In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of having the life of Jesus flowing in believers. He highlights the need for a new kind of evangelism that can combat the death and darkness in the world. The preacher calls for a church that is filled with the resurrection life of Jesus Christ, rather than relying on strategies and methods. He encourages believers to manifest the life of Jesus in their bodies and be a testimony of His power and joy. The sermon concludes with a reminder that when Jesus' life is released in believers, they will experience rivers of pleasure and abundant life.

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. 2 Corinthians 4, 10. This is Paul speaking. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that, or so that, the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, so that, or that, the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our more flesh, so that death worketh in us, but life in you. Now look this way for just a moment before I start preaching. I'm so glad Paul didn't say, death works in us, the dying Lord Jesus in our body, and so we bear it. He said, no, so that, there is a purpose to this dying, so that the life of Jesus may come forth and be released in our life. He's saying, when I die, to everything in the world, I release something in my life. We're going to talk about the release of life tonight. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the word so precious to our hearts this morning, how you built our faith, and I pray now for the touch of the Holy Spirit. I need you, Jesus, to come now with that special ocean of the Holy Ghost. Touch everyone in this building tonight. Lord, this is just a very simple word we bring tonight, but it's a word of edification. It's a word that will build us. It's a word that will change us if we receive it. Open our hearts. Let the Spirit of the living God make the word come to life. Let it be received, Lord, on good soil. Release in this body the life of Jesus Christ. Release it in their homes. Release it in this church. Release it on their jobs. Let there be a total release of the life of Jesus Christ in this body. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Now, multitudes of Christians are living in a rut. A plain, old, ordinary rut. They're not happy. They're not free. They're bored. They're troubled. They're anxious. They're blue. And they're totally void of all joy. They are not victorious. And every time you see them, it looks like they're either coming or going to a funeral. Have you seen some like that? They say, well, that's just my nature. They seem to have a black cloud hanging over their head at all times. And I want to sneak up behind them once in a while and just tickle them and see if they can even laugh or smile. And you see them going around with their lack of joy and this heavy, heavy black cloud over them. And what a testimony they are for Jesus. Look, folks, this is what Jesus did for me. I gave my heart to the Lord. He became my strength. He became my life. And people look around and say, that's the kind of religion you have. I don't want it. It hadn't changed you. It hadn't touched you. Why would I want what you have? It hasn't done anything for you. Now, I know there are seasons of suffering. We have trials. We have temptations, siftings, chastening to the Lord. But the Bible said, though the afflictions are the righteous of many, he delivers us from them all. There comes a time you're delivered. You don't live until you're delivered. Paul the Apostle said, we do not sorrow as the world sorrows. Paul said, we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. But that's not the testimony of a multitude of Christians who believe in the Lord. They live their Christian life unable to cope. They get bitter. They get hard. They're spiritually dead. They're constantly opposite of what Paul said. They are distressed. They are hopeless in despair, feeling forsaken and destroyed. You know what really concerns me? Our children who have to live in homes where the life of Jesus Christ is not being manifested. We get girth of it in this church. I don't know who they are. I've seen it occasionally. Teachers will tell me that a mother who's just been in the auditorium, who'd been praising the Lord, raise her hand, sing and shout and praise the Lord, go back and grab that child like she was a dog. Slopper. And you sense if they're doing that in public, what is it like at home? How many children are having to sit at a dinner table, or a table where their parents are chewing up the pastor. They're having pastor for lunch. Or pastors. They're complaining about things in the church. Dad, Mom and T.S. are saying, you're going to complain about things in the church. Don't get surprised when they're teenagers and they don't want to go with you. Why do they want to go someplace that you're complaining about? Now, I'm just starting. You can say amen all you want here tonight. That's alright. But make sure you receive it first. What's it like when there is no manifestation of the life of Jesus Christ, but a sense of death in the home? I remember a mother calling me. I knew her well and I knew her son well. Her mother had been, her mother and father, this woman who called me, had been missionaries for 50 years. And this boy grew up. This little child that I knew grew up, and I think I've told this story but it bears repeating here, grew up so admiring that grandma and grandpa that were great souls of the cross, great missionaries for 50 years. He wanted to be like his grandma and grandpa with a touch of God. And he was serving the Lord for a number of years to a measure. But when grandma and grandpa would come from the mission field, this boy would sit in the front beaming from ear to ear. Grandma and grandpa were reading and they would stand in the church and grandma especially, she was a good preacher also, would say, God can keep you to your dying day. You remember that? All through his growing up in high school, went to college. So it happened that the missionary's wife, the husband died. She came home, moved in with her daughter and this young man. The husband had died of that daughter. And he saw something happen. And she came home. This missionary had been on the mission field for 50 years. She was in her 70s