In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the transfiguration of Jesus and the importance of our everyday faces. He highlights the contrast between the radiant face of Jesus on the mountain and the tired, despairing faces that some people bring to church. The preacher emphasizes the need to leave behind our work faces and approach God with expectancy and faith. He also discusses the importance of mortifying our earthly desires and living in obedience to God, as outlined in Colossians 3:5.

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. I'm going to call it 17th chapter. Verse, verse, first verse, I'm reading from King James. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart and was transfigured before them and his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light and behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. How would you have liked to have been there and seen these two men suddenly appear? I mean, there they are! I'm going to tell you why they knew it was Moses and Elias. I mean, how would they recognize Moses and Elias? Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it's good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were so afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise and be not afraid. When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them saying, Tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead. Skip down to verse 14. And they were come down, come to the multitude, that's down from the mountain. There came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he's a lunatic and sore vexed. Often he falleth into the fire and oft into the water. And I brought him to your disciples and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless, perverse generation, How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him. And the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus at part and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief, For verily I'll send to you, if you had faith, as a grain of a mustard seed. You shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place. And it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. I'll be at this time going forth, not up, but by prayer and fasting. Now look this way please. I've read you two vignettes, two pictures of the message that I want to bring to you now. And it's all there in a nutshell. These are two portions of scripture that prove absolutely that it is possible to have an incredible spiritual experience with the Lord and not be able to translate it into everyday living. In other words, the glow of Sunday is gone on Monday on the job amidst all the troubles and the trials. Peter, James, and John are given one of the most glorious visions that Christ has ever given to mankind. It's a powerful vision. They see Jesus ablaze with God's glory. If there was anything I would have liked to have seen in the New Testament in the early day if I had lived then, it would be on the Mount of Transfiguration. To see the Shekinah glory just come upon the saviors he prayed. His face did shine like the sun the Bible says. In fact, the glow of the Shekinah glory, that's a manifestation of the very presence of God, was so powerful it did shine through his very clothing. And he was radiant as the sun. And they were so awe-stricken by it, they fell on their faces in fear. And a cloud descended from heaven. And it covered them, it enveloped them. They fell on their face awe-stricken. And a voice came from heaven. Of course, there stood Moses and Elijah communing with him. Now listen, this was quite an event, quite a sight for these three apostles to see. Now, you say, how do they know it was Moses and Elijah that appeared there? I think it's very simple, Jesus gave their name. They were discussing his decease, they were talking about the cross. I believe they talked about reconciliation. And here's Peter, James, and John, it's not a vision, this is a very real thing, there's a very real appearance, they're there in bodily form. Jesus in bodily form. Moses in bodily form. Remember, the angels took him and buried him. They took his body. I don't know, they took the body of Moses. And you know that Elijah was translated. And here they are. And I'm sure when they appeared, Jesus, the Son of God, says, God be glorified, Moses. The Lord be praised. God be praised, Elijah. That's how they knew their name. Jesus gave their names, I'm sure of it. It doesn't say in the Bible, but they're discussing, and certainly he wouldn't discuss it without discussing their names. And what a sight this was. And suddenly, these men disappear after they discussed his decease. I wonder what Moses said. I wonder if he said, You are the prophet I spoke about, that was going to be like unto me. And I think Jesus might have said to him, Remember when you raised the brass serpent in the wilderness? That's the type of cross that I'm going to go to. Can you imagine these three men sitting here, listening to this cosmic discussion, this eternal discussion, and Peter just wanting to get in there, and he blabs out the first thing, Boy, it's good to be here! They're talking eternal matters, and Peter jumps in, Let's build three tabernacles right here. One for you, Moses, one for you, Elijah, and one for you, Jesus. He's always putting his foot in his mouth. But this whole account is so heavenly, it's so otherworldly, so supernatural, we're made to think, God, how could these three human beings see this? They hear a verse from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, hear Him! And they're gone, and there's Jesus standing alone, and the voice says, You hear Him! It's not the prophets, it's not the law in itself, Hear Him now! All the law and the prophets speak of Him! And this is so fantastic, you get to thinking, How could these men