← Times Square Church - Sermons
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Praise God. You may be seated. And can you put your hands together for our choir and worship? So beautiful. Thank you, choir. Thank you so much. What a joy for me, as Pastor Tim said, I've been coming to preach for over three decades, really starting in 88, 89, and just at the very beginning of the church. But to see what God is doing and to see how God is using Times Square Church around the world. I hope you never take the two minutes where Pastor Tim is naming all the countries. Don't take that lightly. Don't take that for granted. Pastor David Wilkerson would have been astonished to see that from this pulpit, the whole world is receiving the word of God. We need to praise God for that, and we welcome you online. Almost 40 years ago, when David Wilkerson, the Lord put on his heart to begin to come and begin a church in Times Square in New York City, he would come and do prayer walks. He would walk and pray. And just before, he actually announced that they were coming, and it was a huge move. They had to leave a lot of things behind to come right here. And the Lord had said to him, you're going to come here and this is going to be your last assignment. You're going to come here and serve and start his church. And he was walking in Times Square one day, praying and saying, lord, give me the confirmation. I know this is your will, but give me the Confirmation. And it was a man. And the crowd was thick. And there was a man who demonized men, who started running away. And he was screaming obscenities and blaspheming and cursing. And he's running and everybody's kind of watching him. He's just crazy. And he turns around in midst of the whole crowd, and he looks at Brother Dave and he runs to him and he just grabs him. David Wilkerson is there. He gets grabbed. And the man and the voice, the demonic voice in the man, says to David Wilkerson, we don't want you here. And Brother Dave said, I got my confirmation. And here we are almost 40 years later. No weapon formed against us shall prosper the Gospel. Oh, you need to do better than that. The Gospel is being preached not only to this city, not only to this nation, but give him praise. It's being preached to the nations of the world. I love your pastor as. As a brother. I love him so much and I admire him. I am inspired by him. I'm inspired by his passion and his love for the Word is an amazing. A communicator of the Word. Of God. And he is a man with a sensitive heart. To the Holy Spirit and such courage and faith. And I love you, Pastor Tim, so much. You know, the Bible warns us sternly against flattering lips, but it commands us to give honor to whom honor is due. So can we honor our pastor today? Pastor, we love you. We are one week after. This is the Sunday after Easter. What an amazing Easter at Times Square Church. The whole weekend was just, can you. Can you give praise to the Lord for all the ones that served us? So it was amazing. The worship and the singing and the presentation and then the preaching. And hundreds of souls, hundreds of souls came to Christ. It was just one. We came on. The message was so amazing. We. I watched it online and we came out of church. It's Sunday. He is risen. Why are you looking among the dead for the one that is alive? And how many of you noticed that on Monday the devil was still there on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday too? That's why I want to. I want to speak to you today on One week after Easter, all on walking. Walking in the power of the resurrection. Need to walk in the power of the resurrection. And I'm going to read a verse from First Peter and Peter reminds us of the promises and spiritual blessings for those who will set their hearts to walk in the power of the. Of his resurrection. First Peter, chapter 1, verse 3. 5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope. Would you say out loud a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith and for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Now, Peter in his first and second epistle. Peter's first and second epistle are among the latest one, the last ones written in the New Testament. They're called the late Epistles, most likely written around between 60 to 64 after Jesus Christ, decades after the resurrection. And they were written in a. In a sea season, in a moment in history where God's people were suffering horrible persecution under Nero. In AD 64, massive fire devastated Rome, burning for several days and destroying large parts of the city. And many Romans suspected the emperor himself, Nero, that he was responsible. But he attacked. He accused the Christian community. The Roman historian Tacitus tells us, provides the most detailed account that Christians were subjected to extreme torture and execution. Execution included crucifixion being burned alive as human torches, being torn apart by dogs. Tacitus describes them as not only being punished for arson they never committed, but for hatred of mankind, reflecting Roman hostility towards a Christian. And early Christian sources associate this persecution with the death, the violent death of Peter, who was crucified, and Paul, who was beheaded. And it is in that, in this context that the Holy Spirit inspires Peter to remind the believers and to call them back to walking in the power of the resurrection. That the resurrection is not an event, it is a walk, it is a pursuit of it is, is walking literally in the power of his resurrection. In the resurrection we have a living hope, not wishful thinking, but a dynamic, continual hope grounded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because the tomb is empty. Or as we used to sing in the old hymn, because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fears are gone. There's some 20 year old looking at me funny right now because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives. If you believe that, say shout Amen. I love, I love the the story of the little boy. The Sunday school teacher, the week before Easter, gave the Easter lesson. Jesus crucified, died, and he's resurrected. And to make sure that they really got it, she, she gave each children a little egg and plastic egg, just a cylinder that, that opens. And they said, okay. And she said, okay, Next week is Easter Sunday. You come and this week you think about it and put something in there that reminds you of the, that speaks of the Resurrection. Tell me what you've understood. So the Easter Sunday comes and, and she said, okay, kids, show me what you got. And this little girl, very sweet, and she opened it up and she'd put a flower in it. And she said, oh, Jesus, it's spring, it's life, it's flowers. She was very poetic. And the teacher said, okay. And then the little boy, very pragmatic, put a nail, and he says, this is the nails that nailed Jesus to the cross. Okay, good. Then this other little girl, she put a cross in it. So it was perfect as a whole thing. Little boy put a pebble. Why a pebble? Why? See, it's the stoning rolled away. Good boy. And then there was one boy in the class who was on the autism