This sermon emphasizes the importance of seeking the real image of God, highlighting the dangers of false images and the need for a face-to-face encounter with the true Christ. It calls for a deep desire to know Jesus and be transformed into His likeness, warning against creating a distorted image of God that leads to powerlessness and spiritual compromise.

Bless God. If you'll turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 8, please. In the Old Testament, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Then you'll go to Ezekiel, not long after Jeremiah. Ezekiel chapter 8, the image of God. Now, Father, I thank you, Lord, with all my heart for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. God, without your anointing, I could neither convey this, nor could we understand this. You've got to lift us into the realm of supernatural life and thinking. You've got to empower me to speak, and you've got to empower the people to listen. I appeal to your mercy this morning, Lord Jesus Christ, and I ask you to come and walk down the aisles and throw out the candlestick of the testimony of this church in New York City. Prove us, reprove us. My God, we have to have your glory here. Your very person, your presence has got to be in our midst. Otherwise, we will only compare ourselves among ourselves and become unwise. Help me to speak this. I cast myself upon you. I lay my life out as a living sacrifice that you may use me. But, Lord, this is about you. It's about your church and about your kingdom. So come and do what only you can do. Take me far beyond natural ability and all reasoning that you give to me. I give the glory back to you, Lord. God, it's all come from your hand, and it all goes back to you. You're the only one that's worthy of praise. We thank you for this in Jesus' name. Now, just hold your Bibles there in Ezekiel chapter 8 for a moment. We're talking about the image of God. Paul in the New Testament makes it very clear that as we behold the image of Christ, we are changed into that image by the spirit of the Lord. Little by little, day by day, we move from the natural. We move from the carnal to the supernatural and to that which truly represents God. It's the heritage of the church, really. But in order for this change to transpire, we have to be beholding the real Christ. Now, the devil knows this, and he also knows the danger that will come to his kingdom when there are people who truly see Christ. They have an unhindered vision of him. And so, it has been one of his tasks throughout history to put a distorted image of God and in this generation of Christ before the people, and knowing that the people will be turned into something powerless. Paul the Apostle says in the last days, there's going to be an incredible apostasy of falling away. But this apostasy, strangely, if you read it in Timothy, is going to have a religious face to it. Paul said the people are going to have this form of godliness. They'll be going to church. They'll probably even carry Bibles. They don't know the extent of it. But it's a form. They're looking at a form that is not the true Christ. And they're turning into this form of whatever it is that they're looking at, and it's rendering the last generation virtually powerless. A form of godliness, but there's no power in it to actually be the very thing as the church that Jesus Christ is destined us to be. Now, hopefully we can learn from history, because in history, we see the patterns. As a matter of fact, Paul said in Corinthians, the things that happened to them are written down for our admonition, upon whom, especially now, the ends of the world have come. Folks, we're living in the last days. I just say that straight out. I mean, let it fall where it may. We're living in the last days, and I'm not a gloom and doomist. I'm as optimistic as any person out there, but only in Christ. My optimism is in Christ. It's in the life of Christ, the power of Christ, the glory of Christ, the purpose of Christ, and eventually Christ is coming for his church. Thanks be to God. But we're living in the last days. And Isaiah says in one hour, everything is going to change. And we'll probably be here to see the fulfillment of what God spoke about through Isaiah. Now, in Ezekiel chapter 8, I'm going to begin reading at verse 1. And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. And I beheld in low likeness as the appearance of fire, from the appearance of his loins even downward fire, and from his loins even upward as the appearance of brightness and as the color of amber. Now, don't turn there, but if you looked in Revelation chapter 1, verses 14 and 15, John saw this same image, and the appearing of this image as it is of God was Jesus Christ in Revelation chapter 1. Verse 3 says, He put forth the form of a hand and took me by a lock of mine head, and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looks towards the north. Where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh the jealousy? And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain. Then he said unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way towards the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way towards the north, and behold, northward at the gate of the altar, this image of jealousy in the entry. Now, the nation of Israel was under judgment. This judgment of God that had come on the country was happening in stages. It was over quite a period of years, really, and enemies were coming in, and there would be this forced deportation as it is of people. It had come in these successive stages, and now the day was quickly approaching when Jerusalem was going to be