In this sermon, the speaker shares a personal experience of witnessing the hardships of communism in Poland. He recalls the scarcity of goods in the grocery stores and the long queues for basic necessities. The speaker's wife's act of kindness towards a little girl with a piece of chocolate serves as a reminder of neglecting God's house. The speaker emphasizes the importance of prioritizing God's work and staying close to Christ, warning against being consumed by the love of worldly things. The sermon concludes with a message of hope and blessing for those who choose to put God first.

I have a message that I needed to have a confirmation from the Holy Spirit. I had not planned to preach this message here. I said, Lord, I have to have confirmation. When Brother Joshua spoke, he gave me the confirmation. That was the assurance from the Word of God that I should preach what I'm going to preach to you now. I'm a watchman. Just one of many that God has. Let me open my coat, it's so hot. I have to abide in my calling. There are times I can't preach a soothing, soft message. And the Lord sends watchmen to His church. A watchman who is able to see something coming. And he's called to warn the body of Jesus Christ. I'm just going to go to it. Please turn to Revelation, the third chapter. The third chapter, first five verses. I'm going to call this message a capacity to be stirred or moved. I'm going to have my brother read this in Polish. And the very words that you hear will test your heart whether you have a capacity to be stirred or moved. I'm going to read from the book of Sardis. Holy Spirit, please help me. To deliver my soul. And speak with mercy. And love. Amen. Revelation two and three are two of the most neglected chapters in the Bible. Check your commentaries, you will find very little said about these two chapters. Especially the third chapter of Revelation. Even those who specialize in prophecy usually skip over this chapter. They go to chapter four. Very little has been said. Here is a letter from Christ. And you know the background of this chapter. Jesus appears to John on the Isle of Patmos. He's walking among seven candlesticks. And Jesus said, these are the seven churches. And in his hand he had seven stars. And he said, these are the angels or the ministers of the churches. God said to John, I want you to deliver seven messages to seven churches and seven pastors. This is red letter in my Bible. That means that these are the direct words of Jesus Christ. So what I share with you now are not my own words. These are the words of Jesus Christ. Five of these churches seem to be reproved. But it is love. These are messages of love. Christ loved the church he died for. He loves his servants. He loves his ministers. Even those who are lukewarm. And he writes to these seven churches. The Bible says they were written to the angels of the churches. These are ministers who were raised by the Apostle Paul and John. And you would think that they would never have to receive this kind of a letter from Christ. Now, there are two concepts concerning these letters. Those who are dispensationalists suggest that these are seven church phases or seven church ages. And they would suggest that we are living in the last age of the Laodicean period. There are others who believe that these are seven co-existent churches. There were actually seven churches in Asia. They were mostly small churches. Most of them were unknown. There were seven letters written. I believe that these are co-existent churches. We have Ephesian type of Christian today. We have Pergamos Christians. We have Sardis Christians. And there are Laodiceans. I am so concerned about the letter written to Sardis. What I am giving you now is not an indictment against the Polish church. The letter begins like this. He says, I know your works. This is Jesus speaking. He is speaking first to the pastor. He said, you are responsible for the church. Beloved, I am responsible for the congregation I have called the pastor. We will all stand before Christ one day. And we will have to give an answer. And we are receiving... This message is to me. It is not just to a pastor who lived hundreds of years ago. And this pastor must have been shocked to receive something that he did not understand. Because you see, he was living under reputation. His church had a reputation. Of good works. The very name Sardis means good works. The Lord writes to the pastor. How would you like to receive this letter? I know your works. You have a name that you live. But you are dead. Now immediately, I want you to understand I am not speaking against the Polish church. Not any evangelical, no church. I am not calling any pastor a dead pastor. Because I take this letter to my own heart. And I am not a dead preacher. I know that I live. And I know God is pleased with my message. But the Lord is saying to us I want to inoculate you. I want to vaccinate you. I want to show you how churches die. I want to show you how churches that were once alive have the possibility of dying. I want to warn you as a pastor that it is possible that you can die. That spiritual death can lay hold of you after being alive. A reputation of being alive. If you had been living in that day anyone speak of Sardis church oh, they are doing a great work. They feed the poor. They take care of their widows. There is a good preacher. A loving pastor. But they don't know that something has cut into the church. Sardis has become a prosperous place. It was a gold smeltering. They smeltered gold. They became manufacturers of fine clothing. Great prosperity came to Sardis. And in the middle of that prosperity a spirit