This sermon emphasizes the need for humility and surrender to God, acknowledging our own weaknesses and limitations while recognizing the power and glory of God. It calls for a deep reliance on the Holy Spirit to bring about transformation and revival, both individually and corporately. The message highlights the importance of allowing God to work in us, to bring His life, strength, and glory to fruition, and to trust in His promises for a new heart and a new spirit.

We are fasting and praying as a church from the 9th of this month to the 29th and fasting in the sense that we're asking everybody to fast as you feel led of the Holy Spirit to do so. We're giving time to prayer to pray for the five boroughs of New York City. This afternoon at 3 o'clock will be a prayer meeting. We began the first prayer meeting last Tuesday with the pastors and elders praying and that was a powerful time of prayer for those who were here. Today our key leaders will be here of our departments in this church and they'll be praying leading us in prayer and then on Tuesday night we'll be streaming with some at International School of Ministry and we're going to be praying together. That's this coming Tuesday. I know we announced that it would be a larger stream than that, but we've not been able to put that together as of yet. So I do have a good relationship with the President of Summit International School of Ministry, so we should be able to work out the details of that for Tuesday night. Praise God. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, please, if you'll go there in your Bibles, I want to talk to you about perfect treasure in flawed vessels. Perfect treasure in flawed vessels, 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Now, Father, I thank you, Lord, for your word. I would have no hope without your word. If left to our own resources, myself included, Lord, we would fail. We'd falter. We'd die. We don't have the strength to live godly lives. We have no power to honor Christ in the earth of ourselves. I thank you for your word. I thank you for how you work in us. I thank you for how you reveal your glory. I thank you for the truths that you're unveiling to us, Lord, in a new and a fresh way. I pray for grace and strength to speak this today, and I ask you, Lord, for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. Your Holy Spirit, if you don't come, this is just more gathering of information, but it has no life in it. You have to quicken the word of God to us. You've got to make it burn in my heart again, in the hearts of the hearers, and you've got to give us faith to believe. Lord, you've got to take us, Lord, beyond our own strength, which is quickly failing us, and you have to bring us into something of your life that you've longed to give us, but we're so dull to understand it. And I count myself, Lord, the chiefest offenders in this. And Father, I thank you, God, with all my heart for what you're going to do today. You are the God who raises the dead. I thank you in Jesus' name. Second Corinthians chapter 4, beginning at verse 5, perfect treasure in flawed vessels. This is Paul. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We're troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We're perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. Incredible words, and I hope that God will allow me to dissect them a little bit to help you and I to understand. Now can you imagine if something of immense and incalculable value was suddenly handed down to you, maybe an heirloom, an inheritance, maybe just a windfall of some sort that just came into your hands. I want you to think today about how carefully we would all store it. We would make sure it's protected from that which could bring it to harm. Now some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. You have something that in the physical sense you esteem to be of great value and you could tell me actually right now where it's stored. Some it's in a safety deposit box, in some cases it's in a vault, in other cases it's put up on a high shelf and the shelf itself is secured to the wall so nobody could bring harm to it. Most likely you and I would lock it away and be extremely selective as to whom we would let see and handle it. I've had the privilege in the last year or two of seeing some of the original Bibles that are still available in the world today. I saw an original King James Bible commissioned in 1611 by King James, quite amazing. Now it and others like it, the Tyndale Bible, Knox Bible are all in a vault and I was allowed into the vault. I was able to see it. I could have handled it but I chose not to. There's a person that's hired specifically for the guardianship of these things and it's history in a sense, it's incalculable value. One of the Bibles that this particular professor handed to me said this is an original Knox Bible and it's appraised at $10 million. The only thing I could think to say is you sure wouldn't want to be leaving that in church somewhere on Sunday morning after. Now you and I wouldn't put a priceless vase on a narrow window ledge where it might be blown over by the wind. If we were handed this down, it would be foolhardy in a sense to put it on a narrow ledge and have the window open with the possibility that it might be knocked over and destroyed. We wouldn't put an inheritance of rare and valuable coins in a bag with holes so that as we're walking and journeying the coins are dropping out around us and things that perhaps