In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of spending time in the Word of God. He encourages the congregation to prioritize reading the Bible over watching television, suggesting that they would experience spiritual growth if they devoted as much time to reading the Bible as they do to watching TV. The preacher urges the listeners to become students of the Bible and to apply its teachings in their lives, particularly in areas such as loving and encouraging one another. He also highlights the danger of having a casual attitude towards sin, using the example of a preacher who seduced multiple women in his church as a warning.

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 P.O. 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. The 13th chapter. And leave it open there. Put a marker on it because that's where I'm going to be preaching. Most of my messages will be from 1 Chronicles, the 13th chapter. So we pray. Lord Jesus, I ask you now for that anointed from heaven that comes early from you. I need your touch physically, spiritually. Lord, I need heaven to come down right now. God put a sword in my hand and a bottle of oil in the other, and Lord, cut and then pour into your hand. Do whatever you have to do to set people free tonight. Lord, I need you. I acknowledge that before this people. God let the glory of the Lord come. Lord, I sense in the past month that more and more of you people have been harassed by the devil. Satan is coming in trying to bring everything out of hell to disgrace and ruin the saints of God. And we take your authority because we believe the amendment breaks the yoke and the amendment abides on us. The amendment abides now. God, I break in the name of Jesus every opposition. I break the back of every spiritual item in the name of Jesus. I claim freedom to preach the word of God. I claim freedom to proclaim it, and I proclaim freedom to hear it. Glory to God. Lord, drive out all the doubts and the fears and let the glory of the Lord come through the preaching of the word. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. 1 Chronicles, the 13th chapter, verse 1. And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds and with every leader, and said unto the congregation of Israel, It seems good to you, and of the Lord, let us send abroad unto our brethren everywhere that are left in the land of Israel, with all the priests and Levites which are in the cities and suburbs, and gather themselves unto us. Let us bring again the ark of our God to us, for we inquired not of it in the days of Saul. In fact, the ark had been sitting for 70 years. For 70 years Israel had not consulted, and had the ark in their presence. And all the congregation said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. So David gathered all Israel together, from Shar, of Egypt, even the land of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kirtzath to them. And David went up, and all Israel, look at verse 7, And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Nineveh, and Uzzah and Ahai drove the cart. And David and all Israel prayed before God with all their might, and were singing with hearts, with serpents, with timbers, and cinders, and with trumpets. What a revival! Can you imagine all the shouting and singing going on? And when they came, and they were pressing forth, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark, and the oxen stumbled. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he smote him, struck him, because he put his hand to the ark, and there he died before God. And David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah. Therefore, that place is called Perizot, it's a mystery. And David was afraid of God that day. So how shall I bring the ark of God home to me? And look this way, please. Here's a true and tragic story of God suddenly breaking in to a great revival and saying, It's too soon to shout. I don't want the music now. It's not ready, something is not lining up in divine order, and God had to slam his fist down and stop it in the middle. Now, listen closely to me, please. I say it from the heart of love. Many of us here tonight, not many, but some of us here, may feel that we know what God wants in the way of praise and worship. And often, I've probably, as a pastor, Don, and Pastor Bob, and others, we've had more people approach us about worship. And the way it should be, or the way it should not be. And I would say 60-70% of it's been honest, it's not been cynicism, it's come from the hearts of love those who truly want to worship. But most of the time it has to do with how it's to be done. It has to do with the, not the mechanics of it, but how it should be done rather than the timing of it. God is not concerned strictly in the proper forms of worship, as he is in the proper timing of worship. There's a time to sing, there's a time to shout, and there's a time to be quiet. Now, it was not time for David to dance. He danced before he heard about his mate. There was shouting, there was singing, but it was not time. It was not time for all of Israel to pray and victory singing and shouting and praising. Because something was definitely wrong. There was something wrong and God was not pleased. David, not David, not Zadok the high priest, he was a holy man, not any of the princes or the leaders of the people understood what was wrong. You see, the oxen were bearing the ark on a new cart, stumped it, and a young priest by the name of Uzzah stretched out his hand to steady the ark, and he was stricken. And can you imagine, as that young priest falls to the ground in a paralysis, and his body goes stiff and someone takes his pulse and says he's dead. King David holds his hand up and all the musicians stop. The vaulting says that they had seven choirs. There were thousands of instruments. Trumpets, cymbals, all kinds of those little triangles and guitars. Hearts, they called them. Hundreds and hundreds singing, dancing, and David at the end. In fact, the Bible describes some of these episodes as the ground literally shook. What the Bible describes is an incredible sound. And David, his hands up, and everything stops. Everybody is in stunned silence. David goes over and he leans over and he turns to the priest and he said, What happened? He said the ark was stumbling and all he did was reach up and tried to steady it, and he was stricken dead, he died. And suddenly, the singing stops, the shouting