Walking in the Power of His Resurrection

Praise God. You may be seated. And can you put your hands together for our choir and their worship? So beautiful. Thank you, choir. Thank you so much. What a joy for me, as Pastor Tim said, I've been coming to preach for over three decades, really starting in 88, 89, and just at the very beginning of the church. But to see what God is doing and to see how God is using Times Square Church around the world. I hope you never take the two minutes where Pastor Tim is naming all the countries. Don't take that lightly. Don't take that for granted. Pastor David Wilkerson would have been astonished to see that from this pulpit, the whole world is receiving the Word of God. We need to praise God for that, and we welcome you online. Almost 40 years ago, when David Wilkerson, the Lord put on his heart to begin, to come and begin a church in Times Square, in New York City, he would come and do prayer walks. He would walk and pray. And just before he actually announced that they were coming, and it was a huge move, they had to leave a lot of things behind to come right here. And the Lord had said to him, you're going to come here and this is going to be your last assignment. You're going to come here and serve and start this church. And he was walking in Times Square when they were praying and saying, Lord, give me the confirmation. I know this is your will, but give me the confirmation. And it was a man, and the crowd was thick, and it was a man who demonized men, who started running away, and he was screaming obscenities and blasphemies and cursing. And he's running, and everybody is kind of watching him. He's just crazy. And he turns around in the midst of the whole crowd, and he looks at Brother Dave, and he runs to him, and he just grabs him. David Wilkerson is there. He gets grabbed. And the man, and the voice, the demonic voice in the man, says to David Wilkerson, we don't want you here. And Brother Dave said, I got my confirmation. And here we are, almost 40 years later, no weapon formed against us shall prosper.

The gospel, oh, you need to do better than that. The gospel is being preached, not only to this city, not only to this nation, but give Him praise. It's being preached to the nations of the world. I love your pastor as a brother. I love him so much. And I admire him. I am inspired by him. I'm inspired by his passion and his love for the word. He's an amazing communicator of the word of God. And he's a man with a sensitive heart to the Holy Spirit, and such courage and faith. And I love you, Pastor Tim, so much. You know, the Bible warns us sternly against flattering lips, but it commands us to give honor to whom honor is due. So can we honor our pastor today? Pastor, we love you. We are one week after, this is the Sunday after Easter. What an amazing Easter at Times Square Church. The whole weekend was just, can you give praise to the Lord for all the ones that served us so? It was amazing. The worship and the singing and the presentation and then the preaching and hundreds of souls coming, came to Christ. It was just, we came out. The message was so amazing. We watched it online. And we came out of church at Sunday. He is risen. Why are you looking among the dead for the one that is alive? Woo! And how many of you noticed that on Monday, the devil was still there? On Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday too. That's why I want to speak to you today, one week after Easter, on walking in the power of the resurrection. We need to walk in the power of the resurrection. I'm going to read a verse from 1 Peter.

Peter reminds us of the promises and spiritual blessings for those who will set their hearts to walk in the power of his resurrection. 1 Peter 1 verse 3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope. Would you say out loud, a living hope? Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith. and for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Now Peter in his first and second epistle, Peter's first and second epistle are among the latest one. The last ones written in the New Testament, they're called the late epistles, most likely written around between 60 to 64 after Jesus Christ, decades after the resurrection. And they were written in a season, in a moment in history where God's people were suffering horrible persecution under Nero. In AD 64, a massive fire devastated Rome, burning for several days and destroying large parts of the city. And many Romans suspected the emperor himself, Nero, that he was responsible, but he attacked, he accused the Christian community. The Roman historian Tacitus tells us, provides the most detailed account, that the Christians were subjected

to extreme torture and execution. Execution included crucifixion, being burned alive as human torches, being torn apart by dogs. Tacitus describes them as not only being punished for arson they never committed, but for hatred of mankind, reflecting Roman hostility towards a Christian. And early Christian sources associate this persecution with the death, the violent death of Peter, who was crucified, and Paul, who was beheaded. And it is in this context that the Holy Spirit inspires Peter to remind the believers and to call them back to walking in the power of the resurrection. That the resurrection is not an event, it is a walk, it is a pursuit of, it is walking, literally, in the power of his resurrection. In the resurrection, we have a living hope, not wishful thinking, but a dynamic, continual hope grounded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because the tomb is empty, or as we used to sing in the old hymn, because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fears are gone. There's some 20-year-olds looking at me funny right now. Because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives. If you believe that, say, shout, amen. Amen.

I love the story of the little boy. The Sunday school teacher, the week before Easter, gave the Easter lesson. Jesus crucified, died, and is resurrected. And to make sure that they really got it, she gave each children a little egg, a plastic egg, just a cylinder that opens. And they said, okay. And she said, okay, next week is Easter Sunday, you come. And this week, you think about it, and put something in there that speaks of the resurrection. Tell me what you've understood. So the Easter Sunday comes, and she said, okay, kids, show me what you got. This little girl, very sweet, and she opened it up, and she put a flower in it, and she said, oh, Jesus, it's spring, it's life, it's flowers. She was very poetic, and the teacher said, okay. And then the little boy, very pragmatic, put a nail. And he says, this is the nails that nailed Jesus to the cross. Okay, good. Then this other little girl, she put a cross in it, so it's perfect, she has the whole thing. The little boy put a pebble. Well, why a pebble? Well, you see, it's the stone being rolled away. Good boy. And then there was one boy in the class who was on the autism spectrum,

and the teacher always was wondering if he was really, she was paying special attention to him, and he looked to be listening very attentively, but is he really? So she said, hey, how about you, Billy? Well, what did you bring? And he opened his little egg. There was nothing in it. So she says, oh, did you forget to bring something? He says, I didn't forget anything. He said, this is Easter. Easter is the resurrection. The tomb is empty. I brought the empty. How many of you know, he was the best theologian of the whole bunch. We have an eternal inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, unfading. It's incorruptible. Everything, it cannot decay unlike everything else on earth, including us. Say to the person to your right, we are decaying even right now as we speak. Say that to somebody, too. But our hope, our hope is incorruptible. Our inheritance never loses its beauty, its value, or its eternal power, oh, even over death. Now, if this sinks in your spirit, if we walk in a full light that. that are inherited by the sacrifice of Christ and His resurrection. Death has no power over us.