go through this and not be changed for eternity? Surely they'll come down from this mountain with that afterglow, How could they ever again be doubtful? How could a fear ever enter their life? In fact, some of you are sitting here saying to yourself, Now, if I had been there, If I had seen two men, If I saw Moses that I'd read about all my life, and Elijah the prophet, there he is right in front of me, and I see Jesus glorified, I see His kind of glory of God all over Him, and I hear the actual voice of God, there'd never be another doubt the rest of my life, that'd see me right to the judgment day. Isn't that what you're thinking? Come on now. I know some of you are thinking, If you were there when Jesus raised the dead, you'd shout, No, you'd be running down the road, scared to death. You say, I would come out of that experience so changed, in every area of my life, I would never surrender myself to anything but Jesus, I'd be totally dependent on Him, there'd be no temptation, no demon power, nothing could ever shake my faith after I saw that. If I experienced that. But you see, these three apostles, come right down off that mountain top, and the devil's camped right there waiting for them. See, that was Sunday up there, this is Monday now. The next day. Monday. Seven o'clock in the morning. On the subway. They come off that mountain of joy and peace and vision and glory, and they face a lunatic child. And there's the devil waiting for them. You know what I'm talking about now? You're getting the idea where I'm going with this message? I'm going right on the subway with you, I'm going right to the job, I'm going into your house, and we're going to talk about arguing with your wife and the whole thing. Because Jesus is a practical Savior. He's not something mystical. He moves through every area of our life, but then He's not Lord. Hallelujah. And there's a lunatic child, and all of the nine apostles who weren't up there, with the Lord on their mouth, the father comes and says, I asked them to pray for my lunatic child, the devil drives him, throws him in the fire, throws him in the water, and the Bible says, he said, your disciples cannot cure him. It's almost as if the devil looks at Peter, James, and John coming down off that mountain top, and he said, so you're the new church. You're the church of the last day. You represent the vision. You represent the bishop, because James has become the bishop of Jerusalem. Peter, you represent this fire and zeal of the New Testament church that's coming. So you're the church of the last days. You, Peter, you who walk with such vision and zeal, you wanted to stay on the mountain and live in the glory, but now you've got to come down here and face the everyday problems of life. Down here, this is everyday world, and I want you to know, Peter, this is a lunatic world, and I'm in control of it. It seems to be what the devil's saying to these men, especially to Peter. He's saying, now it's heartbreak time. It's war. Now, let's see what your mountain top experience can do down here. And you, James, it seems like the devil's saying to him, you pious church leader, you bishop of the flock, look in the pitiful face of that lunatic kid. Look in his face of that boy, and you'll see I drive him into the fire. I drive him into the water. I'm the God of this world, and I'm driving mankind, and it's lunacy down here. So what is it up there? You come down here. Let's see you get by me. Let's see you get by this child. You claim all this glory, this vision, and there's John, a prophet, man of revelation. All right, so you heard God speak up there, didn't you? You heard God. And so you were touched by His glory, and the glory enveloped you. But try now to get past the opposition, this mountain I've set before you, because they came down on one mountain to face another mountain. The devil's standing right there. He's saying, this is the working class world now. This is not for theologians. This is reality down here. This is a valley of cares. And you see, Peter, James, and John did not offer to go up there and say, all right, these nine may doubt Him, but we've just been up on that mountain, and we don't doubt Him. We've touched God. We've touched glory. We've touched eternity. And we've seen who this man is. And in His name, we cast him out. No, they didn't do that. There's no reference of these disciples, apostles who just came down from the mountain. They stood there timidly by. There's nothing there at all. You can understand the nine disciples, perhaps. But how do you explain these three men who've just come from the glory of God, seen and talked with Moses and Elijah, listened to them speak of divine things, and now there they are, standing before the devil, weak and helpless. And I wonder if Jesus wasn't looking at them also, and maybe especially at them when He said, you know, all faithless and perverse generation, all faithless, perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? And Jesus speaks the word, and the child is healed. And they questioned among themselves, and they said, Master, why couldn't we do that? And Jesus said, because of your unbelief. Now, please understand. Please understand good. The greater your vision of Christ and His glory, the more Satan's going to challenge you in your everyday life. The Lord called you one day, didn't He? And not a person that goes to Times Square Church that didn't receive a call. You received a call out of lukewarmness. You received a call out of sloven, Christian living. You received a call out of idolatry. The Spirit of God came to you. You came to this church, and you heard a message, and it touched your heart. And you begin to seek God. You're praying like you've never prayed. You've been with Moses and Elijah. I'll tell you what. The Old Testament's been opened up