In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the power of God's word to comfort and encourage His people, even in times of fear and insecurity. The sermon is based on Isaiah 28, where the nation is under judgment and has made an agreement with hell and death. The preacher highlights the need for believers to have a "Patmos experience," where they shut out distractions and seek the voice of the Lord. He challenges the congregation to have a media fast and become full-time ministers unto the Lord, just like John on the island of Patmos.

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, P.O. Box 260, Lindell, 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. My message this morning, full-time ministry, full-time ministry. Why don't you just go to the book of Revelation, the first chapter, and leave it open on your lap, and we'll come back to it. First chapter of Revelation, full-time ministry. Father, thank you for your awesome presence in this house today. And I thank you for the word of God that you implant in our hearts as we seek your face. And Lord, I've sought your face, and this is the word you've given to me. And now I bring it to the people. Heavenly Father, I need your touch. I need the unction and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And Lord, every word that I speak, let it go deeply into the heart, and let it change me, let it change all of us. Everyone who hears this message, help us to get a new understanding what it means to be a minister. What it means to be in full-time ministry. Lord, I pray that this congregation understand that this is for every one of us. Not for preachers, but for every one of us. Lord, open this to our hearts, we pray. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Full-time ministry. Apostle John was taken prisoner and shipped off to Rome. It was either the Emperor Nero or Diocletian who banished him to a barren island called Patmos. That island today is still barren. Only a few prisoners, probably at the time, were there, banished in this small uninhabited island. This is the beloved John who leaned on the bosom of Jesus. This is the beloved John who was a brother of James, sons of Zebedee. He was the author of the fourth gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. He's the author of the first, second, and third John. This is an incredible story of a man who is one of the most influential men. Because why would the whole Roman Empire want to banish this single man, this one man, on this isle of Patmos? No, they took him to the isle of Patmos to die. He was not to survive. And picture this scene as John disembarks on the island of Patmos. There are no trees. There's just probably a few ragged, cursing prisoners who've been there for so many years. They drop off just basic supplies and dump it on the ground. There's probably a wooden shack and some planks for him to sleep on. And the boat takes off and leaves John stranded and banished. And he's told that this is his lot for the rest of his life. John later wrote, he said, I am banished to Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now, what kind of a powerful preacher, what kind of influence did this man have that the whole Roman Empire and the whole Jewish nation would banish him and take him out of society, totally abandoned him from society? He must have been a very powerful influence in his time. And his words when he disembarked on Patmos must have come back to him loudly because John himself had written previously, speaking for Christ, they shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think he does God a favor. And these things will they do unto you. But these things I have told you that when the time shall come, you will remember what I told you or what I've warned you concerning them. Now, can you imagine how John must have lived? A little shack, a dirt floor, probably a dozen or so hundred pound sacks of rice, it was just one kind of grain or rice that he had to ration out himself to last, he didn't know when a boat would ever come again. Can you imagine how many Mediterranean storms beat upon him and how many times he shivered himself to sleep? One change of clothes, perhaps allowed to have some of his books, the law and some of the writings, perhaps the first five books of the Old Testament and maybe some parchment. By every standard of man's judgment, this man is a total failure, he's a waste. In fact, today he would have been asked by many, where is your faith? Because aren't you the one who wrote, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Ask and you shall receive and your joy may be full. John, why didn't you ask God, why didn't you believe and be delivered? Why would God put one of the most sanctified holy men of all times stranded on an island, nearly starving? Open to the elements, John, where's your faith? Let me tell you how God would be judged by new standards, especially the American standard of success. There's no building, there's no congregation, there's no money to build a structure, there's no vehicle to travel the island. He has no decent house, no decent clothing, one change of clothing, no meat except a lizard or snake he might catch at times. He has no agenda, he has no outreach, he has no plan to reach nations. The world today would exclaim, this man has no ministry, this man is finished, there's no ministry for John. But how wrong they are and how wrong they would be because the first thing John did was start a church. He's all by himself and he named the church, the church of I John. This is what it says, I John, Revelation 1.9, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. This man made up a decision when he came, this may be the lot of my life, this may be where I'm stranded. I have no congregation, but I have determined that I am going to be in the Spirit. I'm not going to lose the fire of God. If it's only me, I'm going to worship Him, I'm going to get to know Him. I've got time to get to know my Jesus better than I've ever known Him before. So I John started the church, I John, no one else. