In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of actively engaging with the word of God and seeking understanding through faith. They express the need for believers to have a deep knowledge of God's revelations in order to truly understand intimacy with Him. The preacher prays for fluency in delivering the message and for the congregation to be strengthened in these last days. They also discuss the vision of the last day church as seen by Ezekiel, where the glory of God would return and never depart, bringing a river of gladness to the city of God.

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 World Challenge PO 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. We have been studying the names of the Lord. The Bible says the name of the Lord is a strong tower, and they that run into it are safe. But how can you run into that tower unless you know what it's about? And we are studying the names of the Lord, and it again intimacy with Christ is knowing his character. It's not just being in his presence, spending time there, unless you have the revelation of what he has explained of himself, what he has told us of himself. Now, for example, we have thousands and thousands of prayer requests that are sent to us, and I pledged that I would pray every day for those that come. Our pastors pray, but I have my own time when I pray for every request that's sent. But you know what gives me the faith? I know he's revealed himself as the Lord of Hosts, Jehovah Sabaoth. So I know that that is his name, the Lord of Hosts. So I can pray to that Lord of Hosts that he has angelic powers and innumerable angels that can go all over the world and fulfill his will. And so we pray in faith accordingly, because we know he has a host. We have an innumerable host. We'll be talking about that some this morning. We have discussed, I think, five names, revelations of his name. And this morning, I think we're in number six. Next Sunday, the Lord willing, Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. The Lord our righteousness. Now, please don't get hung up on the Hebrew meaning of these. If you don't remember the Hebrew name, surely you can know he's the Lord who is our righteousness, the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Jireh, you know, he's the Lord who sees, the Lord who provides. You remember that of him? This will all be put in a book entitled Hallowed be his names. Hallowed be his names. This morning, we're going to talk to you this morning about Jehovah Shama. Jehovah means the Lord is there. The Lord is there. I've been in Florida the last few weeks and shut in with the Lord. My wife enjoys the beach. I don't. Except at night when it's empty and I could walk and see the stars and talk to the Lord. I'm not trying to sound holier than my wife. She has her time of prayer in the morning and seeking the Lord. He's been talking to me about his names and I've been rejoicing in this. Next Sunday, Lord willing, Jehovah Sid Canu, when you begin to see what he has said about his righteousness and how even though we believe his righteousness, we say he is our righteousness. He is our Lord and our works is filthy rags. We still, like the great 18th century preacher George Whitefield said, the last idol that dies in the Christian is this self-effort. This jumping back in to try to help God assist in our salvation or try to offer him something. That's the last idol that dies in the Christian and we'll be talking about that. And by the way, if you're visiting here this morning, up in the annex and in the overflow rooms, if you'll go to room 204 immediately after the service, and here in the main auditorium and in the balcony, if you'll come down and go through exit 8 and 9 into the ancillary building, we have a free preaching tape for you, a free book, and also some refreshments and some New Yorkers who would be delighted to answer your questions about the city or the church as they're able. Amen. I have been at such rest. Well, I've been gone knowing that this body is in good hands with Pastor Carter Conlin and his wife and his associates here and all the pastors that assist him and those that come to speak and I've been in great at rest and I thank God for the time to be alone to study his word. I want you to go to Ezekiel the 48th chapter, if you will, please, Ezekiel the 48th chapter. One verse I want you to read and then of course we'll come back to it. Ezekiel the 48th chapter, verse 35, the last verse in Ezekiel. He's talking about the vision temple that he's seen in the city in which it'll dwell. It was round about 18,000 majors and listen to this now, And the name of the city from that day shall be the Lord is there and in Hebrew it's Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is there. The Lord is there. Very, very important verse. From that day shall be the city, in other words, shall be called the Lord is there. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would come with revelation, knowledge, you would come with anointing, you would come with your spirit because we are wanting to know you. We're wanting to walk with you. And how can we do that unless you give us all that you have said is available to us in your word. We're to seek it out. We're not, Lord, just to be spoon-fed, but we're to put on our thinking caps. We're to delve into this by faith and believe God will open our eyes so that we will be strengthened in these last days. Lord, when we see what is coming to this world and to this nation and the way of judgment and the way the pits of hell are going to be vomited out upon us, we've got to have the strength and the knowledge of who you are. We cannot even understand intimacy until we understand the revelations that you've given us of who you are. And I pray, Lord, that you give me a fluency, let it flow out, that which you've poured into my soul, that which you've made life to me, O God, make life to this congregation. Lord, speak clearly to this message this morning. Jehovah Shama, you are here, you are in this place, and we honor you. We give you thanks, sanctify us, give us ears to hear now, open our eyes and our ears and our understanding, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. And the name of the city from that day shall be Jehovah Shama, or the Lord is there. Don't turn now, but in the 10th chapter of Ezekiel, the prophet is given an awesome, awful vision of the departure of the glory of God from his house. And also simultaneously with that, he has shown that judgments are falling upon Jerusalem and Judah. All the judgments that he'd been warning for some 25 years are now beginning to fall. And he, at this time, in the 10th chapter of Ezekiel, don't turn there now, but he's in captivity with Judah and Jerusalem. Israel had been taken in captivity a hundred years before, but now Judah had not learned from the mistakes of her sister Israel, and now God is judging Judah, calls her Sodom, worse than her sister Sodom, in fact. And he's given a vision of a very strange chariot, a cherubim chariot. It has wheels within wheels, and wheels turn in all directions, and apparently this chariot gets its motion from the wings of the cherubims. And he sees this chariot coming down from the firmament, and on that chariot is seated him that sits on the throne, whose brilliance is bright as a sapphire, so that could be none other than God himself. And that chariot is descending to earth now on a very tragic mission, a mission to remove God's glory from his own house. And the Bible says the cherub comes down, and the Spirit of God, the glory of God... Now, folks, let me tell you, the glory of God is nothing less than the manifest presence of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the glory of God. He's the brightness of his glory, the brilliance of his glory. When we talk about the glory of God being in a church or in a person, we're talking about the abiding, manifest presence of Jesus. Manifested means that it can be felt and known by the senses. I know when I go into a house or a church, and the devil's there. You can sense it, every sense. My wife and I went once to look at a house. A real estate agent took us, and I didn't know till later they were having orgies in that house. But as soon as we walked in, you could feel, you could know that the devil himself was there. In fact, my wife walking through, it was knocked down. I mean, knocked down, the devil tried to kill her. And I picked her up, and we ran out of the house. I know when I'm in a church, and I know there's a manifest presence of Jesus, manifest to all of our senses. That's a manifestation of his presence. That's the glory of God. That is the glory of God. Not manifestations of the flesh. It's a manifestation of who he is, his absolute awesome presence. And Ezekiel is alarmed because he knows what's happening. He's already seen what's happening in the holy place. He's seen what's happened, even in the outer court. They're worshiping the sun. They've turned away from the holy place, and they're looking to the east and worshiping the sun. They have all kinds of creepy things in the temple. They have been sacrificing, no doubt, lizards and snakes, and not lambs, not the pure. There's nothing but creeping things. Their imaginations are evil. And God says, I can't handle that anymore. My glory will not coexist with these abominations in my house. And so Ezekiel, in great alarm, I'm sure, watches this cherubim chariot take the glory of God and goes to the threshold. The scripture says, then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub and stood over the threshold of the house. And the house was filled with the glory. And the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory. There was one last blast of God's presence. The glory is moving. The glory of God's moving out of his house. And folks, no one notices. They're going about their religious duties. No priest, no Levite, not one of them, because they're backslidden, because they're giving over to the things of this world. They're idolaters. They're sensuous. They're into all kinds of visitations and perverted worship with prostitutes. They don't even know. They are so backslidden. They're not aware. They are not able to discern whether or not the presence of the Lord is there. How many millions of Christians go to churches every morning, every Sunday morning, where the glory of God may be even at the threshold, and the Lord is almost reluctant to relieve and looking for someone to cry out, Oh, Holy Spirit, don't leave us. Holy Spirit, don't depart. And there's a sense in praying people that something's wrong in the pulpit, something's wrong in the church, and the glory of God is leaving. And he's reluctantly at the threshold waiting for a cry, waiting for the fasting praying saints of God to say, God, don't go. God, don't leave us. If you leave us, we have no church. I've said that over and over from this pulpit. I've said, if we do not have the presence of Jesus in our church, we don't have church. We don't have a church. The glory of the Lord was moving, and there's not a sound. The priest and the people are so backslidden, they don't acknowledge it. Remember when Samson, the glory of the Lord left Samson, the Bible said, he wished not that the spirit of the Lord was gone. He didn't even know. He said, I'll get up and go out and do just as I've done, exploits for the Lord. There are pastors that way. There are churches that way. They don't even know that the glory of God is