In this sermon, the speaker addresses the common misconception that simply studying, praying, and doing more will lead to a life of glory and ambassadorship for God. He uses the example of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, who had an intimate relationship with Jesus but still struggled to live out their faith. The speaker emphasizes that God's presence remains with us, even in our failures and shortcomings. He also highlights the need for true faith and conversion, as well as the consequences of lacking in these areas, such as a lack of fruitfulness and a spiritual drought. The speaker encourages believers to be strong, for God is with them, and to continue working for His glory.

Thank you, Jesus. I have a word, which I believe to be from the Lord, called the glory of the latter house. It's in the book of Haggai, and that's three small books to the left of Matthew, which is the beginning of the New Testament. So if you'll turn to Haggai chapter 2, I'm going to begin to read at verse 1 in just a moment. Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for the strength that you give. O God Almighty, I bless your holy name, for how merciful you are, and how kind you are, and how good you are. Thank you, Lord, that you don't call us in our strength, you call us in our weakness. Because your strength is made perfect in our weakness. It's perfected, it's brought to glory. And so we make no boast of strength here this morning. We come in our need. We come to your supply, Lord. We come to your strength, come to your wisdom. We come to your sustaining and keeping power. Everything that we have, and are, and will be, comes from your hand. Thank you for your willingness to give. Thank you for your willingness to overshadow the frailty of this vessel, and to speak to your church. I believe you've given me a word, and you will bear witness to what is from your heart and your mouth. You have to bear witness. If I bear witness of myself, it's not true. You have to bear witness, Holy Spirit. And so I'm asking you to bear witness what is of you, Lord. God gives strength to your people. We thank you for this in Jesus' name. Haggai chapter 2. And now these are people who are called to rebuild what had been known as the dwelling place of God. It was a temple where his glory had been once known, and he had been brought to reputation there throughout the earth. Remember in the days of Solomon, the glory of the Lord came down, and there was such a divine order there, such a presence of God, such an enablement, such a resource of God's life and wealth, that even a distant queen from a far land heard about it and came. And when she came, she said that the half wasn't told me of the magnificence of the presence of God that I see here. Now, they dealt very carelessly with this glory, and because of it, they were taken into captivity, and in that captivity was in measure a chastisement of God. But God will chasten his people, but only because he loves us. Then he will call us to rebuild once again. And they came back. Suddenly, a foreign king comes into his heart to write a decree to allow the people of God to return into the promised land as it is, and to start rebuilding the temple of God, this place of former glory. And they started, but they encountered opposition, just like you and I do. We wanted to live for Christ. We want our lives to count for good and for God. We read in the scriptures and have a sense of what our lives are supposed to look like, but we just encounter what they did, such rubble, such a history, such a sense of loss, looking to our own strength, not knowing how we're going to do this. And then, of course, you've got a devil to fight against as well. Comes against it with everything that he's got in his entire weaponry. And so, in this attempt to rebuild, they became discouraged, this initial group of returning people, and it caused them to turn inward and to begin to lean on their own reasoning. And their own reasoning brought them into what I would call a lesser glory. They began to try to build something, but they were trying to build it out of their natural minds. It was no longer supernatural. It wasn't divine. It didn't bring glory to God. It was simply a natural people trying to build a natural kingdom. And ultimately, they turned inward and began to focus on their own houses. And that's what happens. When you and I lose the supernatural, we lose the heart of God. And as soon as we lose the heart of God, which is the redemption of all humanity and the glory of God in the earth, then we start to focus on ourselves, and the whole even relationship with God begins to be about my house. And how can this relationship with God somehow build me something that's going to make me feel a sense of well-being? I call it a lesser glory. As Paul says, the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. And in 1 Corinthians 15, 49, he says, as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now, Paul is speaking about a day when Christ is going to come for his church, and we are going to be taken from the earth, and we shall be as he is, where there'll be no more sorrow, no more sighing, or all of these things that were promised. And it speaks of that day, but shouldn't there be a measure of it available today? How about today? How can my life bring glory to Jesus Christ today and tomorrow? Is it possible that God wants to bring glory to his name through me? Now, I'm talking about you. When I say me, I'm talking about you. Not me, you. Is it possible? Not somebody else, not some other denomination, not some other speakers, not some other Christians, not some other superstar. I'm talking about you. You, with all the rubble in your life, with all the discouragement, with the whole thing of hell that