In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of focusing on Christ rather than being distracted by the charisma and self-promotion of human leaders. He warns against being drawn to those who seek to gain personal glory and take advantage of others. The preacher highlights the need to see beyond the veil and have a genuine encounter with God. He emphasizes that when we turn to the Lord, the veil is lifted, and we are able to see Christ clearly. The sermon concludes with the reminder that it is God who brings about transformation and growth, and it is through His presence that we experience true liberty and generosity.

First Corinthians, chapter... just First Corinthians, never mind the chapter, if you'll go there with me. Please, I'm going to be speaking about the glorious ministration of the Spirit. First Corinthians, and we're going to be all through Corinthians. Now, I'm, this morning, going to do a small introduction, I guess, to the teaching that Pastor William is going to be doing in much greater detail. He's going to be teaching on the book of First Corinthians, and possibly into Second Corinthians. Now, that would happen most Friday nights, but it'll also be mixed in with Tuesday nights and Sundays as well. So, for those of you who are trying to figure out when Pastor William is speaking, you're just going to have to be here for every service. And you'll be able to hear this teaching from First Corinthians. This is very pivotal to us, especially the time that we're living in right now. I pray that you give the Holy Spirit your best ear this morning, and hear what he is speaking to the church. Now, Father, I bend my knee before you, and Lord, I acknowledge that all knowledge and wisdom comes from you. There is no knowledge apart from you, there's no strength, there's no anointing, there's nothing of eternal value unless you place your hand on it. I'm asking you, Lord, to place your hand on these thoughts that you've given to me. Place your hand on my physical body and my mind, and enable me today to speak this in a manner that will cause a deep and lasting impression in the hearts and the minds of the hearers today. Lord, you are so good to us, because we are hungry as a people, you will feed us. And Lord, we acknowledge that every good thing comes from your hand. This is all about you, it comes from you, and I pray that with hearts of faith we can bring it back to you in a manner that truly honors your life within us. Quicken me now, give me the grace that I need, Father. I thank you in Jesus' name. The glorious ministration of the Spirit. Now, Paul wrote two letters to the Corinthian church, of course, First and Second Corinthians, and Corinth was an ancient city of Greece. And Corinth was the New York City of its day. It was a prosperous, it was a central, it was a material affluent city, and very intellectually arrogant against the knowledge of God. Everything that you found in Corinth, I'm sure you find in modern day New York City. If Paul the Apostle were to be brought back from where he is now with the Lord and were to walk the streets of this city, he would more than likely call this city Corinth. As societies often are, it's probably a place where people sought for fame and advantage over others, and most likely there was a significant man focus among the population. We're living in a day like that. This is a tremendously man-focused hour. All you have to do is buy groceries, and you can see it at every, all the magazine racks where you buy your groceries, even if, even focused even on people whose lives are an absolute mess, but still focused on this. I have to walk down 53rd Street to come to the church throughout the week, and I'm surprised at the number of times that there have been lineups of people virtually almost down to the corner at times, rain, snow, wind, or cold, to catch a glimpse of some person who's come in to perform. Names that I've never even heard of in most cases, but people seem to know who they are. And they will line up just so they can scream and wail when they come out the stage door and get into their limo and are whisked away, just to catch a glimpse. This is a society that is people-focused. Corinth was undoubtedly one of the most problematic of the churches that Paul had founded, because in great measure of this focus, his personal visits and letters most often centered around issues of faith and practice. And this faith and practice was always in danger of straying, or had strayed, or was threatening to stray from apostolic authority. You see, this church had been established on the Word of God. It was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. And Paul's theology, absolutely and unarguably, was Jesus Christ. Christ is everything. Our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. Paul's gospel was not in the wisdom of man, but in demonstration in his own life of the power of God. Not just the ability to do miracles in the miraculous, as wonderful as that may be. But when Paul said to the Corinthian church, follow me as I follow Christ, he was speaking about this inward embracing of Jesus Christ that he knew was transforming his life day by day, making him into another person. That's why Paul had the authority to say, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Paul was a man who could say, reasonably, look at me and see Christ in me, and see what Christ is doing in me. I, Paul says, who am the least of all saints. He did not consider himself to be any great one. He said to the people himself, I stand before you in fear and trembling. He knew his own frailty. He knew his own weaknesses. He knew his own history, his own background. He knew the great evil that, apart from God, that he was capable of doing. But yet he knew that the life that he had was a life that had been given to him freely of