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. I don't know what time He landed, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, come Sabbath. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. In other words, I started minister to the Lord, I had church. I'm shut off from civilization, I have no one to join me, but I'm in the Spirit and I'm telling you the praise and worship from John's church. I John church sounded in the eyes and ears of the Lord like a thousand tongues from a thousand nations. I John had church. I was in the Spirit. Something happened to this man. You see, when he embarked, when he got off onto that island, he died to all his plans, his thoughts of ministry or success. I'm going to walk in the Spirit. I'm going to give myself to prayer and praise. I'm going to seek the face of God. You see, John was now in full time ministry. Not like we think of it today, but he's in full time ministry unto the Lord. The Lord had him all to himself and what the devil meant to destroy because they never intended John ever survive. No one was to leave Patmos. See, this is John now in full time ministry. He has no need of, on Patmos you don't need any hype. You don't need any advertising. You don't need anybody to praise you. You don't have to build an institution. You don't have to compete with anybody. No fundraising, no slogans, no numbers to boast about, nobody to congratulate you because you are reduced to a single focus. Jesus. That's all you've got. But that's all you need, John said. That's all I will ever need. You see, full time ministry is being reduced into total focus on Jesus in worship and praise because you and I have all been called to be priests unto the Lord. Let me talk to you about full time ministry. What is it? It's simply not pastoring a church or going around holding revival meetings. Full time ministry has nothing to do with a diploma or ordination certificate from a Bible college or seminary. It's not determined by ordination, some leaders laying hands on you and sending you into the ministry. I'm not against any of that, but that doesn't make you a full time minister. There are pastors of churches that are full time paid ministers who are not full time ministers unto the Lord. In fact, many of them, the Bible says, are hireling according to the prophets. They were hirelings and they were fully paid and overpaid, but the Lord said, I don't even know them. And there are thousands of pastors all over the world today that say and they are called and thought of as full time pastors, full time ministry. But in the eyes of God, there are no ministry whatsoever because they don't minister unto Him. A man who doesn't pray, a man who doesn't seek God, who doesn't have a burden for the people, a man who doesn't hear from heaven and speak the mind of Christ, he is not of God. He is not in full time ministry. And everywhere I go, I've had it here many times at Times Square Church. And everywhere I go, people come and say, would you lay hands on me? Would you pray for me that God would open the doors for me to be in full time ministry? Now, many of them are sincere people. Some of them are part time ministers. In other words, they have a job, they have a career. And most places where I hold ministers conferences around the world, the majority of pastors have to work. They have a secular job. And their congregations are so small and very poor that can't support them. And many of them think that if they were full time just in ministry and had sufficient support, they could be more effective and more successful in ministry. But the majority of people I meet are those who are rather bored with their job. And they do have good hearts. But you see, they come and say, I want to be in full time ministry. And there are some of you sitting here and listening to me, either by tape or some of you are listening to me right here in this auditorium. And for years you've had this dream of full time ministry. And you have striven and prayed and cried, God, when does the door open? When? Because this concept of being paid for being full time ministry and being paid for it, it sounds like I'd like that, I'd be very successful, I could really be of service to the Lord. But folks, full time paycheck, once and for all, remove from your mind the concept of full time ministry as being full paid. That's nothing to do with the paycheck. That's nothing to do with someone laying hands on you. That doesn't make you a full time minister. See, as