are irreplaceable. We wouldn't store a valuable antique car that somebody gave us in a junkyard. Yet God took his own person in the Holy Spirit and stored himself in us. You and I should be awestruck by that. You and I who are often blown over by opposition and led astray by various winds of our own thought, false reasonings. We're like a vase on a window ledge, but yet that's where God chose to abide. He brought himself which is a greater treasure than anything you'll ever find in the universe and he stored it inside of us. We are filled with unplugged holes because of unformed character in us and wounds of the past that are not yet healed, deficiencies of understanding and such, yet he chose to put the treasure of his own person inside of us. You and I are a junkyard really in comparison with the flawless character and beauty of Jesus Christ. A flawless Christ and he took that character and stored it in me, a junkyard in comparison to God. There's no other way to describe it. And we are the place where Jesus decided to store his, to place his glory. And you and I so often fail of this grace. We fail to recognize the treasure within us and we subsequently fall short of bringing the Christ within us to clear visibility. We have this treasure, Paul said, in earthen vessels. We're called to give him in the earth the reputation that he deserves. But we fail of the grace. We fail to fully understand how to do this. What is our part in doing this? How is Christ glorified in me? In chapter four and verse ten, Paul says, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Now quite often, here's the way we see this verse, we try and we die. We try to be holy, we fail. We try to be compassionate, we end up selfish. We try to stand up only to fall back in cowardice. We try to make a difference only to find out that we're not making much of a difference. We essentially, it's not the correct context of verse ten, but that's the way we see it, bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus. We try and we die. We come to the place, like many of us who are here today, where as in verse eight, we're troubled. Many have come here today and you have a troubling inside because it doesn't seem right. It seems in your heart that it should be more than it is, this walk with God. I should be more than I am. I should be portraying Christ more than I do. I read, like Paul says, what I'm to be. I see it clearly, but how do I do these things? How do I perform? Paul said, I know what to do, but how to do it? I'm at a loss. I feel like this body is a body of death and there's such treasure in it, but it's constantly fighting against that inward treasure and destroying it and letting it leak out. Instead of this wonderful, priceless Christ that's inside of me being exhibited, it's just the junk of my life that is always coming to the surface. Others are perplexed. I don't know, in a sense, the way out or in, but as Paul says, I still feel hope. I still have a glimmer of hope in my heart. I don't fully understand it. I don't know even why sometimes, after all these months or days or years of trying to live for God, I still have hope. I'm troubled, but still inside I know the promises still belong to me. I don't know how to apply them, but I still know they're mine. Paul said, we're persecuted, but not forsaken. We're laughed at for our feeble attempts to glorify God, both without and within. Laughed at in the marketplace and picked upon for every flaw and all the junk and all the holes and everything that comes to the surface. I truly want to honor Christ, but I find that it's quite often the junk that's exhibited and not the glory. I'm laughed at from without and I'm laughed at from within. Even my own heart laughs at me for all of my feeble attempts to glorify God, but I have an inner knowledge that somehow divine life remains possible. I'm troubled, but I know the promises are still mine. I'm perplexed, but I still feel hope. I'm persecuted, but I have an inner knowledge that divine life somehow is still mine. I'm cast down, Paul said, but not destroyed. And the fact is, there are many here today that are cast down. You have looked in the mirror and you haven't seen much there to be congratulatory about, but the fact that you're here today proves that you're not destroyed. There were one of the prophets said to the devil himself, don't laugh over me, my enemy, when I fall, because God was going to be faithful to me. Now I want you to go to Ezekiel chapter 37 with me. Now in Ezekiel chapter 37, here's what happens to us, all of us. We come to the place where we say, Lord, if I live and become other than what I am, it's only you who knows how it's going to be accomplished. The Lord said to the prophet Ezekiel, now he took him out to a valley, and this valley was the testimony of God. It was the people of Israel, but it was the testimony of God in the world in that generation. And there were a lot of bones there and they were dry. And he said to me, verse three, son of man, can these bones live? Can they live? Can they be brought back to life? Can they be a testimony? That's the way we feel, that's the way I feel at times and I know it's the way you feel. Can the charts of Jesus Christ live again in America, in our generation? And Ezekiel said, Lord, only you know. It's only you who knows how this is going to be done. And that's why Paul says, we're always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifest in our body. Now here's what that verse means. As