This sermon emphasizes the importance of discerning God's voice amidst the multitude of conflicting messages in the world. It calls for a return to the cross of Christ for strength, victory, and direction, urging individuals to leave places of spiritual mixture and embrace God's truth. The speaker highlights the need for courage to stand for righteousness, lead families in godliness, and speak out against societal trends leading to darkness.

Now a lot of people are wondering, what does the future hold? Where are we going as a nation? Where is this world heading for? And how do I fit? What is my part? What is it that God would have me to do? Especially fathers today, for example, is there something specific that I need to be doing to prepare for the days ahead? I trust that what God's given me today will be a blessing and a strength. One thing in this church that I have always appreciated, and it started with Pastor David Wilkerson in the founding of this church in 1987, is that Pastor David always preached just what the Lord gave him. He never modified his message for occasions. What God gave him is what he preached, and by God's grace, that's what we'll continue to do. I have had another message ready for two weeks, I've been working on it, but every week I get preempted by the Holy Spirit and he gives me something else. There's no peace when I'm not about to speak what's from the heart of God. Even though I might like the message, there's no peace in it. So he gave me this, this week, and it's from Isaiah chapter 30, please, if you'll go there. Isaiah chapter 30. It's called, The Future is Already Written. The future is already written. It is a fallacy. When we look in the scriptures and we see the pattern of people's behavior and God's response to that behavior, when you study the scriptures carefully, you'll see that certain behaviors always elicit the same response. And so in that case, the future is already written. It is foolishness to think that we can chart the same course as a nation, as others before us have, of darkness and rebellion and lawlessness and immorality in our society and somehow arrive at a different conclusion, a different destination than those that have gone before us. It's a fallacy to believe that. And the last stage before the judgment of God comes on a nation is the rise of smooth-talking prophets. Those who come to the people, and sometimes their gatherings will be the largest, doesn't mean they're even speaking for God, but they will gather the people and they will say all is well, pursue the course that you've set before you, God is with you, and they'll talk only sweet, positive things as the nation is heading into judgment. And that is the final sign. There are many signs that come before judgment. You look and you study the scriptures and you'll see clearly that the last sign before a nation goes into judgment is the rise of the smooth prophet. The devil puts them there to put people to sleep, to cause there to be no prayer meetings, to cause there to be no alarm in the hearts of those who can still hear, many can't hear, but those who can still hear the voice of God, he puts them there to lull everybody to sleep as the whole nation goes over a cliff. I pray God help us to have hearts still wanting to hear the word of God. I pray that with all my heart. Father, I thank you, Lord God Almighty, for your word. I thank you for the strength that you give to deliver it. I thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, that we're not afraid to hear what you have to speak. I'm more afraid of you not speaking than hearing what you have to speak. For in your voice is safety, in your voice is the voice of a father. The heart of a father is in your voice. And you only speak to guide your children to safety. God, help us. Help us this Father's Day to listen to the voice of our Father. Help us, Lord Jesus Christ, not to shun your counsel. Help us, God, not to be stubborn-hearted or proud or arrogant. God, help us to bend our knee to that which the Holy Spirit will bear witness to. If I'm speaking truth this morning, bear witness to it, Holy Spirit. Cause our hearts to be stirred. Cause, Lord, us to want to walk in the direction that your word tells us we should go in. And Father, I thank you for the strength, the passion, the right heart, the tenderness of spirit. I thank you, God, for everything I need to stand and speak for you. So I ask you to animate me, Holy Spirit. I don't want any of my own personality in this. Help me to move out of the way. God, animate this physical body and speak to all of us, myself included. Give us direction and strength for the days ahead. We thank you for it in Jesus' mighty name. Isaiah chapter 30, beginning at verse 8. Now go, the Lord says to the prophet, write it before them in a table or a book. And note it in a book that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. In other words, the Lord's saying, I'm going to give you something now. I want you to put it in a book that all future generations might be instructed by it. That this, now they're talking about Israel back in this day, is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord. They'd become God's own people, had gotten to the point where they couldn't be spoken to anymore. How tragic it is to have known his voice and yet have allowed the human will and the human spirit to begin to take over and to have crafted as it is another voice that isn't the voice of God, to the point where God can't speak to the nation anymore. Which say to the seers, that means those who still have the ability to hear from God, see not. And to the prophets, those who are called to warn the people to turn from a certain