This sermon emphasizes the importance of being a builder in God's kingdom, not a destroyer, by allowing God to shake us, fill us with His Spirit, and empower us to speak His word with boldness. It calls for a return to the supernatural life of Jesus Christ, where the church is a place of rest, provision, and beauty, bringing glory to God's name through signs, wonders, and the preaching of the Gospel.

Thank the Lord. I've got a word for you today from Psalm 74 in the Old Testament and also from the book of Zechariah chapter 1. Zechariah is two short books to the left of Matthew, right near the end of the Old Testament. Psalm 74 in Zechariah chapter 1, the carpenters are here. Father, I thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. I thank you for the strength that you give, the hope for the future, the joy, the life, the broken boundaries. Oh God Almighty, I praise you, Lord, that you take frail humanity and you cloak us and clothe us with the power of your Holy Spirit. You enlighten our minds and you take us way beyond anywhere we ever could have gone, that the testimony could only be of you and not of us. We love you, Jesus. Thank you for opening your word to us today. Thank you for giving me the ability to convey your heart. Lord, I don't want to go outside of any of the boundaries of your scripture. Help me to have a tender hand and I thank you for this. Give us ears to hear in Jesus' name. The carpenters are here. Seems like a strange title, but you'll understand it eventually as we go through this. Psalm 74. Now, most would agree Psalm 74 is written by a psalmist who may have been a firsthand witness of the invasion, as it is, of the temple of God by foreign powers. There's, I think, a consensus among those who study it, it's most likely Nebuchadnezzar's invasion when Babylon overpowered and overthrew the nation of Israel and destroyed the temple. This particular psalmist may have been a firsthand witness of the destruction of the temple, and he obviously had some knowledge of what the temple would have been like in its former glory. And this whole psalm is a passion plea from a broken heart. Psalm 74. O God, why hast thou cast us off forever? Why dost thou anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old, the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed, this Mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt. Lift up thy feet under the perpetual desolations, even all that the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary. Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations. They set up their banners or their unsigns for signs. A man was famous, according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers. They've cast fire into thy sanctuary, and they defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. They said in their hearts, let us destroy them together. They've burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. We see not our signs. There's no more any prophet, neither is there any among us that knows how long. O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever? Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom. For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength. Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces and gave him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. In other words, I know these are difficult words to understand, but he's really recounting these incredible supernatural victories of the past, where that which seemed to have the power to overthrow the people of God was overthrown by the power of God and became strength to God's own people. Thou didst cleave the fountain in the flood. Thou driedest up many rivers. The day is thine. The night also is thine. Thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth, and thou hast made summer and winter. Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Lord, and that foolish people have blasphemed your name. O, deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove to the multitude of the wicked. Forget not the congregation of thy poor forever. Have respect unto the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. O, let not the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise thy name. Arise, O God, plead thine own cause. Remember how the foolish man reproaches thee daily. Forget not the voice of thine enemies. The tumult of those that rise up against thee increases continually. Jeremiah chapter 23, 29, the Lord says to the prophet, Jeremiah, is not my word like a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? In other words, doesn't the word of God rekindle hope? Doesn't the word of God cause a passion to live with the right focus and to turn around and head back the right way? Isn't the word of God like a hammer, destroying difficult places, removing mountains, making the impossible possible? Shouldn't it cause us to be alive as the people of God, moving away from the natural that has brought us technically nowhere and into the supernatural that promises to bring us to the very place that God wants each of us to be and to establish the very testimony for God's own glory that only he can do within each one of our lives. Luke 24 talks about some men on the road to a place called Emmaus. They had had a hope as it was that they saw was destroyed with the crucifying of their savior. And Jesus came next to them and began to speak to them and began to unlock the scriptures which testified about himself, who he was, what he had done, what he could do, what was the purpose of redemption. Then invited the men to a dinner table as it was, a communion table, sat down, broke bread, and when he broke bread, which is really a type of regiving an understanding