It’s Getting Late And It’s Getting Serious

Don't forget, those watching around the country and around the world, we've just started in chapter by chapter with the Book of Judges, so we encourage you to join with us as we go through the Book of Judges. Now, the message today is still being born in me. There's something happening in my soul, but I felt it was strong enough, even though it's in seed form, to continue. And God began to speak to me something on Friday, and then I felt like it was kind of maturing on Saturday, and I felt like it was something that, instead of putting off to the side, I want to do my best, with God's help, to share with what God has put on my heart today and let Him speak. You know, I was thinking of the words of one of the great Christian writers back in the 1970s, an apologist from Switzerland. His name was Francis Schaeffer. He said some pretty prophetic words when he said this. He says, One day we would wake up and discover that the America we once knew is gone. Let me say that again. He said, There will come a day when we would wake up and discover that the America that we once knew is gone. That day is here, folks. Folks, we woke up after a COVID pandemic, global pandemic, and the nation that we have known, and I'm telling you, not just our nation, all the nations, that something has taken over. Something has come in and has taken over the culture and really the moral system and everything has come in and taken over. What has happened to the nation, our nations, your nation, I believe it is going to take a special church and special Christians to fight what is happening out there. There are going to have to be, let me just say this, in order to see renewal come and revival come, what we are calling today as the present day church is not fireproof. It's not fireproof. It's not able to go through the fire, and I want to encourage all those leaders watching from around the country, and let me speak to the internationals for a second, for just a moment. Don't copy the U.S. church. Don't copy the U.S. church. Don't come to our conferences. Don't come to any of the meetings. Get on your knees and say, What does God have us to do? That's what you're supposed to do. Don't copy any of us. Don't go. Save your money. I talk to leaders that are on their way to conferences that stop in New York City, and I'm begging you, don't go to our conferences. We need a revival in our own country. We need an outpouring here. I saw something in the book of Ruth that I want to just share with you as I was preparing for chapter by chapter. I want to take a message from a David. I heard David Wilkerson just say this. Just go by, and I'm going to steal his words, and he just simply said this. It's getting late, and it's getting serious. And that's what I want to talk to you about. It's getting late, and it's getting serious. Let's pray. Father, in these next few moments, I'm really going to need your help, because I don't know when to stop, what to keep out, what to do. But I know, God, that you put something on my heart today. Help me to get this right with your help. Just empower me today, God. Once again, I'm going to present to you a few fishes and a few loaves. Somehow, would you feed the multitudes? Somehow, would you feed the nations? Would you feed the nations in these next few moments? And I pray this in Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen. God bless you. You may be seated. Thank you. Thank you, choir. Thank you. I've referenced this before, but I want to say it again, because I think we need to hear it. When you read the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar did not see Jesus until three boys were put into a furnace because of their commitment to God. Let me say that again. Nebuchadnezzar didn't see it from a church, from a Christian group, or anything. He finally saw Jesus when the believers were put in a furnace. And folks, this is important, because it may take some furnaces for this world to see Jesus. It may take us facing some challenging moments for the world not to listen. They may not be reading books and listening to podcasts, but I'm telling you, when they see a church and believers that are not being burned by the furnaces that they are being put in, they will see Jesus. They went through the fire and the people saw Jesus. And there will not be words but a life that can face this. That life that can go through a furnace, that life that can face that and open up the eyes of the world, is a person that's cut out or brought out from that famous verse, that powerful verse in Romans 12. You know it to say this, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, what are the next two words? A living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. When you when you look at this living sacrifice is the word that overpowers this verse because it's the Apostle Paul that takes an Old Testament word and Ceremony and adds this what would be this very very unfamiliar adjective to the word sacrifice

Sacrifice is always associated with death, but to add living sacrifice almost becomes like a contradiction It is a it is this contradiction of terms that but the best It is the best description of God's people that can go through the furnace because what is a living sacrifice? It is a living breathing believer that has surrendered everything to God They have given it all up they have died to sin to the popular opinion to the culture and to religion Today we're we find and I say this with grief in my heart. I don't say this even even In a prideful or a boasting way, but we're watching we're watching leaders Christian leaders Becoming actors and showmen they're becoming food connoisseurs and coffee connoisseurs and and Sneakerheads that that that is that will not go through the fire folks. We need believers We need leaders that will become a living sacrifice that will say God it is you and nothing else Nothing else listen to the way listen to the way that the message begins to Elaborate on this verse Romans 12 1 he says this so here's what I want you to do He says God helping you take your everyday ordinary life You're sleeping eating going to work walking around life and place it before God as an offering Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking instead fix your attention on God You'll be changed from the inside out Readily recognize that he wants what he wants from you and quickly respond to it unlike the culture around you always dragging you down To its level of immaturity God brings the best out of you Developing well form maturity inside of you. I love that I love the power of that verse and how it says it it is a challenge to all of us To what it means to be a living sacrifice. It was the wife of William Booth he founded the Salvation Army that literally had to become a living sacrifice to see this work That that would take place in the slums of London. She said it like this He said show the world a real living self sacrificing hard-working toiling triumphing Christianity and the world will be influenced by anything short of that they will turn around and spit on it This is such a challenge for us today of what God is asking We have a world that is falling apart and we need living sacrifices I I was pastoring at a time when the world was alarmed at the at in

