This sermon is a powerful call to prayer and faith in God for a transformative year ahead. It emphasizes the need for humility, desperate prayer, and a deep reliance on God's power to bring about miracles and revival. The message encourages believers to seek a profound encounter with God, to be vessels of His glory, and to trust in His faithfulness for answered prayers and divine intervention.

Psalm 115, title of my message is 2016, the year of answered prayer. 2016, the year of answered prayer. Father, I thank you God with all of my heart. I praise you Lord from the depths of my being for how faithful you are. You're merciful, you're kind, you're just, you're good. Lord, thank you that you are drawing us to yourself at this moment in time. Give us the grace to understand the moment we're living in now. I pray God that you would come upon me and give me the power to speak this word in a way, oh God, that every heart can hear it, in a way that it will ignite faith in every one of us and cause us without trepidation to come boldly to the throne of grace, to find help in our time of need. Thank you Lord that you're not going to leave us in a weakened condition in this generation, but you're going to be God to us in a profound, a powerful way. Thank you Lord Jesus Christ for giving us a heart for those who are yet to come into your kingdom. Thank you Lord that we're not the judge of any man, but God we're the ambassadors of incredible grace and reconciliation. We give you the glory Lord for giving us a right heart going into this year in a right way to pray. We thank you for it in Jesus name. Psalm 115, not unto us, oh Lord, not unto us, but to your name give glory because of your mercy, because of your truth. Why should the Gentiles say, so where's their God? But our God is in heaven, he does whatever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak. Eyes they have, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Noses they have, but they do not smell. They have hands, but they do not handle. Feet they have, but they do not walk. Nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them, and so is everyone who trusts in them. Oh Israel, trust in the Lord, he is their help and their shield. Oh house of Aaron, trust in the Lord, he is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord, he is their help and their shield. The Lord has been mindful of us, he will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great. May the Lord give you increase more and more, you and your children. children. May you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth is given to the children of men. The dead do not praise the Lord, nor any who go down into silence. But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord. The psalmist begins by saying these words, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to your name, give glory because of your mercy and because of your truth. Many of those who wrote these passages of scripture knew that they, as well as we, were living in times where the behavior of God's people did not warrant his blessing. And so the psalmist is crying out something that you will find quite often through the hearts of those who were significantly used in the kingdom of God in times past, saying, God, it's not about us. It's not that we can present anything to you that we should say to you because of this, you should move your hand. We can't bring to you a litany of virtue or testimony or witness. Matter of fact, we've fallen far short in this generation of what we ought to be as a testimony to the living God, to the unsaved around us. And so Lord, we're not presenting to you anything of ourselves, but it's only because of you and your name. Your name deserves to be praised. Your name deserves to be glorified. And the way you have chosen to do that is through a people that you call your own in the earth called the church of Jesus Christ. We find the character of God quite often responding to that kind of a call where you and I go into the prayer closet and say, Lord, I have nothing to bring you. I'm not faithful as you described faithfulness. I'm not separated to you as your word describes separation to you. My mind is not always on the things of God. I don't pray without ceasing as the word says I should. I'm not always thinking about things that are worthy and of glory and a virtue and such like things. But oh God, you have bound the honor of your name with my life. And so I'm coming to you based on that knowledge that you condescended to me in my lowest state. And you chose to not only save me, but indwell me and call me your own. And therefore for your namesake, God, for your namesake, change me for your namesake. Deepen me for your namesake. Wash me for your namesake. Empower me for your namesake. Bring increase into my life. Do it for your namesake. Oh God, listen to what God said to Israel through the prophet Ezekiel at a time when the testimony of God through his people, Israel were deeply backslidden in the earth. Listen to what he said. I'll read it to you. It's Ezekiel 36 beginning at verse 22. Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, I do not this for your sake, oh house of Israel, but for my holy namesake, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. In other words, you, you so reduced me from who I am that you, you profaned my name. It doesn't mean that they went out and they were necessarily living in overt sin, but they went out and they said, this is who God is. And it was such a diminished place of what God really is that God considered that you took my name and you made it so much less than it should be. But he says, I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. And the nation shall know that I'm the Lord says the Lord God, when I'm hallowed in you before their eyes, for I will take you from among the nations, I will gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I'll give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I'll take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. And then you will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you will be my people