← Times Square Church - Sermons
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- [00:01]
Pastor Tim
Thank the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let's all stand together. Wow. Somebody looked at me and said, elder Vicki needs to go on vacation more often, so. What a blessing. Thank God. We're so grateful that all of you are here today. We welcome all of you here to Times Square Church. Those are watching from our Jersey campus, Pastor Brad and Lisa Geiss. We also welcome those in our annex, our overflow that couldn't get into the building. And we just say thank God that everyone's here, but not just in New York City, around the country and around the world. We just got. I'm going to read the nations to you. I think there's some 46, 47 states in the US that are joining. We welcome all those. But the exciting thing was they said all of South America is with us except two countries. So we're just so excited to see all of Central and South America with us. We want to say hello to Malaysia and Hong Kong. Indonesia is with us. We say hello to the Philippines, India, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Thailand and Sri Lanka. We go to Europe and say hello to United Kingdom, Wales, Scotland, Romania, Germany, Greece. We welcome Northern Ireland, Croatia, the Netherlands, the Ukraine and Russia. We're praying that God stop this war in Jesus name. Say hello to Belgium and Sweden. Italy.
- [01:24]
Ricardo
Yay.
- [01:27]
Pastor Tim
Getting louder. Even you non Italians. Thank you. Ireland, Norway, Spain, Austria, Portugal, Hungary, Finland, France, Australia, New Zealand. We welcome those from Africa, those in Nigeria, Liberia, South Africa, Eswatini, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Namibia, Ethiopia and Botswana. And obviously to Central and South America. We say Cristobibe to Brazil, Suriname, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia. We say hello to our northern neighbors, Canada. We welcome first nation from the reservations, Navajo Nation, Mexico, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Curacao, Nicaragua, Belize, Barbados, Guatemala, Jamaica, Bahamas. Wow. Bermuda, Honduras, Grenada. Those Italians need to step it up. I mean, we just got beat by Guatemala, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. I do want to welcome, I do want to just say, I really want to encourage you to be with us Tuesday night. Both online, 47 states. We say hello to all of you. I do want to say, encourage you to be here with us on Tuesday night. It is going to be a special night. Solu is coming in from Jerusalem. They worked with us on our New Year's Eve service. They're the ones who led worship in Hebrew. And so this is such a powerful night that we're going to be together with Solu, our worship team. And it's going to be a Night of praying for the nation of Israel. I'm so thankful for how you're supporting that nation. We're also looking at ways of doing work in Iran. Our, our Iranian station and Indonesia station. We're working on those to get those up. Thank you for all of your support giving to the Vision Fund. And we'll get those up ASAP, which will give us about 16 channels, language channels that are. That can reach up to 6 billion people. So we're so thankful for what God is doing. I have to tell you a story, but let's pray first. And I want the Holy Spirit just to come speak in these next few moments. Father, thank you for this amazing time. Thank you, God, that Kareem and Elder Vicki and the choir told us that great is your faithfulness. And we're also told that Jesus loves us. So we just thank you, Father. What an amazing day to be here. I'm so thankful for every person that's here. They're not here by accident. They're here because, God, you've worked it out. Whether they've come in from around the world or around the country or even around New York City. There is a reason that you have us here and there's a reason why what's happened is even to me yesterday is. Is why I'm supposed to be here today to share today. So I pray in these next few moments, come speak to us, God. Come speak to us in a powerful way. And we thank you for it. In Jesus name and everybody said amen. God bless you. You may be seated. Thank you, worship team. Thank you so much. Thank you, choir. It was a few weeks ago while my family was on vacation. I had to come home a little bit earlier. My daughter and son in law invited me over for dinner. They live in lower Manhattan. And while I was on my way to see them for dinner, I was blindsided by an emotion that I haven't felt in a long time. We were at a stoplight on the way to their apartment. And as I was going there and this emotion just overwhelmed me because I saw something I haven't seen for decades. And it was a sporting goods store called Paragon Sporting Goods, which has been there for decades. Emotion flooded me at that time. It was special memories about that place because when I was 12 years old, my dad brought me there to buy my first baseball glove. And I don't. I'm so emotional now even thinking about it. It was, it was. I remember that day because it was. I have to say it was just one of the greatest Days I spent with my father, who was at that time a New York City inspector for nypd. And I remember him taking me there. And then we went to Little Italy to eat spaghetti. And it was just one of those moments that I was blindsided by emotion. Didn't expect it to happen at a stoplight and didn't expect it to take place just on my way for dinner. And to a certain degree, I was blindsided yesterday by something. Not on the streets, not in a cab, and. And not going out to dinner, but I was blindsided when I was going from my kitchen to the living room just to sit down in our apartment and just to read the Scriptures. I was already pretty much knowing what I was gonna share with you. And putting everything together for 1 billion starts with 1. And as I was walking from the kitchen to a chair to read my Bible, I was blindsided again. I don't know why, I can't explain it, but felt something deep