In this sermon, the speaker begins by asking God to give them His Word and for it to burn within them. They ask God to keep them from laziness and the snares of victory. The speaker then encourages the listeners to remember that even if they feel poor and needy, God has new and good things for them. They emphasize that as they seek truth and walk with God, they will experience significant transformation and victories in their lives. The sermon also references the story of David in the Bible, highlighting his journey of waiting on God, being delivered from a pit, and experiencing God's miraculous works.

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, Texas 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 share something with you that is very real and very dear to me. It's something that the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me personally and I'm going to convey it to you in that light. It's not something that I feel necessarily that is specifically tailored for this evening. It's something the Holy Spirit's been speaking to me and I'm going to bring it to you and we'll trust that the Holy Spirit will speak to this church as a body and will speak to all of us individually because something is coming your way. I guarantee it. If you are a genuine seeker of God, something is coming your way that is so unexpected, it's almost an unseen enemy, but it will come the way of the seeker of God. We've been admonished all day today. I was surprised when Pastor David spoke this morning how much in line I feel about what the Holy Ghost gave him is with what I'm about to share tonight and also Teresa this afternoon. We don't confer with one another. We may ask before the service, what are you speaking on? But we don't confer while we're preparing, lest we influence one another's messages. But the Holy Spirit is speaking and he's been speaking something to me and I'm going to be sharing it with you and I believe that God's going to bless us tonight. The blessing, as Pastor David said, if there is an anointing, it's going to make a difference in people's lives. And the blessing may not be evident even this evening, but it will be evident in the future. You will understand this in a moment. Now, Father, I thank you so much that I can stand here dependent on you. And I thank you, Lord, that I am dependent on you. I thank you, Jesus, that I know I'm nothing and will never be anything. All I have and everything I am comes from your hand. It's all come from you. And so tonight I bring it back to you and I say thank you. And I ask you for an anointing of the Holy Spirit one more time. God, that you would ignite and illuminate your word and make it real and desirable to the hearts of the hearers. I ask for great grace to step out of the way of this message that you may come, Jesus, and that your voice might be heard. I ask that I might be removed from it in entirety, that I might disappear, that you might appear. I thank you, Lord, this is about your kingdom and it's about your name, your honor, your glory and your people. You have a people here that you love, a bride that you love so dearly that you shed your blood for her. And I'm asking, O God, that somehow, someway you would teach us through these words tonight and guide us and lead us into a future that you have prepared for us as a people. And Father, I thank you for this from the very depths of my heart in Jesus' mighty name. Psalm 40, I'm going to begin reading at verse 11. This is Psalm of David. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord, and let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have encompassed me about, and mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up. There are more than the hairs of my head, and therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me, O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be driven backwards and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, aha, aha. Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee, and let such as love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. But I am poor and needy, and yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tarrying, O my God. Now, both the Hendrickson commentary and the Reiss chronological Bible place this psalm as having been written after David had been established in tremendous victory. This was not a psalm of David's youth. It was rather more a song towards the middle of his older years. It's more than likely closer to the end than the beginning of the testimony that God had set about to establish through his life. I want to take a moment tonight and go back to 2 Samuel chapter 5, if you will, with me. I want to take a very, very quick look at some things that had been established by God in the life of David. And as we look back in 2 Samuel, beginning at chapter 5, we're going to see some incredible things that come into the heart of every child of God who's a seeker of Jesus Christ. If you are a seeker of truth, what David experienced, God said to David, this will also be the blessing of your seed. Now, you have to understand, of course, through the lineage of David came Jesus Christ. So, in effect, you can say we are the seed that God spoke about. The seed always refers to that life, that which was an eternal purpose, as it were, of God. Now, if you were to take it literally, you'd say the promise wasn't fulfilled, because obviously there was seed that David had that rose in rebellion and were murderers and etc., that this is not the actual fulfillment of that promise. But every seeker of God, there is something coming your way so powerful, so wonderful. In chapter 5, I'm just going to pan through the scriptures. We see David, in verse 3, anointed king over all Israel, not by his own might or power, but by the grace of Almighty