Invitation Or Interruption

Now, just before we pray, this is the week of prayer and fasting, and this week is going to be a game-changer. I really want to encourage you to be with us tonight, Monday night and Tuesday night. Tonight, we are going to stand with the nation of Israel, despite arrogant protests from unbelievers and ignorance of Scripture from believers. We will stand with the people of God, because the Bible says, those that bless Israel will be blessed. And so, we will stand with them. We will be unmoved by man's words, and we will be moved only by God's Word. Amen? Monday, we will intercede for the Middle East, and we will have the opportunity to worship and pray in Arabic and Farsi. As well as tonight, we will be praying and singing in Hebrew. You don't want to miss Solu from Jerusalem. He is with us and will be leading us in worship along with our team. And then Wednesday, we will be praying for Ukraine and Russia. And you are going to see our partners in every one of these evenings. Come on the screen and be praying. Some of them from bunkers, some of them from war zones. And they will be praying in their languages, while we are praying with them and praying that God will touch these areas of the world. I believe He does make wars cease. Amen? Now, let me talk to you about the message for just a second, and then we are going to pray. God has put something on my heart that I want to share with you today. And I saw it last night, and it became real to me this morning as I began to realize what has happened to New York and the NBA, New York Knicks. And I want to talk to you about that for just a second. And what I saw reminded me of something today. And I want to talk to you today, and this will make sense in just a moment. But I want to talk to you about an invitation or an interruption in dealing with God. An invitation or an interruption. I am going to bring you to the same location. It is going to be the same battle, but there are going to be different outcomes. It took place in an ancient city, 10 miles outside of Jerusalem, which today would be in the ruins near the West Bank. And it is going to be the city of Ai. And I want to talk to you about that, and literally what God began to speak to my heart. But I want us to pray. I want us to invite the Holy Spirit to come and speak to us today. So Father, I need your help today. I am going to pray that you would strengthen me. I am going to pray that your Holy Spirit would speak clearly. Lord, I know what you have spoken in my heart.

Somehow, God, don't let me mess it up. Let me speak under your anointing, and let God, I pray, that I would not get in the way of clarity. That Lord, you would make your word clear. Let it live inside the heart. And do something very special in this place today. And God, we give you the praise and the glory. In Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen. Well, this is the 1 o'clock. And we can't have you sit immediately. Because I have to dismiss a choir, and a screen has to come down. So you have to take about 90 seconds. Greet the person next to you. Say, I am so happy. I know I have greeted you before. But go ahead and greet somebody else. Maybe meet somebody new before you go. This week, I had to fly out of town for about 36 hours. It was our annual board meeting for this Christian organization. I sat on this board, and it was in Phoenix, Arizona. I left New York City in the morning, and it was 61 degrees. And we landed, and it was 106 degrees. And I said, Thank you, Jesus, that I'm going to heaven. And not to Phoenix. And so, I thought to myself, as I was there, I left New York City, and some of our board members were asking me. They said this. They said, We see on the news that New York City is bad. That it's dangerous. That it's hard to walk the streets. And you can't go in the subways. And they were building this case on why the city we love and the city that we are in. What is it like? Give us firsthand. I said, Well, not now. I said, We are in a human revival with the Knicks and World Cup. I said, Everybody loves everybody on the streets right now.

I said, People are smiling. They love each other. High-fiving everywhere you go. I said, It's a human revival. And we thank FIFA and the NBA for making this sports unity possible here in New York City. I said, This is a good season for us right now. But I want to tell you an interesting story. That it was brought back to my remembrance. As I was looking at the pictures last night. What took place after the finals. And I was thinking as I was praying this morning. The images came back to my mind of what my father told me. My father, who was a police chief here in New York City, told me about something historically that took place here almost 70 years ago, 69 years ago, right in this season. It would have been happening right about now. But my father told me a 38-year-old young man was used by God and came to New York City. And I forgot all about this. And he told me that, this is my words now, he was describing to me of what you were seeing on the streets last night, West Village and Central Park. He said he was describing to me these images that I saw last night of a city that was celebrating, but it wasn't centered on a championship. It was centered on the gospel and Jesus Christ. Sixty-nine years ago, something happened in New York City, and it was called the Billy Graham 1957 New York City Crusade. He initially planned to be here for three, maybe four weeks, and the crusade ran for 16 weeks. It went from May 15th to September 1st, and it transformed Manhattan. Let me just read to you some of the things.

I want you to see this personally of what happened during those 16 weeks. They met at Madison Square Garden. That was the primary venue. Ninety-seven meetings at Madison Square Garden. Eighteen thousand showed up every single night at Madison Square Garden. This was, God was doing something. How about this? On July 20th, there was 100,000 people that packed Old Yankee Stadium to hear Billy Graham preach in 93-degree heat. And 20,000 stood outside the stadium. There was no LED walls, and they were listening to Billy Graham on speakers outside of Yankee Stadium. The reason why there was 100,000, Yankee Stadium seated about 75,000, and the other 20-25,000 were on the field listening to Dr. Billy Graham. And then I started to hear about the Times Square meetings. Times Square Church, right out here. There was 125,000 people outside our door to listen to Billy Graham. Right outside our door. My dad would tell me there would be times during the day Billy Graham would just, we would call it a pop-up, he would come to a street, and you'd see a couple thousand people come right just to hear him, just to hear the gospel being preached. Over 110 days, nearly 2.4 million people attended here in New York City, with over 56,000 individuals making a decision for Jesus Christ in those 16 weeks. And I have to tell you, as I kept thinking about this, that was 1957, and you realize just a few months later, there was a court trial that took place called the Farmer Trial, where seven young gang members were put on trial. And just a few months after Billy Graham left, God sent a Pennsylvania preacher in to the streets of New York City, named David Wilkerson. Billy Graham left, David Wilkerson came in, began to minister to the gang members here in New York City,