inside of me. I. On this walk that would probably take me from here just a few, maybe 10 yards. But I felt strongly from the Holy Spirit, strongly that there was an inner, inner voice to put away the message that God would guide me into something today, put everything aside and began to go to his Word and that. And felt that God was beginning to put something deep inside of me. Ricardo, who led worship and leads our TSC music, and I were together yesterday and he asked me about sermon preparation. And I told him this. I told him about that kitchen walk that I had. And I said, ricardo, I said, I have more confidence in the voice of God than in my own personal study. I am more confident that when God says, stop, pause, don't do it. I said, I am more confident with an empty page with the Lord's presence than a full page with my notes. And I said, so I feel strongly today that God is gonna begin to speak. Speak to us today. I wanna talk to you about. When you don't understand what's happening, go back to the beginning. When you don't understand what's happening, go back to the beginning at the end. I wanna share with you why this is really significant to me today. I wanna take you back to the beginning. I wanna take you back to the real beginning. I wanna take you back to Genesis, chapter one, verse one. Cause whenever you deal with the beginning, you're faced with the challenge which. When you're dealing with the beginning, the beginning of everything, you're faced with this challenge. Is it a big bang or is it a big God? Sign me up for Big gods. And so that's where I want to share with you and speak to you about the greatness of God. So let's start here. I want to give you four, but let me just run through three false facts. You'll understand it. They'll go really rapidly and quickly. False fact number one, books write themselves without an author. Facts number two, cars build themselves without a manufacturer. Fact number three, music composes itself without the need of a composer. When you think about that, those facts, any child would agree that all three are impossible. Books need authors, cars need manufacturers, and music needs composers. But we have universities and we have teachers and professors. We have science classes that are being paid big bucks to promote fact number four, which is this. The whole universe came into being through a process of random chance and beneficial mutations without any need of a designer. And this is what's so important that we understand this. There is such a fight to replace creation with evolution. In fact, evolution has replaced creation in the soul of America. Listen to me carefully. When you lose creation, we lose God. When you lose big God and go to big bang, you lose miracles, and you lose a powerful weapon to appeal when you're facing tough times. Because when you don't understand what's happening now in your life, I want to show you why going back to the beginning is so crucial. Let me just contend for a few moments. For in the beginning, for just a few moments, here's what it says. In the beginning, God created that the heavens and the earth. Those 10 words started not just the Bible, but they started everything. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. You're going to see how important these 10 words are. These 10 words are the key not only to life, but your life, my life, to presently and the future. I love what Dr. Duane Gish said. He said this. It's incredible when. What an unbeliever must believe to be an unbeliever. Let me read that again. It's incredible what an unbeliever must believe to be an unbeliever. Reminds me of the scene in the wizard of Oz when the curtain is pulled back at the end by Toto, and Dorothy and her three friends are beholding the wizard working all the latches, and he's saying, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. And that's almost what we're doing with S. We're going pay no attention to the God that's created everything that we're not here by chance. We're here by miracle and because of a big God. C.S. lewis said we may ignore, but we cannot escape the presence of God. The world is crowded with him and he walks everywhere incognito. There is a, there is something that we were studying when I was in school called intelligent design, or they call it the fine tuning theory. Allow me just to bore you a little bit this morning. This argument from design rests on this idea. If there is a design in our universe, then there must be a designer. Listen, you and your friends are say, walking and hiking through the Black Hills of South Dakota. And as you around come around these hills, you stop in your tracks, you look up into the mountains and you see four giant faces carved into the stone. Each head is as tall as a six story building. The faces are perfect likeness of four American presidents. Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. After you're taking all of your photos and standing in awe of what you see on the side of this mountain, what conclusion do you come to? This must be wind and erosion over many years that has done this miracle. And nature and chance has chosen those four presidents to put them up there. It's a miracle. As we look at this, as chance decided to put up Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln, it almost seems ridiculous. Mount Rushmore is the brainchild of John Borglum. 