1999 by a thing called the y2k. I'm gonna remember y2k and putting food in the basement That at midnight and New Year's Eve that there's something that's gonna happen to the computers that because they're not they're not they're not Calibrated well that everything's gonna shut down. Don't be in the air. Don't be on an airplane Don't be over here. Everything is gonna fall apart at that time and and and the computers will shut down the power grids Well, and and we all lived under this fear that when all this was happening and I learned something new this week There is a new thing that is on the way And I learned something that will start up around the world and you'll hear these words. The new y2k is called Q day It's the new thing that is getting ready to happen that anybody in the tech world knows about Q day Q day is more dangerous because no one knows when it's gonna happen. They say it's probably around 2030 2031 Q day is when the moment that these quantum computers start to begin to break through with all this modern Technology break through the encryption codes. Then everything that is private goes public And everybody is waiting. This is the moment that all of a sudden they don't even know what's going on All of a sudden they don't even know what to do with this. We have a world that is falling apart and if ever we need Believers to get serious about this it is now of what god is calling us And like I said as david wilkerson said it's getting late, but it's also getting serious for us And that's why I believe we are two words if I was to describe it this way. We are two words away From I believe revival or a move of god and awakening and I believe those two words are needing a church that is a living sacrifice That is a people that are willing to say god We put everything else aside or as ricardo led us I give myself away so you can use me That's what I saw That's what god began to move inside of me. This is the narrative. This is the story. I want to give to you It's Ruth's story about a living sacrifice. It's a story of a young lady who got serious because she knew it was getting late. It's a story of a young lady that was faced at a crossroads of which man or which person to choose in her life. Let me just build up the story for a moment. Naomi was this woman and her husband are facing a crisis while living in Israel. And there is a famine in the land of Judah. And the father, Naomi's husband, says, let's move, I've heard that there's food in a place called Moab.

So the wife and the two boys go, the four of them go, not just to a foreign land, but to an enemy country. The Moabites were against Israel, but they knew that there was food there. In Moab, the husband dies, Naomi's husband dies, leaving the family alone. But their two boys took Moabite women as their wives. So now Naomi is left with two boys and two Moabite wives or daughter-in-laws. Then the two boys died. She has lost her husband and two sons, leaving Naomi with two Moabite widows. There's three widows living in a home now in this foreign country. Naomi is in a foreign country. She's husbandless, childless, and two foreign daughter-in-laws that are there. Boy, if there's anything that sounds like God's getting ready to do a great story, it's right there. This is where it's all about to take off. And then Naomi hears the news that God has done something in Judah. See, the book of Ruth starts off and it talks about the judges that were ruling. So it's this moment where it seems like God has visited Judah. Before when they left, it would seem like it was under the discipline of God, and somehow, we don't know the exact time frame, but somebody started to cry out for God and the blessing of God started to come. And Naomi, who has no husband, she has two daughter-in-laws that are Moabites. She has no children. She's been living this life of pain. In fact, when she gets back to Judah, she makes the journey. The pain that she has gone through has made her almost unrecognizable. Let me just read this to you. It says, so they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city stirred because of them. And the women said, is this Naomi? Like they couldn't even recognize her.

Like the pain that she went through, somehow, it has changed her appearance. She said to them, do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Since the Lord has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me. So Naomi returned with her Ruth, the Moabites, her daughter-in-law who returned from the land of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. Before she leaves this Moabite area and goes to Judah, this conversation is what challenged me. It's going to bring out a living sacrifice. It's going to bring out somebody that really understands it's late and it's time to get serious. Like you're gonna see something happen, and this is what challenged me for my own life. This will be a God move, will be met with a resounding yes from two women. But always remember, any time you say yes to God, it always seems like God will give you a reality check to make sure that your yes is for real. They will have to make a decision, it's getting late and serious. And Ruth, and I know I may mess up before, so don't correct me, but just tell me. Ruth and her sister, Orpah, not Oprah, Orpah is in this story. And somehow my computer kept changing it from Oprah or Orpah to Oprah. And I'm going, no, not the lady that's on TV. Ruth and Orpah are challenged by Ruth,

and this is what happens, challenged by Naomi. And Naomi said to her two daughter-in-laws, go, return each of you to your mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you. She's trying to part ways, she's trying to send them off. You have dealt with the dead and with me. May the Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, lifted up, they lifted up their voice and wept. And they, don't miss this, they said to her, no, we will surely return with you to your people. But Naomi said, return my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Return my daughters, go, I'm too old to have a husband. If I said I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight and also bear sons, would you therefore wait until you were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughter. daughters, for it's harder for me than for you. For the hand of the Lord has come against me." Verse 14. And they lifted up their voice and wept again. Here it comes. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. Then she said, Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods. Return after your sister-in-law. But Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you. Where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me. When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her. So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. This is amazing. This conversation was really for the serious.

