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- [00:01]
Pastor Tim
Hallelujah. How many. He has been your provider. Anybody? How many experience. How many have a. How many would say, I have a testimony to tell of God's provision in our life. How many could say he's been my healer before? You could say he is. He has healed my body at some point. He has worked a miracle. And how many could say this. This is an important one, especially in these days. He's been my shalom. He's been my peace in the midst of the storm. He has been there for us. God has been so good, and we're so thankful for that. You know, I was praying with the choir before service. We do that every time we get a chance to sing a worship song together. We get to pray together. We do communion on the communion Sundays together. And as I was praying, there was. I prayed something, and I literally. Somebody heard me say it. I go, that was it. That was the song that was in my heart. I just could not articulate it. And it was an old song. And we did this last service, and Willie was so gracious to do this again. John. Yeah, John is still here. John, come on. He's gonna say he's not dressed for this. John Wineglass was Willie for 10 years. And Willie, who's a gift, and Judah and Barry, these guys are all gifts that God has provided. And before these guys, we had John Wineglass for 10 years. John, come on in here. He's on the West Coast. And what a blessing John has been. And I asked. I wanted. I called him up in the first service, and he had no idea what I was going to ask him to do. And there was an old. And I asked Elder Vicki to help me. There was an old song that we. That came to my heart, and it was a song called Through It All. I've learned to trust in Jesus. I've learned to trust in God. How many remember that song? How many remember that? I mean, we sang it, and I think all of us. I think John and Willie and all of us, we sat here and we heard you sing out there, and it. And it shocked us on how loud it became. But. Elder Vicki, would you help me? Let's. Come on. You know this song. Come on. Let's. Let's just sing this. Sing. Sing this with me. Come on. You sing in church. Sing it around the world.
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Choir Leader / Worship Leader
I've learned to trust I've learned to trust I've learned to trust Learn to depend Come on, sing it again. Through it all through it all Hallelujah.
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Pastor Tim
All I've had many tears and Sorrows Come on, let's sing this. Hallelujah.
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Choir Leader / Worship Leader
I've had many tears and sorrows I've had questions for tomorrow There have been times when I didn't know right from wrong but in every situation God gave blessed consolation that my trials only come to make me strong Help me sing it. Through it all, Jesus, we've through it all. Through it all, through it all, through it. Come on.
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Pastor Tim
This is the verse I like.
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Choir Leader / Worship Leader
I thank God for the mountains and.
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Pastor Tim
I thank him for the valleys.
- [04:43]
Choir Leader / Worship Leader
Come on, sing this. Oh, I thank God for the mountains and I thank him for the valley and I thank him for the storms he's brought me through Hallelujah, Jesus. For if I never had a problem I wouldn't know that God could solve them I'd never know what faith in God. Can you sing it?
- [05:17]
Pastor Tim
Let's be in choir. Come on, let's sing it right now.
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Choir Leader / Worship Leader
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus.
- [06:02]
Pastor Tim
How many have that testimony through it all Our faith. Our faith is still standing. You're here today, Ricardo. I remember just listening and saying, there are people that say there's impossible that you were going to even be here in 2025. You are alive, breathing and loving Jesus today. Thank God. I not only thank God for what he's doing, just for what he's doing here, but what he's doing around the world. I met some amazing people just before service. I was a new pastor friend who flew in from Uganda just for the prayer and fasting, met him and there's others that have come in for that. But we want to welcome all those watching from Kenya. And it just made me think about this. And Uganda. We welcome all those watching live from Madagascar, South Africa, Zambia, Thailand. We welcome those from India, New Zealand, the uk, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Hungary, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Bulgaria, Finland. We welcome those from Poland that are watching with us, Romania, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We welcome all those from Venezuela watching Brazil, Peru, Suriname, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. We welcome all those that are watching in this service. Some 30 states joining us from around the U.S. we do want to welcome all of you and also remind you that tonight we start prayer and fasting for three days. We always. We always kind of like as things put a warning label on. If you're going to eat a certain thing or do something, there's always a warning label that they put on it. So we have a warning label. We put on prayer and fasting warning this week Will, will have blessings and battles at the same time. So if you don't want blessings and battles, do not fast and pray, feast and pray not. But if you want how many are with me going, we, we want it all from God. I'm just, I'm, I'm just telling you, you will have blessings and battles. It's going to be a fight, but God is going to get the victory. Amen. So we'll start tonight. We'll start tonight. I'll talk a little bit about it. But tonight I want you to be here at six o' clock the doors will open. No, I do this wrong every single time. Tonight the doors open at five and then we come here at six o'. Clock. So after this service, go have the last supper. Then you come in and then we join together and then we'll start tonight. Tonight it's a special night because we're praying for all those that are going to school, whether you're educators or your students. I don't care whether you're in, in elementary or you're in college. We're gonna have a chance to pray over you every night. Our teams will be at the salt. We want to lay hands on you, pray for you. I have a message ready in our series. I have two more messages to go. I think tonight I'm gonna, I felt so strongly to speak because of the nature of it. This, this 15th message on our series 1 billion starts with one this challenge to the church to win souls to Christ. And tonight I'm going this, I felt to push this because this, what I'm gonna share with you today has been a burden of my heart. For two weeks it's been sitting there and I felt like today is the best beginning of it for prayer and fasting. And so tonight will probably be the most significant message on the series. And then the following week will probably be the most controversial message that I'll share about a second fight that is that has happened and why this is so important that we become soul winners. I'll share more next week, but I want to share with you what