gone. They don't know that sin and abomination and self-centeredness and lukewarmness and apathy has driven him out. And they said, well, everything is the same. And they come and they try to go through the motions, but it doesn't take long for praying people to know something's wrong. Something is missing. It's not there. And now he sees the glory of the Lord moving. The glory of the Lord then departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubims. In other words, the cherubims are lifting the glory as the cherubims lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in their sight. And the glory of God of Israel was over them above. And he hovered over his house. You see how reluctant the prophet is. I'm sure he's screaming inside. He says, it's a vision, but he's crying. Somebody, somewhere has got to stand up and stand in the gap. The glory of God is moving. He's leaving. He lingers over the city, hovering in the sky above them. But there's no outcry. There's no intercession. Then the scripture says, the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city, Mount Moriah. That's where the sacrifice of Abraham, the son. And here, once again, at Mount Moriah, the Holy Spirit lingers. The glory of God just lingers over the mountain. It must have been an awesome sight for angels, for the cherubims. And the glory of the Lord departs and he's gone. It's Ichabod. He warned me, he said, go to Shiloh and see what I do when people turn to abominations. Folks, there are many churches that once had the glory of God. Filled with the presence of the Lord. Men in the pulpit who are mighty men of prayer, who came to the pulpit with a mighty word from the Lord, a pure word from the Lord. But something has happened. And churches now all over the world are dying and the glory of God is departing. Thank God there are many that have the glory and the glory of the Lord has come to his church. In fact, I'm going to prove to you the glory of the Lord will never depart from his church. There are two kinds of churches, but his church, the glory of the Lord will never depart from. We don't ever have to fear that again. And you'll see that as I go on this morning. Israel is now heartbroken. They're sick. They've hung their harps on the willows and they can't sing because their hearts are broken. Because the glory of the Lord departed from their temple in Jerusalem. The glory was gone and they knew it. There was nothing to sing about, nothing to praise God about in their hearts. And now in their captivity and in their agony, Ezekiel is taken by the spirit again. This is he's 50 years old now. It's 14 years into the captivity. And at 50 years of age, he's given another vision. The Holy Spirit takes him by vision and he's evidently he's on a high mountain overlooking Jerusalem and Judea or Judah. And he gets a vision of another temple and another city that God is going to build. So great and so majestic. From Ezekiel 40 to 48, all eight chapters. It's the vision of this huge temple that he says is going to be built. And he has minute details of all the rooms and the chambers and the kinds of priests that are going to be in this temple that he sees. Folks, you can get lost in a jungle of mystical illusions if you try, and many ministers have tried to put some symbolic meaning on all of the how many cubits wide, how many cubits high. Actually, folks, that's not what it's all about. He's not seeing a literal temple. There are many Christians and even theologians today, Protestant theologians, who say, who have adopted the Orthodox Jewish vision, that there will be a temple rebuilt in Jerusalem and the Jew will turn to the Lord, but there will be animal sacrifices again. Folks, that is an absolute lie. Now, listen to me closely, please. That's against everything Paul said in Galatians, everything the New Testament says that there was one lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. All the shadows and the types removed for the reality that we have in Christ, that it's a finished work and that now the blood of bulls and goats cannot forgive sin. So it's a wasted offering, an absolute wasted offering. This is the temple they say is going to be rebuilt. Well, folks, I'm going to tell you it's impossible for a number of reasons. Number one, the dimensions. If you really outlined this temple and all of its environs, its city, this new city, it would be twice the landmass of Judah. Twice the landmass. It's absolutely impossible. And really, if this temple were to be rebuilt, the Jews would have rebuilt it according to his specifications when they returned. They did not adopt a single one of his suggestions or his details in the rebuilding of the temple. Furthermore, how would you build a city with a stream flowing out of it that ever increases? How do you create a stream on a mountain that first is the ankles and then the knees and then waters to swim in? Impossible. He's talking. He saw a vision of the last day church of Jesus Christ. It can be nothing else. He saw a vision of the last day church to which the glory of God would return and never depart. We're going to talk about this now. Ezekiel was seeing our day. Go to Psalm 46, if you will, please. I'm going to show you what he saw. 46 chapter of Psalms. Beginning at verse 3. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, there is a river. The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. In other words, Jehovah Shama is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her in that right early. That city, that holy city coming down out of God. Folks, that's the new Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all. Not talking about that city, that eternal city. I'm talking about what the New Testament calls the church or the city of God, which is the Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all. It's the church of Jesus Christ. Folks, the tabernacle is no longer something made with hands. The Bible says the tabernacle are these bodies of ours. These bodies are the tabernacle. This is the temple of the Holy Ghost. The scripture says, for ye are the temple of the living God. Even as God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God. They shall be my people. There's both hope and warning in what Ezekiel saw in this last day church. He was really seeing all day. All these chambers are all the languages, I believe. I'm not trying to put symbolical terms to all of these things. But he's seeing this house with so many chambers, so many people, so many races becoming one. And in this great temple that he sees, the scripture says, and the name of the city from that day shall be that the Lord is there. In other words, this church, this last day temple is going to be known. It has one distinguishing name. It's called, not Baptist, not Methodist, not Assemblies of God, not any other denominator. It's called, the Lord is there. The name of the church is, the Lord is there. I hope and pray that that's what God and people can call this. You go to Times Square Church, the Lord is there. That's a Jehovah-shamma church. He sees this new tabernacle, this new temple. He says, they brought me to the way of the north gate before the house. And I looked and behold, the glory of God filled the house of the Lord. And I fell on my face. As soon as the Lord showed him this temple, and he showed him the glory was there, and it's going to fill the whole house. He said, now, Ezekiel, I want you to guard the gates. I want you to go to the gates and guard it. He said, I don't want you to let a stranger in. I don't want you to let anybody that's uncircumcised in heart through these gates. And he set them there in his vision as a guard at this gate. Because God said, in the old temple, they let strangers in. They let polluters come in and pollute my house. They set up pastors and ministers to speak to their own idolatry. In other words, to confirm them in their sins and iniquities. Do you know there are a lot of people love to go to houses of God where there's no Holy Ghost conviction? They don't want to be confronted in their sins. They want to be made comfortable. Like a man I met on the street not too long ago. And he said, hi, Brother David. I didn't recognize you. I used to go to your church. I said, oh, where do you go now? And he named the church. That's fine. I said, but did we offend you? He said, oh, no, no, no. He said, is this Times Square church a little too hot for me? Just a little too hot. He's a little too intense. If some of you may feel it's too intense. When the Holy Ghost comes down and he shows us the difference between the holy and the profane. And when he begins to deal. You won't get uncomfortable if you're not willing to lay it down. You're going to get very uncomfortable. And you're going to call us legalistic. And you're going to walk out. You're going to find a nice church with little sermonettes that will minister to your idols. Well, things got a little quiet, but I. He said of the old tabernacle, the old temple, he said, they ministered you for chapter 44, verse 12. They ministered to you before your idols. And they caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity. You see, there was a backslidden priesthood. There were ministers who were backslidden in their heart. They were not ministering to the Lord. They were ministering to the people before their idols. But God said in this new temple, this will not be allowed. He said in verse 9, 44, 9. Thus said the Lord, God, no stranger nor uncircumcised in heart. So enter my sanctuary. Now, listen to me, please. The Lord said in the last days church, I'm going to have a church and I'm going to have a people and it's going to be a holy body. They're not going to. I will not allow polluters into this house. I will not allow those who are uncircumcised in heart to stand and minister before me. I will not permit it. And folks, I want you to know that God still does not permit any minister who is not right with God to minister in this house. I'm not talking about just Times Square church. I'm talking about his church of the last day, his holy temple. He has a sanctuary. He has a temple that is still pure. And they, the polluters, shall not come near unto me to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things in this most holy place. You say, well, brother Dave, you said God has a holy church. But what about what we see in the church today? What about all of these denominations ordaining homosexuals? What about preachers that are standing in pulpit now? And they're just reading other men's sermons and they don't have any fresh word from the Lord. And some don't believe in heaven. They don't believe in hell. They don't believe the Bible's inerrant word of God. What about all this foolishness we see in the house of God in the circus that they call it in many places, some manifestations that are absolutely outlandish. And what about all of these things that we see in the house of God that praying people know are an abomination unto God? What about that? If God has a holy church, well, let me tell you something. Those churches, those ministers are not his church. You've heard it said, why is it that so many churches today? Why is it the so-called church has lost its influence in society? It doesn't even matter among young people. The church has lost its clout politically. It's lost its clout among the people. The church is almost taken as incidental. It has no power, no authority. Well, I want you to know in heaven, it has less power and less influence in glory. God has nothing to do with that church that's a stench in his nostrils. That's not his church. There are whole denominations God has written off. It's not his church. His church is made up of a body here, a body here. It may be in Africa, it may be in India, here in the United States, one city. He has his churches where the uncircumcised in heart are not allowed to minister and never will. He has a people that are righteous before him until Jesus comes. There is one church only that our Lord recognizes. It's a holy sanctuary. And his name is God is there. Hallelujah. The church of Jehovah Shama. The church of Jehovah Shama is pastored only by a Zadok priesthood. I want you to turn with me to Ezekiel 44, please. 