behaviors that are going to bring the same judgments that they always have. Prophesy not to us right things, prophesy to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Get out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. In other words, don't stand in our way. Don't tell us that the journey we're undertaking is not a good one. Don't tell us that we need to turn and go another way. We don't want to hear it. Tell us that what we're doing is good. Tell us, pave a smooth path for us. Tell us that God is with us. Tell us that it's going to prosper. Get out of the way. Turn aside out of the path and cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, because you despise this word and you trust in oppression and perverseness and stay there. In other words, you've built a spiritual foundation. These were the people of God, folks. You have to understand this was God's design that these people be a testimony of His glory in the earth. But they had built another foundation and it was a crooked one and they were established on that crooked foundation to the point where they couldn't be moved anymore. Therefore, this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall who's breaking come suddenly at an instance. In other words, there's what you're building is going to collapse and it's going to collapse suddenly and it's going to be a total collapse. It's going to be beyond anything you can imagine. And he shall break it. Verse 14 is the breaking of the potter's vessel that is broken in pieces. He shall not spare so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it assured to take from the fire or the hearth or to take water out of the pit. God said to Israel, the collapse of what you're building and trusting in is going to be so sudden and so complete. There'll be nothing left in it that offers comfort or satisfaction. You get no warmth from it and it will not satisfy your thirst. For thus saith the holy, saith the Lord God, the holy one of Israel in returning and rest shall you be saved in quietness and confidence shall be your strength and you would not. But you said, no, we'll flee upon horses. Therefore, shall you flee? We'll ride upon the swift. In other words, we don't need your plan. God, we have a plan. We don't need your ways. We have a way that we believe is better. And therefore, shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one and at the rebuke of five shall you flee. So you'll be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain and as an ensign on a hill. And therefore, will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you. And therefore, will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of judgment and blessed are all they that wait for him. How sad it is when any people who once knew the voice and the ways of God begin to collapse into a form of spiritual stupor. This is what happened to Israel. They had the word of God. They had the presence of God. They had the history of God. They had the testimony of God. They had the favor of God. They had God himself who spoke to Solomon and said, I'm waiting to hear you pray that I may answer those prayers. My heart and my eyes will be there perpetually waiting for people to come to me, whether they be born in the nation of Israel or be strangers traveling from a far place. I am willing to show myself God. I'm willing to be strong to them. And how tragic when a spiritual stupor takes over a nation like Solomon did. I believe after over 20 something years of tending to the house of the Lord, he just got bored with it. We have a tendency to get bored with the familiar. It's part of the frailty of humanity. That's why marriages get in trouble at certain periods. We get bored with that which is familiar. We get bored with our jobs. We get bored with our directions, bored with our cities, bored with our towns. And these people became bored with the presence of God. And being bored with God's presence, that which truly was God, they crafted another highway, another God, another voice, another journey that allowed them to pursue the thoughts of their own heart and somehow believe that the blessing of the Lord was going to be on them, clearly transgressing the boundaries of God, entering into behaviors clearly condemned in the scriptures and beginning to say to that which is evil, that it is good. And to that which is good, that it is evil. And somehow believing that they're going to escape that which has come upon other people in other times who have done the similar things. I want to just share with you a story that illustrates this. You don't have to turn there. It's in 2 Chronicles chapter 18. There were two kings. The kingdom of God at this time was divided between north and south. And King Ahab, the king of Israel, he had come to a place. Now he had been moved upon in times past. He'd even had conversations with the prophet Elijah. He'd been stirred. He'd seen the victory. He'd been a witness to the presence of God. But somehow he could never bring himself to come under that dominion, to be yielded to what he was hearing and what he was seeing. And instead he surrounded himself with religious voices whose ministry it was to tell him and to tell all his court around him that everything was well and God was pleased no matter what he was doing. And even though he was standing at the edge of personal defeat and death, that was the ministry. He had 400 prophets in his inner court, this king of the northern kingdom of Israel. Their only ministry was to tell him that he was loved. His journey was blessed. Everything was well. God was with him. He was going to fulfill his dream. He was going to walk in his destiny. Everything was going to be fine. That