stops, everything stops cold. The captains and thousands and the leaders on their horseback, the priests, the lead knights, the choir, the orchestra, the multitudes, they're stunned, they're stunned. What happened? God slammed his fist down right in the middle of it. Just moments before, these jubilant sounds were deafening to the ear. The Bible said they prayed before God with all their might. All their might. You talk about being released to worship, they were released. They gave up everything they had with all their might. The trumpets blasting, cymbals clanging, the hearts screaming, everywhere the Bible said a joyful sound of praise. Then God comes in and shuts it down. Because there was something there that was not acceptable to God. God saw them worshiping and singing, and if you have been there, say what a great revival. And I tell you, it was a great revival because God had just slain the Philistines. David had marched against the Philistines and God had been a mighty rock. The Philistine army was devastated. Hiram, the king of Tyre, made a treaty with them. And all the other kings around made treaties, and Israel was at peace. God had been prosperous. Hiram, king of Tyre, came and built David a beautiful house. And the Bible said David began to build from Nile on to the edge of the city. He had a big building program going on. The Jebusites had been chased out of Jerusalem. A great prosperity had hit Israel. And the last thing remaining, David said, I want the ark. It's a type of God's presence. So they had gone there, thanking God for his blessing. Remember, David's in there at the God's very heart. Zadok the priest is with him, and Zadok represents a holy priesthood. Remember, there were 200 sons of Issachar who were men of wisdom, who knew the wisdom of the time. In fact, the Bible said they knew exactly what was the mind of God. And suddenly, God breaks in, and nobody knows why. David doesn't understand it. The Bible said David was displeased, and Hebrews says David got mad at God. Why did you stop the music? Why? All we were trying to do, God, all we're trying to do is praise you. We want to give you an offering. All we're wanting is your presence. But God himself had killed a man, right in the middle of the worship service. What went wrong? Why did God stop the shouting and all the dancing? You know, I've heard people say that worship and praise is a weapon that brings down strongholds. If there's something wrong, why didn't you praise them again? I have heard people say that praising God with abandon and getting into it with all your might is putting down the strongholds. Why didn't he put down the strongholds? He didn't. God stopped it. You see, if there's something that's not right with God, if there's something that's out of divine order, God is going to break in on it. God will break in on it, he'll expose the corruption, and he'll make it clear until the corruption is done, this is not the time to shout. Until the sin is dealt with. We're going to look at that in just a moment and find out what it is. You see, if there's a block, if there's a stumbling stone somewhere, if there's something there that God is not pleased with, if he is grieved, you can sing, you can bring new songs, you can fast, you can pray, you can introduce all kinds, you can dance, you can sing, you can play your instruments, take your dress off, exhausted. And God's going to break in with judgment. If there's something not right, he'll break in. Just as he did here. You know, I've heard people say, I know what God's looking for in worship. But I wonder if we really understand what we're saying when we say, I know what God wants in worship and prayers. Oh, it's such a serious matter. It has to do with timing. There's a time to sing and there's a time to shout. There's a time that's consumed to shout. But you see, God was grieved by something David and Israel had done. And he's got to stop the music. And the only way he can get your attention. Now, what God did according to the way I know it in our souls, he clearly warned them. And everything God did had been clearly prophesied, clearly warned. They should not have been taken by surprise. Not Jacob, not David, not the sons of Israel, not the leaders. No one should have expected anything but what happens. Because the whole thing was out of divine order. You can go to charismatic meetings where there are 10,000 people singing and shouting and talking in tongues. And if it isn't divine order, if there's sin in the camp, God says, it stinks. It smells, I want nothing to do with it. But Simon Fassel, it's simple and simple. I've been to meetings where I've seen charismatic and I am a charismatic. I've seen them go out in the yard, out in the parking lot and get the beer out of their thing and get stoned. And go in there and start listening to God. And there's stuff leaking out of their bed. Out of their bed. You come from a television set where you're watching filth and R-rated movies and filth and soap operas. And they come and raise your hands, you think God can receive that? No. He's going to break in on you. And don't be surprised when something happens like the judgment that came here. You don't have to take a corpse to get to attention. Nathan's been fooled. He thinks this is in divine order. He's standing there dumbfounded. He's a holy man of God. The sentinels are going to have all the wisdom of God and they're standing there, what happened? We don't know. David's standing there. He's mad at God. Why did you break in this? What happened, God? His young friend is standing there. That's my best friend. What happened? David, who danced with all his might, doesn't have the slightest idea. Let's help him. He doesn't have the slightest idea he's out of divine order. And I'll tell you what. I looked at this and I saw a warning for me, for the pastors, for the leaders of this church, and for every member of this congregation, every one of us, I see a warning from the Holy Ghost. Because this is a story about an easygoing, flippant attitude toward the Word of God. This is an easygoing attitude about sin. As if my sin is just a weakness and God understands. Like the preacher who seduced seven different women in his church. You know how he did it? He said, I have special needs and God understands my weaknesses. You see, there was a blindness about divine order that should have never been. First of all, they were blinded by their blessings. After all, nothing can blind a people quicker than blessings. You can be so blessed, you don't blind. Stand blind. Because we excuse the blessings as the favor of God. We equate the blessing of God with the favor of God. David could look around and say, well, God, you're blessing in our sight. He just said, the greatest gift he's ever had in his life was everybody signing peace treaties, and David is at the height of his glory, and yet he's blind. But please note the Bible said, of the children of Isaac, there were a few hundred men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. They should have known what to do, but they didn't. And I'll tell you why in just a moment. The Bible said there were 50,000 of Zebulun there, experts in war, with all the instruments of war, and they were not of a double heart. 