God sees it, full time ministry is ministry unto himself. It's ministry to him. Let me tell you when you're ready for full time ministry, when you no longer need human applause, you don't need to have anybody give you an assignment, you don't need a plan, you don't need an endorsement, you don't need a building, you don't need a congregation, you don't need any credentials, when you no longer are looking for some great work to do, when the only thing that fully satisfies your heart is your ministry of prayer and worship unto the Lord, when you are satisfied with feeding Christ, when you have given yourself completely and you are focused on this one thing, my calling on this earth, first of all, is to be a minister unto him. It's called the Zadok priesthood in Ezekiel 44. He said there were two priesthoods. There was an Abiathar priesthood. He said these are the men who have idolatry in their heart. The people have idolatry in their heart. And he says they will be assigned as ministers to the outer court and to the people. But he said they won't come near my table. I won't allow them. I don't acknowledge them as my ministers. But because the people have idolatry in their heart, I give them pastors like themselves. But he said there's another ministry called the Zadok priesthood. These are those who have given themselves unto me, come to my table, eat at my table and feed me. I am in full-time ministry when my whole focus is not what I can accomplish, what I can build, what I can do, what I can see as results. I'm in full-time ministry when I give myself to prayer and to Christ, it being on my mind day and night. Every waking hour, Jesus is being ministered to. On the subway, on the job, that quiet prayer that reaches up to him, that ministry unto Jesus, that worship and praise, the church of I, John, the church of I, David, I, Mary, whatever your name is. And then out of that communion, out of that focus, comes all the ministry to people, only as he leads and as he directs. And it always begins one-on-one. And if you can't be a preacher to one person at a time, how do you believe God ever trusts you with somebody else? That's why you need to be in personal evangelism class Saturday morning, 10 to 11, 10 to 12. I've been in churches and I know as soon as I go in and sit that the man I'm listening to doesn't know the Lord. He's got a private agenda and he borrowed a message and came to the pulpit with it because this particular one I'm thinking of is a hireling. But in that particular church, there were people sitting in that audience that had outgrown their pastor long ago. They were shut in with the Lord. They were men and women of prayer and God was revealing himself to them. They had a prophetic word. And actually pastors feared these. I know a pastor in particular who actually feared these people because this man knows that they've been with God. And every time they see this man or woman come and they back away because you see a man or woman has been with God as a reproof to those who have been apathetic toward the Lord. And there are some people in the congregation that have outgrown pastors because they're in full-time ministry. The pastor may be fully paid. They may not get a dime for this. They may have nothing but they are in full-time ministry because they minister to the Lord. Before they go to work, they meet the Lord and through the day and then before they go to bed at night, they have this precious time. They're ministering unto the Lord. That is full-time ministry. Anybody see it and hear it yet? Wave your hand at me if you know what I'm talking about. Look again at John on Patmos. You see rocks. You probably hear a few birds, scattered shrubs. You hear a pounding surf, a few handmade shelters. But what is it you don't see and you don't hear? Picture yourself on Patmos. There's John on a rocky side of a mountain cliff looking down into the ocean. And what is it that you don't hear? You don't hear another voice. There's no other man. There's no other woman. There's no voice. You don't hear anybody speaking. You say, what about those prisoners? Folks, those few prisoners, they got as far across the island as they could away from this man, this godly, holy man. They didn't want to be preached to. These were hardened criminals. There's no record of John having a ministry to people. What you don't hear is any other voice. The only voice he had now was the voice of the Holy Spirit directing him. If he wanted to talk, he could talk to only the Lord. He could hear only the Holy Spirit, the only voice. And he says, I was in the Spirit. I was wholly given up to the Holy Spirit. I trusted the Spirit. I was taught by the Spirit. He showed me the condition of the church. The first thing the Lord did was show him the condition of the church. He showed him the church's evasion and the good conditions and the awful conditions of the church. He took him into the heavens. I was wholly given, he said, to the Holy Spirit. And a door was opened in heaven, and a voice said, Come up here there, John, and I'll show you things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit. Behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. You see, in this full-time ministry of John that had been imposed upon him, he is taken