In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of experiencing the joy and gladness of the Lord. He encourages the congregation to come down from the balcony, any exit, or any aisle and stand in the presence of God. The preacher talks about a powerful encounter with a prophet who tried to overpower him, but with the help of God, he was able to stand firm against the enemy's lies. He shares how a spirit of gladness and cleansing came upon the congregation, leading to confession and reconciliation among husbands and wives. The sermon concludes with a powerful moment of dancing and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord.

This message is one of the Times Square Corporate Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to Royal Challenge, P.O. Box 260, Linville, TX 75771 or calling 214-963-8626. One of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. First Chronicles, Old Testament, First Chronicles, 16th chapter. First Chronicles, 16th chapter. First Chronicles. We thank God for the Word this morning. God bless us. This is a continuation of what God was saying to us at the end of that message. And go Tuesday night. Don't forget Tuesday night. Where are some of you people? Let's get names and addresses. And telephone numbers. You know who they are. You're missing something. You're really missing a blessing. Tuesday nights, and then Friday night beginning at 30 to 7. Worship and then right into this intimacy with God. Getting to know Him through the Psalms. Bring your notebook. Bring your pencil, pen, keep notes. Now, the singers, we want you to go Friday night. Wait until they come early for prayer. And you'll be given free tapes of all of these sessions of Brother Phillips. You'll be getting free tapes, those who attend the singer's class. The gladness of God. Did you know God's a glad God? We're going to talk about a new concept, a new vision of God. It's wonderful to be in a house, a church, where the Lord keeps revealing something about Himself all the time. And you know, when we get to Heaven, we're going to spend eternity just getting to know Him. And we're still not going to get to know Him fully all through eternity. There'll be something always that we can learn. We'll learn something fresh and alive and new about our blessed Father tonight. Begin to read verse 23, 1 Chronicles 16 chapter verse 23. Sing unto the Lord, all the earth, show forth from day to day His salvation. Declare His glory among the heathen, His marvelous works in the low nations. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Now listen to this verse, verse 27. It's a very key scripture. Glory and honor are in His presence. Strength and gladness, I don't know what it says in the New American Standard, but joy, right? Strength and, King James, strength and gladness are in His place. Strength and gladness, wherever there's gladness, there's gladness. Wherever there's the presence of the Lord, there is automatically gladness. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, this has just been consuming my heart this week. You've dealt with me, and I ask you to do with this congregation as lovingly as you did with me. That you would lead us, O Lord, into a vision of this part of your character, O God. We've seen so much of your character the past two years in this church. How you've chosen to unveil your nature, unveil your personality. We're getting to know you and to love you. The more you tell us about yourself, Lord, the more we love you. Hallelujah. Lord, we love you tonight more than we've ever loved you in our lifetime. Lord, we know the devil doesn't have a leg to stand on tonight. We have no place in this church, no place in this meeting. And now, especially through the Word, Lord, we cast out every evil-binding spirit. We cast anything of Satan out of this house. And there is freedom now, Lord, to bring forth the broad totems of the gospel of Jesus. Hallelujah. We rejoice in your Word, Lord. Put fire in my bones tonight. Put fire in my voice. And let the Word flow, I pray in Jesus' name. Glory to God. Hallelujah. While in prayer this past week, the Lord just came upon me in the Holy Spirit. And I'd already had a message two-thirds finished. I may preach it next week, I don't know. It's called, uh, God looking for people. God searching for people. And I was almost finished, and the Holy Spirit got in there and said, No, that's not it. I've got a word for you. David and I had it for the congregation. I want you to preach it Sunday night. And I just, in Jesus' name, I said, Lord, what is it? He said, I'm a glad God. And everywhere I am, there is gladness. And he says, there's gladness in glory right now where the angels are, right now while you're here. All of heaven is full of gladness. And there's going to be a Mary's Supper tonight, and you're going to go to gladness. And I came from gladness. I sent my son with gladness. And I want you to be glad. And I, I was driven to the Lord, and I got out my concordance. I started looking up, glad, gladness, limited by glad. And I was overwhelmed. In fact, toward the end, I got down on my face. Lord, God, forgive my sadness. God, forgive me for coming to you like I've been coming sometime blue and down and green and all the colors. Lord, forgive me. I was convicted by the word of the Lord. And I want Him to convict you tonight like He did me. David is so right. Strength and gladness are in His place. And Isaiah 51.3, the prophet talked about the garden of His presence. Wherever you meet, it's a garden of His presence with all the sweet spices of His glory. And it says, joy and gladness shall be found therein. Every time you come to this house, you come into the garden of His presence. And He said, therein you will always find my gladness. Hallelujah. Now, in the presence of God, with all the holy angels, there is gladness and joy and you've been singing and rejoicing. Scripture said, serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Last night, I stayed up quite late reading John Bunyan's Vision of Heaven. John Bunyan was there, a Puritan writer. Not a Puritan, but an early writer of the Puritan scheme. And it was marvelous. I read for three hours of the vision he had of heaven. And it was all of gladness. It was all of the angels rejoicing. It was all of the self and all of the created beings of heaven. And the absolute, constant gladness and joy that there is in the presence