If you don't fear death, you don't fear anything else in life. We have an eternal inheritance, incorruptible, unfading. Money can lose its value. Relationships can be broken. Bodies can weaken. But your inheritance in Jesus is secure and it's already accomplished. You don't have to strive for it. You are receiving it every day. We're called to walk in it every day and you will receive it eternally. The world didn't give it to me and the world can't take it away. When you walk in the power of the resurrection, you are kept. This is what Peter teaches. It's so powerful. You are guarded by the power of God. It's a military term, military language. You are protected and guarded. God Himself is protecting you, guarding your salvation. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Nothing can snatch you from His hand. You have full access to the full measure of the power of God through a faith ready to be revealed. This is what 1 Peter says. Our faith is ready to be revealed in the last of the last days. Your salvation is initiated by God, secured by God, and completed by God. And this is an amazing picture. This is you and me in the last of the last days. There will be a people who will walk in the power of the resurrection and that power of the resurrection in us will be revealed to the people of the last days. We are the people of the last days and we are called to walk and that His resurrection power in us becomes our witness of the resurrection of Christ until He comes. So today I want to speak on three dimensions of the power of His resurrection that will be revealed through us in these last times. The renewing, the three dimensions of walking in the power of His resurrection. The renewing power of His resurrection. The revealing power of His resurrection and the restoring power of His resurrection. The renewing power of the resurrection through our faith and salvation in Christ. We have unlimited access to the very same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. I don't know, I don't know if you were ever promised unlimited access when you finally find out it was pretty limited after all. Years ago I was preaching in California in Los Angeles and somebody said I got I got your tickets with your family to go see the Lakers. So I was very excited and when he gave me the tickets he said well he says here's this little coupon and with that it gives you access to the lounge. The VIP lounge. It's a restaurant. I said oh are you sure? Tickets usually don't give you access. Yeah yeah yeah you have access with this and hmm. But when we got to the, I wasn't too sure, and when we got there the kids said oh we want to see it. We want to go to the VIP lounge. And I got there very timidly. I don't go to VIP lounges.

So I went there very timidly and I said I had this. He says yes sir you can come in. I said all right I'm coming in the VIP lounge. Here we come. And I've never seen anything like it. There was mountains of lobster and shrimps and it was just huge. And the kids oh man this is amazing. I said all right let's get in line. We'll get in line to get a table. So I go in line to get a table and when my name comes I'm confident now. I got the ticket. So I show him the ticket. He says he goes oh. He said no no no sir this allows you to come in. But it's $500 per person. So I said hot dogs here we come. But you have a full access to the resurrection. Romans 8.1. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life. He will quicken. He will resurrect. He will regenerate. Resurrect your mortal bodies through his spirit through his spirit who dwells in you. Each of us arrived at Easter 2026 with issues in our lives that we think of as sealed. This can't change. This is sealed for good. But the challenges, defeats, pain, battles, failures and tragedies of our lives that seem to be so sealed up in a tomb. The Bible says that the spirit of God by the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. God can break every seal over our lives. Now watch this in Matthew chapter 28. We'll look at a few passages of the resurrection. In Matthew chapter 27 verse 62. On the next day, which followed the day of preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember while he was alive how the deceiver said, speaking of Jesus, after three days I will rise. Therefore command that the tomb he may secure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say to the people, He has risen from the dead. So the last deception will be worse than the first. And Pilate said to them, You have a guard. He provided a guard. Go your way and make it as secure as you know how. So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard. Now when we look at the gospel of Mark in the same account, it speaks of the women. The women are coming to the tomb and they know they have these obstacles before them. They know that they have to get through together. They're asking among themselves who will open the tomb for us. They know that there's the soldiers, the stone, and the seal. The soldiers, the stone, and the seal. The soldiers, a garrison, each of them will pay with their lives if they let anything come through. The stone, two ton stone, according to the historians, 20, 30 men to move it, and the seal. And the seal of Rome, most scholars agree,

