In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of being a true witness for God. He emphasizes the need to be touched by the glory of God in order to have a powerful and effective witness. The speaker uses the example of Ezekiel, who initially sat silently among the people, causing consternation, but later was instructed by God to get up and go out. The speaker also references Zechariah and Isaiah, highlighting the importance of encountering the glory of God before fulfilling one's calling. The sermon emphasizes the transformative power of God's word and the need for personal encounters with His glory.

This recording is provided by Times Square Church in New York City. You're welcome to make additional copies for free distribution to friends. All other unauthorized duplication or electronic transmission is a violation of copyright and other applicable laws. This recording cannot be posted on any website. However written permission to link to the Times Square Church homepage may be requested by emailing info at timessquarechurch.org. Other recordings are available by calling 1-800-488-0854 or by writing to Times Square Church Tape Ministry, 1657 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. I thank you for your word. It is alive. It is powerful. God is able to be tucked inside the very edges of our heart to grow and bear fruit for your kingdom and your glory. And that's what I pray for tonight. There's nothing that I can say that can change anybody's life, Lord Jesus. I do not have that power. I do not want that power. But God, your word changes people's lives. And it comes in people's lives. It goes out to change other people's lives. And that's what I pray to happen. God, anoint my lips to speak the words you have put in my heart. Touch people's hearts that they would be receptive to have this word planted even tonight, Lord Jesus. Do a work. We rebuke the enemy who would try to come in and steal the word before it gets root. Devil, we rebuke you in Jesus' name. May this word ring true and real. Amen. In Zechariah, chapter 2, verse 8, there's a scripture that simply says this. Thus says the Lord of hosts, after glory, he has sent me against the nations which plunder you. For he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. When I read that in Guatemala, I don't know what it was, but something stuck in my mind. And that entire day and even that night as I lay down to go to sleep, I thought about those words. After glory, he has sent me. After glory, he has sent me. Now, this is a scripture that's given to Zechariah. It's prophetic in nature, speaking of the ministry of the Lord yet to come. But it is also a word there that I believe speaks to all of us. You don't have to be graduated from high school or Bible school or drug rehab. All of us go forth day after day to face new challenges and fresh goals. And many of us go with a lot of zeal and with a lot of energy but end up falling flat. And we say, why? Why didn't we accomplish what was in our heart to do? Why didn't we accomplish what seemingly God had put in our heart to do? And I believe it is this, I believe that we should not go until after we've been touched by the glory. Zechariah's words here come from a man living in a time much like our own day and age. It was a time of wickedness. It was a time when his forefathers who had at once walked with God had turned away. And there was a spiritual slumber that came. There was no word from God for 70 years. There was no revival in the land. And Zechariah saw that and he knew that. And God spoke to him and said, Zechariah, after glory, I'm going to send you out against the nations which has plundered you. And not just sending out against with a word of rebuke but with a word of hope. And with a word of redemption, with the very word of the Lord. After glory he has sent me, it says here. And I thought about all the times that I've set out on some mission of my own. I'm a dreamer of dreams. And my wife laughs because I'm always chasing this mission and that. And I'll go anywhere and do anything if I think it has a chance to bring glory to God. And if the truth be known, many of the missions that I've set out on, I've fallen flat on my face. Or on other parts of my anatomy. I've failed. I've ended up thinking, God, how did this happen? I went out to rescue someone. I went out to preach to dead church and hopefully see revival come. I went out to do something in your name and yet face failure. And what I've learned is when I look back, those times when I've failed most miserably in my own life are times that I've went out with no glory. No touch of God's hand. I've gone out and I think I can do this. I've got good intentions. I've got a good background. I've done this before. And time after time I've failed. And yet there's been some times when I've went out with fear and trepidation thinking I can't do this. But I know that I've been touched by the glory of God. And God has miraculously worked something out. And I believe Zachariah is telling