In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of having a supportive church community in order to overcome sin and achieve victory in life. He encourages individuals to seek help from God's people and to recognize that they are all connected as one body. The preacher also addresses the need for self-reflection and asks the congregation to pray for God to reveal their blind spots and areas of anger. He warns against being deceived by false teachings and emphasizes the importance of preparing one's heart and creating a habitation for God's presence.

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. By just coming to church, you'd be surprised how many people in America think they're doing God a great favor by going twice a year, Christmas and Easter. Just ask them, do you go to church? You bet I do, twice a year. And I want you to know that going twice a year is one of the greatest sins of all because they go unprepared. Now, God's been showing me something that's really been stirring inside of my heart all week and it's that, and it's simply this, that the most spiritual among us do not realize how sinful it is to enter God's presence unprepared. We've never even considered this idea that it's sinful to come to the house of God unprepared. Now, I know people have already accused us at Times Square Church of preaching so much against sin like we're inventing sin. I'm not inventing another sin. God's really put this on my heart. He's dealing with me about it and I hope you'll deal with you about it tonight. In fact, I'm going to ask you, what kind of heart preparation did you make before coming here tonight? Did you come here already sensing, before you came here, a powerful sense that you were going to enter into the very presence of the King of Kings? Did you come here expecting to enter into His presence? Did you have that sense of coming to His Majesty? How much time was spent this afternoon preparing for these very few hours that you sit in His presence tonight? How many, I wonder, just rushed through their day? You went out to eat, you visited with friends, you may have had a few thoughts of the Lord, but did you sense that you were just going to come tonight and sit in a theater that's been turned into a church? You would hear me preach tonight and then you would hope that God would stir you a little bit and you would go home somewhat changed or something different and it would just be a good service. Did you come with nothing more than that in your mind? How many of you, knowing that you were coming here tonight, were coming with this awesome sense that I am going to sit in the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Glory and I dare not go without preparing my heart? You wouldn't even go for a job interview without being prepared. If you were invited into the President's White House, if you were invited to any royalty, any royalty at all, and you walked in, you would not go, some of you, as you came tonight, you would not have been dressed so nonchalantly, for example. Now folks, at this church you'll always be welcomed no matter what you are wearing, if you don't have anything else. But I wonder how much respect we have for this King of Kings and Lord of Lords. If we just come in nonchalantly, and I want to tell you again and I said with all love, if you're going to come into his presence, treat him as a king, treat him as majesty, see him as majesty. Don't come in here gum-popping. Don't walk in here more interested in just seeing friends than talking. Ladies, don't come in here looking like you're just walking the streets. If you're going to come into the presence of God, it's not a matter... I don't ever want to be a part of a church where people are showboating their clothes. But there has to be a preparation when you come into his presence. God sees that. He knows. He senses so very clearly. You know, even the heathen queen, the Queen of Sheba, was absolutely speechless. She was breathless at the way Solomon ascended into the house of God, the way he went to church. The Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon. It says, and when the Queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, and the meat at his table, and his cupbearers also, and their apparel, the way they were dressed, listen to this, and his ascent by which he went up into the house of his God, the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. And I looked at that, and I thought, what was Solomon doing that she was breathless? She's heathen. She's breathless at the way this man's going to church. And I'll tell you why she's breathless, because as far as Solomon's concerned, when he went to church, and Solomon went to church every day, the scripture says very clearly, he offered burnt offering daily by the altars. He would go out himself and pick the best of lambs. And this was some affair for Solomon. This is when Solomon was walking with God, when he had the fear of the Lord in his heart. And I'll tell you why the Queen of Sheba was breathtaking, absolutely breathless, because every ambassador from other countries, everyone who was of royalty, took a back seat. He as well has said, excuse me, I have an appointment with the King of Kings. I have an appointment with Jehovah. And everyone else took a back seat. And this man prepared his heart, chose the lamb, and went up softly, ascending those stairs. The King of, this mighty King, look at him going to church. Everybody's awe-stricken. This man sees it as a time of meeting with royalty above everything he's ever known. The Queen of Sheba knows he takes a back seat. I wonder if it's like that with you. Are you in business? Whatever job you have, I wonder if the house of God comes first. Do people around you know that you have such respect for God's house? There's such respect that when those doors are open, you say, I don't care if it's the President of the United States. I don't care if it's the Queen of England. There's church tonight. King of Kings. I've been invited. I'm going to the house of God. I'll see you later. And with dignity, and with expectation, saying to the whole world, pardon me, I'm going to the house of God. Bible said, and she was left breathless. The world leaders and all the business people, everybody else could wait because this man had an appointment with the King of Kings. Hallelujah. Now David learned a lesson the hard way. He found out that God will not put up with haphazard worship. He'll not put up with haphazard coming into his presence. I want you to go to 1st Corinthians, 1st Chronicles in the Old Testament. 1st Chronicles, and for you that are newly saved, find Kings and turn right. 