It was 50 miles from Bethlehem to Moab. 50 mile journey. 10 days they would have to begin to make it through this uncharted ground. 10 days and 50 miles though wasn't the issue. Here's the challenge, because it looked like both daughters were going with Naomi, daughter-in-laws. But this point of clarity comes in. This point of asking a second thing starts to come in. They both said, we will surely go with you. Then the clarity moment comes in. It's the second challenge. She says, if you go with me, you may never get married by being connected to me. You may need to give up on your dream if you want to walk with me. Folks, listen to me. She says, I have no more boys in my womb. Would you refrain from marrying? And all of a sudden that was it. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. Every yes that you give to God is going to face a reality check. It's going to face something that says, are you willing to lay it down at his feet? Are you willing to lay down agendas and dreams and your pursuits and ambitions? Are you willing to do it to take a journey with like Naomi, the Christ of suffering, the Christ of pain? It took just one more point of clarity to find out who was going to go with her. Somehow Ruth knew her future was in Naomi. Somehow she knew if I go with her and say, your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Where you die, I will die. Somehow she knew that this moment, her future, her destiny would be wrapped up into this woman. Though it looks painful at the moment, the Moabite, the Gentile would trust this Jewish woman and chooses correctly. I'll show you why in a second. I will avoid using names except one name I'll just use, but I need to tell this story. I prayed about this because you need to make sure that when you face those crossroads, listen to me, whether you're single, whoever you are, you need to make sure that when you face those crossroads, you're choosing to move with the right people. You're choosing to go with the right people because the times are getting serious and we need people to go, I'm going with you. I choose you. I was faced with a situation many years ago. Someone I respected and was a friend who helped me tremendously as a young pastor would begin to affirm something that happened here at Times Square Church. I talked to you about because I got his permission and talked to you some months ago about what took place in the 1990s. This major uprising and rebellion took place in Times Square Church, started on the stage, moved into the choir and started to take and 700 people left Times Square Church and started to follow and go after things. Then when I found out the connection

with someone I respected, I was put in a place that I was looking at David Wilkerson and Carter Conlin, who living through so much pain, their bodies felt it. They felt the weight of the rebellion of the 90s and it came to a point, and this is so important for me to tell you, came to a point that I either just overlook it and try to hold on to someone who would just affirm what took place or hold on to the people that were going through pain. And I was faced with this moment. I'm going, they helped me. They were a friend. I could call upon them. And I'm looking at the pain in Pastor Carter, the pain that's going on with Brother Dave Wilkerson and looking at what has happened and seeing all this that was taking place. And it was a Ruth moment for me. It was this Ruth moment that just simply says, do you walk with those in pain? Do you walk with those in there? And I'm telling you folks, it was at that moment, it was one of the hardest things I had to do in my life to say, I cannot walk with you any longer. And to walk with, I looked at David Wilkerson and Carter Conlin, and I said, that's the lives. Though they're walking in pain, that's who I need to walk with at that moment. That's who I need to find myself with. Because folks, they were in the middle of a painful moment. And look at me for a second. I want you to hear this.

If I didn't, I wouldn't be here today. If I didn't, and folks, this is huge for you to understand. Because there's going to be moments that you're gonna have to go, do I really walk? It looks painful and it looks like it's on their face. It doesn't look good now. It doesn't look like there is all this brightness now. It's pain and dark. But you've got to hear from the Holy Spirit before you take a journey. You've got to hear what God is saying. In this book, she tells them, she said, you go with me, you may never get married. And here was Orpah, check please. She was done at that moment. She was, I'm getting married, I'm having kids. She goes, I already have it on my, I know what the name is gonna be. I know what I'm gonna do. I'm staying here because this is, Ruth, somehow led by the Holy Ghost, says, I choose the woman of pain. I choose Naomi. It doesn't look bright. Your country is my country. Your people are my people. And your God is my God. I'm telling you, folks, I'm not standing here today that I didn't look at Carter Conlin and David Wilkerson and say, where you go, I will go.