Christ died to his own will, he died to his own reasonings, and he ultimately cast himself into the hands of his father. Remember he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. So too, this is where the resurrection of life, the life of Christ in us is found. When we die to our own reasonings, our own will, our own strength, our own plans, our own schemes, our own pride, our own strength, everything about ourselves. And ultimately, we simply cast ourselves into the hands of God. Just as Jesus Christ did, bearing about in the sense the body of the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the life of Christ may also be manifest in our body. When you and I finally get to the place where we actually agree with God, I am a junkyard that has the treasure of Christ within it. I'm a bag full of holes that has this incredible wealth of God in it. I'm a frail house setting this testimony of God on a window ledge, and I'm so often blown over by my own adversity, my own struggles, and the trials and difficulties, and the old thoughts of my own mind, and false spiritual reasonings that want to come to me and make the road easier. There comes a point where we'd simply die. There comes a point where we simply agree with God, I can't do this in my own strength. I can't be anything, let alone everything that God calls me to be. I don't have the power in myself apart from God to be these things. And so the best thing that I can do is finally admit that I am a junkyard, a bag full of holes, and I'm a narrow window ledge that is often allows the treasure of Christ to be blown over by my adversity. In Ezekiel 37, the Bible says that, tells us the people died around their altars. Now, if you go back and research it, you'll find out they died around their altars. These were altars of their own making, most of which were built on foundations of human strength, and human ability, and human reasoning, whether it be good or whether it be false. Nevertheless, they were at these altars. They were man-made, they were homemade, they were self-focused, and they died there. They were well-intentioned. I think we've been well-intentioned, many of us in our generation, but suffice to say, it appears that we've died around our altars. We're disjointed, we're fragmented as the body of Christ in our time. We seem to be without strength, we've become the laughingstock of our society, in many cases. And the question we ask ourselves is, why did God wait so long to come to them? Why did God wait till they were bones? Why didn't He come before? It's like you and I saying today, Lord, why did you wait till I was so weak? Why didn't you come when I still was able to worship at the altar I'd created? Why didn't you meet me there? You know, in your heart, you have a reasoning. I was open, but I don't think so. I don't think that's really the truth. You know, He waits till we're bones, because bones can't resist Him. He waits till we have no strength, because in our own strength, we will still put up arguments. We will still present something of our own reasoning, something of our own righteousness, something of our own quality, as we see it, our own character, our benevolence to God to be part of His kingdom, something we feel we have to add. We'll still be presenting these things to God. So what does He do? He just waits till we're dead. He waited till Lazarus died. He waited till Hannah couldn't have a child. He waited till Elizabeth was barren. He waited till Moses was old and had no natural strength. He waited till the Hebrew boys were in the furnace before He delivered them. He waited till Daniel was in the den with lions before He came and closed the mouth of that which would have devoured him. The pattern is all throughout Scripture, because the tendency that we all have is if we don't know that we're nothing without God, we will touch the glory. When God does move, when God does breathe, when God does come, as surely as sparks fly upward, you and I will touch the glory. And we will insert some measure of our own righteousness into a sovereign and divine work that could only have come from the hand of God. And so in His mercy, He waits till we know that we have no part in this. Every one of us in some measure are unwilling to hear the Word of God. We're unwilling to let Him alone do the work within us that needs to be done until we have run out of strength and there are no options left. Verse 11 in Ezekiel 37 says, Then He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say our bones are dry. Our hope is lost and we're cut off from our parts. In other words, we're undone. We can't get it together. We can't produce unity with one another. We can't produce it among churches. We've tried everything. We've washed each other's feet. We've had conferences. We've formulated plans. We've tried to be nice. And we can't get it together. And now we're fragmented and we're disjointed. And you can see as Ezekiel's looking on the field, the arm bone is here and the leg bone is there and the neck bone is over here. And that's exactly the way much of the Christian church must look to Almighty God in our generation. A body fragmented. A body disjointed. A body without strength. A body that can't stand. A body that deep down in spite of the plans and the programs and the brouhaha and the blowing of trumpets and such like deep down in the inner core of many of God's people in our generation, there's a sense of hopelessness. Our bones are dry. Our hope is lost. We had