{"0":{"sm_title":"Are the Thoughts of God Foolish to You?","sm_id":"369","sm_desc":"","sm_jpg":"","sm_date":"2021-01","length_sec":"00","length_min":"00","sm_asx":"","sm_mp3":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/10\/20t1\/20201020t1.mp3","sm_exSource":"youtube","sm_exID":"","sm_pdf":"http:\/\/sermons.tsc.nyc\/files\/sermon-newsletter-202101-are-the-thoughts-of-god-foolish-to-you.pdf","sm_newsletter_text":"
\\\"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope\\\"<\/em> (Jeremiah 29:11). Did you know that God is thinking thoughts about you that you have not yet thought about yourself? He has a future and a hope for you that He already won for you 2,000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross for your sins. And when He rose from the dead, the scripture says He took your captivity captive and gave gifts to you—things that only He can do. That means He begins to operate through your life and make you into much more than you could ever hope to be in yourself.<\/p>\r\n The verse goes on to say, \\\"Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart\\\"<\/em> (Jeremiah 29:12–13). What an incredible promise! God will listen to us, and we will find Him. We will know what He is speaking to us and how He is leading our life.<\/p>\r\n However, in order to get to this place, we must stop thinking our own thoughts and begin to agree with the thoughts of God. We must get beyond the battle of the mind. That is really where victory or defeat in the Christian life is found. If we never become people of faith, then we will live far beneath what God has for us. We must have a new mind—a new way of thinking.<\/p>\r\n The apostle Paul made a distinction between spiritual people and natural people. Natural people live within the parameters of their old thinking and therefore remain in a realm far beneath their inheritance in Christ Jesus. Paul told the Corinthian church, \\\"As it is written: \\'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.\\' But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God\\\"<\/em> (1 Corinthians 2:9–10).<\/p>\r\n Natural people cannot know the things God has prepared for them. But when you came to Christ, God sent His Holy Spirit into your life to lead you into all truth. He gave you the power to live in the promises of God, and your life became everything that God has been thinking about you. Paul warned, \\\"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him\\\"<\/em> (1 Corinthians 2:14).<\/p>\r\n So here is my question to you: Do the thoughts of God sound foolish to you? Do you push away the things that God is thinking—those whispers that come into your heart every once in a while? Perhaps during your Bible reading one day, He spoke to you about something He has for your life that is far beyond your ideas about yourself. Do these thoughts of God sound like foolishness to you?<\/p>\r\nA GREAT AND EFFECTIVE DOOR<\/span>\r\n The apostle Paul once told the Corinthian Christians, \\\"For a great and effective door has opened to me\\\"<\/em> (1 Corinthians 16:9). Now when we think of a great door, we think of a doorway to a palace, perhaps, or a doorway to power. But Paul did not see it that way. Paul was given eyes of the Spirit, because in the natural, it was a prison door that God was leading him to. Think about this for a moment. In the natural, Paul was going to be taken captive, put on a ship, transported to Rome and other places, and eventually he would spend much of the remainder of his life in prison.<\/p>\r\n A lot of people lose their vision because of their circumstances. But picture the apostle Paul—led into a prison, chained between guards, with only a pen and paper in his hand. However, he somehow knew in his heart that a great and effectual door had been opened to him. Later, he was able to write to the people that he left behind in his journey, \\\"I believe that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose\\\" (see Romans 8:28). He was able to write to the Roman church, \\\"I believe that no mountain, no valley, no opposition, no power, no principality—nothing out there—can separate me from the love of God\\\" (see Romans 8:38–39). He believed that the victory was his, that he had been led into this place.<\/p>\r\n In the natural, Paul was a man who had been beaten and shipwrecked, stoned and taken captive. However, as a spiritual man, he was not living in those places. He was living in a place where he was walking in the thoughts that God was thinking about him. In the realm of the Spirit, he was not just visiting one church in Corinth. In fact, he has been visiting every church for 2,000 years! He is even here today because we are reading his words. He is visiting you today in your living room, your situation, your marriage, your family, your life!<\/p>\r\n You see, it was as if the apostle Paul saw you in the future. You are what was inside this great and effective door that God was opening to him. He understood that God\\'s thoughts about him were so much bigger than what the people around him thought or even what he thought about himself. That is why Paul could write to the Corinthians, \\\"To the natural man, the thoughts of God are foolishness. But to the spiritual man, they are life and power for the journey. They are vision to understand something far beyond the natural confines of our lives\\\" (see 1 Corinthians 2:14).<\/p>\r\nIT ALL BEGAN AT STARBUCKS<\/span>\r\n Perhaps you are now wondering, \\\"Well, how does this apply to me? I am not the apostle Paul.\\\"<\/p>\r\n Let me tell you a story. Several years ago, a lady told Pastor Teresa and me how she started to pray, \\\"God, You must have a door for me. You must have something that You want to do in my life that I have not considered yet.\\\" As she prayed, suddenly a strong impression came into her heart: \\\"Go to Starbucks, order a coffee, sit down at a table, and just start reading your Bible.\\\" Those were the thoughts God was thinking about her! Isn\\'t that amazing?<\/p>\r\n And so she obeyed God and went to Starbucks. She ordered a coffee, sat down at a table, opened her Bible and began to read. After a little while, a lady who was also there having coffee came over to her table and asked, \\\"What is it that you are reading?\\\" She answered, \\\"I am reading the Bible. It is the Word of God.\\\" The other lady asked, \\\"Would you mind if I joined you?\\\" She sat down, and the lady who had heard from God realized that her new friend was not a believer. She was able to share Christ with her. Finally, the lady asked her, \\\"Do you think we can meet back here again next week?\\\"<\/p>\r\n The next week the new lady came back accompanied by about six friends. They were all sitting around the table! Eventually, this Christian lady had a discipleship group of brand-new believers in Christ, and every week everybody was bringing somebody else. By the time we talked to her, she was leading a group of between forty to sixty women in a study of the Scriptures! This was just somebody who began to seek God and ask, \\\"What thoughts do You have for me?\\\"<\/p>\r\n We always want to go from zero to a million people in a conference somewhere and we forget that almost everything we do for God starts with a small beginning. As it says in Zechariah, \\\"Don\\'t despise the day of small things\\\" (see Zechariah 4:10). I believe God is reminding you today that what He has called you to do will be done. So when He speaks to you, do not think that His thoughts toward you are foolish, even if it seems that way in the natural.<\/p>\r\n After all, who would have thought this kind of evangelism could happen at Starbucks? Remember, it was not just sixty women finding Christ as their Savior. I am sure that each of those women went on to have an effect on their world. Many of them probably will lead their husbands to Christ. Many of their families will become Christian families. Many of their kids will begin to go to church. A number of them will go on to become great evangelists in the Kingdom of God, winning thousands to Christ. And finally, when this lady who went to Starbucks appears at the throne of heaven one day, there will be a hundred thousand people saying, \\\"Thank you for what you did in Starbucks that day! Thank you for opening your Bible. Thank you for obeying God. Thank you for letting the thoughts of God govern your life. Because of you, we are here!\\\"<\/p>\r\n Remember, \\\"a great and effective door\\\" may look small in the natural. Imagine the people in Corinth who did not have a spiritual mindset, shaking their heads and saying, \\\"Well, whatever happened to the great door that God was going to open for Paul?\\\" He ended up chained between soldiers, and all he had was a piece of paper and some ink. All he could do was write some letters to some of his friends.<\/p>\r\n Yes, God\\'s ways are foolish to those who live in the natural! But I believe it is much better to be counted a fool to the world and live for God. Remember, His thoughts toward you are of peace and not of evil, to give you a hope and a future. And if you are willing to embrace His thoughts rather than counting them foolish, you will see that He is indeed able to do exceedingly abundantly above all you can even ask or think!<\/p>\r\n This newsletter is an edited version of \\\"ARE THE THOUGHTS OF GOD FOOLISH TO YOU?<\/strong>,\\\" a sermon given on October 20, 2020<\/strong>. Other sermons are available by visiting our website at tsc.nyc. You are welcome to make additional copies of this sermon for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission existing copyright laws apply. This sermon cannot be posted on any website or webpage without permission from Times Square Church. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from other versions are noted.<\/p>"},"1":{"sm_title":"Eating the Food of the Land","sm_id":"367","sm_desc":"","sm_jpg":"","sm_date":"2020-12","length_sec":"00","length_min":"00","sm_asx":"","sm_mp3":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/07\/21t1\/20200721t1.mp3","sm_exSource":"youtube","sm_exID":"","sm_pdf":"http:\/\/sermons.tsc.nyc\/files\/sermon-newsletter-202012-eating-the-food-of-the-land.pdf","sm_newsletter_text":" \u201cLet nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name<\/em>\u201d (Philippians 2:3\u20139).<\/p>\r\n There is no greater reputation than being God, but the Scriptures tell us that Jesus made Himself of no reputation. He came down from on high and walked among us, suffered our infirmities, and then went to a cross to pay the price for our sins. And now Paul instructs us in this passage, \u201cLet this mind be in you.\u201d As the Church of Jesus Christ, we need to once again see the needs and sufferings of the people all around us. We must make a choice to move toward them\u2014just as the Son of God moved toward us. Yes, this will involve a whole new mind\u2014the mind of Christ\u2014which means we must stop looking only for our own comfort and security. As Paul says, we must consider \u201cthe interests of others.\u201d We must choose to be obedient, even if it takes us to a place of suffering.<\/p>\r\nA RECKONING<\/span>\r\n The generation of Israelites who came out of bondage in Egypt were an example of those who refused to make that choice. They ultimately decided not to go into the place of promise that God intended for them\u2014a decision that was based on self\u2013preservation. They looked at the size of the giants; they saw the fortifications of cities that God told them would belong to them. And then, out of fear, they drew the conclusion, \u201cWe are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we\u2026The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight\u201d <\/em>(Numbers 13:31\u201333). Sadly, in every generation, there are Christians who make that choice, and they end up living in a spiritual wilderness. Though it is not a place of total defeat, it is not a place of victory. Their life has no influence, they conquer nothing for God, and they do not operate in the supernatural.<\/p>\r\n However, in the book of Joshua, we see a new generation arise. They had been raised in the wilderness, but they were being called by God to go into the place of promise that their forefathers had chosen not to enter. This generation stepped up and made the choice to obey and fight. It is phenomenal when you begin to consider that, in a sense, they were actually fighting for you and me. They were paving the pathway that would ultimately lead to Christ\u2019s being born in the Promised Land. Of course, after His death and resurrection, Jesus became our \u201cpromised land.