Your God is my God. Your place is my place. That's what we're here to do. And you've got to understand today, you will face those as we're going into the future. Then a marriage takes place at the end of the book. Ruth gets married. The book ends with a miracle marriage, not just a marriage, it's a miracle marriage. I have to read it to you because this is the story. So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. There's stuff in between on how it happened. We don't have time. And he went into her and the Lord enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son. Then the woman said to Naomi, folks, this is where all of a sudden the pain starts to change. Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today. And may his name become famous in Israel. And may also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of all. Do you see? He said, what's about to be birth is gonna sustain you and it's gonna revive you. That what's about to take place is going to change you. For your daughter-in-law who loves you and is better to you than seven sons has given birth to him. Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap,

and she became his nurse. Then the neighbor women gave him a name saying, a son has been born to Naomi, even though it was born to Ruth. So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse. Uh-oh. And the father of David. Who knew that the path of pain was gonna begin to birth the line of David? And can we go a little bit further back in the story? Let me just, let me read to you how the book ends. Because the book of Ruth ends elaborating. Look at Ruth 4.18, because it goes backwards and forwards. Now these are the generations of Perez. You're going like, we're just talking about Naomi and Obed. Look at this now. These are the generations of Perez, because it's trying to show you the path that you took, Ruth, is the right path. To Perez was born Hezron. To Hezron was born Ram. To Ram, Aminadab. These are the final verses of Ruth. And to Aminadab was born Nashon. And to Nashon, this guy named Salmon. And to Salmon was born Boaz. And to Boaz, Obed. And to Obed was born Jesse. And to Jesse, David.

Okay, stay with me now. We're on a journey here on this journey that you may thought was pain But God is going no no no there's future in that Do you when you become a living sacrifice watch what takes place when you lay down your agenda and your dreams and say God? I'm gonna take your path watch how God redeems that Boaz's father Was Salman remember Ruth marries Boaz so that means her father-in-law is a man Named Salman, okay, you ready for this. Do you know who married? Salman and it's part of this genealogy Buck look at the person next to say buckle up. Do you know who married Salman here it is? Rahab the Jericho Prostitutes This this just gets better and better rehab Salman and Rahab had a son and his name was what and Boaz is the son of Rahab Can you imagine Ruth's? mother-in-law is an Ex-prostitutes from Jericho can you imagine what those conversations were like over the dinner table every night? Tell us again the sound of the walls coming down Tell us tell us how your home stood when everything else was falling around you and that that little that little Scarlet rope how how you made a promise to those five? How did you hide those spies and what did you say? Oh those spies aren't here They went into the woods But tell us again that when they came in that you saw the armies coming in you saw this army Marching around you heard the sound an earthquake and yet God rescued you and I could see you're going Mama, mama, tell me I could see so you're saying I'm gonna call you mama mama mama. Tell me tell me I got I gotta know How did you get how did you how did you get married you started dating a Jewish boy and that Jewish boy Would would begin whose name was who's named after a fish? Salmon Salmon, so we're dating you're dating a fish and now so so now

We're all of a sudden together and here we are as a family and can we make it a little bit better here? You're ready for this. Let's get a little crazier the record This is Matthew chapter 1 the record of the genealogies of Jesus the Messiah the son of David the son of Abraham Abraham was the father of Isaac Isaac the father of Jacob Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers Judah the father of Perez Oh that sounds familiar Zira by Tamar Perez was the father of Hezron Hezron was the father of Ram Ram was the father of Minadab of Minadab the father of nation Nation the father of who? Salmon Salmon the father of who? of Obed watch this now by who? There's the wife. There's the mother-in-law Boaz's mama was an ex-prostitute who went through teen challenge in Jericho Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab Boaz was the father of Obed by who? Ruth and Obed the father of Jesse Jesse the father of David who the king hallelujah hallelujah If you didn't notice this the whole thing started out. This is the genealogy of Jesus This is the genealogy of Jesus This is the genealogy of Jesus This is to get you in the genealogy of you. Oh my goodness This just keeps getting better and better Ruth went with the right person her future was found in Naomi history shows that Ruth became becomes the great-grandmother of David in the genealogy of Jesus folks We're not done yet because there's one of the person we have to talk about it's the woman who didn't go We still have to talk about Orpah for just a moment Orpah did get married according to Jewish history and based on Jewish tradition Ruth and

