In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of not just focusing on outward accomplishments and deeds, but on the condition of the heart. He emphasizes the need for sensitivity to the needs of others and a genuine care for people. The speaker expresses his fear of reaching the end of his life and only being remembered for his achievements, rather than for the impact he made in people's lives. He urges the congregation to consider what they truly want to be remembered for and to seek a deeper relationship with God that allows them to love and minister to others in the power of the Holy Spirit.

This recording is provided by Times Square Church in New York City. You're welcome to make additional copies for free distribution to friends. All other unauthorized duplication or electronic transmission is a violation of copyright and other applicable laws. This recording cannot be posted on any website. However, written permission to link to the Times Square Church homepage may be requested by emailing info at timessquarechurch.org. Other recordings are available by calling 1-800-488-0854 or by writing to Times Square Church Tape Ministry, 1657 Broadway, New York, New York, 10019. I want to talk to you from Genesis chapter 50. We're going to begin there. Now this message this morning is what I would consider the first message of our missions conference. It may not seem that way when we begin, but you'll understand it when we get closer to the end. I'm going to talk about forfeiting the burying place of kings. Forfeiting the burying place of kings, Genesis chapter 50. Now Father, I back away from this pulpit this morning. God Almighty, I ask you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Lord, I'm not able to convey the things that you're speaking to my heart. I'm insufficient in and of myself to be able to form the words and the thoughts that will allow these truths to become something that is desired in the hearts of your people. I ask you, Father, for the great grace that I've known all these years, that you come upon me, you make me more than I am. You give me the grace to disappear that you may appear. Let it be your heart, your passion and your voice and your reasoning that comes from the scriptures this day. Most of all, Jesus, I ask that through this word that you be honored and absolutely glorified. And God Almighty, let your kingdom come into the hearts of your people. May we leave here today completely challenged and changed from the way we came in. God, thank you. Thank you for dealing with my heart. Thank you for where you're taking me. Lord, I love this journey. It's confusing at times and often painful. But God, it's good because your mercy endures forever. Help me to convey this today. I ask it in Jesus' mighty name. Genesis chapter 50, beginning at verse 7. It's the scripture where Jacob is buried by his family. And Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph and his brethren and his father's house, only their little ones in their flocks and their herds they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great company. And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and a very sore lamentation. And he made a mourning for his father seven days. When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians. Wherefore, the name of it was called Abel Mizrahim, which is beyond Jordan. Now, I want to ask you a question today. Now, this is something that God is speaking to my heart, and this is exactly the way I'm going to convey it to you. I'm going to preach to you from a personal dealing, as it is, that God has been having with me. Now, this has gone on for probably a month or two now, and so I'm going to ask you to bear with me. And here, you'll have to really want to hear this today. The question is, when you die, will you be mourned, missed, or undesired at your funeral? Which one will you be? And I do believe it's possible today to see the end from the beginning. Now, I realize I'm getting old. I'm 53 years of age. This probably should be a concern of mine. I told Pastor Neal this morning he's 54. He should be very, very concerned about this topic today. I believe with all my heart that God in his grace will let us see the end from the beginning. If we ask him, we say, Lord, what will the end of my days be? What kind of an effect will I have had on this world? What kind of an effect will you have created through me to the people that I have stood before? Now, it starts with the larger masses, in the cases of those who preach the gospel, for example, and then it moves down to the congregation. Then it gets even smaller. It moves down to those that are closest, or perhaps the closest associates, and ultimately ends up with family. That means brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, wives, husbands. What kind of an effect will my life have had when it's over? Realistically, that's probably 20 or 25 years from now, or maybe less. We really don't know. I don't even know that I have tomorrow. I'm not even sure I'm going to get through this message without dying on the platform. You really don't know. Our lives are in the hand of God. And you see, if you're here today and your whole pursuit of God is just to better yourself, then you're not going to be able to hear anything I'm saying. But if your reason for living for Christ is that you truly want His name to be honored, you truly want to know what it means to be a new creation in Christ Jesus, you truly, truly want to leave behind you a legacy, which means that there is an influence. Even after you've died, your life will leave an influence in the lives of others that come after you. And the only way to really ask this question is, what will it be like at my funeral? Now, don't turn there, but let me share with you some things. 