\u201d Our life, our hope, our mind, our wisdom, our victory, our future is in Him. Every promise of God no longer resides in a physical land\u2014they are now all found in the person of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\r\n Now before they went in, \u201cThe Lord said to Joshua, \u2018Make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.\u2019 So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they had come up out of Egypt\u201d<\/em> (Joshua 5:2\u20134). Circumcision was a covenant\u2014in this case, a whole new generation committing to God: \u201cOur forefathers may have chosen security over Your glory, but we are going to follow You, Lord.\u201d And so they had to endure the shame, pain, and separation of circumcision. It began with exposure\u2014an admission in their hearts: \u201cI am not everything I should be. God is calling me to more.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Likewise, I believe God is bringing His Church into a place of reckoning. He is trying to remind us once again what we are supposed to be. Many of God\u2019s people have lived in the wilderness far too long\u2014out of Egypt, but not in the place God promised. Yes, they have come out from under the penalty of sin, but they have not become what God wanted them to be\u2014not conquering the things God called them to conquer.<\/p>\r\n We have had no passion for prayer because, in many cases, we were content to dwell in a dry place without the mind of Christ. However, we have reached a point where there must be a reckoning with the failures of the past; otherwise we will not go to where God is calling us. We will simply justify who we are and blame somebody else for the mess that our nation is in.<\/p>\r\n You and I must ask the Lord to give us the grace to go further than what others say is far enough; the grace to suffer so that the sufferings of others may cease. Yes, there is a certain pain that comes with separation. There is the pain of putting away old practices, old relationships, old ways of thinking, and becoming separated unto God. Embracing that separation means saying, \u201cI am going to be identified as a follower of Jesus Christ from this day forward.\u201d No more hiding in the closet. I am sure you are aware that it is going to cost you to have a biblical opinion. But if we are ever going to know the power of God manifested through our lives, we must be willing to stand up and be separated.<\/p>\r\nCROSSING INTO THE PROMISED LAND<\/span>\r\n The Scripture then tells us: \u201cThey ate of the produce of the land on the day after Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year\u201d (Joshua 5:11\u201312).<\/p>\r\n In the season when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, there was a grace covering them called manna. It is amazing to think that God gave them this bread from heaven while they were still uncircumcised\u2014while they still had not made the decision to go into the Promised Land. Similarly, each of us is given this incredible grace when we come to Christ. Although we are immediately forgiven of our sins, it can be a long time before we decide to actually go in and become what God has called us to be. In that season, God still rains His provision on us\u2014showering us with His favor, keeping and sustaining us. Nevertheless, there is a time when childishness needs to be put away and we must become sons and daughters of God. There comes a point when the calling and mind of Christ must become ours again.<\/p>\r\n The day the Israelites made the choice to go into the place of promise was the first day they began to eat the food of the land. I love how the original King James Version says, \u201cThey did not eat of the old corn of the land\u201d<\/em> (Joshua 5:11 KJV). In our day, I believe this would be like going back to what the Bible says a Christian really is\u2014returning to the old truths that somehow got hidden in this self-consumed generation that has chosen to live in the wilderness.<\/p>\r\n You see, when we make the choice to cross into the place that God is calling us to, suddenly the old food of the land becomes available to us again. We start reading passages of Scripture that perhaps have largely been forgotten in our generation, and we discover that the Word is coming to life. This is critical, for if we are going to fully become what God has intended us to be, His promises are going to be the only food that will keep us.<\/p>\r\nA SERIOUS CALL<\/span>\r\n We see in the Bible the first thing that happened after the Israelites began to eat the food of the land was that Jericho fell. They did not have to do anything but march around the city and shout! God gave them a marvelous victory over a fortified place that was declaring its dominance over the Promised Land.<\/p>\r\n We have many strongholds in our society today as well\u2014in our cities, in our culture. I believe that the bitterness, division, and godlessness has now gone too deep for any kind of human response to adequately deal with it. We need a divine response\u2014which God always releases through His people. He ties the working of His hand to you and me, and that is why He charges us, \u201cLet this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus\u201d<\/em> (Philippians 2:5).<\/p>\r\n I am not going to suggest to you that this \u201ceating of the food of the land\u201d is going to be easy. The early Church knew this, and churches in some of the persecuted countries around the world today know this as well. And though we in America have largely chosen to live in the wilderness, we no longer have that option. It is a do-or-die moment for the Church of Jesus Christ in this nation.<\/p>\r\n I hope that you are seriously considering the call of God on your life, just as I am. Jesus shed His blood and gave His body for us. The Scripture tells us that we are now called to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (see Matthew 16:24). We cannot put away this old truth or attempt to make it palatable.<\/p>\r\n Some of us may suffer in the days ahead. However, I want you to always remember that even if you consider yourself weak, you are mighty in God. Simply yield to Him and trust Him for the grace to get up and go forward, understanding that He has an incredible plan for your life. Let His power and life flow through you; let the mind of Christ be in you!<\/p>\r\n This newsletter is an edited version of \u201cEATING THE FOOD OF THE LAND<\/strong>,\u201d a sermon given on July 21, 2020<\/strong>. Other sermons are available by visiting our website at tsc.nyc. You are welcome to make additional copies of this sermon for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission existing copyright laws apply. This sermon cannot be posted on any website or webpage without permission from Times Square Church. Scripture taken from the New King James Version\u00ae. Copyright \u00a9 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from other versions are noted.<\/p>"},"2":{"sm_title":"The Incredible Kindness of Jesus","sm_id":"365","sm_desc":"","sm_jpg":"","sm_date":"2020-11","length_sec":"00","length_min":"00","sm_asx":"","sm_mp3":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/08\/11t1\/20200811t1.mp3","sm_exSource":"youtube","sm_exID":"","sm_pdf":"http:\/\/sermons.tsc.nyc\/files\/sermon-newsletter-202011-the-incredible-kindness-of-jesus.pdf","sm_newsletter_text":" \\\"All the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, \\'This Man receives sinners and eats with them\\'\\\"<\/em> (Luke 15:1\u20132). Picture the scene. There are those who know they are very distant from God, yet they feel comfortable in His presence. On the other hand, there are those who feel they are close to God but feel very uncomfortable in His presence. Isn\\'t it interesting how that can happen?<\/p>\r\n Jesus tells this story: \\\"A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, \\'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.\\' So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living<\/em>\\\" (Luke 15:11\u201313). This younger son took the life that his father had given him\u2014the heritage, the title, the resources to accomplish what his life was supposed to be\u2014and went to a place that was far, far away from the heart of his father.<\/p>\r\n Just like this son, when people turn away from God, they often turn away from the purposes of God. In their hearts, they may not think they have turned from God, but they begin to gravitate to a self-focused gospel. Sadly, when the house of God has become legalistic and strict\u2014where it all becomes about the length of clothing, church attendance, and doing your service for the house of God\u2014another generation takes this inheritance of God and goes far away from His heart. They do not want to go to hell, but they do not want to be in a joyless religion. They want freedom, they want to dance in the house of God, they want to express their faith, but nobody will let them do anything. So they take their inheritance of life that is promised through Jesus, and they go to a place where it is all about their own future and happiness.<\/p>\r\nA FAMINE IN THE LAND<\/span> \\\"But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land\\\" <\/em> (Luke 15:14). When you live for yourself, it is an exhausting life. And eventually, you hit a wall. Dreams do not materialize; nothing satisfies. The verse continues, \\\"and he began to be in want\\\"<\/em> (15:14). Many Christians today are fed up being where they are. They are tired of the addiction, tired of running from relationship to relationship, tired of the endless pursuit and going nowhere in life.<\/p>\r\n \\\"He went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine<\/em>\\\" (Luke 15:15). The last thing this young man should have been feeding was swine, for it was the most unclean thing to a child of God of that time. But he was in a field, feeding them or, in other words, allowing it to happen. This speaks to me of the kind of person who does not want to go back to what he left behind, so instead he becomes \\\"cause driven.\\\" A lot of young people today are cause driven, even if they are not sure what the cause is. They have a marginal understanding of what kind of society they are looking for. They are being driven by causes and slogans, and they begin feeding things that they should not be feeding\u2014anger and division.<\/p>\r\n \\\"And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything<\/em>\\\" (Luke 15:16). This young man must have felt that he did not matter to anybody. Have you noticed today that everything matters? Everybody is holding up a sign that says this matters, that matters. But not once have I seen a sign that said, \\\"Christians matter.\\\" I am somewhat thankful for that because God is causing the world to reject us as believers. He will not allow us to find satisfaction in a place where we should not be.<\/p>\r\nAN EPIPHANY<\/span> \\\"But when he came to himself...<\/em>\\\" (Luke 15:17). In other words, the prodigal had an epiphany, which was simply this: \\\"What am I doing here? I was created for something greater than this!\\\" My prayer is that many who have strayed from God\\'s heart will come to themselves and say, \\\"I am not created to do these things. I am not created to give my life wholly to some cause that is short-lived.\\\" It might even be a good cause, but it is short of what could be accomplished through their life. Remember, God can do something that is exceedingly above and beyond all that we can ask or think.<\/p>\r\n \\\"He said, \\'How many of my father\\'s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, \\\"Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants\\\"\\'\\\"<\/em> (Luke 15:17\u201319). And so he got up and tried to figure out what he was supposed to say in order to be received back. The statement that came out of his mouth was very telling, because to \\\"sin against heaven\\\" means that in his heart he was thinking, \\\"I have lost my eternal reward.\\\" Not only that, a sense of shame filled his heart as he concluded he was no longer worthy to be called his father\\'s son. In other words, \\\"to come back to my father\\'s house means I will live in perpetual shame.\\\"<\/p>\r\n Many people who have wandered away from the kingdom of God feel that way about themselves. \\\"I would come back, but I have already blown it. I have lost the favor of God, and I am destined for a life of shame. Everyone else has a glorious victory story, but mine is such a disgrace that I am ashamed to open my mouth. So I will just hang my head, take up my broom, and work to regain some of God\\'s favor.