Plants and Pillars, Aprophesy of Youth

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge, P.O. Box 260, Lindell, TX 75771 or calling 214-963-8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. Psalms 144, I'll be using King James Version tonight. I want to speak to you tonight on the title of my message is Plants and Pillars.

Plants and Pillars, a prophetic word on youth. A prophetic word on youth. Now this is not a message to youth.

Obviously we don't have many in this church. I mean youth, youth, teenagers. But this is a message about youth.

And it is a message for everybody here tonight. And if last Tuesday night after the service someone had told me I would be preaching this tonight, I would not believe them. And I'll explain to you in just a few moments why.

Psalms 144. Go to verse 7. And deliver me out of great waters from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood. David, of course, this is a Psalm of David in verse 9. We might have to insert the word after what he said in verse 8. Nevertheless, I will sing a new song unto thee, O God, upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.

It is he that giveth salvation unto kings, who delivereth David his servant from a hurtful sword. Rid me, and here's a repeat again of previous verses. Rid me and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth. That our daughters may be as cornerstones or as pillars, polished after the similitude or the likeness of a palace. That our garners may be full affording all manner of store.

That our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in the street. That our oxen may be strong to labor. That there be no breaking in nor going out.

That there be no complaining in our streets. Happy is that people that is in such a case. Yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.

Plants and pillars, a prophetic word on youth, shall we pray. Lord, tonight I ask you that you would help me to deliver my soul. You know the burden that is within my heart.

You know the burden that you have placed upon me tonight. For this message, for this people, and for what this message represents to the Times Square Church. Lord, I just pray that you would anoint it, that you would use it for your glory.

Lord, reach out to every heart again tonight, Lord. That you would use the word to bring us and draw us to you. That you would accomplish that which you desire tonight.

Lord, birth something in some hearts tonight. Birth something in this church tonight. Birth something that we'll see the effect of it in the days to come.

And we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. Friday night at our prayer meeting, among other things, but in particular, the Holy Spirit burdened a number of our hearts for the youth of this city.

I know at least He did mine. It was not a thing that I asked for. In fact, it was just something that seemed that when the need was presented, and it's been mentioned I think several times in our Friday night meeting, but particularly again it was mentioned.

And David said before, this is one of the things that we're praying about in this church, the ministry to youth and to see more young people come in. And it was not a burden that I reached out to, but it was as if Friday night the Lord tapped me on the shoulder and the Lord reached out to me and said, I want you to pray for this. I want to birth something.

I want you to take this on as a burden. Also Friday night David asked how many would fast at least one meal this month, one meal a week, and also would take a time of prayer that there might be a revival among our young people because one of the questions that we've been asking ourselves as we look around Times Square Church is this, where are the youth? Where are the young people? I think our first Friday night meeting, David felt led to have to talk about that. And there was I think three teenagers that came forward and led in prayer.

And I was blessed as I listened to them. But you look around and you only see handfuls of teenagers, young people in our services. And so the question is, where is our youth? Now we have young singles in our church.

We have young marrieds. We have some wonderful children. We have some wonderful children workers.

You've seen the number of young parents, or excuse me, of parents who have come with young children to be dedicated here on the platform. And we thank God for that. And we want to dedicate the young children to the Lord, the infants.

But still the question remains, where are the teens? Where are the adolescents? And we're praying that God will move mightily upon the young people, upon the youth in this city, and the youth in your home, and those that are related to you. The youth who do not come to this church now. Other young people who do not know Christ.

We're praying that God will do something. He will birth something. And I left the prayer meeting Friday night with a burden.

And ever since then I've had that burden. I left with a burden and a vision that someday this church will have a solid number of young people who will be worshiping the name of the Lord. But more than that, that they will be a living testimony.

They will be living a victorious, overcoming life, courageous in their testimony, that they will be enabled to withstand the peer pressures, the pressures of their peers and others that are about them in the school and in their neighborhood. And I believe that we can see a group of young people who don't just know how to say no, but know how to live no. And who are not touching drugs, who are not indulging in the typical sins of youth.