of what happened at the cross, what was this victory? What did this victory provide for me? Why is it good news? Why is it hope? Why is it never over as long as God lives? Why can I, even in the midst of my own distress and darkness, turn around and go back to something which the enemy would have me not focus on, but is in reality the very fuel source of my life as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus Christ? And those men who sat at that table said, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem. Did not our hearts burn within us? I don't know about you folks, but I wouldn't want to be sitting anywhere in any church at any time, listening to any word that didn't stir my heart. It didn't cause my heart to burn for the things of God. If I preach in this pulpit and your heart does not burn for the life that God has for you, then I have failed you. Then I've not gone deep enough nor far enough in God. I'm standing here making a boast of speaking for God, and if it doesn't produce something of faith in you, then something is wrong in it. Then I've left the supernatural and I've begun to walk in the natural, and I'm moving you in a realm that you know instinctively in your heart will not bring you into victory. That's why Jeremiah says, behold, I'm against the prophet says the Lord that steal my words everyone from his neighbor. I'm against everyone that stands in a pulpit and moves the people of God away from the supernatural and into the natural. It looks good. It's an imitation of God. It looks like it has victory, but folks, only the strong can even marginally achieve it. It leaves everyone else, the majority struggling, trying, doing more, standing up more, thinking more, learning more, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. It's not by might. It's not by power. It's not by human reasoning. It's by my spirit says the Lord. It's by the redemption of Christ. It's by the power of Christ. It's by the word of God that this Christian life is lived. Psalm 74 deals with the tragedy of dealing carelessly with the word of God. There's a tragedy. There's a cost to this. There's a price to this. When any people, any society, any nation, any time in history have taken the word of God and begun to deal carelessly and lightly with God's word, verse four, he says, your enemies roar. And that really in the original, that means victory songs. The psalmist considered it a roar, just like when Joshua and Moses came down from the mountain and it sounded like singing, but in reality, it was a song of rebellion. Thine enemies roar in the midst of their congregations and they set up their banners for signs and how it must have grieved this man of God. You imagine walking into this church one day, God forbid it should ever happen, but a different kind of a song is being sung than the one you hear this morning. And a different kind of a word is being preached and you're being called to a rallying point. That's what the banner was. It's a place of rallying. It's a place that declares victory. It's a song that goes with it, but it's deficient because, and the only reason you know it is because you've known the original. You've known, you've seen the power of God. You've touched something of the supernatural. And then you walk into something that is natural. You walk into a place where the power of God is lost. And there are people there singing songs of victory, but the psalmist knew they were enemies to the actual work of God. Now they were flagrant enemies. There's no doubt about that at that time, but this situation has repeated itself time and again throughout history. Verse five, he says, a man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees, but now they break down the cardboard thereof at once with axes and hammers. The psalmist says there was a time when God was building this house. You remember in the day of Solomon that the Lord sent skilled workers in, hunting workers they called in the Old Testament, and they were sovereignly led of God. And they came in and they put their hand, the Bible says, willingly to the work, and they were given incredible skill. And there was a fame as it was that was brought to God through these people and their ability to portray his kingdom in the earth. And a man was famous by his ability. There have been seasons throughout history where men and women were famous in a sense who touched the pulpit because of their ability to unlock the word of God, to unfold as it is the beauty of Jesus Christ. He says, but now they break down the cardboard with axes and hammers. Now he's watching this foreign entity come into Solomon's temple, the temple where the glory of God had come, the temple where Solomon had knelt on a scaffold and so prayed the heart of God, the heart of God that the stranger would come in and have his questions answered, that the widow would come in and find her provision, that people in distress and being defeated would come in and find victory. And he prayed that prayer unlocking the heart of God to the point where the glory of God came down. No one could stand to minister in the very walls of that temple would have been a reflection of this glory. Everything in the temple reflected the glory of God. And there were workmen, there were people enabled by the Holy Spirit to do the things that they were doing in this temple that brought the name of God to glory in the earth. And now the psalmist is standing there and says, now people have come in and with hammers, they have no skill, they're destroying the foundation, they're destroying the very fabric of this temple of God, breaking down all of the carved work. Now the carved work in the temple, there were three things. There