This sermon delves into the story of David and Bathsheba, highlighting the dangers of sin and the importance of responding to conviction before facing consequences. It emphasizes the need to heed warning signs and take the 'runaway ramp' provided by God to escape destructive paths. The message urges listeners to live by conviction, not consequences, and to seek God's mercy and deliverance.

1 Chronicles chapter 20. I want to read this to you, and then we're going to pray, and then I'm going to explain something to you from this. The Bible says in 1 Chronicles chapter 20, verse 1 and 2, Then it happened in the spring at the time when kings go out to battle, that Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the sons of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabba. But David stayed at Jerusalem, and Joab struck Rabba and overthrew it. David took the crown of their king from his head, and he found it to weigh a talon of gold. And there was a precious stone in it, and it was placed on David's head, and he brought out the spoil of the city a very great amount. Now just put your finger there just for a second. Let's pray, and you pray for me. I'm not that good that I'm going to talk about this verse, but I'm going to tell you something around that verse in just a second. Let's pray. Jesus, I believe that you want to say something tonight. God, I have sought your face. I believe, God, as you have been speaking all day to us here at Times Square Church, I believe that tonight, Lord God, you're going to begin to put the capstone and the exclamation point to how you've spoken through Pastor Carter and Pastor Neal. And I pray, Lord God, that I would operate as a man in the Spirit, Lord God, that would begin to honor not only your word, but to honor the leaders of this house, that, God, what I have to say is going to be, Lord, just in accordance with what these men have been sharing, what's in these men's heart, for this church and this precious body, Lord God. Father, we need a word from heaven. We want to hear from you tonight, Lord God. Come and speak to us in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen. God bless you. You may be seated. Keep your Bible held open to 1 Chronicles 20. And I want you to look at these two very obscure verses just for a second. It says that it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the sons of Ammon, came and besieged Rabba. But David stayed at Jerusalem, and Joab struck Rabba and overthrew it. David took the crown of their king from his head and found it to weigh a talon of gold. And there was precious stone in it, and it was placed on David's head. And he brought out the spoil of the city a very great amount. Now, I want you to just keep those two verses in mind and turn with me now to 2 Samuel 12. 2 Samuel 12. My message tonight is I want to do something, is I want to read between the lines tonight. I want you to look at verse 1 and verse 2 of 1 Chronicles 20. Now, we go to 2 Samuel 12. And let me just explain this. Just give me a few minutes to bring you to where we're going tonight. Watch this. 2 Samuel 12. Look down with me now in verse 30. The Bible says, Then he took the crown... This is 2 Samuel 12 30. Then he took the crown of their king from his head, and its weight was a talon of gold, and in it was a precious stone that was placed on David's head. And he brought out the spoil of the city in great amounts. Now, verse 30 of 2 Samuel 12 matches verse 2 of 1 Chronicles 20. You all see that. Now, let's find verse 1 in this kind of synoptic history of the Old Testament. Go with me to 2 Samuel chapter 11. Just turn back one chapter. 2 Samuel chapter 11. Then it happened, verse 1. Then it happened in the spring at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him in all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rava, but David stayed at Jerusalem. Now, that verse matches verse 1 of 1 Chronicles chapter 20. Everybody following me now? Okay. So, we have 1 Chronicles chapter 20 verse 1 matching 2 Samuel 11. And we also have 1 Chronicles chapter 20 verse 2 matching 2 Samuel 12 verse 30. What Chronicles fails to do is what Samuel does and shows you that there is something in between the lines. In Chronicles, it is the overview of David's life. Samuel is specific. Now, let me just explain it to you this way. When I do marital counseling, men talk Chronicles, and women talk Samuel. Is that true, Pastor Neil? That means if I need to get... This is how it goes. Sir, why are you here? Well, we had an argument, and she called you, and we're here. But if I ask the woman, she will tell me what you were wearing, what time of the day it was, what the kids were doing, and she will tell me every specific thing. That's why I let the man talk first. That takes about 2 minutes. And then I talk to the woman, and then I get the real story of everything that goes on. So that's why when I'm in counseling, I let the man get his 2 minutes and then deal with the woman. That's why Samuel begins then to give the specifics of what goes on. Chronicles misses a very little story. And it goes like this in verse 2 of 2 Samuel 11. And on the evening, king David arose from his bed, walked around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. So David sat and inquired about the woman, and one said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers and took her, and when he came to him, he lay