us something here. That after glory God wants to send us. And conversely, you can look at this same scripture, kind of the reverse side of it, saying, don't you go anywhere. Don't you do anything until the Lord has first touched you, until you first touched his glory. And there's a lot of examples in scripture of this principle. Moses is an example of this principle. You all remember the story of Moses is a perfect picture of someone going out to start without the glory. Remember Moses? He was born there. It's recorded in Exodus chapter one. And Pharaoh was afraid because the children of Israel were growing in number and in strength. Perhaps there was already some discontent there. And Pharaoh feared a coup, a revolt. And so he gave that edict that all the male children would be killed. And Moses' mother said she looked at her baby who was beautiful. I guess all mothers think their baby are beautiful. And she took that baby. Remember, she kept him for three months. And then she realized she couldn't keep him and protect him. So she put him in a basket and she hid him in the rushes of the river. And eventually that same baby was found by Pharaoh's daughter and brought into Pharaoh's court. And Moses grew up there. Just a story like out of a storybook. Moses grew up in Pharaoh's court with all the riches and wisdom that Pharaoh had to offer. And yet somewhere along the line, we don't know exactly where or when it happened. And Moses realized he was born for something beyond this. Something more than this. And what happened, remember, he looked out one day as a young man. And he saw an Egyptian beating an Israeli. And he said this was my brother. Already he knew in his heart that he was not of Pharaoh's lineage. He was of a different world, of a different people. And so what he thought is I'm going to rescue my brother. And he took matters into his own hand. Remember what happened? He went and he killed the Egyptian. The Egyptian is killed. And even the man he rescued seemingly turns against him because he says in Exodus 2.14, the people of Israel tell Moses, who made you a prince over us? Moses does something that he thinks good. He thinks I'm going to rescue someone. And yet what happens is he ends up with a dead foe and with a group of people who says we want nothing to do with it. He ends up with a father, the only father he's ever known, Pharaoh, seeking to kill him. And so Moses has to flee. Instead of leading someone to freedom, Moses flees like a felon and he ends up in the desert. How many of you have ended up in the desert before? Don't worry. If you're in a desert tonight, hold on because Moses is going to have something happen to him in the desert that is going to change his life. But I was thinking what Moses must have felt like when he's heading out the gates there of Pharaoh's city, going out to the desert. He's probably thinking what happened? How could this happen? I had good intentions. I wanted to deliver this person who I saw as my brother. And yet all at once now I'm fleeing as a felon. I thought this would work out different than it has. Has that ever happened to you? You think I'm going to witness to somebody at work and they're going to get saved. And instead they go and tell the boss that you're harassing them with religious propaganda and all at once you're in trouble at work. You know, you think you're doing something wise and good and maybe your purposes are wise and good. You're not being touched by God's glory with a directive. Sometimes you end up like Moses with everything falling apart. And what happens? Moses ends up there in the desert all those years. But something happens in the desert. In the desert, Moses comes face to face with the glory of God. In Exodus chapter three, it's the record of Moses' first encounter with the glory of God. He sees and he hears within the burning bush. And as a result of that encounter where God tells him, you go back now, you go back to Pharaoh city, go back to Israel. And you tell him, let my people of Israel go, let them free. Not to save just one man, but to save an entire nation. And as a result of that encounter with the glory of God, Moses goes back into Egypt and finishes as an old stammering man. What he couldn't do as a very strong young man. You would think if God's going to use someone to rescue a nation, it'll be the young, strong Moses. But he goes back in as an old stammering man, but he goes back in after being touched by the glory of God. And it's not just one man that's set free, but it's an entire nation. And not just an entire nation, but we're free here tonight because of the process that began with Moses. There's another case after case after case actually in the Bible. I picked out a few. Ezekiel is another case. Ezekiel chapter one opens with a man seeing a vision from God and hearing a call from God to go and to speak to the exiles who are living on the banks of the Chiba River. Ezekiel hears this word, go, go forth and speak these words. Now look what happens after he hears