\\\"<\/p>\r\nTHE COMPASSION OF THE FATHER<\/span> \\\"And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him<\/em>\\\" (Luke 15:20). He did not see his father, his father saw him. Perhaps you do not have a clear view of God, but God has a clear view of you. This verse continues, \\\"...his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him<\/em>\\\" (Luke 15:20). Can you imagine what this boy felt like as he looked down the road and saw his father running toward him? At first, he was probably wondering if he was coming in anger. Maybe he was coming to yell, \\\"Don\\'t come near my house! You are such a disgrace; get away from here!\\\" How shocked he must have been when suddenly his father fell on his neck and kissed him!<\/p>\r\n Remember, the boy had been in a field with pigs. When his father embraced him, he took the smell of his son upon himself. In other words, he was saying, \\\"I am not ashamed of you, son.\\\" Likewise, when Jesus went to the cross and opened His arms wide with those nails through His hands and feet, He took the smell of our sins upon Himself\u2014everything we have ever done, everything we are doing, everything we will ever do. If we find that we have strayed in any way from His heart, all He asks is that we get up and make our way back to Him. He will always come running toward us, ready to embrace us.<\/p>\r\nRESTORED TO ROYALTY<\/span> I do not think the boy knew how to deal with his father\\'s reaction, because he started saying again, \\\"Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son<\/em>\\\" (Luke 15:21). But the first thing his father said was, \\\"Bring out the best robe and put it on him\\\"<\/em> (15:22). A robe is reserved for royalty, for an honored guest in the father\\'s house. When that robe was put on the son, he was completely covered. He no longer looked like somebody who had just climbed out of a pigsty. And in the kingdom of God, the Father covers anyone who comes to Him in the purest robe available\u2014the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\r\n Then the father said, \\\"Put a ring on his hand\\\" <\/em>(Luke 15:22). This was a ring of authority that the father gave to those who were the most trusted in his house. Remember, the son thought, \\\"My father will never trust me again.\\\" Yet suddenly before he even had a chance to prove his worth, he was covered and trusted in the sight of his father. When the son put the seal of that ring on anything, it carried the weight and power of the father and his whole house behind it!<\/p>\r\n And then to top it all off, the father said, \\\"[Put] sandals on his feet<\/em>\\\" (Luke 15:22). This is an interesting concept because usually in an encounter with God, such as the ones Moses and Joshua had, the command was, \\\"Take your shoes off of your feet\\\" (see Exodus 3:5, Joshua 5:15). In other words, God says to His people, \\\"I do not want your strength or your plans. I want you to walk humbly before Me and do what I tell you to do.\\\"<\/p>\r\n But now you see the father has a son who has been broken, who knows what he is without his father. He understands grace. So now the father can say, \\\"Put his shoes on because he is not going to fight with me. He is not going to bring his own ideas into this kingdom. Now I can send him on a journey where he is going to be doing what he was destined to do. He is going to tell other people about the mercy and kindness of his father.\\\"<\/p>\r\n And that is what our message is now. It is about God\\'s invitation through His Son, Jesus Christ, for everyone to come home. It is no more difficult than that. Jesus paid the full price for our sins on the cross. He calls us to Himself so that He can cover our wrongdoing, empower us to live a new life, and send us out with a message for others: \\\"My life was a mess; I had ruined everything. But I came home, and my Father ran to me. He kissed me, covered me, filled me with power, and invited me to tell others about His incredible kindness. You must meet my Father!\\\"<\/p>\r\n This newsletter is an edited version of \\\"THE INCREDIBLE KINDNESS OF JESUS<\/strong>,\\\" a sermon given on August 11, 2020<\/strong>. Other sermons are available by visiting our website at tsc.nyc. You are welcome to make additional copies of this sermon for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission existing copyright laws apply. This sermon cannot be posted on any website or webpage without permission from Times Square Church. Scripture taken from the New King James Version\u00ae. Copyright \u00a9 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from other versions are noted.<\/p>"},"3":{"sm_title":"Hear Him!","sm_id":"363","sm_desc":"","sm_jpg":"","sm_date":"2020-10","length_sec":"00","length_min":"00","sm_asx":"","sm_mp3":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/07\/07t1\/20200707t1.mp3","sm_exSource":"youtube","sm_exID":"","sm_pdf":"http:\/\/sermons.tsc.nyc\/files\/sermon-newsletter-202010-hear-him.pdf","sm_newsletter_text":" \\\"Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, \\'Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah\\'<\/em>\\\" (Matthew 17:1\u20134).<\/p>\r\n Here we see humanity and divinity meeting together on a mountain where God was about to do something phenomenal. In our humanity, we will always gravitate to present or past experiences for our sense of comfort and well-being. Peter was a man who did just that, saying, \\\"It does not get any better than this. We have the Son of God here. We have Moses and Elijah. We are on a mountaintop and do not have to deal with the people all around us. This is a great place to camp. Let\\'s stay here forever!\\\"<\/p>\r\n However, that was not what God was speaking. \\\"While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, \\'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!\\' And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid<\/em>\\\" (17:5\u20136). Now, this was not said for the benefit of Moses, Elijah or Jesus. God was telling Peter, James and John, \\\"Stop speaking, and start listening to the Son of God! He is going to lead you somewhere.\\\" In other words, your opinions do not lead into the supernatural; they do not bring deliverance to people who are hurting.<\/p>\r\n All you can build is something that will ultimately become irrelevant if you are not willing to hear the Son of God. That is why many churches that once knew great moves of God are now irrelevant. We must move with the voice of God, not with what somebody spoke hundreds of years ago. We must remember that Jesus is calling us to follow Him rather than spending all our time seeking personal revelation, comfort, and spiritual experience.<\/p>\r\n There is a whole segment of the Church today running from place to place just seeking some new experience. Their whole pursuit is a \\\"Mount of Transfiguration,\\\" and they want to camp there. However, the revelation of who Jesus Christ is ought to lead us to what He does. In Luke\\'s account of this event, he tells us that Moses and Elijah were discussing with Jesus what He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem\u2014that everything that was prefigured through the law and the prophets was about to be fulfilled at the cross. A Church was going to be born to go into all the world to preach this wonderful message of salvation through Christ.<\/p>\r\n Jesus was leading these disciples somewhere, but they were so engrossed in their own ideas of what spiritual experience leads to that they could not hear Him. It was as if God had to override the whole thing, stop Peter in the middle of speaking, and declare, \\\"This is My Son. Hear Him!\\\"<\/p>\r\nFULL OF OUR OWN STRENGTH<\/span> When the Lord speaks to each of the churches in the Book of Revelation, notice that He says, \\\"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.<\/em>\\\" I want a hearing ear; I want God to lead my life. Sure, I have had a wonderful past; in fact, it has been a miraculous journey. But I have learned that God is not interested in my ideas. If He is not leading, there is no power in it, and we are merely on our own with our little tabernacles on the top of the mountain, talking about our past spiritual experiences.<\/p>\r\n We often cannot hear the Lord because, just as with Peter and the others, we are still leaning on our own strength and understanding. It is similar to the time when Jesus told Peter, \\\"Where I am going, you cannot follow Me.\\\" What was Peter\\'s response? \\\"Oh, yes, I will follow You. And if You go to Jerusalem to die, I will go and die with You. These others here may not have the courage to go, but I will not turn back!\\\" (see Matthew 26:33, 35). He was full of himself\u2014full of his own ideas and his own strength.<\/p>\r\n Yet Jesus was trying to speak to him, saying, \\\"Peter, before the rooster crows, you are going to deny Me three times\\\" (see Matthew 26:34). But Peter could not hear it because he was still relying on his own strength and ideas. He did not understand that where Christ leads, we cannot follow without His strength. So, God had to bring Peter to the end of himself.<\/p>\r\n He had to bring him to a place where he had nothing left to say. After he denied Jesus three times, all he could do was weep bitterly. All his boasting came to an end, and when it did, he could finally start to hear the voice of the Son of God.<\/p>\r\n Perhaps your testimony today is that you have come to the end of yourself. Your ideas have come to nothing and you have run into the brick wall that all humanity runs into when we try to follow God in our own strength. Well, the good news is that the end of you is the beginning of God. Now you are ready to hear and to follow where God is leading you.<\/p>\r\nUNWILLING TO EMBRACE THE NEW<\/span> There is another reason why many find it difficult to hear the Son of God: they are unwilling to put away old things and embrace what is new. The Bible tells us that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation; old things have passed away and all things are new (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). God is not just taking us out of where we used to be, He is bringing us into where He would have us to go. The Spirit of God begins to show us things to come. He starts speaking to us about what He has for us, not what we have for Him\u2014and there is a huge difference. In our humanity, we will make promises to God that we cannot fulfill.<\/p>\r\n Finally, when we come to the end of that, suddenly God starts making promises to us. It is through these promises that we become everything He has called us to be. It starts with a willingness to put away old things\u2014for example, old comforts and old experiences. Yes, we can remember them, but we cannot camp there with them. Sometimes old friends have to be put away. A lot of people want the kingdom of God, but they want their old friends at the same time. Some want to keep those old relationships alive, that old romance with someone who is not a believer in Christ. Remember when the children of Israel came out of slavery in Egypt and suddenly, in the wilderness, they started remembering the fish and the leeks and garlic in Egypt (see Numbers 11:5). They somehow forgot that they were crying out to God in their bitter bondage!<\/p>\r\n We are all prone to saying, \\\"It was so good back there, wasn\\'t it?\\\" We forget the depression, the addiction, the brokenness. And so we are unwilling to make the break. A lot of people want that little sip of something to make them feel good, or that little peek on the internet at things they should not be looking at\u2014and then they wonder why they cannot hear the voice of God.<\/p>\r\n Sometimes we are unwilling to make the break from our past achievements. We want to sit in our office and gaze at all our certificates on the wall. Yet consider how the apostle Paul said, \\\"What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ<\/em>\\\" (Philippians 3:7). We must be willing to be led away from even good things. Remember, Peter had concluded, \\\"Lord, it is good for us to be here<\/em>\\\" (Matthew 17:4). Yet what God has for us is even better than what we declare to be good.<\/p>\r\nWHERE HE LEADS<\/span> Last, just as happened with Jesus after the Mount of Transfiguration, we must be willing to be led from spiritual experience to spiritual need. Jesus could have stayed on the mountaintop with Moses and Elijah, with His Father speaking from heaven. He had a small entourage\u2014followers whom He could teach, and He could have stayed there forever. But He had a mission!<\/p>\r\n Yes, the mountaintop offered this wonderful spiritual experience. But at the bottom of the mountain was a father crying out for his demon-possessed child who was being destroyed by the powers that had hold of him. Consider what is happening to our children\u2014the unbridled passion, the unmitigated confusion, the sense of hopelessness and anger that is consuming this present generation. You and I can live our Christian life just talking about old experiences, or we can follow Jesus down the mountain to where human need really is.