In this sermon, the speaker discusses the condition of a nation just before the judgment of God comes upon it. He highlights the presence of a conspiracy among the prophets, who have devoured souls and taken precious things. The priests have also violated God's law and profaned holy things. The speaker then references a parable in Luke chapter 10, where Jesus teaches about three types of people who encounter a man left for dead. The religious individuals pass by without helping, but the speaker emphasizes the importance of showing mercy and extending a season of mercy, as God desires to save the world through his son.

How many here are not sure what your calling is in the body of Jesus Christ? Can I see your hands? Go ahead, be honest. I thought so. I know what your calling is. A message that the Lord's given to me, and this is something that's been stirring in me for a little while. There's a a season in history and in our time when the church is called together for a collective reason. In other words, let me say it simply, there is a reason. There's a specific calling that is on you and is on me at this critical juncture in history. And make no mistake about it, we are at a critical juncture right now in history. In this nation, in the world that we live in, this is a critical time. And it's a time that God is calling his church for a specific purpose. We're going to read about it and talk about it a bit in Ezekiel chapter 22, please, if you go there. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel. Now Father, I thank you for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. I thank you for strength. I thank you, Almighty God, that you will speak very deeply into each of our hearts. We will understand something when this is finished, and not just understand it, but have the power to put it into practice. Give us faith, Lord. Take us way, way beyond where we've been. Help us to understand this is your idea, not ours. Lord, we're not being presumptuous. You've called us to your throne, and we're coming there. We're coming with faith. We're coming with expectation. We're coming, Lord, believing that you are the God who can change nations. Lord, we thank you for this in Jesus' mighty name. Before I begin, let me just say for those who've been praying for us while we were in Haiti, thank you so very much for your prayers. We had a marvelous, marvelous visitation of God in Haiti. The first time in my entire life in ministry I've ever seen a complete stadium. Now, when I say complete, it was about, I think, they say 6,000 to 8,000 people that night that just left their seats and came forward. And then the next night was even more, so thank God. The president of Haiti was watching on television, apparently very moved, and has called a seven-day fast for the whole nation, so thank God. Ezekiel 22, beginning at verse 25. Now, this is the condition of a nation just prior to the judgment of God coming upon it. There's a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They've taken the treasure and precious things. They have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law and have profaned my holy things. They put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes—that would be both the secular leaders and those that perhaps have some financial control in the country—her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey to shed blood and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity or nothing, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God when he has not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy, yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none." Look at the condition of this nation just prior to God judging it. Now, I want you to think of it in parallel to perhaps something of what maybe you are seeing today around us. Its religion had become self-serving and powerless. A conspiracy, calls it, of the prophets. The lines are blurred as to what is acceptable to God and what is not. The people are confused. Secular leaders begin to seek their own benefit at the expense of the people they're supposed to help and to serve. Those charged with bringing the people to strength in God start building with materials that have no strength of God in them. He calls it in the scripture, untempered mortar. You know, boasting that we're building the kingdom of God as it is, but building it with something that can't withstand. You can't build on it. It has no power to withstand the onslaught of the times that are against it. The people have cast off restraint. They start to take for themselves. They neglect the poor, and they lose compassion for the struggling strangers that are in their midst. Many, most, or even all of those that God can still speak to are unable to hear. They're unable to hear something that he is asking them to do. God forbid that that should be you and me in this generation. And so the question comes, what could he be asking us to do? Now, before we answer this question, I want to look at something in each of our hearts that could cause us not to hear what Christ is asking us to do in this hour. Number one, it is easier most often to identify with the judgment of God rather than the mercy of God. It's easy. Everybody is blaming somebody today. And if we're not careful, we're going to fall into that category. If you spend more time listening to the news channels than you do reading your Bible, most likely you're falling into that right now. You are just pointing your finger at people, blaming this, blaming