these promises, but they've not come to fruition. We had these plans, but they've died. We brought in a harvest, but it's being blown away. Our children are not interested in the things of God. I'm speaking collectively now throughout the country. We're cut off from our parts. In other words, we're lost. We have no strength. We can't rise. We can't get it together. Our bones are out of joint. Then God says something to Ezekiel that's quite profound. Again, he said to me, verse 4, prophesy to these bones and say to them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus said the Lord God unto these bones, behold, I'll cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. I will lay sinews upon you. I'll bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live and shall know that I am the Lord. Prophesy means just finally agree with the word of God. Finally say what God is saying. You have no strength. You have no power. You have no ability. You have nothing to add to the testimony of my glory in the earth. The only thing I require of you is that you listen to me and let my word come into your heart prophesied to these bones. That's exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost in that upper room. We're a hundred and twenty people which folks have you and I had been there. Christ had walked among all of them. They're all very familiar with him. They have loved him. They've heard his word. They've loved his word. Then suddenly he's arrested and tried and mocked and Scourge and brought to a cross and these folks I know in their hearts. They had said we'll walk with you. This is the son of God. This is this is what David spoke about. This is what Isaiah prophesied. This is the Messiah and they knew it inside. I will I can just hear the crowd. I will follow him all the days of my life. I will be everything he calls me to be suddenly is put on trial by that society. Suddenly is mocked by that society suddenly seemingly arrested and powerless by that society and all of these people with all their boasting and all their bragging don't have the power to walk with him and they know what they fled the they became cowards when their voices needed to be raised. They're no different than we are then God called them to walk into a place of prayer. Like we are praying as a church now for 21 days and in that place of prayer he began to speak to every heart not by might not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord not by your boasting not by your goodness not by your ability. You don't have the ability in every man every woman in that room knew it starting with the apostles that were left. And when they came out of that upper room, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they simply began the scripture says to speak the things of God had been speaking to them the Megaliths of God in the Greek that means the anticipated outworking of the inward life of Christ. They simply began to prophesy to their own bones. They weren't yet everything that was coming out of their mouth, but they had embraced it. They had believed it. They had allowed the breath of God again to come into them and God had raised them in a sense from the death and deadness of their own condition and brought them into that power of an endless life that only he is able to give them. Verse 7 Ezekiel 37 says so I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied there was a noise and behold a shaking and the bones came together bone to his bone. In other words, so I prophesied I started agreeing with God God had revealed in his word. I started speaking the things of God has been speaking to me knowing that I have no power to bring it about knowing. There's nothing in me that can make this happen. Knowing that Oh God, it has been part of your plan to bring me to nothing. That only those things that remain might be there that can bring Glory to you. Everything else has been shaken. But all that remains is that which cannot be shaken, which is the word of God that is within my heart. And so I agreed with the revealed word of God and the question I guess I have in my heart for all of us today is what has God spoken to you about yourself that yet you don't see the evidence that you tried to bring about the evidence, but you don't see it. He said well, he told me I was going to be very loving, but I'm still filled with hate and vengeance. He told me I was going to be kind, but I'm really selfish to the core of my being. He told me I was going to care about other people, but I'm more focused on myself than on than on others and I feel so dry. I feel so hopeless. I feel like I'm cut off from the life of God and the strength of God. And did you know that's exactly where you and I need to be? So that Christ might be glorified in us. Otherwise, it'll be a strange mixture of me and Jesus. My part is to believe him. My part is to say God you have to do within me those things that I can't do in my own strength. See Paul said we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We have this treasure of Christ. We have this this inheritance of incalculable value. We have this treasure of a deposit of the life of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. There's nothing in the earth that can compare with the value of it. We have this incredible life. This wonderful ancient of days alive in the midst of us. And the treasure is in an earthen vessel. God made the choice. And that gives me hope. I don't know about you. God chose to live in me. It wasn't