with her. And when she had purified herself from uncleanness, she returned to her house, and the woman conceived, and she sent and told David and said, I am pregnant. I would think that is a pretty important story to leave out if I am the writer of Chronicles. All of a sudden, Samuel brings us to this incredible point and begins to show us something that occurs in David's life. Now I want you to bear with me. This is David who wrote Psalm 23, who says this, Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. When a shepherd used the rod and the staff in the Middle East, it had two purposes that it was taking place. He would use the rod first before he had to use the staff. It was the rod that would begin to be used, just that straight end, that when the sheep was beginning to move off into something, the shepherd would take the rod and begin to nudge the side of the sheep to get the sheep to go back. The sheep would feel the pain of that staff that was upon its chest and upon its side to keep it from going to where it desired to go. But if the sheep began to rebel against that staff, the shepherd would be forced at times to use the rod after he let the sheep begin to find its way into a very bad predicament. And it's in that point he would turn over the rod and have the crook end, the little hook end, and what he would begin to do then is place the hook around the sheep's neck and begin to pull that sheep out. It would have been a lot easier to respond to the staff so you don't get the hook when you find yourself in a situation. How many have ever found themselves getting ready to walk into something and you felt kind of like the pain on the side, which is like the conviction of the Holy Spirit saying, don't go there, don't go there. But you, just like sheep are, began to make their way over into it. And because you didn't respond to the staff, it had to take God taking His hook and having to drag you out of that situation. Thank God He drug you out of that situation. And what happens is when you don't respond to the staff, you will find yourselves making life more complicated because God sometimes will let you get off so He can begin to show you the fruitlessness and the vanity of what you're pursuing. That's where David's at. David is about to do something that he is going to regret. I want you to understand, David is at a place in his life that this temptation is about to interrupt. Yet that's what historians say is about 20 plus years of just spiritual success. If you look on David's record, there's really not many blotches up to this point. And this man is about to enter into a time and a season that is going to begin to mark and blotch this man's ministry. And really, it came from two things and I would explain it to you this way. He had two things, two very dangerous possessions. Number one, he had unplanned free time. And number two, he had an evening of unaccountable privacy. Did you get that? He had one unplanned free time and two, it was an evening of unaccountable privacy. See, this is what temptation will do. Watch this. Temptation feeds on curiosity. It tells you what you don't have and makes comparisons with what you do have. Now understand this tonight, church, because temptation really becomes a highlight film from ESPN. It will show you the highlights of the day but never show you the whole story. It'll show you what things could be or it'll show you the great plays but it'll never show you the injuries. It'll never show you who ended up in the hospital. It'll never show you on ESPN all the pain, all the guys that are laid up, all the injured reserve guys. It'll just show you the great plays. That's exactly what temptation does. It shows you nothing but the good plays. I was reading just a report this week. It said that every time if we glance upon a TV set, our children look upon a TV set, it says every time that the TV will show an act of sexual immorality, at 90% of the times, it is between two people that are not even married. 90% of the times is what they're seeing and becoming used to seeing those highlight films and they never see, they never hear the words David did, she's pregnant. They never show you all the other end of this stuff but here in David's life, we see the real deal of what happens. Now, I want you to understand because I think God wants to do something tonight in this place if I can explain it to you this way. I want to just explain this story and take you to a place that I believe God wants to speak to us. Number one, I want you to remember this, that past success will not be enough for present battles. Past success is not enough for present battles which means just because you had victory yesterday over something doesn't mean it's gone. Listen, an enemy defeated does not mean that an enemy is gone and that's why the enemy is always seeking to make his way back. Let me explain it to you this way. Why in the world does John's gospel do something that all the other gospels don't do? At the end of Jesus' ministry, Jesus is walking into the temple and clearing out the temple. He is turning over the tables and declaring, this house shall be called the house of prayer. Well, John takes the same event and puts it at the beginning of the gospel of John in chapter 2 and not at the end. And in John chapter 2, when Jesus commences his ministry, he steps into the temple and clears everything out. Now, why all of a