2 Chronicles chapter 21 and verse 20 talks about a king, the son of Jehoshaphat. His name was Joram. He inherited the throne of the southern kingdom, which was Judah. The Bible tells us that when he died, he departed without being desired. He was buried in the city of David, but not in the graves or the sepulchers of the kings. In other words, God had given him a place of honor. And it's no different, beloved, than you or I today. Whether you realize it or not, you've been given of God in this life a place of honor. That when you die, there is going to be, if you are truly a Christian, if you truly live for God, there is going to be an honor given you by the Holy Spirit. Now, I've been at enough funerals to know this. I've preached enough funerals to know this. It doesn't matter what a man says about himself or what others say about him. It is God, ultimately, that bears witness to those that are his. This man died without being desired. The Scripture tells us that he had very little regard for the things of God. He had very little, if any, regard for the people. And under his leadership, rebellion prospered in that part of the nation of Israel. And when he died, nobody desired anything that he was. There was no desire. There's no awe. Nobody looked at this casket or however he was buried as it went by in the streets and said, I'd like to be like that man. Or I'd like to be able to accomplish some of the things that he did. In other words, he was paraded through the streets. People probably forced to be there, perhaps in the thousands. But he was taken to the city of Jerusalem, but he was not buried in the place of honor. In 1 Samuel, also chapter 4 and verse 18, it talks about a priest and a judge of Israel. His name was Eli. The Scripture tells us he judged Israel for 40 years. Now, most likely there was some good in him. But he finished his course distant from the heart of God and removed from the struggles of people around him. He was the spiritual leader of Israel, as it is. He was the person that people came to for direction and for resolution to the issues of life. You remember that Hannah, when she came into the temple and she was praying, and the Scripture says she was so grieved, her lips were moving, but there was nothing coming out of her mouth. She was a barren woman and she was so longing for a son. And he looked down on this woman and he said, How long will you be drunk? Put away your alcohol as it is from you. He was just so removed from the people that he didn't understand what travailing was anymore or the pain that personal people can experience in this walk that they have with God. The Bible tells us, well, it doesn't tell us, I'm only assuming, he was most likely missed by some. Yet there's no mention of this passage of Scripture of any mourning. It simply says he fell off a wall, broke his neck and died. And that's the end of Eli. It's the end of his life. That's all you hear. There's no mention of any mourning whatsoever. Under his ministry, the ark or the presence of God was captivated. His own sons were vile and ultimately Israel suffered defeat. He died. And even though he was a judge of Israel, there's no mention of any mourning over his passing. So I think I'm on safe ground to say that he was probably missed by some. Now, Genesis 50, where we just started, we have this man, Jacob. Now, Jacob is the man who became Israel. And he is the man through whom the testimony of Jesus Christ is going to come. He is a man that has this seed as it is of God's life in him. And when he died, there was a grievous mourning, the Scripture says. And the people of the land who saw this mourning and saw the procession, when Joseph and his brethren and many, many from the land of Egypt brought him across the Jordan and into Canaan, they saw this, the people who lived in the land of Canaan, they were so moved by it that they gave it a name. And folks, I'm telling you, there are funerals that you can attend and you can be so moved by what you experience there that whether or not you realize it, you give it a name. You may not understand that name. The name may just simply be, I would like to be like that man. Or what was it about her that made these people so deeply mourn the passing of this person? Teresa's father was such a man. I've rarely in my lifetime seen such mourning at a funeral and for days after. Myself included, we would just simply walk through the house where he lived and without reason, any particular reason, break down weeping. All of us, even his pastor who got up to speak at his funeral, broke down weeping. What was it about this man that made him so mourned? And the question came into my life and into my heart. What is it in my life that will determine the difference? Now folks, I've attended a lot of funerals as I shared earlier in my day. I've been to funerals of dignitaries. I've been to funerals of people who are known, who are unknown, who are high profile, low profile. I've been to funerals where there have been lists read of accomplishments, even in the spiritual sense. But strangely, there have been