<\/p>\r\n That is exactly what happened in Acts chapter two. The disciples were in the Upper Room having a marvelous experience. The Spirit of God filled every one of them, and they were given this explosive ability to communicate with people of other cultures and other languages. They could have just stayed there and spoken in tongues for the next five years.<\/p>\r\n However, they were led by the voice of God to spiritual need. Just outside, there were thousands of people coming from the temple, making great journeys to get there. Worshiping God in the best way they knew how, they remained deficient and short of redemption through the Son of God. The disciples heard the voice of God leading them out of their wonderful spiritual experience right into a morass of spiritual need. That is how the Church was born, and that is how she was led all the way through the Book of Acts.<\/p>\r\n The best thing that could ever happen to you and me, as well as to this present generation, is that we learn to hear the voice of God once again. If you are broken, if you feel like a failure, if you are wounded, if you feel destroyed\u2014you are the perfect candidate to be used by God! Get up from where you are and start to walk with Him. Walk toward not just the healing that you need, but also walk toward the healing that somebody else needs.<\/p>\r\n You do not have to have it all together to tell somebody else that God is good, and that Jesus died for them. All you need is to be willing to go where Jesus is leading you. You have a choice now. You can camp on an old experience and die there\u2014yes, you will get to heaven, but you will spiritually die in that old experience. Or you can just leave it and go where God is leading you.<\/p>\r\n If you are willing to hear Him, you will be amazed at what He will do. He will give you light in darkness, water in seasons of drought, strength when strength is failing all around you. And you will be a part of God\\'s answer to the great mountain of spiritual need we see in this generation!<\/p>\r\n This newsletter is an edited version of \\\"HEAR HIM!<\/strong>,\\\" a sermon given on July 7, 2020<\/strong>. Other sermons are available by visiting our website at tsc.nyc. You are welcome to make additional copies of this sermon for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission existing copyright laws apply. This sermon cannot be posted on any website or webpage without permission from Times Square Church. Scripture taken from the New King James Version\u00ae. Copyright \u00a9 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from other versions are noted.<\/p>"},"4":{"sm_title":"How Will You Wake Up Tomorrow?","sm_id":"361","sm_desc":"","sm_jpg":"","sm_date":"2020-09","length_sec":"00","length_min":"00","sm_asx":"","sm_mp3":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/06\/09t1\/20200609t1.mp3","sm_exSource":"youtube","sm_exID":"","sm_pdf":"http:\/\/sermons.tsc.nyc\/files\/sermon-newsletter-202009-how-will-you-wake-up-tomorrow.pdf","sm_newsletter_text":" I have two questions for you: How did you wake up today? How will you wake up tomorrow?<\/p>\r\n The Bible tells of a time when the people of God woke up in the morning and discovered that \\\"the enemy that was against them had come by night with a great army and surrounded the city\\\" (see 2 Kings 6:14). Have you ever experienced that? You wake up and find yourself surrounded\u2014by your struggles, your trials, perhaps an illness in your body. You may even feel as though you are being taunted by the voices of the enemy all around you.<\/p>\r\n In this particular scenario, a servant of the prophet Elisha got up early and found the army surrounding them. \\\"His servant said to him, \\'Alas, my master! What shall we do?\\' So he answered, \\'Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.\\' And Elisha prayed, and said, \\'Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.\\' Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha<\/em>\\\" (2 Kings 6:15\u201317).<\/p>\r\n Here we see two types of men waking up at the same time. Now both are followers of God. Elisha is called into a specific ministry, and so is his servant. If you were to ask the servant, \\\"Are you a follower of Jehovah God?\\\" he would answer, \\\"Absolutely. I am Elisha\\'s servant. If he goes somewhere, I go with him. I am pursuing the same God he is.\\\"<\/p>\r\n The problem is that although this servant was a follower of God, he had little to no spiritual vision. There are a lot of people like that in the Church of Jesus Christ. They are followers of God, they go to church, they go where the servants of God go. They do the things they are asked to do, yet they have little or no spiritual vision. When the enemy comes in, just as in this case, their very first response is, \\\"What shall we do?\\\" God is not even in the equation. In other words, \\\"Something has to be done, and it has to be done by us.\\\"<\/p>\r\n The New Testament calls this type of man a natural man. Yes, he has come to salvation through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Yet, just like Elisha\\'s servant, he sees with his natural eye and pushes forward with his natural strength and reasoning. He remains outside of where the power and the wonder of God are.<\/p>\r\n I don\\'t want to live there. I never wanted to live there. Right from the beginning, I said, \\\"God, I see something in Your Word. You operate in a kingdom that cannot be seen with the natural eye and sometimes cannot be comprehended with the natural mind. It cannot be attained with natural ability. You invite us into this kingdom by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. You give us Your Holy Spirit to take the victory You won and show us what we have inherited.\\\"<\/p>\r\n This is important because we are in a battle now for the very soul of our nation. We are in a battle for the testimony of God in our generation, and we are not going to be able to reason our way through this. It requires a supernatural victory that can only come by the hand of God.<\/p>\r\n The book of First Corinthians says it this way: \\\"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God... But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned<\/em>\\\" (1 Corinthians 2:12, 14). In other words, the man who lives by his own strength and reasoning cannot know the things of the kingdom of God. He will always live in a realm of \\\"What shall we do? What can we do?\\\" It will always be that reasoning.<\/p>\r\nBECOMING AS LITTLE CHILDREN<\/span> The book of John gives us another picture of how the kingdom of God works. \\\"Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, \\'Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?\\' But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do<\/em>\\\" (John 6:5\u20136).<\/p>\r\n Jesus saw a great multitude\u2014a great need that He knew could not be met through human resource. And so He tested a man who had been walking with Him for a season. Now Philip should have known better. The disciples knew Jesus could do miracles. Yet immediately, Philip resorted to his natural understanding and said, \\\"Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little\\\" (John 6:7). When you do not have the strength to meet the need that is before you, have you ever considered that God might be testing you to see if you are willing to look away from your own resources? Are you willing to look away from your own ideas about how to achieve your desired end?<\/p>\r\n \\\"Andrew, Simon Peter\\'s brother, said to Him, \\'There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?\\' Then Jesus said, \\'Make the people sit down.\\' Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted<\/em>\\\" (John 6:8\u201311). You see, the kingdom of God operates through faith. Jesus knew what he was going to do, and He knew who His partner was going to be in doing it. A little boy with five loaves and two small fish pressed through the crowd and presented his lunch to one of the disciples. I can imagine him saying, \\\"This should do it. Between me and Jesus, we can feed this crowd!\\\"<\/p>\r\n I have grandchildren, and that is the way they are. They do not see impossibility. They do not get up in the morning and look at the size of the problem. If Papa tells them, \\\"It\\'s all going to be okay,\\\" then in their minds, it\\'s all going to be okay. They do not have to figure it out. If I tell them we are going to get ice cream today at five o\\'clock, they know they are going to get from where they are to the ice cream shop even though they cannot drive a car. They do not have to know how it\\'s going to happen, they just need to know that Papa told them it is going to be done.<\/p>\r\n Jesus Himself said, \\\"Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven<\/em>\\\" (Matthew 18:3). Now, He is not talking about salvation. He is talking about entering into a place of God\\'s power and wonderment\u2014this kingdom that starts with just a small seed but grows into something that can provide for multitudes. Unless you become converted and become as little children, you will wake up in the morning just like Elisha\\'s servant. It does not mean that heaven is not your home. It means that while you live on the earth, you will live outside of this place of the miraculous. You will be part of that crowd that gets up in the morning and says, \\\"Alas, master, what shall we do?<\/em>\\\"<\/p>\r\nTHREE SIMPLE PRAYERS<\/span> Now Elisha\\'s response to his servant\\'s question was quite simple. He said, \\\"Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see<\/em>\\\" (2 Kings 6:17). The Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. His eyes were suddenly open to a whole kingdom and power he had been unaware of.<\/p>\r\n Then he saw Elisha pray two more simple prayers. The first: \\\"Strike them with blindness\\\" (see 2 Kings 6:18). In other words, do not let the enemy achieve their desired end of trying to captivate Your testimony. You and I should pray this again in our generation as darkness attempts to take away the testimony of Christ, redefining good as evil and evil as good.<\/p>\r\n Elisha then said to this foreign army, \\\"Come, follow me,<\/em>\\\" and he led them right into the midst of Samaria (2 Kings 6:19). A whole army was taken captive by a praying man! Then Elisha prayed one more prayer: \\\"Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see<\/em>\\\" (6:20). In other words, open the eyes of our enemies and give them spiritual sight to see that there is a kingdom bigger than theirs.<\/p>\r\n When the king of Israel asked, \\\"Shall I smite them?\\\" Elisha replied, \\\"You shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master<\/em>\\\" (2 Kings 6:22). In other words, \\\"Show them that there is a God much greater than anything they have ever understood.\\\" And so he had them sit down at the table for a great feast. Then he sent them home, and the Scripture says they never came back again. Nobody wanted to fight that kind of battle!<\/p>\r\nSPIRITUAL EYES<\/span> Think about how Elisha\\'s servant got up in the morning and, in the space of just a few short hours, saw something that he had never seen before. How do you think he woke up the next morning? \\\"God, show me those chariots again. Show me the soldiers of heaven again. Help me to pray like Elisha. Help me never to trust what I see with my natural eyes or think with my natural mind. Help me never to lean on what I can come up with in my natural strength. You have shown me Your power, so do not let me settle for less!\\\"<\/p>\r\n Perhaps you woke up this morning like Elisha\\'s servant and essentially said, \\\"Alas, master, what shall we do?<\/em>\\\" Maybe you got up and spoke to your spouse or to your mom or dad and said, \\\"What are we going to do? We have to do something.\\\" Your whole life has been stuck in this narrow corridor of human effort and human reasoning.<\/p>\r\n My prayer is that God will open the eyes of His people one more time. We have lived in the natural for too long. We have strategized ourselves into spiritual impotence. Now we find ourselves surrounded by enemies who are hellbent on stamping out the testimony of Christ in this generation. We must have our spiritual eyes open. We must have that faith of a child that says, \\\"God is much bigger than me. God has a great plan. God is my Father. God can be trusted. God\\'s ways are not my ways.\\\"<\/p>\r\n I am praying that tomorrow you will wake up and instead of asking \\\"What shall we do?\\\" you will say, \\\"God is with me.