and their birth, right after that, Teen Challenge, which has gone around the world, that God began to do something through the gangs on the streets in Manhattan, in Brooklyn, and God began to do something so powerful. It was as if God put New York City on Heaven's target in 1957 and 1958. Can I just tell you, I'm praying that he does it again. I'm praying that God begin to put us in the crosshairs and say something begin to take place. It was this week I had a meeting with a Christian leader who lost his wife to cancer. He has been a friend over some years, and God has used him all over the world, and he was in the city doing something special, and says, I watch TSC a few times a month. And as we were reminiscing and talking through even what God was doing in his ministry and life, he stopped the meeting. It was very odd. And he said, I need to ask you a question. And it was rather sobering the way he asked it. He says, I don't even know if you understand what's happening. I don't even understand if you can answer this question. I had no idea what he was going to ask. He says, I watch Times Square Church. He says, do you know, do you have any idea that you're in the beginning seasons of a revival that's taking place in New York City? I said, I'm not sure I know what you're talking about. He says, I'm telling you. I've watched awakenings, and I've watched what God has done. I'm not saying this in any arrogant way. In fact, in a way, it made me sit back, and even brought a little bit of fear to me.

I said, I looked at him, and I said, I see mists of God's spirit come down like a wave. work of God take place. I said, I don't know what I'm... I'm not looking for that. I just wanted to honor Jesus in everything that we do. And all I could think about, church, was this. I said, whatever happens, I just want God to come to this city. I want the images that I saw yesterday, and we'll see with the parade coming up. I want those images of celebration. I would love to see that for the gospel of Jesus Christ, that people's lives would be changed that way. And all I told them was this. All we're doing now is we're inviting God to bring an awakening to our city. That's why we meet here at noon on Wednesdays. If you have not come, it is nothing but prayer. I speak for 60 seconds, we sing for about 90 seconds, and then we pray for an awakening in New York City. Tonight, the next four nights, we're going to do the very same thing. We're going to invite God in. There is a difference between an invitation and an interruption when it comes to heaven, when it comes to God showing up. I need to give you this distinction, as I'm going to bring you to that ancient city of Ai. But there is a difference between an invitation and an interruption. And I'm praying we stay on the side of an invitation. An invitation comes from a stirring of the heart that says, we need God, we need revival, we need an awakening. We need for God to show up. That's why we meet on Wednesdays. That's why we begin to pray, and we begin to call extra seasons of prayer and fasting. It is an invitation. Oh God, you're stirring our hearts for something to take place. But I began to see something a little bit different. And I began to see something in the scriptures that not only dealt with corporately, but even individually. An interruption. An interruption comes from despair and desperation. It's when tragedy and crisis and even consequences hit. And now it's, help us God, we have failed. Help us God, we need you. Because there wasn't an invitation, God had to bring an interruption. Because they didn't invite God, now they find themselves going ahead of God, and now they're dealing with the consequences. This is my message. See, when you invite God, when you give God and invite Him to come and do whatever He wants to do, this is the thing that I've realized. When you invite God, there is always going to be a fight. The enemy is going to do whatever he can. For some of you, it was a fight just to get here today. You're fighting through things on 8th Avenue and 7th Avenue, and slow drivers, and people taking pictures in the center of the sidewalk that should be walking. And you go through all this stuff, and then you come

into church angry, and you need a revival just so you can not be angry anymore when you come into church. But how many know it's a fight just to get to church today? There's always a fight that comes your way. And that's why I realize that when we're inviting God, we're also inviting a battle. Let me say that again. Whenever you invite God to come, you're also inviting a battle. And the enemy is going to come any way he can. I want to read to you a text I received just a few weeks ago from our general overseer, Pastor Carter. And he was talking about this battle. And this is what he wrote to me. He said, Tim, praying Isaiah 40, 29-31 for you today, the battle is fierce. We're on the road to a billion souls. And he says, when I was in, and he mentions the city, I was so attacked in body that I could hardly walk. Nevertheless, I got into the pulpit and saw a full altar of young teenagers surrendering their futures in the hands of God. And then he wrote, the fight is worth it. And in God's name, we will win at the end. And he wrote the scripture to me in the text. It says, he gives strength to the weary. To him who lacks might, he increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait upon the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired, and they will walk and not get weary. He finished his text like this. He said, I'm so thankful for the message on Sunday. I was in such pain and dizziness in this city that I knew it was demonic. Pain that didn't make sense. Right hip and leg pain. Sinuses completely blocked. Headache, splitting headache. I got into the pulpit, and then heaven came down. I was thinking about Brother Dave's warning to me some years ago. He says that when God begins to come and do what he's doing in Times Square Church, that someday, this is how he ends the text, that someday Satan himself will take notice of Times Square Church. And that means there's going to be a fight, folks. We are in a battle here in New York City, because we are not waiting for tragedy. We're not waiting for crisis. Our hearts are being stirred now for God to come. Our hearts are being moved now, saying we need an awakening. And God, I believe, is going to give that victory in the middle of the fight. As I was praying and faced some battles even this week, I was praying. And in the middle of all this, I really felt God just encouraged me in the middle of the fight. This is what God spoke to me, and I wrote it down. And it was these words, The battle will be intense, but the victories will be fast. The battles will be intense. Folks, I want to just tell you something. When you sense