that, blaming this politician, blaming that group, caught in a sense of this downward spiral of really identifying more with judgment than with mercy. John chapter 9, for example, Jesus and his disciples are walking by a man the Bible says was born blind. And there's a question in the mouths of the disciples. The question was, what can we do? Or Lord, we know you have power. Let's change the situation. They said, no, who did sin? This man or his parents that he was born blind. They're just looking for somebody to blame. They're not looking to change the situation. Whose fault is this? We shouldn't have blind people as it is. This was in the nation of Israel. These are the people of God. These are the children of the miraculous. And yet here's a man born blind. And you see, when we judge others, we absolve ourselves of any responsibility for the situation. When we judge other people, we simply can just carry on and walk by. Judgment was going to walk by, but mercy was going to do a miracle. And you and I must be careful that we're not caught in that stream of, in a sense, agreeing that the nation should be—because statistically and historically, it can actually be true. The nation should be judged. It had come to a time, the Scripture said, that there was nothing left in the nation. There was nothing that God could point to to restrain His hand from judging the nation. And if we are careful, we can simply just start—we can walk by a situation of judgment and miss the miracle. Judgment allows us to express indignation at the obvious failing of others while still feeling good about our own standing. John chapter 8, they brought a woman taken in adultery. A type, I suppose, of our society, a type of even our church age. A bride that has, in great measure, not lived the way she should in relationship with her husband. And judgment wanted to kill her. Judgment wanted to pronounce death upon her. Judgment wanted immediate punishment and penalty, but mercy was going to forgive. The spirit of judgment allows us to carry on in religious duty and song, even though we might be completely bankrupt of the heart of God. In Luke chapter 10, there was a man taken by thieves and stripped of his clothing and left for dead. And Jesus tells us in this parable that there were three types of people that approached this situation. The first two were known religious, one perhaps with a reputation of upholding the law and the other has a reputation of somewhat of being a worshiper of God. But the judgment in the heart as they pass by—you just picture it as the man who knows the law and the man who knows how to worship. They're both passing by. They look at this stranger that's lying in the roadway, beaten up and robbed and left for dead, like much of our society—some, at least, of our society is today. But judgment allows us to pass by unaffected by the plight of people. And because judgment just says, well, they must be deserving of the state that they're in. Look at what they've done. No wonder they're laying down in their vomit on Friday night, half-drunk. No wonder the situation is such. And so a heart that has really embraced judgment over mercy feels quite confident to come to the house of God, like we are today, to lift our voices, to say we love truth, to worship God, but passing by a whole society, a whole generation that has been robbed of the devil himself, beaten up, stripped as it is of righteousness of Christ, and left for dead in our streets. Judgment was going to hide in its religion, but mercy bends its knee. Mercy gives of itself, and mercy does something. Mercy wants a miracle. Mercy wants to forgive. Mercy bends its knee. Mercy gives of its resources. Mercy simply agrees with God and does something. It's that simple. So what does it mean, then, when God says, I sought for a man among them? In verse 30, he says, I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. What does it mean? I looked for someone. Can you imagine? I mean, this is one of the most religious nations on the face. It is probably the most religious nation on the face of the earth. It has come to a point of behavior. It has come to a point of corruption in the house of God, corruption in the secular financial world, corruption in leadership at every level, that God says, I have to judge it, but I don't want to. I'm looking for somebody who knows my heart. I'm looking for somebody who's willing to come in before my throne as a son or a daughter of God. I'm looking for somebody who's not afraid to take me at my word and with my promises and close the door of the prayer closet and come in and stand in the gap and say, Lord, I want you to reconsider this. I'm looking for someone who knows the mercy of God. Who knows the Christ, who watched the government in Pilate wash their hands of him. He heard the religious condemn the very expression of God's heart. He watched even as his best friends abandoned him in his hour of need. But yet he said, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do. John 3.17 says, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. But wait, we say, doesn't there come a time when judgment must come? Yes, of course, there's a time when judgment must come. And it had come in our opening text. It had come, it had arrived at the nation of Israel, but God was searching for one person, one person who could touch his heart and give him a reason to extend a season of mercy. That's what we're called to do now as the church of Jesus Christ. That's what you're called to do. That's what