1st Chronicles, the 13th chapter. Alright, while you're turning there, let me give you a little background. David's now been firmly established as a King of Judah and Israel, and it's a mighty time of festivity. The first thing David wants to do is bring up the Ark. The Ark has been languishing for 70 years at Kirgeth Jearim. For 70 years it's not been consulted. For 70 years Israel did not yearn after the presence of God, as they are now. But David's established as King, and look at verse 1, chapter 13, 1st Chronicles, and David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. And look down at verse 3. He said, let us bring again the Ark of our God to us, for we inquired not at it in all the days of Saul. And all the congregation said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. Now, you know the story. They get a new cart, they go down to Kirgeth Jearim, and they put the Ark on a new cart, and they start dancing before it, and singing. What a revival! A great revival is broken out in Israel. The King has been established. David's heart is for God. He's trying to bring the people along with him. But you know, something happens. The Ark stumbles, and a man by the name of Isaac puts forth his hand to steady the Ark, and he's smitten dead, and he dies before Israel. And I mean, suddenly the dancing stops, the singing stops, everything stops. The revival died right on the spot. And David was angry with the Lord. The Bible said he was displeased. And the Bible said, and David was afraid of God that day. Look at verse 12. And David was afraid of God that day, saying, how shall I bring the Ark of God home to me? Now, look this way for just a moment. Why did God interfere with this religious festivity? After all, aren't they yearning after his presence? The Ark represents the presence of God. And they're trying to reestablish the Ark and the presence of the Lord. They're bringing home the Ark. But I'll tell you what, God saw something. There was no preparation. This was a committee revival. Well, look what it says. David consulted with the captains of thousands, and hundreds, and even leaders, and every leader. Now, that sounds like an all-American charismatic event. We do that all the time. We consult with thousands, and hundreds, and get all the leaders together, and we buy balloons, and we put on our hype, and we get to our dancing, and our singing, and then man's hand touches it, and God says enough, and it dies. This was to be Jerusalem for Jehovah Day. And I'm not mocking Washington for Jesus. But folks, here's one preacher sick and tired of all the balloons, and all the hype, because God will have nothing to do with any celebration where the heart has not been prepared. He will not have anything to do with it. It'll die. It'll end up in debt. It'll end up with people displeased, just as we see here. See, this was a committee revival. They did it because it seemed to be the right thing to do. That's what it says. For the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. Not a word of consulting God at all. Now, it wasn't just because they put the Ark on a new cart. Because in all the revivals, even under Hezekiah, the great revival, all of the, there hadn't been time for all the Levites to purify themselves according to the law, and God seemed to overlook it, because there was a hunger. Their hearts were white. They hadn't gone through the ceremonial cleansing. That that in itself would not have brought death. It would have not stopped the revival. Oh, friends, if there was ever a need in the church for discernment, it's right now, about singing and shouting and praising. Now listen, I don't care what church you go to. If it's a church that's preaching Jesus, you should love it. You should love your pastor. You should be praying for it. Anybody talks to you, you should talk about your church. Fine. But may God give us all discernment to be able to discern between the sounds, between the shouts. Whether or not man's hand is in it. Whether or not it's been a committee thing, or has it been really born a preparation of the heart. This, this revival absolutely died. Do you know there are multitudes of Christians today dancing in front of new carts that are coming down the road? They're all supposed to be God's great new thing that He's doing? Why would God have nothing to do with this? Why did God bring death? God rolled death right into it. Began to shake me up today when I began to read it over and over. They had not prepared their hearts and they had not prepared a habitation for the ark. David learned that God expects much preparation before He'll commit His glory and His presence to a people. You have to prepare. And you're going to see it here in chapter 15. Go over to chapter 15. Gonna start with verse 1. God says, you want my presence? Then you're going to value it enough to prepare for it. Listen folks, before you go to anywhere in chapter 15, look this way right now. We want to see God's holy presence come down in Times Square Church. We want to see it to such a place where sinners cannot sit in another seat. We want to see Jesus so exalted in this house. We want to know that we come in here every time. No matter where you come from, you know that you can meet Him. But God does not commit Himself to a people who do not prepare Him a habitation. Until there's such a value one, until you come prepared for it. Look at chapter 15 verse 1. And David made him houses in the city of David and what? Prepared a place for the Ark of God and pitched for it a tent. David said, none ought to carry the Ark of God but the Levites. For them hath the Lord chosen to carry the Ark of God and to minister unto Him forever. And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem to bring up the Ark of the Lord where? Unto his place which he had what? Prepared for it. Hallelujah. David prepared a place for the Ark and he pitched a tent for it, the scripture says, to bring up the Ark of our Lord unto the place which he's prepared for it. Now look at verse 12. And he said unto them, speaking to the Levites, ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites. What's it say? Sanctify yourselves, both you and your brethren, that ye may bring up the Ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it. For because you did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought Him not after the due order. In other words, we didn't go through the proper procedure, we didn't make the proper preparation. Do you see that? If you see it, just say amen so I'll know you're there. Hallelujah. Now, it's all in order now. There's a place for the Ark to rest. They prepared their hearts, they've sanctified and purified themselves, and now they lay the Ark on the shoulder of the Levites according to due order, and now the shouting and the singing has a ring of holiness about it. This is now a revival of righteousness, a revival of holiness. They have prepared their hearts. Listen, I don't care if there are a hundred thousand people, I don't care if a million Christians get together and sing and shout and praise the Lord, until the hearts of everyone have been sanctified. God does