In this sermon, the preacher describes a man who is stripped of everything and living in a state of madness. The man is tormented by the devil and engages in self-destructive behavior. Society has nothing to offer him, as no one can tame him. However, Jesus arrives and calms the man, demonstrating his power and authority over evil. The preacher emphasizes that this story holds a prophetic truth, showing the deliverance and transformation that can occur when one gives their heart to Jesus.

Luke 8, beginning to read verse 26, And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils a long time. He was full of the devil. All kinds of demons. In fact, 6,000 demons were in him, we're going to see. And he wore no clothes. He didn't abide in any house. He had no house to live in. But he lived in the tombs. And when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him with a loud voice, said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. For he commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Because often it caught him. And he was kept bound with chains and in fetters. And he broke the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness. And Jesus asked him, saying, What's your name? And he said, Legion. That means 6,000 demons. For many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. That's the bottomless pit. And there was there a herd of many swine feeding in the mountain. And they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. He let them go. Then went the devils out of the man and entered into the swine. This big herd of pigs. And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake and they were choked. When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled and went out and told it to the city and in the country. Then they came out to see what Jesus had done. They came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the devils were departed. He was sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed. He wasn't naked anymore. And he was in his right mind. The devils were all gone. And they were afraid. They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. The multitude of the country, the Gadarenes ran about beside him to depart from them. For they were taken with great fear. And he went into the ship and returned back again. Let's pray. Now Jesus, I pray for a special anointing of the Holy Spirit to come now into this house. And cause everyone that needs this message to hear it. Let us all hear it tonight. I stand here in the name and authority of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. God in the flesh who is now in heaven. Seated at the right hand of the Father. Whose name is all powerful. And I claim power over the devil through the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Ghost. And I bind every demon spirit, every lying spirit. And I ask you Satan that you must be removed from this house. So that you cannot hinder the word of God from going forth. And that we shall see deliverances tonight from all the habits of the flesh. That every demon power in this building tonight shall be broken. And Satan we put you on notice tonight that the power of the Holy Ghost shall be released tonight. The power of the word shall come forth. And souls shall be delivered from their sins. And from their habits and broken in Jesus name I pray. Amen. This devil possessed demented man that's living in the tombstones in a graveyard. Represents the worst thing the devil can do to a man. You can't go lower than this man had gone. Nobody has ever gone lower than this man who's living in the tombs. He was possessed with 6,000 demons. That's what legion means. Now the Jews buried their dead above ground. They called them supplicars. In fact this landing where Jesus landed was a limestone hill. And they'd cut out like these big supplicars. And some of them had built them above ground and you could walk into them. It was like a vault. And you could walk into it and that's where this man was sleeping. Now they built them outside of the city because the Jews felt that you were defiled. In those days if the graveyard was inside the city limits they put them outside the city. And to touch the dead was defilement. But this man had alien, unclean, demonic spirits living in him. Now you say how could 6,000 demons be in one man? Remember these are spirits. These are not bodies. These are spirits. Now you can have millions of thoughts living in your mind, can't you? Your mind can contain many, many thoughts. And this body contained 6,000 demons who had moved into his body. And the scripture says and all the time night and day. This is in another incident in Mark. Mark's describing the same scene. And he said always night and day this man was in the mountains. And in the tombs crying and cutting himself with stones. And in Luke 8.27 we read that he was without clothes, he was naked. Now when the Bible says a man is naked it means he's stripped of all of his moral standards. He's stripped of everything that's decent. Everything he once knew that was good. There's not a junkie here, there's nobody here that's living on the street or on drugs or alcohol or anything else. At one time when you were a little child you had a standard. There were things you said you would never do. But you see this man is stripped of everything that's why he's