This sermon emphasizes the importance of being fully persuaded in one's faith, drawing from the example of Paul the apostle who declared his unwavering belief in God's ability to keep what was committed to Him. The speaker encourages the audience to be fully convinced of God's love that nothing can separate us from it, even in the midst of trials and challenges. The sermon also highlights the necessity of praying in the Holy Spirit to combat the hindrances and attacks of the enemy, emphasizing the power of the Holy Spirit in revealing truth and bringing life to the Word of God.

I'd like to speak to you as a father. One day when my great-grandchildren ask about their great-grandfather and my grandchildren or their children ask about what was great-granddad like, what did he believe? I think I would want them to know what I'm preaching to you this morning from my heart. I'm gonna speak to you as a father. I don't think I'm gonna be preaching a sermon to you, but things that I've learned. I'd like to talk to you about the importance of being fully persuaded, fully persuaded. Paul the apostle had just gotten word from the Lord that he's being poured out as water. He said, I've been told by the Lord my time is up. And he said, I'm going home. And one of the last things he said, he is speaking to Timothy, his son. He's speaking as a father, not only to Timothy, but to the church. He's speaking down through the ages. He's speaking to me, he's speaking to you. And he said in 2 Timothy 1, 12 and 14, I know who I have believed. He said, I don't have any question. That's all been settled. I know who I have believed. And I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. He said, I am already being poured out as a drink offering. The time of my departure has come. Have fought a good fight. Finished the course, have kept the faith. Father, you are our father. We honor you, we give our hearts to you. Lord, you put me in this pulpit over 20 years ago. And you told me before I came, there were two things that had to be done. One was to warn the city of coming judgments. And the other was to find a holy remnant and build them up in preparation for the coming of Christ. And we have seen you build a remnant. We have seen you, God, do such a miracle. And we've been faithful to proclaim the word that you said was to be proclaimed. And now I stand before you at this time and this place. Lord, you brought us to this time and this place. I am so glad I'm in this generation. I'm so glad I live in this time, because it's a good time, because you are good, father. You are faithful. In Jesus' name, speak to our hearts, I pray in Christ's name. Paul said, I know whom believed and I've committed, I'm fully persuaded that he'll keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. He doesn't tell us what those things are. He doesn't tell us, he makes no list of those things that he has given into the hands of God to keep. I would like to tell you that it's important today, more than any generation, to be fully persuaded, to know what you believe, that your faith has a foundation. There are certain things that you have settled. There's no question in your mind. No demon, no devil in hell can move you. You've laid a hold of something that is so real to you, and when the enemy comes in like a flood, when things look impossible, you take your stand on this, and you are fully persuaded, nobody moves you. Let me give you some of the things. I'm over 57, 58 years of preaching, and 78 years of living. And I think the most important thing that he has ever persuaded me about, and I am so fully persuaded of this, if this is the only thing that you ever heard from these lips, I am fully persuaded that nothing can separate me from the love of God, nothing. Paul said, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, if you know this, you can say it right out with me, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, not height, not depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. He goes in Romans 8, 35, 37, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or makingness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. Now, I want to tell you this, not just as a father, but as a servant of the Lord, minister of this gospel. This is the one thing the devil is after. This is the one hindrance that's going to face you in the days ahead. And you will be tested on this more than anything else because when the enemy comes in like a flood, when you find yourself in conditions that seem to be beyond control, and when things go from bad to worse, and when you look around and you hear a voice of the enemy saying, how can this be the love of God? How can this be the love of God? And he will try to convince you that somehow, because of past sin that he brings to your remembrance, because of something that you cannot comprehend, or you have not been able to figure out the meaning of faith, that maybe your faith is wavered, maybe you have not figured it out, maybe it's been too slow to believe. Maybe you have so measured and compared your faith to others and you've given up and you come to a place where you say, I've prayed a river of tears, I have sought every scripture that I can bring to remembrance and the enemy will come to you and say, this is the love of God? Is this how God treats his children? And you're gonna be tested on this. And I'll tell you, this has done more to strengthen my faith than anything that God has ever revealed to me. Yes, we've been through a lot of tests lately too, family and all hell. Tell me, when you speak out and prophesy the word of God, you pay a price, a heavy price. And I know that I can stand before every devil in hell. I've been through the fire, I've been through the flood, and I'm still standing in the grace of God. I've walked with a saint who for 40 years has suffered