an intensity of battle coming, victories will come. I looked at an individual, and I said those very same words. I said, The battles are intense. I said, You're going to see victories come within 24 hours, but you're going to have to fight. You can't give up, and you can't lay down. You fight, and watch what God does fast. But there is a danger I see happening. There is a danger that I see taking place that I want to talk to you about. I call it godless Christianity. Godless Christianity. I know the words Christian and godless don't seem to go together. A godless Christian life is a life that wants God at the beginning and at the end, but not in between. What do I mean by that? Godless Christianity is living daily without God, but still with the title Christian. We think we need God for salvation, and even a cancer diagnosis, but we've got all the rest of the decisions. We can do whatever we want to do. We think as long as things are good, I got it from here. I'll make the decisions in the in-between times. Listen carefully, folks. Let me be clear. I need God when I'm sick, and I need God when I'm healthy. I need God not some days, but every day, and not for some things, but for everything. So, just for a moment, let me go ahead and reaffirm the lyrics of that old chorus that rings in my soul, which says, I need Thee every hour. I need Thee, not at the beginning and the end, but every hour in between. I need God's help, and I'm inviting Him in. I'm saying, God, come speak to me. The first few chapters of Revelation is a plea to the church that has really embraced godless Christianity. It's a plea to hear from God again. These were godless Christian churches. I want you to hear this. They were operating for Christ, but missing Christ. They were operating and doing Christian things, but there was no Christ that was present. The seven Revelation churches need an interruption, and they do. They get interrupted by Jesus, because they were operating without the voice of God. However they got down the road, they got so far ahead that they were there without Christ. Listen to this. Revelation 2-3 seems to be the voice of God interrupting every one of these churches. You could see it all right there in Revelation 2-3. Let me just give you some of them. He interrupts Ephesus and says to them this, that while you are calling out false prophets and enduring in the work, you lost your first love for God in the middle of doing Christian stuff. He says, no, you don't even know it. And God had to interrupt Ephesus. He interrupts Pergamum and says, you have a church in a tough place.

He calls it where Satan dwells. And you even hold on to the name of Jesus. However, you're following false teaching, and you have immorality in the church, and you won't even call it out. Listen to this. He interrupts Thyatira and says, you have a love and a faith and service, but you're allowing some crazy Jezebel prophetess to teach in the church. He says, shut that thing down immediately. He speaks to Sardis, and he says, all around you, people think that your church is alive. You're dead, and you need to wake up. How scary is that? Everyone's going, go to that church, go to that church, go to that church. May that never happen to us. We're calling ourselves alive, but heaven calls us dead. And then finally, he tells the church of Laodicea, interrupts them, said, you've mistaken your prosperity for my approval. You think you have need of nothing, but you have need of everything. You're lukewarm, and God is sick of this, and now you are in a very dangerous place. All of these churches, think about this, would have continued on if Jesus did not interrupt them. It was as if, because they didn't invite them, invite him, listen, because these churches didn't invite him, he had to interrupt them. Let me say that again. Because they didn't invite his presence, so he had to interrupt them with his presence. That's why, folks, this is so important for us to understand. Their services, their vision statements, their sermons. series and conferences would have been business as usual unless Jesus interrupted these godless Christian churches. That's why when we pray and fast over these next couple days, we're inviting God to come and speak to us. We're inviting God to come and say whatever He wants. Prayer and fasting, I'll just give this to you quickly. It is something I've always seen over years and decades of ministry. Prayer and fasting does four things. You can write them fast, but I'm going to go quickly. Prayer and fasting does four things, just four quick statements. One I've realized is this. When you pray and fast, number one, things get clearer. You start to see clearer. Number two, things happen faster. Number three, things get exposed. And number four, things will get easier. What do you mean by that? Worship will be easier. Preaching will be easier. You sense an ease in doing the will of God. Things become clearer. Things happen faster. Things get exposed, and things get easier. Prayer and fasting is an invitation for God to come, and we are inviting the voice of God so we don't get too far down the road, and then He has to interrupt what we're doing.

It's the last thing I'd want to happen, is we find ourselves doing something that God goes, I didn't ask you to do that. As I've been reading through the book of Joshua and even preparing as we are right now through chapter by chapter in Deuteronomy and getting ready for Joshua, I was struck by a sobering thought in Joshua. Joshua fights the same enemy two times, but with two different results. It's the story that I'm just going to call it AI number one and AI number two. Now AI, that is a small I. This is not artificial intelligence number one and artificial intelligence number two. This is a small ancient city outside of Jerusalem in the book of Joshua. I may say something about AI, but let me just leave it at that. It's the story of AI number one and AI number two. God has equipped Joshua with how the next seven years should go. The book of Joshua is seven years. It's a seven year battle campaign, and as they start the battle campaign to possess the promised land, God has equipped Joshua in how to do this. In Joshua chapter five, they've just crossed the Jordan River. No battle has been fought. There was a big wall in front of them called Jericho, and a bigger God is about to show up in front of Joshua as Joshua encounters God. I think in Joshua chapter five, Joshua's praying. It says his head is down, and all of a sudden, I could just see him down maybe in despair saying, God, what do I do? Finally, he looks up, and he's going to encounter Jesus himself, the Lord of hosts. Look at this. Now, it came about when Joshua was by Jericho. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with a sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and said, are you for us or for our adversaries? He said, no, rather indeed, I come now as the captain of the Lord of hosts. Joshua fell on his face and bowed down and said to him, what has my Lord to say to his servant? The captain of the Lord of hosts said to Joshua, remove your sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy. Joshua did just that. What God was doing was God was giving Joshua the standard on how to fight, and we'd all start with these words. Don't miss these words. Here are the words. They're invitation words. What has my Lord to say to his servants? That's the invitation. God, show me what to do. I don't know what to do. God, lead me forward. Not a sword has been drawn. No land has been taken, and they're about to enter into seven years of battle. I don't know how much battle is ahead for us. I don't know. I have to tell you this. I didn't mention this in the first service. I want to just see if I even have the, before