were cherubim on the walls and it was a type of the heavenly, a type of that which Paul said, oh, that you could see what I see. It was a type in a sense of where power comes from, where light comes from. It doesn't come from anything of the natural in us. It comes from that which is supernatural and it caused people to lift their eyes higher than what could come out of the human mind and the human heart into the very heavens themselves. There were also palm trees in the walls which represented rest and provision as the people, remember the people of God, when they'd be brought out of bondage were brought to this place of palm trees where they sat down and it's the rest and the provision. In Christ is our rest, in Christ is our provision, in Christ is our hope, in Christ is our future. And there were also open flowers carved on the wall which was a type in a sense of the message of God to all humanity through all time that he is the one who's able to make the desert blossom as a rose. He is the one who's able to take a dry stick like Aaron's staff and cause it to bloom and cause it to bear fruit. It doesn't come from human effort, it comes from God. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. And here now are unskilled workers, they're coming in with all of their songs and they're coming in with all of their ideas and they're coming in with all of their banners of victory and they're destroying the very fabric of what made this temple a place of God's glory. They're casting fire into the sanctuary, he said in verse 7, and they defiled it by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. Casting it down to the ground, they defiled it, they've taken the victory away from this house. And folks, anybody who tries to open this book, I don't care how eloquent they are, I don't care how sweet their songs are, I don't care how many banners they hang in the house of God. If they're turning you away from the understanding that we're all on level ground, this battle is not to the strong, this battle is to the one who has a heart of faith. The victory comes by faith, it comes by the victory of another that was won for us 2,000 years ago on a cross on a hill called Calvary. The power to live the Christian life does not come from studying 17 books about 1,700 things. The power to live the Christian life comes from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of Almighty God. We don't need to advance the kingdom of God by coming up with new ideas in our generation. What hogwash to even stand in any pulpit anywhere in this nation or anywhere in the western world and declare that we've got to now alter and refashion Christ to suit our society. Oh no, God doesn't change, society changes, we don't have to change God for anyone. Oh no, we live in a generation where preachers have stood in pulpits and they've taken the hammer of God's word and they've smashed the cross, they've smashed the blood, they've smashed the victory, they've smashed the very power source of the Christian life in this generation. And they defiled this work of God by casting down the dwelling place of God to the ground. That means they've taken the church of Jesus Christ and made her salt that is trodden under the feet of men. That's why in our generation the church is no longer much of a voice. Yes we meet in houses, yes we have our services, yes we sing our songs, but in the overall scheme of things the voice of the church is almost a whisper in the dust. But thank God that Jesus never forgets his people and we'll always have a testimony in the earth. The pattern of Satan throughout history against the church of Jesus Christ, when we have carelessly handled God's word and lightly esteemed his presence and his work on the earth, in other words when we've turned the focus from the winning of the lost and the alleviation of human suffering to what you or I can get from the kingdom of God and how we can use Jesus to advance our own agenda in life, that's a careless handling of the word of God. When we do it, it opens the door of God's temple to strangers with their strange songs, their strange banners, and their strange workmen. Just like Jeremiah said in chapter 23 and verse 32, they cause my people to err by their lies and by their likeness. They cause my people to lose power, they cause my people to be a non-issue in this generation. But I know in my heart the church is not going to finish this way. Thank God we're not going to finish this way corporately as a body, because there is a time when the Lord just says enough. There is a time, there are times throughout history. Now this scenario has repeated itself time and again from generation to generation before and after the cross, but I thank God as I read this text of scripture, as I go through the book of Judges, as I study the New Testament, as I study church history, there is a time when the Lord himself rises up and says enough. My glory is not staying in the hands of my enemies any longer. I'm no longer going to let this happen. Now the same author in Psalm 78, just go ahead two short chapters in verse 61. Here's what he says, he delivered his strength into captivity and his glory, this is the same author, into his enemy's hand. He gave his people over also unto the sword and was wroth with his inheritance. Fire consumed their young men and their maidens were not given to marriage. Their priests fell by the sword and their widows made no lamentation. In other words, there was a breakdown. Young men were fighting inner passions they couldn't control. There was a breakdown of love, respect, and even family within among the people of God. Those that are supposed to be leading the church of Jesus Christ are falling like flies