50,000 men of war who had a single heart for God, and yet they were blind. They didn't know why. Look at this. That hit me this week. David, a man of God, he doesn't know he's standing in a gunfight. What happened? Why did you stop the music? Why the judgment? 200 sons of Isaac are with the wisdom of God, knowing what Israel should do. They're blinded. Zebulun, 50,000 men with a single mind for God. They were not double-minded, and yet they don't know what to do along. This weekly march, with all of its exuberant praise, with the climax of incredible blessings, Lord David defeated the Philistines from Geba to Geza, the scripture says. And David went on and grew great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him. And David perceived that the Lord had established him king of Israel, over Israel, and then exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake. And look at this picture, please. He's at the height of blessing. He's in a building program. His enemies have made peace. And now his heart leads him out to God, full of the love of God. There's no sin, there's no flawed sin that David can think of right now. These are sincere people, a sincere people out of divine order, and there's nothing more tragic than a sincere people who love God who are out of divine order. It's enough that somebody living in blindness is out of divine order. And there's things happening in our lives we don't understand, and we question, and we shout out. There's no place to go, I don't understand what God is doing. And there's a reason we don't understand. There's a reason we're dumbfounded. You see, for Zerubbabel's blessing, David is getting direction from the Lord. He doesn't make a move without consulting God at this point. The Bible said David inquired of the Lord. Again, David inquired of the Lord, and David did so as the Lord commanded him. You see, that was real. There were times that God came with that still, small voice, and I tell you what, you can't live on a still, small voice. I'm telling you, there are many voices in the world, the apostle said, and none without significance. And if you're going to live your life and operate your life listening to inner voices, you're going to get yourself in trouble. Incredible trouble. If it's not backed up by this book. We're going to talk about this in just a minute. Good people, walking, consulting the Lord at this point, but none after God's word. They're blessed, they're prospered, they're honored by all people. Lies, full of praise, trying to bring God's presence down. And up to this point, it's our victory, it's our blessing, it's our praises, and God seems to be leading, the Lord seems to be with them. But now, the hand of God, death, standing man in the eye. You see David, with his head hanging down, marching back to Zion? But folks, they thought they were sitting there marching to Zion, they weren't going to Zion, they were going to the funeral parlor. They were going to a grave site. They didn't end up in Zion, they ended up in a grave that was death. It was wrong. First of all, it started with the top man. It started at the very top with King David. The man who said, love God, let me show you where it begins. Go to 2 Samuel. Please, turn left. 2 Samuel, 5th chapter. Beloved? Don? I don't know about you, but I don't know how many times I've heard that. You probably remember the same thing. You read that. You say, God, that was so serious that you had this, that all I want to do is bring back your girl. These are sincere people. Why did you take such drastic action? Why did you do this? I'll give you a question. The Holy Spirit said, if you want to find it, go back and look at the history. Just look, you'll find it. So I went back, and here it is, the 5th chapter, verse 12. And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake. And David took in more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron. Hebron is the mountain of sacrifice, the presence of God. And there was yet sons and daughters born to David. Do you see that? How many see it? I'll tell you what I'd like you to do. Go to Deuteronomy 17, 17. Deuteronomy, do you follow me there? Look again. It's good to see it in black and white. Deuteronomy 17. Look at verse 16. You see, God's telling you what to do when you've been a king. These are instructions for the king. All the kings in Israel. Deuteronomy 17, verse 16. Speaking of the kings, He shall not manipulate horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should manipulate horses. For as much as the Lord has said unto you, you shall henceforth return. Let not that way. Neither shall he not multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away, and neither shall he greatly manipulate himself, serving God. Do you see that? How clear can it be? Neither shall he manipulate wives to himself. Look at verse 18. And it shall be, that he shall sit upon the throne of his children, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, and of that which is before the priest of Levites, and it shall be with him, that he shall read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law, and to do statutes and to do them, that his heart let be lifted up above his breast, that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand and to the left, to the end that he may put on his days of his children, he and his children, in the midst of his life. Look at my proofs. Saul was a disobedient man in many areas, but he had one wife. He had one wife. But somewhere, Saul missed many things. This seems to have gotten a hold of him. Given that a man of increased silver had died, I believe