pain. I don't think there's been a month in her life she hasn't suffered pain. And there are times the enemy comes at me and he'll say, oh, so this is how it ends. You give your life, you give everything you have and you do everything, you pray and you seek the face of God and look how you end up in pain. Your wife in bed, we had to fight all the hell to get here. She was in bed fast for almost the past month. But you see something rises up inside. It's called the Holy Ghost. It's called the Holy Spirit. And Gwen sits on the edge of the bed and she says, honey, this is the devil. He doesn't want us to go to New York. He doesn't want us to go to the Bible school and preach the 15th anniversary where kids have come, the alumni have come from all over the United States and around the world after 15 years at Sister Catherine's school here. And we're going no matter what, is we're going to get up on the feet because we know, we know, we eat nothing. No creature out of hell. No one can separate us from the love of God. Beloved, there's a hinderer. Paul calls him a hinderer, he's the devil himself. He said, I was hindered. He determined to go on a mission trip and he said, the enemy hindered me. And he said it twice. I tried again, the enemy hindered me. And we're just dealing with surface issues if we really don't get to the point where we begin to understand that there's an active devil. We're not to fear him, but there is an enemy at work. And if you just lay down, if you just let him roll over you and walk over you, you're going to just embrace your condition and never fight. You're going to settle down in some kind of pool of pain. You're going to sit down in a pit of despair and you say, well, this is what one man told me in a hospital, he's dying of cancer. Well, these are the cards that were dealt to me. But you see, there is a hinderer. He comes first, I see this. And I've had an inner knowledge and I believe every man that walks with God, every teacher that truly walks with the Lord has an inner knowing that what is happening in the body of Christ today is far more intense. There are greater afflictions than any time in church history. There are more people suffering, more intense. Now Hebrews 11 tells us that the church has always suffered great afflictions. But you see, we have a mad devil now knows for sure that his time is up. He knows that the coming of Jesus Christ is very near. And we have a mad devil and he's not going after his own. He's going after the intercessors first of all. Those who take the body of Christ to heart. Those who pray and fast for others and bear the burdens of others. I have about, I'm not boasting, but I have about over half a million people on our mailing list. And many of them are in their late 80s and many in their 90s. They've been with me for 40 years. Many of them were saved in my meetings around the country. And I get letters from intercessors. I got a letter last week from a 90, well she'd written me about three months ago and I was so moved by her letter. 91 years of intercession. She said, God called me when I was four years old to be a giver to people and to pray. She was four years old. And after 59 operations between she and her husband. And through sufferings that are indescribable, this intercessor said, Pastor Dave, lately in the past year or so, in so many words she said, I see something come at me I've never seen before. So many afflictions that I've never seen among people. And she's just a dear saint. And she said, I feel this opposition of the enemy coming at me. But she said, you know something? She said, I know how to take back my ground from the enemy. She said, I pray in the Holy Ghost. I pray in the Holy Ghost. Now folks, we have a hinderer. T. Austin Sparks is one of my favorite preachers. He's now with the Lord. And he said, there are many things today that seem to be limited. They're being held down and paralyzed by Satan. Many men of God and many people of God have not been able to function as they should. They're not able to fulfill their ministries because the hindering of Satan. And he said, it's time for the church of Jesus to rise up and begin to pray in the Holy Spirit. And pray against the powers of darkness that he would be unseated from his throne and God's people begin to take authority over the powers of the enemy. Now, you and I are no match for the powers of hell. We're no match for the enemy it comes against to abuse, to try to deceive and try to bring us down into despair and discouragement. But folks, Jude, I want to read this if you will, Jude 20, 21. You beloved, build up yourself on your most holy faith. And then he said, keep yourself in the love of God. It's sandwiched in between those two statements. Let me read you the whole verse as Jude gave it to us. But you beloved, build up yourself on your holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost and keep yourself in the love of God. Praying in the Holy Ghost. That's two people, Pastor David and Sister Gwen, sitting on the edge of the bed with Gwen just enough strength to pull her legs to the side of the bed and look at each other and say, no, this is enough. And say, let's begin to pray in the Spirit. Now, if you know how to pray heavenly language, why are you ignoring it? And if you have the Holy Ghost in you, why are you not honoring him as he should be honored? We have a tendency to totem pole the Trinity. We put God up here and Jesus in the middle and the Holy Ghost down here. There are three unequal. No, see, God and the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost are of the same essence. All three individual personalities with one essence. And people are afraid to pray to the Holy Ghost, afraid to worship the Holy Spirit. I worship the Holy Spirit every day. I thank him every day that he brought Christ to me and gave me the