In this sermon, the preacher uses a metaphor of a stagecoach running out of control to illustrate the need for Jesus to take control of our lives. He describes how in the Wild West movies, a rescuer would come on a white horse and grab the reins to bring the stagecoach to a stop. The preacher emphasizes the importance of giving up the reins of our lives to Jesus and allowing Him to direct and control us. He also highlights the contrast between the joy and gladness that Jesus can bring even in times of sorrow, compared to the hopelessness and fatalism preached by Muslims in the face of tragedy.

This message is one of the Times Square pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P.O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. This is the ninth chapter of Psalms. You that are visiting for the first time, we thank God that you're visiting us and we pray that you'll experience the presence of Jesus. And as the Lord leads you, we invite you to worship with us. Psalms 9. By the way, folks, we never intend to entertain here. We never will. There'll never be entertainment. There'll be nobody ever in this pulpit with painted faces or clowns. We're not going to have bands or groups that would try to entertain you. We're not putting anybody else. We came here to preach Jesus and the gospel and we intend to follow through on that. Hallelujah. If you'd like to find a church that entertains and call our office, we can give you a list. I'm not being facetious, beloved, not being facetious. I've seen it. I've been over the years. We've seen some of that. And I'm not talking about just charismatic movements. Many, many now that Sunday nights, especially people, they say you can't get anybody to come to church Sunday night. Well, look around you. People have come to church Sunday night. But so there's been entertainment. But we don't intend to go that way. In fact, I wouldn't care if God turns up the heat a little bit on me and you and all of us. And he probably will. And he does that for purpose, to bring us into his image. The ninth chapter of Psalms, verse 9 and 10, beginning to read, The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee. For thou, Lord, hast not forsaken him that seek thee. Now, that's for the righteous. Look down at verse 15. And this is for the sinner. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. But they that put their trust in the Lord have found a refuge. Have you found that refuge? Where is that refuge? It's in his hands. In his hands. Let's pray. Holy Spirit, I ask you, I intercede with you right now before this people that you come and touch my lips with coals of fire from the altar of God. Oh, Holy Spirit, come right now and help us to receive. I need you, Holy Spirit. I need the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I bind every hindering spirit, everything that would be of the enemy. Lord, we know that you have taken absolute authority, and we stand on not our authority but the authority of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Hallelujah. We thank you for the Word of God. We praise you for the living Word. We love you for the Word. You are the living Word. Now, Lord, quicken my body and my voice and let the Word that you've given me come forth in a way, Lord, that will touch hearts. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I need just a little more on these monitors, please. My wife Gwen and I have a little restaurant we like to frequent out in New Jersey, just a little diner, and the owners are Christians. And this past week we were there for lunch, and the owner, knowing he knows who we are, that we pastor here in New York City and that we're in the ministry, and he pulled up a chair beside our booth, and he unburdened his heart. He has a 25-year-old daughter, a Christian, and her husband about eight months ago walked out on her, also supposedly a Christian, and just left her. And so she's been by herself for the past eight months, and she has a little apartment. And the daughter wasn't there. He said, well, she had to go to the vet to take her cat. And he was distressed. He said, I keep trying to tell her it's just an old stray cat. We found it in the backyard. Somebody dumped it, and it was sick, and she nursed it back to health. But every time she came home from work, that cat was waiting at the top of the stairs. She nursed it back to health, and the cat was showing back love to the young lady. She's about 25 years of age, I believe, if I recall right. And she was taking it to the vet because the cat developed leukemia, and they were going to have to put the cat to sleep. He said, she's devastated. He said, I keep telling her, honey, it's just an animal. It's just a cat. It has no soul. She said, you don't understand, Dad. Since my husband left, this is the only love I've had. That cat's given me love. And that girl was in mourning over that cat because it was her source of love. Then he turned around with a sorrowful look on his face, and he said, dear man, he said, look at all my staff here, all my waitresses. He said, most of them are troubled. The girl over here, she's running around with a guy that's a bum. And almost every one of these people, they're having divorce, they're having problems, they're full of anxiety. He said, to tell you the truth, Pastor Wilkerson, almost everybody I talk to that comes in here are going through hell. He said, they're troubled. He said, the whole area is in trouble, anxiety. And he said, furthermore, he said, I go to a good church, an evangelical church, and the wife came over, and she said, may I tell you something, Pastor Wilkerson? He said, I don't know what's going on, but the young people in our church are getting married. She said, the whole church, after two or three