dry eyes, no sense of mourning. And you look at it and it can very much unnerve you. And you begin to say, what makes the difference? What was it about this person's life that has left him with such a litany of accomplishment, but so few dry eyes, especially among those who are the closest to him, his own family, sitting there stoic, unmoved. I've seen people in funerals absolutely undesired by their own family. There's no doubt about it. I've seen those that are missed, as I shared with you in the scriptures, but not mourned for. Then I've been in places where there have been all the way down the line, just this incredible legacy of broken hearted people who have truly mourned the passing of this person. We left the graveyard and we were driving home. And I said to my wife, Teresa, I was very stirred by this. Even the undertaker was deeply moved. I said to her, I said, if I died soon, would you miss me or mourn me? Now, thankfully, she said, I would mourn you all the days of my life. There's no doubt about that. So I felt like I was on a winning streak. So I was driving in the other day and I asked my daughter, Katie. You have to know her. She's a bit of a character. And I said, Katie, if I died soon, would you miss me or mourn me? She said, well, I'd mourn you, but I'd get over it in a couple of days, depending on the size of the inheritance. Now, what is the difference between a person who will be missed and a person who will be mourned? Now, I believe a person who will be missed has occupied a place which is visible to others. He or she may have been involved in what are considered good and high profile causes. But in the context of Christ, these activities and services could possibly have left him very far from the heart of God and from the struggles of the people. I want to say this again. You can be involved in high profile causes. You can you can climb the ladder of what the world says and half the church says is success in ministry. But yet at the end of the road, find out in some measure that you have missed the very heart of God. Something in you has been deficient and you have missed the struggles of the people. And you'll be eulogized, no doubt about it. And a list of your accomplishments will be read. But, folks, I dread this with all of my heart. I dread coming to the end of my days and that all that people can do is get up in a pulpit somewhere in some place and talk about the things that I've done. He went to Africa. He traveled here. He did this. He pastored there. And all the eyes are dry in the place. It's an evidence that I have missed something. I've gravely missed something of God that he wanted to do in my life. In Matthew, chapter seven, I want you to think for a moment of the incredible shock. As in the extreme sense, many who have traveled this path stand before the throne of Jesus Christ. And they say to him, did we not do many wonderful works in your name? Did we not cast out devils? Did we not prophesy in your name? Now, here are people who are doing things. Things that they feel are viable and successful in somehow promoting the kingdom of God. And finally, one day, they stand before the throne of God. And Jesus says to them, I never knew you. Incredible. He's saying, nothing of me was involved in anything you did. You did all of these things. You built magnificent buildings. And you prophesied. You seemed to have at least some kind of a knowledge of the future. You know, these people most likely are not false prophets because they're standing now on the other side of this life. And they're standing before Christ. Had they been false prophets, they probably would have known it. Here are people who have some ability at least to open the Bible and declare the things that God is about to do. But now they stand before Christ and they've done all these things. They've done it all in his name. And then he says to them, I don't know you. I don't know you. Your journey was distant from my journey. You see, you arrived at the end, but you missed something in the beginning. We ask, well, how could this happen? How could people arrive at the throne of Christ one day and have this happen to them? And the answer is simple. Now, I want you to hear me on this. The answer is simply that they had a wrong view of success. And I am concerned that in the Christian church world today, we have imbibed, as it is, a wrong view of success. We look at people who have big ministries and think they are anointed and they are successful. We have completely reversed the order of God. That's why Jesus said, there's a day coming that everything is going to be turned around. And many who are first are going to be last, and many who are last are going to be first. Because God's view of success does not match the view of success that this world has. You see, men see the size and the scope of what they do as the measure of their success. But I challenge you this morning to think for a moment about Jesus Christ one more time. Think of the things that He could have done when He was here on this earth. Think about it. Think about it logically. Think about it clearly. In Matthew chapter 4 and verse 6, we see Satan try to push Him into this kind of success orientation as it is. He told Him, He said, jump from the pinnacle of the temple only to be spectacularly caught by angels before you hit the bottom. Think of how successful this is. Think of how this will propel you, as it is, into people's