BE SURE. BE VERY, VERY SURE - Carter Conlon

Right, praise God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, baby, seated. We're supposed to dismiss the choir. Goodbye. (Laughter) Thank you. We're doing such a great job. (Laughter) I might be a little rough, but I get the job done, all right? (Laughter) It's very, very good to be back here today. And I'm so thankful -- (Applause) -- I'm so thankful for Pastor Tim Delina. I know I say that every time I'm here, but I mean it with all my heart. So, thankful Pastor Tim and Cindy and a small team are in Israel right now, and they're having some very pivotal and very necessary meetings there. One of the mandates that God gave to this church when it was founded in 1987 is to be a blessing to Israel. And I thank God that Pastor Tim has taken up that mandate seriously, and bringing that blessing into this house and to the nation. Thank God for that. Also, too, it's a privilege to be in this pulpit that's on fire. I've been listening to Pastor Tim all summer, and I've texted and called him many times just to thank him

for bringing such a clear, clean, understandable Word of God to the congregation, helping us to understand where we are as a people and where we are going and where we need to be. And I know that many of you are here because God has given you physical and spiritual strength because of this man of God. Please be in prayer for Pastor Tim. Constantly, hold him up in your prayers. He needs the body. We need him, and thank God it's a great relationship. And by God's grace, this church is going to fulfill its mandate and its calling in the world in this day. [APPLAUSE] I am personally convinced that we are the last day's church. Now, you may or may not agree with that. I don't care, really. I mean, I got that from-- I learned that from Pastor Tim. We are the last day's church, in my opinion, and God is bringing us into something of himself because the last day's church is not supposed to go out with a whimper. According to what I read in Scripture, we go out a victorious church in Jesus Christ. We go out with a song of praise. We go out with a divine purpose given to us of God, and we don't go alone. We take a lot of people in the last days with us. I am also convinced there's going to be a harvest, an amazing harvest in the days that we're living in. Now, things might have to get a little rough for that harvest

to come in. But as I've said many, many times, better to go to hell-- better to go to heaven, hungry than hell full. Let's put it that way to God. Better pray for me today, I'm telling you. Better to go to heaven, hungry than hell full. And if God has to send a little bit of a famine, of whatever sort, that has to be to get people's attention, then so be it. It's worth it to see the lost come to Christ. The Lord is now leading us into a specific place. That's what this message is all about. It has an unusual title. It's be-- be sure. Be very, very sure. And I believe that God's doing the same thing now that he was doing at the time when the nation of Israel first went into the promised land. Now, keep in mind, when they went into the promised land, it's after 40 years of being in the wilderness. 400 years of captivity, followed by 40 years in the wilderness because of an evil report that was brought to them by 10 spies sent in by Moses who said, no, we can't do it. There are giants there. There are walled cities. We don't have the weaponry. We just can't do it. And because of it, an entire generation literally, except for the children,

died in the wilderness. And so in the part of the story I'm going to start in today, it's at the end of that 40-year period where they were in the wilderness that they're about now to go into the promised land. We are in this story, even though Moses is involved in the dialogue, we're about three to four months from Moses' death and Joshua taking the people of Israel into the promised land. Father, I thank you, Lord, that you're going to give me the ability to convey the thought you put in my heart. We are indeed living in the last days. And I ask you, God, that as the last days church, we would truly bring honor and glory to your name Deliver us, Lord, from self-will, deliver us God from trying to do things our own way. Deliver us God from marginalizing our callings, from minimizing your word. Give us an obedient heart, Lord. Each one of us today, even what we hear today, give us an obedient heart. For it's in your heart to bless us as your people. It's in your heart to lead us into a place where your name is brought to glory because of what you do through our lives. And it's always involving human need, always, always, always without fail. It involves your people reaching out to somebody else who has no helper if we don't go. So give us the grace not to succumb to just the desire for comfort or just whatever the case is in each one of our lives. Give us the grace, my God. Give me the ability to speak this. Lord, I'm asking again that you would stretch out your hand in this sanctuary and through the internet and do miracles. Let absolute, absolute, undebatable miracles happen. Prison doors opening, blinded eyes seeing, deaf and deers hearing, God Almighty, the prisoners being set free. Lord, the poor having the treasure of heaven open to them. Everything you said you came to do, we simply ask you to do that. We don't have to beg you to do what you came to do. We agree with you. We ask for the glory of your name that you would do something so far beyond us that all we can do is stand back and lift our hands and