was their whole ministry, 400 of them. Paul the apostle warns us. In the last days, he says in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 3, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts will they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. Now the scripture tells us that there was also another type of a man, Jehoshaphat was down there. He was the king of Judah. And he could still hear the voice of the Lord. At this point in history Ahab couldn't hear anymore. Ahab wasn't going to hear. As a matter of fact, later on in the chapter, Micaiah the prophet says there was technically a meeting at the throne of God and God said to those around the throne who will go down and entice Ahab that he may fall in battle. And there was a spirit that said, I'll go down. I'll be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets. God knew this man was not going to hear. He couldn't hear anymore. Oh God, help us now. God help you, sir. God help you, ma'am. God help me as your pastor never to get to the place where we can't hear from the Lord anymore. Well, we're going to go into a battle thinking God is with us only to find out that the voices we've been listening to have not come from the throne of God. Jehoshaphat was in a place he shouldn't have been. He was a righteous man. He could still hear the voice of God, but he was in a place he shouldn't have been. Beware those who can still hear the voice of God of being in places you shouldn't be and listening to voices you shouldn't be listening to. It will take away your strength. I have no doubt the meeting was exciting. You look at 400 prophets are there and it says Zedekiah, the son of Janiah was made horns of iron and he's standing before the king and says thus and thus you will push the king of Syria into the sea basically and all these prophets are in a frenzy. They're all predicting victory and I'm sure it's an exciting meeting. It's an exciting place to be, but there was something in the heart of Jehoshaphat. Even after 400 prophecies he was still troubled because he could still hear the voice of God and he turns to Ahab and says is there one more? Is there anybody else left? Is there another voice in your kingdom? You can imagine after why after 400 witnesses would he be asking for one more? 400 people all saying the same thing, but he was a righteous man and something in his heart was telling him this is you are not listening to the voice of God. There was a troubling inside of him. I believe the answer is quite simple. You see as a king he would be familiar with the voices of those who tell people whatever they want to hear in order to gain or keep advantage from them. In other words he could discern that these people are not speaking for my advantage. They are speaking for their advantage. In other words he knew the spirit of schmoozing. May I put it that way? He knew schmoozers when he heard them. He saw these pathetic prophets coming and doing their dance and saying their words and it was all for the benefit of keeping close to power. It was all for the benefit of keeping their position and keeping their influence and having their little crumb of influence at the throne of King Ahab in order for the to move the kingdom in the direction that would give them favor. But they were they didn't care if he died in battle as long as they could keep their place. And they were not speaking for the advantage of those they were speaking to and this is the difference between a true and a false representative of God. A true representative will stand and speak for God no matter what it costs. A false representative will tell you exactly what your heart wants to hear and confirm you in your direction even if the direction is leading you to your spiritual death. It doesn't matter as long as you're a body in a seat. As long as your check is going in the bucket they really don't care. They'll tell you anything you want to hear. How wonderful you are. How lovely you are. How much victory you're going to have. Doesn't matter if you're going to porno theaters on Friday night they'll still be telling you on Sunday how glorious God's strength is going to be for you and what a wonderful destiny you have before you. Oh yes the assemblies of the false can be exciting. But the righteous person will leave with this deep inward feeling that he or she hasn't really heard from God. It can be exciting. You can go to a stadium. You can go down to some meeting somewhere in town and it can be exciting. The singers can sing and the prophets can prophesy and everybody is wonderful. Everybody is going to have a ministry. Everybody is going to know victory. And you walk out you end up shouting and standing with the crowd. But you walk out into the parking lot and there's this strange inner feeling that you haven't heard from God. Even if 400 of them have been all saying the same thing you end up like Jehoshaphat if you're still righteous. Saying is there not one more voice? Remember Ahab said oh yeah there's one more in my kingdom but I hate him. See he's the one guy who won't confirm my impression of what my life should be. He won't stand and agree with me. I've crafted a spirituality. I've crafted a destiny for myself. I've crafted an image of myself and he's the one man who stands and challenges that he said I hate that man. He never speaks good but only evil. You see that's what the human heart can do. Can take the word of God and begin to call it evil. Micaiah is the one voice that can still save his life. He is on the way to death. This man is hours from death. He's got 400 people confirming his journey to spiritual and physical death. And he has only one voice left trying to stop him from this journey. The assemblies of the false can be exciting but as I said the righteous person will leave with this inner feeling that haven't really heard from God. Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 3 verses 21 and 22 here's what the Lord says to the prophet. I've not sent these prophets yet they ran. I have not spoken to them yet they prophesied but if they had stood in my counsel and if they had caused my people to hear my words then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings. If they had been in my presence they would have stood in the path and they would have stopped this parade on the way to destruction. They would have stood against it not and not confirmed it. They would have been fearless. They would have spoken for me regardless of the consequences. They would have opened their mouths because in their heart is the love of God for a perishing world. Finally the voice of God speaks. Micah comes in to the court and he knows that Ahab is not going to listen. He knows that this king is so so bent on his own will that nothing is going to stop him now. He's got his 400 voices. He's got his tapes. He's got his dvds. He's got his cds. He's got his radio stations all pre-tuned to everybody who agrees with him and Micah knows it's not going to stop him and so he says to the king go prosper it will all be well. He says the same thing as the 400 others and Ahab looks at him he says how many times will I have to tell you that you speak nothing but truth to me in the name of the Lord. Isn't that amazing? What a mixture in this man. Micah said then I did see all Israel scattered on the mountains a sheep that have no shepherd and the Lord said they have no master. Let them return every man to his house in peace and the voice of God was speaking to Ahab and telling him the path that you are on is both hopeless for you and for those that live under your influence. You sir are on a pathway to your own destruction and those who live under your influence sad to say many of them are going to suffer defeat along with you. As is always the case when seasons of paying the price for our stubbornness have come the majority opinion rules and the voice of God is fed the bread and water of affliction. This is what Micah gets for standing for truth. Chapter 18 verse 26 of second chronicles he said thus saith the king put this fellow in prison and feed him with bread of affliction and the water of affliction until I return in peace. This is exactly what happens to the servants of God to those who stand for God in certain seasons of history and with a heavy heart I have to tell you this morning it is my belief that this is soon to come to America. This country will soon turn against the voices of those who are standing and begging this nation not to go on its trajectory not to continue in its immorality not to continue murdering its children for convenience not to continue marrying people that God says should not be married. That we will soon all be fed the bread of water and affliction. You can see it coming I don't anticipate it will be that long into the future. Isaiah again chapter 30 where we started verse 15 for thus saith the Lord God the holy one of Israel in returning in rest you shall be saved in quietness and confidence would be your strength. In other words God saying it is always been my intention to bring you back to me. I wanted to give you rest. I wanted to give you confidence for the future that would become the source of your strength. He wanted to do it for a nation but the nation would not hear and then I can hear the call and cry of God going out for the individual. We're living in a time when sad to say the nation is not going to hear but the individual still can hear many people still can hear and come back and turn to the Lord again but you said no we'll flee on horses we have a plan therefore you will flee. Oh we'll ride upon the swift we have the ability we have the strength we can outlast this we can endure it we can still have the victory no matter what the odds are that come against us. He says no you're going to lose your strength you're going to face enemies that are going to strike terror into your heart. And even at one a thousand of you are going to flee until you'll be left as a beacon on top of a mountain and as an ansign on a hill. And therefore he says well I wait and I'll be gracious to you and be exalted that he may have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of judgment and blessed are all they that wait upon him. And I foresee a difficult day ahead of us but in the midst of that difficulty in the midst of our trials in the midst of all that we're going to have to face God says I'm going to wait for you at a mountain there's a certain mountain I'm going to wait for you and when you come there to that mountain I'll be gracious to you there and I will be exalted there because I'll give you strength that you've always longed for I'll give you direction I'll give you clarity of mind I'll defeat your enemies there I'll have mercy upon you there I will judge your enemies there and you will learn to wait upon me there and there is no other mountain I can think of in the scriptures than that one upon which the Son of God was crucified. That's where the victory is the cross of Christ is the source of our life the cross of Christ is the power of God in our salvation the cross of Christ is our hope it is our future it's our stability it's the place what we can resort to and find the life that God has always wanted to give to you and I I thank God with all my heart I can see it in my spirit I can't explain it to you any other way multitudes no matter what happens in our cities no matter how