grace. And he was growing in this grace and knowledge of Christ that was within him. And so Paul was a man who stood before the people, not with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in a visible demonstration in his own life of the spirit and of power, the power of God to change a man. That's why quite often you find Paul simply sharing his testimony in the most difficult of situations, telling the people, I was this kind of a man and this was the focus of my life. And this was the rage as it is in the lust that had gripped my heart. But I had a living encounter with the living Christ. And this living Christ not only spoke to me, but came and began to live his life within me. And now, Paul says, in him, in the book of Acts, that we live and move and we have our being. It's Christ in us that he tells the churches that is our hope of glory. In first Corinthians, chapter four and verses 14 to 16. Paul says, I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you. For though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ and there were no shortage of teachers trying to get into the church, this church that Paul had founded in Corinth, yet have you not many fathers for in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you. He said through the gospel, wherefore, I beseech you, be ye followers of me. Paul says, I warn you, you have instructor upon instructor upon instructor upon instructor coming your way. But you were founded on a foundation that made you what you are today. And he said, no matter what others may come in, no matter how they may try to preach the gospel to you, no matter what they profess to be Christ, you have been placed on a solid foundation. You've seen my life and you see all the way through first and second Corinthians, this thread that Paul is warning the Corinth church about because they are a man watching society and they don't realize that this man watching this is going to lead them astray. And many, many of them are going to go astray because they simply are not willing to understand that it's not about men. The Christian church is about Jesus Christ and Christ alone. The rest of us are doomed and damned without his grace. Not one of us could stand and speak to you. Not one of us would have any wisdom or any power, any anointing, any ability to change. It's Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. His is the only name that is to be exalted in the Christian church. Hallelujah. Now, in first Corinthians chapter one, Paul begins his letters to the Corinthian church by addressing a deep centered root problem that is in this church. The people don't really see it perhaps as a problem, but they don't realize what this is. This focus is going to lead them into first Corinthians chapter one and verse 10. He says, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, that you'd be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you says, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, which is Peter, and I have Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? Then Paul goes on in verse 14. He says, I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name. You see, the man focus of Corinth was still very much a part of their makeup. They most likely didn't see this as a problem, because after all, their focus was centered at this time on godly men. That's an amazing thing. Focus, a focus doesn't always start wrong. It can even appear to be right. You can be in a church body and Corinth was a church. And of course, they still had this, this man focus was very much part of their society. And these people are getting together and they're saying, no, Paul is my man. I'm telling you, if I could figure out when he's preaching, I'd be there every time Paul is preaching. Another guy says, no, Apollos is my man. Apollos is articulate. Apollos is incredibly intelligent. Apollos can take the scriptures and just dissect it and divide it in a way that it's like an artist painting a picture. Another one says, no, Peter is my man. He's just a he's just a meat and potatoes kind of guy. He just stands up there and says, you can go through these fiery trials. You can make it through. I've been there. You can go through there, too. He's a prime exhorter. I'm a I'm a I'm a Peter kind of a person. Another one says, no, I'm of Christ. And all this division is here and they don't necessarily see it as the wrong thing. But it was a a root cause of much of the heartache that was going to come in to the Corinthian church. Now, I pray that we'd be better than this at Times Square Church. I pray with all my heart that nobody here is sitting and trying to figure out when Pastor Neil is speaking, because that's your man. And others would say, well, Sister Teresa, now this is really this is revelation like none of these guys have on this platform whatsoever. And if I could just figure out when she's speaking, I'd be in those services. And folks, these can appear to be holy divisions, but they are necessary. They are divisions nonetheless. And if they're not dealt with, they will open the heart to super apostles and prophets that will come into the city. Because you see, there's a there's a man focus already there. The enemy has already planted something. Folks, you got to understand, Paul is telling the church. Look at first Corinthians chapter three. I'll let let him speak for himself in verse five. Paul says, who is Paul and who is Apollos? But ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. Paul says, listen, folks, get your focus off of men. Who are we? We are just people like you are saved by grace. And God, in his mercy, planted something of himself within us and set us in the body. Not that we would lead you to ourselves, but that you would be led to Christ for everything we have is yours as well. There is a liberality in the heart