of death came in. The Lord said, be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. For I have not found your works perfect before God. You see what happens when people turn to their own interests. Years ago, my first visit to Poland I prophesied that there would be prosperity come to your country. And there is going to be greater prosperity God wants to bless His people. God loves to bless His people. There is nothing wrong with prosperity. But there has never been one generation in history that has been able to endure it without a struggle. It's happening even in China in places now. China is prospering as no other country on earth. And under communism under hardship the underground church grew in strength and power with God And now you can see the lust for things of this world. And this is what is happening. We hear a gospel being preached in the world today. It was born in the most prosperous country on earth in my own country, the United States. I remember the hard times. I remember how people came to church every night the service was open, every time the doors were open. I remember the mothers of Zion who used to weep for their daughters. I remember the fathers who used to grieve for their children who were backslidden. I remember that every Sunday we heard the message, Jesus is coming. We heard messages from the pulpit. There is a time to suffer. And there is a time to rejoice. But we heard about the cross. About taking up your cross. We heard there was a hell. We heard that there is going to be a judgment day. There was going to be a great white throne. And every sinner would stand before it. But we are now at the place that Israel came. Here is how prophet Isaiah spoke it. He sees the church now in its condition. He said they have become rebellious people. Children who love falsehood. They refuse the law of Jehovah. They say to their seers, do not see now. They say to their prophets, do not prophesy strictly. Give us soothing words. Give us illusions. Turn aside from this straight and holy way. Give us some space between us and God. Does this sound familiar? I told you I am not preaching about the present church in Poland. We are talking about what can happen. What happened to this church? What caused this letter to be written from the throne room of Christ? Life was leaking. Life was just ebbing away. A spirit of death is coming into the pulpit. And when Jesus said, you are dying, He means it. This passage of Scripture has shaken my soul. I did not get it as a sermon. It was a personal message to me. And I tremble when I share it with you. Jesus is saying to us, let me show you how this church had a spirit of death come upon it. Go to the first chapter of Haggai. Let me show you how the church of Sardis died. I am asking the Holy Spirit to help me give this to you in tenderness and mercy. I do not have to keep persuading you how much I love Poland. But let me tell you what the truth is. And this is what the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart this afternoon. The greatest act of love God can give the church is to warn us, is to prepare us so that we can have opposition against it, we can have knowledge against what could come. In Haggai, first chapter, verse 6. You sow much, but you bring in little. You never have enough. You earn wages, and they are put in a bag with holes. You see, there was a defilement that came into the church. A defilement, the Bible says. Now, when I speak of defilement, that includes so many things. Yes, it can include pornography. And I'll tell you this in love. That's not my subject. But I'll tell you now. And I stand before Holy God to say it. If you sit in this audience today, and you're into pornography on the internet, I speak in mercy. There are those here now that God has warned over and over again. And you're convinced that it does not affect your soul. But I'm telling you now death has come to your soul. You will have no power and no authority. And the Holy Spirit will not walk with you. One of my young leaders in Teen Challenge, I warned him, pleaded with him. He tried to get his wife involved. He wound up divorced. And married a witch. The very thing I warned him about. He's worshipping the devil now. One of the finest young preachers I could ever meet. Yes, that is a great defilement in the Church of Jesus Christ today. And yes, it can include all kinds of lust. But the real defilement is this. When we come to the place where our personal interests become more important than the interests of God in His Church. See, Haggai said this. He said, you have been told this is time to build the Church. The rebuilding of the Temple had been stopped for a season. Zerubbabel has been called to rebuild. Joshua the High Priest. But something had happened. They left off the building of God's house. The interest of God's house. The Church was not their first interest now. And Haggai comes on the scene. The Holy Spirit sends him to the prophet or rather to the High Priest and to the body of the Lord. And he said, you have said in your heart this is not the time to build. And what they mean and what they are saying we don't have time now. And now the apostle or rather Haggai the prophet he said, why is this happening? He said, because every man now runs to his own house. You run off to build your own house. Now your own interests now possess you. And now it was the making of money. And now it was furnishing their houses. Now it was the lust after the material things of the world. Now I believe God wants you to have a house. There is nothing wrong with buying furniture. Not at all. I have a nice home. I don't own it but the ministry owns