was a cord of rope stretched across the stone, fastened with wax or clay, stabbed with an official signet. The stone could not be moved without physically breaking the seal. Any tempering would be immediately detectable. It represented all of Rome's power. They speak about it, the historians speak about it, as a three-layer security system that Matthew emphasizes. The stone, the seal, the stone, the physical barrier, the seal, the legal authority, and the soldiers, the military endorsement. The seal of Rome carried all the weight, all the Roman authority. The seal represented the highest, most powerful human authority. Now when we look at the gospel of Luke, chapter 24, and we'll spend the rest of the message in Luke 24, we see in verse 1 to 3, now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared, and they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, and they went and went in and did not find the body of Jesus. Every single one of us have issues in our lives. I'm here to tell you that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, and He can break the seal over your life. You're not limited. You're not in. You're not locked in. You're not sealed in. There's no human or demonic seal that the Spirit of God can't break. Please receive this. You are not sealed in the tomb of your past. You're not sealed in the tombs of past mistakes or guilt or shame or pain. The seal of addiction, the seal of depression, the seal of mental illness, the seal of I'm locked into panic attacks and anxieties can be broken by the Spirit of God. Rome could not stop it, and no human or demonic force can stop it. I want you to shout out loud, I'm coming out. I'm coming out by the power. You have unlimited access to enter in. This is not a one-time event when you get saved. It's a daily entering in the power of the resurrection. The angel did not roll away the stone to allow Jesus to come out. Jesus is all-powerful. He's omnipotent. No force can keep Him down, but the angel rolled away the storm spiritually, symbolically, so you can enter into the resurrection. This is what the angel said to the women in Matthew 28, verse 5. But the angel answered and said to the woman, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who is crucified. He's not here, for He is risen. And he said, come, see, enter in the place where the Lord lay, and quickly go and tell His disciple, He is risen from the dead. You are not sealed in where you come from, how you grew up, some words that were spoken over you. You are not sealed by the abuse that was over you. You're not sealed by a dramatic event that happened to you. You are not sealed.

you are not sealed in the limitations of man or even the religious limitations of man by the Spirit of God in you. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. He can quicken. He can bring to life whatever was dead in you in Jesus name. Walking in the power of His resurrection is walking in the renewing power of His resurrection and the revealing power of His resurrection. As we continue in Luke chapter 24 we will meet two men on a road on the road called Emmaus. These two men are walking on that road. It's the road of the broken heart. They have a broken heart and spirit. It is Sunday afternoon. It's three days after the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. His death has been officially and thoroughly confirmed. The Roman soldier pierced his side and water and blood came out. Jesus died of a broken heart for the redemption of you and me. And on the road to Emmaus that Sunday afternoon the scripture says the sun will set before the end of this conversation. Jesus died. The body has been released. The women are coming with the spices and Jesus resurrected comes near and He walks with these two men. He comes near to these two men as He comes near to you and us every day in His resurrection power. And you will find out that we all walk on the road to Emmaus. And we find it in Luke chapter 24 and verse 13. Now behold two of them were traveling the same day to a village called Emmaus which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all the things that had happened. So it was that when they conversed and reasoned that Jesus himself drew near and He went with them. But their eyes were restrained so that they did not know Him. And today in our lives it doesn't matter if you're a new Christian or if you're just listening in or if you have walked with the Lord for a long time. Many things can still restrain our eyes from seeing Him. We can be restrained by offenses. We can be restrained by our own plan, our own timetable, our disappointment, our worries, the cares of this life. Sometimes a refusal to surrender in one area of our lives or the woundedness or the bitterness can literally restrain us. And many people are blinded from seeing Jesus for all kinds of... that's what the enemy does.

He puts a veil. They're blinded by the prince of this world. But I would even say this. Many people have been around Christianity and you're watching online this might be you and also here in person. Some people, many many are have been blinded, have been restrained from seeing Jesus in His fullness because of the bad testimony of religious folks that speak His name, that sing His name, but whose lives are so contrary that it's blinded them. I love that story of the little boy Easter morning. He's sitting with his mom in church. It's a small church but there's a beautiful mural in the back. A beautiful mural of Jesus and a little boy that is singing and everything. But he's fascinated by the mural. He's just looking at Jesus and he's just wondering. He finds this marvelous and then the preacher comes on and starts preaching. The little boy is just trying to keep his eyes on Jesus and without a warning he gets up. His mom can't stop him. He gets up. He says, excuse me sir, can you move away? I'm trying to look at Jesus. And she sits him down. Mom sits him. How impolite. Why would you do a thing like that? Mom I'm sorry. That man was stopping me from seeing Jesus. I'm going to let that go all the way back. The revealing power of His resurrection is Jesus coming near to open your eyes. To who He is and to His unlimited power to change you and heal you. To open your eyes for your need of communion with Him daily so you would see supernaturally what He's prepared for you. Now Paul teaches the Corinthians that this is a lifestyle. This is not a one-time. This is something you have to pay close attention to in 1 Corinthians 2. He says for as it is written your eye cannot see. Eye has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. Lean over to somebody and say you can't even imagine. Say that subjection. But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things. Yes the deep things of God. For what man what for what man knows the things of

man? except by the spirit of man in him. Without walking in the power of the resurrection, just like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, your eyes your eyes are going to be blinded and you're going to be limited to your human perception, your human understanding of things, your human perspective on things. You only see according to the spirit of the man and I don't know about you, but the spirit of me, the spirit of my flesh does not discern the things of God. I need the spirit of God every day. For what? Even so no one knows the things of God except through the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of this world but the spirit that is from God that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Things that have been given freely. He says literally that by the spirit of God I can see supernaturally and then out of the abundance of the heart I can speak supernaturally and I can stand against the enemy supernaturally. For many years I did not need reading glasses. I had contact lenses and glasses because I can't see far but I could read okay and in my 50s I just needed them both. So I got these reading glasses and it was a mess, especially in preaching. If you go on YouTube and look at the videos in Times Square Church back in those days, it was awful because I kept going on and off with the glasses on and off. I would break glasses. It was just sweating. It was a bad scene and one day I went to my optometrist, a lady from our church, and she sat me down and she says, Pastor I would bring two, three pairs of broken glasses at a time and say, okay here, can you fix these? And she said, I'm gonna try something with you. It doesn't work with everybody. Some people's brain can do this or not. It's not being more intelligent at all. Just different types of brains. And she said, try this. They're bifocal contact lenses and when I put them on, wow, I can see far and I can see close. I want you to know that without the Spirit of God, and this is good, this is also a leadership thing. It's possible for leaders, Christian leaders, many of them in the nations, say, they