completely overthrown. Now, a lot of people of that time didn't believe it was going to happen. Even the people already in captivity had some false prophets that had been taken there with them, and the false prophets were saying, no, this is only going to be temporary, thus saith the Lord, two more years, and the kingdom of Babylon is going to be overthrown, and we're going to have great victory, we're going to go back, and we're going to be singing and dancing in the streets again. Now, one of the things that God gave to Ezekiel was, he said to Ezekiel, I'm going to show you the reasons why judgment has come to the nation. I'm going to show you the length of the judgment. I'm going to show you the completeness of the judgment. Now, at this time, Ezekiel was part of one of these deportations into Babylon, but Jerusalem was still standing, and many people believed, not only in Jerusalem, but outside in Babylon, that there was going to be a return there, and everything was going to be just fine. And God spoke to Ezekiel and said, no, it's not going to be fine. Jerusalem is going to be destroyed. There's going to be a virtual complete overthrow of what was and is the land of God. Ezekiel was to show the people who were already captive why this judgment had come. Now, in chapter 8, Ezekiel was in his house. In verse 1, it says, and the hand of God came upon me. Folks, when the hand of God comes upon you, God will begin to speak. He will speak things we want to hear, and sometimes he speaks things we don't want to hear, but God will speak when his hand comes upon you. And in verse 2, Ezekiel saw the image of God, the same as John in chapter 1 of Revelation, and the same as he saw in chapter 1 of Ezekiel, actually. Let me just read it to you. Ezekiel had already seen this image of God in chapter 1 in verse 26. He said, above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, and the appearance of a sapphire stone. And upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man upon it. I saw the color of amber as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins upward and the appearance of his loins downward. And I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire, and it had the brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. And he says, this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake. Now, Ezekiel had seen this likeness of God's glory. He had a vision, as it is, of what God truly looks like. He knew in his heart what holiness looked like. He understood who God was, and he saw this incredible duplicity taking place. You'll see it as we go on. He's taken by the hand of God, in verse 3, to be shown why judgment had come. And he said he was taken to the door of the inner gate that looks towards the north. From both perspectives, he's going to see this. Where was the seat of the image of jealousy which provokes to jealousy. Now, the doorway into the temple is a place where people enter. It's a place where people enter to worship an image. There's a lot of discussion about what this image was. Nobody is really sure when you read the various commentaries on it. But they are sure of one thing. A likeness of something had been set up at the doorway of the temple. And as people are coming into the temple, this image would be the first thing that they would see. It would be a declaration, in effect, to all who entered the temple, this is what God is like. You see, everything that would go on behind it would, in effect, be in relation to that image. In a sense, this is God. And now you're going to enter beyond this image that's there. And now everything that's going to go on inside the temple is going to be based on this image that we have conjectured in our minds of what God is like. And, of course, the Scripture tells us, calls it in King James, an image of jealousy. The New Living Testament says, Beside the entrance to the gate of the altar stood the idol that had made the Lord so angry. This was an image of God that had been fashioned out of the minds of carnal men. It had been placed at one of the entrances into the temple. And people are being confronted by this. The curious onlooker is coming in. Oh, God, help us to truly represent Jesus Christ, that when people come into Times Square Church, that we're not conveying an image of something other than the living Christ, who He is, what His church is to be, what He has called us to do, that our voices and our countenances and the things we do and how we conduct ourselves are not conveying another image than the image that God says is supposed to be upon my people. Now, an idol is something that is fashioned out of the carnal mind of man, which he thinks looks like God. It's also what he would like God to be. From the golden calf, down at the time of Exodus, at the foot of the mountain, while Moses was up receiving the commandments of God. And, subsequently, it's what he, as a godly person, in his own estimation, he thinks a godly person should look like. This is what carnal man does. He says, well, I think God should look like this. And I think God should act like this. And, you see, because he knows, if I can get God to be like this, then God will accept me the way I am. Or I can somehow, looking upon this image of what I think God should be, then God will accept these desires that are unsurrendered in my heart. And I can head out and I can be rich and famous and influential and powerful. And, you see, this God that I've created at the doorway to the temple will have to accept this. This will be the image of God that I'm presenting before the people. John chapter 1 and verse 11 says about Jesus, he came to his own and his own