied out the land, wouldn't trust my promise and take advantage of it. You will wander a year and another generation will take them into Canaan. Now here's the thought. Now that's the history. Thank you for listening. But here's the thought. I didn't know or it never registered to me. The thought is played out in the book of Deuteronomy, which is such an important book. But here's the thought. I had to write it out to go, is this real? Is this true? And this is where everything came from. When I thought about my question of regret, when I started to share with Pastor Carter. And it's this. Here's the thought. The 40 years of wandering in the desert all happened in the vicinity, the neighborhood and the fringe of the Promised Land. They never went far from Kadesh Barnea. That's the book of Deuteronomy. They wandered on the border of their purpose and destiny without ever experiencing it. Folks, this shocked me. I didn't even realize this. That their whole life, they could probably see at times what they were supposed to do, but never took advantage of it. They could see what God was wanting them to take. But they never went in. They truly were living on the border of what could have been. They were sitting there going, that's where we were supposed to go. Think of this for a moment as I'm letting this sink into my heart. Just yesterday, almost every day Pastor Carter has been in the hospital, I've had the privilege to be up there and spend time with our general overseer. I would ask him questions. I remember asking him the question as we were sitting there, as his strength was coming. I said, what is the greatest thing you remember? The thing that stuck in you, that you. When you spent all those years with David Wilkerson, our founder, founder of Teen Challenge and World Challenge, Wrote the cross on a switchblade. And without a hesitation, he said this to me. He said, it's when David Wilkerson looked at me and said this. He said, carter, this is not your church, and it's not my church. This is Jesus's church. He paid for. This church doesn't belong to either of us. And may I echo that? This isn't my church. And let me help. Leaders, board members. Well, we don't have membership. You. And so let me just say, this isn't our church. It belongs to Jesus. He paid the price. And as I sat there for almost 16 days with our general overseer, the stories I heard from him from time to time blessed me. He is not only getting stronger, he is ministering. He is like the pastor of the floors of this hospital. No, I'm serious. God help every person that has walked into that room. I've seen it firsthand. He has ministered to Muslims, backsliders, the lukewarm. He has done marital counseling of nurses, fiances that just won't ask the question. He said, tell them to call me. And he's already met with them about why they're messing everything up. And they should have proposed by now that you're going to mess the whole thing up. I'm going. He's doing marital counseling and witnessing. This is the thought that hit me. You have to hear this. Going into the Conlon room. I think this is. The only way I can describe it is like getting assigned on the docket that you have to watch the Apostle Paul in his cell in Rome. That's what it would be. Can you imagine being a Roman soldier and going, who have to watch today? Oh, the Apostle Paul. And you, you know, you're going to be witness to. When you sit there, I'm telling you, it's the same thing. I watched one. One precious nurse I met. He said, she came in, knew I was a pastor, and she said, all right, I'm a bad Christian. I need help. And so Pastor Carter ministered to her. And then she came in while I was talking to him, and she goes, okay, I'm coming to church. I've been to Mass. I said, well, if you come to our church, it just won't be Mass. It will be massive. And so I said, you need to come here to the church. But there were two interesting conversations he told me about. He said one night, he was very down. Of the whole 16 days he's been there, he said it was the hardest night. There was no sleep and a lot of pain. He said it was on an early Saturday morning. He said, tim, before you came. He said it was in the middle of the night. He said, I'm sorry, it was early in the morning, not middle of the night. That was another story. A Christian doctor showed up in his room and he said. And the doctor said to him, he said, I felt I was supposed to drive in today on my day off and pray with you and encourage you. He's not even assigned to him. He wasn't even on. It's not even his floor and his patient. He said, I drove in from Long island on my day off to minister to you today. And he said, tim, it is exactly what I needed that God would send somebody from Long island to come in. In fact, Pastor Carter said, he goes, I'm not even sure he was a doctor. He could have been an angel posing as a doctor. So we're used to the white. The white gowns and wings, he said, but he had this angel had a doctor scrubs on when he came in. But the conversation that happened just a few days ago was powerful. This is what we began to talk about. He said it was close to midnight. He said he was sleeping, but because they have to check him almost every hour on his vitals. He said he felt someone was in the room, that just when he fell asleep, that somebody was standing over him. He opened up his eyes, and sure enough, there was somebody. Someone was standing next to him. And it was a doctor that just got out of surgery. Scrubs on camera, mask was pulled down, the cap was on. And when surgery was over, he went