14 years of work. The four busts were completed and presented to the public in 1941. It wasn't time, it wasn't erosion, it wasn't rain, it wasn't rain. Nothing mutated the design, had a designer, somebody put it together. That's why one of my favorite quotes from G.K. chesterton says this. It is absurd for the evolutionist to complain that it's unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing and then pretend that it's more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything. Folks, if a watch proves the existence of a watchmaker, but the existence of the universe does not prove the existence of God's great architect, then I consent to be called a fool is what one person said. It's ridiculous. It doesn't even make sense. There's a reason why I need you to understand why I believe in a big God more than a big bang. Someone had this poem one time. It says, once I was a tadpole beginning to begin. Then I was a frog with my tail tucked in. Then I was a monkey in a banana tree. Now I'm a professor with a PhD. Some of you didn't know what to expect at church. A daughter came home to her mom and said, where do we come from? The mother said, I told you God made us. The daughter said, I'm confused because dad said we came from apes. She said, he's right. It's just he's speaking about his side of the family is what he's speaking about. One of the most astonishing pieces of evidence is the existence of God in, in fine tuning the universe. That's the intelligent design. The design needs a designer. It's fine tuned where you live. You exist because God created this. You are breathing because God gave us all of this. That's why you're here today. Each knob, when the universe was created, each knob had to be precisely set for, for life to be permitted in the universe. Astrophysicists have found that there are over 60 different criteria that were necessary for life on earth for you to live. Life couldn't exist unless to the most minute particle was put in place. They said if Earth's rotation was either slower or faster, it was impossible for life to exist. It was fast. You'd be flying off the planet slow, you'd be freezing to death. If we were 2% closer or further from the sun, it would be all over. Earth had a 1% change in sunlight, this thing would burn up Earth. If Earth was smaller or larger, it couldn't sustain life. If the moon was smaller or larger than it is, it couldn't sustain life. Earth's crust, if it was thinner or thicker, if oxygen and nitrogen ratio is greater or less, or the ozone later was greater or less, this couldn't even happen. In fact, the lesson you can almost draw from this is this. Someone must have gone through a lot of effort to make things just right so that you and I could be here and be alive. Someone had to go through and say, I want these people to exist and live and I want to work miracles in their life. I believe in a big God. I believe that God can work miracles. One of our doctors in the church were asking for a book that dealt with creation and evolution and this book just came back to my mind. I read it some years ago. It was one of the leading atheists that just before he died, he came to faith. His name was Antony Flew, who even lectured in front of C.S. lewis on atheism at Oxford, one of the leading atheists that said God doesn't exist. And when he came down to the end of his life, all of a sudden through this, through fine tuning and realizing that this couldn't be by chance, he wrote his final book before he died and it was called this. I love the title. There is a God. How the world's most notorious atheist changed his mind. We believe in God when we need him sometimes. We believe in God when we're desperate. We believe in God when things are crashing and burning. If you don't believe me, just look at the airline industry. They become believers in God occasionally. It happens every time there is a weather delay. And when you walk up to the counter and ask for a food voucher or a voucher for a hotel because there's rain, wind, or a storm, and they will say to you these words, we are not responsible. This is an act of God. I go, your airline is born again. They must all live for God. This is amazing when you don't understand what's happening now in your life. I want to show you why going back to the beginning is so important. Why this is incredible. Go with me to Isaiah 45. Because Isaiah is speaking to a people whose lives are in chaos. And in this whole chapter, he doesn't simply give them answers to their problems. Follow with me now. He points them to the beginning. He points them to creation and tells them these words. Basically, if he created it all, he can take care of you all. He's gonna bring you back. He's gonna remind us. The reason why I wanted to build on a big God in creation is because when the people of Israel, when the children of God and the people of God were going through the hardest times of their life, the prophet Isaiah takes them in Isaiah 45, all the way back to the beginning. And basically he's telling them this. If God can put all this together, he can put lives together. If God can do all of this. So I want to read to you from Isaiah 45 these verses that Isaiah begins to speak to a people that are literally in chaos. They're frustrated. They don't even know what to do. There's a lot that's happening, and you're going to see even how it mirrors what you may be facing today and even us as a nation. Listen to these words. God's message to his anointed, he calls it to Cyrus. This was a popular name during the election. And I want to read. I'll give you a little background. To Cyrus, whom he took by the hand to give the task of taming the nations, of terrifying their kings. He gave him free reign, no restrictions. I'll go ahead of you, clearing and paving the road. I'll break down bronze city gates, smash padlocks, kick down barred entrances. I'll lead you to the buried treasures, secret caches of valuables, confirmations that it is in fact I, God, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. It's a ghost of my dear servant Jacob, Israel, my chosen. That I've singled you out, called you by name and given you the privilege. And you don't even know me, is what he says. You're not even a believer in God. But yet, Cyrus, I can use you. I am the God. I am God, the God only God there is besides me. There are no real gods. I'm the one who armed you for this work, though you don't even know me. So that everyone from east to west will know that I have no rivals. I am God, the only God that there is. I form light, create darkness. I make harmonies, create discords. I, God, do all these things. I open up the heavens and it rains clouds. Pour out buckets of my goodness. Loosen up earth and bloom, salvation