years, those kids are breaking up. They're not even trying. Problems come, and they just give up, just like my daughter here. And I was depressed by the time I left. I mean, I was trying to pick my chin off the floor. I went up to my little hideaway mountain to pray, and I began to talk to the Lord about it, and I began to think of all the problems we've heard of here in the church. And I said, you know, in a measure, that's very true even in Times Square Church. There are people who thought that if they got married, that'd be the solving of all their problems, as Bob talked about this morning. You've been married six months, a year, and now you're ready to quit? You've got problems? You're going to walk out on your husband? You're going to walk out on your wife? Because I'll tell you what, if you look for a human being to fill that empty spot, you made a big mistake. No human being in the world can fill that empty place in you. Marriage is not made up of two halves trying to become a whole. No, it's two great bodies that are whole in Christ, bridged by the Holy Ghost. Well, I'm not trying to continue Bob's message from this morning, but I got to thinking of all the problems, the loneliness, the emptiness, even among Christians, the lack of victory that you see in so many Christians today. And I said, oh Lord, what's the problem? Anymore, when you're counseling, you run out of answers. You pray and you seek God, and so many new unique problems are coming up. You hit the bottom of the barrel. There's no way to counsel some people anymore, because they've heard everything, and still they're depressed. They've heard all the tapes. They've gone everywhere. They've gone to meetings and crusades and counselors, and they're still down and depressed. And I put, oh God, what's it all mean? Where are those victorious, happy Christians that are supposed to be in this world as a testimony of the faithfulness of Jesus? And I was praying and weeping. I said, God, what's the answer? And don't turn there, but the Lord led me to Matthew 11, 28. Jesus said, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest, Jesus said. I will give you rest. Jesus looked at the Pharisees in his time, blinded by darkness. Their hearts were confused. They were the most confused men on the face of the earth. They had empty souls, a religion that produced nothing but death and sorrow. And Jesus looked at them, and by the way, Jesus was walking among them. He was the answer to every one of their problems. And he looked at them, and I said, you won't come to me. You won't come to me that you might have life. He said, I've come that you might have life, and that more abundant. Not just life, but abundant life. And you won't come to the source. You won't come to where you can get it. And beloved, that's what's happening today. People are not going to the source. They're not really believing that Jesus, if they give their life into his hand, can fully satisfy, meet their need, and supply their needs. Now God called this church, and he's called you and me. He's called this people, the pastors of this church, to seek him with all their heart. We've been called to prayer and fasting, and all of this fasting and prayer is a part of what we call seeking God. He said, you'll find me when you seek me with all your heart. Now what does that mean, you'll find me? Listen, I believe that all of our praying, all of our fasting, all of our seeking God with all of our hearts, it's to bring us to a certain point, it's to bring us to one place, that we can fully, absolutely turn our lives over to Jesus Christ, and trust him with our lives, and come away completely leaning on Jesus, and all our burdens lifted, putting Jesus in full control. All the crying out to him, and all the searching, the yearning, the weeping, the crying out to God, is to bring us to this place of confidence in his power. How easily you and I testify these words. I've given my life to Jesus. I've turned my life over to the Lord. Some of you have been saved two weeks, a month, six months, a year. Even the veterans who were Christians for years say, I've given my life to Jesus. I've turned my life over to the Lord. I've surrendered control of my life. I believe that Jesus directs my life. Now, those words are easy to say. You know, when I pray about all the hurting people, and all the fears and anxieties among Christians and sinners today, the Holy Spirit keeps whispering to my heart these same words. The answer to it all is for believers to put their life completely into my hands. Now, Christians know that that's the answer. We know that. I'm saying something that's very basic. I'm saying, put your life in the hands of Jesus. You say, oh, I did that. I went to an altar. I prayed. I've given my life to Jesus. Well, let me share with you tonight what I believe that means. It's not just words. And I'll tell you what. I thought I knew what it means to give your life to Jesus and put your life in His hands and let Him do the directing and the leading and the guiding. And boy, did I miss it. And boy, have you missed it. We have not yet seen it. I hope God just turns the lights on tonight. I don't think I'm going to yell too much tonight. I'm just going to kind of... You believe that, and I've got swampland for sale down in Arizona. Here's what the Holy Spirit's been saying to me. Give up the reins of your life to Jesus once and for all. Give up the reins. Now, you know what a rein is? A rein is that long, narrow leather strap attached to the bit of a bridle that's used by a rider to control a horse or an animal. It's that bright. It's that strip. You've seen these fellows that are driving these horses around. That's the rein that holds, that directs. If they pull one way, the horse goes that way. Pull