immediately to Pastor Carter's room. However many hours he was performing surgery. Obviously he knew who he was. Pastor Carter said, and he said to him, I'm not living in sin, but I'm not living in victory that God has given to me. I'm unfulfilled in my life somehow. After surgery, I needed to talk to you, and I needed you to pray with me. And I needed the truth. And he said it again. I'm not living in sin, but I'm not living the victorious life. And I need help. If you think about it, folks, that surgeon was describing living on the border, living on the border. What could have been that these people that were wandering on the peripheral in the neighborhood, listen to this. Listen to this. They were saying, I'm not going back to Egypt, but I'm not going into the promise that they would live in between. Think of that for a moment. I'm not gonna go back to what I used to be. But I'm not gonna go into what I'm called to be. And somehow you choose this in between somehow you choose this life and you're and you what you thought would be fulfilling has now put this questions. Even though you would make this kind of money as a surgeon and go I'm still unfulfilled. Why? Because I've tasted of God, tasted of what I was supposed to be and maybe supposed to do. But I can't seem to get there. That maybe you're here living on the fringe of a calling, roaming up and down the Jordan river. Keep gazing over once in a while to what could have been. And sometimes, Sometimes over the 40 years you're challenged with to cross over, but it's going to take forgiveness. You want to cross over, but you still want to talk and grind the ax on this side and still post something once in a while about what happened in your past about a church, a denomination or a pastor. Maybe it's about this church, maybe it's about me. And I just want to say to you, don't live on the peripheral. Those stories get old after a while and after a while enter in for what God has for you. Let me just give to you for just a moment for some of you who are sitting in this place on the fringe like that surgeon maybe sitting in the neighborhood but never entering in this really quickly. The numbers 13, 14 outline won't take long that I kept looking at the purpose, their purpose and their crossroad as well as our crossroad and our decision. You'll see purpose, crossroad, decision quickly. The purpose of Israel was brought out of bondage for a purpose and so were you. Listen to it. He brought us out from there talking about Egypt in order to bring us in to give us the land which he had sworn to our fathers. That phrase is amazing. He brought us out to bring us in. Their purpose was our purpose. He brings us out to bring us in to bring us to a new place that we have never experienced before. They traveled 200 miles from Egypt three, three months to Kadesh Barnea to the border of what could have been. The purpose was to go in. It would be a new fight, a tough fight, but a fulfilled life. Folks, I have to just tell you, you can talk to the elders or Ricardo or musicians every Sunday. Tyler PRODUCTION Every Sunday is a fight here just to stand up here. It is always a fight. It is a tough fight many times, but fulfilling. I may be up here and you may see a suit on. There may be a whole Bunch of dents and bruises and black and blue marks, and all you see is a smile on my face. But I'm just telling you, the fight is tough but worth it. It's worth it. He brings us out to bring us in. But there's always a crossroad on purpose. Numbers 13. Don't miss. This was supposed to be the beginning of the book of Joshua. The book of Joshua is the fight in that land where the new generation crossed over. That was supposed to be them. That was the. What could have been. Listen to it for just a moment. The crossroad Moses sends out, sends out 12 spies. When Moses sent out them to spy the land of Canaan, he said to them, this is important. I want you to hear this. Go into the Negev and then go to the hill country. And then he says this to them. See what the land is like, whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. How is the land in which they live? Is it good or bad? How are the cities which they live? Are they like open camps or with fortifications? How is it the land? Is it fat or lean? Are the trees in it or not? Make an effort, then, to get some of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe of grapes. So they went up and spied out the land. Then they come back with this report. Here's the. Here's the report. So we did the purpose, and we also did the crossroads. Now here comes the report. And this is going to begin to determine the future. Here it comes. So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land, that they had spied out the land, saying, the land, though we have gone and spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the inhabitants we saw in it are men of great size. We also saw the Nephilim. These are. These are the ones, the giants. And we became like grasshoppers in their sight. So we were in their sight. Now, the questions that Moses had for the spies is interesting. There was an actual. If you think about it, there was a spy checklist. Here's what it was. Are the people strong or weak? It was six questions. Are there a lot or a few? Is the land good or bad? The city's open or fortified? Is the land fat or lean? Six questions. Are there trees or not? It was all going to determine their warfare as they were about to enter in. So six questions to be answered. Just check yes or no. That's all you got. To do. I'm not interested in anything