God is speaking to me. Two weeks ago, there was an odd phrase in the Bible that I have encountered that has shaken me. It was something to the core, not just for me personally, but even for us as a church. And I'm so thankful that we're going into the season of prayer and fasting because it really, it helps us to fight through it. There's a phrase in the Bible and I'll read it to you shortly. It's called water by the foot. Water by the foot. It's not a measurement, but I'll explain to you what it's about. It was a contrast phrase to God opening up the heavens and pouring down rain, or getting it on your own effort by your own mechanics and inventions. And it shook me. Water by foot or rain from heaven was the question that God was giving to them. And it was the danger of choosing man's invention over God's open heaven. And I'm telling you now, I want you to listen to me, around the United States and around the world and right here on 51st and Broadway, if there is ever a time we need God to come down, it is now. We need for the Holy Spirit to come down. Now. If you'd allow me for a few moments. I know we speak to those that are watching all over the world. Our city here in New York City is in a very dangerous crossroad. We are spiraling. I'm just telling you from the shootings that seem to happen almost every single week. Last. Last night, early this morning, 11 people shot and three people killed in our city. It. It doesn't seem to be stopping. We have a mayoral race that everybody. Everybody's talking about, that literally is. Is could mark this city. And we need a miracle from heaven. This. This church, or let me say this, this city doesn't need another church and another service. It needs an open heaven. It needs for God to open up the heaven. And that's what I want us to prepare for. I want us to prepare. I want you to hear my heart of what God was dealing with me and speaking to my own heart. Let's pray. Father, in these next few moments, I know what you have been dealing with me. I think I've needed two weeks to hold on to this, what you spoke to me, so I could begin to pray it over my own life. And God, By. By no means am I there, but God, I'm. I'm asking over my life over this church. Oh, God, send an open heaven. Send an open heaven. Lord God, Father, I just pray that we would not trust in man's invention, but we would trust in the miracles of heaven. So, God, we need a miracle today. So, Father, we need a miracle for our city and all those cities that are watching from all over the world, from Asia to Africa, from the uk, Lord God, all the way all over Europe. God, from Canada down to Central and South America. God, into the Caribbean. Send miracles. Work a miracle. Open up the heavens, Father, even over my. My new pastor friend. From Uganda. Who's here. We prayed. Open up the heavens in Uganda. Lord God, send revival to that nation. Thank you, God, for what you're wanting to do. Lord, we bless you and give you the praise in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. Now, I need you just to do this because this is the one o'. Clock. I'm gonna dismiss the choir. I know you've greeted somebody already. Would you re. Greet all those people that you just greeted before so I can dismiss the choir? Greet him again like you've never seen them before. It happened here in this pulpit some years ago. I can't tell you exactly when that I learned one of the most important lessons about preaching from this pulpit. It had to be probably over 15 years ago, maybe 20 years ago. I was preaching here at Times Square Church. I was preaching a sermon from this Pope. But I couldn't tell you if it was a Sunday or a Tuesday. And right in the middle of the sermon, it was visible. God visited us. God came down. God was doing something in this place. I can't remember the sermon, the point that was made, or the text that I preached from. All I remember is not just that God came down, but I remember the lesson that I took away from me that David Wilkerson, our founding pastor, taught me that night God visited us in the middle of that message. And then I did something very contemptible. I chose that word. I was thinking, as I was, as I was praying about this. I chose that word specifically contemptible. It was chosen after contemplation, say God, what fits my actions for that night that I stood at this pulpit because of what I did. We've heard the phrase to be in contempt of court. It means. It's a word which means to not respect or honor the place, the person, or even the moment to treat it, to treat it as common. When you say to somebody, you've been held in contempt of court, you forgot that you're standing before a judge that has, in a sense, that can speak and direct your future or jury to understand that there's a protocol, that there's something very important about being in court. And so contemptible fit what I did. God visited. I did something contemptible because this is what I did. I kept preaching after God started to move. Instead of stopping and acknowledging that this is the place that God wanted to pause and stop and work, I kept preaching. I kept preaching and I disappointingly finished the sermon. I gave time for people to come to the altar and it was fine. But I think I'd have to Say that because I kept preaching, there was some things or something that never happened that should have because I kept going and I don't know what it was. And then it was that God helped me to understand a verse that shed light on really what I was doing. It was a verse that I've read at times when I've read through the Bible and I'd come across this verse and I would underline it, but I understood it better. I understood it better from that night even before David Wilkerson talked to me. It was a verse about Uzziah, the king. And when he hit a very dangerous and probably we can call it a contemptible part of his life and legacy. And I want you to look at these words that are said about him because you have to almost pause and look at it very carefully or you'll miss the point. It's in second Chronicles 26, and this is what it said. For he was marvelously helped until he was strong. Don't miss that. God helped him until he became strong. And when he became strong, his heart became proud. Look at this verse again. We're gonna keep it up for a second. He was marvelously helped until he was strong. We would almost think it should say, he was marvelously helped. And so he became strong. And it doesn't say that. He says God was with him until he inserted his own strength. God marvelously helped me that night until I became strong, until I took over the sermon. It's when I continued in my own strength and maybe my own gift or my own ingenuity. It's when my heart became proud. On that night is when I began to get in the way. It's getting in the way of God, what God is wanting to do. It can happen in worship, can happen. Ministering the Word in ministry. It can happen whether you're on a staff. It can happen as a volunteer. It can happen with any gift that God has given to you. That we are marvelously helped until we begin to depend upon our own giftings. The heaven's opened, but yet we want part of the action. That's what it means. Heaven's open, but we want to insert ourselves. The heaven open, but we want our signature at the bottom of it to say, look what God is doing. And me at that same time. That's what I was