another way, it goes that way, and it's attached to the bit. The American Heritage Dictionary says it's a means of guidance, a means of control. The reins are a means of control. In the Bible, the word reins refers to the inner seat of our emotions, our passions, our feelings. These things that rule and guide and direct our lives. Now, the one who holds the reins holds the direction, the control, the power. Now, I want you to picture your life tonight before I go any further. I want you to picture your life as a chariot. Your life as a chariot. And the horses are the circumstances and conditions in your life that surround you. And you're the driver. And the reins are the emotions, the feelings that are ruling and reigning in your life. In other words, giving direction to your life. Now, the center, now listen to it closely. The center, he's the one who's riding a chariot that's out of control. The horses have gone wild. He sits there on the driver's seat, and he's pulling with all his might, and he's screaming, Whoa, whoa, halt! Stop! Anything he can. But you see, his reins mean nothing because the horses are wild. The horses are in control. The emotions are in control. The passions are in control. The circumstances are out of control. The circumstances are beginning to affect the emotions of this individual, the sinner. Now, that's a very clear picture of a sinner's true condition. His life spins out of control. His circumstances begin to control him. Loneliness, despair, emptiness, or alcohol, sex, drugs. He has no will after will. He has no control. No control whatsoever. The horses are running wild. And those horses are running pale male toward a cliff. They're going to, unless God undertakes, unless there's something interferes to stop it, it's going to go wild, it's going to hit a stone, it's going to be wrecked, it's going to go over the cliff and out of control completely. The driver's seat is a death trap. He's racing to a fatal crash. And those wild horses are absolutely out of control. I wonder if I'm not describing somebody that came in here tonight. And even if you have been saying, I've given my life to Jesus Christ, and I really want Him to control my life, but I wonder what it is that's driving you right now, that's bringing on the despair that some of you are experiencing right now. Your present condition in your home or your life has created loneliness. It's created despair, bitterness, or depression. Those horses, all the circumstances in your life seem to be out of your control. Everything you do, everything you try. Oh, how many of you have gone through it? You say, that's me, Brother Dave, that's me. If it's not you now, that's the way it was in your life. You are totally out of control. Nobody can help you. There's no psychiatrist, no psychologist. You can pay your hundred dollars and walk out and be doubly empty. More empty than when you went in to see the psychologist or the psychiatrist. It has nothing to do either with how cool you are in hard times. Some people, especially since they try to act very cool when the hard times come, they say, I'm alright. But they lay down at night and they look at their life and the circumstances that they're in. They can't understand it. Bob preached very clearly this morning how broken relationships, they're like wild horses, the circumstances, and they're carrying your wagon or your chariot down the road at pale-mouthed speed, and nearly shipwrecked or nearly crashed already. And outside of a miracle, it can't be stopped. Your reigns or your passions are completely helpless at this point. Now, the difference between a sinner and a Christian is this. Christians also sometimes find themselves in situations that seem out of control. In other words, the horses go wild. And there are times, there are conditions when things in their life seem out of control. But there's a difference. The Christian is the one who has a rescuer who's climbed the board, who knows how to take the reins. I remember years ago, when I was a teenager, television just first came out years and years ago. I remember those little square things, and they had a square, about nine-inch picture tube. And all they had were those Wild West movies. And those Wild West movies, the whole story was the stagecoach running out of control. And the driver slumped over the seat, and he's wounded, and he can't get up. And others, oh, they pulled him on a brake, he can't stop it, and they are whipping and calling, and everything's out of control. And down from the hill comes the white horse. And this man races up, jumps on the steed, jumps on the back of one of those lead horses, grabs the reins. Most of the time they jumped on the stagecoach, climbed aboard, clambered over all the suitcases, and got down into the driver's seat, and grabbed the reins and pulled it to a stop. And everybody got off, and he rode off into the distance. That was the whole movie. You know what the trouble is? Just a whole lot of us are glad to have Jesus aboard. But what an embarrassment. We just want Him on board. The horse is still running wild. Lord, I'm so glad You came, but You're still holding on. I'm so glad, Lord, these horses are running wild. I can't control them, and You're still holding on. Your hands are frozen to the reins. Jesus is sitting there. Why is it so hard for us to give up the reins? I want to show you how absolutely necessary it is to give up the control of your life completely to Jesus. Now, it goes far beyond the risk of injury or wrecking your own life. You could say to me, Brother Dave, who's going to suffer but myself? Suppose I don't have the energy or the faith or the know-how to turn my life over to Jesus as long as He's on board. You know, I took Jesus on board. Jesus is with me. That's