Do you believe that that can happen? If a church in Times Square made up of saved and sanctified and holy adults is a miracle in this age that is like unto the days of Noah before the flood, if an adult church of people walking in righteousness is a testimony to the power of the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit, and I believe it is, but how much more of a witness will it be to have right here in the middle of what the media calls Sleaze Square or Slime Square to have a place full of teenagers and young people calling upon the name of the Lord rather than to become, come to be entertained by some Christian rock group or something else. God can do it. I believe that God can do it and he wants to do it.

And I've seen a picture ever since Friday night, there's been a picture in my mind of teenagers getting off of subways and getting off of buses, coming in vans, coming in cars, maybe coming in buses, carrying their Bibles, and for example, on a Saturday night, coming to praise Jesus instead of going to party and then waking up the next morning with a hangover of the Spirit rather than a hangover of the bottle. Hallelujah. Now, Psalms 144 has a prophetic word regarding our young people and as well it has some instructions as to our responsibility in the church and in the home as parents in seeing that that promise comes to pass.

And the key verse containing this prophecy and promise is found in verse 12. Look at it. David in the midst of saying that there are strange children in our midst, in the midst of it he says, and this is his vision, this is his prophecy, this is his prayer.

He says that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, that our daughters will be as cornerstones or the new American standard says pillars, polished after the similitude or the likeness of a palace. Hallelujah. Plants and pillars.

And when we have such grown up sons, when we have such polished pillars, verse 15 says, the end result is happy is that people that is in such a case, yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord. Now, verse 12 is better understood in knowing the culture and the architecture of that period. And David talked about the plants grown up and he talked about the polished pillars.

You see, in our day, we plant our gardens in the front of our houses or in the back of our houses or on our rooftops in the city or maybe you just have to have a little box in your house. You don't have either. But if you live in the suburbs, you may have a garden in the front, garden in the back.

But they in that day built their gardens inside in an inner, as it were, in an inner court such as I've seen in Guatemala. So that when you entered the port, you found yourself in a court with all the rooms all around. And in the houses of the wealthy, this court was laid out with wonderful taste.

It was adorned with shrubs and trees, with fountains and fish pools. It was an eloquent sanctuary. And in some cases, it was paved with colored marble.

And then it was shadowed. They had beautiful olive trees and shrubs, as I said. And that also, in the middle of it, they had like a plaza resting on beautiful colored carved pillars.

And when David then talks about the sons and the daughters, he had a picture of this in his mind. And with that in mind, you can catch a better picture what David had in mind regarding the sons and the daughters. The two central objects in that center court caught his eye, the plants and the pillars.

The one being the young sturdy trees that grew up so vigorously within the enclosure. And the other being the polished pillars that stood so gracefully around. And my prayer tonight, this is the part of my vision, this is the part of my burden in sharing with you tonight, that we would have such trees, that we would have such beautiful, such polished pillars as the very centerpiece of this church, surrounded by our pastors, surrounded by our leaders, surrounded by you, the congregation, encouraging them and teaching them and watering those trees and polishing those stones so that those young people can grow up into spiritual maturity.

Now, how would it happen? How would it happen that we see such plants growing up in their youth and such cornerstones polished in the likeness of a palace? You see, before a youth revival can take place among our young people or in our homes and families, certain conditions have to be met. In Psalms 144, outlines some principles for a successful ministry to youth. But these principles apply to all of us here tonight.

And so this is not just directed to youth. I believe the Holy Spirit wants to say something to every single person in this auditorium tonight. I read to you verse 15.

You see that this psalm ends on a note of happiness. But look at verse 1 and it opens with the language of warfare. It says, Blessed be the Lord my strength who teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight.

Now listen, my friend. We are in a spiritual warfare for a twofold reason. Number one and first of all is for your own sake, our own sakes.

But secondly, we're in a spiritual warfare because somebody else's life is at stake because of our walk of righteousness. Look at verse 2. David begins and he speaks of the Lord in personal terms. He says, My goodness and my fortress.

He says, My high tower and my deliverer, my shield in whom I trust. Now our first responsibility is to win the personal battle for ourselves against the world, the flesh and the devil. Note the language of warfare David uses.