say, "God, only you could have done this." And we thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen, and amen. Be sure. Be very, very sure. Numbers chapter 32 beginning at verse 20. Then Moses said to them, now this is two tribes we're talking about, two tribes that basically said, you know, we've been 40 years in the wilderness, Moses. Of course, they're in a desert the whole time. And they finally have conquered, I call it the east side of Jordan. They're not over the Jordan yet into what was designated to be the promised land. But two of the tribes, they finally landed on a place where there was grass. Can you imagine? It's like living in New York and finally going to Pennsylvania one day. And they're just suddenly grassed. And they've got cattle and they want to plant things, they want to grow things, they want to raise their families. And I don't blame them. It's been 40 years in a desert, 40 years of attending funerals literally every day until a whole generation had died off. And suddenly, they just don't want to fight anymore. I get it. I get it. You get it. I get it. We all understand that. You know, some of you have come to Christ and you say, God, can I, I know you have a call on my life. Can we just put that on hold first? Can we put the call on hold for a little while? I just want to enjoy life. I just want to, I want to build something here. I want to, I want to smell the flowers. I get that. God gets that. But God's speaking to these people and saying, no, there's more for you than this. I have a journey for you. And the journey I have for you involves other people. I came and I died for all of humanity, for whosoever will. And the Scripture says in Romans, they can't hear without a preacher. And there will be no preacher that goes to them unless they are sent. And the Holy Spirit is moving on us as his church in this last hour to go into places that we've not gone before and to embrace a calling that we may not have fully embraced. Moses said to them, if you do this thing, if you arm yourselves before the Lord for the war and all your arm men cross over Jordan before the Lord until he's driven out his enemies from before him and the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you may return and be blameless before the Lord and before Israel. And this land shall be your possession before the Lord. In other words, okay, you've asked for permission to stay on this side of the Jordan, the east side in a sense. The west side is supposed to be where the promised land is, but you've found what you want. But if you will go over and fight with your brothers and sisters until they have obtained their inheritance, if you will live beyond just living for yourself. As we teach in our Bible school at Summit International School of Ministry, if you will live for the benefit of others, if you will give yourself for them so that they can

conquer what needs to be conquered and have their inheritance, then you can come back and enjoy this place. But if you do not do so, then take note, you've sinned against the Lord and be sure your sin will find you out. Be sure. Now, when we talked about that verse, We generally, over the years, the connotation is that somebody has a hidden sin, you know, whether you've stolen something from the workplace, you've been in an illicit relationship, you shouldn't be in, et cetera, et cetera. And it's hidden. And when that verse is quoted, we somehow think that, you know, what it means is it's going to be an exposure one day. That very well might be the case for some, but that's not the context of this. You see, this sin wasn't hidden. If the people didn't go with their brothers and sisters across into the Promised Land to conquer the giants and the armies that were occupying that, it would be a known thing, it would not be a hidden thing. So being a known thing, what does it mean your sin will find you out? Here's the way I see it. This kind of a sin, this sin of selfishness, self-focus, the sin of knowing what to do and not doing it. It can be hidden by activity, it can be hidden by, even coming to church on a regular basis, it can be hidden by a lot of things, but ultimately it will find its way out in your character. As a man thinks in his heart, the scripture says, "That's what he is."

You can hide it, you can hide it for years, but eventually it's going to come out. Galatians 6-7 says, "Don't be deceived," Paul said, "Whatever a man so's, that's what he's going to reap." It does, whatever seed you put in the ground, if you plant corn, you're not going to grow watermelons, you understand, whatever you sow, you're going to reap. Matthew 7-2, Jesus said, "Whatever measure you use, "it will be measured back to you." In the measure you give out to others now, and the measure you are yielded for the sake of others, there's a day coming where you're going to need somebody to come to you, and trust me, it's going to happen. You're just going to be, as the saying goes, you're going to be down Lord and the snakes belly and a wagon rot, that's what they say down in the south. You're going to be as low as you can go, and you're going to say, "God send somebody to me." But the question now is, where were you when somebody was calling that out? When somebody in New York City was saying, "God send somebody to help me," and you didn't go. You stayed on the east side of Jordan, may I call it that? And you said, "I'm not interested in going over there. "I've lived in a dry place." And I just want to enjoy life. Now, God doesn't resent that. Don't misunderstand that. The point is the calling is farther than that. It's higher on your life and on my life.