this may be one of the pick-and-choose verses that he picked, and walked in. But here's righteous David. Now, it's amusing to listen to the theologians trying to explain that scripture, and David magnified himself many wives. And they said, well, the Oriental custom at that time is when a nation made a treaty. They offered a king's daughter as a wife to the king, figuring that if the king's daughter lives there, we will not attack you, he will not attack us. In other words, a treaty wife. That's foolishness. Absolute foolishness. You can explain it. That's the problem. Try to explain everything away. Now, folks, it was plain, ordinary, black sin. It was disobeying a direct commandment of God. David magnified. He said, well, try that. And he perceived that God had blessed him. God's blessing him. So, he's going to go out and get himself some wives, deserve the blessings. And, you know, David looks around him, and he sees the enemy's defeated. He sees victory here, victory here. And he's getting all these wives. And he said, well, I've got this special need in me. It's going to take all these wives. And God must not be too angry, because he's blessing me on all sides. We've got evangelists that way. The money comes in. God must not be too angry. You can have that right now. Everything can be gone fine, and you can be hiding a secret sin. God must not be angry. Look at the blessings. David's thinking is, no, no, no, I've got a weakness. I can't believe that David didn't have a copy of the law. Now, the very scriptures I read to you, David had them. He had the five books of Moses. He had the very same scripture word for word as you and I have it. The very words that I read to you were available to David. He'd been commanded by God, if he became king, to get back from the law and have a pendant, copy in a special edition, and bind it to his heart. And he was to read it every day. Had David been into the word, had David been a student of the Bible, of his day, he would have known. He would have known that this was wrong. He was commanded to read it all the days in his life. But there was no evidence to the word of God. He took it lightly. He said, well, I'm going to go to God and I'm going to hear Arkansas with Him. It'll speak to me. He's not going to take the time to dig it out. Had David been in the word, he would have known that the priest, the Lord, the Levites, had to be sanctified and carry the ark on their shoulders. He would have read, he would have read Numbers 4.15, and let me read it to you. The sons of Kohath, which were the Levites, shall come to bear the ark, but they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die. It was there all the time. As they never had to die. It was because David didn't know his Bible. David didn't know the word. He loved God, wanted to worship and praise Him, and neglected the word of God. And God said, I'm going to stop the music until my people learn where the strength is and get back to the foundations. And I tell you that because God sees the storm that's coming, and the only thing I'll tell you, you and I don't need a prophet to come and give you a word. You don't need a word from some saint. You need this man. You need to be digging in there. You need to be building a foundation. The only reason the devil can rock and roll Christians, the only reason so many are fighting on all sides, because they're looking for some word and they're listening to their faces. They're not digging into this book. My book, this book says that God has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness. Everything. Then she's telling David, quit screaming. She's doing it lovingly. She's trying to save my voice. You see, David had an unwillingness to cognate the word to himself. An unwillingness to look into God's word and say, that's me. Have you ever been in this book and you read something and you said, that's me. And when you read it and you say that's me and it hits you, have you ever wept reading the Bible? Have you ever been so stricken by this sword and the Holy Ghost drove it into you? And you said, oh God, that's me, I don't need anybody, that's it. Lord, that's it. And you back away. Because it's written. It is written. We don't have a handful of Christians in America today that have the power of the Holy Ghost in the word to say, it's written, because they don't know their Bibles. Then it cost us no less of a Bible than Baptists and Presbyterians anymore. That charismatic movement is directed by the truth. He would have known that you can't disobey God and keep His blessing. And David had such an irreverence to the word, such a likeness about the word of God, and so neglected the word of God, he could end up one day committing adultery, and then when a preacher comes along, a prophet preaching against the devil, he started amening him. He was a Jewish man and he said, preach it, Nathan. Preach it, Nathan. Oh, how many people in God's house say, amen, amen, and all of a sudden they don't know their fingers are about to cut. You're the man. You're the woman. Your amens aren't going to hide it. Now, some of you are going to say, I'm scared to say amen anymore. I'll tell you a better way to say amen is, let it be so or let it be me. Oh, I'd like to hear people say, that's me, Lord, that's me, Lord. You ever heard that down there? Boy, I've never heard a handful of people say, that's me. Or say, oh boy, oh my. You're going to get yourself dumped on somebody else. See, Nathan's preaching against the devil. He said, there's a man that's been, what he was really preaching about the devil, he was talking about a little sheep that was sacrificed. When a man had all these, he went and got his neighbor's little sheep. He's talking about adultery. He's talking about stealing one man's wife. That's all he had. And David had all these wives. And David didn't even know it was him. Now, I'll tell you what, if you won't let the finger of the word touch you, I'll tell you what, God's going to let it hit the fan. You ever hear of hitting a fan? Have you ever seen that? Any of you old-timers seen those pillows made with feathers? Goose feathers? Goose? But by the Jeremiah, before man adopted, God, he used to have pillow fights. And one day, one of those pillows broke. I mean, when everyone went out the window, they were flying out the window. Everywhere. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. David was indignant. He said, you tell me who this man is. I'll tell you what, I'll throw him in jail. I'll get him. If it's not, I'll kill him. Boy, there was a holy anger. He didn't know it was violent. He looked at him and said, David, you're the man. You're the one I'm talking about. Let me tell you what I believe I'm getting out of this. God's put in our hands his revealed word. Right here, here it is. This is his mind revealed to us. And we let it sit wherever we hide it. Some people don't hide it. They leave it out so all the Christian friends can see it there. You see, David couldn't say, I didn't know. God could have said, it's there. It's all there. It's written. David was dancing while he was walking in disobedience. You see, if we're going to go on praising the Lord and singing and dancing and shouting, and we're not going to walk in obedience to the Lord, God's going to break into this, into our lives, and you will not be shouting, you will not be singing when he breaks in because there's incredible trouble that comes because God's saying it's not yet time to shout or dance because you can't shout out disobedience. You can't dance it out. You can't praise it out. Jimmy, you can't praise sin out. That's the trouble. We've got people trying to praise their sin out. This is the labor. This is where you wash. This is the washing of the Lord. This is the cleansing. Oh. Tell you what. Are you back to 1 Chronicles 13 chapter? Do you want to see something else that would do it wrong? You're not going to have to get further than the first verse. We've read it. I wonder how many of you caught it. Verse 1, chapter 13, 1 Chronicles. And David consulted with who? Oh, with the captains of thousands and hundreds and with every leader. And look at verse 4. And all the congregation said that they would do so for the thing was right in the eyes of who? Of all the people. David and all of Israel had gotten so far away from God's revealed word, they're operating on voices now. The voices of the people. They're following their inner impulses now. You see, David's Bible wasn't his guide. It made him decide it was a dead book to him. Why did he go out on a mission that was doomed from the beginning? Can you imagine? A king going out on a mission that absolutely doomed. Going to end in death. Because they had gotten away from the revealed mind of God. They were not walking in divine order. They did not know the word. They were not reading the law. Their actions, their spiritual lives were not under the divine direction. They were not under the power of truth. They were not under the power of the word. They had not submitted themselves to the word. They didn't even know it. Not David, Issachar's men or anyone understood that they had neglected the word of God. Not that we had neglected the word of God. I have almost to a reason given up trying to get Christians to read the Bibles. And to get into this and dig into it and find the mind of Jesus. But I will tell you something. It's going to come to a place where you find that you're singing, you're shouting, singing. Everything else is going to be shallow. You're going to get in trouble. There are going to be problems in your life. And God comes moving in because he said something's not according to divine order. You're not working. There's something you did that if you knew this look you wouldn't have done. You would not have been talking about your neighbor. You would have been walking in peace with everyone that's around you. You would not be gossiping. You would not be harboring any of these things in your life. You would not be allowing sin in your life. In fact, there are a lot of churches today that are not in divine order because they refuse to discipline sin. I know what it is. Even recently, I have to go up to a dear brother who is disobedient. Terribly disobedient. And looking right in the eye, I'm sorry brother. I can't hug you. I'm sorry that I have to do what the scripture says and I have to walk away from you. I have to leave you and treat you like a brother and admonish and warn you that your sin is going to destroy you. I'm telling you, I love you as a brother. Now that's true love. It's not true love to look at a man or woman that's living in sin and put your arm around and say, well I love you anyhow. That's not love. Love is walking according to this book. Love is knowing it and obeying it. And I'll tell you what, I know that I'm in this book. And I know that I'm walking with my brothers and sisters, as a brother and sister. And I love them. Yet, above that love, there's a tough love that says, no, I'm going to walk according to this scripture. And I know that these pastors have moved within the parameters of this book. And we've done exactly what God has said we should do. Let every demon in hell rage. Let every woman being on the face of the earth rage. You can stand there knowing that God stands with you because you know this book and you're walking on a foundation of truth and righteousness. And here, you don't have to depend on some man's voice. And everything that's preached with this purpose, you better go home and check it out. Check it out. I had a man that seen me recently, a preacher who got into, who became a psychic. He's trained under a psychic for 5 or 6 years and became a psychic. He's written some books and he's a very fine man. I took a liking to him right away. He knew how to move these psychic realms, very psychic realms. And yet, God's hand was on him. He ended up in a very terrible situation in his life. He came to see us recently and I really know that God is doing something supernatural in his life. But he said something that scared me. He said something that just shook me. He had been watching recently some of the television ministries and he'd gone around to some of the ministries. Those ministries that talk to their angels and talk to their voices and hear these things. And he said, Brother David, when I used to go out and lecture, when I was a psychic, I would call people and say, your name is Mary, your grandmother's name is so-and-so, and when you go home you're going to find she's very sick, but be very, very careful, you've been very warned. And he would stand there in front of college students and psychically call them all out. And then he said, Brother Richard, I saw something because I've been in this and I've been in 5 or 6 meetings recently where there are thousands of Christians and he said, I'm scared. They are sitting