In this sermon, the preacher discusses how to keep and maintain the blessing and favor of God. He warns against taking God's blessings for granted and emphasizes the importance of continuing to do what is right and good in God's sight. The preacher references Deuteronomy 8, where Moses prophesies about the blessings that God will bestow upon his people. He encourages the listeners to listen attentively to his message, which he delivers with gentleness and tenderness, comparing it to gentle rain and dew.

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing WORLDCHALLENGE P.O. BOX 260 LINDALE, TEXAS 75771 or calling 903-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. How to keep and maintain the blessing and favor of God. In the process of preaching this this morning, we'll show you how people lose the blessing and favor of God. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your holy word. I thank you for the Holy Spirit, O God, that enables us to understand your word. And I pray, Lord, that you sanctify me first and then hear us to hear and receive the word that you've laid on our hearts. Lord, we come and take authority in Jesus' name over all principalities and powers of darkness. Anything that would hinder the light from going forth, let the light penetrate the darkness. O God, enlighten us. Let nothing hinder what you want us to hear this morning. God, open our ears and our eyes and our understanding to hear from the spirit of the living God. In Jesus' name, amen. One of the most difficult things in Christianity is to keep and maintain the blessing and favor of God. Because you see, there's a tendency in all of us, once God blesses us, prospers us, and we are living high in the spirit, and in every way, everywhere we turn, we see the blessing of God, there's a tendency to become ungrateful, ingratitude sets in, and we become slovenly and lazy about the things of God, and then we lose it all. Great revivals have suddenly burst on the scene, not only here in the United States, but around the world. Thousands of people get saved. There's a tremendous moving of the Holy Spirit. God raises up leaders who have a touch of God, and they burn brightly. The Welsh Revival is an example of it. Great movings of the Holy Spirit, a whole nation, in fact, the whole world was touched by that revival, and probably Azusa Street came out of that great revival. These great revivals have come, and it looks so good, and for a season, God blessed and prospered spiritually in every other way, but then suddenly wrath set in, and it began to wane and died out. In fact, one of the leaders of the Welsh Revival, Leonard Ravenhill, the great prophet of God who died not too long ago, told me in his last years, in fact, he would see him in his last years out in the green and bowling, smoking a pipe, and the fire was gone. Many, many revivals, many, many leaders, I know some, I see their pictures, their faces in my mind, they're mighty used of God, and then in the last days, they just sat down and just whimpered away into eternity. One denomination after another has seen the blessing of God raised up by the Holy Spirit to hold a standard of holiness and righteousness, leaders that were totally given to the heart of God. They would have conferences when they first started where people just came to pray and hear the convicting, smiting word of God, and God would bless them. They would have missions programs. They sent missionaries all over the world, and today, I honestly can't name you a single denomination that I would believe that has held to its first beginnings. There's something that happens. The anointing is lost, and then it becomes an institution, and it goes on its own momentum, and it finally becomes just another denomination, another institution. The same thing has happened to colleges and Bible schools all over the world, but here in the United States, do you know that Yale, Princeton, Harvard, all of these schools were started by preachers? They were started as Bible colleges and seminaries to hold up the standard to fight the invasion of atheism and unbelief that was coming, and to hold up the word of God? And do you know most of these institutions today are nothing but hotbeds of atheism? They are turned away from their foundations. I have books written by the founder of Columbia University. You ought to read some of the sermons that the founders, they founded that right here in New York City. Columbia University was founded as a seminary to train preachers. It's far, far from that now. What happened? They lost the anointing. They lost the favor and the blessing of God. They lost it. Churches have lost it. Revivals have lost it. Institutions have lost it. Bible colleges, seminaries, colleges have lost it. Denominations have lost it. Churches have lost it. Moses, in his last dying message to God's people, gave a solemn warning about the danger of losing God's blessing and favor. In fact, Moses, I tell you what, go with me to Deuteronomy 32 