sprouts. Right living. I, God, generate all this. But doomed to you who fight your maker. You're a pot at odds with the potter this clay. Talk back to the potter. What are you doing? What clumsy fingers. Thus God, the holy of Israel, Israel's maker, says, do you question who or what I'm making? Are you telling me what I can or cannot do? I made the earth. I created man and woman to live on it. I handcrafted the skies. I directed all the constellations in their turnings. God, creator of heavens. He is remember. God, maker of earth. He put it on its foundations, built it from scratch. I love that phrase. He didn't go to all that, all that trouble just to leave it empty. Nothing in it. He made it to be lived. In this God says, I am God, the one and only. I don't just talk to myself or mumble under my breath. I never told Jacob, seek me in emptiness and dark nothingness. I am God. I work out in the open, saying what's right, setting things right. Gather around. Come on in, all you refugees and cast offs. They don't seem to know much, do they? Those who carry around their no good, no God. Blocks of wood, praying for help to a dead stick. Folks, this is powerful stuff. Let me walk you through this for just a second. I'll finish it at the end. Why is this passage important? 3 times in Isaiah 45, Isaiah refers back to creation to help them deal with their struggles. Three times Isaiah pointed to them to creation to deal with their three things. Frustration, their confusion, and when they. When they're out of options. Being out of options. You're gonna see here the frustration, the confusion and when there's no more options even for them. This is the part that I just, as I was reading on Saturday, that I just started to. Just started to see through this. Verses 1 through 7. He says, when you're frustrated, remember the God who's made heaven and earth. They were frustrated. Listen to this. Now. They were frustrated who God had put in office as their leader.
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Ricardo
Woo.
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Pastor Tim
Pastor Tim. Really, really. At the 10am I don't even want to look at you in the face. Really? You're gonna go right for this? At the beginning of service, these people were frustrated that they put Cyrus in place. Does that sound familiar? Your candidate, your party is not in charge. I can't believe this. I can't believe what's going on. And all of a sudden you have people all upset saying, now we've got to speak louder as a church. We've got to get the right candidates. Listen to me carefully. I want you to hear this. Now I'm getting texts about our mayor oral race here in New York City and what is happening in New York City. What's going to happen in November. Pastor Tim to New York City. What's going to happen here? 1.3 million Jews, the second most populated place for the Jewish people than Israel. What if. What if one of these candidates gets elected? Here's a thought for you. You may get angry, but here it is. God's in charge. God is in charge. When you don't understand what's going on, you gotta go back to the beginning and say, if he can create heaven and earth out of chaos, he can take care of our city right here. God is a big God. I believe in a big God. Okay, here it is. They're upset that God put this guy. Cyrus. Cyrus. We want a godly leader. We want. We don't want Cyrus. Cyrus is not even a Christian. Listen to me carefully, because you can. You can say that about any candidate you want. He's not even a crit. He did this. She did that. He did this. He did that. Folks, you got to lift your. Your eyes up higher. Not to D.C. but to a throne where God stands, sits, and reigns forever. Listen to this. Why would God put Cyrus. Oh, I hate Cyrus. They were wondering, what can God do through this godless man? Look at me for a second. Thank God you're not God. Look at the person next to say, you're not God. And then lift your head and go, God. You know what you're doing? I'm not worried about November because I believe in a God who created heavens and the earth. Listen to this. Cyrus. Cyrus wasn't even. Wasn't even in the picture for most people. Nebuchadnezzar. This is. This is the man that conquered Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. And then Belshazzar. Then all of a sudden Persia comes in, knocks them out, and Cyrus is now the new king. Remember this? Nebuchadnezzar who took the three Hebrew children. All of them gone. Then all of a sudden, Belshazzar. He's the guy who sees the handwriting on the wall. Gone. Persia comes in. Persia, Iran comes in. And all of a sudden you have this new king, Cyrus. How can you have Cyrus watch this. Because I believe in creation, a big God. Because I've. Here's what happens in the book of Ezra. Listen to these words. Ezra 1. In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy, had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing. Descended throughout his kingdom. This is what King Cyrus of Persia says. The Lord, the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He's appointed me to build him a temple in Jerusalem, which is Judah. Any of you of his people may go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel who lives in Jerusalem. And may your God be with you. Some of you didn't even get that. Do you know why that you know why they were able to go back and build the temple and Nehemiah the wall? Because of the guy no one wanted. Stop worrying about who's in office. Keep your eyes on who's on the throne. That's what God is doing. So when you're frustrated, go back to the beginning. When you don't know what to do, go back to the beginning. If he created heavens and earth, he can do anything he tells them. In verses 8 through 23, when you're confused, remember God, who made heaven and earth. When you're wondering what God is doing, I wouldn't have done it that way. God, do you even know what you're doing? He's talking about. He has. He gives this fictitious conversation between the potter and the clay. The clay is going, do you even know how to do