In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of being ready for the return of Jesus Christ. He uses the analogy of a house on fire to illustrate the urgency of the situation. The preacher warns against being deceived and encourages the audience to be steadfast in their faith. He also references Romans 9 and highlights the idea that God will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness. The sermon concludes with a reminder that God has a plan and that the battle against Satan will ultimately be won by God.

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 or calling 903-963-8626. You are welcome to make additional cassettes of this message for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply. I'm going to read beginning verse 7 right through 17 to the end of the chapter, Revelation 12. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon fought in his angels and prevailed not. Neither was their place found anymore in heaven. The great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brotherness cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time. When the dragon saw that he was cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly to the wilderness, to a place where she is nourished for a time, and times and a half, and from the face of the serpent. The serpent was cast, and the serpent cast out of his mouth as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away with the flood. Verse 17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. And talk about the war in heaven. Holy Spirit, we do know that the times that we live in are perilous. We do know, Lord, there are things happening beyond our knowledge and our control. We know, Holy Spirit, that without you, we cannot survive. We know that men's hearts, you said, are going to fail them for fear of seeing those things coming upon the earth. And we're seeing those things now, and those very prophecies that you made are happening. Mankind is living in terror. But, oh God, we have a hiding place in you. We have another message. Lord, we have a message of hope. We have a message of life. God, speak through me this morning. I yield my body, and my mind, and my vessel to you. We pray you sanctify it, and bring forth a word from your heart and your mouth. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. We hear about a war on terrorism. We hear about Palestinian war called jihad. We hear of wars and rumors of wars all over the earth. Never in history have we had such a time of war after war such as we have now. And never has it been so publicized, because we've never had media like we have now, widespread. And in just a moment of time, you hear of Palestinians blowing up 20 people in a bus. You hear of all of these tragedies happening worldwide. It's instant communication. So, it's never been this way in the history of the world. But folks, there's really only one war. All of these other wars are just battles, symptomatic of the great war. They're all a part of this great war between God and the devil, between God and his Christ, and the devil and all of his fallen angels. There's one war. The dragon is called the devil, and all of those angels, he took one-third of the angels, and they had an uprising against God himself, trying to take the throne from the Heavenly Father. And the Bible says the devil did not prevail. He prevailed not. And God put him on notice, there's no place for you in paradise. Bible said there was no more place. He was cast out. That devil called the serpent. He was cast out into an earth, a world that was without form or without void. It was a place of darkness, and he was cast out into this world. That was before man was created. That's way back in the eons of time, before time. The Scripture makes it very clear that he was cast out into the earth. God created man, and the devil began immediately to deceive the world and the seed of God, all of the children of God. He was going to deceive. If he could not be God, he would deceive the seed of God. He would deceive his children. And the Bible says, and the devil immediately set out to deceive the whole world. He started, remember, with Eve and Adam. Eve, he came and deceived. Came as a serpent. He didn't even hide his nature. And it seemed like a great victory for the enemy when Adam and Eve fell, and when the garden of paradise was closed, and a flaming sword. How Satan and the demonic powers, these demonized fallen angels, how they must have bloated and what a meeting that must have been. They felt that they had totally succeeded in destroying the seed of the Heavenly Father. Satan declared war on God and his seed. And the Scripture says, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that his time is short. Now, folks, he was cast out in verse 7 and 9. He was cast out before man was created. He came down to this. He was here. Please don't get the idea that the devil operates out of hell. That's where he's going to be cast into outer darkness. There is a hell. There is a place of fire and brimstone, an endless hell. But Satan is working here on earth. His throne, his seat of power is right here on earth. It has been. He came really to set up his throne out of that outer darkness, and God created form, and he created man. And the devil then set up his kingdom here on earth. This is his realm of power, very clearly stated in the Scripture. And woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea. The devil knew that he had a short time, because man was going to be created in the image of God. And the devil was not in the conferences that were held before the world was created. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost made a covenant. God had a plan. He was not surprised by anything the enemy had planned. God had a plan from the beginning before the world was created. He was going to create man in his own image. He was going to allow that man to have a free will. He was going to allow him to be tested. That meant that he was going to come down right in the battleground, right in the power structure of Satan himself. And he was going to place a man there. And that man was going to be tested and he would be tried. And the devil came into that garden. And you remember how he took the temptation right to Eve. And Eve succumbed to that temptation, as did Adam. They were cast out of the garden. Satan deceived from that time on and began to deceive the whole world. You read the Old Testament, you find he deceived Noah's age, the whole generation. Only eight souls were saved out of that whole generation. Satan succeeded to keep this in mind. It's mind-boggling that Satan deceived the whole world. It looked like he had won the greatest victory of humankind in the history of God's creation. Only Noah and his family were saved out of that. And you look at Sodom and Gomorrah and how he sodomized, he created an entire homosexual society so that even angels come and they're recognized as some incredible beings. And these sodomites from Sodom tried to rape angels. And you know the story of how God sent angels down. He just wanted the earth view. He wanted to see it through the eyes of men. He wanted to see it through the eyes even of angels. And he saw the corruption and God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. You look through the Old Testament and it's very discouraging to read the history of Israel. At that time, now he chose the people out of all the heathen nations, not because they were good, not because that they were special. God just on his own, out of his own love, chose this people, the Jewish people. He chose this people to be an example of his law and his grace and his mercy. And he puts his hand upon these people. And Satan recognizes it. And he recognizes that the seed, his master enemy, that would come one. He was told this by the Father. He knew it intuitively. He knew it by what he heard from prophets. He heard it from, I'm sure he heard it from the mind of God himself, because he appeared, remember, before the throne as an accuser. That there would be a man come that would raise up a people that before this man comes, you look at the Old Testament and you see how he comes against Israel in spite of all the miracles that God has performed. In spite of all the revelations of God's power and majesty and might, the devil succeeded in deceiving Israel. Those that came out of Egypt. Now, remember, he's got Egypt, devil's got Egypt in his power. He has Babylon in his power. He has all the northern kingdoms in his power. And now he comes after God's people. And you know what Satan did. He came into the camp. He came in and introduced idols. There was Baal. There was Astaroth. There was Moloch. Those were all facades of the devil. The devil himself behind those idols being worshiped. That was devil worship. Idolatry is nothing more than the devil putting on a face that people could accept. And he succeeded in destroying a whole generation that were called out of Egypt, had seen miracles, had seen manifestations of the glory of God, cloud by day, a fire by night, miracle after miracle, manna sent from heaven. In spite of that, the devil was able to deceive that whole generation. And out of that whole generation, they all died in the wilderness except two men and their families. They were deceived by the devil, totally deceived. Satan deceived the whole world doing Noah's time, doing Abraham's time. He destroys whole kingdoms and nations that were taken in under his power. Children of those who died in the wilderness, their children do go into the promised land with Joshua. It looks like a new day. But oh, how quickly again deception came in, idolatry, fornication, false prophets. The Bible says they turned away from God. They rejected the Holy One of Israel. Who's behind it? You see them on the high places, worshiping their idols. You see such filth and wickedness in the children of Israel, even though they saw their fathers die under judgment. They saw their fathers die horrible deaths. They must have gone from one funeral after another for 40 years, people dying on all sides. They saw the spies that brought the evil report. They saw them fall dead within a year or two. They saw the judgments of God in spite of that. The devil was able to deceive. He was able to deceive this nation. They turned to worshiping the devil through their idols. Trace it all down through history. You find a prophet called Muhammad. And what a deceived, demon-possessed doctrine was brought forth on the face of the earth called Islam. And Islam swept like a rushing flood, nation after nation, with their armies subduing the people and forcing Islamic teachings upon whole nations. And one of the most widely accepted demonic religions on the face of the earth today and you see the deception of the enemy and it looks over and over again, it looks like the devil has succeeded. It looks like the enemy has brought deception and that multitudes and millions on the face of the earth have come and fallen under