spectrum. And the teacher always was wondering if he was really, she was paying special attention to him. And he looked to be listening very attentively, but is he really? So she said, hey, how about you, Billy? What did you bring? And he opened his little Egg. There was nothing in it. So she said, oh, did you forget to bring something? He says, I didn't forget anything. He said, this is Easter. Easter is the Resurrection. The tomb is empty. I brought the empty. How many of you know he was the best theologian of the whole bunch? We have an eternal inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, unfading. It's incorruptible. Everything it cannot decay. Unlike everything else on earth, including us. Satan, oppression to your right. We are decaying even right now, as we speak. Say that somebody to you. But our hope. Our hope is incorruptible. Our inheritance never loses its beauty, its value, or its eternal power, even over death. Now, if this sinks in your spirit, if we walk in a full light, that our inheritance by the sacrifice of Christ and His resurrection, death has no power over us. If you don't fear death, you don't fear anything else in life. We have an eternal inheritance. Incorruptible, unfading money can lose its value, relationships can be broken, bodies can weaken. But your inheritance in Jesus is secured and it's already accomplished. You don't have to strive for it. You are receiving it every day, called to walk in it every day. And you will receive it eternally. The world didn't give it to me, and the world can't take it away. When you walk in the power of the resurrection, you are kept. This is what Peter teaches. It's so powerful. You are guarded by the power of God. It's a military term, military language. You are protected and guarded. God himself is protecting you, guarding your salvation. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Nothing can snatch you from his hand. You have a full access to the full measure of the power of God through a faith ready to be revealed. This is what First Peter said, our faith ready to be revealed in the last hour of the last days. Your salvation is initiated by God, secured by God and completed by God. There will be, and this is an amazing picture. This is you and me in the last of the last days. There will be a people who will walk in the power of the resurrection. And they will be. That power of the resurrection in us will be revealed to the people of the last days. We are the people of the last days, and we are called to walk. And that his resurrection power in us becomes our witness of the resurrection of Christ until He comes. So today I want to speak today on three dimensions of the power of his resurrection that will be revealed through us in these last times. The renewing the three Dimensions of walking in the power of his resurrection, the renewing power of his resurrection, the revealing of power of his resurrection, and the restoring power of his resurrection, the renewing power of the resurrection. Through our faith and salvation in Christ, we have unlimited access to the very same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. I don't know. I don't know if you were ever promised unlimited access. When you finally find out, it was pretty limited. After all, years ago, I was preaching in California, in Los Angeles, and somebody said, I got you tickets with your family to go see the Lakers. So I was very excited. And when he gave me the tickets, he said, well, he says, here's this little coupon. And with that, it gives you access to the lounge, the VIP lounge. It's a restaurant. I said, oh, are you sure? Tickets usually don't give you access to. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you have access with this. And. But when we got to the. I wasn't too sure. When we get got there, the kids said, oh, we want to see it. We. We want to go to the VIP lounge. And I got there very timidly. I don't go to VIP lounges. So I. I went there very timidly, and I said, I. I had this. He says, yes, sir, you can come in. I said, all right, I'm coming in the VIP lounge. Here we come. And I've never seen anything like it. There was mountains of lobster and, And. And shrimp, and it was just huge. And the kids. Oh, man, this is amazing. I said, all right, let's get in line. We'll get in line to get a table. So I go in line to get a table, and when my name comes, I'm confident. Now I got the ticket. So I show him the ticket. He says. He goes. He said, no, no, no, sir. This allows you to come in, but it's $500 per person. So I said, hot dogs, here we come. But you have a full access to the resurrection. Romans 8:1. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life. He will quicken. He will resurrect. He will regenerate. Resurrect your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. Each of us arrived at Easter 2026 with issues in our lives that we think of as sealed. This can't change. This is sealed for good. But the challenges, defeats, pain, battles, failures, and tragedies of our lives that seem to be so sealed up in a tomb. The Bible says the spirit of God by the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. God can break every seal over our lives. Now watch this In Matthew chapter 28, we'll look at a few passages of the resurrection in Matthew 27:62. On the next day which followed the day of preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, sir, we remember while he was alive how this, how the deceiver said, speaking of Jesus, after three days I will rise. Therefore command that the tomb he made secure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away and say to the people, he has risen from the dead. So the last deception will be worse than the first. And Pilate said to them, you have a guard. He provided a guard. Go your way and make it as secure as as you know how. So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard. Now when we look at the Gospel of Mark of the same account, it speaks of the women. The women came, are coming to the tomb and they know they have these obstacles before them. They know that they have to get through together. They're asking among themselves, who will open the tomb for us. They know that there's the soldiers, the stone and the seal. The soldiers, the stone and the seal. The soldiers, a garnison. Each of them will pay with their lives if they let anything come through the stone. Two ton stone, according to the historians, 20, 30 men to move it. And the seal and the seal of Rome, most scholars agree, was a cord of robes stretched across the stone, fastened with wax or clay. Stabbed with an official signet, the stone could not be moved without visibly breaking the the seal and any tempering would be immediately detectable. It represented all of Rome's power. They, they speak about, the historians speak about it as a three layer security system that Matthew emphasizes. The stone, the security seal, the stone, the physical barrier, the seal, the legal authority and the soldiers. Your military endorsement. And the seal of Rome carried all the weight, all the Roman authority. The seal represented the highest, most