sudden, three years later, is he back in the temple? Because stuff is always trying to get back into the temple. There is stuff always trying to make its way back into your life. It has to be a place that we set up the guard of the Holy Ghost and we've got to understand how the enemy begins to find his way in there. See, what the enemy wants you to do is not to realize is that God has given you spiritual weapons to combat these things. And we have to understand that when the enemy comes against us and when the enemy begins to fight us, we've got spiritual weapons. Just a few, about a month ago, we decided that there was a college campus three miles from our church that we have felt the Lord speak to us that we needed to be on that campus and do something. So I went ahead and told some of our leaders, I said, let's get on that campus and do something. We had 34,000 students on that campus. Well, as soon as we said it, we got an interesting phone call from one of the groups that are on campus that invited us to come and they wanted to see what we're about. We got a phone call from 20 vampires that asked us to come and to speak to them. They said, we'll give you one hour to talk to us. All we ask you to do is let us ask you questions. Well, I'm thinking, absolutely. I am 20 vampires. That's like sending a poor little lamb to the shearers and to the wolves. I said, count me in. Well, word started spreading around campus and as you guys have come off your prayer and fasting, we get ready to go into it next week because on October 10th, we started getting all these emails that some 300 vampires and goths are showing up at our church on October 10th. They want to come. So I'm thinking, oh Jesus, I really need a word from God. I need to speak on something like the blood or something like that. I don't know what it is, but I need a word from God on that day. But not in that voice. But here's what I kept thinking. Someone kept telling me, you need to go to like some vampire website and find out what they believe so you can talk to them. I said, no, no, no, no. I'm not going to combat vampires by talking about vampires. I said, inside every man, there is this longing to know God. I said, so what I need to do is begin to show them the real thing and then let the real thing, let the Spirit of God begin to work upon their hearts. So we're going into this thing doing nothing but talking about Jesus, sharing Jesus, the love of Jesus, and just to show how Christ came to set them free. I'm not interested in studying Goths and Wiccans and vampires. I don't have to study those counterfeits. I've got a Jesus who is alive and who is risen that is the one that can set them free tonight. And that's the thing with David. Understand something. Listen to me, single folks. I'm doing a series at our church on singleness and single parenting at our church. And so last week I shared a message about Abigail and Nabal. Remember the verse in Samuel? It says, Abigail was beautiful in appearance and intelligent and married Nabal who was harsh and evil in his dealings. And so I was just sharing with some of our folks, I said, I called it the Nabal mystery, how good girls get rotten guys. And I think to myself, how does that happen? How do young ladies begin to try to take this thing that's inside this emptiness that's there? It's because they're looking for somebody to fulfill something in their life that only Jesus can. See, the problem is, is we think some man or some woman is going to fill the void that's in our lives. And friends, really what marriage is, is two people who have found Jesus, found fulfillment in Jesus, and so when you bring them together, you're bringing two fulfilled Jesus people together, not people trying to find it from each other. That's why I understand something. When the Bible speaks of lust, it is a spiritual issue. Can I just be clear with you tonight? Marriage and marriage and the honeymoon does not defeat lust. It's the truth. Because it's a spiritual issue. When you come down a marriage aisle, it doesn't change any man. It doesn't change any. Signing the little papers doesn't make someone brand new. See, because lust is a spiritual issue, it has to be fought with a spiritual weapon. And if it's fought with a spirit, then it's defeated. See, marriage is not the spiritual weapon, but it's the... Here it is. Ephesians 5 is the chapter for married people. 1 Corinthians 7 is the chapter for single people. And here's what it always appeals to. It says this to single people, self-control, self-control, self-control. Which reminds me, that's a fruit of the spirit in Galatians chapter 5. Which tells me that the way you defeat what is happening inside of you is not find a mate. It is get the fruit of the spirit, which is self-control. Is anybody following this tonight? See, what I'm saying to you is that when you begin to appeal to God for the fulfillment, and not a marriage, and not a mate, I am telling you there is victory that is found in those things that are there. That's why you've got to understand it is always seeking its way back. The enemy will find any way to get back, any way to get his way, to come in and destroy. Number two, look down at your Bible just for a second. It says, Now when evening came, David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof. Number two, you should never be getting up out of bed at night. I'm serious. Married