under men who are psychics and they don't know it. They are hearing things that are contrary to the word of God and it sounds like a new revelation. And Brother and Sister, I beg of you in the name of the Lord, everything that's holy and divine, ask God to give you a love for this book. Ask God to get you rooted and grounded in the word so that when the winds and waves of doctrine come in these last days, they will not slow you. These doctrines will sound good, they'll sound miraculous, but you watch, if you know your Bible, you'll pick up something here and you'll know it has the mark of the Antichrist on it. There's a teaching right now that Jesus went into hell and became a servant of the devil. He had to break through from the devil and some of the many prosperity preachers are preaching that. And if you know your Bible, you know that's out of the pits of hell, that's damnable doctrine. Lord Jesus did not submit himself to the devil. He did not become a child of the devil. If you know your Bible, you know that that's false. That has the mark of the Antichrist on it. But the reason so many are caught up in it, they don't know their Bibles, they're not students of this word. David at this time was not a student. He'd later become a student. He would later say, it's a lamp to my feet. It's my guide, it's my life, it's the joy of my life. David finally came to that. But you see, we've drifted away from the word of God. David in Israel's ignorance of God's word calls the spirit of likeness about the things of God. So I tell you what, saints, I really don't think we value this as we should. I don't think we love it as we should. We're getting in trouble because we lay it on the desk. We're satisfied to come and hear brothers and sisters preach it, or the workers and brothers preach it, or go to seminars or listen to tapes. Oh, God's convicted me, God's driven me, absolutely driven me. And said, oh God, I want to consume this. So that all of these winds and waves of doctrine, they're coming because the Antichrist is about to appear. There's an Antichrist spreading in the world. The Bible said there are going to be ministries appearing, angels of light. They're actually sent by the devil. There are going to be speakers sent that are rich, that seem so holy and so righteous, and they're demon possessed. There are riches in churches. You better know your Bible, you better know the truth. And the truth shall keep you free. God's calling his people back to reveal more. He's calling us back to this book. I'll tell you what, this soul got a hold of David. He went home and I'm sure he prayed, oh God, what happened? What happened to old God? And I'll tell you what, I know David got the book out. I know he got the scripture out. I can prove it. I believe David went home and he heard that God had blessed the household where the ark had been left. And I can see David opening his Bible. He opens to Deuteronomy, he's reading Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. He's reading this and suddenly he comes across this. What would have happened if you and I had been there? I don't know if Nathan or sons of Issachar or Zadok was with him. I don't know who was with him. I don't know if he was alone. But something hit David when he read, The sons of Colossal Barrett, they shall not touch any whole thing lest they die. Oh, and that hit David. Oh, God, I've been blind. Listen, he didn't have to die. He was there all the time. I did exactly what the Philistines did. I put it on a new cart. That's what divine order was there all the time. We were dancing, we were singing, we were praising and we were disobedient. God, he didn't have to die. If I had only been in this book, If I had only seen that before this victory march, I could have told Isaiah, I could have warned him, Don't touch it. In fact, it wouldn't have had to be touched. It wouldn't have stumbled. It was on the back of the Levites. The question would have never arisen. And then David goes on and he reads this next verse. And speaking, he's looking, What does God say about kings and rulers? Thou shalt not multiply lives. He says, Oh, God. It was there all the time. You were trying to get my attention. You couldn't get my attention. I was singing and shouting and dancing. You had to bring in death. Now, I'm not talking about physical death. I'm not trying to put a clip on somebody and go on and say, Well, somebody in your house is going to die because you're out of divine order. No, there's something worse than physical death. And that's just to have God break in and show you how empty you are. Show you the depth that's inside of you. But I want you to go to 1 Corinthians 15 chapter. I want to show you when it's time to shout. Hallelujah. Now you're ready for the good part. Chapter 15, 1 Chronicles. Chapter 15, 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles. Did I say Corinthians? You weren't correcting me. You were just testing them, right? You were just testing them, no. I made a mistake. 1 Chronicles 15 chapter. Verse 1. And David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent. And David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites. Now where did he get that? What happened? He's in the book. Carry the ark, but the Levites. For them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God and to minister unto Him forever. And David gathered all Israel together to bring up the ark of the Lord unto His place which He had prepared for them. Verse 12. He said unto them, You're the chief of the fathers of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves. Now he's preaching holiness. Where did he get that message of holiness? He's in the book. That's why we've got ours. Both you and your brother, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place where I have prepared for it. For because you did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, so that we saw Him not after the due order. We were out of divine order. And it was there all the time. That's the shocking part. We were completely out of divine order, and it was there all the time. So the priest, verse 14, The priest and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. And the children of the Levites, there the ark of God upon them, their shoulders with the spades there on, the spades were there so they wouldn't touch it, as Moses, look at it, as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord. Where did he