I'm called to do. I find myself praying in a new way lately. I find myself going into the prayer closet and saying this to God, and it's not presumptuous. I'm praying as a son before the throne of God. Father, your word says that if I ask anything according to your will, that you will do it. Your word tells me that if I speak to a mountain, it will move. And I start just quoting the promises of God and what God has said about himself and what he has promised about his own character. And I stand before the throne of God. And one time I was praying, I said, Lord, it wouldn't be right if eternity recorded that somebody was at your throne asking for New York city, and you didn't send a season of mercy. It just simply wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be right that somebody was there because in this passage of scripture, you said, I just look for one man. I look for one woman. I look for one person to stand. There was a gap as it is. The hedge was gone. The protection was gone. I look for one person to stand between the sinful condition of society and the wrath of God that eventually must be known towards it. One person that said, just stand there and say, hold on. Just, Oh God, just wait. Give us a season. Give us two years in New York city. Give us a season. God, will you sweep our streets and sweep our colleges and sweep our high schools, sweep our apartment buildings, sweep the entertainment industry, touch the finance, give us a season of God. God wouldn't have looked for a man if he, if it wasn't in his heart to change his mind. He just wanted somebody to walk with him in agreement for that moment. And I do believe, according to what I read here, that one man could have stopped his hand for a season. One man could have kept the enemies a hundred miles outside the borders of the city. One man, one man could have caused the glory of God to come back in the temple again, just for a moment. One man, one woman, how much more a whole church age, how much more you and I could the people of God going into the throne room of almighty God and saying, father in Jesus name, hold back the hand of judgment in Jesus name for the sake of the widow, for the sake of the children who've been raised in our streets and told that you don't exist for the sake of God, of those that have been blinded by finance and fame. Lord God, we don't want them to be judged and neither do you, or you wouldn't have gone to a cross. What would that be all about? If you wanted them to be judged, one person, you know, in this church, my daughter is the only one who once in a while cancels all my appointments, closes my office door and comes in and sits down and says, you and I have to talk. Anybody else try that they might be in trouble, but my daughter, it's my daughter. And I find this delight in my heart, this willingness to listen. Sometimes it's about something I'm doing that she says, no, you shouldn't be doing this. You shouldn't be saying things this way. She came into my office one time when pastor Teresa started going to Pennsylvania to the college. She sat across me from the desk. She said, you're alone too much. You're going to get weird. She said, I'm going to watch you. Now anybody else tell me that, but my daughter can tell me that. Do you understand you and I are sons and daughters of God. We're not just statistics on a list called the church. We're sons and daughters. And in the book of Hebrews, we're told to come boldly to the throne of grace. We don't, we don't come in groveling. We don't come in on our hands and knees. There's some people who think that's holy. I frankly don't. I have an invitation to stand at the throne of God as a son of God. Go to Exodus chapter 32, please with me. Exodus 32. I'm going to just nail it now. So you'll see it. Verse seven. Now these people have made a mess. They've been brought out of bondage. They've been given new life. They've seen the power of God and they, they make a golden calf of their earrings of all things. And they say, this is, this is God. And they strip off their clothing and they begin to run naked and rampant and immoral. And it's just an absolute abomination at the bottom of this mountain where God is giving his law. And now the Lord says to Moses, verse seven, go get thee down. He says for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They've turned aside quickly out of the way, which I commanded them. They've made them a molten calf and have worshiped it and have sacrificed there unto and said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Now I want you to think about this nation for a moment. So many came here looking for a better life. Some of you that are here today, us rather, came here because it was in a sense, a land of opportunity, a land of freedom. Many came here to escape at least initially religious persecution and various other things. And it was the, a nation founded on the principles of God. I know historically, some of it was not exactly clearly lined up with the Bible, but at least the principles were there and God blessed it. And God gave intelligence to this nation. This nation response put probably most of the technology we have today around the world, put people on the moon. There was, it was, it was, it's been called a social experiment, but actually it was the hand of God that produced something. And we did the same thing that these people did. We took the blessing, we took the resources and began to worship Dow Jones more than Jesus Christ. In this nation, we built a golden calf and