people, here's the rule. When one goes to bed, everybody goes to bed. You know how people get in trouble? Oh honey, you go to bed. I'll meet you there. I'll be right down. I'm just going to go surf the web. I'm going to go just look around. Let me tell you something. When one goes to bed, everybody goes to bed. Everybody goes down at that time. I am telling you, it is safety. And I don't even know what he's doing here. It scares me. A man getting up at night? See, does that get you? I'm thinking, if you're a working man, you should be getting up in the morning and not at night. So this means you don't got a job. Two rules in our church. You're a single girl and you're about to date somebody. Two rules that you've got to ask every man. One, are you saved? And two, do you have a job? Because if you don't have a job, you don't have a date. I don't care if you attend Times Square Church, every single service, you can sing in the choir. If you don't have a job, you don't have a date. Period. Period. Oh, I'm getting one, girl. I'm getting one. I've been looking. I've been looking for one. Well, call me when you find one. Let me tell you something. That will really narrow the playing field, doesn't it? Really narrows things down. Salvation narrows it down. Job is another issue. Getting up at night. What's that all about? It's this lust that goes after him. It's this lust at night. I'm saying we don't even understand at times. It's this lust that's in us. And see, what God wants you to do. See, I remember growing up in the church. I grew up in the Pentecostal church. I mean, I thank God for my heritage. So glad tonight for the way I was raised. My mom is here tonight. My dad has gone to be with the Lord. But, man, they raised me in a Christian home. But I used to remember asking people, saying, I mean, growing up in the church, what's lust? I mean, how do you know if it's, like, bad? You know, and they always say, if you look upon a woman lustfully, you have committed adultery with her in your hearts. So, I mean, I'm just the kid. I'm just going, well, what does that mean? When do you commit adultery? They said, when you dwell on the thoughts, you commit adultery. Here's my question. How long is a dwell? Because here's what I'm doing. I'm going, like, if they tell me three minutes, I'm going to go, oh, look at that fine sister. She is, look. Two minutes. She is just looking. How are you? It's so good. Look at you. Thank you, Jesus. I didn't dwell. I did not dwell. But see, what we want to do is we want to put all these time constraints and all these things upon. Here's what David says. He says, God, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. You know what he was saying? He's saying, God, not just the words, but even the thoughts, I don't want them to be there, God. He is saying this. God, I want you to deal, watch this, church. I want you to deal with the meditation before they become a manifestation in my life. That's what he's asking for. When I was commencing upon ministry some years ago, when I was pulling in tonight, I was thinking about it because the season of the year it is. We just started our church there in Detroit. And whenever I hit the fall, I was on the plane tonight. I was thanking the Lord. My little girl Anna was with me and I was just praising and thanking. I was going to get to see my wife and my little boy. The family was going to be together. But I realized what crossroads I hit some years ago. We just started the church. It was a crisp, cool October evening in upstate Michigan. I was preaching at a church. We had a wonderful night service. The Spirit of God fell. And I remember I was sweating and I had a coat on. Went back to my hotel room. And I remember that day back. It was just at the end of the 1980s. But I remember walking into that room with an overcoat on, sitting on the end of the bed, turning on the TV and remember watching the pennant race that the Yankees were playing. And so I was sitting there. I just get back to the room. Didn't even take off. Just threw my Bible on one bed and just sitting there watching the Yankees on this thing. Seventh inning. And I'm sitting there and I'm just enjoying the baseball. And then all of a sudden the TV goes out. Just gone. After I bound the devil, I called the front desk and tried to get somebody up there and said, you need to take, get somebody up here quick. Get someone up here. Well, some kid knocks on my door. He couldn't have been no older than 18 years old. Doesn't even have a uniform on. No name tag, like it says Ned or anything like that. Just sitting there. And he has, this is the truth, no tool chest, nothing. He's sitting there and has a hammer in his hand. And he goes, is that the TV? I said, that's the TV. And he goes, okay man, I'll take care of this. He comes over. Takes that hammer. And he goes, bam! And the TV came on. I said, where did you get that hammer? He walks out of the room. The TV's on. Yankees win. Wonderful night. I'm sitting in bed getting ready to go to sleep. And I just say, well let me just check out just the news. And I'm clicking and it's going channel 22, 23, 31, 36, 37, 38A! I'm going, wait a second. How do you go from 38 to A? Then all of a sudden looking at the TV and I'm looking at the people on the TV and looking at the people on the card on top of the TV. And I'm looking, I'm thinking, hey, Gino must have like busted this up. And I'm looking