I, oh, I wrote it down in another set of notes, but I want to tell you, I just talked with our friend right now, Pastor Claude Hood, and what has just been passed in Canada right now, that if you speak anything against same-sex marriage or gender, first you get a $5,000 fine, then it's a $50,000 fine, and then they shut you down. It has just been passed in law. Just been passed. Folks, we have to pray for our friends in Montreal, and there is a battle that they are going to face. Folks, and I'm telling you, look at me for a second. I want you to hear this. That battle is coming this way. That battle is coming this way, and so what God needs is not, they need people that say, God, speak. Your servant is listening. What do you have to say to us, God? What do you want to speak to us, Lord? Because, God, we need you to come and speak, because there is a battle that is coming our way. There is something coming over the horizon. that I'm telling you, there is battle that's coming, but God's people will be victorious if they hear from God. And that's what this challenge is. Our times of prayer and fasting, your times of praying, is what has my Lord to say to his servant? Joshua's inviting for God to speak and direct him. And it would be the voice of God that would guide his steps. Think about it for just a moment. Battle number one was Joshua. That it would be, there would be no textbook or precedent to fight a giant walled city called Jericho. So the voice of God says this. Think of this for a moment. God, speak, your servant, I'm inviting you to give me direction. So God says this. He says, you're gonna march around it for six days, but don't say anything to anybody. You know, I mean, six days of silence?

You know there was not one New Yorker that was going around that wall. We couldn't be quiet for six days. I know I couldn't. Anybody with me on that? Okay, the rest are visiting from other places. Listen, Israel would march around that wall. On the seventh day, they would shout at the end. And God says, you'll be quiet for six, shout on the seventh, and then I'll step in. Push the walls down, you're gonna go in, and you're going to get victory in that place. Where do you get that information from? How do you hear that? Here it comes, by inviting God to speak. That's how you fight, by saying, God, come and speak to me. What would you want me to do? You get it on your knees. You can get it when we as servants are listening. Jericho's walls would fall just like God told Joshua. Jericho is now being conquered, and they are entering through those walls, or over those walls, and they leave there not just with a victory, but also with a Jericho survivor, a transformed harlot prostitute named Rahab. They leave with this young lady who they make a promise to, if you hang a scarlet cord, we'll save you and your family. And they weren't just saving an ex-prostitute, they were saving someone that was gonna be called

a woman of faith in the Scriptures. They were saving someone that they brought out that her name would be talked about for centuries later and even today, because her name would begin to go down in the hall of faith in Hebrews chapter 11. Her name would be in the book of James, right next to Abraham. Her name would be in the book of Galatians. Her name would be in the genealogies of Christ. Said something happened on that day when those walls came down. It wasn't just a miraculous victory, but it was a miraculous salvation. That it wasn't just walls came down, but a woman in the dirt started to rise up in that place. It was a miracle that took place. Now, as they left there, they left with the spoils, they left with a victory, but they also brought something else back with them. They brought sin into the camp. A man named Achan, one of the marchers around, had stolen a brick of silver, a brick of gold, and a Babylonian garment, and hid it in his tent. And Israel will face their second battle of Canaan, Ai, that's Ai, with one miracle victory under their belt, but also sin in the camp. This is the story of what happened when they leave. You literally walk out of Jericho, and they're about to face Ai,

and this is the story, chapter seven. Now, Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, go up and spy out the land. So the men went and spied out Ai. They returned to Joshua and said to him, do not let all the people go up. Only about 2,000 or 3,000 men need to go up to Ai. Do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few. So about 3,000 men from the people went up there, but they fled, but they, that means Israel, fled from the men of Ai. The men of Ai struck down 36 of their men, pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck down on the descent. So the hearts, don't miss this last part, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water. Now the godly are acting like the ungodly. What do you mean, Pastor Tim? Not only did Israel lose the battle, but the most important thing was they lost their courage. When you read the words that the people melted and became as water, these words were always reserved for the book of Joshua, for their enemies, not for the people of God. Now the godly is acting like the ungodly. Rahab said this when she met the spies. When we heard it, our hearts melted, when she's talking about the Red Sea. No courage remained in any man any longer

because of the Lord your God. He is God in heaven and on earth beneath. The spies told Joshua after they left Jericho in 224, surely the Lord your God is God in heaven and on earth beneath. The Lord has given all the land into our hands. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before us. And finally, after the Jordan river crossing, now it came about when all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the sons of Israel until they had crossed. Their hearts melted, and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the sons of Israel. The enemies were supposed to melt. The sin in the camp messed everything up. Sin is destroyed 36 families, made them fatherless, and sin has drained Israel of the fear of God and replaced it with the fear of men. Israel is becoming what their enemies became. Their hearts are melting now. All of a sudden, they're acting like they're enemies. And I kept thinking to myself, what happened? This is such an incredible turnaround from the victory of Jericho. And the quick answer is Achan. But I think it's more. I think it's more than Achan. And this is, as I kept reading this over and over again, I think it's Joshua and Achan. What do you mean, Pastor Tim? Can I tell you, sin is so diabolical. But can I tell you, you must be careful of even success. It is very, very, it can come undercover and bring this false confidence to us. Joshua comes after Jericho and says this, just send two or three thousand. They are just a few people. And making a decision with his eyes or with his ears, instead of inviting God and saying, what's your battle strategy now? What are you speaking to us now? See, that's godless Christianity. I need you for the big stuff and I need you to get to heaven. But I'll take care of everything else. Folks, we need him every single day, every single moment. If, this is what I think, if Joshua would have prayed before the battle instead of after the defeat, I think God would have revealed Achan. I think he would have revealed it. If he said, God, what do you want us to do? I think God would have said, get rid of Achan first. There's sin in the camp. But Joshua waits for 36 deaths. He waits for 36 families to be upended. He waits for 36 families to lose their father and their husband because he just wouldn't ask. When you don't pray,