seems to be against you. The loss, in a sense, knowing what your life should be, but having given up, in a sense, and saying, I don't know if I could ever be what I feel God has called me to be. Now, let's read Haggai chapter two. He's a prophet of God raised up to call the people back to the work of God again. In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Remember those days when you began to read the Bible? You read the book of Acts. You saw them in the upper room. They came out filled with the glory of God. You knew in your heart, somehow, that that was the calling of God for every Christian person, to be filled with God's glory, to be brought into the supernatural, to make a difference. And so, in a sense, you had an image of the house because you are the temple of the Holy Ghost. And you saw it, even if it was only for a moment, of what it should look like in its glory. And how do you see it now? Many people would say, My life is nothing like what I thought it was going to be in Christ. I had such aspirations. I had such a heart. I had such a vision. There was a season where I'd read my Bible, and my heart burned like the men on the road to Emmaus. There was a time when I felt that all things were possible in Christ. I truly wanted to glorify God in the earth. But now I look in the mirror, I look in the Bible, I look at my life, and it seems like I've become nothing like what I thought my life is supposed to be. Yet now, verse 4, Be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord, and be strong, O Joshua the son of Josedek, the high priest, and be strong, all ye people of the land. Not just the rulership, not just the priesthood or the ministry, but all people. Be strong, saith the Lord, and work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, that means when you were delivered from the slavery to sin and oppression, I made you promises, and so my spirit remains among you. Fear ye not, for thus saith the Lord of hosts, yet once, it is a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. Now he's speaking about our day. And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. That means the Lord of battle, the Lord of might, the Lord that stands as captain of his army. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts, and in this place will I give peace, says the Lord of hosts. The glory of the latter house. Now we know that they were about to build a temple into which Jesus Christ would come, and the glory of that latter house, even though it looked different than the first glory, was greater than the glory in Solomon's day. And now you and I have become the temple of the living God. And there was, as there was a glory in Solomon's day, and a glory when Jesus visited this rebuilt temple, there was a glory on the day of Pentecost, and there will be a glory in the last days that we're living in, in the temple of Almighty God, which is you and which is me. This is the weakness of each of our hearts. In verse two, he says, who is left among you? Verse three, rather, that saw this house in her first glory, but how do you see it now? It's the tendency to be unable to believe beyond what we can naturally see. It's your weakness and it's mine. Thank God it's less and less all the time, actually. Maybe it's just because I'm getting older, I'm not sure. But I see something now of God. As my body weakens, my spirit is getting stronger. As my natural strength and ability is abating, the strength of God is coming to the fore. I see something now that it's not by might, it's not by power, it's by my spirit, says the Lord. I see that we have authority in Christ to tread on serpents and scorpions and to command mountains in a sense that stand in the way of the glory of God to be moved. So how does God get us beyond what we can naturally see? How does he get us there? Is it through more Bible study? I don't think so. As good as that is, you can learn the Bible, you can memorize it in every possible known human language and still not have faith and still not be a person that brings glory to God. Is it attending church? That's a good thing, and I hope you do, but that is not going to bring the glory of God in its full measure. So what does he do? How does he do it? In our natural tendency, we think if we just read more, we study more, we pray more, we do more, we work more, then somehow our lives are going to be this ambassadorship of glory to the name of God in our generation, only to find out that all we've studied more, read more, prayed more, done more. We just know more, but we're sitting in the same crowd. It doesn't matter how many people in Babylon studied for how long, everybody was still in Babylon. Now, I want to just paraphrase this story. You don't need to turn there. It's found in John chapter 11, and it talks about three people who had an intimate acquaintance with Jesus Christ in their house. Now, they were Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Now, you have to go with me into their house, if you will. Jesus visited that house frequently. He would sit at the table, and he would speak wondrous things. I mean, Martha served him in the house. Mary seemingly worshiped him, and Lazarus loved him and knew he was loved of Christ. So this is an amazing family, an amazing moment. You talk about a family altar. You talk about devotions in your house with Jesus sitting at the table. It couldn't get any better than that, could it? I mean, they knew Scripture. When Martha stood at her brother's tomb, and she said, I know that you're the resurrection and the life, and I know that at the last day the dead will be brought back to life again. Now, she didn't get that from the Old Testament necessarily. She got it from the very mouth of Jesus at her table. You think about the things he