You see, after you've been saved, it is our duty as pastors, the reason that we do what we do and preach as we do on these Tuesday night meetings and we have the Wednesday and Thursday night meetings, Friday night, everything that we have. It is our duty to teach your hands for this warfare, to make an onslaught against the devil that comes up against us and comes up against everybody. As David said Sunday night, if you're going to walk in holiness, you're going to believe that there's a warfare that you have to enter into.

Titus 2, 11 and 12. Listen to what it says. It says, For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men.

It teaches us. Here's the warfare. The grace of God appears unto us and it teaches us, and this is what it teaches us, to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.

Now, this personal battle, this personal warfare to rid ourselves of ungodliness and worldly passion is a daily battle. Paul said this. Again, listen.

And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. He said, I die daily. And then he goes on to tell us in verse 34.

This is 1 Corinthians 15, 34. Paul goes on and he tells us, he said, I die daily. And then he tells us how to wake up in the morning.

He says, awake to righteousness and sin not. For some have not the knowledge of God when they wake up in the morning. He said, I speak this to your shame.

You know what we need, friends? We need a clock radio that when we get up in the morning, if you get up at 6 o'clock or 7 o'clock, you need a clock radio that says, good morning. This is your morning call to righteousness. It's time to get up and to serve Jesus and don't forget to die before you wake.

That's what Paul said. I die daily. And listen, as pastors, we're not going to let up reminding you that we are in a daily warfare and battle against sin, the flesh, and evil spirits because as soon as we let up, you're going to go to sleep spiritually and give place to the devil and so we're going to give you a wake up call every service and say, wake up to righteousness and do not sin.

Hallelujah. We've been taught for warfare and we have to press the battle to the gate until we die. One young teen challenge convert said to me, he said, Brother Don, how long does this battle last? I said, well, the one you're in now will be over but you'll have another one.

It lasts until you die. But of course it's not our battle, it's his battle. Joel 2, 5 says we are to be a strong people set in army array, set in army attire, ready to do battle.

Ah, but there is another important reason why we must wage and win the battle against sin. Listen to me. The second reason is because somebody else is affected by your victory or by your defeat.

Let me say that again. Somebody else is being affected by your victory or by your defeat. David recognized that he had a responsibility for others under his care and influence.

In verse 2, he asked for victory. He addressed the Lord as deliverer. Look at it again.

He addresses him as deliverer, as his fortress, as his shield, not only for personal reasons but also he saw the Lord as he who subdueth my people under me. That latter part he said, who subdueth my people under me. Literally that means what David was praying, he was saying, Lord, bring the people to submission to Jehovah who are under my leadership.

And he recognized his responsibility before God as a leader and as a king to see those people come. He recognized his personal responsibility. Now, I want you to consider for a moment the persons that are under you.

And let me first address myself to parents. Parents, I want you to think of the children under you and under your care. You see, the Lord has trained you in spiritual warfare not only for your own sake but for your children's sake.

Your victory over sin will create a godly atmosphere in your home that will enable your children to know righteousness. And if you do not deal with evil in your life, how do you expect your children to deal with evil? This brings the whole matter of walking in righteousness and holiness into a much larger perspective. Ephesians 6, 4 says, And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

And provoke means to irritate or provoke to bitter anger. The New International Version says, Don't embitter them or they will get discouraged. And listen, mother and dad, if you don't get yourself under control, if your flesh has not died with Christ at the cross, you're going to either provoke your children by your words or by your deeds.

They're your responsibility. They are your plants that God wants to grow up to full maturity. Your daughter is to be a polystone in your midst.

But you have a responsibility not to provoke them unto ungodliness, but to provoke them to God, to righteousness. I'll never forget. I was driving my children to church.

I had only two at the time. I was going to church. I wasn't preaching.

And I was just driving along, and casually I asked my son Todd, age five, I said, Todd, do you like to go to church? He said, yeah, I like to go to church. I said, why do you like to go to church? He says, because Jesus don't holler at me. I went to church, but I didn't need to.

I already had my sermon. I looked at my wife, and she looked at me. And I want to tell you, I learned something right then about bringing myself under control.