all that matters. You say, I'm the only one who suffers. I'm the only one who's going to hurt by this. No, it goes far, far beyond that. And when I solve this, and this is where I'm going to begin to show you that we've not fully seen what it means to keep control of our own lives. I want to show you. In fact, when I saw it up on my mountain brink, I broke down and I wept and I cried. It's just like a knife. I didn't know what it means for me not to turn over the control of my life to Jesus. See, it goes far beyond just your injury to you. To keep control in your own hand is an insult to God. We offend the Lord previously. In fact, God made it very clear to me. He said, David, you have insulted me. And He said, when you insult me by taking control of your own life and still sitting in the driver's seat, and you know that it can be headed for a wreck, you know that you can't do it yourself. There's been much evidence of that. And you need my help. You cried out to me and I came to your rescue. And yet you won't turn over the reins of your life. And God began to deal with me how I insult God in three different worlds. I insult Him in three worlds. By refusing to put my life into His hand and trust Him to lead and guide me and let Jesus take care of me. First of all, I insult Him all through heaven. I insult God before all the angels of heaven. It's a provocation to all the created beings in heaven, to the seraphim, the teraphim, and all the created beings in heaven. You see, if they rejoice in heaven, if all the beings in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents, can you imagine how insulted they must be when those who call themselves by the name of Jesus, who have all the promises, all of the experience, and all of the testimony of how Jesus can lead and guide and take control of a life, and yet they hold onto the control and do not yield to the leadership of Jesus Christ in letting Him doing it. What kind of an insult is that to all the created beings of heaven? How incomprehensible it must be to angels when they look and hear of all the promises. They have the whole record of history with Israel in all of the centuries that have gone by of men and women who put their lives in the hands of the Lord and have come through victorious and had lives of joy. And we have that testimony and preach about it, and yet we hold onto it. We insult God before all the hosts of heaven. We are living out our lives before a great cloud of witnesses, as Scripture said, wherefore seeing we are all so compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that set before us, looking unto Jesus. In other words, giving up your control, look to Jesus, give it to Him. But we are living it out, encompassed by a great host, a cloud of witnesses. Now listen, if those who've died in Jesus live forever, there is a living witness, there is an absolutely living witness. I don't know who all represent this cloud of witnesses, but the Bible makes it very clear that God is using you and me as examples of His grace for ages to come. Now, here's the Scripture, and I want you to deal with this. And He has raised us up together, He's made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding richness of His grace in His kindness toward us through Jesus Christ. Now I'm going to ask you a question, and this is what hit me. What God's trying to do with us today, to take control of our lives, and to prove to a godless world that people can walk in peace, and security, and joy, though the whole world is coming apart, they can know where they're going, they can rest in that knowledge. And God says, I am raising up a testimony for all ages to come, of my eternal riches, and how good I was to this generation. I'm going to ask you, can Jesus point to you and say, here's a brother, here's a sister, that is an example for all ages to come, of one who puts his life or her life in my hands. Look at this one. Now after all, God used Job as a testimony to you and me. We still look at Job as an example. God made him the example. He made him that witness for all ages to come. I mean billions and billions of years from now into eternity, it'll still be a testimony that Job was faithful to God and trusted Him. You and I are being established as eternal witnesses. What kind of a witness is your confidence in Jesus right now? Are you being established as eternal witness? Is the Lord going to have to turn His face and say, that's not the witness? That is not the witness. Here's a dear child of mine, it probably will not affect His love for you, but it does affect your eternal witness. I don't believe we're witnessing just for now. He said, He's raised us up together, made us sit together in heavenly places, that in the ages to come He will testify our witness, the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Jesus Christ. Oh, that hit me. I want to be an example to all the angels of heaven. I want to be an example to all those martyrs over the ages who paid with their heads cut off and were beaten and sawed asunder and walked over the hills and hiding in caves, remained true to the Lord, turned their lives over to Jesus and died as living examples of faith. In this generation we've got it so easy. And I want to tell you something. I think it's going to be harder for God to find those kind of eternal testimonies today than when they were being chased over the hills. It's always harder when there's prosperity than when there's poverty. Much harder. But all the greater the testimony when it comes forth. Hallelujah. We find it difficult, for example, to believe that Lucifer, an angel in glory surrounded by the perfection of God and all of heaven, would sin with pride and be cast out of heaven. But can you imagine how incredibly difficult