In this sermon, the speaker addresses the causes of fear that are prevalent in society. They mention a flood that has occurred in Albania, leading to violence and death among the people. The speaker also discusses a child pornography ring that has been uncovered in France, causing shock and fear among the population. Additionally, the sermon highlights a disturbing incident in a charismatic church where people were seen crawling on all fours with dog leashes around their necks, claiming it to be a revival. The speaker urges the audience to anchor themselves in the Word of God and seek discernment to avoid being swayed by false teachings and fears.

... 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, P.O. Box 260, Lyndale, 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. I thank you, Holy Spirit, for your moving among us this morning. Thank you, Lord, for the sanctifying power of the blood of Jesus. Now sanctify me as I preach your Word. Let me be an oracle of God, and I pray, Lord, that you give us hearing ears to hear, and that the Word of the Lord will go deep into our spirit, and we will be changed by the Word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word. Lord, we're hearing the Word, and as we hear it, let it produce faith in us. God, there are people here this morning, my heavenly Father, that are living in terrible fears, just flooded with fears, and we pray, Lord, that you show them how to get victory to overcome those fears in Jesus' name, that when the service is finished this morning through the power of the Word and the Holy Ghost making it alive, nobody will leave here bound by fear. Break the chains of fear. Hallelujah. Holy Ghost, come down on this meeting. Now let, in a special way that we may hear and understand your Word, in Jesus' name, amen. Overcoming the spirit of fear. Fear, I believe, is one of the most destructive forces on the face of the earth. In fact, fear is Satan's most powerful weapon against God's children. You know that. He's come against you many, many times. The Prophet Isaiah predicted in the last days, fear and the pit and the snare will come upon all the inhabitants of the earth. Isaiah 24, 17. Then he added these words. He said, It shall come to pass that he who flees from the noise of the fear will fall into the pit, and he that comes out of the pit shall be taken in the snare. And here's what the Prophet saw. He saw multitudes in the last days living in a prison of fear, in pits of despair, and snared in trouble and sorrow as no other generation. And the pit in Hebrew means a personal living hell, and the snare means a trapped feeling. And Isaiah is looking at our day and nothing describes our time better than that. Here are people who have the most prosperity and material goods of any generation, and yet they talk about living in a living hell. They talk about being in a hell. They live in constant fear. We have people that are more mobile than any other generation. We have ability to go all over the world. There's more freedom, personal freedom, than any other time, and yet we have people saying, I feel trapped. Beloved, there is a flood, absolute flood of fear upon the world today. In Deuteronomy 28, God enumerates the many curses that come upon idolatrous people, and we are an idolatrous generation. And here is one of the curses enumerated in Deuteronomy 28. The Lord shall give you a trembling heart and failing of the eyes, sorrow of mind, and you shall live in fear night and day. That's part of the curse of idolatry. That's the curse on the United States right now and all other modern societies on the face of the earth that have forgotten God. We have removed God from our schools, from our courts. In Alabama right now, there's a fight with a federal, with one of the judges, because he's got a carving over his, at the back of his desk, with the Ten Commandments. And the federal government's trying to have that removed, and they're trying to sue him. Thank God the governor said, if I have to, I'm going to have troops outside. The army is going to have to fight us to get it down. But you know, there is, there is a, because of this godlessness, the Lord says the curse that comes upon your idolatry and your God-forsakingness, he said you're going to live in fear night and day, constantly. Isaiah warned, the enemy shall come in then like a flood. And we see that happening. Daniel prophesying about the last day said, and the end thereof shall be with a flood. The end of time is going to close with a flood. And we'll talk about how the devil's going to send that flood out against the church. Now we know that Satan's a robber, he's a thief. He's trying to rob the whole world of all peace. He's a destroyer, and he wants to bring absolute chaos. He wants to bring fear and anxiety and perplexity upon the whole earth. In fact, the Bible, Jesus said, in the last days men's hearts would what? Fail them for fear, watching those things coming upon the earth. Fear and perplexity on all side. Picked up the New York Times on Wednesday, and let me give you just a few of the causes of fear sweeping the world today. This is March 14th. Jordanian soldiers kill seven Israeli schoolgirls. I'm sure you read about it. The shooting took place in a patch of land that's shared both by Jews and Arabs. It's a neutral ground, and ironically it's called the island of peace. And in this little island of peace, a busload of schoolgirls, Israeli schoolgirls get out there taking pictures. They're being taught about nature, and suddenly a wild Jordanian gunman with a K-47 comes and starts mauling them. Killed