And whether it's bringing your anger or bringing your lust or whatever under control, you've got to allow the Holy Spirit to control you, not only for your sake, but for the sake of your children. I had a young fellow tell me one time, he said, I got two dads. I got a church dad, and I got a house dad.

And they're two different people. He said, I sure wish the church dad was the same as the house dad. I wish the house dad was the same as the church dad.

Parents, you can either raise plants or weeds. You can either raise plants or weeds. Your kids can grow up as thorns, thistles, or as trees of the Lord, as Isaiah 61, 3 says, that they might be trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

And that's what we want to see in this church, is trees of the Lord of righteousness, young people. Husbands and wives have a responsibility to each other to walk in holiness, simply because of the effect that your victory or your defeat has on your spouse. Remember in marriage that you are as one flesh, and if one half of that flesh is living in the flesh and sin, it may cause the other half of the flesh to get discouraged, even to stumble.

My wife told me today, she's one who reads the letters that comes into her office. And today she just shook her head, and she said, nearly half of all the letters now are on divorce. She told me today, a woman wrote, she said, I've got one son divorced, I've got another son divorced, I've got another son who's married, but he wants to go off with another woman now, and the marriages are breaking up.

My friends, we have a responsibility unto each other to walk before God, as others in your marriage, to walk before the Lord righteously. Let me say something to singles tonight. I don't want to leave anybody out.

Singles who may someday get married. I'll never forget one time I was about 14, maybe 14 years of age. My mother said something to me that blew me away.

She was dealing with me. She was talking to me about an attitude, a rebellion that I was in, and she said to me, she said, son, you better deal with that rebellion, because one of these days, if you get married and you have kids, you're going to see yourself staring, you're going to see yourself staring yourself in the face one day around the house, and that same attitude that you have right now is going to be thrown right back at you when you're married. And I looked, I stood there, and I looked at my mother, and I said, that's not fair.

I said, that's not fair. My goodness, I'm 14 years of age, and my mother's telling me about problems that I'm going to have when I'm married 10 years from now and I've got children. I thought, you're trying to lay that heavy trip on me? But you know, I didn't say a word.

I went away, I thought about it, and I got convicted. And I said, yes, she's right, she's right. I said, Lord, I don't want to plant an evil seed.

I don't want to have something in my life that I have not dealt with as a teenager that will come staring me back in the face one day. Psalm 78 says that the generation to come might not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation. And I want to say to every one of you tonight, parents or future parents, when you come to this altar, when you come to lay something down before the Lord, remember you're not only doing it for your sake, but you represent your home.

Father, you're the priest in your home. Mother, you have a responsibility. And when you come to this altar and lay that down, you're not only doing it for God's sake and for your sake, but you're doing it for your family, for your children, for your home, hallelujah.

There is not a person to whom this truth does not apply. All of us have others to whom we are responsible. This principle applies not only to parents, but to all of us.

God holds us responsible for our testimony as it has to bear on our friends, on our family, on our relatives, on our classmates, on our roommates, on our fellow church members. Paul recognized this. Oh, how Paul accepted this responsibility.

Listen, 2 Thessalonians 3, 7, he says, You see, Paul accepted his responsibility as a righteous role model. In Philippians, he said, So ye have for us as an example. Do you know that you are a marked man, a marked woman? Consider your responsibility before others who are under you, over you, around you, or with you.

And in considering your influence, Paul said you ought to walk so accordingly. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall remind even this unto you.

Why don't you flip with me to 1 Corinthians 3. And I want to tell you how the Lord rebuked me one time when I preached this, and you've heard this preached. 1 Corinthians 3, Paul was talking to the church at Corinth and rightfully so, he rebuked them. Rightfully so, he rebuked them because they were setting up these men of God as sort of heroes, celebrities, Christian celebrities like we have today.

That's the worst thing about Christian television. It's made Christian celebrities. This is the end of side one.

You may now turn the tape over to... Here is verse 4, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another said, I am of Paulus, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is of Paulus? But ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. I have a plant of Paulus water, but God gave the increase. Now, I used to, when I started ministering, I started in Teen Challenge, I used to always say this to especially all the Teen Challenge fellows.