\\\" Your circumstances may not have changed, but you will have light in your eyes and joy in your heart. You be able to confidently say, \\\"I do not have to understand everything. My enemies can bark over the wall all they want, but God has promised to keep me. God has sealed me in His hand, and no one can take me out of that hand. God has promised that He is going to bring me to a desired end!\\\"<\/p>\r\n This newsletter is an edited version of \u201cHOW WILL YOU WAKE UP TOMORROW?<\/strong>,\u201d a sermon given on June 9, 2020<\/strong>. Other sermons are available by visiting our website at tsc.nyc. You are welcome to make additional copies of this sermon for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission existing copyright laws apply. This sermon cannot be posted on any website or webpage without permission from Times Square Church. Scripture taken from the New King James Version\u00ae. Copyright \u00a9 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from other versions are noted.<\/p>"},"5":{"sm_title":"The Joy of Asking","sm_id":"359","sm_desc":"","sm_jpg":"\/files\/\/files\/49701_jb_20200308.jpg","sm_date":"2020-08","length_sec":"00","length_min":"00","sm_asx":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/03\/08s1\/20200308s1.mp4","sm_mp3":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/03\/08s1\/20200308s1.mp3","sm_exSource":"youtube","sm_exID":"NaLUzEouoa4","sm_pdf":"http:\/\/sermons.tsc.nyc\/files\/sermon-newsletter-20200-the-joy-of-asking.pdf","sm_newsletter_text":" \\\"Until now you have asked nothing in My name<\/em>\\\" (John 16:24). Interestingly, Jesus spoke these words to His disciples who, by this point, had walked with Him for quite some time. Without a doubt they had asked a lot of questions along the way, just as you and I do in our Christian walk. Yet suddenly He made this statement, and then He added, \\\"Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full<\/em>.\\\" In other words, \\\"There is a joy that you have not entered into yet. You have a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience and you have witnessed things that other people have never seen. But you have not really been a partaker of something I want to give you now. If you will open your heart to it, it will bring you into a place of joy.\\\"<\/p>\r\n Isn\\'t that amazing? The asking brings joy\u2014not just a partial joy, but a full joy! Certainly, we ought to discover what Jesus meant by asking in His name. But first, let\\'s take a look in the book of John to see some of the things His disciples had already asked, for it is likely that you and I have had similar questions along our journey with Him.<\/p>\r\nTHE QUESTIONS THEY ASKED<\/span> In John 1:38, Peter\\'s brother, Andrew, and some others started following Jesus. When Jesus turned around and asked what they were seeking, they asked Him, \\\"Where are you staying?<\/em>\\\" In other words, \\\"We are willing to come to Your house and hear what You have to say to us.\\\" They felt they had found a teacher worth following. That is where it all began for most of us, as well. Before I was a believer in Christ, I remember sitting in the back of a church saying aloud, \\\"If You are real, I wouldn\\'t mind knowing who You are.\\\"<\/p>\r\n As the disciples journeyed on with Jesus, they began to realize that He had a source of nourishment they did not understand yet. \\\"His disciples urged Him, saying, \\'Rabbi, eat.\\' But He said to them, \\'I have food to eat of which you do not know.\\' Therefore the disciples said to one another, \\'Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?\\' Jesus said to them, \\'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, \\\"There are still four months and then comes the harvest\\\"? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!\\'<\/em>\\\" (John 4:31\u201335).<\/p>\r\n Jesus was explaining that there was nourishment available for them, but the implication was that they had to go into the harvest to get it. You can get knowledge by sitting in church, which is wonderful, but this nourishment\u2014this ability that is God-given; the strength that comes only from the Holy Spirit\u2014does not come until you start to walk into the work of God.<\/p>\r\n The disciples later discovered that Jesus\\' words had limitless power to heal. A nobleman came and said, \\\"My son is at home and he\\'s at the point of death. Will you come and heal him?\\\" (see John 4:49). Jesus did not go to the man\\'s house or even to the man\\'s town. He simply said, \\\"Go your way; your son lives<\/em>\\\" (John 4:50). There was no limitation by distance; He spoke and it was done! Can you imagine the questions that the disciples must have had in their hearts: \\\"What kind of man is this?\\\" It was probably similar to the time they were in a boat during a storm, and Jesus stood up to rebuke the wind and the sea. They then asked one another, \\\"What kind of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey Him?\\\" (see Matthew 8:27).<\/p>\r\n In John 6:53, Jesus declared, \\\"Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.<\/em>\\\" In other words, \\\"There is something of Me that you need in order to truly have life.\\\" The majority of His disciples at that time turned and walked away, concluding, \\\"This is too hard.\\\" It is the same way in the Christian Church today. People walk with Jesus, assuming that the Christian life is simply supposed to make them healthy, wealthy and wise. And then when the trials come, they conclude, \\\"This is not what I signed up for. It\\'s too hard.\\\"<\/p>\r\n Jesus turned to His twelve disciples and asked if they were going to leave as well. Peter responded with the question: \\\"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life<\/em>\\\" (John 6:68). In other words, \\\"We are staying because we know You have the words of eternal life\u2014not because we understand it, and not because we feel we can do it. We do not know where else to go.\\\" There comes a point in every Christian\\'s life when we make the choice to keep walking with Jesus\u2014not because we understand everything but because we know that He is the source of life, and He is leading us on a pathway of eternal value.<\/p>\r\n Later, Jesus tells His disciples, \\\"Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward<\/em>\\\" (John 13:36). Peter then asks Jesus, \\\"Lord, why can I not follow You now?<\/em>\\\" (verse 37). And Thomas asks, \\\"You tell us to follow You, but we don\\'t even know where You are going! How can we know the way?\\\" (see 14:5). Similarly, you and I have had times when we ask, \\\"God, what is it that You want from my life? How am I supposed to know the way? I have walked with You, I have studied Your Word, I have seen Your power. Now You are calling me to follow You, but I do not even know where You are going! How am I supposed to do that?\\\"<\/p>\r\nI WILL SHOW MYSELF THROUGH YOU<\/span> In John 14:22, Judas (not Judas Iscariot who betrayed Him) had another question: \\\"Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?<\/em>\\\" And so we come to the most pivotal question of all: \\\"Why are You showing all of this only to us?\\\" We could ask that today as well: \\\"God, why are You speaking all of these things to us? Why are You sending us Your Word when You have the power to send it to the whole world?\\\"<\/p>\r\n This is where it gets interesting because Jesus essentially answers, \\\"I am going to show Myself to the world through you, that\\'s why.\\\" That is the plan of God\u2014there is no plan B. You might ask, \\\"Well, how in the world is that going to happen? I spend my day just trying to survive. I spend my time trying not to curse those who curse me. I work two jobs to feed my kids and keep the bills paid, and You are going to show Yourself to the world through me? How is that going to happen?\\\"<\/p>\r\n Jesus tried to explain to the disciples: \\\"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you<\/em>\\\" (John 16:12\u201315).<\/p>\r\n Here is the point that Jesus was making: \\\"You cannot bear it because I am going to the cross. I am going to take all captivity captive; I am going to pay the price for your sins so that you no longer have to be separated from God. I am going to purchase for you a new life\u2014something that will make you a wonder to the people of this world. The Holy Spirit is going to dwell in you and show you the things that I have bought for you on the cross.\\\"<\/p>\r\nA DIFFERENT KIND OF ASKING<\/span> Jesus goes on to introduce a different kind of asking. \\\"A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father...Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. And in that day you will ask Me nothing<\/em>\\\" (John 16:16, 22\u201323). He is talking to His disciples about the day when He is raised from the dead; when the debt has been paid; when the power of the Holy Spirit has come; when this new life that is promised us in Christ becomes ours. In other words, \\\"You will not need to ask all these former questions anymore. They will all be answered.\\\"<\/p>\r\n \\\"Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you<\/em>\\\" (John 16:23). Now the question is, do you believe that? If you truly believed it, you would pray first thing in the morning. You would pray at noon. You would pray at night. Of course, He is not talking about asking for a Porsche. He is speaking in the context of His manifesting Himself to the world through us. He is talking about asking for the power to be yielded for the sake of the lost, given for the sake of other people. He is speaking about asking for the power to serve, the power to love when others do not love us.<\/p>\r\n \\\"Whatever we ask the Father in Jesus\\' name.\\\" This is available to people like you and me who say, \\\"God, I want the power to live my life for the sake of other people. I recognize the limitations of my physical body, of my natural mind, my natural heart. I recognize that I do not have the strength to go where You are calling me, but in the strength of Your victory, You are going to make me into another person. You are going to bring glory to Your own name through me. I am asking that You cause my life to make a difference for Your kingdom\\'s sake!\\\"<\/p>\r\n \\\"Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full<\/em>\\\" (John 16:24). And so we begin to understand that in order to experience this fullness of joy, there must be a shifting of focus. The joy must not be about ourselves anymore but rather about others. The joy is that I see people coming to Christ; the joy is that even enemies are finding forgiveness from God. It is not just about getting happy, it is that joy that is in heaven over every sinner who comes to Christ. It is that joy that the angels know around the throne of God. However, it does not come until we are surrendered.<\/p>\r\nFOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS<\/span> As society is perishing around us, it is becoming more apparent that it is time to ask. It is time that we rise up out of infancy and, as mature sons and daughters, say, \\\"Lord, I understand now that I cannot follow where You are going in my own strength. I am asking for Your Holy Spirit.\\\"<\/p>\r\n Remember that before Pentecost, the disciples all knew they had no power to go forward. But when God\\'s Holy Spirit came, they burst out of the upper room and started speaking about the things that God was going to do. In the first day alone, three thousand people bent their knee to Christ!<\/p>\r\n And so, my prayer for my own heart as well as for the Body of Christ is that God would give us the courage to ask in Jesus\\' name. Start by asking for a life that is yielded for the sake of others. Don\\'t forget that the Lord is delighted to give us all we need in order to make a difference in this generation. And when you discover that your heart is changing and giftings are starting to abound in your life\u2014when you find yourself speaking things that you never thought you would say and doing things you know you are not capable of doing on your own\u2014suddenly you will enter a joy that words cannot even begin to describe. It is the indescribable joy of being given for the sake of others!<\/p>\r\n This newsletter is an edited version of \\\"THE JOY OF ASKING<\/strong>,\\\" a sermon given on March 8, 2020<\/strong>. Other sermons are available by visiting our website at tsc.nyc. You are welcome to make additional copies of this sermon for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission existing copyright laws apply. This sermon cannot be posted on any website or webpage without permission from Times Square Church. Scripture taken from the New King James Version\u00ae. Copyright \u00a9 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from other versions are noted.