seven girls and wounded seven others. And the picture there is of their schoolmates rolling on the ground, groaning and screaming in grief at the sight of their schoolmates being killed. And all of Israel is in fear. Jordanians are in fear. The Jordanian president has apologized, but the Jordanians now feel fear, retaliation, and so the whole Mideast right now is in fear. The same day on the front page, New York Times, March 14, fear strikes Albania. And the capital city, Tyrrhenia, is crumbling. It's fallen into anarchy. The whole nation suddenly overnight has gone into anarchy. The authorities have flung open the weapons storehouses, and they're giving guns and ammunition free to the citizens, and people are shooting in all directions. People are afraid to leave their homes. They have broken down all of the warehouses and stolen the food, and people walking with hundred-pound packs of sacks of flour, and they're locking themselves into their homes, and people are afraid to go out of their houses, trying to just survive it. Army tanks in the streets. The whole nation of Albania, a whole nation overnight goes into terror and anarchy overnight. Fear, the Bible says, coming on all sides, like a flood. It's just a flood came into Albania overnight, and now people who used to sit together and work together are shooting one another. Over 50 have been killed, I understand. The same page. You see, this is one newspaper, one day, and you get it every day. The causes of fear. Here is from page four. The French police arrested 250 men linked to a child pornography ring. Fear has gripped all of France. Shock, indignation, because the police confiscated 5,000 videocassettes featuring child molestation. The 250 that were jailed included two school principals, two teachers, and the others were workers with children, and fear has come upon the people because all walks of life were involved. Most of the people involved in making the films, producing them, and distributing them were all professionals. And there's fear now because so many children have been kidnapped and being used in these films. Child molestation. The whole nation is shocked and indignant overnight. A nation plunged into fear. Jesus summed it all up. Upon the earth, distress with perplexity, and men's hearts failing them for fear. In the New Testament, the Bible said the church is likened to a woman, a bride. And the Bible says it very clear in Revelation 12, 15. The serpents are cast out of his mouth, water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And according to the scripture, this flood is going to be against the Holy Remnant, against God's chosen people, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now, how is the devil going to do that? The Bible says he's going to cast out of his mouth a flood. This is a flood of lies. A flood of lies against the Church of Jesus Christ, against everyone who is a follower of Christ, and those who walk under the anointing of the Holy Ghost. And beloved, you can get ready. There is a flood coming. You're going to have Satan come against you in these last days, especially if you're part of the Holy Remnant. You have a heart set for God. You're seeking his face with everything in you. You're a marked person, and he's going to cast out of his mouth, the Bible says, against the remnant, against the bride, against this woman taken into the wilderness. He's going to spit out of his mouth a flood, trying to carry you away. He's going to try to carry you away in a flood of fears based on his lies. And we'll talk about that today. Jesus said, let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And when you go into the New Testament, you'll find Jesus trying to encourage us not to be afraid, no matter what the devil tries to send. He said, fear not, be not afraid, fear not little flock. All through the New Testament, all through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you'll hear Jesus say, don't be afraid, fear not, don't be troubled. My little flock, don't you find it all through the epistles, the Holy Ghost speaking to his church, don't be afraid. But sadly and truly, there are many Christians that live just as fearfully as those they work with who are not saved. There is as much fear in some churches among some Christians as there is out there on the streets. Jesus said, we're not to fear what the world fears. Isaiah said, don't let their fear be your fear. Don't let their dread be your dread. Let the Lord be your fear and let your Lord be your dread. But you're not to fear their kind of fear. Jesus said, don't take any thought what you eat, what you shall drink, or what you shall wear. He said, those are the fears of the Gentiles. But he said, not you. Your Father knows how to take care of you. He's taking care of the lilies. Those fears are not to be in your heart. You're not to fear the loss of the economy. You're not to fear unemployment. You're not to fear anything having to do with food on your table, clothes on your back, a roof over your head. You're not to fear those things. Those are the fears of the world. They fear social unrest. They feel economic collapse. They fear all of these things, losing their job. Everyone around you is afraid of losing their job. That should not be your fear. We have many people that have been unemployed. God's given them new jobs. He's provided all through their unemployment. They've never missed a meal. Never missed a meal. That is not your fear. That is not my fear. Lord said, you're not. He said, neither fear ye their fears, nor be afraid. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. But we as Christians have our own kinds of fears. I want to talk just about two of those kinds of fears. There are many of them. I could go on to the fear of man and so many personal fears, but I want to talk about two fears in particular. If you really love Jesus with all your heart, there's a perplexity that is sweeping the whole church world. Tremendous perplexity about infiltrators, deceivers, that have come into the house of God to destroy. If you love the Lord, you have got to be astounded, amazed, and hurt, and grieved at what you see and hear is creeping into the church of Jesus Christ under the name of the Holy Ghost or under the name of revival. And there's fear and perplexity. I have people from all the United States send me tapes now. I get letters, and they say, Pastor Dave, please, you've got to tell us whether this is of God or whether this is the devil or of the flesh. We don't know. The Bible says there's no prophet among them anymore. There are no prophets out there that's standing up and exposing that which is the flesh and the devil. And so people write, and they say, could you tell us? And they send us tapes, and I look at these tapes, and I can't believe what I see. On one tape this past week, I look at a charismatic church. This is supposed to be a great revival, and I see people in the front of the church and up and down the aisles on all fours with a dog leash around their neck and somebody holding the leash, and he's crawling around on all floors. There's one over here, one over here. They're crawling around on dog leashes, and the congregation is saying, where he leads me, I will follow, as if the Holy Ghost is the dog. Jesus is the dog. And I look at the people, and I listen to the woman who's leading this, and she said, this is revival. Two of the leading leaders of the Laughing Revival. If I named them, you would be shocked. Right on the tape, I saw it, Pastor Carter saw it. They are on stage before thousands of people, and they are telling jokes to one another in tongues, laughing, their eyes open, slapping each other on the back. And I say to myself, where is all the discernment? Look at those hundreds and hundreds of people clapping, laughing, blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Blasphemy. Another account just came to me this, just two, three days ago. Here's a woman in one of the well-known revivals, and she gets up, and she's shaking uncontrollably, and the pastor's interviewing her, and she is saying, this is a new work of the Holy Spirit. This shaking, he's going to shake everybody because the new work of the Holy Spirit is come now to shake out sin. And I'm sitting there, and there are Pentecostal and even Assembly God pastors sitting there, and friends of mine that I know, and a whole congregation going crazy, and I'm saying to myself, wait a minute, I'm screaming inside, wait a minute. Doesn't anybody hear what she said? The Holy Ghost is going to shake out sin. Where is the blood? You don't say, sin is not shaken out, it's blotted out by the blood of Jesus Christ. This past week, Life Magazine has a story of a church that I'm familiar with, San Francisco Glide Memorial United Methodist Church. The pastor has just removed the cross from the sanctuary because he calls it offensive. Pastor Cecil Williams said, I am convinced the cross will not save humanity, humanity will redeem the cross. In fact, you and I are the cross, he said. The church has psychedelic happenings. Drag queens and Jews and atheists feel very comfortable sitting because they have no doctrine, no dogma. The babies are baptized in the name of the fathers and mothers in humanity, and their street workers and evangelists go out passing out condoms, and they are so packed you can't get a seat. Beloved, it's going to get worse. We are going to see and hear of the most bizarre, wicked, vile things, and all called in the name of Jesus Christ, all called an awakening of the Spirit. Go to Psalm 74 quickly, please. Psalm 74, I want to show you something. This has all been prophesied. Psalm 74. Folks, I've been preaching this particular text that I'm leading you to now, showing you I've been preaching this for 15 years. I started prophesying about this 15 years ago. Start in verse 4, Psalm 74, verse 4. Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations. They set up their enzymes for signs. In other words, they move right into the house of God and set up their program. A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. In other words, the most famous among them are going to be those with an axe in hand and a hammer. But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. That's everything that was sacred, everything that was holy, carved out by years of true doctrine, years of the workings of the Holy Spirit. Here these men come in with axes and their hammers and they start chopping. They have cast fire into the sanctuary. They have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. They said in their hearts, let us destroy them together. They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. We see not our signs. There's no more prophet. Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. Hey folks, look at me please. This is where we're at right now in the United States and around the world. We have infiltrators. We have false prophets. Didn't the Lord warn us that there would come false Christ? There would come angels of light. There would be doctrines of demons. And folks, that is what we see now. Doctrines of demons and people. There's going to be such a confused picture of Jesus. There's going to be a Jesus created that's just like man, that he can joke. He has no burden, but he laughs. This is going to be a Jesus that can be accepted even by the Antichrist. David asked what people been asking me. I've had numbers say recently, how long do you think God's going to put up with all this foolishness? And that's what it is. It's plain foolishness. If it's not, in some areas where it's not deception, or whether it's not blasphemy, it's utter silly foolishness. It's a charismatic circus. And people have said, how long is God going to put up with? When is he going to deal with the leaders? When is he going to deal with these blinded shepherds? David asked the same question. Oh God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever? Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached you, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. Oh, deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove into the multitude of the wicked. Forget not the congregation of thy poor. David cried out, oh God, how long? And beloved, that is the perplexity. It's not so much a fear, but a perplexity that is sweeping over the holy remnant, the grief of God, the pain that so many feel. You know, I can tell when people are really walking in the Holy Ghost and have intimacy with Jesus and are walking fully in the discerning eye of the Holy Ghost, because when they see and hear these things, they bow their head and they begin to cry silently. They feel the pain of God. And then others I see, they'll watch some of this stuff and they say, isn't that wonderful? Because they perk up because they want to see something exciting. They're not satisfied in Jesus. And the first thing, I'm sitting there thinking to myself, what, how God must feel the grief. And then I see another preacher sitting there by watching the same thing. Not any of our staff, but I've seen this. Literally, they're saying to themselves, I'm going to get on a plane. I'm going right there. I'm going to see it. Where is the discernment, the absolute discernment? Let me tell you why I believe so many Christians are being so easily deceived. Let me tell you why. And if you'll hear me now in the Spirit, you need never again in your lifetime with Christ ever fear deception. I know many of you have that fear. I have a number of people write to me and say, well, look, I don't want to be deceived. And they have a fear that their pastor will bring something and this is what happens. I'm afraid my pastor will bring something in and try to convince me it's of God. And we have pastors that get up suddenly and say, everything is changing in this church. And overnight they bring it in. But let me tell you something. If you're visiting, whether you're from this church or any other church, let me tell you how people are deceived. And if you hear it, you need never fear deception again in your lifetime. Listen, please. Deception is the curse upon those who have habitually neglected prayer and the Word of God. The leaders of these aberrations, the leaders of all of these false things that are happening, are not men of prayer. You'll find them on a golf course. You'll find them gadding about, but you won't find them shut in the secret place. And they've been given over to this because they turned away from the Holy of Holies and they've gone into the flesh. They are not men of prayer. They don't know their Bibles because they're not into the Bible. They don't take time with the Word. They're on their motorcycles, they're in their cars, they're gadding about, they eat most of the time, and they don't have the anointing. They don't have the touch of God. And so they get up and they attract people like themselves, those who habitually, who have a habit of neglecting God and His Word. Let me tell you something. There are people in this church hearing me right now, balcony, all around me. Not one time last week did you open your Bible. Not one half hour did you shut yourself in with Jesus to get to know Him better and to love Him and just share with Him. There are some of you who have developed a habit. You don't even know how. No amount of preaching to this pulpit, no amount of Holy Ghost conviction is going to change you because you don't have a drug habit, you don't have a smoking habit, you don't have an alcohol habit, but you have a habit of neglect. It has become a habit and you don't know how to break it. You do not read the Word of God. You are not a student of this book. You don't go through the book of Psalms. You don't go through the Gospels. You don't go here to look for Jesus. You don't have your Bible underlined. You're not pouring into this book. It sits there. It's not opened. And you think, I will, I will, but you don't. You have time for television, you have time for everything else, but you don't read your book. You don't pray. And some of the only contact you have with Jesus is here at Times Square Church. You come here, you get to say, well, I get, I get, I'll come to all three services. That gives me three hours with the Lord. Or two-hour services, that gives me six hours a day on Sunday. I spend six hours with Jesus. I spend two hours Tuesday night. I go to prayer meeting. That's the only contact you have. That's not enough. And I'll tell you what, you continue on that way, and sooner or later, deception is going to come in. You're going to be deceived. You're going to turn to the flesh. You know what really bothers, what, what, what really grieves me? There are some of you, and I'm going to say it as lovingly as I know how, but it has to be said. I