44th chapter of Ezekiel. Verses 15. Folks, may I show you something? Let's start at verse 10. And the Levites that are gone away far from me when Israel went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols, they shall even bear their iniquity. Look at this. Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary. That was the old sanctuary. He's talking about what was in the past, having charge of the gates of the house, ministering to the house, burning the burnt offerings and sacrificing for the people. They shall stand before them to minister to them because they ministered to them, to their idols and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity. Therefore, I've lifted my hand against them. Verse 13. They shall not come near to me to do the office of a priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things in the most holy place. But they shall bear their shame and their abominations, which they have met. Folks, that is that is a stream, a church stream that we have yet in the world today. This is that backslidden, compromised church. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over. Turned away from the fullness of Christ. Verse 14. But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house for all the service thereof and for all that shall be done therein. Folks, do you know that you can go to church and go through all the motions and be so backslidden, not even know that glory is gone? Not even know that you're being ministered to by a man who doesn't know God? Who's ministering to your idols and causing you to fall deeper into iniquity? You can leave the house of God in some churches and be a bigger sinner than when you walked in? Verse 15. But the priest, the Levites, the sons of Zadok that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me. They shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God, they shall enter into my sanctuary and they shall come near to my table to minister unto me. They shall keep my charge. Folks, Zadok was, there were two, David under his reign had two high priests, Zadok and Abiathar. Remember, Abiathar ran off after Adonijah, his son, when he pronounced himself king and rebelled against David. And that was at the stone of Zehila, means the stone of the serpent. He turned to the world and to prosperity and all of these things. And he was, when Solomon came to the throne, Solomon cast him out and sent him out into the wilderness, said you have no part in the temple anymore. But Zadok remained faithful to David and faithful to God through everything. There was a man who ministered to the Lord and he came in the scriptures to represent a ministry wholly given to the Lord. Shut in with God. Do you know there's a Zadok priesthood in the true house of God? There are ministers who come to the pulpit, not from a golf course. I'm not against golfing. Maybe it's because I don't know how. I don't know. But you see, the Zadok minister spends his time ministering to the Lord. He spends his time facing the Lord before whom he stands. And he never dares come and face his people till he's been with God. And when he comes out of God's presence, he speaks to your heart. He gets down where you live, your feeling and knowing something that came not from a book, it came from the throne of God. That you couldn't hear any other way in your heart. A Zadok priesthood is in this church. And God has Zadok pastors all over the world today. Many young men who are not given over the latest fad and how to build a church and get numbers. They're not interested in numbers. This church, we don't have a membership. We don't even count numbers. We don't know who's here. We don't know how many are here. We estimate occasionally. But that's not what it's all about. This Zadok priesthood, God says they'll come near to me. They'll minister to me. They'll stand before me. They're into my sanctuary and they shall come near to my table to minister to me. And they shall keep my charge. God said, I'll direct them. I'll lead them. I'll give them the word. And in this tabernacle that Ezekiel saw, this last church of Jesus Christ, he said, in that church where the glory is, where Jehovah Shama dwells, there will be in the pulpit a Zadok priesthood. The Zadok priesthood extends also to every single person seated in this house. To every believer who wants to walk in his righteousness. Called Zadokites. I hope you're a Zadokite. You know what a Zadokite is? You understand that you're sitting here now and you have been called to a priesthood. You are called to be a priest. You are as much a priest as I am or any other minister on this pulpit today. You are called to be a king and a priest before God. Nothing could be clearer in all of scripture. Unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood and has made us kings and priests unto God and to his father. God has made us unto our God, kings and priests. He also, as living stones, are built as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. You are chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar marked people that you should show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now, I know you don't hold papers. You don't have credentials. You don't have a robe on your back or collar on your neck. But you're a priest, man or woman, male or female. If you say you love Jesus and you're under the blood of Christ and you're called by his name, you're trusting in his righteousness as yours. You are a priest. You are to be a Zadok priest who ministers primarily unto the Lord. You don't come to God's house empty and dry, hoping that some priest in the pulpit will fire you up. You come because you're shut in with God and you're a priest in your home. You're a priest on the job. You are a priest before the Lord. You are not a member of the true church unless you're a Zadokite, unless you are at the Lord's table ministering to him. This is the table of the Lord. Folks, I'll tell you what brings the presence of God. First of all, what causes a dead church? Dead Christians, not just dead pastors, but dead Christians go into the house of God. And there are many of you know the Lord, you walk with the Lord for years, but now it's you come into the house of God and you don't have that vibrant prayer. It doesn't come up. Every single believer that's been... I don't care how long you've been coming here, 12 years since we started. There ought to be a fire burning in you. You come from the Lord's table. You come from ministering to the Lord before you... When you get up, praising the Lord all the way to church. By the time you get here, your hands ought to be raised, your heart full of the glory. We can fast and pray all we want, but unless you're a Zadok priest in your home and in your house and throughout the day, all the praying and fasting will not bring the glory. You bring the glory. We fast and pray that we are making that cry. Oh, holy God, let not your presence depart from this house. We've been here 12 years in your presence, Lord, but don't ever let us come into this house one day and say something's wrong. Something's moving. Something's missing. It takes more than a righteous Zadok priesthood. It takes a righteous shut-in people with God. And if people come into this place and they say, God was there. I felt the presence of Jesus. You can make sure it's not just the preaching. It's not just the righteous pastors that are in the pulpit. It's a righteous congregation where the glory of the Lord is abiding in the pews. Hallelujah. Now, let me tell you what happens in a Jehovah-Shama church. Wherever the Lord is, Jehovah-Sabaoth will manifest. That's the Lord of hosts. He will manifest. This is proven by what happened to Jacob. Jacob was on his way to Haran to find himself a wife of his own clan. He falls asleep. He puts a rock for stone. Remember, he falls asleep and he has a vision of angels ascending and descending. And when he wakes up, Jacob awakened out of his sleep and he said, surely the Lord is in this place. In other words, Jehovah-Shama was here and I didn't know it. This is none other than the house of God. What makes the house of God? Jehovah-Shama, the Lord's presence. Nothing else. Not organization. You can be organized. You can have constitutions. You can have elders and set up in a New Testament pattern. But unless Jehovah-Shama is there, there's no church. Wherever the Lord is, there's going to be a manifestation of the attributes of His character. All the attributes of His character. We may understand the Hebrew of it, but Jehovah-Shama will... Jehovah-Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, will manifest. And speaking of angels in Hebrew 1.4, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation? Hebrews 12.22, Ye are come to Mount Zion and to an innumerable company of angels. To Philip Jesus said, You shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending. Those same angels came and ministered to Jesus in New Testament times. Jacob said, and Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw the angels, he said, This is God's host. And he called the place Mahanaim, meaning an army encampment. Mananahim. Folks, wherever the presence of the Lord is, you're going to find Mananahim. It means a camp of angels. It means that there, he said, we've come to innumerable host of it. We don't worship angels. But folks, the church of Jesus Christ has been totally unaware. And that's why the Lord has been trying to show us that the Lord of hosts is a host of innumerable angels. He said, we've come to this innumerable angels. And the presence of the Lord is in this house. This is an army encampment. There are angels who encamp here at Times Square Church. Innumerable angels. Who do you think's been protecting you all this time? Who do you think goes with you on the subways? Who do you think's protecting your children? Who do you think's been going out and making sure your boss doesn't destroy you? Who do you think's been working, moving the hearts of people all around? Jehovah, Lord of hosts. There is not only a ladder, but there's an encampment. The angel of the Lord encamps. Doesn't mean he's going up and down. The Lord has him on assignment. And the Lord is assigned to this church. If Jehovah Shama is here, he has assigned an innumerable host of angels to protect. Nobody can build over us, behind us, under us, anywhere. You don't know that the whole time we were singing, the angels were clapping their wings. They were worshiping here, Almighty God. They have been encamped. I tell you, wherever Jehovah Shama is, there is an encampment of angels doing his bidding, protecting, guarding, working in his behalf. All the assignments God gives them. Hallelujah. Your little children, you better believe your little