this? And here's God going, I think I've done this before. There was nothing happening in the universe. I said light exists. I said heaven and earth exist. I called life from nothing. I think God knows what he's doing. So when we're shaking our fists, it's the clay shaking it at the potter The Creator. Think of this. I was reading a text yesterday, my heart just went out from new parents with a newborn who's been facing extreme physical challenges that had to go back to the hospital. And I was texting them yesterday, praying for them, praying for this precious, little, little, little, this, this precious princess of Jesus. And it's so easy to go, God, what are you doing? And God going, I know what I'm doing. I've got this. I made heaven and earth. I can take care of that little child. You created the heavens and earth. You can look after this precious life. God is able to do that. He works things. Just when you're getting confused, going, God, are you really putting all this. And God's going, I was fine tuning a universe. I can fine tune your life. I told you last week, I mean, I just. This God amazes me. I told you last week. We got an email after two weeks of a Sunday message from a rabbi. And on the Upper east side, precious, precious, precious man talking to this rabbi came in and visited me this week. And I asked him this question. I said, how did you end up sending me an email? And this is what he told me. I said, did somebody send you a sermon? He goes, absolutely not. He said, I hit this point in my life. I said, I wonder if there's any Christians here in New York City that stand with us as a nation. So he said, I just typed it in. In New York City, your church came up and the message you preached on Israel and Iran comes up. And I said, I want to meet them and I want to. And here's what I thought, God, you give me this word 30,000ft above the Atlantic Ocean to preach on that Sunday while this man is this wondering, is there anybody that will stand with his people in this city? So just when you think you're confused and you're going, there's nobody out there, God goes, I made a universe. I know exactly what I'm doing here. Let me, let me just say this few more, few more minutes. When you're out of options, when you're out of options, you've got to go back to creation. When everything is done. He tells them, he says, you're trusting in these God made idols, these, these superstitious things. We would call them horoscopes or magic charms or something that we're always looking. I was, I was, I was walking in Queens and there was the deli that was there and they had a ladder. They were fixing the sign and the ladder was there on the sidewalk. I watched A dozen people, I think it was, walk around the ladder so they wouldn't get bad luck walking, literally. I paused and I'm going like, this is amazing. So you know what I did? I walked right underneath that ladder. I just go, thank you, Jesus. Here's what's amazing to me. I don't live by luck. I live by faith. There was when we lived in Queens, every morning I would come into the city, I would stop at this bodega to get a cup of coffee out of this window. I can't tell you how many people kept me waiting there in the cold going, give me a large cup of coffee and give me these numbers on the lottery tickets. And so they would look at me. They're going, hey, I hope I can make it. I hope this is it. I hope I strike it big. And I would look at them all the time because I was angry with them, because I was waiting for my coffee while they were putting in the numbers. I just said. I said, can I just tell you something? I said, why waste your hard earned money on lottery tickets? I tell them you work too hard. They're going, I know, I know, bro. I know, bro. I said, why take a chance when you can have a rock solid promise that you can be blessed? And sometimes they would take the bait. And then I would talk to them of the promises of God, who cannot lie. Because it means this. When you trust God, listen to me. God takes the lottery out of life. I don't live by chance. I live by a God who doesn't break his word. He's a big guy God. That's what we believe. And this is what he says. The writer of Isaiah says this. When you're confused, he made the heavens and the earth. When you're out of options, he made the heavens and the earth. When you're frustrated, go back to the beginning and say, if you did all this, you can take care of me in Staten Island. Yes, in Staten Island, God can work miracles. When you don't understand politics, are frustrated. When you don't understand what God is doing, when you're hoping some horoscope or good luck charm or man, I'm a Leo. I'm a Sagittarius. Come on. You're waiting for your coffee and you're reading the thing going, ooh, look, I'm gonna meet somebody today and look for a man with a hat on. Stop it. We are people of God that believe in a big God that does great things. So let me close. Let me close with this. As musicians, come I have to tell you a story of two friends sitting right behind me. One of them is new, but one of them we met almost a year ago. 11 months ago this happened. Some of you may remember this story. Someone gave us two tickets to an out of town Yankee game in Chicago. They were seats that we would never be able to sit in. We would never be able to afford them. Me and one of our daughters went there. Within a few minutes, a few innings, we were sitting there, we were going like, these seats rock, like this is like amazing. And within, within one inning or two innings, Usher comes down and goes, you're sitting in the wrong seat. I go, ah, knew it was too good to be true. He says, you got to go over there, you got to sit over there. It was still good, but it was just, you got to go over there. So we go over there and we sit still. Great seats, but we sat in the wrong seats. We moved next to two gentlemen that we started talking together. But that move was God. How does God do that? He made the heavens and the earth. He knew which seats we needed to be sitting in and who we needed to be sitting next