and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the green and multiply it and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. God said to his people, Israel, I'm going to take you for my namesake. I'm going to bring you back from all the places where you've gone. Everything that has captivated your heart, everything that has diminished the testimony of my name to the point where I consider it profaned among the nations through you. And for my namesake, I'm going to draw you one more time and I'm going to wash you and I'm going to cleanse you. I'm going to give you a heart to turn to me and to follow me. I'm going to put my spirit upon you. I'm going to increase you on every side and no more, no more will the nations mock when they look at you and say, these are the people of God. No more. And he says, I will do it for my own holy namesake. The psalmist in Psalm 115 verse 2 says, why should the Gentiles say, so where is their God? Why should the Gentiles, why should those who are godless be allowed to mock the church of Jesus Christ? Why should they be allowed to do this? Why should they be allowed to point at us and decree us to be non-essential to society, a nuisance, voiceless, dividers? No, I don't believe that this is what the testimony of the church of our time is going to be. Moses, the servant of God, twice presented an argument to God when God had decided to abandon his own people. He got so angry concerning the testimony of those who should have known better that he would have walked away had it not been for one man who stood in the breach as an intercessor. In Exodus 32, when the people had made a golden calf and had turned away from the worship of the true God, God said to Moses, now therefore let me alone. I love that, don't you? He said, I've seen this people and indeed it's a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone. Imagine if God said that to you today. I'm going to do something. Now let me alone. Don't try to change my mind, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them and I will make of you a great nation. Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God and said, Lord why does your wrath burn hot against your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with a great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak and say he brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath and relent from this harm to your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants so they shall inherit it forever. So the Lord relented from the harm which he said he would do to his own people. Here's what Moses said, I know they have failed and I know they have crafted another image of God. Nations are prone to do this who have once even known the power or the blessing of God. But Moses stood in the breach and said, God don't do this thing. Don't abandon your people. Don't let the unsaved say the word of God can't be trusted. Don't let them declare you to be unfaithful. It's really about your name. That's what Moses was saying to the Lord. It's about your name God. If you do this, the heathen will be allowed to say that there was a hidden line in your promises that you hid from everybody and you just brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains and consume them from the face of the earth. God don't do this because it will tarnish your name. And he began by saying to Moses, let me alone. I will consume them and make of you a great nation. And it shows me, you know, so many times we are so willing to write off everybody else in the body of Christ, as long as we're the new game in town. But Moses was interceding as we are going to intercede for the whole church of Jesus Christ, the whole body, no matter what kind of a testimony is being exhibited. We're not leaving behind anybody who's come to the cross of Jesus Christ for their redemption. We refuse to walk away and we're not praying so that we become the biggest game in town. We're going to pray for the whole church in this country, the whole church in New York city. We're going to pray for everyone who calls himself by the name of Christ and say, Oh God, for your namesake, don't let it be said that you promised deliverance and didn't bring it. Don't let it be said of you. Oh God. And again, in the book of numbers chapter 14, when the people refused to go into that place of promise that he had given to them, here's what God said. I'll strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them. And again, he says to Moses, I'll make of you a nation, a nation greater and mightier than they. And Moses said to the Lord, the Egyptians will hear it for by your might, you brought these people up from among them and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They've heard that you Lord are among these people that you Lord has seen face to face and your cloud stands above them and you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Now, if you kill these people as one man, then the nations, which have heard of your fame will speak and say, because the Lord was not able to bring this people to the land, which he swore to give them. Therefore he killed them in the wilderness. In other words, Moses said, God, if you let your people go down into defeat, the heathen will say, God's word has no power. God's word can't be trusted. God makes promises that he can't fulfill. And so God, I ask you not to let your people go down into defeat. And now I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as you have spoken. That's the second part of Moses intercession come to us in power, come to us in strength. The Lord is long suffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Oh, pardon. He says in verse 19, the iniquity of this people, I pray according to the greatness of your mercy, just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt, even until now, then the Lord said, I pardoned them according to your word. When we begin to pray for others, God starts answering our prayer. Even though the scripture decrees justice, mercy still triumphs over justice. And for the honor of the name of God, for the honor of the name of Jesus