In this sermon, the preacher discusses the importance of knowing and believing in God's love. He uses the story of Joseph and his brothers to illustrate how God's love can work in our lives. The preacher emphasizes the need for total dependence on God and trusting in Him during difficult times. He encourages the audience to meditate on the scripture from 1 John about God's love and to seek a deep understanding of it. The sermon concludes with a reminder that God's love is not earned through works, but is freely given to those who trust in Him.

This recording is provided by Times Square Church in New York City. You're welcome to make additional copies for free distribution to friends. All other unauthorized duplication or electronic transmission is a violation of copyright and other applicable laws. This recording cannot be posted on any website. However written permission to link to the Times Square Church homepage may be requested by emailing info at timessquarechurch.org. Other recordings are available by calling 1-800-488-0854 or by writing to Times Square Church Tape Ministry, 1657 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. I want to speak to you about living without fear. I said living without fear. How many have arrived there? May I see your hand? Oh, you got two in the car. I'd like an appointment with you after service. Both. You must know something I don't know. Please, Luke the first chapter. Luke 1 beginning to read verse 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. For he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been since the world began. That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. The oath which he swore to our father Abraham. And listen to this please. That he would grant unto us that we'd be delivered out of the hand of all of our enemies. Might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. Did you know that was in your Bible? And what did you do? Skip over it? Let's deal with it. Heavenly father we thank you for your almighty presence here. Thank you Jesus for your word. Thank you for the holy spirit that takes that word and makes it life to us. Now I need a touch from you father. Lord Jesus I need your presence. I need the quickening. I need the strength that is supernatural. Beyond my own strength. Now Lord I pray that you teach us from your heart. Show us Lord something from your word that will never be lost. That will take us through the days ahead. In Christ's name I pray. Amen. This is a promise made the scripture says from the beginning of time. Prophesied by every prophet since the beginning of time. A promise of great mercy that was going to come. By a savior, by a messiah. And it was sworn by the Lord himself to Abraham. And the promise contained two elements. First that we would be delivered from the fear of all of our enemies. We'd be delivered from our enemies. And second the covenant promise is that we should live the rest of our days in righteousness and holiness without fear. Now that's an amazing covenant promise. To live the rest of our days and as I've said I have not reached that. I see how to get there now because God would have never put this promise out ahead of us without showing us how to get there. He would not dangle that in front of our eyes and then make it impossible to obtain or to arrive at this place. Now there is in the scripture clearly outlined a pathway, a way to a life without fear. Now these are the most fearful times man has ever known. There is fear on every side. Jesus prophesied of these days that men's hearts would fail in what? With fear watching those things that are coming upon the earth. And I see this promise and I have to admit I've not arrived and Paul the apostle took a long time to arrive here. You find that in his writings and in his confessions. We may have experienced the first part of this promise deliverance from our enemies, the principalities and powers of darkness. This typifies the cross of Jesus Christ and the victory that was won there. He put his foot on the heel of the serpent and he brought down the powers, all the principalities and powers of darkness. And we have experienced that. In your lifetime you have seen God deliver you. Many of you right now would not be here if you had not been delivered from the power of the enemy. He came against you, tried to destroy you and he still has that in his mind. If you've set your heart to seek God with everything in you, you are a target of his envy. You are a target and he will come at you and many of you sitting here. In fact, if you've known Jesus for any period of time, you have experienced this part of this covenant promise. This great mercy promised from the beginning of the world. Now think about that for a minute. This was promised from the beginning. It was prophesied by all the prophets, said a time is coming. There would be a day of people live without fear. And that was predicting the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that not only are we free from the principalities and powers of darkness, but no matter what happens in our last generation. And really at the cross was the beginning of the last days. When Jesus went into the grave and was resurrected, that was the beginning of the last days. We're at the last of the last days. And this is a promise that's been there all this