at the time. She was in her 70s. And she came home bitter from the mission field. She lost her life flow of Jesus Christ and sat in front of a television set and got hooked on television, on soap operas. And sat there on a rocking chair for month after month, would not move, did not witness, finally evidently was not even going to church. And that boy, this boy was in college now, and he watched this grandmother, this great preacher, just fading away, becoming dead, spiritually dead. And it bothered him. He told his mother, he said, Mom, she preached from the pulpit for years that the Lord would keep you full of life until your dying day. And there was an anger built up in him. And one day he saw his grandma sitting there in that dejected, morose, sad condition. He couldn't take it any longer. He stopped her rocking, grabbed the chair. The mother called me and told me about it. Grabbed the chair, looked at his grandma right in the eye and said, Grandma, if this is what happens, if Jesus can't keep you when you're old, I don't want him. I've had it. You can have him. Words to that effect, and he walked out and turned his back on the Lord. Such a disappointment. She lost that life flow of Jesus Christ. There are many Christians here tonight who should never ever invite their co-workers on the job to church. Don't ask them to come to church. Because it's the worst thing you could do because they've watched you on the job. And they've seen the complaining. They've read your spirit. And there's been no joy. There's been no victory. And for you to say, Would you come to church for me? They're saying to themselves, Why would I go to church with you? What kind of church is it that doesn't give you victory? What kind of gospel are you sitting under? I don't want that. The world is looking for people who have a Christ in them that has an effect on their everyday life. That changes them. Now, if you belong to Jesus, the Bible says there's a mighty power in you that's got to be released. Now unto him that's able to do exceeding abundantly above all, we ask you to think according to the power that worketh in us. The Bible says there's a power at work in us. The trouble is, many Christians have it locked up. They've never released it. Very few Christians have experienced this release of the life of Jesus Christ. There's a great spirit of life that's never been opened in them. It's all locked up inside. And they live like a spiritual beggar, even though they shouldn't have a gold mine. Paul said, The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God. He said, Christ lives in me. He's saying, I've released Christ. He's living something. There's something in me. He said, I've learned a secret how to bring that life out. We're going to share that secret of Paul's tonight. And basically, it's you can't live till you die. You can't live till you die. And that's going to be the basis of everything I preach here tonight. Paul said, We which live. That's in verse 11. For we which live. In other words, we who want a release of this life in us are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake so that, or for the very purpose we die, we're delivered to death for a purpose so that the life of Jesus might be seen or manifest or released in us. Now, the life of Jesus, I believe, is the total answer to all our problems and needs in our life. When this life is released in us, there's something that happens. Oh, I'll tell you what. I love to be around people who've had a release of Jesus Christ in their heart. There's a special grace about people that have had a release of the life of Jesus Christ in them. There's a peace about them. There's a joy. There's something subtle. They're not up and down. They're not hot and cold. Oh, I love to be around them. It's a tragedy that many of us have to live a long time before we come to that. You don't have to be an old-timer. You don't have to be 50, 60 years walking with Jesus to have this special grace. You can have Jesus released in your life tonight, the beginning of it. God can unlock that door, and you can begin to live a gracious life that manifests all around you, that brings life to everything you touch. There's a joy about these people, an unspeakable joy. I don't mean you're running out of that silly Colgate green. It just means that deep inside there's a joy that radiates. It's contagious. There's a freedom to have. They know their sins are forgiven. They're not walking by their own works. They're completely trusted the work of Jesus Christ. There's a victory over the power of Satan in their life. There's a glory of the presence of Jesus in them. Jesus said, I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly. And in Greek that means, I have come that you may have life beyond measure, life excessively. Excessive life. More life than you can handle. More life than you'll ever need. Now think of it. His very purpose in coming to this earth as a servant to die and be resurrected was to release in all of us His own life. I believe a great number of Christians, even in this church, have experienced something less than a full and complete salvation. You have not yet found a full and complete salvation. I'll tell you what. There are a lot of people that are saved for eternity that haven't been saved for earth. They said it again. A lot of people have been saved for heaven. They've been taught eternal security, but no present security. I mean, they're all ready for heaven, but they're not ready to live here. They confess their sins. They say a sinner's prayer. They do the best of their ability to believe in the Lord Jesus. But sadly, many of them have never been challenged to go on to have the life of Jesus Christ released in them. In fact, we have whole doctrines, whole denominations, been built on half a gospel. It's just half a gospel. It offers life after death, and that's all. It doesn't offer you life abundant now. And when I speak of life abundant, I'm not talking about a Rolls Royce or a Mercedes. I'm not even talking about a Honda. I'm talking about the riches of the Lord Jesus Christ and the revelation of who He is. Let me show you what is offered to so many people today is the gospel. Here's half the gospel. Now let me show it to you. Jesus said, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life. And