received him not. Now, why didn't they receive him? The scripture had clearly given clear testimony of who he was. In Isaiah it said he was an ordinary looking man. It said there's nothing about him that we should desire him. It's all in the scriptures. It talked about him being lowly, taking upon himself the form of a servant. It was all there. It was very plain. But then when he finally appears, his own don't receive him. Now you ask yourself the question, why? Why don't they receive him? Why couldn't they see him? It's simple, folks. He just didn't fit their image of who they thought God should be. It may have been in the Bible, but it didn't fit the image of the culture. A whole religious culture had developed in Israel. And they really didn't want this image of God as he's conveyed in the scriptures, so they created their own image of God. And they brought this image into the temple, and their image of God according to Jesus Christ because he confronted it. It's one of the few times that you really see and experience anger in the voice of Jesus Christ. Don't tell me he's got a smile on his face when he's throwing the tables over and kicking the goat sellers and such out of the temple because the scripture says he's also using a whip at the same time, a scourge of cords. But you see, this image of God allowed men to seek titles, to seek the recognition and praise of men. You love titles. You love to be called teacher, teacher. You love the greetings, he said, in the marketplace. It allowed them to teach others without themselves being partakers of what they taught. He said, woe to you, lawyers. He said, you lay grievous burdens on the people. You're not even so much as lift a finger yourself to help one of them. I think they saw some things in here and they would preach it, but they would never lift a finger to do anything themselves. Their image of God allowed them to pass by struggling humanity on their way to worship. Jesus addressed it in his road to Jericho parable. It allowed them to be self-focused. It allowed them to outwardly display religiousness without inward change. He said, you're like whited graves. He said, you appear all clean on the outside, but inside, he said, you're full of dead men's bones. You have all these exterior things that you do, but there's no inward change. It allows them to pray with hearts that are far from the heart of God. They stand in meetings, they fast, they pray, they tithe and say, oh, God, thank you that I'm not like other men are. Thank you, Lord, that I'm just so different. I'm so holy. I've been I'm created in this image that I've made myself into. It allowed them to evangelize and bring multitudes of men to worship before the wrong image of God. Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 23, 15. He said, you compass sea and land to make one proselyte. And when he is made, you make him twice the child of hell that you are. These are the words of Jesus. This is red letter. Folks, he walked into the midst of this system that declared itself to be something that represented him. And he says, you're going all over to the nations as it is. But all you're doing is producing more children of hell because you're bringing them to the wrong image of God. In Ezekiel's day, we look at this image of God in the doorway. And here's what it did to the people. Verse 10, he said, I went in and I saw every form of creeping thing and abominable beasts and idols of the house of Israel portrayed upon the walls roundabout. And there stood before them 70 men of the ancients of the house of Israel. And in the midst of them stood jazz and I, the son of Shefan, with every man, his censure in his hand and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, son of man, have you seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark? Every man in the chambers of his imagery, for they say the Lord does not see us. The Lord has forsaken the earth. You see, this wrong image of God allowed or opened the door to uncalled and unfaithful men acting as spiritual leaders. And when you read Henderson's commentary, the fact that they had a censure in their hand, they were taking on the role of priests in the temple. But they were not called to do this. And a wrong image of God allows the uncalled to step into pulpits, allows the uncalled to begin to lead the people. They step out of colleges and they might have four degrees under their name, but they don't have a calling of God. What a dangerous thing to be sitting under ministries that are not called of God. There's no life in it, folks. There's no life. There's a lot of clever techniques. There's a lot of fancy speech, but there's no life. There's no quickening of the Holy Ghost. There's no faith in it. They're standing there with their censures, but they say the Lord's not here. The Lord's forsaken the earth. God doesn't see us. They're faithless men, but they're taking on the roles of spiritual leadership. And all of these images on the walls are things that they're conjuring out of their own minds. These are plans. And God saw them as evil things. He saw them as creeping things and evil beasts. They're plans that come from the minds of men. God help us if we're ever led by the plans of men in the church of Jesus Christ. This is not a fleshly kingdom. This kingdom is built upon the cornerstone of Jesus Christ. We are led by the Holy Spirit of Almighty God. Verse 14 shows us, says, Now I don't have time to get into all that this signifies, but suffice to say that this type of worship had produced people. And these women I see as types of the foolish virgins that Jesus spoke about in Matthew chapter 25. They are involved in