naked. And here now you may have clothes on but in the sight of God and in the sight of society you're naked. Because you're sitting here tonight as a sinner. And you've been stripped of everything that is normal. Everything that's decent. And you sit here now and you know you're naked. You're stripped. There's nothing left. This man is driven by the devil. Sometimes the devil would chase him up in the mountains and he'd run around screaming. Crying all night. Taking stones and cutting his flesh. And other times the devil would drive him out into the wilderness where it was cold and he'd sleep in the cold. But most of the time he came right back to his home, the tombs. And the Bible said, in Matthew you read the same story. This man was so fierce that nobody could come down that road. Evidently there was a road that went along by that graveyard. No one dared. The parents would warn their children about that terrible man out there. They made an example. Don't go near him, he'll get you. And I'm sure there are all kinds of stories told about this wild man out there. Never had a bath. Smelly. Filthy. Demon possessed. He must have looked like a lion. Hair from the top of his head all the way down. You couldn't get near him. I'm sure he farted at the mouth. I'm sure this man groaned all night long. You could hear it as you... Probably because sound carries by the lake. Water carried his sound all across that lakeside. In the middle of the night, groaning and crying. Bound and possessed. And who is this man living in the tombs? We don't know his name. But it's your story. Every one of you on drugs and alcohol, this is your story. You are the man. And if you're here tonight without Jesus, still on drugs or alcohol, or bound by any habit. Now, you may be a business man here. You may be a business woman. You may be somebody, uppity up. You may be something in society. But if you're bound by a habit, you're bound by the same thing. You may go home to a $600,000 condo, but it's still a tomb. It's still a tomb. Still possessed and bound by satanic powers. You see, he's crying out for help. I remember years ago, one of our conference came in. And he looked at his track. And he thought, if I could just get rid of that track, maybe the habit will go away. And he put a frying pan, an iron frying pan on a gas stove. And wrapped a towel around it. He made it white hot. Wrapped a towel around the handle. Grabbed that frying pan and stuck it on his arm to burn off the track. Of course, just stinking burning flesh. And he had to run to the pusher and get some more heroin to kill the pain. There was a young addict. In fact, he was one of the graduates of the farm in Pennsylvania. And he's laying here in New York in a dirty, filthy room in a cot. And he had a needle in his hand and he was so sick. He'd taken a shot and he was still desperate. And he stuck it back in and got a needle full of blood and sprayed on the ceiling. Helped with his own blood. And here you sit tonight. And you may be struggling with some kind of life controlling problem. And I'm telling you, this is your story. It's the story of the priest who called me last week or about ten days ago. A priest here from Queens. I don't know if he's here tonight. I don't even know his name, so I'm not embarrassing him. He said, I'm a homosexual, David. I'm a priest. And I minister. But I'm bound by these devils that drive me out on the street. And I'm about to commit suicide. And we hear that night and day. I was over here at 47th Street and went up to an apartment. And there's a young couple there. A nice young couple. He's a heroin addict and she's an alcoholic. And she said, David, in the middle of the day, the devil comes right into my apartment. And he picks me up and takes me out. And I don't want to do it, but I find myself just being carried right out on the streets. To prostitution. I'm carried out to drink. The devil comes to my house. Walks right in. Takes me out. And he said, my husband. And her husband's standing right there. He said, that's right, David. I have to go out and find her. I usually pick her up in the ghetto. In the gutter somewhere. She's laying out in the streets. He said, I still love her. And he couldn't do anything about her because of his habit. You see, this man's crying out in the middle of the night. And he's ferocious. He's withdrawn. He's bitter. He's angry. And how many times he must have said, why me? Oh, God. There's no man around. But I'm sure he went down once in Wilder Lake. And he looks at his face reflected in the lake. And he said, I'm a madman. What's happened to me? Why me? How did this happen to me? How did I go crazy? And you know, society had nothing to offer this crazy man in the tomb. The Bible said no man could tame him. No man could tame him. We had one of the drug addict boys that came to us. He thought if I could just chain myself up for three days and kick a cold turkey, this thing would go away. So he stole a pair of handcuffs. And he handcuffed himself to one of those big steam radiators. Have you ever seen those big 50, 60, 80 pound steam radiators? And the first day he got through. But the second night, he was so sick. And he tried to pull away. And he couldn't break it. And he became a wild man, became ferocious. Because it was eating him up. And he couldn't break. These were police