else you have to do. But they decided to give a conclusion to the questions that they weren't even being asked. You were just supposed to check the box. We didn't need you to decide if we can do it. I didn't ask you that. I just asked you to give me the. Give me the specs of the lamb. So. But the men who had gone up with him, we're not able to go against them. These people are far too strong is what they said. The land is. Is full of people that are. See, we're not able to go up against the people. They're too strong for us. They weren't asked to assess whether they could win or not. They weren't asked to assess if they were strong enough. They just wanted to know what the fight was going to be. They were at a crossroad decision that would even affect their life. They couldn't see further than the big guys in front of them. I remember the story told by a great Baptist preacher. He said two men were sitting on a shore of the. Of the. Of the ocean. And one man just yells out of no. He goes, I see a ship. The other man looked and he goes, there's no ship out there. He said, I'm telling you, I see a ship. The other man said, I'm looking in the same direction. There is no ship. And he said, there is no ship. I have 2020 vision. And he says, there is a ship. I've got binoculars and I see that there is a ship. On that day in Kadesh Barnea, two men had binoculars. Ten of them couldn't see what God had for them. And maybe this is a day to get the binoculars back on and say, God, you do have something for us, our family and the church. Their decision hit me as I was reading through their story. The vote was 10 to 2 not to go in 10 spies said, don't go. Two spies said, we can't win. Listen to it. Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, ripped their clothing and said to the people, it is a wonderful country. Look at, look at the binocular men for just a moment. They said, it's a wonderful country. And the other guy's going, we can't do this. I love it. He said, it's a wonderful country and the Lord loves us. He's going to bring us safely into the land and give it to us. It's fertile, a land with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord. Do not fear the people of the land. For they are bread for us to eat. The Lord is with us. He has removed his protection from them. Don't be afraid of them. But the only response of the people was talk of stoning them. That's what you do with binocular people. People only see the giants. These guys are going, it's a great land. God has given it to us. We're going to take this thing. But Caleb reassured the people as they stood before the Lord. Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to conquer it. Not against people as strong as they are. The other spies said they would crush us. So the majority report of the spies was negative. And the people settled for this. We won't go back to Egypt. We won't go into Canaan. But we will live life on the border. We'll live life on the peripheral. We don't want chains, but we don't want the good fight in front of us. Folks, I'm telling you, this started to challenge my heart. Because anytime you get this now, anytime you want to move forward with what God has called you to, there'll always be a vote. 10 to 2. You can't do this every single time. The vote will come. We never did it that way before. What about the finances and the. What about the dangers ahead? What about our family? Listen to me. If God has called us, I don't want to live on the border. I want to be where God has called, called me to be. I was at a crossroads of a decision when we were going to start a church in this XXX movie theater in Detroit. I had to meet with a group of denominational men, good men. But they were going to interview me whether they were going to approve the start of this church. That group of men interviewed me and said to me, we need you to leave the room. We're going to vote on whether you can do this or not. And so I said, with all due respect, you can. And it was with these were good men. I said, with all due respect, you can vote on whatever you want. I'm gonna go plant the church. I said, this is what I said. I said, the question on the floor is if it's with you guys or not. That's the question. I said, it's not determining what my calling is. It's determined about what God has said. And I thought to myself, my life could be very different if I would have listened to a vote, if I would have listened to people. You can't do this. You can't put a church in A Triple X movie theater. People. I'd have Christians come up to me and say, you meet in a Triple X theater every Sunday. I said, it's still Triple X. We just have ex drug addicts, ex prostitutes, and ex alcoholics that have all been saved by the power of Jesus. There's always the 10. 