and nobody is distressed about it and nobody cares anymore. They don't expect men of God or women of God to stand for very long. And folks this is the tragedy of our generation. I am told that 1,500 pastors a month are quitting now in North America. Can you imagine 1,500 pastors a month walking out, congregations coming in like ours on Sunday morning and suddenly their pastor is no longer there. Others are just there trying to pick up the pieces. So disheartened, so discouraged. Verse 65 says, Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep and like a mighty man that shouted by reason divine. Then suddenly God says enough. This is enough of this. I'm not leaving my glory in the enemy's hand any longer. Verse 66 he says, He smote his enemies in the hinder parts and he put them to a perpetual reproach. He came so swiftly against those that were devouring his house that they didn't have time to turn around. They were corralling the people of God into this place of powerlessness and the Lord had said enough and he rose up with such a fury and brought them to disgrace so quickly they couldn't even turn around. Verse 67 he says, He refused the tabernacle of Joseph and chose not the tribe of Ephraim but chose the tribe of Judah, the mountain Zion which he loved and he built a sanctuary like high palaces for the earth like the earth which he had established forever. He chose David also a servant and took him from the sheep holds from following the Yeo's great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. The Lord just says this enough for the fools with their hammers in my house. Enough of men standing and leading the testimony of Christ into the flesh and the people of God into the flesh. Now I'm speaking I know prophetically this morning but I know in my heart that I've heard something from God. We're living in the last of the last days and this end time church is not going out with a whisper we're not going out down in the dust we're going out as a victorious people praise be to God. Now go to Zechariah chapter one because Zechariah was one of the prophets that was raised up to help the people who had returned to rebuild the temple that this psalmist in Psalm 74 had seen destroyed by the enemies of God. Now Zechariah and Hagar the two prophets that were raised up people came back to rebuild and they were getting discouraged and so God raised voices to keep them moving forward. Now here's what the Lord says to Zechariah so the angel that communed with me Zechariah chapter 1 and verse 14 said unto me cry thou saying thus saith the Lord of hosts I'm jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy and I'm very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease for I was a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction. The Lord says yes he's always had to chastise his church whenever we've turned into the flesh and we've carelessly touched and handled the things of God and quite often it will be the ungodly that are the instrument in the hand of God to do this. In our case although we're not suffering as they are in other nations there has been a scorn and a derision keeped upon the church of Jesus Christ and even a focus theological focuses that have brought the people of our time far short as it is of what their lives could be in Christ. Therefore thus saith the Lord verse 16 I'm returned to Jerusalem with mercies my house shall be built in it saith the Lord of hosts and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. In other words I've come I'm going to build this temple and it's going to be built my way. Cry yet verse 17 saying thus saith the Lord of hosts my cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. My cities he says the testimony of who I am and what I do will yet be noise to broad. Then verse 18 I said lifted up my eyes and I saw and behold four horns and I said to the angel that talked with me what be these and he answered me these are the horns which have scattered Judah Israel and Jerusalem. These are the powers now there were four empires actually but I'm not going to take a lot of time to go into this. I saw four horns he said what are these? These are the powers that scattered my people. These are the powers that destroyed the testimony of God. These are the powers that said aha we have the testimony of God in captivity we have triumphed we are more powerful in a sense than the testimony of God that was once known among his people in Jerusalem. In verse 20 says and the Lord showed me four carpenters and I said what come these to do? And he spake saying these are the horns now he's talking about the horns again which have scattered Judah that no man did lift up his head. These are the horns that did such damage to the church of Jesus Christ that people's heads were bowed they couldn't see the way out they couldn't see a future they saw no hope they didn't know how they were going to live for God they didn't know how to escape their own captivity they didn't know how to rebuild they didn't know how to get back to the glory of God they were scattered in a sense by these powers which actually God allowed to come against them but he said these carpenters have come to fray them that means scatter them four carpenters to cast out the horns of the Gentiles which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it carpenters it's as if the Lord is saying to Zechariah here come the carpenters praise God why carpenters well who died on the cross for us and what was his occupation do you think it's a you think it's any coincidence that Jesus was the son of a carpenter in a sense his stepfather and was raised in a carpenter's shop no any fool with a hammer in his hand can destroy the testimony as