my choice. It was his choice. He chose to put the vase on this narrow window ledge. He chose to put his treasure in this bag with holes. He chose to put this wonderful antique in a junkyard. It was God's choice, not my choice. And that gives me hope. There must have been a reason. And the reason is I don't have any ability in and of myself to bring glory to him. He must do it. He must increase. And I must decrease, actually, to the point where I'm nothing. I must disappear. I must get out of the way. I must just simply agree. It's so hard because, you see, the inherent sin nature of all of us is to be as God. That's what was sown in humankind in the Garden of Eden. A lot of people think the sin nature is to go out and lust and steal and hate and kill and murder. Now, those are all part of it. But initially, the sin nature is to be as God. And it manifests itself in me thinking that somehow I have something to add that can produce godliness in the earth. I have something of quality in my being and character and dedication and enthusiasm and zeal and intelligence and all the rest of it. And it's the truly spiritual man or woman that finally realizes we are just all a junkyard that God has stored the treasure of his life in. We have nothing to add to the kingdom of God. If you think you have, Godspeed. I hope you get to the end of that journey soon. I promise you, you'll be nothing more than bones around your altar soon. You'll come to an end. You'll come to a conclusion because God won't walk with it. None of us can share his glory. None of us. We can't touch the glory of God. We can't say. We can't boast. We can't brag. We can't say it was because of my hand this happened. We can't, folks. Uzziah the king tried it and leprosy broke out in his forehead. You look in the Old Testament of making the tragic error of walking into what God alone has done and suddenly the thought comes into the heart which is the sin nature. Look what I've done. Look what God and I have done. And we fail to realize that it hasn't been God and I. It has been God and God alone that has done this in my life. That the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us. Hallelujah. And doesn't that level the ground? Doesn't that make the message simple? Doesn't it make it fun in a sense to be able to go out into the marketplace and say Jesus is the plan. Jesus is my hope. Jesus is my treasure. Jesus is my strength. Jesus is my life. Jesus is my redemption. Jesus is the power to change. Jesus is my new mind. Jesus is my new heart. Jesus is my new strength. Jesus is the reason that I'm speaking to you today. It's all about Jesus. Ezekiel 37 again. Verse 9 he says. Then he said to me prophesy to the wind. Now the wind is the ruach in the Hebrew which means the breath. It means air put in motion by divine breath. That's what it means. It's the voice of God. It's the breath of God. Remember he said. And God said. And it was. And God said. All with you Genesis. God said it's air put in motion by divine breath. God said let there be light. God said let there be life. God said let there be days and seasons. God said. And then finally God took a pile of ground. And breathed in it. And it began to live. And it's name was Adam. And that was me. That was you. God said live. God said if you can get a hold of this. That when you and I finally realize that we were created from dust. We have nothing to add to the kingdom of God but to open our hearts and let God speak to us. God said. That should be our testimony. How did you become a kind person? God said I would. How did you get to the mission field? God said he would send me here. How did your marriage get restored? God said he would restore my home. How did your children start walking with God? If I would believe. God said it. God said my sons and daughters would come and be nursed at my side. God said it. God said it. That's our testimony. That's the testimony of the church of Jesus Christ. God said it. Prophesy to the wind. In other words call out to the breath of God. Prophesy son of man and say to the wind. Thus saith the Lord God. Come from the four winds oh breath. And breathe upon these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me. And breath came into them. And they lived and stood up upon their feet. An exceeding great army. Call out to the Holy Spirit. Call out. If that's all you can do. If that's all the strength you have. If that's the only hope you see. Then you've come to a good place. You've come to the place now where divine life can become yours. In Ezekiel 36. The Lord said to the nation of Israel. I don't do this for your sake. Because you have profaned my name among the nations. Which really means you brought me to such poor reputation. Among the nations. But I do this for my holy namesake. I'm going to gather you from all the countries where you've been scattered. That means all the places. All the reasonings. The logic. Everywhere your travels have taken. I'm going to gather you. I'm going to bring you to your own land. I'm going to bring you to that place which I've destined you to live in. I'm going to sprinkle clean water upon you. I'm going to wash you from all your filthiness. And from all the idols that you built. Thinking this was the hand of God. I'm going to put my spirit upon you. I'm going to give you a new heart. A new mind and a new spirit. And I'm going to give you a soft heart. And take away the heart of stone. Then you're going to dwell in the place that I've destined you to dwell