you know, people say, Well, if He gives it, He won't take it back. And they shall never perish, neither shall any of them be plucked out of My hand. My Father which gave them to Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. That's John 10, 27-29. There have been whole doctrines, denominations built on those three verses. And yet, they forget the key to the whole thing. Who are these that are not plucked out of the Father's hand? Who are these that are guaranteed eternal life? Those who follow Me. To where? To death. To the cross. If there's no death, if there's no cross, there's no eternal security. The whole thing is based on what Jesus said. And those sheep that hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. They follow Me. Then I give them eternal life. But there's a way. They've got to go My way. We're going to go His way tonight. Jesus Himself made it very clear there can be no life in us without going down into death. Now, let me read two Scriptures that hold the key. Thou for, Jesus said, that which thou sowest is not quickened, it's not made alive, except it die. He said, whatever it is, any kind of seed, it can't live until first it dies, it just stands alone. Verily, verily, Jesus said, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit. You know, Paul the Apostle spoke very much about being delivered unto death. Always bringing about the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. For we which live are always delivered unto death. And that word delivered in Greek is, we're constantly being yielded up to or surrendered to death. In fact, he said, we have the sentence of death on us. The sentence means that I've already doomed it. That thing of the flesh that comes up, before it even comes up, I have already got the sentence of death against it. I live with the sentence of death over everything that's of the flesh, everything that's unlike Jesus. I've declared that I walk with the Lord, and I walk with the sentence of death on everything that's unlike Christ. Everything of the flesh. I am living my life. He said, I die daily, I'm delivering it constantly, every waking hour of the day. I'm delivering up everything that arises in my flesh to death. That the life of Jesus Christ may be birthed in me and come forth. To Paul the cross, that he took up to follow Jesus, was this daily crucifixion. And I call it the final no. The final no. When that thing that you toy with, that thing that you flirt with, that thing that you justify, that thing that's always cropping up, trying to take ascendancy in your life, you look at it and say, no, that's under the sentence of death. There's no way I can serve Jesus and have this in my life. And you have your funeral, it's crucified. You take the word of God, which is the knife, and you slay it. And you say, Lord, under no conditions, it's a final no. No, that's it. And I tell you, when you give the final no, and the crucifixion takes place, in floods the life of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. The testimony of Jesus himself was that he had life in himself. In other words, he's saying, if you claim to have me alive in your heart, then you have got to have life because there is life in me. The hour is coming, Jesus said, now is. When the dead shall hear the voice of God. He said, the time is coming, and now is. The dead shall hear. That means us. I mean, we were dead in trespasses and sin. But it's more than that. When we crucify ourselves, when we put death to these things, we're going to hear God speak. They shall hear. They that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given the Son to have life in himself. He said, I have life in me. I am life. If you say, I live in you, where's the life? Now, what could be clear? I have life in me. It flows out of me. If I live in you, it should be flowing in you. John said, in him was life. And the life was the light of the world. And by the way, we need a new kind of evangelism in New York City and the whole world today. We need a brand new kind of evangelism, and it has to do with life. There is so much death coming out of hell. There is so much death against the church. And the church has tried everything. It's tried strategies and plans and methods and committees and poured money into it, and the devil's laughed at it all. It has not evangelized the world. The only thing that can meet the death that's coming out of hell is the resurrection life of Jesus Christ. Nothing else. And the new kind of evangelism is a body of people with that life released in them. They are a testimony. You shall receive power to become witnesses. What is that witness? That witness is that I have a life in me that's brought joy to me, that's broken the power of devil in me, healed me, set me free. I'm a testimony of life. Jesus said, I have life in me. It's been given to me of the Father. In him was life. And the life was the light of the world. It's the life that's the light to the world. The Jews searched the scripture trying to find that life. I mean, they were diligent. They searched everywhere looking for the Messiah. And Jesus turned to one day and said, you search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life. And the eternal life was not in their searching out the scriptures if it was in a doctrine. He said, you will not come to me that you might have life. He said, the life is in me. He said, the scripture speaks of me. Now, I'm going to ask you a question. Why did you come to Jesus? Now, think back to that moment you got saved. Did you come because somebody preached on hell? I preached a few messages on hell. Did it chase you to the altar? There's nothing wrong with that. There's a fear of God that can lead to repentance. Or did you have a special crisis and you just wanted to get through that crisis? But why did you come to Jesus? Jesus said, come to me for life. I've come to give you life and have it more abundantly. I don't want to give you just life. I want to give you so much life it's more than you can ask for. I want to give you what I call the key. It's very, very simple. Do you want the life of Jesus released in you? So that it's released in your home, it's released in the church, it's released to those all around you? You don't have to carry a Bible to let everybody know you're a