it is for angels, especially to understand why Christians go around running, controlling their own lives, living in fear and anxiety and depression when Jesus is so near and so willing and so wanting to deliver and guide and direct? How? We talk about Lucifer falling in pride. How could Lucifer do such a thing? How could we not turn our lives over to Him with all the promises that He has given to us? Secondly, we insult Him to the devil and throughout the kingdoms of darkness. Paul said, for we are made a spectacle unto the world. That's Satan. And to angels and to men. And that word spectacle is theater that's closely watched. It's theater. Our lives are like a theater. It's like a play that's being played out before the devils, the demons of hell, and all the principalities and powers of darkness before all the angels and before all mankind. And how we insult our Christ throughout all of hell. You know, God said, look at Job, how precious and how perfect he is before Me. And the devil's argument was, you put enough pressure on him and he'll break. He won't trust you. He'll turn against you. And God allowed the wall to go down and Job was tested. And I want you to know something that really frightens me. Remember this, that Jesus went into and preached unto the spirits in prison, in hell. That's 1 Peter 3.19. Remember also that this theater that's being played, now this is not mock theater. This is real Holy Ghost by spectacle. To them it's theater. To the one who's living it out, directed by God, it's not theater. It's reality. But to those, these great hosts, every, there are a host of demonic powers that are watching Christians in this last day. There's no doubt about it. The evil spirit, remember when the seven sons of Sceva tried to cast out a demon, they went up and said, we adjure you in the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches to get out. And the demons said, or the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? Who are you? Paul was known all over hell. I mean, Paul was an attraction, so to speak, in hell. How they watched how he played out his life of faith in Jesus Christ. How this man turned over everything in his life completely to the Lord Jesus Christ for direction. Now Satan's an accuser before the brethren, and he's looking, listen to me now, he's looking for legal arguments against God to use to accuse God of unfaithfulness. I want to show you the danger. And this struck such fear in my heart. You can become, by your unbelief and by directing your own life and not trusting Jesus with everything in your life, you can become a legal argument in the hands of the devil who is an advocate at the throne that comes trying to argue against God's faithfulness. You put in the devil's hands a legal argument. Look at this one. Lord, professing to love you, professing that you're the Lord, that you're in control. Now you put a little pressure, or you allow a little pressure, and look. Look how nervous. Don't want to be a legal argument in the hands of Satan to argue at the throne of God against the righteousness and faithfulness of Jesus Christ of this generation. Do you understand that? Are you hearing that in the spirit? I'm going to take, by God's grace, I'm going to take that whole argument out of the devil's hands. I can anger him, I can walk in faith, I can say, no, my life belongs to Jesus, but one thing I want more than anything else since God's been dealing with me on this message, that the devil can never point a finger at me, to all the hosts of hell, and say, look there. There's a testimony that Jesus is not real. There's a testimony that I should be king. There's a testimony that my first approach to the throne of God was legal. That's the very thing I was trying to prove I could do it better. Oh, I want to be able to stand up before all of hell and say, my Jesus is faithful. I can trust my life in His hands. Hallelujah. Thirdly, by not trusting my life in His hands, I insult God before men. We become false witnesses. Let me tell you, listen closely, let me tell you what strengthens a sinner in his sins more than drugs, more than alcohol, more than a harlot, more than a broken marriage. Let me tell you what strengthens a sinner in his sins. It's a Christian who is a hypocrite about the power of the Lord Jesus Christ in his life. You've heard sinners say, I can't serve Jesus because of all the hypocrisy in the church. I know of people, they'll say in the church, who are more depressed than I am in hard times. I know Christians call themselves Christians. They're no better than I am. Every time a hard time comes, they wring their hands and they say, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? And any sinner in the world can tell you what to do. Go to the Jesus you preach to us about. But the hypocrite, I mean the sinner that says, I can't serve Jesus because I've seen hypocrisy, he's thinking of one person he knows. He's thinking of a hypocrite. It could be a mother, a father, it could be a relative, it could be a preacher, it could be somebody in his life that's crossed his path. And he's not talking about the whole church. He's talking about one body, one person he knows. And it's stuck in his crawl. And he saw that person living a double life. He saw that person not living up to the power of Jesus Christ. You say, well, I want to win my friends to Jesus. You're not going to win your friends to Jesus until they see the power of Christ able to keep you from the same sins that they're committing. You've got to show them that the Jesus you serve can bring joy and gladness to your heart in the times of sorrow. You go right now to Iran. I saw a picture on the front page of the New York Times today on the newsstand. Pictures of the earthquake in Iran. They