powerful human authority. Now when we look at the Gospel of Matthew of Luke, chapter 24 and we'll spend the rest of the message in Luke 24 we see in verse 1 to 3. Now, on the first day of. Of the week, very early in the morning, and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found a stone rolled away from the tomb and they went and went in and did not find the body of Jesus. Every single one of us have issues in our lives I. I'm here to tell you that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you. And he can break the seal over your life. You're not limited. You're not. You're not in. You're not locked in. You're not sealed in. There's no human or demonic seal that the spirit of God can't break. Please receive this. You are not sealed in the tomb of your past. You're not sealed in the tombs of past mistakes or guilt or shame or pain. The seal of addiction, the seal of depression, the seal of mental illness. The sea. The seal of a. I'm locked into panic attacks and anxieties can be broken by the spirit of God. Rome could not stop it and no human or demonic force can stop it. God, yeah. I want you to shout out loud, I'm coming out. I'm coming out. Out. By the power you have unlimited access to enter in. This is not a one time event when you get saved. It's a daily entering in the power of the resurrection. The angel did not roll away the stone to allow Jesus to come out. Jesus is all powerful, he's omnipotent. No force can keep him down. But the angel rolled away the storm. So spiritually, symbolically, so you can enter into the resurrection. This is what the angel said to the women in Matthew 28:5. But the angel answered and said to the woman, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He's not here, for he is risen. And he said, come see, enter in the place where the Lord lay and quickly go and tell his disciple he, he is risen from the dead. You are not sealed in where you come from, how you grew up, some words that were spoken over you. You are not sealed by the abuse that was over you. You're not sealed by a dramatic event that happened to you. You are not sealed in. You are not sealed in the limitations of men or even the religious limitations of man by the spirit of God in you. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead raising he can quicken. He can bring to life whatever was dead in you. In Jesus name, walking in the power of his resurrection is walking in the renewing power of his resurrection and the revealing power of his resurrection. As we continue In Luke chapter 24, we will meet two men on a road. On the road called Emmaus. These two men are walking on that road. It's the road of the broken heart. They have a broken heart and spirit. It is Sunday afternoon. It's Three days after the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, his death has been officially and thoroughly confirmed. The Roman soldier pierced his side and water and blood came out. Jesus died of a broken heart for the redemption of you and me. And on the road to Emmaus that Sunday afternoon, the scripture says the sun will set before the end of this conversation. Jesus died. The body has been released, the women are coming with the spices, and Jesus, resurrected, comes near. And he walks with these two men as he comes near, as he comes near to these two men, as he comes near to you and us every day in his resurrection power. And you will find out that we all walk on the road to Emmaus, and we find it in Luke 24:13. Now, behold, two of them were traveling the same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all the things that had happened. So it was that when they conversed and reasoned that Jesus himself drew near and he went with them, but their eyes were restrained so that they did not know Him. And today in our lives, it doesn't matter if you're a new Christian or if you're just listening in or if you have walked with the Lord for a long time, many things can still restrain our eyes from seeing Him. We could be restrained by offenses. We could be restrained by our own plan, our own timetable, our disappointment, our worries, the chaos, cares of this life. Sometimes a refusal to surrender in one area of our lives, or the woundedness or the bitterness can literally restrain, Restrain us. And many people are blinded from seeing Jesus for all kinds of. That's what the enemy does. He puts a veil. They're blinded by the Prince of this world. But I would even say this many people have been around Christianity and you're watching online, this might be you. And also here in person, some people, many, many have been blinded, have been restrained from seeing Jesus in his fullness because of the bad testimony of religious folks that speak his name, that sing his name, but whose lives are so contrary that it's blinded them. I love that story of the little boy. Easter morning. He's sitting with his mom in church. It's a small church, but there's a beautiful mural in the back, a beautiful mural of Jesus and a little boy there singing and everything. But he's fascinated by the mural, just looking at it. He's just looking at Jesus and he's just wondering. He finds this marvelous. And then the preacher comes on and starts preaching. The little boy is just trying to keep his eyes on Jesus and without a warning, he gets up. His mom can't stop him. He gets up and says, excuse me, sir, can you move away? Trying to look at Jesus. And she sits him down. Mom sits and what? How impolite. Why would you do a thing like Mom, I'm sorry. That man was stopping me from seeing Jesus. I'm going to let that go all the way back. The revealing power of his resurrection is Jesus coming near to open your eyes to who he is and to his unlimited power to change you and heal you, to open your eyes for your need of communion with him daily so you would see supernaturally what he's prepared for you. Now Paul teaches the Corinthians that this is a lifestyle. This is not a one time. This is something you have to pay close attention to. In First Corinthians 2, he says, for as it is written, your eye cannot see. Eye has not seen, nor ye heard, nor have entered into the heart of man. The things which God has prepared for those who love him. Lean over to somebody and say, you can't even imagine. Say that subject to you. But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God, for what man knows the things of man, except by the Spirit of man in him, without walking in the power of the resurrection. Just like the disciples on the Word on the road to Emmaus. Your eyes. Your eyes are going to be. Are going to be blinded and you're going to be limited to your human perception, your human understanding of things, your human perspective on things. You only see according to the Spirit of the man. And I don't know about you, but the Spirit of me, the Spirit of my flesh does not discern the things of God. I need the Spirit of God every day. For what? Even so, no one knows the things of God except through the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the Spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is from God that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Things