Orpah will meet again Their children and grandchildren are going to meet The Jewish This is tradition But there's something here probably worth mentioning The Jewish Midrash is a commentary on the Old Testament. It's it's rabbi And historians Jewish historians that look at the scriptures that we have before you before us the Old Testament This is their commentary. This is there. It's not They wouldn't call it a fabrication. This is their commentary. This is what they have researched And this is what this is what the Midrash says That Orpah Becomes the mother of Goliath That's what the Midrash says So Their seed is about to meet again on a battlefield one with a slingshot and One who's nine feet tall with a sword and I'm telling you folks Here's the thing Orpah is the mother of Goliath and while Ruth was David's great-grandmother And what I realized is this what is birth from sacrifice is? Totally different than what is birth from comfort ability Listen to me carefully What is birthed out of living sacrifice is totally different than what is birthed out of comfort ability Sacrifice will give birth to Obed Convenience gives birth to Goliath Sacrifice gives birth to Obed who will then give birth to Jesse who will then give birth to David the king The Midrash says that Orpah is the mother of the Philistines Giants that are even mentioned in 2nd Samuel chapter 21 three other Giants Romans 12

living sacrifice birth something powerful Orpah's kiss is almost like a Judas kiss I'm with you until it gets difficult I'm with you until something gets hard while one kisses Ruth clings What a sacrifice mean What does it mean? Sacrifice that we see the seriousness of it that you see in Ruth Sacrifices when you let God interrupt your life with a challenge That he interrupts your comfort ability with a challenge Sacrifice is accepting the challenge regardless of the difficulty Sacrifice I've learned in my own life is not an addition to your life, but it's a subtraction It's when you choose the God directive over your comfortable schedule and routine. It's when God goes I want that out That's what Ruth was doing. I Want the Moabites up? I want you to I know you're comfortable here I know you know the the local store owner here, and I know you you know the market people over here Ruth And I know that you grew up as a little girl who went to that school there Ruth But I'm gonna ask you to leave Moab, and I'm gonna ask there's a future I'm gonna tell you about that you don't even know I can't even explain it to you because it wouldn't even make sense for me to tell you that you're gonna marry a guy that you meet in a barley field and That barley field and your and your mother-in-law is gonna be an ex-prostitute That saw walls come down and Then you're gonna give birth to Somebody who is gonna begin to give birth to Jesse who's gonna give birth to David the King and you don't even know this Ruth But that genealogy that I need to get you on is gonna bring you all the way to the birth of the King of Kings And the Lord of Lords, but you don't get that right now Ruth So what I need you to do is I'm gonna ask you to choose something and accept the challenge and be a living sacrifice I'm gonna ask you to accept the challenge that when everybody else is gonna go. I'm not gonna do that

I'm not gonna get listen just think for a moment What is what is God asking you to do by giving up something or hope or even hope of something? I just kept writing these down Listen, you can take them to heart you can just but I just kept writing this down Are you willing to give a tenth of your finances to God? Are you willing to give up your mornings to pray are willing to give up your reputation at work to witness? Are you willing to give up two years of your life and go to summit like you saw in the announcement? Are you willing to give up your Thursdays and join the choir? Are you willing to give up your comfort and lead a beyond Sunday group or a chapter by chapter group? Are you willing to give up a meal to fast each week? Are you willing to come to noon prayer meeting on Wednesdays? Are you willing to join Pastor Carter in the worldwide prayer meeting willing to give up your teens and not date? Are you willing to give up your plans and do something in missions in ministry? Willing to try out for the cross on the switchblade some of you going like will it pass? Well, we'll make exceptions Are you willing to come to Tuesday night services and invite somebody I just kept going on and on that's the path That's gonna that's the path that God puts us on That's the path that he says take the Ruth path Take that choice. Oh, it's we we I get it. I get it You're a New Yorker, I get it. Sometimes to get into this city, it is like a journey from Moab to Israel. I get that. They'll shut down roads and shut down trains and shut down... A president visits here, a parade comes over here, it's UN week over here. And then you just go in like, man, just to get across town in this city is hard enough. But I'm here to tell you, there is a path that God asks us to take because He sees something we don't see. He sees what's on the other side of this. Even the challenge of Tuesday nights, we're at a place, I know God has spoken to us, this is so important for some of you to hear. I felt like God said, I started to hear testimonies of Tuesday night salvations

from over the years before the pandemic. From our own workers on staff and saying, I came on a Tuesday night, someone invited me from work and someone brought me, and I just said, I kept hearing over and over again of people getting saved on Tuesday nights. And I said, man, we're doing this all wrong. We're not to follow what the church is doing in America, who's trying to get rid of midweek service, we're to amp it up. I'm not gonna listen to whatever, everyone else is going, don't do it, or just meet once a month, or just come in with a little guy and a guitar. I don't know why I said little guy, but I just, I mean, it's just, I just said that, just edit that. But it just, and it's, forgive me, I don't even know, I just, the thing is, and so we wanna just downplay, folks, Tuesdays for this city, I believe is an outreach to New York City. I wanna go and say, I wanna reach New York City, I wanna reach all those business buildings here in Midtown Manhattan. And that's why we said this, we said, let's go full throttle on Tuesday nights. Choir, nursery, and kids ministry, we're starting high school, and all the high school kids in junior high will be meeting on Tuesday nights, all this happening at the end. And then we'll do all this at the end of, and I just told them, I said, put me on for two Tuesdays a month, let's get our own people speaking, and then we'll just do a special guest once a month on Tuesday nights, first special guest on Tuesday in September is David Jeremiah, who will come join with us on Tuesday night. But you gotta, listen, you can't just come and sit, we need you to serve and be part of that. Oh, I don't know, you're asking me to come in to invite the coworkers and get here. I wanna win this city to Jesus, but it's gonna take a living sacrifice.