in this pulpit. Isn't that correct? Haven't you heard from Moses and Elijah? You've heard the prophets, and you've heard the law. You've heard it. It's been thundered in love from this pulpit. And you've seen and tasted some of the glory of the Lord. And now you're praying. You have a passion for the Lord. And everything in your life is changing. But I'll tell you something else that changes, and Bob touched it this morning. Your everyday life is changing much also. Your job is changing. The reaction of people toward you is changing. Everything around you is changing. Because you see, now when you come down from Sunday Night Mountain, and you go to the job on Monday, there's always some kind of commotion, the devil's going to stir up for you now, that wasn't stirred before. And there he is right in front of you, some kind of lunacy. I mean a mountain of opposition, impossibilities, and even demonic activity against you. And sometimes it gets so wild and hairy, you just have to sit there and put your hands in your head and say, Wait a minute, Lord, I'm still in the afterglow of Sunday Night. I didn't ask for this. What's going on? Right or wrong? Now Satan's design in all of that is to try to convince you that Jesus is not active in your everyday life. That the glory of the mountain is not working on the job. He wants you to be convinced that you're two different people. You know, you're a Sunday person and then you're a weekly person. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. You know, the Syrians said, Hey, look, their God of Israel is the God of the mountains. Let's fight him in the valleys. The Lord is God of the hills, but He's not God of the valleys. He's God of Sunday, but He's not God of Monday. Monday's the valley. Oh, Monday's valley. They call it Blue Monday. Shouldn't be for Christians, but it sure is for a lot. I want you to know that you've got to understand that Jesus Christ is more than just a spiritual experience. He must be our everyday life. His life must come through on the job, at home, and everywhere. I want you to go to Colossians. Colossians, the third chapter. Colossians. Don't be afraid to say Amen once or twice during the whole message. At least they'll know you're there. Colossians, the third chapter. Going to read the first four verses of Colossians. Colossians 3. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Verse 4, and here it is. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then we shall also appear with him in glory. Look this way, please. Christ, who is our life. Christ, our life. I don't care how many wonderful spiritual highs you have with Jesus. I don't care if you claim to hear the actual voice of God speaking to you. I don't care how much revelation knowledge that you claim to have. If all of these spiritual experiences, all of these experiences in church or in secret closet of prayer, if that cannot be translated in overcoming life Monday through Saturday, it has no meaning on Sunday. It has to translate into something people can see. It has to be a witness. The world is convinced that Jesus lives only in church. They see little of his life in Christians every day. The sinner thinks of church as a place where people go to study about a historical Jesus with a bunch of historical patriarchs who God once worked for. They know all about Daniel, the lion's den. They know about the three Hebrew children. They know about all of the flood and how God delivered Israel. They know all that. In fact, God is a God of miracles back then. The sinner preaching is just talk. That's all it is. It's talk with no meaning to this day's problems. The average person out there in Times Square, they don't understand why you go to church. The sinner doesn't understand. They're convinced that the only power God has is right here within the four walls of this building and that we just gather here and talk about a historical Jesus who used to perform miracles. Isn't that correct? Why is that? Because the majority of Christians are not preaching Jesus by the way they live out there. His power is not being demonstrated on the job. Paul said, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And I just read, your life is in with Christ, for Christ is our life. Now, what does that mean in practical words? I don't mean just religious theology. I mean in everyday life. To me, I'm saying Christ living in me means that every day I am totally dependent on Him. Christ is involved in every little detail of my life. He's involved. Now, I'm going to take you into the Scripture and I want to show you three areas in which this is very, very powerfully demonstrated by the Scripture. First of all, God has given us, listen closely, God has given to you and me an even greater revelation of His glory, of the glory of Christ than He gave to these three apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration. You say, that was marvelous. The Lord has given you and I a greater revelation. Do you want to see it? 2 Peter. 2 Peter. Hello? Hello? 2 Peter 1. 16. Verse 16, beginning to read. 2 Peter. Chapter 1. Reading verse 16, beginning. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. Now, this is years later and Peter's talking about that experience that he had. Peter, James and John on that mountain. Verse 17. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He's describing that experience he had. And this voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were with Him on the Holy Mount. But look at this now. We have also a more sure word of prophecy. Whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star rise in your hearts. Now look this way please. You say, what could be more glorious than seeing the glory, the kind of glory of the Father shine through the Son. Jesus looked like a blazing sun. What could be more glorious than hear the audible voice of the Father. And yet the Apostle said, I was there, I heard His voice. But he's saying now, what does now mean? It's this side of the cross. God has given Paul a revelation about a great mystery that's never been understood till the cross. And God gave it to Paul. That it's not Christ walking among us now. It's not one blaze of glory. Just one glimpse on a mountain. But that glorified man is in heaven now. He's at the right hand of the Father. And he has inherited the glory. He has the full glory. The fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in him. And now he does not just dwell among us, he lives in us. The glory of the Lord is in us. For he possesses that glory. That means that you carry the glory of Jesus wherever you go. The glory of the Lord abides. What is the glory of God? It's Jesus manifest. Jesus is the glory. Hallelujah. You see, we're always looking for a mystical experience. We envy people who talk about their dreams and visions and those great moments they talk about. You know, Paul talked about being taken into the third heaven and he couldn't even talk about what he saw. I've had a few experiences like that. I've known what it is to be down under the power of God and I couldn't get up. The Holy Spirit come and lay me back down. And it was such a glorious thing to have the Holy Ghost just touch me. I'd start laughing, try to get up. Down I'd go again. I finally just laid there for hours just soaking in the love of Jesus. You've had experiences like that. But you see, today we have people seeking those kind of experiences. That's not what God's talking about. He said the word is going to be a lamp to my feet. This is a lamp, this is the light, this is the glory of the Lord manifested. And He's not wanting you to just seek these various sudden blazes of glory. He wants you to live seven days a week, every waking hour, demonstrating the glory of God. The glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Look at John. Go to John 17, please. John 17. It's very clear there. There's no question about the glory. John 17. This is Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. John 17, verse 21, beginning to read. And this is Jesus speaking. John 17, beginning with verse 21. That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in them, indeed. That they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me. And the glory which Thou gavest me. Where did He demonstrate that glory? On the mountain? And the glory which Thou gavest me, I have given, who? Do you have the glory? That they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and Thou in me. That they may be made perfect in one. And that the world may know that Thou has sent me. And has loved them as Thou has loved me. Father, I will, that they also, whom Thou has given me, be with me where I am. By the way, that's not just in glory. That's right now. We're seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So many people look at that and say, that's after the judgment day. No! We are in His presence now, in His glory. That they may behold my, what? My glory which Thou hast given me, for Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. Hallelujah. That's the glory. Now listen to me. Go look this way, please. The presence of God's glory changed the very appearance of Jesus' face, and also His clothing. You don't have to turn, but let me read it to you from Luke. And I'm reading from the New American Standard because it brings it out so clear. And while He was praying, this is up on the mountain, the appearance of His face became different. And His clothing became white and glistening, gleaming. His face actually changed. Boy, can you imagine, my friend, what that must have been like for those apostles to see the face of Jesus change? Couldn't you imagine any picture of more peace? More glory? Because He was with His Father, and the Shekinah glory was upon Him. And His face changed. His very raiment was sparkling and glistening. White as bright as the sun. What expectancy on the face of Jesus! What glory! His Father's presence manifested in and through Him. But let me talk about your face, and mine. I want to talk about your everyday face. I'm not talking about your Sunday face. I watched some of you come in here. Every service you forgot to leave your work face out there, you brought it in. And you come in here, you see, you know what your work face is? It's that tired, sad, despairing look, your chin is hanging down. It's that hanged dog, lost expression. And you forgot, it's church night, and you brought it in. Have you ever heard of face wars? He comes home from work. This is his husband. He comes home from work. I'm not pointing at you, Kevin, to make you an example. Do you know we've got face wars going on in our home? He comes home, and his face says, I've had a bad day, I don't want any lip from anybody. You know what her face is saying so many times? I don't want to talk. Just leave me alone. That's the leave me alone face. Oh, I've got a lot of faces I could talk about. Have you ever seen that dagger face? If looks could kill. Because, Kenny, you invited somebody home for dinner, didn't even tell her. And she looks at you, and he's standing right there. If looks could kill. Now, she's never done that, has she? Have you ever been in a car with your husband or wife or friend, and you said something wrong in that look? There's a disgusted face. And it goes with two little... Then there's the no look. You did something wrong, she's locked in the bedroom, you can't even see her face, she's shut in. I'll tell you when it gets me, it's the pout face. Asked to do something, you don't do it, and that lip comes out. And if a tear comes on top of that, you're dead. My wife hasn't pouted for two weeks. No, she doesn't pout. She's