worship, which is produced out of their own sensual natures. It's sensual worship, folks. It's not based on spirit. It's not truth. They're not coming to the image of God in Christ Jesus. They're not desiring to be changed into that image. They're worshiping now the desires of their own senses. One is worshiping a desire to be more magnificent. Another to have a greater destiny. Another to be more wealthy. Another to be more powerful. It's all out of their carnal nature now. Their worship. It's not worship that's based on truth as found in the Scriptures, because they really don't want to worship the image of God. You see, in Ezekiel's day, the true image of God is hovering over the temple, very, very slowly withdrawing as this other image has been set up in the doorway. And don't for five seconds try to tell me this is not where we are in America today. God help us. God help this nation. God help our future. Folks, something very tragic is happening and so few are even aware of it in our time. Verse 16 says, He brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were 25 men with their backs towards the temple, and their faces towards the east, and they worshipped the sun towards the east. And there's the end result of standing before a wrong image is that the people are led to a theological perspective that's based on optimism and not on sacrifice and truth. You see, the altar represents sacrifice. The altar represents Christ. The altar represents the cross. The altar represents the call of God. The upper altar represents that which is holy, that which leads to life. But these men now, the leaders, have turned their backs on the altar. And the sun, they're looking at the sun saying, Oh, another good day is coming, and a better day is coming tomorrow. Their whole theology is on a base of human optimism now, and not on the truth of what God is speaking, because they have put before themselves a false image of God. Ezekiel had to contend with this in Babylon, because a lot of these false prophets had been dragged in, into captivity. But even in captivity, they still would not give up their foolishness. They still were misleading the people with these visions of their own hearts, still telling them, it is going to be a better day. God said, No, Ezekiel, tell them. I'm going to bring the whole thing down. It's all coming down. The captivity is going to last for 70 years. It's going to be a long and a difficult time. But my mercy will be found at the end of the season of captivity that is coming. Now, folks, we have to ask ourselves, it's an important question, how can I know that I'm not creating a wrong image of God in my life, and how will God keep me from this? How can I know that I'm not creating this wrong image of God? Because the human heart is deceptive, folks. And if we're not coming to the real Christ, if we are making the tragic mistake of the Pharisees, and we're skipping the tough verses and going to the easy ones, we're actually fashioning, just like Aaron did, we're fashioning a Christ that is very palatable, a Christ that comes to our door and says, What would it take to have you come to church? Would you like a bowling alley, a swimming pool? How about a social club? What day would be more preferable for you? We're fashioning this palatable Christ as it is, out of our own hearts and out of our own minds, because we're not wanting the Christ of the pages of Scripture. Folks, it's so important now, because difficult days are coming. And all these false Christs are not going to get through this. They're going to cast away the false confidence that they have. Isaiah says they're going to take their gold and their silver, and they're going to cast it to moles and bats. They're going to cry for the mountains to fall on them, because the day of the Lord is going to be a terrifying day for those who do not understand who God really is. Let me tell you how the Lord will keep us from this. Number one, He appears to those who are honestly seeking Him. It's as simple as that. I was in my house, Ezekiel 8.1, and the hand of the Lord God there fell upon me. That's where it all begins. When you go home, when you open this book, Jesus, talk to me. Reveal yourself to me. I want to know the real Jesus. I don't want the Jesus of some snake oil television preacher. I want the real Jesus. Jesus, I want to know who you are. I want you to speak to my heart. I want you to overthrow every religious table. I want you to kick every dove and goat out of my life. God Almighty, I want to know who you are. If that's the honest cry of your heart, He'll come to you. He'll come to you right in your house. He'll begin to speak to your heart, and He'll make His image known. It's as simple as that. Hallelujah. You'll seek me, He said, and you'll find me when you search for me with all of your heart. I'm not looking for a palatable Jesus. I'm not looking for an American cultural Jesus. I'm looking for the Jesus of the Bible. I want the real Jesus. The Word was made flesh, John says in John 1, 14, and dwelled among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John's just an ordinary boy. His father's a fisherman, but he had an honest heart. And when all the Pharisees are playing their religious games and setting up the wrong images of God in the temple, here's a young boy who says, We saw Him. My brother and I, we saw Him. Peter the fisherman, he saw Him. Matthew the tax collector, he saw Him. Mary the prostitute, she saw Him. We saw Him. We knew who He was. He was full of truth, and not only truth, but the grace to turn every man who sees that truth into the same image from glory to glory. We saw Him. We saw Him. If ever