Listen, Orba will just hang out. Ruth goes, it's gonna cost me, but who knows what's on the other side of that decision. Who knows what God can do when all that takes place? Who knows what God can come and do? When you volunteer, when you say, let me do this, let me help with this, let me sing, do security, help with children, help with youth, let me help, let me get people here, whatever that looks like, you never know when you take the path of inconvenience. I got this from Sibi, who leads all of our volunteers and our foundation groups. Listen to what she wrote me last week. She said, hi, Pastor Tim, just wanted to share an awesome testimony about one of our participants from the last foundation group. And some of you need to get into the foundation group. Listen, said she joined, Stephanie is a wonderful woman. She joined the foundation this past spring and is co-leading the information desk. From the foundation group, she started her facilitator's evangelism team, which means earlier today, that was on a Sunday or a Saturday? Sunday. So you can sit there and go, Orpah would just be going like, listen, I've already been to church. I've already done church, listen. And he kept us longer than we should be here, supposed to be over at this time. And he just didn't stop spitting on everybody. It was just, it was a mess. Everything was a mess. And then you get Ruth. Then you get Ruth that goes, not only did I go to church, but I'm going to go out witnessing on the streets after service. Listen to this. So the foundation group, she started an evangelism team.

Earlier today, that was last Sunday, they went out for evangelism. And at the end, they met in front of the church under the marquee, which by God's grace is going to be an LED wall. And above that is going to be an LED wall. So they got there to wrap it up and pray. As they prayed, the Holy Spirit fell so heavily that under the marquee, she got baptized in the Holy Ghost and received the gift of tongues underneath that marquee. She said, praise God. She was being obedient about her father's business and received her prayer language. Just wanted to share that God is on the move all over the place. And I just wrote down in my notes. They gave their Sundays and got the Holy Ghost. That's not a bad deal I'm just gonna tell you that right now. You give your Sundays you get the Holy Spirit folks That's what happens when you choose the road That's what happens when you find yourself when everybody else is going come on. We got to get out here We got to find the keys. Let's hurry up and get first in line It may be God saying or but you go, but I'm going this way for what God is asking me to do That's what Revelation 12 11 talks about the elements of those that will be a living sacrifice When he says they overcame him because the blood of the Lamb because of the word of their testimony They did not love their life when they faced death overcoming Christians living sacrifice Christians have three elements they trust in the blood of Jesus that salvation God Protects his children that trust in him word of their testimony. That's boldness God and powers his children That will speak out and they did not love even their life when faced with death That's sacrifice and God uses his children when they sacrifice as the band comes. Let me tell you a story And I've been told not to mention the nation, but it is an Islamic nation where Christians are greatly persecuted and we Have just ventured to put a work there And we are presently sending Bibles to the underground church in this nation and trying to figure out a way to do a child cry Program in this place, but I want to read to you. What was just sent to our missions department warm greetings the ministry to feed hungry children helping Christian prisoners and their families street women and children in And I had to do this for my own notes

I had to put every time they stayed they told us the nation, but I had to put all these X's So I wouldn't say it because there's a there's nations that tune in with us that I can't mention on Sunday These are the restricted nations if I mentioned them it could put them at risk This is not to be printed if mentioned it could be said that it happened in an Islamic nation This is the story written by a Muslim convert to Christianity to us in that nation My wife and I live in a big town in this country. We were both born in Muslim families We're both drug addicts ten years ago our Lord Savior Jesus Christ saved us from our sinful nature and from then on These are wrong. These are Revelation 12 11 overcomers. We are witnessing about the Lord to others We're trying to bring glory to him over 18 months ago. My wife and I were arrested for evangelistic activities Sometime later. We were released by paying this large bail amount. It's a very huge sum of money for us This is an election there is an electronic wristband around my leg I can only walk less than a mile to my workplace as all my activities are checked on by the authorities While my wife and I were in prison is the part I want you to hear in different cells for men and women we witness to many about the Lord and disciple those who surrendered their lives to him in prison and Secretly this made me laugh secretly we baptized ten people in the bathroom Only Jesus So they write to our missions department one day as my dear wife was in solitary confinement She began to sing Christian worship songs. That's the boldness the word of their testimony a Female prison guard came to her cell and asked my wife what she was doing My wife answered that she was the Christian she was a Christian if she was singing Christian songs the prison guard opened her cell door and took her to the prison kitchen and Told my wife there are no security cameras there, and then asked my wife to tell her about Jesus For days my wife was sharing about Christ with that prison guard in the kitchen of the prison and one day the prison guard told My wife that she wanted to make a confession What is your confession my wife asked the prison guard she said every day? I pray that you will not leave prison and not be released so I can hear more about Jesus Please she said please forgive me for my prayer This is one of the many things Jesus is doing in our country and in our lives, please lift up the believers In this country, that's why even with our vision fund