the deception of the devil himself. You come to the last chapter of Judges and you read the sad account of what the world had come to under the deception of Satan. How low God's people had fallen. You read of a Levite coming into a little town of Gibeah and he's visiting with a man who invited him to his home. The home is surrounded by homosexuals and you read an incredible story of the Levite offering his concubine to this mad crowd who sodomized her until she died. She was laid on the doorstep. Then you read of a decapitation of the Levite who decapitates his concubine into 12 pieces and send it to the 12 tribes and then you read of a war over homosexual rights where thousands upon thousands of innocent men die protecting homosexual rights. Then the chapter closes with these sad words, and in those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes and that's the design of Satan for every generation and he succeeded up to this point. Israel was not the place where there was no king, there was no worship of God Almighty, or there was a zeal for outward righteousness, but there was no zeal for the holiness of God and every man, every tribe doing what was right in their own eyes and that's what the devil's trying to achieve in this our generation where he outrules this Bible and makes it seem irrelevant and every man interprets it the way he wants, every man goes his own way doing what is right in his own eyes. That's the ultimate goal of his deceptions, but there was a king in Gibeah and that was the dragon, Satan, called the devil. He seems to be winning battle after battle after battle, but God is patient. He's patient and God's not worried. He grieves, but God has a plan. He had a plan before the world was created and one glorious day God said it's enough and God sent a baby. God came down as a baby. His name was Jesus, the Christ, the living Messiah, and the Lord God said this is the beginning of the end. The battle now changes. The battle is now my battle and when this child was born all the demons of hell had to shudder because they knew the prophecies. They'd heard the prophecies. They knew that he would be the cornerstone and do you know that the Lord God himself came down right in the middle of the battlefield, right in the middle of the devil's territory where he had been successful for centuries and he comes down in the middle of this. The little baby is born. Hallelujah. That's the day the battle changed. God says I'm taking command. I've brought a captain and I'm going to raise up an army. This little baby is going to be the Messiah. This is the Messiah, son of the living God, planted right in the middle of the battlefield. This war, they knew. They said he's going to live a perfect life. He's going to fulfill the law. He's going to take away the power of sin. This baby is going to grow up. We have to kill the baby and you know how the devil and all the imps of hell tried to kill this child but God prevailed. This is one battle the devil could not win. How many babies were killed in an attempt to reach this one child and destroy him? Then God plants a cross right on the doorstep for the throne of Satan. He plants a cross and there he allows his son to be crucified and take on the sins of the whole world and the blood of Christ fell on that battleground drop by drop until it became a flood. The blood came and every demon in hell shuddered because they said he's put us to an open shame. He's taken away the victory. We can no longer hold anyone who believes in the power of that blood. There was a cry run out over the universe. It is finished in every demon in hell. Every demon cried we are finished. Folks what power was stripped from him and I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now has come salvation and strength. This is the resurrection three days later when that blessed Lord broke out of that grave. That stone was rolled away and there was a loud voice then saying in heaven now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the accused of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God night and day and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. Folks he was robbed of his power to accuse. He was robbed of his power to hold you under the dominion of sin. He still has the right. He still was given the right to be able to test. He was be able he still had the right to come against this creation of God. But now you see there's a difference. This is a blood washed holy ghost protected believer who's no longer under the power and the authority of the enemy as long as he believes. As long as they trust the power of the blood and the word of God that he would keep us from the dominion and power of Satan. It was a legal statement that God made. You are free. The power of the devil cannot touch you if you stay under the blood. You stay in my word and you believe there's no power that can bring you down. He still had power over his wicked ones. He still had power. He was still the God of this world. No longer can he hold you in guilt condemnation and fear. He has no power to do that anymore. And if you are under condemnation and fear then go to the blood confess it and say devil you can't condemn me anymore. I'm not a condemned man. I'm a free man. No more dominion over me. Glory to Jesus. Back at Revelation 12.12 about the devil coming down full of wrath knowing he hath but a short time. I want you to notice that there's a woman mentioned in verse 15. The serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. I