and leave it open on your lap because we'll be referring to that quite a bit this morning. The 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy. When you get it, turn this way, please, and look me in the eye because I want to look you eye to eye. Balcony, those behind me, not excused, God has eyes behind His head. Moses is speaking prophetically in this chapter. He's saying to Israel, he said, look, I'm going to give you a message and I'm going to give it, verse 2 says, my doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as a small rain upon tender herbs and as the showers upon the grass. He said, I'm going to give you a message that is so vital. This is the heart of God. This is a dying man. He's going to be taken to Mount Horeb and the Lord's going to take him home and bury him. And this is his last word to his people. And he said, I'm going to give you this message gently. It's just going to be like gentle rain on herbs. I don't want to wound you, and yet you've got to know. He said, I'm going to deliver this in tenderness. I pray God help me deliver it in tenderness, just as Moses intended it. I pray that the sweetness, he said, this will distill like dew. He said, I want it to be a pure word. I want it to be a simple, direct word, but you have to hear, you have to know the principle I'm talking about. He's looking prophetically. He's a seer, he's a prophet, because he acknowledged that. He said, there'll be a prophet raised up on latter days like unto me. He acknowledged his prophetic office. He's a seer, he's a prophet, and he's looking into the future. He's looking down the road of Israel, and he said, God's going to bless you. He's going to prosper you. He said, God's going to bring you into a good land flowing with milk and honey. He's going to give you good houses that you didn't build. He's going to give you wells that you didn't dig. He's going to give you olive gardens. He's going to give you vineyards that you didn't plant. He's going to bless you so incredibly that I have not seen, ears not heard the good things he has in store for you. He said, I'm going to bless you in the city. I'm going to bless you in the country. I'll bless your coming. I'm going to bless your going. What an incredible history he's laying out ahead of these people. What a future he's laying out before these people. He's saying, look, God is going to shower you. He's going to open the windows of heaven. He's going to bless you. Now, he's explaining the heart of God. God has always wanted to bless his people. God's never wanted to withhold or withdraw. God is a giving God. He's a loving God. Why would he have all these resources? He can't spend it on himself. He has all these resources to give to his people. And he wants to give to you spiritual life. He wants you to increase. He said, you're going to be blessed in the country, in the city. Your streets will be filled with children singing and playing. You're going to have wonderful marriages. There's going to be singing and dancing with joy. He paints this picture all through the book of Deuteronomy. You hear the prophetic word of the Lord, and he summarizes it here in this chapter. God is going to bless his people. You're going to be mightily blessed. In fact, he said, you're going to be riding high, being watched over by the Father like an eagle watches over her brood. You're going to suck honey out of the rock. You're going to live on rich food, butter, honey, milk, good meat, and best wine. Those represent spiritual things in the New Testament. You know what the honey is out of the rock. You know what the wine is of the Spirit. Moses begins this message by saying, Give ear and hear, O Israel, even though I speak like rain upon the dender herb. Verse 15, after speaking about, look at verse 13, He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields. He made him to suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the finty rock, butter of kind, milk of sheep, fat of lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, goats with the fat of kidneys and wheat. That is, drink the pure blood of the great. But, folks, I hear a message in what I'm about to tell you that shakes my soul. All this week, it's just been shattering my spirit. He's going to speak to us this morning. He's spoken to me. He's going to speak to this church. God put this burden of starting a church here in Times Square in my heart over 11, 12 years ago. It was birthed in the spirit, it was birthed in months of prayer and intercession before Holy God. And if God's going to speak, He would speak through me, because it was something He birthed in my heart. Now, here, please, ask God to give you ears to hear in the Spirit, because what He is about to say to us has everything to do with the future of this church, everything, and the future of your spiritual life and mine, all of us. But Jeshurun, listen to it, verse 15, But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. Jeshurun means righteous one, righteous