handcuffs. And he couldn't break them. And so in a rage of demonic power, he yanked the whole thing right off the wall. Put it on his shoulder and carried it to the pusher. No man could tame him. Exceedingly fierce so that no man could pass that way. And I want you to know that the devil held that whole community in fear. They wouldn't even walk by that way. Just the way the devil is intimidating the church. The dead, cold, former church is intimidated by demonic powers. The whole city was intimidated by this demon activity. The whole place was in fear. It's just the way, look at Russia. Russia, with all of its military power, is absolutely helpless before the power of the devil. Alcoholism is sweeping like a rage all through communist countries. When we were in Poland, we had communist officials and we sat down with governors of states and mayors of cities. And almost tearfully, I mean, you could feel the anger inside of them, the helplessness. And the only reason they invited us there to set up Teen Challenge is to do something about it because they're helpless. All of their military might, they're intimidated by drugs and alcohol. They can't do anything about it. America is intimidated by demonic powers sweeping this nation. Now AIDS sweeping this nation. Drug addiction all over this country. Intimidation of alcoholism. And the only answer is, lock them up. Get them out of town. And that's what these people did. They were satisfied to get them out and keep them in the tombs and they could go to sleep at night in their safe little homes, knowing they didn't have to touch them or see them. I had a brother from Long Island visit me this past week and we were walking down Times Square and he was telling me a story that touched my heart. He said a friend of his was visiting a New Yorker. And they were walking down Times Square and this New York brother had to step over an alcoholic who was laying on the street. And this brother from Long Island, who lives way out in the 96th in Long Island, he said, And so it's come to that. You're so used to this, you walk right over it. And the New Yorker looked at him and says, yes, and you can go to Long Island and not even have to look at it. You don't even have to look at it. But you see, it's this intimidation. It's this helplessness in front of, in the face of all these demonic powers. There's no doctor in that town, there's no program, there's no church, there's no social agency, there's no government agency, no one can offer help. Those covetous pig farmers, they're pig farmers in that town. And they're Jews, they're not even supposed to be raising pigs. They're not even supposed to be eating it. And even today, it's not eaten by the Jewish community. I remember a few months ago trying to find a place, someone told me, down near Wall Street called Ham Heaven. And I saw a lady pushing a cart and I said, could you tell me where Ham Heaven is? And her husband wheeled around and says, of course not! I'm Jewish, why would I tell you where a pig is? And I'm not being facetious, but it dawned on me, I had embarrassed him, and I didn't mean to embarrass him. I didn't mean it at all. If I'd have known that, I wouldn't have asked. But you see, they were flaunting their sin. They had no concern about this man, they're more interested in their pigs. But suppose somebody in that town said, well hey look, it's not right for us to sit here covetous like this. This poor man, he has no blankets, he has no food. He needs help, and they form a committee. And they go out there, loaded down with blankets and food. And they feel real good about themselves, and they say, let's do something for this demonic man. Now, as good as that made those people feel, and as commendable as that was, those blankets, that food would change absolutely nothing. They'd go right back home. That demon-possessed man wouldn't even touch that blanket because he's driven by the devil into the cold wilderness. And what I'm telling you brother and sister, that we have charitable organizations all over the city and all over the country saying, oh let's do something about, we have people come all over America, come to New York and bleed on the streets. They say, what are you going to do about this? Well, we're preaching Jesus Christ first because that's what they need. You cannot just give them a blanket, you can't give people just food, a few dollars because that's an endless, there's no bottom to that well. Because when Jesus comes in and changes their life and gives them hope, then you've done more than just give them a one-day handout. Now we feed people, we clothe people, we believe in that. But that in itself is not enough, not at all. What is needed is the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to break the devil's power. But you know, Jesus is over on a cross on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus, I know, he's standing in front of these dead church people, these Pharisees. And they hate him because he's coming to preach and sacrifice to them. He's preaching about the needs of people. And Jesus is listening to these Pharisees, picking on little insignificant things. He looks at this structure, this religious structure. He looks at this massive temple. The Lord knows that they've not only rejected him, they want to kill him. They absolutely have rejected the Son