he thinks of God but it takes a carpenter to rebuild it and these carpenters are followers of Jesus Christ they're followers of Christ you asked the question today well how shall they build what we find the answer again in Psalm 74 beginning at verse 12 for God is my king of old working salvation in the midst of the earth you divided the sea by your strength you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters you broke the heads of Leviathan and Peaches and gave him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness that that is a type of Satan himself you broke his kingdom you destroyed him you caused him in all of his defeat to be nothing but an increase of our strength you cleaved the fountain in the flood you dried up mighty rivers the day is yours the night is yours you prepared the light in the sun you've set the borders of the earth you've made summer and winter remember this the psalmist says that the enemy has reproached lord and foolish people have blasphemed your name don't let the soul of your turtle dove that means your bride your beloved don't let it be in the hand of the multitude of the wicked don't forget the congregation of your poor have respect to the covenant for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty oh don't let the oppressed return to shame let the poor and needy praise your name this is the cry of the carpenter this is the cry that has to be in your heart and mind oh god raise up the testimony of your glory and your name one more time don't let the oppressed come to your house and walk away ashamed don't let the poor and needy stay in that poverty but let them as Solomon prayed find their sustenance find their strength find their direction find glory find the way to power find a way to be everything that god called them to be let them find it in the house of god one more time arise he says oh god and plead your own cause plead your own cause remember Ezekiel 36 beginning of verse 22 the lord says i don't do this for your names i don't do this for your sake for those that are supposed to have represented me and have brought to a little reputation my name throughout the earth but i do it for my holy name's sake i do it i'm going to come i'm going to wash you with clean water i'm going to put my spirit upon you i'm going to raise you up out of obscurity i'm going to give you cities again i'm going to put walls around about those cities you're going to pray to me you're going to ask me to fill these cities with flocks of men and i'm going to answer you and the lord says i'm going to do it for my name's sake not for your sake but for my holy name's sake in the book of acts chapter 4 beginning at verse 23 now this is peter and john a type of the new testament church had been brought into a form of captivity by the religious order of the day this religious order brought them in and said listen this is the way things are done around here i'm paraphrasing of course but this is the way things are done around here this is the way it's always been done this is the way we've decided it's going to be done and you're going to come under our authority and you're going to do things this way they were a natural people they were walking in natural strength they had natural reasoning they had lost touch with god they knew very little if nothing about the power of god it was all about religion it was all about methodology it was all about the best seats it was all about power it was all about position it was all about privilege that was their whole religion even about jesus christ they said we've got to do something about this man because because the people are following him and we're going to lose our place and we're going to lose our nation so they brought them in and they threatened them and then in verse 23 it says in being let go i'm telling you folks there is a time in history when the church is let go there's a time there are times and seasons when you and i have the lawful right given of god to rebuild what was lost and being let go it says they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them and when they heard that they lifted up their voice to god with one accord now they did exactly what the psalmist said in psalm 74 and said lord you are god who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is you are god you have to know who you're praying to we have to know who's calling us to petition him who by the mouth of your servant david has said why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the lord and against his christ why do they imagine they can triumph over christ for of a truth against thy holy child jesus whom thou anointed both herod and pontius pilate with the gentiles and the people of israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined determined before to be done in other words the whole world and the whole world's religion and the whole world system has stood up against the church it's a vain display of power because all they can do according to verse 28 is what you allow them to do because you are in complete control of everything in this world they knew this and they said in verse 29 now lord behold their threatenings and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word by stretching forth your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child jesus god almighty through me stretch forth your hand and heal it's not just we're not just talking about the laying on of hands and the healing of physical sickness but the healing of lethargy the healing of confusion the healing of hopelessness god stretch forth your hand and heal and let it be done through my life folks it's got to be your prayer it's got to be mine now lord give me words that go right