believe that woman is the bride of Christ. The bride of Christ. The overcoming remnant. Verse 17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and the testimonies of Jesus Christ. Now folks look at my please. Look this way. In the annex in the overflow rooms. This woman I believe represents the bride of Jesus Christ. The true believer. The overcomer. And the Bible said it's going to be but a remnant of what is called Christianity. There will be just a remnant. And that remnant is going to be a mighty host that few men could number. It's going to be a great number from all down from the cross right to this very day. And what we're seeing happening now is Satan's one last-ditch stand. He said out of his mouth is going to come a flood against that woman and attempt to carry her away. Away from Christ. Away from the protection of the blood. And try to bring such sin because iniquity abounds the scripture said. Because iniquity is going to abound the love of many will grow cold. He's going to call an abounding. In other words a flood of iniquity. He's going to throw. He's already got the wicked crowd. He already has Babylon. He has Assyria. He has all of these false religions. Multitudes still under his power. He doesn't need to deceive those who've already been deceived. This war is about Christ. God the Father and his Christ. His son and the devil and his demonic powers. The war has always been. The war is not between you and me and the devil. No. It's the Christ in me. It's the Christ in you he's after. He's going to try to flood you. Have you in a society and put you in a community. Put you in an atmosphere that's so overwhelming that it will come at you through your eyes through your ears through every kind of deception through the media. He's going to do everything in his power to deceive you. If it were possible even the elect the chosen of God. You talk about a flood out of the mouth. In other words the picture is the devil himself at his command center barking directions to his principalities and powers. Take charge of the media. You raise up pornographers and go after the children. Talk about a flood. Listen. A flood of pornography. Right now over 300,000 porno sites on the Internet. The most vile wicked violent movies in the history of mankind. Folks you have no idea what's happening to our children 8, 9, 10 years of age that are stumbling on the Internet. It's a pornography. In some of our centers where we bring people in. I'm getting reports. I just yesterday got quite a report. I was on the verge of weeping sitting at the table just listening as the mothers and the fathers confessing what went on in their homes and then hearing from the children of these drug addicts and the mothers that are in our centers all over the world. And to hear of the raping of three year old girls and to have eight year old boys trying to rape six year old girls and to ask these boys, folks these are those that come through our centers. Isn't that hearsay? And to hear little eight and ten year old boys say well I saw it on a movie my daddy had. I saw it on a movie. It was pornography. You see he's creating this atmosphere to try to get to the very elect the chosen of God to corrupt the minds to take these pictures of the mind so that God and the love and the purity of Jesus Christ is diminished and all of this filth comes in. He's raised up a homosexual militancy such as we've never seen. He's placing his priest in the church. He placed them in Catholic churches. How many children have been molested in the Catholic church? Folks I'm not putting down Catholicism. It's been in the papers. The priest in Boston who molested, there are 130 claims against that one man. He was murdered in prison yesterday. He was murdered. And now the Episcopalian church ordaining a vowed open homosexual as a bishop. And the whole Episcopalian world is incensed. Many many Episcopalian churches now are signing petition and they're cutting off their money from the Episcopal headquarters. I say amen. Now folks no clapping. Can you imagine a homosexual priest laying prostrate for his ordination. Then he gets up and he's representing, this is what he said, homosexuality is a gift of God. A gift of God. This man is to represent God in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he gets up and he takes the hand of his homosexual lover. Folks it's the flood out of the mouth of the devil. He said after the woman to carry her away. A flood of promiscuous laws that would cast the Bible out of our society and the very name of God. And mark it down they're going to go after God and God we trust off our coins. Homosexual marriages will soon be legalized. Marijuana is going to be legalized. Now we have the devil flooding our society with drugs. And now drunkenness among 13, 14 year old kids. Drinking, going to Mexico and drinking Mexican tequila. A deadly kind of alcohol. And thousands and thousands now on our college campuses getting drunk. Wheaton College, great evangelical college that's been a standard of holiness for years is now permitting alcohol. And they said the reason we had to change our standards because we need to attract more educated professors. In other words drinking professors. And now Wheaton has just, they're the first of the Christian colleges and soon you'll see. And I'll tell you what's going to happen and this message may be heard by Wheaton authorities and I'm going to tell you it's going to end up with raping on your campus. It's going to open