you end up having to clean up the consequences. When you don't invite, then you have to begin to start praying, oh God, help me with the consequences. Don't let this happen again. Don't let this thing blow up. The moment Joshua prayed, the problem was revealed. And God spoke about the battle plans for Ai. See, prayer exposed and directed. That's why, don't miss this. Get this down. Holocaust survivor Corey Timboon said, is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire? See, steering wheel, that's invitation. Spare tire, that's the interruption. Because I didn't pray, I got a flat on my journey. Because I didn't ask God what to do. Folks, this is so important because I don't want God to interrupt. The only way I can begin to deal with that is by inviting him. By looking at things and going, God, what college? What university? God, what job? What city do you want me to be in? And instead of using my eyes that says, well, it must be hard, so God wants me out of here. Folks, I am telling you, I'd rather be in a hard place with Jesus than on a beach without Jesus. God interrupted this battle instead of being invited to it. God had to interrupt it and say, I've interrupted this with the consequences. Then God gave a battle strategy. God did speak because it was in the second Ai that he invites him in. And God speaks and says, you just thought you'd go up with a few thousand men. There was a strategy to these people. Because while everybody else's heart was melting, this enemy, Ai, is now, cannot be disfaced because they're just a few people. Listen to what God said. Now the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war. Take all the people of war with you. Okay, did anybody see that? Take all. Joshua's going, they're just a few. Send a couple thousand. God goes, you really messed up. You're supposed to take everybody on this one. Take all the people of war, rise, go up to Ai. I've given them into your hand, his people, his city, and his land. You shall do to Ai, it's king, just as you did to Jericho, it's king. But you shall take only its spoil, its cattle, its plunder for yourselves. But I want you to do this by setting an ambush for the city behind it. Let me tell you what he was telling them. He said, you went right straight through into Jericho, not this time. He says, you are going to set an ambush for this city. You're going to go up, then you're going to fake retreat with When the army comes out, they're going to think they have you on the run for the second time. You're going to set the city on fire, and ambush them from behind, and I will give you the victory.

But the issue was, that was what happens when God speaks. When God doesn't speak, I got this. I can just do whatever I want. I'm telling you, they needed God on every single battle. Every single one. I need God. That's why this is important. That's why pray and fast with us this week. That's why when you invite the voice of God, every time you read the word of God, you invite the voice of God. Don't leave God out of decisions. Look at me for a second. I want to encourage you to do something. When somebody in your household says, I'm doing this, just ask this one question. Did you invite God into the decision? Let me say that again, because some of you didn't amen me big enough on this one. When someone says, we're going here, we're going to this place, we're going over here, just ask one question. In fact, you can look at the person next to you and go, did you invite God in that situation? Did you invite God in that decision? Just ask them. Because the worst thing that can happen is, is that you go forward and end up needing an interruption. I don't want to be interrupted. I want to invite Him from the very beginning. That's what I want to do. This is a plea to invite the voice of God and not be interrupted. Akin was an interruption. Jesus had to interrupt the church in Revelation. It was God that began to speak to my own heart. And as I was inviting Him, I said, God, how do we reach the world? How do we reach a billion souls? And many of you know about our language channels. And I want to talk to you about that just for a second. Because when you invite God, it's amazing how He brings all this stuff together. We've called, and we don't use it enough, but we have called the language channels the Pentecost Project. The Pentecost Project is the language channels. Where do you get that, Pastor Tim? We have Pentecost. Here is what the Bible says in Acts 2.11. And we all hear, and we all hear these people speaking in our languages about the wonderful things God has done.

And so that's what really it comes from. Putting the TSC pulpit in languages that almost 90% of the world can access because of the languages that they speak. As we move towards those top 15, 16 languages in the world, 6 billion will be able to have access to it online. I want you to think of it this way, because this is so important. On tomorrow night, as we pray for the Middle East, language channel number 14, we will release Farsi Monday night that will go into Iran to the tens of millions of people in Iran. And in August, we get to release for 500 million people in Indonesia. We get to release the Indonesian channel at that time. Which means that as you put all these languages, from Hebrew and Italian, French, English, Spanish, French, Russian, Mandarin, Korean, as you begin to put all that together, it adds up to close to 6 billion that would speak those languages that have access to the Word of God. I remember God directing me to do this, and I thought, there's no way, there's no way. But I'm going, I invited you, but you gave me this impossible task. I don't even know how we're going to do this. And I remember reading this that somebody wrote that said, here's seven ways to tell how something may be a God thing and not you. And they gave me, let me just read it to you. And I'm going like, yup, this sounds right. Number one, everyone says it can't be done. Number two, you feel you aren't qualified. Yup. Number three, there aren't enough resources available. Yup, that's true. Number four, it makes no rational sense. That's true. People call it or you call it stupid. Yup, that's true. Number six, but it would give God all the glory. That's true. And number seven, it honors God and is true to His Word. That's true. That must mean it comes from God. That's why, folks, I want you to understand. When we put a language channel up, it costs us between $25,000 to $45,000 each year to run that channel. And some people are going like, well, just put it on YouTube and let AI do it. Okay, listen to me for a second. They're talking about AI, capital A, capital I. AI is not a Christian. I want you to understand that.