Christ in 2016, we're going to pray and say, Oh God, enough of the reproach of famine among the heathen, enough of being marginalized to the point where the name of Jesus is just mocked and cast into the streets as worthless salt. God almighty, we invite you to do something in each of us, Lord, so profound, so deep, so powerful that the whole world will have to stand up and take notice. We invite you Lord Jesus Christ to come into New York city, into the entire church and move so powerfully that nobody could touch the glory. Nobody could say this happened because we did thus and thus. It'd be such a sovereign move of God, a sovereign touch of God in the churches of our city. Psalm 115 verses 13 and 14 says, he will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great. May the Lord increase you more and more you and your children. That's why the scripture tells us in second chronicle 714, if my people were called by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways. I love the parable, the story that Jesus told in Luke chapter 11 of a man who, it was a midnight hour and a friend came to him and he had nothing to give him. And he went to his friend's house. And see here's the humility at midnight. It was a dark time. We're living in the midnight hour now. I told you about a survey, two surveys that were taken where over 60% of a thousand randomly surveyed people said the priority of my life is to get right with God. It's midnight. And a lot of people want the bread of heaven. They want to get right with God, but this man knew it was midnight. He knew he had a friend coming to him and he knew he had nothing to give him. That's humility. When we go knock at the door of God, as this man did and said, Lord, it's midnight. My friend has come and I have nothing to set before him. That was his admission was the beginning of his humility. When we're still presenting something of ourselves, when we're still presenting some plan that we feel God is obliged to bless, when we're still coming and presenting our own virtue before a holy God, we make the mistake of cutting off our own supply. It's humility that opens the door of heaven. When we come and say, Lord, I don't have what it takes to meet the need of this generation. And the second part of humility is his open declaration. You got to understand this man's going to his friend's door. It's midnight. He's knocking on that door and his friends are already in bed. So he's got to yell and he doesn't care who he's waking up in the neighborhood. He's declaring his bankruptcy publicly and he's not whispering through the door. He's yelling through the door. It's midnight. I'm bankrupt. I know what bread looks like, but I don't have any myself. I know what integrity looks like, but I'm a little short of it at the moment in a generation that needs to know integrity. God almighty. I know people need an alternative lifestyle to what they've chosen, but I don't have at this moment, a lifestyle that stands in stark contrast to the way they're living. I know what bread looks like, but I'm short of it. It's not enough when somebody comes hungry to your house and you simply describe what food looks like. A lot of people are doing that. You can go out and the witnessing program is just simply describing food, but not really having food to bring to those that are hungry. God, I know what truth is. I study it, but I'm so prone not to speaking truth. I'm so prone to lying when it's convenient in the workplace, in my environment, in relationships, or whatever it is. God, it's midnight. People want truth. I know what truth is, but God, I don't have a heart of truth. How can I tell them to have confidence when I'm full of fear myself? Lord, you've got what I need. You have all the supply that needs to be mine for me to make a difference. I can tell others about freedom, but I'm not free in this or that area of my life. So, Lord, I'm knocking at your door. You see, the true hallmark of spiritual awakening is people don't care anymore, who knows? They don't care. Getting right with God is more important than having the praise of the person beside you or behind you. Getting right with God is what it's all about. And this man's not whispering through the door. This man's desperate. It's midnight. It's dark. He's knocking on the door of his friend and saying, friend, lend me three loaves. I need everything, God, you have for me. I need the compassion of the Father. I need the courage of the Son. I need the power of the Holy Spirit. I need everything, oh God, if my life is going to make a difference in this generation. And the scripture says, though he will not rise and give him because he's his friend, but because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as much as he needs. Can you imagine as he's knocking at the door and then suddenly the door opens and his two hands come out with nail scars, with all the bread that you'll ever need, the supply that was won for you and I on the cross of Calvary. When Jesus rose from the dead, took captivity captive, and the scripture says he gave gifts unto men. When we knock on that door again, and we're not knocking for ourselves, it's part of it is for ourselves. But the ultimate goal of our prayer is for others. It's for a perishing society in a dark time. It's Lord, it's not right that your name should be intertwined with mine. And I sit here powerless. I sit here with no resources. I sit here with no strength, no passion. I sit here, oh God, and it's hard for me to even go to a prayer meeting and pray. I don't even have the passion to see this generation brought back to life again. But oh God, I'm knocking on your door and I'm asking you to give me that which I need. And when you come to that door with desperation in your heart, suddenly the door opens and out comes the full supply. Here, eat this. Here, partake of this. Here, try this. Not only will it satisfy you, but it will satisfy everyone who comes across your path in these darkened hours, which we are now living. That's why Jesus concluded his parable by saying, for I say to you, ask and it will be given