of the Living God. The ministers have become hucksters. That's right, the ministers of that temple were more interested in the almighty dollar than they were in the souls and lives of people. And Jesus one day knew what was happening because it was eating him up. And one day, right after this, he's going to take a whip and he's going to go right to that temple, right to that place where those preachers are out for money. He's going to throw over the tables and he's going to say, Get out of here, you made my father's house a house of thieves! Thieves, get out! He looks at this money-changing religious system. He looks at all these fancy temples. And he hears a cry across the sea. He hears this man weeping. Because the Bible says he cried all night. And I believe Jesus' ears tuned and he hears it. And you know, one of the greatest texts in the Bible. And they passed on the other side. Jesus, let's go to the other side. And you know, Jesus knows it. Jesus, remember, knows the minds of man. He knew that nobody in Gadara is going to receive him. He knew those pig farmers are not going to respond. He knew that there's nobody over there that's going to get help but one man. He knew Nathaniel, didn't he, when he saw him under the fig tree. The Bible said he knew what was in the hearts of men. This was God in the flesh. But God is setting up a confrontation. God's setting up an example for the whole world to see. Because there's an army of demons on one side. And Jesus, the Son of God, on this side. And on the way over, they're going to go through a storm. And they're going to wake up Jesus, who's asleep in the boat. And they're going to say, wake up, Master, don't you care. We're going to drown, we're going down. And Jesus stands and he stills the water and the waves and the wind and it all stops. There's a calm. And they say, what manner of man is this? But Jesus has set an example. God has arranged this whole scene. He's setting up a scene. He's setting up something that you and I can learn from. Because Jesus never did anything unless his Father told him to do it. And the Father had told him to go across the sea. The Father said, I'm going to show your disciples something about you. I'm going to show the church something about you. And these men had to see it because God was going to build his church on the faith of these apostles. Build on the faith of these apostles. They're going to see something about Jesus and his nature and his power. Jesus calms the sea and they row on. Gets out of the boat. Hallelujah. You know, I have to stop here and say something right now. And I believe this is a prophetic teaching in this. I don't believe it's just the story of one man's deliverance. There's a great prophetic truth here. And the more I got into, the more it blessed my heart. Listen to me. When God's about to send a revival to a people, he bypasses all the religious systems. He bypasses them. And he goes to where there is hunger, where there is need. And I'm telling you now, on the authority of this book, in this pulpit right now, the revival is coming to New York City, going to bypass up every temple, every dead church. And God's going to go out in the streets to the tombstones and the graveyards and send a revival. I saw a church up in Upper Manhattan the other week, last week. Great big sign. Doesn't say revival. It said celebrate the arts. Celebrate the arts. Last Thursday, this past Thursday, a few nights ago, about 12.30, I got a telephone call. And it was from a friend of mine. And he was brokenhearted because his friend, a professor at a well-known, if I named the seminary, you'd know, one of the best-known seminaries in America. And this man, a dear Baptist brother, had just got sawed up on fire for God. And he'd been traveling around seeing all the gifts of the Holy Spirit operating. He'd seen healing recently. He'd seen demons cast out. He'd seen all kinds of miracles happening. He said, I can't deny what I've seen. So he started teaching it in his class in the seminary. And the seminary got mad. And they came to him and asked him to sign a statement that he would acknowledge that all the gifts are dead for this day. And he refused to sign it. And last Thursday, he was fired. He was fired. We had a brother, a month ago, come up here and get saved. A real gentleman stood here and got saved. And he attends one of the famous seminaries here in New York City. And we went out to lunch. And here in his eyes, he said, David, sitting next to me in seminary are witches and warlocks. And they're here to get a degree in theology to give them accreditation so that they can get into hospitals and chaplains in hospitals and in prisons. And they want to be validated with this degree. And the school knows they're there. You mean to tell me God's going to send a revival to that junk? That is Ichabod. The glory of the Lord has departed. Since I've been here, I've been walking in some of these big temples and these great cathedrals they have. And you walk by there, and they're just like mausoleums. Tombs. Tombs. And Jesus sees all this, and he goes outside of it all. Oh, by the way, you know the majority of chaplains. You fellas, have you been in jail? Where's the most ungodly people you ever meet in jail? In the chaplain's office in prison. Am I telling you the truth? No, thank God not all of them are