at this thing and now I'm going, that guy is the guy on the card. Let me hit the TV again. B! And I'm looking, I'm going, hey, that's that guy on the card. And then I hit C. 25, 27 years of my life. Never have I ever seen pornography in my life. Never. And at that moment, folks, I couldn't tell you, I would say it couldn't have lasted more than two to three minutes. But I remember sitting there riveted to the TV thinking, I've never seen this. I've never seen, and immediately it was as if the shepherd's staff came and went on my side and said, if you don't move, this will be years of this. I will be pulling you out. And at that point, he is moving me and says, if you don't turn this off, you will struggle the rest of your ministry life. And friends, I turned that thing off and I could tell you the three minutes I saw that thing, I got on the side of my bed and heard these questions from God. One, is it worth it to lose your whole ministry for this thing? Two, is it worth it to lose the anointing of God for this thing? And three, is it worth it to lose the freshness of God? And friends, I thank God I responded to the staff that day that just kind of moved me off to the side and says, listen, it may hurt in a second, it may just be a little pain, but it is worth it because what I see down the line will protect your future. And friends, that's why I'm here to tell you, David is in this place he's in this position that now, all of a sudden, he realizes that he's getting up in the middle of the night, he's in this place and he's finding himself in a very dangerous place, but he hasn't sinned yet. So here is David, that I just told you, number one, do not, number two, don't be getting up at night, but number three, it's very important, stay away from rooftops, especially in New York. Listen, listen to me close, the rooftop is a place, get this, metaphorically, it is a place that you may see something. Listen to me close friends, David knew exactly what he was doing because that's the time the women usually go out to bathe. So when David stepped on that roof, he was out there, get this church, expecting to see something. It wasn't, can I tell you something, listen, listen, I want you to understand something, remember this church, listen, sin happens, but it doesn't just happen. Can we get that straight? This is the time the women bathe, it was not by accident, that's why I met with an Assembly of God pastor who came to me and this is what he told me, he goes, and I don't know if he didn't know that I knew about stuff, but he asked me, he goes, he says, you know what, Pastor Timmy said, I was on the internet, he said, you know, I just typed in these two names, I was wondering what's going on with Bill Clinton these days and Monica Lewinsky, so this is what he said, I typed in Lewinsky and Bill Clinton and here is his words, he says, when I typed those in, he said, pornography showed up on my screen. Now, I want to tell you something, I'm no dummy, because pornography can't just show up on your screen, it will show you places and websites you can go to and put a description underneath it, which means you have to get this double click on that thing to get there, it didn't show up, you had to click that thing over, oh no, no, no, no, my precious brother, it didn't happen that way, because Sunday morning a few weeks ago, I hardly ever get it, all of a sudden before I'm leaving for church, I was checking some emails, I was expecting an important email and all of a sudden, some email came from somebody I never knew, this is probably the second time it's ever happened to me and here is what it said, girls, girls, girls, I want to ask you a question, what do you think that means? I didn't need discernment, I didn't need to call my wife and say, girls, girls, girls, what do you think, let's pray, should I open this, should I not open this, what do you think this means? I'll tell you what it means, I go up to delete, I click delete and it's gone, that's it, that's what it means, I didn't need discernment, I didn't need, listen, I always need the Holy Ghost, I didn't need him telling me what that meant, I knew what that meant and I wasn't opening up that thing, my precious brother, you didn't just happen to have pornography come on your website, you had to see what was at that site and then double click it right there, see, it's purposely going to that thing, you will see stuff, get this church, you will see stuff, but you don't have to double click it, listen to me teenagers, you may be walking down the mall and see some good looking guy or some good looking J-Lo girl and there she is and you're looking, listen, you may all of a sudden go, oh, I shouldn't do it, see, double clicking is, I want to find out their name, ooh, that's a double click, what you need to do is just back off and say, I'm a man of God, I am a woman of God and that is not part of my itinerary on the path to walking in purity, you stay away from stuff that you may see something, that you may find yourself doing something, it's kind of like shopping friends, the internet is like shopping, if you don't know where you're going, you don't know where you're going to end up and that's why you better be very careful, that's why I have a rule when I go shopping, I know the store, I know the product, so I don't waste time in all these other places and that's why it's important to understand, David shows up