time. Very few have laid hold of it. Very few have gone on because they've given up thinking that it is impossible to live a Christian life without fear. I'm not talking about those sudden fears that come when you're in a crisis. And that that human element that that surprise. But you see, it's a matter of a lifestyle. We're talking about living our whole life. God can bring us through those crisis, but we don't dwell there. We don't live in that fear. We don't let it take take a hold and become a bondage into our lives. Now, John explains it in one sentence. Perfect love cast out fear. Say it. Perfect love cast out fear. That's John's explanation. Perfect love cast out for it. And you'll find that in 1st John 418. And if you want to turn to 1st John, that's where I'm going. I'm going to be speaking primarily from 1st John, the first three chapters. Forgive my voice if you will, please. Now, John does not say perfect love for God. Cast out fear. It does not say that. Listen closely. It does not say perfect love or mature love or unwavering love for God. Cast out fear. That is not where John begins. Perfect love for the believer begins in loving one another. I want to give this to you in the scripture. And if you will, we'll see. Now, you can say any man of God, any believer can say he's doing God's will. You may be a teacher in the church. You may be a Christian worker. You may be one who ministers for the Lord full time or part time. You can be walking in faith. You can be a prayer warrior. You can be full of the Holy Spirit. But you will never come into this perfect love. There are two parts of this perfect love. And John does not begin with your love and my love for the Father. That's a given. That is something that we all know is a part of our Christian walk. And that's a foundational truth. But that's not where John begins. John begins by saying perfect love has to do with loving one another. Loving everyone in the body of Christ. I'm reading 1 John 2, 9. He that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even unto now. And I'm saying you will never understand how to live a life free from fear. If you have a grudge in your heart against anybody. If you have a spirit of revenge. If there's anyone in the body of Christ anywhere on the face of the earth that you have cast off or cut off from your fellowship. It is absolutely impossible. The scripture says he that loveth not his brother abideth in death. He that hateth his brother is a murderer. And we know that no murder hath eternal life abiding in him. And here is the perfect love. And here's the foundational truth that John gives us. And that's found in 1 John 4, 11 and 12. Beloved if God so loved us we are also to love one another. If we love one another God dwelleth in us. Now listen. And his love is perfected in us. His love is perfected in us. If you look at me please. The church has spent centuries trying to bring us into knowledge of our love for God. John comes along and said yes that's a given. That we're talking now about how to achieve a life. How to move into this covenant promise that's been given from the very beginning of time. And that's why Paul the writer of Hebrews said there's a rest that remains for the children of God. Because a life without fear is the rest. And he comes now and he said this has to do with relations. Relationships between in and between the body of Christ. Has to do with Christians. This has to do with prejudice. Black, white, Hispanic, whatever you may be. It has to do with those feelings that come into the heart. Listening to these. I will not listen to these guys on radio that are just spewing out their bitterness and their rancor. And their racial epitaphs against other people. Folks that cannot exist in the church of Jesus Christ. That doesn't exist here hopefully. And I'm not preaching because I've heard anything of racial prejudice. Or that there's any difficulty in this church whatsoever. I'm interested in a life lived without fear. And I want to know how to get there. And John tells me the only way to get there. The first premise is this. You have to deal with your relationship with the body of Christ. If we love one another, God dwells in us. And his love is perfected in us. First of all, it's not something we ought to do. It's something we have been commanded to do. To love one another. To love our brothers and to love our sisters in Christ. Are you sitting here this morning with anything in your heart? Anything that would hinder the perfect flow. The flow of Christ's love into another person. And to all persons in this body. And wherever you go. When you meet someone who is full of Christ. Walking with Jesus. A member of the body of Christ. There should be this flow of love unhindered in the heart. I stand here this morning. And I'm not boasting. But under the word of God and under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I don't believe I could preach this morning. I don't believe I could. This would be all hype. This would be hypocrisy. If I stood here and had anything in my heart. On my left. Behind me. Or anywhere. Or to be able to sit in my office. And say, God, show me somebody. Is there anybody that I have discounted? Anyone I've gossiped about? Anyone that I have shared my hurts or my problems with? Anyone I've hurt? Is there anyone, Lord. If I said