God. The best that David could do was seek God and hide, literally. And Saul, with more power, more influence, a greater army, simply couldn't find him. And it's such an incredible type of the new believer, as it is. We come into the kingdom of God and we don't have any power against our enemies. The best that we can do is duck down and let God begin to fight for us. And many who have come to Christ, you remember those days, and you know that the only reason that you and I have any victory, it's because of Christ's provision and protection for us. The Bible says he was 30 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for 40 years. Chapter 5, verse 7, tells us that David took the stronghold of Zion, the same as the city of David. David captured Jerusalem, as it is, which was considered to be an unconquerable city. But God showed David, through his provision, through the wisdom, the power that God gives to those that are his, that there's nothing that can't be conquered. That is a type of Christ in our lives. There's no enemy that cannot be defeated. There's no power of hell that can stand against you when Christ is at the center of your heart and the center of your life. You are destined, really, for victory. And we all are. If you have an honest pursuit of truth, you are going to grow from image to image and glory to glory. You are going to go from victory to victory. It is a principle firmly established in God. There is an incredible victory for those that know him. He conquered what became the capital, as it is, of the heart of God. I'll put it in a spiritual sense. And, of course, we know that Jerusalem is the very center of what will one day be the reign, the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. And David went on, verse 10 says, and grew great and the Lord was with him. He was increasing in strength. He was increasing in might. So those that are just beginning in your walk with God, please don't be discouraged because you've had a few setbacks. Don't be discouraged because if you are a seeker of truth, five years from today you're going to be dumbfounded at what you have become because of the presence of Christ in your life. You're going to look back and it's going to be almost inconceivable that you were that person that you remember five years back. The change is going to be so pronounced. The victories will be so marked. They're not just going to be marginal victories where you can say, well, I fought and came out with a bunch of wounds, but I seem to have survived. No, it's going to be decisive. The Lord is going to deal a death blow to your enemies and there will be absolute decisive victories in your life and you will begin to increase in strength. Then verse 11 tells us that another king came and sent messengers and built David a house. Incredibly, God begins to establish you. You might have been a wanderer as it is through society, looking for happiness and a reason for life. And finally you came to God and now you find God establishing you and he uses other people to do it, to help to bless you, to help to give you strength, to help plant you down deep and give you as it is a house, a sense of permanence, a sense of belonging, a sense of reason for existing, a hope and a future. And God gave that to David. And then verse 12 says that David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel. And then in verse 13 it says, and there were yet sons and daughters born unto David. God began to give him a heritage and that's what he will do. Some of you have come into the house of God orphans. Some don't even know who their mothers and fathers were or if you did have family, your family is long gone and you've come in. But God says, no, you trust in me. I'm going to give you now heritage. You're going to have a, there's going to be a future and it may not be a physical lineage, but you'll have a spiritual lineage. I will do things in your life and you will beget children as it is into the kingdom of God. You will have spiritual sons and daughters. And it would be incredible. Like Pastor David has got spiritual sons and daughters now all over the world. They consider him their father, not just their spiritual father, but actually they literally say, this is my father, because they see their encounter with Christ that came through his life as the beginning of their life. And this is a wonderful thing. It's a wonderful heritage that God gives to a genuine man or woman of God, that he will give you spiritual sons and daughters from your life, from the influence of your life. Also going on in verse five, it tells us the Philistines now, the enemies of, of God came up against David and God gave David wisdom. It says he inquired of the Lord in verse 19. We're still in chapter five and, and God told him, go up and fight against the, your enemies. And I will doubtless deliver them into your hand. And David came and the Bible says he smote them there. And, uh, just, just as if a breach of water, like a dam broke, he said, I came upon them. It was like, it was a, a host behind me, a power that was not my own and the army that was with me. And we conquered them as if they were paper dolls, as it is. They had no power. We came against them in the power of God and destroyed them. And the Bible says they burnt all of their images. That's the Philistines gods in verse 21. And David and his men burnt them all there. And verse 22 says the Philistines came up yet again. And it's as if God said to David, I let's have a little bit of fun together. I'm not trying to be light with the scriptures, but it says, let's just do it a different way. This time. I want you just to, to wait at a specific point. And when you see the tops of the mulberry trees begin to sway back and forth as if the wind is going through them, he says, then you