In this sermon, the speaker addresses the response of Christians to calamities happening in the world. They emphasize that while the world may be alarmed and nervous, Christians have a different response. The speaker highlights the importance of God's warnings and prophecies, even if the secular world may not heed them. They emphasize that while judgment is a part of God's plan, it cannot be the only message of the Church. Instead, Christians should have hope and use this time to reach out to the lost world.

This recording is provided by Times Square Church in New York City. You're welcome to make additional copies for free distribution to friends. All other unauthorized duplication or electronic transmission is a violation of copyright and other applicable laws. This recording cannot be posted on any website. However, written permission to link to the Times Square Church homepage may be requested by emailing info at timessquarechurch.org. Other recordings are available by calling 1-800-488-0854 or by writing to Times Square Church Tape Ministry, 1657 Broadway, New York, New York, 10019. I want to talk to you this morning about a Christian's response to calamities. A Christian's response to calamities. Lord, we see things happening in the world today that are alarming to many in this world. And everybody, it seems like the whole world is nervous. And Lord, there is a Christian response. And we ask you, Lord, to speak to us. Lord, thank you for what you've been saying to my own heart. And I take it now from you and bring it to this congregation as you delivered it to me. And I pray, Lord, for the anointing of the Spirit on what I say and give us ears to hear. Open our hearts and our ears, we pray, in Christ's name. Amen. I was listening to the radio in the car the other day. And a national call-in program had two hours dedicated to the book of Revelation. And the question asked by the host was, do you believe that this is the end? Do you believe that God is judging the nations for their sins? Now, this was a secular host. It wasn't a Christian program. And most of the callers that called in, now, was amazed. Most of them said, this is God. This is divine intervention. And even the seculars that were calling in said, this is beyond comprehension. My wife went to the hairdresser and everybody in the place was talking about the book of Revelation. Is this the book of Revelation that's being fulfilled? And everywhere you go, you hear it now. You hear it in the secular press. There's something happening. Is God speaking? Is God judging the nations? Think of the calamities of the past few years, beginning with 9-11, when the Twin Towers were attacked, and Washington, D.C., the Pentagon, and the fear that came upon this nation, an attack for the first time in our history for hundreds of years. Going over this past week of some of the calamities that have come, massive hurricanes in Florida, over $20 billion worth of damage, and hundreds homeless. A tsunami strikes in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and hundreds of thousands were killed and millions were homeless. Remember Hurricane Katrina and Rita destroying a major American city, New Orleans. And hundreds in devastation and homes destroyed. And it's going to take years before there's any semblance of total recovery. Then the massive earthquake in Pakistan, 7.6, the deadliest in modern history, 80,000 dead so far. And over, I think they said now, 2 million homeless. 2 million homeless. Then, international health organization around the world is warning us now, of all things a deadly flu pandemic, HSNI, a deadly bird flu strain, and if it mutates it can kill 2 million, they're prophesying, 2 million here in America, and untold millions around the world, and they say if we started now with a flu vaccine, it would take 9 months after it strikes. And they fear that it's mutating, and that's, the bird flu has now, the avian flu has spread to Romania, and to Turkey, and to Russia, and now they're warning us. These are not preachers warning, these are scientists warning. And I listen to some of these scientists, and really a fearful thing that they're prophesying, a pandemic that would sweep the world, and worse than the flu epidemic in 1918, that killed over a million people here in the United States in 6 months, and tens of millions around the world, and they say that was nothing compared to what is coming. Now, I'm not trying to scare you, because I'm going to take you someplace else in just a minute. Zimbabwe, Catholic Archbishop Nkumbi, a Catholic Bishop, warns that in the next 4 months, 200,000 will die of starvation in what was Rhodesia, Pastor Neal's home state, home nation. And now Mugubi has bulldozed 700,000 people who were poor, and bulldozed their hobbles and their shacks, bulldozed them to the ground, and the people are starving. 200,000 will die, the Bishop said, within the next 4 months. And 700,000 people homeless. 7,000 people a week dying of AIDS in their country. And they say it's going to get worse. And now we've got a hurricane hitting, it has just now absolutely devastated Mexican Yucatan Peninsula, and Cancun is in destruction. And we don't even know yet the destruction that has taken place there, and now again heading for Florida. And yesterday they announced that there are 40 nations now with terror cells in them, threatening those nations with terror. 