We're taking a hundred thousand dollars and pouring it into the ten most persecuted countries in the world this this one being one of them this one Sacrifice is not in the language of the modern-day Church anymore We have made everything easier for people to attend and to enjoy for it. We made it easy for everybody We made sure your morning coffee is in the church Lobby with your donut waiting for you We made sure that we didn't inconvenience your weekend So we'll do a whole bunch of services and it's been come on Saturday night for him We'll only do an hour service so you can enjoy your Sunday. What what have we lost? What has gone on? Listen to me don't come to our conferences Get on your knees and say God. What do you want us to do? Because our conferences is the way of Orpah get these few things and this is how you begin to get get on the Ruth's pass Get on Ruth's journey I've been Meditating and there's a reason why I've been meditating and reading on the life of John Bunyan Who wrote the most popular Christian book? Next to the Bible book is The thousands of books that I have it's when people ask what's your favorite book? It's always this one Pilgrim's Progress. Thank you Pilgrim's Progress of books that was written in prison that more more Pilgrim's Progress been so it's the journey of a Christian It's so powerful so powerful Was written in prison and at 32 years old John Bunyan would not the folks Boy this sounds eerie today because I'm telling you it's getting getting late and it's getting serious It's getting late and it's getting serious When I was reading about his life, it says that the government the government In the middle 1600s in England was to they they would that every church had to be sanctioned by the government and You had you could not say anything against them and they and they monitored everything that you know There was no technology then but they would send spies into there and John Bunyan At 32 years old as a pastor would not budge. He was going to preach the Bible Folks I'm telling you

Those times are coming mark my words They're gonna monitor what we said. They'll pull us. They're gonna pull us off technology first They're gonna find us and they're gonna and they're gonna try to lock these doors But the gospel is going to go out because people are going to see Jesus and I'm telling you right now It's going to happen it's going to happen and you're gonna have to choose listen and you're gonna find there'll be two churches There'll be a Ruth Church and an Orpah Church And the Orpah Church will say no don't say anything. Don't say anything and it's the Ruth Church It says choose pain choose that walk with Naomi choose because at the end of that we find Jesus We find Christ in the middle of this whole thing Listen to these words by Bunyan in jail and I'm gonna tell you what God spoke to me and then we'll get ready We're gonna really close While he's in prison, he writes these words. He says I never had in all my life So great an inlet into the Word of God is now those scriptures that I saw nothing in before Are made in this place and state to shine before me Jesus Christ also was never more real and apparent than now I never knew what it was for God to stand by me at all times and at every offer of Satan to afflict me as I Have found him since I came hither for lo as fears have presented themselves So have the supports and encouragement yet God as being very tender of me hath not suffered me to be accosted but with one scripture and And another strength in me against all in as much that I have often said listen to this prayer He says if it were lawful for me to pray I pray for greater trouble to experience the greater comfort What kind of prayer is that? Get me in more trouble God so I can experience more of God I want to tell you what the Lord spoke to me as all the bring bring everybody out because I want them to hear this Stand with me. I want I want you to hear this and then we close Reading about bunion in prison in this book as I was praying I felt the Lord speak to me in prayer this week It just said this he says the best works of writing and songs have yet to be written for this generation They will come when persecution comes Keep that on the screen. I want I want every I want every one of you to hear this Whenever you musician and every singer tears the best songs have not even been written yet

They've not even written They'll be written in a furnace They'll be written in a crucible. They'll be written in the fire They'll be written in the fire And you know what the God spoke to me. I'm just gonna I'll just tell you let me just why not listen I'm already in trouble. Let's just go ahead and just get it. Let's get it all out there I felt like the Lord said chapter by chapter will in these next three years will not be finished the normal way. I Don't think it's prison Could be. Pastor Carter promises that he'd go to prison with me. That's what he told me. He said, we'll go in like Paul and Silas. So, we'll both sing at midnight. Listen, we'll do it. I don't know when, I don't know, but I feel like the Lord said to me, He says, you'll not write chapter by chapter, you'll not finish the final chapters of it the normal way. But something will take place in these next three to four years. I think it could happen soon after the next presidential election while everybody else is going, oh, it's going to be Rubio and it's going to be that. Folks, I'm just telling you, this world is getting darker faster. It's getting darker faster. Don't hold on to a Republican or a Democrat. Don't hold on to Socialism or Liberal or Conservative. Conservatism won't even, Conservatives will still burn in the fire. It is living sacrifices that have a fourth man in the fire. Folks, I'm just telling you, I've come too far to go back with ORPA. I've come too far.