10 live in your home. 10 are there. Don't get saved. Don't serve. Don't go to 2 1, 2 or stand talking. Don't lead a Beyond Sunday group. Don't go to on guard with Pastor Nick. Don't fast and pray. Don't go to the extra services. It just on and on. And I think of the verse in numbers 14 when it says, not one of them will ever see the land I promised to them. No one has treated me with contempt, will ever see it. But my servant Caleb has a different spirit, follows me wholeheartedly. A different spirit. Okay, let me do this with you for a second. Everybody just keep your eyes up here, but just look with your peripheral who you're sitting next to. Don't look at me, but just move your eyes and just see who's sitting next to you. And look at those people. Are they the 10 spies, or do they have a different spirit? Do they push you forward or keep you on the board? Don't just keep looking at me. Because some of you want to go like this. Don't do that. Peripheral. This is what I mean by that. You go like this. And when you do that, make the decision. Because if it's one of the 10, get rid of them. If it's a different spirit, let them go with you. Because I want to go into whatever God has for me. I was coming down the elevator in our apartment building and heard something I've never haven't heard on an elevator in New York City. Get on an elevator. And this. First of all, it was like levels. It was like this kind man going, howdy. How y' all doing? What's the first thing that comes in your mind? You're not from around here. That's the first thing that came to my mind. We don't talk that way. There's a verse that I kept thinking about, of wanting. Where I'm supposed to live. Where you're supposed to live. It says, by grace, you've been saved. That's getting out of Egypt. We've been. We brought us out to where? Bring us in. And he says, this is how you have to live, or you're gonna live on the border. Here it is. This is what made sense to me. And he says, he. After he saved us, he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places. In Christ Jesus. Look at me for a second. No more peripheral. Don't keep thinking about that man or woman that's next to you that keeps you on the peripheral in the neighborhood. Look at me for a second. Listen, he says. Look at that verse. He said he raised us up and even though you're here, he seated you in heavenly places. What he was saying was act as if you're from up there. Listen, this is what I'm saying. This is when you see someone in New York City and let me just speak to New York City for a second. Those that are watching around the world and around the country, it's not hard to look to spot someone who doesn't live here. You can from an accent or the number one thing is a phone. They just stop in the middle of the. Of the street and you're going. You're not from around these parts, are you? As they're stopping in the middle of the sidewalk taking. Or they're walking three and four people side by side. How many New Yorkers know what I'm talking about? They're not from around here. They're not from around here. How y' all doing? No offense. Southern states watching. You're not from around here. That's okay. What I kept thinking about was this. And when we're in an office, a university, a school, Wall street, on Broadway, at the United nations, and you start to realize that I don't fit into this conversation. I don't fit into the party they're inviting me to. It feels awkward to me. It's because you don't belong here. You have an accent from up there. You speak with a different accent that somehow you have your own accent that comes from heaven. You speak. You speak the world language with an accent. When you. When others mention Jesus or religion, they talk about it with this wrong accent. They don't know quite how to say it, and all of a sudden they feel awkward talking about things of God. That's okay. They're trying to talk about heavenly places from the earth. But you are in heavenly places and you need to speak with that accent every single time. You're not from here. And nothing is worse than watching someone who's supposed to be up there trying to act like they're from down here. Oh, I knew it would be tough Today. I was struck by something this week. I've been reading this book by A.W. tozer called the Crucified life. And I sent this text to Cindy. I said, I was just reading this today from Tozer, and I think I heard this so many times in the church world from the new leadership and making the church services for the unbeliever, that when I read these words, I became upset with myself because it shocked me that I was shocked. Listen to what he said. He said, you can always test the quality of religious teaching by the enthusiastic reception it receives from unsaved men. Here it comes. Let me read that again slowly. You can always test the quality of religious teaching by the enthusiastic reception it receives from unsaved people. If the natural man receives it, get ready. I love how they put this on the screen. It kind of like gets us all ready for this. If the natural man receives it enthusiastically, here it comes. Tozer says it's not from the spirit. Paul says plainly that the natural man cannot know spiritual things. To him, spiritual things are plain. Folks. Listen to me. I kept reading that. Those words, if the natural man receives an enthusiastically, it's not the spirit of God. There's not a church leader today that would even begin to ascribe to that. We wouldn't sign off on that. People are coming in going, we've got to make this church. We've got to speak a language so they understand. No, no, we're not from these parts. We are seated in heavenly places. That the reaction has to be when people walk in here. I don't need them enthusiastic. I want conviction, I want tears, I want brokenness, I want humility. I want God to do that. We're wanting them to get enthusiastic. As we begin to dawn this, this, this accent that doesn't even sound right to them. So you walk out here going, it doesn't even make sense for me to come out here with ripped up jeans, a winter cap on in the middle of August and sit there and go and go, hey, let me talk to you about Jesus. Folks, stop it. I'm not from these parts. I'm seated with him in heavenly places. One of the nurses that Pastor Carter talked to said something enlightening. Listen to this. Listen. A nurse