there's a time to see Him, it's now. If ever there was a time, Oh God, let me see who You are. It's now. And secondly, He walks into the testimony that we have established of Him. If we invite Him. In Revelation, these churches are only a stone's throw from the cross. And they've established a testimony as it is an image of Christ. And so the real image of Christ comes to the testimony. And He begins to walk in the midst of this image, as it is, of Christ that's being testified to through the churches. And in Sardis, for example, He says to them, Now you see life, but I see death. He brought a warning. He said, I don't see a true image of God here. He said, you're doing a lot of things. And you even have a reputation in the community. But I know that what you're doing does not have its life source in the Holy Spirit. And He said, so you see life, but I see death. It's an image, folks. God help us, if we're ever portraying any image of life, then the light that comes through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit by the grace of God and the grace of God alone. To Laodicea, He said, you look at yourselves and you see no need. But He said, have you considered here? And have you considered here? And have you considered here? He begins to show, no, there's a shortness here. And this shortness is going to cost you in the long run. To Thyatira, He said, you see your own faithfulness, but I see compromise. Now you can read it yourselves, and I know I'm paraphrasing this. But He says, you see your works and you see your faithfulness, but I see a compromise coming into you that ultimately is going to cost you the image of God. You've got to get a hold of this. You've got to overcome this. There was an open door in the minds of the people to a seductive spirit that was calling them, as it is, to another image of Christ. And Jesus Himself said, you've got to shut this thing down. You've got to turn away from it. Also, to Philadelphia, He came to them, like many here today, and He said to them, many of you think that you're not going to make it. And this is the image, actually, that they had of themselves. There was great opposition to this church, great opposition, such as many of you are experiencing today, in going forward, and a sense of hopelessness as you look to the real Christ and you don't see how will I ever become what God wants me to be. And voices to the left and to the right are calling and saying, over here, there's another Jesus, you know, 1995 for this one, 2350 over here for this one. And all these voices are calling with these other Jesus that are on a broader path and don't require quite as much faith as it is to achieve, are not as difficult, and many in Philadelphia may have been in this place, and many are even in today, as they sense and see this call of God upon them. But Jesus said, you think you're not going to make it, but Philadelphia, I see an open door before you that no man can shut. I see an open door. You have only a little strength and you've not denied my name. And folks, that's the testimony of many today. If you'd say, Pastor, that's me, I've got a little strength and I've not denied his name. I still want the real Jesus. And Jesus says, now, I see something that you don't see. I see an open door before you. I've opened it and nobody can shut it. And I'm calling you through this door. I'm calling you to go through this door. You see, there was a door into a temple that passed by a false Messiah, as it is in Ezekiel's day. But he says, no, this is the real one. This is the real temple. This is the real life of God. I've opened the door to you and I'm calling you into my presence. That's where this door leads to. It leads to the image of God in Christ, where everything unlike Him suddenly becomes filthy rags. This is what happened to Isaiah. He was drawn through this door into the presence of Christ. And he could write later on in chapter 64 and verse 6, all of our righteousnesses are filthy rags. All the things that we think are good, all the things that out of our minds we crafted and think they're God. I stood in the presence of God, Isaiah says, and they were all filthy rags. They were unworthy to be in His presence. It's where we see ourselves as we truly are. And we're brought into agreement with God and are touched by His mercy. Isaiah was lifted up. He saw the holiness of God. He saw the real image of God. He saw heavenly beings crying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God, almighty heaven and earth are filled with your glory. He saw things created by the hand of God. He saw divine order that could only come from the life of God. And then he saw in his own heart, his own life, that he had fallen so short of this glory. Everything he thought he was turned into filthy rags. And he said, oh my God, I'm undone. Folks, if you are going to know this image of God in Christ Jesus, there's an undoneness that you and I have to pass through, where everything that we thought we were has to die. We must take joyfully the spoiling of all of our religious goods and come before this image of the true, the one, the only and the holy God. The moment he says I'm undone, an angelic creation takes a call from the altar and touches his lips. And immediately he's purged by the mercy of God, immediately touched by the power of God, immediately a partaker of the mercy of God. Thanks be to God that I don't have to try to be like Christ, because I never could be. Everything I do falls short of the glory of God. That's why God became a man. That's why God went to a cross. That's why he died to pay the price for my sin. That's why he sent