said, this is our God, which brought us out of the land of bondage. Subsequently there's disorders, there's poverty starting in the nation. There's the threat of disorder is continued. Even our own mayor said in not too distant past, he feared for violence in our own streets in this city. He says, they've turned aside quickly out of the way, which I've commanded them verse eight, and they've made a molten calf and have worshiped it. And if sacrifice there unto and said, these be the gods who Israel, which brought the up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people and behold, it's a stiff neck people. Now, verse 10 astounds me. He says, now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them. And I'll make them, I'll make a via great nation. Let me alone. Don't talk to me. You see, because Moses, you have the power to change my mind. So leave me alone. I'm setting this. This is God speaking to Moses folks. He says, now, listen, I'm going to judge them. I brought them out. They've made a mess. They made a golden calf. They've become highly immoral. They've corrupted the image of God. And so now I'm going to judge them. I'm going to destroy them all. And all thank God that Moses didn't have that same, didn't have what can happen to any of us in a society. When we see the hand of judgment come to a nation that Moses is not at the foot of the mountain saying, bring it on God, bring it on Lord, destroy them all and fulfill your promise to me and make of me a great nation. And God says to Moses, now leave me alone. I'm intending on doing this. Let me become angry. He's saying, let my wrath wax hot against them. Leave me alone and let me become angry. Now Moses doesn't listen to God. That's an incredible thing. He says, and Moses besought the Lord, his God and said, Lord, why does thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which you brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, for mischief did he bring them out to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? He says, I want you to consider your name and consider your reputation. I'm finding myself in the prayer closet saying lately, you're the one who died on a cross. You are the father to the fatherless. You are the defender of the widow. You are the God of all mercy and the God of all comfort. And so I stand and I'm willing to not let God alone. I don't know about you. I'm willing to stand in that gap because the Lord one more time is seeking for somebody. He says, turn from this, that fierce wrath and repent. Now it's not a repentance like we do, because when we do wrong, we repent. God wasn't about to do wrong. He's righteous in his deeds, but he's talking about turning, turn away from this, that you're considering against your people. Verse 13, remember Abraham and Isaac and Israel, thy servants, to whom you swear by yourself and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and all this land that I've spoken of will I give them to your seed and they shall inherit it forever. I want you, he said, to think about your promises. You ever prayed that way? You ever stood in the gap? Have you ever, have you ever stood between life where life is and where potential death is? Have you ever truly become an intercessor? Somebody that knows the heart of God. I know the heart of God. I know the heart of God is mercy. He didn't come into the world, John 3, 17, to judge it, but that through his son, the world might be saved. That's evident. That's in scripture. I don't have to make that up. That is there. I'm not looking for some kind of a mercy that's not in the text of scripture. I do know judgment has to come. I do know the world will be judged. I do know that societies have been judged in times past, but I'm also aware there has been a Nineveh. I'm also aware the Assyrians were violent, vicious godless people. And Jonah didn't want to go to them, because he knew this about God. He knew that God was merciful. He wanted the Assyrians annihilated. He didn't want them to be any mercy. He wanted them to be cast down, to stay blind, to be run over by the thief himself. He didn't want to bend his knee. He didn't want to be part of the help. He didn't want to be part of the solution. So he took a trip and he went in the opposite direction. And finally, when God got a hold of him, he walked that three-day journey through the city. And ironically, just as what has just happened in Haiti, the king of the city called for a fast, called for repentance in the sight of a holy God. And God forgave the Assyrians. They were eventually judged, but for an entire generation, they were forgiven and knew the mercy and had access to the blessing and the forgiveness of God. That's just who God is. Jonah sat on a mountainside all in a knot about some plant that had died around him, unable to see the miracle of tens of thousands of people having been forgiven and found the mercy of God. He's all concerned about himself, the inconvenience, the trouble he's gone through. And he says to him, he says, Lord, I knew that's what you were going to do. And didn't we talk about that in the first place before I even came? I knew you'd be merciful if these people repented. That's why I didn't want to come. See, the spirit of judgment was on him, not mercy. But I want to remind you in the that mercy triumphs over judgment. Mercy triumphs. Judgment must come. We may know a day in our society where there is a judgment that perhaps is deeper than anything we've ever anticipated, but mercy, mercy triumphs. I may, I may