always talk about far. Oh yeah, one day revival is coming. One day revival is coming. One day great things. Oh, one day great things. Great prophetic words. I got prophetic words. One day, one day, one day. But they can't see close at their own need and in what they can do now. Now let me tell you this, without the Holy Spirit, the reverse is true. Without the Holy Spirit, we can get to a place where all we see is the close. The problem that is close, the opposition that is close, the disappointment. I can't see further than this without the Holy Spirit. But with the Holy Spirit, I can see my own condition now and I can see what He's prepared for me. The revealing power of His resurrection, their eyes could not see Him. They were prevented from seeing Him. The resurrection is Jesus coming near you to reveal Himself and to open your eyes. It is Jesus resurrected, coming to give you what I would call the second touch. And this is not like a second only two touches. It speaks of a continual work of Jesus opening your eyes and opening your eyes. I cannot see. Your heart cannot perceive. Don't go on what happened yesterday, five and ten years ago. In this season of your life, God wants to show you and reveal to you what He's prepared for you now. Even through your worst difficulties, the worst pain, the worst sadness that grips your heart, God wants to open your spiritual eye and speak truth and speak His next step in your life, in your heart by His Spirit. And this is not only the opening of the eyes. It's not only for people that don't know Christ. And there's something happening in Matthew, in Mark chapter 8, that I think is a message that's important for us. The revealing power of His resurrection. His eyes were prevented from seeing Him. And in Mark 8, 22, Jesus came to Bethesda and they brought a blind man to Him and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand, led him out of the town. And when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked and he said, Yes, a mirror. I see. I see. But I see men like trees walking. Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up and he was restored. And he saw everyone. He saw everything clearly. One version says, And he saw things as they really were. Please understand that this man was

totally blind. Like we were. Like you and me were spiritually. Do you remember? Do you understand? Do you remember that? There was a season. There was years in our lives. We were totally blind to God, who He is, the gospel being. We were blinded by the prince of this world. But the Bible says, By amazing grace, That's how sweet the sound. As we received Christ, the conviction of the Holy Spirit came, spirit of truth, and then the veil is lifted from our eyes. I was blind, but now I see. And if that's your song, you should give him praise today. Now this man is experiencing a real miracle. He didn't see anything before. He says, what do you see now? It's a miracle, I never saw anything before. I see colors, I see so much. I see now, but I see men as trees walking. It's not clear, it's not this, and Jesus has a message. This is, please understand, I hope you understand this is not a case of shortage of divine power. Jesus needs to apply a second touch. A shortage of divine power, insufficient dosage of power. Try again. No, no, he's all power, he's creator. He was there at the beginning of time. He was participant in the creation of all things. But there is a message there, because as he touches him a second time, he says, what do you see now? I see things as they really are. I would like to propose to you that you and me need that second touch.

We need the Holy Spirit in every season to come in and open my eyes again. The second touch of Jesus in Mark 8 is not, was a message to his disciples and to you and me. It's not, because you look at the whole context, just before it, before the progressive healing in verse 17 of the same chapter, the Bible says they're listening to him, they're seeing him, but Jesus says, you don't understand. You don't see me, you don't understand. You're seeing him, but you don't understand. And right after, you have this amazing example of Peter who proclaims Jesus as the Christ, but then he rebukes him when Jesus announces his death and his resurrection. We need, I need, and you need, in every step of our lives, in every relationship in our lives, in every season of our lives, we need the renewing power of the Holy Spirit so I can stand, I can see supernaturally, I can speak supernaturally, and I can stand supernaturally in Jesus' name to fulfill his purposes, and everyone says amen. I wanna close with this, the walking three dimensions of the power of the resurrection, the renewing power, the revealing power of his resurrection, and I close with this, the restoring power of his resurrection. His resurrection comes in the depths of our human experience and on that road to Emmaus, there are experiences,

there's things that come out of their hearts and their mouths that we can so identify today, 2026, after Jesus. The restoring power of his resurrection when you are burdened with sadness, gripped with sadness. Verse 17, in that same conversation, he said to them, what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are so sad? The word sad here is the word skutros, an enveloping sadness, a countenance of grief, a state of mind and of soul. Sometimes, and you're here today, you know what I'm talking about. And online, you're watching and you're saying, this is where I'm at, I'm on that road, I'm on the Emmaus road in my life. Sometimes the weight of our grief, disappointments, fatigue, offenses, woundedness, betrayal is what prevent us from seeing him. Those two disciples were walking away from the place of hope. Jerusalem had been the place of hope and they're walking away from it. Their hopes are dashed, hope is gone. It's the road of broken dreams. They felt that evil overcame and we go through that. Evil seemed to have overcome over good and justice. They were talking to one another, trying to make sense of it. They're confused, it's those seasons where we,

I can't make any sense of what is happening to me now. And maybe you are on that road. Now, maybe you are on the road, you're walking, carrying the burden of skutos. You, maybe you came to Easter last week, again, to church on Easter weekend and some people in your family are not saved and it's gripping your heart. You say, oh, it's been so many Easter's and I've been praying for so long and maybe you just lost someone and you're grieving or you're coming to church without your children or grandchildren. You're sad over a marriage that was broken, over a divorce, over your son or daughter, over your loneliness. I can't find someone. Maybe you're sad. We have people of many nations in our church and as wars explode everywhere and I think of the country of Haiti that we love so much. We have so many people in our church, they're just sad for what's happening, just carrying something so deep because they are feeling so powerless to help their whole family and their country. Beloved, we have a living hope. We have a living hope that is to be, God wants to reveal. As you come in his presence, he wants to reveal.