claim now 50,000 people have died, half a million people homeless, 200,000 injured. And, oh, the sadness, the agony. In fact, on the radio last night, they were interviewing somebody that just came out of the rubble. And the sobbing and the groaning in the background, it was horrible. You see, there were no resources. All the horses have spun out of control. Everything, all the circumstances have spun out of control. And there are no resources. In fact, the Muslims preach fatalism. What will be, will be. It's God's will. We don't believe in fatalism. We believe in resigning to the will of God. But we are in control. We're in control of the fact that we come in prayer and we willingly lay down our lives to Jesus Christ. And we come positively to the power and the resources. It's not just giving up. No, it's laying claim on all the power. We give over our lives to Him who claims the power and the authority. And we believe in that power and authority to deliver us, to give us peace in the time of sorrow. All right, we may cry like everybody else, but after a while, the Holy Ghost comes in with the presence of Jesus and brings joy and peace to our hearts. But you see, the testimony of Jesus goes beyond delivering from drugs and alcohol or controlling lust. You can go to Betty Ford Hospital and get that done. But you'll come out just as empty as you went in. Because Betty Ford Hospital can't reach down into the very innermost of your being and pull out the roots of that sin. And they can't instill you with the power and the joy there is only in Jesus Christ. And I'm telling you now, you're not going to ever put your life in order. Your horses are going to take you over the cliff if you just keep waiting for something to happen. No, you invite Jesus to come. Now, I'm trying to convey to you tonight that when you and I don't put our life completely in His control and relax in that, in faith, then we have insulted God before heaven, hell, and mankind. All right, I told you, first of all, give up the reins. Secondly, stop your backseat driving. I hope my wife will say amen. Gwen is, Gwen turn signals Wilkerson. She's on me all the time. Your turn signals, David, you didn't turn on your turn signals? She's really not a backseat driver, only for turn signals. And she's right, I never turn on my turn signals. You see, much of the praying that we do today is telling Jesus how to drive. We turn over the reins to Him, but we are so nervous, we're barking directions at Him. He's going too slow, He's going too fast. Remember the disciples who were in a boat in a storm, and the sea is out of control, the winds have gone wild, just like wild horses, and Jesus is fast asleep in the boat, and the water's coming in the boat, and they wake Him up and cry, Master, don't you care that we're going down, we're sinking. The Bible says, and Jesus arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Peace, be still, and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And they feared exceedingly and said unto one another, What manner of men is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him? Listen, when you turn over the reins to Jesus Christ, you turn over the control, He doesn't have to stop those horses, He doesn't have to push and pull, He doesn't have to do anything but say the word. He spoke the word to the winds and they obeyed Him. All He has to do is say, Stop, and they stop. Everything gets out of control. Suddenly, in control, everything stops. Dead in its tracks. All that has to happen is Jesus. See, you give Him control. You give Him control. Turn your life completely over to Jesus and let Him do the driving. Let Him stop the wild horses. Let Him pull everything under control. One word from Jesus is all you need to control all the forces of nature that are turned against you. You and I claim that He is our Lord, and sometimes we think that we've given it over to Him yet. If we've given it over to Him, why are we still uptight? Why are we still chewing our fingernails? Why are we still getting on the phone and talking to everybody, you know, about it? Rather than just leaving it. I think I'm one of God's worst backseat drivers that He's got. I really think sometimes I'm the worst backseat driver He has. Because I'm always telling Him how to do it. And I'm always giving Him deadlines. I'll get some red hot something, usually from my flesh, and I get to misjudging it as the will of God or the voice of the Lord. And I go to my Bible to back it all up. You can go to your Bible and back up almost anything you want to believe. You can justify anything you want to do. You can justify anything. I had an illustration there, but I better not use it. The Holy Spirit just corrected me on it, so I'm not going to use it. But you see, we're always saying and thinking, I've really given my life over to the Lord. But we have no rest. Because when you give it all over to Him, there's a peace that comes that passes all understanding. All that people have to do is feel, you know, they get something in their mind. And I'll tell you, if you go to the Lord with something preconceived, and it's there, and it's stuck in your mind, and you go to the Bible and you get a scripture, that's not what I'm looking for. That's not what I'm talking about tonight. I'm talking about turning it all over to Him, completely over to Him. Lord, You're my life, You direct, You guide me. And I want to tell you something, God's interested in much more than stopping the horses. What good is it if you turn the reins over to Him, and He gets everything under control, all your problems are solved. What do you do? Do you dismiss the Lord and say, thank you, if they ever run out of control again, come back? What do you do with Jesus? Are you going to take the reins