of the Lord. God is glad that He's the creator. God is glad that He's good. He's glad of everything. Everything He created and said is good. And He's glad about His goodness. God has nothing to make Him sad. You say, well what about all the lost and all of the damned and so forth? We're going to show you something of that tonight. David pictures the church as a king's daughter being brought into the presence of the king. Clothed in a garment, embroidered in gold and fine linen and needlework. And he said, she shall be brought forth. This is the church. She shall be brought forth unto the king. With gladness and rejoicing shall she be brought forth. They shall enter into the king's palace. How are we presented to the Lord? She shall be brought in new garments of righteousness. But she will not come downcast. She will not come depressed and in despair. She will come into the king's palace with gladness and joy in her. I have never been to a wedding where the bride came in sulking. I have never been to a wedding where the bride was yawning. Or the bride was saying, how is it you get this over with? Well, I'm not talking about six months later. I'm talking at the altar. The Older Bible says, Jesus came into this world under an anointing of gladness. Benedict Phillips used this verse this morning. It says 45.7 Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Now we know this is speaking of Jesus. Because in Hebrews it says, but under the sun he said, Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Hebrews 1.89 Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And in the Hebrew from Psalms 45.7 This word gladness is sasu. And it means glee, laughter, brightness, merry hearted, cheerful. Now think of that. Jesus was anointed with the spirit of merriment, of glee, of brightness, of cheerfulness, of laughter and gladness. That's all in that word. It's all there in the Hebrew. You'll find it also in the Greek. He was anointed. The psalmist speaking of Jesus said, Jesus is a bridegroom coming out of his chamber rejoicing as a strong man to run a race. He's coming forth to his church with gladness in heart. Glory be to Jesus. Oh yes, he was acquainted with grief. He was a man of sorrows. He was so burdened down that he could sweat drops of blood. And yet the thing that undergirded it all, there was an undergirding of absolute gladness in the Father. I read these words in Proverbs 10.28. It says, the hope of the righteous shall be gladness. The hope of the righteous shall be gladness. And then I look at my own walk with God and I see so much of sorrow. I've seen such a downcast spirit, a dark foreboding at times come upon me. The feelings of being down or depressed or sad or sorrowful. And yet the Lord is making it clear to him, that's not the witness that he wants. The world has given up trying to find gladness and joy. They've given up trying to find it. They've found it in drugs. They seek it in alcohol. They seek it in sex. They seek it in pleasure. Tell me how many you know on your job that really have constant gladness and joy. I don't mean the giddiness that goes and comes and it doesn't see you through the hard times. I'm talking about those that have true joy and gladness in their heart. How many people do you know who are really glad? In fact, you can go to many churches and you won't find that gladness. Going to some churches in New York, you're just not going to a funeral. You don't even get the smell of flowers. You get the stench of death. There's a stench of death and deadness. And some people don't think that there's church unless you hear mournful sound. I don't know where they got it. They didn't get it from the Bible. You say, well, I like to go to church where everything is so in order. I want to go to church where the Holy Ghost breaks through at any time He pleases. And I'm asking God to do that. We are, as pastors, asking God to break through any time He pleases. Hallelujah. But I've seen frightful judgments coming. I've seen terrible calamities ahead. Some that I couldn't even share with you tonight, frightful. And yet, even though I've wept over those things, and I've grieved over Christians that are apostate, I've grieved over certain things that seem in the church. And yet, we must not allow any of our spiritual burdens to rob us of this oil of gladness, this spirit of gladness. We always have to come back to that. That has to be the foundation. We've got to have that spirit within us, that joy of gladness. Now, did the apostles cheer for men? Well, then if they were, Jesus was more cheerful. Because He was anointed above His brethren. Were they merry men? He was more so. Were they filled with the glee like a child? That childlike glee the Bible is talking about this morning? Then He more so. Did Jesus laugh? We do know it says He wept. Did Jesus laugh? Yes, He laughed because the Bible said He was anointed with the spirit of gladness. Did the disciples laugh if they were apostate? I wouldn't want to follow men who didn't have a good laugh. I don't mean a joking laugh, but I mean just to see... I laughed my belly out this afternoon when my granddaughter started rolling over and rolling her eyes at me. I laughed her belly out. It was a laughter of joy. I've heard people say, Brother Wilkerson, when he popped his eyes, he never smiled, he looked so sad. They don't know I'm one of the happiest preachers in America. It's a gladness, yes. I wouldn't want to attach myself to a gospel of Paul the Apostle who didn't know how to enjoy the gospel of Jesus Christ and had this great mirth and joy and merriment just because he knows He saved him on his way to heaven. Glory be to God. Have you ever been in a meeting where there's holy laughter? Folks, I was born and raised in Pentecost and in all old-fashioned camp meetings, when I was a boy, holy laughter would hit the congregation. There would be 500 people laughing for an hour. Just laughing. They couldn't contend, they would fall on their face and they were laughing in the spirit. Have you never heard holy ghost laughter? Well, one of these days, God will knock the sadness out of some of us and give us some of that holy ghost laughter. Have you ever heard that, Bob? Have you ever been in a meeting where there's holy ghost laughter? It's just, man, I know you've been in that. I mean, just hundreds of people laughing. It's contagious. Have you ever been around somebody that's