I shared this morning, like, "I'm 73 this month, "and I could easily retire." (audience applauds) We should sing "Staying Alive" for a little while right now. (audience laughs) I mean, I could easily retire, and I could live on what's been done in the past, and I told Pastor Teresa, "I tell her every summer, "we vacation beside the ocean." And I tell her, "You know, I could manage your life from here. "I know how to work a laptop now. "I could book all your appointments "and speaking engagements. "Both of us would be very, very happy. "I would be here by the water "and you could travel and preach the gospel." (audience laughs) (laughs) But whatever we choose to embrace, that's what we will become. If we neglect to do what we're called to do, you see, I'm not called to retire. I think my own son, one of my own son said it the best to me, he said, "Dad, how could you even think about retiring?" He says, "You finally know something." (laughs) He said, "Why did the people "will finally get it right, retire?" And then leave it for the ones who don't really, are not fully formed in God yet to go out

and preach the gospel. And they're all sometimes a little bit off track. You see, in this case, God was saying to His people, these two tribes, if you neglect to do what you know to do, your sin will find you out. We cannot selectively choose what we want in the word of God and ignore the rest without a consequence. You cannot be in a wrong relationship with somebody and somehow think there will be no consequence. The wages of sin is still death, the wages still the same, nothing has changed. There's no exception for you because you're lonely, do you understand? There's no exception. Wages of sin is still death. You are in a relationship with somebody you shouldn't be in or you're in a relationship with somebody that's not a believer in Jesus Christ. Thinking it's all that's going to change one day, not necessarily so. yoked with a non-believer. Years ago, I was asked if I could go and try to help a missionary, a famous missionary, a missionary whose name is a household name in his own denomination, a missionary who went overseas and for almost three decades worked in a war-torn country, a missionary who was the person who actually took the president out of that nation at a certain time when the nation fell. A missionary who was drawn back when the war was over and given the presidential medal and certificates and accolades and all kinds of things came home from the mission field and wouldn't come out of his basement. He had a Finnish basement, mind you, in his home, but he kind of hunkered down there and wouldn't come out, wouldn't go to churches and speak

you so much to say, just wouldn't do anything. And I was asked if I could go to try to help him, so I went to see him. And ironically, he was the age that I am right now. He was 72 years old, and I went to see him and started talking to him about, you know, why won't you go to church? And only to find out that he had had a church wounding that happened in his life almost 40 years before, and he had refused to forgive the church, the people that were involved. And so he covered up all of this. He knew what to do and wouldn't do it, and he covered it all up with activity. And he ended up with certificates on his wall and and medals and accolades and in his basement ranting and raving and fussing and spinning and angry at the thought of forgiving somebody or some people who had hurt him 40 years before. Be sure your sin will find you out. The bitterness that had been in him for 40 years that he tried to cover up with all this missionary work finally found him out. It came to the surface, and it ruined his inheritance. It ruined what should have been wonderful years, should have been the ability to go into churches and talk about the faithfulness of God and what he had seen in the life on the mission field, and he couldn't because he was so full of bitterness that he actually, in my opinion, hated the church of Jesus Christ, but yet went to the mission field. I asked him, I said, "Why did you go to the mission field?" He said, "I went there to get away from the church. Were you called to the mission field?" I asked him. He says, "I really don't know if I was or wasn't. I just needed to get away." So you end up with certificates and medals and accolades and ceremonies and locked in your basement when it's all over. He knew to forgive. Isn't it ironic that you're representing a kingdom of forgiveness? You're representing the one who went to a cross so that we could be forgiven. The one who said, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they do and yet you won't forgive." It's the ultimate irony, isn't it? If we represent the kingdom of God, isn't forgiveness our message? Aren't we supposed to be messengers of forgiveness? You know, Jesus himself said there was a man who owed a terrific debt, and he went to the master that he owed it to, and he said, "Forgive me, and over time I'll try to pay back everything I owe." It says the master was moved with compassion and forgave him his debt, but the same man went out and took somebody that owed him just a significant, a little amount of money compared to what he wants owed, and he said he took him by the throne and said, "Pay me what you owe me." When the master found out, he was irate and threw him into prison and delivered him to the tormentors. That's what the Scripture says. This missionary was tormented. He was delivered to