been gone a week. I'm the one that's been pouting. Ah, but there's another face, it's called the nothing face. You come home, and you know something's wrong. And you try to figure it out, you walk in, and there's something on her face, and you say, What's wrong? Nothing! Nothing! And you're trying to rack your brain, what I do, what I say. And you say it again, Honey, I can tell, I've been living with you long enough, I know something's wrong, I can see it on your face. Nothing! So you walk away, I said, Okay. And she said, You don't care. You just don't care, do you? Boy, am I going to catch it tonight. You know what I'm trying to say? You have no right to dump your selfish face on somebody else. Don't dump your face. I don't care what you've been through, or anything else, and I say it godly and honestly, You have no right to come home and dump it on somebody. If you're walking with Jesus, ask Him, stop outside the door and ask the Lord to sanctify your face. And I'm going to tell you, all my second, my broad's been with me for 17 years, she and her husband. And one thing I don't like is people that come in an office, wearing their face on their sleeve. Trying to figure out what's wrong. And I'm talking about a Christianity. You know people, you go on the job, and they know you're a Christian, or at least they should know you're a Christian. And they see that look on your face, there's no joy, there's no victory. You've got that joyless, empty face. You dump your problems on those around you. And they're thinking if they walk with Jesus and they know Him, why isn't God answering prayer for them? Why isn't Jesus applied to their life? Why isn't it working? I'm not trying to be funny, I'm not trying to be facetious, but I'm trying to make a point. Even His clothes were changed. That means character, that represents behavior. And you can't talk about reaching unsaved loved ones, you can't talk about reaching the world, until you talk about God's power in your everyday living and on the job. See, we're not approaching our everyday life with the trust and confidence He wants us to have in Him. Secondly, the Lord has given power to overcome everyday problems. There is power in Jesus Christ to conquer every problem that faces you Sunday through Sunday. All in between it. Verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible for you. I want God to make this very clear that the Lord's not looking for a church of mystical experiences, of people with just mystical experiences. I don't want to hear dreams, I don't want to hear revelations, I want to hear people say, the Lord was with me all week, the Lord saw me through problems that looked impossible, the Lord met me on the job, I witnessed on the job, they saw Jesus in me on the job. Christ in me means that He has all power, if He abides in me, that power's at my disposal. He said, you shall speak to the mountain, and it shall remove, it shall be gone. There are wives here, go home, and you face an impossible mountain. There's a husband that is full of the devil, there's a husband perhaps that beats you, we've seen that, we've seen people walk out of here. Women weep as they walk out, knowing that they have to go home to a situation that's helpless in the flesh. The home is in turmoil. They're abused often, helpless. You may be sitting here tonight and you have a financial mountain that's facing you. It looks impossible outside of a miracle, it's the biggest mountain you've ever faced. It might be a sickness, a marriage problem. You have a child or children in some hopeless turmoil. You may be facing a decision, an uncrossable mountain. It may be that you feel satanic harassment on all sides. You know, the disciples said, why couldn't we do it? In other words, why weren't we having victory? Why didn't we have victory in our lives? Why didn't we have power over this opposition, this mountain? And you see often, we face a crisis on the job or during the week in our home, and we go crazy, we fall apart. Women have a tendency, when they're in some home crisis, to come apart, and to begin to cry and get on the telephone. They don't call Jesus, they don't fall on their faces, they get on the telephone. They call a best friend, they call a counselor, they want to call somebody. And they come apart, and you hear, I can't take it, I can't take it! Lord, how much, I can't take it, I'm losing my mind! What kind of testimony is that? What kind of testimony is that? You know what you're saying to the whole world and to every demon in hell? I say to the world that I have Jesus abiding in me, and yet you ignore His power and His glory! You don't call on Him, you don't trust Him to see you through it! Are you hearing it? To borrow Bob's expression. Are you hearing? I mean it. Is it dawning on you now? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He said, because of your unbelief. I think one of the greatest heartbreaks of pastors is to preach and love and try to bring people into the conforming image of Jesus Christ, and you think you're making progress, and then a crisis comes on the job or in the home, and they fall apart, and you wonder if you've made any progress at all. You wonder if they're going to apply those truths. Now, I'm only speaking to a handful of you perhaps. Many of you have learned to apply Jesus in your everyday life. Paul said, Folks, I don't care if all the demons of hell come against you in your home. I don't care if everything in hell comes against you on your job. The Lord Jesus Christ abiding in you has that power and that authority, and you can say to that mountain in Jesus' name, be removed. Why aren't we speaking the word of faith? Why aren't we saying to it, that's enough. Satan, you can't bind us. Satan, you can't bring me down. Throw everything you have in hell at me, but I have Jesus