I used to say to them, now don't look at man because man will fail you. Don't look at preachers, don't look at me. I'd preach that all the time, don't look at me.

And the more I said, don't look at me, the more they'd look at me. You know, fellows just come off the street, they say, why is this guy saying, don't look at me? You know, has he got something going on the side or whatever? What's he doing? And I'd use this scripture, and it's true that we are not to exalt man. And the Lord made it very clear in this passage, and yet the Lord spoke to me out of it.

Because this is what Paul said, he said, who then is Paul and who is upon us, but ministers by whom ye believe, not in whom, not in whom, but nevertheless by whom ye believe. He is not taking away our personal responsibility to be an example and to be a role model and to be a godly man. And we so use this today, and we just tell people, don't look at man, don't look at man.

And any pastor that tells you, you better get suspicious of him. Because Paul said, look at me. He said, look at me, follow me as I follow Christ.

He said, for yourselves know how you ought to follow me. Oh, he accepted his responsibility to walk righteous and said, yes, I'll be a role model. You don't put your faith in me, you put it in Jesus.

But I, I want you to see Jesus in me. In fact, he said, he said in second Corinthians three, two, he said, for ye are our epistles written in our hearts, known and read of all men. I heard about a father who thought the epistles were the apostles' wives.

Don't laugh, it applies. Don't laugh, it applies. Because yes, the Bible says we are epistles.

He asked the man of God, the woman of God, are known and read of all men. What kind of a letter are you? What kind of a book are you? I don't want to get into it. I could, I could go down.

We could talk about, you know, are you fiction? Are you science fiction? Are you, what are you, a sensuous novel? Are you, have the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ? Hallelujah. Now Psalms 144 teaches us that there is a direct correlation between the backsliding of adults and the backsliding of children and youth. Look at verse 11, go back to, to Psalms 144.

I hope some of you down here brought your lamps. I hope you brought your flashlights. I don't know if you can see it or not.

It's kind of dark out there, but look at it with me if you will. Psalm 144, 11, Rid me and deliver me from the hand of strange children whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood. Now listen to me.

If our children are acting strange, if their mouth speaks vanities and lies and falsehood, it may be, not always, it may be, not always, but it may be because they saw the example in adults. I know for one thing for sure, the fact that our schools in America are chalkboard jungles and our youth have turned to drugs and violence, it's because as a nation we have chipped away at biblical moral absolutes so that there is no longer godly principles followed in our educational system, in our laws, in our government, in our society. And listen, America deserves what it's getting in terms of the corruption of its young people and its children.

If there ever is an indictment against the practices of a society, it is in the behavior of the younger generation that is following in the heels of the previous generation. All you have to do is look at today's children and you see something is sadly and tragically wrong with the adults who run America. Different generations have been called the 40s, they were called the silent generation, the 50s were called, we came into the beat generation, the 60s we came into the flower children, and then the runaway generation, then the me generation, and the only thing I know to call this generation is that it is a lost, hopelessly lost generation.

And you have to lay it at the doorstep of our American homes and our parents and our government and our society. But the church is also to blame. Go with me to Psalm 78.

Go to Psalm 78. In fact, you got to start with the church because Psalm 78 is a picture of the children and youth raised in a compromising, backslidden church and home. Listen to, follow me if you will.

Psalm 78, it says, Give ear, O my people, to my law, incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth, and a parable I will utter, dark sayings of old, which we have heard and know, and our fathers have told us. Verse 4, We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works, which he hath done.

For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children, that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who shall arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments, and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart aright and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. Now look at verse 9. Here's the end result. This is a sad picture.

It says, The children of Ephraim, the offspring of Ephraim, the teenagers, the adolescents of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back or retreated in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in his law and forgot his works and his wonders, which he had shown to them. But verse 9 strikes me.

The children being armed, they had all the appearance of being ready to face temptation. They looked like Christians. They may have been raised in the church, but their parents lived a compromising life.

Their parents lived in rebellion, and therefore they had no power in their life. They had no strength, so that when they went out to battle, they did not have strength to resist the devil. And you have to lay the problem at the doorstep of the parents in the church.