to. And we started talking to each other. Finally one of them says to me, goes, what do you do for a living? When I told him I was a pastor, he couldn't believe it. He said, only God can do this. He said, if you would have asked me to guess what you do, it wouldn't have been in my first 100 guesses. And he wept as he told me his life story. And there we sat there and we prayed. And he said, he goes, how does this happen? He said, I'm crying at a Yankee game. We prayed, we hugged, and he goes, let's change numbers. When I'm in New York, I'm coming to church. I want to read to you what I got yesterday. After I left my kitchen, started reasoning Isaiah 45. I get this text. Hey, Tim, it's Dominic. We met at the Cubs game last year. You were there with your daughter and I was sitting next to you with my friend. I'm in New York, is wondering if you're preaching tomorrow. We met for a reason, Tim. And when Teddy mentioned you this morning while searching for our tickets, every hair on my body stood up and texted you immediately that I'm coming to church today to look over and see Teddy and his boy and to see them come in today. Look at me. If he can create heaven and earth, he can move our seats. He can move our seats. If he can create heaven and earth. He knows when it's time to leave the apartment building. If he can create heaven and earth, he'll know when it's time to move here. Or this. If he can create heaven and earth. Listen to me, ladies. He knows when it's time to get a husband. I'm ready now. You know what that is? That's clay talk. That's clay talking to the potter. I know. I'm ready. See this? I got nothing on this finger. I need something on this finger. I need you to come and do. And here's God. Here's God who made an entire universe going like this. I know what I'm doing. Get off online and stop texting that man. I know what I'm doing. In your life, when you're frustrated, he made the heavens and the earth. When you're confused, he made the heavens and the earth. And when you're out of options, I serve a big God that made the heavens and the earth. He is able. Let me read the rest of Isaiah as all the band comes and we get ready to close. Some of you going like man, when he prepares on Saturday, he's quick. Let me read to you verse 21. I want to finish reading Isaiah 45. Stand with me as I read these verses. Verse 21, he says, oh, before I. You know what? Go back, go back. I forgot I didn't put this in my notes. I want to go back. Put up that other slide that you had up. That was my fault. I kept thinking about this. Why creation talk for chaos? Why creation talk for frustration? Why creation talk when things get out of hand? Why would he keep going back to creation? Why would. Why wouldn't he just answer and go, hey, Cyrus is going to be used by me. You know, you're just clay. Let me talk to you. Let me work. Why would he go back to creation every time for chaos? He was giving us a principle. This because God took universe chaos and started to bring it in order. He can do it for you. Listen to these words. This is the Genesis 1:1 through 3. I'm going to read it out of a paraphrase said. When God began creating the heavens and the earth. Listen to these words. The earth was shapeless, chaotic mass, but the spirit of God was brooding over the dark vapors. And then God said, let there be light. What he was saying was, in the midst of chaos, the spirit still moved. In the middle of chaos, God goes, let me speak to that. He was giving a principle. He wasn't saying, I'm gonna give you answers to all of your problems. He just says, go back to creation. The God that hovers over chaos. The God that can speak. Light in darkness. That's what he was saying to all of us. It reminds me to go back far. To go back really far. To go. God, you are in charge. You're fine tuning a universe. If you knew the right nitrogen and oxygen levels, man, you can take care of my boss. Not like, take care of them. Like, if you knew what the crust of the ozone layer needed to be. And if you knew, God, that the moon needed to be this size and this distance. God, you know, you got my life in your hands. So this is how Isaiah ends. So tell me what you think. Look at the evidence, put your heads together and make your case. Who told you a long time ago what's going on here? Who made sense of things for you? Wasn't it, I the one God? And then he says these words, it had to be me, the only God there is. I'm the only God who does things right and knows how to help. So turn to me and be helped, saved. Everyone, whoever, wherever you are. I am God. Okay, keep that verse. Go back one slide. Go back one slide. He says, so turn to me and be helped. That so. So keep that up there just for a moment. I was reading before I left for church. I'm just old school. So I opened up my old King James Bible. I said, I'm gonna read. Anybody still read the King James? Okay, I opened up my King James and I said, I'm gonna read Isaiah 45. And that verse, it's this. The message says, so turn to me and be helped, be saved. The King James says, look to me. Look to me and be saved. I'm going. Those words means. And I couldn't. And then I remembered the story. I remember the story. It was. It was snowing. It was a snowstorm, and the church was still open. The pastor couldn't even get there. A dozen people showed up to this church, and the pastor couldn't even get there. And a kid was walking and he couldn't get to his destination. So he pulled into this Methodist church to go for the service because he just wanted to get out of the storm. And he said this. He says, some shoemaker, some guy who owns a shoe store stood up, read Isaiah 45, just read it. He said he didn't even pronounce the words correctly. He said. And he spoke for 10 minutes. And he said, in his testimony, he goes, and. And thank God. He only spoke for 10 minutes. He was awful. The Shoemaker. Pastor couldn't come. The kid didn't want to be there. And he said at the end of 10 minutes, the guy, the shoemaker, looked at him. This kid in the, in the, in. I mean, it couldn't be the front row. I