<\/p>"},"6":{"sm_title":"All Things","sm_id":"357","sm_desc":"","sm_jpg":"","sm_date":"2020-07","length_sec":"00","length_min":"00","sm_asx":"","sm_mp3":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/05\/19t1\/20200519t1.mp3","sm_exSource":"youtube","sm_exID":"","sm_pdf":"http:\/\/sermons.tsc.nyc\/files\/sermon-newsletter-202007-all-things.pdf","sm_newsletter_text":" \\\"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose\\\"<\/em> (Romans 8:28). That means that everything God allows into our lives has a divine purpose. God puts it there for a reason because He is conforming us to the image of His Son. He is leading us on a pathway that will bring His name glory through our lives.<\/p>\r\n Keep in mind that the apostle Paul wrote these words as a man who had been shipwrecked, stoned, and betrayed. He had been in perils among brothers and perils among those who hated him. When you look at his life, it is very hard for anybody alive today to say, \\\"Well, my life has had a more difficult trajectory than Paul\\'s.\\\" And yet, after all the things he suffered, he was able to write that all things work together for good. In other words, \\\"Everything that God allowed into my life had a divine purpose\u2014whether I understood it or not. God was doing something in me. He was bringing me to a specific place. He was teaching me specific truths that I might not have learned otherwise.\\\"<\/p>\r\n Quite often, we spend our days trying to get out of \\\"all things.\\\" This is what our prayer life is all about. \\\"God, get me out of this, and I will love You. Deliver me from this, and I will serve You.\\\" Many times our focus is about getting out of the very things that God is allowing in order to form His character and His purposes in our lives. So instead of praying, \\\"God, get me out,\\\" we should pray, \\\"Lord, what are You teaching me? What is it that You are producing in my character that could not come any other way?\\\"<\/p>\r\nIS THIS REALLY NECESSARY?<\/span> Romans 8:28 has been the verse that has kept me all the years of my Christian life\u2014through flood, fire, trial, difficulty, hardship, blessing. All the things that God has allowed have been for divine reasons. Sometimes I understood them and sometimes I did not until the worst of it was over in my life.<\/p>\r\n When I came to New York in 1994, we moved into a house in New Jersey. We had no idea that the house we moved into was infested with toxic mold. By the time it was discovered in 2001, the mold was so thick that those who inspected the house condemned and quarantined it on the spot. The whole attic was so filled with toxic black mold that no visible wood was left. It scarred my bronchial tubes, which is why I still cough a lot today.<\/p>\r\n At the time, we were also fighting against a terrible onslaught in New York City. I stood with Pastor David Wilkerson, fighting to have the church go forward. I gave my all, but I kept getting sicker and sicker, to the point where I could hardly breathe. The headaches were extremely bad, and my energy level was almost at zero. I could sleep for eight hours, get up in the morning, and feel like I had not slept at all. I could barely stay awake and could hardly breathe. One day, I was walking down Eighth Avenue in New York City, and I was to the point where I could see black flecks floating in front of my eyes. Also, I was always on the verge of passing out. Suddenly, in frustration, I said out loud on the street, \\\"Oh, God, is this really necessary?\\\"<\/p>\r\n I was so surprised to hear God\\'s reply: \\\"It is. It is very necessary in your life.\\\" And suddenly, out of nowhere, verses from Psalm 119 came into my mind. The psalmist says, \\\"Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word\\\" <\/em>(verse 67). And \\\"It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes\\\" <\/em> (verse 71). And \\\"I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me\\\" <\/em>(verse 75). God had allowed these things for a divine purpose!<\/p>\r\n God could have kept us from moving into that house, but here is what He said to me on Eighth Avenue that night: \\\"You have a very strong will. I am going to teach you how to be dependent on Me.\\\" He did. I needed Christ every moment of every hour of every day because my own strength was gone. The Lord began to teach me how to hear His voice. He taught me that if He was not leading, I ought not to go there. I could not accept just any invitation to go anywhere and speak because if it was not the Holy Spirit leading me, it could take a week or two to recover physically when I got back. However, when the Spirit was leading, I would come back stronger than when I went out.<\/p>\r\n I was learning to be governed by the voice of God rather than by good ideas. At that time, I had no idea that I would be the next Senior Pastor of Times Square Church. I was only there to help this man of God for as long as he needed me. I did not know that God had another plan\u2014and that in faithfulness, He had afflicted me in order to work out that plan in my life.<\/p>\r\nBORN OUT OF AFFLICTION<\/span> I remember, during the worst part of this affliction, I had an oxygen tank on wheels that I had to pull around the apartment with me. Every morning, I had to wear a mask and breathe pure oxygen for 15 minutes to clear out the phlegm in my chest and help alleviate the massive headaches I woke up with. I had to do this before I could even read my Bible. There were mornings when despair just wanted to eat at my heart. I wondered, \\\"Oh, God, are You ever going to heal me? Could any good ever come from this?\\\"<\/p>\r\n Some mornings I was so down that I would take my pen and just start writing poems, many of which eventually became songs. You see, I had made a choice to declare God to be faithful in the midst of my affliction. David Wilkerson insisted the songs be put on a CD, which is titled \\\"Quiet Times,\\\" and most of the songs were written during this time of affliction. It sold more than 40,000 copies in its first run, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for missions all around the world.<\/p>\r\n One particular morning, I sat down and wrote a poem which later became a song called, \\\"If You\\'ve Lost Your Heaven\\'s Song.\\\" The first verse says: \\\"If you\\'ve lost your heaven\\'s song, it\\'s so hard to carry on when tomorrow looks as sad as yesterday. Just remember Jesus came, and He keeps singing just the same if you will listen, when you go to Him and pray.\\\" And the chorus goes: \\\"When Jesus came to live in you, He carried heaven\\'s sweetest tune with words, \\'I love you. And forever I will stay.\\' When days are cold and darkness strong, things might seem lost, but not for long. His song within you cannot ever pass away. His song within you cannot ever pass away.\\\"<\/p>\r\n I received the most beautiful letter a couple of years after the CD was initially produced. A pastor\\'s wife wrote to tell me that one day her husband came home and said, \\\"I want out of this marriage. I want to live a new life. And as far as I\\'m concerned, our marriage is finished.\\\" She was devastated. She rented a hotel room and then went to the pharmacy to get the prescription pills she needed to commit suicide. Then she got in her car, intending to return to the hotel and take her life.<\/p>\r\n A copy of \\\"Quiet Times\\\" was in the CD player, and \\\"If You\\'ve Lost Your Heaven\\'s Song\\\" was playing when she turned the car on. She started listening to the song and later wrote to me that she drove for three days. I assume she would stay in the hotel at night, but in the daytime, she would just drive around. She wrote, \\\"I put your CD on repeat and listened to this same song over and over again. It brought me back to the faith of my childhood\u2014when I first received Christ, when I walked with God. I remembered how faithful God has been to me and how He won\\'t forsake me in my affliction. And after three days of driving around, knowing that my marriage was finished, I just decided to go home and live.\\\"<\/p>\r\n When she got back home, she went into her house and found her husband, sick at heart, sick in his spirit. He said to her, \\\"Oh, honey, I\\'m so sorry. I don\\'t know what came over me. I don\\'t know what I was thinking. I made such a mistake, and I\\'ve been such a fool. I love you. I believe that God is going to work out our marriage.\\\"<\/p>\r\n To prevent a woman from committing suicide, God had to allow affliction in another man\\'s life in a city far away, sit him in his office with an oxygen mask on his face, put a pen in his hand, and inspire him write the words to a song. I know all things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose!<\/p>\r\nREALIZE THERE IS A PURPOSE<\/span> Perhaps today you are depressed in your mind, or you do not know how you are going to pay your rent and feed your kids. You do not know how you will ever be sane again. I want to remind you that God will be faithful to you. However, you must make a choice now either to believe that all things are working together for God\\'s good purpose in your life, or they are not. It cannot be just some things. It has to be all things\u2014the things that you like and the things you don\\'t like; the things you understand and the things you don\\'t understand; the things you would love to come your way and the things that you wish would be gone\u2014all of these things are working together for a divine purpose that God has ordained for your life.<\/p>\r\n This valley of the shadow of death will last only for a season. Part of the victory is finally coming to the realization, \\\"Lord, You put me on this job for a reason. You put me in this marriage for a reason. You gave me these children for a reason. I live in this apartment for a reason. And if I have an affliction in my physical body, there has to be a reason for it that maybe I do not yet fully understand.\\\"<\/p>\r\n Yes, there is a purpose. Paul learned to believe this. As a matter of fact, he got to the point where he was able to write in his epistles, \\\"When I am weak, then I am strong\\\" <\/em>(2 Corinthians 12:10). He believed that even though he was confined to a jail cell at the end of his life, \\\"All things work together for good, even if all I can do is write some letters to some of my friends.\\\" He did not know he was writing to hundreds of millions of people over thousands of years\u2014that his letters to his friends were going to be the doctrinal basis for much of our practice of faith in Christ.<\/p>\r\n So I encourage you\u2014do not just pray to get out of where you are right now. Pray to learn the lesson that needs to be learned. Pray that when you do come out on the other side of the valley of the shadow of death, you will be able to say, \\\"I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. I have learned that nothing can separate me from the love of God, which is mine in Christ Jesus. I have learned that God has a purpose beyond my understanding. I have learned to trust Him that somehow, some good is going to come out of it\u2014so much more than I can ever think or imagine!\\\"<\/p>\r\n This newsletter is an edited version of \\\"ALL THINGS<\/strong>,\\\" a sermon given on May 19, 2020<\/strong>. Other sermons are available by visiting our website at tsc.nyc. You are welcome to make additional copies of this sermon for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission existing copyright laws apply. This sermon cannot be posted on any website or webpage without permission from Times Square Church. Scripture taken from the New King James Version(\u00ae). Copyright (\u00a9) 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from other versions are noted.<\/p>"},"7":{"sm_title":"When the End Comes, Where Will You Be?","sm_id":"355","sm_desc":"","sm_jpg":"\/files\/\/files\/\/files\/\/files\/49697_jb_20200301.jpg","sm_date":"2020-06","length_sec":"00","length_min":"00","sm_asx":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/03\/01s1\/20200301s1.mp4","sm_mp3":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/03\/01s1\/20200301s1.mp3","sm_exSource":"youtube","sm_exID":"azdQSfGvGzA","sm_pdf":"http:\/\/sermons.tsc.nyc\/files\/sermon-newsletter-202006-when-the-end-comes-where-will-you-be.pdf","sm_newsletter_text":" In the book of First Thessalonians, the apostle Paul exhorted the early Church about the day that is now coming upon us\u2014the day of Christ\\'s return. \\\"But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night<\/em>\\\" (1 Thessalonians 5:1\u20132). The day of Christ\\'s physical return to the earth will be preceded by the rapture\u2014His coming to gather His Church to Him. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the dead in Christ are going to rise, and then we who are alive and remain shall be gathered together with them. Imagine how lost you would feel if you did not know Christ as Savior at that moment and suddenly all the believers disappeared!