doing that night. God moved and David Wilkerson that night. I just. This story hit me yesterday as I was praying for you and praying for this service. I haven't thought of this story for so long. And all Of a sudden, God brought me back to that time that I sat here in the back and David Wilkerson took me aside shortly after I preached. He used to call me Timmy. And he said, timmy, when God comes in the middle of your message, and this was the phrase that he used. He said, stop and cap the well. This is where the Holy Spirit is doing something. I didn't understand that phrase, and I. I had to look it up. Cap the well is a phrase that happens when oil is struck. And this is what it said. It said, when you cap the well, it prevents from contamination or unauthorized access. Let me say that again. When you cap the well, that something has been struck. A good thing, that something is pouring out. But when you cap it, it prevents contamination or unauthorized access. And then David Wilkerson said something that exposed my pride. It was as if he was reading my heart as he was speaking to this. He was both speaking, he said, from experience. And he couldn't have scripted the words that were going on in my heart any clearer than what he said to me next. David Wilkerson said. He said, timmy, I've been there. He said, you were surprised at where God moved in your message, weren't you? And I was. He said, you were surprised when the Holy Spirit came to this place because you didn't expect him to move in that. In that section or that part that you were reading the scripture. And he said, and you thought, here it comes. This is what he read, my heart. He said, you thought, if they like this, wait till I get to this part. He says, and I was. And like, I was shocked because that's exactly what I thought. I thought, man, I didn't even expect you to get happy or convicted here. And if you did that, wait till I get there. And he said, you. And he says, and you did. You went there. And Brother Dave said this. He said, and nothing happened. He said, because you're supposed to cap the well. When God moves, you don't move on. You stop and let God do what God wants to do. You don't get in the way of that very thing. I learned something powerful that day. Billy Graham said it this way. He said, you are never preaching until the audience hears another voice. Folks, keep that up there, because some of you have to hear this. Leaders or churches that are watching, this is. This has to be our goal, that when heaven opens up on a sermon, a song, a prayer, that if God moves, so chooses to move tonight during the prayer and fasting, it's when it's no longer your Voice, but now it's God's voice. It's no longer that people hear you. TSC was hearing another voice until I stepped in Times Square Church that night. I was in the pulpit, was hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. But I wanted in on the action. I wanted to say. I wanted to give my part. I wanted to be there to help the Holy Spirit at that moment. It's when the Holy Spirit backed off. I remember clearly David Wilkerson saying to me, he said, timmy, if the Holy Spirit moves and it's 10 minutes into the message and he shows up, stop the message. It's over at that moment. And I listened to him before he told me that. And I did. I was in a message not long after that. Ten minutes into it, God showed up and I just said, that's it. I'm done. And, like, nobody could believe it if I did that here. You would be shocked. But this is. This is what the Holy Spirit started to speak to my own heart. There's a verse we know. We quote. We sang the song in the first service, but we have forgotten what it's connected to. It's these words, not by might, not by power, but what by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. This is such a powerful verse when you look at that. Because really what he's doing is he's telling us that very thing. He's saying how important it is that you stay out of the way. It's not going to be your strength, your power, your giving. It has to be the Holy Spirit. What is the setting of this verse is so critical. Zachariah is ministering to discourage people attempting to accomplish this difficult task. They've returned from captivity in Jerusalem after decades and have this daunting task in front of them. They have to rebuild the temple. They have to rebuild the house of God in this decimated city. Boy, did this sound like today that you're wanting a place to meet God in a place that is godless at that time, everything is in shambles. That while Zachariah hears this, that is the end of a vision of God speaking to him. But he shows him something to lead him to the not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, sayeth the Lord. And he. And he. And it starts with this. Listen to these words. Zechariah 4, verse 1. That the angel who was speaking with me returned, roused me. And as a man who was awakened from his sleep, he said to me, what do you see? And I said, I see. Behold a lampstand. All of Gold with its bowl on top of it, its seven lamps on it, with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on top of it. And Then also verse 3, two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on the left side. Then I said to the angel who was speaking to me, saying, what are these, my Lord?
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Choir Leader / Worship Leader
And.
- [24:05]
Pastor Tim
And the angel who was speaking answered me and said, do you know what these are? I said, no, my Lord, he said. Then he said these words. This was his definition. This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. God was showing Zacharias something profound. He was telling him, you see a lamp stand on one side, but you see it connected to these olive trees that are pouring oil into it. He was telling him, if you have the stuff, the infrastructure, the resources, if you have everything there, but it's not connected to the Holy Spirit, it's nothing. It has to be connected to what God is wanting to do. He said, it's disastrous to have the stuff without the Spirit. He said, you see the lampstand, but you need the oil from the olive trees. You have manpower, you have resources, you have finances, but if you don't have the Holy Spirit, that means nothing. There's nothing there. That's what David Wilkerson was teaching. He says, you can have the points perfectly packed together with the right stories and illustrations, but if it's not connected to those olive trees, then there's no anointing. You can have a structure, what is called a sermon, a service, a song. But if it's not connected to heaven, if it's not connected to a fresh touch from God, then it means absolutely nothing. Because it's not by might, it's not by power, but by the Spirit, saith the Lord. For the past two decades, leaders have been running to conferences to get lamp stands and to say, this is our new structure, this is our new model, this is our new saying. These are the things that we do. But, folks, can I just tell you, that means nothing if it's not connected to heaven. It doesn't. We have people that are casting vision, but have never had a vision of God, have never had a vision of the Holy Spirit, but we know how to cast the vision. We know how to package the whole thing and hand it out and put it on a screen. But if it's not connected to those olive