So, anybody that tries to bring me to ORPA, and I hear it all the time, don't do this, you can't do this, oh, what about Friday, you can't, you can't. Oh, ORPA, go home. Go home. Go home. I'm so tired of ORPA talk. I really am. People aren't going to come out. No, you don't understand Times Square church. These people are insane. They'll show up at prayer meetings, they'll show up at everything. All you got to do is open up the building, they show up. ORPA and the rich young ruler are all from the same cloth. They're cut from the same cloth. Here it is. You're probably not going to get married, ladies, ORPA. Check, please. Rich young ruler, I'm here with you. I'm here. I've kept all the commandments. Okay, sell all and follow me. Check, please. Not doing that? That rich young ruler sits before Jesus, the Son of God, and just like Naomi says, follow me, and he chooses not to. Listen to it. As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and asked him, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said, why do you call me good? You don't miss this. No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments. Don't commit murder, don't commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. This is ORPA. And he said, teacher, I've kept them all, all these things from my youth up. Great!

Here comes the next challenge. This is the, you may not get married. Looking at him, Jesus felt the love for him and said, one thing you lack, sell it all, give to the poor. He left treasure in heaven and come, these are discipleship words, come follow me. But at these words, he was saddened. Takes his Moabite journey, went away grieving for he is one who owned much property. Oh, Lord. You know, when he said good teacher, Jesus responds and says, no one is good except God, and you're calling me good teacher? Therefore, you're calling me God. And here's what's crazy. Don't forget who's asking the question when you're asked to follow me in sacrifice. He was saying no to God. I'm going this way. I'm going this way. To miss the Ruth genealogy, the Jesus genealogy, to miss the David genealogy. You know what gets birthed on that road? You know what gets birthed by a rich young ruler? You're birthed Goliaths. You're birthed godless giants. You're birthed atheists. You're birthed soft, these soft Christians that will show up. This is the new statistic. Someone told me this the other day. You know how often people show up at church now? 1.2 times a month. I said, well yeah, invite God back. Don't invite the people. Invite God back. Maybe they'll show up. Invite God back.

Get God in the house. God doesn't need God doesn't need smokes and lattes. God just shows up. People's lives get changed at that moment. It's getting late. And it's getting serious. Kevin sometimes sings this song. It's the same author. I don't know what he was going through. Those songs sound like Ruth. You sing the song I Won't Go Back. That's William McDowell. And then you sing the song I Give Myself Away. That's William McDowell. I don't know if he was choosing this path. He wrote the song Withholding Nothing. And just for a moment, just close your eyes. Would you just lift your hands and just sing I Give Myself Away. Come on. Come on, sing it with me, come on. I give myself away. Come on, sing it to me, sing it to me. I give myself away so that you'll see. I give myself away. Say it again. I give myself away. Sing the verse. So you can see. Sing the verse, sing the verse. Sing the verse, listen to it. If I stand. Lord, my life is in your hands.

Oh, Lord, I'm longing to see your desires within me. I give myself away. Oh, Lord. I give myself away. So you can use me. I give myself away. Yes, God. I give myself away. That second verse. That second verse. Take my heart. Take my heart. Take my life. Take my life. Here it comes. This is a good place to lift your hands. This is Ruth's and Orpah, listen. Oh, my dreams. Oh, my plans. Lord, I place them in your hands. I give myself, sing it, church. I give myself away. Oh, Lord. I give myself away. So you can use me. I give myself away. Oh, Lord. I give myself away. So you can use me. My life is not my own.

Come on, sing it, church. My life is not my own. My life is not my own. To you I belong. I give myself. I give myself. Come on, just the voices. Just the voices. My life. My life is not my own. To you I belong. I give myself. I give myself. I give myself away. I give myself away. I give myself away. So you can use me. One more time. One more time. I give myself away. I give myself away. So you can use me. I give myself away. I give myself away. So you can use me. One more time. I give myself away. I give myself away. To you I belong. I give myself away.

I give myself away. Choose Ruth. Choose Ruth. Choose the right man. You can do business with God today. We're done. You're dismissed. God bless you. We'll just play softly. Keep the curtain up and just play. Just play. God bless you.