the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. That God himself could come and touch this body and begin to quicken me. And God, by his mercy, begin to turn me from image to image and glory to glory into the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. That I may truly, truly, truly stand and be part of the living church, of the living God in this last generation. I can see Ezekiel standing there with these angelic beams shouting, Glory to God! Glory to God! Glory to God! It's all mercy! It's all mercy! It's all mercy! It's all mercy! It's not works of righteousness. It's not human effort. It's mercy, beloved. It's mercy! It's mercy! It's mercy! No wonder the devil tries to divert the body of Jesus Christ. If people lay hold of this, they will be changed into the image of Christ. Faith will arise in the heart. The very life of God will become their life. They will stand in the marketplace as they did on the day of Pentecost with another voice, another mind, another heart, living evidence of the reality that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and sits at the right hand of all power. Thanks be to God for his mercy. Thanks be to God that you and I can shout glory to God in this house. Thanks be to God that we don't have to pretend, we don't have to fashion, we don't have to create some image. Thanks be to God that Jesus will meet us if our hearts are wanting to know him. Then he hears the voice of the Lord saying, Who will go? Who will tell them? He's just experienced this incredible mercy and he knows that order that he's longed for and life can only come from the one that he's now beholding. He knows there's no other way that this could happen. He has been involved in religion up to this point. He's been a religious boy probably for many years and done a lot of religious things, but now he's seen the image of God. He knows it cannot be attained by any amount of human effort, human fashioning or human religion. He knows, he knows. You see, if God is protecting you now from all of the falseness that is going to characterize the last days, you are most likely feeling very, very undone at this moment because that's the mercy of God. He's got to strip away every image we've had of Christ and godliness which doesn't conform to truth. He has to take it all away. And that's why you're feeling the way you are right now because he's preparing you for the glory because I'm telling you the glory of God is coming to his church, the glory of God in a measure perhaps like we've never known. Now we have this glory in these earthen vessels. We have this treasure, Paul said, in the person of the Holy Spirit. But there's about to be something of God given to us that maybe we've never fully understood to help us stand in these last days. These are going to be difficult days. Religion is going to fail every man. There will be those with forms of godliness which will be constantly evolving and devolving and ultimately they will accept the man of sin as their messiah, the Antichrist, a man indwelt by Satan himself. They will accept him. They will have been in church, folks. It's almost unthinkable that this could happen. But they will accept this man as their messiah, the very opposite of Christ because the whole time they've had another image before their eyes. God help us in America today. God help us. God deliver the church from all these false prophets who don't belong in pulpits, who are creating a Christ out of their own mind, who are leading in the flesh. God deliver your church is the cry of my heart. Let it be the cry of your heart. Jesus Christ, deliver your church. God almighty, there has to be a time when you arise and say enough. The psalmist said, oh God, they've come into your sanctuary and they're chopping down what once was revered and they're casting false fire before the people. God, you've got to come. That's the cry of my heart and let it be the cry of your heart. But first, before that cry can come, there's got to be a face-to-face encounter with the real Christ. Who will go? God said. Isaiah said, I'll go. You see, I'll go because it's all mercy. I don't have to have a degree on the wall. I don't have to have accolades of men. I don't need to be famous. I don't have to have all the things I thought I needed. The religions must accompany this image of Christ. I just have to know about your mercy and I have to be able to tell others. I'll go. And once you've been touched by the mercy of God, you go. You go because there's nothing of yourself that you're going to be presenting or myself to people. You're simply telling others where to find the mercy that you found from God. In Zechariah, the Lord says, I was jealous for Zion with a great jealousy. Now, there was a captivity that happened. But the captivity was soon going to be over in 70 years. Now, there's an image of jealousy that will cause presence of the Lord to leave. But there's another jealousy. In Zechariah, it says, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy. And I was jealous for her with great fury. And thus says the Lord, I've returned to Zion and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth. And the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, there shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem. And every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, if it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in my eyes, saith the Lord of hosts. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country. And I will bring them and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people and I will be their God in truth and in righteousness. Thus says the Lord of hosts, let your hands be strong. You that hear these words in these days by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of lords was laid, that the temple might be built. And I say to you today, hear these words and let your hands be strong. We're not as a church age going to go out cowering and trying to survive. We're going to go out with the glory of God, a witness and a testimony of Christ, a strong voice in the midst of a confusing storm, just like Paul on the deck of the ship. God, help us to be looking at the real Christ. Father, I thank you, Lord, that you've given me the power to convey your heart. Lord, I know I've spoken your heart this morning. I've stood in this pulpit as an oracle of God. Now, Lord, there's a work that has to be done that only you can do. No one else can do it but the Holy Spirit. And father, I thank you that you will complete the work this day. In Jesus mighty name. Now, Greg, if you would come. Musician, I'm going to ask you to stay seated for a moment. It's still early. We're going to worship just for a few minutes. And I want you to think about the words that you have heard today. I'll be giving an altar call momentarily. I'd like to give an altar call. And it's for people who are undone. Even the image of what you thought you would become as a Christian seems to be dissolving. You're finding yourself in struggles that you can't get the victory over. You're undone. The Lord says to you, I've set before you an open door. You've just got to walk through it. And it's an open door into my life. But you must want and accept joyfully the spoiling of your own religious goods. God says, let me take that away. Let me take away what you don't need. Let me give you supernatural life. I want to give an altar call today for those that say, that's me, pastor. I'm undone. I'm in an Isaiah moment in my life. And I'm coming through the door. Because God promises me life. And I'm going to have that life in Christ. Would you stand everywhere and in the balcony. You can go to either exit in the annex. Please, if you'd stand between the screens. Just slip out. We're going to worship for a moment. Let the Lord touch you this morning. You and I have to have in our hearts an understanding that he has the rights to the rest of our lives. The real Jesus bought us with his blood. The real Jesus has the right to use us and send us and make us and take us into that which brings honor to his name. This is the real Jesus. The false Christ allow us to be what we want to be. And still use his name. But that's not the real Jesus. Hallelujah. What a privilege to at least have a heart that wants to see him. Thanks be to God. If you didn't, you would have all hit the back door the moment that you stood to your feet. You'd be gone. If you didn't have a heart that wants him, you wouldn't be here. And by this, I know as your pastor that you are blessed people. I know that you're walking through an open door. And Jesus says, I've set it before you and nobody can close this door. It's a door into my life. There's a revelation of who I am. There's strength. There's a shout of glory inside this door. That everyone else, no matter what name they use, are never going to know. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord God, thank you. That the only image that will ever be set up in this house by your grace alone is the image of Jesus Christ. My God, we invite you today to come, grip our hearts and our minds. God, help us to lay down our plans. Help us, Lord, to put away the devices of our own minds. Help us to put away our thoughts and ideas about what our life should be and where our future should go. God, I ask you now, govern us, Holy Spirit. Lead us, guide us, because in this there's life. In this there's hope. Paul said, in him we live, we move, we have our being. Paul finished with joy. Even though in the natural it looked like a hard course, it was a joyful course. Because he knew, Jesus, that he was finding you along the way. He had found you. And at the end of his journey, your arms were open to greet him for eternity. God Almighty, let the joy of the Lord now be the portion of this house and of this people. When we come here, O God, may there never need to be any humor and exuberance to get us to clap our hands. May it come from a deep working of the Spirit within us, knowing that we've found Christ, that we're walking with Christ, that Christ has the rights to our homes and our lives. May we walk in the supernatural power of our Savior and our Redeemer. God Almighty, I'm asking, even this day, that we can join our hands and say with the angels of heaven, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are filled with his glory. God Almighty, let our hearts and minds be filled with your glory. Let the life of Christ be our life. Lord, we thank you for this, God. Thank you, you're going to keep us through every storm. Thank you, Lord. We'll not be shaken by adversity. Thank you, God. We'll not throw away our confidence in difficult times. Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We have laid hold of the hem of the garment of Jesus. Thank you, God. With everything in us, we give you praise and glory. Hallelujah, Lamb of God, we thank you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, mighty God. Bless your holy name. Lord, we bless your holy name. Give him praise today. Give him praise. He is good. And his mercy endures forever. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. We worship you. We worship you, Jesus. We worship you, Lord. We worship you, the one, the only, the living Christ. We worship you, Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus. Bless the name of the Lord.