trees, if it's not connected to the by my Spirit, then, oh, God, Help us. And that's what he's wanting us to do, to be a by my spirit, people before William Booth, the founder of the Salvation army, died over a hundred and fifty years ago, he had a prophetic word for his generation before he died, and I think it's an enduring word. He said there are four chief dangers that face the people of God. And he says the first one is Christianity without Christ. He said it's. It's having church services where everything gets exalted except Jesus, where Christ has to be the star of it, not the person in a pope, not a personality. Jesus has to be the center of attraction. He has to be the one that men and women are drawn to. He said the other thing is forgiveness without repentance. He says we have people. Everybody's. Everybody is receiving forgiveness, but not repenting and letting God get rid of the things you got forgiveness for. He said, God. God not only will forgive by his blood, but my goodness, he will come and begin to work on what has held you in bondage. He is a bondage breaker, not just a sin forgiver. And then he says, you better be cautious because he says, thirdly, this politics without God, relying on a person, relying on a party instead of relying on the throne of God. He says to have a heaven without a hell. He says, we've missed it in the church. And finally religion without the Holy Spirit. Oh, God, we need the Holy Spirit. We need the power of God again. He said, Booth said, we have all of them. We have lost our vision of God for his holiness, his glory. We approach him lightly, with superficiality in our services. We have lost the vision of heaven and hell. We've lost the deep concern for men and women in, as we've been talking through, of getting ready for, to put on stage here the cross and the switchblade. We've been getting ready for this production. I told the leaders, I said, this is important. You know, there hasn't been a gospel play on Broadway for over 40 years. I said, this, this has. This is monumental. That God may be wanting to do something that would shake this city again, that would begin the story that started this ministry. This church wasn't started from some formula. This, this church was started on his. On hands and knees, seeking God, an open heaven, hearing another voice. It wasn't because it was a formula that you had a lamp stand and go, if we did these four things, then God's going to come. No, no, no, no. It was connected to an olive tree, where it started with what God was gonna do through the life and the legacy of David Wilkerson. And so you began to realize that what we're talking about doing is putting the legacy of this church on stage for the world to see. And there's something powerful happening. I told him, I said, the clouds are seeming to gather together. And I. And I remember mentioning to him, I said, let me just be very clear. I said, those main actors, they all better be filled with the Holy Ghost and speak in tongues. I said, I'm just telling you that right now. I said, I don't care about lampstand gifts. They better have the Holy Ghost not by might, not by power, but by the Holy Spirit. And I want to read to you not only what I read to them, the leaders, but I read to everyone that was in the cast. I read to them this passage. Deuteronomy 11. The children of Israel are on the border of the promised land. And Moses is about to challenge this people to be a. By my spirit, people. Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit. Listen to these words. Here comes the phrase. He says to them, for the land into which you are entering to possess it is not like the land you came out of Egypt, for which you came where you used to sow your seed. Here it comes. And water it with your foot. I'll explain that. That is such an important phrase. I couldn't get over that. And water it with your foot, like a vegetable garden. Verse 11. But the land into which you are about to cross to possess is a lands of hills and valleys, and drinks water not by foot, but from the rain of heaven. He said, I'm showing you a contrast of water with your foot or rain from heaven. I'm gonna explain this to you in just a second. He is contrasting the land of Egypt of your past and where he wants to bring you. And he's telling them, you can try to get water with your own strength, or you can trust God to send it from heaven. You can try to do this yourself or begin to believe that God will show. Let me explain water with your foot and what that means. The Egyptians were a sophisticated civilization. The land itself would only get 1 inch of rain each year. And the only way Egypt could prosper was by taking water out of the Nile to irrigate all the sections around their area, their cities, that would provide for the agriculture and give moisture to its parched land. How did they do it? Here it comes. They would use something called foot pumps to get their water day after day, perpetually exhausting continually. They would Use their inventions to pump water from the Nile into the fields so crops can go grow. It was hard work. They would literally use the Israelites to get their foot on the pumps, and they would just keep pumping to get water this way from the Nile. And God was going, your whole life you've been pumping water this way. But I want to tell you, there's coming a time I'm going to send water this way. He says, I'm going to do something that you can't do on your own effort, you can't do by your own strength. Strength. The contrast was water from the foot is really water from your own energy and your own effort. He said, you're going to. It's going to tire you out. You're going to be exhausted as you're trying to make something happen. But water from the foot is a man's way and man's energy without God's blessing. It's thinking that props and lights and screens and smoke will bring the presence of God. I have news for you. You can bring down this curtain. You can shut the doors. And can I tell you, God doesn't need anything that we have. He can show up all by himself. Anything else? If you think. If you think that a screen or a band or a preacher or a pulpit or this theater, the ornate theater brings the presence of God. We serve a God who doesn't dwell in temples made by hands, and he doesn't dwell in theaters, and he doesn't dwell in giant business projects made by hands. He is God. The worlds, the heavens can't contain him. Pastor Carter Conlon, our general overseer, gave me the strangest request that when I came to Times Square Church, it was the only one I can ever remember that he gave to me. He says, tim, you are my pastor. He said, I'm just an advisor. I'll be a general overseer. He said, I will be there for you every step of the way. And he knows his job. We will be praying. He. This church will be fasting for him on August 26th as he goes in for heart surgery. He's got one job, and he can't mess that up to stay alive. That's his only job that he's got to do. And he only gave me one request, one request, and I remember it. He said, please, please. And he had a reason behind it. He said, when you come here, he said, I know we need some updating. Do not use a smoke machine. He said, I'm so tired of churches using smoke machines, pumping smoke out. He said, it's like they're trying to fabricate this Old Testament presence of God. Turn the lights down, send smoke