into heaven, and he sees the throne of God. Now, no man has seen it, but he said, I saw one in his likeness. In other words, there was some revelation of the glory of God given to this man. And he was told of things that were going to come. And he said, I heard a voice. A door was opened in heaven. And I want you to know, folks, that for those who want full-time ministry unto Jesus, you've got the same invitation and the same door that John was given. John lived on the same dispensation as we do, the day of grace. This is written after the cross, the beginning of the last days, just like us. He was a man of light passages, just like you and me. He was not an angel, he was not a superman. But this man set his heart to seek the face of God. This man said, I'm giving myself to you, Lord. There's no other voice but your voice. And the invitation was, Come up here there. But, folks, we have that same invitation in the Scripture. Come boldly to the what? The throne of grace, to receive mercy and grace in the time of need. We have that same invitation to come up here there. But you see, that call today to come up is being ignored by many in the ministry today. And it's being ignored by many people in the congregations today. That call to come up, that call to seek the face of God. Because everybody now is so busy. Everybody today has time for... Most people have time for television, they have time for internet, they have time for... Oh, they have time for shopping? They have no time. They come up here there. The Lord said, If you come up here, I'll show you things to come. I'll show you the throne, I'll show you mercy, I'll show you grace. I'll show you things that you've never seen or heard and that nobody else has ever seen because you've set your heart to seek me. Let me tell you what I believe is needed in these last days. Men and women who would impose a pathless experience on themselves. See, this was imposed on John. But folks, I really believe that in just a moment I'm going to get into the prophetic side of this message that he gave to me. But the greatest call and the greatest need today is for men and women who will impose upon themselves an isolation from all other voices. An isolation where they say, God, I'm not going to listen to the voice of man. I'm not going to get involved. Now, I'm not talking about Godly counsel or for the ministry. But I'm not going to listen to the plans of man. I'm not going to be guided by this. I'm going to be guided by the Holy Spirit. I want to be in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit. And I want to be governed by the Holy Spirit. And I want to hear that voice only. He said, know my voice. They will hear when I call. And I believe that with all of my heart that when people begin to seek God with everything in them, and when Christ is the only focus, first thing you get is your discernment back. And then you begin to hear clearly things. He takes you into the heavenlies. And he began to reveal. You will know what's coming. God will speak to you about your family. He will speak to you about your future. He will speak to many, many things. God will speak to your heart when you give Him time and wait upon Him. And He becomes your focus. And you are in the full-time ministry, ministering to Christ. This self-imposed Patmos experience where you don't fall for the competition. You don't fall for the designation of success as it's determined today by so many people. You don't fall for so many voices calling, so many rantings of these voices networking. Ambition. Folks, when God can find a man or a woman who's willing to let everybody bypass him or her, let them go their way, sit back and let them glory in what the world calls success. But a man or a woman can set themselves in the Lord and say, Lord, none of this matters to me anymore. And it's a self-imposed exile. That doesn't mean you come away from ministry. No, it means that you come out of the secret closet. You come out of this exile shutting away the voices of men, shutting away the voices. Folks, I put away most of my books, except, you know, reference books, so that I can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and speak into my heart and my mind where the only thing that matters is that, Lord Jesus, I want my life to please You. And I want You to know, Jesus, that when I go into this secret closet with You, I'm here for You, to minister unto You. And, Lord, I'm going to sit here waiting for You, and I want You to speak. And I want to tell you, a man or a woman who's shut in full-time ministry to the Lord, that doesn't mean you leave your job. It doesn't mean you don't witness. In all fact, you can be a very, very busy person and still have this pathless exile that I call where you have learned to shut out everything that would hinder you from hearing the voice of the Lord, including the TV set. I dare some of you to turn it off even one week. A media fast. Some of you can't even do it a day. No wonder your kids are so mixed up. God help us. I'm not going to get on that. I'm going to move on. Let me tell you what I see coming and why it's important everyone has become full-time ministers unto the Lord. And what I'm about to tell you, I promise you, I got from the Lord. I got it from the throne room because