like that. There are some godly holy ones. But they're very rare. And if they're godly, they don't last very long. They're moved out. But you see, suppose you take this group that's here tonight. And you put them in some of these very fancy uptown churches. And I'm not preaching against churches. God forbid. I'm talking about a principal here that's involved. And you take them into some of these very nice traditional churches. And they're so hooked on their tradition. There's a way to do it. Everybody's got a seat. Boy, no sinner better ever come in and take their seat. That's the most unforgivable sin there is. You're in my seat. There's not enough power there to scare the church mouse. Some of you junkies go on in. Go on in to some of these uptown churches. Go on in there. And after the service, go up there and say, Brother, I'm a junkie, and I've got a problem. I need help. Have you been to the welfare department yet? There's a methadone clinic down the street. Why don't you go down to those Jesus people down there at Teen Challenge or something. That's right. They only get their hands dirty. Suppose, suppose by some incredible miracle, a man of God takes the pulpit in one of these traditional dead churches in New York City. Been here for years. And all they're doing is paying the bills. Saul hadn't been saved in 20 years. They don't even know what it looks like. And somehow this pastor gets the Holy Ghost. And he stands in the pulpit and he starts preaching repentance. Real slow at first, of course. And he sneaks it in. And somebody over there starts crying. And everybody looks. Somebody's crying. God forbid he says, Amen. And then all of a sudden, this pastor says, I feel led of God to invite you to receive Christ as Lord. Can you see the chins drop? Christ as Lord? That's not the way we do it here. Come on, you know I'm telling the truth. I'm not trying to be facetious or funny. But if that preacher would open it up and there'd be souls coming down and people start getting saved, I don't think that man would last two months in that church. I don't believe it at all because they say, Why did you have to come here and start a way? Is everything going wrong for 30 years here? Just fine. You come and upset everything. Makes me nervous. Oh, we've had people leave Times Square Church. They said, I can't go there. I get nervous in there. What is it that's making you nervous? It can't be the music because the Bible said in heaven, John said, I heard the sound of thunder. Many waters praising God. Thunder! Jesus went out of his way, crossed the sea to respond to the cry of one hopeless man bound by the devil. No one else was helped. No one else was wanting help. He went for just this one man. And Jesus knew all about him. But you see, he wanted to be free. When he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and fell down and worshipped him. According to Mark, the 5th chapter, 6th verse. Now, the devils believe that God is God. They even tremble. But they don't worship. You see, this man, in a moment of sanity, in a moment of looking in his own heart, he sees Jesus. And there, face to face with this man with power, that meek Holy Spirit, he's convicted and he falls on his face. And suddenly, having said that, the demons speak out. You know what they said? What do I have to do with you, Jesus? Thou Son of God, most high, I beseech thee, torment me not. That was the captain of these demons speaking out of this man. What do I have to do with you? And that's two things I see in that. First of all, they're saying, what are you doing? This is our territory. You belong in the temple. You belong with those religious Jews. But out here, in the tombs, with a man that's been given up by society, this is our territory. You don't belong here. What are we to do with you here? What are you doing here? And that's what the whole community of Times Square is saying about Times Square Church. What are you doing? What do we have to do with you? What do we have to do with... What are you doing down here? You go uptown, go downtown, this is theater. And the devil says, this is mine. Satan says, what are we to do with you? Another thing is, I see this as total surrender. Jesus had commanded them to leave. He said, and in Matthew, I think it's one word, Go! Go! And they were about to leave when they said, please don't cast us in the bottomless pit. And I'll tell you something, Jesus doesn't bargain with demons. Not at all. But I'll tell you what, what Jesus was going to allow was an act of divine judgment. Be sure your sin will find you out. These people were corrupting all of Israel with their swine flesh. Buying and selling and eating. Seducing them. And Jesus came to fulfill the law. They said, let us go into that herd of swine. The Bible said there were 2,000 of them. Jesus said, go! And suddenly there was a rumbling, a screeching among those swine, those 2,000 pigs. And when those devils left the man and took their place in these pigs, those pigs, isn't it something? People let them stay, but pigs won't. And you know those pigs ran down over the side of the hill, and can you imagine, can you imagine the splashing? 2,000 pigs in a seesaw, reeling and flailing and screeching and screaming. 