Israel. And what Moses is saying, at the very peak of your blessing, when you're on the increase on all sides, when God is opening the windows of heaven, you're going to kick. A righteous people are going to rise up and take it all for granted. You're going to kick. And what that word means in Hebrew, you're going to trample and despise the very blessing and favor of God that's been so freely given you. There's not a stronger word in all of the Scripture. In Deuteronomy 6, 11 to 19, He said, I will bring you into the land I promised your fathers, to houses full of all good things. Not only houses, but houses that were furnished, full of good things, wells digged, vineyards and olive trees. When thou shalt have eaten, you are full. Then beware, lest thou forget the Lord. Thou should do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it might be well with you, and all thine enemies cast out before thee. He said, when I have blessed you, when you come to the peak of the anointing and the blessing and the fullness of God, beware, watch out at that point. Beware, lest you take it for granted. He said, at that point, determine, make up your mind to do that's right and holy before me. He said, so that I can continue your blessing, that I can continue these riches upon you, the spiritual, physical blessing of God. He said, be careful, be warned. That's the danger point. That I may cast out your enemies, and that it might be well with you. Would you turn back to Deuteronomy 8, please? The 8th chapter of Deuteronomy. Quickly turn left, back to the 8th chapter of Deuteronomy. Let's begin to read verse 7. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees, pomegranates, oil, olive oil, honey, a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and are full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which He has given thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments and His judgments and His statutes, which I command thee this day. Lest when thou hast eaten and are full, and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein, and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, thy silver and thy golds multiply, and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of Bondage. Again, He warns them. He's been warning them all through the book of Deuteronomy. And now at His last days, He said, Here's what's going to happen to you. Here's what's going to happen. The height of your blessings, you are going to kick. Thou art waxen fat. Thou art grown thick. Thou art covered with fatness. Then He forsook God which made Him, and lightly steamed the rock of His salvation. Israel ignored all these warnings. There wasn't an Israelite that could believe what Moses is saying. They're hearing about the increase that's coming, and you know, these people have suffered. These people have been through hard times. They've been through a wilderness. They have not known prosperity, and suddenly they're hearing this. And most of those Israelites, I'm sure, are saying, Hey, wait a minute, Moses. You give me a good house, fully furnished. You give me a vineyard. You give me sheep and cattle, and you let my children play freely on the streets, and I tell you, I'll never turn against Him. You bless me like that, and I'll thank God the rest of my life. There's not an Israelite that believed he was capable of having all the blessings and anointings of God, and then at the peak of that, turn aside, take it for granted, and lose it all, and anger the heart of God. At the peak of the blessing, Moses said, You will wax fat. You'll grow thick. You'll be covered with fatness. Wax fat, covered with fatness, in Hebrew means turn to the flesh. He said, You will turn to the flesh. He said, You will stop thanking me for the blessing. You will take it for granted. Pride will come up in your heart. You will no longer be praising me. There'll be no longer rejoicing in the camp. He said, A coldness will set in, and you're going to turn to the flesh to get your pleasure, your spiritual, physical pleasure. You're going to turn to the flesh. You're going to turn to fleshly things, and I see a whole church of Jesus Christ doing that. Right now, turning to the flesh, because they took the blessings of God for granted. They did not come into the house of God worshiping and thanking Him for the fullness and the goodness of God's blessing, and they began to take everything for granted. They came into the house of God, dead and dry, and they waxed fat. They turned to the flesh. He said, You're going to turn to the flesh to try to satisfy you. You say, Well, what does that have to do with me, Pastor Wilkinson? What does that have to do with Times Square Church? This is a powerful warning that we too could lose the blessing and favor of God if we take for granted what He's doing now. I thank God for what He's doing here. I thank God that we are at a peak of blessing. He has blessed us with new wine from heaven. We've been drinking the wine. Folks, He's given us a