to the core of the issue that go right into the deepest darkest prisons of the human spirit and the human mind jesus glorify your name in me jesus get me away god from the captivity of this world and through my life stretch forth your hand to heal and let signs and wonders be done in the name of jesus christ let people be made into what they can't ever hope to be made in their own strength let it be by the spoken word of almighty god lord bring your name to glory again to find somebody in trouble and they're not saying here read this book and it'll help you thank god for books but to have a word to have something in me to have something in you that we can speak to this generation in the name of jesus christ the son of god rise up and walk there's got to be something in you that rises to this occasion there's got to be something in me that says if god's calling me to rebuild and i'm going to rebuild if i'm a carpenter i'm a carpenter i'm not going back to destroy i'm going back to build and i don't care if anybody stands against me i don't care if there's mountains of rubble god has called me to build and i'm going to build in the strength of god hallelujah to the lamb of god it isn't by might it isn't by power it's by the spirit of almighty god that this kingdom always has been built will be built and will be built in the future and will advance in the future jesus christ will have a church in this generation a testimony of his glory a place of the supernatural not a place of the natural a place where the weak are made strong the poor are made rich in the knowledge of jesus christ a place where the lonely find a family a place where children dance in our streets and in our a place where songs of true victory are sung in the house of god he will have a church in this generation hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah there will be a church glory to god a church that will scatter those kingdoms that have scattered the church of jesus christ a church where genuine preachers of the gospel stand in purpose one more time with the fire of god in their hearts and the word of god in their mouths leading the people of god into the supernatural life of jesus christ it is a supernatural life folks it is something of heaven it's something of rest it's something of beauty our testimony is not ever to be i took these steps and this was the end result no the testimony of the christian life is i turned to god with all my heart and he gave me beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness he planted me beside a river of living water the storms have come the trials have come the darkness has come but my roots go down deeper i still bear fruit in the midst of the trial i still stand in the most difficult places that's the testimony of the christian that's the testimony of your life that's the testimony of my life that's the temple i want to be part of not a temple with its head hanging down eating the dust but a temple that stands upright a temple that has the glory of god in it a temple that knows what the work of god is all about in the earth the spirit of the lord is upon me he sent me to preach the gospel to the poor to open the prison doors to those that are bound to bring deliverance and healing to the captives to preach and tell people that this is the acceptable year of the lord you can be free now you can see now you can be whole now you can have life now you can have it all because of the name of the one who died on the cross for you hallelujah to the lamb of god glory to god glory to god glory to god glory to god glory to god glory to god no people shouldn't be coming into this house because of the eloquence or lack thereof of any preacher people should be coming into this house because the glory of god is in you they see the glory of god in you they see it in the workplace they see it in your home they see it in the marketplace they see it everywhere you travel everywhere you walk there's something about you the glory of god is in the temple praise be to god and say if they ask you what do you do for a living i'm a carpenter i'm a carpenter i'm a builder because somebody has rebuilt my life from the inside out giving me what i could never possess taking me where i could never go enabled me to be what i could never hope to be and i've come now to you that should be our testimony i've come now to share that with you and to see that kingdom being built in your life and when they had prayed verse 31 the place was shaken where they were assembled together they were all filled with the holy ghost and they spoke the word of god with boldness when they had prayed when they had prayed when they finally in many cases had given up all human effort these early christians were smart enough to realize that we don't need to develop a strategy now we don't need a political campaign we have to pray and we have to pray specifically that jesus christ would stretch forth his hand and heal through us and that god would give us boldness to speak his word boldness doesn't mean you walk around being obnoxious wherever you go it means you believe what you're saying you believe that's the boldness you believe it you believe what god reveals to your heart lord give me boldness give me i don't want to go out and apologize for you lord jesus give me boldness that when i say to somebody you can be free i mean it you can be free when i say you can be free right now i mean it you can be free right now give me boldness and stretch your hand out and let signs and wonders be done this was the church this is the church this will always be the church we don't need surveys we don't need swimming pools we don't need bowling alleys this is the church it's a supernatural