anything that wounds or affects the reputation of another member of the body of Christ. I can then never come into peace. I can never come into a life lived without fear. Because the Holy Spirit. In his faithfulness to his mission. Will always convict us. And there will always be hinders. There will never be a free flow of worship. If there is something we harbor in our hearts against anyone in the body of Christ. I told from this pulpit once. At the time that I was going through a hard time. I had some people saying some things about me that hurt and wound. And I was praying. How can they do that to me, Lord? The Lord spoke clearly to my heart. He said, honestly, David, you've done that yourself to others. And I said, who? He said, get a pencil and paper. This is true. And the Lord took me back over the years. And there were 15 people on that list. The Lord said, you call every one of them. And you make things right. Because somehow you hurt them because they turned against you. They felt at ease to defame your name. And so you need to call and make it right. How many tears were shed? How many people were healed? One pastor was so moved, he said, I'm getting up Sunday. I'm going to do the same thing in my church. And we got letters and calls and people heard about it. Folks, John is saying, look, if you want to walk in these fearful times without fear, make things right. Let the Holy Spirit talk to you right now while I'm here. See, folks, I'm not here to preach a sermon. I'm here right now dealing with my own heart under the word of God and you also. In fact, there's a warning in the scripture. Well, first of all, let me see. We're to love as Christ loved. First of all, the commandment. For this is the commandment that you should believe on the name of the son of Jesus Christ, on the son Jesus Christ and love one another as he has commanded. For this is the commandment that you have heard from him. And he who loveth God will love his brother also. You see, I'm talking about more than forgiveness. I'm talking about acceptance. I'm talking about taking all your hurts, talking, taking everything that has been said against you or hurt you or wounded you or to a divorce, whatever it may be. And you take that and you cast it in the same sea of forgetfulness where he cast your sins. He said he cast them in a sense in a lake or sea that can never be remembered against you. And I believe that's the kind of love John's talking about. There can be no hindrance. That is perfect love. When you lay not just laid under the blood and say, well, well, I have forgiven. But you see, you can't hide from God. He knows the heart. You say you have forgiven that man who divorced you, that person on the job that has wounded you and keeps hounding you. And you will say, how can I forgive them? They keep hounding me. They keep coming after me. It's never again to repeat to others what you perceive to be misjudgment or injury to you or your reputation. I'll say it again. It's to never, ever repeat to others what you conceive or perceive to be misjudgment or injury to you. I didn't anticipate it being this quiet. In John two, we find this serious warning. John speaks about walking in truth, walking faithfully to command this commandment to love. And then he calls it the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine. This is the doctrine of Christ. And you'll find this. If you read in the second chapter, the second John, the second chapter or second John or other, you'll find this. He's talking about acknowledging Jesus as God. But in the context, he's talking about this love for others, loving your brother, loving your sister. And John calls that the doctrine of Christ. And then he goes on and he says in second John nine and eleven. If one comes, anyone comes to you and brings not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God's speed. For he that bid him God's speed is partaker of his evil deeds. I don't care if you heard it on a telephone. I'm going to say this slow and as sweetly and kindly as I can. Not going to rail on you. But if somebody is loading, unloading and burdening their heart and you perceive in it something that is not Christ like. And you're absorbing the hurt and the despair of somebody else and they're telling you all the details. I don't care if you had it in your house. They came to your house. I don't care if it was over a coffee cup over across the street. I don't care if you picked it up on telephone. I'm telling you the name of the Holy Father, telling you in the name of the Christ of Calvary. Hear it. Bible said if you bid them God's speed, if you agree, if you do not correct it in the love of Christ and you listen, some seed is planted into your heart. Bible says if you bid them God's speed, you're as guilty as the person who did the gossiping. Now, folks, that's heavy stuff. That's God's word. And that alarms my soul. That checks me when whenever we have a tendency, just want to unload on other people. And there's some people that just I mean, they're like sponges. They take stuff in that all of them. The Holy Ghost comes and squeezes. Sometimes it's very, very painful. Now, this matter of loving and forgiving is a commandment. Yes, but he said his commandments are not grievous. You see, this is not just a commandment. This is an invitation. This is an invitation from