revelation and it's ever renewed and ever coming. And as long as I live, I want the Holy Spirit to be at work in me. I want to honor him and thank him, not just for comforting me in my time of need, but because he's making me really know who my Father is in heaven. And he has his own ministry to direct. You can't fight this battle against the devil. You can't fight this unless you are praying in the Holy Ghost. Now, you say, explain that. I can't give you some long theological explanation of that, but I know I'm praying in the Holy Spirit when I start worshiping Jesus beyond my own ability. I know I'm praying in the Spirit when the burden of the Lord comes upon me. I know I'm praying in the Spirit when I'm giving him quality time and I'm not counting the hours. I'm not there because I have to be there. I'm there because the Holy Spirit is drawing me and I know who he is. The Bible says the world doesn't know him, but you know him. You know him. You know when he's knocking on the door. You know when he's telling you to do something. You know when he's putting his finger on something. So you're walking in obedience to nothing that devil can bring up to you because you're walking in obedience before God. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. God help us that many who know how to pray in heavenly language somehow just keep on neglecting the power, the authority of praying in heavenly language before him. Bible said the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. The Spirit brings life to this word and I've learned something in my latter years. I've learned something in walking more and more in the Spirit. I get calls. I get a lot of calls, a lot of letters from people I know, ministers I know who are going through great troubles and said, would you just please call me and they'll leave a number and I call many of these. But I call many that say my daughter doesn't know the Lord, but I think if you would call her because she read your book, and crosses his way and I'll call. And I hear stories that are heart-rending, absolutely heart-rending. So much so you think how much can you take of this? And I came to the place where I just can't give people scriptures. You know, I tell people, here's what the Bible says. You know, all things work together for good to them who love God and are called according to purpose. That's not a good scripture to give somebody that's just going through hell because they don't understand it. And I began to say, God, something's missing here. Something's missing because I don't really understand the word until the Holy Ghost reveals it to me. I can't go into the depths of it. I can read it, but it becomes life to me. And I've made it a practice in my, this past year especially, when people ask for prayer, people would tell me the burden. This is what I say. I say, look, I can give you scripture. I can tell you what the Bible says. I can tell you what God says, but it's not gonna mean anything to you unless the Holy Spirit reveals it. And I said, I want you to pray with me. Now, folks, this is real to me. This is life. I've lived long enough to know when the Spirit is dealing with me in love and telling me how to act. And the Lord made it clear to me, David, you'll never get through to people. And counseling, all of these calls you make, I ask these people, the question I said, the Holy Spirit is the revealer of truth. The Holy Spirit's the only one can make my words go from your head to your heart. The Holy Spirit's the only one can change you. I can't. And if I just quote you some Bible, it's not gonna change you. You're gonna say, well, I can't handle that. And so I've asked even those who don't know Christ, I said, will you pray right now? Bible says he'll give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Jesus to come in their heart. And you ask the Holy Spirit to come into your heart and let you hear what I'm saying. And I asked him to pray that prayer, to give your heart to Jesus Christ. And if they're a pastor, they're a believer, I said, will you do what we preach and what we believe? Will you ask right now? You pray that the Holy Ghost will come, the Holy Spirit will come upon my words, and I will pray with you in the spirit, and God will make these words real to you. And if you're gonna counsel with somebody that you know is for the Holy Ghost, a pastor or a counselor, don't go in that room if you're a Christian until you pray Holy Ghost. Give me a word, but first give me an understanding. Holy Spirit come, I believe you. Make this word alive to me. Folks, we have to have the Holy Spirit. We have to have a revelation from the Holy Spirit. Glory to God. I know a man who was called The Walking Bible. He could quote chapters, but his wife died and he got bitter against God because all the scripture he'd learned, the Holy Spirit had not made it real to his heart. Secondly, here's the persuasion I want you to talk about. I am fully persuaded that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. My God is a rewarder, Hebrews 11, six. But without faith, it is impossible to please him. Now, that's a strong word. Without faith, it is impossible to please him. But he that cometh, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Glory to God. Do you believe God is a rewarder? Let me tell you what the scripture just read to you. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. They that come to us believe that he is, that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Now, if you were in my library, you'll see row after row of books and many of them on faith. Big books, theological books. We all try to understand it, we try to figure it out so that we, it says without faith, it's impossible to please him, so I really want to know what faith is and how to believe so that I can truly please him and also that my prayers get through. I really want faith. I honestly thank God for the theological background of Calvin and so many books and commentaries I've read on faith. For years and years, I've studied faith. But you know, it finally comes down to one issue for me. I don't try to figure it out theologically anymore. I don't try to measure it. Do I have enough or am I wavering? Honestly, it's come down to this for me. Faith is trusting God when I see no physical evidence that my prayer is being answered. There's no physical thing, everything around, instead of things getting better, they're getting worse. And faith comes down to this. I believe what God said. All things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose. Now, that's a lie or that's the truth. Recently, I was facing an issue. No use, you don't need to know about it, but I'm facing a very tough decision. And I took a walk and I said, what do I do? Holy Spirit, you're my teacher, you're my comfort. What do you do? I expected some kind of direction. The Lord said, you need patience. Having done the will of the Father, they might receive the promise. That's what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear what you were gonna do, God said. You have need of patience. Some of you have lost your patience. I lost my patience. God said, now you go back and just face that with patience now. Don't get in a hurry, don't put any deadlines on me, don't corner me in, wait patiently. Now, I've just tramped on somebody's theology right now. I have two sons. Gary, who's now pastoring a church in Colorado. And Greg, many of you prayed for my son, Greg. Forgive me for being personal, but I don't know how best to illustrate this before I close. He was in this church about five, six years ago. Back, I got a call, Greg needs you back in the program. I've told this story. I don't know if Greg's streaming in right now in Texas. I asked permission to talk about this. And I went back and he was in holy ghost convulsions. He was just shaking. I said, Greg, what's going on? He said, Dad, I have such a burden for young people. I have such a burden to reach the lost young people. And he said, I'm just overwhelmed with it. I have this burden for God, for young people. My heart went out to him and I prayed. And I said, oh God, use him. Whatever it takes. Looking back, you know, whatever it takes. Have you ever prayed that? I said, did you ever pray that? Lord, save my son, save my daughter, whatever it takes. If I have time on. My son went into a pain that's been indescribable for five years of living hellish pain. The medication doesn't seem to touch. And I've watched over the years. You see, till that Joseph time came, the word of the Lord tried him. And these verses will try you. Believe me, they'll try you. All things work together for good to them that love God. And I'm talking to my son every week, maybe two or three times a week. And I ran out of scriptures. I ran out of counseling. Yet I was being tested on this. Do I really believe? How can this be all things working out for good? My wife, Gwen, has cried all the tears she can cry over that. And yet when I listen to this boy, I hear revelation of Jesus Christ that I've never known. I hear of a depth that God is taking him. I can't explain all of that. But I'm telling you now, I believe with everything in me. And no demon in hell is gonna take this from me. I believe that God is at work. God is doing something beyond my comprehension, beyond his comprehension. And I know that one day, that boy's gonna be shouting glory with me in heaven, and there's gonna be victory. And somehow, in some way, in God's way, he's giving strength, and he's gonna bring that boy to a place that he wanted to bring him that could not have been achieved any other way but through the flood and through the fire. I don't know what you're going through. Some of you are visiting, maybe your first time here in this church. You're going through the test of your life. And everything around you conspires against the promise. It's like a conspiracy. But I can tell you, you have something Moses didn't have. You have something the children of Israel didn't have. You have something Isaiah didn't have and hope to have. You have something nobody in the Old Testament had. You have the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And God said in the last days, I am gonna pour out my spirit upon all flesh. I look at it, and I'm gonna close now. I look at a generation that just seem to be doing this all the time with their fingers. I call it texting or something. My grandkids, I can't talk to them because they're going like this. And I see all this media stuff, and I say, God, how do you reach this generation? How do you reach it? And I go to Acts, and this is my final persuasion. I am persuaded that God, when he said, I'm gonna pour out my spirit in the last days, and we're getting closer and closer and closer, and this next generation, this one that's all wrapped up in texting, well, I'm getting on somebody else's toes right now, not just kids, but everybody going around taking a lot of time doing it. I'm not against that. You say, brother, you're against everything. No, I'm not. My son, Gary, was preaching in Colorado the other day. He said, I gotta tell you something about my dad. Every time he'd get a new car, we got a car, he says, it's all gonna burn. He said, I raised, everything's gonna burn, everything's gonna burn. I believe that this generation, God's always doing a new thing, and he's doing a new thing right now. God is gonna break in on this generation, and if all things are working together for good, God's doing something now, working together. Even the economy works together for good. Everything works together for good to those who are called according to his purpose. Not for the world in general, but for those who love God