God tell him to go in Ezekiel chapter three, verse 14 and 15. It says, so the spirit of the Lord lifted me up and took me away and I went embittered in the rage of my spirit and the hand of the Lord was strong on me. God's hand can be on you even when things aren't all right in your life. God's directing Ezekiel, but Ezekiel's got all these emotions inside him that are not of God, this rage and this bitterness. And then I came to the exiles who live beside the river of Chiba at Talibop, which is where God told him to go. But look what he does. God's told him to go and speak. He says, I went and I sat there seven days where they were living. Well, that's a new way to do evangelism. Just go and sit down somewhere. Don't say a word. Just kind of just sit there and look around at people. That's not what God had told him to do at that time. And it says the results were right here. The last verse calls in consternation among them. Now, there are a lot of Christians that think they're a witness for God, but they're causing consternation amongst the people they go to because they go to with their own agendas, with their own bitterness in their heart and rage in their life. They haven't been touched by the glory of God. And either their witness becomes a sitting down or doing nothing or speaking forth with no power. And so what happens is if you read on in verse 22 and 23, God's not through dealing with his equal. And it says, then the hand of the Lord was upon me and he said to me, get up and go out. Sometimes God tells you, just get up and go out. And that's what he did. Go out to the plane and there I will speak to you. So I got up and I went out to the plane and behold, the glory of God was standing there like the glory which I saw by the river Chiba and I fell on my face. And you can read on the rest of the book of Ezekiel. You'll find Ezekiel hearing from God time after time after time and speaking forth. He was a different man and a different messenger after he had been touched by the glory of God. The same scenario unfolds in Isaiah's life. You know the story in Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah sees the Lord high and lifting up with his train filling the temple. And do you remember what the angels were saying there? The angels, when Isaiah had this vision of the Lord high and lifted up, they were saying one called out to another in chapter six, verse three and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And it's after this encounter with God's glory that Isaiah hears God speak these words. Whom shall I go and who will go for us? And Isaiah said, here am I send me. Isaiah went forth and went forth successfully after he had touched the glory. So you can't achieve your goals until you've had an encounter with the glory. You can't fulfill your calling until you've had an encounter with the glory. In the New Testament, there's example after example, none better than Peter. He's been with Jesus three and a half years. He's not only seen Jesus heal the sick and raise the dead and preach with power. But he's had Jesus tell him, Peter, now you and the other disciples go forth. And the things that I do, you should do also, you know, go forth and do all these things. But if you read all four gospels, you'll never find Peter making a single convert within the four gospels. He follows Jesus around, but something is seemingly missing in his life. Matter of fact, what you'll find with Peter is while Peter has been commissioned by Jesus to make disciples and help begin a church. He's even been called a rock, had the faith like a rock by Jesus. And yet he does nothing. Matter of fact, pretty much the extent of his ministry has been to fetch boats and arrange dinners, just do busy work. He's not done anything of any great spiritual significance. He's cursed Christ's name, but he's never preached it. He's denied he knew Jesus, but he's never stood before a crowd and said, yes, I do. He's gone before a little servant girl said, I don't even know the Lord. He's yet to stand before kings and tired and preach boldly. Not yet. Not until what happens. Acts chapter two, when he's in the upper room, the day of Pentecost and that rushing mighty wind, those tongues of fire that came down was the glory of God. The glory of God is the presence of God. The glory of God is God's presence. And after that Pentecostal experience, what happened is Peter stands up and preaches for the first time with power. And not one person comes to Christ, but 3000 people come to Christ after he's been touched by the glory. There's a difference in his life. There's a difference in his ministry. Without the glory, there's no going without the glory. There's no achieving. You know, to me, I think I think the saddest name in all the Bible kind of depicts this. And that's the that's the name of Ichabod. You can look at a lot of names in the Bible are kind of sad names. Nobody probably wants to name their son Judas. It's not like a real popular name to name your boy because Judas was a betrayer. But