and just goes into this thing, I understand this friends, just before he is about to double click on this thing, I want to show you the mercy of God and here's what I want to close with tonight, these two thoughts, listen, look with me at verse 3, so here, he's getting ready to double click, here's verse 3, so David sent and inquired, click click, about the woman and said, is this, and one, look at this church, look at this, doesn't even have a name and one said, is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, get this down, number 4, before you go all the way, you will get yellow lights and roadblocks, listen, because I'm about to say about the mercy of God here, listen church, an unnamed servant, doesn't even have, we don't even know if it's a he or she, all we know is he asks this convicting question, is this not Uriah's wife, that's why, understand something church, sin is called in the Bible for a believer, a trespass, you know what a trespass is, remember a trespass sign, it means it takes work to get over on property that's not yours, it means you've got to go through barbed wire, you've got to climb over fences, you've got to walk through signs, see God doesn't let you sin so easy, he makes you go through a whole bunch of stuff, before you're going to find yourself having to be under the place of the hook of God's staff, but that's why he calls it a trespass, he says you're going to have to work to mess this thing up, and he makes you climb through the hoops, go through all this stuff, and here's the amazing thing, listen to me church, here's the amazing thing, Proverbs chapter 1 says this, if you're going to bust through every roadblock, if you're going to go through every yellow warning sign, that pastor Carter, pastor Neil, pastor Dave, pastor Patrick preaches, guaranteed there are people sitting in this place, the sound of my voice, that you're about to enter into something, and thank God these men preached the message they did, and here is what Proverbs 1 says, Proverbs 1 says, I called to you but you didn't listen, this is wisdom speaking, I cried to you but you ignored me, and then this is what it says at the end of Proverbs 1, on the day of your calamity, he says, I will laugh and I won't even answer you, the day you need wisdom, that's why friends, that's why when people fall short and fall into sin, they've got to get with godly people, because they don't have any wisdom, they have no wisdom, when they say, I'll take care of this myself, you can't, you lost wisdom, wisdom is laughing, wisdom is not coming to you, so you've got to find men and women of God, who have wisdom on this thing, that's why, listen to me, let me speak some wisdom into this place, that's why he says, you be careful, I'm going to throw a roadblock right now, do you know there is a counterfeit, to what I believe was the David and Jonathan relationship, the bible says that their souls were knit together, in first Samuel chapter 18 verse 1, watch this, both of these men, both of these men, wanted to see God do something, they began to trade, all these parts of the armor, and Jonathan would even confess, I know David, I know, no matter what anybody says, I'm not going to be the next king, David you are the next king, and they connected knowing, that David was going to be the next king, there was something in them, that began to join together, and says their soul was knit together, but watch this, the counterfeit of that, in the body of Christ, is, watch this, is what I would call, a familiar spirit, listen to me, you know what a familiar spirit is, it is not the good in you, that is connecting, it is the sin, in you that connects, you could see, a man in this place, that will sit up here, that has something against pastor Neal, find someone in this audience, who you would have no relationship with, all of a sudden, they connect on that one issue, I'm telling you the truth folks, I have watched, on this side, a disgruntled husband, whose man and his wife, out of the clear blue, meet some disgruntled wife, and all of a sudden, they are praying together, oh no, no, no, no, it's a familiar spirit, that is connected in that place, and friends, I am telling you right now, there are roadblocks, that the spirit of God, is throwing up for some of you, I'm telling you folks, listen, that's why, I tell every husband, I tell every wife, if, if, if that man can't look, if that woman can't look at the bills, if that woman can't look at the phone bills, if she can't look at the credit card bills, something is wrong, don't worry baby, I got it all covered, oh no you don't, then let me see, my wife has my passwords, my wife can check the history of my internet access, she can ask me any questions, she wants to ask me, here is what my precious father taught me, years ago, truth is never afraid of examination, I close with this, live by conviction, live by conviction, and not consequences, live by the conviction of the spirit, and not trying to repair, after the consequences, of this thing playing this out, I was thinking this through, it was astounding to me, as I started just to look through this thing, what is the difference, between David and Saul, think about this, Saul never committed adultery, Saul never murdered another woman's husband, Saul wasn't responsible for 73,000 deaths, because he numbered the men, but yet it seems like David's sin was worse, than Saul, just