it. And I drive a nice car. That's not the issue. The issue is this that the people who had done such a good work that was so on fire the churches and pastors who prayed suddenly and then slowly day by day and week after week the fire began to die. They were so busy going after their own interests. And this is the greatest defilement in the church of Jesus Christ today. Very few pastors now pray. Very few pastors now weep. So many churches it has to do with personal agenda. And here is what the prophets are saying. And this is what Jesus is trying to say to the Sardis church. He said, you've come into a comfort zone. You've settled down. The zeal is no longer there. Lukewarmness is coming to the body. And every man is so busy now. And we become a Sunday morning church maybe two or three hours a week. And now those who used to run to prayer meetings those who love to go to God's house now it's a weariness to them. And when they come to God's house their minds are on their own business. God says, now you bring to me a polluted offering. You have time to do everything for your own self. You have time to sit and watch hours of television. You've neglected my house. Do you understand why this touches me? Do you understand why this message when it came to me was like a knife? Because you see, I can stand before Jesus. And this is what He would say to me. David, I've seen fifty years of good works. I know what you've done. But now, like Ezekiel who spent his last days playing with his toys seeking his own wealth and so the Holy Spirit comes to me and I tell you now that I'm 74 years old it's a bigger struggle than any time in my life. I have to fight for my time with God. I have to fight against these things that are coming at us. The need for success that you see and the lust of things entering into the heart. And that was the heart cry of Christ when He walked this earth. He said, beware unless the things of this world choke the Word choke your anointing and you wither. So something happened. This is the result of putting our own interests before the things of God. And those of us who are most guilty are most unaware of it. If I came to you and I said, this is your problem you'd say, no that's not in my heart because that's what I said to the Holy Ghost. Then the Lord began to show me be careful beware unless you allow the things of this world to choke the love of the Word because you see I was coming into a comfort zone I was saying, Lord, I've done enough I should have retired when I'm 65 let me relax I'm just going to enjoy my family I'll write a few books I'm tired of being a watchman the Holy Spirit said, no no called man of God ever retires from the ministry I'm talking about the heart yes, you can retire, you can get your retirement benefits but if you stop seeking God and you spend less and less time in this world you no longer want to carry the burden of the Lord let me tell you how it ends up from Haggai the prophet he said, you can't you can't keep your head above the waters everything you get is like putting it in a bag with holes in it he said, you bring in much but I blow on it you look for much but it came to little when you brought it home I blew upon it your money doesn't go very far now he said, I cut a hole in the bag now the more you get the less satisfied you are you can just hardly make it now he said, I called for a drought I stopped the rain the rain of the Spirit no longer falls and the prophet asked this question he said, you ask God why? because my house has been neglected now, here's what the Holy Spirit reminded me just an hour before service there was a time under communism and I was here in Poland when I saw how hard it was pastors took me into what was supposed to be a supermarket a grocery store there was hardly anything there I saw queues and had some meat over here if you wanted shoes you queued up and you just got a box of shoes we brought candy bars with us from America I remember my wife saw a little girl along the road gave her a little piece of chocolate wrapped in a wrapper she took it in her pocket someone said, why don't you eat it? she said, I'm going to save it there was no money but what we had what this country had those who had the interest of God at their hearts those who were given to Christ and His church God seemed to stretch it out the need was met and there are hard times hard times when there is no money and even now some live paycheck to paycheck but see, these are not hard financial times these are more prosperous times and I know that I know God sent me perhaps one last time to Poland and I speak from the mind of Christ this could happen to the church of Poland become rich and increased with goods and wind up saying, I have need of nothing and then when that happens you lose the capacity to be moved God can send prophets He can send watchmen and He can speak until the soul should shake and we can sit there and be unmoved this was Sardis and He said, there are some of you that have not bended He said, there is a remnant that holds strong now let me give you the good news are you ready for some good news now? do I hear an amen? the scripture said after they heard the prophet Haggai they obeyed the warning of the Lord their God and they listened to the words of Haggai the prophet as the Lord God had sent him and the people feared the word of the Lord and God said to Haggai tell my people the Lord is with you now and the Lord stirred the spirit of Zerubbabel and the spirit of all the remnant of the people and they came back to the house of the Lord and continued the work you see, they heard the message and it was God saving His people now you can leave