I'm always flooded with memories every time I come here. I was 40 years old when I first came here. So how old were some of you? Some of you didn't exist 40 years ago. Walked onto this platform in a season of a bit of difficulty. It's been amazing. I'm just flooded with memories. I remember the time that I, there used to be a white light there, it's yellow now. And I remember sitting over here staring at the light until my eyes hurt, thinking, God, how am I ever gonna make it through this? There were some difficult days in the beginning, but God has been so faithful. And I think I can stand as a witness to you this afternoon. That through flood, through fire, through trial, through difficulty, through sickness, through whatever you gotta go through, God will be faithful. He won't forsake you. He won't fail you. He won't leave you. He'll be with you. And as Paul the Apostle says, having done all, you'll still stand at the end. by the grace of Almighty God. I don't know what else to say, but I'm just so grateful to Jesus Christ. And I'm grateful for one other thing. We've had some great, great services here over the years. Amazing. No, that's not the point I'm making, okay? Thank you for clapping, but that's not the point. I mean, I've seen worship services where literally people, our maintenance guys were afraid the balcony was going to give in because people were jumping so high that it was literally moving. There was explosions of God's grace and glory in this sanctuary to the point where we couldn't fit the people in at one point. But what I know in my heart today is that the Lord has saved the best for the last. He saved the glory of the latter house that's gonna be greater than the former. I know that in my heart. And I hope you're very thankful for your pastor, Pastor Tim Delina, that God has given you in this church because he's a good man of God, a good man of God. And he has a passion for God, a passion for souls, passion for the presence of the Holy Spirit. And I'm believing that's going to become contagious. that all of us, I don't know about you, but I get stirred. I listen to all his messages, all of them online. And I get stirred when I hear him preach. I get stirred when I feel the touch of God's Holy Spirit come on him and on this congregation. And I was sitting here this afternoon thinking, they ran out of wine in John chapter three and Jesus turned the water to wine and the people said, You know, most people serve the best at the first, and then they just kind of whatever's left over at the end. But he said, you've done it the other way. You've saved the best for the end. And that's right now. That's you, that's here, that's now. You are the best wine that God has saved for the end. You really are. Thank God for you. So, so, so, so thankful for all that the Lord has done and so thankful for what God is going to do. Statistically, you shouldn't be here today. This church statistically should have flatlined a long time ago, because churches don't stay in revival for 35 years, but this one has by God's grace and by the presence of His Holy Spirit. This church has stayed alive in Christ, hallelujah. And I'm so glad I'm here to see it. I'm here to see a day that we dreamt about 40 years ago, a day that God's Holy Spirit was speaking to our hearts that would come, a day when the world would become increasingly lawless and dark, and in the midst of that darkness, the beam from this lighthouse would start to go out around the world. And this morning, I don't know how long it took to get through the list of all the countries that people are streaming in from and listening to the Word of God and watching you, praise God, in this sanctuary. You are a tremendous encouragement to the people of this generation. I hope you know that. You know, some of you don't realize that cameras do sneak around the sanctuary, and every once in a while, you're on the screen, whether you know it or not, so stay alive, okay? Stay alive. Don't sleep on the surface. Don't be sitting there with a toothpick in your teeth, you know? Because you do get on the screen every once in a while, so stay alive. Seems like I'm saying that a lot today. Praise God. Pastor Tim preached a few weeks ago a message called Praying Someone Out of Sodom. And Pastor Teresa preached a message not long after called, There's an Army Rising Up. And you should listen or re-listen to both of those messages if you can. Just go to TSC Summit Campus, you can get Pastor Teresa's message there. I would like to have renamed that message and call it the day that God gave the bones ears. From Ezekiel 37, she started saying when Ezekiel began to prophesy to the bones, God had to supernaturally give them ears because bones can't hear. That was a marvelous message. I'm preaching something right in the center of both of those today and in line with what God is speaking to you and I at this time. I want to speak today about breaking the spirit of Sodom. breaking the spirit of Sodom. Father, I thank you, God, for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I thank you for the touch of heaven. I thank you, God Almighty. Lord, you don't use us because we're strong. You take us in our weakness, as Paul once said, that your strength and your glory might be made known through each of our lives. So I don't stand here today with any boast of strength. I stand here well aware of my own weakness, but God, I'm also aware of your mercy. I'm aware of your strength, your power. God, I'm aware, Lord, that you are speaking something to this generation. Would you give us the ears to hear it? Would you give me the ability to speak it? Help me, Lord, not to overspeak or underspeak what you've put on my heart, but to say it simply. And give us the grace, God, to be able to embrace what you are speaking, no matter how we might feel about ourselves. Because ultimately, it's not about us, it's about you. Lord, we