the truth of the matter is that Judas's name means worthy of praise. He was not worthy of the name. Or look at the name Jezebel. Nobody names their daughter Jezebel. You know, how would you like to go on a blind date? You know, somebody church sets you up and and you go meet your blind date and say, hey, I want you to meet your. Here's Jezebel here. You're not going to it's not going to probably a real happy date night, is it there? Because that name seemingly is a depressing name. But Jezebel had never known the glory of God. I think the saddest name in the Bible is that of Ichabod in first Samuel, chapter four, verse twenty one. You remember the the children of Israel have suffered defeat and Eli's sons have been killed. The ark has been taken away. And Phoenix's wife names her son Ichabod because she says the glory has departed. How sad it is to have known God's glory and then have it departed. I remember several years ago there were hearings in Alabama at the state Senate on abortion. And I'm very much pro-life. It's all Christians should be. And I went to those hearings just to pray. I was not to speak. But, you know, sometimes when you're a preacher, even when you're not to speak, you're not speaking. And that was one of those times. And all these people speaking, it was a day for the pro-abortion forces to speak. And they were all in favor of abortion. But the last person to speak in favor of abortion was a Baptist minister. Now, I'm ordained as a Baptist minister. So I obviously begin to listen to what this man had to say. He got up and he said, I want to tell you, God is pro-choice. God is pro-choice because he gives us a choice. I thought, what a terrible thing to say. And he went on and it was obvious. Here's a man who either had never known God or if he had known God, the spirit of God had long since departed and another spirit had came in. And he said, my daughter, my daughter is expecting my first grandson. And he said, I'll tell you what, if she wanted to have an abortion, I'd gladly drive her to the clinic because that's her choice. And that's freedom and that's love. Well, about this time, I decided maybe I should have a few words to say. So I stood up unannounced and uninvited there in the Senate chambers. And I just said, Pastor so-and-so, since you're a pastor, I'd like to read you a verse of scripture. And before the guards could get there to stop me, I simply read him a verse of scripture. I read what Jesus said when he spoke to the Pharisees. You are just like your father, the devil. You do what gives him great pleasure. And well, what happened is Brother Rick got escorted out in the iron handcuffs. And I was outside and all my quiet Baptist friends were begging, please let him go. We'll take him home. And they let me out of here and I didn't know what was going to happen. And eventually my friends prevailed and the guards cut me loose and said, you can leave. You go out this door around the back. Just get out of here. And so as I was walking out the back door, that Senate chamber opened up and then out walk face to face that minister. And we're looking at each other. And all I could think of was the things he had said in the name of the Lord, false things, wrong things. How he had said, well, my daughter has a baby. If she wants to, I'll abort it. And so I was going to be nice. And I told him, I said, Pastor, I hope when your daughter gets birth to that son, that you name him Ichabod. Because the glory has departed. And I tell you, he said some things that were much more unnice than that. And I walked that and I thought, how many people live the saddest of lives? It is sad to have never known God for, but to have known it and turned away even more so. We'd all be best to heed Zechariah's example to after the glory, after the glory, allow him to send us. Now, within much of Christianity, when I say something about glory, you get excited. People get excited when you mention glory in most churches. Everyone wants to go to the services where there's some glory. Everyone wants to sing all the glory songs. Everybody wants to feel the glory and touch the glory and taste the glory. And I want you to know there's always an obliging pastor or prophet or bishop who will sell you the glory. Excuse me, he'll give it to you free with a $100 love offer. That's what glory has become to much of Christendom. It is a sideshow like a carnival barker selling tickets. You know, come and get you some glory. We got the biggest glory in town. Our glory is better than the Methodist glory. This is all time glory. And people talk about glory and miss glory altogether. The real truth, most of what you see called glory today isn't glory. It certainly isn't the glory of God. At best it is referred to, you know, it may be glorious. And there's a far difference from what is glorious, an adjective, and what is glory, a noun. And I'm going to show you that. I must be different because I hear people talk about all these glory services and glory this and glory displayed. And