not see it, God does not hear it, it's just noise. God said, I have nothing to do with your solemn assemblies, nothing to do with it at all. You may get happy, you can go and say that was great, but God says I don't even see it. It's a stench in my nostrils, because there's been no preparation of the heart, there's been no sanctifying of themselves before me. Hallelujah. And do you know why I so value the teaching that's coming forth from these pastors? It's because we're preparing a place right here for the Holy Ghost to come, aren't we? God's preparing his people, he's preparing us. Glory be to God. Now David's prepared, he's moving according to the Word of God, the people are in order now. First it was clean hands, pure hearts. In fact, if you go to Psalm 24, you'll find the Psalm David wrote while he's coming up this time. Psalm 24 is written as they bring the ark up now according to the due order. And boy, it's powerful when you read, look at Psalm 24, just go there and you'll see, you'll see the kind of revival that God visits. That's what Bob was preaching this morning. Wasn't it wonderful to hear how God will come to you and work with you when your heart's prepared? Look at it in verse chapter 24, Psalm 24, this is the Psalm of David, when they're bringing back the ark according to due order. The earth is the Lord's, the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein, for he's founded upon the seas. Verse 3, who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? Who is it? He that hath clean hands and pure heart. You see, that's why God would have nothing to do with this first revival. They're trying to stand before his holy presence. They're not sanctifying, it's just a shout, it's just noise. Oh, there's some people can go to meetings and say, that's the greatest thing I've ever seen in God, not even there. They have no discernment. He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Oh, hallelujah. What a shout there is now. What a, what a glorious outpouring of the Holy Spirit. All right, look this way, if you'll please. You remember John the Baptist? You know what the Scripture says of John the Baptist? He came to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. That was the ministry of John the Baptist. You know that's my ministry? You know that's the ministry of all of us here? To prepare your heart to receive the Holy Ghost? To prepare your heart to be able to come the house of God? Listen, if you won't prepare, and if I don't pray, if we don't come here absolutely prepared, God cannot visit us. He visits a prepared people. God's saying that today, so strong he's trying to get that through to our church tonight. Remember John said, I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. You know what David said? Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble, thou will prepare their heart, thou will cause thine ears to hear. God says, I'm gonna listen to you when your heart's prepared. Your prayers are going to get through. They're going to count, because your heart's been prepared. Now, how do we prepare to come to church? How do we prepare for his presence? In other words, my message, remember I said, the sin of coming to God's church unprepared. Let me tell you how God wants you to go to church. This is the way I want to go to church from now on. First of all, number one, get the log out of your eye. Get the log out of your eye. Go to Matthew 7. Matthew 7. Matthew 7 is about logs and dogs. Matthew 7. Let's just read the first five verses there. Judge not that you be not judged. Boy, how that scripture has been taken out of context. Don't judge. Don't judge. Know what that means. If you look at the original Greek meaning, do not have a sensorial spirit. In other words, don't have a judgmental spirit. It's a spirit. It's somebody that's always complaining. Now listen, the Bible says the man of God's to reprove and rebuke with all long suffering and all authority. There is a righteous judgment. God help us. The Lord said that's the problem. There are some men that stand in the pulpit. They're afraid to call sin, sin. They call light darkness and darkness light. And God said if you see a man that's sinning and you don't judge him, the blood will be on your own hands. So, you know, he's not saying don't judge. Don't judge unrighteously. Don't judge except according to the Word of God. Don't judge except according to his righteous standards. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. And with what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the moat? That means the little sliver of the speck that's in your brother's eye. But considerest not the log or the beam that is in your own eye. Or how will you say to your brother, let me pull out the moat out of your eye, and behold the beam is in your own eye. Thou what? Who's calling that name? Who's calling? Jesus called them hypocrites. Thou hypocrite. Boy, that's strong. Let me say it a little louder. It sounds strong. Thou hypocrite. I think that's the way Jesus said it. First cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye. Now, I want you to know, I believe the whole thing is is to learn how to get the moat out of your brother's eye because that hurts. You ever have something in your eye? I'd like to have help if I got something in my eye. But the Lord's telling us how to do it the right way. There's nothing wrong in doing it. Well, let's get into it. First of all, the house of God is not a courthouse where everybody sets himself up as judges to judge one another. We got a lot of people come to the house of God in robes and they sit in their chair like they're the judge of the whole church. Of everybody. They're looking over. Mm-hmm. Actually, actually, this house is a house of refuge for criminals. You and I and every one of us were criminals without Jesus. Every one of us have been forgiven so much. We've all been criminals. We've been outcasts. The Lord's forgiven us all. This is not a courthouse. It's a house of refuge for criminals. Saved by the grace of God. But sadly, some of us come to church, some of you came to church tonight blinded by a great big log in your eye. And according to Jesus, you don't know it. In fact, he's got this strong adjective. He's calling you a hypocrite. And me, this is for me tonight. The Lord's describing a tragic spiritual condition in his house among Christians. This is a person who sees something wrong in others, something wrong in the church, a perceived wrong, and they're wanting to step in and make it right. Let me pull it out. They have the answer, in other words. I've got a lot of people have answers for me. And I've had a lot of answers for people myself. Well, all along, the same person become blind to the fact that they're the neediest of all, and they're really part of the problem. You know, I know in every church, and in this church, there are believers that come to worship