up a floodgates of iniquity worse than any secular college in America. You watch and see what happens. Flood. Take over the media, the devil says. Take over the fashion world. It's not just belly buttons. Folks, it's nudity. It's the devil himself glorifying sensuality so that every Christian man, every Christian woman, he's trying to seduce and deceive through nakedness and sensuality. He said I'm going to go after preachers, I'm going to go after the godliest and the devil is throwing everything out of the arsenal of hell today against the house of God. Talk about a flood, two U.S. senators, one of them, Mr. Schumer, said they're going to introduce, they're going to attempt to introduce a law in Congress that no judge can be appointed to any high office if he has faith or believes in any god. Now you tell me that isn't out of hell? Tell me that isn't a flood right out of Satan's hell? Out of the mouth of Satan? Where else could that come but the mouth of Satan? No judge. We have the ironic, incredible foolishness of a circuit court judge taking granite, 5,000 pound Ten Commandments out of an Alabama court while he sits in his court in front of an idol of Zeus. It's amazing. Folks, I'm not asking you to get riled up because I'm going to tell you something. I'm not concerned about that 5,000 pound granite Ten Commandments because you see, I heard from God, I heard from the Lord, I heard a word and I want you not to get upset about it anymore because of what I'm going to tell you. The Lord made me a promise and I believe others have heard it. God said, I've laughed at that because I am going to write my law on a million teenage hearts. Young people are turning to the Lord and God is writing his law in their hearts. I dare any Supreme Court judge, any judge on the face of the earth to try to take the law out of my heart. He can't take the law out of our hearts. God, God, certainly God's going to judge because they're mocking him. Surely God's going to judge that. You watch what happens. It may happen right in the state of Alabama, I don't know what, floods, tornado, God's in control. God, God always has his say, but he's not interested in 5,000 pounds of granite. He's interested in those who are marching around, demonstrating, making sure you're keeping the law. Make sure that you've got the law written in your heart. It's not 5,000 pounds of granite. It's do I obey the commandments in my heart. I think that's what God's reminding us about. Some of you can get all excited about that and still be committing adultery. If this isn't the flood, now, and I just heard about it yesterday and it was on the news, I don't know if you heard it. In grade schools now, this next September is being introduced new classes on how to live the homosexual lifestyle grade school. In other words, how to become a homosexual and how to live the homosexual lifestyle. If that isn't out of the mouth of Satan, what would be? Here's something that just amazes me. We've got a movie star running for governor in California. You know what one of his promoters said? We need a scandal to come out. He'll get elected for sure, if he's got a scandal, if we can find an affair that he's had, because now that makes you a hero. If you've gone through the scandal, remember the White House? And it goes right on down through our society now, that everyone, every movie star, anyone who's had a scandal, that makes you popular, that makes you accepted. He'll get elected for sure, he said, if we can just dig up a scandal on his own man. If that isn't from the pits of darkness, I don't know what is. But if you think the devil's been winning, just wait. Let me show you what the war plan is. I want you to go, and folks, if you can't stand on this, you don't have a shouter left. Romans 9. I'm going to close. Romans 9. Folks, by the way, while you're turning there, why has the Lord not acted up till now? Why haven't we seen God's hand? We're right now at critical mass. In other words, it's spun so out of control that we're at critical mass. Why hasn't God moved up to this point? The scripture says, Be patient therefore, brethren, to the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman is waiting for the precious fruit of the earth and has long patience for it until he received the early and the latter rain. Folks, Jesus said, I'm waiting for souls. Till the last can be brought in. Early rain and latter rain. Pentecost is early rain. I believe we've seen the latter rain. What could be more latter rain than the iron curtain coming down and do you know what is in the New York Times today? The government of Russia. The national government is coming against abortion on moral grounds. Not just health grounds, but on moral grounds. Russia. Folks, we're seeing the latter rain. Millions in China. Millions of Christians. A Holy Spirit awakening all over China. It's spilling into Mongolia. And now Islam is being reached. Every nation, every Islamic nation now is being flooded with radio, with satellite gospel. This own church, we're on satellite radio in numbers of Islamic countries. And in Pakistan, as I told you, an evangelist this past year had 50,000 in attendance in Pakistan. Folks, the latter rain has come. He said, I'm waiting for the latter rain. The latter rain. The whole world is filled with the gospel now. In satellite, all the aerial heavens are just beaming with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So what is the Lord going to do? Hallelujah. Are you at Romans 9? You want to