Christian. You should carry a Bible when you go to church or whenever God tells you. But a lot of people use it like a pocketbook. It goes with their clothes. Some of them have red ones, black ones, and blue ones, and all colors. Like a purse. Here's Paul's secret. Delivered unto death, so that. That's the secret. Delivered unto death, so that. Oh, I'm so glad he put that in there. That word is so, it changes everything. It's the whole secret. I'm delivered unto death. I've put to death everything unlike Jesus in my life, so that. Or for the purpose of manifesting in my mortal physical body the life of Jesus. You're not supposed to have the life of Jesus just in your spirit, but in your physical body. This body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Last week in prayer, I started, I was crying out to God, and I said, Lord, I don't want to just come Sunday nights and preach and just look for sermon to sermon to message to message. Lord, I don't want to get in some kind of spiritual rut. I see so many Christians in spiritual ruts now. And you can come to Times Square Church and get in a rut where you expect the same thing and get into this rut. I said, Lord, I want your life in me. I want to get up each day. Now, there'll be bad days. There'll be blue days, but they shouldn't last. I'll tell you something else. If you're walking the life of Jesus Christ that's been released in you, there should never be a day that you complain. There should never be an hour you complain. There shouldn't be a complaining word out of our mouths. Ever. Ever. We should not be gossiping. That's not the life of Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you what. When the life of Jesus Christ comes down on your husband, wife, it'll be a honeymoon like you've never known. There'll be a sweetness come out of that, brother. The same with the wife. She won't be screaming at the top of her voice when you can hear her halfway down the block. I said, Lord, I want a release of life in me. And then the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. And He said, Are you ready to die for it? Are you ready to die for it? Do you want that special grace that I give to some that walk with me? That it's just a joy to be around? You're not having to prove anything to anybody. There's just a settled peace with the Lord and His life is flowing. I said, Oh, Lord, I want that. Well, then you're going to die for it. That kind of life flows in and through only those who have been crucified. Death to self, by the way, is not the end. It's just the beginning. Now, people say, Don't go to Times Square Church. So help me. They're the hardest preachers you'll ever hear. I mean, they find more sins than I knew existed down there. They even make you feel miserable if you have a television set in your house. There have been people walk out of here saying, I can't handle it because they're always coming down on something. Oh, brother or sister, any church, listen to me, any church that gets you to the cross, it gets you to crucify self and sin. It's a church of resurrection power. Why are so many Christians defeated? Why do they go for weeks and months and even years are bound up by habits and lust and sins of all kinds? They never do come into victory. Week after week, there's some of you sitting here right now. God loves you. You have not yet come into any semblance of victory in your life. It's because you have not yet been to the cross. Jesus said, Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Tell you what, there comes a time that God won't take you any further until you face this issue. He'll put the cross right in front of your path and say, You can't go another step. You're going to die. You've never died yet. You've never died to this thing that's in your life. You've never put the knife to it. It's absolutely impossible to be raised up with Christ in this floor of life until you crucify the flesh. If it does not die, it dies alone. But if it dies, it brings forth fruit. And that which thou sawest is not quickened, it's not made alive. There's no possibility of life except it die. If you had your funeral, that's what it's going to take. It's going to take a funeral just as real as any funeral you go to in the flesh. You're going to have to look at that thing and say, There is no possibility I can go on with this in my life anymore. Jesus, I want it dead. I want it dead. I want it out of my life. It has to come to that. You know, I was shocked, absolutely shocked yesterday when I was studying the scripture. When I was looking through the word of God, how many times the word speaks of a people who have a Christ of no effect. Oh, it was like a knife in my heart. People who void Christ in their life, who neutralize His power. I'm going to read it to you. Paul said that they're preaching the cross. He said, I can't even preach the cross with words of men's wisdom. Lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. No effect. That means of no power, no authority, no power to change anything. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved is the power of God. Jesus warned of making His word in Matthew 15, 6, none effect because of your tradition. He said, You've made my cross. You've made my word, my message of no effect on you because of your tradition. Paul said, Christ has become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you who are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace. He said, what you've done, you've come and received a Christ that's entirely useless to you. There's no effect. A Christ of no effect. And that whipped me. Over and over. I did about seven references in the New Testament, five to seven references that I could find about a Christ of no effect. And I said, that's it, Lord. There are people who say, Jesus, I love you. They can sing. They can shout. They can praise the Lord. And they believe they're walking with the Lord. But they have not really had that release because they've not died. That thing is still alive. It's still there. So the Christ in them is powerless. They abound. The very Spirit of Christ made it of no effect. I believe the world is looking for an effective Christ. They're looking for a Jesus who changes lives. I'm going to ask you, is Christ really living in you? Then let's see the effect of