go up against them and we'll, we'll do it together. David, we will beat them. And you'll begin to understand that there's a delight in the heart of God to fight for his children and to fight with his children. A delight in David's heart to wait upon God. Can you imagine those that are not yet mature in the things of God and they're given the instruction, just, just wait on the hillside until you see the tops of the trees moving and then go, we have the victory. It's as if David had the Bible does say the secret of the Lord is revealed to them who fear him. It's an amazing thing. God says, I'm going to show you how I fight. I'm going to show you how I do battle. And David is knowing these marvelous, marvelous victories. Chapter six, verse 12 tells us that David brought the ark of God, which always represented the power, the promises of God, the provision of God. And he brought it up from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David, which is Jerusalem with gladness. And through David's life, I can see God's heart being made glad. It is everything that God wanted to have a people and to dwell in the midst of a people. And through this one surrendered vessel, all these things are beginning to happen now. And you see God's heart literally coming into the center of the city, which is going to be the capital of his people on earth. And David is dancing because he's so one in heart with God. He so understands the heart of God. And God so loves this man that even in the future generations, he would stay the hand of judgment even when it was deserved for David's sake. And later on, God comes to David again, verse 16, and gives him a promise and says, Your house and your kingdom will be established forever before you and thy throne shall be established forever. He makes him an incredible promise. He speaks to him about the future. And he says, David, I'm going to establish your house and it's going to be established forever. I'm going to put such a presence of my life upon your lineage that there's going to be life spring. Of course, we know today he's talking about the church that was going to come in a sense from the lineage of David. He could have no way of really fully comprehending this. But the magnitude of the promise, the magnitude of the promise that he gives to us and says, I'm going to give you eternal life. I'm going to cause you to rule and reign with me. There's going to be no end to my kingdom and you're going to be with me and you're going to sit with me at the right hand of authority and power and you're going to rule and reign. The promise that we have is no less than the promise that God gave to David. I hope you understand that tonight. Then David, verse 18, the scripture says, went in and sat before God and said, Who am I, Lord? And what is my house that you have brought me here? I feel like this all the time. I don't know if you feel like that sometimes. God, who am I? And what is my house that you have brought me where you brought me? And you've done what you've done for me and you have blessed me the way you've blessed me and you've changed me the way you've changed me. God, who am I? Who am I? And why did you even notice me? Why did you even bother to reach down and touch me? And where do I find a place in your heart that you would even take time to do this in my life? And David cries this out to the Lord and he says, And yet this was a small thing in your sight, O Lord, verse 19, but you've spoken also of my house for a great time to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord God? Incredible, David says, not only are you speaking about me and what you've done for me, but you're speaking about my house. You're saying you're giving me a new lineage. You are going to do something that can't be done by the hand of man. O God, you're going to bless my sons and my daughters. And there's going to be a presence of your life in my house forever. Incredible. A brand new lineage is going to start. And that's your promise tonight. I don't care where you've come from. What's your educational background? You could come from the mafia tonight. You could come from a household of thieves. It doesn't matter. You come to Christ and Christ says, I'm going to give you a new house. There's going to be a new generation. History is going to record that the chain was broken the day you received Christ as your savior and a new house started. A brand new house, a brand new lineage, brand new sons and daughters and grandchildren and great grandchildren should the Lord carry that are going to live for God and have the presence and power of God in their lives. And I'm going to do it because I found a faithful man or I found a faithful woman who wants me in truth. I'm going to do it for you. This is the promise of God. Incredible. Verse 25, David says, Now, Lord God, the word that you've spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as you have said. And let your name be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel. Let the house of thy servant David be established before thee. For thou, Lord of hosts, thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel has revealed to thy servants saying, I will build thee a house. Therefore, has thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee? And then it goes on. Chapter eight tells us David had more military success. Chapter nine shows us David being kind to Mephibosheth, who was the son of Saul, who actually became his sworn enemy. You see David now moving into what we heard at three o'clock today, moving into forgiveness, moving into kindness, not not repaying evil for evil, but taking really what was not even allowed in that generation, taking a lame man and putting him at his own table and feeding him an absolute type of Christ. And David begins to do these