<\/p>\r\n \\\"For when they say, \\'Peace and safety!\\' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief<\/em>\\\" (1 Thessalonians 5:3\u20135). Jesus Himself once said, \\\"If the man in charge of the house had been aware that a thief was in the neighborhood, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into\\\" (see Matthew 24:43). Likewise, if there was a thief in your neighborhood who was striking every night, wouldn\\'t you do something to protect your house or your apartment? Wouldn\\'t you examine the windows and the doors to make sure everything was secure?<\/p>\r\n Now, in the context of the last days, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:19, \\\"Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?<\/em>\\\" He put it more simply in 1 Corinthians 3:9: \\\"You are God\\'s building.<\/em>\\\" Therefore, which house is the thief trying to break into? You are the house! You are the temple of God\u2014the place of God\\'s dwelling. You are the one called to bring glory to the Lord because of the light and life that is inside of your earthen vessel. Meanwhile, the devil will do everything in his power to break in during this darkened hour in which we live. So what are some specific things we should be watching for?<\/p>\r\nTHE END OF THE AGE<\/span> To help answer that question, let\\'s see what happened when Jesus\\' disciples asked Him, \\\"What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?<\/em>\\\" (Matthew 24:3). In other words, \\\"What will the spiritual temperature be? What will be happening?\\\" Jesus began His reply by saying, \\\"Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, \\'I am the Christ,\\' and will deceive many<\/em>\\\" (24:4\u20135).<\/p>\r\n He was warning them that in the last days, the devil will do everything he can to \\\"break into\\\" the people of God. False messiahs will arise who will stand up and say, \\\"Yes, the Holy Spirit is leading me. If you look at my life, you will see what Jesus looks like.\\\" They will claim to have the words and the way to go forward into security, and they will deceive many.<\/p>\r\n So how do you discern the difference between what is being animated by the Spirit of God and what the devil is animating as an imitation of God? There are several references in the Old Testament to Satan and his ways of thinking. For instance, the prophet Isaiah said, \\\"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: \\'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.\\' Yet you shall be brought down to [hell], to the lowest depths of the Pit<\/em>\\\" (Isaiah 14:12\u201315). Simply put, Satan\\'s theology focuses on self. In contrast, the theology of Christ focuses on others. For example, you may be listening to a preacher who is telling you, \\\"You are not the tail, you are the head. You will sit in places of prominence in society. You will always be healthy and rich, and trouble will never come to your door. You will be known among people everywhere you travel, and you will be like the Most High\\\"\u2014and that is all his message is. If this is true, it is inspired by darkness.<\/p>\r\n Of course, I understand there are moments when we have to say, \\\"God, I need this,\\\" or \\\"I need to be free.\\\" However, when we come to maturity in Christ, the focus shifts to, \\\"Not my will, but Yours, be done<\/em>\\\" (Luke 22:42). In other words, \\\"God, use my life for the sake of those who do not know You\u2014for those who are going into a Christless eternity.\\\" The focus of Christ is always about others. That is why Jesus said, \\\"If any man does not take up his cross, he cannot be My disciple\\\" (see Matthew 16:24). Any gospel that causes you to focus solely on yourself is from hell itself.<\/p>\r\nOTHER SIGNS OF HIS COMING<\/span> Jesus continued, \\\"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet<\/em>\\\" (Matthew 24:6). In other words, there will be an increase of angry speech. Nations will start threatening other nations, ideologies will start threatening other ideologies. As a matter of fact, we are already seeing this in our own society here in America.<\/p>\r\n \\\"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places<\/em>\\\" (Matthew 24:7). In the last days, the world will not just speak about violence but will actually turn to violence. There will be famines, earthquakes, new diseases coming into the world. And here we are facing the coronavirus now in our own society.<\/p>\r\n \\\"All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name\\'s sake<\/em>\\\" (Matthew 24:8\u20139). This is already happening in China and various other places throughout the world. What started as a marginal tolerance of Christianity has now turned to intolerance and even violence in many places. Perhaps you have already been experiencing it in the workplace or in your community. It seems one cannot have a biblical opinion anymore without being vilified or deemed a hater and a divider.<\/p>\r\n \\\"And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another<\/em>\\\" (Matthew 24:10). Paul also warned us that before the return of Christ, there would be a great falling away (see 2 Thessalonians 2:3). There will be people who will conclude, \\\"I did not sign up for this. When I came to Christ, I was told I was going to be healthy, happy and rich. I was going to have a big house, a nice car, the best spouse, a great family. I didn\\'t sign up to be hated. I didn\\'t sign up to be part of a religion that society does not endorse!\\\" And so many will be offended. \\\"And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold<\/em>\\\" (Matthew 24:12). Mankind will descend into a depravity perhaps unseen in the history of the world. It will sweep the world in lawlessness and immorality.<\/p>\r\nA VICTORIOUS CHURCH<\/span> However, here is the good news: \\\"But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come<\/em>\\\" (Matthew 24:13\u201314). There will be a victorious Church in the last days. There will be a people of God empowered by the Holy Spirit. They will be given supernatural ability to stand and there will be power in their speech. They will have a love that will cast out all fear.<\/p>\r\n Yes, multitudes will be descending into darkness. And, sadly, there will be multitudes of formerly professing believers who will be following them. But thank God, there will be a victorious Church as well as an incredible harvest of souls in these last days. God will empower His Church to continue loving when the love of many grows cold. She will be empowered to keep on giving when selfishness is abounding and countries are fighting over resources. While everyone else is pointing the finger, there will be people committed to pointing the way to eternal life. Their lamps will be filled with light to help those who are trying to escape the darkness. Lastly, God will have a Church empowered by the Holy Spirit to have hearts filled with praise even when the joy of the land is gone.<\/p>\r\nIS YOUR HOUSE READY?<\/span> And so the question I ask you today is: When the end comes, where will you be? Are you certain that you will you be part of this victorious last-days Church? I suggest that it is time for you to do a security evaluation of your house. Do you have the motion sensors working to detect prowlers? You cannot have them if you are not in the Word of God. You will not know when somebody who is not truly representing Christ has suddenly come to your ears\u2014whether in a church service, on a podcast, or through some other means. Remember, if the message you hear is not leading you to a lifestyle of being yielded for the sake of others, then your motion sensors should go off. You might have a prowler outside your house.<\/p>\r\n Are your doors locked? Are you letting anything into your dwelling that should not be there? Is anybody sitting at the table who does not belong inside your house? Are you reading something that you should not be reading? King David once said, \\\"I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away<\/em>\\\" (Psalm 101:3). You need to make sure, for you cannot play games with this one. You cannot live in duplicity and assume you will suddenly have the strength to stand in the coming days. You do not know what tomorrow is going to bring; you do not know the severity of what is coming upon our world. In fact, you do not even know for sure if you will still be alive in a month.<\/p>\r\n And so, are you ready? Is your house ready? Have you trusted God for the strength, the power, and the giftings of God to live for His glory? Are you able to praise Him in the midst of your darkness? Are you looking every day for somebody, somewhere\u2014some need that God can meet through you? We are living in the last days\u2014Christ is coming! Let us pray, \\\"Lord, prepare me. Give me the character I need, and give me power. Give me everything I need of Your Spirit\u2014not for myself, but for the sake of Your glory first and for the sake of others second. Pour out Your life through me and give me a song that this world cannot take away!\\\"<\/p>\r\n This newsletter is an edited version of \\\"WHEN THE END COMES, WHERE WILL YOU BE?<\/strong>,\\\" a sermon given on March 1, 2020<\/strong> in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in New York City. Other sermons are available by visiting our website at tsc.nyc. You are welcome to make additional copies of this sermon for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission existing copyright laws apply. This sermon cannot be posted on any website or webpage without permission from Times Square Church. Scripture taken from the New King James Version(\u00ae). Copyright \u00a9 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from other versions are noted.<\/p>"},"8":{"sm_title":"The Wolf is at The Door","sm_id":"353","sm_desc":"","sm_jpg":"49687_jb_20200209.jpg","sm_date":"2020-05","length_sec":"","length_min":"","sm_asx":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/02\/09s1\/20200209s1.mp4","sm_mp3":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/02\/09s1\/20200209s1.mp3","sm_exSource":"youtube","sm_exID":"XsGT7gr-HNk","sm_pdf":"https:\/\/sermons.tsc.nyc\/files\/49724_sermon-newsletter-202005-the-wolf-is-at-the-door.pdf","sm_newsletter_text":" \"Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all<\/em>\" (Isaiah 53:1–6).<\/p>\n It is important to understand that a religious system crucified Christ. Although the Roman authorities were the instruments of His death, the religious order of the day—created by God's own people—put the Son of God on the cross. There were leaders in that generation who adorned themselves in righteous robes and loved to be called \"Teacher\" in the marketplace (see Matthew 23:7). They ended up creating a system of salvation that was much wider and more inclusive than the one God had given. All kinds of people were coming into the temple defiled and going out the same way. They were living in ways that the Bible clearly indicated would leave them excluded from the kingdom of God forever.<\/p>\n In contrast, Jesus came in a form that lacked grandeur in the eyes of men. He was not dressed in righteous robes, not trying to garner their titles, not doing things their way. The Bible says, \"There is no beauty that we should desire Him<\/em>\" (Isaiah 53:2). They despised and rejected Him because He challenged their religious system of redemption. Remember, it is the propensity of humankind to conclude that we can be as God, becoming judges of what is good and what is evil—the original sin in the Garden of Eden. If you take that to its logical extension, we can start declaring that God forgives things when He does not. We can start telling people that they are going to heaven when they are not. That is the grave danger of religion. Can you imagine sitting inside a place as a supposed believer in Christ only to end up at the throne of God one day and find out you have been outside all along? What a tragedy it is going to be for so many.<\/p>\n He was \"a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief<\/em>\" (Isaiah 53:3). There was a heaviness in the heart of the Son of God as He looked on the people as sheep without a shepherd. \"And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him<\/em>\" (53:3). We are, in great measure, reliving the Scripture again in our day. In many places, even where God's people are gathering, the Word of God is despised. We are now gravitating toward fancy preachers who have opened the door wide to people who are not going to heaven, giving them false peace when they are not at peace with God.