goodly house. He has dug wells, and we're drinking from that pure water, pure, fresh revelation from heaven. The altars are filled. Our children sing and play before the Lord. We've been giving these blessings. There's not a person in this building that hadn't been blessed in some measure by the hand of God if you were walking with Jesus. Moses reminded them, he said, The Lord found you in a desert land, in a waste and howling wilderness. He led you about. He instructed you. He kept you as the apple of His eye. He kept you. I'm going to ask you, where did He find you? Come on, saints. Where did He find you? He found you in a waste, howling desert. You were in a desert. Some of you were sitting in dead churches. That wasn't an ounce of life, and you sat there, and you were dying. And suddenly, He brings you, and He sets you in a place where your soul is growing fat in the Word of God. He gave you rich food. He gave you butter and milk and honey. He fed you. He said, Remember where you've come from. I found you. In fact, if you go back to the root of this, He said, I found you as an abandoned baby. He said, You were insulted. You were covered with blood, and I washed you, and I took you to Myself. I trained you. I bought you. You're Mine. I found you. He said, Don't forget where you came from. Don't forget what you were. Here at Times Square Church, God has poured out His power and His blessing. He's prospered on all sides. And you see, we are right now at this prophetic point that Moses is warning about. We are there. Thank God for what He's doing. Thank God for His blessing, but we're at the danger point. If God is blessing you, if you're being blessed in your finances, if you're being blessed in your home, in your marriage, can you sit here and say, I'm blessed? I am blessed. The Lord found me and saved me and cleansed me. Now, you may not have all your bills paid, but you have a place to sleep. You have a roof over your head. You have clothes on your back. And some of you may not believe it, but we're at that point. God wants to keep on blessing. He wants to do new things that we've never seen or heard. But there's a danger because this church, as well as all of those in history of loss, that this church could lose the anointing and the blessing of God. And every one of us could lose it because already there's some warning signs. I see the same warning sign Moses saw in Israel. And the first and foremost being is this, what I've been talking about, a loss of gratitude, a lessening of the thanksgiving of the heart, taking the blessing of God for granted, lightly esteeming His word and His many blessings. 28th chapter. Turn to 28th chapter with me, please, if you will. Verse 47, beginning to read. Deuteronomy 28, verse 47. Because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart. Why? For the abundance of all things. He said, I blessed you. I gave you an abundance of spiritual blessings. I've blessed you on all sides because you serve not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things. Therefore, shalt thou serve thine enemy, saith the Lord. The Lord shall send against thee in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in want of all things. He shall put a yoke of iron upon the neck until he hath destroyed thee. Look at me, please. God says, you don't want, you will no longer thank me. You're not showing gratitude. You're not living in a spirit of thankfulness daily. Folks, every waking hour, when you get up in the morning, the first thing you ought to do is say, Thank you, Jesus, for another day. Thank you, Jesus, that I don't have to take a drink this morning. I don't have to smoke pot. I don't have to stick a needle in my vein. Thank you, Lord, that I can walk to the bathroom. I can walk to the kitchen. Thank you for my job. But most of all, God, thank you for Jesus abiding in my heart. The spiritual application is clear. If you will not come into my presence and serve me with joyfulness and gladness of heart for all the blessings I've poured upon you, you will be given over to hunger and thirst, and you will have a shortage and a lack of all things. And that's why so many people all over America... See, God is warning... Let me start here first. God's warning Israel. You've become ungrateful. You're taking my blessings for granted. You've come to me trampling upon my favor. You've come to my house without joy, without gladness. Your praises, your worship have become lip service only. You don't appreciate truly what I've done for you. So I will take away those blessings. Instead of rich food, I'll send you famine. Instead of wine, there will be thirst. Instead of abundance, you will lack all things. Now, folks, God is the same God in the New Testament that He is in the Old Testament. He's just as merciful. You can't divide the old and the new. There's no division. We're not under law. I know that. But God is just as merciful under the law and in the Old Testament as He is. He didn't suddenly get new mercies. His