who is not living for the Lord. He didn't even know the Lord. Pastor Carter asked him. He said, if I were to invite you to church, what would you want from the church that you walk into? Like, what would you want if you walked into the church? What is it? Listen to these doors. Listen to me. These, these words he said, when you go through the doors, what would you want? Here it is. Listen. Leaders Listen, everybody who's planting churches and getting the model, listen. This is what he said. I want a church that tells me the truth. The truth. They're looking for the language for those that are seated in heavenly places, that have broke through the peripheral, that have broken out of the neighborhood, that have said, I'm not living on the border, but I am all in with Jesus. I get the giant excuse when they said, the giants are too big. And so I get that part. The giant part didn't scare me. I want to tell you what scares me as the band begins to come. This is what scared me, because I forgot about this excuse. So you have 10 to 2. We can't do it. Why? They're too big in there. And then when that was squashed, this is what they said. Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder. Folks, look at me for a second. This is what hit me. He says, we can't go up there because it'll kill the family. We can't do this because it will kill our kids. We can't keep doing. Folks, Can I just tell you. Listen, I get it. I'm not. I always want to be careful. Maybe my kids would say otherwise, but I grew up. I grew up. Anybody grow up with the. I used to walk to school barefoot up a hill in snow. Anybody got those? Anybody with me that got those? I just want to make sure. I used to get it with food, with food, with food. My grandfather, my Italian grandfather worked on the docks in Brooklyn. My dad used to tell me, he said we had no food. It's only when one of the dock bags broke and beans spilled. We'd have navy beans for breakfast. Lunch. I'd have navy bean sandwiches and navy beans. I'm going, like, that's gross. But I would hear all the navy bean stories. Then my mom would tell me we couldn't afford clothes. All we got was an orange for Christmas. An orange. You should be thankful for what you're getting. One of my daughters had a birthday yesterday. I should have got her an orange. She's looking at me with her mouth. Can't do this because of our families. What about soccer practice? Every Sunday, we'll go once, once a month to Church. For 40 years, they lived in the neighborhood of their purpose and what they were made for. I was told about a revival prayer meeting from a leader that was happening in their church. And he said. He said it. It exploded. And on Saturday nights before we would go to Church on Sunday, people would drive from miles around to go to this prayer meeting. And each Saturday night, he said the place would be packed. The power of God would come down. And he said, across from us, because of this neighborhood, we had church leaders there that wouldn't come because it was family night. Said they were playing games while we were praying. He said, I wasn't even going to say anything to them. They never came. Played games while God was moving, in a sense, across the road, pouring out his spirit, taking down Jericho, we have game night. And he said to me, he goes, tim, I say this with a broken heart. The leader told me this. He said, those eight kids that would sit there and see the fire falling there, was it a fight? A great fight, but a good fight? He said, because of what they're. We can't do everything because of our kids. He said, seven of those eight kids, from what I know, have just all walked away from the Lord. The greatest, the greatest heritage to leave to your family is a life of faith. They could have taken their children on this journey into the promised land, saw the miracles. Instead, they brought them into the peripheral for 40 years and probably heard them complain about Joshua and Caleb every month. Ah, that Joshua. Look at, look at them over there. I can't believe this. Look at those. They're just too old. Okay, here's what God clearly I believe was speaking to my heart. And I want to even be personal here for just a second, but let me tell you what God was speaking to my heart. They were so afraid. Lock in here, parents, grandparents, lock in for just a moment. They were so afraid that the giants would kill their children that they ended up killing them themselves. They killed their faith. They killed their faith there. They ended up killing the child's faith and spirit by a cowardly decision. They were the ones, they wouldn't apologize, they wouldn't make things right. They held on to their decision because I'm right and died in the wilderness with a fist held up, but spiritually dead kids. Yeah, you didn't have to apologize. But look at the kids. Kids. So here's what I kept thinking. If you can't see it on yourself, look into the soul of your children. Look into their soul that are peripheral living. Ah, we're not coming to New York City. We won't commit to Christ. We don't even like that church. That guy spits too much. My servant Caleb is different kind of man. The living Bible says he's a different kind of man. I look over to my left, I see my Wife and I see my children, I see my girls. My son is not here. One girl is serving, the other two are sitting here. Golly, I brought them to battles. I brought them. You know how many times I brought them across the Jordan. They're all going, yep, you took us across. You've taken. I've taken them. I've taken them across to Jordan. Three