who come bothered, they come upset, they come troubled, they even come angry, because they're bothered by someone, they're bothered by something, either someone's done to them, it can be a friend, it can be somebody in the church, it could be a pastor, it could be almost anyone. Listen, I've been, I don't want to preach like this. I'm an evangelist. I'm an evangelist, and I've never in my life preached like this. But God put it on my heart, so I just have to preach. This is all he gave me, folks. But we have people in this church that say, let me pull it out, let me straighten it out. But God says, no, you can't do it, because you're not seeing things as they really are, because you're blind. And the reason you're blind, you've got a blind spot about yourself, because that's what a log is. A log is a blind spot about something in our own very lives we can't see. Our wife or husband can see it, our friends can see it, but they love you too much to tell you about it. Boy, I remember a number of years ago overhearing one of my associates. None of these, this is long before I knew these, except my brother and my son. And I overheard one of my closest associates said, boy, be careful, don't cross Brother Dave, you'll pick yourself off the ceiling. And I'll tell you, that hurts a man who thinks he's humble and kind and generous. Oh, I thought he's talking about another Brother Dave, it can't be me, because I'm not like that. Listen, every time they have a problem, I give them money. Man, I'm doing everything for everybody. I'm not like that. I went home to Gwen. I said, honey, I can't believe what I just heard. I heard, won't name his name. You know what he said? Don't cross Brother David, you'll pick yourself off the ceiling. I said, honey, isn't that awful? I said, I'm not like that, surely. She said, yes. I said, folks, I'm saying, I said, what do you mean, honey? She said, David, you've been so busy. You don't listen to people anymore. You really don't listen. Words just go, you look at people, you don't hear them. And that's folks, that's the gospel truth. I had a young man come in shortly before that. And I remembered it this time. And he sat there for about half an hour talking to me. And he said, you're not listening. None of you preachers listen. You always have so much wisdom. You're trying to dump it on me. You don't think I know anything. You preachers don't listen to any young preachers. Boy, he tore me up. And she said, David, you don't know what's been happening to you. And I love you. I've got to tell you, you lose your temper too easily anymore. You're spouting off too quickly and you're not aware of it. And I wasn't, I was totally blind. I thought I was just the opposite. Honestly, I thought I was probably one of the tenderest men in America. I thought of all the preachers in America, I'm tender. You know, I was, I agonized before the Lord yesterday. I said, Lord, is it possible? You're saying here that there's a beam in your, there's a log in your eye and you're not perceiving it. Thou considerest not the beam that's in thine own eye. Could you be sitting here tonight? Listen to me. Could you be sitting here now totally blind to something in your life that others can see and you can't see, that Jesus can see and you can't see. He said, you're not even considering it. Folks, some of your friends won't tell you. Sometimes your wife or your husband, they won't tell you. And you'll never know it until you get along with God and agonize before the Holy Ghost and say, Lord, you turn the light on. You show me what I am before you. Let me see you the way you see me. Boy, you're going to be surprised what he digs up for you. You're not going to have time to come to church bothered about somebody else. You're not going to come here saying there's something wrong in this church because you're so, God, there's so much wrong in me that I need straightened out. I don't have time for anybody else's problems. I got along with God preparing this message and the Lord, I was looking at that and I said, Lord, you know, I really, when I heard what my associate said, and my wife can tell you that, I changed. I'm not where I want to be yet, but you don't pick yourself off the seating anymore when you cross me. You may get a powerful message. I don't need to hear from you. Do you know what the Lord's trying to say to us right now and hear it, and hear it well? There are glaring weaknesses that we ourselves cannot see. Sometimes we come with a pharisaical attitude to the church and sit there. We're not even aware. It's just a thought that's there. I thank God I'm not like some of these people at Times Square Church. You know, we've had people come in here, walk out, and never come back again because they say, I've seen too many fanatics down there. Some of them don't like to come and sit next to a poor person, for example. So they go back to the nice lily white churches. They go back to their churches where they don't have to be upset by any kind of problem. But I'm wondering tonight if there's something that you are not seeing and God says, you can't look at anyone else in the church. You can't look at anyone else, not your husband, not your wife. Don't come to us and say, I've got a problem. My husband's giving me a problem. You're the problem too. There's a log in your eye. There's a log in your eye. I don't know what it is. You probably don't know what it is according to the scripture, but the Holy Ghost is willing to show you if you want it to be shown to you. You know, there are very few people come to a pastor and say, there's something you need to know about me. Oh, I got a lot of people come and say, you know, there's something you need to know about somebody in your church. How many have we had? Can you count them? I'm only telling you this because I have a burden for them. I'm only telling you this because I love their soul and I don't want to see them go wrong. But I have to tell you, oh, I wish somebody come to me and say, brother, look, there's something you need to know about me. I've got a critical spirit. I've got a tongue big enough to lick its way around the statue of liberty three times. Why don't people come and say, pastor, you need to know I'm having a problem because I'm always talking about myself, my achievements, what I do. I'm always talking about myself. How many would come and say, I'm very quiet on the outside, but I'm raging on the inside. How many say I get hurt very easily and I hold grudges and I have a hard time forgiving people? How many of you could come honestly and say, brother Wilkerson, pastor, Bob, Victor, Don, Gary, I have a problem with myself. There's something you need to know about me. I'm struggling. And pray with me. Pray that this log will be taken out of my eye so that when people are hurting, I can help them honestly. I can give up myself. And folks, when you come to church, how many of you