church in this and every other generation and when they prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together i pray that quite often god wherever i'm at now shake me and take me to another place oh god let me be aware that this is your hand in me moving me forward and they were all filled with the holy ghost now they needed this these constant touches of god this this constant reminder that the power to live the christian life doesn't come from us it comes from christ in us which is our hope of glory and they spoke the word of god with boldness another thing happened too it says the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul the things of the earth as it is were broken immediately off of them and great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the lord jesus and great grace was among them they were moved with compassion one for another they were no longer gripped by what is temporal but they were gripped by what is eternal remember the cherubims were back in the temple again there now their eyes were focused on what is eternal they knew where rest and power was and they knew what was truly beautiful not me getting some are you getting some promotion or having some great big thing come into our life but what is truly beautiful is seeing somebody who's been living in the ashes raised up out of those ashes and brought into the saving knowledge of jesus christ that's where beauty is that's what beauty is all about and when they prayed great power and great grace and folks this has to be the church in our generation we don't have any more time to figure this thing out darkness has come gross darkness has come to our world at our time in our generation but when darkness comes in like a flood my bible tells me that the spirit of the lord will raise up a standard against it there's no other way but through you and through me there's no plan b you are plan a you are god's plan you are god's temple you are where god's glory will be manifested i have an altar call in my heart this morning and it's very simple lord shake the place where i am and oh jesus son of god raise up this temple this temple we are the temple of the holy ghost raise up this temple and give me the power to be a carpenter to be a builder in other people's lives don't let the hammer of a fool be in my hand tearing down and destroying where true victory and true life really is fill me with the holy ghost oh god let me speak your word with boldness to my generation let me do it oh jesus christ my brother my sister don't sell yourself short because it isn't about you it's not about you you know when they rebuilt the temple it was just piles of rubble and that's technically what we as humanity are just piles of rubble but god comes and with great skill that's far beyond us and great power that's deeper than anything we'll ever know begins to lift us up put us together into a holy temple that truly brings glory to his name the worst thing you can do today is limit the holy one of israel the worst thing you can do is do what the children of israel did in the wilderness and say can god furnish a table in this kind of a barren place of course he can he's god created the mountains the universe with the word of his mouth of course he can use you we're the only thing in creation that have the power to say no the geese fly south in the winter time because god told them to sun rises at a certain time and sets at a certain time because god told it to the only thing really that has a free will is you and me the only thing foolish enough to say no to god everything else works in divine order god help us to be his house and his temple if anything i've hoped today that this message would stir you put a fire in your heart and say god i know where i am is shorter where i need to be but i'm not staying here anymore shake this place shake this place oh god put something in me so supernatural that i would even be stunned myself at what you will do and how you will speak through me and how you will use my hands to touch people's lives and lord and that i might live to see and know this great glory that you promised to give to those that belong to you let it be mine you have to want it folks you can't be like esau and sell it off for a bowl of soup you have to want it you have to want to be a vessel that brings glory to god it's that simple i was a young christian and above everything i could honestly say i wanted to live a life that brought glory to his name i had didn't have much i had no talent really almost nothing to offer him and i remember coming to an altar one service and i said lord i have almost nothing but what i have i give it to you i felt like i had less than the boy with the bag lunch when jesus fed 10 000 with it but i brought it to god and said lord you just take it and i will never say no to you and to this day as far as i know i've never said no to god when he's asked me to do something to go somewhere to trust him for something we're going into haiti on wednesday we're going to be preaching thursday friday saturday sunday in a stadium and on national television the radio believing god to set that nation free from spiritual poverty you don't get there overnight i'm believing god that what he's given me to speak he's going to do what what the nations of the world have not been able to do i'm simply standing and going to believe god i don't have to make it happen but i do believe in the supernatural and i do believe in the god who created the universe i do know where he's taken me and faith doesn't come into your heart until you've had to live by faith until you've had to walk by faith until you've had to trust him by faith until you've had that cry in your heart that