40 nations. Now as a believer, what do you think about all of this? As a believer, what comes to your mind? Is this what Jesus said would happen, that men's hearts would begin to fail them for fear of watching those things coming on the earth? Does that come to your mind? If we believe the Bible is God's eternal word, then this is what you have to believe. I'm quoting to you now from 2 Peter 2, 4-6. If God saved not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and spared not the old world, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. Who brought in the flood? God brought in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, and he turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, condemning them with an overthrow, making them examples unto those that after should live ungodly. God sent fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed the city. He brought in the flood that destroyed a wicked, vile society during Noah's time. There have been prophetic warnings. There was a series of books called The Rapture, and a whole series of that became the best sellers in America. They sold millions of copies because people became focused on this. Is there something happening? Is there something supernatural? This has never happened, though there have been floods and earthquakes and famines and pestilence and plagues all through history. You read of the black plagues. And folks, if you would ask me what I would do over again if I lived my life again, starting as a teenager until this age I've arrived now, I would have studied world history more faithfully. I would have been an avid student of world history to give a better perspective of what is happening now. Because, you see, all those things happened. They have not happened in the intensity and the rapidity of what we're seeing in the nations of the world today. For over 25 years I've been warning through books like The Vision and the coming financial holocaust to America, just a small voice ringing among many, many voices. I never once talked about being a prophet, but simply a watchman. But I'm now convinced, more than ever, that these prophetic warnings have not had an impact on the secular world. We have been preaching to the choir. The world is not listening to the prophetic voices. When New Orleans was destroyed, you didn't hear a voice anywhere in the secular world even mentioning that God may be speaking. God forbid that anybody in Congress should ever speak about God involved, God saying something about the sin of a city. God was completely left out of the equation. In demonstrated New Orleans, the mayor has declared that he wants to rebuild the city as a new Las Vegas. And he's calling for gambling palaces and pleasure palaces and turn the whole valley that was flooded into a great gambling casino area. The committees now in New Orleans are planned as the biggest Mardi Gras in history. Want people to come from around the world and celebrate. In spite of all the warnings, in spite of all the pleadings of watchmen and prophets, thank God for those that turn to the Lord because many Christians, among them those from this church, flocked into the troubled areas and set up tents and set up areas to help and aid the evacuees. And we thank God for those. But there was such a small number compared to the hundreds of thousands that were evacuees fleeting the city. In the book of Revelation, you find natural disasters so devastating, the Bible said men will seek for death and they won't find it, and shall desire to die, and death shall flee them. And you go to the book of Revelation, the 14th chapter, and you see God, it says God was pouring out the wine of His wrath upon the nations. In the preceding chapters and a few chapters following, chapter 14 in the book of Revelation, you find ecological disasters, you find scorching heat, you find pandemic diseases, and all of this after God sent voices and trumpets, after Jesus Himself appeared to the churches to warn. You find that in Revelation 9, chapter, those that were not killed by the plagues repented not, that they should not worship devils and idols of gold and silver. Neither repented they of their murders or sorceries or of their fornications or their thefts. In Revelation 16, and men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues. God, which hath power over these plagues. And they repented not to give Him glory. They gnawed their tongues for pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pain and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. You see calamities on all sides, and rather than see God or even turn to God and repent while there was time, and while they still had an invitation, they shook their fist at God, chewed their tongues with pain. Amazing. Incredible. If the secular world and the ungodly world is not moved by these prophecies and by these warnings, then why warn? Why warn people if they're just going to end up shaking their fist at God? Well, the Scripture answers that. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He reveals His secrets to His servants, the prophets. God warns. That is the justice of God. That is the mercy of God. But here's my message. Judgment cannot be the only message of the church of Jesus Christ in the last days. It cannot be judgment alone. God must judge the wicked. We have got to believe what God said. We have to sit back. And you know, we quote that Scripture. We see all these things happen. Look up and rejoice. Well, we dare not do that before the sinner, who says, well, you're just rejoicing because so many people are dying. You're able to say, well, I told you so. We are to rejoice in our assemblies, in our hearts, not because of these calamities, but only because there are signs that the Lord has given to us. And we rejoice. We were rejoicing before any of these calamities came. We were rejoicing in the good times. We rejoice at all times. But the Lord wants us to prepare our hearts to face these days with a spirit of rejoicing and knowing that there is a redemption that's drawing nigh. But what is the message of the church of Jesus Christ in times of calamity such as this? If all we can say to the world is that the end has come, judgment is here, this is God judging the world of sin for sin. If that's the only message we have, we take away the hope of the sinner. We take away his hope because he's going to come back to us. The sinner will come back and say, all right, if this is the end of the world, if time is over, if God's judging, then let's go out stoned. Let's all get drunk. Let's all get high because there's no hope. We're all going to die. We're all going to hell. And then we take away the hope for 20, 30 years. I've been warning, but when I wrote the book The Vision years ago, and I looked at all of these things I saw coming when I was praying, and at the end, and then especially when I wrote the book about a coming Holocaust to America and fires coming to New York and all that, and I said, oh God, is this all there is? Am I going to spend my life just warning? And the Holy Spirit made me a promise. I was in a country road in New Jersey, and I was walking, I was weeping, I was leaning over a wooden fence, my heart breaking, and God said, I'm going to tell you, because you've been faithful, when these things begin to happen, you're going to be a messenger of hope. You're going to preach good news. You're going to preach life. While others are worried and nervous, and others are now prophesying after the fact, he said, you and others like you, all the preachers who've been warning, they're going to turn and they're going to preach hope and mercy and grace and redemption. Now, when I say the church has got to preach hope and expectations of mercy and grace, I'm not talking about just preaching heaven. Usually, we come to the center and we say, well, look, yes, judgment is here, but there's a heaven coming. If you'll just repent, you can get out of this mess. You don't have to go through this. You don't have to suffer. And you see, the hope of heaven is for the Christian. It's for the believer. It's not the hope of the sinner. The hope of the believer is the coming of Jesus Christ. Now, folks, I believe in heaven. I preach heaven. I'm exhilarated at the thought of being in paradise with Christ for eternity. But you see, the world is not thinking that. They're not saying, you come to them and say, well, think of eternity, think of heaven. They'll say to you, look, I'm trying to get through the day. I'm just trying to make it through tomorrow. I'm not thinking of eternity. And the first thing they're going to tell you when you say heaven, they say, look, you talk about God, you talk about Jesus. I've prayed and there are no answers. And I've lost faith. And they're not thinking about heaven. You see, if that is all we preach, someday, somewhere, you're going to have relief. No, you see, the world is nervous. The world is out of its mind. The world is perplexed. The world is full of fear. And they're not going to take a message about heaven. They're taking pills and alcohol, trying to get through another day. That's the hope of the church, yes. But out there, here in the city and around the world, that is not the hope. How do I preach hope then to this lost world? I'll tell you, honestly, I have no more pat answers. And honestly, I'm kind of tired of telling a congregation or people or writing about it or preaching about it, here's what the church has to do. Here's what you need to do. Or here's the secret of really getting relief. I don't have any more secrets. All I can tell you is what God's speaking to me and how God is showing me how to bring hope to the hopeless in a time of calamity. When I think of all the books and all the sermons that have been preached, even my own, it had so little impact upon the sectors, so little impact. But the truth is, people have lost hope because they've lost their faith. And let me tell you how they lost it. They were looking for hope, and so they went to the only place that they thought they could find it, in the house of God. They came to the church of Jesus Christ looking for faith, looking for something that they could lay hold of. Because you see, people have given up on faith. There's shipwrecked faith all over the world now. And people have lost that faith. They have prayed prayers. They want God to be a fixed God. And because God didn't fix it for them, they weren't seeking God for who God was. They just wanted to get it fixed up. And God said that's not enough. And so they've given up. They've given up their