came tonight, bothered, bothered, somebody's bothered you. Did you sit in the worship service tonight, bothered, angry. There's a little something seething inside and it has to do with somebody else or the church or the pastor, the music, anything. When you should be sitting here, you should have come prepared. So God, tonight, let your word deal with me. Lord, turn the searchlight of the Holy Ghost on me. Show me my blind side. Show it to me. Reveal it to me. Now, if you want to consider the dog, it's in verse six, give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine. And that has to do with discernment. And folks, when you get the log out of your eye, not only do you have, you have the sight now to help somebody else with problems, but you know how to discern where to preach the word and how to preach it. You don't cast your pearls before swine. All right. Secondly, how to go to church prepared. Be convinced that the church needs you and you need the church and we all need each other. All right. I want you to go to first Corinthians 12, first Corinthians 12, first Corinthians 12. I want you to look at, we begin, let's begin with verse 18, verse 18. But now have God set the members, every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him. It's new American standard, pretty close to that. But now have God set the members, every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him. Look this way, please. If you have made this your church home, I want you to know something. Know it good. The Lord himself set you here. He sets you here. No man can do that. The Holy Spirit sets you in his body. Now Times Square Church is not the body of Christ. It's a representation of the body of Jesus Christ. It, it is a manifestation of the body of Jesus Christ here in Times Square. His body is everywhere in New York where he is worshiped in fullness and in righteousness. But you cannot come into the fullness of Jesus on your own. There's no such thing as lone ranger Christians. It doesn't work. You can't be a hand cut off from the body. There's no life to it. You would just die. There has to be. You, you, you need the church. The church needs you. That we're talking about the body of Jesus Christ. It's not an accident that you're here. Did you hear me? Some of you have come from New Jersey, some from Long Island, and you came here hungry and thirsty and maybe it wasn't the first time. In fact, I've told people come at least three or four times till you get over your anger. Some people get mad at our preaching. But if you'll come three or four times, maybe the Lord will show you and then you'll settle down and you begin to hear a word. But some of you, the very first time you walked in here, you were so hungry, you were so thirsty. And you know, you said, I'm being planted. I'm being set. The Lord, as it pleases him, he sets people in his body. You have been planted by the Holy Spirit. The Lord himself puts you here. You know, a dear sister who's here tonight, called the office this past week. You know, sister, please, nobody knows who you are. You represent something that really needs to be said here tonight. And she called, talked to Barbara, my secretary. And she said, you know, I've been coming for quite a while. And she said, I sit in the balcony. And she says, I just don't know anybody. And even when I bring people, I can't introduce them to anybody because I don't know anybody. I'd like to, but I don't know anybody. And there may be others of you here tonight. This is a new church. It's only eight months old. And you sit here and you feel unattached in a way because you don't know people. You may be the kind, like me, I'm kind of a loner. I've never been able to make friends easy. It's been rather difficult all my life. Now, it may not sound like that because I get so loud, but that's the truth, asked my wife. And some of you like that you can't make friends and you'd like to, you'd like to know more people, but you come and you sit, you worship, and then you walk out and you don't get to meet. And I, I would love it. Maybe someday God will provide the time and the place where we could have two or three hours, maybe four hours where we just all meet and get to know each other, get to, to, to establish friendships and things like that. And I'll tell you what, we all as pastors feel that kind of pain. And in the city, you often wonder, God, how do you bring it all together? How do you make people feel a oneness? How do people feel? I'm family. I'm a part of the body. I want to address this tonight because I believe the Lord's really put this on my heart. I want you to know something for this dear sister and for the rest of you, until, until God provides the time and the place where we get to know each other as we want to, where, where, where certain people relate to some, you know, you'll relate to somebody better than someone else, and God will bring you friends. But until that time comes, I want you to know something. We are all one body. His body. He is the head and we are all connected, whether we know each other well or not, we are all connected. How many believe that? Now, ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. Now, there are some of you here tonight that feel you're so unimportant. In fact, you feel unneeded and almost feeble. You feel unnecessary. You say, I can't play an instrument. I don't sing. I just come and I sit. I feel a tear at Times Square Church. Anybody feel that way once in a while? Anybody have enough courage to slip up your hand and admit that? Three of you. Oh, I know better than that. But there are, there's some people say, I, I, I, I'm taking in the Word of God, but I, I'm not out doing evangelism. I, I can't get to some of these outreaches, and, and I wonder what my role is and my purpose. I feel so feeble. Well, would you look at verse 22 in chapter 12, 1 Corinthians. Look at verse 22. Nay, much more, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are what? Necessary. Does that pretty well settle it for you? Listen, do you know why you're necessary? It's your caring spirit. It's your mouth you bring in, of worship and praise that you join the other. You represent that mighty host of witnesses. Hallelujah. And it's your coming and agreeing with others that pulled down the strongholds of the enemy. And I'll get to that in just a moment. Oh, but folks, I, I can go anywhere in the world. I may not even speak the language, but if I know that that person or that group is walking with Jesus and holiness, I know that I'm connected to that body. Hallelujah. My wife and I were in a restaurant in, in, uh, uh, Holland. Couldn't understand that everything was Dutch. And, uh, we were at a restaurant and somebody bowed their head to pray over the meal. I can't tell you how good I felt just to see somebody praying, went by their table and said, hallelujah. And they yelled, hallelujah. I said, that's the body. That's the body. Hallelujah. Didn't understand. But we were one. There was a oneness there. Hallelujah. We're one folks. We are one. It's because he's the head. We're all connected to the head. We're all drinking from the same well. The same life is flowing through all of us. We're all connected to the head. Glory to God. I, I, I heard one young Christian. He said, I don't know what part I am, but I think I'm the armpit. I'm the smelly one. Not talking about me, but himself. For the body is not one member, but many. The body's not one member, but many. Hallelujah. We all need each other. Can you say amen to that? For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. Glory be to God. Paul said, you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. I think he's describing Times Square Church. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty. And the base things of the world and things which are despised have God chosen. And things which are not, that no flesh should glory in his presence. Now, if you could look around here at Times Square Church and you can see that which is despised of the world, that which is based as base, that which is nothing as far as the world's concerned. You know, as far as the church, the world is concerned out there. We're just a bunch of fanatics here having church. They don't understand what's going on here. They don't understand God's building a body. He's putting together something powerful after his own nature. Hallelujah. Paul said, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. Now, I've got to confess to you, I've not been very patient with some of the people that come into Times Square Church. There, I have to, I have to acknowledge, there are some people that have been coming here, bothered me. Has anybody bothered you here? I shouldn't have asked that. I walked right into that. Just got done telling you shouldn't come bother you. You know, I read this scripture, warned them that are unruly. There are people that come here that are still unruly in their spirits. And the Lord said, warned them, don't throw them out, warned them. We need you unruly or not. We'll keep spanking you till you get right. And we'll do it with love. We'll hug you, but we'll still, we're going to have to do what is right. But then it says, comfort the feeble minded, support the weak. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the table. Be patient toward all men. I was going home a few weeks ago after a service, and that particular night, I don't know, I just had so many that had come to me, who just seemed so feeble minded. They don't come here regularly, but they just walked in off the street. And I love people, I'm trying to love and be patient, but I said something terrible, I think, when I got in the car. I said, oh, I said, honey, how can God build a church down here? I said, I feel like David sometime with all, all the people that have been sent. We have some wonderful people in this church. God's blessing. I love every one of them. But I'll tell you something, God really dealt with me. I began to think of all the people. In prayer, I just started scanning this audience, and I began to feel something in my heart, how much love God's put in my heart, and all these pastors, even to the unruly, even to those who bug me. And I'm asking God to never let it bug me anymore, to give me a patience, and every one of our pastors a patience, because God sets even the feeble minded among us. God sends the weak. God allows the unruly. He does that to train us and to bring patience out of us. We'll never be the kind of pastors we should be if we had all saints. I believe five or six years from now, I'm going to be a pretty good pastor. One of the pastors, because I'll tell you what, I began occasionally to resent some that were coming. The Lord said, no, you can't do that. Love them. And there are some of you, I know, that have struggled, and we look out, and when you're not here, we miss you. I say that all honestly. Isn't that true? You begin to miss people. And now when I walk down there, I don't say, oh, here he comes, or here she comes. I won't be able to put my arms around saying, I need you. I need you. I'll tell you, you need us. Did you hear me? You need these pastors. You need me. I need you. We need each other. This is God's house. We need each other, folks. We can't make it any other way. I need you even though you came late to practice here. I mean, you came. He went on that org until later. I know. I ain't got caught in traffic. I know it. He said, you just picked yourself off the ceiling. I love you, brother. I really do. I'll tell you what, I've never been in a church that I've felt such love. Folks, in these last days, with all hell breaking out, I thank God he put me in a body. I'm glad he put me somewhere where I have brothers and sisters who care about me. There are pastors here who care about you. Thank God for it. Thank God for it. Hallelujah. We're part of a body. We're one. I feel that oneness of the Holy Spirit right now. It's his precious presence. This flows through those who say, thank God we're one in him. Glory be to Jesus. You know, we get our supply of Christ from each other by that which every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. I can't grow without you. You can't grow without me. We must grow with the body. Oh folks, I was a lone ranger. I was an evangelist out there doing my own thing. I thank God tonight. I thank him with everything in me that he put me among pastors who love me and care for me and I love them. We are one. I need them. They need me. I need you. We need each other. Say it. We need each other. Glory to God. Just like you. All right, last. I'm telling you how to go to church prepared, right? Come to church believing that our weapons are mighty and pulling down satanic strongholds. Glory to God for the for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. We're to come to God's house prepared to do mighty exploits for God through prayer. If two or three agree together concerning anything on earth, then it shall be done the father in heaven. What's going to happen if a thousand agree together? Did you prepare your heart? Did you come tonight expecting God to hear prayer and answer for you? Did you expect God to anoint you tonight and walk out of here ready to take on anything that Satan throws at you next week? Prepared to believe that our weapons are mighty in pulling down strongholds. Boy, you know there are not many people in America going to church that way tonight. They don't expect to shake the kingdom of darkness. You know, I don't know if you saw it in New York. My message tonight originally was going to be the Times Square Development Project. Green light on 42nd Street. This is the post from June 2nd. It says here that the long delayed street development project cleared important hurdle and it goes on to say the project is now underway. 