abiding in my heart. That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened by his Spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith to be strengthened with might in the inner man. Now, you know, there are many Christians today that hunger and really lust, perhaps even in a good way, they would like to be used of God in some special way. I can't tell you how many young preachers have told me, brother, I wish we had the power. I'd like to have that authority to go into hospitals and take those sick children, lay hands on them, see them, God heal them. I've had so many people talk about I would like God just to use me. I want to be able to demonstrate his power to the world. I'd like to go to an AIDS victim and if he confesses, Jesus will lay hands on him and smite that AIDS. Now folks, I believe that's all possible. There's no question about that. But I'll show you something better than going in a hospital and healing the sick. Something even more of a testimony to the world than seeing somebody that had AIDS and a documented proof. There's something that's a far greater testimony to the world. It's a child of God who's so trusting in Jesus every day of his life, with such a childlike confidence that the Lord's going to see him through. He's got a calm and a peace. There's no despair in his face. He's not living in fear. And seven days a week, Christ is his life. And on the job, everybody knows he's not going to fall apart. He knows that that man or something in him or in her that takes him above all these things in the world. And you don't go around and say, well, I'm just human like everybody else. Folks, no, you're not just human like everybody else. You're superhuman. You're superhuman because you have Jesus Christ abiding in you. All this time, I'm just human. That's a cop-out. That's an excuse. You see, but here's the one. Seven days a week, he has confidence. Jesus, he takes his temper to the Lord Jesus. And the Lord cools his temper. He takes his anger against his mates and those around him, his depression, his hurt feelings. And when it starts rising up and rearing itself up, whether it's on the job or in the home, the Holy Spirit begins to speak to this one. What kind of testimony is this going to be for Jesus? How will you ever come back to these people and witness Jesus to if you're going to scream at them, if you're going to lose your temper at them? How will you ever get through to them? How will you ever witness to them? What kind of a testimony is this that you do not practice his presence? You don't believe he can meet you every day of your life. What is a deliverance church? Some people think that a deliverance church is where people come up and be... Now, folks, we have that. We're going to have it again tonight. Every service, at the end, we invite people up. We're sick and afflicted and we anoint them with oil and we pray for them and they're being healed. And we believe that with every ounce of spiritual energy in us. We believe that we practice it. But let me tell you what I believe is a true deliverance church. It's a church whose whole body is out there seven days a week, living Jesus, practicing Jesus, where everybody knows, I don't know where they go to church, I don't know what kind of message they're leaning on, but there's some kind of strength and there's something there keeping them, exalting them above, lifting them above the problems. They go through the same things, but they react differently. They don't come apart. Hallelujah. Those people are rooted and grounded in something. They're convinced that Jesus loves them. Now, finally, Jesus abides in us because I believe He's interested in every little detail of our human experience. I believe Jesus is interested in every little thing. Here, John 17, He's given us a beautiful picture of the concern of Jesus Christ for the details of our life. Do you believe God's interested in your bills? Come on now, paying your bills? You're sitting here now saying, Boy, I hope Brother Dave gives me a secret formula. Get my bills paid. Well, I want you to know the Lord's concerned about that. He's numbered every hair on our head. Do you know He numbered every part? He numbered every cell. I don't know how many millions and millions of cells in our body, white corpuscles, red corpuscles. He's numbered every cell. He's numbered every part. Before we were born, He had a book and He numbered our parts, the Scripture says. We're a call from the foundation of the world. He's numbered every hair on our head. We have a Savior who abides in us and He wants to live in us because He's interested in every little detail. Eleanor Roosevelt. Some young people don't know who she is. She's dead. President Roosevelt's wife, deceased wife. She made a statement once and I read it. She said, These people who bother God at all the little things, He's so busy with the universe, He doesn't have time for these little things. Almost verbatim, what she said. I never forgot it when I read it. She said, He's so busy taking care of the cosmos and the universe. Listen, I want you to know that He has all things in control. He said, What is man that thou art mindful of him? Isn't it amazing that Jesus who abides in us, He chooses to come and abide when it says, Christ liveth in me. It's saying, He's interested in me. He's living through me. All my hearts, all my burdens, all my bills. Boy, look at... If you haven't seen it before, look at John 17. No, that's Matthew 17. Go to Matthew 17. Matthew 17. Verse 24. Verse 24, Matthew 17. And when they were come to Capernaum, They that received tribute or tax money, Came to Peter and said, Does not your master pay tribute? That's taxes. Doesn't he pay taxes? And he said, Yes. Yes, my master pays taxes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take customer tribute? Of their own children or strangers? Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus said unto him, Then are the children free. And what Jesus is really saying, Look, we are citizens of another world. I'm the king of glory. He said, This is not some moral obligation, But we're going to do what has to be done. We're going to do what the law demands. And look at verse 27. Notwithstanding or nevertheless, Lest we should offend them, And by the way, An unpaid bill is an offense to the glory of Jesus. If you're a Christian, it really is. It's not a good testimony, is it? Nevertheless, In other words, so we won't have a bad testimony, Go thou to the sea, And cast a hook, And take up the fish that first cometh up, And when thou hast opened his mouth, Thou shalt find a piece of money, Then take it, And give it to them for me and thee. Go pay the taxes. You know what Jesus could have done? He said, Peter, now you're a good fisherman. You've fished all your life. Take a day off. Go down to the Sea of Galilee, Buy a boat, And go get a big stash of fish. Take it down to the market, Sell it, And pay the taxes. No, but Jesus was teaching Peter, And he's teaching you and I a lesson. That we can trust him. That he's interested, And he wants to work in our life miraculously. So he says to Peter, Go down one hook, One worm, Where's the other fish? Now I want you to go down there, And the first fish you catch, You're going to find the money in his mouth. You talk about faith. Can you picture Peter sitting there? He's used to a net. No net. And he's got this hook, And here comes a man down and says, Sir, what are you doing? The fish aren't biting. And he says, Oh, it's all right, I'm just waiting for one. I've got an appointment with a fish. Someone else comes up, Peter, what are you doing? I'm paying my taxes. And he's sitting there. Can you imagine Peter saying, This I've got to see. I've been fishing all my life, I've never seen money in the mouth of a fish. I know he obeyed. And can you imagine when he's sitting there, Can you imagine that first bite? And he reels it in, And he says, This I've got to see. And folks, I know the name of the fish. It wasn't perch. It wasn't catfish. It wasn't trap. The name of the fish, I'll tell you what it is. He takes that fish, And he pulls out the hook and looks in there. And you know what the name of the fish was? Only God can do that. That's the name of the fish. Because he looked in and said, Only God can do that. If you had that fish in your hand, You had to have something, You knew it, And you looked and said, Only God can do that. Only God. That's where God was. Only God can do it. Oh, I've had that fish in my hand. Yes. I need another one right now. How many need that fish? Amen. How many believe there's a coin in it? You say, Hey, this is good news, Brother Dave. There's a catch. Pardon the pun. There's a catch. Yes, there is. Very, very powerful. And I'm going to... You don't have to go, But I'm going to go to Colossians. If you want to follow me, fine. But Colossians, the third chapter, Let me read. It's not a catch as much as it's a condition. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. Colossians 3, and I'm going to close very shortly. Colossians 3, verse 5, beginning to read. Now, I just read to you in verse 4, Christ, who is our life, shall appear. Then we shall also appear with Him in glory. Look at verse 5. This is what follows. Here's the condition. Mortified, therefore, your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate effects, and evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. Now, folks, look this way for just a moment. You know, there's some of you pray and pray about bills and financial problems. Folks in New York City, I've never in my lifetime met so many people with financial problems. It's that the city has gone expensively crazy. There's an insanity here in New York City. You talk about coming down off a mountain and meeting lunacy? You got it here in New York. We got it right here. Lunatic city. Now, I love New York, but I'll tell you, talk about the rents and the price and everything else. You know what I'm talking about. The bills that pile up and everything else. And I know God's able, but I want to tell you something. God, our precious Lord, will not provide that fish. He'll not provide that way until he gets to the root of our problem. Because if God sends you out and you catch that fish and you pay your bill, you're going to go right back and do it again, because there's a spirit of greed and covetousness behind it. The Lord's more interested in getting to that root of greed or covetousness that says, look, she has it. He's a Christian. He's got it. Why can't I have it? And it's a greed that's in the house of God. Do you know there's nothing worse for a husband than to live with a whining wife? Now, look, I'm not being facetious. There's nothing worse. It's like Chinese torture. Drip, drip, drip. All the time. I've got to have it. She has it. Brother So-and-so has it. When are we going to get it? And I see it with all the love that I have that God can give me right now. The Lord's not going to bail some of us out of our financial problems until we come to the place where we say, Lord, you get me out of this mess, I'm going to learn my lesson. And how many times has God already bailed us out? We said we'd never go back, we'd go right back in. Suddenly that car looks old. You know, some guys buy a new car because they have a flat tire on the old one. You go to his wife, tires are falling apart, everything's falling apart. That car's good for another five years. Now, if you've got a junk, I'm not talking about it. God knows your need. God knows our need. But folks, listen to me, please. When are we going to say it's enough? When are we going to say, Lord, I'm satisfied