into the place. Turn the lights off on the stage. You can't see anything but one person and you can't even see each other. He says, we don't need smoke in the church. We need the presence of God in the church of Jesus Christ. I already know we're going to get emails and let's see, send them all, send them all and bust up your smoke machines. Just ask God to show up in our services. Ask God to come down in power again. Well, it sets the mood and the atmosphere. No, God sets that. Prayer sets that. The 1980s, when I first started preaching, I was preaching at a youth conference in Canada. When I did the conference, I'll never forget, it was one of the first times I was doing this. I fasted, I prayed, I said, God, we need a miracle. I've never done this before. It was one of first invitation to anything like this. I remember as a young man in my early 20s, going to Canada to do this thing. I remember preaching from the Book of Daniel to these kids. I didn't know what was gonna happen. I remember where I was. I remember what happened. Preached and it was as if God opened up the heavens and we saw this moment where God showed up. These young people that God began to grip hold of their lives. They found Christ, they found. They found the power of the Holy Spirit. God came and did something. And because there was something that happened, they called me next year to come and do this same conference. But instead of waiting for water from heaven, I came in pumping the. Pumping with the foot. And this is what I thought. If that message worked there, I'm preaching the same message. That's what I thought. I said, I found it. That's the message. And I showed up at this thing and with. I'm pumping with my foot, trying to hype things up and trying to preach this message. And nothing was happening. I felt nothing. The heavens were brass, I can tell you. I remember it vividly. I gave an altar call and one person showed up at this conference. And then that's when you start making up stuff. You start pumping harder. If you're here and you want a better relationship with God, just come to the altar and some more. If you're here and you're breathing, come to this altar and just, just if you have hair on your head, come to this altar. It's like you use everything until you can get everything there. And all I did was I Said, pumping and pumping and pumping. And thinking that now I found something. Something. It was me getting in the way of God. It was me trusting my own invention, my own ingenuity. It was me wondering why God didn't show up. And I remember the Holy Spirit saying to me, you're gonna go back to your room and you're gonna repent. And then you're gonna come back to the service and you're gonna repent to all these kids and tell them you miss God. At that point, I was going, I'm going home. I said, there's no way that I'm doing this. And I sat in that room. I remember. I remember where my room was. I repented, started weeping, crying. And all of a sudden I just said, God, I need. I will do this. I said, but I'm gonna leave it up to you. I have nothing else to say. And I sat there on the stage with all these students. And I said. I said. I preached the message. I said that I never should have preached. I did it because it worked last year. I said, please forgive me. I repented before God. And I said, I. I don't know what came over me. I just wanted success. I wanted me to be noticed. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, you repent and just stand there. I'll take over from here. I don't need your help. Stay out of the picture. And I remember just going, I'll just. I said, and please forgive me. And then I bowed my head at that moment, did nothing. There's no music. There's nothing. And all of a sudden, one corner, you hear some young man weeping and shaking. And another part. Another young lady weeping and shaking. And then all of a sudden, young people just started walking up to an altar, weeping and shaking under the power of God and the presence of God. Folks, look at me. I did nothing. There was no ma. I was. I just said, I messed up. And God goes, I got it from here. If you can begin to get your foot off the pump, I will send rain from heaven. I will open up the heavens. I can do that. It's human effort. I was pumping for water in the first service. And then the second service. God removed all the human effort and said, now let me do what I have to do. Let me do this. I realize how important this is. Every year I tried. I have my Bible reading program. It's from an old Scottish preacher named. Named Robert Murray McShane. And he has. You read these certain chapters every day. Old Testament, New Testament. You go through it. And I was always interested in what kind of man this was. Robert Murray McShane. He was an old Scottish preacher. And they said that this man was a praying man. They found by his pulpit. They saw grooves underneath his pulpit where he would come and kneel daily, praying for an anointing from heaven, praying for the power of God. And I was reading the story like we were doing. They were ending the music part of the church service, and it was time for the sermon. But there was no pastor coming out. And the ushers couldn't find. Couldn't find him or the deacons couldn't find him. It'd be like Kareem finishing with the choir. And you're going, where's Pastor Tim? So the ushers then said, we. We don't know where the pastor is. So they said, find him. And they went to his office behind the stage and saw that the door of the pastor's study, which was backstage, was shut. The light was coming out from underneath, but there was yelling going on behind the door. He's supposed to be out there preaching and he's screaming at somebody in the room. I want to read to you what was in the biography. This is what it says. They came back and they said the pastor was telling someone, unless you go into that sanctuary with me, I'm not going. The ushers came back and said, he is convincing someone to come with him to church. Listen to this. And then he said, he's rather aggressive with the person. That person seems to be reluctant to come out with our pastor. Finally the door opened and one, only one person came out. Who do you think he was talking to? He was talking to the Holy Ghost and said, if you don't come with me, I'm not going out of this office. I'm staying right here, folks. I'm telling you, that has to be our cry for this church, for this ministry, for everything that we do. If you don't go with me, we don't go. We don't leave this place. Where does the rain come from? Where does the. Where does it come from? Is it from pumping of the foot or has it come from heaven? That's why this week of prayer and fasting tonight, as we pray over those in education, students and teachers alike, from elementary to. To high school to College to get PhD programs. As we pray tonight at 6pm for all of you tonight and then 7pm on Monday night, we're going to pray for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And on Tuesday, we're going to pray for miracles. We're going to pray for healing. How does that happen? How does that do it? Heaven has to open up for that to take place. We have no agenda but to pray for rain. The prayer meeting keeps us from thinking we can reign on our own. We can do it ourselves. George Mueller, who was one of the great, great men of faith, founded an orphanage in