2.5 billion dollars and they're going to build these great big, I mean from 59 stories, 39 stories. They're going to redo the whole 42nd Street subway system. Times Square subway system going to be redeveloped. They're going to start in a few months of condemning the buildings, restore the theaters and so forth. And I read that and I said they've got it all wrong. It says after 15 years the project's going to proceed. After 15 years of project. I'll tell you folks and I said it this morning, I want to repeat it. The Times Square redevelopment started before the foundation of the world and it started. God planned it before this world was even created because we were in his mind even then. God looked down over time and he realized there's going to be an AIDS plague. He realized there'd be drug invasion of this city. He saw every one of us who would be here in this city and he had, God's never caught off guard. He's never caught by surprise and God says in the last day, in the last hour when New York becomes Babylon, it becomes a city of greed and the great white way becomes the great greed way. I am going to raise up a church and in October, I'm not boasting on this, I'm boasting on how God pre-plans everything and he said I'm going to have a church and he knew you would be here. He knew what you were going through. He knew it all folks. You weren't left stranded. God says I'm going to raise up a remnant in this in New York City and I'm going to send a demolition crew in there and we came in here as a demolition crew first. Knocking down everything in sight. All the idols and all the sin. Didn't God do that to you? Didn't he start knocking everything down? He's got to knock down and get rid of all the trash but now I believe God's starting to build something and the redevelopment program is right here in Nederlander Theater, right here. God is building his church. Now this is not the church. This is a part of his church. You believe that? Yes, it is. All right, we're in the final war now. I'm going to close in just a minute but let me tell you what I, God just before, just before I came to church, I said, oh God, you said our weapons are mighty and pulling down strongholds of the enemy. It's not just because we see this place close. It's not just some of these unique answers to prayer. It's more than that and here's what the Holy Spirit was saying to me. Our greatest weapon, our most powerful weapon, is total dependence on the Lord. Total dependent. Now I know prayer has power, faith has power, but our greatest weapon is to come to God's house with no chip on our shoulder, no log in our eye, not even a mind of our own, but to come like Jesus did. Jesus said, I can do nothing of myself. He said, the son of man can do nothing himself but what he seeeth the Father do. I can do of myself nothing, Jesus said, and I get on my face now and I say, Jesus, if you couldn't do anything without the Father, what can we do? We've got to have your mind. And folks, the person that gets rid of their own mind and has the mind of Christ, you get rid of your own preconceived ideas. You're not trying to figure things out. Folks, you keep on trying to take matters in your own hand. You're just going to mess it up. You'll mess it up good. You can trap all night, try to figure your way out of it. It's just going to get worse. Folks, it doesn't get better. It gets more complicated. Amen? So what is the answer? Well, I'll tell you where I'm at and I believe when I hear these pastors praying the way they preach, I believe they're the same way, the way God's leading us. The greatest weapon makes us invincible. It makes us, the enemy can't touch us when we're displaced. When we say, I will do nothing until I hear from God. I will do nothing. I must have the mind of Christ in me. Not my own plans, not my own dreams, not my own schemes. I don't care what anybody tries to do to me. I'm going to take it to God. I'm going to let the Lord deal with my enemies. I'll let the Lord deal with my problems. I'll lay my dreams and my schemes and everything down. I lay it down, Lord. I want your mind. Hallelujah. We come to church then, having prepared, Lord, I'm coming with an open mind tonight, not my own. If you come prepared to go out and just do your own thing, you'll never meet God. But you come to his house prepared. Lord, deal with me about my sin, not anybody else's. Hallelujah. Let me go that I'm needed. Let me, let me know that I'm needed. Let me feel a part of the body of Jesus Christ. And let me know that something mighty is going to happen in that house tonight. And it's going to happen right now. God knows what you're going through, saints. You know, he knew it. He said, he marked your parts of your body before you were born. Even when you're in your mother's womb, he said he counted every member of your body. Hallelujah. Isn't that wonderful? Counted every hair on our head. He knows exactly what you're going through. Hallelujah. He's not going to let you down. He's going to walk with you. I'm going to minister to you. What every head bowed, every eye closed, please. Hallelujah. Holy Spirit come tonight, right now. I pray that you will quicken us by your Holy Spirit, Father. You will bring healing to those who need healing tonight in their spirits. Hallelujah. Thank you for what you're doing in building a people. Lord, teach us to come to your house truly prepared. Would you look this way a minute? Just look this way. Can I say something? I meant to say my message and Holy Spirit reminded me. You know, your love is going to be tested in the days to come, like it's never been tested. My love is being tested. Folks, I've been working with drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, and troubled people for 30 years. I thought I knew it. I thought I had love, but my love is being tested and stretched, and the Lord's going to stretch it more and more before Jesus comes, because you're going to find more and more people you know and love with AIDS. So I'm going to come to you and someone you love very much, AIDS. Are you still going to love them? Are you going to say, well, what kind of terrible sin? Are you going to start digging up everything? Are you going to stretch out and say, Jesus, give me love? Let me not judge them. We have a man here tonight. Brother, be at ease. In fact, I believe we may have two. Came this morning dressed as women, here tonight dressed as a man. Now, wait, please, please. We have at least two people in this congregation have had sex changes. And I listened to their cry. One in particular. I don't know how many. I'm surmising two, and I know of one. And I sat and I listened to that cry. This was done before really serving the Lord. And I thought, I wonder if that's known how many people in this church would really still love. Or would they say that's terrible? The first at first place, it can't be changed. And