difficult and unraveling this society and this world gets around us I see multitudes Jehoshaphats and their wives male and female Jehoshaphats from all over this country who've been sitting in the wrong place finally getting up and say I'm going back to Calvary I'm going back to the cross of Jesus Christ I'm going back to that place of strength I'm going back to a victory that was won for me I'm going back to the one who holds the keys of everlasting life I'm going back to the one who says not only will I set you free and give you an eternity but I will give you an abundant and a full life here on this earth I'm going back to the one who said I have a path set out for you it's not your way that's going to bring you to success it's my way I'm going to bend my knee I'm going to drop my plans I'm going to give up my dreams and ambitions and I'm going back and I'm going to find the will of the one who died for me on a cross 2000 years ago I'm going to live in his strength thanks be to God it will take calamity nations do come to that place Israel came to that place and there is a day coming when Israel will be driven again to a mountaintop and in that day God through his son Jesus Christ will finally reveal himself to the nation of Israel and there will be a turning in Israel so great that it will become a blessing to the whole known world the scripture bears witness to that in the New Testament but till that day oh God give us the grace Jehoshaphat went into the battle and when he went into the battle he didn't realize that his mixture had set him up to be surrounded by his enemies and it says it came to pass when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat they said it's the king of Israel therefore they surrounded him to fight but Jehoshaphat cried out and the Lord helped him and God moved them to depart from him it's at the cross of Jesus Christ where you and I lay down our plans and we begin to cry out to God again for our homes for our families for this generation for our children for the future of our cities we begin to cry out to God and God begins to move our enemies to depart from us and answers our prayer and begins to give us the strength that can only come from him oh my brother my sister that's why it's so important to pray now that's why it's so important to come to the Lord and say not my will but thine not my plans but your plans not my strength but your strength not my reasonings but what your reasoning is for my life God almighty give us the grace Lord to put away all of our the inner desire to hear voices that simply consume our confirm our error and end up allowing us to be consumed by our enemies and give us the courage to cry out to God to get in this generation give us the courage to pray every church of every denomination that's the cry of my heart now for New York City oh God give us the sense to pray again give us the sense to come back into the house of God and to begin to cry out for God to do what only God can do things that we have let slip through our fingers places that we have dwelt where we shouldn't have been mixture we've allowed into our hearts and homes and into our churches that have weakened us but I thank God he says I'm going to wait for you on a hill and when you come and when you begin to call out to me I will answer you and I'll bring my own name to reputation one more time in the earth hallelujah to the lamb of God glory to the name of Jesus glory to the name of Jesus God will give us strength God almighty will give us confidence God will give us hope God will give us a compassion and a sure future that has nothing to do with this world it has everything to do with his life being lived inside of us and through us through the cross of Christ the promises of God in the power of the Holy Spirit my friend if you're in a place of mixture if you're looking for voices to confirm the directions of your own heart I beg you in the name of Jesus get up and get out of that place and get to a place where you can open this Bible New Testament and just read it and say God speak to me speak to me plainly I don't want to read this and take out little portions of it so I can craft my own calf that confirms my life plan but God speak to me out of every line speak to me God about the blood again that dripped from the cross into that ground for my soul's sake speak to me about what you have for my life speak to me about strength and vision that's not mine but it's yours speak to me about the purpose you have for my life not my idea of what my life should be but God what you have destined my life to be speak to me God about these things give me power to get out of this place of mixture that had to be the cry of Jehoshaphat's heart oh God I've been living in a place of mixture I've been listening to voices I shouldn't have been listening to I've been hanging around people that are just taking away my spiritual strength oh God one more time would you allow me to live one more time one more time God would you fight against my enemies the scripture says that God caused his enemies to depart from him when God speaks everything in creation must obey every name that his name is under submission to the name of Jesus every name everything that has surrounded you everything that's tormenting your mind everything every lying voice that's trying to confirm a wrong destination everything that has gained access to you because of the mixture all the depression all the discouragement all the substance abuse all the immorality all the torment in your mind all the sickness that has come into your body because of bitterness has gotten a hold of you you call out to God and watch what God will begin to do you will know the truth