laughing? I remember in England, they have those guards that don't move at the palace. And I was with a buddy and he just, he said, I'm going to make them laugh. And they're just laughing and giggling. Just standing there laughing at him. And you can, he wouldn't remember, but you can see, he was trying to come along. He said, what's the point of that, brother? Well, I tell you, sadness is so contagious, it wouldn't be a bad thing to have some happy Christians. As a witness to the glory and the keeping power of the Lord Jesus. Hallelujah. As God has sent me into the world, even so have I sent them into the world. John 17, 18. He was sent into this world anointed with the oil of gladness. He said, as I've been sent into the world, so send I you. He is anointed with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of gladness. Hallelujah. Now, I've heard prophesied that in the last days there will arise a people who will obtain gladness and joy. Well, we sing that chorus. But, well, all about us, there are going to be hearts failing into fear watching those things coming upon the earth. The Bible said there will be a people that obtain, and the word means to take hold of, absolute joy and gladness in the Lord. Therefore, the redeemed in the Lord shall return and come a singing to Zion. And everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness. I mean, they're going to take hold of it, the Bible said. They're going to get it. I want you to get it tonight. I'm just beginning to get it. I want to obtain that spirit of joy and gladness. And sorrow and mourning shall flee away. Oh, we've got so many stone prophets running around today. Preston Black. And prophesying what they believe is the word of the Lord. And many of them, I've had them come to me and thunder at me. And yeah, thus saith the Lord. And I remember one time sitting in a restaurant with my family. And we were laughing. The children, we just had a good family time. And I was rebuked by one of these prophets. Terrible thing. Go look at him, he's laughing. He couldn't be a prophet unless he had a frown. Jesus said, they contort their faces and their countenance so they receive God as a mirror. He said, when they fast, they don't wash their face. Or they rub their eyes and get red-faced. So they can come out weeping like a prophet. Well, you see somebody coming around. I'm telling you, a true prophet has joy. A true prophet of God has joy because he not only sees the bad side. He sees the eternal hope that's behind it all. He sees where this thing's going to end up. Glory be to God. Now even sober Jeremiah prophesied of gladness is going to come to restore people. This weeping prophet rejoiced in this vision. Even though there were times he went through great sorrow of heart. And he wept and he cried. Listen to what Jeremiah, this weeping prophet said. For there shall come a day that the watchman upon Mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. For thus saith the Lord, you shall sing with gladness for Jacob. And shout among the chiefs of the nations for the Lord has redeemed Jacob. What's the last day church going to be like? Are there going to be a bunch of mournful sad people just barely making it? Are they going to go around dressed in black and mourning? Jeremiah Bible said, it's a triumphant church. Let's make yourself ready. It's going to be a church that dances all the way through the last tribulation. And whatever it may be that comes, they're going to have a song in their heart. Glory be to Jesus. Now if Isaiah is right and the people can obtain the spirit of joy and gladness to see that through the last day all the trouble is coming. How are they going to obtain it? Let me show you a few things that God's been speaking to me about. First of all, gladness is a by-product of loving righteousness and hating evil. God touched on that this morning. Now, why did God anoint Jesus with the air of gladness? It is, thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore. In other words, this is why I'm anointing you with the air of gladness. Because you love righteousness and you hate sin. You hate iniquity. Because you hate iniquity. Because you love righteousness. Therefore, and because of this, I will anoint you with the air of gladness. Hallelujah. Surely, as day follows night, joy and gladness follows true heart repentance. It's inevitable. Now, when Ezra and Nehemiah took a remnant back to rebuild Jerusalem and the walls in the temple, the first thing they did was get the Word of God out and they had a revival of the Word of God. When there's a true work of God, it always comes through a revelation of the Word. The preaching of the Word that brings conviction against sin. Brother, sister, if you've been coming to this church, you know what we're talking about. Boy, do you know what we're talking about. Hasn't the Word come like a sharp two-edged sword? Hasn't it pierced all the way to the marrow of the bone? Didn't it go down into that cesspool and just open it up and tear it apart and ask God to take it all out? And just when you thought you had it all out, something else in the Word came along. And you sat under that Word. The Bible says, Ezra brought out the Book of the Lamb, Moses. They built a pulpit of wood and they stood on that wooden pulpit before the people for hours. They lifted up their heads. They bowed their heads and worshipped with their faces to the ground. For the people wept and mourned when they heard the words of the law. You see, there's a time to weep and there's a time to mourn. There's a time to be on your face before God in repentance. Because the Word has found its mark. You see, the trouble today in many, especially charismatic circles, there's a lot of sinning, rejoicing, without this deep prayer, bringing the working of the Holy Spirit to His name. They just want to sing, they want to shout. And they have, you can tell. If we're working the Spirit, we have discernment. You can tell whether they're going through this moving and this praying, this working the Holy Spirit. But you see, many churches don't want to hear a message about sin. They don't want to have a cleanup campaign in the church. Because that cuts off the money people. That cuts off the mortgage payments. Oh, so many, many reasons why pastors, we've heard pastors say that. Literally say that. I can't preach that. That'll drive people out. One of my own evangelists