In this sermon, Pastor Jim Symbola of the Brooklyn Tabernacle emphasizes the importance of preaching the gospel in a time when people are realizing the uncertainty of tomorrow. He highlights the reality of evil and the need for people to believe in God and prayer. Pastor Symbola describes his church as a diverse congregation representing the melting pot of New York City, with members from various nations and backgrounds. Despite the trend of churches leaving the inner city, his church remains committed to serving the community and experiencing a fruitful harvest.

Hello and welcome to Choices for Life, the radio ministry of Choices Medical Clinic. Choices for Life is sponsored by Cooper Malone McLean of Wichita, an investment firm that believes in the sanctity of life and the healing ministry of Choices Medical Clinic. During this next half hour, we will bring you up to date with current events of interest to the pro-life community. We will also introduce you to a prominent pro-life personality. Proclaiming the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, this is Choices for Life. For our Life Issues in the News segment, Tim Wiesner has an encouraging perspective on the nation's current trouble with terrorism. He will also complete his two-part interview with Jim Cimbala, the pastor of New York City's Brooklyn Tabernacle. I'm producer Brian Fitzgerald. Now, here is your host of Choices for Life, Tim Wiesner, the executive director of Choices Medical Clinic in Wichita. The House of Representatives has been closed for the first time in history. Cipro overtook Viagra as the drug of choice on internet sites. Donald Trump is reportedly buying parachutes. Time Magazine reports that we are definitely looking at a nation on the couch. In an article titled, Anthrax Attacks Signal War on Psyches by Geraldine Seeley, she reports that experts say whoever is behind the recent anthrax scares, and there is no known connection with the September 11 attacks, may be accomplishing exactly what they set out to do. They are inducing confusion and psychological distress, a good definition of terrorism. In a recent ABC News poll, 65 percent said they were worried about the anthrax situation, with a third saying they were worried a great deal. And 54 percent said they were worried that they or a loved one might become infected. In waging psychological warfare, the bioterrorists are manipulating our fears by posing risks of unknown and potentially deadly consequences to a large population of Americans, even if the actual casualties are limited in number. People are led to expect that disaster may strike randomly and regardless of their ability to prevent it or prepare for it. Creating this expectation of random vulnerability is the necessary condition for widespread hysteria. Also necessary for widespread panic is making the privileged feel as vulnerable as the lower rungs of society. We've had our sense of safety and security profoundly shaken, says Dr. Donald B. Colson, a psychoanalyst in Kansas City. That's even more of a problem when people have been previously severely traumatized in their lives. One of his clients, a Holocaust survivor, is suddenly having old nightmares again. Another, a boy who was badly bullied in an early grade, has his school phobia back. Many clients are having dreams about being kidnapped. The initial reaction had an overwhelming degree of sadness in it, says Colson, but the fear was there from the beginning and will be with us for a long time. Fear often leads to anger and that can lead couples who are already fighting to argue even more. When depressed and feeling isolated, people can lash out if they feel their spouses are not reacting in the same way as they are to the tragedy. One individual stayed at home during the day and was exposed all day to the TV. Now, that could really be deadly, but when the spouse came home and wanted to talk about the news, she didn't want to talk about it. It created a serious problem. Also abounding are rumors about the World Trade Center, and the problem with dismissing all of the World Trade Center rumors is that not all of them are fiction. Some stories that initially seemed ludicrous, such as a downtown Starbucks charging frantic rescue workers $130 for three cases of bottled water the day of the disaster, George Bush being targeted for assassination at the G8 Summit, a pair of bound and severed hands being found near Ground Zero, those rumors turned out to be true. The pace of information delivery has also created serious misunderstandings. The rumor that September 22nd would be a Muslim Day of Terror and that Boston was specifically targeted came from a good source, John Ashcroft himself. The Attorney General even called the mayor of Boston and the acting governor of Massachusetts to warn them of possible attacks. The following day, the FBI rescinded the warning, saying it was based on bad intelligence. If you missed a beat in the news cycle, you were misinformed. As long as the news keeps happening quickly and a sense of helplessness looms over the culture, the rumors will keep coming. Next, for a different perspective, I resume my interview with Pastor Jim Cimbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. That's our host, Tim Wiesner. Don't miss his interview with Jim Cimbala, pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, with good news of spiritual revival among the people of New York after the attack on their city. After this... You are listening to Choices For Life. We are happy to again bring you Jim Cimbala, the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. He has some good news to share during this time of crisis in New York City. Here is Pastor Jim Cimbala. Now is the time for preaching the gospel because people are realizing that tomorrow isn't guaranteed. People are realizing that you can be having coffee and a bagel on the 85th floor of an office building one morning and have moments to