things. We see him moving deeper and deeper into the heart of God, taking Mephibosheth into his house and at his table was was a partial fulfillment, as it is of the promise that there'd be life in his loins and life in his house, because it was the Christ life that was now being displayed in him and through him, taking him where a natural man can never go. Chapter 10, we see again Israel coming up against the Ammonites and the Syrians and defeating them. It seemed like there was no end. If we go from Second Samuel, chapter five to chapter 10, we see David at rest. We see him crowned by God. We see him living in the promises of God. We see him possessing of a promise of a supernaturally established house. We see him conquering, forgiving and defeating. This was the testimony of David. Chapter Psalm 40, again, David speaks about these days. Let me read it to you. These days, he talks about at the beginning of Psalm 40, he's now talking about the beginning of his days and his walk with God. I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet on a rock and established my goings. He's put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. And many shall see it in fear and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that makes the Lord his trust and respects, not the proud nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord, my God, are they wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare and speak of them, there are more than can be numbered. David says you have determined in your heart to do miraculous things for those who love you. And David says, I understand them now. I know them. You've opened my mind to them and they're more than I can even declare. And then he goes on. He says, sacrifice an offering you don't desire. You've opened my ears. Mine ears is open. And David says, I've been taken beyond even the people of the Old Testament generation who just simply felt that if we obey the law, God will bless us. And David says, no, you've opened my ears to something. It's far beyond just that. It's far beyond just doing six hundred and something commands a day. Oh, God, no, it's beyond that. You've opened my ears and you've shown me that you don't want burnt offering and sin offering. This is not what you required. And he says, then I said, lo, I come. He got this knowledge from the scriptures. Verse seven, he says, in the volume of the book it is written of me. David says, I found myself. I found something in the scriptures that you showed me supernaturally. It is not about obeying and doing all of this as important as that might be. But it's the man who delights to do your will. He said, I come in the volume of the book. It is written to me. Verse eight, he says, I delight to do that. I will. Oh, my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. And David is brought. To an absolute place of victory, an absolute place that if you have a heart for God, you are without doubt going to go there. I can honestly say everything I have read through Second Samuel, I have experienced. God has been faithful to me. It's not a promise just for a few. It's for everybody. It's for you. And if you are a lover of truth, you will go there. Everything David experienced, you will experience. You will have a testimony. And David goes on and says, I have preached this in the great congregation. I have not held back. I have not hid your righteousness in my heart. I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the great congregation. David said, you did it in my life. I saw your faithfulness. I understood what type of a person you bless. And I preached it to the congregation. I didn't withhold a thing. I made declarations. God, you took me out of a pit. You put a song in my mouth. You gave me power when I had none. You kept me when nobody else could keep me. You gave me strength when there was no other power to have strength around me. You caused my enemies to stumble and fall. They came against me from every way, but they could never find me. They could never overpower me. You gave me the ability to conquer impossible places. You caused me to walk in the very center of your heart. And I saw the ark. I saw your heart. And I sensed your joy when the ark came into Jerusalem. And you built me a house. And then you made me promises. You said you said you would establish my house forever. Oh, hallelujah. Deuteronomy chapter six, if you go there with me, God knew the heart of man. And the Deuteronomy chapter six through Moses, he gave a warning to the children of Israel. He gave a warning. Deuteronomy chapter six and verse 10. He says, And it shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which he swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, and to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not. In other words, to come and establish you with incredible power and wonderful provision and to give you things that you didn't have the power to build. And your houses will be full of good things, which thou filts not and wells dig, which you did not dig and vineyards and olive trees, which you did not plant. And when you have eaten and are full, then beware, lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt and from the house of bondage. And the word in Hebrew for forget is this. It means to put something in the wrong place. Beware, lest you misplace the Lord. That's really what Moses was or God was telling Moses to tell the people, beware. That you don't begin to put God in the wrong place, this is not a this is not a struggle of the beginning in those who are beginning in God, this is a snare of dissatisfied. Those that are full, you see, when we first come to God, we are like babies, all of us, we come in. Oh, God, I'm mentally tormented. We are struggling with all the effects of sin and everything