of God. There's not an exclusiveness in the body. There's not great big people and little people in the body. It's equal access to the throne of God now. And we're only here as a minister. In other words, we're here just to make a declaration to you. As Paul says that what God has done for us, he will do for you. So don't look at us. If God hadn't done anything for us, we'd be out on the street with a tin cup in our hand begging for a living. Don't look at us. It's not about men. It's about the God who, in his mercy, has chosen to redeem and inhabit man and makes us thousands of times more than we could ever hope to be in ourselves. Gives us what we could never have. Makes us, as you've heard me say hundreds of times, what we could never be. It's all about Jesus Christ. Verse 6, he says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. God. If God wasn't here, it doesn't matter what I preach to you. You wouldn't change. You would have no hope if God wasn't here. I could tell you all about God. I could open up Christ in a magnificent way to you. But if he wasn't here, you couldn't change. It's all about God. I stand and have the corner as it is on the diamond that God gives me. And Brother Dave stands and Pastor Neil, Pastor William, Pastor Patrick and Teresa and others that visit. We all are given this measure of understanding according to the giftings that God's given us. And it's all really to bring you to that place of fullness and maturity in Christ, because Christ is the only one who can give you life. Verse 7, he says, So then neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters, but God that gives the increase. Now, he that plants and he that waters are one. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor, for we are laborers together with God. You are God's husbandry. You are God's building. Paul saying to the Corinthian church, No, it's not about us. It's about you. You are what God is building. God is building you. And he only uses us as instruments in his hand to open up your hearts to faith that his life might become your life as it is ours. Now, their focus on personalities, Paul knew was going to open their hearts to another breed of self-appointed, ambitious preachers who would come to their city. These preachers would challenge apostolic authority. They would draw them people to themselves and lead the people of God deeply into their own error. And folks, exactly what happened in Paul's day is going to happen in our day. You can be sure as we get closer to the end, there's going to be an influx. There probably is already of ambitious men and women coming to the city of New York. They're going to have their own agendas. They are self-appointed. They're not appointed by God. They are greedy. They will go after your wallets. They will not present Christ to you. They will challenge the apostolic authority. They will challenge the authority of the word of God. Their very presence, their very ministries are a challenge to the authority of the word of God. Paul says, let me read it to you in Romans chapter 16, verses 17 and 18. Now, I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Now, folks, listen to me. These are good speakers. These are extremely charismatic people who are coming into the Corinthian church. They were challenging the authority of Paul and they were saying, listen, now you've heard us speak. We are polished. We articulate. We are entertaining. We we speak about life and we speak about God and we speak about God's goodness. Now, look at Paul in contrast to us, how weak his words are and his bodily presence is even worse than his speaking. Why should you even listen to Paul? And they began to overtly challenge the apostolic authority that had been placed in Paul's life through which the church in Corinth had been established. Now, in First Corinthians, chapter four gives us an evidence that this theology of man focus had already begun to make an imprint on some in Corinth. Now, if you if you follow through with this teaching, the pastor William is going to do, you're going to see that Paul is addressing these things. There's a thread that goes right through first and second Corinthians. It starts in chapter one. Here's a church that has gotten a man focus and they've never gotten it out of their hearts. And if you follow that thread, you're going to see Paul all the way through having to defend the apostolic authority, having to defend apostolic ministry, having to defend truth against charismatic leaders that were coming in. And Paul says, you suffer fools. These are fools coming into your midst. You suffer if they take from you. He says, what what have I done? What offense have I committed to you? He said, I've come in to preach to you. I've not made myself burdensome to any of you. Paul says, bear witness. I've not gone after anybody's pocketbook and neither has anybody that's come in under the authority of the ministry that God gave to me. And these come in and they smite your face and they take from you and they promote themselves. And you suffer these fools to stand in pulpits and to gain access and entrance into your hearts. And we see in chapter four that this theology of man focus had already begun to make its imprint. First Corinthians, chapter four, verse six. Listen to the theology that many in Corinth were now beginning to embrace. And he says, in these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes, that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that none of no one of you be popped up one for one against another. For who makes thee to differ from another? And what has thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why does thou glory as if you've not received it? Now, here's the theology. Verse eight. Now, he says, Paul says, you are full. Now you are rich and you have reigned as kings without