This is not a static hope. It's a renewed. Hope by the resurrection, a living hope. And he says, that's how you are, kept by the power of God. And Peter says, you're kept that way. It's a living hope, and you're kept by the power of God. See, and I felt to speak to somebody, you need to walk, you need to come again and say, oh God, I need that power of the resurrection to keep me, to protect me, and I will say this very openly. After 42 years of ministry, there's seasons of drama and seasons of mourning and grief. There's seasons of offenses and attacks that were so vile, so intense, that it is only by the spirit of God that I can keep my eyes on Jesus and be protected and kept. I wanna say to somebody, just surrender to him. He's gonna keep you. Don't lose your testimony, don't drift away. He's gonna keep you by his power in these last days. Come on, give him praise today, please. Amen. The restoring power of his resurrection when walking in sadness and when something precious is lost. Same conversation. We're walking on the Emmaus Road, Luke 24, 21. But we, oh, this is so heavy. We were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, after all this, today is the third day

since these things happened. These words have been ringing in my spirit. You're here today and you say, I'm going, I'm speaking to someone. You're going through a season. We were hoping, I was hoping, I was hoping. I was hoping for my child. I was hoping for this marriage. I was hoping for this relationship. I was hoping for this ministry. I was hoping for this diploma. I was hoping for this promotion. I was hoping, I was hoping this was something. I was hoping, but after all this, please do not let your human eyes determine that after all this, they were walking with the resurrection and the life. God is still at work in your life and he has a plan. I'm speaking to someone who's walking with God and you know, we could be very good at hiding that something was lost. Something was lost after all this. We were hoping after all this, something's lost. Hope was lost and maybe, and I felt this speaking to someone, you walked in church today and thank God you're here and online, you're watching, but something's lost. There's a hope, there's a freshness, there's a peace, there's a joy, there's a belief, there's a expectancy in God that is lost

and the enemy has tried to steal it. And you know that we can be very good at hiding that something's lost. We put our game face on, we put our church face on and this pastor's wife was baking a special cake for the church auction in support of a missionary family and the idea was everybody would bring their best baked goods and they would have an auction and all the money was raised, was given to this missionary family and the pastor was getting, the lady, the pastor's wife had begun to cook, but it was slow and we're getting late and the pastor was getting impatient. It's not ready, we're gonna be late, it's not ready, we're gonna be late. Please, please don't worry, there's never any impatience in TSC pastoral couples, it just never happens. Not ready, so after a while, he's pushing her so hard and she opens up and she looks inside the cake and it's not ready, it's not cooked. So she said, no problem, she takes the stuffing out and she puts paper towels in it, just fills it with paper and covers it with whipped cream and said, what are you doing, what are you doing? She said, it's gonna be fine. What do you mean it's gonna be fine? It's gonna be fine because you're gonna pay the high price at the auction and you're gonna buy the cake. We could be, we can be very good at hiding,

at putting a lot of whipped cream around, but something has been lost and after that, we were hoping that, but after this, we were hoping that, but after this. When we speak of the power of the resurrection to restore, the restoring power of the resurrection, this is not, when we think of power in some circles, it's as if it's not for real life, it's as if it's for in church manifestations and experiences, when Jesus is establishing, when Jesus steps up and begins his first public message, his first public ministry, when he began his public ministry in his very first message, defining the restoration, the restoring power of his resurrection, the same spirit that dwells in you, he describes it this way from the words of the prophet Isaiah And if you've been a Christian a long time, please listen again. Please open your heart. This is the power, the active, real, authentic power of the resurrection, active, the living hope that can heal you and keep you. The spirit of the Lord is upon me, says Jesus. He's anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor, sent me to heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. You can come out to proclaim the acceptable ear of the Lord, to comfort all that mourn, to console all that mourn inside,

to give them beauty for ashes. You say, right now it's ashes. Right now it's a mess, it's ugly. Beauty for ashes and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. And if you've experienced it deeply and deep healings in your life, would you give him praise? Somebody needs to hear it. Somebody needs to be to hear it. This is for you. We need the restoring power of the resurrection for when we walk in sadness, when something is lost. And we need it when someone is slow to believe. The resurrection comes to reach those that are slow to believe. In verse 25, then he said to them, O foolish ones, slow of heart to believe. All that the prophets have spoken ought not to Christ to have suffered these things, as it was prophesied. And to enter into his glory and beginnings with Moses, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets. He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew near to the village. As they drew near to the village, they were going and he indicated that he would have passed further. But they constrained him and they said,

oh, abide with us. Come, abide in me. And for it is toward evening and the day is far spent. And he went in and he stayed with them. The restoring power of the resurrection for those that are slow to believe. When Jesus said to them, O foolish ones, the Greek word is really, O without you, O man, without intelligence. Jesus is not insulting their intelligence as we define the term. We can have intellectual intelligence. It could be abundant and academic and professional intelligence, emotional, relational, even artificial intelligence. It could be working for you and not possess or have neglected or abandoned the pursuing, the seeking of spiritual intelligence. We meet every day men and women that have all the knowledge in the world. But they're not discerning, they're not understanding, they're not seeing, they don't have that spiritual intelligence. They're slow to believe. Now don't look around, keep smiling and look at me. But do you know someone who's slow to believe? No elbows, ladies, and do you know someone who's slow to believe? You have a son, you have someone in your life that's slow to believe.