admiration. Think of how this will enhance your ministry. Think of the rumor and report that will begin to circulate throughout all of the known world as you get to be known as the man who jumped from the top of a building and angels themselves caught you before you hit the bottom. Folks, He could have turned the Sea of Galilee into a platform of glass. He could have invited all the nation of Israel to sit down to a five-star dinner served by angels themselves. There's nothing He couldn't have done. He could have built spectacular buildings, all the while claiming that it was for the glory and honor of God. He could have done everything in million-fold measure to what men think is successful today. There were no restraints to Him. He was the one who created the very universe by His Word. He could have built bridges across seas. He could have dazzled the people with His... If Egypt thought it had an intellect for building, He could have dazzled the world just with the natural reasoning that He had to do these types of things. But yet the true measure of God-breathed success in ministry was evidenced in the one-on-one compassion He showed to individual people along the journey of His life. That was the evidence. That's why people will one day stand before Him and He will say, I don't know you. Your motivation is not my motivation. Your direction was not my direction. Your view of success does not match heaven's view. We see Jesus Christ in the beginning of His ministry. First miracle He performs is turning water to wine at a wedding feast. I know there are a lot of theological types of this. But at the very basic level, He turned water to wine because His mother was concerned that the host of the feast was going to be embarrassed. It was an embarrassing thing to run out of this type of refreshment at a wedding feast. And she turned to Him and said, They have no wine. They're going to be embarrassed. Do something about it. And He performed His very first miracle to save a host from embarrassment at a wedding feast. I see Jesus with crowds pressing upon Him. Some felt that they could gain perhaps personal favor by being in very close, and others were trying to move Him towards their own personal agendas and their viewpoints of God and their viewpoints of what God's life and activities should bring into the nation. And all of a sudden, in the midst of this huge parade, Jesus stops. Why does He stop? Because He hears the cry of a blind man, in one case, and two blind men in another, who are crying out. Thousands of people are flocking Him. But He hears the cry of one. I thank God for that with all of my heart today. I thank God that Jesus can hear the cry of one heart today. In spite of the multitudes that might be clamoring in His name, He hears your cry. He hears my cry. I thank God with everything that is in my heart. And that, folks, is the measure of success in ministry. It's not the multitudes. It's the ability to hear the cry of one heart that God may set before you in your journey. I see Jesus invited to dinner with the movers and shakers of His day and religion, and at this place allowing those without social favor to come in and touch Him, knowing that He's going to lose favor, because certain types of people are touching His feet and honoring Him, but yet still allowing it to happen. I see Jesus taking time for children when others around Him considered it a waste of time and energy. I can virtually read the minds of those that were close to Him. Hey, Jesus, we're here to take a kingdom. We're here to drive the Romans out of our occupied nation. We're here to establish places of power and position and authority. And we're going to sit at your right hand and at your left hand. No time for children. But I see the measure of success that was in the life of Jesus Christ, evidenced in the fact that He took time, He took quality time with children, put them on His knee, perhaps said a few things that gladdened their hearts, and blessed them and let them go, and they knew they had been touched by the hand of God. I see Jesus Christ defending the failures and outcasts of society when all of the people wanted to stone a woman taken in adultery. He was the one that put Himself in that place of defending those that have no defender, exactly as He says He is in the Scriptures. I see Him near the end of His life, and even after He's resurrected from the dead, forgiving those who have wronged Him, from intimate acquaintances to His enemies, forgiving Peter for denying with an oath and a curse that even knew his name, forgiving the Roman soldiers for nailing Him to a cross, forgiving the people that were in the crowd those days yelling, crucify Him. You see, this is the measure of greatness. This is the measure of success. This really is the life that people will mourn when you and I are gone. And really, we do have a choice between now and then. We can pursue Christ for Christ Himself. We can pursue Him for the work that He does. We can pursue Him and ask Him to do in us what He does, and to put our feet on a pathway similar to the one that He walked while He was here in physical form on this earth, because today, of course, we are His body, His church. We can do this and say, Jesus, success is measured by how You have touched others along this journey through my life. It's not measured by the amount of buildings I've built. It's not measured by men's admiration that I may have been given of You