mean, it's just 12 people. Because you, you look miserable. That's what you say to a visitor in church. You look miserable. And he goes, and I was, I was trying to think of 50 things to make God love me again. And this is what he said. And the man looked at him, the shoemaker looked at him. He says, look, look to him and be saved. And that day, next to the apostle Paul, the greatest preacher in Christendom, Charles Spurgeon, at 15 years old, goes, I'll do it. And for 40 years through the 1800s, that man preached the thousands when that was unheard of. Sermons still read today because in the middle of a chaotic snowstorm, chaos on staff at a church, everything was wrong. There is no Ricardo or choir. There's no LED wall. You got a shot shoemaker who can't even pronounce the words. But in the middle of chaos, God saves a 15 year old guy named Charles Spurgeon. Charles Spurgeon, look at me. Look at me. How does that happen? If he made heaven and earth, he can work a miracle today. If he made heaven and earth. So whatever you want to say, you can just go to me. You don't understand my situation. If he made heaven and earth, he can fix anything, do anything. He is God. He says, I am God, the only God there is, the one and only. And then he says these words, I promise in my own name. Every word out of my mouth does what it says. I never take back what I say. Say. Everyone is going to end up kneeling before me. Everyone is going to end up saying of me, yes, salvation and strength are in God. Hallelujah. So here. How. Here's, here's where we're literally done. The apostle Paul says this. When you hear something like this, he says, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God's kindness and then ignore it. To hear this and then look for keys going, we gotta get to the. We gotta. He says, don't ignore it, for God says, at just the right time, I heard you. And on the day of salvation, I helped you. So when should we get right with God? The right time is when. The right time is when? Because today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation. You're not here by Accident, Whether you wandered here. We hear the stories all the time. We hear it. People walking by going, I need to go in there. You go to a concierge at a hotel and go, I want to hear a gospel choir. You show up here and then you can't leave. Like there's someone who's seem like they put spiritual glue in the seat and you can't even leave. What is it? That's God. You watch the whole message. You're going, I've never been to church this long in my life. I'm used to one hour and then we go. But you haven't moved. You're here. You know why? Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation. Pastor Tim, do you understand what I've done in my life? Do you understand the junk that I've done? Look at me. Look me in the eye. Here it is. He made the heavens and the earth. He can change your life today. He made the heavens and the earth. You don't have to. You know, I was thinking about this. I was thinking about what God has to go through to get you here. Isn't it interesting when you talk about creation? Psalm 83 says these words, creation is the work of your fingers. But Isaiah 59 says, his arm brought salvation. What does that mean? It takes more work to redeem man than it does to create the heavens and the earth. Creation needed fingers, but salvation needed his arm. That's what he's doing. God goes, heavens and earth. Fine tune. I can do all that, he said. But to get stubborn people to admit they need me, that takes a lot more work. But here's the good news. He's willing to go to work for you today. That's what he's willing to do. You don't have to bow your heads. You don't have to close your eyes. I knew what I was supposed to say. I knew what was on my heart. If you're here today and just say, pastor Tim, I need God in my life. I need him. I've been frustrated, man. I've tried every option there is. I've read my horoscope. I've not walked under ladders and I've carried rabbits. I'm being silly here, but we do silly stuff like this. Don't say this. No. Knock on wood. What is the wood gonna do? Get God in your life. Get God in your life. If you're here today and just say, pastor Tim, I need God in my life. I want to start a journey with God. I want a relationship. I'm not inviting you to a religion. I'm not inviting you to a church or a denomination. I'm inviting you to a living relationship with God. I mean, God can change me. If he made heaven and earth, he can change you. Whether you're watching from Lima or London, whether you're watching from Manila or Miami, he can change you. He can change you. How many here today? Heads up, eyes open. Balcony, main floor, annex. Watching around the world. And just say, pastor Tim, when you pray, would you include me? I want to start a relationship. I need God in my life. I believe he can change me. I. I want to believe that there's a big God. Big. Bigger than me that can change me today. I want God in my life today. If that's you, would you just hold your hand up and say, put me. Put me in that prayer. Hold it up as high as you can. Yes, yes, yes. Keep them up high. Keep them apart. I want to see all those hands. Keep them up. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay, put them back down. Whole bunch of your hands went up. Here's what I want you to do for me. Which song is on your heart? Oh, love it. Okay, perfect. Perfect. Great song. Let's do this. Ricardo's gonna sing this song. I'm gonna ask you to take now balcony. Listen, because you gotta start moving now. I'm gonna walk down here. I just want you to meet. I want you to all to come. Those that raised your hand, just come meet me right down here. I just want to pray for you up close. I don't want to be on a stage and pray. I want to meet you up close. Close. Meet me here. Start balcony. Start moving. If you're online, just wait. Our online host will talk to you. Come on, meet me down here. Just get out of your seat. I'm on my way down. Let's sing this as you come. Come on. Whole bunch of you. Come on down.