So, if I was to say Joshua chapter 7, I'm going like, and Joshua went to AI. AI is going like, yup, excuse me, did you call my name? And so it doesn't understand that there are things. So we have to, there goes through an incredible process. to take a message. In fact, let me do this for you, because I want you just to see this today. Because I want you to see the work that God has called us to, and I want you to see a result here on someone who invited God to speak to them, and how the language channel and the invitation all work together. Listen to this. How does a sermon get from the pulpit to the language channel? How does something that we're going to preach here today go from here and end up on the Russian channel? How does it end up on the French channel? How does it end up on the Hebrew channel? And by God's grace, on the Farsi channel tomorrow night. But here's what I want to give to you. I said, send this to me, because I want to know the process. I want to understand what this is all about. Folks, this is what's incredible. Listen to this. I'm just going to read it to you. It says, when we have to get it from the pulpit to the language channel, here's the steps. Number one, we extract the English script using AI technology. Then we review the English script to ensure accuracy. The script is translated into the target language. The translation is reviewed for accuracy, clarity, and biblical meaning. Depending on the language, the sermon is dubbed either with an AI voice technology or voiceovers. The dubbed audio is reviewed and corrected as needed. Audio is mixed with the original music and sound elements. The translated audio is synchronized with the original video. Slides, graphics, and on-screen text are translated and updated. The video editing team produces the final version of the sermon. A translated title, description, and the thumbnail are created. The completed video goes to a final quality review. And the approved video is uploaded and published on the appropriate YouTube language channel. That's a miracle of what we have to go through. You understand that, folks, when you have given to this, when you give to that missions fund, for us to put in a half a million dollars to get these languages, we have to go through this incredible process.

And you think to yourself, is it worth it? Is it worth it? If it's God, it's worth it. And can I tell you why it's worth it as we're going to close here? Because God guided us, then God has a reason. God has a reason for marching around the wall. God has a reason for saying, if you invite me, you're going to march around the wall and be quiet. If you invite me, you're not going to go into AI, you're going to ambush AI. And if you want to reach a billion souls, then you're going to have to do what I've said to do. And God begins to help us. I'm going to ask the musicians to come as I tell you this final story. Here's what's amazing. I have to tell you a story. This is from Firanza in Holland. God willing, she's going to be part of our water baptisms online next month. Or our next water baptism. Firanza would listen. She's going to invite God. She would listen to God's voice. It would be an odd path. It would be a Jericho march. It would be an ambush attack. But that's what happens when you invite God. When you invite God, it doesn't usually happen the way we think. When we invite Him. It's so easy to go to a podcast, look online, or look at a book and go, Thank God Joshua didn't look at a book or listen to a podcast. Thank God he just goes, speak, your servant is listening. Speak, your servant is listening. So all of a sudden, Firanza begins to write us. And this is what she said. I was going through a difficult time. Everything seemed to be at a standstill. I had no idea what to do with my life or where to go. I had no direction, no goals, no purpose.

Everything I've tried has failed. And I finally reached a point and I said, Okay God, if you really exist, here comes the invitation. Give me a sign and show me what I need to do. Use me for your purposes, but I don't know what they are. But then speak, tell me what I need to do. This is what she said. She said she heard a voice. And the voice said, go to Starbucks. How many of you go, that's definitely God. God would definitely say that. If it has anything to do with coffee, it's God's. She said, I heard. She said, I don't know what it was. In my heart, I heard this voice that said, go to Starbucks. She said, I was in a car driving and there was traffic. And she said, I didn't want to do this. And she said, when I decided to go to Starbucks, she said, it was like the Red Sea. All the traffic cleared away and I was right there in Starbucks. She said, I walked inside. Saw two men sitting at a small table right in front of the entrance. She said, I thought I recognized those men. I said hello to them. They looked at me and said, do we know you? I walked to the cashier to get my chai latte. I asked, you come here often? You look familiar to me. I've seen you here before. They both shook their heads and said, no. But I feel like we've seen you before, especially the two. She said, I feel like I've seen the two of you together. They shook their heads, saying, no, we haven't been here.

So I just simply said, how strange. It just seems like you look familiar to me. So after a few minutes, I wanted to walk out. As I passed by them, I said goodbye. And one of them said, wait. Maybe we worked in the same place. Maybe we live in the same community. We discussed all that information. We realized that that wasn't it either. And then this is what she said, this is where it gets really scary good, when you invite God. So the other man had been smiling at me the other time, and I looked at him, and I said, what is it? And he said, I know why you are here. This is what he said. She goes, really, why? He said, you're here because Jesus sent you. Come on. She said, and the strangest thing of all that I immediately felt that he was right. I stopped and listened. He continued. He said, Jesus sent you because he wants you to know that he is here for you. I'm here to tell you he is the truth and the only truth. The truth is in the word of God. To get to know Jesus, you must read the Bible. She said, I was instantly arrested by this. She said, I need to sit down. I sat down in the only chair at their table, which was also facing the entrance, like it was as if it was waiting for me. Then she wrote down the man's name. Jemuel began to tell a story about how he had come in contact with Jesus through a friend about the circumstances in his life that he was going through at the time. He said, I resisted Jesus for four years, but through the perseverance of a friend, I finally given in and let him come into my life. He spoke about the changes that came. Here's what's amazing. It even gets better. He said, then, he tells me about this church in New York City