he said and the truth will set you free I believe in this last generation that God will have a testimony to the honor and glory of Jesus Christ it won't be a popular time to stand for God but it will be a glorious glorious touch of the Holy Spirit to those who have the sense to call out to God now and say Lord God Almighty Lord God Almighty I don't care if they throw us all in the fire but we're not going to bend our knee to that golden statue when they play their tune and let come what may but we are not as the people of God destined for defeat we are not destined to be overthrown we're not destined to die where they have and those who will not hear the voice of God we're not destined to be overthrown like the prophets who don't know the heart or the voice of God we are destined to live in victory we are destined to be more than conquerors through Christ who loves us we are destined to scale every wall and break every bowl of steel and stand for the glory of God and for the souls of men we are destined to live in victory and so I believe that as we begin to cry out to God all things still remain possible to him who believes it doesn't matter to me how dead the nation is spiritually speaking I serve a God who can raise the dead it doesn't matter to me if they've all died in the valley around about their altars of self-making I serve a God who told Ezekiel he said call out to the breath of God and watch what God can do I serve a God who can raise bones up and put them back together I serve a God who can resurrect denominations who have long died in America I serve a God who can breathe into places of dust and create life I serve a God who can command people to come back together again I serve a God who can raise up a mighty army in this last hour of time that is the God that I serve hallelujah to the lamb of God glory to the name of Jesus hallelujah I serve a God who can give me strength when my strength is gone I serve a God who can open every prison door the devil has set before me I serve a God who can heal every wound in my heart that's trying to tell me you can't get up and you can't go on I serve a God who can give me vision for the future no matter how dark it looks ahead of me that is the God that I serve hallelujah to the lamb of God thank you Lord Jesus Christ I serve a God who can take the weak and through the weak can confound those who are strong in their own strength I serve a God who can take me in my foolishness and put a wisdom in my heart that defies explanation to those who are wise in their own sight I serve a God who can take me in my poverty and embrace me and give me the riches of who he is inside of my inner being I serve a God who can take me where I could never go he could make me what I could never be he could give me what I could never possess I serve a God who can still do miracles who still hasn't people in the earth who will do exploits that is the God that I serve oh thank God for the voice of my care thank God there was still somebody willing to stand and say don't go in this direction don't listen to these voices that's not where your strength is your strength is in God your strength is in the word of God your strength is in the blood of Jesus Christ your strength is in the power of the Holy Spirit your strength is in living for the will of God not for the will of man hallelujah to the lamb of God hallelujah when Joshua when Jehoshaphat realized that his mixture had given his enemies the upper hand he cried out and the Lord helped him and that's my older call today you've lived in a mental place where you've tried to get God to agree with some direction that you want to go in and you've you've gravitated to voices that give some kind of credibility to that which is going to take your strength but now you're sitting here and you realize oh God I'm not anything near what I should be for you I'm surrounded by enemies I'm supposed to be victorious I should be leading others into victory as as fathers here today I should be I should be leading my children I should be leading my extended family whether or not they're still under your roof sir God has given you a spiritual authority if you'll reach out and take it it might be through a letter a phone call something in the future might be just through your prayers but you still have a spiritual authority to lead your family in a way of righteousness you still have an opportunity to believe God but you and I have to get out of mixture we have to get out of places that have brought us into weakness we have to leave things that need to be left and we have to lay hold of things we need to lay hold of and I could hear Jehoshaphat saying oh God give me one more opportunity deliver me from my enemies and give me out of this place give me out of Ahab's kingdom give me out of this place of failure and defeat and take me into a place of victory give me oh God a voice again to be able to lead your people in Judah into righteousness give me strength give me power I'm not willing to live here anymore I'm not willing to just pursue my own objectives and just allow the enemy to surround me and I spent all my day just fighting my own inner struggles when I'm called to fight something bigger than this I'm called to lead people into victory I'm called to bring them out of prisons and out of places of despair I'm called to reach the hopeless and the homeless the addicted and the despairing the rich and the poor I'm called to reach people for Christ and to bring them into this glorious kingdom of victory God forgive me for just living in a place where all I'm doing is fighting my own enemies take me out of this place and bring me into victory make me a sole winner for the kingdom of