back and say, well, Lord, thank you, everything's under control now. No, you see, the Lord's going to lean to you and say, now, where were you headed? Where are you going? He's interested not in just stopping your wild horses, and stopping your runaway stagecoach, or whatever it is. He's interested in taking you to His own place. He's interested in taking you to glory. He's taking us someplace. He's taking us into His fullness. I was praying about this, and I said, Lord, where are you going with this message? You convicted me? And you told me to give up the reins and quit telling you how to do it? I tell you, I think I am the worst at telling God how to do it. I look in the future, and I see things that are just absolutely frightening. I see things, and I don't get scared in the spirit, but in the flesh, I get to thinking about it. And I get all these plans and ideas how God is supposed to do it. Boy, I stay up half the night sometimes, saying, God, here's how it can be done. I can see it. God, can't you see? Lord, it's so simple. Most of you, you're doing that right now. I mean, you've been doing it. You did it today. I'm not the only one that does it. Don't sit there saying, poor pastor. You got it all figured out. You'd be surprised what He might have in mind. And then when He does it, you say, Lord, I never even thought of that. And I'll tell you, when God does it, it's going to be, well, you never even thought. You never even entered your mind. You can't say, I knew it, I knew it. You didn't know it. God surprised you. God just surprised you. Hallelujah. Glory be to God. Well, here's where the Lord said it was going to end up. He said, if you'll give me the reins, and don't take them back, and just relax in my presence, and just enjoy me now. Now, that doesn't mean you still fast and you pray, because you see, the only way you can learn to give your life over to the Lord is to be in the secret closet. That's where you learn His power and His mercy. That's where the rescuer comes. He comes right through the secret closet. Hallelujah. There's not much danger if your horse is going out of control, if you'll stay there, by the way. But here's what. I've got one of Dawn's specials. The Lord said, fasten your seat belt. You're in for the ride of your life. You're in for the ride of your life. Because you see, when you turn your reins over to Him, your horses sprout wings, and they take off. I mean, they go over the floods. We've just been singing about it. Right now, in fact, I'm going to give you a few scriptures about that, because first of all, the hardest thing you can do when you turn the reins over to say, Thy will be done. Thy will be done. I'm having the hardest time to die to my will. As soon as I can reach that, I'm going to have the trip of my life. I got so happy just thinking about this, and I said, Lord, did you say that to me? And He said, I sure did. He whispered that to my heart. David, if you'll turn over your life to me, completely trust me, and don't try to get it out of my hands. Just trust me. Don't manipulate. Don't try to work people. Don't try to make things happen. You pray, and you believe me that I move on people. I move conditions. They're all under my power. They're all under my control. You just pray, and you talk to me. I'll take care of the wheels. I'll take care of the moving of it. Everything else, and God said, if you'll do that, you'll have the ride of your life. You won't go around depressed and worried and fretful and fearful. There'll be joy spring up, because it's not your battle anymore, and you know that God's not just trying to stop your horses. He's taking you with Him to glory. Hallelujah. You're on your way on a trip of trust and confidence in the Lord. Listen. Well, let me read it to you. If thou so honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then shall thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high place of the earth. Isaiah 58, 14. We just sang, extol Him that rideth upon the heavens by His name. Who's sitting on the seat right next to Him? Seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Folks, that seat that we're sitting on is not just sitting in some boring legal position. We're seated in a heavenly place, riding through the heavens, riding over the clouds. He sits king of the flood. And when you do that, He takes you above it. That's what Bob was preaching this morning, to rise up above all of it. God's speaking again to our hearts. Moses sang this song. When God alone did lead Israel, He made Him ride on the high place of the earth. God made Him to ride above all the high places of the earth. The truth is, beloved, you and I are not very good drivers. You and I, too slow, too fast. You and I are going to mess up if we try to keep it anymore. I don't think I'm preaching to too many of you tonight. I don't know. I'm preaching to myself. I figured if nobody showed up, I'd preach it to myself. I need it. I need to turn my life over completely to Him. I'm not talking about salvation. I've been saved and sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost, but I've still been holding on to some of the direction, telling God what to do. Lord, help me. Take the reins. Take control. You take over, Lord Jesus, and help me. Every time I go to take Him again, you say, David, are you sure you want to do this? And remind me of all the messes I've made. Aren't you embarrassed at some of the things you did? I sat this afternoon thinking some of the dumb, stupid things I've done, and it makes me sick. I have to change my mind. How many embarrassing, dumb things have you done in your life simply because you didn't take the time to give it all to Him? Now, some of you, before I close tonight, need. You walked in here tonight. Somebody