- [50:36]
Ricardo
The veil toe before you. You silence. The boast of sin and grace. The heavens are O Glory is to be. Your glory. For you I raised to life again. You have no r. You have no evil. Now and forever God you reign. Yours is a kingdom, yours is the glory.
- [51:18]
Pastor Tim
Sing it again.
- [51:19]
Ricardo
Come on. The name death could not hold you. Death could not hold you. The veil toe before you. Your silence, the bo. Praise of the lor. For you are Ra. You have been rival, you have. You have your rise, you have your people. Now and forever God you reign. Yours is the kingdom, yours is the glory. Yours is a name above all names. What a Beautiful name it is What a powerful name it is the name of Jesus Christ what a powerful name it is Nothing can stand against what a powerful name it is. Sing it again. What a powerful name what a powerful name it is What a powerful name it is the name of the.
- [52:49]
Pastor Tim
Of Jesus Christ. Come on down. Come on. Come on, guys, wait for me. You guys are a miracle, really are. My heart as I see Dominic and Jake down my heart. God moved us to the seats. God moved us from the wrong seats, and he put us in the right seats to be next to you. And then 11 months, God would bring this precious father and son here. I. I was walking on the streets. I just got out of a car to. To get here, and I. I met you on the streets and you go, I'm bringing friends that have never been here before, family of five that have all here to give their heart to Christ. What a blessing. What a blessing. How many? This is your first time here? Would you raise. Raise your hand? First time here? How did you get here today? Like, what was a friend invited you? Way to go, friend. Mary. Mary, you rock. Who else first? How did you get here? Fiance's aunt brought us here. The. Your fiance's aunt brought you here? You're the fiance and your aunt brought you here. You got a good aunt. You got a good aunt. How did you get here? Thomas and Stephanie invited you here today. I love it. How did you get here? Where are you from?
- [54:35]
Ricardo
I'm from Ghana.
- [54:36]
Pastor Tim
So from Ghana. First time in New York, he goes, we arrived and my friend said, let's go to church. The first thing we do. And look at you. God's going to get a hold of your life. First time, both of you. You invited them. Both of you. Where you guys from? I come from Massachusetts and from Ghana. Do you know he's from Ghana. Do you know this guy? Okay. You don't even know him. Okay, well, he's from Ghana. And so what's your name? Michael. What's your name? You're Dominic, just like Dominic over there. Okay, Dominic. That's Michael. Michael, Dominic. They're from Ghana. Let's get from Ghana. You're from Ghana, too. Where's your name? Tracy, from Ghana. That's Dominic. Dominic. That's Michael. And so God's going to start a revival in Ghana. Let's believe for that to take place. Let's believe for God to do something so. What a miracle. Let me just tell you this. This is the beginning of it. This is the beginning of it. Can God really forgive me of My sins. Here it is. If he made a heavens and an earth, he can. He can take care of your life. It's just the beginning. Does everything. When you walk out of here, does everything change? It starts to change right now. Everything just starts here. God starts the work right here. So I want us to pray together. Would you bow your head and close your eyes and all of us will pray. Come on, pray this with me. Say, Jesus, I welcome you into my heart. I believe in a big God. He created the heavens and the earth and he can fix my life. The heavens and the earth are the work of his fingers. But your arm brought salvation. You've been working with me, God. Thank you for being patient. So on this day, I surrender my life. Come in and change me from the inside out. You died for my sins. You rose from the grave and I thank you, thank you that now be king of my life. I don't want a religion, I want a relationship. I don't want a denomination. I want a personal relationship with God. So today I surrender my life in Jesus name. And everybody said amen and amen and amen and amen. Thanks so much for listening. We hope you've enjoyed this message and be sure to subscribe so you can receive new messages each week. Visit TSC NYC for all the latest info on how you can stay connected. Also, don't forget that you can follow us on social media on all major platformsquarechurch. Thanks for tuning in today. Have a great week.