that have been given freely. He says literally that by the Spirit of God, I can see supernaturally. And then out of the abundance of the heart, I can speak supernaturally and I can stand against the enemy supernaturally. When I. For many years, I did not need. I didn't need reading glasses. I had contact lenses and glasses because I can't see far, but I could read okay. And in my 50s, I just needed. I needed them both. So I got these reading glasses and it was a mess, especially in preaching. And if you go on YouTube and look at the videos in Times Square Church. Back in those days, it was awful because I kept going on and off with the glasses on and off. I would break glasses. It was just a sweating. It was a bad scene. And one day I went to my optometrist, a lady from our church, and she sat me down and she says, pastor, don't. I would bring 2, 3 pairs of broken glasses at a time and say, okay, here, can you fix these? And she said, I'm gonna try something with you. It doesn't work with everybody. It's. Some people's brain can do this or not. It's not being more intelligent at all, just different types of brains. And she said, try this. They're bifocal contact lenses. And when I put them on, wow. I can see far and I can see close. So I want you to know that without the spirit of God, and this is good. This is also a leadership thing. It possible for leaders and Christian leaders, many of them in the nations say they always talk about far. Oh, yeah, one day revival is coming. One day revival is going. Oh, one day. Great things. Oh, one day. Great things. Great prophetic words. I got word. I got prophetic words. One day. One day. One day. But they can't see close at their own need and in what they can do now. Now let me tell you this. Without the Holy Spirit, the reverse is true. Without the Holy Spirit, we can get to a place where all we see is. Is the close. The problem that is close. The opposition that is close. The disappointment. I can't see further than this without the Holy Spirit. But with the Holy Spirit, I can see my own condition now. And I can see what he's prepared for me. The revealing power of his resurrection. Their eyes could not see him. They were prevented from seeing him. The resurrection is Jesus coming near you. The to reveal himself and to open your eyes. It is Jesus resurrected, coming to give you what I would call the second touch. And this is not. This is not like a second, only two touches. It speaks of a continual work of Jesus. Opening your eyes and opening your eyes. Eye and not see. Your heart cannot perceive. Don't go on what happened yesterday, five and 10 years ago in this season of your life. God. God wants to show you and reveal to you what he's prepared for you now. Even through your worst difficulties, the worst pain, the worst sadness that grips your heart. God wants to open your spiritual eye and speak truth and speak his next steps in your life, in your heart. By. By His Spirit and this is not only the opening of the eyes. It's not only for people that don't know Christ. And. And there. There's something happening in Matthew chapter, in Mark, chapter eight that I think is a message that's important for us. The revealing power of his resurrection. His eyes were prevented from seeing him. And in Mark 8. 22, Jesus came to Bethesda. And they brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. So he took the blind man by the hand, led him out of the town. And when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything. And he looked and he said, yes, miracle. I see. I see, but I see men like trees walking. Then he put his hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored. And he saw everyone. He saw everything clearly, one version says. And he saw things as they really were. Please understand that this man was totally blind, like we were. Like you and me were spiritually. Do you remember? Do you understand? You remember that it was a season. There was years in our lives we were totally blind to God, who he is. The gospel. We were blinded by the Prince of this world. But the Bible says by amazing grace, how sweet the sound he. As we received Christ, the conviction of the Holy Spirit came. Spirit of truth. And then the veil is lifted from our eyes. I was blind, but now I see. And if that's your song, you should give him praise today. Now this man is experiencing a real miracle. You. He didn't see anything before. He says, what do you see now? It's a miracle. I never saw anything before. I see colors. I see so many. I see now, but I see men as trees walking. It's not clear. It's not this thing. And Jesus has a message. This is. Please understand. I hope you. I hope you understand. This is not a case of shortage of divine power. Jesus needs to apply a second touch. A shortage of divine power and sufficient dosage of power. Try again. No. No. He's all power. He's creator. He was there at the beginning of time. He was participating in the creation of all things. But there is a message there. Because as he touches him a second time, he says, what do you see now? I see things as they really are. I would like to propose to you that you and me need that second touch. We need the Holy Spirit in every season to come in and open my eyes again. The second touch of Jesus in Mark 8 is. Is not. Was a message to his disciples and to you and me. It's not because you look at the whole context just before it, before the progressive healing. In verse 17 of the same chapter, the Bible says they're listening to him, they're seeing him. But Jesus says, you don't understand. You don't see me, you don't understand. You're seeing me, but you don't understand. And right after you have this amazing example of Peter who proclaims Jesus as the Christ, but then he rebukes him. When Jesus announces his death and his resurrection. We need, I need and you need in every step of our lives, in every relationship in our lives, in every season of our lives, we need the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. So I can stand, I can see supernaturally, I can speak supernaturally and I can stand supernaturally in Jesus name to fulfill his purposes. And everyone says amen. I want to close with this the walking three dimensions, the power of the resurrection, the renewing power, the revealing power of his resurrection. I close with this the restoring power of his resurrection. His resurrection comes in the depths of our human experience. On that road to Emmaus. There are experiences that there's things that come out of their hearts and their mouths that we can so identified today 2026 after Jesus, when the restoring power of his resurrection, when you are burdened with sadness, gripped with sadness. Verse 17 in that same conversation, he said to them, what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are so sad? The word sad here is the word scutros. An enveloping sadness, a A countenance of grief, a state of mind and of soul sometimes. And you're here today, you know what I'm talking about. And online you're watching and you're saying, this is where I'm at. I'm on that road. I'm on the Emmaus road in my life. Sometimes the weight