They're slow to surrender. They're slow to decide for God really, to really surrender everything to him, to truly trust him. And the other question is, are you the one who's slow to believe? Are you the one who's slow to believe, slow to really commit to God, the restoring power of his resurrection? He never leaves you nor forsake you. And there's something so tender, but also it's a very, very profound spiritual reality. You have free will. And everyone online, you have free will. You can stay in the state you're in now. You can close door to Jesus in your life in different areas. And he's walking with them, he's resurrected for them. They're walking with the resurrection and the life, but he's not gonna impose himself on them. It's when they cried, abide, abide in us. And I wanna say to someone, he never leaves you, he never forsakes you, but today is the day. You have been slow to believe. You've been slow to commit, but today is your day. Don't play with your present. Don't play with your future. Just one breath towards him and he's gonna run into your life for your rescue. Hallelujah.

And I wanna speak in a word also, speaking to moms and dads and grandparents and all, and people that you have someone in your life that is just slow to believe. You've prayed and prayed and prayed and sometimes it's years. And I would say it this way. I know this, that sometimes when we pray, for people that are so slow to believe that the first act is so long and so dark, but I wanted to tell you, God is moving behind the curtain. God is moving behind the curtain of their hearts. So some years ago when I came to preach here in Times Square Church, the kids came and we had heard that they were playing on Broadway the play The Merchant of Venice was playing with Al Pacino playing in it. and we got tickets, and we're watching this Shakespeare play and it's so dark, the first act is just so dark, and it's gloomy, and it's so heavy, and then they close the curtain, and the whole stage is dark, and it was so depressing, so oppressive, and then they shut the curtain, and it's intermission, and I'd never been to a Broadway play, maybe Lightning King one time with the kids, but I'd never been to a Broadway play, I didn't know, so I ordered a Perrier sparkling water, $20, $21 Perrier water, so I never tasted $21 Perrier water, and my son bumped into me, and I said,

hey, here's five bucks, I just fell to the ground with my Perrier, so when we sit back down for a second act, it's very long, it's a Shakespeare play, when we sit back down for a second act, we, nothing had changed, there's nothing that we didn't hear, we didn't see anything, but when the curtain opened, the whole crowd went, ah, because it was completely changed, they had worked behind the scene, and it was luminous, it was light, it was life, it was, and sitting there with my $20 Perrier water, I watched, and I was just thinking, oh God, you worked behind the curtain, we don't see you, we don't know, but God is moving on someone in your life that is slow of believing, don't quit, don't give up, stay up in intercession, the spirit of God, interceding through you, and give him praise, sometimes we have to praise him in advance. And beginning with Moses and the prophets, he expanded to them, in all the scriptures of things concerning himself, Jesus says, I am Alpha and Omega, I've been there from the very beginning, he said, just even from Moses to when Jesus spoke, 1200, 1300 years of prophecy, God's love is not random, it's not fickle, it's not changing, even in those dark days, when you feel as if God has vanished from your sight. In the very next sentence, Jesus says to them in verse 31, now it came to pass that as he sat at a table with them,

he took bread, blessed and broke it, and he gave it to them, then their eyes were opened, and they knew him, but then he vanished from their sight. In their season, we need the power of the resurrection, because there are seasons in our life, the darkest seasons, where the enemy will sow a seed of making you doubt even, is God even still with me? Now you read the biographies of the greatest men and women of God, of history, every single one of them that were preaching or writing and touching, millions in some cases, they all speak of dark season, dark season in the secret chamber of their souls where the liar comes in, and I'm speaking to someone because of a tragedy, because of something that is so, so intense, or because of a series of hard knocks and battles, one after the other, the enemy sowed into your spirit. I was hearing in prayer, somebody, I was hearing you online in the secret place saying, I saw you, I know, I believe that, I believe in your body that was broken for me, and your blood that was shed for me, I was walking with you, I saw you, but now I'm in season as if you vanished. It is only by the Holy Spirit of God that you can stand against the lie of the enemy and declare, my redeemer lives, my redeemer never leaves me, never forsakes me, and Jesus comes in the restoring power of his resurrection for you, when you've been battling, even the thought, you're not showing him, but you've been battling,

as he vanished from my sight, and because of it, your heart has grown cold, Luke 21, 32, and they said to one another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked to us on the road and while he opened the scripture to us? I'm talking to someone with great love. You came to church and nobody would notice, nobody would see, but because it all has happened and your eye is being prevented and something is lost, your heart is cold. You've come here, and it's something interesting that the town of Emmaus, in the Greek, the very meaning of the town, the word means the place of warmth, and actually, in some translation, they would translate it, it's a place from cold to hot, because it was a city known for its hot, thermal spring waters, and I feel in the love of God to come and say to you, I know there's some seasons where, because something has been lost, and something has been lost, and it's as if he vanished from my eyes, and I'm walking with the sandness, and my heart has grown cold. You need to cry out for restoring power, because Isaiah says, a bruised reed, it will not break. He will not, Bruce Willis will not break, a flickering flame he will not put out. He will not fail nor be discouraged. Behold, the former things have come to pass, but I'm announcing new things, I declare.