he's taught me how to go to Patmos. I'm going to tell you what I see coming. Listen closely. I see coming to America and the whole world, multitudes numbing and deadening themselves against fear and terror. Numbing, where you don't feel anything. Be numbed. Dead. Because they can't handle any more news about terror and fear. And this is going to be one of the most incredible, deceptive tricks of Satan against the body of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, The time is coming. Men's hearts are going to fail them for fear watching those things coming upon the world. And now, especially in New York and Israel, there's so much fear. I was listening to the news this past week on the radio in the car. And here in New York City, sleep clinics are opening all over the city because so many thousands can't sleep. Can't sleep at all. And it's this sleeplessness, it's this dread of what is about to come, what is hanging. And now the stock market is shaking and melting. They're living under clouds of fear. And they know the worst is yet to come. You know, folks, the Old Testament prophets saw what was coming to the time you and I are now living in, and they shuddered. They said it caused their bowels to boil. What they saw coming. Very soon, this real estate bubble is about to burst. Just as the Nasdaq bubble burst. And all of this buying, two-thirds of our economy now are held up by people on a buying spree. Credit card debt is out of control. People are buying houses they know they can't pay for. They buy the houses and they can't furnish them. There are houses all over New Jersey and Westchester and everything. People are paying $700,000, $800,000, a million dollars for a house. And the builders are telling me, and other businessmen that have given me a tour, said, Reverend, you can't believe this, but there's no furniture in the house, but a mattress on the floor and a table in the kitchen. And when they have a party, they rent it for one day. The truck comes in on Sunday and takes it all away. And they're losing their houses already, going bankrupt left and right because they lost so much money on the stock market. This past two years since March, $7 trillion have been lost. $7 trillion. On Friday, the market almost crashed. I've been warning from this pulpit time and time again. I've had friends that tell me they've lost so much money. And I don't say, well, I told you. I just down in my heart, I cry, why didn't you listen? Why didn't you hear? Because, folks, he's appointed me as one of his watchmen. And I fast and I pray. And then he speaks into my heart, and I don't say a word until he tells me to. But I want you to listen closely, because this is on the verge of happening. It is already beginning to happen. There's a war going to break out soon. I don't know whether it's Iraq or wherever it is, there's going to be a war. And I want to tell you something. The whole world, every single world leader is going to tremble soon because of the fear of a nuclear outbreak. And there's going to be absolute worldwide fear. Jesus said, and this is the time, men's hearts failing. People are going to be dying of heart attacks just watching of those things, fearful things that are coming upon the earth. And as all of these fearful things mound up, masses of people are going to narcotize their minds. Some are going to go to the doctor, and that's happening now. The doctors are providing sleeping pills and all kinds of sedatives. Many are going to alcohol now. Alcoholism has just overtaken our college campuses. Now it's taking over our high school classes and everywhere. Alcoholism is just – because, you see, people are trying to numb their minds, narcotize their minds so that they can finally listen to anything. Nothing moves them. There's dead. There's no emotion. There's nothing. They're numb. You say, President, how are they going to numb their minds? How are they going to numb their consciences? You see, the Bible makes it very clear that when men begin, first of all, to the church, this is going to happen to millions of Christians, and it's happening all over the world right now. And some of you listening to me now are going to narcotize your mind because, you see, these people – here's what Paul the Apostle said. There are going to be those who have been past feeling, give themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all manner of uncleanness with greediness. Now he's talking about a people who had just been warned to grow up in Christ. He had just told them previously. I read to you – that's Ephesians 4.19. They're coming into the church, a narcotizing of minds, and they're going to go past feeling. In other words, have no more feeling whatsoever of fear, no feeling of reports of coming because they have totally narcotized their minds. And how are they going to do it? Paul the Apostle said they're going to do it by turning to lasciviousness. Those who refuse to grow up in Christ, those who refuse the call to wake up and begin to seek the face of the Lord. He said, and by the way, the devil's prepared a menu for this narcotizing. On television, today's New York Times, a full-page ad on a TV program called Sex in the City. I don't have television, I don't know what it is. But the ad itself is the lewdest, most