2,000 of them. And I want you to know that that man sat there at the feet of Jesus. He's watching this thing because now he's in his right mind. And one of the disciples has put one of his robes around him when he was out of garments and he's cold. And Jesus is saying, look. Look what was in you. Look at it. Look what the devil wanted to do with you. He's a killer. And he sees these pigs flailing in the water. Can you imagine the relief, the praises to God? He said, that was in me. And on one of these days when you get saved, one of these days when you give your heart to Jesus and you look back, and you look to the streets and you see what the devil does to swine flesh. And you say, was that me? Was that in me? End of side 1. Turn the table to side 2 to continue. This is divine judgment. Jesus knew they wouldn't hear. But he's going to give them a lesson of divine judgment and God, by His Holy Spirit, judged right on the spot. I want to tell you something. These people kept the swine. They ran into town. They said, quick, quick. Pigs dead. All dead. I'm sure the first thing, they didn't say anything about the man being healed. Pigs. Pigs. Money. Money. Bankruptcy. Bankruptcy. They got them. They came running in. I mean, they came from all over. I'll tell you something. I don't know how long it took. It had to take a few hours to go into town. Back and gather all the people from all the hillsides. And here they come, marching down. And there's Jesus and His disciples. I think I know what Jesus is doing right now. This is the whole purpose of this whole story. Because God set up this battle scene. He wanted those disciples. Because very soon, the Bible says that Jesus is going to send His disciples out and give them power over the devil. They're going to go out and cast out demons. And they're never going to forget this as long as they live. Every time they come up against the devil or demon, they're going to remember the power of Jesus Christ to speak the Word and they all flee. And that's what God's teaching us right here now. That in Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That He has all power and authority over all powers of the devil. And the Lord put this here so that we would never be afraid of the devil. Never be afraid. And to believe that we have in His name all authority to cast out all demon powers. And that's what this whole story is about. But let me tell you something. The dead, formal, traditional church is not only afraid of the demonic, it doesn't want the miraculous. Wouldn't you think that people come out there, especially his own family, because Jesus would go back to your own family and tell them. Wouldn't you think his family would rejoice at least? Wouldn't you think that somebody had enough religion in them to say, this is indeed a miracle. Forget the pigs. This is a miracle. You know what they did? They were afraid and they said, one of the disciples said, depart from us. In other words, get out. Jesus, get out. I want to tell you now the reason God's going to have to go down into the streets over here in Hell's Kitchen and up in the Bronx and all over this city and go down where people are drunken, down the Port Authority bus station where people are laying out and on the streets or everywhere else. And not only that, folks, I look out. I live up on a high floor on a high rise. And I look out every night praying and I see these big tall buildings. You know what they look like to me? Tombstones. Because I know they're full of people that are dead. Spiritually dead. I know that they're battling demonic powers. They're driven to do things. They're driven toward greed. They're driven toward lust. Driven. First thing, someone called us when we came into town and said, Brother Dave, don't forget the rich people in this city too because their problems are just as serious. And I believe that perhaps even more serious. They said, get out. And the reason I believe that the Lord's going to have to do that, He's going to have to just do that, He's going to get out. There is coming and already begun, I believe, a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But where is it going to be felt? Where is it going to be seen? It's going to be seen among those who are crying out to God. Crying out, Oh God, I'm lost. Look what's happened to me. You see when it says he was cutting himself and he was bleeding and naked. You don't cut yourself with stones. But you stick the needle and you cut your flesh with your needle. You abuse your body. You're cutting your mind. Destroying yourself. I want you to just listen to this. Before I close, I want you to listen to a couple of these scriptures. Because tonight, the Lord has laid it on my heart that we should take absolute authority over every demon spirit. We're going to believe God in just a moment to see a great outpouring of the Spirit. These signs shall follow them that believe. In my name, they shall cast out devils. In my name, they shall cast out devils. Then he called all twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all devils. And they cast out many devils. Mark 6, verse 13. He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also. And greater works than these shall he do, because I go to my Father. You know what God by His Spirit is saying? Look at Jesus standing there right now in front of six thousand demons and He says, go. And Jesus says, greater works than these are you going to do? And God's saying, if