In this sermon, the preacher uses the analogy of a king coming to visit someone's house to illustrate how we should approach the presence of God in our lives. He emphasizes the importance of making room for God and removing anything that shouldn't be there. The preacher encourages believers to have confidence in God's power and to speak to trials and challenges, declaring that all things work together for good for those who love God. He also references the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, highlighting how the presence of Jesus can carry us through any trial.

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing WORLDCHALLENGE P.O. BOX 260 LINDALE, TEXAS 75771 or calling 903-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. And Lord, it's all about you. Everything that we do and we speak, all that we are, it's all about you. And so, Lord, I ask for grace and strength tonight to simply disappear, that I may hide behind the cross that you would be lifted up and held in the highest esteem before all of the people. God, it's all you. It's your strength that we have. It's your power that we have. We don't have any wisdom of our own. Lord, I have not an ounce of wisdom of my own. Everything that I have, you've given to me. All that I am able to do tonight is what you choose to allow to flow through my life. And so, Lord, I ask for the grace to step out of the way that you might be seen. You said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. God, I ask now in the power of the Holy Spirit that you would draw people in this assembly house tonight to Jesus Christ, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Lord, that you would be seen, but not only seen, that you'd be comprehended. And yea, not even just comprehended, but you would be desired tonight. Lord, that we'd open our hearts to you, Lord. That you may come and dwell in the midst of us, O God. And do those things that you have spoken so wonderfully in your word that you are able to and desire to do in each one of our lives. Lord Jesus, give us the grace to surrender tonight. The grace to make room for you in our hearts and lives. Father, thank you for this word tonight. May it be a sharp two-edged sword going deep into the very thoughts and intents of our heart, Lord, and healing any area that you want to heal, Father. We thank you for this tonight. In Jesus' name. John chapter 14. Some incredible words spoken by Jesus Christ himself. Beginning at verse 16. Now he's talking to the disciples and he's talking about something that he's going to do. Now keep in mind that they didn't really fully comprehend this until probably a little later on in their lives. But he said in verse 16, he said, I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever. Now Jesus was there in a manifested body. He was there in a physical presence. They had seen him. He had provided for them. They had watched him do miracles. And now he was about to be taken away. And he knew that there was going to be a time of great sorrow coming to the hearts of all that loved him, especially those that were the closest to him. But he was telling them, I'm going to pray now and God the Father is going to give you another comforter. Now we know that's the Holy Spirit. And he's going to come and he's going to abide with you forever. He's going to always be there. He's not going to leave. Even the spirit of truth from the world cannot receive because it sees him not. Neither knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you. Now that's an incredible truth. I'm just going to speak slowly tonight that the Holy Spirit can make these truths so real to our lives. The world, even this day, and even those who profess to know Christ, one of the evidences that a man or woman really doesn't know God is a continual confusion, a continual running to and fro, looking for manifestations that are evidence that Jesus Christ is real and alive. The world, Jesus said, doesn't see him. The world doesn't know him. This is talking about the Holy Spirit. But you know him. And how do you know him? For he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. He shall live in you. Hallelujah. We could stop right here and begin to rejoice in this house tonight. We're not going to do that because I've got a lot to get through here. But there are some truths that just so stagger my heart and understanding that God Almighty, the pillar of fire that led Israel through the wilderness, now lives within me. Not just in this church building. He lives within me. And if you know Christ as your Savior, he lives within you. God came in his fullness through the Holy Spirit and came into your life the moment you received Christ, the moment I received Christ. And now, this night, he lives in us. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I will not leave you comfortless, he said in verse 18. I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more. But you see me. Because I live, you shall live also. Life. Life. There's life in those who know Jesus Christ. At that day you shall know that I am in the Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me. And he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. In other words, I will make myself known, I will be known in him, I will be known to him, and I will be known through him. I will be in you, and you will know. There will be substantial evidence by the manifestation of my life within you that I am indeed with you, living in you. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Hallelujah. This is good news. This is what caused the angels of heaven to split open the sky and begin to say glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill unto men. Now, it should be the goal of every Christian to allow Christ to be manifested in our lives. From the day that I was baptized in the Holy Ghost and perhaps even a little while before that, it's been the desire of my life to see Jesus Christ manifested within me. That it would be all Him and none of me. Since the day I read and understood that scripture where the Apostle Paul said, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. It's been seeing the fruit that was won through his life, seeing the strength that came out of weakness, seeing the temperance that God brought into the life of an intemperate man, seeing such an incredible change, seeing the revelation of Jesus that was given to this man. It's been my desire to follow Him as He follows Christ and to find that place where I no longer live that the life of Christ might be made manifest in me. You know, we don't realize how much this old flesh wants to stay alive until we invite the Holy Ghost to come in and clean the house and put it all to death. And this old flesh will fight with everything in it to stay alive. It will change its ugly garments and put on nice religious things and big bow ties and try to stay alive. But the Holy Ghost, if we have a heart after God, the Holy Ghost will come into us and hunt that thing out that's within us that's not of the heart of God. It can't hide, can't go. Even if it goes down into the very depths of our being, the Holy Ghost will go deeper. The Word of the Lord is a sharp sword going right down into the very thoughts and intents of the heart. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! That's why I love to sit where the Word of God is preached. Simply because I don't want anything that's in me that's unlike Christ to find a refuge in this physical body, to find a hiding place away from Christ. I want the Word of God to go deep and to dig it out and that I may repent and see it taken out of my life. To be able to say like Paul in Galatians 2.20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me. What an incredible thing to be able to say that with the certainty that Paul wasn't just saying some theological thing, it had become a reality in his life. My brother and my sister, I want you to understand tonight that this can also be a reality in your life. It can be a reality in my life. We can, through the power of the indwelling Christ, come to the place where we can say like Paul, it's not I who live, it's Christ who lives in me. Jesus has been manifested in my body. Paul's cry for the church in Galatians 4.19, he cried out, he said, My little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. I travail in birth, he says, until Christ be formed in you. Oh, hallelujah. Now, I want to take a moment and look at some of the Old Testament examples where the Lord was manifested before His people and I want to look at for what purpose this manifestation took place. Now, keep in mind, in the Old Testament, the manifestations of God were exterior manifestations. And we're going to look at where some of these manifestations happened, why they happened, and what was accomplished through these manifestations. Now, go to Genesis chapter 18. Genesis chapter 18. Whenever you see very often in the Old Testament, you'll see the words, the angel of the Lord. Most commentators say that's a polite way of saying the Lord Himself was manifested and appeared in a bodily form. Genesis chapter 18, beginning at verse 1. Now, this is about the story about Abraham. In verse 1, who appeared to Abraham? Let's just settle it right away now. And the Lord. So, it's the Lord that appeared to Abraham. This is a manifestation of God. The Lord appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, verse 1, and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked up, and, lo, three men stood by him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself towards the ground. And he said in verse 3, My Lord, if now I have found favor in Thy sight, pass not away, I pray Thee, from Thy servant. And I hope with all my heart that's your cry tonight. My Lord, if I have found favor in Your sight, pass not away from me. God, come in and dwell in my house. And so, the Lord takes him up on His offer and comes in. And verse 9, it says, And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return to thee according to the time of life. And, lo, Sarah, thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. In other words, she was no longer able to bear children. Therefore, Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord being old also? In other words, will I be able to have a son? And will God take away the reproach from me? And verse 13 says, And the Lord said to Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh? Now, Sarah's hiding behind the tent door. Nobody but God could know that she had laughed. And he said, Wherefore did Sarah laugh? Saying, Shall I of assurity bear a child which am old? She hadn't spoken this out loud. It was the thoughts in her mind. But God knew what her thoughts were. Verse 14, he says, Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed, I will return to thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Jesus is manifested to Abraham. Abraham knows it's the Lord invites him in. And one of the very first things that happens when you invite the Lord into your life is that he begins to speak things to your life which to the natural mind are absolutely impossible. He begins to say, I'm going to do thus and thus in your life. I'm going to accomplish thus and thus in your life. I'm going to take you out of here and I'm going to put you there. I'm going to make a new man out of you, a new woman out of you. I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going to give you a new mind. I'm going to give you a new life. If you'll open your heart to me, I'll do things that are absolutely impossible. They can't be done. Is anything too hard for the Lord? So the Lord was manifested to Abraham and he was speaking to Abraham. Is anything too hard for me to do? And really that's where life really begins. That's where the truth of God begins to abound in our lives. When we hear God speaking those words to our lives. Is anything too hard? My brother, my sister, are you sitting here tonight thinking that something in your life... Are you hiding behind the curtain and chuckling tonight? Thinking that something in your life is too hard for God to change? God that made the universe? God that made all things that exist today? Without Him was not anything made that was made? God that knew you before you were even formed in your mother's womb? Almighty God of all of the universe, is there anything too hard for Him to do? Is there anything too hard for Him to change? You know many people never grow in God. They spend their whole life hiding behind the curtain chuckling in their hearts. How can this happen to me? Or maybe to somebody else? Or maybe to Sarah in the Bible, but it could never happen to me. I tell you, with God all things are possible. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. In the book of Mark chapter 9 verse 23, a man came to Jesus and was pleading with Him for his demon possessed child. And Jesus looks at this man, and He said, If you can believe, all things are possible to them who believe. If you can believe that nothing is too hard for me. So much of the work that God wants to do in the world through His church is hindered by doubt and unbelief. We might call it certain things. We might call it circumstance. We might call it our birth, our heritage, where we live. We might look in the mirror and say, Well, it's just the way I am. It's my height. It's my pop. It's my lack of understanding, or a social ability, whatever the cases. But the reality is, it's just simply limiting God because of doubt and unbelief. Doubt and unbelief. If the devil can keep you anywhere, once you've come to Christ, if the devil can put you in any kind of a box that he would feel that he would be satisfied in stopping your life. It would be in that little place where you hide behind the tent of doubt and unbelief, that, that tent curtain and say, It's too hard, God can't do this thing in my life. But Jesus was manifested to I'm making a promise to you, and Abraham believed God, and the Scripture says it was accounted unto him for righteousness. And he became, theoretically at least, the father of the faith for all those who would believe after him, and come into that place of promise through faith. Abraham believed God. It was accounted unto him for righteousness. Now go ahead again to Exodus chapter 3. I want to look at another time when the Lord was made manifest, and look at the purpose for that manifestation of God. Exodus chapter 3. We're looking now at the life of Moses. In verse 2, Moses is given up, I suppose, on what he felt one time God had called him to do. And he was now tending the flock of his father-in-law in a land called Midian, in the backside of the desert. And he came one day to a mountain of God, even at Tehorab. In verse 2, in chapter 3 it says, And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Hallelujah. The angel of the Lord, the Lord, manifested in a fire in a bush, appeared to Moses, and he manifested to call him. And one of the reasons that Christ will manifest in your life is to call you and to call me. He has a purpose and a plan for each one of our lives. And he came and told Moses the way he was going to go. First of all, he revealed his holiness to him. He revealed his power to him. And then told him, I've got a call on your life. And he came to direct his path. And we see later on, in Exodus chapter 13, if you'll turn there with me quickly. Exodus chapter 13, after Moses went into Egypt and led God's people out of captivity, the Lord again was manifested, Christ was manifested. And in verse 18, it says, But God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had straightly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and he will carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took their journey and camped in the edge of the wilderness. Verse 21, And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, and that's the same fire that was in the bush, the same God, to give them light and to go by day and by night. And he took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. He led them. He was a way, he led them. His presence was life. His presence was light. His presence was protection from their enemies. His presence was an ever manifested assurance that he was with them, that he would not leave them, that he would not forsake them, insomuch that they continued to follow him. And during that wilderness journey, he provided for their every need. First Corinthians, if you go there very quickly, please. Chapter 10, we're going to see the words of Paul. He talks about this cloud that they followed and the pillar. First Corinthians, chapter 10, beginning at verse one. Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them. Who was the rock that followed them? And that rock was Christ. Christ was with them. Christ was being manifested that when they were hungry, manna came down from heaven and fed them. When they were thirsty, water came out of the rock. Christ was manifested and he provided for his people. He kept his people. A faithfulness of God sometimes just virtually overwhelms me. He's always there if we simply have the eyes to see him and the hearts to understand his will and purpose for each one of our lives. I think of the prophet Elijah, too, as well. In 1 Kings 19, he was laying down one day in despair, having fought an incredible battle with the powers of darkness. And immediately after this battle runs from a queen called Jezebel and is laying down requesting to die. And at this time when deep, deep despair had come upon his life, the angel of the Lord, the scripture says, came and touched him. There's a gentleness about God. The angel of the Lord touched him and said, Elijah, rise up and eat. The journey is too great for thee. And Elijah woke up and opened his eyes. And God's such a practical God that says there was a fire kindled, there was coals there, and there was a cake baking on the fire. Hallelujah! And beside it was a cruiser, a jar of fresh, ice-cold, clear water. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! The Lord meets every one of our needs. He cares about us. After he rose from the dead and he was on the shore, when he called those men that perhaps were in the very same type of place that Elijah was in. They had gone back fishing. The Lord was dead as far as they knew. And he called them back to the shore once again. And there was fish baking on the fire. There was all kinds of nourishment. He was doing the very same thing as he had done for Elijah. And two times the angel of the Lord woke up Elijah and then began to speak to him words of assurance and words of faith. And after this, he took him to another place and he says, I'm going to manifest my presence to you. And the scripture says the Lord passed by. He hid Elijah in a cave and he passed by. And there was a great wind that just literally rent the rocks. And there was a huge earthquake. And then there was a magnificent fire. And God was showing him all the things that he is. I'm all powerful. I'm all knowing. I am the fire that led the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. And then the most beautiful thing about all, he came in a small, still voice. A small, still whisper that caused Elijah to be drawn out of the cave. And he drew him out of his place of despair. And he comforted him. And he sent him forward with new instructions. And that's what God does for you and I when we get into places of despair. He comes and manifests himself. And sometimes we run to a meeting and say, Oh God, just zap me with the fire. Or make an earthquake. Give me a sign that you're still with me. Or send down the fire, oh God. Send down the fire once more. And we miss the whole thing. It's at home, when we're maybe lying in the weakest state we've ever been in, that that small, still voice comes and speaks to us. And says, Arise and eat. The journey is too great for you. Arise. Get into my Word again. And I'm going to manifest myself to you. I'm going to make myself known to you. And I'm going to pick you up. And I'm going to give you strength. I have another plan for your life. I have brand new instructions for you. You're not finished. You're just starting. You're just coming into the most effective part. Hallelujah. What a mighty God we serve. What a mighty God we serve. Hallelujah. Now go quickly to the book of Daniel. Go backwards to the book of Daniel. Chapter 3. I want to take another look at another manifestation of the Lord. Stories that many of you know. Some of you may not. But many of us know these stories. We've heard them before. Daniel chapter 3. There were three young men. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. King Nebuchadnezzar raised up a golden statue. And said that when you hear the sound of the instruments and the flutes and the cornets and all these things. Everybody is to bow down and worship the golden statue. These three young men. Young men of the Lord. They said we will not bow down. He said anybody that doesn't bow down you're going to be cast into a burning fiery furnace. Sound familiar? Anybody that won't bow down to the gods of this age. Sometimes bosses will come. And sometimes people will come and say that you're going to be ostracized. You're going to be cast out of our midst. You're going to be rejected. And so these young men. They said we won't bow down before this golden statue. Our God is able to deliver us. And even if he doesn't. We're still not going to bow down before this statue. And in verse 22 in chapter 3. It says therefore the king's commandment was urgent. And the furnace was exceeding hot. And the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Can you imagine how hot this furnace was? The men who threw them in died because of the heat. And these three men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said to his counselors. Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They said to the king. True. Okay. He answered and said. Lo, I see four men loose. Four men loose. Walking in the midst of the fire. And they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Now he saw something. It wasn't like the Son of God. The form of the fourth was indeed the Son of God. It was Jesus Christ who had come down to walk in the midst of the fire with them. Hallelujah. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spake and said. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come forth and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire. They came out of the fire because the manifested presence of God was there with them. Hallelujah. Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 11. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. We are delivered unto death. He says, in other words, we're not necessarily going to walk out of trial in this world because we've come to know the knowledge of Christ as our Lord and Savior. But even though we're delivered unto death, it's for the purpose, the second half of that verse says, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. This is the desire of the righteous. It's, oh Jesus, manifest yourself in my life. You know what the truth of the New Testament is? That in the Old Testament, the manifestations of Christ were always outside. They were out there. The manifestation was in a bush. It was in a pillar of fire. It was in a cloud that followed by day. It was in the angel of the Lord that appeared at a tent and made a promise. You look all through, it was the fourth man that walked in the midst of the fire. But you know what makes the difference between the Old and the New Testament? The manifestation of God. His Son is no longer out there anymore. The manifestation of God is within our lives. Hallelujah. The Apostle Paul says it most simply, that it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. Jesus Christ in me is the one who carries me through the fire when I have no more strength. You see simply the error and the powerlessness of those who are always looking for outward manifestations. The Bible says, Paul said, they're always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. Those who are running around the world today looking for outside manifestations are still living in the Old Testament. They've failed to understand the truth that it's not out there. What did Jesus say? It's an evil generation, He said, that seeks a sign. He said there'd be no sign given that generation but the sign of the prophet Jonas. What was that sign? That the Son of Man is going to be three days, three nights in the lower parts of the earth. And on the third day, He's going to rise again from the dead. Now listen, it's not just that I'm going to rise from the dead but I'm going to come down again in the form of the Comforter. I'm going to dwell right in your life. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And those who know me will manifest my presence. I will be manifested in their lives. It will no longer be an outward thing. It will be an inward manifestation of the presence of Jesus. That is the truth that eludes the religious. That's the truth that eludes those who refuse to be abandoned unto the living God. They reject the cross. Stay alive unto themselves. In other words, they govern their own lives. And consequently lose the greatest treasure of eternity. Not only their own salvation but they lose the manifested presence of an all-powerful Savior within their lives here on this earth. Christ is in me. That's the hope of glory. Christ is in me. That's my hope of change. Christ is in me. That's the washing away of the pain of my past. Christ is in me. That's my hope that causes me to stand in strength this day. Christ is in me. That's what gives me the courage to face anything and anywhere He sends me tomorrow. Knowing I can stand. It's not in my strength. It's in His strength. Christ is in me. Christ is in me. Can you imagine, brothers and sisters, if the church of Jesus Christ could lay hold of this truth? That Christ is within us. Christ is within us. If God be for us, Paul says, who can stand against us? Christ is in us. Hallelujah. You'd say, well, how? I think I'm grasping this with my mind. But how do I appropriate this? How do I lay hold of this thing? How do I make it work in my life? God gave me a simple illustration when I was preparing this message. And it's just a story about a king coming to visit your house. Think about it for a moment. Say you were living in a land that had a king. And all of a sudden, one day, the king says, I want to come and live in your house. Or maybe I want to come and visit your house. Now, first of all, if he just said, I want to come and visit, you'd say, no, please, come live in my house. Anybody. Oh, it's the king. And the king, first thing you do is, knowing the king is coming, is all the magazines and things that shouldn't be there. Hey. Out. We don't want these things around. The king is coming to our house. And you may have had a routine in your house. But the king is coming now. And the whole routine changes. Whatever time the king wants to eat, that's when we eat. Whatever time the king wants to go to bed, everybody goes to bed. When the king wants to get up, everybody gets up. And you may have had some old boarder living in your house, in some corner of the room upstairs. The king comes and says, I want that room. You walk into the room and say, out, out, out, out, out. This is the king's room. We give place to the king in this house. You see, that's what the manifested presence of Jesus is all about. It's not complicated. We give place to the king in our lives. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two. Everything that is in us, that is unlike Christ, simply has to go. We don't tolerate it in our lives. That's our part. That's what the will is all about. We will to have Jesus come into our life and absolutely take over the throne of our heart. You say, Lord, this used to be my house. It used to be run by my rules. It used to be decorated by my desires. But Lord, now, you're coming in. The king, I invite you into my house. And I'm no longer in charge of this house. Take any room you want in this house. Lord, whatever you want to change, change it. You're the king. And I'm just simply one of your servants. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And then we would say to the king, and even more than this, if you have a need, if something is on your heart, speak the word and I'll do it. If you want a snack at two in the morning, tell me about it and I'll go and get it for you. For you're the king and what a privilege to have you in my house. Hallelujah. I tell you, a man with this attitude of heart, over a period of time, anybody that comes to his house, even if the whole thing was kept a secret, they would say, it is evident. There's something other than yourself living in this house. There's a king in this house. I see signs of it all over the place. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Paul in Colossians 1, hallelujah, says it the best. He says, it's Christ in you. I'll say it again, it's Christ in you. The hope of glory. Colossians 1, 26, even the mystery, he says. The mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations. But now is made manifest to his saints. It's a mystery. It was hidden to those who followed the fire in the desert. It was hidden to Moses, even though he saw the bush. He didn't fully comprehend what this was going to mean for you and I in the future. In verse 27, he says, To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Hallelujah. Philemon says, in the book of Philemon, the writer says in verse 6, He said that the communication of thy faith might become effectual. It is our desire, isn't it, not to communicate the faith that God has given in our lives, to communicate Christ. And so he says, the communication of your faith might become effectual. That means of effect. That means having an effect in the community. The places where you go, that there would be a manifestation of Christ in your life. Now, how? He goes on to the next part of that verse, he says, By the acknowledging, that means the giving place to. First of all, recognizing who it is that's in your life. And by acknowledging means giving place. The king, give place to the king. That's all it talks about. That's what the manifested presence of Christ is all about. It's taking your hand, as Pastor David said, off the controls of your life. And giving that control willfully to the Holy Ghost. That Christ might come in and be made manifest in our lives. By the acknowledging or giving place to every good thing which is in you, in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. My heart's cry is Jesus. Jesus, let me be able to communicate more effectively to this generation. Your presence, your message. The good news of the gospel. By giving place to every good thing that is in me, which is of Christ, Jesus. In other words, Paul puts it in perspective, he says, In me dwelleth no good thing. That is in myself, in my flesh. My own mind, my own thoughts, my own ways. There's no good thing within me. The only good thing within me is Jesus Christ. He said, The things I want to do, I don't do. The things I don't want to do, I'm always doing. Who will deliver me from the body of this death? Then he goes on to say, Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's through Him that Paul was saying, I'm crucified to the world and the world is crucified unto me. Hallelujah. Jesus, be made manifest in my life. Jesus, be made manifest. Jesus, take over my mind. Take over my thoughts. Bring every thought into captivity. Bring my will and my ways into captivity to your word. Bring my heart into captivity. If there are other loves in my heart, Lord God, take the scourge of your word to it and cast them out of my heart and out of my life. I am the temple of the Holy Ghost. That's what you are. We are the temple of the Holy Ghost. Jesus is jealous for that temple. He walked into that temple in Jerusalem. When they wanted to make Him king, He rather went in with a scourge of cords and drove all the buying and selling and all of the flesh out of His house. And that's what God does in every temple and every life. That the life of Christ might be made manifest in us. He drives out through the preaching of His word, through the conviction of the Holy Ghost. He drives out of our lives all doubt and unbelief. He drives out all buying and selling. Everything that causes us to have a divided heart. He takes it out of our life. Why? That the King may come into His temple. That the King may take up residence in the house that He rightfully purchased with His own blood. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14, he says, Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ and makes manifest or makes known the savor of His knowledge by us in every place. Oh, hallelujah. We'd say, well, how do I apply this to my life? It's just simply by giving place to the King. Invite Him into your life and say, Doubt and unbelief give way to the promises of God. Like in the days of Abraham, he came and just spoke one promise and because Abraham believed that promise, the scripture says he really became the type and shadow, the father of faith, of those who would believe by faith. It's when Christ comes into our lives, that we say, Lord God, by the power of Your indwelling Spirit, cause doubt and unbelief to be cast out of my life and I choose to give way to the promises of God. I choose to believe this book. God, if You said it, that's good enough for me. Lord, I believe if You've told me, if You've promised through Your word, it's going to happen in my life. We speak to confusion and tell it, give way to the word of God. Thy word, the psalmist says in 119.105, is a lamp to my feet and a light unto my path. Like the burning bush was for Moses. Moses walked up to the bush and God showed him the path that he was to go and talked to him about the things he was going to do in his life. But now, Jesus Christ has sent His word into our lives. That burning bush is the written word of God that's now within our lives. Hallelujah. Thy word, David said, is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. Thy word is the manifestation of that burning bush within my life. Thy word is what commissions me. Thy word is what gives me strength. Thy word is what tells me who You are and what power You've given to them who believe. Thy word is my hope for the future. Thy word is my steadfast ground that I stand on today. Thy word, O God, is what delivers my mind from confusion and sets my thinking straight. Thy word, O God, hallelujah, tells me that I can do all things through Christ who lives within me. Thy word tells me, O God, that You can take the weakest men on the earth and set them up on a hill and You can fill them with good things, O God. A river of living water can come from within His inward parts and give life to those that are thirsty. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Psalmist goes on to say in Psalm 119, 130, the entrance of Thy words gives light. Jesus manifested Himself as a pillar of fire and that pillar of fire led the people. But in this generation, those who are looking for outward signs have totally, completely missed the truth. It's the entrance of God's word into our heart that gives us light, that gives us our direction, that tells us where we're to go. It's God's word within us that says, this is the way. Walk ye in and turn away from this. It's the word of God that gives us the strength and to face the devil right on and to tell him it is written, it is written, it is written, and to resist our enemies. Hallelujah. Jesus said in John 14, 23, If a man loves Me, he will keep My words. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him. That's the manifested presence of Jesus Christ. If a man loves Me, he will keep My words. In other words, he will cherish My word. He will not be just some written thing on a page and he's out there looking for some sensory experience. Oh no. He's looking for the living word. He's looking for the Son of God. He will keep My words. I cherish this book. I cherish every line. I cherish every comma in this book. This book is life. It's the written word of God. And if a man loves Me, he will keep My words. My Father will love him. We will come to him and make our abode with him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. In other words, we will live within him. That's the manifested presence of Jesus Christ. John 7, Jesus said, If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink. He was the rock in the wilderness that the water came out of and gave drink to the people when they were thirsty. We read that in the book of Corinthians just a little while ago. He said, If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. He says, Not only will I give him drink, but out of his belly will come My voice and will give drink to those that are thirsty all around who live in a barren, thirsty and a dry land. John 6, verse 57, He said, He that eats Me, even he shall live by Me. This is that bread which came down from heaven. He said, Not as your fathers did eat man and are dead. He that eats of this bread shall live forever. Hallelujah. Thank God for His written word. He that eats of this bread shall live forever. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. In times of distress, in times of trouble, instead of looking for some outward manifestation to deliver us, let's call upon the Lord God. Call upon Jesus Christ. Call upon the Holy Spirit who lives within us. The psalmist said, He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh Lord God, lead us into truth. Lead us into truth. In times of trial, we can look that trial in the face and instead of running around looking for somebody else to help us and looking for some other manner of deliverance, we can speak to that trial right in the face and say to it, Give way to the purposes of God. For I believe that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. All things. We can say like Christ said when He stood before Pilate, You would have no power over me unless it were given to you of My Father which is in Heaven. We can stand with confidence in the midst of any fiery trial and say God is in my life. The manifested presence of Jesus will carry me through. The fourth one that stood in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego now lives within my life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And the risen Son of God who lives within me will quicken my mortal body and I shall stand in the midst of trial and having done all I shall stand. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Would be to the Lord tonight that we would lay hold of this truth. Would be that we would yearn for that manifestation of Jesus Christ. The true manifestation of God is that transformed life. The power of the risen Christ coming and indwelling a physical frail rotten sinner like me and transforming me, forgiving my sin, giving me power over hell and sin and causing me to stand and be able to preach the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. I will praise Him as long as God gives me breath on this earth. We live in a generation when multitudes of people are running from pillar to post and coast to coast looking for some new thing to convince them that God is alive and they've missed the whole truth. You stop where you are. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord as Scripture says. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let the wicked man forsake his way. Let him turn away from his thoughts. Let him seek the Lord while he still may be found. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The man, the woman, that will know the true manifested presence of Christ is the man, woman, and young person that really, like that simple illustration says, Lord, come into my life. Lord, come into my house. Whatever you want, it's yours. Wherever you want to sleep, it's yours. Wherever you want to put your feet, it's yours. Lord God, whatever you want, I'm here at your bidding, oh God. That is a saving relationship. And in the context of that relationship, you will find and know the manifested presence of Jesus Christ within your life. And one day, you can stand and with the authority of the Scriptures say, it's no longer I who live, it's Christ who lives within me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'm not living for my own ways anymore. I'm not living for my own gains. I have no hidden agenda. That's the man that knows the manifested presence of Christ. I live for Christ. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. This world has nothing in me and I have nothing in this world. I live for one purpose. That's that His name might be exalted. His truth might be lifted up on high. Hallelujah. Those that He loves, children who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, can be released from the grip of hell and darkness itself and brought into the everlasting kingdom of Almighty God. It's the man or woman who gets into a situation where you're not able to love somebody and you say, Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus manifest Your in me. Manifest Your presence in my life. I give place to You and I cast off this foulness of the flesh. Lord, love this person through me. Lord, love these people through me. It's the person who's been hurt or abused by some situation and says, Lord, I can't forgive, but God, You can forgive. So therefore, I invite You to come and abide in that room. Manifest Your forgiveness through my life. Give me the strength, oh God, to go to my enemies and say, in the name of Christ, the risen Son of God, I forgive you from the heart for everything you've ever done to me. Hallelujah. That's the person who knows victory in Jesus. Not the one who walks in their own strength, but the one who walks in the strength of Almighty God, the risen Son of God. He who raised up His Son from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies. He shall give you life. In Him was life, and this life was the light of men. And we beheld Him as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He is life, in Him is life, in Him is strength. Hallelujah. In Him is the power over all the power of the flesh. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Then say the Jesus that called you and I into His kingdom is the same Jesus that stood on a hillside and told them to roll back a stone and call it men, four days dead in the grave, out of darkness and into life again. That's what He's done for you and I. And then He said to the people around, loose Him and let Him go. And that's what Jesus does for us. He calls us out of darkness, and if our hearts fully embrace Him, then He looses us and lets us go. Not in our own strength, not under our own steam, not to fulfill our own dreams and ambitions, but to walk with Him as King of kings and Lord of lords of our life. In all that we think are and ever will do. Hallelujah. Brothers and sisters, you cannot know this presence of God in your life until you are abandoned to Him. You can't know it. You can learn about it. You can hear me preach about it. You can read about it. You can even see it in others, but you will never know it until you're abandoned to God. Abandoned to God means simply this, my life is yours. Everything I have is yours. I have no right to anything that I've accomplished up to this far. It's yours. I surrender it. I give place to it. I invite you to come into my life. I invite you to take over every area of my life and use me in whatever way you want to use me. If you want to make a fool of me, make a fool of me. Whatever you want to do, God, do it. Do it in my life. And I believe that wherever you cause me to stand, that you will give me the strength to fulfill what you've called me to do. I believe it, Lord Jesus. I thank God for the hard places in my life. I know that doesn't fly too good in the face of much of what's maybe being said in the modern church today. But I thank God for every hard place because in every hard place, I have to turn to Him and I have to lean on Him. And then He takes me through and it increases my confidence in Him. It deepens the desire that He would take over every area of my life, every area of my heart. All I ever want to do is live for Him. All I ever want to do in this world is to win the lost of Christ and strengthen the church and strengthen the brethren. There's no other reason for living than to see a church fitly framed going together into a holy temple in the Lord. To see people so grasp Christ that they will all of a sudden cast off the shackles of thinking that things are impossible. There are brothers and sisters that are here tonight. If you would cast it off and invite the manifested presence of Christ in your life, you have no idea what God will do through your life. There's no limitation. He'll pick you up. He'll strengthen you. He'll begin to speak. All of a sudden, what used to be a dull letter of the word becomes life. He begins to speak into your heart. Tears begin to flow again. A deep, deep abiding, yearning for His abiding presence comes into your life. Then all of a sudden, He reveals His heart and you begin to say to Him, whatever you want is what I want. Wherever you want me to go is where I want to go. Anything you want in my life, I give it to you, Lord. It's all yours. I don't want any part of myself anymore. I want you to live in me. Oh, brothers and sisters, if there could be a people somewhere that would get a hold of this truth, there could be no limit to what God could do through those people. Every once in a while, God finds someone somewhere or some group of people somewhere, usually the obscure. I think of the biography of D.L. Moody, just a young boy, virtually illiterate. He could read and write a bit, but if you ever read any of his letters, it was all one sentence and it really takes a long time to think about what he was really trying to say. And one day, as just a young boy sitting on a park bench, a Christian man sat beside him and said these words. D.L., he said, the world is yet to see what God could do through a vessel that was wholly surrendered unto Him and to His purposes. Then the man got up and walked away. And here's this young boy, and it's just his teens, and he's illiterate, and he has no strength of his own. He's the only one, they say, could pronounce Jerusalem with one syllable all of his ministry. He just totally murdered the King's English every time he got up to speak. He insulted dignitaries. And it never really changed all of his life and ministry. But he sat on that bench and he said these words, By the Spirit of God that lives within me, I shall be that man. And he rose up and set his face to knowing the manifested presence of Jesus within his life. And God raised him up and through him put to shame the intellectual ecclesia of his generation, his day. He spoke on continents and everywhere he went people by the hundreds and then thousands would fall on their faces before God because God had found a vessel, just a vessel, that said, By the Spirit of the Lord within me I will be that man. I think of the perishing people on different continents throughout the world today. We have been praying, Pastor David and I in this church, that the Spirit of the Lord, it has to be the Holy Ghost. If it's ever manipulated by man it means disaster for the people who go. But we've been praying that the Spirit of the Lord would get a hold of people. There are certain ones that God's already called. You know the language. You know the culture. There's no need to even train you. And you know the Savior. You have what the people need. I don't need to tell you what country. The Holy Ghost will speak to your heart. In some cases it's the very