get it? From Moses. He got it from his Bible. It was there all the time, according. Now it's time to shout. Everything's in divine order. There's nothing in this word that's being transgressed. I know David repented. Now he's going to go through some other problems in his life, but there's a repentance in David's heart. He's walking now, trembling at the word of God. He feels the word of the Lord. He respects the word of God. He's walking according to the word of God. Verse 16, And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint for instruments of music, songpapers and harps and cymbals sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy. Hallelujah. And boy, you go on down and you begin to see all that they undertook. Verse 25, So David and the elders of Israel and the captains over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Abraham with joy. And it came to pass when God helped the Levites to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, they offered seven bullocks and seven lambs. And David was clothed with the robe of fine linen. And all the Levites that bear the ark. And David also had upon him a neat part of linen. Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting. Verse 28, With sound of the cornet, with trumpets, cymbals, making a noise, with songpapers and harps. It came to pass as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David that Micah the daughter looked up and saw David dancing before God. Now, look at me, folks. There's a time to dance. There's a time to shout. There's a time to sing. Do you know what that is? That you have made a pledge to your heart before God, Lord, I've neglected you Lord. Everything I need is here for life and godliness and holiness. Everything I need to see me through the troubled times. Everything I need to produce holiness and righteousness and conform me to the image of Jesus. It's all right here if I'll just dig it out. If I'll get into it. Now, folks, if the message I preach now, if you're not provoked by the Holy Spirit, to get into the book when you go home tonight, ask God to make you a student of the Bible. Then you have no right to shout. It's too soon to shout. It's too soon to dance. I'll tell you when you dance. When you say, Lord, I'm going to be a student of this book. And when I look at Ephesians, and when I look at 1 John and I read about loving my brother, I'm going to love my brother. When it talks about walking, encouraging one another, I'm going to encourage my brother. I'm going to do what this book says. I'm going to walk according to the scripture, according to the light that I've received. Then I'll tell you it's time to shout. It's time to dance before God. Because now you're on a foundation. You're on the rock and nothing can shake you. Hallelujah. Now, in closing, David finally became a man of the Word. Hallelujah. David said all that my... This is later on. David's learned to lean on the Word. He said, all that my ways were directed to keep this statutes, then shall I not be ashamed? When I have respect to thy Word, I will praise thee with uprightness. When I have respect for thy Word, then I praise thee with uprightness. Are you hearing that? Did you hear it? When I have respect for your Word, in other words, when it's become my lifeblood, then I will praise you with uprightness. Oh, let me not wonder from thy commandments. Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. David went on to say, unless my law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your words now, for with them thou hast kept me alive. Now David's very life is the Word of God. Everything he does is counseling. You see, we're not depending on the Word anymore. We've got to have counselors all the time, because we don't know the Book. The Ancestor by Word giveth light and understanding. Order my steps in by Word, so that iniquity will not have dominion over me. Do you have something that's got dominion over you? Is there something that's got a hold of you? All I can do is what the Word says. The entrance of thy Word is my light and my understanding. Order my steps in your Word, so that iniquity will not have dominion over me. Get into this Word. Let the Holy Spirit reveal it to you. Do you pray for an understanding? And I'll tell you what. I heard Brother Victor Botet say, if you've got a Bible that you can't mark, throw it away. It's not a good one. Every page of this, I've got about five or six of them marked. I've got one you couldn't buy for $100,000. It's the book I had when I first came to New York, walking the streets. It's ragged, it's torn. But ah, boy, do I have my revelations there. God's been speaking to me. I can tell you the day He called me to come to New York, some 30 years ago up in the hills. I wasn't just praying. I wasn't hearing any voices. I saw it right there. I saw it in Ezekiel. I saw it in Jeremiah. I saw it everywhere. God said, go to New York. I got it from the book. I got it from this book. Hallelujah. Now, I'm going to pause with David. You see, there was a time David neglected this book. But oh, now listen to what David says. Nine eyes prevent the night watchers. He said, I step half the night, that I might meditate in your word. David goes on to say, my heart standeth in awe of thy word. The heart's in awe. At one time he neglected it. Walked out of divine order, but now he's walking in divine order. He said, oh, I stand in awe, because when I obey this, the joy of the Lord floods my heart. Hallelujah. He said, I rejoice in your word, as men that find great sport. He said, more precious to me than gold. Hallelujah. I know God put it in my heart tonight to preach about getting into this book. We're not going to see God do what he wants to do in this church in New York City until we've got people rooted and grounded in this and obeying every word that you read. Hallelujah. I promise you, whatever problem you've got, whatever you're going through, you don't need an hour with the pastors. You don't need an hour with our counselors. You need two hours in this book. Shut in with God in the secret closet. Shut down that stupid television set. Shut it off. I'd like to visit every house of every Christian that comes to this church with a BB gun. I'd like to walk right into your living room and pop the TV tube. And I want to go in your bedroom and I want to pull out this Bible and I want to say to you, if you had been reading this as much as you've been