it. Let's see the change. Where's the change? Let's see the effect of it in your house. Are you just the way you were even a month ago? You shouldn't be where you were a month ago. You should be sweeter than you were. You should be more gentle. You should have more of the life of Jesus than you did before. Are you going that way? Are you going the other way? Are you getting more of a sour push? The power of the cross is in the death it brings to all that blocks the resurrection life of Jesus Christ. Paul said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me and I unto the world. You know, God brought Israel right up to the brink of the Jordan. He made them look over. And this is a type, Canaan land is a type of a land that's flowing with milk and honey. That's the life of Jesus flowing in and through His body. And they look across. They're over here on this side. This is a place of murmuring and complaining, a dry desert where they've been tested and tried. They've been depressed and despondent. And they want to go over into this freedom. They want to go over into the fullness of a release of the life of Jesus Christ, so to speak. Now, how do they get there? They've got to cross the Jordan. They've got to cross the Jordan. And the Jordan, in fact, Jordan means going down. We're going to take 47 people, I think, 47, Don, into the baptismal pool tonight. And Tuesday, probably, I don't know how many more. But, you see, you're going down to the Jordan. That's the Jordan River. It's a type of the Jordan River. You're going to go down. And when we take you down under the water, that means you're buried with Christ. That's an object lesson. It's a teaching. We're supposed to see that. You see, we're so dumb. We're so stupid. We're so thick up here. God has to show us 47 times tonight what it means. Are you getting the idea? End of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. They went down at the bottom of that Jordan. They were to leave everything behind them and come up in the resurrection life into Canaan land. But they couldn't get there until they went through the Jordan. You've got to die. You can't live until you die. Now, how do we come into this place where the life of Jesus is flowing? Paul said, mortify. That means put to death. Therefore, your members which are upon earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. They that are Christ have crucified the flesh with all of its affections and lust. Now, wait a minute. Paul said, sin reigns unto death. In other words, the Bible also says, he that is dead is freed from sin. Now, that's not just a one-time thing. You come to Jesus and you're just dead and that's it. You're freed from sin. Every time sin raises its head. Every time the flesh rises up. You do what Paul did. You die daily. You die if you have to a dozen, fifty, sixty, seventy times a day. Every time the flesh or that lust rises up. You take the life to it. God told Abraham. He said, you take your son. The son that you love so much. And you take him up to the mountain. That I'll tell you about. God said to Abraham, take now thine only son whom thou lovest. And offer him for bread offering. Abraham rose up. He didn't question. If you like, a lot of Christians today said, I can't do that. I can't do it. It's too much for me. This thing has a hold on me. This boy's got a hold on me. I love it so much. I can't do it. And that's what the church has been telling people now for hundreds of years. You can't do it. If you don't have the will, you don't have the power. And so we turned everything over to God and said, God, I'm here waiting. He could have sat there and waited for God to give him the courage. No. He had to take the fire in his hand. He had to take a knife in his hand. And he himself had to get up and make his sacrifice. Paul the apostle said, you mortify the flesh. You cut it. You do it. But God gives the life. It's the life that is the light. But you're not going to get that life until you shut your heart and your mind and said, no, a final no to it. When God spoke that to my heart, I've learned that there comes a time you look that thing right in the, that flesh in the face and say, no, final, that's it. No. And when that final no is made, the crucifixion takes place. Oh, what victory there is in the heart after that. Hallelujah. There are many who have no release of Jesus life in them because they've not yet put to death their ruffled feelings. Now I'm going to get personal. Ruffled feelings. You know, there's some people left this church, probably never come back because somebody said something to them, either from the pulpit. And what they heard from the pulpit was probably against their doctrine or stood up against something that one of their pet concepts. Or somebody in the church looked at them wrong. Or somebody laid hands on them and prayed for them. Or tried to be a prophet and mis-prophesied or something. And that happens. And they don't come back. You know, in every church there are people who are deeply troubled in their spirit. Now, why are they troubled? Is it because they've just learned that they have cancer? Or they've lost a big sum of money? No. Somebody said something. Somebody said something. Cindy didn't say hello. Or Gwen didn't say hello. She must not love me anymore. Brother Dawn Walker, right by me. Brother Phillips followed him. I know Brother Walker, he was preaching right at me tonight. I know it. Somebody told him. I know it. They're offended. Somebody's corrected them. Somebody's reproved them. And they're hurt. You know, there's something in all of us that always needs to be right. Dawn said in his early ministry he was never wrong. Well, he doesn't even begin to know what that's all about. Because I even told my wife, well, that's the nature of things. God made men to be right. Women are the weaker sex, the Bible says. When I was a younger preacher, and even up to, I would say, ten years ago, when I had a staff that worked with me, I kept saying, you can always come to me and tell me what I do wrong. But they knew better than to do it. I overheard one of my staff once saying, you talk to him like that, you pick yourself off the ceiling. Now you're against the wall. And I did. Because, you see, there was something in me that always needed to be right. Always needed to be