mercies were new every day in the Old Testament. God means what He says. There's a spiritual application. You take my blessings for granted. All right, I will withdraw them, and you're going to enter a spiritual famine. And some of you have been in that famine. You know what hunger and thirst is that's not been satisfied. I see people coming to God's house. If I have a Sunday off, I'll go to church and whatever, sitting there and just sneak in, because I just want to hear their choir. I want to see how they do things. I want to feel the presence of the Lord. I want to see if there's anything I can learn. Folks, you go to some, especially Pentecostal churches anymore. I've got to wonder if I haven't slipped in an Episcopalian meeting. I'm not putting down Episcopalians, but the form of worship in Episcopalian churches is high church. Everybody is... I'm not saying that... Well, no, let me say it like the Bible says. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. I can't change that. Every time I try to be nice, I get away from the Scripture. But you look at people all around you. I sat in a church last month when I had a Sunday off, and I looked around and I saw people just standing there, dead, dry, empty. The musicians trying to pump something up. And I'm looking around me, and there's nothing. I look at the faces. I'm saying, this is church. Are you saved or not? Where is the thanksgiving? Where is the joy? Where is the rejoicing for all the good things? I look out in the parking lot, and there are the most beautiful cars you've ever seen. Children dressed in the finest of clothes. They're standing there. You know, I know a Christian sister. She can't sit through a whole sermon without falling asleep. No, she's not in this church, so don't look around. But I know for a fact, because I've been in their home, she can sit there for three and four hours without blinking an eye watching television. Well, I'm just now beginning. So, let's go to Nehemiah. Nehemiah, please. The ninth chapter of Nehemiah. Will you begin with me in verse 24, please? Let's start with verse 23. Their children also multiplied thou as the stars of heaven and broughtest them into the land concerning which thou hast promised to their fathers that they should go in and to possess it. So the children went in and possessed the land and thou subduest before them the inhabitants of the land the Canaanites and gavest them unto their hands with their kings and the people of the land that they might do with them as they would. And they took strong cities and a fat land and possessed houses full of goods. You know what Nehemiah is saying? Everything Moses prophesied is coming to pass. We have seen his prophecies fulfilled. We took strong cities. We came into a fat land. We possessed houses full of all goods, wells, dig, vineyards and olive yards and fruit trees in abundance so that it ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. You see that? They delighted themselves. This is the end of side one. He said for a season after the blessings of God came, we delighted ourselves in the Lord. But it didn't last. For a while they delighted themselves. Nevertheless, they were disobedient, rebelled against thee and cast the law behind their backs and slew the prophets who testified against them to turn them to thee and they wrought great provocation. Therefore thou delivers them into the hand of their enemies. I'm not going to go any further on that, but folks, look at this please. They did eat. They were filled, became fat or prosperous and delighted themselves in the great goodness, in thy great goodness. Now, beloved, when you go home or sometime this week, if you want your heart broken, read Nehemiah the ninth chapter. That's the most concise history of the blessing and favor of God and how to lose it. It is one of the most convicting of all chapters in the Bible. When you read, you read it over and over again, it says, and it's shocking, He fed and blessed them. He protected, He guided them. He met every need, but they refused to obey in their heart and their necks. They rebelled. Then you read, but they confessed. Then He blessed them and prospered them again. God subdued all their enemies. Nevertheless, they became disobedient and rebelled again. After they had rest, they did again do evil before the Lord. Time and again did He deliver them and prosper them, yet they still withdrew their shoulder and would not listen. They withdrew their shoulder. Folks, this is the warning, that when God blesses and we're at the peak of that, beware lest you withdraw the shoulder. And you know, when it talks about Jeshurun kicking, it's a picture of an ox in a field. In fact, this is the Hebrew picture of an ox in the field, eating the best pasture, wonderful well water, fed to the full, rains coming in season. This ox is growing fat in the field, and its owner comes to put on the yoke because it's time to go to the field and work. And the ox kicks, and it resists the yoke. It doesn't