what I see displayed as God's glory isn't glory. To me it's more glamour and giddiness and some of it's downright goofiness, what is called glory. You know, an evangelist riding around in a private Learjet, to some people, is glory. To me it may be greed. Some people say, oh, you know what, come to our church, we get excited and you go. And they're rolling around on the floor and hopping around like bunnies and they say, isn't this glorious? And I think this is giddiness is what it is. Now the truth of the matter, I must confess, even in my home church people act like this. But they're in the nursery. And about this big. But people do that and they think that's the glory of God. They equate the glory of God with some type of an activity in the glory of God. It's not an activity. It's not even the activity of God. It is the person of God. And then there's always the preacher, evangelist, a prophet or whatever, who's got the newest stick, the newest gimmick, you know, of God's glory. It's been going on for years and years. If you read Christian history, I've read back in the 1940s and 50s and the great tent revivals. There were certain preachers who traveled around with pickled demons in a jar. And that was all. Come and see the pickled demons I've cast out. Now, if you read the rest of the history, you find out that what was pickled were some of those preachers, you know, had been in the pickle and juice themselves. And the charismatic heyday of the 1970s, there were things equated with the glory of God. Let people talk about their poodles being filled with the Holy Spirit. And he barked in unknown tongues. That's true. It's true that they say that it's not true glory. And now these days you've got prophets selling you words of wisdom and knowledge for a hundred dollars and faith healers filling your teeth with gold. And there's other people doing things that my wife always says, Rick, don't go there. You get so angry. I'm an Irishman at heart. So I'll lay that down to say some things that go on shouldn't go on. And they're certainly not glory. It's goofy. But some people believe it. Some people go after it. And these days it seems people pursue glory like it was a blue ribbon prize at the county fair. They don't go to conferences and seminars to buy it or obtain it or learn how to manufacture it. And they miss it by the longest mile. Even some of which is generally nice stuff, seemingly good stuff. It's not what I'm talking about when I talk about being touched by glory before you go. There's a big difference between what is glorious and what is glory. Now you think, Rick, you're stretching things here. I am not. Zechariah 2.8 makes this perfectly clear, not just by what he says, but by what he doesn't say. Zechariah omits one word there purposely. He omits an article. He doesn't say after the glory you go. He doesn't say after some glory go. He doesn't say after a glorious experience go. What he says is after glory, a noun, a name, after an encounter with a personage, that's when you go, not after the glory or some glory, but simply after glory. And I tell you, just like 1 John 4.8 tells us that God is love, so I can say God is glory. This is what I'm speaking of, having an encounter with God Himself, not some kind of spirits that puts goosebumps or raises the hair on the back of their head. It's coming face to face with God and letting God gaze into the light, the dark that's in your heart and make a difference there. It's gazing into His eyes and making a difference. And it may seem as if I'm making more of this matter than really matters. I'm not. There's a big difference. Something that's lovely doesn't equal love. You can marry a lovely girl, but if you don't love her after 20, 30, 40, 50 years, she may not be quite so lovely. And if you don't have love, it won't last. Or if it does last, it'll be hollow and empty. Something that's peaceful doesn't necessarily mean peace. You can have a peaceful time in a country ruled by a tyrant. It doesn't mean real peace. And just because something is glorious does not mean that it is the glory of God. Let me show you what glory is. I want to show you from the Scripture exactly what glory is. Now, God's Word is at time a mystery. God doesn't do that to confuse us. He does that because He knows we love a good mystery. And He gives us all the clues all along to figure the mystery out. So I want you to play mystery game with me here and look and see what God's Word says glory is and see if you can figure it out. The first clue I'll give you is from Exodus chapter 3, when Moses turns aside to encounter the burning bush, this glorious sight, he calls it, and the burning bush, the burning bush speaks. So the first clue I can tell you is that the glory I'm talking about has a voice. The glory I'm speaking of has a voice. Clue number two, in Exodus chapter 33, verse 18, Moses prays, I pray you show me your glory. Now if he prays it, what do you think God's going to show him? God's not going to be asked for a snake and give a