the tormentors. I have no joy in sharing this story. It was tragic. It was sad. I remember leaving there with such a heaviness in my heart saying, "God, how can a man serve you all these years and end up so tormented? End up such a mess at the end of his days and such a horrible testimony to his family. The ones around him, he had kids and grandkids, but what an awful testimony, grandpa. The former missionary won't come out of the basement and just rants and raves against the Church of Jesus Christ. Self-focus is the opposite of taking up one's cross and following Christ. It is. Now, we have a tendency to be focused on ourselves when we first come. I get that. I was, you are or were. We come to Christ and it's all about me, my freedom, my this, my mind, my addictions, my everything. Which is great. It's like we're children in the Lord, aren't we? We're babes in Christ as the Scripture says. Me, that's mine, that's mine, mine, mine, mine, me, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, somebody else. It's mine. That's my ball, that's my cartoon, that's my coloring book. That's my car, that's my rattle, that's my stick. It doesn't matter what it is, it's mine. Now that's cute until you get to be 28 years old. It's not cute anymore. The father would say, "What's wrong with my stupid son?" I mean, it's just not cute. When you get to be older, if let's say you're in a family business, you're expected to become a little more mature, you're expected to look out beyond yourself, and to the business in the sense of the corporation that you're part of or your family business, you're expected to get out of yourself and get into what the family is all about. But what about the kingdom of God? At some point, aren't we expected to kind of escape ourselves and become involved in what the kingdom of God is and why we are here on the earth as a church, the church of Jesus Christ? The Scripture says, for example, "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, but how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach except they be sent?" And if I'm not allowed to add a verse to Scripture, but I can add a thought, "And how shall they be sent unless they're willing to be sent by God himself?" Unless they're willing to actually leave their comfort zone, go across the Jordan and go into that place and fight for somebody else. It's no longer about me. It's now about you. It's no

longer about me. It's about the kids in this generation that are being lied to in their schools and being confused on every conceivable level. It's about the families that are being broken to pieces. It's about the people who are addicted and depressed and suicidal in society. At some point, it has to be not about me, but about them. In Luke chapter 15, there was a son, a father's son. One day, I don't know. He just maybe thought, "I want to smell the grass on the other side of the valley." And he just went to his father, as Jesus said, and he asked for his inheritance. It's like when we are the sons and daughters of God, and we say, "I want the freedom. I want the forgiveness. I want the giftings of the Holy Spirit. I want the good feeling that I get, knowing that my sins are forgiven." The Scripture says his father gave it to him, but he took it, and he went into a faraway place from the heart of his father. And he spent all he had on riotous living. And in the original text, riotous living means self-focus, spent it on himself on his own indulgence. He stayed on the wrong side. He wasn't fighting for anybody. He just was just looking for comfort. And please don't misunderstand me. I get that. Some of us have been so unhappy for so long that when you finally do get saved, you just want to enjoy life a bit. I get that without taking up across your cross yet, at least anyway. God understands it. There is a point of healing, a point of learning, a point of just growing in grace, but there is a point of maturity as well. Where we understand, if anyone would be my disciple, let him deny himself or herself and take up his cross and follow me. Jesus said, "Where I am, there will my disciple be also." This young man, he went into the land of self-focus. Everybody is self-focused there. It's all about me, myself and I. And maybe he even went to a church that was like that. Everything is about you. Be your best, you. Roll a better boat. Have a nicer personality. Get that big promotion on the job. Maybe the gospel he's listening to is all just about himself, just reinforcing his error as I see it. But you see, in the land of selfishness, it gets hungry. You can get hungry there. You see, in the Christian life, because we're meant for so much more, when we focus only on ourselves, we start to starve, and that's what happened with this young man. He got so hungry that he even wanted to eat pig's food. He was starving, and he started trying to reach out in the land of focus on yourself, and he's looking for somebody to give him something. But everybody is just as selfish as him, and nobody will give him anything there. And so one day the scripture says he comes to himself and says, "I don't fully get my father's house, but it's better than here. I'm starving here, and my father's house, there's nourishment,