faith. And so they look at the church. They look for somebody that they could look to who in their trials and in their hardship, and when all is sinking and everything is shaking, that they have a solid, anchored faith. And they come to the church of Jesus Christ, and they see shipwrecked so often. They see Christians who have a reputation for being men and women of faith, who preach faith, who talk faith, who are caving in and giving up in their crisis time. We've had so many sermons on faith. We've had so many books in a nervous society. And that's what a newscaster called it yesterday or the day before on the radio. He said we are in a very nervous society now. New Yorkers are nervous about the subways. Multiplied millions worldwide are worried about a shaking that's going on. And where are they going to find the faith? Where will they find this faith? The Holy Spirit spoke to me that I had to anchor my faith. Be sure your faith is not a wavering faith. And when the Holy Spirit began to deal with me, that the only thing that would touch people would be beacons of faith. Those who had set their hearts and their minds. In Psalms it says they set, talking about Israel, they set not their minds on God. They set not their faith on the Lord. They trusted not in Him. They didn't set their faith. They didn't anchor it. They didn't deal with the need to have an anchored, set faith that could not be shaken. The Scripture says if any man wavers in his faith, let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord. And in that verse he places the responsibility squarely on our shoulders. Yes, the Holy Spirit will help. The Holy Spirit will anoint. The Holy Spirit will seek God. The Holy Spirit will not do it without you. He will not do it without me. He said you set your faith. You anchor your faith. If any man waver, let him not think he receive anything of the Lord. It's a strong statement. But God is saying something to us. I must have faith in these days when everything is shaking. Something has to be solid. Something has to be unshakable. What else can it be but our faith, folks? What else can it be? When you determine to take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there. And walk away and believe God for rest. When you say, God, I can't handle this. But I'm going to commit it to you. I'm going to lay it down at your feet. I lay all my burdens on you. And you walk away from that. And you say, Lord, I'm going to believe you. And you set your mind. And you set your heart. Oh, you'll be tested. It's going to be one of the most difficult things you've ever done in your life, perhaps. But the Holy Spirit sees this desire, this hunger in your heart. I want to offer hope to my family and those in my circle of influence. Those who know me. I want to be a beacon of hope. And a solid faith is the only hope they're going to have. They have to not have a sermon. They have to have a man. They have to have a woman. They have to have an illustrated sermon. They have to see it. They have to be able to touch it. It can't be a fantasy. It has to be something that is solid. Here are Christians going through the same battles, going through the time of calamity. And they're not shaken by it. There's something about their countenance. They can even face death knowing that God has everything under control. It doesn't mean that there isn't times of panic. It doesn't mean that there are times when you have that flash, that rush of fretting and worry for a time. And I had this when God began to deal with me about anchoring my faith and not being tossed and driven by my circumstances. And I began to say, by faith, I will practice this. The Lord said, take a position. Take it. That's what it means. Take a position. The Bible says in Psalm 78, the children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. Ephraim was the largest tribe of Israel. A numerous tribe. It was the best armed. It was the most beloved of the Lord. The most blessed tribe of Israel. And they were armed. They were prepared. And they went out to battle. And they had good resolve. No other tribe had been so blessed. They had the knowledge of God. But in the battle, the Scripture says, they went out armed with bows. And in the battle they turned back. And that's what happens to Christians. Armed. Trained. Practiced. Blessed. Honored. Full of the Holy Ghost. And then we go out to the battle and we say we're going to win the victory. And we boast about it that then when the crisis comes and it gets hot, we turn back to our unbelief. And do you see what happens? The rest of Israel, all the other tribes say, wait a minute. If a tribe so armed, if a tribe so trained and so blessed can make it, what hope do we have? And this is what the world says. If the Christian who talks about being anointed of God and full of the Holy Spirit and full of the Word of God and have all the promises of God, if they can make it, what chance do I have? And so we further rob them of faith, of hope. And when God began to deal with me, right when I thought that I had it all, you know, my faith is solid. I'm believing God because for weeks I just cast everything on His care and just rested in Him. And then I got a telephone call that shook me, just literally shook me to my bones. Feeling that sudden rush of panic. And then the still voice of the