live. People are realizing that you can't take a thing with you because it's obvious that those who perished not only didn't know it was their last day on earth, but they left everything behind. So thoughts about eternity, heaven, judgment, evil, the existence of evil. People who don't believe in evil believe in evil now. People who said God and prayer are not words to be talked about must be hiding under some kind of rock now because everybody is praying and talking about God. In my interpretation from the Bible of these events, this is a very special moment of harvest, not just in New York, but in Kansas and every place else where churches want to arise and do God's work. Well, you're giving us quite a spiritual lesson there. Before I ask you my next question, would you tell our listeners a little bit about the makeup of your church? It's an inner city church made up of every nation that you could imagine, every color. Predominantly minorities from America or from the West Indies or Puerto Rico or South America or Taiwan and Caucasians, but it represents the melting pot that is called New York City. Since we're downtown in a poor area, it represents the inner city in an outstanding way. So in a day and age when a lot of churches are trying to leave the inner city, you're more than happy to be there and really finding a ripe harvest. Yes. Any of those people who come to our church, some African American cleaning lady who let's say is very poor, she's just as precious to God as President Bush is. That's right. So yes, we count it a privilege to be there. One of the signs of the impotence of the Christian church, the modern Christian church in America, is that we have fled the inner cities where sin is abounding instead of believing that grace would even more abound, we've just bounded out of the area and said, well, our little church systems and our comfortable American lives can't really be carried on in such an environment, so let's go where the grass is supposedly greener. That's sad because what is produced is huge inner cities and all of the world is becoming more urban and citified. It's produced these new mission fields of downtown Chicago and Boston and Philadelphia and so on and so forth where instead of the gospel being preached by Christian churches that are powerful in their witness, New Age and cults and every other kind of thing are dominating. A lot of these New Age and cults are moving into the churches that have been fled by the Christians that used to attend. Exactly. I think I read in your first book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, that your church was comprised as well of homosexuals and transvestites and gang members. Oh, yes. My wife has a four time Grammy award winning choir made up of 275 members, although she's never studied music and can't read or write music technically. In that choir, which represents kind of a microcosm of the church, you name the problem, you name the sin, doctors and lawyers standing next to people who have served time in jail or have been drug addicts or came from homosexual lifestyles, but all celebrating the freedom and salvation, peace and joy that we find through Jesus Christ. So tell me then, with such a wide diversity there and so many people of varying degrees of faith or their relationship with Christ, I assume there must have been a large number as well that were angry and that were wondering where God was when this tragedy occurred. No, I haven't even felt that among unbelievers in this city. To this moment, there's still a wounding. All these weeks later, there's more a sense of sadness and remorse and shock and stunned kind of silence, more than retribution and let's go over there and wipe out people in Afghanistan and so on and so forth. And among the believers, I haven't felt any of that. Hey, these are facts of life. We were attacked in Pearl Harbor, you know, in World War II. We were dragged into World War I. There will be wars and rumors of wars and it's unfortunate we cry with those who cry, but there haven't been a lot of thoughts of retribution and vengeance. Ken Wiesner will return with Pastor Jim Cimbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle after this important message. Choices Medical Clinic at 538 South Buckley in Wichita, Kansas is the only pro-life medical clinic in the nation located directly next door to a late-term abortionist. Choices Medical Clinic specializes in providing alternatives to abortion through the delivery of prenatal medical care, counseling, education, adoption assistance and practical support, all at no charge to women facing unplanned pregnancy. Whether you keep your baby or whether you have an abortion, it's your choice. But make sure it's an informed choice. Choices Medical Clinic is available to make a variety of presentations at your church, school or classroom. These interactive discussions range from the definition of true love, life, choices and consequences, STDs, the lifetime partner and many other subjects. Choices is open daily Monday through Friday and until 12 noon on Saturday. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day. That's our area code 316-687-2792. This is Choices for Life. Jim Wiesner continues his interview with Pastor Jim Cimbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Well, I was looking at an article in a recent issue of Time Magazine. It was called The Crisis of Faith and it talked about a pastor 15 miles north of Manhattan who said that he learned the hard way that the needs of people are so intense at a time like this, so different, I'm quoting now, that there's almost nothing you can say or do that can be right. And that does not sound like your experience at all. No, not at all. Well, that doesn't add up to the Bible either. I mean, obviously for every situation God has an answer. So I'm not saying I know the answer for every situation or that you do, but there is an answer. There's something to say that will be edifying. And of course, if people are living carnal lives, although they're Christians, they will have carnal reactions. Hopefully, if we're living close to Christ, God by His grace will help us to have spiritual reactions, which at this time, at this point in time, I don't believe should be condemnation or anger or frustration because that won't change anything. And we have leaders in our country who we can pray for every day and ask God to help them make right decisions. But listen, there's a verse that says in the Bible, don't boast about tomorrow for how do you know what a day will bring. That's one of the truths that God is really accenting to everyone now. I've been counseling for almost 30 years and a lot of people never live for today, never make the most of the present day that God gives them because they're hung up and paralyzed by the past, who did what to them, what went wrong, who walked out on them, what a boss did, what a father or mother did, you know, all that. We all have our war stories. And they miss today. And they miss today because they're hung up with resentment and bitterness and frustration and inner rage. And then there's a bunch of people who miss today because of anxiety about tomorrow and about the future. And the Bible clearly tells us in the book of James that it's an evil thing to say next week or tomorrow we're going to go to that city or this city and make money. And how do you know what a day will bring? Your life is but a vapor. And now everyone in the world who doesn't even believe in God realizes that tomorrow is not guaranteed. In other words, we can worry and be anxious about a day that God says we have no right to expect to see. And today has, each day has enough of its own problems. We have to live for today. And that's a message for us Christians too because we can get caught up with the past and the future and miss today. In other words, today is the only day you can tell your wife or husband that you love them. Or do something constructive for your children. Or do, work out God's will. Find out God's will and do it. The only day that exists for our lives is today. And we don't live like that. We live hung up by the past, rehashing and replaying old videos in our mind. Or worried, you know, and anxiety ridden by, but what about the economy? And what if there's more terrorist attacks? Or what if we hit Afghanistan and there's counter-terrorist attacks? And then what if, I mean, and now God has brought front and center this truth, is that today if you hear his voice, God has chosen another day, Hebrew says, which is called today. If you'll hear his voice, you can enter into his rest. So, we're finding here in New York City, a lot of people are saying, hey, no more talking about mañana, tomorrow. I only have today. And that's good because God, I believe, is getting us refocused on heaven and eternity and today and life and death and evil and righteousness rather than just being consumed by temporary material things. I have gathered from your books that you have a very large emphasis on prayer in your church, unlike most churches today, at least the ones that I'm familiar with around here. Could you tell us a little bit about your prayer meetings? How long do they go on? And is it multiple people praying at one time loudly or is it one at a time? It's hard to kind of describe. Yeah, there's times of vocal worship and praise and everyone praying for a country or a special need or we'll bring up, let's say, one of these widows is going through something in the whole church. Someone will lead out, but other people will be praying vocally. Then sometimes it can be very, very quiet. There's no model way to have a prayer meeting, and we're not a model church, but we know this, that my house shall be called, God said, a house of prayer for all people. And not a house of preaching, although we need preaching, not a house of teaching or music and worship and praise, but a house of prayer. So it behooves all of us, not only individually and daily, to find our place along with God, but collectively the power of a church, like Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher, said, the engine that drives a church is the prayer meeting. I remember in one of your books you had lamented the fact that some pastor had told you the reason he didn't have a midweek prayer meeting was that he was afraid nobody would show up. You commented that it's a sad thing that God can't draw a crowd even in his own house. Well, that's true, isn't it? A lot of churches don't have a prayer meeting. Well, a lot of pastors have never been to a prayer meeting in their own denomination or their own background, so they then feel insecure about leading a prayer meeting. And then they are embarrassed because if they're running, to use that phrase, running 400 on Sunday, how are they going to feel if eight or ten or twelve people show up for a scheduled prayer meeting? But then, of course, that should tell us pastors something about the job we're doing that people don't want to take time to exercise one of the greatest privileges God has given us, which is to come to the throne of grace, to receive mercy and grace in our time of need. So, somehow, someway, and I'm not saying, as I mentioned before, that we're any model of it. Somehow or someway, there has to be a revival of prayer in our churches if we're going to get back to a powerful witness and a powerful expression of Christianity on the earth. Well, I know this particular pastor that I was quoting from the article earlier, he said that one thing he was going to start doing was focus on educating his congregation about Islam and helping the families who have lost loved ones. It sounds like you'll probably do the latter part of that, but the primary part you'll still be focusing on the word of God. Right. We need to talk about Jesus. Well, it's certainly been a pleasure to have you on. Is there anything