son a stone or a serpent. And so when Moses prays this, look at Exodus chapter 33, verse 19 through 23, because he tells you something about his glory. He said, I myself will make all my goodness pass by before you. This is the Lord speaking. And will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. But he said, you cannot see my face. Ah, another clue about glory. Not only does it have a voice, but now we see that glory has a face. For no man could see me and live. And then the Lord said, behold, there's a place by me and you shall stand there on the rock. And it will come about while my glory is passing by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I've passed by. Then I will take my hand away and you shall see my back. But my face you shall not see. So we can ascertain here with our clue that glory not only has a voice and a face, but a hand in the back. So we're beginning to see something about this thing called God's glory. The clue number three I'll give you, and there are many others, but I'm going to just give you four here. Clue number three, in Psalm 79, verse 9, David prays out, Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name. And deliver us and purge away our sin for thy name's sake. Glory has a name. Glory has a voice and a face. Glory has a hand in the back. Are you getting the picture here? Let me give you one more and this will pretty much sum it up. In Ephesians 117 in the New Testament, clue number four, it says this, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him. Glory has a Father. Glory has a name. Glory has a voice. Glory has a hand and a back. And I tell you, in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, the answer is given to us where it says, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The glory of God is Jesus Christ. The glory of God is a person, not an activity or an action. And if you want to have an encounter with glory, you have an encounter with Jesus. It is not to go to a meeting and get all wound up. It is to go to a prayer closet and have something put into you. It is to say, God, do something in me. I tell you, glory has a name. The night I got saved, it wasn't even a sermon preached. There was a teenage girl standing behind a pulpit singing a song. At that time, it was a new song. Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name. Kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but there's something about the name. That's the name of glory. Hebrews 1, 3 says, He is the radiance of His glory. It is Jesus. So when people chase after all these meetings and activities and actions, they're chasing after the things of God and never having an encounter with God. I'm not against big meetings and happy times and shouting and dancing and all those things that sometimes occur. But I want to tell you, the men and women of His place, in the year that they're with us, we go to church five, six, seven times a week. We go to revivals and singings and prayer meetings. As many services as we can go, we go. We have services there at our home. But one of the more meaningful things we do with our men and women, we call a word fast. And what I do, it's been the men. Actually, last week I took my first woman. She volunteered because I wasn't going to make a woman do this. But I take the men out into the woods. I set up a tent for them. I help them gather firewood. And then I leave them with three gallons of water. And for three days and three nights, they are to fast, not just physically from food, but more so from words. They cannot speak or be spoken to. They have to be completely alone for three days and three nights. And I tell you, every man, and now the one woman who's done this, come back so touched by just a deep encounter with Jesus. Not something where you get all excited and rah-rah about, but just simply communion with the Lord with your heart. Just open up every avenue of your life, all the secret, dark places maybe you've been afraid to let Him come into. You find that He'll come in and He'll fill your heart and life in every way. And that's what it means to have an encounter with God's glory. Don't chase after a meeting. Don't chase after a preacher. Chase after God. And you may say, well, Brother Rick, it doesn't matter to me. I'm not going anywhere. Listen, I have mission trips. I take people to India. I take people to Europe. I've taken people to Guatemala. I've taken people all over Central America. I've taken in the summertime hundreds of people to Mexico. And whenever I go to church and say, where do you want to go on a mission trip? You know where the number one place people always want to go? India. I'm telling you, you live in the biggest mission field in the world. When you walk out this door, you're on a mission field. When you go to the pizzeria, you're in a mission field. When you go to the Mexican restaurant, you're in a mission field. The people you work with, your very family could be your mission field. And you should never go or attempt to go or do anything