and there's plenty of it." And so he gets up and You see, his sin found him out. That's what happened. His sin of neglecting to do what he was called to do found him out. It found him out because he became as a son of his father, he was starving. Do you understand? You might be here today and you might be a child of God, but maybe you're spiritually starving inside and you've come here today saying, "God, what is wrong with me? "Why am I so unfulfilled? "Why am I spiritually starving all the time? "Why am I just always just struggling, not deep pig's food? "What is it with this walk that I have? "Does it just not work for me?" And he got up and he just said, "I don't fully get my father's house, "but I know there's something there for me." And he got up and he started heading home down the road and he didn't quite know what to expect. "I think I know that I've failed. "I think I know that I've not been the son "that I'm called to be. "I think I know I've not been about my father's business "and is he gonna reject me?" And he gets up and he's so far away, but as he's coming towards the house, how shocked he must have been to see this old gray-haired father

come running down the road towards him. And he's not sure, is he gonna reject me? Is he gonna put out his hand and say, "No, no farther for you. "You, you, you could have represented my house, "but you went off into the land of self-focus "and you indulged everything on yourself. "You deserve everything you got." He didn't know what to expect and how shocked he must have been when his old father put his arms around him and embraced him and kissed him on the neck and hugged him like he'd never been hugged before. Be very, very sure of this one thing. If you head up towards God, if you've not been and you're aware you've not been what you ought to be, if you have neglected truth in some manner, know this. When you head towards God be very sure he will get to you before you get to him. Be very, very sure that he loves you. Be very, very sure that he wants to forgive you. Be very, very sure that he wants to embrace you and take the stain of any failure in your life upon himself. Be very, very sure that he wants to cleanse you, change you, transform you, and call you a son and call you a daughter and send you out to do what your life was supposed to do from the very beginning. The next thing that the father did is call for the ring after covering them with the robe. He said, "Put the ring of authority on his finger.

Be very sure that God has a purpose for your life. Be very sure that there's an authority comes with that purpose. Words of wisdom, words of knowledge, gifts of the Holy Spirit, abilities to speak and do things that you could never have done in your own strength. A direction that you never could have found with any amount of natural ability or reasoning. Be very, very sure that the power of God will become yours. Be very sure that when you walk into a room, the power of God will walk in with you. Be very sure that people will start asking you for a reason for the hope that is within you. Be very, very sure that God will find you. God will empower you. God will strengthen you. God will change you. God will use you. God will put a new song in your heart. Be very, very sure. The next thing he did for his son is he put shoes on his feet. Be very sure that God has a pathway for you, a plan for your life, a journey that he's going to take you on over the Jordan into somebody else's struggle. Hallelujah. Be very, very sure that you will walk in there, not alone.

You will walk in there with God. And there is no giant can stand, no prison door can stay closed, no blind at eye that can stay blind, no lie of hell that can hold the people any longer, because God has an army. God has an army, God has an army in the end times. Praise be to God. Praise be to God, praise be to God. God has an army. God has an army marching through the land. Deliverance is their song with freedom in their hands. Everlasting joy and gladness in their heart. And in this army, I've got a part. That's one of the old time songs that we used to sing years and years and years ago. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Hallelujah, hallelujah. So this two tribes said, we will go. We will go. And Moses said, after you do, you can come back and you can enjoy your family, can enjoy your life one time years ago. in ministry. I would like to just enjoy my grandkids and my children. I've spent so many time, so many, I missed so many events, I traveled so much and so many school things I didn't get to go to and such like." And the Lord spoke to me clearly as I'm speaking to you today and He said, "Carter, your children are all home and you have eternity to enjoy them. You have eternity to get together and the joy will be unspeakable and full of glory."

He said, "But my children are not all home." He said, "Let's go get mine first." And then we can both enjoy our children for all of eternity. But there is a reward. I am more in, I think, than I've ever been in my lifetime. As long as God gives this body breath, I'm going to continue to go into colleges and I'm going to continue to speak to young people, I'm going to continue. After this summer has been, "Lord, You let me live, so now let me live." What good is a new physical heart if the years that I have left are not live for You? My prayer has been, "Lord, I don't want to love You less at the end than I did at the beginning. That would be so undeserving of You. I want to love You more than I ever have before." Lord, send me, send me where You want me to go and give me what I need when I get there. Give me a heart, a largeness of heart, to care and to reach and courage to speak. I'm not going to live on the wrong side of Jordan. I'm going in, not for my sake, but for somebody else's. My name's already in the Lamb's Book of Life. My grandkids are already home. I had the most beautiful summer, folks. I don't know how many of you ever watched Welcome to My Morning, but if you do, I had my grandsons on there. It was amazing to see these boys standing for God. They're standing strong and firm for Christ. My little granddaughter, she's 11 years old. I have two granddaughters, 11, but one of them was with us and she said, "Papa, I want to testify," and I said, "I can't put You out there on Welcome to My Morning because there's too many off-centered people and they could find out what school you go to and stuff, and it would be just dangerous. I'm not worried about the boys, they're big enough to handle them.