taught them. Think about the things he spoke about his kingdom. And they loved him. They had intimate fellowship with him. They enjoyed him coming to their house like you and I enjoy coming to the house of God. We enjoy opening the Word of God. We enjoy worshiping. We enjoy the words that come from the mouth of Jesus. But yet still, there was a deficiency. There was still something in these three that could not bring glory to God. So what do you think Jesus does? Does he visit more often? Does he speak more truths? Does he reprimand them? Does he chastise them? Does he cause Mary to sit at his feet longer, and Martha to serve him more, and Lazarus to love him more? No. You know what he does? He lets sickness and death come into their house. Listen, Haggai chapter 1, verses 8-11. Here's what he said, Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house and I'll take pleasure in it. I fully believe with all my heart it is time for the church of Jesus Christ worldwide to go back to the mountain again. Go back to the cross of Jesus Christ. Bring wood again. Bring the fullness of that redemption into the house of God. Not human effort. Not human wisdom. Not human strategy. But bring back into the house of God what Jesus Christ did for all of humanity on a cross 2,000 years ago. The fullness of that redemption. Bring that back into the house of God and begin to build with that. Build not with our promises to God, but build with God's promises to us. Not with our study. Not with our efforts. Not anything we've done, but bring back into the house of God the Savior who said it is finished and demolished the powers of darkness. And he says, build a house and I'll take pleasure in it. And I will be glorified, says the Lord. You look for much, and lo, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew upon it. Why, says the Lord of hosts, because of mine house that is waste and you run every man to his own house. But think of all the aspirations that this church generation has had. All the strategies. All the talk about how we're going to build the kingdom of God. How we look for this great harvest that has not come in in our generation as our nations go to hell in a handbasket. I'm not willing to live in delusion, folks. I don't care who out there is. I'm not. We have to live and deal in reality. You look for much and it came to little. And when you brought it home, we reached out into the community and we offered surveys and we offered parties and we offered all of these things to bring people in the house of God. And they came in and they didn't last. The Lord said, you brought it in and I blew it away because it wasn't truly converted. Therefore, he says in verse 10, the heaven over you is stayed from dew and the earth is stayed from her fruit. Therefore, because of this naturalness, because of this lack of true faith, heaven is brass and there's no fruit. We talk of harvest, but there's very little happening in harvest, especially in the borders of this country right now. Now, how does God deal with it? Verse 11, he says, I called for a drought upon the land and upon the mountains, upon the corn, upon the new wine, upon the oil and that which the ground brings forth and upon men and upon cattle and upon all the labor of your hands. This is what I did. I called for a famine. I called for a financial downturn. I called for unemployment. I called to take away everything that has brought you into a false confidence, not in anger, but in love because the Lord loves his people. It's all about his church, folks. What does he do with Mary, Martha and Lazarus? He lets sickness and death come into their house. He shows them their powerlessness. He allows them to be taken captive by their circumstance. He confronts them with their unbelief. And then he comes to them one more time to manifest his glory. In other words, he brings them into a place of complete and utter hopelessness. We're not going to get out of this in our own strength. We are in a position now, like Mary, Martha and Lazarus were in that time, like the children of Israel were in Babylon, like the returning exiles were in trying to rebuild the temple. We are not going to get out of this in our own strength. We are not going to see the glory of God in our own strength. When Jesus came to where Lazarus was laying four days dead in the tomb, Mary quoted a lot of scripture at him, but she really didn't believe any of it. It had never found a root in her heart. We know scripture, but there's a point, folks, where we have to believe it now. He said, I am the resurrection and the life, and he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? And again, in verse 40, he said, did I not say to you that if you would believe, that you would see the glory of God? Verse four of Haggai chapter two, he says, and now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord. Be strong, Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, saith the Lord, and work, for I'm with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit remains among you, fear you not. In other words, I am with you in spite of your failure, in spite of our careless handling of precious truth, in spite of our captivity, in spite of our lack of bringing his name to honor. The good news is he's still with us. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. He's with all of his church, folks. Now I'm not talking just Times Square Church now. He's with the Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Baptist, Brethren, Pentecostal, Salvation Army. He's with everyone everywhere who's still seeking him, who still wants to walk with him. He's still with us. Glory to God. He's still with us, folks. He has not abandoned his church at this time, this hour. I fully believe with everything in my heart that the glory of the latter temple is going to be greater than the glory of the former. Thank God for what he did in the past. Thank God for the 1800s, the 1700s, and the 1600s, but I don't live there anymore. I live in the year 2011, and I believe the glory of the latter temple is going to exceed the glory of the former. I believe we're going to have and see the presence of God in his church one more time, one more call of mercy before the Lord Jesus Christ comes. Glory to the Lamb of God. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, verse 6, yet once and a little while, and I shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. I shake everything. I shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I'll fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The time has come, he says, to judge all nations, but not you. I will fill you with my glory. The word in the Hebrew text means weight, honor, esteem, glory, majesty, abundance, and wealth. I will fill you with what you could never have on your own. It doesn't come from human effort, folks. It comes from believing God. That's why he says in verse 8, the silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. I have all the resources that you need to rebuild this last temple for my glory. I have all that you need. And so the obvious question that you and I have in our hearts is how? My God, how do I do this? I've tried this. That's what the people in Haggai's day said. When this word, they had given up for quite a few years after trying to rebuild. They just gave up. And now the word of the Lord comes to them and tells them to start building again. But in the heart it would be like, I tried that. It didn't work. I had no strength to go against the opposition, the scorning and the mocking and the rubble. I just tried, but it didn't work. So how? How? It's quite simple, really. In Ezekiel 37, what do you think the bones did? They were dead. They were dry. And God found a man called Ezekiel and he said, stand over this valley with all these bones that were the children of Israel. And their testimony was, our hope is lost. Our strength is gone. And that's where the children of God do get to from time to time and generation to generation. And so he said, say this to them. Oh, ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. That's all they could do. They couldn't, I'm not trying to be funny, but they couldn't get it together on their own. Leg bone is over here. The arm bone is over there. Everything is scattered all over the place. They don't even have the strength to bring the bones together. But somehow God in his mercy gave them the ears to hear. Oh, ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. He says, Oh, my people, verses 12 and 13, I will open your graves and I will cause you to come out of your graves. That means every place of despair, hopelessness, weakness, powerlessness, captivity. And I will bring you into the land of Israel, which is the land of promise. I will do it. The Lord says, not you. If you go into Ezekiel 36, he says, I'm not doing this for your sakes. I'm doing it for my Holy name's sake. I'm doing it because I am God and you are my people. My name's sake. It will never be said in eternity that I brought you out and couldn't bring you in or that I abandoned you because of your weakness and your failure. Oh God. No wonder if we have a crown when we stand before the throne of God, no wonder these things will be thrown at the feet of almighty God. Oh Jesus, your mercy, your mercy rewrote my life. Your mercy raised me from the dead. Oh my God. Thank you, Lord. He says, you shall know that I'm the Lord when I've opened your graves, oh my people, and brought you up out of your graves. I brought you out. You couldn't get out. They couldn't get out of Babylon. He brought them out. They couldn't rebuild the temple. He sent his word and gave them the resource to rebuild it. They were in the upper room, had no power to come out and evangelize the world as they'd been told. He brought them out. The devil loves to try to wrap the church up in death, wrap the church up in captivity, wrap the church up in its circumstance. Oh how he must have snickered on the hilltop as he sees Martha running around quoting scriptures she no longer believes. Mary weeping because she feels that God has let her down and failed her family. Lazarus behind a stone, stinking as the people said. No hope, no future. And the devil just gleefully saying, this is the church of Jesus Christ. Oh yes, he had it all wrapped up, except for one thing. Hallelujah. Except for one thing. The God who spoke the universe into existence by the word of his mouth is still alive. The God who said I will have a church, will have a church. The God who said I'll have a people in the earth that glorify my name, will have a people in the earth that will glorify his name. Hallelujah, hallelujah to the Lamb of God. It was all wrapped up until that voice stood on a mountaintop and said, Lazarus come forth. Glory to God. Do you think that man's reading more, studying more, attending church more, was going to get him out of there? As good as all that was, it put him in there. Now it comes time to believe it. Jesus had been at his table because Martha knew the scripture, Lazarus had heard it. I am the resurrection and the life and he that believes in me, though he were dead yet shall he live. Do you believe this? Martha wasn't sure. Mary was in despair. The people all around were weeping. There's only really one man who could hear it. It's so ironic, it was the dead man. There was the man who knew he couldn't do it. It was the man who he tried to live but he died. He tried to outweigh God and he couldn't. And he was now completely in a place of helplessness and weakness and hopelessness. The