in. And your cities will be fenced and inhabited. In other words, the boundaries of God and the glory of God. Will be the place that you live in again. Now this is a promise to the nation of Israel. To be fulfilled. But it's a type of how God works among his people. And that's how we're looking at it. At this very moment. Then he says, Then all the heathens that are left in the nations round about you. Will look and say, Look at the marvelous thing that God has done for them. And then at the end of Ezekiel 36. He says, I will be inquired of them to do this. I will fill the cities again with flocks of men. And people shall know that I am the Lord. I will be inquired of them. They will know my sovereign supernatural ability to do. What they could not do in themselves. And they will inquire of me. They will come in prayer and say, God what you've done for us. Do for others. And I will answer their prayer. And the cities will be filled with flocks of men. But keep in mind God says, I don't do it because of anything that you are. I do it because of who I am. It takes to know the life of Christ. Christ takes humility. Because the sin of Adam was pride. The sin of Eve was pride. And God resists the proud. But gives grace to the humble. It seems in America today. In the Christian world. We've done everything but admit our failure. But I believe the day we admit our failure. Is the day the breath of God will come to us again. The day we finally say. We've exhausted our resources. We've exhausted our plans. We've filled churches with shallow conversions. We've resulted to schemes and plans. And we're dying at these altars. The day we have the courage to admit this. Is the day that God will breathe on us. One more time. The cry of my heart. As well as the cry of yours. Has to be that Jesus Christ within me. Might be brought to glory. I don't know if I've been. I have been in the past. So I don't want to overstate this. But in the last little while. I'm more aware of my own shortcomings. Than ever before. The failures in my own heart. The things I thought I had achieved. To find out they've fallen far short of the glory of God. The person I thought I was. Only to find out I'm far from that. The self view. That came forward. I've seen how self consumed I am. How I have made a boast even. Of being able to reach out. From beyond myself. But only to find out. As the Lord's more or less taken me. Into his presence. That I've fallen so very short. Of what I can be. And so I have a desire in my heart. To put all the junk away. And stop bringing this junk. And holding it up. As if it's treasure. When it's junk. And just putting it away. And saying Lord. You have to bring your own name to glory through me. And you have to take me where I can't go. And you have to make me. What I can't be. It's got to be you Jesus. I can't do this. Now I can survive. And I can muddle along. And do good. And get to the end. And even get a reward for it. But there's so much more. There's so much more that could be done. If you and I would just let Jesus be Jesus. And get out of the way. Just get out of the way. And stop presenting anything of ourselves. To anybody anywhere. Nothing to defend. If somebody says you're an idiot. Just agree with them. I am totally an idiot. But let me tell you what Jesus is doing for me. To stop defending ourselves. To stop defending the junk. And the bag with holes in the barren house. And just agree. And say yeah you're completely right. There's a lot of work that needs to be done in me. But let me tell you who's doing the work. Let me talk to you about him. I feel today. I'd like to give an altar call. In this house. But it's just this. To call out to the Holy Spirit. For those of us who have the sense. To understand that without his work. It's not going to amount to what it needs to. Can I stay the way I am. And get into heaven. Yes of course you can. If you've trusted in Christ you can. But why would you want to settle for less. Than what God is willing to give. Why would we. We want to stay dry. When we can have living water. Why would we want to. Hold to and worship at an altar of our own making. If it's just going to produce spiritual powerlessness. I would rather. Throw this away. And let the spirit of God. Begin to do what only he can do. Now Father. I know I have delivered your heart. And I thank you Lord Jesus Christ. That you are calling us to something. Much deeper than ourselves. Forgive us Lord. For all of our attempts. To bring glory to your name. That when we get to heaven. We're going to shudder. When we see these things. The bankruptcy of it all. The pride behind it. Lord we're going to shudder. Jesus son of God. I do cry out to you. Like the man on the side of the road. And say thou son of David. Have mercy on me. Thou son of David. Change me. Thou son of David. Bring your own self to glory through me. I want to see. I want spiritual vision. I want to understand things. I want to know. I want to grow in grace. I want to have power behind what I speak. I want it to be as much in private. As it is in public. It cannot be a difference. Oh Jesus son of God. Breathe on us. Holy Spirit. Breathe on us. Breathe on us and give us strength. Breathe on us Lord. And make the promises. That you have spoken to us. A living reality. In each of our lives. Lord. I thank you for this in Jesus mighty name. If this is the cry of your heart. As we stand in just a moment. I'm going to ask you to join me at the front of the sanctuary. In Roxbury. If you