right. I still struggle with that a little bit. Gwen can tell you. When we'd have an argument, I'll tell you what. I knew I was right. And I'd pull out scripture after scripture and pound her with the scripture. And if there wasn't a scripture, I'd make them up. That's right. And she finally caught on. One day she said, well, it's not in the Bible. I said, the Catholic Bible. The Catholic Bible. I was quoting from Ecclesiasticus and everything else. There's no such thing. But I needed to be right. Now she knows that that's not the case anymore. Because the first time I learned it and I said, honey, I'm dead wrong, you're right. She said, well, what do you know? What do you know? The prophet is wrong. I'll tell you something. Here's the hard part. When you've done the best you know how, and you're simply trying to please the Lord, and someone comes and points a finger and cries, sin, or you're wrong. When you know you've tried to do the best you know how, and you're doing everything, you're praying, you're seeking the Lord, you're doing everything you know how to do, and then somebody comes to you and says you're wrong or rebukes you or reproves you. And since I've been in New York, the Lord's tested me a few times in this area. If you don't mind a little confession here tonight. Since I've been called on the phone occasionally and lovingly reproved, it will come out like, Pastor, there's something I think is wrong. It's not measuring up to the standard of the word. And if it comes by telephone, I wish they could have seen my face. I was burning up inside. And I'd hang up the phone, and I said, hey, look, I've got enough headaches. Who in the world do they think they are? What kind of a love is this? I'm not going to let them get away with it. I'll tell you what, there was a time when I had to be so right that if anybody rebuked me or crossed me or said I was wrong, I became like a Supreme Court judge. I would dig into the Scripture and get all the reasons I was right. I would get all my witnesses together. I would rally everybody and then unload. You begin to see how terrible that is, how unlike the spirit and life of Jesus Christ. How unlike Jesus that is. Has no resemblance of the spirit of Christ whatsoever. And there are times I've exploded, and I still don't think I've learned this lesson, but I'm asking God to teach it to me. And on one occasion I went home, and I said, Lord, you going to let them get away with that? And the Lord's absolute, I saw, it might as well have been a neon sign. Go to Proverbs 17.10. Now don't go there. You know what it said? A reproof enters into a wise man more than a hundred stripes into a fool. Then the Lord said, now flip over to 9.8. And I was super as being led to these Scriptures. And the second Scripture said, if you rebuke a wise man, he'll love you. The Lord said, do you see how wrong you are? You're supposed to take it more than a man can take a hundred stripes to learn a lesson. And if you're a wise man, you'll take the reproof, you'll take the rebuke, whether it is right or wrong at this point, don't try to answer to it. Turn it over to the Lord, and get on the phone and tell them you love them. And I'll tell you when I did that, there was a release of the life of Jesus Christ in me. Something I haven't seen the like of in a long, long time. And then the Holy Spirit spoke another word. Now I want you to listen. If you don't get anything else, listen to this. I'm going to give you something that will change your life. One sentence. The cross is never having to be right again. The cross is never having to be right again. Go ahead and stand up for your rights. Go ahead and make your arguments. But that's not the Christ life. Somewhere along the line you'll get knocked down and you'll lose the battle every time. You'll lose. You're headed for trouble. But if you can go forward, say, Jesus, I'm going to die to what people have said. I'm going to die to what people have done to me. I don't have to be right to anyone but you. I have to be right before the Lord. And by the way, you don't ever have to come out looking good anymore. Paul said, why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourself to be defrauded? When you look at that word defrauded, it means to be put down, taken advantage of. He said, why don't you just go ahead and let it. You say, you'll let people walk over me. Oh, they may think they're walking over you, but I'll tell you what, when you respond with the life of Jesus Christ and you crucify your feelings and put the knife to it, there'll be a flow of life come out of you. If it doesn't change them, it puts you above the battle stripe yourself. And that's what you need anyhow. The cross means never having to be right again. Hallelujah. Let me give you another key. And I'm not going to preach too much longer, but I want you to get this key. There can be no release of the life of Jesus Christ unless you quickly forgive those who mistreat or misjudge you. If you have an unforgiving spirit upon you tonight, you absolutely have blocked the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, you must turn to it. Matthew, I want you to see it in writing to make an impact on you. Matthew, the sixth chapter. I believe this is meant for some people here tonight. And you need it this next week. You're going to need it. In fact, I'm going to ask you to look at this every day this week to be a strength to you. And also a plotting of the Holy Ghost. Matthew 6, verse 14 and 15. Matthew 6, begin to read verse 14. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But, and what a big one it is. But, if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Now, that's about as strong as anything Jesus ever said. He said, if you will not forgive others, I can't forgive you of your unforgiving spirit. And I'll tell you something. You talk about blocking the life flow of Jesus. You can never have this grace of Christ. You can never have the beauty of Jesus in you. If there's somebody, you sit here tonight, and there's somebody you're not forgiving. There are mothers who don't even talk to their daughters. There are wives who say, I want out of my marriage. Or husbands, I want out of this. And the reason for it, there's an unforgiving spirit. And I was praying about this message. Oh, so clearly the Holy Spirit said, David, this has to be for Times Square Church. I want you to listen. God wants to bring upon us a spirit of forgivingness. A forgiving spirit. No matter who has said what to you. Take the hurt. Paul said, suffer the hurt. Don't worry about anybody defrauding you. What we need are people who forgive. And not sit there and say, well, I'm going up this aisle because she might be coming up this aisle. And I don't want to be back there. You've got to go up this door. So you can't meet somebody coming out that door. We talk about having the love of Jesus Christ in the body. Having a spirit of camaraderie and a fellowship one with another. That doesn't come until that life has flown out of us. All of us. I'll tell you something else. There have been people come to this church. Visitors from other states and other countries. And they see the life and the energy in our services. And yet they'll come to us after we've had it recently. They'll come and say, well, you folks worship quite well, but you still haven't arrived. Your worship isn't what it should be. We have more people. So help us. More people tell us how to worship here at Times Square Church. Everybody comes and has an idea. And it's usually a formula. It's usually some kind of something you have to do. We've had some say, you don't have enough Messianic Jewish songs. Well, we just sang a beautiful one a moment ago. But someone said, if you're going to have real worship, you have to have the Messianic songs. I love those Messianic songs. I'll tell you what. It's not fast. It's not slow. It's not Messianic. You know what real worship is? It's people have been to the cross. Have been crucified. And there's a life flowing to them. It's a spontaneous outbreak in the life of Jesus Christ. That's worship. That's the only thing that will please the Lord. It's a flowing. I've got life out of me. It's flowing out of you. It's flowing out of the whole body. We're loving one another. Nobody's worried about what anybody has said. We're in honor, preferring one another. We're not trying to find a place for ourselves. We're not trying to pick a fight at anything that's going on in the church or the pastors. We're saying, Oh God, this is your house. This is your church. Let me have that grace of Christ. I want the beauty of Jesus to flow in and through me. That won't happen until you're dibbed all those feet. Forget what everybody said. You can't afford that anymore. We're too close to the coming of the Lord. You can't afford it anymore. When you stand praying, forgive. If you have anything against anybody, that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Glory be to God. I'm going to close in just a minute, but I want you to hear one last thing here. When was the last time you made Jesus attractive to the world? When was the last time you had a life flow of Christ Jesus in your home? When your wife, your husband, your family could see a change in you, there's a life coming forth. Some of you, God bless your hearts, you're withering, you're dying. There's a depression in you, and God never intended Christians live like that. There should be a constant flow of victory and joy in our life. Even through the hardships, God brings that assurance that He's with us. Hallelujah. Lord Paul said, Death working in us, but life in you. He said, when there's a death working in me, and I know that. I said, Lord, if there's a death in me tonight, and I put to death everything in the flesh, then there's going to be a life, Lord, in my preaching. It's going to bring life. You're going to go home and be changed by what I preach tonight. There's a life for you. And that's what happens in your family. That's what's happening in your job. If you die, death works in us so that life can work in others. Death works in us, but life works in you. Glory be to God. That's what this church needs. We need 1,500 people here tonight that will have such a life flow that you can bring life to everybody around you. You'll have your job everywhere you go. Now, I said one last thing. One last thing. When Jesus' life is released in us, you move into rivers of pleasure. One last scripture. Turn to Psalm 36. You can take this home and bank it. I'm going to give you something you can't get in Fort Knox or anywhere else. Purest gold on earth. Hallelujah. Do you know something, beloved? We don't need deeper preaching in this church. We don't need a bunch of new programs and works. We don't need a strategy to evangelize New York. We just need life. We need the life of Jesus flowing. Hallelujah. All right, let's start reading verse 7. How excellent. Now, take a look at it. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men, put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. And also make them drink of the river of pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life. In thy light shall we see light. That's the light of the world. The life is the light. O, continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright in heart. Rivers of pleasure. Look at me, please. I'm finished, but I want to say this to you. God's beginning to open up rivers of pleasure in this house. Yes, we preach against sin. We preach against it ferociously because we want to bring death to sin, and out of that, the life of Jesus Christ flowing in this body. But I'll tell you something. It's only those who have died to sin that enter into these great riches of His pleasure. Are you happy in Jesus tonight? Have you been drinking from that river of pleasure? Give it a call. Times Square Church, anything. Call it the Happy Church. Rivers of pleasure. Rivers of pleasure. Why? Because we have a people dying to themselves, dying to sin, dying to lust, so that the life of Jesus Christ may be manifest or released in this physical, mortal body. Stand, please. Stand. No clapping, please. Stand. Those that are going to be baptized, we'd like you to follow those that are the counselors. Follow the counselors, if you will, please. Those that are going to be baptized in water, I'll let you go this way, backstage, please. Everyone, backstage, this way. Will you bow your heads, please? Jesus tonight, convict those in this house who have not been manifesting the life of Jesus Christ in their bodies. Their bodies have been a testimony to sadness, a