called Times Square Church. It's a church that preaches the true truth, unlike other churches, and explains why that is. He said, I want you to get a Bible, and I want you to go listen to Times Square Church. This is how we get the email. Jemuel goes out to his car, gets a Bible, and I said, oh my, this is not just any Bible, it's beautiful. He said, well, a few weeks ago, I got tired of lugging this Bible around, and I felt the Lord wanted me to put it in my car to give to someone, and it's you. So he said, Jemuel wrote his name and his wife's name and number, Zariah, in the Bible, that I could call any time. He also wrote down the websites of TSC, and a church in the area that I could go. I didn't realize I was talking to the senior pastor of that church. God never intended me to go to Starbucks to get a chai latte. He wanted me to go to meet Jemuel, and apparently, to find my way to Times Square Church. But here's the side note. When they wrote that down, Jemuel and Zariah, I'm going, wait a second. I know those people. I was in Amsterdam about five, no, probably before, I think it was before the pandemic, seven years ago, in Amsterdam, and I was in the break, the lunch break, so while everybody was eating lunch, all the leaders and pastors, I said, I can't be this close and eat lunch. Someone take me to Corrie Temboon's house. I want to see the hiding place. And it was Zariah and Jemuel that drove me to Corrie Temboon's house so I could see the hiding place. They brought me there. And I'm going, wait, I know those people. He didn't just randomly tell her to go to Times Square Church. He listens himself. She wrote, all this took place on March 24th. I started my Christian journey 11 weeks ago.

She says, wow, since that day, I've been reading the Bible every day, watching chapter by chapter because Zariah told me I needed to. Because it's Dutch time, I started praying, asking the Holy Spirit to help me. I recently joined the Breakthrough series, each of the five-week series on Breakthrough. I just attended my first Beyond Sunday Zoom meeting at TSC Sundays. She said, I've been listening to the messages. I've attended every sermon online. She says, I finally wrote in to one of your online prayer people named Lauren, and I was telling her the fear and sadness in my heart. And she said, I hear you, sister. That made me feel like we were in this all together. And she said, I had her pray for me. God began to set me free. I felt an awakening, an appreciation. I knew that God was working inside of me. God is calling me, although I don't even know what it is yet. I just want to say, I praise you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. And thank you, Times Square Church, for what He has done. Here's what happens. Here's what happens when you invite God. It goes like this. Jeremiah 33.3 Call to me, and I will answer you great and mighty, and tell you great and mighty things which you do not know. Here's a better version. Listen to the message. Call to me, and I'll answer you. I'll tell you marvelous and wonderful things that you could never figure out on your own. God in those things. Stand with me. Stand with me as we close out today. Invite Him. Invite God. So many of us have lived our lives with the interruption that comes from consequences. Invite Him immediately. Don't live a godless Christian life that just says, I need you to get to heaven and I need you because of this bad news. No, no, no. God, every day I invite you. Guide my steps. Who knew that when God, when God was beginning to send me seven years ago or eight years ago to Amsterdam and I'm going, I don't want to eat lunch. I want to go to Corey Tim Boone's house. Who knew that Jamil and Zaria would take me there? Who knew that when God said, go ahead and do these language channels and get online so people

could begin to understand in their languages? Who knew that God would begin to say, and then I'm going to have a lady who's reached the end of her rope invite me in and I'm just going to say, go to Starbucks. Who knew that Jamil and his friend would end up there the very night she shows up for her chai latte? Only God knew that. God put those events together. You know what happens? You know what happens when you invite Him in? You get to be in the right place at the right time. You get to be in there. You know what's the worst thing is to be a day late and a dollar short. I don't even know where I got that from, but that's, that is, that is not a good thing to do. I want to be right on time. I remember hearing in the church, he's an on-time God. Yes, he is, but he needs a people that will invite him. There's a war coming. There's a battle coming and folks, we need a battle plan. We need the strategy from God. God, what do you want us to do? God, what do you want us to do? Folks, I can promise you this. We're going to invite him and we're going to say, God, speak to us, speak to us, speak to us. Some of you are going to face a battle on your university campuses. You're going to face battles on your jobs and you need to get up every morning and say, speak, Lord, your servant is listening. Just tell me what to do. Tell me to be quiet. Tell me, Daniel knew that. Read the book of Daniel. God gave them the directions. Do you know every time they faced, whether it was the lion's den, whether it was they eat and defile themselves with the king's food, or whether it was the bow down at that 90 foot image, every single time, every single time, they didn't respond the same way every time. God gave them the direction. Think about it. When they were being given that food, they didn't sit there and go, no, we're not eating. They didn't give the, we won't bow. They just said, we have another alternative. We have another alternative. If they would have said, we're not eating, Daniel would have been a very short book. It would have been, they died valiantly. That's what it would have been. But they just said, we have another option. Let us eat our diet. And they go, you're 10 times better. But then when they built an image, they said, we're not bowing. There was no alternatives. We cannot bow. And when it was a lion's den, and they said that you couldn't pray, they didn't make a stink, didn't make a petition. They didn't stand out in protest. He just prayed as he normally did and said, God, I'm going to do what you've asked me to do. And if I get thrown in that den, you're in charge of those lions. And that's exactly what God did. But you know, you know how you get that? You know how you get, because some of us, me included, me as the number one culprit, number one culprit, you find something that works and you keep doing it.