thank you for it, in Jesus' name. James chapter five, beginning at verse 16, the apostle James says, confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another that you may be healed. In other words, don't be proud. God can't use the proud. As a matter of fact, the scripture says he resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. So in other words, don't pretend to be what we are not, none of us. Whatever we are, that's what we are. And when we approach God with honesty in our hearts and begin to pray for each other, there's a healing that comes from God. And in that healing, there's a power of prayer that comes into each one of our lives. You remember in 2 Chronicles 7, 14, where the Lord said if the nation seems to be getting overpowered by foreign enemies or if the people lose heart or find themselves taken captive, if pestilence is starting to devour everything that you hold dear in the nation." Then he makes these incredible statements. He said, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves. So it doesn't pass that over to say, if my people who are called by my name will pray. No, there's a prayer that's combined with humility, a prayer that comes from people that say, God, I'm not what I should be. I recognize I'm not what I should be, and I'm not willing to play a game. I'm not putting on any pretense. I'm not going to pretend to be somebody I'm not. You know what I am, God, and I am aware of what I am, so Lord, I'm coming to you with an honest heart, and I'm asking you, God, for healing for the nation. I'm asking you, Lord, to do something, God, in this generation that only you can do, because there's a lawless spirit has gotten ahold of this time. We're being devoured by our enemies. The locusts have come in, as you once said, into the nation. God, it's only the prayer of those who have humbled themselves in your presence that will make a difference at this time we're now living in. And so James says, confess your trespasses to one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. Now he takes this prayer of healing and confession and takes it to a whole different place. He said, the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Now he gives us an example of what can happen. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain. And it did not rain on the land three years and six months. And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit. Now, Elijah's prayer had… it was standing on the foundation of wanting to see God glorified again among His own people, for the nation of Israel had been essentially taken captive by false ideologies and false theologies, and they had drifted far, far away from God, and false religious voices had been raised up and were professing to be enthusiastic about whatever it was they were worshiping, and actually taught the people that as long as there's produce in the field, and as long as your cupboards have a supply of food, then that's evidence that God is with us. In other words, godliness is a means to financial gain or prosperity. That's what they taught the people. And Elijah was so burdened by this because he knew that message in itself was so short of what God wanted to do in the nation. And he knew the people had been taken captive by something that was not true, that Elijah began to pray. And here's what he prayed. God, stop the rain, dry up the fields, empty the cupboards. so that the people might turn to you again and worship you as the living God. They might come back to you and not be drawn away by the worship of things, the worship of ideologies, self-professed dreams, and all this other stuff. They might come back to the worship of the one true living God, and that was what James talked about, the kind of a prayer that we can pray and that God will answer when we do come to God in honesty. We come to Him, it's not about me. Elijah's prayer was not about himself. He was praying for a drought, really, to come into the nation. God, shut the tap off. How desperate are we willing to get for the sake of souls in our generation? You know, we spend a lot of time in our prayer life saying, God, give me this and give me that and help me here, and that's all very necessary and it's good. But there's a point of maturity that we have to go beyond that and say, God, it's not about me. It's about the students in our colleges that are dying under these false ideologies that have been given to them. grade school kids and kindergarten kids that are being sat down in front of drag queens and read story hours. It's about our middle schools that are being forbidden to pray and high schoolers that are being mocked if they believe in God. God, this is bigger than me. Lord, so I'm asking you to do whatever you need to do to get the people's attention again and bring them back to you. It's that kind of prayer. Now when I speak about Sodom, I'm talking about the power of deception that comes upon a people when they become disconnected from the one true and the living God. I don't think anybody can argue anymore that America is disconnected in this generation. We've lost touch with God. We have forgotten why we were established as a nation. We've driven the name of Jesus Christ that allowed this group of people in 400 years to prosper in an unprecedented way in history. And having received the blessings of God, now we want to push the name of Jesus Christ out of every facet in our society and even mock those who hold to his name at this time. Yes, a power of deception has come upon the nation. That's what I'm talking about when I speak about the spirit of Sodom. Now, when we think of Sodom, We think of an increasingly lawless, violent, and confused society. That's what Paul the Apostle says is going to happen in the last days. Perilous times will come, he says in 2 Timothy chapter three. Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Folks, reading this is like reading the news right now. Unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, and having a form of godliness. In other words, covering this whole rebellious heart up with a form of self-induced religion, may I call it that. A religion that has no power, it has no validity, it has no basis in truth. We're living in a generation now where this whole concept of your truth and my truth, it's an absurd concept. There is no your truth and my truth, there's only truth. This is truth. I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. There's no your truth and my truth, there's only truth. And folks, I'm telling you, this is such an absurd generation, such a lawless time that we're now living in. I think of Sodom, I think of a moment where the streets were no longer safe. When the angels came into Sodom and they met Lot in the gate, Lot said to them, he was sitting in the gate of Sodom, and when Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face towards the ground. Genesis 19. And he said, here now, my lords, please turn into your servants' house and spend the night and wash your feet that you may rise early and go on your way. And they said, no, but we will spend the night in the open square. It's like two angels arriving and saying, no, we'll spend the night in Times Square. I don't know about you, but I would be inclined to say, well, I don't recommend that. That might not be a healthy place for you to be after a certain time of night. But he insisted strongly, so they turned into him and entered his house. He made them a feast and baked for them bread and they ate and such like. It was a moment where the streets were no longer safe. When I think of Sodom, I think of a place where those who could and should have made a difference were seriously diminished in number and power. I think of a moment in history where the voice of the church has lost its influence, and Lot was a man who was there. He and his wife and two daughters, technically speaking, were the only righteous ones left in Sodom. As a matter of fact, Abraham succeeded in getting it down to 10 when he interceded with the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ for Sodom to spare it, and the Lord said, I won't destroy it for 10, but there weren't 10 righteous left in the city. There was just a minimal voice, and I think in America today, I know there are good churches like this one, I thank God, but for the number of people that we are as the people of God, our voices should be dominant in the culture. We should not be driven into silence. We should not be players. Listen, folks, it's probably 1 3rd of 1% of this country right now that are driving the whole agenda all around us. And yet we are more and mightier as they were in Egypt and are unaware of it anymore. We are more and mightier than these voices of godlessness that are pushing this whole agenda on the country. But our voices, should be making a difference, but we've been diminished in number and power in this generation. I don't know about you, but I'm not satisfied with that. I'm not satisfied to be a person who knows the truth, and yet the truth that I know is not having the effect in this generation that I believe it should have. When I think of Sodom, I think of a place where lawless mobs were free to roam the streets and live out their lusts. Genesis 19, 4, it says, now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, and all the people from every quarter surrounded the house. Can you just imagine? There's no safety anymore. There were no laws, per se. You've got this mob driven by its own perverse lust that are going through the city looking for some new sexual escapade. In this case, looking to have sexual relations with two men, as they saw it, who were brand new in the society and had just come into town. And these mobs are everywhere. I don't know about you, but I'm stunned because I've been here for 30 years now, and just this morning, just to be walking in from the parking garage and see that souvenir shops have been taken over by marijuana stores. It's stunning. You're looking at a society that people are just free to go down the street half stoned and think somehow, oh, wow, this is great. This freedom is just awesome. not realizing this is bondage, not realizing this is taking away my mind, not realizing. Just wandering the streets free to live out lust, free to engage in whatever activity. This is all in the name of freedom, but it's not freedom, it's bondage, it's captivity, it's darkness. The wages of sin is still death. Sin still pays what it's always paid. And the enemy is roaming our streets, seducing generations, setting up these places that just deepen the stupor that's come upon this society. When I think of Sodom, I think of a place where there were no longer consequences for things that were once considered crimes. I don't know about you, but I read the news, and I see people walking out of stores with shopping baskets full of goods, and the security people are told, oh, don't stop them. And if they do get stopped in the street, they get a parking ticket, basically, and told, ah, don't do that again, be nice now, don't go back in and steal another shopping cart full of goods. Genesis 19, five says, they called the lot and said to him, where are the men who came into you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally. Bring them out so that we can rape them. Bring them out. It's almost unfathomable, but I warned the church this morning, as I warn you, don't ever get fooled into thinking that men and women without God are inherently righteous. We are not. Without God, there's no limit to the depth of depravity that can come upon any society. I thank God for the restraining hand of the Holy Spirit. I thank God for new birth. I thank God for new life. I thank God for a new mind. I thank God for a new heart. I thank God for a new spirit. I thank God for new power. I thank God for new purpose. I thank God that I know the truth of Jesus Christ. Oh, hallelujah. A few years ago, somebody was kind enough to come up with a picture of what I used to be before I came to Christ. You know, there's always people more than happy to do that. It doesn't matter how long ago. They said, oh, look what I found, this picture of you. And they gave me this picture, and I looked at it, and they only thought it was a pre-conversion picture of me. And I looked at that man, and I thought, oh, God, thank you he's dead. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus, that that man died, and a new man was born. Thank you, Lord. I was stunned at how dark those eyes were. And I know the thoughts that used to be in that mind. Oh God, thank you for your mercy. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ. You ask me how? I know he lives. He lives within my heart. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. When we look at the depth of the depravity in this particular society, we ask ourselves a legitimate question. Could such a moment in history be changed? Could judgment be delayed and could mercy be extended? And the answer to that question is yes. Yes, yes, yes. God is merciful. His mercy endures forever. God can show mercy to any generation, any time, anywhere, any place. I've seen it throughout my life. I've seen it overseas. I've seen it in cultures and countries where if you knew what was going on, you'd say mercy is certainly not deserved here, but I've seen the mercy of God. You better be thankful yourself for the mercy of God. Oh, hallelujah. Listen, you didn't find Jesus. He was never lost. He revealed Himself. You were lost. Jesus was never lost. He revealed Himself to you. He revealed Himself to you because He's a God of mercy. Hallelujah. His mercy endures forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. Oh, hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God, for your mercy. Thank you, Lord, for an eternity in heaven. Thank you, God, for a reason to live while we're on this earth. Jesus said these words in Matthew chapter 11, verse 23. He was speaking to his hometown. If he had a hometown, he did have a hometown where he grew up, and it was called Capernaum. And he spoke to the people of Capernaum, and he said, you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven. Obviously, there were somewhat prosperous town at that time, you will be brought down to Hades or hell. Because if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained to this day." I was stunned when I first read that because you think of Sodom and you think of, oh God, thank you for sending the fire down. It wasn't his will to judge, never is. There's no pleasure in the heart of God in having to judge any society, but he makes this incredible statement. If the miracles done in you would have been done there, it would have been spared. Now we're talking generations later, Sodom still would have been a city, spared by the mercy of God. Now we don't necessarily think of it that way. If the miracles done in Capernaum, and I started to research those miracles It was a place where dead people came back to life. Hallelujah. It was a place where perhaps people could have walked through Sodom and said, I once was dead, now I live. I once was blind, now I see. I once was in the grave, God brought me out. If the dead had come back to life in Sodom, it would have still existed to this day. In Capernaum, people were healed. In Capernaum, people were cleansed of incurable diseases. And I think of how we were cleansed from the incurable disease of sin by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We were cleansed from thoughts and attitudes and behaviors that had governed our lives that we could not get free from in our own strength. If those kind of miracles had been in Sodom, it would have been spared. Now they had to be visible miracles, not hidden miracles, but visible miracles. In Capernaum, demonic powers were defeated. If that kind of a miracle had been in Sodom, where people could say, I was under the influence of darkness, but by the grace of God, that influence was broken over my life. Those chains had to let go of my hands. Those prison doors had to open, and I was given freedom, and I was given life, and I was given a new future. It was in Capernaum that people were called to follow the Savior. Ordinary people like you and I. There were fishermen and tax collectors just rank and file. He didn't go to Jerusalem Bible College to get his followers. He went to the shores where sons were fishing with their fathers. God Almighty. It was in Capernaum that supernatural provision was made known. I love the fact that that Jesus said to Peter, go down to the sea and catch a fish. When you open its mouth, there'll be a coin there and pay your taxes and mine. I said this morning, there'll be a miracle if people started paying their taxes in New York City the way they should. But when you begin to walk with God, supernatural provision starts coming into your life. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah. You're supernaturally enabled. There's words of wisdom. There's giftings of the Spirit. When we follow Him, the giftings of God start coming into our lives to give us what we need when we get there to be a testimony of His provision. In all of these, if there had been a visible testimony of the miraculous power of God in Sodom, it would have been spared. You see, if ever there was a time for the redeemed to say so, it's now. If ever there was a time to take your candle out from under your bed and out from under the bushel and set it on a hill where it can be seen, it's now. If ever there was a time for you and I to declare that we are followers of Jesus Christ and allow God to make us into what we need to be to make that testimony a reality, it's now. If there had been a testimony of the miraculous in Sodom, it could have been spared. I say it's time for the church to rise up in this generation. I say that with all my heart. Not just the preachers, you understand, not just the worship leaders, not just the choirs, but you. It's time for you to rise up. It's time for me to rise up. It's time for the candlestick of God's presence in our lives to be put on a hill where it can be seen. It's time for the redeemed of the Lord to say so. It's time for us, if we've fallen short, just say so. Because the beauty of our Savior is that there's always a start over point, no matter how much of a mess you've even made of your Christian testimony, there's a start over point. Thank God for his mercy. As in Elijah's day, if there was someone who could touch God's heart in prayer, if there was someone who cared more for God's glory than for his own safety. You see, when Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel after three and a half years of drought, don't forget the people are inclined to maybe blame him for this moment. not realizing that what he had prayed for was to bring them back to the living God. And there's somewhat of a vilification of the church of Jesus Christ starting in our generation. You understand, we're becoming the haters as those who live in darkness are beginning to see us. But Elijah was more concerned for the glory of God. for the heart of God. He knew something of the heart of God. It's not God's will that any should perish, but all should come to the knowledge of salvation through Jesus Christ. And knowing the heart of God, he went to the top of that mountain and put his light in a visible place and really staked his own future, his own freedom, his own safety on God coming down and doing what he felt God was going to do. His heart contained the passion of God for the lost. And he was a man through whom the miracle power of God could be made known again. He went to the top of that mountain, rebuilt the altar which had fallen down. The scripture says he put the wood in order. In other words, it's a type of you and I understanding what the cross is all about. It's not just so we can sit at the foot of the cross and gamble for garments. that the cross is about being willing to be given for the sake of others that they may come to know Christ as Savior. And Lord, Romans 12, one, the apostle Paul says, I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. It's only reasonable, it's not extraordinary. It's only reasonable for you and I to present ourselves in a sense and say, Lord, here am I, send me. Use my life for your glory, God. I'm not much, but you're everything. I don't possess anything, but in you I have everything. God, I haven't been faithful, but you're faithful. I've been a coward, but you're not a coward. You went all the way, and if you will infuse me with your life, and you will infuse me with your strength, I believe that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I believe that, God, with all my heart. I believe, Lord, that I can start to speak with authority. I believe that my testimony can start to have an effect on people around me that are living in darkness. You know, I shared this morning that we were invited to Cornell University just a little while ago, and it's very interesting that All of the schools that have invited us in this coming year for prayer are in turmoil right now. It's amazing when you look at it. And I was saying to somebody this morning, when Jesus would cast a demon out of somebody, generally they'd go down on the floor and writhe and growl and make all kinds of noise before they got free. You notice in these schools, there's a lot of people on the ground making a lot of noise right now. It's almost like the devil is saying, I have this place, you're not gonna take it from me, this is mine. Oh boy, I got news for the powers of darkness. I got news. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We're going in there. We're going in there with the power of God. We're going in there with the touch of heaven. We're going in there with the testimony of the living Christ. and went to Cornell, the Christian young people from about five or so or four universities came together and they scoured the campus and started inviting random students just to come. They didn't know how many were gonna come that night, but 400 showed up. And I was there and I had been invited to speak evangelistically and our worship team from Summit was there with us and the Lord, in my chair, he said, just put your message away and just tell them your story. Tell them about your life. Tell them what I've done. Let me speak through you. And folks, you see, people are just looking for reality. They're looking for truth. They're looking for something they can attach their lives to. And when I got up and just shared my story, that night 200 of those Ivy League students came forward, literally melted in the presence of God. And once they were laying on the floor, people were crying. I didn't tell them to cry, they just started crying. Then they started confessing sin. I don't think I even mentioned the word sin. I talked about getting free in my own life from things that afflicted and plagued me. Then all of a sudden these confessions spontaneously started. And what I love about this generation is there are no holds barred, they'll say it. and they'll say it publicly, and it's like, woo. Like, they were telling me, you know, like, there are sins that make you blush, and I was just like, okay, all right, I'm glad you wanna be free of that. And they just, they said it openly, it didn't matter who was around them, and then the joy broke out, and the dancing started, and the worship, it was absolutely amazing. And they were telling me, the leaders were telling me that one of the students that was really touched of God that night became a believer in Christ, has been