Bristol, England, was known for his faith and prayer. Rain would come down from heaven because of prayer. And he said these words that I've lived by and have held onto, and I've hoped to live by them. Let me put it that way. At times I have failed. He said, if I have five hours in a day, I will accomplish more if I pray 1 and work 4 than if I work all 5 hours. It's as if God comes down. God moves, God does it, and God begins to get all the glory for what he wants to do. I. As the band comes, I want to share with you. I was this last week, I don't know, I was getting some bread for a sandwich. And as I was getting the sandwich, I was putting. Trying to put that tie back on it to keep it fresh. And I noticed something. I noticed that it was a color. It was a certain color. And then Cindy's bread, which has all these seeds on, was healthy bread. And so it was. And hers had a different clip on it. A different clip. And I learned something new because when you go to the stores, I don't know if you do that when you get sent to the grocery store, you squeeze the bread. Is it fresh? Is it fresh? You don't have to do that anymore because all those little tags on it let you know that bread is sent to those stores five days a week. Each of those tags represent the day it was cooked, that it was baked, that the bread was baked, that it was, that they send five days a week. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, fresh bread is delivered to every store. And they put a different tag on the bread that you know if it was baked that day. Monday was blue, Tuesday's green. Some of you are writing this down, like, this is important. You don't have to write. There's better stuff to write down to go like, I just want to make sure I'm getting good bread. Okay, Just listen. Monday, blue. Tuesday, green. Thursday, red. Friday, white. Saturday, yellow. And it's funny, they put it in alphabetical order. They keep it the blue, green, red, white, yellow. So if you go Monday to buy bread, if it has a blue tie on it, it was baked that morning. And all I thought was This. I said, God, every time I come to this church, I better have a different color tag on me. I said, I better be fresh from prayer, fresh from heaven. I said, no old tags on me. And Willie, we want. We want fresh tags. That we have been in God's presence every single day, hearing from the voice of God. Here's what I've realized. Here's what I've realized that I want you to. I want you to understand. What I've realized is this. I started to ask God, I said, when does a church, when does this place experience the overwhelming presence of God? When does the presence of God come to a church? How do we know when God is showing up? Where the overwhelming presence of God rains down and people want salvation? We've seen that every single week. We've probably seen in both services last week, 50 and 1, 50 and another. These altars were. How does that happen? How does the conviction. Conviction over sin, conviction over where I'm at in God. You know, it's just me. This is just my thought. I was just praying about this. I said, God, what is it? And I felt that God spoke to me, said two things have to be present for me to visit. Two things. And I just felt the Holy Spirit just say this. He just says prayer and Christ centered worship. Prayer and Christ centered worship. Those things bring desperation and humility. Prayer means I can't do it on my own. Prayer means I can't make it if I'm not praying. Listen to me, if I'm not praying, then I'm pumping with the foot, trying to make things happen. I'm gonna pump smoke, I'm gonna pump stuff on the screen. I'm gonna begin to try to hype things up. I just, I've always said this. I've looked at leaders. And I said, when you don't pray, you'll plagiarize. When you don't pray, you'll plagiarize. And then you're gonna find some Nile river on a podcast, the Nile river at some place. And you go, okay, let's preach that. Let's use that. Let's do that. Let's do this. I said, but when you pray, God opens up the heavens. Prayer means God come and speak to us. And Christ centered worship, where Christ is not, is all in all. Christ is seen in everything that we do. Christ is the land of Egypt depended on human resources, ingenuity and human strength. And there wasn't much rain. There was water, but there wasn't much rain. There was irrigation happening. Doesn't mean nothing doesn't happen. But you get exhausted. People trying to figure it out by pumping their foot with human effort. When God goes, you're expending your energy in the wrong place. I'm just telling you the best thing you can do. This is not a shameless plug. The best thing you can do is really to make time for prayer and fasting. It opens up the heavens. God begins to come. The Nile was their source. They would look. I mean, that Nile could be this podcast, this sermon. I'm gonna listen to this thing. I'm gonna read that book. I'm gonna do what this book says. I see it all the time. I've done it, folks. I've done that thing. I've looked. What are they doing? What are they doing? What are they doing? What are they doing? And God goes, just get on your knees. Just be desperate for me. I'll open up the heavens. I'll come down and I'll speak to you. They would dig trenches with hand and foot, create canals, all by human effort and ingenuity. If you had money, resources and manpower, you had water from the Nile. There was no need for God. There was no need for Jehovah. In Egypt, water was stored by artificial means and feels irrigated by human toil and sweat. And in Canaan, where they were going, the Promised land, rain was going to be a gift from heaven. Make no mistake. I have to read, I have to pray. I have to study. I'm not saying that you don't study. I'm not saying that Willie and Ricardo and Elder, Vicki and Judah and Kareem. I'm not saying we don't practice. I'm not saying any of that stuff. We want to take our gift and use it for God. But to do only that, to do only study, to do only without asking God, open up the heavens. Go, God come down then. We're depending upon our experience. We're depending upon what our gifting is. He says these words, stand with me as I read this. He says, I will give you the rain of your land in due season. The first rain and the latter rain. Those are important words. That thou mayest gather in the corn, thy wine and thine oil. Look at those phrases. He says, there'll be two rains that will come. He says, there'll be an early rain and a latter rain. The early rain is what's interesting. It's what softens the ground. The first rain that comes says, I'm going to soften the ground and get everything ready. It's the latter rain that gets the harvest ready to come. And that's these. These words were used in Joel later on to prophesy what was to come, starting in Acts, chapter two, that the power of God was supposed to come down. Rain would come down, the Holy Spirit would come down, and God would move again and start to shake. See, when we read this kind of stuff, we're not just reading an old story about agriculture. The Bible says these things happened as examples for us. That's what these things were used for. They were just examples that God wanted to speak to us and use those things. I just kept thinking, I'm going, God, do it again. Open up the heavens. Do it again. Do something powerful. Shake this place. Oh, God, we need a miracle. We