only thing left was the voice of God, the one who breathed into dust and dust became a living soul. The one who redeemed him from the curse of death and sin and the power of hell was now calling him and it was crunch time. Do I get up or do I stay? Do I believe my circumstance or do I believe the voice of God? Because we're living in an hour again where Jesus Christ is calling his church to be the ambassadors of his glory and I mean his whole church. Every place, everywhere, every denomination, whether the place seems to be alive or whether it's obviously its time of life has passed, nothing is done until God says it's done. You know the story and so do I. That Lazarus got up and in the little strength that he had, he walked out of that grave and Jesus gave the command to loose him. In other words, set him free and let him go. Now where did he go to? John 12 9 shows us he's back at the table with Jesus again. But everything has changed. Before it was just scripture, now he's living in resurrected life. Now he knows who is at his table because he was dead and he's now alive. And the scripture says in John 12 9 that many people came not just to see Jesus, but they might see Lazarus also whom he raised from the dead. Many people in the generation that we're living in will not only come to see Jesus, but they will come because of you. They'll come because you've been raised from the dead. You have been brought out of captivity. You have been given life. You and I are the only Bibles. This is not a reading generation anymore. This is a strictly visual people. And you and I are the only Bibles that this generation are going to read now. And Jesus is calling us again to himself. This is a rare moment in history. It happens. They had gone for many, many years in Babylon before that voice came again and called them to rebuild. Then they started to rebuild and they lost heart. And then the voice of God came and called them again. And they built the temple that Jesus Christ, the man, the son of God actually walked into. And they had no idea what they were building. They had no idea of the glory that was going to come to this temple. Haggai 2 9, he says, the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former set the Lord of hosts. And in this place, will I give peace? What do you think the mark of the work of God will be in a generation when men's hearts are failing them for fear of the things coming on the earth? Peace, calmness in the storm. Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed upon thee. Mark the perfect man or the man, the scripture says, in whom the work of God is perfected. The end of that man is peace, peace, a confidence in God, a trust in God, a trust in God. Verse 21 says of Haggai chapter 2, speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen. I will overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them and the horses and their riders shall come down, everyone by the sword of his brother. In other words, a season of incredible war. In that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will take thee. Oh, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtel, says the Lord, and I will make you a signet for I've chosen thee, said the Lord of hosts. A signet is a sign of the authority of God. I'll make you a sign in the day of judgment of all that God is and that God through Christ Jesus is willing to do for a people who turn to him. I will make you a sign to this generation for I have chosen you. I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts. I've chosen you in your weakness. I've chosen you in your captivity. I've chosen you in your frailty. I've chosen you in your nothingness. I've chosen you in your confusion. I've chosen you in your struggles. I've chosen you in your despair. I've chosen you in your depression. I've chosen you. Not our choice, his choice. And I'm calling you to be ambassadors of the kingdom of God in this last generation. Not your choice, mine. The only choice you and I have is to hear that voice and respond to it. The only choice that we have is to get up from our place of captivity. And even if all you can do is hobble forward, just hobble forward, and he will give the command that you'll be loosed and let go. You'll find yourself sitting at a table with people coming to see not just Jesus, but Jesus in you. Jesus with you. Jesus carrying you. Jesus sustaining you. Jesus giving you glory. Jesus giving you a song in the night. Jesus giving you hope in a hopeless time. Jesus giving you strength when no strength seems to be left or prevailing. Jesus giving you a clear path when nobody else knows where to go. Jesus giving you joy in your heart when your journey seems to be hard and difficult just like everyone else. Yes, they will come to see you and they will come to see Jesus in you. Glory to the Lamb of God. The glory of the latter temple shall be greater than the former. God's going to do more in your life than you've ever envisioned for yourself, than you ever thought, than you ever believed. Yes, in his mercy he let us all in the church of Jesus Christ in our generation go down in a sense into nothingness. All of our vain boasts and all of our promises and all of our programs have come to nothing. The whole generation is dying in its sin, but now the voice of God has come to this generation. Calling you and calling me into a strength that only can come from God, into a freedom that can only come from God, into giftings of God that can only come from God, into wisdom that can only come from God, into strength that can only come from God, into joy that can only come from God, into peace that can only come from God, a stability in unstable times that can only come from God. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Where will this glory be manifested? At your dinner table with your family, across the hall from people who live in your building, on your block no matter where you live, in the workplace if you have a job, in the marketplace if you don't have a job. The glory of God will be manifested in you. All this is the Lord's doing says Isaiah and is it marvelous in our eyes. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. I thank God for the simplicity of it. The religious will be left scratching their skinny beards, but lepers and prostitutes and the lame and the addicted and the blind and the single and those with nothing, those who know they need God are going to press in and touch the glory of God in this generation. You'll be given strength to stand in your schools, those that are young. In your colleges you'll be given wisdom the Bible says that nobody can stand against as you stand and make the choice to speak truth. You'll be given the power to no longer cower down under the voice of the enemy, but like David you'll run into the camp of the enemy saying is not the glory of God at stake here? Be something of God's Spirit that comes upon you, that gives you the boldness, gives you the wisdom, gives you the strength to be what God has called you to be. And I thank God it's not by might, it's not by power, it's by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. It's not by my strength of will, it's not by my human reasoning, it's not by anything I do possess other than the Spirit of God who is alive within me. He will carry me, will change me, will sustain me, will give me His Word, give me His Spirit and cause my life and yours to make a difference in this generation. Glory to God, glory to God. I foresee the day when we can't close the doors of this church in New York City for the volume of people coming to Christ because of you folks, because of you, because of you in the marketplace, because of you in your neighborhood. People are going to come and say I want to meet this Jesus that so changed John or Stephen or Mary or Gladys whatever your name is. I want to meet this Jesus that raised this friend of mine from the dead or this neighbor of mine or this co-worker of mine. There's something in that person that I want. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Now your choice and mine is we either believe this, we believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, we believe that He can quicken us, we believe that He can bring us into freedom, we believe that He can do the miraculous through our lives, or we stay in the grave. That's the choice. That's the only choice really we have to make. I want to call you I call you in Christ's name to step out of all bondage, captivity, whatever it is in your life and your mind that has convinced you that Jesus Christ will never use you. Leave it behind. Leave it. Leave that place. Leave that stink. Leave that death. Leave it. For those who are under the argument of the devil that Christ will never receive you, He doesn't want you. You are without argument when you see Lazarus. He didn't stink. He was dead. Jesus wanted him for a testimony. He wants you. There's no argument anymore. There's nothing the devil can throw your way that can keep you sitting in your seat or laying in your grave of despair. You've got the right to get up because Christ is calling you. He's calling His church. Oh, glory to God. Oh, glory to God. Would you help us to believe you, Lord? I've chosen you, says the Lord of hosts. I've chosen you, you, Lazarus, Mary, Martha, you. I've chosen the weak and the foolish and the nothings and the nobody. I've chosen you to glorify my name. It's not what you can do for me. It's what I'm willing to do for you and through you. Praise be to God. We're going to open this altar at the front of this auditorium in Roxbury as well between the screens in the annex. And anybody listening in their home, you can make an altar right where you are. Jesus is calling you. I want people here today to defy the devil. Defy him. Just say, Satan, you're not keeping me. You're not keeping me in death. You're not keeping me bound. The voice of God is calling me. I'm not going to live here any longer. I'm not going to play this game. And I thank God that I've been brought to the place where I can hear the voice of Jesus. And it's my only and my last hope, because that's where life begins. That's where the supernatural begins, where the natural ends. Thank God. Hallelujah. Jesus, thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. We're going to worship for just a few moments. And as we do, I'm going to ask every Lazarus and Lazarette to get out of your seat and say, Lord Jesus Christ, glorify your name through me. And whatever that means, Lord, I am available. I am your temple. You say the glory of the latter will be greater than the former. Maybe my vision was short, actually, of what you wanted my life to be. It doesn't really matter. I'm yours, Lord. Come and fill me and use me for your glory. In Jesus' name. If that's you today as we stand, please just come and join me here. We're going to worship for a few moments. And as we do, let the word soak into your heart. On the balcony, go to either exit and make your way down. As we all stand together in the sanctuary, just make your way out. Praise God. If you can hear his voice, the scripture says, don't harden your heart. Don't limit God. You're the first and last day. I love you, love you, love you each hour. I praise your holy name. You are the Alpha and Omega. You're the first and last day. You let them hang you on a tree. You died for sinners just like me. I raise my voice up with a cry. I love you, love you, love you Jesus. I praise your holy name. You are the Alpha and Omega. You're the first and last day. You let them hang you on a tree. You died for sinners just like me. You let them hang you on a tree. You died for sinners just like me. I raise my voice up with a cry. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Almighty God. Lord, here we are. It's all you have, but it's all you've ever needed. You didn't call us in our strength. You called us in our weakness. You didn't call us to do what only you can do. This morning, Lord, we lift up the testimony of your name around this country and every church, Lord. We lift up every pastor who's discouraged. Oh, Almighty God, Almighty God, Almighty God. You can speak, Lord. You can speak to every heart. You can fan the flame one more time. You can put passion back in the heart of those that stand before your people. I pray for those who are wayward and you're preaching something they shouldn't. I ask you, God, for mercy, mercy on them, O God, and begin to speak, Lord, as they open the text of Scripture, something deeper, something more profound, something more alive, more real than they've ever known. Give them the courage to stand and preach it, even though their message may have been somewhat other than what it should be. We're not asking for judgment on your house. We're asking for mercy, O God. Mercy, Lord Jesus Christ, that rewrites every life. We ask, Lord, that you just give us grateful hearts as you choose to use us in this generation to be ambassadors of you, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Just give us glad hearts, joyful hearts. Oh, Jesus, give us the willingness to embrace every person, every nationality, every walk of life, every practice, no matter what they are or what they're doing. If they start heading to home, give us the arms, Lord, to embrace them. God, give us the words, Lord, that express your heart that sent you to a cross. Lord, we just give ourselves to you, Lord, and we ask you to come and take us out of all captivity and powerlessness and wrong focus and just by your love and life within us, make us the temple in this generation that brings glory to your name. That's what we're asking for, Lord, not just for ourselves, but for all believers in Christ. Everywhere, O God, O Jesus, would you breathe on New York City? Would you breathe on those who occupy Wall Street? Would you breathe on us, Almighty God, in mercy, Lord, in mercy? Would you breathe on this city? Would you turn our captivity, O God, to streams in the south? Would you cause them to be dancing and singing in our streets, Lord? Would you give us a season of mercy before you shake the whole world? Would you give us, O God, a season of rejoicing where our sons and daughters may find bread? O God, O God, O God, Lord, I see in your word. I read it in your word. I know you're a God of mercy. I know you can't turn back your cry of mercy. I see it everywhere in the word of God. O Father, empower us now as the bride of Christ. Empower us, precious Holy Spirit of the living God. Raise us out of death and captivity and mediocrity and bring us into the life of Christ. We'll go back to the mountain. We'll get wood. We'll begin to build this house the way it should be built in the strength of God. O Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, help us to read your word and obey it. My God, make it the delight of our hearts, Lord. O God, as David danced before the ark when he did it God's way, let us dance in your presence. Let us rejoice, O God. Now I pray for my brothers and sisters who have come forward today, Father. I pray that, O God, that nobody live under the lie of the devil or the frailty of our own hearts from this day forward. That we believe there is a God in us who raises the dead. That we believe, as Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That we believe that we have the right to condemn every tongue that rises against us in judgment. That we believe that the strength of Christ is made perfect in our weakness. My God, I believe it with all my heart. I yield to you, Lord, and I ask you, Jesus, to bring glory to your name. Bring glory, O God, in this generation to your name. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Let nobody draw back. Let no one draw back at this altar. Your word says, if any man draw back, my soul will have no pleasure in him. Have pleasure on us, O God. We don't come to you in strength. We don't come to you with a list of anything. We don't come to you in pride. We come to you in our need. We come to you and just offer ourselves to you, O God, that you can be glorified through us. And Father, we thank you for this. My God, you won't turn away anybody who prays this prayer today. Hallelujah. Lift your hands, will you, and just ask Jesus to use you. Just do it now. Just ask him to use your life for his glory. Open your mouth. Open your mouth for those that are appointed to die, for those who have nobody to cry out, who don't have a testimony. Just open your mouth and open your heart. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for hearing our cry and our prayer, Lord. O God, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Lord, we won't draw back in unbelief. We will believe you. We will stand in what you speak. We will do what you call us to do in the strength of our God. Thank you for this, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God, for breaking us through all the barriers the devil has put in front of us, giving us hope and a heart. Oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus. Now let's praise him. Let's just give him glory and thanks. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah to the lamb of God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Oh, give him praise. Just give him praise and glory for who he is. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.