of our grief, disappointments, fatigue, offenses, woundedness, betrayal is what prevent us from seeing him. Those two disciples were walking away from the place of hope. Jerusalem had been the place of hope. Hope. And they're walking away from it. Their hopes are dashed. Hope is gone. It's the road of broken dreams. They felt that evil overcame. And we go through that evil over case, seem to have overcome over good and justice. They were talking to one another, trying to make sense of it. They're confused. It's those seasons where I can't make any sense of what is happening to me now. And maybe you are on that road to now. Maybe you are on the road. You're walking, carrying the burden of scutos. Maybe you came to Easter last week again to church on Easter weekend, and some people in your family are not saved. And it's gripping your heart. You say, oh, it's been so many Easters, and I've been praying for so long. And maybe you just lost someone and you're grieving, or you're coming to church with all your children or grandchildren. You're sad over a marriage that was broken, over a divorce, over your son or daughter, or over your loneliness. I can't find someone. Maybe you're sad. We have people of many nations in our church. And as wars explode everywhere, and I think of the country of Haiti that we love so much, we have so many people in our church. They're just sad for what's happening, just carrying something so deep because they are feeling so powerless to help their own family in their country. Maybe, beloved, we have a living hope. We have a living hope that is to be. God wants to reveal as you come in his presence, he wants to reveal. This is not a static hope. It's a renewed hope by the resurrection, a living hope. And he says, that's how you are kept by the power of God. And Peter says, you're kept that way. It's a living hope, and you're kept by the power of God. See? And I felt to say, to speak to somebody, you need to walk and more, you need to come again and say, oh, God, I need that power of the resurrection to keep me, to protect me. And I will say this very openly. After 42 years of ministry, there's seasons of drama and seasons of mourning and grief. There's seasons of offenses and attacks that were so vile, so intense, that it is only by the Spirit of God that I can keep my eyes on Jesus and be protected and kept. I want to say to somebody, just. Just surrender to him. He's going to keep you. Don't lose your testimony. Don't drift away. He's going to keep you by his power in these last days. Come on, give him praise today, please. The restoring power of his resurrection. When walking in sadness and when something precious is lost. Same conversation. We're walking on the emmaus road. Luke 24:21. But we. Oh, this is so heavy. We were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, after all this, today is the third day since these things happened. These words have been ringing my spirit. You. You're here today and you say, I'm going. I'm speaking to someone. You're going Through a season. We were hoping. I was hoping. I was hoping I had hope. I was hoping for my child. I was hoping for this marriage. I was hoping for this relationship. I was hoping for this ministry. I was hoping for this diploma. I was hoping for this promotion. I was hoping. I was hoping this was something. I was hoping. But after all this, please do not let your human eyes determine that after all this, they were walking with the resurrection and the life. God is still at work in your life and he has a plan. I'm speaking to someone who's walking with God and you know, we could be very good at hiding that something was lost. Something was lost. After all this, we were hoping, after all this, something's lost. Hope was lost and maybe. And I felt this speaking to someone. You walked in church today and thank God you're here and online, you're watching, but something's lost. There's a hope, there's a freshness, there's a peace, there's a joy, there's a belief, there's a expectancy in God that is lost, that the enemy has tried to steal it. And you know that we can be very good at hiding that something is lost. We put our game face on. We put our church face on. And this pastor's wife was baking a special cake for the church auction in support of a missionary family. And the idea was everybody would bring their best baked goods and they would have an auction. And all the money was raised, was given to this missionary family and the pastor was getting the lady. The pastor's wife had begun to cook, but it was slow and. And we're getting late. And the pastor was getting impatient. It's not ready. We're going to be late. It's not ready. Going to be late. Please, please don't worry. There's never any impatience in TSC pastoral couples. That just never happens. Not ready. So after a while, he just said, he's pushing her so hard and she opens up and she looks inside the cake and it's not ready, it's not cooked. So she said, no problem. She takes the stuffing out and she puts paper towels in it, just fills it with paper and covers it with whipped cream. And so. What are you doing? What are you doing? She said, it's going to be fine. What do you mean it's going to be fine? It's going to be fine because you're going to pay the high price at the auction and you're going to buy the cake. We can be very good at hiding, at putting a lot of whipped cream around. But something has been lost. And after that, we were hoping that, but after this, we were hoping that, but after this. Please understand that when Jesus, when we speak of the power of the resurrection to restore the restoring power of the resurrection, this is not. When we think of power. In some circles, it's as if it's not for real life. It's as if it's for. In church manifestations and experiences, when Jesus is establishing. When Jesus steps up and begins his first public message, his first public ministry, he when he began his public ministry in his very first message defining the restoration, the restoring power of his resurrection, the same spirit that dwells in you. He describes it this way from the words of the prophet Isaiah and if you've been a Christian a long time, please listen again. Please open your heart. This is the power, the active, real, authentic power of the resurrection. Active, the living hope that can heal you and keep you The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, says Jesus. He's anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor, sent me to heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. You can come up out to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, to comfort all that mourn, to console all, all that mourning Zion, to give them beauty for ashes. You say right now it's ashes, right now it's a mess, it's ugly beauty for ashes and a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. And if you've experienced it deeply and deep healings in your life, would you give him praise? Somebody needs to hear it. Somebody needs to be to hear it. This is for you. We need the restoring power of the Resurrection. For. For when we walk in sadness, when something is lost and. And we need it when someone is slow to believe, the resurrection comes to. To reach those that are slow to believe. In verse 25 then he said to them, oh, foolish ones, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things as it was prophesied, and to enter into his glory and beginnings with Moses? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew near to the village. As they drew near to the village they were going. And he indicated that he would have passed further, but they constrained him. And they said, oh, abide with us. Come abide in me. And and for it is toward evening and the day is far spent. And he went in and he stayed with them. The restoring power of the resurrection for those that are slow to believe. When Jesus said to them, o foolish ones, the Greek word is really O without you. O man without intelligence. Jesus is not insulting their intelligence. And as we define the term, we can have intellectual intelligence. It could be abundant in academic and professional intelligence, emotional, relational, and even artificial intelligence working for you and not possess or have neglected or abandoned the pursuing the seeking of spiritual intelligence. We meet every day, men and women that have all the knowledge in the world, but they're not discerning, they're not understanding, they're not seeing, they don't have that spiritual intelligence. They're slow to believe. Now, don't look around, keep smiling and look at me. But do you know someone who's slow to believe? No Elbows, ladies. And you know someone who's slow to believe? You have a son, you have someone in your life that's slow to believe. They're slow to surrender. They're slow to decide for God really, to really surrender everything to him, to truly trust, trust him. And the other question is, are you the one who's slow to believe? Are you the one who's slow to believe, Slow to really commit, to really commit to God, the restoring power of his resurrection? He never leaves you nor forsake you. And there's something so, so tender, but also it's a very, very profound spiritual reality. You have free will. And everyone online, you have free will. You, you can stay, you can stay in the state you're in now. You can close door to Jesus in your life in different areas. And you can. He's walking with them. He never went. He's resurrected for them. They're walking with the resurrection and the life. But he's not going to impose himself on them. It's when they cried, abide, abide in us. And I want to say to someone, he never leaves you. He never forsakes you. But today is the day. You've been slow to believe. You, you've been slow to come in, but today is your day. Don't play with your present. Don't play with your future. Just one breath towards him and he's going to run into your life to your rescue. Hallelujah. And I want to speak in a word also speaking to moms and dads and grandparents and all, and people that you have someone in your life that is just slow to believe. You've prayed and prayed and prayed and sometimes it's years. And I would say this way, I know this, that sometimes when we pray for people that are so slow to believe that the first act is so long and so dark. But I want to tell you, God is moving behind the curtain. God is moving behind the curtain of their hearts. Some years ago when I came to preach here in Times Square Church, the kids came and we had heard that they were playing on Broadway. The play the Merchant of Venice was playing with Al Pacino playing in it. And we got tickets and we're watching this Shakespeare play and it's so dark. The first act is just so dark. And it's gloomy in the world, and it's so, so heavy. And then there's the. Then they close the curtain and the whole stage is dark. And it was so depressing. It's oppressive. And then they shut the curtain and it's intermission. And I'd never been to a Broadway play. Maybe Lion King one time with the kids, but I'd never been to a Broadway play. I didn't know. So I ordered a Perrier sparkling water. $20, $21 Perrier water. So I never tasted $21 Perrier water. And my kid, my son bumped into me and I said, hey, here's five bucks. I just fell to the ground with my, my Perrier. So when we sit back, back down for a second act, it's very long. It's a Shakespeare play. Well, we get. Sit back down for the second act. We. Nothing had changed. There's nothing that we didn't hear, we didn't see anything. But when the curtain opened, the whole crowd went because it was completely changed. They had worked behind the scene. And it was luminous. It was light. It was life. It was. And sitting there with my $20 Perry of water, I watched. And I'm just thinking, oh, God, you work behind the curtain. We don't see you. We don't know. But if God is moving on someone in your life that is slow of believing, don't quit, don't give up. Stay up in intercession. The spirit of God interceding through you and give him praise. Sometimes we have to praise him in advance. And beginning with Moses and the prophets, he expanded to them in all the scriptures that things concerning himself. Jesus says, I am alpha and omega. I've been there from the very beginning, he said, just even from Moses to when Jesus spoke. 1200, 1300 years of prophecies. God's love is not random. It's not fickle. It's not changing. Even in those dark days when you feel as if God has vanished from your sight in the Very next sentence Jesus says to them in verse 31. Now it came to pass that as he sat at a table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were open and they knew him. But then he vanished from their sight in their season. We need the power of the resurrection because there are seasons in our lives, the darkest seasons, where the enemy will sow a seed of making you doubt even is God even still with me now. You read the biographies of the greatest men and women of God. You, there's of history, every single one of them that were preaching or writing and touching millions of. In some cases they all speak of dark season, dark season in the secret chamber of their souls where the. The liar comes in and, And I'm speaking to someone that because of a tragedy, because of. Of something that is so, so intense, or because of a series of hard knocks and battles, one after the other, the enemy sowed into your spirit. I was hearing in prayer somebody, I was hearing you online in the secret place saying, I saw you. I know, I believe that. I believe in your body that was broken for me and your blood that was shed for me. I was walking with you, I saw you. But now I'm in season as if you vanished. It is only by the Holy Spirit of God that you can stand again the lie against the lie of the enemy and declare my Redeemer lives. My Redeemer never leaves me, never forsakes me. And Jesus comes in the restoring power of his resurrection for you. When you've been battling, even the thought you're not showing him, but you've been battling as he vanished from my sight, and because of it your heart has grown cold. Luke 21:32. And they said to one another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked to us on the road and while he opened the scripture to us. I'm talking