because of ministry. Success is measured by the lives, beginning in my own home, that have been touched by the power of God through this journey that You have given me. Paul says in Acts chapter 17 and verse 28, speaking of Christ, he says, For in Him we live and we move and we have our being. Now, Paul had discovered this truth. Paul knew this is where life is. This is where success is. The success seminars offered in Christian circles today would take Paul's life and say, Now, here, folks, is an example of failure. Here's a man who never prospered from his preaching. Here's a man who didn't do this. He didn't do that. He never founded this. He never founded that. He did, of course, write most of the New Testament near the end of his life. Paul knew this. And, folks, if you go to Acts chapter 20 with me, I'm going to show you something. You see, Paul, I want to share with you today that I believe that you can know that you will be grieved when you die. Because Paul knew it before he died. He was a man grieved even before he was dead. In Acts chapter 20 and verse 32, Paul was leaving. He had established a work of God. He had taught the people. They had grown to love, I believe, the touch of God that had come into their lives through this man. In verse 32, he said, Now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. So you know that his theology was not based on these things. Yea, you yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my necessities and to them that were with me. I have shown you all things, how that so laboring you ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship. I do believe you can know. It's how people feel when you have to leave their company. If you have been a vessel of God, if truly the grace of God is in you, there is a sense of loss as it is in people's hearts when you have to leave them. When you are called of God to go somewhere else, as Paul was, there is a sense of loss because the Holy Spirit has touched their hearts deeply through the ministry that God gave to you. You see, Paul could say, I found the heart of God. Jesus is my measure of success. It's his life flowing through me to meet every man's need that I meet along my journey. This is the measure of success, folks. It doesn't matter two cents to God when I stand before him that I have pastored this church. The measure of success is how people's hearts have been touched personally through my life. How Jesus has flowed through me. How I have spoken to... Why do you think the scripture says by every word we speak we will be judged? It's how he has spoken through us to the struggling, the hopeless, the misunderstood. What has been the motivation of our hearts? Starting at home, forget about the pulpit, forget about ministry and buildings and all these other things. What has it been in our own house? How have we spoken to our own families? What kind of ministry has flowed through us? Because, you see, that determines what will happen at the end. I'm determined in my heart, I'm not going to die with a list of things I've done and a dry-eyed family. Because that would be evidence that it's all been just in the pulpit, but there's been little or no reality in my own personal life. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, if you'll turn there, chapter 9, we'll close with this portion of scripture. And in verse 19, now here are the keys. He says, though I be free from all men, that's 1 Corinthians 9, verse 19, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain them more. Unto the Jews I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law, as under the law that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without law, as without law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Now Paul says, I was made by this life of Christ in me a servant, first of all, to all men. Not a king, I was made a servant. Not a ruler, a servant, to all men. And Paul says, I became all things to all men. Now there's two ways you can see this. Now the first way I believe is false. You see this man that's almost like a spiritual chameleon. Every time he goes into an environment, he becomes a different person. That's not what Paul was speaking about. Paul was Paul. He did not change. He was the same man everywhere he went. So what then does he mean, I became all things to all men? Well, Paul is just simply saying this. I have allowed this inexhaustible supply of Christ's life and love to flow through me, allowing me and enabling me to care for and minister to all men, no matter where they may be found. Paul was just saying, no matter where they are, I can go there. I don't have to change who I am. But God gives me the grace in every situation to be an able minister to those who need to know about him. I'm not afraid of other cultures. I'm not afraid of other colors. I'm not afraid of other languages. I'm not afraid of other viewpoints. Paul says, I have been enabled to become all things to all men. I can go in to any place and God will give me the supply and God will give me the word. Folks, this is the measure. Paul was just simply saying, I can go there. I can go there. And I do believe that every true Christian has that eventually get into the heart. I can go there. In this church, the leader of our prison ministry has never been in jail. I can go on and on. At one time, the man who headed up our audiovisual department was both legally blind and deaf. I can go there. I can minister