That's what Psalm 78 is all about. Go on down to verse 63, and it says, The fire consumed the young men, and their maidens were not given to marriage. In other words, they could not stand the judgment, nor were the girls able to live long enough to even hear the wedding bells.

It's a picture of youth that are burned out in sin because their fathers were a stubborn and rebellious generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. Tell me if that isn't the picture today in the church. Tell me if that is not the picture today in the body of Christ.

Somebody just told me just the other day, when you live out in some suburban area, and I'd say where it is, and they were talking about the sad plight of the churches in their area, and they said, Brother Don, the worst thing about it is what's happening to the young people. The young people are going to hell, and they're in the church, and the church doesn't even know it, and the families don't even know it. They've got the parents buffaloed, but they're lost.

They're lost. But I want you to know, David, go back to Psalms 144. I want you to see David's prophetic vision and prayer for the youth.

In verse 9 is a change in the tone and tenor of the psalm. Let me say something to every one of you tonight. If you are dealing with strange children, or you have a burden to see strange youth converted, there's a promise of God to us as a church and to you as a parent and to everybody here tonight.

David says, I will sing a new song unto thee, O God. With a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings, I will sing praises unto thee. But I have you note that David first had to see the problem of the youth.

Verse 7 again. He says, I will send thy hand from above. Rid me and deliver me out of great waters from the hand of strange children.

Verse 11, he repeats the same concern. That must have been quite a problem in Israel. And right in the midst of this description of this problem of strange children, who he says speak vanity, they deal falsely.

In the middle of it, David raises his voice in faith and he says, He that giveth me salvation, he that delivered thy servant David, that same salvation can come to our children and God can break out in revival so that our sons can be full grown plants and our daughters can be polished like the pillar in the palace. Hallelujah. This is our promise church.

Parents, do you have unsaved, backslidden, drug addicted children? Are you burdened for strange children? He that giveth salvation unto kings can give salvation to your offspring. Hallelujah. Now perhaps you were unsaved in your earlier years and your children were raised in an ungodly home and you got saved later.

And now it's too late as it were. You've come to the Lord now, but the seeds were already sown. Or perhaps your kids were raised in a church where all they had was youth programs.

They were more important than Bible teaching or Bible preaching. But whether you were or were not one of the causes of your children's strange behavior, the Lord still wants to save them and deliver them. Look at verse 13.

He says that our garners or our barns may be full affording all manner of store. You know what I like about this church? You know what I like about it? I like the fact that we have all manner of store. We have all kinds of produce here.

We got all colors and all nationalities and all backgrounds. We've got all classes of people. We've got everything as someone said from the come out of them, the gutter to the glitter.

We have a variety here. What a beautiful testimony it is. But in addition, God wants to, in the middle that He wants to give us some plants and some pillars.

He wants to give us young people. He wants to give us children, all manner of store. And then verse 14.

Look at verse 14. I want to show you a very important secret to having a barn full of produce. He said that our oxen may be strong to labor, that there be no breaking in or going out, that there be no complaining in the streets.

Another translation says, may our oxen be heavy with young, experiencing neither abortion or miscarriage. May there be no disturbances in the streets. You know what I believe? I believe that these oxen are a picture of prayer warriors.

Oxen are the moms and dads. They're the parents. They're the church members.

They're the church leaders who know how to prevail in prayer so that there will be no spiritual abortions or miscarriages. In other words, that we will not lose our children to the disturbances that are going on in the streets. And listen, I have seen in my day, oh, what I've seen, what happens when the oxen is strong to labor in intercessory prayer.

I've seen mothers prevail in prayer for their lost sons and daughters, and I've seen revival break out when the oxen are strong to labor. Hallelujah. Sunday night, Herman.

Herman, are you here tonight? Herman Acosta, are you here tonight? Herman's not here. He was here Sunday night. I was sitting here, and I looked up at Herman sitting there.

Next to, I believe it was his mother, I'm pretty sure, almost positive his mother. When I looked up there, I got so blessed because I knew why he was here. And I knew his story.