know where I'm going, don't you? You want to know what God's going to do. How many want to know what God's going to do? Verse 28. If you have King James Bible, read it aloud with me. In the annex, you got it. And all the overflow rooms. Here we go. For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. God said, I'm going to end this. Thing. I'm going to end this battle. Folks, there's a precedent in the Bible for God to move up the schedule. To move. Nobody knows who they are. But God says, I'm going to move it up. And the scripture says very clear. They've set those days be shortened. There should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall allow the beast and the Antichrist to rise. I am going to do a quick work on the face of the earth. Folks, that's what I believe is happening right now. That quick work. And suddenly overnight, we're going to see and hear things we've never seen or heard. A short work will I do upon the earth in an hour of gross darkness over all the earth. In an hour when Satan gives Islam power and authority. In an hour when the beast and the Antichrist spirit is speaking great blasphemy against his name. In the hour when Satan seems to have overcome and defeated all that's holy and righteous. In an hour, in a time when mockers and scoffers mock the day of his coming. In an hour of pleasure of madness, when sins are mounting to the heaven. Suddenly the Lion of Judah is going to come and do a quick work, the scripture says. Go to Revelation 19. Quickly, Revelation 19. Oh, what a day. What a day is coming. Nineteenth chapter, verse 11, beginning to read. And I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he did judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written which no man knew but he himself. He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him. And upon white horses clothed in fine white linen. Let's go on. Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword. See, out of the mouth of the devil there is a flood. Out of the mouth of our Savior goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations. He shall rule them with the rod of iron. Folks, who's going to rule and reign? Not the devil and not the dragon. He shall rule them with a rod of iron. He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh written the name King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Have you ever heard it asked, where were you at 9-11? What were you doing when 9-11 struck? And now everywhere you go is, where were you when the lights went out? Where were you when the lights went out? I'll ask you another question before I close. Where are you going to be when the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords makes a short work? Let me tell you where I'm going to be. Under the blood. Under the blood of Jesus, cleansed, sanctified. I'm going to ask the congregation now, where, question honestly, where will you be? What condition of spirit and mind, soul and body? What is going to be your spiritual condition when the Lord says enough and he makes a quick work? Bible said he's coming suddenly. Bible said he's coming in a twinkling of an eye. You can't get quicker than that. He's coming. Folks, you don't hear much about his coming anymore. Because the devil is trying to squash that truth. But it's being preached here in this church. Jesus Christ, our Lord is coming. He said, I'm going to do a quick work. I'm going to shorten the days. Folks, he said, be ready for the day you think not, then the Son of Man cometh. I want you to come because there's fear. But I'll tell you what, if that's what it takes, I'm for it. If I walk past your house and it's on fire, I'd knock on your door and scream. And I'd hope you'd get afraid enough of that fire if you'd run out. Fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But I'm saying to you now in this closing moment, it's not a time to be deceived. Some of you have allowed the enemy to come and deceive you. You're not steadfast as you once were. What are you watching? What kind of stuff is going into your spirit? And in prayer this past week, I spent such a precious time with the Lord asking, Lord, what's on your heart? What do you see and hear? Tell me what's on your heart. And this is what I heard from the Holy Spirit. God says, all I hear now are excuses. Excuses. I'm a homosexual because I was made that way or my mother made me that way or my father neglected me. I was poor and I was raised, all the excuses and all the excuses to remain in sin. But I just don't have the power. I prayed and it doesn't work. I've tried the covenant. I've tried everything. And God, I heard that so clear. All I hear is excuses. God says, no more excuses because I've made provision. I've made provision in love. I sent my own son. There's no excuse now for any man to live in adultery, fornication, pornography. No excuse for whatever sin we're holding on, that besetting sin that keeps coming and coming against us. The Lord's made provision out of love, not wrath. Out of great love to say you can live free from sin. You can live free from the depression and the fears that have been harassing you. That's from hell. That's from the devil himself, the dragon. God wants you to be free. Will you stand wherever you are? In the annex, in the overflow rooms, if you'll stand too, please. Please look this way for this one. I tell you from the bottom of my heart, there's no one here, whether you know Christ or not, there's no one here that can deny that we have