on paper it looked like it, but you know what I began to realize folks, is this, I began to realize, that God many times, goes after the attitude, more than the act, because I have watched God, I have watched God, deliver and set free, a broken humble adulterer, but literally cast aside, a prideful gossip, because he goes after the attitude, when David was caught, he broke down before God, but it was Saul, that was always trying to honor himself, it was Saul, that was always trying to tell him, read 1st Samuel chapter 15, Saul was always trying to explain himself, every time he gets caught, no, no, no, I did keep the command, I did do all this, but David when he is caught, he falls on his face, and gets right with God, that's why it's important to understand this church, the difference between David and Saul's sin, let me show you this final verse, look in your Bible, at the last verse of chapter 11, and then I'm finished, here's what it says, David has Uriah the husband killed, so he can marry this woman, and I want you to see what the Bible says, when the time of mourning was over, the last verse, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and she bore him a son, but the thing that David had done, was evil in the sight of the Lord, now verse 1 of chapter 12, then the Lord sent Nathan to David, here's what I want you to do, circle verse 27 in your Bible, and then circle verse 1, and connect it, and write this down, write in that connection line, here it is, it was one year, between the end of chapter 11, and the first verse of chapter 12, see we read this thing, and we think like Nathan is standing at the reception line, you know meeting everybody, nice to meet you Joab, nice to meet you Abishai, nice to meet you, and David, no, no, no, it wasn't like that, it is one year, you know what that tells me, God gave him one year, to get this thing right, he says you know what David, I'm going to give you one year, before I go public, one year before this thing comes out, here's how it goes friends, look at me, I have watched, I know these men have seen it, I have known, I have seen things, in people in ministry, that I knew were living in sin, yet they would preach, and hundreds responding, singers that I knew living in sin, getting up there, doing their thing, and all this stuff, and here's what I want you to know, when you are living in sin, and are still feeling the blessing of God, it is not God's approval, it is God wooing you, let me explain it, it is your kindness, that leads us to repentance, and it's God not saying everything is okay, it's what I call the embarrassing blessing of God, when you are messing up, and he still blesses your life, but listen folks, there comes a day, when he says, Nathan comes, cause you won't deal with it, I sat there, in my office, with a leader in our church, and I think, I would tell you, when I think of Pastor Carter, and Pastor Dave, I think one thing that I know, these men have taught me, is what it is, that when you feel, there is something not right, and something wrong, you respond to that, and I have watched, I have watched these men, they become examples for my life, and I looked at this man, and I sat there with his wife, and I said, young man, I don't know what it is, I said, I don't know what it is, I said, there is something, there is sin in your life, you are going to step down from everything, there is something going on, and all of a sudden, just like Saul, what are you talking about, is it like, you want me to go back to my child, I said, you know exactly what I am talking about, and in fact, I read this verse to him, and I said, it's like God turned over the hour glass, and you don't have a year left, you have got to get right with this thing, or God is going to go public with this thing, three days later, the whole thing just got exposed, it was as if God was taking to some unnamed pastor, and just telling him, let's get this thing right now, let's get it right now, I just did this Latino conference in Los Angeles, with precious, precious brothers and sisters, when we arrived at LAX airport, and drove to the conference site, it was interesting, there was something I saw, that I have never seen in my life before, and I travel a lot, but I have never seen it, so driving through these hills of Los Angeles, outside LAX, and going down towards the conference center, we are driving, and all of a sudden on these hills, you see this thing, it was really weird, beautiful sight, and all of a sudden, boom, the exit said, runaway ramp, it said runaway ramp, this is like for teenagers, when they left home, I said, what is this, he said, no, no, no, he says, look, and it is about 100 yards, of this incline of a sand hill, he says, when these 18 wheeler trucks, come down through the hills, of the Los Angeles area, because the air breaks, sometimes, from hitting the brakes, hitting the brakes, taking their foot off, he says, sometimes they let all the air out of the line, and they have no brakes, so what they do is, they go off on this runaway ramp, their tires sink into the dirt, and they say, if they don't, there are ravines on both sides, and they can't stop, or if they don't have a runaway ramp, they are going off the edge, listen to me folks, this is your runaway ramp tonight, this is it, this is it, some of you are about to plummet off the side, and God says, I'm sending some kid in, from