die in whatever judgment we have to go through as a nation, but knowing Jesus Christ mercy has triumphed over that judgment because folks, it's not about time. It's about eternity in the kingdom of God. It's about where I end up when I die. It's about that season of mercy that triumphs over whatever judgment has to come. The Lord says, I look for somebody to convince me for, I don't want to destroy that which I love. I look for somebody. See, I titled this message. I know what your calling is. I know what my calling is. We've come to a collective time in America where we are called as a body to the throne of God to intercede like we never have in our lifetime to want to see the mercy of God that we don't find ourselves out in the streets railing against anybody, but pleading for everybody pleading for mercy, forgiveness for that which Calvary truly represents, not found with the spirit of this age upon us, which is why I believe. That's why I believe in Ezekiel. He said, I sought for a man. I couldn't find one because almost everybody that went to my house wanted judgment. There's hardly anybody left that wanted mercy. Oh God send mercy. God be merciful to the people on wall street. Lord, be merciful to the actors who don't know where they're headed for. God almighty, be merciful to our kids in the street that we have raised to believe there is no God. Be merciful, oh God, to the angry. Be merciful to the unthankful. Be merciful, oh God, to the unholy. Lord Jesus Christ be merciful. My heart's cry is that when I go into the prayer closet that the Lord has to say, no, no, not you again. Didn't I tell you to leave me alone? And I come in again. It's your son. I've closed the door and I've canceled all of your appointments at the moment. You and I have to talk. I'm here to talk about New York city. I'm here because you planted a church in the middle of times square and you have other good churches in the city with good Christian people. I'm asking you Lord to breathe on us that we may come to your throne, that we may have your heart. God almighty, that our prayers might be filled with faith, that we not be found before your throne confessing the circumstance and whining and pleading and asking for judgment like everybody else around us. But oh God, we'd be found knowing your heart, knowing why you went to a cross, knowing your character, knowing who you are, pleading oh God for your good name in our generation. How is it possible that the 2000 people from this church could go to the throne of God asking for mercy and God not send it? I don't think it is possible. I believe if we go there as sons and daughters of God and stand in that gap and say, Lord, hold back the day. If it's only a year, if it's only two years, if it's only five years, it does. But old Jesus, we're asking you Lord to occupy New York city. We're asking you God to fill our streets and our parks and our schools and our colleges. We're asking you Jesus to come to every church, every ministry, every name, every denomination, fill every house of God, bring the people in from around the city and let there be a great turning to you in our generation. Oh God, we're asking for mercy in this time. I know what my calling is. My calling is not just to preach sermons in this church once or twice a week, as marvelous as that may be. No, it's far beyond that. The greatest part of my calling is in the prayer closet now to be able to move the hand of God for I know what God can do. I've just come from Haiti folks. I've just seen a miracle. I've watched what God can do. I've seen the heavens rent in a moment of time. One more time, saw it in Jamaica, saw it in Nigeria, saw it in Zambia. I've seen it in other places. Now I've seen it in Haiti and everybody who was there knows it happened in a moment of time. It happened in one moment. In the middle of preaching, I was wondering why is everybody shouting? Behind me, the people were shouting. It was a very different kind of a shout and I was thinking it was very distracting. What are they doing? And suddenly in the stadium, people began rising to their feet and I didn't even realize it, but God himself had ran to heavens and suddenly that oppression was lifting and suddenly the gateway was open. Suddenly when people were free to come to Christ. Glory to God. I want to tell you that didn't happen in the stadium, that happened in the prayer closet. It happened in the prayer meetings in this church. It happened in Montreal when they fasted for 21 days for Haiti. It happened in the hotel rooms where people, dozens of people came to Haiti and laid on their face in their hotel rooms and they're seated. That's where the victory came, folks. Oh, when we get to heaven, we find out who the real warriors were. There's some of us who get to stand in the public, but the real warriors quite often are not seen. The real warriors have closed the door. They prayed in secret and God has rewarded them openly, as the scripture says. The real warriors have found the heart of God. The real warriors understand why there was a cross, why God became a man, why God walked this earth, why God let us spit on him and kick him and beat him and mock him and reject him and went to a cross. The real warriors understand the very essence of God is love. They know it and they go in the prayer closet and they say, Lord, forgive me for not being here sooner, but God almighty, I am here and I'm willing to walk in agreement with you. Everything in my natural senses says that judgment should come, but I have been in