running all over the campus in Cornell saying, the next time they come, you have to come. Best concert I've ever been to in my entire life. He didn't know what to call it. He's never been in church. I had one kid come up to me at the end. He said, I came in here in agnostic. What do I do now? You know, I had no idea where to go from here. Just absolutely amazing. There's such hunger if we will just speak. There's such hunger. if we will just allow God to take our lives as a testimony of His glory, not just all of our successes, but our failures too as well. Because if we present perfection to this generation, they can't aspire to it. But if we are willing to say, look, I've got my faults too. I've got my struggles. I've had my trials along the way. I've walked out on a gravel road and shaken my fist at God, accused Him of being unfaithful to me. I know what it's like to fail. I know what it's like to fall short, but I know the mercy of God, the grace of God, the goodness of God, the power of God, the glory of God. And then suddenly there's 200 students saying, well, I can relate to that. If that's what God looks like, I want Jesus Christ in my life as my Lord and Savior. And so suddenly after going back to Yale now, just a few weeks ago, now we're going to be heading out to at least five or six Ivy League colleges in this coming year. And you're going to be part of that. I told Pastor Tim, Columbia is all yours. It's in your backyard. As a matter of fact, I called him up, I said, I may or may not have pledged the choir to come to Columbia during a, if they will hold an indoor meeting. And they may or may not have been very excited about that, you know. He says, I'm glad you pledged us. He says, we're going to go, we're going to be full in and just believe God like for just a wonderful touch of heaven to come down. If God could find somebody who could pray down the presence of God, not only on himself, but also on the addicted, the proud, the perverse, the confused, and the lawless, the prayer in my heart is God, visit us again. Grant to us, Lord, a spiritual awakening again in our generation. Make yourself aware. Make yourself known. Reveal yourself, Lord, to this generation. God, they live in such darkness. They have embraced such lies. They're being fed such incredible perversion from young ages now all the way up. And Lord, you have to do this because we're crying out to you now. Lord God, send us. If God can find a people whose lives would testify to his power, then I do believe Elijah stood back, he rebuilt the altar, he set the wood in order, he placed his sacrifice on it, which is a type of us and Christ, of course. And he said, Lord, I've done this at your word. I've done what you asked me to do. And I guess that's where we come in now to say, God, whatever you asked me to do, I'll do that. If it costs me even my freedom, my safety, I'll do it. I'll seek you, and obviously God had been speaking to this man. He didn't just randomly do that on his own. He was moving in unison with the Holy Spirit, and this is what you and I have to learn to do again, to move with the Holy Spirit. That's why Pastor Tim is so burdened and so crying out. We don't need formula, and we don't just need singing, and we don't need just all the stuff that we've generated in the church of Jesus Christ. We need the presence of the Holy Spirit. We need hearts that are obedient to God. We need lives that are willing to line up with whatever God's will is for each of our lives. I don't know what your hill is, but I know you have one somewhere, a place maybe that you've been afraid to go, a hill that you've been afraid to kind of plant your banner in. Yours might be different than mine, but we all are given a place. We're called to be a public testimony, not a private one. We're called to let our light so shine that men may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. then the people around you will shout again, the Lord, he is gone. The Lord, he is God. Elijah built his altar, put the sacrifice and then just stood back. I'm not going to make this, I can't make this thing happen, but I can pray. I can walk in unison with you. I can put my life down as a living sacrifice. What you say is reasonable. So here I am, I've done this in obedience to you. Now God, it's up to you to send the fire. It's up to you to draw the people back. And he said, I've done this, Lord, so that people might come back to you again and worship you again. I've come to this public place, God, because I want your heart to be satisfied. I know you love every man, woman, and child created in your image. I know it's not your will that any should perish, but all should come to the saving knowledge of Christ. And oh God, I'm walking in unison with your heart, but now, Lord, I'm asking you to display your power again. I'm asking you to come down and consume this sacrifice. I'm asking you, God, to consume my life. I'm asking you, God, to take me to a place farther than I've ever gone before. Give me more than I've ever had, oh God. I'm asking you, Lord Jesus Christ, to begin to stretch forth your hand and heal. I'm asking you to set the captives free. I'm asking you to give sight to the blind. I'm asking you, God, to let the poor have the riches of heaven revealed to them again. I'm asking you to heal those whose hearts are so bruised and broken they don't think they'll ever be able to survive. God Almighty, I'm asking you for your power to come down one more time. and transform my life. Take me farther than I've gone. Make me more than I've ever known, because the day is dark, oh God. There was a moment where an argument possibly could have reached the society, but that moment is over. There needs to be a display of God's power again in this generation. And God chooses to display his power through you. And through me, we are the altar that the fire comes down on. We are the sacrifice that