Before they spring forth, I will tell you of them. Many years ago, and as Pastor Tim mentioned during the announcement, there's some countries that we go, we don't even wanna talk about publicly online because of the heavy persecution. So I'm not gonna name the country, but I was doing a pastor's conference in a nation that is with heavy, heavy persecution against Christians. And I was so honored and humbled because I was speaking to hundreds of pastors and hearing their stories. It would just, some of them tortured, put in prison, separated from their families, the church burned down. It just, I felt I'm speaking to them, but they're the men of God and the amazing men and women of God. And it was a moment of worship and it's all in a different language. Everything's being translated, even the worship is in their language. And just after the worship, the man came up, he was a superintendent, they'd call him the bishop, and he's a man who served there for many decades, a man of authority. And he came, he says, well, God bless you, you could be seated, the worship just finished. There was one young guy, as if he was in his own, just worshiping Jesus in the middle of the sanctuary. He's standing in the middle, everybody's seated, and he continues to just, he's weeping,

and he continues to worship. And this man spoke harshly to him, this bishop, and I didn't understand what I asked my translator. He said, oof, he's telling him, you're out of order, sit down, didn't you not hear what I said? You don't do what you want here, blah, blah, blah, blah. And the man, the young man, just came to himself and he just looked around and he said, oh, I apologize. He was so humble. He said, I apologize, bishop, I'm sorry, brothers, I'm sorry I don't want to disturb anything, but as you know, I just spent the last eight months in prison, and not only did they beat us and torture us, but one way that the torture was so hard for me is that they forced us to complete darkness and complete silence. I could not even murmur, they would wait for, and he says, sometimes I just, I couldn't sing, I couldn't worship, and sometimes I didn't know if I was gonna come out alive or not, and he says, sometimes I just would say Jesus, Jesus, and they would come and beat me. So he says, today, to be here with you and to worship freely like that, I just love him so much. And what moved me, that young man was so precious, he was amazing, but what moved me as a leader was that bishop, when he heard all that, he was so, he said, he picked up the microphone, he says, he tried to, he says, I ask you to forgive me. I ask all of you to forgive me.

What has happened to me? My heart has grown cold. How can I be so harsh? Where is my love? I want you to pray. Young man, come over here. You pray for me. I need prayer. Something has happened. Something is lost in my heart. I need, and the young man came up all humbly, and we're all surrounded, and began to lay hands on him. There was no preaching that morning, just the glory of God, the presence of God. I want to say to somebody, bring your cold heart, bring what was lost into the presence of Jesus, and let him do the work of resurrection. Would you give him praise, please? As the musicians come, the restoring power of his resurrection, I close with this. When the devil tells you it's over, in Luke 24, 33 and 34, so they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11, and those who were with them gathered together, saying, the Lord is risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon, Simon Peter. He's appeared to Simon. You can hear the reaction, and this is what the devil is bombarding them with. This is what the devil is bombarding Peter with. Appeared to Simon, it's not possible.

Said, it's over for him. He bragged that if everyone forsook him, he would die for Jesus, but then he denied, and he cursed a servant girl three times to prove it, and he didn't know him, and then he wept bitterly. He cut the ear of the soldier when they came to arrest him in Gethsemane. He fled, he wept bitterly. Every time he thought of it, says the scripture, about his failure, he wept, he went back to his boat. It's over for him, he's disqualified. He's too slow to believe. He's too wounded, too discouraged. Too much has been lost. He had hoped for, but after all this, it's over for him. But the angel says, no, go and get Simon, and in the Gospel of Mark, he said to them, do not be alarmed. You see Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, he's risen, he's not here. See the place where they laid him, but go and tell the disciples and Peter. Resurrected Christ calls out the name of the one who's been under the lie that it's over for you And he's calling out your name too and go and tell them that he is risen has he said 42 years of pastoring I've seen God Resurrect from the worst abyss men and women to resurrect them and heal their heart and Restore the resurrect. It is I can't say it any other way

The spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you. He can quicken he can Resurrect from the first from the worst abyss just before I came here this week. I had the pleasure of a lady from our church Monique and She has written books and search came to knock in my office to say this is you're getting the first copy This is my my latest book and it's called it's in French, but it's called From the shadow to the light and this lady years ago actually on December 6 1989 She was a nurse was a high-level nurse and Her husband had left her with two kids many years ago before that and he was a violent man She'd been beaten and he left her and she she's just and now our kids are grown Boy young men a young woman today. They left the house and she she has hardly any contact with her son and as all Every citizen of my nation in Quebec saw that day was a horror day and all the news were filled They day and night with the worst. We saw the worst killing the worst mass killing in the history of our nation deranged in a young man who is in psychosis took a took a gun and walked in a a section of a engineering school, but for women and he shot and killed 14 women and and many many mores that were handicapped for the rest of their lives and went and it's a so so astonishing because when she Tells a testimony later when she looked at that on the news. She had this fleeting thought and she told her friend Oh, I'm I'm praying for the mother of that that man And a few hours later the police burst into her house and she found out that the worst killer in our nation's history was her son And she was so it's unimaginable She had to hide and she she she had nothing to do with it but she was tagged as the mother of the worst killer and she went into a spiral of the depression and every time that the date would arrive they They the journalists were after her and and in the year and a half to two years that followed her daughter Overdosed and died and and she she came to our church and we didn't know the story back then but she came and sat in church and and she she was a picture of sorrow a picture of Grief and she had a friend that came with her and she she said one one before one service