that sin has done in our lives. And I'm afraid of the future and I don't have any money to pay my bills. And we just we just cry out to God and we are in effect needs driven in the house of the Lord. And God is so gracious. He's done this time and again from from the time he first had a people unto himself. He responds to our cry and he meets our need and he supernaturally changes us. And as we continue to pursue truth, he makes us what we are not, he takes us where we can't go, he gives us what we never possessed. And then we come to the point where we are not needs driven anymore. And this is the place where many, many fall back, they fall into the snare of the satisfied. Beware, Moses said, when you're full that you don't misplace God. God could never bless Israel without Israel turning away from him. It's such a tragedy, even through all the period of the judges, every time he would bless Israel, they cry out, he blessed them and then they would turn from him and begin to worship the gods of the nation and begin to. It is the snare of those that are satisfied. Now, Second Samuel, Chapter 11, if you'll go there with me, Second Samuel 11. Now we went from five to 10 and talked about all these marvelous victories and all the wonderful things that God did for David and Second Samuel, Chapter 11. Now, one researcher, at least anyway, put this chapter at where David was in his 50s. Somewhere between 50 and perhaps 58 years of age, that he sinned with Bathsheba. This was not a sin of his youth. Chapter 11, verse 1 says, It came to pass after the year was expired at the time when kings go forth to battle that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass that an evening tide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. You see, David put God in the wrong place. He must place God in the time of his prosperity, the time of the zenith of his victory, the time when kings should still be fighting battles. He began to say, well, it's time for somebody else to fight. I've done my dues. I'm tired now. I've paid the price. And well, anyways, I've got the promise of God anyway. My house is established and there's going to be all this blessing in my house and all my enemies still can't seem to conquer me. And I'm tired. It's time to let some of the other, maybe the younger people go out and start do the fighting now. And the Bible says that he stayed home and at evening time he got up from off his bed. Now, can you imagine what the rest of his life might have been written like? Now, you know what happened. He sinned. He committed adultery with Bathsheba. He murdered her husband, Uriah, who was one of his mighty men. He went on and lied. And because of it, all kinds of trouble came into his house. Absalom, his son, rose up against him. You see, that's when Psalm 40 was written. It was at the time of Absalom's revolt. He was driven out of Jerusalem and all these things that came into his house, all the trouble, the rapes, everything that went on in his house because of this one sin that got a hold of him. Now, it's not just the sin with Bathsheba. That was the symptom of that. That was a symptom of another sickness. There was something else. The Bible says at evening time he got up off his bed. Can you just imagine how the rest of his life might have been written if the scripture had said at evening time he got up off his knees? It would have changed history as we know it. At evening time, he got up off his knees and looked over the edge of his house and said, what am I doing here? I need to be off in the battle with Joab and the rest of the army. The Bible might have said that he went down and commanded his charioteers to saddle up the horses and chariots and headed off into the battle. No, he didn't get off of his knees. He got off of his bed. He began to slumber, he began to sleep at the very zenith of the battle that was before him. You see, spiritual laziness is most often the affliction of those who are victorious. Spiritual laziness, I'll say that again, is most often the affliction of the victorious. It's the snare of the satisfied. It's the church that's no longer needs-driven. It's the people that don't feel the need anymore to come to prayer because they feel that all their needs have been met. Well, I don't have to go to prayer. What's the point? I'm doing fine. There's such a laziness in that, beloved. It's a condition of the spirit that can come on those who have gotten so used to the victory that they no longer see their need. There's a secret self-satisfaction, a diminishing prayer life, an inward thought that says, Lord, thank you that I am not as other men are. Remember, Jesus spoke about two men went to a prayer meeting. One stood up and said those very words, Oh, Lord, I thank you that I'm not as other men are. Christ decried his prayer as a prayer of a Pharisee, a man who goes down to his house unjustified. You see, it's a false prayer. The Bible declares that you and I are in league with the worst of society without God in our lives. Without the Holy Spirit, we are murderers, liars, adulterers, thieves. If God took his Holy Spirit off of us tonight, there'd be unspeakable evil committed by those that are gathered in this house tonight. I guarantee you that it would happen. Those things that that feeling that comes into your heart when somebody speaks to you the wrong way or cuts you off when you're driving, you would perform that. It wouldn't be just a feeling that's restrained by the power of God. It would become a performance in your life. There is a day coming on the world when God is going to lift the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit and unspeakable evil is going to break out throughout the whole world. Only the spirit of God keeps us from becoming like other men are because we are like other men