says lord jesus christ do the miraculous through my life do what can't be done bring glory to your name and it's a constant cry of my heart that jesus christ would bring glory to his name i know what i am without him folks if he took his hand off of me if he took his spirit from me i'd just be an absolute reprobate like everybody else in this place it's only by his spirit that i live it's only by his spirit that i want to live it's only by his word that i know where i'm going i don't want to live i don't want to be a natural man in the house of god i don't want to have to try to figure things out and do them in my own strength i don't want to be part of any program that leads me into the flesh i want to walk in that realm where my heart burns i want that bread to be broken i want to see him as he is i want to go back into jerusalem and say the lord has risen i've seen him i've walked with him i've talked with him i know he's alive i know what he can do i know what he's called us to do that's the church that i want to be part of that's the people that i want to know on this side of eternity it requires that willingness to be shaken that willingness to be taken forward that willingness to go through the open door that willingness to reach out by faith to break through those barriers of fear and simply do what god calls you to do glory to god lord jesus christ bring glory to your name through us in this time we're living in bring glory to your name in new york city god almighty you're giving us a season a season lord of rest a season god where there can be a great harvest come into your kingdom would you help us as your people lord to walk in the supernatural to walk in the spirit father we thank you for the shake the place where we are if we need to get out of sin give us the grace to get out of it oh god oh jesus son of god glorify your name we thank you for this in your precious name hallelujah let's stand together please if you will you want to be shaken you want to go where only god can take you you want to be a builder not a destroyer make your way to this altar please as we worship then we're going to pray together and trust god to shake the place lord jesus christ lord jesus christ all we can do is ask you to glorify your own name through us we are your temple on the earth and you have chosen to glorify your own name in your own temple and lord we come to you and acknowledge where we have failed you lord your name should be revered in this nation your name should be held in the highest esteem there should be a sense of dread in the hearts of those who live outside of the grace of god but yet much of your testimony has been trampled in the streets but lord god you're a god of mercy and your voice comes again to your bride and you begin to allure us even though we might be in a wilderness and you call us to yourself and to your side you call us lord to be a people who bring glory to your name in our time and so lord we lift up to you the little that we have but we give it to you lord as hannah gave her barren womb to you god we'd lift up our emptiness we lift up our struggles and trials we ask you to sovereignly put something within us that brings glory to your name sovereignly call us lord in the giftings that you've given us lift our voices up to you and our eyes up to heaven oh god i'm asking you jesus that at this altar evangelists would be born this very moment the giftings of god would be known and realized lord and men and women would start to preach publish teach and defend the gospel of jesus christ with power with passion with signs with wonders in the anointing of the holy spirit my god my god you have a church in new york city and throughout the world and i'm asking you where asking today lord that your church be raised up in holy ghost power one more time lord before you come one more time oh jesus let your churches be filled oh god in this city let the glory of the lord fill the tabernacles of god father we thank you for this lord we thank you that you will do what only god can do we thank you that yours is the only name that will be lifted up and glorified no other name no other plan no other program but the cross of christ the power of god in the word of god father we thank you for these things lord we yield to this purpose and we pray in agreement with those who prayed in the early church and we say lord stretch forth your hands to heal and let signs and wonders be done and let us speak the word of god with boldness god almighty let it be the word of god that grips our hearts and our minds in this hour that we're living in deliver us oh god from all other thought deliver us lord from every other influence deliver us oh god as your people and lift us again back into where your glory is and your power rests oh jesus glorify your name through your church on the earth in this hour that we're living in we yield to you lord we give our lives to that purpose and we ask one thing and one thing alone that your name be glorified that your name be glorified we thank you in jesus mighty name hallelujah thank you lord thank you mighty god thank you mighty god thank you mighty god hallelujah now my beloved brother and sister don't settle for less than what god has for you don't settle for less than the fullness that god has for you don't let anybody box you in and say this is the way it's done this is the way things are done you find what god has for you and do that do it in a way that brings glory to his name don't be argumentative don't fight with people it's not necessary there's lots of lost people out there you can share with and bring to christ but stand for what you know is right and get into this bible like you never have before hallelujah