could stand between the screens. In the annex as well the same. Just come. And cry out to the Holy Spirit. Nobody will do this for you. Folks and I can't lead you in a prayer. Because it has to be your cry. It can't be mine. Jesus bring your. Bring your own name to glory. Through me. That's got to be the cry. I'm dead. I'm dry. I can't do these things. That I'm called to do. But you can. Let's stand please. And for those who want to respond. Please just make your way down. We'll worship together for a little while. Then we'll pray. And feel free to call out to God while we're here. You don't have to be quiet. You can lift your voice and just call out to God. Call out to the Holy Spirit. But do it in faith. Do it in faith. The Lord would not bring a word like this. If he's going to deny your request. He wants to answer you. So call out in faith. When you call out. Remember in the book of Acts. They stepped out in faith. And they began to speak what God was speaking. Maybe you can say. I don't know what it is. What your problem is. Maybe you're just lukewarm and dry. But you believe you're going to be on fire. Because God has promised it. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's your kids. Your family. Your home. Your mind. Maybe you're losing your mind. It's easy to do in this city. I don't know what it is. But you cry out now. To the Holy Spirit. To make the promises. Those who know the Bible. You know what the Bible says. Maybe you're afraid. But God says I've not given you a spirit of fear. But power, love and a sound mind. So you prophesy that over your own life. You simply agree with God. And you agree the Holy Spirit is the only one that's going to make it happen. He's the only one that's going to do it. Don't be ashamed to lift your voice. All through the sanctuary. In the balcony. Don't be ashamed to lift your voice to God. Don't be afraid to take God at his word. Lift your heart. Lift your hands. Let's take a moment. Let's praise. And you let your petitions be made known to him. Hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Lord. Thank you God. Thank you Jesus. Lord, I'm not condemned. For your word says that you only speak to those you love. And when you speak to us that belong to you. It's because we are sons and daughters of God. I'm not overwhelmed. Because you're not asking me to do anything in my own strength. You're asking me to lay my own strength down. And to let your strength take over. That the excellency of the power. Might be of God and not of us. Lord, I thank you God with all my heart. For this understanding. And so Lord, I just simply agree with your word today. Lord, you're the one who will make me. And you'll make this church what we're called to be. We can't do it in our own strength. And we don't want to anymore. Lord, it has to be you and you alone. There's no other way. And oh Lord God. Thank you. That you are willing to breathe on us. That we might live. That you're willing to put us together. And cause us to stand as a mighty army. In this last hour that we're living in. And so Lord, we embrace your goodness today. We embrace your kindness. We embrace your willingness Lord. To walk with us. And we thank you oh God. With everything in our hearts. We say thank you. Lord, there's nothing else I can do. But give you a heart that trusts you. And believes you Lord. And so that's what we present to you today. Lord, nothing of ourselves. But asking only that you might be glorified in us. Bring us where we need to go. Make us what we need to be. And Lord, let only your name be on our lips. Only one testimony. Only one. And you said if I be lifted up, I will draw men to me. Lord, help us now to lift you up. In our testimony throughout our day. In our conversation. In all that we do. Let it be your name that's on our lips. Oh God, thank you Lord. Thank you Father. Jesus, there's pleasure in your heart. I remember one time you burst into joy. You said, Father. You've hidden these things from the wise and prudent. And revealed them unto babes. Thank you God. For giving us an understanding of where the power of God is found. Thank you for this Lord. We give you praise. Give you glory in the mighty and holy name of Jesus. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Thank you Lord. Thank you God. And before we dismiss today. Could I ask you to do one thing? To just lift your hands and call out. To the breath of God. To come on New York City. Just call out. Lord we ask you. Bring your church together in this city Lord. Bring your body together again. We don't know how. But we know you will Lord. Because we ask. We speak to the division. We speak to all these things. That have divided and conquered. And made the body of Christ of little effect. We stand against it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask you Lord as you did in Jericho. Break down the barriers and the boundaries. The indifference Lord. As you did in the book of Acts. Let no man say that what he has belongs to himself exclusively. Any longer. My God give us a vision. Of the bigger picture. Help us to understand what's at stake here. In the days ahead. I pray God almighty. That you do something so sovereign. That all we can do is dance in the streets. All we can do is clap our hands. All we can do is shout your name into the heavens. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Thank you Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you mighty God. Thank you mighty God. Hallelujah. Praise God. Hallelujah.