Spirit says, hold your position. Hold it. God says, I've got it all under control. Just stand. Just be steadfast. And peace of God flooded in. And before that day was over, God answered prayer. And oh, the joy that came in my heart. Oh, God, I trusted you. I didn't waver. I didn't waver. Ephraim questioned God's faithfulness. They speak against God. They said, can God furnace a table in the wilderness? Yes. He smote the rock. The waters gushed out. That's an amazing thing. He said, God, the waters gushed out. It didn't trickle out, it gushed out. The next statement, but can He give us bread also? Can He provide flesh for His people? They believed not for His wonderful works. They were not steadfast in their faith, and they limited the Holy One of Israel. And I don't want to be guilty of this sin of Ephraim. In Hebrews 11, we read this. By their faith, the elders obtained a good report. And the word obtained there in Greek is they began to bear witness, they became a testimony. By their faith, they became a testimony. They became a beacon of hope. Because of their faith, they obtained, they became this testimony. First of all, they obtained a testimony of their own heart. Because whenever you set your heart on faith and say, I'm going to anchor my faith, then I'm going to believe the Holy Ghost to help me achieve this desire of my heart. He said, ask what you will, and it shall be given unto you. And this is what I will, this is what I want, and I believe God's Word, that He can assist me in this unwavering faith. And when you do that, the Holy Spirit always affirms it. He always lets you know that all is well with the Father, because God said that's the only way you can please Him. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. And when your faith becomes steadfast, and when you say, I don't care what I'm going through, oh, we're in the flesh, yes, we're going to have those moments, and we're going to feel like, no, there's no hope, but saying, no, no, no, no. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to hold my position. That's what the Holy Spirit said. Take a position. Take a place. Take roots. Put foundations down now. Put pillars under it. It's really what it says in the Greek. Put pillars under it. And build on that. Let every crisis be another building block until you build this temple unto God. First, there's an affirmation of the Holy Spirit that all is well. You know, I can't think of any greater thought than to stand before Jesus one day, and He is smiling at me and saying, well done. Well done. Yes, you believed. You trusted me. You were the hope. Can I take it just a little further? You can obtain a good report. And when you obtain that good report, you become the hope that I'm talking about. I've got a final word, a word for those who want this unwavering faith and you want to seek it. The Bible said you have need of patience. You have need of patience. Let me read what the Scripture said for you. You have need of patience that after you've done the will of the Father that you might receive the promise. I've always said, you've heard me say from this pulpit, the hardest part of faith is the last half hour. Have you ever done that where you caved in? You begin to waver. You begin to doubt. Especially if you're a parent and you've got children. See, folks, I thank God for what he's been teaching me over the years. I've not arrived, but I'm on the way. And you've heard my son Gary preach from this pulpit. He's one of my best friends. And yet I remember the time when he was a teenager, coming home and throwing his Bible against the wall and said, I don't believe in God. God doesn't answer prayer. And my heart sank. I said, oh, no. My own son. God said, do you believe me? Do you trust me that I'm going to answer your prayer? You bathe him in prayer and you just rest. There was a year of testing. And there'll be a time of testing. But I trusted God. And God brought it through. Some of you here now, a loved one, maybe has lost faith. Someone around you, just grieving your heart. You have need of patience. After you've set your mind and heart to believe, now be patient until you receive the promise. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. So let patience do its perfect work in you. Let patience settle you and bring rest to your heart. God's teaching you to wait patiently on him. And the last word is, don't give God any deadlines. Thank you. Don't give God deadlines. You trust him in his time and his way. But I'll tell you, because if he answers your prayer on your schedule, for example, you've got a son or daughter going through a trial, and you pray, it's going to be like the woman here in Staten Island whose son was going into the operating room and she gets on her knees and screams, God, you can't have him. You've got to save him. I want it now. You can't have him. He was delivered. They had said he was dying, that he lived, but he lived to be a drug addict and brought terrible pain to her heart. You see, she gave God a deadline. Don't give God deadlines, folks. Commit it. Commit your way to the Lord. I don't have this all figured out. And please don't think that I have arrived and that I have this perfect, unwavering faith because the very thing I'm talking to you about I have been sorely tested on even yesterday. And yet I stand