the heart of God to come into a place where you have perfect love. That that is called perfect love. That's the one half. When you come to this place where you have learned to forgive and you've learned to keep keep these things in your heart and then have the Holy Spirit pluck them out so that they're gone, they don't remain. It's not something that's part in there and still has a seed or still has a root that you pluck the very roots out. And so that the love that you have enables you to pray for that individual or those individuals. It enables you to be a servant to them. It enables you to consider them as righteous as yourself or more. It enables you to show them the very heart of Christ, to be a servant, to be kind and patient and to look upon them as members of the same body of Christ. And it amazes me that some people carry grudges and carry hurts and carry feelings and gossip and all of this. The other Christians and then expect somehow before they get to the throne of judgment, that somehow it's just going to dissolve. That those feelings, those hurts, somehow an angel is going to come or the Holy Ghost is going to come. And just before you step before Jesus, suddenly that grudge, suddenly those thoughts that have taken root in your heart. And you think, listen, if they're in the body of Christ and you're in the body of Christ, it's the same from the head flows the life of Christ. You are not at peace with your so-called enemy. You're not at peace with those who've hurt and wounded you until you see the same resources, the same blood flowing through their veins, the same Christ. And that they're in the body of Christ and we are one. We are all one in the body of Christ. His commandments are not grievous, for whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. And this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And we know if He hears us, whatsoever we ask of Him, we have the petition that we ask of Him. Folks, God is able and He invites us to come. And this is the first step. You can't go the next step to perfect love. There is such a thing as perfect love. That doesn't just mean mature love, as some interpret it. It is a complete love, but you've gone half the circle. You have completed half the consideration of understanding perfect love, the cast-out fear. There's another side. I've just shown you the one side. Now, let me take you to the other side of coming to this place of perfect love. It is to know and believe the love that God has for us. To know and believe. I give you the Scripture, and it's in 1 John 4, 17. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. Now, we're not again talking about our love for God. We're talking about His love for us. We're talking about how to come into perfect love, the cast-out all fear. Now, folks, if this is the Scripture, and I believe the Scripture, the Bible says we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. Herein, or in this way, is our love made perfect. That we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. Herein, or in this way, is our love made perfect. In what way? You see, here we stand now. We have forgiven. We have nothing in our hearts that would hinder us at the judgment. You say, well, it's under the blood. I've confessed it. But is it plucked out of your heart? But you see, we've come to that place. Now, I presume you hear this, and you're coming to this place of the one half of perfect love. A settled determination, and knowing that it's wrong, knowing that it's sinful, and dealing with it, with the wonderful peace and patience of the Holy Spirit. Because you see, He'll never drive you to this. He will woo us to this place, this position. In my earlier years, I would get up and just scream at this. I heard one message not too long ago. I preached some 30 years ago, and I just turned it off. It wasn't because it was not the truth. But you see, I was bringing the truth in on the wrong vehicle, and it wasn't grace. But you see, we come to this now, and we have known and believed the love that God hath to us, and herein is our love made perfect. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Let me tell you how this works out in daily life. It is to believe that there is such a thing as total dependence on God for all things. Remember when God took the children of Israel out into the wilderness, He said, I took you unto Myself. He took them into the most impossible situations, where only a miracle could solve their problems. Situation after situation, that they would begin to trust wholly that He had all the resources, that He was all in all. And we so glibly say, Christ is all, Jesus is everything. But that's just glibness sometimes, because when we get into crisis, when things come to a place of hopelessness, when there is no sign of a prayer being answered, when everything seems to be going wrong, and every hope you've had has been dashed. Hope after hope has arisen, and every time you thought you were about to come out, whether it's finances, whatever it may be, down again you go until finally you are hopeless. I talked to a pastor recently, he said, Pastor David, I have passed all hope. I see no hope whatsoever. And he said, I can't even pray anymore because I've given up. I'm absolutely hopeless. But you see, when you get to Exodus, God begins to reveal Himself. He calls