at a minister's meeting said, Don't preach on the coming of the Lord. And he was also informed about don't preach against sin because it drives people out of the church. Oh, brother and sister, this is how God brings forth the spirit of joy in His house. Praise His holy name. You're going to find that the joy of the Lord is reserved only for those who love His holiness and hate sin. Until sin is dealt with, all joy is superficial. It will not endure the hard times. If you want a joy that's going to see you through when it's coming to this world, let the Holy Ghost give. Let the Word do its work in your heart. Then the time came for Ezra Nehemiah. They saw the whole nation. Everybody was mourning. They were weeping. They were on their face before God. And then came the time for the Lord to come forth and said, No more mourning now. No more weeping. It's time to get glad. It's time to rejoice. Let me read it to you. Go your way now. Eat the fat and drink the sweet. And send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy unto our God. Neither be you sorry. For the joy of the Lord is your strength. Be ye not grieved. And all the people went their way to make great mess. Because they had understood. The words declared unto them. And there was very great gladness in the land. There was very great gladness. Then they said to them, There are some people who never come out. Now, we have said, You might believe it or not, But repentance is a way of life. But you see, That repentance, That constantly coming Lord to be searched, Also produces a constant spirit of anointing and gladness in their hearts. You show me a people that are truly repentant, And I show you a church that rejoices. There is no death, There is life. It's the life of the Holy Spirit. Be glad in the Lord, And rejoice, be righteous. And shout for joy, All you that are upright in heart. You see, Sin casts a shadow. I can always tell you people living in sin, There's a shadow. They're not free to worship. They're not free to pray. They're not free, There's a weakness. Because the Bible said, The righteous are as bold as the lion. They're not looking in the eye, They don't look bad in the eye. They look half crippled, They look down, And they look depressed, And the sinner is casting a shadow of sorrow. It's always a shadow of grief. But when you've been searched by the Lord, And laid in damn, The scripture said, Let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. They let them exceedingly rejoice. You that love the Lord, Hate evil. And righteous will be sown for righteousness. And gladness for the upright of heart. So what about Daniel? Daniel is a man who is always grieving, And he's on his face before God. In fact, Daniel represents the man Who sorrows most over the sins of the nation, And his own sins. He said, My sorrows have turned upon me, And I've retained no strength. There's no strength in me. Neither is there any breath left in me. Now here's a man, Grieving over sin, Repenting over sin. But then the Lord came to Daniel. Don't think that Daniel spent his whole time just weeping. Don't think he spent the whole time just mourning. He had that. That constant grief was there, But at the same time, The Lord would come to him, Just as he is in this. O man, Greatly beloved. See, the Lord came and touched him. O man, Daniel, Greatly beloved. Fear not now. Peace be unto you. Be strong now. And when he spoke to me, I was strengthened. And Daniel stood to his feet, And rejoiced in the Lord God. Hallelujah. I'll never forget speaking in Alabama, At a minister's conference. And I had just finished writing the book, Since the trumpet to thy mouth. And it had been a very trying time for me. I had been searched by the scripture. And I was seeing the destruction and downfall of ministries. At that time, None of the ministries had fallen. And I was writing chapters and prophecies on, God's going to bring it all down. And I put it, For three months, I was, My wife hardly knew I was her husband. I would weep and cry. I remember going out, So burdened, That I'd grab every incision prophesied in the world. We lived by a lake. And I'd, Late at night, I'd stand out there, And just serve a con. I remember one time, Just throwing myself on the ground, And just weeping, And waiting before the Lord, And standing and prophesying to the wind. You could hear it all across the lake. People must have thought I was crazy. I don't know if you even heard me. Sometime late at night, And I just started prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord would come on me. And He was dealing with me, About making my life count. He was dealing with every hidden thing. He turned the shelf slide on me. And out of it came the book, Set the trumpet to your mouth. And when it was all done and finished, I had this great joy of the Lord coming upon me, Like I'd never known. And I couldn't preach without dancing. I couldn't preach without getting happy. And I went to this minister's conference. I think I was happy. Just when I thought I couldn't preach any more of these prophecies. And I saw the judgments of the Lord coming. And I would tremble. In fact, the Spirit would come down into my little room that I studied. My wife would come in. She was drawn by the Holy Spirit. She would just fall on her knees and weep with me. And many times, I would try to get the Holy Spirit. He would just lay me back down. I could feel His hand on me. But all the incredible moving of the Holy Spirit, And this incredible sense that judgment is near. America is not facing judgment. It is in judgment. And all of these things I was seeing, And it was so heavy, I thought, literally, I thought I couldn't take it. One night, my wife, It just overcame. She began to weep and tremble. I didn't think about it. Suddenly, I said, Honey, it's the enemy trying to destroy the Word of God. Hold steady. Get on your knees. And he got on the knees and drove the enemy out of the house. Well, I knew then that the devil didn't want it to go forth. But it was almost too heavy to bear. One night, I heard the Lord just come down And speak again in a way to give me an Emmanuel book. God has everything under control. God has everything under control. Hallelujah. And that day, the joy of the Lord hit me. And I got to just rejoicing. I went to this convention down in Alabama. Ministers' Convention. Five or six hundred ministers. All the ministers, all the executives up on the pulpit area. And I just finished preaching, And this joy hit me. The joy, it might hit me again tonight. Honey, I'm ready. But the joy of the Lord hit me, And I started jumping up and down like a poker stick. Just up and down and up and down. And I could just see. My eyes just blew open, And I'm looking around, And nobody else is moving. And all these men standing there. Now, I'm not accusing them of not having any joy. They didn't know what hit me. Nobody knew. I couldn't figure out. Why aren't they happy? Why aren't they feeling what I'm feeling? I felt forgiven. I felt clean. I could look God and angels and prophets in the eye. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. Now I was in joy because I had been searched by the word of God. I had totally repented. My life was an open book. And all of heaven could rejoice with me. Everything was clean. I was clean. And when you're clean, You're going to soak this joy that comes when you're clean. When you've got that sin sticking up, You've got that problem sticking up, You can't rejoice. Because the Holy Ghost won't let you. He said deal with it and then shout. Remember, While we had that minister's conference, That repentance conference in Dallas. When it came out at the end. I'll never forget it. It came to my mind last night. And we had some 800 ministers and others Gathered for this repentance conference in this big hall. At the Armada Inn in Dallas. And it was so intense. This was just one of the first series of our repentance conferences. Bob, Don and I were preaching repentance. And you know, For ministers to come to repentance conferences, You have to be hungry. Because ministers don't think they need to repent. But these were hungry men. And I'll tell you, The Lord came down, The sword of the Lord, Pathetically in the room, Was cutting deep. And about the third service, It was cutting so deep, That there was a heaviness. I've never been in such a heavy atmosphere. My wife went up to the room and said, I don't think I can go down there. The meeting is so heavy. What's going on? There was a terrible heaviness. I had a pastor come to me. A Roman pastor. And he took me in a room. And he pointed a finger at me. He said, This is dangerous. He said, That Don Phillips is the most dangerous preacher I've ever heard. He said, You and Don, And this Mr. Phillips, You're going crazy. He said, You bring it down. You bring it down. You forgot grace. You're not preaching grace. He said, This is the most motley bunch of people I've ever seen. Where did you find them? And he went on and on. And he was angry. In fact, He came down in the next meeting, And he sat there while Don Phillips was preaching, And shaking his leg and whistling. He was angry. He could have stood up and choked this man. I went upstairs after that next meeting, And I'll tell you, You could almost cut the atmosphere. It was so heavy. And I could feel the heaviness. And I went up to the suite they'd offered. And I called Bob in to the room. And I said, Bob, There's something going on. I said, I've not been in this. What's happening here? Are we too heavy? Is the Word too strong? I remember Bob going over by the window, And he was raising his hand to the Lord. They came back. He said, Lord David, He said, God's having His way. The Word's working. Let's just let God have His way. Let's let it be in Jesus. And I'll tell you what, We came back, And about the next last service, The Spirit of the Lord, And gladness began to come, Because the ministers fell on their face, And began to repent. And God began to show hidden things. Relationships with their wives. Sexual problems. Immorality. Adultery. Lust. And all, God began to pull all the garbage out. It was all coming out. Confessions were being made. Husbands and wives were slipping out into the house, And confessing to one another. They were getting things right. And I'll tell you what, There was a cleansing came down. The last night, I wish you could have been there. The last night of that convention, The Glory of the Lord came down. I started dancing. Bob started dancing. Don was dancing. It looked like the Bob Phelps chorus line. He said, Oh, we were dancing up and down. The Glory of the Lord came down. That smell around the center, We were literally shook. The workers at the hotel were coming to see what was going on. It was the most dynamic thing I'd ever seen. A spirit of gladness came down, And took over the culture. That was repentance. Hallelujah. Well, Glory to God. I've got to go on. The gladness of God is a by-product of running to the river. Well, Satan's coming against you. Running to the river. Well, the devil hates glad Christians. He despises Christians that are rejoicing in the Lord. In fact, his biggest guns are aimed at happy Christians. He'll come up to you suddenly, As a troublemaker. He's going to try to overpower you with a spirit of despondency, A spirit of despair. He's going to use every weapon out of hell, To try to bring you under a spirit of guilt and condemnation. He's going to try to condemn you. He's going to dig up all your past sins. He's going to try to drag you away from... He's going to try to drag up every failure of the past, Every sin you've ever committed in the past. He's going to accuse you of being a phony. He's going to tell you you're so weak and wicked. Whatever you did in the past, you're going to do it again. You and I may experience the seasons when the devil comes like this, And tries to bring the spirit of despondency and despair. But you see, whether you know it or not, He stands before the Lord all the time, night and day, accusing you. You don't know it, but you should know it. And I heard a voice saying, The accuser of our brotherness cast down, Which accuses them before our God day and night. Right now, the devil's trying to accuse you before the Father. He's trying to accuse you saying, You're not going to make it, you're unholy, you're unworthy. And when you're under that kind of attack, Too many Christians give in to that. There are those accusations that flood them with guilt and terrible condemnation. Oh, there's nothing more tragic than a Christian under condemnation. Well, it shouldn't be, especially when it's under the blood, And you're listening to a lie of the devil. Well, if you're living in front of an open sin, there should be condemnation. Guilt is a healthy thing, but it needs to be dealt