immoral thing I've ever seen. This is the advertisement. And it said the menu for sex is growing. The menu. Anything you want now on the internet and everything else. And folks, what's going to happen, those who are not seeking God, those who want to hear the trumpet call of the Lord Jesus, to wake up and begin to seek Him and become a full-time minister unto Him so that you will have the resources, you will have the power of Christ in you. So the only way, the only way that you can make it in the days to come is to be close to Jesus. Not close to the church, not close to a pastor or a counselor, but close to Jesus. Having spent time with Him. There's going to... It says being past feeling, and I looked at Greek, it means to become pathetic, or apathetic, having no emotion, without conviction, deadened. In their apathy and in their casualness toward the things of God. So many people are just casual. It's going to darken and narcotize their minds because they have no life of Christ flowing in them. They prefer to walk in ignorance, Paul said, and their hearts will become blind to their dangerous condition. And in their spiritual blindness, not being able to handle the fearful news that's coming, having no desire to run to Jesus because of their apathy, they gave themselves over to every conceivable kind of sensuality and wickedness with greed. In other words, they couldn't get enough. This means, very clearly, Paul the Apostle says the day is coming when there will be Christians who become so apathetic, because he's talking to the church, they're going to be so apathetic, going to be so casual about the things of God, and they're going to start turning off the cry and conviction of the Holy Spirit, messages like you're hearing just now, and walk right out, and the Bible says they're going to turn to the devil's menu, they're going to start feeding their mind on sensuality, and they're going to be indulging in sins they never thought conceivable. And they will do it with greed. I see this numbing already. You know what spending is. You know what it is to put $20,000, $30,000 on a credit card when you know you never pay it. The mind is numb. And many young people now, middle-aged and young, Wall Streeters and others, they're buying million-dollar homes with almost no money down, and what they tell me, well, if it comes down, we all go down, let's enjoy it while we can. In other words, eat, drink and be merry, and tomorrow we die. One-third of America now is under drought. Fires are burning all over the nation. The stock market is, folks, the crash has already begun. Now we're going to have a few upspurts, but folks, it's not going to stop. And should the Lord tear it, it will be 20 years before it ever recovers. And I'm not trying to scare anybody. But you've got to know and you've got to hear that prophets didn't try to scare anybody. They were just saying, wake up, realize the times. This is one preacher who's not going to stand before the judgment seat like many are. And I want to tell you something. Those who've been preaching prosperity, they're going bankrupt. Those who have been building great churches and they've tried to bribe the people, it was an easy pablum gospel. One of these days when everything turns wrong, when the market is crashing, and when there's drought on all sides, they're going to stand before these pastors and say, what's happening? And the pastors won't know. And those churches are going to empty. There's going to be an anger. And they're going to turn into this numbing process. And they're going to numb themselves. After 9-11, the churches in New York were packed. Six months later, New York Times said there's less church attendance than before 9-11. And nobody, everyone that was interviewed said there was nothing there. You think that when the next thing happens here in America, the next terrorism that comes, they're going to go back to church? No. They're going to narcotize their minds. They're going to turn to wild sensuality. New York City is going to become the most sensual, wicked city on the face of the earth. When God's judgments came upon Ephraim, God's own people, And I read to you from Isaiah 28. With a destroying storm, God came. The pride of the nation was trodden down. The nation faded as a dying flower. The priests and the prophets went astray with alcohol. All religious forms became vomit and filthiness. And there was no place clean again. And because you have said, and here is this numbing that I'm talking about, because you've said we've made a covenant with death and with hell, we're now in agreement. In Hebrew it means we have made peace with the fact we're going to end up in hell. We've made an agreement with hell. Folks, I've been in the hospitals and I've been places where AIDS victims are dying. And they know within an hour, talking to one man, within an hour is to die. He would not listen to one word of the gospel. He said, I don't want to hear it. He knew he was going to hell. He said, that's where I'm going. Not a thought. His mind was totally narcotized. No feeling. I stand in this pulpit today to plead with my children, my grandchildren, and all God's children here. I stand here to plead with you now. If there is one bit of apathy, if there's any lukewarmness, I