And I know what his mother did. And she's a testimony of what I'm talking about tonight. Herman was a young man who grew up in the Lower East Side, grew up in a Christian home, grew up in a Spanish Pentecostal church.

When he was a teenager, teen challenged fellows used to come to his church and give testimony. And he told me, he said, if you had told me at that time that one day I'd become just like them, he said, I'd have never believed you. I'd have never believed you.

But he got married, went to college, got away from God, and got hooked on drugs. Ended up a hardline heroin addict. But he had one thing going for him.

He had somebody, he had an oxen that was heavy with labor. He had somebody that was laboring. And his mother would pray for him.

His mother would plead with him. His mother would talk to the Lord and say, Herman, when are you going to go to teen challenge? And he kept putting her off. One time, she asked him to drive him to the Bronx.

And so he drove in his little green Volkswagen and took her up. And all the way up, he had her, he had, she had him captive. And so again, she starts saying to him, when are you going to change your life? When are you going to, you know, she's preaching to him, prophesying over him and everything else.

And he said, ah, mom, leave me alone. And so they went out to visit grandma or whatever. And then they came back again.

And again, she started praying, you know, God bless her heart. I guess she just finally got exasperated. And she said, son, are you going to go to teen challenge? He said, mom, when I'm ready, leave me alone.

She says, okay, then I don't want to see you anymore. I don't want to see you. She said, okay.

He said, okay. And she said, let me out of the car. I mean, right now, let me out right now.

I don't want to see you anymore. She said, mom, wait, you know, I'll take you home. No, let me out right now.

And he didn't stop. And so finally she said, I'm leaving. And she started to open the car door.

And for some reason, he started to go faster and he started to speed the car up. And she said, I don't care how fast you go, I'm leaving. Let me out of this car.

And so he's speeding. And finally the door swings open and he brings a car to a screeching halt and his mother falls out of the car onto the side of the road and lifts her hand to the Lord and says, oh God, save my son. And he looks at her and looks at her and he's so stung by this and he's so moved by it that at the very moment that she did that, he made up his mind.

He said, that's it, I'm going to Teen Challenge. The only problem was he had been speeding and now the police were after him. He had drugs in his car.

So he had to take off and leave his mother on the street praying for him. And he takes off. He knows exactly where Teen Challenge is.

He heads across the Brooklyn Bridge, reaches down behind the seat as he's going across the bridge, takes his works and takes his drugs, throws it into the river, drives into Teen Challenge for an interview and says, I want to get in the program. The father says, well, you got to do this, got to do that. He said, listen, you don't have to tell me anything.

I'm ready. I'm ready. And he was.

He was ready. Hallelujah. And I know Herman stood there Sunday night and I knew that one of the reasons he was there is because he had a woman, a mother of God, a mother in Zion who knew how to travail in prayer.

Hallelujah. And I could tell you story upon story. I'll never forget.

I learned it as a young boy in our church back in Western Pennsylvania as the church got determined to pray for unsaved loved ones. And I'll never forget. They put a chart up on the wall.

They had their names all there. They had them all named and began to pray for them. And one by one, as they prayed for them and they came to get saved, they'd go back and they'd chalk their name off the list.

Hallelujah. And I learned back then that when you enter into intercessory prayer that God will move in your family. He'll move among your unsaved loved ones.

He'll move in this church and he will give us that revival that we're talking about. Friends, I believe it's going to happen. I believe it's going to happen.

We're praying about some Saturday night rallies and we want young people to come from way out Eastern Long Island and wherever in this metropolitan area and right in the middle of Times Square. You're going to see this church filled with teenagers and young people that are going to be even a greater testimony than what has already happened in this church. I just believe it.

And God has been birthing that in my heart. And I pray that you that made that commitment to pray and to fast, that you'll continue to do it because you're going to see it here one day. You're going to witness it here today.

And some of your loved ones and your teenage friends or your teenage children are going to be the ones that are going to be affected by it. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.

Let's bow in prayer. This is the conclusion of the tape. Raised above all of the other camps.

You see that? It'll be raised above the hills. And the people will stream to it. And many nations or peoples will come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us about his ways, that we may walk in his paths.

For from Zion will go forth the law.