countries perhaps that you came from. There are 60 different countries and nationalities represented here in Times Square Church. Some say God has assembled one of the most multicultural churches that's been around in a long time. We're believing and trusting that God will get a hold of hearts. And you'll say, Jesus, if you want to send me back, I'll go. If you want to send me somewhere else, I'll go. It's not that everybody has to go. But it's that we would have an open heart and say, Lord, I yearn for your manifestation within my life. Whatever you want me to do, God, I will do it. If it's in my neighborhood, if it's in my community, it's in the building that I live in. Lord, manifest yourself in my life and use my life. And even though I go through trial, though I be tried with fire, I will be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. I have not seen him, but yet I know he's within me. I love him, give place to him and rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And I know that in the end I will receive the end of my faith, even the salvation of my soul. Would you stand, please? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Tonight, if you've come to this service tonight and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can be saved tonight. He came and paid the price for your sins by dying on a cross and by acknowledging that you're a sinner and believing that he took your place, you can come tonight and have your sins washed away. No sense even talking about living for God until you know that your sins are forgiven. And also, I want to give an altar call tonight for those here who can say, Lord, I desire your manifested presence in my life. I want it. I hear it and I want it with all of my heart. Help me to die to myself, to put away all known sin and to give you first place in my life. And what that means is, Lord, wherever you call me to go, whatever you call me to do, whatever you call me to be, I'm yours and I invite you to do this. I invite you, I give place to the King tonight. I say, King Jesus, come into my house, come into my life and take over every room. Clean out my house and manifest your presence within my life. Lord, use me for your honor and for your glory. And tonight I also want to pray for the harvest. Jesus said, pray for laborers. The Lord of the harvest is great. The harvest is great and the laborers are few. Pray you therefore, the Lord of the harvest. It begins where you work, it begins in your neighborhood, it begins in your apartment building. Don't leave this altar tonight and buy a ticket to Tanzania or some place like that, okay? Don't get off on a tangent. God begins to speak to your heart and he begins to put a burden there, he begins to change some things, the doors begin to open, it's him that opens the door. Don't you try to open it yourself, it'll be a disaster. I remember one day, and I'm just going to share this by word of testimony for those that have never heard it, I was sitting in a police car, this would be about 16 years ago, I guess now, 15 years ago, and he began to speak to me. I was praying and he began to speak to me about something he wanted to do with my life. I had no skill, no ability, no, absolutely no ability to stand and speak publicly, I was gripped with a horrible fear of man and what he spoke to my heart was an impossibility. But I bowed my head and heart before God and I said, Lord, if you want to do that, then I invite you to do it and I trust you for this strength because I know that I will never do this by myself. And I wasn't looking for something out there to give me a sign. I knew that if there was going to be any victory, there had to be a manifestation of God in my life. That's the only thing that could ever make it happen would be Christ in me. I had been reading about this, Christ in you, the hope of glory. I said, Lord, if you're going to use my life for anything, it's going to be you and it's going to be you alone. You're going to make the change. You're going to speak the promise and then you're going to make it happen. And so the Lord has been faithful and maybe from time to time, he sets up different vessels as a sign. Not that we're anything special, but he is special. And it's only to the yearning heart. It's to the hungry heart. He sets up and the Lord says, I can do all, anything to any heart. I can change any life that calls out to me. I can wash away any sin. I can make any weakness strong. I can take confusion and give direction. That's the manifestation of Jesus Christ. Do you see today how those that are running all over the place looking for signs? Some preacher to blow into a microphone so half the congregation falls over. What good is that? Of what use is that? The bulk of it is just foolishness. It's human suggestion and it just is foolishness. I've seen it over the years. There's no purpose to it. You look at the lives of the people that sit under that kind of a thing and they don't change. You know what they do? They run all their life looking for manifestations. And they miss the greatest manifestation of all. It's Jesus Christ in us. It's Christ being formed in us. Hallelujah. If you call out for Christ to be formed in you it means that His heart, His ways, His mind, His thoughts, everything will begin to change. Sometimes it will make you shaky. You won't even know where you're standing anymore. Sometimes it will cause you to go through trial and it's only Him that's going to bring you through and you're going to know. And the more He brings you through the greater the victories He gives you. The more confidence and trust you'll begin to have in Him. And all of a sudden one day the truth just dawns in your heart. Christ is in me. Christ. The living God lives in me. I'm the temple of the Holy Ghost. God. Do whatever you want to do. This is your temple. Lord, You want to send me somewhere where I'll preach for a year and go out with a blaze of glory? Then God, do it. It's your choice. Lord, to live is You. And if I die then I'm just going home because that's my heart's desire. It's to be with You. That's what it's all about. It's that heart that says Jesus, manifest Your life in me. Pastor David has been preaching it week in and week out. And I prayed this week by the power of the Holy Ghost that it would become real. That our minds would open to it. We begin to understand that all God wants to say take the hands off the controls of your life. And invite me to come in. And manifest my strength in your life. Jesus, give me the victory. Jesus, give me the strength. Jesus, if You've spoken this to my heart then You and You alone are the one that's going to make it come to pass. Remember the words of V.L. Moody. Seventeen years old, I believe he was at that time. By the Spirit of the Lord, the living God, He said within me, I shall be that man.