need for you to come and work a miracle. Oh, God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'm just gonna stop here for a second. I received permission to tell this story, and we're going to pause and pray because it's so important to this church and to this life. This church received a phone call just a couple days ago. I want to tell you the story, and then I want us to pray. And it was from our founders. One of his grandsons called me up and he said, pastor Tim, he said, my mom. This is David Wilkerson's daughter, Debbie. The oldest daughter is facing her fifth bout with cancer. So she has seen God bring her through colon cancer twice, lung cancer and stomach cancer. Now she's facing stomach cancer again and needs a miracle. They can't operate because there's not enough a prayer, there's not enough a stomach to take out. And so she needs an absolute. Folks, here's my question. What structure, what sermon, what song can Ricardo sing or sermon I can preach that can stop this aggressive cancer from trying to take Debbie's life? Folks, let me just tell you something. You can come up and you can pump all the stuff. You can go and say, let's just send her nice music and nice cars, and all those things are good. What are you gonna do when our city is in such trouble? What are you going to do, like, candles and sing a song together? We need heaven to open up. We need a mirror. Can I give you good news? Cancer can be healed when God opens up the heavens and sends healing to this place. Would you. Could we pause now and ask God to open the heavens for Debbie Wilkerson? Debbie Yonker, right now? Can we just pause? Can you just join with me and believe me? Come on, open up your mouths. Let's pray for A miracle right now, God, we're praying for a miracle for Debbie Wilkerson, Yonker right now, Father. This precious saint of God, the daughter of Brother Dave Wilkerson for Roger and Debbie right now. They need a miracle in that household. So we're standing together, Lord God, we're believing together for you to send a miracle, Lord Jesus. Oh, God, I'm praying for healing for Debbie. The doctors have said this. They have done everything they can with their own ingenuity and effort, and we're thankful. But, God, now a miracle needs to take place. And so, God, we're standing together as a church, we're standing together to believe for a miracle for Debbie. We're asking, oh God, that by your spirit, that we declare today not by might, not by power, but by your spirit send healing. Open up the heavens and come down, God. I pray rain healing from heaven upon her, Lord. Let her feel a touch from God right now. A touch from God on her body right now. We're gonna believe for that, God. We're gonna believe for that miracle. We're gonna believe that you can come, Holy Spirit. Oh, God, open up the heavens. Open up the heavens, oh God, and come down. Send healing in Jesus name name. In Jesus name, In Jesus name church. I'm going to ask you to continue to remember Debbie Wilkerson. I'm going to ask you to remember Pastor Carter as we begin to pray for them. Folks, we were in a time that. I'm just telling you, this is how important this message is, folks. We don't have the resources to heal cancer. We don't have the resources to fix a heart condition. God has to come. God has to do it. But what's scary is when we do have resources, we find ourselves pumping the water into a place, into our own lives when we need God to work the miracle. Folks, I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do what God has asked me to do. I'm gonna ask Ricardo in just a moment to sing a song. I've asked God to make this message real. I just asked him to make it real. Some of you have found in your life, whether you're leaders here, whether whoever you are here, your whole life is based on trying to make things where I'm gonna network, I'm gonna get this. I'm gonna get this job. And finally it's time to stop and just say, God, you do what you need to do. You just do. My goodness. What we've done is we've have. We have pushed and pressed and all. And the Danger is. And the danger is some of you have gotten stuff from that foot pumping that you wish you never would have gotten. And we're not being sarcastic here. I'm not being sarcastic. There are single people here that have pumped about, I'm gonna get a date, I'm gonna get a man, I'm gonna get a baby, I'm gonna do. And all of a sudden you keep pumping. You're going, I'm gonna get on this website, I'm gonna go to this mixer, I'm going to this church. Because they have more young people. Times Square Church. I don't like the men that are in that church. I'm going to a church with nice looking men. It's not the truth. All of you men are good looking. Okay, just listen just for a second. I'm just telling you. I've heard the stories. I've heard the stories. And what they think is, it's just foot pumping. It's just you're not going to a church because God's led you there. You're going there to get a man, tell the truth, or to find a girl. Enough, Enough. And then it never works out. And then you find God's leading me to the clouds moving for another. It wasn't a cloud in the first place. It was a smoke machine. That's all that was. It was a smoke machine that shouldn't have been up the first place. That's all that was. Enough. Stop pumping and trying to get this done yourself. I'm getting that second home in the Hamptons. Stop, stop. Open the heavens, God, and tell me whatever you want me to do. Just open the heaven. Just open the heavens. Come down, tell me what you want me to do. Folks. For two weeks, God's trying to get my foot off the pump. For two weeks, he's dealing with my own heart. Let me do it. And I'm asking God over these next three days, God, we want you to come. We want you to move. We want you to do it, God, we want you. We need you, Holy spirit. We need you, Holy Spirit. So here's what I'm going to tell you. We're going to sing. And if God is dealing with you, I want you to get a balcony, main floor. I'm not. That's all you're going to get. I'm not. I'm not pressing you, you know, I'm not going back to Canadian altar calls. If you have hair, come to this altar. If you breathing, come to. If God is moving, if God is speaking to you, to get your foot up. Get out of your seat. Now as we sing. Just get out and just go. God, I'm surrendering to you. I'm surrendering to you. That's all I'm going to say to you. And if nobody comes, I'm good. I've been obedient to God. Let's just come as we sing this. You come. You come and surrender to the Holy Spirit right now. Come on, let's sing this as you come.
- [56:45]
Choir Leader / Worship Leader
Let it rain. Let it rain. Open the floodgates of hell. Let it. Let it rain. Open the floodgates of heaven. Let it rain. Let it rain. Let it rain. Let it rain. Sa.
- [59:08]
Pastor Tim
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
- [59:14]
Choir Leader / Worship Leader
Hallelujah.
- [59:16]
Pastor Tim
Come on, just begin to praise him right now. Come on. Just ask him to open up the heavens. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
- [59:28]
Choir Leader / Worship Leader
You open.
- [59:32]
Pastor Tim
Come on, lift those hands and let's just praise him. Tell him right now.
- [59:39]
Choir Leader / Worship Leader
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God, let it rain. Let it rain. Let it rain. Oh, God.