brought you. You were with a friend. I'm describing you tonight because your life has been out of control. I think of a young actor, David, who has been coming to this church, and I was talking to him last night. He said, I'm into serving Jesus big time now. It's not little time. It's big time. In other words, in his language, saying, Jesus is getting everything. I got to thinking, though, of his life, how he's messed it up till now. His life was totally messed up till he woke up one day and said, I'm going to wind up an old man still acting like a child. And he said, I've got to grow up. And when Philip talked to him about Jesus, Philip and his wife, God really got a hold of his heart and transformed him. And David's in the process now of learning what it is. I was preaching last night about the Lamb of God. David was at a street rally, and after service he said, Pastor, that's the first time in my life I knew what the Lamb of God was. I heard this expression, Lamb of God. What was that? He said, that was that Lamb that was laying on that sacrificial altar. He said, that was Jesus, wasn't it? Yes, that was Jesus. Turning his life over to his control. Hallelujah. Lord Jesus, I don't want to control my life anymore. I want you to control it. I want to turn the reins over to you. And the only way I can do that is to stay on my face, to stay on my knees and get alone with you. We can't do it just by thinking it to pass. Will you stand to your feet, please, up in the balcony here on the main floor. Look at me, please. How many in this audience tonight have a desire, a great desire, to do the very thing I'm talking about tonight, to turn the reins over to the Lord Jesus? Raise your hand, please. Keep it high right now. Lord Jesus, I pray that every hand that's raised will become not an argument in the hands of the devil, but a testimony for all ages that Jesus was faithful to their life. Jesus never failed. Jesus never fails. Hallelujah. Say it right out. Jesus, you've never failed me. Lord, take my life. Take my life. Take control of my life. Yes. Tell him right now. Lord, take control of my life. Lift up your hands to him right now. Lord Jesus, take control of my life. Lord, I've been giving you too many directions. I've not been trusting you as I should. Lord, I want to trust you tonight. I want to give you full control of my life. You be the one who tells me where to go and when to go. You come, Jesus, and give me direction. You take over my life completely, Jesus. As I pray, as I give myself to you, Jesus, you take over the reins of my heart. Now, if you're here tonight, I'm going to give an invitation for you to step right out of the crowd and come down here and let me pray for you. If you have to say, David, something you said tonight, I know that was God talking to me. Maybe you're in a situation where things are out of control. You need Jesus to come right away and get a hold of things. He'll do that if you'll come honestly and desperately to him. And others that are here, some of you backslid. You knew the Lord, but you turned away from the Lord, and he's drawing you back to himself. If God spoke to you tonight, I want you to get out of your seat, up in the balcony, go to either side, down the steps, and come here. And here in the main auditorium, just come to the front. I'll pray and ask God tonight to break your own stubborn will. Some of you need your will broken. You're just too stubborn. God wants to say, hey, that's enough of that. I want to take it over. I want to show you the kind of joyful victory, the ride that you can have to glory. The Lord's not interested in just saving you. He's interested in the ride also. He's interested in how you get there. Hallelujah. Jesus, be the Lord of all. The kingdom's love, my heart. The kingdom's love, my heart. The kingdom's love, my heart. You can still come while I'm talking. You that have come forward, let me talk to you for just a minute. You stepped forward. You're standing here now before God. Can you honestly say in your heart, As sure as I stand here right now, I'm tired of doing things my own stubborn way. I want to yield to the Lord. I want Him to come to my heart. Honestly. More than ever before, I want Him to control my life. Raise your hand right now. I want Him to control my life. Just keep your hand raised there right now. Lord, you see these hands that are raised here right now in your presence. Lord, I'm asking you to pluck out the stubbornness and the rebellion and all the self and all the self-will. Lord, pluck it right out by its roots right now. Holy Spirit, come and finish the work to the power of the living word of God. I believe everyone that's standing here, Lord, wants to be an eternal witness of the faithfulness of Jesus. A witness to the whole world, to heaven and hell, of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ the Lord. That human beings, not angels, but human beings, can find the faithfulness of Christ and prove Him righteous and faithful before a godless world. Will you pray this prayer from your heart right now? Jesus, by an act of my will, here and now, before this audience and all the angels of heaven, right at this moment, I commit my life and the reins of my heart to Jesus Christ my Lord. Help me to understand it, Lord. Help me not to get ahead of You, but to pray and seek You with all my heart until I'm fully surrendered, until I've given everything to You. Come, Jesus, and possess me. Take full control, because that's what I want. All right, let me pray with you again. Jesus, You heard that prayer. Confirm it now. Let it be something that's not just the emotion, but it goes deep, deep into the heart and transforms and changes hearts for eternity. In Jesus' name, amen. This is the conclusion of the tapes.