Detroit, to tell you, you can exit tonight, because some of you are going, but I'm here to tell you, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you can be set free tonight in this place, and listen to me folks, it is not, this is not a message, something on lust and pornography, it is a message, where God says, deal with this thing, instead of waiting for the consequences, to show up, when everything else, that's when we get it, we usually get, when does someone come in and say, hey what do I do with this conviction, it's usually, what do I do with these consequences, that's when we get the phone call, tonight, his staff has come, and he's pushing you, he's been pushing you for the last 40 minutes, since I've been speaking, so why not respond, and let the staff bring you right to this altar, or he turns it over, and then has to drag you out of something, and you may lose family, you may lose your wife, you may lose your kids, you may lose your job, but I tell you tonight, God has a runaway ramp for you tonight in this place, I just ask you tonight, in this balcony, on the floor, in the annex, those that hear the sound of my voice, I'm going to ask you tonight, you're in this place, and see, we can talk chronicles, or we can talk specific, we're going to sit there and say, how's everything going, oh praise the Lord, I'm blessed and highly favored, or we can read between the lines, and say, something's going on, and I need to take the ramp tonight, everyone in this place stand, I'm not going to go along, here it is, it needs to be taken care of, that's it, get out of your seat, and get down to this altar as fast as you can tonight, quickly, all over this place, that's all I'm saying, hallelujah, hallelujah, if you're in the balcony, you know what to do, you come down those stairs, if you're in the annex, you can find your way, and get down, you may be in the choir, you may be on this floor, it is a night to say, I'm taking the ramp tonight, mm, mm, mm, mm, oh God, those that know me, know that sometimes, I'll just look at the musicians, and have them play, but you know what, I don't want you to hear music now, I want you to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, that is speaking to you right now, you don't need to sing a song, you need to respond to the shepherd staff tonight, you need to respond to his staff tonight, mm, mm, thank you Lord, as people are beginning to make their way in, those at this altar, would you just take a second, listen, I want you to look at me, this is not, this is not a message of condemnation, it is a message of saving your life, this is a message of liberty tonight, somebody say amen, somebody is thinking, man I feel bad, no, no, no, the issue is not to feel bad, the issue is, thank God someone said the truth, thank God someone got me before I took off, I couldn't stop, I couldn't stop, and now God, listen, there are some in this place, that haven't been listening, and right now tonight, as you make your way down, here is what I want you to do, would you just take just a second, and lift your hands to him, and thank him for his mercy tonight, would you just thank him just for a second, just say God I thank you tonight, that you have given me a way out, you have given me a way of escape tonight, oh God I thank you tonight in this place, oh God we bless your name, that we are believing this to be a night of liberty in this place, this is a night of liberty in this house, this is a night of liberty in this house, this is a night of freedom God, that father instead of leaving here, and maybe crashing off the edge, that God you have given them an altar tonight, you have given them a place of safety, and a place of refuge, but most of all a place of deliverance, and freedom to break the stronghold Lord God, oh hallelujah, hallelujah, now listen I want to put truth in you for a second, look at me at this altar, I want you just for a second, just to close your eyes, listen to these words, let truth now begin just to permeate your mind, no temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, would you just say that tonight, God is faithful, hallelujah listen, who will not allow you to be tempted, beyond what you are able, but with the temptation, will provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure, he is a faithful God tonight, and has given us a way of escaping this place, oh we bless you for your faithfulness, we bless you for your faithfulness, we bless you for your faithfulness Lord God, you are faithful Lord God, Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, oh God we thank you tonight. We thank you that there's freedom in this house. There's freedom because Jesus said where the presence of the Lord is, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, liberty, there's liberty. You're going to break, you're going to break, you're going to break chains, you're going to break by those that have been worshiping with the clanking of chains, that have felt the guilt because their sin won't let them go. I pray tonight is a night of freedom, repentance and deliverance. I pray it's a night of victory in this house, oh God. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, oh we bless you God, we bless you God, we bless your name oh God, we bless your name oh God. Oh, you are worthy, you are worthy, God is faithful, God is faithful, God is faithful, God is faithful, God is faithful.