children have angels over them. I mean, all my four children, 11 grandkids, half of them be dead if I didn't believe that. They'd have stepped in front of cars. They've done so many things that you know that angels just picked them up and carried them aside. Anybody got kids? No, there are angels guarding your kids. You know that very much. And secondly, I'm going to bring this to a close shortly. Wherever Jehovah Shama is, everything melts. Everything. Hallelujah. I know I do. The hills melt like wax at the presence of the Lord. And that word hill means, listen to it, in Hebrew it means opposition and problems that suddenly loom ahead of you. All these oppositions. You come into the house of God burdened down and you look at problems that you think can never be solved. But the Bible says when you come into his house, when he is there, all those hills melt like wax. You begin to praise the Lord and the presence of the Lord becomes so real to you, suddenly that problem is gone. You walk out of here saying, I came in heavy hearted and I walked out with assurance and peace in my heart. The Lord of hosts is going to send angels if he has to, send the Holy Ghost if he has to, whatever he has to do, God is going to do it. All my hills are going to melt like wax as I trust the Lord, put my life in his hands. The Bible said the wicked melt as wax melts before the fire. So the wicked perish at the presence of God. That word perish in Hebrew means no more place to hide, flee or escape. You know what God's saying? When the presence of the Lord comes, every sinner in the house has their escape routes cut off. Come into the house of God, the Holy presence is there. They're confronted with their sins and there's no way out. They know that Jesus is the only way. There's no other escape, no other plan. God removes every road of escape. They may walk out, but they have that hound from heaven from that day on. They'll never get away from the presence of God hounding them. Jesus is the way, the only way. Every route of escape is gone, melts away. And then the backsliders. With this, I close. Jeremiah wept day and night. He said over the backslidden condition of Israel, he said they were proceeding from evil to evil, deception, idolatry, adultery. But suddenly in his weeping hour, God came to Jeremiah and said, thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, Jeremiah, I will melt them and I'll try them. I'll convict them. I'll melt them. See the great tragedy, and this is where I close. And the great tragedy today is that multitudes sit in God's house. Jehovah Shalom is gone. The glory has departed. They can sit there and never be melted, never be touched. Beloved, the one thing I love about attending this church, when I'm not preaching and I sit here and listen to our pastors, in the presence of the Lord comes, I'll tell you there's nothing greater than that melting that comes in his presence where we just melt. Hallelujah. I believe Jehovah Shalom is in this house this morning. It's going to meet your need. But one thing I would like to impress upon you more than anything else, it says, and then they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane and cause them to discern between the clean and the unclean. And folks, that's what happens when a whole body of people are seeking God, ministering to him, bringing a sacrifice of praise, not just to the church. Oh, some of you just, you wonderful praisers in church, you're wonderful worshipers, you worship, that's wonderful. But at home, are you ministering to the Lord? Are you giving him praise through the day? Folks, in New York, it doesn't matter. You know that. You can praise God on the elevator. You can praise God anywhere. They think you're crazy. Anyhow, just praise him anywhere you want. If the devil can have his crazy people out there cursing and think, we go up and down the streets of New York City, praising God, ministering sacrifices of praise. Folks, we have not even begun to see what would happen in this place, how awesome the presence of the Lord would be if every single person who calls Times Square Church their home church would be able to come in and praise the Lord. I'm telling you, even between now and the next service, if you found time to just get alone and minister to the Lord, I mean minister to him, tell him how much you love him, begin to worship and praise him, come into the afternoon service. You see the presence of the Lord mounting. If the melting becomes more powerful, it's just a wonderful thing that happens. Hallelujah. Folks, it should be said of you. It should be said of me. And it can't be said of too many Christians today. There's a man, there's a woman that I see Jesus in. And you can't fake that. You can't fake it. They took note of them that they had been with Jesus. It's only being with Jesus and ministering to him. That means just going there, sitting there, putting in time, looking at the watch, saying, Jesus, I love you, I need you. And there's something, I'm not talking about an aura. There are some people that are really close to God that you can hardly sense it until they talk. And then you know, you hear it, you feel it, you sense it. But what I love to be around Christians who are full of Jehovah Shama. And you say, the Lord's there. The Lord's in his heart. The Lord's in her heart. She exudes Jesus. Hallelujah. Will you stand? Oh, Jehovah Shama. The Lord who is here. Please don't walk out. There's nothing that can't wait. Unless you're heading for an airplane. There are visitors here that have to go understand that. I don't want, I want this whole body to just take two or three minutes. Just lift your hands and minister to the Lord. Just tell him you love him right now. Just lift your hands in the annex, up in the balcony, wherever you are. Come on, just minister to Jehovah. The Lord is here. The Lord is with you right now. Jehovah Shama is with you right now. Lord Jesus, we just want to minister to you. We've come to this house not to be ministered to alone, but to minister unto you. To give ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto the Lord. We're here, Lord Jesus, to magnify your name. We're here to get to know you and love you. And Lord, only after we've ministered to you, then can we minister as soul winners. We can't be soul winners until we come from your presence and from your table. Lord, make us Zadokites. Hallelujah. A holy priesthood. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. And Lord, we thank you for the angelic host. The Lord of hosts is with us. Lord, you are here with all of your angels. You're here, Lord, to do the work that you have promised by covenant. We glorify your name. We glorify you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Wonderful Savior. What a wonderful God we serve. What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is he. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord, you're in this house. We acknowledge your presence. Acknowledge his presence right now. Acknowledge his presence. Lord, we acknowledge your presence in our house. We acknowledge your presence. I'm opening this altar, the front of this church we call an altar, where you come to get things right with God. If you're here this morning and you have to acknowledge, Pastor David, I've been drifting from the Lord. I have not been ministering to the Lord. I come to church, but I don't minister to the Lord. I don't have that devotional life at all. And some of you are not right with God. Some of you don't even know the Lord Jesus. And he's here to make himself known to you, to give you a life, to give you purpose and meaning to your life. Some of you are backslidden. You've been running from God. You're here this morning and you're drifting far, far away. So wrapped up in your own agenda. No, no, no. The Lord said, come, I'll change you and I'll fill your heart with my presence. You feel the Holy Spirit. Once you get right out of your seat and come here, let me pray with you. Now in the annex, if you'll just step forward between the screens, don't block the screens, please, but between the screens. Pastor, be there just a moment, minister and pray with you. I'll pray with you first and then there'll be another pastor minister to you up in the balcony. Go to the stairs on either side and come down there. I'll meet me here. We're going to believe God for a miracle in your life. I'm going to believe God for a miracle in your life. Maybe you say, Pastor Dave, something you preached this morning so hit me so hard and God's been dealing with me about something. I want you to open your heart to the Holy Spirit. We don't try to just build numbers here. Not interested in that at all. We're interested in making sure you don't walk out of here the way you came in. We want God to change you by His Holy Spirit. Wherever you're at, you say, Pastor David, I've never felt like this in my life. It's not a cold chill. That's the Holy Ghost. That's not a fever. That's the Holy Ghost. That's the Holy Spirit moving on you saying, today's your day. Come and be healed. Come and be saved. Come and be set free. Just to set people out. If you want to raise your hands, fine. You can just stand right where with your hands down or just in front of you as if to receive from the Lord. And let's sing it again. And let's praise and worship as we sing. He is awesome in this place. His presence is awesome in this place. You'd have to be far, far from God not to acknowledge that or sense that this morning. Sing it, Saints of God. In the annex, the same spirit here in the auditorium. Same spirit with you there. Wherever you're watching on screen, lift up your heart to the Lord and let his spirit touch you right now. He can heal you. The Holy Spirit, the presence of Jesus can heal you, can melt that mountain. You came in here with that big thing sticking in front of you, that obstacle. The Lord wants to melt that in his presence right now. The Holy Spirit come and minister to these that stand before us. Holy Spirit, you understand the obstacles in the mountains, those seemingly insurpassable problems that loom ahead of us that suddenly arise. Lord, you said in your presence they do melt. We've got to believe that when we say God is bigger than our problems. Lord, send your host ahead of us. Send your host ahead of us. Send angelic beings of God to protect and guide and make way where there seems to be no way. Camp around about us as we dash our foot against the stone. Lord, I pray for all of these that have come forward that you would minister life, strength, and hope. Fill their hearts, oh Lord Jesus, with your presence. I want you to pray this with me right now, right out loud. Dear Jesus, I come to you now because I've a need in my life. I need you, Jesus, a new revelation of who you are and how much you love me. You've not cast me away. You will not give up on me because I keep coming to you. Cleanse me, Jesus. Purge me of all my sins. Forgive me for the times I've neglected you. Help me, Jesus. Remind me by your spirit to minister to you in my home and wherever I go. Always have my heart rising up to you. Cleanse me, Jesus. I love you. I worship you. And I give you thanks that you are in me, you are with me, and that you love me. Now lift your hands and thank him for that. Lord, we thank you, Jesus. We thank you and we give you praise. We thank you and we give you praise. With goodness and your mercy that endures forever. Hallelujah. This is the conclusion of the message.