to someone with great love. You came to church and nobody would notice, nobody would see. But because all has happened and your eye is being prevented and something is lost, your heart is cold. You've come in with a. And it's something interesting that the town of Emmaus, in the Greek, the very, very meaning of the town. The word means the. The place of warmth. And actually some, Some translation they would translate it. It's a place from cold to hot because it was a city known for its hot thermal spring waters. And I, I feel in the love of God to come and say to you there's. I know there's some seasons where, because something Is been. Something has been lost. Something has been lost. And it's as if he vanished from my eyes. And I'm walking with the sadness, and my heart has grown cold. You need to cry out for restoring power because Isaiah says, a bruised reed he will not break. A bruised reed will not break. A flickering flame he will not put out he will not fail, nor be discouraged. Discouraged. Behold, the former things have come to pass, but I'm announcing new things I declare before they spring forth. I will tell you of them many years ago. And as Pastor Tim mentioned during the announcement, there's some countries that we go. We don't even want to talk about it publicly online because of the heavy persecution. So I'm not going to name the country, but I was doing a pastor's conference in a nation that is. With heavy, heavy persecution against Christians. And I was so honored and humbled because I was speaking to hundreds of pastors and hearing their stories. It was just some of them, torture, put in prison, separated from their families, the church burned down. I felt I'm speaking to them, but they're the men of God and the amazing men and women of God. And it was a moment of worship. And it's all in a different language. Everything's being translated into worship isn't their language. And. And just after the worship, the. The man came up. He was a superintendent. They called him the bishop. And he's a man who served there for many decades, a man of authority. And he came. He says, well, God bless you. You could. You could be seated. The worship just finished. There was one young guy, as if he was on his own, just worshiping Jesus in the middle of the sanctuary. He's sitting. He's standing in the middle. Everybody's seated, and he continues to just. He's weeping, and he continues to worship. And this man spoke harshly to him, this bishop. And I didn't understand what. I asked my translator and said, oof. He's telling him, you're out of order. Sit down. Didn't you not hear what I said? You know, you don't do what you want here. And the man, the young man just came to himself, and he just looked around and he said, oh, I apologize. He was so humble. He said, I apologize, Bishop. I'm sorry, brothers, I'm sorry. I don't want to disturb anything, but as you know, I just spent the last eight months in prison. And not only did they beat us and torture us, but one way that the torture was so hard for me is that they forced us to complete Darkness and complete silence. I could not even murmur. They would wait for us. And he said sometimes I couldn't sing. I couldn't worship. And sometimes I didn't know if I was going to come out alive or not. And he said sometimes I just would say, jesus, Jesus. And they would come and beat me. So he says today to be here with you and to worship freely like that, I just. I just love him so much. And. And what moved me, that young man was so precious. He was amazing. But what moved me as a leader was that bishop, when he heard all that he. He was. So he said, he picked up the microphone. He says, he tried to. He says, I, I. I ask you to forgive me. I ask all of you to forgive me. What has happened to me? My heart has grown cold. How can I be so hard? Harsh? Where is my love? I want you to pray. Young men, come over here. You pray for me. I need prayer. I need. Something has happened. Something is lost in my heart. I need. And the young man came up all humbly, and we're all surrounded men, and began to lay hands on him. There was no preaching that morning, just the glory of God. The presence of God. I want to say to somebody, bring your cold heart, bring what was lost into the presence of Jesus, and let him do the work of resurrection. Would you give him praise, please? As the musicians come. The restoring power of his resurrection. I close with this. When the devil tells you it's over in Luke 24:33, 34. So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11. And those who were with them gathered together, saying, the Lord is risen indeed. And he has appeared to Simon. Simon Peter. He's appeared to Simon. He could hear their reaction. And this is what the devil is bombarding them with. This is what the devil is bombarding Peter with. Appeared to Simon. It's not possible. It's over for him. He bragged that if everyone forsook him, he would die for Jesus. But then he denied. And he cursed to a servant girl three times to prove he didn't. He didn't know him. And then he wept bitterly. He cut the ear of the soldier. When they came to arrest him in Gethsemane, he fled. He wept bitterly. Every time he thought of it, says the scripture about his failure, he wept. He went back to his boat. It's over for him. He's disqualified. He's too slow to believe. He's too. He's too wounded, too discouraged. Too much has been lost. He had hoped that he had hoped for. But after all this, it's over for him. But the. But the angel says no call, go and get Simon. And in the Gospel of Mark he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He's risen. He's not here. See the place where they laid him. But go and tell the disciples that. And Peter, the resurrected Christ, calls out the name of the one who's been under the lie that it's over for you and he's calling out your name too. And go and tell them that he is risen, as he said. In 42 years of pastoring, I've seen God resurrect from the worst abyss. Men and women to resurrect them and heal their heart and restore the resurrection. It is. I can't say it any other way. The spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you. He can quicken. He can resurrect from the first, from the worst abyss. Just before I came here this week, I had the pleasure of a lady from our church, Monique. And she has written books and she came to knock in my office to say this is, you're getting the first copy. This is my latest book and it's called, it's in French, but it's called from the Shadow to the Light. And this lady, years ago actually on December 6, 1989, she was a nurse, she was a high level nurse and her husband had left her with two kids many years ago before that and he was a violent man. She'd been beaten and he left her and she, she's just. And now her kids are grown boy, young man and young woman. They. They left the house and she, she has hard. Any contact with her son. And as all. Every citizen of my, my nation in Quebec saw, that day was a horror day. And all the news were filled day and night with the worst. We saw the worst killing.
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The.