They're hockey players. They know how to handle themselves." And I said, "But I'm a little bit concerned for you," and I said, "I just don't feel comfortable putting it out online," and she said, "Well, I want to do it anyway." And I said, "Okay, so we did a faux Welcome to My Morning on camera," and I said, "This is my granddaughter," and I said, "Do you have a Bible study for us? A Bible story?" She said, "I do. I do. I have no idea what she's going to say." And I said, "Okay, well, tell us," and she said, "Well, once there was this woman who cheated on her husband." I said, "Oh, really?" And I said, "So what happened?" I said, "Well, Jesus, the people wanted to kill her, but Jesus bent down, rode on the ground, and we don't know what he wrote," she said, "because the Bible doesn't tell us, but when he stood up, everybody dropped their stones." And I said, "So what's the moral of this whole happening?" She said, "The moral is we should forgive those people that Jesus wants to forgive." 11 years old, she understands the truth of the missionary mist, isn't that something? A 72-year-old missionary had no understanding of what my 11-year-old granddaughter did. I pray God always give her the grace to walk in the truth that she knows, always. But I'm being allowed to enjoy these moments, but it's not going to stop me from going across the Jordan. Wherever it is that God wants me to go, that's where I'm going to go. Pastor Teresa shares the same heart. We're actually heading off to California together shortly and speaking in several places. Just it's amazing to just go out and reach this generation, not being self-focused, but and focusing on their need. Be sure."

So here's my challenge for today, I want to give an altar call, and this is my challenge. What is it that God's asking you to do that you've put on hold? You know to do it, forgiveness is a big one. You don't know, you won't know the power of God until you're willing to do what you know to do. And one of the things we do know to do is that the Christian life is not about living it for ourselves, it's about living for the sake of somebody else. And by the grace of God, let's let that be our testimony. God help me to help me to escape myself. I've escaped, you know, you might be able to have escaped drugs, I've escaped bad relationships, I've escaped drinking, I've escaped you could probably name a lot of things. But have you escaped yourself? Have you escaped that heart that just doesn't want to fight for somebody else? I don't mind focusing on myself, but I'm not really into it for somebody else. Oh, you'll still get to heaven, but you'll live your life on the wrong side of the Jordan. And having fallen, you will have fallen short of the purpose of God for your life. I don't know about you, but I don't want to do that. I don't want to fall short of the purpose of God. I want to finish it right to the end. I want to walk the journey that the Apostle Paul did. I have fought my fight, I've finished my course and there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness and not for me alone, but for all those who have loved disappearing. By the grace of God, I appeal to you, be the church of Jesus Christ. Just Lord guide me, Lord lead me. Yes, go ahead and clap, go ahead and clap if you want to. And keep it simple, God, I'm going over the river for somebody else's sake. It's not for mine, I'm already saved and I'm already found my green pasture and I'm already happy just to be free or on the road to freedom, but this is not about me now, this is about somebody else. This is about those who don't know, it's about the single mom crying every night wondering

how she's going to raise her family. They understand me, it's about the kids that are being lied to and colleges and schools and whatever and just they don't know if they're up or down, they don't even know what they are. They don't know if there's a reason even for living. It's about the people who are living on the edge of taking their life because they don't see a way forward, they don't see a reason to even live. It's about the addicted, the afflicted, the marginalized, the poor, the nobody's done nothings in society. It's about the Nikki Cruises of our generation who, as he was, have been diagnosed irredeemable, can't be salvaged, too damn, it's too dark, too down, I remind you that this unredeemable man, Nikki Cruises, has preached the gospel to 80 million people in his lifetime. I want to go across that river again. I may have found a nice green pasture and I may have been blessed of God, which is wonderful, but I want to go across that river and I don't care what it costs. I honestly don't care folks. I want to go across that river because somebody there is not going to get the victory if I don't go. That's what Moses said to these two tribes. If you don't go, somebody is not going to get their inheritance. I'm going to go. I know you're going to go as well. I know it in my spirit. I know it. You're not the strongest there ever was, you're not the most knowledgeable or the most noble, but nobody that God chooses ever has been. Just rank and file ordinary people like you and I that says, "Here am I, send me." We're the only ones like Isaiah in chapter 6 that needed redemption. Nobody else in the whole scene needed redemption, but he's the one who raised his hand and said, "I'll go.