talk to you as a pastor now, and I'm going to talk to you with this greatest love that a spiritual father can give you. Some of you have been sitting here for three, four, five years. Some of them, maybe just a year. You gave your heart to Jesus. You love Him. You weep. You cry. You praise the Lord. Then you go right out the door, you light up a cigarette. You're blowing smoke in Jesus' face. And some of you are still drinking. This church takes a stand against smoking, against drinking, against pornography, against sexual perversions and sins and adultery and fornication. I accidentally bumped into a few of you this week with the cigarette in your hand. I didn't condemn you. I didn't put you down. I'm saying, why aren't you trusting God for victory, to be the testimony? It's not a testimony for you to come out these doors and stand out there smoking. By the way, if you're going to light up, go at least five blocks away from the church, please. You tell me you love Jesus. He's Lord of your life. You're still drinking. Because you see, if you hold on to your cigarettes, you hold on to these things, you've still given the devil a place in your heart. And that's going to lead you right on down till finally you go all the way back to your old ways. You can't be healed of any emotional problem until you're healed of these physical habits. Those have to go first and then will come your other healings that you need in your life. Was that loving enough? My people have forgotten me days without number. Now, many of you are familiar with that verse, my people have forgotten me days without number, but have you ever looked at the next verse, the curse that goes with that? And this is why you see people running all over the nation looking for something for the flesh? Why gaddest thou about so much to change your ways? Why do you gad about? He said, if you're not going to seek me with all your heart, if you're not going to be anchored in my word, you're going to become a gadabout. And you're going to go out seeking for something. And then, Hosea, the twelfth chapter, first verse, the curse is fully explained. He said, Ephraim feeds on wind and follows after the east wind. The east means cultic. In fact, that is the connotation of east in Greek, or rather in Hebrew. All the eastern cults, Taoism, Hinduism, all the gurus and swamis come from the east. He said, you're going to chase the exotic. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. You're going to become a gadabout. The wind is going to carry you about for every wind and wave of doctrine. And he said, you're going to chase the east wind. You're going to go to mysticism. You're going to go to all of these things. Folks, I beg you in the name of the Lord, get into the word and get anchored. Not just hearing sermons in church, but get into this book. Get your soul anchored, so that all the winds and waves of doctrine, you'll have your own discernment. You don't need a preacher or a prophet. You have it in your own. You'll know it. Get on your knees before God and ask him to reveal that which is holy and that which is profane. Glory to God. The Lord wants a people that are strong in these last days. The second fear that I want to deal with is the fear of falling into sin. The fear of failing God after all the striving and the struggle to be a Christian, that somehow in the end I will fail. And this is a fear that's very prevalent. Recently I had a young minister who'd been saved from drugs for 15 years come to my office. And he said, Brother Dave, see this young man had been saved through our ministry to drug addicts. And he had a ministry to drug addicts and alcoholics, very successful. Both he and his wife very active in it. And he said, I had to come to tell you face-to-face. I didn't want to hear you to hear it from anybody else. But he said, I'm back on heroin. And he said, I've been on heroin for a year while I'm still in my ministry. But I couldn't live that double life. He said, I've lost that ministry. And he said, I just had to sit here face-to-face because I love this young man. I've loved him and ministered with him for many, many years. Precious young man. He's probably near 50 years of age now. I've helped him, loved him. I didn't condemn him. I said, I love you just as much as I did before I knew this. He said, Pastor, the hard part now is I have to go home today tell my 16 year old son that his dad hooked again on heroin, went back to heroin. He said, and then this afternoon or tomorrow, I have to go to all my men, former drug addicts in my program, and I've got to tell them that their shepherd has fallen. Now, I know the pain. He just wept, concerned about his son. And I know that those men in his program will forgive him. I know they'll say, God bless you for being honest. But I know one thing, everyone I'm going to be thinking, everyone they're going to say to themselves, if my shepherd can't make it, how am I going to make it? It's going to bring fear on all of those men. They're going to be absolutely afraid. And I begin to pray in my spirit, Oh God, keep by your spirit, keep by your power. But see, there's a fear of falling. And the Bible predicts in the last days, there'll come a falling away, a great falling away. And we're seeing that falling away. I've been preaching since I was a boy. And I'll say, I have never seen so many people falling as there are now. Ministers, ministers' wives, Christians who've walked with God for years are failing and falling in later years. Many of them in their 60s, some of them in their 70s, who spent a lifetime and now they're turning