this service and say Pastor David preached a hard message and when I preach these kind of messages something happens in my soul and I have to find my release and comfort from the Holy Spirit but this is going to be the greatest test of Poland and the greatest temptation to the church but there will be a remnant a holy remnant and there will be pastors young and old who are going to say, I hear the Lord is speaking to me and the Lord is reminding me to stay close stay close to Christ stay on my knees and turn away from the love of the things of this world to keep my eyes pure and my heart clean and there is a wonderful thing that happened go to chapter 2, Haggai and here is the good news the very moment they made a decision to come back to putting God's work first verse 18 consider now from this day onward the 4th and 20th day of the 9th month even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid listen verse 19 is the seed yet in the barn as yet the vine and the fig tree the pomegranate, the olive tree hath not brought forth from this day will I bless you from this day from now on I'm going to bless you I'm going to bless my church because you made a decision to put your interests secondary you're coming back to the zeal of my house you're coming back to the secret closet of prayer you're not going to rest in comfort you're going to take the burden of the Lord upon your soul and from that hour and it can happen here today, this moment a decision is being made he said on this day he gives the date I have determined I will bless you and when you go into the old covenant blessings this is what that blessing included blessings upon the family blessing on your fields and on your flocks blessing in the city and in the country blessing in your coming and your going I will bless you with a full supply blessings concerning your debts and I will give you the smile and the favor of God and I will tell you and make the world know God is with you as of now God is with the church in Poland with the evangelical church tomorrow I will continue with the good word what I see coming what God is going to do for His church you see, when we come to this commitment God opens the windows of heaven He gives revelation the Holy Spirit begins to reveal Christ and then you hear a word that you know comes from heaven Hallelujah will you stand if I know my heart I have preached this in mercy and in the love of Christ I have not screamed at you and I have told you plainly this was a message to me and it has affected my life renewed my spirit we have another service in just an hour but if the Holy Ghost has moved you if He has challenged you and you need to come and make a commitment please don't come up here unless you have been convicted by the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit has spoken directly to you and said this message is for you and He has stirred your heart and you want to come and make a commitment all I can do no music just open the front and say if you need to come and just stand before the Lord that's about all I have to say I just open it up because you may not want to leave because there is such a spirit of conviction upon your heart just follow these that are coming please come up close and move in we are not trying to build numbers but come only of God's moving you Amen please understand God is here to love us He is not here to rebuke us He warns us as an act of great love and mercy of His heart and the Lord is giving us a vaccination so this never happens in Poland never happen in Poland God is going to preserve His church will you lift your hands would you ask the Lord right now would you ask the Holy Spirit to touch you and draw you and renew your spirit and quicken your love for Jesus we call this renewing your passion for Christ ask the Holy Spirit to renew your love for Jesus right now let me hear your voice lifted let every voice lifted to the Lord renew our love for you Jesus protect the church keep us Lord keep this church keep my spirit alive let's just call upon the name of the Lord now thank you Jesus for your precious love to your church for your love for your pastors the love and mercy of God give Him thanks now for His mercy thanks for the love of God thank you Jesus you give us our love thank you Jesus I don't want you to leave this room sad I don't want you to go into the next service sad I want you to have a spirit of rejoicing upon your hearts and this should be what you are thinking God so loves the church in Poland He brings a watchman and speaks plainly clearly about the love for His church you see there was a ship years ago left England to the United States they said that ship could not sink it hit an iceberg and the Titanic sank you see there's an iceberg but the Holy Ghost is a radar the Holy Ghost comes to His church and He said watch out go this way turn this way because there's a man up there and he's in a room he's watching a radar screen and he sees what is ahead what if there had been a watchman then the Titanic would not have had to sink this church is greater than the Titanic and God is not going to let it hit the iceberg God has brought a word of knowledge Hallelujah we should have our hands up and thanking God well thank God we should be rejoicing in the Lord because God has been good to you He's been good to me so we rejoice I close the service with this we expect a lot of young people in this building shortly would you join me in prayer everyone that the Holy Spirit will fill the front of this place with young people being restored and being saved and put on fire let's pray right now let's pray Amen we will be encouraged to sing by Missio Musica