the fire falls on. We are the ones who become the visible demonstration of the glory and the power of God again in this generation. God send the fire. God send the fire. God send the fire. God send the fire. God send the fire. Elijah could say, I've done everything I know to do, but the one thing I can't do is send the fire. That's up to you, Lord. I can build the altar. I can get the wooden order. I can lay a sacrifice on it. I could even gather the people, but if you don't come, it's all in vain. That's what Pastor Tim has been saying from this pulpit. That's what you're seeing on your pastor, that passion for God that can make a difference in this generation. That passion for God that can win a billion souls in this generation. Why should that seem hard for God? If God's glory comes in this sanctuary as I believe He is, a billion people will come in here online. They will come in because they'll hear the report of what God is doing in your life and in mine. I finish with this thought where I started in the beginning. Elijah was a man just like you. It was a person just like you. Same passions, same struggles. He fell into depression. He wanted to commit suicide, or actually he asked God to kill him. He didn't have the courage to kill himself. He was just an ordinary man. But he walked into an alignment with the spirit of God. He began to move with God's spirit. And when he said, God, stop the rain, for the sake of the people. So that this power of Sodom might be broken over their lives. The spirit of lawlessness, the spirit of perversion, the spirit of this insatiable lust driving people through the streets day in and day out, looking for some new thrill. The spirit of thinking that they know what truth is and the false worship that accompanies it. The spirit of lawlessness that's so permeating that day in which he was living in. God, send your presence again. Send it to me. And I can't pray that for you. There is no generic prayer that I could pray, oh God, send your Holy Spirit on all of us. If you don't want the Holy Spirit, he's not coming. He's a gentleman. In Revelation, he says, I stand at the door and knock. You have to open the door. If you open the door, he says, I'll come in and I'll sit down with you. We'll sup together. The inference is, I'll feed you, I'll sit with you, and I'll talk to you, and I'll begin to guide you, but you have to open the door. A lot of people just go to church waiting for this moment when the Holy Spirit's just gonna come down, but he's not gonna overpower your will. You have your hand on the other side of the door, same as I do. I'm not allowed to say I'm old. My wife has forbidden me to say I'm old anymore. Yesterday at the graduation, I had to quote David. I've been young, now I'm old. I said, I looked at her, I said, I'm not saying I'm old, I'm just quoting the scripture right now. It would be so easy just to pack it in and live in the past. But if you have the heart of God, you can never do that. None of us can. I want more of him than I've ever known in my lifetime. It's been wonderful. It's been an amazing journey. But the glory of the latter house is greater than the former. And he does save the best wine for the end of the wedding feast. So God, I'm just saying, you know, send in the new wine and bust this old wineskin and let it begin to spill over. Just do whatever you want to do, God. Whatever hill I have to climb, whatever altar you want me to build, I'm as weak as you are. We're all in the same boat. But we have this incredibly powerful God, filled with mercy, who's willing to make himself known to us. Don't you just love it? He just partners with us. Look in the mirror tonight. I think I said that last time I was here. Look in the mirror tonight and just say, God, you're so merciful that you would let me speak about you and that you would manifest your glory in my life. Take me. Take me, Lord. So I'm gonna give an altar call. For everybody here that can hear what the Holy Spirit is speaking, I say, Lord, I want my life to count. I'm not the strongest person in the army and I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree. I don't have a lot of courage. But God, I want to make a difference. I want you to guide me and guard me and change me and just take my life and use it for your glory. I want to be I want to be a person whose prayers you can hear. I want to be able to be a demonstration of your power, starting in my own home, my own marriage, before my own children, before my extended family, and then inside of my neighbors, then on my street, and in my town or city, and who knows where. God can take you anywhere that He wants to, if you're willing to go. So it's really a personal choice. I'm making that choice now. I've been praying that prayer every day. Every day. God, give me your Holy Spirit. God, give me your Holy Spirit. Yesterday is gone. There's a song, I'm just gonna sing it here. It goes, Lord, you know I need a brand new touch. My strength from yesterday is gone Won't you give me just another touch So that I can carry on Lord, you know I need a brand new touch My strength from yesterday is gone Won't you give me just another touch So that I can carry on Lord, you know I need a brand new touch My strength from yesterday is gone Won't you give me just another touch So that I can carry on Lord, you know I need a brand new touch My strength from yesterday is gone Won't you give me just another touch So that I can carry on Let's stand, please. The Holy Spirit has spoken to you today. You just want a fresh touch of God's Holy Spirit for God's purposes in your life, just come. Just come, we're gonna pray together. Slip out of your seat, up in the balcony, go to either exit and make your way down, just come. Join those that are coming, move in close. Just come. Say, God, I want my life to make a difference. I want to be taken out of the natural and into the