want to do its work. Folks, the work that we've been called to is to reach the lost for Jesus. We've been called to do our work, to pray and seek the face of God without delay, without interruption. We're to continuously pray and seek the face of God and to witness to the world. But you see, you can sit in God's house like that fat ox, and you can kick and say, no, no, no, I'm not going to leave this. You know, it happened in London, England years ago when Spurgeon was preaching. And that's where the term sermon tasters came from because members of parliament, in their wonderful gilded carriages, there were no cars in those days, and you would see them lined up in front of Spurgeon's tabernacle at 10 o'clock in the morning to hear Spurgeon, the great preacher. And then at 2 o'clock you could go across town and hear Parker. You could go across town and hear another great, a bishop that was on fire for God, a powerful preacher. And so they spent the whole Sabbath tasting sermons without a bit of it having an effect on them. Now, they were not soul winners, the sermon tasters. They came in their furs and their nice coats, and they came to sit, and it was like, entertain me. Because preachers in those days were like, they considered them like actors, and that was the only entertainment around for something. And they wanted to be entertained. And you can come to God's house and grow fat and kick against the work that God has called us to do. Folks, if we're not witnessing for Jesus, if we're not doing His work, we're just fat oxen sitting getting fat. And eventually we will turn to the flesh, because we will turn away from the word that convicts. They've moved me to jealousy with that which is not of God. In Israel, I have to stop for just a minute. I have to say something. Do you know, if everybody that calls Times Square Church their home would come into this house with the thankfulness that He deserves, if we came into this house and no one having to be prodded, no one just standing, but our hands lifted, and out of every vessel flowing a river of thanksgiving. Folks, there would be such power. God would be so glorified, He would come down and receive the sacrifice. Oh yes, we've had wonderful times. Last Sunday night this whole choir was jumping under the power of God. And there's wonderful power and presence of the Lord here today, but we've seen nothing compared to what He wants to do. We have not yet seen the gratitude and the thankfulness that God wants out of this body. This should be such a place where we come together every time there's an opportunity between songs, between choruses, that our hands are raised before God, and we're not like empty vessels, but there's something flowing out of us. We are thanking Him. He said, because you didn't serve me with joy and gladness. I'm not talking about pumping something up. I'm not talking about sheer noise. I'm talking about a people that are sanctified and thankful and never lose that thankfulness. And I'm going to tell you, you have to fight for that. You have to hold on to it. You can lose it. I've been praying, Oh God, I want to bring my body under subjection. I want to bring all my thoughts into captivity and obedience of Jesus, because you can come into God's house and let your thoughts wander all over the world and disappoint the Holy Ghost. The Lord said, Watch how you come into my presence. Be careful how you come to worship me. He said, you're going to turn to new gods, verse 17, new gods that have come newly up. He said, in the latter days, he said, there's going to be something attracts you that your fathers knew nothing about. There are going to be new kinds of gods. And you're going to turn to these attractions. And let me tell you, that's what is happening today. This is why so many churches are dead, because of the new gods that are taking so much of the time. And the mind, the thoughts and the sights and the sounds that come from these new gods. Television being the number one. My grandfather didn't even know what it was. When I was a boy, yeah, that's true, when I was a boy, they had no television. You know something, I've just looked around here and I've seen at least two or three people almost half asleep already. That's exactly what I'm talking about. But you see, these new gods, don't tell me it isn't a god. Why do you eat in front of it? That's what they do with idols, they eat in front of them. Don't tell me it isn't a god when it takes up three and four hours of time. Don't tell me it isn't a god when the devil feeds it with all the filth and the slop out of hell. And here's why some people cannot come into the house of God and rejoice because they've spent three and four hours a night and they have just saturated their minds with these ungodly sights and sounds out of television. They sat for hours in front of this little god and then they come to the house of God with their minds polluted, with their minds filled of all of these things and they're thinking about all