if God's called me to minister. He will give me the grace. I can be all things to all men. I can leave a testimony of Jesus Christ after I'm gone. You see, love will transcend all boundaries. It will break down all the walls. I can love all people of all races and all languages and all places equally as God loves them. I can go in and God will give me the wisdom to untangle the arguments that the devil has interweaved in their minds, theologically and practically. I can do these things through Christ who strengthens me. I can be a type of Christ. I have within this earthen vessel the spirit of the living God and God can use me to go places where nobody else could go. I can go there. Folks, I believe this is the measure. I believe this is the very essence of God's heart that he wants to plant within his church. In this missions conference that's coming up, we're going to hear from people who have gone all over the world. We'll hear from a model in New York City that's now in prisons in Africa. Situations and people that are impossible in the natural to love and to minister to. But in the power of the spirit of God, as Paul said, we are unable to go where others cannot go. What do you want when you die? Lists of deeds in dry eyes? Or would you rather be mourned? Scripture says that the Canaanites, when they saw Jacob, they saw Jacob's entourage, Joseph and his brethren, and all of the Egyptians that came to bury him on the other side of Jordan, were so moved by the degree of mourning that they gave the place a name. That's incredible when you think about it. They gave it a name. And folks, I do believe that if you and I choose to live for God, that those who observe our passing will give the place and the time a name. When they see people deeply affected by the reality that Jesus Christ has been allowed to flow through our lives and touching them, they will give the place a name. And I do believe the place will have the name I want to be like that person. When you die, oh, you may have made a mess of your whole family. But if you choose today to live for God, I promise you that when you die, your sons, your daughters will be there, your grandchildren will be there, brothers and sisters will be there. And they will listen and they will observe the deep effect that has come upon the hearts of those that you've been closest to. And they will give the place a name. And that name will be other than, of course, they'll know it's Jesus Christ that gave you this new life. But that name will be, I want to be like that man, that woman. I want a life like this. Elijah, Elisha followed Elijah. And when Elijah's chariot was taken up, he cried out, Oh, my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And it's almost like, oh, God, where's the hope for tomorrow? This was a man of God. This was a man who affected my life. And as he looked up heavenward, I can see this mantle of Elijah floating down through the heavens and descending at his feet. As he mourned the loss of this man. Oh, folks, you've got to understand something. When you die at your funeral, if you have been a man or woman of God, those who are mourning your departure will be crying out to God and they will have their eyes open to this mantle that falls from your life. And the reality will be there that you too can do the very things that this person before you did because they didn't do it in their own strength. They did it by the power of the Spirit of Almighty God. They became what they were because the life of Christ was in them. They had the ability to reach out and touch and go beyond their borders. They had the ability to love when nobody else could love and forgive when nobody else could forgive because the life of God was in them. That's the life that I want. No lists, no dry eyes. No dying without being desired. But when I die, if it happens to be in New York, and you happen to come to my funeral, I would like there to be a revelation that everything that God has done in me that he can do in you. That there are no big and little people in the kingdom of God, just hungry hearts, that's all. Hungry people. And one more time, the lame, the blind, the maimed, press through and get the mantle and walk out the door able to affect their co-workers and family. When Teresa's father never preached a sermon, never built a church, never conducted a seminar, wrote one song in his life, but people mourned him. They mourned. Teresa's mother never preached a sermon, never wrote a song, never built a Bible school, never did any of these things. But carpenters and plumbers and construction men, tough ones, unsaved, mourned her. So moved they could hardly speak. What she did do was make biscuits for them. And she told them she loved them and prayed for their kids and truly cared. Oh, we're in for an awful surprise when we get to the throne of God, folks. What we think is big is pretty small, I think, in the sight of God. I have been in funerals where God has honored those that are His. Hallelujah. It has changed me. I've come back with a resolve and an understanding in my heart. It's not about ministry. It's about Christ and it's about people. It's about loving God and it's about loving people and let everything else fall where it may. But these are the things, to love God and to love people. Hallelujah. Father, I thank You for this day, God Almighty. I ask You, Lord, that You make this a reality. What I have attempted to speak today, make