If you need somebody to go, I'll go." I'll go to the other side and I'll talk to the people when I get there, whether they listen or whether they don't, I'm going to fight for them. Fighting for people doesn't mean you have to go into public ministry. It means just having the sense in your heart to stop and talk to somebody who's crying on the street corner or going to that neighbor that just seems to be so down all the time. Just having the courage to speak, that's crossing and going into their battle. The fight for somebody else's soul. By the grace of God, that's the church that is going to be the church in this last day. Not going to be some hot shot preachers that God raises up again. Yes, they may help the cause, but it's going to be the church that goes across the river into that place to fight for the people, the need to know freedom. It's going to be the church. It's going to be you, my brother, my sister. Not somebody else, it's going to be you, the God sense. Where you live, where you work, where you travel, the streets you walk on, the subway you take, the car you drive, the neighborhood you live, it's you that God's going to use to make a difference. So as we stand, I want to invite you as a first step to cross the river and come. Just come, join me here, and we're going to pray for a miracle in your life. Just come, please, step out of your seat, make your way down here. I'm going to pray for you.

I'm going to believe for a touch of the Holy Spirit to come on your life, you'll never be the same again. That's what we prayed this morning, and God visited us, going to pray for you. Don't let anybody here be the same again. You just keep coming, the balcony go to either exit, anybody in the annex, you make your way here, we'll wait for you. Join these that are coming, move in close, make room for everybody. We're going to pray, you are the church. You're not just trying to survive, you're the church. You're an army. You're the voice that God wants to use. You're the life that he inhabits. Hallelujah. Somebody needs you out there. Somebody is fighting to get through and needs you. Somebody is going to live because you make the choice to cross their river and go into their fight. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord, thank you for those that have already gone in their hearts, they've come, and those that are coming physically, who want to cross into that place of fighting for the sake of somebody else. I ask you, Lord, for giftings of the Holy Spirit

to be given as we worship. Words of wisdom, words of knowledge. You said that they would take up serpents. Nothing would hurt them. They would have power over darkness. They would lay hands on the sick and they would recover. You'd put power in their speech. Oh, Jesus Christ, do in these men and women, but only you can. Give them the power to put away what needs to be put away. Everyone, and to take up what needs to be taken up. God, thank you, this is your end time army. Lord, we're not looking anywhere else to anybody else. This is your only. This is your plan. This is what you're going to do to defeat darkness. Thank you for your Holy Spirit being given to each one of these who bow their heads in their hearts in your presence. God, use these precious men and women for your glory, for your kingdom's sake. Jesus Christ, be glorified. God be glorified. Pray that now with be glorified through my life. Just call out to God, be glorified. Be glorified through my life. Use me for your glory, Lord. Empower me, equip me, send me. Help me that I may be a helper to somebody else. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Just keep calling on to God, just keep talking to God. ♪ Be glory, glory, glory, glory, glory ♪ Be glorified, be glorified, be glorified. Be glorified, be glorified. Be glorified, be glorified. Oh, Lord, be glorified. Be glorified in the heavens. Be glorified in the heavens. Oh, Lord, be glorified in the earth. Be glorified in this temple. Be glorified in this temple. Be glorified in this temple. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] For you yourself said that we were to pray, the Lord of the harvest, for the harvest is great and the laborers refuse. Let it not be said in New York City that the harvest was great, but the laborers refuse. Lord, we ask you to send us into the harvest and give us the grace to fight for somebody else and to focus on what really matters for your kingdom's sake. God, we thank you, we thank you, we thank you, we thank you in Jesus' mighty name. And you give God a sout of glory in this house today. (audience applauds) Now, wherever the Lord has ministered, I've learned over the years, there's always joy. God always sends His people out with strength and with joy. Nobody's to hang their heads. They say, Lord, yes, maybe I've missed it. And maybe I've not been living the way I should, but oh God, I feel your embrace today. And I feel your willingness to cover me and your willingness to use my life for your glory. Let that be your testimony today. I'd like you to give a sout of victory in this house. Will you give a sout of victory? (audience applauds)