of these sights and sounds and folks, you can't drive them out of your mind and you come with this spirit upon you and this depression that's upon you and then come into the holy presence of God. He said, you're going to turn to new gods, newly come up. I didn't expect it to get this quiet. It's the distractions that we allow in our life, the distractions on all sides. This city is the most distracting city in the United States. Distractions on all sides and folks, you have to say with Paul, I bring it all under subjection to the obedience of Jesus. I'm going to bring my body under. I'm not giving in to these things. I'm not going to go off on a... I'm not going to chase a rabbit here and preach on television. I've just mentioned one of the new gods. There's all kinds of new gods now that are rising up, distracting God's people from worship and praise and thanksgiving. Folks, we're no different today. We can lose the blessing and the anointing and favor of God if we allow any ingratitude, any deadness to set into our hearts concerning the good things that God has done for us. Moses said, for the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob... Look at verse 9. Verse 9, please. That's back in Deuteronomy. Go back to Deuteronomy, please. Deuteronomy 32, verse 9. Now I want you to look at this. For the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. Jacob is the people of God. He said, that's what I get. That's my inheritance. That is what belongs to me. Now look at me, please. I'm going to be closing in just a few moments. God is saying, through Moses, he said, in Moses' room, now look, you're a chosen people and you're all that God has on this earth. This is my portion. You are my portion. You're the only thing that I have to bring forth praise to my name on this earth. He said, my people. That's my inheritance. You get the land. You get all of this, but my portion, my part, my thing, that which belongs to me is you. Folks, do you understand that the church of Jesus Christ is his only portion on this earth? What is there out there that brings any glory and honor to his name? What is there outside the doors of his house, outside of this temple of the Holy Ghost, outside of his blood-washed people? He said, you are my portion. And folks, think. If his portion does not come into his presence with gratitude and with thanksgiving, if his portion will not live with that gladness and show him gratitude, if his own portion won't, what does he have? How many places in New York City? Just a few today. Yeah, there are many, many churches, but there are only a few where God looks down and says, this is my people. This is my portion. Over here in Brooklyn is a portion. Over here in Queens is a portion. Here in Times Square is a portion. Here in Harlem is a portion. Spanish Harlem here in Brooklyn, in the Bronx. I have a portion here. I have a portion here. And he puts together, this is my portion. Look, there are 15 million, 17 million people in the greater New York area, but I've got just a few thousand, and that's my portion. That's my blessing. Beloved, think of it. That portion is so small compared to the masses who are lost. And little by little, that portion is being whittled away by deadness and dryness, unthankfulness. And all this week, I've been walking and his friends said, oh God, I would rather die. I don't ever want to come to that place because I know I'm your portion. I know that this church is a part of the portion, your portion. Jacob is my lot. That's what is given to me. That's my portion. Oh God, don't let this portion here in Times Square rob him of any of his praise, his honor, and his glory. May we never be unthankful here in his goodness. There are some of you here today, right now, already, there are some signs. You can come into God's house and you don't enter in. You don't praise him. You don't lift, you don't seek God. The Bible said, I would never lift holy hands in his presence. But you don't praise him. You say, well, I'm just one of those reserved kinds. I'm a quiet, reserved person. Well, I'll tell you what, for all you reserved, quiet people, go to Psalm 68, please. Psalm 68. Let's begin at verse 3. But let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God. Sing praises to his name. Extol him that writheth upon the heavens by his name, y'all. And rejoice before him. Turn to Psalm 71, please. Begin at verse 20. 71, verse 20. Thou which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, shalt bring me up from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side. I will also praise thee with a psaltery, even thy truth, O my God. Unto thee will I sing with a harp, O thou holy one in Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee my soul, which thou hast redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long, for they are confounded, for they are brought to shame that seek my hurt. Turn to Psalm 98, and this will nail it down. Psalm 98. First six verses. Psalm 98. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new song. Let's stand together. Let's just stand. If you have a King James, would you read with me the first six verses out loud? And all of you quiet, reserved people, I'm going to take away your excuse for now until eternity. And from now on, I want you in the house of God every time there's a chance to open your mouth. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Let's read together. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new song. For he hath done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory. The Lord hath made known his salvation. His righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the earth. Make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with a harp, with a harp and the voice of his soul, with trumpets and sound of cornets. Make a joyful noise before the Lord the King. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory, glory to your name. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We rejoice in you, Lord, our salvation, our God and our King. Lord, we rejoice with gladness for all that you've done in this house. We come to rejoice before you, O Lord. We not lose the anointing. We not lose the increase. We glorify you, Holy God. We glorify you today. We magnify your holy name. You're worthy of our honor. You're worthy of our praise. We give you thanks. We give you glory and honor, Lord. Come, we praise you. Come, God. Send fire on our worship. Send fire on our praise to you, Lord. We glorify you. We magnify your holy name. You are worthy. You're worthy of honor. Worthy is the name of the Lord. We come with thanksgiving and praise. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to God. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for this church. Thank you for your blessings, Lord. We'll not take it for granted, Lord. We'll not take it for granted, Lord Jesus. We will not take it for granted, O Lord. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. We love you. We worship you. We give you thanks. We give you praise. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to Jesus. I'm calling for those this morning who've lost the joy of the Lord. You've lost it. You don't have joy. You came to church this morning without the joy. You've lost the joy of the Lord. I'm going to finish this message this afternoon. My message this afternoon is don't slander your heavenly Father. Don't slander your heavenly Father. That's part two of this message. How to maintain and keep the blessing and favor of God. But I'm talking to those in the balcony, on the main floor, all around me. If you've lost the joy of the Lord. If you're backslidden. If you're not walking with Jesus. If the fire has gone out. I want you to get out of your seat and come here. There's going to be firefall upon you here at this altar this morning. The fire of the Lord will touch you. And resurrect you. Up in the balcony. Go to the stairs on either side. You can come down any aisle. Right now, wherever you're at. All over this building. Worthy is the Lamb. Do you know that? Worthy is the Lamb. I want us to sing that He's worthy. He's worthy. And as we sing, Worthy is the Lamb. And folks, after we get to the altar, we're going to have a time. We're going to have about ten minutes of just praising and rejoicing in the Lord. All of you have come forward. It doesn't take God long when your heart's ready. He's ready. He said, I'm more willing to give than you are to receive. He said, confess. Run to the cross. Run to Jesus for cleansing. Come by faith now. And say, Jesus, take away everything that blocks the flow of your blessing. Everything that's blocked the spirit of rejoicing. I lay my sin. I lay my bitterness. I lay everything down at this altar now, Lord Jesus. Come, cleanse me. I believe you'll do that and restore the joy of the Lord to my heart. Pray this prayer with me, please. Now, the prayer itself won't save you. But if you have faith, if you believe what you are saying from your heart, out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak. If this can come out of the abundance of your heart, God will answer. Pray this with me. Jesus, forgive me and cleanse me of all my iniquities. I turn to you with all my heart. I want the joy of the Lord restored to me. I want the gladness of God. I want to be able to praise and worship. I open my heart to you now, Jesus. Thank you that your word is true. I've confessed my sins. The blood cleanses me. I am made righteous through Christ. There's now no condemnation for I'm in Christ Jesus. I turn now to you, Lord, to receive a spirit of worship, a spirit of praise, a spirit of thanksgiving. Now, I want you to raise both hands and just thank him right now. I want you to thank him. I thank you, Jesus. I thank you, Lord. Glory be to God. Glory be to Jesus. It doesn't take God long. Just open your heart right now. Hallelujah. Beloved, look at me for just a minute. I'm so glad Jesus set me free. This is the conclusion of the tape.