that these people now are really serving God and loving the Lord Jesus. And that dear brother that's here tonight. You came this morning dressed as a woman. I want you to know that I want the kind of love and I want this. I would like to see this church have the kind of love that we would never laugh at you. We would be able to reach out to you. And pray for your healing, because I believe you want to be healed. I believe you really want to be healed. I would like to believe that we have people in this church that would have such a love in your heart that you could reach out to somebody that's had this kind of change in their body. You don't know the kind of hell that was experienced. You don't know the terror of someone about to kill themselves, living in absolute terror. And now just crying out to God and saying, oh Lord Jesus, will I still be loved if people find out? I want to have that kind of love. That's why I'm saying, I want God to stretch. Do you know what about people here that are having battles? They come week after week and they're having a battle and they backslide and they get saved and they backslide and they get saved and sometimes we lose patience. I don't want to lose patience. You go down to the Jerry Cawley mission there in Brooklyn. Jerry McCauley backslid 99 times before he raised up the Jerry McCauley mission. A great mission. You read the story. Jerry McCauley backslid 99 times that somebody didn't give up on Jerry McCauley. And we're not going to give up on people in this church. And God wants to give us a spirit of love because Jesus doesn't turn anybody down. He reaches out. We don't justify these sins. Never. God will give us wisdom on how to deal with them. And if you're going to walk in holiness and God gives us a word, you'll hear that word. You'll want to go with it and walk with it. But all God wants to enlarge us tonight with his precious love. I want to be a part of a church that has that kind of love. When somebody takes a fall, they can get up and they come and say, Pastor, I've fallen on my face. I hate it. I despise it. Am I still welcome? Yes, you are, because there's nothing left out there. There's nothing out there that devours. They're trying to destroy you. And if you're here tonight and you failed the Lord this past week or this past month, you failed God. You say, Brother Wilkins, I don't want to live like that anymore. I want I want to live righteously before the Lord. But I want to be a part of what Jesus is doing. I want you to just get up out of your seat. No one needs to know or anything. I'm not going to ask any questions, but we'd like to just lay hands on you and pray. God, put his arm around. God, break the power of sin once and for all. But until the victory comes, you can know you've got a body behind you. You know, you've got a body standing with you up in the balcony. Just go to the steps. You come down either aisle, wherever you're at, all over this house. You say, Brother Wilkins, I've failed God, but I don't want to fail him. I don't want to live like that. I want victory in my life, but I need help. I need God's people. I need a church behind me. I need the body of Christ behind me. Come in close, please. Up in the balcony, just go to the stairs down. God bless you. Move in close, please. Okay. Folks, let's pray. God's moving by his spirit. Oh, Christians, would you bow your head and let's pray. Holy Spirit, I pray that you will draw from this audience tonight those who need your healing touch, those who want victory over a habit, those who need victory over sin tonight. Jesus, those who need victory over sin, victory over sin, whatever it may be. Lord, we're going to stand with them tonight. We're going to believe with them. We're going to trust you with them and for them. Wherever you're at, folks, you say, I need victory tonight, Brother Dave. I need victory tonight. We'll wait on you for just a minute. Up in the balcony, the Holy Spirit just touches so many up there. Just come down the stairs and down either aisle here. We'll wait for you. We'll sing it one more time. This is your night to be free. This is your night to be set free. I just would just stand with me, please, in the presence of the Lord. You can still come while I'm talking. You that are standing up, look this way, please. Just just look this way for a moment, please. Hallelujah. How many of you know with any no doubt about it, you're sure that Jesus loves you tonight. Raise your hand, please. Raise your hand. You know he loves you. All right. How many of you, are there any of you standing up here tonight? You feel the Lord doesn't love you anymore. You have not felt his love. You felt that God's just kind of angry at you and you don't feel his love. Raise your hand, please, so we can pray for you. You haven't felt his love. You felt unloved. You felt unloved, unloved. I've counted at least three or four up here that and no one needs to know that have let us know that they have AIDS. And I want you to know something. Jesus can heal AIDS. Yes, he can. If you will put out, if you'll stretch forth your heart to him tonight, if you put out your heart to him tonight, lay everything down. We preach in this church that you're to hate your sin. And once you hate it, you turn to him and I'll tell you what, he'll send all the heaven to your rescue. Hallelujah. Sends the Holy Spirit to our rescue body of Jesus. Would you, the Bible says that every joint supplies something. Would you supply something for this audience right now? These that are here, would you supply your part of love right now? Would you raise your hands and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the love of Jesus and the fear of God to our hearts up here? You that are up here, just raise your hands and ask Jesus to come right now. Say, Lord, save me, heal me, take my sin, set me free. Call on his name right now. Everyone up here, raise your hand and call on the Lord. Say, Jesus, I'm here to be healed. I'm here, Lord, to have your strength. I'm here, Lord, to be set free. Lord Jesus, I need to be delivered from sin. Lord, I'm here for deliverance from the power of Satan. Lord, I'm here to be set free. Lord, I need you tonight. Lord, I need you tonight to deliver and set free, to deliver and set free. Lord, you are here tonight to manifest yourself and break the chains. Ask Jesus to break the chains right now. Break the chain, Jesus. Break the chain of sin. Break the chain, Lord, that binds me. Break the chain. Break it once and for all. Break this chain, Lord. Break the chain. Break the chain, Lord Jesus. Break it. Just break the chain, Lord. We believe you now to break every chain. Break the chain of the devil. Break the chains. Hallelujah. Break it. Break the chains, Lord. Break every chain. Lord, break it once and for all. Break it now. Break it once and for all, Jesus. Break it. Hallelujah. This is the conclusion of the tape.