without first being touched by the glory of God, without letting God do a work in your life. I was reading a story. I love history, especially history of war. And I was reading about the Civil War. During the Civil War in 1862, the war was at its worst. There were thousands of men being killed on both sides. And there was a family from New York City, a minister and his wife. His wife was named Julia. And they went to Washington, D.C. to visit some friends there. And while they were there, they came out and they saw all these soldiers marching by, Union soldiers. And they were singing a very tawdry, bawdry song, as soldiers often would sing, never sailors for sure, but you know, those soldiers. They were singing one of these marching tunes, actually to a camp meeting tune, but it had bawdry words, words that were not godly or appealing. And this minister said, that's a catchy tune. And he told his wife, you know, you should write some good words to that tune. And so that lady, Miss Julia Howe, looked out over all these soldiers' marches. She looked at the campfires of hundreds and thousands of men camped there outside of Washington, D.C. And God began to do something in her heart and in her mind. That night, she lay down and she went to sleep. And she said, the Lord awakened her from her sleep with an image, with a vision of all those soldiers marching, singing that bawdry song. And she said, without even planning or thinking, whatever, it was almost as if the Holy Spirit took her pen. She began to write these words, My eyes have seen the glory, the glory of the coming of the Lord. It became the tune for which a nation sang. As a matter of fact, Abraham Lincoln heard the song for the first time and was so moved, he said, sing it again. And they sang it again. He said, now sing it again. The battle hymn of the republic. And the chorus of that song says, glory, glory, hallelujah, glory, glory, hallelujah, glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. And in my experience, when you truly come to meet the glory of God, all you can say is hallelujah. When you come face to face with the glory of God, which is the person of Jesus, the only thing fitting to say is hallelujah. When you need a commission in your life to go somewhere, when you've met that glory and that glory is coming to your heart, I tell you, you can go forth like Ezekiel and like Zechariah and like Isaiah and like Peter. You can go forth and make a difference. You could be like John Wesley, who on his first missionary journey was a complete failure until he had an encounter with the glory of God that changed him. And he planted a Methodist church. You could be like David Brainerd, who worked with American Indians and failed and failed and failed to the point that he said, I feel that I must be one half a demon and one half an animal. That was the summation of his ministry. And yet he had an encounter with the glory of God and it changed an entire people group. You can be like Amy Carmichael, who felt God had called her to go to Japan or not Japan, certainly China and failed in both of those instances and went to India on a missionary vacation basically to get away. But while she was there in India, she had an encounter with the glory of God and planted a ministry that lasted to this day. I tell you, when you see his glory, when you hear his voice, when you encounter his face, it makes a difference in your life and you cannot help but see God make a difference through your life. And that's my prayer for you. This summer, you're going to be going. How many of you right here are going on a mission trip this summer? Raise your hand from this group. Many of you are going one place or another. Don't go without the glory. How many of you in here are fixing to graduate from college or high school or military? You're fixing to launch out onto a new job, something fresh in your life. Raise your hand. Many of you don't go without the glory. How many have been dreaming about maybe doing something different in your life, stepping out boldly for God? And yet you keep that dream to yourself because you're afraid of failing. Don't raise your hand because maybe the ones who are the most timid would be the ones who most need to raise their hand. But I want to tell you, if God's put a dream in your heart, if you come face to face with his glory and let his glory come inside of you, you can go forth and you can make a difference. And I want to pray for you tonight. I want to challenge you in just a moment. We're going to sing. We're going to have a time of worship here. And as we sing, if you've never met the glory of God in the first place, if you've never had God come into your heart in the person of his son, Jesus, like he did in my life all those years ago, not at a sermon, but at a song. Jesus, Jesus, there's something about that name. I said, I want that Jesus. I need that Jesus. You know, tonight you could stand up right where you are. You could come to this altar and call out. You know what? He'll come into