you walk a holy life, if you're sanctified walking in the Spirit, and you walk blameless before me, you have all power and authority in your own life against demon powers, the intrusion of them. You have every right to go up to anyone who's crying out for help and say in the name of Jesus Christ, I take authority over this. But you better be sure you're walking in holiness. You better be sure because the seven sons of Sceva came and they said, we're going to cast out demons. And the demon says, Christ, Jesus I know, Paul I know. Who are you? Who are you? And those demons leaped on, that man leaped on them and started overpowering them. They had to run. I mean, those demons, that man just tore the clothes off of those sons of Sceva. You better be careful because this whole thing can be brought onto you because you go out in the power of the flesh. I'm not talking about the power of the flesh. I'm talking about the power of the Holy Spirit. And those who are under the blood, walking blameless before the Lord. And I believe we have that here tonight. We have those who are walking in authority over all the power of the devil. And you know, here at Times Square Church, this leadership, Brother Bob has a minister of deliverance. Every one of these men that we work with have a minister of deliverance. We don't shout at the devil. If you try to shout at demons, they know that you're just trying to overpower them. We were in a meeting up in Toronto. And I've never seen such demon activity in my life as in Toronto. And they all were called. They were just screaming out. I mean, just blurting everything out. We'd see ushers and then when they'd start screaming, grab them and try to set them down and sit on them. And everybody yelling, screaming at the demons. No. Just very quietly in His authority. And Brother Bob taught me a good lesson. And I've never forgotten it. When you stand against the demon powers of hell, they must know your battle is not with me, it's with Jesus. It's with Jesus. And none of those powers can withstand Jesus. And the reason you're driven like you are, it's because of demon powers. Something has a hold of you and it has to be broken. Some of you converts that are here tonight. The devil is gone. But the Bible, and I know what Jesus was telling this demon-possessed man after he's free. He was telling the story where the unclean spirit's gone out of a man. He walks through dry places seeking rest. And he finds none. And he comes back and he sees that house that's been cleansed but it's not been furnished. It's still empty. There's been no growth. There's been no change. It's just an empty, dull thing. And those demons said they'd go out and get seven demons worse and come back and the last day of that man is worse than the first. So I'm telling you, if you don't get the Word of God in your heart and become a lover of this Word of God and fill every bit of your house, your spiritual house, with the Word of God, this is the power against every demon of hell. This Word of God hidden in your heart. No devil can cross this line. No devil can cross this line. And the only reason some of you are backslidden because you're not praying and you're not into this Word. You can't just do it on emotion. You have to have the Word hidden in your heart. You can say, devil thus says the Word of God and the devil has to flee in the face of this Word. Hallelujah! One last story before I close. Just a couple of minutes here. Brother Bob was with me down here at Bryant Park, 42nd Street, Bryant Park. That's just three blocks down here. And we were holding a street rally in the afternoon. And I just finished preaching and I heard somebody with a horrible whistle. I was just trying to drown me out. And he kept coming closer and closer and people were running when he came. And then he put the whistle away but he stood right in front of me and Bob was over here and he said, I'm demon possessed. I'm full of many, many demons. He said, I went to a Pentecostal church. I was saved. But he said, I let lust take over my heart. I opened myself up. And he said, I'm possessed. I said, Who told you? And before I could answer, his face changed. And he began to froth at the mouth. And you could see it. I mean, there's no way a human being could contort his face like that without it being demonic. And we started to go toward him to pray and he ran. And he disappeared, leaped over heads and he was gone. And he came back a little bit later and I saw Brother Bob praying with him, moving toward him. And I moved toward him here and Bob was here and there were big heads on the back. And he raised his hands in a guttural voice that was not his and said, You can't have this body! It's mine! And Brother Bob, one side and on the other, said in Jesus' name, just move closer. Again he leaped away and Brother Bob prayed, Oh God, put a wall of angels around him that he can't escape. And I went to pray with some other drug addicts but a little while later I saw Brother Bob and a few others over there praying with him. And he's standing there and just totally demon possessed. I mean, but something brought him back. And he would walk this way like he hit a wall and walk this way like he hit a wall. The wall of angels was there. Hold, hold, please. Just a minute. The wall of angels was there. And folks, there are many people