Moses, He said, I'm going to deliver. Then God reveals His nature. He reveals what He will do for those who trust and are dependent upon Him in the most difficult times. Folks, faith is not faith unless it's tested to the limit. And the evidence of faith is rest, when you come into a rest. Live or die, I'm the Lord. I'm not going to accuse God of being unfaithful. He told Moses, Israel, my people have cried. Their cry has come up to me by reason of their bondage. And I have heard their groaning. The Lord said, I have seen their affliction. I've heard their cry. I know their sorrows. And I've come down to deliver. But you see, when they took the straw away from them, and they had to build the bricks without straw, and they were burdened down, and they were being beaten, Moses goes and tries to encourage them. And the Scripture said, but they would not listen because of the anguish of their spirit. And there comes a time you can become so anguished in your spirit, you cannot hear the Word of God. You say, well, I've heard all those sermons. They don't seem to work. But you see, God is still looking for a people who will totally depend on Him in their crises. Totally, wholly dependent upon Him. God said, I brought you out of bondage to bring you to Myself. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. The Bible said, He that wavers, let not that man think he shall receive anything from the Lord. Now, let me try to illustrate this part of knowing and believing the love that God has toward us. The delight that He takes in His children. It's a story of Joseph and his ten brothers. You know this story well. They're jealous of this young man. They think their father loves him more than the ten brothers. And they plot against him and they sell him to a trade van that was headed to Egypt. He ends up in Egypt in a series of intriguing events. He is elevated to the second in command next to Pharaoh in Egypt. And he gets, he interprets Pharaoh's dream of seven years of famine coming. And he's appointed the second in command and he piles mountains for seven years, piling up mountains of corn to take them through the seven years, seven lean years. And the famine strikes the whole world, the Bible says. Jacob, the father of the ten sons and father of Joseph, sends his boys to Egypt to get bread. Now, in this story, Joseph is a type of Jesus, a type of Christ in this particular setting. And they, Joseph recognizes them, but they don't recognize him. And Joseph overhears them. We are guilty concerning our brother and that we saw the anguish of his soul and he besought us and we would not hear. Therefore, this distress has come upon us. You see, Joseph puts the money back in their bags and the stewards brought them back. And now they're standing in front of Joseph and being accused of stealing money. Joseph wasn't playing games. He had a purpose in what he was doing. Seeing if these boys have learned any lesson whatsoever. And he, Joseph listens to them, he said, and what they were saying, this is judgment, this is God's judgment. And so. The scripture says he overheard them and Joseph turned aside and wept. Now, it becomes very clear in the story of Joseph and his brothers that he had already forgiven them. They were already reconciled before they knelt and said, we have sinned. They were totally reconciled. Joseph reconciled himself as God and Christ. God in Christ has reconciled himself to the whole world. He reconciled himself to you when you were a sinner, when you were his enemy, he said. He removed every barrier that keep you away from his presence. And through the blood and through faith in Christ, through repentance and forsaking of sin, we come into that reconciliation. And Joseph is yearning to reveal his heart to these boys, though they had turned against him, though they had sinned grievously. And though they may not have learned much of anything. And here is Joseph, just like our heavenly father, wanting, wants to reveal his heart to his people. We're his brother, we're his sister. And he wants to reveal his heart to show his love that he has toward us. This brings us into that perfect love that cast out all fear. And they're looking back at their past sin. And all their sins is coming up to their mind now. And Joseph is not thinking about their sins right now. He's trying to reveal his heart. He's trying to reach them in love. While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. There came a time when they brought Benjamin to him. This, I think, was the second trip. The scripture says, and he wept aloud and he said to them, come near me. Do not be grieved or angry with yourself for God sent me before you to preserve us. And then he gathers him around. He said, I'm Joseph. I'm your brother. There was a revelation. They saw the tears. They were kissed. They were hugged. There was a revelation of his heart. He said, this is how I feel. There's no anger toward you. You're reconciled. I've reconciled myself to you. Now, you be reconciled. I'm not interested in what you did way back there. I'm here now to show you my heart. And he said, I'm Joseph. Have you yet been there? He said, come to me. He's in the house, as was the prodigal son. And now he's at the table and they're feasting. And Joseph is revealing his heart. And you know the story. He said, is your father still living? Is Jacob still living? I said, yes. Joseph sends wagonload after wagonload after wagonload of every delicacy of Egypt and corn and grain. And he said, just tell my father there's more. Bring everybody. The whole clan is brought to Egypt. And the Bible says, Joseph placed his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt in the best of the land. Now, I want you to get this picture, please. Here they are, forgiven. Here they are in the land. Here they are with all the provisions they could think of. Every storehouse is open. And Joseph said, the whole land is open to you. Everything you ever will need. And they go to Goshen. And for 17 years, while Jacob's still living, they live under the provision. For 17 years, Joseph's house is open. 17 years, Joseph heaps love on his brothers. 