come to a place like we've never seen or known before. The most heathenish people on the face of the earth, the most ungodly people on the face of the earth are saying, what's happening? What's going on? Nobody can understand it. We understand it. And the Lord is saying, I want to keep you. God's going to have a people that are spotless. He's going to have a people that are pure, not by their own works, but by their faith, consistent faith in the Lord. But folks, there's some self-denial that goes with it. That self-denial says, I am not going to feed my mind on filth. I'm not going to be a part of this world system. I'm not going to allow the devil to deceive me. You've got to take a stand. God's given you that power. You have that. You don't have to have an angel come down. You don't have to have something supernatural happen to you. God has already promised you the power. If you believe, you can rise above it this morning. I'm going to open these altars now. Those in the annex can come, and those in the overflow rooms, you go to the hallway, you go to this turnaround, face the lobby, and the ushers will show you how to get down the stairs into this room. You can meet me right here at this altar. I'm opening this altar only for those that are here this morning in the balcony, here in the main floor, in the overflow rooms. And I mean business. The Lord is calling multiplied thousands of backsliders back to the cross. It's happening here. It's happening everywhere where Christ is being glorified. And the coldness of your heart, God wants to come now and just bring you back to his grace and his love. Some of you walked in here, you're a Christian by name. You call yourself a Christian, but God sees deeper than that. He sees the hypocrisy. He sees the double standards. He sees the sin that hasn't been dealt with. I invite you, in the grace of God, to get out of your seat in the balcony, go to the stairs on either side, come down the aisles, and here on the main floor, come. And in the annex, you can come and join us. We'll wait for you as we come. Heavenly Father, send your Holy Spirit and convicting power. Jesus, you are coming so soon. I'm going to do a quick work. I'm going to shorten the days. And Lord, I believe that I believe in at any moment coming of Jesus. Jesus can come at any moment. There's nothing holding you back, Jesus. You could come at any time. He said, you'll come suddenly. But, oh God, have a people prepared. Prepare your people, Lord Jesus. You know, I just opened my Bible and I was reading. And I wonder how many of you feel like this. How long, Lord, will you forget me? How long will you hide your face from me? How long do I have to take counsel in my soul where there's sorrow in my heart every day? How long shall the enemy be exalted over me? Oh Lord, consider and hear me. Lighten my eyes as I sleep the sleep of death. And I wonder how many of you feel that way. Oh God, I've got pain in me. I've got hurt and I'm going through terrible, terrible problems and situations in my life. How long before you hear my cry? Well, he hears it now. He knows what you're going through. Oh God, lighten my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest the enemies have prevailed against him. And those of trouble may rejoice when I am down and moved. I don't care how down you are. Jesus wants to lift up your heart and your spirit now. I want you to pray this from your heart. Everyone that came forward, pray this. Lord Jesus, I accept your love and your mercy and your forgiveness for all my sins. I surrender to you not only my sins, but my heart and my life, my mind, my body. I give it all to you, Jesus. I'm asking you to forgive my unbelief. Put faith in my heart to trust the word that you gave me. Now, Lord Jesus, hear the cry of my heart and come and rescue me. I need a miracle. I need help. And only you can do it. No one else can help me. But I give my heart in trust to you, Lord Jesus. Now, let me pray for you. Father, I pray for everyone that came forward. Lord, it's just a simple prayer. But you didn't ask us to go through some great form. You didn't ask us to make some great speech. You didn't ask us to do some great thing for you. You just said, come and humbly confess and open your heart. If you confess your sins, I'm faithful and just to be given, I'll cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And Lord, you said, call upon me in the day of trouble and I will hear from heaven and I will answer you. And Lord, you've answered the cry of so many hearts. So many are coming back to that first love. So many, Lord, just saying, now, Lord Jesus, I will serve you. Now, I come against the powers of hell. I come against the power of Satan in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Satan, you're defeated. You have no power to hold anybody. We are now under the blood, the protection of the blood of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord. I want everybody that came forward to just thank the Lord right now. Just thank him in your own words. I give you thanks. I give you praise. Glory be to God. Glory be to Jesus. Again, I can ask you, where will you be when God does his quick work under the blood, the protection of the blood of Jesus Christ who won the battle at the cross? Hallelujah. Satan can't hold you. You're not going to lose. He's not going to keep you in his power or in his grasp. You have to picture that in your mind and believe that with all of your heart. This is the conclusion of the message.