here today saying, God, I believe, and I will trust you. Let's stand. God, let it be said of this church, let it be said of you, and let it be said of me, there's somebody that's ready to fight. There's somebody ready to hold on. There goes a man. There goes a woman. There goes a Christian that practices what he preaches. He believes God. He doesn't murmur and complain. He doesn't go around saying, God has failed me. God has let me down. No, but in the face of the fire and the floods, take a stand and say, God is faithful. And this is my closing thought because this has been ringing in my heart all morning. God's been speaking to my heart. How else can I show God's faithfulness? I can't show it through my preaching. I have to show it through my living. I have to show it through something I have experienced and gone through. It has to do with the way I live and the way I believe. Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness. Lord, there are many listening to me this morning that really have been shaken in their faith. Lord, there are things that seem to be beyond control, things that seem to be spinning out of control, and waiting so long for prayer to be answered, waiting and waiting and getting weary. Lord said, be not weary in your well-doing because God will answer. Lord, in the face of everything, in the face of everything, we've got to say, with God, nothing is impossible. With God, nothing is impossible. Lord, encourage our hearts. We're not afraid. But Lord, we want to reach this world now. This is the best time in history to ever reach a lost world. Never have doors been so open because hearts have been so stirred. Lord, you're doing something supernatural. Let us see it and bring hope to us. Lord, I am full of hope. I am full of your anticipation of what you're going to do through this body and through other Christians around the world in the days ahead. Thank you, Jesus. If you're here this morning and you're, I can't, I don't have anything special, but if you need prayer, you said, Pastor David, I'm really, something you said this morning was meant for me. God spoke to my heart. And you need prayer. Or your faith is shaken. Maybe you have slipped away from God. Your heart's grown cold or you're just weary. I'm not saying you come up here saying that, well, I'm about to give up. But you've been going through it very, very severely. You need prayer. The altars are open for you to come. And in the annex, just stand between the screens so you won't block the view. And the prayer, I'll pray in just a moment, will be for you also. And we'll believe the Lord to touch you before you walk out of this building. If you've been plagued by unbelief especially, he's been plagued by it. The enemy just comes and floods you with evil thoughts, unbelief, and fear. The Lord can deliver you. He's ready to deliver you. Come, as they say. Do you remember what Jesus said? When I return, will I find faith on the earth? That suggests to me that most of the world is going to be in unbelief. But God has a people. And I want to tell you something. I was reading Isaiah yesterday where it's very clear from the prophet Isaiah that even after calamities, first of all, he works with goodness. The goodness of God leads to repentance. And then he allows or even brings, according to his mind and will, these great times of testing and we see calamities. But then after that, when the Bible said God's heart melts in a time of calamities, and then he comes finally before the last day with another wave of goodness. And that's where we're at now. With goodness. And the Lord's not wanting to judge you. He's not wanting to condemn you. He wants to lift your spirit this morning. He wants to fill you with hope. And he wants to renew your faith. You can ask him. He said, ask and you shall receive. Ask him now. Would you lift up your hands? Just lift them up to the Lord. Lord, I'm in need. That says I'm in need. And pray this one right now. Lord Jesus, I pray the prayer that was once prayed in the New Testament. Lord, help my unbelief. I pray it now. Help my unbelief. Forgive my unbelief. I know that nothing is impossible with God. Nothing in my life is impossible. So now, Jesus, help me to anchor my faith. Cleanse me. Lord, I trust you. Now help me, Holy Spirit, to walk in that. And give me roots. Give me your faith. In Jesus' name. Amen. Now I want to pray for you. Father, I speak now the word of faith to those that came to this service this morning, very weary in their spirit and very tired of the battle. And they've been asking you, Lord, when does this end? When do I have a time of rest and peace? But, Lord, that rest and that peace is in you. It is here in our inner man. If we would just turn to you inside and say, You abide, Holy Spirit. You are here to comfort me. You're here to give me faith. You're here to touch me. Lord, do it now. Lift the burden. Will you cast everything on the Lord right now? I mean, do what Jesus said. There's an old song we sing. Take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there. Leave them there. There's another you may not believe. Every burden becomes a blessing when I know my Lord is near. Every burden becomes a blessing when I know my Lord is near. Thank you, Jesus. We give you praise. We give you thanks. This is the conclusion of the message.