us. Here's the theology. The theology has come in of men who draw to themselves and they're telling they're proclaiming this fullness when in reality it's a nakedness. They're talking about a richness when in reality it's deep, deep inbred spiritual poverty because it's all about money and it's not about the work and the passion of almighty God for fallen humanity. And everybody's reigning without pain. Paul must have been so incredulous. Paul comes to the Corinthian church and everybody's reigning. They're all kings now. They're all kings and priests and everybody's reigning everywhere. And Paul, he's beaten up. He's bruised. He's probably limping into town. He's suffering as an apostle of Jesus Christ. And he says, verse eight, second half. He said, I would to God that you did reign, that we might also reign with you. You'll find a lot of sarcasm in Paul's writing. He says, I wish you were reigning. It would be delightful to finally reign with you. He goes on. He says, I think that God has set forth us the apostles last as it were appointed to death. Verse nine. We're made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honorable, but we are despised. Even to this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. And labor, working with our own hands, being reviled, we're blessed, being persecuted, we suffer it, being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. I write these things not to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you. For though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, you have not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore, I beseech you, be ye followers of me. Now, this instead of being drawn together in Christ as a body, if you follow through the thread now through Corinthians, you'll find the Corinthian Christians were in secular courts suing one another. First Corinthians chapter six. You'll find them in first Corinthians chapter 10 offending the consciences of the weak in the name of Christian liberty. They're all free now. Everybody's free. They're free to drink and dance. They're free to do anything they want to do because this is a new era of Christian liberty and freedom. And yet it means nothing if they are offending a brother's conscience, if they are eating and drinking things that maybe they feel they're allowed to, but are causing others to stumble. There's there's this this disconnectedness under this man centered ministry that from the body, they're not seeing themselves as part of a much larger whole called the Church of Jesus Christ. Every man now is being drawn to what they're hearing from the pulpit and they're all becoming individual superstars. You find in first Corinthians 14, they're using spiritual giftings in some measure for their own personal glory. They're first Corinthians chapter 11. They're pushing aside the poor and they're starting to gravitate now around social status and money and wealth and power and who can do what for me and with whom can I associate in the church that will enhance my position and make me feel better about myself and increase my self esteem. And they're pushing the poor to the sides of the church. They're marginalizing them. And this all comes because they've allowed themselves to sit under the ministry of men who draw to themselves and not to Christ. If they were being drawn to Christ, they would have an inner understanding that we are part of a body, a body that cannot say where the hand cannot say to the foot, I have no need of you. A body where we bear one another. We believe with one another. We endure with one another. We rejoice with one another. We weep with one another. If one member of the body hurts, the whole body hurts with that member of the body. We're drawn together as a church moving through a godless world as a living testimony of the reality with an inbred love that can only come from God Almighty himself that causes the world to stand up and say, surely Jesus Christ is alive. Surely he has a people in a body on this earth. You see, this is the fruit of man focus. Men who draw to themselves cannot make you any more than they are. Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 12, We dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, please, with me, if you will, where Paul goes on. Here they are, these men, pleasing preachers, they travel in packs. They quote from one another. They pat each other on the back constantly. They're always commending each other. They're looking for references and recommendation everywhere they go. They bore each other's messages. They repeat the same dribble over and over again and just add another twist of deception to it. Paul says, Do we begin again? 2nd Corinthians 3, one to commend ourselves or do we need is some others epistles of common nation to you or letters of commendation from you? Paul says, Do we need letters of recommendation to come to you? Do we have to go around to the other churches and have them write out things so that we can send you our glossy brochures and tell you what kind of wonderful men of God we are? Now, he says in verse 2, you are our epistle written in our hearts and known and read of all men. Now, this is what Paul is saying. As we spoke to you, God, with his own finger, began to write the story of his life in your hearts. This is the evidence that we're men of God. It's a supernatural infusion of God's life into your life. You were not drawn to us. You were drawn to Christ. And as you were drawn to Christ, an invisible finger came from heaven and began to write the nature of God in your hearts and minds. And you were given a new heart. You were given a new mind. You were given a new spirit. You were lifted out of hopelessness, taken out of prison, drawn out of despair, brought out of confusion. You were brought into the life of Almighty God. Paul said this is the only recommendation we need. God wrote his life inside of you as you heard us. Paul says, I don't need a letter of recommendation. I don't need somebody telling me, telling you that I'm a man of God. You know it. Paul says, I spoke to you. You heard God when I spoke to you and your life was changed. You weren't drawn to me. You were drawn to Christ. I stood before you in weakness and trembling. But the power of God radiated from every word. The God Almighty planted in my lips and you were changed. Verse three, second Corinthians is as far as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables of stones, but in fleshly tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to Godward. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Paul says it this way. Our supply became your supply. We didn't draw to ourselves. We didn't have a methodology. We didn't have seven steps to this and four steps to destiny and greatness. We had a supply and we opened to you the treasure of that supply and our supply became your supply. We simply showed you where to find it in Christ. We became guides to you. And halfway, any man or woman of God who is a true preacher of the gospel halfway through or less of their message, they should virtually disappear and Christ should appear. They should be diminished and decreased and Christ should be increasing in your mind and heart. And when you leave this church, Jesus should be the only name that's on your lips. The only one you're talking, the only power you're talking about is the power of the Holy Spirit. The only truth you're talking about is the truth of God's word. The only tomorrow you're talking about is the tomorrow that God has promised you to the indwelling life of his son within you. Verse six, Paul says he's made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Not not of methodology. That's the letter. He's made us ministers, but not of methodology, not not some new muttering, peeping revelation as it is. Oh, just do this or just do that or just send one hundred dollars for a vial of holy water and drink it three times a day and you'll be over all your depression and all your problems. No, not of the letter, not of human effort, not of devices contrived of the human mind and out of the human spirit. But Paul says, no, you see, we are ministers of the spirit. It's the ministration of the Holy Spirit that is radiating through our lives and through our lips, leading you to the source of your life and the source of all your strength, which is in Christ. Now, in verse seven, chapter three, he says, but if the ministration of death now you have to see this in the context of of what Paul has been speaking about, Paul's been speaking about a ministry that leads to Christ and life and another ministry that sounds like God and has. A sense of glory. But it doesn't lead to any change. I'll explain it to you in verse seven, he says, but if the ministration of death written in engraving and stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious for the ministration? If the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excel it. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Now, seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. Now, let me paraphrase this in the way that I'm seeing this in the context of how the Lord has given me this message. There was a glory on the face of Moses. Yes, Moses had had some measure of an encounter with God. But this glory was covered by a veil. And because of this veil that was on the face of Moses, men could not see that the intent of God was not to destroy them, but to give them life. They couldn't see it. They couldn't see beyond the veil. Moses, yes, is coming down from the mountain. And yes, he's he's telling them what it is that God is saying. But there is a veil. There's a glory. But there's a veil covering. Now, just follow this trend of thought. In verse 14, he said, but their minds were blinded until this day remains the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Now, Paul uses this, I believe, as a type of when people sit under the ministries of those who have not had a face to face encounter with Christ. The truth of Christ is hidden and the real face of these Christ pretenders is behind a mask. They talk about God. They they stand. But their ministry is death. They speak of glory. But you can't see Christ in them. You can't look to the end. There's methodology. There's talk about God. There's whispers and peeps from heaven as if there's God has some great big master puzzle and they're the only ones that have the key. And they will they will whisper vaguely these these truths and they are truths about God. But there's a veil. You can't see Christ in them. This is what Paul is trying to convey to the Corinthian church. They stand. And yes, they've had some measure of encounter. But you can't see beyond the veil. Their faces are covered. They're not honest men. You can't look beyond the flesh and see Christ. You can't see to the end of what the truth that they're professing as it is, is supposed to be bringing to you. And those who sit under their ministries become partakers of a form of godliness that is without power, traveling the circuit, hearing these superstars day in, day out, year in, year out, never changing, no power, no authority. And the end result is a sarcastic heart towards the things of God. So you've God, you've spoken to me about all this revelation, all this glory, but it's all behind a veil. I don't see it. How do I get to the end of it? But Paul says, no, you see, we bear this treasure in earthen vessels and we use great plainness of speech. Paul says, we're not trying to draw to ourselves. We're not here to dazzle you. We're not here to stand here and appear so theologically brilliant that you go out speaking our names all over the city. No, we