and are called according to his purpose, somehow he sees this through. Don't ask him how he's gonna do it. He said, your sons and daughters are gonna prophesy. I believe just what he said. They're gonna see visions. The old men are gonna dream dreams, and on your servants and handmaidens, they're gonna prophesy. You say, I can't believe that. Well, in the flesh, I don't believe it either, but I believe it in the scripture because these things are written, and God is faithful, and the closer we get, you remember in the Old Testament, I said, we're gonna close, give me two minutes. I said, we're gonna close, give me two minutes. That generation that the father said, oh, they wept and cried. You brought us out here, and our kids are gonna die. There's no hope for our kids, it's all over. Those are the kids that went into the promised land. They didn't go back to the Red Sea and talk about the Red Sea. They had their own Jordan that opened up, and they were bringing down walls, and they were killing giants, and they were outdoing their generation that they were raised under, and God says, I'm gonna bring them in. Folks, don't worry about your kids. God's gonna bring them in. God's gonna do things about your family. Hallelujah. Will you stand and open your Bible to Romans, the eighth chapter, please. Eighth chapter of Romans. This is how I'm closing. If you have a King James, some of you wonder why I talk about the Holy Ghost rather than Holy Spirit. I'm a King James reader, and that's what it says here. Romans, the eighth chapter, and I want you to read with me from verse 35. Eighth chapter. I'm gonna pray. Will you pray the Holy Ghost to open this to us now? Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, will you come now in your own special way and make this truth real to us? This is not something I say. This is something you have said. Holy Spirit, you wrote these words. Now, make them life to us and hope in these troubled times. Lord, make it real. Let us receive it now. Beginning to read, starting in verse 35. If you have a King James, read it aloud with me, please. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, for thy sake, we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep. We are the sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ our Lord. Thank God. Thank you, Jesus, for the holy word of God. Nothing shall separate us from the love of God. Nothing. No peril. No economy. Nothing will separate us from the love of God. You will care for your children. You will see us through the battles. Glory be to the holy name of Jesus. Glory to God. I wanna pray this morning for those who were despondent and terribly discouraged. You came into this place, maybe Times Square Church is your home. I ask you to just step out of your seat. We're gonna pray together in the spirit and believe that the Lord will help you take a stand against these spirits from the enemy. They are spirits and they have to be dealt with to rise up that the devil will flee from you with these flaming darts that come from the enemy. He said through lifting this shield of faith, you will quench all these fiery darts of the enemy. And some of you are being lied to by the devil. You simply are under the lying spirit of horrible thoughts being cast into your mind. Up in the balcony, go to the steps on both sides and come down the aisle and come pray in the spirit with you. And in the annex, if you just stand there and raise your right hand and signify by that that you want prayer for those around you and those of us who are in this auditorium. If you don't know Christ in a personal manner, you have not made him the Lord of your life. We invite you to step out of your seat and come among friends and surrender to him right now and ask the Holy Spirit to come and fill your heart. He said he comes, he's given to those who ask for him. Those who ask for the spirit receive the Holy Spirit. If you have turned your back on the Lord or if you have grown cold toward Christ, you're in this building now, you're hearing my voice, but there's no fire in you. You're not where you know you want to be and should be. You're invited also to step out with these that are coming. There's one chorus and I'll pray. ♪ Jesus, God, how I live by my heart with your praise ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, I say I do love you, my Savior, my God ♪ ♪ You shake us from our sin, oh Jesus, oh Jesus, oh Jesus ♪ As if two or three agree together concerning anything on earth, it shall be done to the Father in heaven and I believe that, I want you to believe that. And you that came forward, will you pray this prayer with me right now? Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus. Cleanse me. Cleanse me. All my iniquities. All my iniquities. And I surrender my heart. And I'm asking you. you. Amen. To send the Holy Spirit. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. And Holy Spirit. I thank you. For doing the work. That God said you would do. Do it in me. Be my comforter. Be my strength. And make Jesus real to my heart. Now, let me pray for you. Lord, I pray for those who've come discouraged and downhearted. That you will lift that spirit. And Lord, let us take a step of faith and say no to this invasion of our thoughts. No to just giving in and walking away. But saying I take my stand on the word of God. I take my stand on the promises of God. He said he will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on Christ. Who trust him. He will keep him in perfect peace. Will you say that? He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on the Lord because he trusts him. Say it. Because he trusts him. Will you trust him right now? For deliverance and for peace of mind. I I pray every day. Holy Spirit give me peace one day at a time. Just one day at a time. And next day it'll be just as fresh.