your word and I know your heart. When you should have judged us, you died for us. When you should have thrown us away, you picked us up again. Time and again, oh God, you've been merciful to us. Now, Lord, we're coming into the throne room and we're asking you Father, in the name of Jesus, that you be merciful to this generation. We're asking you for New York City. We're asking you, my God, for every borough in the city. We're asking you for every church, every denomination, every preacher. My God, we're asking you for every place that can be filled to be filled. Mercy, mercy, mercy. I look for someone to convince me because I don't want to destroy that which I love. I look for somebody, even Sodom and Gomorrah and all of its wickedness. He said, if there were 10 righteous people, I would spare it. That wasn't just bravado talk on God's part. That was true. If there were 10 righteous, it would have a season of mercy. 10 righteous. If there would be 10 people who were found, how about 10,000 willing to go into the prayer closet who have a sense of the hour we're living in, who understand this is a season of blindness. This is a season of people beat and bruised and left for dead in the highway. This is a season of a people caught living a lifestyle they shouldn't have and bringing disgrace to their own being as it is into the very character and heart of God. But yet it's a season of miracles and mercy. I look for somebody who's willing to walk with me through the miracle, who's willing to believe that I'm able to do it. I look for somebody who's not walking by the sight of their eyes, but walking by what they know in their heart about God. I look for somebody who's not governed by the news, but governed by the good news. I look for somebody who's not sharing the heart of blame of this generation. I look for somebody who is willing to rejoice in seeing others restored and forgiven, to rejoice even that certain executives get saved and filled with the Holy Ghost in spite of what happened to your 401k. I look for somebody who's willing to rejoice in seeing forgiveness. I look for somebody who's willing to bend, to give, and to do something to help, not just simply to pray and walk out of the prayer closet and say, well that is that. No, but to be thrown into the prayer. Lord, be merciful and let my life be an extension of that mercy. God, do something and do it through me. Lord, help those who have no helper and help them through my life. Surely if you are the Christ in me, I am your body. This is your temple. God, reach out through these hands. Put something of faith in these eyes. Put something of life in this voice. Put something of compassion in this heart. I'm not willing to hide in religion. When God is willing to be merciful, I've said it a hundred times and I'll say it again, New York City doesn't have to go to hell as long as we're still in it. Now let me alone. Hallelujah. I love those words. I remember the first time Pastor David Wilkerson and I stumbled on those words, reading through this passage of scripture and both of us just looked at it and went, now let me alone. Let me alone. Oh God. Do you understand? There's something of prayer that we're only touching the surface of now. Something of authority, something of sonship and daughtership in the kingdom of God. Something of the right that we have to go to the throne. The invitation to walk with God, agree with God, talk with God, reason with God. Didn't he say through the prophet Isaiah, let us reason together. I know what your calling is. I know what mine is. I don't know how long we have, but I know what my calling is. Praise be to God. I want to give an altar call this afternoon for those who are simply willing to walk with God and see the miracle, to rejoice in seeing others restored and forgiven and willing to bend, give and do something to help. It's that simple. To go into the prayer closet with a brand new authority, an authority you've never had before. You've never known. A sonship authority, an invitation. This is your father. You can walk in and you can talk to him, not offended. Even if you're wrong, he's not offended. As long as you're sincere, you come in and say, oh God, I'm asking you to spare these people. I'm asking you, Lord, to honor your name and glorify your own character. I'm asking you to be everything you say you are and to come into that prayer closet and to put ourselves in our prayers and to believe that in our generation, God can do a miracle. May it never be written. I looked in New York City to find a man and could not find one. May it never be said, God forbid, in our generation that it not be said that God couldn't find somebody to walk in agreement with him. Hallelujah. This is a high calling. It's an incredible calling. It will take your prayer life to a place you've never dreamt it was going to go. Will give you a spiritual authority that you've never had in your entire life. But if you're willing, that's all. If you're just willing to be part of that company that stands in the gap for this city and for this generation, it's not a program, folks. It's something in your own heart. It's something you read in the word of God. It's something you take into the prayer closet and you live in the expectancy of mercy. If that's you today, as we stand, we're going to worship just for a moment. And I'm going to ask you to meet me here at the front of the sanctuary, and we're going to pray together. And we really are going to pray together today. As we stand, please, if you make your way here, and we'll spend a moment in prayer. In the balcony, you could either exit as we all stand up, please. The education annex will wait for you if you make your way down. Thank God we're not going to let this city die. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, we stand here today, probably a thousand strong or more. We lift our voices to you. Lord, we lift up New York City before you. We are undeserving of mercy. Lord, we have behaved irresponsibly with the blessings that you've given us as a people. We've raised our children to believe that you don't exist. Lord, we've let immorality abound. And oh God, and many are not innocent in this. But Lord, we stand at your throne by invitation. We stand here as the sons and daughters of God. And you told us not to come when we're strong, but you said to find grace to help in our time of need. So Lord, we first ask you to help us and give us strength, Lord, in our inner man to be the bride of Jesus Christ, to be the church of Jesus Christ. Cleanse us, oh God, of all filthiness of spirit and mind and practice. Lord, help us to put away that which offends and blinds us to who you are. My God, help us to know your mercy in a new way. Lord, rain upon us mercy. Rain upon us, oh God. Wash away, Lord, out of our minds, the oppression, the images, God, all of the things, Lord, that try to rob us of who we are in Christ and what our calling is in this generation. Lord, help us in these things, Lord. Wash these things away. Father, give us faith. Help us to read your word and to see who you are and to simply walk in in agreement with what you say about yourself. The God of mercy, the God of all comfort, the God of peace, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That's who we come to, the one who came to the earth and walked among us to save us and to forgive us. Lord, you let your face be beaten that we might be able to stand before your face this day. Almighty God, let your mercy be known. Let your mercy be shed abroad. My God, we ask you to be merciful to this city. Be merciful to everybody, from the highest to the lowest, oh God, be merciful, Lord. Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, help us to pray like we've never prayed before. Help us to know your heart. Help us to come into the throne. My God, my God, put faith in us, Lord. Faith like we've never known before. Faith that's deeper than anything that we can procure with our own efforts or ambitions. Oh God almighty, I thank you for my brothers and sisters in Christ. I thank you, Lord, you wouldn't be leading us to do this if you didn't intend on being merciful. You're calling for a people who agree with you, Lord. You're calling for people who can dance in our streets when we see mercy, when we see forgiveness, when we see restoration, when we see the goodness of our God. We thank you, Lord, for letting us hear your heart at this time. Oh mighty God, mighty God, mighty God, mighty God, we ask you to use vessels, Lord, that would astound us. We ask you to do this in such a way that nobody could touch the glory, not even a fool could attempt to touch the glory. My God, do it so sovereignly, so powerfully that you bring your name to reputation. Have everybody in the world who's looking to occupy Wall Street now as some kind of an illustration. We ask you to occupy New York City, almighty God. Occupy our churches, occupy our prayer meetings, occupy our schools. My God, let the whole world have to stand up and take notice. The mercy of God came to New York City. In these last hours of time, you swept away the refuge of lies and brought in mercy. Lord, we thank you for this. God, we praise you, we praise you, we bless you. Oh Jesus, we expect to see this. We expect, oh God, the fulfillment of what you put on our hearts. We expect it, Lord. We expect it, God. We expect it in our streets. We expect it in this city, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lift your voice to the Lord now. You cry out to God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, mighty God. I'm asking you today for a baptism of fire to come upon this church. Lord, do something deeper in us than we could ever do in ourselves. If we're dead, raise us. If we're dull, sharpen us. If we're blind, give us sight. Hallelujah. We're not willing to die in religion when we have a living Savior within us. My God, you said the people in the last days who know you will be strong and do exploits. That's what your word says. That's what I stand on. That's what I believe in. We're not willing to settle for less. We're not willing to live in mediocrity. We're not willing to go down with the ship. My God, just like Paul stood on the deck of that ship, we have an answer. We know God. We know who Christ is. We thank you for that strength, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to the Lamb of God. Glory to the Lamb of God. Thank you for strength and power. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God. From this day forward, I'm asking, Father, that we never be the same in the prayer closet again. Oh, Jesus, we thank you. We praise you in your precious and your holy name. Hallelujah. Folks, I am believing God. The prayer meetings in this church are going to explode. The prayer meetings in churches around the city are going to, the same thing's going to happen. We will know a touch of God in this city before Christ comes, by God's grace, or he wouldn't plant it in our heart if it weren't so. Hallelujah. Now let's give him a shout of praise in this house.