are. We are. We possess within ourselves the capability of every evil known to man. And only God's grace keeps us. Only God's grace keeps us. Second Corinthians thirteen five. Paul says, do you not know your own selves except that Christ is in you? You'd be reprobates. Paul says, don't you understand if the spirit of God is not on you, you are reprobate, which means you failed the test. Actually, in another translations, but an included definition means that you possess an abominable mind. If the spirit of God is not in you, you have an abominable mind. Incredible. Now, did David ever think I think of David in the cave fleeing from Saul and the Bible tells us that a contingency of of distressed in debt and disaffected as it is, men came and they gathered around him and because of his influence, because of his relationship with God, they became mighty men. They went out and they slew lions and they guarded and they took fields and they some could take a spear. And one of them took a sword out of a giant's hand and slew him with his own sword. They went out so inspired by this man's relationship with God. And Uriah was one of them. Uriah is listed as one of the mighty men of David in that cave. When David is writing the sweet songs of of trust and provision and protection, do you do you think for one moment that David ever thought that he would be murdering this man? That was next to him. You don't know what's in your heart. None of us do. Only the spirit of God can search it. We don't know. And anyone who trusts in his own heart is a fool, the scripture says. Did he ever think that this man that he's nurturing, this man that is becoming mighty under his influence, he's going to end up stealing his wife and murdering him one day? Did he ever think that would happen? The sweet psalmist of Israel. It only happened because he got spiritually lazy. It happened because he went to bed instead of going to God. It happened because he got up in the evening time. Folks, it's in the evening you're supposed to go to bed, not get out of bed in the evening. His laziness is proven by the fact that he was in bed all afternoon, having nothing to do but just indulge his own heart. And when he got out of bed, he only he just did what was naturally there because he was not seeking God as he had in the past and ended up murdering one of his own mighty men. That's why Jesus Christ taught us to pray with the daily dependence. He said, give us this day our daily bread and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. This is the prayer that Jesus said we're to pray, feed us and lead us every day, all the days of our life. There's never a point when we can say, thank you, God, I'll take it from here. Thank you, God. You got me through 50 years. I think I got enough integrity and strength to get through the next 20. David was in his 50s when he murdered Uriah. The sweet psalmist of Israel, you see spiritual laziness. Here are some signs of spiritual laziness is when we begin to pray at the end of the day and not at the beginning. We relegate our devotional time to the end of the day. We get up and say, well, you know, if I could just get that extra hour of sleep in the morning, I pray so much better at night anyway. So I'll get the extra hour in the morning and then I'll go through my day making all my mistakes. Then I'll come at night and spend half my night just repenting of the stupid things I did because I didn't pray in the morning. And the next day I'll just repeat the pattern. Spiritual laziness, if you take it from David's life, is being in bed when you should be up and seeking God. You contrast this to Psalm 5, if I can just share that with you. I'll read it to you. Another one of David's psalms where he said in verses one to three, he said, Give ear to my words, O Lord, and consider my meditation. Hearken to the voice of my cry, my king and my God, for unto thee will I pray and my voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up. See, this was the cry of David that gave him the victory. God says, I will. David says, I will not start my day. And God, you can be sure that my day will not start until you hear my voice and I will cry out to you, God. And here's what he cries. Verse eight, he says, lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of my enemies and make my way straight before my face. He says, you're going to hear my voice in the morning and it's going to be praying this simple prayer, O God, lead me, guide me. There are too many enemies around and within me. I need you to lead me. I need your voice behind me. I need your path before me, God, or I'm going to make a mess of my day. And David says, you'll hear my voice in the morning. And it was in those times that victory after victory, after victory, after victory began to come into his life. The Bible tells us in the Old Testament that there was a king called Uzziah who began to reign when he was only 16 years of age. And the scripture says, as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. He fought incredible battles. He dug wells of water. And there was a constant supply of water to the people through this man's life and his dependence on God. Such a type of the believer in Jesus Christ. When you are dependent on God and seeking God, there will be water, living water for your friends and your family. And everywhere you go, there'll be this fountain of water coming out of your life. God gave him military strategy. The Bible says he had 300 and something thousand warriors. He had a mighty war machine behind him. These are undoubtedly men and young people inspired by this man's ability to lay hold of God, who said, yes, we're going to fight. And any time there's a Christian seeking God, you will find that there are others will come in behind your life, inspired by the