distinct things they said. Next to death of a parent, the hardest thing for a kid is moving. Well, we just blew the statistics out with that. I took those kids from Detroit to Brooklyn, Louisiana. Back to New York City. And I thank God for my kids because I watched them grow in faith. I thank God for my wife because I have a family that says. I mean, the first time that we were moving that I said, okay, we're going. They were not happy. In fact, two of the girls, when we were coming to Brooklyn, two of the girls, I can't believe I said, they have an American girl doll store. They said, we're going. We're going to New York. We're going there. They sold out cheaply to get him out of the neighborhood. But they came and they sit here today. I thank God for a wife and children that if anything, that they would know that they would have a mom and a dad with a different spirit that would not kill faith in their eyes, but would let them see that God still works miracles while living. Why living on the border of what could have been is a problem. The children of Israel had a God who promised the land to them. That's what it was. Here's what it says. The Lord spoke to Moses saying these words. Let me read them. I'm going to have you stand. Send out for yourself men so they may spy out the land which I am going to give to the sons of Israel. That's the way this whole story started. Spy out the land for the land. I'm going to give. You don't need an assessment. You're going to get your six questions answered because we're going to win this battle. I just need to know what we're. What we're prepared for. This was the generation that could have been the generation across over to tell their children to their children could have seen. Jericho fell today 31 kings are destroyed. God brought us in. God brought us in. I want my kids. I want all four of my kids. That every time we've crossed over out of the peripheral, out of the border cities, oh, we've done our game nights and we've done all that stuff, but we've done it in the promised land, we haven't done it. They can tell you that. So while the enemy is attacking and arrows are coming, hitting the house and bullets are going to go like, all right, come on, seven. And so you're sitting there as everything is coming, coming and fighting against you. If you're going to do a game night, do it in Jericho. We're going to have a movie night. Then do it in the fight. Do it in the fight. Don't sit on the peripheral in the border. God said this to them. Spy out the land, the land that I'm going to give you. Let me tell you why this is a problem. Stand to your feet and here it is. Why is living on the border of what could have been a problem? Why is it a problem? I look at Ricardo, I'm going. They had to do this. Willie had to do this. You had to leave the neighborhood, you had to leave the vicinity. And probably, probably the people in your life. You probably had the 10 to 2 vote. How many think you should go? Two people, the people of a different spirit. The 10 are going. Are you out of your mind? Are you crazy? The problem of living on the border of what could have been is this. The problem is the promises of God and the character of God. That's the problem. What do you mean, Pastor Tim? You have a God who keeps his word. And we are a people that live by his promises. Let me say that again. What makes it hard to live in the perfect? It's this phrase right here. You have a God that keeps his word. And we are people that live by his promises. God never lies. God always keeps his word. Numbers 23, 19. God is not a man that he should lie. Titus 1, 2. God who cannot lie. Hebrews 6, 18. It is impossible for God to lie. So here are the promises from a promise keeping God. Here it is. There's a reward in prayer. Call to me and I will answer you. I'll tell you great and mighty things which you don't know about. There's a reward of coming to Christ as a Christian. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest. There's a reward of being generous. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and even in Costa Rica that you saw on the screen. Test me now, says the Lord, if I'll not open up the windows of heaven. Pour out a blessing until it overflows, and I'll rebuke the devourer for you. The reward of Waiting on God when you're wanting to move forward. Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They'll run and not get tired. And they will walk and not become weary. There's a reward that when you need to know what to do, there's a reward for wisdom. But if any of you lacks wisdom, ask God. He'll give it to you generously. There's even a reward. I want my kids to. To listen to this. For honoring your parents. Honor your father and your mother. That you may have a long good life and the Lord your God will give you. There's a reward to submitting to God. Submit to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you. And for those that are here for the very first time, there's a reward for confession and belief. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord. And believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. You will be saved. Spurgeon, the great preacher, was visiting one of the old saints who was on his death, on her deathbed. And saw on her lampstand her Bible. All. All huge. Ever see a person with a. With a well used Bible? It's thick. It's just from turning pages. And every page he would turn to it. He would see this common thread at every place he would see tnp. Tnp, tnp. He goes. What's tnp? He goes every place you see tnp. That was a promise and I wrote down when I believed it. It's tried and proven. I need to get some T's and P's. If you don't have T's and P's in your Bible, you're living in the neighborhood, on the vicinity, talking about the old days, angry with people. Move over, get there. So here's how I finished the Q and A with Summit. When they talked about regret to me, I said, the only way I can deal with regret in my life is I deal with it with the most astounding, amazing verse that I don't understand. I don't even understand how it was done. It's when Jesus asked the disciples to get to that place. It was kind of like a promised land, Canaan. I need you over there. So they got in this boat, it says. And after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea of Capernaum. It's become dark. Jesus had not come. The sea began to get stirred up. Strong wind was blowing. That's the fight. That's the fight. They rode about 33 or 4 miles. And they saw Jesus walking on the water, drawing near to the boat, and they were frightened. Okay, look at me. Look at me for a second. Here it comes. It's the most astounding verse. I don't even know how it works. I don't even know how it works. This is what I've seen. When you go, God, I need you in my life. I need you to do this. Here's what happens when they say, come into the boat. Put it on the screen, please. So they were willing to receive him into the boat. And immediately the boat was at the land in which they were going, what? Leave that on the screen because some of you need to see this. When they got Jesus there, he made up the time that they couldn't get themselves. When they got Jesus in the boat, that. Look at it. Listen, I don't know. I was raised with. I don't know if there was a blink, and then all of a sudden, they're on dry land. I don't know if he went, whoop. And it was on dry land. All I know is when he got in the boat, they're going, hey, I can't believe. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Here it is. This is you. Some of you are here today. We're gonna do. We're gonna do this. We're gonna do enough crossover, for goodness sake. Get to the fight. Stop living in the neighborhood. Put that verse back up for me. Just a second. I want them to see that until I'm done. When they received them into his. Received him into their life. When they received him into their agenda, their schedule, immediately. That boat was where it was supposed to go. Your life will go where it's supposed to go. But there you are rowing. You rode to church. Get the kids ready. Okay, lift your hands. He's singing the song. Bless the Lord. Oh, my soul got rowan worship. And some of you, some of you can't get your hands on the oars quick enough to get out of church. Get back in that boat, you kids. Get back in that boat. Get Jesus in it immediately. It gets to the land it's supposed to be, get him there. Pastor Carter told me, he said, I'd rather die on the side of faith than live on the side of unbelief. I'd rather die on the faith side. If I'm going down, I'm going down in the promised land. And some of you are going, like, yeah, but I got a second home on the Jordan River. Keep it. Keep it. But if you want God, you'll sell the home. And get to the promised land and go, like, three homes. But I got Hamptons, I got Florida, and I got Europe. God bless you. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Let me tell you how many homes I got. Zero. But I'm so excited. And it's not a matter of going like, nobody should have it. It's just me going, like, whatever it takes to be in the promised land. That's what I want. That's what I want. I don't want to live in the neighborhood. How many are going in this place? God, I need a move. I need movement. He gave me a promise. It's hard to live in the neighborhood. God, move my feet again. Give me faith again. Because some of you have said these words. You've said these words. But my family. I don't want to hurt my kid. You're hurting your kids. When they don't see Jericho go down, you're hurting them. Look in their eyes. I want my kids alive. And faith. And for some of you, I'm speaking a language that you don't know of. I'm just here to tell you God is moving you. God is moving you. I'm not even. Here's what I will do sometimes. I. I want to. I gotta finish this. Do you have a song in your heart? Okay, here's what I'm gonna ask you to do. Balcony, main floor, annex, Jersey campus. Those that are watching around the world. I'm gonna speak to the. The folks that are in here. I want to make it so uncomfortable. If you're going. I need to get across. I need to get across this thing. I want that aisle. I want the seat. I want you to have to get out of that seat, past those 10 spies that you're sitting next to. Just go spine number one. Spine number two. Spine number three. Three, spine them. Don't say it out loud. Don't say it out loud. We may not see you down here. Here's what I want you to do. And just go. God is pushing me. I've been getting comfortable in the neighborhood, and God's pushing me. Can we just make this altar the decision place? We're going forward. I'm going forward now. I'm going forward. I don't want to live what could have been. I want to go forward on this. If that's you, would you just get out of your seat as we sing this song? Just get down here. Just let this be the decision place. Quickly. Just get out of your seat. Just walk by the people. Get down here and say, God, give me a different spirit. Today, wherever you're at. Balcony. Come on. Get. Get. Move. You can move. Annex. There'll be people there to pray for you. Come