with. But we have a people across the nation coming, We have people come from all over the country here now. And some of them have been demon-possessed, And someone says, go to Cal Square, they know something about spiritual warfare. And they come in, some have even said, We've heard you know something about spiritual warfare. I'm possessed of devils and demons and legions. Cast them out of me. Cast them out of me. Now, I want you to listen very closely. I want to talk something about deliverance here. And how to get victory and gladness instead of despondency. David said, He makes walls to cease. He breaks the bow. He cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariot in the fire. Let's go to Psalm 46, And I want to show you how God delivers His people. Without anybody, Now, I believe in the Lord in advance. I believe in speaking the word of authority. But I also believe that there are times when nobody's around. You can't call on anybody. Could be the middle of the night. Who are you going to call? Psalm 46. Psalm 46. I'll tell you how the Lord delivers. He sends a river and says, Go drink. I want you to listen to it. Psalm 46 verse 1 to 4. God is our refuge and strength. A very pleasant help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear. Though the earth be removed. Though the mountain be carried in the midst of the sea. But look what's happening. The water is therefore roaring in trouble. The mountains shake with the swelling. You get the picture all around you. Everything is shaking. People are in trouble. But there is a river. Verse 4. The streams whereof shall make God the city of God. The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God's in the midst of us. He shall not be moved. God shall help us end that right early. Now listen to me please. That river is the Holy Ghost. That flows right out of the very throne room of God. And that river breaks into millions of little streams. And that stream flows right through your house. It's right through your secret closet. Here's the problem when people get into despair and despondency. They get into a harassment of the enemy. They'll do anything to go to the river and drink. They'll call a friend. They'll spend money and time to get an airplane and go to New York. They'll come to Townsville Church. They'll spend anything. They'll go anywhere. They'll spend hours on the telephone looking for a counselor. When all along their deliverance was waiting there right at the stream. Where the Lord said there's a river. The streams whereof make glad the city of God. They'll drown out that despondency. And everything else. And that's the pureness of the presence of Jesus Christ. God said in that presence is fullness of joy. And praises evermore. Most people don't know. Even Christians. They don't know the secret of victory. They don't know how to stay in that joy. God was talking about not knowing where to find some Christians. They're up and down. Hot and cold. You can't depend on them. I don't want to live that kind of life. And I want to see. We want to see as pastors. Saints of God. People who walk with God here. That you can count them. You know where they're at in the Lord. Anytime you see them you know. I wonder if you're going to be hot or cold. Or look warm or middle. Or 90 degrees or 40 degrees. We shouldn't have to look at the degrees. We should say there's a brother who knows where to go. Now sure we're there to help. But there's some things we can't do. It's only the work of the Holy Spirit. There's a river. It's a present from the Lord Jesus. And it flows right through your floor closet. You've got a room somewhere. You have an animal bill. Go to the animal bill. Go out to Central Park. Go anywhere. Get along with Jesus. Find a little niche somewhere. And begin to drink in the river of His pleasure. Hallelujah. That's what brings the gladness. This river will make God the city of God. That's the church of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. I want you to go to Isaiah 12. Isaiah 12. Turn right. If you're in Psalms. Are you going with me? I mean to Isaiah. Isaiah 12. I'm going to read the whole chapter. Now don't let this scare you if you haven't seen it yet. It's only six verses. And in that day. Isaiah 12. And in that day. Thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee. Thou. Though thou wast angry with me. Thine anger is turned away. And thou comfortest me. The Lord God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. You go to that stream and you get your cup and start drinking. Hallelujah. I promise you no matter what problem you have. No matter what the devil's trying to bring on you. You get along with God. Shut yourself in the presence of Jesus. You get to love and worship him. And I promise you, you'll come out with joy and gladness in your heart. Therefore with joy shall we draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall you say, Praise the Lord. Call upon his name. Declare what he's doing for the people. Make mention that his name is incarnate. Sing unto the Lord, for you've done great and excellent things. This is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, the inhabitants of Zion. For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. Hallelujah. Glory be to Jesus. The Lord says, You go and drink. You drink and I'll take care of the devil. You drink and I'll make your wars cease. I'll cut that bone too. I'll take that spear and cut it. I'll burn the devil's tree. You go drink in my presence, I'll take care of your enemies. You believe that? I believe that in all my heart. Glory be to Jesus. Finally, the gladness of God is the result of committing absolutely anything to the Lord. Committing anything to Jesus. Committing. Therefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit to keeping their souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful creator. In Psalms 37.5. Commit thy way to the Lord. Trust also in him. He shall bring a good pass. Now this word commit is one of the most misunderstood words in the Bible. Actually, some people see this resignation. In other words, they go to the Lord and they don't commit. They dump. They dump everything. And they come away saying, I've committed everything to the Lord and I'm waiting for him. It says, commit thy way to the Lord. Trust also in him. He'll bring a good pass. So, what they do, they go to the Lord and they just dump