back to their old ways suddenly, just gone. This past week, I'm absolutely shocked that some of my friends and acquaintances have been in ministry for years, and some that I have helped and prayed with, and many saved under our ministry, and now they're tottering, wondering if they're even going to serve the Lord anymore. And this has brought a fear to so many people. When some of the famous evangelists went down, I remember one night, we were down at the other theater, down at the Nederlander Theater, and I had to get up and announce, because I had just been informed that the second evangelist was going to be exposed that night on Ted Koppel's show, because Mr. Koppel's director had called me just a few hours before the service. And I had to get up, and some of you were there, and I said, tonight, some of you are going to be blown away, but I have to warn you and tell you that at 10 o'clock tonight, you're going to hear of one of America's most famous evangelists being exposed. And the congregation, there was wailing, there was crying, there was weeping on all sides, and after the service, I went in the lobby and I was bombarded. One man said, no, he said, I sold my house to help that man. I've spent thousands of dollars, don't tell me. Then he raised his hand, he said, who can make it then? Who's going to make it if famous evangelists are not going to make it? How am I exposed? How am I exposed? I heard that that night everywhere. How do I make it, brother David? How do I make it? I said, look, all of us have not fallen. I said, get your eyes on Jesus, don't get your eyes on man, get your eyes on the Lord. But you're going to hear more and more of that. Let me talk to you about that fear that some of you have here right now, the fear of failing God, the fear many of you have of not measuring up to God, the fear that somehow the enemy in this flood that's coming is going to carry you away and that you'll fail God in the last moment. Let me give you God's desire for you, first of all, that he would grant unto us, this is Luke 2, 74 and 75, that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. Now look at me, please. God's desire for every one of us is that we live the Christian life without any fear, all the days of our life, to walk in holiness and righteousness without fear. Fear has torment, and the devil can get you afraid, afraid of man, afraid of falling, afraid that the church is going to collapse, afraid that the deceptions are going to sweep you away. No, no, no, no. He said his plan for every one of us is that we live without fear all the days of our life. That's his plan. He said, I'm not giving you the spirit of fear. My desire is to give you holiness and righteousness by faith so you can live out your days without fear. But now let me come to the key in the heart of my message. It's just, I need just a few moments to bring you to the heart of what I want to say to you, how to overcome these fears and perplexities. I want you to go with me to Psalm 93. You're still with me, aren't you? Psalm 93. Beloved, I was, this past week, I was contemplating this message and thinking of all the things that are happening and all the fearful, fearful things that are sweeping. And folks, just on Monday, I got 7,500 letters. On one day, 7,500. Because our meting list now is near 800,000. And just Monday, there were 7,500 pieces of mail. And most of them a letter, a note. Many, many of them with letters and notes. And sometimes in one week, 15,000. And this fear that has gripped people. And when I read many of these letters, I thought, oh God, there has to be something that you give us. I want you to give me something. And I, this is just a few nights ago, and I was about midnight, about to go to bed, and a Holy Ghost spoke to me. Clearly, not an audible voice, but that wonderful, still, small voice. And said, David, the answer is in Psalm 93. I'm going to give you the key so that you don't ever be afraid about my church. It's my church, and I'm going to take care of it. And I'm going to move when I have to move. And I'm going to do what I have to do. And you're not to be afraid of my church. I'll purge it when I want to purge it. I'll clean it up when I'm ready to clean it up. You don't be afraid of that. But to give the people, and for your own self, a simple picture. God, I'm so stupid up here. I'm so hard to get it. I have to tell God. I have to speak to this. I'm so dumb. You're going to have to make that so simple a third grader can understand it. I'm going to help you understand in very simple terms how you can overcome your fears. No big, fanciful theological scheme. Simple, childlike. Verse 3, the floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves. Now you what God's saying, look at me. God's saying, you're going to have floods. The enemy will come against you, and it's going to rise. He said, it's going to be noisy. It's like when I was in Florida last last week. I was on the beach there, and the wind was blowing. It was rather warm, but all night long, left the window open. You can hear these big waves pounding the beach, pounding the beach. The tide was coming in, and he said, the noise, there's going to be wave after wave. The waters are going to rise. The waters are going to rise, and you're going to see fear on all side. You're going to have trouble. You're going to have perplexity. There's going to be fear. The floods have lifted up, O Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves. Now, how? Look at me, please. How do you deal with this flood? When fears come in and flood your mind, when you think you're going down, when you think you're not going to make it, when you think you're going to fail God, or you've not measured up, when the enemy comes in and tells you that you're unworthy, you're unholy, you're no good, you'll never get it, what do you do when the enemy comes in like a flood? You see, the Lord raises up a standard. Let me show you what that standard is. Look at verse 1. The Lord reigneth. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself. Look at me, please. That word gird is a military term. It means to get clothed for battle and put on your sword and go forth. And here's what God is saying. When the Lord is picturing the flood, it's coming in on his people, and the Heavenly Father says to his Son, to Christ, who's King, who sits ruler, he is King of the flood. That's what the Bible said. He's King of the flood. The Lord on high is King of the flood. Here it is. The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself, and he's put on his armor and set for battle. Look at me, please. I'm gonna put it in one little paragraph for you. This is the only way I see for Christians to overcome their fears. You have to have a clear vision, a clear vision that your Lord and Savior is standing by, His eyes on your flood, His eyes on you. You have to have a clear vision of what God has promised here. I have not ignored you. I see where you're at. I see what you're going through. Look at me, he says. I have girded myself. I put on my armor. I have my sword in hand. And then read what it says, verse 4. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. God says, get your eyes off the flood. Get it on me. I've got my sword in hand. I am more powerful. I am mightier than all your floods. I'm bigger than all your fears. Get your eyes off your fears. He said, I've girded myself. I, that hit me. I could hardly sleep. I pictured my Lord standing over me, sword in hand. He knows how far it can go and no further. He'll come and slay the dragon in his time. He's saying, now you just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. You just put your trust in me right now. Don't be afraid. I've girded myself with strength. Folks, you can't fight the devil in your own power. You can't win the battle against sin. You can't defeat your habits. You've got to know in your spirit and you have to have this clear in your mind. I serve a mighty God who has a sword in hand. He's my strength. He's my delivery. He's going to bring me through. God will bring me out. I'm not going down. He's promised to keep me from falling and present me faultless before his throne with exceeding great joy. Now, one last verse before I close. Go to Psalm 69. Psalm 69. Beloved, every time a fear comes at you, take Psalm 93 and read it and read it and read it until you see it good. Now, do you have Psalm 69? Will you all stand with me please with your Bibles open? If you have King James, will you read with me please? First three verses. Are you ready? Do you believe the word that faith comes by hearing the word? Let's begin. Save me, O God, for the waters are come into my soul. I sink in deep mire where there's no standing. I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying. My throat is dried. My eyes fail while I wait for my God. Now, look at me please. You're going to go to one other verse, one other passage, but this is what the Lord spoke to my heart that many here this morning and those hearing me are at this place right now. The waters have come in. You're sinking. There's no standing. Deep floods of fear overwhelming you. You're so weary of crying. You have no more tears. Your eyes fail for waiting on God. Just say, when will God move? All right. Turn left to Psalm 32, and this will close. Psalm 32. And I want you to read aloud with me. As soon as the rustling of the leaves stop. Psalm 32, beginning with verse 5 through 8. Are you ready? I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou mayest be found, surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place. Thou shall preserve me from trouble. Thou shall compass me about with songs of deliverance. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shall go. I will guide thee with mine eye. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Close your Bibles. Put your Bibles down and raise your hands and thank God for Jesus who stands by your side, sword in hand, ready to deliver you from all your fears. Lord, we give you glory. We give you thanks for your utter faithfulness. You are our strength. You are our deliverer. We have no power of our own. We have no strength. It's yours. We turn to you, Lord, in full confidence, in faith, in trust. My God shall deliver me from my fears. He who is girded with strength, he with sword in hand, will deliver me from my enemies. All my fears, the floods shall not overwhelm me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Well, I was just speaking to you. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart about the invitation just now. I'm to ask those in the balcony, the main floor, and anyone in this building hearing me right now, if you've lost your peace, you have a troubled soul, you have a troubled mind, I want you to bring it here to this altar right now. We're going to bring Jesus to deliver you. If you're not right with God, if you're backslidden, I want you to come with these that are coming right now. Up in the balcony, go to stairs on either side and come down any aisle and meet me here at the front. We're going to bring God to deliver you right now. If you've lost your peace, if you have trouble in your mind or your spirit, you're just troubled. You say, Brother Wilkinson, I have been troubled. I have no peace. There's something that's troubled me. My peace has been disturbed. I want you to come. The Lord has promised to give you peace, his peace. Come in faith right now. Lord bless you wherever you're at. There'll be many coming. Please move in close if you will, please. Hallelujah. Up in the balcony, behind stage, wherever you're at, bring it to the Lord. Listen to this. I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence come with my help. My help comes from the Lord. He will not allow your foot to be moved. He will keep you and he will not slumber. He that keepeth this will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord thy keeper, the Lord is your shade upon your right hand. The sun will not smite thee by day nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth even forever. Hallelujah. He will keep us by his grace. Hallelujah. I want everybody that came forward to raise both hands, lift up your hands. I would mean everyone lift holy hands and I want you to pray this from your heart right now. Jesus, I need peace. I need you to come by the power of your Holy Spirit. Cleanse me. Sanctify me. Take away from my heart all desire for sin. Break my habits. Take all my habits. Cleanse my flesh. Cleanse my spirit. I need you Lord. I desire you with all my heart. Come now Lord with forgiving power and cleansing power. Heal my spirit. Heal my mind. Give me your peace. Now let me pray for you. Father, I come against the spirit of fear. You said I've not given you this spirit. We don't have to endure it because you have delivered us from all fear. If we will step up by faith now. Lord, I pray for those that are standing in front of me now. Just absolutely bound by fear. They're afraid to even come to you Jesus because they fear that they have so grieved the Holy Ghost. Some that feel that they have failed you so bad. They feel like phonies. They feel like hypocrites. They feel like it's no use going on. But Lord, encourage them right now that you're there to help. If they'll depend on you, turn to you by faith and give up on their flesh and say, Jesus, you're going to have to do this. I'm going to trust you. I'm going to trust you. I have all the power that I need. Lord, break the powers of the devil. Break the power of his lies. God bring deliverance through confession. Deliverance through repentance. Say this with me. Jesus, I repent of everything that I've done. Contrary to your law and your love, forgive me and give me power to endure and to overcome in Jesus name. And I want you to believe that that power comes from him. I want you to listen. That's what I'm going to do this afternoon. You don't have the power in yourself, but that power is available to you through the Holy Spirit. And that's an act of confidence and trust in what he said he will do. Hallelujah. Now, Jesus, keep these that have come forward. For those, Lord, that have been backslidden, those, Lord, that didn't know you, they've confessed their sins. I heard them. You said of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. If we confess our sins with our mouth and believe in our heart, we shall be saved. Lord, I take that to be truth. I take your word as fact. So let us stand on that now in Jesus name. Now, look here, please. If you're here for the first time, we're not asking you to join this church because we don't have a membership. But I'm asking you, if you want to grow in the Lord, get involved in our new believers classes. You can get information back at the table, back in the rotunda, and get involved in getting trained and into the word, get patterns to read. And folks, my closing word to the whole congregation. I say this to the choir and everybody on stage, to myself, to all of us. If you will stay in this, you make up your mind right now. If you've been neglecting the word, ask God to forgive you right now. He will, he'll forgive you and say, Lord, break this habit of neglect because it's a habit. And once it sets in, it's hard to break. But if you will go, whether you feel like it or not, and you set your heart and say, God, you're going to have to help me with this because I can't do it in my flesh. Folks, I know preachers who don't read this book at all, except to go to get a sermon. I know preachers who don't pray. I talked to, in fact, the young man, young preacher who came to me who fell, I looked him right now. I said, I'll tell you why you went back to drugs. I said, for two years before you fail, you didn't read this book. You weren't praying. You weren't seeking God. And he bowed his head and Christ said, you're right. He said, I totally neglected the Lord. I got too busy. That's why he fell. And that's how you'll fall. So ask God to put it in your heart now that you're going to be a student of this. I'm asking you to read five chapters from the Psalms every day. I'm asking you to read at least two chapters from the new Testament, the old Testament every day. You should be going through this book. You should be reading it every year. You should be going right through this book and you should know it. That'll keep you in the flood that's coming. Hallelujah. Father, give us a church. Give us a church that is diligent in the study of your word, diligent in prayer daily, quiet, private, secret closet praying, not just all night prayer meetings, not just prayer meetings in the church, but alone shut in with God. So they come to this house prepared, ready to stand against any flood in Jesus name. Amen. This is the conclusion of the tape.