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The worst mass killing in the history of our nation. A deranged in. A young man who is in psychosis took a gun and walked in a section of a engineering school but for women. And he shot and killed 14 women and many, many more that were handicapped for the rest of their lives. And it's so astonishing because when she tells the testimony later, when she looked at that on the news, she had this fleeting thought and she told her friend, oh, I'm praying for the mother of that man. And a few hours later the police burst into her house and she found out that the worst killer in our nation's history was her son. And she was so. It's unimaginable. She had to hide, and she had nothing to do with it. But she was tagged as the mother of the worst killer. And she went into a spiral of depression. And every time that the date would arrive, the journalists were after her. And in the year and a half to two years that followed, her daughter overdosed and died. And she came to our church, and we didn't know the story back then, but she came and sat in church. And she was a picture of sorrow, a picture of grief. And she had a friend that came with her. And she said before one service, she said to a friend, to her friend, is it possible to die from grief? I feel like I'm dying of sadness, of grief. And during the service, she felt the overwhelming sadness so heavy that she told her friend, I think I'm dying. If I fall down, don't pick me up. Let me. I'm dying of grief. And in that service, after the message, she stood back up during the worship. And her heart, she said, I could hear my heart pounding. And as if the Lord. Not in an audible voice, but as the Lord spoke, so kindly and so full of love. But she felt, she said, it was like she writes in her book, it's like love, but an amazing power. And the Lord spoke to her heart. Do you feel your heart beating? Yes, Lord, I do. Do you know it's me? It's causing your heart to beat. And if you give it to me, if you turn it over to me, I will heal. And she would say, you don't know, Lord. Listen, you don't know my heart. There's no heart left. There's just pieces. There's nothing left. And she. And she said, the Lord says, give it to me and I will. And it made no sense. Not only will I hear your heal your heart, but I will give you a vision, voice. And I'm just hiding in a hole because of all this. And in the days and weeks and months and years that followed, this is 30 years, 25 years. And then we saw. I seen it so many times. But you never. You always get amazed at the amazing grace. We saw this woman resurrect. We saw her come back to life. We saw her be baptized. We saw her be filled with the spirit. We. We saw her begin to share in my wife's prayer meeting, weekly prayer meeting, just with a few women and the Holy Spirit just using her. Where years later, she's been in 15 French countries of the world, she's spoken to hundreds and if not thousands of cops, prison officers, security in high schools and colleges and universities. She's been on television and always so speaking speaking of the life that Christ has given her from the shadow to the light. So I'm speaking to someone today. If the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, there's no limitation to his restoration power. In Jesus name he will keep you and he will heal you. And I want you to give him the best praise that you can please. Hallelujah. So let's stand together and I'm asking the worship team to come and I really had. Would you give me a minute? Don't online this is for you as much as people here in person but don't just go right out. Just can you for a moment. I believe God wants to minister life to so many. And if God gave me these specific words about something that's been lost and about the sadness that is so overbearing and about long to believe and the heart has grown cold. The Holy Spirit, the spirit that raised Christ from the dead is here active wanting to minister life to you to renew. I will take away the heart of stone that will give you a new heart. This is not only for unbelievers or this is for all of us. So this is what I felt in my heart. For the second service I'm going to ask Ricardo to come and lead us in worship singing the resurrection. But please don't even hesitate. If you're here today when we begin to sing if you're here today and you say I need. Something has been lost. Something I came Pastor Claude. That word was for me. Something has been lost. I am. I want you to come out of your seat and come to the front and say oh God, here it is. I'm coming to you. I'm entering into the resurrection. You maybe you say I don't usually go forward. This is a. I'm not going to beg you. This is a call of the Holy Spirit. There's something. There's a step of faith to say no. And if you hear and you say that word was for me the enemy actually actually had been lying filled my mind. My heart is God. God has vanished. It's as if God is not there anymore. And I want to come forward to say I refuse that lie in the name of Jesus. And if there's somebody in your life that's been slow to be believe and it's become a burden for you and you say oh God, I'm bringing him to the altar. I'm coming Forward not to not only to weep and to wail I'm coming in faith to say the spirit of God will reach him the spirit of God will reach her as we begin to sing and if you say listen we've all been there the greatest men of God and women of God have testified to this if you hear and you say my heart was cold I need to come I need my heart I need Want my heart to burn within me again I want you to come as we begin to sing but this is come from all over Come from the balcony we're waiting for you and as we come this is not only for those that come forward all of us would we all of us can we lift our hands because we all need to enter into the resurrection and even before we sing can you begin to speak to God? Can you begin to say God, fill me with the power of your resurrection Something let's be real Something's been lost Something's been lost oh God, I need I need you to come oh Holy Spirit of God Holy Spirit of God Come oh God, I need to be I need to be kept I need to be guarded My heart was tempted with many things I. I've been drifting I need to be kept by the power of God so all over this place Hands lifted up and let me HEAR the voices 51st and Broadway let voice rise unto God let's turn this in a moment of prayer In a prayer moment when we enter again into the resurrection in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus Come alive,
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come alive Be revived, Be restored Come
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on, let's sing it. Let's pray together we speak to dry
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bones Hear the word of the Lord Breath of life Breath of breath life Come fill my faith what was dead Come to life in Jesus name Come alive, come alive Come alive Be revived be restored we speak to dry bones Hear the word of the Lord Breath on the life Breath of life Come fill my faith Hope was dead In Jesus name All the grave all the grave can't hold us Chains can't find Just one word from God Turns death to life Delay is not tonight IO it's a part of God's plan Don't worship what you pray for Begin to worship him Come alive, come alive Be revived To the future we speak to the future Hear the word of the Lord Breath of life Breath by the light Come fill my face what was dead come to life Lift your voice Lift your hands Sing Sing Come alive. Dry bones we we speak to dry bones Hear the word of the Lord the breath of life, breath of life, come fill my face. What was dead come to life in Jesus.
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Just say, beat again. Beat again. Lord, help this heart to beat again. Let it be with a passion for you, God. Let it be with a passion for your word, for the Holy Spirit. Would you just ask him? Say, God, let these eyes see again. Let them see clearly again. Let them see clearly again the things of God. Father, we're just thanking you today. Hearts are beating again. Eyes are seeing again. Father, on this day, we thank you for the resurrection power. The same spirit which raised Christ from the dead dwells in you. Father, we thank you for it. And God, even as Ricardo has written and sung it, we speak to these dry bones. We speak to our dry bones. Come alive today. Come alive again. And we thank you for that.