your heart as you confess your sin. As you say, Jesus, clean out my life. Forgive me my sins. Change me as you put your faith in him. I tell you, he'll do a work in you. Others of you, maybe you've grown cold in your faith. You've grown routine in your worship and in your witness. And you just need to repent and say, God, I want to have a fresh glimpse of your glory. He'll do that just as he did it for Moses, just as he did it for other. He'll give you a glimpse of his glory. And the greatest glimpse you can ever have is of his son on a cross, arms stretched out, dying for you. And when you come face to face, it makes a difference in your life. And God wants to do that. Whatever your need is, I tell you, God's glory is the answer. Because God's glory is his son. Stand as we pray. Father God, right now, I pray that you would do a work in all of us. May we behold a fresh glimpse of your glory. May we see something of Jesus we've never seen before. Jesus, you're so wonderful. We could glance at you time and time again all the seconds of our life, and we would never see it all. Give us a new glimpse, a new glance of your glory. And God, may it change our lives. When we see your glory, money doesn't matter much anymore. When we see your glory, power and prestige and popularity pales in comparison. God, give your church a view of your glory. Give me a view of your glory. And change us. Before we can ever be the agents of your change, God, you've got to change something in us. And God, I'm thankful that you call out to us. Come, come. God, tonight as we come, change us. In Jesus' name. I want you to sing with us. If you need to come, you come to this altar. Behold his glory. I want to share one more thing with you. I looked up so many scriptures. The word glory is in the Bible over 400 times. I looked them up and what a great study. And I found one that God began to do something in my heart that I still look at as a mystery. I think about in Psalm 72, 19, and in other instances the same verse is given. Numbers 14, 21. It says, Truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of God. God wants to fill our hearts and then use our hearts to be the conduits of that filling. It's amazing to me that the heavens can't contain the glory of God. The glory of God wouldn't stay in the tabernacle. The glory of God wouldn't stay in the temple. It's bigger than that. But God chooses to put his glory in our hearts, in the person of Jesus, through his Holy Spirit filling us. And you may feel inadequate, unable, and that may be completely true. But with his Spirit, his glory in you, I tell you, God can do things in you and then through you that you've never even dreamed of. Even if you're a dreamer like me. And some of you just have almost like a sense of inferiority. I'll never make it. I'll never go anywhere. I'm just not going to overcome this. I tell you, when you get a vision of his glory, of the goodness and the greatness and the grandeur that is in Jesus, and realize that God chooses to wrap all of that up and place it in your heart, it'll do something for you. It's a mystery that the heavens can't contain him, yet he chooses to come and live in our hearts. But I tell you, when he does that, things begin to happen. And I want to pray with you right now that God would do that. Father, I pray for these men and women that are here. If they've never called out to you and been saved, I pray that tonight they would simply give over their hearts to you. They would relinquish their sin and even the rights of their life. God, even our goodness is as filthy rags in your sight. They'd lay that down and instead, God, they would call out, and as they'd call out your glory, the very Spirit of your Son would come and fill us. God, and as you fill us, I pray you would fill us not just with your Son, but with the vision that your Son has of filling the earth with all the glory. May we do our part in that, through our witness, through our worship. God, for those who feel worthless, useless, feel they can never do anything right, God, tonight give them a glimpse not just of your glory, but of your glory encapsulated and placed as a treasure in their heart and life. God, may it make a difference in how we worship. May it make a difference in how we live, because God, it does make a difference. Lord Jesus, we thank you for this. We praise your name. For it's in the name of glory, the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Father, thank you for speaking so very clearly to our hearts tonight. Lord, we need your breath in us or we stand an army with no power. Jesus, we ask that you draw each of us into a living encounter with you in a new way. Enable us, O God, to lay down the things that so easily beset us, and to walk with you in newness of life. Lord, win marvelous victories even through the weakest saint that meets you face to face. Let this be the testimony of this final hour. God, we thank you for this tonight. Amen. In Jesus' mighty name. This is the conclusion of the message.