with you? Here are my needs, Lord Jesus. I don't want to have any greed or covetousness in me. And by the way, I'm not just talking about winding wives. I'm talking about husbands the same thing. You know, a husband can gripe and gripe about her need in a washing machine and say we can't afford to go spend $700 for fishing equipment. Right? Every woman said, well, you don't fish around here, that's right. The enemy, though, is trying to get God's people to lust after things. Just after things. And you know what the Bible says? We're to mortify these things in our life. Covetousness, which is greed. And, friends, that spirit of greed is in this city. It's all over the United States now. If we're not careful, the life of Jesus Christ cannot be lived in and through us because we're being ruled by a spirit of greed. And in prayer, in preparing this message, and again this afternoon, I said, Lord, what does that have to do with my message? And the Lord said, that's the heart of it right now. That's the heart of it. Living every day with peace and calm without having to have turmoil in our lives. God never intended us to live with turmoil. Worrying about bills, worrying about these things. The Lord's saying, cut down your desires. Let me meet what you truly need. I serve a Christ who meets those true needs when the spirit of greed is gone. And covetousness is gone. Our Lord is interested and vitally interested. And He's interested in getting rid of that greed if you want Him to get rid of it. And the Holy Spirit made it clear to me that I had to speak it loud and clear tonight. That if there's a spirit of greed or covetousness in your heart, deal with that first and say, Oh Lord, I'm satisfied with what You've done. Just help me reach this goal of being clear of what's pressing me right now. And I stand here and I believe every pastor would say amen with me in this church. We have five pastors here behind me. We believe with everything that's in us that Jesus is interested in your heartbreak. He's interested in your marriage relationship. He's interested in the bills. He feels your pain when you lay down at night and you're facing these unpaid bills. He's concerned about that. He's concerned about your children. You say, my washing machine is broken and I have children and I can't get my wash done. And I don't have the money. The Lord's concerned about that. Yes, He is. He's concerned about every little detail. I don't know about you, but I take every detail of my life to Jesus now. I lay everything down at His feet and I say, Lord Jesus, if you can't do it, it can't be done. Hallelujah. Only God can do it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Well, I told you it's going to be a little different. But I believe the Holy Ghost is here tonight. Would you like to have your face treated? I think I'm going to give a Holy Ghost facelift altar call here. Some of you ladies spent two thousand dollars. You get it free right up here now. That's right. I believe a Christian ought to have a happy face. A joyful face. The joy of the Lord is our strength. That's the only thing you're going to read out there. They're not even looking at your Bible. They're looking at your face. They're looking at your character. Hallelujah. I don't know about you, but I'm happy. I'm redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Now I have a Christ who lives with me 24 hours a day. Hallelujah. Tomorrow is Monday. Get up tomorrow morning and say, thank you, Jesus, you're here. Walk with me, Jesus, all day. Go with me, Jesus. Hallelujah. Let's stand. Stand, please. Now, beloved, the Holy Spirit's here. He wants to meet your heart cry. Some of you in the balcony in here right now on the main floor, you came in tonight. Maybe you're here for the first time or you were here once or twice before. But the Holy Spirit's speaking. I know you laughed at some of the things that I spoke about tonight, but I'm not trying to be funny. I'm trying to make a point that the Lord Jesus wants to affect our whole character. He wants to change us. I want to see Times Square Church, a church where the joy of the Lord is supreme, where we have people that are out on that job. Can you imagine a thousand people out there on the job, all witnessing for Christ by the way they look and carry themselves and their character and their responses? That's the testimony of this church. It's the testimony of whatever church you go to, it should be. But we've been having miracles happen at this altar. If you're backslidden, if you've been cold, been drifting, let's pray. I feel like praying right now. Heavenly Father, send the Holy Ghost right now mightily with conviction. There are people, Lord, that have been struggling, really struggling, O Lord, with you. I wonder how many are there. I'm going to ask you to lift your hand just a minute. I want you to be honest with me. How many of you have to say, David, I've not been careful in my job like I should. I've been careless. Raise your hand, please. Come on, raise it up. There ought to be hundreds. Come on. I've not been what I should be. I've been careless on the job. Not been the testimony I should be. If you feel God be sorry and want to repent, you can join those that come right here now. Stand and say, Lord, I repent. Make me that testimony. If you're here tonight, up in the balcony, go to the exit there, the steps, and come down either aisle. And here on the main floor, while our singers are singing, why don't you come up here? We'll lay hands on you and pray with you and believe the Lord to heal you, bring you back to Jesus' love. Some of you have been drifting. Some of you have grown cold. Some of you are not even right with God tonight. The Lord wants to touch you and heal you tonight. Come on, while they're singing. This is the conclusion of the tape.