She said to a friend to her friend. Is it possible to die from grief? So I feel like I'm dying of sadness of grief and during the service She she felt the overwhelming sadness so so heavy that she told her friend I think I'm dying if I fall down don't pick me up Let me I'm dying of grief and in that service after the message She stood back up and during the worship and her heart She said I could hear my heart pounding and and as if the Lord not in an audible voice But as the Lord spoke so so so kindly and so full of love But she felt she said it was like she writes in her book It's like love but an amazing power and the Lord spoke to her heart. Do you feel your heart beating? Yes, Lord, I do Do you know it's me? It's causing your heart to beat and if you give it to me if you turn it over to me I will heal and you don't know Listen, you know, my heart is no heart left. It's just pieces. There's nothing left and she And she said the Lord's just give it to me and I will and it made no sense not only will I hear your heal your heart, but I will give you a voice and I'm just hiding in a hole because of all this and and in the days and weeks and months and years that follow This is 30 years 25 years and then we saw I seen it so many times But you never you always get amazed at the amazing grace. We saw this woman Resurrect, we saw her come back to life. We saw her be baptized. We saw her be filled with the Spirit We saw her begin to share in my wife's prayer meeting weekly prayer meeting just with a few women and the Holy Spirit Just just using her where years later. She's been in 15 French countries of the world She's speaking she's spoken to to hundreds and if not thousands of cops prison officers, security, in high schools, in colleges, in universities. She's been on television, and always so, so speaking of the life that Christ has given her, from the shadow to the light. So I'm speaking to someone today in the same spirit

that raised Christ from the dead, dwells in you. There's no limitation to his restoration power. In Jesus' name, he will keep you, and he will heal you, and I want you to give him the best praise that you can, please. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! So let's stand together, and I'm gonna ask the worship team to come, and I really had, would you give me a minute, don't, online, this is for you as much as people here in person, but don't just go right out, just, can you, for a moment, I believe God wants to minister life to so many, and if God gave me these specific words about something that's been lost, and about the sadness that is so overbearing, and about long to believe, and the heart has gone cold, the Holy Spirit, the spirit that raised Christ from the dead is here, active, wanting to minister life to you, to renew, I will take away the heart of stone, and I will give you a new heart. This is not only for unbelievers, or this is for all of us, so this is what I felt in my heart for this second service.

I'm gonna ask Ricardo to come and lead us in worship, singing the resurrection, but please don't even hesitate. If you're here today, when we begin to sing, if you're here today, and you say, I need, something has been lost, something, I came, Pastor Claude, that word was for me, something has been lost, I am, I want you to come out of your seat and come to the front and say, oh God, here it is, I'm coming to you, I'm entering into the resurrection. Maybe you say, I don't usually go forward, I'm not gonna beg, this is a call of the Holy Spirit, there's something, there's a step of faith to say no, and if you're here and you say, that word was for me, the enemy is actually, actually had been lying, fill my mind, my heart is God, God has vanished, it's as if God is not there anymore, and I wanna come forward to say, I refuse that lie in the name of Jesus, and if there's somebody in your life that's been slow to believe, and it's become a burden for you, and you say, oh God, I'm bringing him to the altar, I'm coming forward not only to weep and to wail, I'm coming in faith to say the Spirit of God will reach him, the Spirit of God will reach her, as we begin to sing, and if you say, listen, we've all been there, the greatest men of God and women of God have testified to this, if you're here and you say, my heart was cold, I need to come, I need my heart, I want my heart

to burn within me again, I want you to come as we begin to sing, but this is, come from all over, come from the balcony, we're waiting for you, and as we come, this is not only for those that come forward, all of us, would you, all of us, can we lift our hands, because we all need to enter into the resurrection, and even before we sing, can you begin to speak to God, can you begin to say, God, fill me with the power of your resurrection, something, let's be real, something's been lost, something's been lost, oh God, I need you to come, oh Holy Spirit of God, Holy Spirit of God, come, oh God, I need to be healed, I need to be kept, I need to be guarded, my heart was tempted with many things, I've been drifting, I need to be kept by the power of God, so all over this place, hands lifted up, and let me hear the voices, 51st and Broadway, let voices rise unto God, let's turn this in a moment of prayer, in a prayer moment, when we enter again into the resurrection in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. ♪ Come alive, come alive, be revived, be restored ♪ Come on, let's sing it, let's pray together. ♪ We speak to dry bones, hear the word of the Lord ♪ ♪ Breath of life, breath of life, come fill my faith ♪ ♪ What was dead come to life in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ Come alive, come alive, come alive, be revived, be restored ♪ ♪ Come alive, come alive, come alive, be revived, be restored ♪ ♪ We speak to dry bones, hear the word of the Lord ♪

♪ Breath of life, breath of life, come fill my faith ♪ ♪ What was dead come to life in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ Oh, the grave, oh, the grave can't hold us, chains can't bind us ♪ ♪ Just one word from God turns death to life ♪ ♪ Delay is not denial, it's a part of God's plan ♪ ♪ Don't worship what you pray for ♪ ♪ Begin to worship Him ♪ ♪ Come alive, come alive, be revived, be restored ♪ ♪ To the future, we speak to the future ♪ ♪ Hear the word of the Lord ♪ ♪ Breath of life, breath of life, come fill my faith ♪ ♪ What was dead comes to life, lift your voice, lift your hands ♪ ♪ Sing, sing, come alive, come alive, be revived, be restored ♪ ♪ Dry bones, we, we speak to dry bones ♪ ♪ Hear the word of the Lord ♪ ♪ Breath of life, breath of life, come fill my faith ♪ ♪ What was dead comes to life in Jesus' name ♪ Just say, beat again. Beat again, Lord. Help this heart to beat again. Let it beat with a passion for you, God. Let it beat with a passion for your word, for the Holy Spirit. And would you just ask Him, say, God, let these eyes see again. Let them see clearly again. Let them see clearly again the things of God. Father, we're just thanking you today. Hearts are beating again. Eyes are seeing again. And Father, on this day, we thank you for the resurrection power. The same spirit which raised Christ from the dead dwells in you.

Father, we thank you for it. And God, even as Ricardo has written and sung it, we speak to these dry bones. We speak to our dry bones. Come alive today. Come alive again. And we thank you for that.