beg and plead with you. Run to Jesus. Wake up your soul. The Bible talks about stirring up yourself. Stir yourself up. Stir up your family. I plead with all my grandchildren that might hear Grandpa preach. I weep over them. I pray over them. Good kids. Wonderful kids. Have a knowledge of Jesus. And in their hearts I know they love him deeply. But there's an apathy that the devil is trying to put on my grandkids. And every day I stand and bind the devil and cast him out. And I pray to my grandkids. I pray to all the young people in this church. And they want to hear me. Wake up. Because that apathy in you can destroy you and send you to hell. Folks, it's too late to have sermons and play games in the house of God. It's time to wake up. Dad, Mom, get after your kids and pray and seek the face of God. Get your kids awakened. And all my children pray for their children. They weep for them and fast for them. I would have got everyone in this church to do the same. You know I never preach a message without bringing in grace. Where is the grace in this? What about God's people in these kind of times? I want you to go to Isaiah 28, and I'm going to give you one verse. Do you know that God can speak powerfully in one verse? Do you know he encourages people in one verse? That song is just one word from heaven. Folks, could you just leave it open? I'm going to close right now in just a minute. And I want you to hear this. While the whole world is in fear and insecurity, God has a word for his people. This is the word that he comforts my heart with. In fact, this word is right in the midst of what I've just read to you, this nation that's under judgment. He could be speaking right to the United States and to the world today. And this is the chapter where they've made an agreement with hell and death. Look at verse 16. Will you stand while we read this? In the annex overflow rooms. I want everybody to ask King James to read it aloud with me, please. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God. Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste. That means he that believeth shall never be confounded or put to shame. Folks, who's the precious stone? He's a tried stone. Has he ever failed you yet? Did you try him? Did he prove faithful? Is he a foundation stone? The picture in Hebrew is a stone so big it's carved out that you're inside the stone. We are in Christ and he in us. And he that believes, that's all it's going to take to see you through. I believe that God who's seen me through all these years is going to see me through to the end. He has never failed me once. He'll never fail me again. No matter what happens, live or die, I am the Lord's. And while the world has made an agreement with hell, we have made an agreement with heaven. And we see ourselves already there. I'm already in heaven. Hallelujah. Glory be to God. If a bullet takes me, if a fire takes me, whatever it takes, I'll tell you one thing, starvation is never going to take you. You're not going to be dying out without some cover over your head. God said he's going to feed his people. And by the way, before I close, a ship came to Patmos one day because the emperor died. The Lord took him. And a boat came to Patmos to get John. They say he was there over ten years. Took him to Ephesus. And John became one of the greatest lights in the world. And that's when he wrote 1st, 2nd, 3rd John about love. How God taught him love through the hard times. God, listen. If God can see John for ten years on an island where there's not one grocery store, there is nothing. He can see you and see me through New York City or any other city. He can see us through. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Lord Jesus, there are some here listening to me who've already began to narcotize their minds. Because more and more they feel less and less conviction. They feel that hardening taking place. Oh God, don't let any of our children harden their hearts. Don't let any of this happen to those children and grandchildren of those in this house. Don't let it happen to parents of the singles that are here. Or to their friends. Oh God, we hear your sound. We know that we have been warned. But Lord, you promised in these days that you will not give us the spirit of fear. But love and power in a sound mind. And when these fearful news begin to happen, and it happens more frequently, and while everyone else is trying to be numb themselves, Lord, you said we're to look up and rejoice because redemption is drawing nigh. Lord, we thank you for the peace of God that passeth all understanding. Then Lord, I plead for those that are in this building. I plead for those hearing my voice right now. Oh God, the apathy. Lord, the lack of conviction. The lack of holy zeal. Lord, they're just drifting. There's no fire. The fire has gone out. The fire is dead. And Jesus now just lays softly on the backsides of their minds. Oh God, we're waking them up this morning. Holy Spirit, in your grace and your love, have pity and have mercy. Now I'm going to open these altars now. Here at the front. Balcony, you come down the stairs on either side. Please don't move unless the Spirit is speaking to you. But if you're here, and I plead with you, I make no apology about it now. I look you right in the