testimony to grief, a testimony, Lord, to emptiness, a testimony for everything but life, almost a testimony unto death. Lord, forgive those who have not moved into this life. Lord, this church should just be springing forth with great life on the right hand and on the left. Forgive us, Lord. We've had complaining spirits at home and on the job. Some have been downcast. Lord, bring them into rivers of pleasure tonight. Let there be a release of the life of Jesus Christ in this house tonight. I'm going to invite you tonight, if you're honest before God. So, Brother Wilkerson, I have not been manifesting the life of Jesus as I should. I've not had that flow, that release of the life of Jesus, and I want that tonight. I want to be crucified with Christ. Watch up in the balcony. You go to the middle exits and down either side. You here on the main floor, the moment you feel that tug at your heart, get out of your seat and come and stand here right now. I'm going to pray that God will release the life of Jesus in you tonight, that you will be changed, that the Christ of you will not, Christ in you will not be a Christ of no effect, that he'll have power and authority in your life. Release you to the cross and then tonight. Up in the balcony please. Go, that's it, into the middle, exit, down both sides. You here on the main floor, come as the Spirit draws you. Let me bow to say that I must live with Christ. Let your life now flow to me, hiding in the cross. Let me bow to say that I must live with Christ. Believe in your love and live with me. Church, body of Jesus, we preach for one purpose, that the Christ be formed in you. We love you so much. We want to see Jesus in your life. We want you to be joyful in the Lord, his strength. He said the joy of the Lord is our strength. Follow these that are coming. One last time. We're going to be praying for these that are standing here in just a moment. We'll give you one last invitation. You feel the joy? You say, Brother David, I really want that life. I want to be a testimony of life. Follow these. Last invitation, please. Let me bow to say that I might live with Christ. Lord, let your life now flow to me, hiding in the cross. Let me bow to say that I might live with Christ. Lord, keep me daily in your love and live with me. Would you look this way, please, as you come forward? I'm inviting you to your funeral tonight. I'm inviting you to lay everything down, once and for all. Will you look this thing right in the eye and say, give it the final no right now. No, Jesus. It can't happen. It can't go on anymore. This has to stop. This is it. And I'll tell you what. God knows when you've given that final no. That's when the life springs up. That's where he moves your will. He moves on your life with such exuberant power and life. People won't even know the change. They'll see it. You don't have to tell them. The greatest witness you could ever have is the witness of his life flowing abundantly through and in and through you. Would you raise both hands? Raise both hands. God bless you. You in the aisles and here in the front. God bless you. We have so many here tonight. Would you pray out of the abundance of your heart, Oh, Jesus? I don't want this anymore. I want you to take it. I want it crucified. I lay it down tonight. I put the knife to it. I want your life. That life you promised. Abundant life. Release that life in me, Jesus. Let me experience death tonight. So all that is of the flesh. Help me, Jesus. Now, will you believe him that he keeps his word right now? Thank him for that. Lord Jesus, let the life begin to flow. Ask him for that life now, Lord. That abundant life, let it flow into me. Give me the strength now to follow through to the path of life. Right now, in all your heart, thank him. Audience, let's all thank him for his life. Lord, we thank you for your life tonight. The abundant life of Jesus. That is the answer to all of our needs. Lord, make it radical tonight. So radical we'll never forget it. Take everything I'm left with, Jesus. Take it out of our hearts. Glory be to Jesus. Thank him for it right now. Let me just thank you. Praise you, Jesus. Praise you, Lord. Now, you that came forward, look this way. One last time. I'd like to know how many of you in the aisles in here today are up here for the first time in this church. You've never been up here before in this church. Raise your hand, please. Raise your hand. You've not come forward before in a meeting? All right. I'd like you to have your hand this way. I want you to make your way through the crowd. And you're going to have to, since we have water baths, there are no steps. You'll have to go behind the stage. Please. Officers, up here. Over here to my right. We're going to bring the people up that way and across the stage. Instead of behind the stage, right across the stage here. That's it. All of you, add your hand up. We have counselors to minister to you right now. Make your way right through. These that are coming through, make a way for them, please. There are some hands up over here and over here and in the aisles. Those that are here for the first time, would you make your way right through. Follow these that are going. God bless your heart. You're going to be a wonderful night of victory for you. Glory be to Jesus. Those that are this way, make your way right through. Let them come through, please. Let this brother through. Let the sisters. Right this way. God bless you. Right across. Right over here. Right behind the curtain. God bless you. God bless you. Son, let this be your night tonight of victory. Amen. You come right this way. We're family here tonight. You can walk right across the stage. Nobody say anything about it. God bless you, brother. Amen. Others, make your way this way, please. There's going to be a great victory for you tonight. Let them make a way through here, please, if you will. Yes, right this way. Somebody help our dear brother. Could you walk with him back there? God bless you. Give him some help. God bless you. Amen. Doesn't it excite you to see people coming to make everything right with the Lord? In any age of this abundant life of Jesus we're talking about tonight. Hallelujah. Praise you, Jesus. We're just going to have to wait until they all get through here. This is the conclusion of the tape.