<\/p>\nTHE FULL COUNSEL OF GOD<\/span> Paul was a true shepherd who did not hold back from declaring the truth. This is what he said in the book of Acts: \"Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God<\/em>\" (Acts 20:26–27). It is the cry of my heart that if anyone reading this today ends up in hell, let it never be because I failed to declare to you the whole counsel of God or did not warn you of something that had the power to drag you down into eternal darkness.<\/p>\n Paul continued: \"For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears<\/em>\" (Acts 20:29–31). He warned that wolves are going to come—which we are seeing in packs in our generation. These wolves are going to devour the sacrifice of Christ and the promise of new life through Him. They are going to promise the people liberty, though they themselves are slaves to corruption (see 2 Peter 2:19). Wolves teach that you can live a lifestyle against the Word of God and still claim heaven as your eternal home. Such a wolf is now at the door of the Christian Church in America.<\/p>\n Yet the apostle Paul clearly warned in the book of First Corinthians: \"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators...<\/em>\" (1 Corinthians 6:9). These are people who engage in sexual intercourse outside the bonds of marriage between one man and one woman—and will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived into thinking you can live an immoral lifestyle and still have heaven as your eternal home. This is hard for this generation to hear, especially when so many preachers are saying, \"Well, God understands need and God is a God of love. He won't send anybody to hell.\" That is not true! Yes, He is a God of love, we know that, but the Bible tells us that fornicators have no inheritance in the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n \"Nor idolaters...<\/em>\" These are people who have other loves—something in their life that is their whole obsession. Christ (or church) is just a little part of their life; they are pursuing something else.<\/p>\n \"Nor adulterers...<\/em>\" Today we take a word such as adultery and call it an \"extramarital affair\" as if it is a black tie event. \"You are invited to an extramarital affair next Friday at 5 o'clock.\" Yet the Bible calls it adultery. Settle it: Sex outside the bonds of the person you are married to will keep you outside the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n \"Nor homosexuals, nor sodomites...<\/em>\" In other words, this applies to both men and women. I understand the dilemma that some might face in same-sex attraction. Nevertheless, you cannot give in to that lifestyle on any level because the Bible clearly says it will leave you outside the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n \"Nor thieves...<\/em>\" This refers to all people who steal—even just a little. Perhaps they have a contract and steal a little bit more than they should, or maybe they cheat on their taxes.<\/p>\n \"Nor covetous...<\/em>\" These are people who are always wanting more of the things of this world, never satisfied with what they have.<\/p>\n \"Nor drunkards...<\/em>\" Week after week, there are people who go to church on Sunday after being out at the club the night before, drinking and dancing.<\/p>\n \"Nor revilers...<\/em>\" Especially in our country today, reviling has become the speech of the day. It is fashionable just to curse everybody around you.<\/p>\n \"Nor extortioners<\/em>\" In other words, those who take advantage of others will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9–10).<\/p>\n However, Paul finished with good news: \"And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God<\/em>\" (1 Corinthians 6:11). He was saying, \"In contrast, you are set apart for the kingdom of God. You have honestly repented and walked away from what God's Word says is wrong. You have walked away from this old way of thinking and behaving and have instead set yourself apart for the kingdom of God.\"<\/p>\nTHE HIRELING WILL FLEE<\/span> Nevertheless, we must be aware that we are living in an hour when the wolf is heading to the door of the Church, demanding that we bow down to these new definitions of good and evil. The days of being able to declare truths like the ones above without penalty are very close to being over, if they are not over already.<\/p>\n Jesus once said, \"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep<\/em>\" (John 10:11–13).<\/p>\n There are hirelings in a lot of pulpits in America today. They do not necessarily leave the people, but they leave biblical truth when the wolf is at the door. The wolf says, \"This is what you will preach; these are the truths that you will espouse.\" And the hirelings bow down when the music plays in order to save themselves, for it has always been about them and never really about the sheep. And so the hirelings end up leading the people into the broad way of destruction rather than into the narrow way of eternal life.<\/p>\n In contrast, the true shepherds of God in this generation are going to care more for the people than for their own safety or reputation. Of course, it will not be an easy road. We are about to join our brothers and sisters in China, Iran and other places who are being persecuted and even put to death for what they believe. We have lived a very comfortable, lazy Christianity in America, but those days are over. The wolf is now at the door.<\/p>\n And so I challenge you with all my heart to turn from sin. Find that new life in Christ, and rise up to be the person that God has called you to be. You already know what God has His finger on. Ask Him for help in turning away from watching pornography, from drinking, from flirtation in the office, from railing. Ask Him to deliver you from cowardice and instead put a love for people in your heart—a love that casts out all fear.<\/p>\n Let this society despise Christ, consider Him ordinary, rebel against His words. But by the grace of God, we will not bow before the wolf in this generation. By His grace, we will stand unashamedly for the truth of God. We will begin to pray again as a Church Age. We will have the courage in this generation to stand for those who do not have a voice for themselves—for our children, for the unborn, for our high school students, for college students; for every mother, father, and child in this country who needs to know there is a Savior who died for them!<\/p>\n This newsletter is an edited version of \"THE WOLF IS AT THE DOOR<\/strong>,\" a sermon given on February 9, 2020<\/strong> in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in New York City. Other sermons are available by visiting our website at tsc.nyc. You are welcome to make additional copies of this sermon for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission existing copyright laws apply. This sermon cannot be posted on any website or webpage without permission from Times Square Church. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from other versions are noted.<\/p>"},"9":{"sm_title":"God Is With Us. Let's Rise and Build!","sm_id":"351","sm_desc":"","sm_jpg":"49668_jb_20200112.jpg","sm_date":"2020-04","length_sec":"","length_min":"","sm_asx":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/01\/12s1\/20200112s1.mp4","sm_mp3":"http:\/\/media3c.tscnyc.ws\/2020\/01\/12s1\/20200112s1.mp3","sm_exSource":"youtube","sm_exID":"ix2V3JjnrUw","sm_pdf":"https:\/\/sermons.tsc.nyc\/files\/49713_sermon-newsletter-202004-god-is-with-us-lets-rise-and-build.pdf","sm_newsletter_text":" \"Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia<\/em>\" (Ezra 1:1).<\/p>\n Let me set the scene for this particular moment in history. The people of God had been called to a specific place—the nation we now call Israel—and to a particular city—Jerusalem. In this place, the glory of God dwelt in the temple. And the people were called to be a special people, changed and empowered by God, to be a praise and a testimony to Him in the earth.<\/p>\n This exact same calling is on your life and mine as part of the Church of Jesus Christ in our generation. However, the people of that time dealt very casually with their calling. The service and worship of God gradually became a matter of convenience, taking on forms that God never intended. Sadly, God's ordained purpose for them slipped through their fingers like sand, and suddenly they found themselves powerless as an enemy called Babylon began to take them captive. In three stages, the people of God were taken into a foreign land for seventy years. This tends to happen throughout history—to believers, families, churches. We end up in a place we were not destined to be.<\/p>\n This captivity was a time of chastening—a time for the children of Israel to reconsider their calling in the earth. And then, suddenly, revival came! It is important to note that, first of all, revival is God's initiative. It is something that God determines in His heart to do. The Lord had already predetermined that He would let the enemies of His people capture them for seventy years. He had spoken through the mouth of Daniel the prophet at the time they were taken into captivity that at the end of seventy years, He would visit them and bring them home. And this is exactly what happened, as we saw in our opening scripture. Cyrus, a Medo-Persian king, was not a partaker of the Jews' religion, yet the Lord stirred his spirit so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom: \"Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah<\/em>\" (Ezra 1:2).<\/p>\n Revival usually happens in response to a cry among at least some of God's people. Of course, there were probably others who were quite content in Babylon in those days. Perhaps they had acquired a fairly good life for themselves there. However, there is always a voice that rises up.<\/p>\n It could simply be a person such as you or me in our own house, sighing, \"God, the way Your people are being treated is not right. It's not right that You are not known and revered. Your word is being cast into the streets as if it is something evil. It is simply not right!\"<\/p>\n The decree continued: \"Who is among you of all His people?<\/em>\" (Ezra 1:3). Who in this kingdom actually belongs to God? Who desires to live a life that brings glory to His name? Who is concerned about regaining what was lost through neglect and negligence?<\/p>\n \"May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem<\/em>\" (Ezra 1:3–4). King Cyrus was saying, \"As the people get up to go rebuild, everybody who is part of the family of God should help them in whatever way they can, even if they cannot go themselves. Everybody needs to do something in this rebuilding of the testimony of God in the earth!\"<\/p>\nNOTHING HAS BEEN LOST<\/span> What happens next is phenomenal: \"King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his gods<\/em>\" (Ezra 1:7). This included everything that God had given a pattern for to King David, who in turn had given it to his son, Solomon. Solomon had fashioned all of the instruments that were necessary in the worship of God—all the things that were part of the religion of that time.<\/p>\n Yet when the Israelites were taken captive, they probably assumed all of the articles had been lost, never to be regained. That is exactly what the devil would have wanted them to believe. But you see, nothing of God is ever lost. It is merely in storage. The Bible tells us that the articles were counted: \"Thirty gold platters, one thousand silver platters, twentynine knives, thirty gold basins, four hundred and ten silver basins of a similar kind, and one thousand other articles. All the articles of gold and silver were five thousand four hundred<\/em>\" (Ezra 1:9–11). Can you imagine being there as all these items were brought out of storage? The Babylonians or the Medo-Persians could have easily melted them down and made gold bars out of them. But God is always in charge of everything!<\/p>\n You may say, \"Where is the word of knowledge?\" It is in storage. \"Where are the gifts of healing?\" They are in storage. \"Where are the prophets?\" They are in storage. Nothing can be lost to the kingdom of God. There have been times and seasons throughout history when God suddenly says, \"Bring out everything that was taken captive and give it back to My people!\" The Lord makes everything available to His people once again and asks, \"Who wants to rebuild? Who wants to go home? Who wants to glorify Me in the earth? Who wants to see captivity taken captive one more time in this generation?\"<\/p>\n A psalmist wrote about it in Psalm 126:1: \"When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream,<\/em>\" In other words, \"We thought it was all lost forever. But suddenly we realized the hand of God was moving again—that our captivity had indeed been taken captive!\"<\/p>\n The psalmist continued, \"
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