- [59:59]
Pastor Tim
Open up the heavens.
- [60:00]
Choir Leader / Worship Leader
Oh, God. Hallelujah.
- [60:05]
Pastor Tim
Come on, sing it again.
- [60:06]
Choir Leader / Worship Leader
Let it rain.
- [60:26]
Pastor Tim
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Father, we're. We're here together at the salter. We're. We've. We're tired. We're tired of pushing the pump ourselves. Retired, of pressing this thing down to find love, to find acceptance, to find a miracle, to find Lord God a mate. To find a baby, to find Lord God, even a job. Lord, we've tried. We tried. And, God, now I'm just asking, let us be desperate to say, lord, you have to do it. You open up the heavens both for our lives and for this church. Oh, God, open up the heavens. You know, those at this altar, just look at me for a second. Because it's the contrast. It's what we all go through. You'll always face this. I faced this. It'll always be those two things. To try to make it happen yourself or to go, God, I need you to step in. I need you to intervene. I need you to do something. I need you to come in. And the danger is this. The danger is when you start doing it yourself. That's when deception comes. Comes in. That's when the enemy starts to come in. Because you start. You start hitting the pump, and then anything. Then you start pumping for all the other stuff to come in. And there's a danger. Whether you're a leader, wherever you are, whatever you do, there's always that danger that brings it listen to these words. He says, beware that your hearts are not deceived and you don't turn away and serve other gods and worship them, or the anger of the Lord will be kindled. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no more rain and the ground will not yield its fruit. And what you'll do is you end up like me. You think, you think you have a system. You just keep going. That's the thing. This is what will work. This is the very thing that will work. And God goes, if you start pumping this, then you start pumping that. You start doing all this stuff. And it's not God who comes, but deception comes at that moment. I've seen it. I was sharing what it of what's happening even now in the body of Christ, of churches that are just trying to pump in for, for, for hype and pumping this and pumping that. Let's use, let's use this kind of music to bring everyone. We'll just start playing secular music to get everybody all hyped up and we'll do it. It's nonsense. It's, it's your, your, it's foot pumps. And you'll see it and hear it and then what, what is right behind that? What is right behind that is deception. I was listening to a number of students on a campus talking about this and, and, and that, that, that are part of things like this. And one girl said this, I'll never forget. She said, I heard this a couple weeks ago. She said, I felt the Holy Spirit in me when I, when I kissed another girl. My same sex partner made me feel the Holy Spirit. You can't deny me that, folks. Come on. It's, it's entering into the church. So when we can't believe for God to bring the significance, God is big enough to come down and say that this is who you are and you can be secure in who you are. You don't have to find it in other places and let somebody else say, God is the one that will define that gender, not you. God will do. I don't care anymore. Say whatever you. Let me just tell you we're gonna stay right here. And it's not mean, it's not sarcastic, it's pump. It's everybody going, so instead of believing that God can break chains, we're pumping into era churches now. And I'm just telling you, they stay away from this. I'm not being mean, I'm just telling you I believe in an open heaven. I believe that God can come to Everyone that's here and say, you are love. You are special. You have been created. Listen to me. You have been created in God's image. You have been created in God's image. Hallelujah. And here's what I've realized. The verse I've held on to, and I keep whispering it to myself, is John 15:5. Jesus said it, apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, you can do. I said, God, I need you. I need you today. I need you today. I need you today. Come on, just tell him. Just say, God, I need you. Apart from you, I can do nothing. Apart from you, I can do nothing. God, you love these precious people. You love me, God, even despite all the issues that I've had with trying to make things work. God, it's exhausting. You are able to open up the heavens. You are able. Oh, God, let me ask this now. Here it is. Look at me. Just everybody look me right in the eye. Here it is. We close with this. We're gonna say this. We'll sing a song. Whatever. Whatever is on your heart. Here it comes. If you're here today and you. You. I don't care what your background is. You just. You're here. Maybe someone invited you. Maybe it's your first time. Maybe you walked by and you said, I'm gonna go in. I don't have enough money for wicked, but I can go into that place. It's free. It's free. Who knows? I've heard every story you can imagine. If you're here today and you just go. For the first time, I'm feeling God. I come from a Muslim background. I come from a Jewish background. I come from. Come from a Catholic background. I have no religious background. But I'm feeling something. You know what that is? The heavens opened up. You're realizing Jesus is alive. That's what you're realizing. That's just what it is. No one's the fact that you stayed. Some are at this altar, some are still in the sea. But you feel like God is there, God is there. You're going, you know, I want him in my life. I need him. I'm feeling God, like the heavens are opening for the first time. I've tried the foot pump of trying to make everything happen. And finally I found out I don't have to do it, but God has done it for me, for me, with every head up, every eye open. If you're just here today and say, pastor Tim, I've realized today I need God and I feel for the first time, whatever your background is, for the first time, would you just raise your hand saying, I know he's working in my life. Hold it up high. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Keep him up. Balcony. Yes. Over there. Yes, yes. All the way in the back. Up there for the first time. Yes, yes. Okay, here's what I want to do. I just want to pray for you right now, Father, for every hand that went up. Lord Jesus, God, they're starting to sense the heavens are starting to open. Show them that you're real today. Show them that they're not alone, that God loves them. God sent his son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross for them. God, you have a plan for their lives and that, Father, this is just the beginning. It's just the beginning. God, I'm gonna pray for miracles now that God, you start even tonight as we come back together in a few hours as this service ends. We come back tonight at 6 o'. Clock. I pray. God, work your miracles. Open up the heavens the next three days. Open up the heavens. God, I'm going to believe for miracles to come. Miracles to come. Lord God, 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 platforms at Times Square Church. Thanks for tuning in today. Have a great week.