supernatural. I want a testimony that will affect my generation. I want the courage to stand in a high place and let it be seen. I'm tired of hiding in the closet and having my lamp under a bushel or under a bed. God, I need courage, and I need the empowerment of your Holy Spirit. Just keep coming, just keep coming. God hears you, he sees you, and he'll answer you. You'd be amazed at what the Lord will do. If we could just sing one song while the people are coming. Hallelujah. Just keep coming. Say you'll return to heal every hurt Light every wound I need you right now Come and turn this around This deep down I know This world isn't home Come Jesus ♪ There'll be no war ♪ ♪ There'll be no change ♪ ♪ When Jesus comes ♪ ♪ Let today be the day ♪ ♪ You come for the weak ♪ ♪ And the strong as the sheep ♪ ♪ For the day you return to heal every hurt ♪ ♪ And right every wrong ♪ ♪ I need you right now ♪ ♪ Come and turn this around ♪ ♪ Because deep down I know this world isn't home ♪ ♪ Come Jesus ♪ God, we ask you for a new anointing of the Holy Spirit. We ask you, God, for the empowerment that we need to face this generation. I pray for the young and the old that are at this altar today, God. Lord, these are your ambassadors. These are the people through whom you choose to display your power to this generation. I do pray for courage, the touch of heaven, the anointing of God on every life, Lord. Let nobody be left behind. God, you won't disappoint, you won't discourage, you won't deny. You yourself said, if you know how to give gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? So God, according to your word, Jesus, we're asking you for your Holy Spirit. We're asking you for the spirit of courage. We're asking you for the glory of God to be manifested in our lives. We're asking you, Lord, for that new song that King David spoke about, that people can see and fear and begin to turn to God. We're asking you, Lord, to open iron gates and take us into places where the devil thought he had the people locked up. We're asking you, God, for our Ivy League schools. We're asking you, God, for our workplaces. We're asking you, God, to break the spirit of lawlessness that's on this society, God. We're asking you, Lord Jesus Christ, for a spiritual awakening one more time in this country, God. We're asking you, Lord, to do something in this city that only you can do. We're asking you, God, in this church, Lord, that you would pour out your Spirit in such abundant measure that people would come in from around the world to see what's happening here. We ask you, God, that the fire you start here would spread throughout the world, other churches, other congregations, in homes, in cities, in towns, in villages, God, in places we'll never know about till we get to heaven. God, start a fire here. Start a fire here. Start a fire here, God, that will spread everywhere that you allow this church to have influence. Have mercy on pastors and pulpits that are trying to preach truth now. Have mercy, Lord, on your people everywhere. In every church, with every name on the door, God, have mercy for those that are seeking truth. And God, send an awakening to this generation. Send your Holy Spirit, Lord. Send the fire one more time, oh God. Here we are, Lord. We're not much, but we're yours. God, we are the people through whom you choose to manifest your glory. Jesus Christ, we thank you, God. We thank you. We thank you, Lord. We thank you. As Pastor Tim says every week from this pulpit, every service from this pulpit, if you're not a born-again believer, if you have not come to God for the forgiveness of your sins, Jesus died on a cross 2,000 years ago. He hung there, bruised, whipped, betrayed, spit upon, beaten, rejected by men, and he did it for you to pay the price for anything that you have done or I have done. He did it because He loved you. He did it because you and I couldn't get back to Him, so He came to get us. And all He requires of us is open your heart. Open your heart to what I did for you. Acknowledge that I came and died for you in your place. And believe in your heart that I am the Son of God and start confessing me with your mouth. If you've never done that, If you've never done that, you need to do that now. You don't have a million tomorrows, folks, none of us do. We don't even know if we have tomorrow at this point. But if you'd like to open your heart to Jesus Christ, would you just raise your hand right now wherever you are? Thank you, God bless you all over. Thank you, up in the balcony, just raise your hand. I'll pray this prayer with me right now. Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for loving me. Thank you for coming to get me. Thank you for dying in my place and offering me forgiveness. I open my heart to you today and I accept that forgiveness. Thank you for loving me and not leaving me. God, take me now and make me into the person that you desire that I should be and that I've always longed to be. and let your glory be made known through my life. I give you my future, and I believe that even if I died tonight, heaven is now my home. God is now my father. You have become my helper. Jesus, I love you. Thank you for loving me. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Praise God. Praise God, praise God, praise God. I have something on my heart I'd like us to do. When the fire came down, the people started shouting, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. Because they saw his presence come down. I want you to start saying that. I want you to shout that because that's what's going to happen in New York City in the days ahead. The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory. Glory. Glory. Glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory. The Lord is God. The Lord is God. The Lord is God. The Lord is God. The Lord is God. The Lord is God. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.