it a reality in people's lives. Make it a reality in my life. Help me, Jesus. Help me, God. Beginning with my wife and my sons and my daughter, now my grandson, nieces and nephews and friends and family. Oh, God Almighty. It's so foolish to be standing in pulpits and yet have no effect in Your own home. Deliver me, Lord, in any measure where I've failed my own house. I pray, Father, God, with everything in me, that You flow through me in whatever time remains to me. Lord, that there be a desire created in the lineage that follows to walk in the pathway of Jesus Christ. You have shown me clearly what success is. I've seen it. I've embraced it. I know it deep in my heart. I want this with everything in me. God Almighty, thank You for how kind You are to not let me pursue any pathway, Lord, that brings no honor and glory to Your name. I pray You help this church, Lord. You're calling out to us in this last hour of time to be all things to all people. I pray help us to break out of the boxes of our own comfort. Break out of the places of our own thinking about ourselves. Help us to break away from selfishness and a self-consuming consumer mentality of coming to church. Help us to become truly men and women of God through whom You can flow. Touch our families, Lord. That's the cry of our heart today. Let it begin in our homes, whether our children are with us or gone, whether our marriages are whole or broken. Pray, God Almighty, You're the one who's able to come and You're able to mend every fence, You're able to build every wall, You're able to bring back and make right things that were wrong. I pray, God, do this. Oh, God, I pray with all my heart, do this, Lord. Let this be a church body through which wholeness and healing flows. God, I pray, Lord, let this not be a selfish house, let this be a selfless house. I pray, Jesus, that You can have free reign and give us hearts to care and hearts of compassion, Lord, for people around us. Stop us in our busy days, oh God. We go through our streets and we're so consumed of ourselves, we're missing the very work of God. Help us, Jesus. It's got to be a Spirit-led compassion. It's got to be something that You do. We can't become all things to all men unless You are the one doing it within us. So I cry out to You, Holy Spirit, I acknowledge and declare my bankruptcy. I need You. I need a deposit of Your life. I need Your compassion. I need Your strength and power. I need who You are, Jesus, to begin to flow within me. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. There's got to be something of Your life flowing in us in this hour. Help us, Jesus. Help us to lay hold of these things. Help us to understand these truths, oh God. Oh, Jesus. Oh, God. I pray now that people's lives today be changed. I pray, God, the courses of our lives be turned. I pray that our thinking be straightened. I pray, God, that wrong views of Christianity be demolished. I pray, God, for the simplicity of Jesus Christ that we can hear the voices of those who are crying out for life and a touch of hope in this darkened world. I cry out to You, Holy Spirit, help us. Help us, Holy Spirit. We feel like the blind men on the side of the road. Jesus, Son of God, help us. Help us to see these things, oh God. Father, I thank You with all my heart. I thank You, God, with everything that is in me. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Just let us be men and women of God. Let it be said when we're dead in God. They walked with God. They knew God. They loved God. And they loved us because of God. I don't even know how to put this into an altar call. I just know it's something that God is doing in my life. I don't care if I ever preach another sermon. What I care about is that my family see Christ in me. Does that make any sense? I don't know how else to say it. Hallelujah. The Holy Spirit has spoken to your heart today. I don't know what to do. Maybe we'll join together and we'll pray at this altar. But you want the things that you heard of today. And you say, Pastor, you're on a journey. We're with you. I'm with you. I want to go. You may not even understand it all, but you say, I want to go on this journey. I want to finish my course. And people's lives have been touched through mine. It's as simple as that. People closest to me, to the people that God will introduce to me in the days to come. But I want people to be truly touched of God through my life. If that's the cry of your heart, I want you to join me at this altar. Let's stand at the balcony. You can go to either exit, main sanctuary, slip out of wherever you are. And in the education annex, if you could just stand between the screens. And we'll pray together momentarily. Jesus. Pray with me. Jesus. Touch people's lives. Through me. I ask for a heart. That truly cares. And ears. That can truly see. And eyes. God to see the need. In every person around me. Make me sensitive. To the needs of my family. Beginning in my own house. Deliver me from hard speaking. In religious lectures. Give me the tenderness. Of Jesus Christ. Help my conversation. To be relevant. And to meet the needs. Of those who turn. For help. Father, I thank you. That I just believe today. That you have set my feet on a course. And through my life. Your name. Is going to be desired. And your life. Is going to be honored. I thank you. With all my heart. In Jesus name. Now give him thanks. Give him thanks. This is the conclusion of the message.