eye and I'm going to tell you, there are people here in this place that you were so on fire for God, you were in full-time ministry unto the Lord. And I'm not talking about preaching. I'm talking about personal worship and praise and zeal for Christ. And you are in this building listening to me now, and there's a deadening process, little by little. And you're already watching stuff you never thought you would watch in your lifetime. You're already letting a curse word or two come out of your mouth you thought would never happen. And that's the process of the benumbing of the mind and the conscience. I want you to get out of your seat if the Spirit is dealing with you in His love. He'll never hammer you. And I speak with such zeal. And if I sound loud, it's only because there's a fire burning and I'm saying, jump, get out. Have those that are in the aisles come. And just stand here in the front. We're going to pray with you and we're going to believe the Lord to revive you. And in the annex, in all the annexes, you go to the... I'm going to invite you to come here in this auditorium. Just turn around. Go back to the lobby on the second floor. And I'll just show them the way in. There's a passage to come into this church. Walk down the aisle. Come and meet me right here. We're going to pray. We're going to believe Jesus. We're not trying to pack this altar. But this is life and death as far as I'm concerned. It's life and death. Wherever you're at, you feel the Holy Spirit move upon you. Come and say, Jesus, I am not going to live like I've been living. I want this apathy rooted out of my heart. Jesus, send the fire of the Holy Spirit in my heart again. If you don't know Jesus, if you don't know the Lord, you've never been saved by grace. I want you to get out of your seat and follow these that are coming now as they sing. I've learned a long time ago, a long, long time. I've been preaching for many, many years. And I've learned a long time ago that if you come to an altar or you come to Christ just out of fear itself, it's not going to keep you. It's not going to last. It has to be more than that. It has to be something in your heart that says, Lord Jesus, I want to serve you with all my heart. I want to love you with everything that's in me. I don't want to be lukewarm. I don't want to be passive. I don't want to be apathetic anymore. It has to be something in your heart reaching out to Him. A cry. And folks, if you don't have that cry, you can ask the Holy Ghost and He'll give you that cry. He said, ask and you shall receive. He said, Lord, put it in my heart, a desire to seek you, to call on your name. Look at me, please. Do you understand what I mean when I say seeking the Lord? It means finding a place. It doesn't even have to be, you can be in a city, in a park. You can be in Central Park. You can be in any park. You can be on a subway where you just shut yourself in. Nobody in the world is going to think anything to see your lips moving or you talking out loud. This is New York. Nobody thinks anything about it. And I'll tell you something, folks. I do that. I pray and seek the Lord. It's a matter of having Jesus instead of way out here bringing Him into focus and saying, Jesus, you're with me. Jesus, take all fear out of my heart. And just love on Him. Just love Him. And say, thank you, Jesus. See, I'm going to lead you in a prayer. You're going to ask God to cleanse you. You're going to ask Jesus to cleanse you and sanctify you completely. And He hears that cry. And you've got to receive and believe that, that He does. And if you do and receive that, then peace comes to your heart. And then you begin to just ask the Lord to maintain that peace, maintain that peace by just feeding your spirit with worship. That's the food. Those are the resources. And you're not thinking, please don't gouge your mind on magazines and filth. Don't feed it on ungodly stuff and television and Internet. That stuff pollutes the mind and it just robs you of any resource. I want you to pray this with me. And, folks, this prayer means absolutely nothing. It will fall right in front of you. It will fall to the ground. It won't reach above your head unless it's out of your heart. Unless you mean it from your heart. Pray this with me. Jesus, please help me. First of all, forgive me and cleanse me of all my sins. Give me clean hands. Give me a pure heart. Give me clean eyes. Protect my eyes from evil. Lord Jesus, I accept your offer of love. I know that you love me. And I know that you cleanse me. I ask you to forgive me because I repent of every sin and every iniquity in my life. Lord Jesus, I need to know how to love you and to seek you. Holy Ghost, come upon me. Possess me. Take control of my life. Give me resources. Take away the spirit of fear. Give me a sound mind. Lord, I believe you. And I trust you. That you're going to keep me in the hour of darkness. And you're going to draw me to yourself. It's not just protection I want. It's you I want. Jesus, I want you. Now, raise your hands and just tell them that. Lord, I want you. I need you. I come to you, Jesus. I give you my heart. I give you my passivity. Lord, take this apathy out of my heart. Lord, right now, I give it all to you. Glory be to Jesus. This is the conclusion of the message.