you'd like to say that I haven't covered? No. Thank you very much for taking the time and thinking of me and having me on. I just pray God will bless you and everyone who will hear this broadcast or this tape. I pray that God's will will be done in their lives. Tell me one more thing before parting. I know you have conferences, at least for pastors, on Freshmen, Fresh Fire. I think you have another one coming up in October and November. No, that one is not going to be going on. One thing I can mention is I have just completed, even as I'm speaking, a book which has been written, I felt, about a week after September 11th, in prayer, I felt impressed to write a book with some of the scriptures that I've just mentioned and some of the messages I've preached in the aftermath of September 11th because I was so kind of saddened by some of the remarks by so-called religious leaders. I've finished a book which is going to be in bookstores the beginning of December. It's an awfully quick thing but I've given myself totally to it and went away and my co-writer has worked with me and it's called God's Grace from Ground Zero. My book, The Life God Blesses, has been out for about a month and that's a shorter, smaller book that I pray might be a blessing to someone. But beside The Life that God Blesses, God's Grace from Ground Zero, you could be looking for that if I may make a plug. All the royalties and all the monies go into our church for our move to a new building so I get not a dime from it. But God's Grace from Ground Zero, I trust, will be an encouragement and a blessing to people who are maybe bewildered a bit by what's going on. I'll be standing in line for that one. Good. Tell me, are you going to have any more of these conferences next year? Yes, probably next year in our new site and we'll be advertising them and having them in New York where pastors and leaders and wives can not only come and we can look into the Word of God together, but they'll be a part of our Tuesday night prayer meeting because we'll have a new 4,000 seat auditorium which we'll be able to do so much more in. Well, I look forward to being one of those people. Good, we trust you can. This is Choices For Life. You have been listening to an interview with Pastor Jim Cimbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle of New York City and his testimony to God's faithfulness in time of need. Now here's our host, Tim Wiesner, with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ladies and gentlemen, as Pastor Cimbala quoted the Bible and said, there will always be wars and rumors of wars. There will always be those who seek to terrify, whether it be with sarin nerve gases in Japan or cyanide in Tylenol capsules or people such as a Unabomber sending their threats by mail or those like the son of Sam who pray upon the unsuspecting. However, the Christian need not fear. Jesus Christ said, Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world. And whether it be our particular world or the world globally, the promises of Christ are unchangeable. Our trust is not in man. Our trust is not in riches. Our trust is not in peace treaties, promises, or assurances. Our trust is in the Lord God, and we take comfort in the fact that the Lord knoweth those who trust in him. This should be words of comfort, as the psalmist said in chapter 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? God himself said to Isaiah in chapter 41. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy holy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, and I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. The epistle to the Hebrews says, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me. Ladies and gentlemen, if true, the headlines do not look good. Politically, economically, militarily, the world is certainly in a state of turmoil. One glance at the headlines confirms the sinfulness of man and our need of a savior. In one newspaper, I read these headlines. Anthrax attacks signal war on psyches. U.S. continues attacks on Kabul. U.S. special forces in Afghan. Taliban stand firm. Bush administration tries to calm anthrax fears. Consumer prices rise on gasoline spike. Microsoft profit drops. New fighting in Israeli army raids. Bethlehem being attacked. Postal carrier contracts anthrax. Federal smallpox plan is ready. But the good news is that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort. While Saddam Hussein may attempt to wage the mother of all wars, it is an assurance to know that our God is the Father of all mercies, for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. But what about the people listening to this program who know not the Lord Jesus Christ? Who are strangers to these promises? Who cannot partake of the comfort God provides? Who do not have the assurances here before mentioned? There is hope. You see, our sin has separated us from God, for God is holy and in Him there is no sin. And the really good news is that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For the Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And he that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. I know there are people out there listening to this program, people who are troubled and distraught by today's events. I urge you to make the most important choice for life you will ever make. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't delay. Trust Christ today. Even so, amen. ...in the delivery of prenatal medical care, counseling services, and practical support to women, men, and families facing unplanned pregnancy. 538 South Bleckley in Wichita, Kansas is the address for this Christ-centered ministry. While their services are without charge, they are not without cost. You may partner with Choices either by prayer or by payment in delivering them that are drawn unto death and those that are... For more information, please call 316-687-2792. Choices Medical Clinic. Choices you can live with.