you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. Everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? If he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, that's in contrast to God, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more, how much more, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Oh God, oh God, oh God. In Acts chapter 2, 120 failures like you and I went into an upper room because they had a promise from God. You're going to be filled with power and you're going to become living witnesses of me, where you are and even beyond your borders. I'm going to do it for you. You tried to do it in your own strength and you couldn't do it, but now you come to me. You knock on the door of heaven and I'm going to fill you with what only can come from the hand of God. I don't know exactly how they prayed in that season where they were in that upper room, but I do know they probably prayed like this. They probably said, oh God, we and ourselves have nothing to set before this generation in this darkened hour. This generation is so steeped in powerless religion. This generation where we've been swallowed by Rome, by military might, by this new society, this new order that's declaring itself superior to the ways of God in the earth. I'm sure they prayed this way. Lord, you told us we would receive power. Let it never be said that your word can't be trusted. Let it never be said that your promises have no power. Let it never be said of you that your people who are called by your name are no different than the society around us. Let it never be said of you, God. Let it never be said through my life that your word can't be trusted. Let it never be said through my testimony that your promises have no power. Let it never be said from this day forward that those of us who are called by your name are no different than the powerless, religious, self-focused, self-pushing society all around us. Let it never be said. And when they knocked on the door, just as in the parable in Luke 11, suddenly, suddenly they were all with one accord and in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven. Suddenly the door of heaven opened. Suddenly the bread of heaven was released. Suddenly the provision that these 120 people needed to impact their generation was released to them. And I thank God with all my heart for the knowledge that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. There have been moments throughout history since the day of Pentecost when society has degenerated into an almost unspeakable darkness. And yet there were still people to be found who had stormed the gates of heaven on their behalf and on the behalf of the name and the testimony of God. It was all about the glory of God and the souls of men. And when they stormed the gates of heaven, then suddenly that rushing mighty wind came again. Suddenly the provision of God was released. Suddenly their hearts exploded with life. Suddenly, I promise you, if you will press into God this year, that suddenly moment will happen to you. Suddenly these words are life in your heart. Suddenly the promises are real. Suddenly you feel like you can get up and do things you could never do before in your own strength. Suddenly there's a compassion comes into your heart for people you once hated. You hated the way they lived. You hated the way they spoke. You hated what they did. But suddenly you find yourself weeping for their souls in the prayer classes. Suddenly you find yourself speaking words of kindness and power and bread and the promise of new life that were never there. They were never part of your character before. Suddenly in the workplace you're speaking with such truth and with such compassion, with such faith for the future. The people around you are saying, where did this man, where did this woman get this knowledge? Where did these sweet words come from? You weren't like this before. All you can say is I went to the doorway of where God is and I knocked and I said, God, I have nothing, but you have everything I need. And the message will be simple. Why don't you come with me and we will knock for you together. We will pray for you together. And what God has given me, God will give to you. And suddenly there came the sound of a rushing mighty wind. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. And they began to speak things that they couldn't before. In languages and ways they didn't know, but other people understood them. The sudden impartation of the divine life of God enabled them to reach societies and peoples they couldn't have reached before. And they stood in the marketplace and they began to publicly declare who God is, what God does, and what God promises. In other words, he has power. His word can be trusted. Everything he says is true. And coming out with the bread of heaven, suddenly again, 3,000 people that had nothing but religion and an ever emptying hope for the days ahead of them, bent their knee and said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. And gave their lives to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. 3,000 people that day. And I love what Peter said when he stood up in defense of the gospel. Because they were confounded. Because they heard these ordinary people speaking in extraordinary ways. Empowered in a way they hadn't known before. And I love it. When Peter says, I love the King James. I've got a new King James here, but I like the King James better. When he says, this is that that was spoken by the prophet Joel. It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. On my men servants and maidservants, I'll pour out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath. Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now here's my point. It's all summed up in this. 2016 is going to be the year when you and I are going to be able to say, this is that. Not that is that. This is that. This is what God looks like. This is what God does. This is how God delivers. This is how God keeps. This is where God takes us. This is that. This is that. This is that. We're not taking them a survey about bread. We're bringing them bread and saying, this is bread. This is what bread looks like. This is what bread does. This is how it satisfies. This is that. Hallelujah to the lamb of God. No more empty arguments about Jesus Christ. Thank God for pamphlets, but God's going to take us way beyond that. Thank God for those things. Amazing to be able to say, this is what God looks like. Oh yeah. I'm not perfected. I'm not anywhere near where I should be as Paul said, but I have left behind the things that need to be left behind. And I am pressing forward to this mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. But this is what God said he will do in a person's life. I was a liar. Now I speak truth. I was untrustworthy. Now I'm dependent. God dependable. I mean, I, whatever I was, I'm not anymore. This is that. This is what God is doing in the earth. Now, in order to have that testimony, you have to have the humility to knock and say, Lord, it's midnight. It's so dark in our streets now. It's so dark in the workplace. It's so dark in our neighborhoods that ordinary religion is not going to meet the need of this hour and passing up pictures of bread. It's not going to make a difference for the hunger that's in people's lives. There has to be a living demonstration of the power of God. That's why I believe the 2016 is going to be the year of answered prayer. If you've been in the prayer meetings on Tuesday night, you know, that faith is rising in our hearts like never before. God is beginning to do what only he can do. And so I want to challenge you beginning today to believe for a miracle, whatever it is that you need. Maybe you need a total overhaul. I've gone to God like that from time to time. Say, Lord, I need an overhaul. Or maybe it's a specific area of your life that you are aware where you've so fallen short of what God is calling you to be. An area of captivity you just can't get free from. Fear that you can't get out of your heart. An inability to love certain people when you know that God loves them, but you don't. So you need the bread of heaven to be able to love them. You need a new heart, a new mind, a new spirit, and are willing to say, Lord Jesus Christ, for the honor of your name, don't let people look at me and say God doesn't fulfill his promises. Don't let people look at my life and say God has no power. All that man does or woman does is talk about God, but I don't see any power. Don't let it be said. God, I'm asking you this year, that should be your prayer, to turn it around and let the people who are even my enemies have to look at me and say that is what God looks like. That is what God does. This is the year that we're going to believe God, and so I challenge you with all my heart. Don't turn back now. Don't make the mistake of thinking God can't bring you in. Don't let the Egyptians look at your life. Those that are outside of the kingdom of God look at your life and come to the conclusion that God is not real. We're at a divine moment in history. It's a dark moment, but it's a light moment as well. The light of God shines the best in the darkness. If you are willing to press in, God will open the door. I want to give an invitation to this. We call it the altar here. It's the front of this auditorium. It's a place of stepping forward and just consecrating your life, agreeing with God. Lord, I hear this, and even though it's a thousand miles away, spiritually speaking, I'm coming and I'm believing, God, you're going to do something with my life and through my life. You're going to make me a testimony in my generation of who you are because you've bound your name. The honor of your name is intertwined with my life. Thank you, Lord, for mercy and patience, but I'm going to knock this year, and I'm not going away until you open the door to me. I'm not going away until I have what I asked for. We're going to stand in a moment. We'll worship for about 10 minutes, and if that's the cry of your heart today, I'm going to ask you to join with me at the front of this auditorium, and we're going to pray together, and we're going to believe God for the miraculous this year. Would you stand, please? And the same thing in the education annex in North Jersey as well. Just step out of your seat, the balcony, go to either aisle, and just come. Just come to the auditorium and join with those that are already on their way here, and we're going to pray together. Father, we ask you, Lord, in Jesus' name, for your holy namesake, O God, revive us again. For your namesake, Lord, have mercy on New York City. For your namesake, O God, have mercy on your people. Have mercy on your church, Lord, God, for your namesake. Have mercy on the people we meet every day, God, for your namesake, Lord Jesus Christ. God, bring us to that place of power again. Father, we thank you, Lord, for stripping us of pride. We thank you, God, for bringing us to that place, Lord, where your power always is found. We thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for making us as a church the servants of your body in this city. God, help us, Lord, to never be Lord over anyone, but be the servants of all. Thank you for this great calling, this holy calling. We thank you, Lord. God, let the churches in this city prosper exceedingly, Lord, exceedingly. Fill your house, O God, with praying people again. Turn, Lord, turn this society from its evil way, and bring us back again to you, Lord, and let us spread like a fire across the nation, O God. In every state, in every place, Lord, let your house be filled again. Turn us, O God, of our salvation. Turn us. Give us the grace, Lord, to respond to this moment. Father, we thank you, Lord. Thank you for miracles at this altar today. Thank you for deliverances. Thank you for freedom, O God. Thank you for helping us to believe that 2016 is the year of answered prayer, a year like none other we've ever known. Thank you, God. Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. It all belongs to you, Lord. We know what we are without you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for your mercy. We praise you, and we bless you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Praise God.