there. Verify what I'm telling you. This is not a fairy tale. I'll never forget it. And Brother Bob stepped near him and he said, words of fact, How did you get in the circle? Bob said, In Jesus' name, every demon flee. Go. And the man fell. He fell. Grass. He crawled into the bushes. Just groveling like a dying animal. Just groveling and groaning. Brother Bob, a few saints just standing there, no yelling, no screaming, but absolute authority in Jesus' name. I said, Go. And not return. And all of a sudden, out of just a beautiful sound, you could hear it. I want to tell you something. The young man that came out of those bushes had the joy of Jesus in his heart. That boy was smiling from ear to ear. He put his arms around Bob and I went over and he hugged me. He said, I haven't been able to sleep. I've been miserable. He said, But I'm free. I'm free. Some have been miserable. The devil's been driving you. You know it's a power beyond you. It's just driving you. And I'm here to tell you tonight, the same Jesus Christ of Galilee who stood before that demonic legion and says, Go. Depart. And they left. It's the same Christ that we serve who is here now in this building in all of His power and glory and He has commanded those spirits, Depart from you. Depart and go. Hallelujah. If you don't mind, please no more clapping. I feel so clearly led of God tonight to pray. We've got young pastors here. We've got people, every one of them have seen demonic powers flee. Every one of these feel the authority, know and stand in the authority of God and His Word. First, I'm going to invite those here tonight. You've got a habit that's gripped your life and I'm not talking about just homeless. In fact, I'm talking about everybody in this building. Listen closely now. This is life and death now. You can be free. You don't have to walk out of here driven by the devil anymore. God's sending revival to the tombs. The graveyards of New York. Hallelujah. God's raising up preachers. This is just the beginning. We see these preachers here. Dawn, there's going to be a whole new group. There's going to be a whole new army come up. Glory be to God. You're coming back to New York to work, aren't you? Amen. You've come back. God's bringing more and more in here. And what happened in 1958 is just a drop in the bucket to what God's going to do. Hallelujah. Up and down Harlem. Spanish Harlem. Black Harlem. Northeast side. Everywhere. And that's why the devil's mad because Jesus has come back to the tombstones. And He's coming back with deliverance. Hallelujah. Glory. You say, Brother Dave, I don't know if I want to be free. I've fought this long enough. I've lost sleep over it. I've cried enough. Haven't you cried yourself to sleep enough? You think these guys are homeless and this young lady... You think they don't cry? Do you cry? You cry. Huh? You cry all the time. You know what I'm talking about? Jesus hears that. He hears that cry. And I'll tell you what. Jesus would rather come across the street and meet you and give up all those tabernacles and all those temples and all of those people asking dumb questions to come down and answer a cry. Amen. That's the Jesus I serve. That's the Christ we serve. And listen. That's why God raised up this church. That we would understand. And it's not hype. It's not emotionalism. We have been given absolute authority. No demon has a right to show himself in this place tonight. None. We're not challenging the powers of hell. We're just doing what Jesus told us to do. And if you have a heart that's crying out, Brother Dave, I've got a habit. You don't even have to tell us what it is. And I want to be free. I want you to get right up out of your seat. You that are up in the balcony, go down to the sides and down there. And you that are here on the main floor, you come up here. I'm going to have these young pastors and others. We're going to stand here and we're going to lay hands and we're going to bind in Jesus' name every hindering spirit, every lying spirit of the devil. We're going to ask God to set you free. Let you walk out of here in total deliverance. You say, Brother Wilkinson, I've cried over this long enough. I've been bound. I want to be free. Get out of your seat. Come and stand right here in the front. Orchestra, come if you will. Please. This young man that's coming down right here now. Is this your first time here, son? Is this your first time in this church? You're very sick. What's the problem? You have a liver problem? Drug addict? Alcohol too? Brother, sister, and I'm not putting this man on the spot, that this brother looks like the man I'm talking about, like death. God bless your heart, brother. Did you bring him in tonight? Your friend, you went out and got him. Do you feel Jesus here tonight? Do you believe He has the power to set you free? Huh? Say it right now. Jesus, I give you my sins. I give you my heart. Forgive me. Save me. And heal me. Like you did for the man in the tombs. Lord, answer prayer now. Lord, heal. He's got a terrible liver disease. Lord, you can heal this liver disease. Save him. Set him free. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. This is the end of this tape. For a copy of this tape, or any other from Times Square Pulpit, write to World Challenge, P.O. Bot, 260 Lindale, Texas, 75771. Or call area code 214-963-8626. Thank you.