17 years living under these provisions. Jacob dies. There's an incredible procession into Canaan where they bury Jacob. One of the biggest funerals probably in the history of Egypt. And they fellowshiped. They wept together at the gravesite. They saw his heart. They saw his love. And the day they get home, they say, now that our father is gone, Joseph will probably hate us and take revenge on us. And they run to Joseph. And they say, before our father died, he commanded us to come to you and confess our sin and beg for mercy. Here we are to be your servants. To be your slaves. And Joseph broke down. Now think of it, please. 17 years of living in fear. 17 years of playing over their old sins that had already been forgiven. 17 years living in the fat of the land and living in constant fear. Joseph will get us. Joseph still can't believe the love that Joseph showed because they were judging him by their own hearts. What was in their hearts? Do you get the picture? Perfect love is not just how much I and how devoted I am to God. But that perfect love, according to Scripture here, is that we know and believe the love that he has for us. That is the cross. That is the glory of the cross. Every provision. Folks, some of you have been saved for years. And you're still living like you're a pauper. You're still not entering in that God has an answer. God's going to meet you. God knows a way. He's going to make a way. I'm determined by God's help and the power of the Holy Spirit not to live that kind of life anymore. Through his Word. He heals us through his Word. You see, this is perfect love. I'm in line with God now, with my brothers and sisters. I'm in line with the Scripture. There are no hindrances, nothing that would rebuke me before the throne of Christ. Nothing that could be a spot against me. I am clean by the blood and by obeying the Word. I have done what the Word says to do. And now I come to you, Father. And I believe that in spite of my failures and my ups and downs. And sometimes, Lord, I get so down, I say things about you. Now, let me tell you why he's weeping. Joseph is not weeping because he feels he's been hurt. How ungrateful. He's not hurt because of their ingratitude or their ignorance. I believe it was just like Jesus when he came to Lazarus' tomb. And Mary, who trusted him so much, doubted him. And the Bible said Jesus wept. He was not weeping about Lazarus. He knew Lazarus would be raised in the next 10, 15 minutes. You know what he was weeping about? The same thing Joseph was weeping about. Oh, my poor brothers. My poor sister. That's Jesus saying, what pain you must have. You've carried this. He was feeling the pain of how we inflict upon ourselves all these fears and fears of men, fears of all kinds of fears we inflict on ourselves. And he's feeling that pain. And Joseph is saying to himself, I'm sure for 17 years, they still don't know me. They still have lived so underneath their privileges. It was his hurt. We talk about grieving the Holy Spirit. Let me tell you how I think that works out. But more and more I see it. It's the Holy Ghost grieving at self-inflicted pain and fear, anxiety, all these things we inflict of ourselves because we simply will not trust his word. We will not lay our lives and our future in his hand. Folks, when you come to this place, this is called perfect love that cast out fear. These two elements. Then something wonderful happens. Gladness flushes in, just flows. The gladness of God. David said in his place, there's gladness. When you're in his place, this place of freedom from revenge and all those things. And now, you know, you're beginning to know and understand. You see, this doesn't come all of a sudden. This knowledge of God's love is not just going to be infused overnight. You're not going to hear from one or two sermons. It's getting this scripture that was just quoted in 1 John. And you read that every day until it becomes life to you. And he'll begin to open it more and more. I'm going to close with the ransom. The Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads. They should attain joy and gladness. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Though a host encamps against me, my heart shall not fear. This is where the gladness comes. I don't have to try to earn God's love. I don't have to get down and fast and pray for the love. I fast and pray because I love him. Because I know that that does something for me in union with Christ. Lord Jesus, we thank you that there was such a victory at the cross. That our hearts can reach out and receive the love of God. The love of our Heavenly Father and through Christ His Son. Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. This is the marvelous love that Christ has shown to his body and to his church. Lord, forgive us for straying at times. Forgive us, O Lord, for allowing the flesh to rise. We have allowed things in our lives, O God, that have just hindered the flow. Now, Lord, remove those tumbling blocks. Remove them so that we can look to the throne. We can see Christ high and lifted up. And we see nothing but showers of gladness and showers of love. Lord, we will depend upon you in the days ahead. These are days, Lord, of absolute confusion. All over the world, people don't know what to do. But, Lord, there should be a testimony in these fearful times. There should be a people who know who they are in God. They should know who they are in Jesus Christ. We should be walking, O Lord, without fear. So that all around us, there is fear. But here is an island of fearlessness because we know you and your faithfulness. And our hearts are clean before you. Will you stand, please? Forgive my stumbling around here this morning. I had this throat problem. I'm at a, I have a problem. If I ask everyone who's had something against somebody, come down here, I'd be exposing you. I won't do that. Folks, would you just be still in the presence of the Holy Spirit by your heads? Holy Spirit, I'm asking, I'm asking as the founder of this church, that there would be a supernatural work that you do now. It doesn't have to be any pleading or screaming. It doesn't even have to be tears. But something that's accomplished in the heart. God, will you speak to every individual within the sound of my voice and show the heart, what is in the heart. And oh Holy Spirit, will you come now and do your blessed work in plucking out of our spirit, plucking out of our heart, everything that's unlike you. You said your commandments are not grievous. And will you do that now, just in the annex and everywhere. And Lord, that this church, Times Square Church, would never be hindered. Never be hindered. That there would be nothing that would hinder the flow of the Holy Spirit. Lord, you've been flowing for over 20 years in this church. And we pray against every racial feeling that's not like you. Everything, oh God, that's unlike you, that has gotten into the heart. Take it away, Lord Jesus. Heal our spirits. Heal our hearts. So that the love can flow. And Lord Jesus, help us to lay hold of the knowledge and the truth that you truly love us. You are not hurting us. You're not railing against us. You're coming with your grace and mercy and love to say, follow me. Follow me now into the fullness. Follow me now, the Holy Spirit says, into perfect love. And that perfect love will cast out your fear. You don't have to work on it. The love, the perfect love, that completed love will drive out all fear. Hallelujah. If there's any reason at all you have to walk down this aisle, up in the balcony, or in the main floor, if there's any reason, the Holy Spirit speaking to you, to come down here, I'll pray for you. We don't count heads or numbers, but the Holy Spirit is here. There's been a deep, quiet work here. And if you feel that you need me to pray for you, to stand with you in something that God's dealing about, get right out of your seat and come to you. You don't know Christ. If you've slipped away from Jesus, if you've grown cold toward Him, and you need a fresh touch from the Lord, I want you to come down here, and we'll believe it. In the balcony, go to the stairs on either side. And in the overflow rooms, you can just step forward between the screens, and I'll pray for you. And we'll believe God for a miracle. We'll believe God to touch you. And you will walk out of here renewed by the Spirit of the living God. Will you listen to me, please? As soon as you get out the door, the devil's going to start throwing lies into your mind and spirit. You're not worth it. God really doesn't love you, that you're not worthy of that love. No, none of us are worthy of that love. He doesn't love you because you're worthy or because of some great thing you have done. So here's what God has told me to do. Listen closely. Don't ever repeat the lies the devil plants in your mind. You're just giving him time and space. Don't ever repeat it. Just take to Christ and say, Jesus, I reject this. Don't ever repeat what the devil tries to speak in your heart about God not loving you or any other lie that comes from the pit of hell. I want you to pray this prayer with me. And some of you are coming to be renewed, maybe some of you for the first time. But I want you to pray this, if you will, please. Lord Jesus, forgive me. I ask you for a forgiving spirit, a loving spirit. I ask you, Father, to give me a spirit of mercy as you have shown me mercy. Oh, God, open my heart to receive your love. Thank you, Jesus, for the cleansing of all my sins. Because I've confessed and I've repented. And I believe that Christ is Lord. Help me now to lay hold of this truth. Take out of my heart all bitterness. Everything that has to do with hatred. Anything of the flesh. I give it to you, Jesus. Cleanse me. And heal my spirit and my mind. Now just give him thanks in your own words. Just give him thanks, Jesus. This is the conclusion of the message.