God give me courage to speak what I need to speak and to live in the manner which God's called me to live in and that's my ultimate call this morning it's for you it's for me it's for all of us oh Lord Jesus Christ deliver us God from wanting to hear voices that confirm our own stubbornness deliver us God from the mixture if you bear witness today that you've heard from the Lord then you have to respond to it so God this is for me I hear you calling me and you would know at this point because the Holy Spirit would be showing you now what are the areas of mixture in your own life that you have to get out of things that you have embraced practices that you're still involved in and you know it's wrong and you're looking for voices constantly to confirm it you some here you go to a specific preacher just to to make you one more time feel good about yourself before you go back to your practice again not knowing that these voices are just paving the way into hell for you and powerlessness that's what false prophets are all about just to tell you how wonderful you are as long as you keep sending them money they'll keep telling you how wonderful you are you'll know them by this one thing it always goes back to money they can't escape it because that's what their God is Father please help us especially on Father's Day to hear the voice of our Father to give us courage to leave what we should leave and to come back to what we should come back to help us to get to the cross now and to find the victory of Christ so that when the masses who are terrified come running to church we will have something to say to them we will have the tenderness of God because we've needed his tenderness we will represent the one who has been kind to us even in our disobedience he has been kind we'll have a tender voice and tender hands a tender heart Jesus bless our homes and their families don't let our children don't let our grandchildren don't let our nephews and nieces perish raise up men of God in this generation God forgive us for cowardice raise us up Lord in the strength of the Holy Spirit help us not to join the multitude on their parade to darkness God give us the courage to go as Micaiah did in the way of truth no matter what threats come our way give us the courage to stay on the pathway of truth Father I thank you for this I pray God for my brothers and sisters today Jesus Son of God give us the sense to do right Father I thank you for this in Jesus mighty name we're going to stand we're going to worship for just a moment and as we do in the annex in North Jersey here in the main sanctuary just please go forward between the screens of God speaking to your heart just come slip out of your seat in the balcony go to either exit in the main sanctuary and just come we're going to pray together especially men who just desire to be men the church of Jesus Christ is going to need men again folks they're going to have to be Micaiah's in the day ahead pastors that are visiting today would you slip out and say God would you give me courage to be a man of God women who are visiting in ministry would you slip out and say would you give me courage to be a woman of God would you give me give me the power to to stand and speak in my school my church my ministry my home my family God almighty give me the grace and strength that I need let that be the cry of your heart today praise God just lift your hands please if you will Jesus Son of God give us courage courage to do what is right beginning today Lord the things that you have spoken that we have ignored give us the courage Lord God to put away every voice that comes to us to confirm our error and let us respond only to your voice give us the courage Lord Jesus Christ to get up and get out of every place we shouldn't be give us the courage to go into every place we should be give us the courage to fight for what is right and to stand up for what is true Lord that courage can only come from you we don't have it within ourselves and of ourselves it's only you that gave the 120 in that upper room the courage they had we don't have courage without you Lord but with you we can do all things it's you who live and move within us we have our being in you Lord and so God we just lift our hands as we sang and say here am I take me Lord give me the strength that I need to do what I'm called to do help me God to love even my enemies help me Jesus to fight for those who fight against their own salvation help me to stand for truth help me to bend my knee only to that which is right God give me the grace I need now for the days ahead of me Father we thank you God I pray for fathers today especially grandfathers in this house make us men of God God give us the backbone Lord to stand up for what is right and give us the tenderness of the God who waits upon a hill for those that have failed let these things become our portion give us faith to lead our families in a way of righteousness give us courage to stand in the marketplace and speak what we know to be true help us Lord God Almighty to stand in the pathway and say to this generation the way you're going is not good I perceive this journey is going to be fraught with much discomfort and distress give us the grace God to stand father we thank you for this thank you for loving us enough to speak to our hearts giving us the courage to respond we thank you for it with all of our hearts today bless us with strength bless us oh God with hearts that long for truth father we thank you for this bless my brothers and sisters who are gathered here today God give us the grace that only can come from the hand of God let there be a change in our hearts hallelujah in Jesus name hallelujah thank you Lord