use great plainness of speech because we have found a supply that God says is for you to as well. We have seen beyond the veil. If I am a genuine man of God, you have to see Christ in my life. You have to see him. You look beyond the flesh, you look beyond all the things I say about God and you have to see him. If we are genuine men and women of God, we truly do disappear. And you look and you see this momentary touch of God that comes on our life when we preach the gospel. And there's got to be a stirring in your heart that says, Lord, I you can do that for me. I see I see something beyond the words. I see, God, that you are willing to touch my life. I see that you are willing to change me and transform, not just lay before me methodologies and theories about God and rules of Christian living that I can never attain to in my own strength. Paul says we use great plainness of speech. No veil is necessary. We have seen him and we live. Now, verse 16, Second Corinthians, Chapter three. Nevertheless, when it turns to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. When my mind, folks, do you hear me? When you are focused on Christ, the veil is taken away. This this this mistiness, this hiding of God, the longer you're focused on people, the more you're not going to see Christ. It's as simple as that. But when you turn to the Lord, God just parts that veil one more time. It's me you want. Here I am. Let me show you who I am. Let me show you how I think. Let me show you what I can do. And all of a sudden the preacher is gone and Jesus Christ is in plain view. Now, the Lord is that spirit for 17 and where the spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. And, you know, the word liberty in its original text means generosity. The Lord is that spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is this incredible generosity of God that comes into view. So, God, you can make me a man of love. You can make me a woman of faith. You can make me the father. I've never been. You can make me the husband, the wife that I've never been in my home. You can take away my gloomy song and give me a song of joy. Oh, God. Oh, God. You say, if any man lacks wisdom, just let him ask and it will be given freely and you won't withhold, Lord, all you have to do. You tell me all I have to do is ask and seek and knock and everything I need of the Holy Spirit will be given to me. Oh, God, I see this generosity. I see this calling that you placed on my life. I see the giftings you want to give me. I see where you want to take me and what you want to make me. Oh, God, how can you contain it when you begin to see the generosity of Christ? How can you contain it? How can you contain the joy? The best thing that preachers of the gospels can do is get out of your way that you can see him. You see him. You see him as our wisdom. You see him as our righteousness. You see him as our sanctification, our cleansing, our redemption, our all in all. There should be something in your heart when you come into this house. This is my God. It's all mine. Heaven is open to me. It's all mine. The life of Christ is mine. Everything you bought on Calvary is mine. Every promise of God is mine. Every victory over the enemy is mine. It's mine. Verse 18 says, But we all with open face, no veil, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. The glory, the word in the Hebrews, kavod, means the weight, the magnificence of God, the generosity of God. That which brings Christ in us to reputation, we see him and we don't have to. There has to be nobody telling us about God. We can see him for ourselves. We are changed into the same image from glory to glory. From weightiness to weightiness, from image to image, from Christ like this to Christ like this, from weakness to strength, from powerlessness to Christ's life in us, even as by the spirit of the Lord. We're changed from our own image to the image and character of Christ, a transformation which causes Christ in us to be recognized by the world for who he is. The world has to stand up and take notice that Christ is in you and is the hope of glory. Now, beloved, let me tell you this. If the Lord's been speaking to you today, you can see beyond the veil. If he has, you can. If I've stood as enabled minister of the New Testament, I've disappeared at some point in this message. The veil has parted and you've seen him and you can see the end now of some things. You can look beyond that which simply agrees with what you are. You see, because that's all the law could do under Moses, the law could only bring you into an agreement with what you are. The law could tell you you're an adulterer. The law could tell you you're corrupt. The law could tell you you're weak and immoral and all these other things. And all you could basically do is agree. And God's glory, all it could do is really condemn you, because you remember in those times to see God was to die. But no, now we see beyond the veil, beyond that which simply agrees with what we are to that which is in Christ, you will be. And this is the hope of the gospel. There's this constant advance into the life of Christ. Oh, yes, I know what I am, but I'm and the enemy is always there on either ear saying this is what you are. Don't listen to this. This is what you are. And you just push him aside. So, yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree with that. But but I'm seeing something that I will be. I'm seeing something beyond the veil. Now, I'm seeing this incredible supply which is called Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. And I'm looking beyond the veil to what I will be in Christ. The Holy Spirit has come and he's unfolding to me things that it will be. He's showing me what is Christ and now what is mine because of Christ. And I'm not limited now by what anybody has told me. I'm not limited by my education. I'm not limited by my language, my culture, my background, my country, no matter anything. I'm not limited by an evil words that have ever been spoken over my life. No, I see now beyond the veil. I see something in Christ. As a matter of fact, he calls those things which are not yet as if they are. This is the God who said, let there be light when there was no light. And he said it before light came and immediately light appeared. This God is speaking to me. This God is calling things in me that are not as if they are. I see something beyond the veil. I'm not staying where I am. I see the supply of Christ has been open to me. It's been open to me in simplicity. It's not complicated. Jesus died for me. Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus sits at the right hand of all authority and power. Everything he inherited in that victory is now mine. The veil is open. I see the end result of this thing. I see myself coming out of despair. I see myself coming out of weakness. I see myself coming out of self-loathing. I see myself walking out of powerlessness. I see myself with a life that is so intertwined with the life of God that all my family have to stand up and take notice that Jesus Christ is alive. I see myself walking with God. Paul says Christ is wisdom. He's all that the human mind needs to find life. Christ is righteousness. His declaration that we are forgiven and accepted is sufficient. We're accepted with God. We're covered by the Father through the blood of Jesus Christ. Paul says he's our sanctification. He's the one who cleanses us and sets us apart for his glory and for his use. He is our redemption. He sets us free from all the power of sin and death. He sets us free from the power of sin. And death. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Do you know, can you see the incredible life that is yours? Can you see it? You can only see it if you're seeing Christ. You have to be seeing Christ to see it. If you're listening to the wisdom of man, you can't see it. If you're personality focused, you're going to miss it. But if you're looking at Jesus, if you're saying, my beloved Christ, speak to my heart. You see, he'll answer that cry. If it's him that you want, he'll open the veil and he'll say, come. It's an invitation. Just like Peter in the boat. He'll say, come, walk on the water. I know it looks impossible, but it's not possible with man, but it's possible with God. Come to me. Come to me. Don't look at what you aren't. Look at who I am. Don't look at what you can't do. Look at what I have done for you. Look away from yourself. Look away from all human effort. And by faith, come and receive the life that I have for you. Today, I believe that there's many here who are going to see. You can see to the end of your struggle. You can see it. I can't explain it. It's miraculous. I've been in services where I've been. You know the expression, I've been lured in a snake in a wagon, right? Well, maybe that's not a New York expression. And I have seen something. I've just seen something. I have no tangible evidence in myself to make it happen, but I have seen something. I've seen the end of my struggle. And just in faith, I move towards it. That's the way it's always been. God won't disappoint you. If you ask him for bread and he gave you a stone, that would make him a liar. And he can't lie. He's never lied to me. Never failed me. Some people today, you need to behold him one more time. You need to see how incredibly generous Jesus is. He's incredibly generous. He'll lift you, carry you, speak to you, empower you, change you. His life becomes yours. Not a concept, a reality. He begins to walk with you. I'm giving an altar call today. Annex Main Sanctuary to everybody who you are in a struggle, a terrible struggle. But today, the veil has parted and you know that the end of your struggle is found in Christ. Your others are living in weakness. You're living under besetting sin. You can't seem to escape. He is the way out. He said, I won't allow you to be tested above you're able to bear, but I'll make a way out for you that you might be able to bear it. Don't look to man's methodology. Look to Jesus Christ. Look to him with all of your heart. If the Holy Spirit today is drawing you, if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, I'm going to ask you to get out of your seats in a moment. In the annex, you can stand between the screens in the main sanctuary. Just come and meet me at this altar and catch a glimpse of Jesus Christ one more time. Let's stand together, please. In the balcony, you can go to either exit in the main sanctuary. Make your way down. It's about Jesus. Can we sing that song? It is Jesus, only Jesus. Let's sing it. I don't know it, so somebody will have to lead it. Jesus, every burden becomes a blessing. Hallelujah. I'm speaking to those this morning who are in him. You might be in an impossible situation. You're just tired of people's theories about God are getting annoying. It's a good place to be. Come to Jesus now. Come to him and to him alone. Let him be your strength. Let him be your glory. Let him be your life. Let him be your focus. Let him be your song. Let him be your testimony. You're not going to be telling people, go down to the continental arena and see so and so. To have your questions answered. No, it's come to Jesus. Open this book. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Let's get prepared to sing. We proclaim him. What are you all looking at me for? I can't do anything for you. Now it's now it's time just to love Jesus. You've heard the word. Respond now in your heart. Respond in your heart. There's no magical formula here. He is everything that you'll ever need. Just love him now. Ask him just to open the veil and you're going to see your way out as you begin to proclaim him.