watching television, you would be in the third heaven with Paul right now. I'm not mad. But I'm going to close now and I'll tell you what's shaking me. We pastors and counselors are meeting more Christians now, messed up. And I go home, like it did this afternoon, after talking to many this past week. This has been a very hectic week. And hearing things that are mind-boggling, and dealing with problems that are mind-boggling among Christians, I go home and shake my head and say, God, what's happening? And I know what's happening. We've become shallow, without foundation, without root. We're a tree without root, so the devil comes and blows on us and we just fall down. I'll tell you what, you get your roots. And the winds and waves can come and everything. Jesus is the Word. He's the living Word. He's right here. And I'll tell you what, you hide this. You stand in awe of this book. Like the Chinese who can't even get a copy of it. And how they take hours and just copy little verses and chapters and they trade their little chapters and they read it over the candles and they weep over it for hours because there's an awe of this Word. And we have all kinds of different versions and everything else. How many Bibles you have in your house, I don't know. But oh, it's been neglected and God says no more. We're going to have in this church, God helping us, young people, dads and mothers, rooted, grounded in the living Word. Stand, please. Hallelujah. Listen. God didn't... God knew what we were going to face, didn't He? Didn't God know that we were going to have this drug craze? Didn't God know we were going to have this AIDS plague? He knew there'd be incest. He knew there'd be new... what's that, new age movement. He knew all these things were coming. God's never taken by surprise. He knew you were not going to face... The Bible says, we're all going to have... the devil's come to have a great laugh. He knows it's time... He knew that you were not going to face the greatest temptations and trials of any society in history. God knew all that, didn't He? Didn't He leave us to fight it out ourselves? He left us. Everything we need. God's corrected me. Because the Bible says, this Word reproves, convicts, corrects, and instructs. And even though I'm preaching about this, I've got to acknowledge before you, I haven't read of the Word, but I have not consumed it like God's told me I must. God's made me a promise, that if I would go deeper into this, and stand like David did finally in awe, that He'd start bringing forth a Word. If you think the Word is strong now, it's hardly anything compared to what He wants to bring forth. God's driving all of us as pastors deeper, deeper into the Word. So we come and stand here, occasionally, there are illustrations that are brought in, but we're not preaching to ourselves, we're not preaching you stories, we're not preaching you human experience. We're trying to get you into this. Hallelujah. God forgive us for neglecting Your Holy Word. Forgive us for being tossed and turned, and the devil able to stomp on us, the devil able to discourage us, and take our hope and faith away from us. Because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. We've not been into Your Word and thought as we should. Oh, we'll read a few chapters, but Lord, we don't stay for hours, we don't stay half the night, we don't get up early like we should, and stay as we should. We're not coming back to it every waking moment, Lord. We should be so attached to this now. We should be our lifeblood. God make it happen. I'm going to ask tonight, if you are here tonight, the enemy is coming like a flood against you. He's really coming at you. Saints, believe me, it's really getting, the winds are getting awesome. We had a storm off the United States the last three days. Twenty-eight people have been killed. Tornadoes and storms. Oh, that's nothing compared to the storm that's brewing right now. The economic, all these other storms that are coming. I'll tell you what, if you're in the pages of this book, and this word's been hidden in your heart, you're getting to know it, and love it, and live by it. I don't care what comes, it's not going to throw you. I mean the devil can dump anything. Can I tell you something before I close? The other week, about a week ago, I was thinking of all the needs of this church. We need space for our children, and we need somebody to help with our youth department. So many needs. I was thinking about so many needs of people in the church, and it was just mind-boggling. It was getting me just a little down. And I went into my prayer closet heavy-hearted. It was not a fear, but I was thinking, oh God, this ministry in New York is so overwhelming. How can even, how can, even though I have three pastors here, and all the associates we have that help and pray with us, Lord, it's above us all. The needs of the people. Oh Lord, I grieve and weep over so many needs. The Lord spoke to my heart. I was thinking of all the things that were needed. The Lord spoke to my heart, David, all you need is me. You don't need anything else. He said, everything else could go. If nothing's left of me, that's all you need. I went to him, you don't need anything but Jesus. He's enough. Hallelujah. He's enough. Standing among us tonight are many who need a miracle. You need a miracle in your life. Many of you have neglected this word. You have not been baptized in it. You've not been searching and seeking it out. I want you to come forward as they're singing a number here. I want you to come out and let us pray. Up in the balcony here at the main floor, is there something said tonight that touched your heart? And you say, Brother David, I need something from the Lord tonight. And maybe you're backslidden. Maybe you've grown cold toward the Lord. God brought you here tonight to speak to your heart. He's drawing you to Himself and to His word. If you feel the drawing, if you feel the pulling of the Holy Spirit, say, Brother, I've got to have God do something for me in this service tonight. I've got to have new hope. I've got to have deliverance. I've got to have God do something for me in this meeting tonight. I don't want to walk out without God doing this for me tonight. You come and join. Up in the balcony. Just go to any of the stairs down and come down any aisle. Lord bless you. This is the conclusion of the tape. Jesus, I surrender all. Jesus, I surrender all. Jesus, I...