everything. Say, Lord, here, it's your problem. I've got a lot of things to do. I'm very busy. And when you're ready to answer, come and let me know. That's not commit. In fact, this one commit in the Hebrew, the root word is very meaningful for me to line up with. To line up with. And it's very significant. It's not some kind of passive resignation. This is not something you just lay over to God. No, this is something God is telling us to do. There's a work involved. There's a diligence involved. You go to the Lord and you line up with his will. And this is what it means to commit to him. To go into his world. Go to prayer. Find out the mind of God. And line your whole life up with it. And you line up with his will. He's always going to do his will. He's always going to perform his will. And when your will becomes his will, you know he's going to do it because he's going to do his own will. It's his will that you have now. Jesus did nothing. We heard that again this morning. He did nothing except what he saw the Father do. What did he do? He was committed to the Father. Because we lined up his will with the Father. It means to lay down beside. In other words, you line up with the placement of his will. What's it mean here? Commit the keeping of your soul to him in well-doing. That's what that means. You seek his will. You find out what the Lord wants. You know what his will is. And you begin to line up with it. And he's keeping you by keeping you lined up with his will. He's keeping us in line. God can't bless the church. He can't bless the people unless they line up with his purpose. His eternal purpose. We line up so that we're not going this way. God's one way. And brother, if you want to move with God, you go his way. He's not going your way. He said your ways are not my ways. Your thoughts are not my thoughts. God has his own mind. Lord, I want to know your mind. When I first came to New York, I thought the whole city was on my shoulder. I had to save New York. I was 28 years old when I came here. I weighed probably 130 pounds when I arrived. A year later, I weighed 115 pounds. Someone said, if he drinks pink lemonade, he looks like a thermometer. Someone told me, what's New York Times had was when the pigs are thinking about you. I've got a picture my wife pulls out every once in a while. The height of that time. And I cringed inside. I looked like a skeleton. I was walking death. I had a little motor scooter and I motor scooted all through the city. I wouldn't do it now. But you see, I had the burden of the Lord, I thought. The burden of the Lord. That scripture never made sense to me. Because he said, the Lord was right. But mine was heavy. And I tell you, I'd go home at night and put my fist in the pillow. And say, God, I've got to reach this drug addicts. And I've got to do this. I did so many things out of compassion. I just out of compassion. I would just do it because it's a good thing to do. And there's a need here. I jumped in. There's a need here. And I'll tell you what, I wound up in debt. We wound up thousands of dollars in debt. At King Jones. I went to sleep in it at night. I was literally dying. Literally dying, thinking I was doing the will of God. We have missionaries that we extol and we hold them up. Because they died when they were 20, 30 years old. Because they, quote, burned out for God. And actually they turned out the lamp of God prematurely. Because they've not understood. They have not understood that it's his kingdom, it's his work. And many of us are doing things that God never told us to do. We do it out of love and compassion. We've not committed. We have not lined up with his will. You know, if you're going to walk in the spirit, you're going to be under restraint. You're going to be under the yoke of restraint. And God's really been good with me about this. We came to New York City to pastor here under restraint. We've got a yoke, the Lord's yoke of restraint. We can't come and go as we please. We can't do something out of compassion. We can't do it just because it needs to be done. We are under a godly restraint. Even the commandment, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature has a restraining process. You can't just go without the leading of the Holy Ghost. Paul the Apostle had this commission, go into all the world and preach the gospel, the commission of the Lord. We've got many people just saying, well, the need represents the call. Just go, go, go. And we're sending people out in the world that should never have gone. Because they're not being led by the Holy Ghost. They're not lined up to the will of God. They're not committed their hearts or their wills to Him. You see, Paul the Apostle had that commission. And yet, Paul was under restraint at first. And when they had gone throughout Phrygia, in the region of Galatia, they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. Well, so go on and preach the gospel. I said they were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach in Asia. After they came to Messiah and tried to go to Phrygia, but the Spirit permitted them not. The Lord said, no, you're under restraint, you're going to do this my way. Finally, Paul comes to the place. And this is the source of his badness, I believe. Oh God, you finally showed me this is your church. And you have a plan of salvation for this world. And my purpose is just to know your mind. Go where you tell me to go. Do what you tell me to do. And Lord, just rejoice and rest in the Holy Ghost. Stand ready to do anything He tells you. Go anywhere. To die if necessary for the cause of Christ. But to have the Holy Ghost lead and guide and direct and commit everything. Brother, sister, if I hadn't learned that, if the Lord hadn't taught me, I wouldn't be here tonight. I wouldn't be here tonight. Because the Holy Spirit came to me one day and said, David, you're taking this as your battle, and it's not your battle. This is not your city. Listen, I can't tell you what kind of restraint that we are under as pastors of this church. In a city as holy as New York City. Where we need a Hannah house for girls, for example. And red mothers. A Timothy house for square young men. Four million Jews without Jesus Christ. College campuses. Numerous circles. Harvest. And you feel all these pills when it comes. You see these commandments. And you feel that the Lord eats you up. And then you remember the ultimate restraint. The Lord says, David, pastors, God, you seek my face. I sent you to New York not to win New York City. I sent you to New York to know my will. To light up your life. I've got a plan. I've got a purpose. You light up with it. And I'll lead you. I'll guide you. And when it's time, I'll say, go here. Go there. Do this, do that. It'll be right. And it will not fail. And you won't be short of money. You won't have to beg deep, but it'll be right. Do you understand that? We're under restraint. Oh, God, this week, God's been showing me that yoke of restraint. And He said that's what brings gladness. Because you wear everything on Him, or this is no matter. All I have to do is to find your mind and deny it and light up with it. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Little by little, He's winding us up. Hallelujah. Praise God. Finally, what is true gladness? And this I'm going to tell you right now. What is true gladness? Well, Pastor Bob said it right. It's not yaw, yaw, yaw. It's not a cheerleader slogan. It's not just a mirror shot. Some people think gladness is just being able to sing loud or talk good or dance good. I pray tonight that a thousand people start dancing in the Spirit here. Whatever God wants to do. But, brother and sister, the gladness that I'm talking about goes so far beyond that. You know what I see gladness is? The Holy Spirit showed me this this afternoon. Just before I came to the meeting tonight. Gladness, listen to me. Gladness is an incredible experience of standing tall and unshakable in the presence of God when the devil is there to accuse you. It's being able to stand tall and unshakable. It's the devil coming at you. And the Bible said he's accusing a brother. And you come to a meeting just like this. And when a praise God you enter into the gladness. And the devil comes along and he's digging up everything. Throwing lies at you. And you're standing there. I remember down at Nederlander Theater. A so-called prophet came in. And he pointed me backstage and said, I want a half an hour of your time. I said, I don't have any time tonight. My wife is waiting. She might have been feeling rough. I'm going home. He said, you better not go home. That'll get you. I've been sent here to give you an order. God, you're going to get it. One of those prophets. That day he was tumbling and some people around were trembling because this guy had this massive spirit. It was actually the enemy. He was going to make me tremble. He was going to overpower. So the phoenix came along. Remember this prophet? Well, the phoenix got one side and I got another. We just stood there. He kept shouting back and away. Okay, this is when I see gladness. The devil comes at you with every lie. He comes at you saying you have no right to worship and praise God. You're not complete yet. You have so many weak spots yet. There's so much that you've not accomplished yet. And bring up everything and tell you you're going to fail. Every lie out of the pit of hell. Every weapon of hell. And gladness is being able to stand there under the blood of Jesus. Unshakable. Unmovable. It's all lies. All lies. Excuse me, devil. I've been invited to the marriage. Suck on the lamb. I've got to go get ready. Hallelujah. Gladness is knowing you're clean. Knowing you have a relationship with Jesus. You would stand up to any devil in hell. And say, devil, the wicked man come and have nothing in me. You would stand there unshakable. Unmovable. And then when you see the enemy back off, the Bible said resist him and he'll flee from you. You resist him in the spirit of gladness. Say, Lord, I'm free. I'm free. The devil has nothing left in me. I may not be where I want to be, but I've committed my heart to God. I believe in the power of this blood. I'm going home with Jesus. Hallelujah. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him. For the marriage, suck on the lamb, has come. Brother and sister, tell you why else I'm glad. We know how this is all going to end. The devil's going to be casting the pit. We're going forward, so be no demons. And be no devils. And be no sin. We're going to have new bodies. Why shouldn't we be glad? You're getting a brand new body, and you're not going to be glad? This old world's going to burn. There's going to be a new heaven and a new earth, and you're not glad? Brother, can you picture yourself one time you're in jail, in prison, and of all people, you're going to be at the Lord's Supper of the Lamb, and the Bible said we're going to rejoice and be glad. The Lord may give you the trumpet. You may play the trumpet. I don't know. But boy, hallelujah. Let's stand. Let's stand. Will you stand? Oh, he has made me glad. He has made me glad. I will rejoice because he has made me glad. You can't produce it yourself. You can't work it up, folks. But I'm going to ask you, are you right with the Lord? Can you look heaven in the eye? You shall have repented. You're going to listen to the enemy. If you're here tonight, in the balcony, in the main floor, in St. David, there's something God's dealing with me about. I have conviction of the Holy Spirit on my heart, and I feel that conviction right now. Holy Spirit, I'm asking you to convict of sin tonight. That's your work. You said you came to convict the man of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Lord Jesus, show us that that sin's going to be judged. Oh, Lord, you bring joy. You bring gladness, and you let us drink of that river. But first, Lord, we've got to lay everything down at your feet. We've got to come clean. We've got to come clean. Hallelujah. Lord, there's some people need to come clean tonight. There's some people need to get some things right with you. Lord, I ask you to speak that the joy of the Lord may come upon this house tonight, because everything is settled with the Lord. If you have anything that's not settled with God, up in the balcony, in the main floor, while they sing, come on, join us right here. Let me pray with you tonight. Get right out of your seat. Up in the balcony. Come down in an exit, and down in an aisle, and stand there. They're going to set you free, and they're going to give you all gladness. They're going to give you a spirit of gladness. They're going to take away the sorrow. They'll take away the sin. Break the chains and set you free tonight. And let you walk out of this church rejoicing with gladness in the Lord. Come as they sing.