voice, as it is that you are hearing from heaven, that is enabling you to understand the will and the ways of God. The scripture tells us that he did all kinds of marvelous inventions and invented new kinds of war machines to fire stones over the walls at the enemies, things that had not been invented before. And his name began to be known throughout the world. The known world, of course, of that day, his name began to be known. This man, Uzziah, this king that was seeking God, such marvelous victories, such powerful armies, such incredible and as the scripture calls them, cunning inventions were given to this man. And then one day the scripture says he he was he was wonderfully helped until he was strong. Wonderfully helped until he was strong. And in the latter years of his life, the Bible tells us he one day got up and walked into the temple and began to offer incense to God, which was only allowed by the priests. In other words, he he walked in and something had changed. He no longer needed a priest. He was now his own priest. He became his own priest. That was the sin of Uzziah. I know it's pride and all this, but he really went in and became his own priest. And it wasn't allowable under the Old Testament law of God. He walked in and started took an office that was never given to him. And the priests came in. There were some men of courage and they they challenged him and said, Uzziah, it's not given to you to offer incense. It's only for the priests to do. And the Bible says he became very angry with them. He was wroth. He was angry that his self-image was challenged. He had a new image. He was no longer dependent on God. He was now a victorious man and he could do no wrong. And he walked in and and there was such pride in his heart. And he became his own sacrifice, no longer the dependence on God. See, that's really the issue. The dependence is gone. He's now his own sacrifice. He now knows everything. He now has all the right answers. And he walks in and and as he's offering the sacrifice, the leprosy begins to form on his forehead. You see, because it was his mind that was now corrupted, he was no longer dependent on God. He had fallen to the snare of the satisfied. And the scripture says that he was the priests thrust him out and he was a leper until the day of his death. Oh, folks, I have met Uzziah Christians and Uzziah churches for years now, churches that have a history and can't be told anymore, can't be challenged, can't be talked to, can't be brought back to that place of dependence on God. It's all in the past now. It's all there's a danger when a church has walked in victory. Now, Psalm 40, if you want to go back there, we'll conclude with this Psalm 40. David says, I preached first nine righteousness in the great congregation. I've not refrained and Lord, you know it. I've not hidden your righteousness. Verse 10, within my heart, I've declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I've not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the great congregation. Verse 11, he says, Now withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord, and let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me. And David is saying it's time now for me again to learn to live what I have preached to others. David said, I have preached about your power, but I forgot it. Keep in mind, he's being pursued by his own son now. Trouble has come into his house because he has committed adultery and he has murdered another man. And because of all of this, now he says, David says, God, I have preached it, but now I need it. I need it. I need your mercy. And you see, this is why God was able to forgive him and restore him, because he was a man who could come back to truth again. He's a man who could once again say, God, forgive me. Forgive me, Lord, for losing the sense of my dependence on you, that day to day dependence on you, for failing to see the destruction that it would bring into my life, the destruction that would happen to those who are under the influence of my life because I am losing that sense of need in my heart for you. Verse 12, he goes on, we read it, innumerable evils have encompassed me, said my own iniquities are taking a hold upon me. I'm not able to look up. You see, God will allow these things to happen. They're warning signs in the Christian life when we are beginning to lose touch with God, we are losing our daily dependence on him. Then he goes on, verse 16, he says, let all those that seek the rejoice and be glad in me and let such as love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. But I am poor and needy, and yet the Lord thinks upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tarrying on my God. There's a danger for Times Square Church because we are a church walking in victory. We have known victory after victory for 15 years now. We've seen rebellion quashed by the power of God. We have prospered financially. We're able to go and conduct crusades in other parts of the world at our own expense. The voices that God has raised in this sanctuary are being heard throughout a good part of the world now. Pastors are looking for direction and for help and hope. No, we don't have all the answers and we are not the answer, but we have experienced great victory because there has been a seeking of truth in this house and there's no other reason for it. Pastor David is a man of truth, a seeker of truth, and because of it, people have gathered around that and there's been great victory in this house. We have gone into countries and seen principalities fall and thousands and thousands come to Jesus Christ. We are still moving into the future, into other places, other crusades, other areas. We don't really know what God is going to do, but we're following him. But the danger that I see is the