And then you don't invite God anymore. Anybody with me on that? I've done that so many times. I preach this message. I'm going, oh, if I preach this again over here, everybody's going to, instead of going, God, what do you want me to say? What do you want me to preach? Folks, I've done it. I've done it. I remember in Detroit, I remember a guy in Detroit. I don't even know why I'm telling you this, but I'm going to tell you. In Detroit, I just, I didn't have much money. I didn't have anything. And I remember a guy asking for money. And I would just, I would just, I just said, God, give me a word for this guy. I'm tired. I don't, first of all, they're asking me for money. I don't even have any money. And so I remember the guy coming, he goes, I need, I need $2 so I can get on the bus. I said, I'll tell you what. And God gave me a word. I said, I'm going to give you the $2. But if you're lying, I'm going to pray that God kill you like Ananias and Sapphira. Folks, I couldn't, I was going like, I think I'm going to die is what's going to happen. And this is what happened. The guy goes, I'm lying. He goes, he goes, he goes, would you pray for me? So I started praying for him. And I'm telling you, I, this is the problem. This is the problem. This is what I said. I got the line. I got the line. Anyone around America that asked me for money, they're going to hear about Ananias and. Sapphira because I got that's what that's what success does that's what victory does and so I'm going I'm ready folks it was two days later some man showed up at our church step with a gas can I'm going oh likely a gas can he goes I need five dollars my car my car ran out of gas and nobody's car runs out of gas so I told him I said and I got bolder I said I'm going to give you the five dollars but if you're lying to me I'm going to pray that God kill you like anonized right then I got even bolder I said and send you to hell and that gas is going to begin to make the flames hotter for you and he was telling you and he was staring at me and he goes I still need the five dollars that was my lesson that was my lesson you know what I did instead of inviting God I just began to ride a wave I plagiarized I took my Jericho my Jericho victory and I stuck it into AI that's just a few people let's just go Joshua sends a couple thousand and God says the next chapter send them all in talk about missing God and that's why you can't look at people on these streets and go I give them all the same line ask what God wants you to do invite God into this there's a battle coming you know what God needs people to hear from okay look at me because I'm going to really make you feel bad right now look at me some of you haven't even asked God if you

should be here for the prayer meeting you just sat there and go like I'm not giving up Monday night Sunday night I've been in church all day today I'm not going to church okay here it is let me give it to you did you invite God did you ask him did you invite God so you're going I'll be here now invite God because these are going to be pivotal prayer meetings I want you to bow your head and close your eyes for just a second one quick question I here it is first for the Christians if you say pastor Tim I feel like that's been me I've just I felt like it's like this godless Christianity I need him for heaven and I need him for a bad diagnosis but I haven't been asking for direction I'm managing consequences I'm managing or I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't go bad but I haven't invited him in I've invited in his direction his wisdom his wisdom his wisdom his wisdom every morning God just speak to me if you're here today and say pastor Tim this is a reset for me this is a reset because I got to know what God is saying now wherever you're at whether you're working whether you whether whether you work on Broadway at the United Nations whether you work in the financial world the medical field whether you're whether you're a mom that's at home raising precious children or whether you're a single dad that's trying to just make it through you need the direction of God if you're here today and say pastor Tim this is a reset for me I don't want to live by an interruption I want to live by invitation I want to ask God if you're here today and saying this has been a reset for me I need to invite him in every day if that's you raise your hand just say I need to invite hold them up high and would you lift up the other hand and just say God invite you in now I invite you in I invite you in I need your wisdom I need your direction I need your direction I need your direction I need your wisdom right now that's what we want to do it's not by what we see or what we hear it's my God what do you what do you want me to do what do you want me to do just ask him he'll speak you may hear your go go to Starbucks and you may hear march around the wall you may hear ambush the city whatever that is what is God saying to you let let let him lead you finally just before we sing this song you could put your hands down if you're here today instead of living your life by consequences and chance and invite God into your life make the greatest invitation God would you come in can I give you some good news today the Bible says if you invite him in he will not say no he will come in and change your life invite him I'm not even don't invite times square church

don't invite a religion don't invite a denominator invite Jesus and if you're here today and say pastor Tim I've been living on what I would call good fortune or luck or just hope I hope it goes well but today I want to invite God and the what God all-knowing God who knows my future the God that can say go to Starbucks and the God that can say I want you to go talk to this person the God that can guide me if you've never invited Jesus to come in and change you I'm telling you he will direct your life and here's the good news he will direct it all the way to heaven where you will spend eternity and he can change it today that's you And say, I need God in my life. I just want to pray for you right now. That's you in saying, I want God in my life. Without any hesitation, just say, I want Him. I want to invite Him today. Hold your hand up high. Hold it up high so I can see. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Got you there. Keep them up. Yes. That whole section over there. Yes. All the way in the back. All the way there. All the way back there. All the way there. We got you. Come on. Pray this with me out loud. Say, Jesus, I invite you. Come and change me. Thank you for dying for my sins. Thank you for raising from the dead. And thank you for answering my invitation to come in and change me. I need you in my life.

I need you every day in my life. And today is a day of invitation in Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen. And Amen. And Amen. And listen. If you made that prayer, you can text the word Decide at 51,000 online. You can email. But if you raised your hand and prayed that prayer, you can go to Exit 7 when the service is over. We'll get you a Bible and get you started on your journey. Let's sing one song. We're coming back tonight at 6 o'clock. We're going to be worshipping in Hebrew, English, praying with Israel tonight. It's going to be a special night. Let's sing this last song.