on, let's sing this as they come. Let's. I surrender all to the Savior. Come on, sing it too. Come on, Lift those hands and sing it. Come on. I surrender all. I surrender. Come on. You know this first verse. I want us to sing it. Come on. All to Jesus. Come on. Tell him right now in his presence. Come on, let's sing the chorus. Then we'll sing verse two. Then we'll sing verse two. Come on, sing it. I surrender. I surrender all to be my breath. Sing that second verse. Come on. All to Jesus. Humbly at his feet. Come on, sing it. Church. It's the second part that's powerful. Come on. Look at this next part. Worldly pleasures. Worldly holy pleasures. Let's sing this in the third verse. Come on, sing it. I surrender to be my last verse. Come on, let's sing this with conviction. Let's sing this from seated in heavenly places. All to Jesus. Sing it all to Jesus. Make it your prayer. Let me feel. Come on. As loud as you can. Times Square, around the world. Sing it. Come on, make it your prayer. Come on, sing it. You've been saved by grace. You've been saved by grace. And then he takes you and seats him in heavenly places with him. He raises you up. What does that mean? I have a new accent now? I'm supposed to speak differently? It doesn't work. Listen, I want to speak to Christian leaders about you. Maybe in this room. Stop with the cursing. Stop with the cursing. Enough. I'm saying it to believers. Enough. It doesn't even sound right coming out of your mouth. You're trying to. You're from there, trying to act like you're from here. And it doesn't even come out right because he saved you by grace. Stop. Just stop. How do I do that? How do I do that? How do I do that? Pastor Tim? It's based on his character. It's based on promise. He will. He will come. Just ask him. Come cleanse my heart. Come speak to me. Come do. Come do your work. Can I just ask you all. Everyone that's here. God's pushing some of you going, like, get out of the neighborhood. Get out of the neighborhood. But how many are here? I have to ask this question. But how many are at this altar? You're saying the first thing I need to do is in 10 to 2 people are going to vote against you. You. I'm just Telling you they're going to vote against you. And you're here today and going, the first thing I need to do is give my heart to God. I need to be a Christian today already. I didn't even get through with it. And she has her hand up already. She goes, I need my meeting. But if you're here today and say, I got to get right with God, I need to give my life to Jesus, would you hold your hand up high? Just say, I need to give my life to Jesus today. Hold him. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And that. Not just down here, anybody else in the audience, keep your hands up, hold it up high, hold it up. I'm saying, I need to give my life to Jesus. I need to give. Come on. This is where it starts. Would you just pray this with me? Because the promise, the promise is this. Here's the promise. If you will confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. Here's the promise from a God who keeps his word. You shall be saved. So let's just quote the promise to him. Come on, lift those hands and just say this. Say this with me. Say, jesus, I confess with my mouth. You are Lord. I believe in my heart. God has raised you from the dead and you made a promise. You cannot lie that I shall be saved. So I cross over into salvation. I am now a child of God. 10 to 2 says I can't do this, but I'm. I have a different spirit. And God has given me the Holy Spirit and I am born again in Jesus name. Amen and amen. Now let me just push you and we close. Because when we're done, those that raised your hands, if you look over to exit 7, we're gonna give you a Bible that helps you with that new spirit, that new heart. All you have to do is. When people are going back to the seat, go there, take five minutes. Those online, you'll text the word decided to 51,000. But let's just do this. Let me pray for those that need to take that extra step today. Come on. Let me just pray for you, Father, in Jesus name. So many have come to this altar to say, I don't want to live in the neighborhood, in the vicinity. I want. I. I'm asking you, God, that today is a day that they're inviting you into the boat and somehow you made up lost time from all of our rowing and doing it our way. We've read the books, we've heard the seminars, and it. And we're still rowing but today we say Jesus Christ come into our boat and God you'll redeem the time. Get them to dry land, get them to destiny, get them to the destination, get them to purpose, get them where you've always meant them to be. So God we just receive them say God, I receive you in the boat. I receive you in my life, I receive you into my job. I receive you into my company. I receive you right now in that cubicle at work. I receive you in my dorm room. I receive you into my education, I receive you into my apartment. I receive you. Come and change whatever you but just get me to land, get me to land. I've been rowing too much But God today work a miracle. Thank you God for what you're going to do. You're a God of promises and you keep your word in Jesus name and everybody said amen and amen and amen. Thanks so much for listening. We hope you've enjoyed this message and be sure to subscribe so you can receive new messages each week. Visit TSC NYC for all the latest info on how you can stay connected. Also, don't forget that you can follow us on social media on all major platformsquarechurch. Thanks for tuning in today. Have a great week.