passionlessness coming into our prayer meetings. The danger that I see and sense in my spirit is the loss of this dependence on God. This sense that because it's happened in the past, it will always happen in the future. God will always be here. The victories will always be going on. We are not wise if we make the same mistakes that many before us have made. There have been many, many churches that have known great revival since the days of Christ, and by the time that generation had known victory for some time, the church had become a museum, a testimony of the past with no real life of God left in it. I have been there. I've preached in some of these places. It is a terrifying experience to hear what happened and to look at what exists. I preached in one church in Saskatchewan, Canada, one time that had a history, a phenomenal history of revival. The workers that came out of that church that went all over the world and became great leaders in their own church denomination and in other places. But to go to that church today, you'd be dumbfounded to ever believe that anything had ever come out of there. What happened to the people? Is it possible a new victory for so long that they got used to it and lost that sense of dependence on God? It happens to the satisfied. It's a snare. It's a snare just to come in and there's no longer that cry that there used to be. And David said, I preached it, now I need it. He said, I'm poor and needy. And you see, that's really the best place that you and I will ever be, is to be reminded of our need by the Spirit of God. I'm poor and needy. God, I'm a reprobate without you. I will damage your house. I will murder your servants, God. I'll become a source of harm to your kingdom if you don't daily keep me. God, forgive me for losing that sense of need in my heart. Forgive me, God, for becoming complacent or standing on yesterday's victories and unaware of tomorrow's enemies, unaware of what awaits me just over the balcony, just over the next ledge. If David would have known it, if he would have clearly seen what was going to come into his house. But he said, I am poor and needy, but yet still the Lord thinks upon me. And I looked up the Hebrew word for thanks, and it means has new and good things for me. David said, I've made mistakes and I'm poor and needy, but the Lord still has new and good things for me. God, you are still my help and my deliverer. Make no tarrying. Oh, my God. Times Square Church, please be careful. We have known such victory. We have visitors come from all over the world, and they say to us, we've never seen anything like this anywhere we've traveled. It doesn't mean there is nothing like it, but that's their testimony to us. They've seen and felt something of God. But we need to be very, very careful with this, lest we end up going home to bed when we should be seeking God. Lest when we become full and are satisfied, we misplace the Lord. And this is something that the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me personally, and I tonight am conveying it to you. It has as much application to my life as it does to yours. And it's terrifying in a sense, because I have experienced everything that David did on a smaller scale, obviously, but I have experienced it. I can honestly look at the Scriptures and say, I've seen that, I've experienced that, I've known that. But there's one thing I would rather miss, chapter 11. And God says you don't have to go there. Nobody does. And everything that chapter 11 brings with it, you don't have to go there if you will continue to seek me. If you will continue to cry out to me from the depths of your heart and acknowledge that you are poor and needy, and you need a Savior every day. There's a hymn that we sang, musicians, if you could come. I need thee every hour. I don't know if, maybe Greg knows that. I need thee every hour. I need thee. Oh, I need thee. Every hour, I need thee. I want to give an altar call tonight. And I'm going to ask you not to respond to this altar call unless the Holy Spirit is really speaking to you. But the altar call is very simple. God, forgive me. I'm not praying the way I used to. I'm not dependent like I used to be. I'm getting used to the victory. And the victory is taking something out of my heart. It was the very thing that you gave me that caused me to know victory. But now the victory is taking it out of my heart. And I'm walking in a dangerous place because I'm doing the very thing that you warned the children of Israel not to do under Moses. I am misplacing God in my life. I want to get back to morning devotions. I want to get back to having my thoughts established for the day. I want to get back to the prayer meeting. I want to get back to crying out to God. I want to get back to a dependence in the prayer meetings, even in Times Square Church when I come. I want to be one of those who has a voice that is a cry to God. I don't want to just sit on yesterday's victories and go home to bed. Lord, I hear your warning. I hear your voice. And Lord, I'm asking you tonight to count me in. Count me in, O God, with those who say, I need you. Every hour, I need you. We ask you, Lord, to give us your word and let your word burn in us. Give us your burden. We want to walk together with you, Lord, and be in agreement with you. Keep us, God, from laziness. Keep us, God, from the snares of victory, Lord. Keep us, God. God, thank you. Thank you, Lord. David said, I'm poor and needy, but the Lord has new and good things for me. And I want you to take that home tonight. Those that have responded at an altar and in your heart, take it home with you tonight. When we know our need, we can then say, God has some new and some good things for me. He's going to give me his heart. He's going to keep me. This is the conclusion of the message.