Lord
Give us Your Word now
And speak clearly to our hearts
Lord, we need You
We need to hear from Heaven
And we're trusting in You now in Jesus' Name
Amen
Getting ready
For the end of all things
1 Peter 4, beginning in verse 7
But the end of all things is at hand
Now that's pretty blunt
He gets up before his people and in his letter he writes
The end is coming
And said "Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves
For charity shall cover the multitude of sins"
Thank You Jesus
2 Peter 1:14
He has just announced
"The Lord has shown me that"
"I'm going to die"
"The Lord has shown me that my time has come"
And so he comes to the people now
As a dying man
He comes as if to say
I'm soon going to be with my heavenly Father
I'm soon going to be with Christ
So I'm going to give you my final word
He said "I want you to know the end of all things is at hand"
It's right at hand
You say, well that was written 2000 years or so ago
But folks if it was true then
It's all the more true now
That the end of the very last of the last days
And he said
I'm gonna tell you what God expects
And what He wants of you
I'm gonna tell you how to become secure
I'm gonna tell you how to prepare
For the end times
And he says nothing about the economy
He says nothing about the loss of houses and lands
He says nothing about where to put your money
Nothing about safe havens
Do you see why Peter goes with this message?
He says first of all be sober
In other words, don't panic
That's his first advice
No matter what happens
And there's many Christians right now who are in panic
Who have believed and testified all their lifetime
That the Lord was their Keeper
We sing Yahweh Yireh
We sing all these wonderful songs about
How good God is and now He's gonna keep us in the hard times
And there is a human nature in us that
Responds and we have to bring it under the Word
We have to bring it under the control of faith
But he's saying "Be sober first of all"
And then second he says "Go to prayer"
He said, you wonder why you're confused
You wonder why you're in turmoil
You wonder why you're in panic
And you're not sober in these times
And he's saying, the worse it gets, the blacker the night
The more you should be walking in soberness
And in the peace and in the rest of the Holy Ghost
That's what he says, as hard as that sounds
"That's what I'm telling you God told me before He takes me Home"
"I'm telling the Church of Jesus Christ"
"In my day and in the days to come"
"There are gonna be hard and difficult times"
And Peter describes those times
Mockers and scoffers are going to come
There are gonna be those preaching deception in our churches
There are going to be preachers of covetousness
And materialism
He goes on to describe all of those things that are coming
And he says "don't panic!"
"Be at peace about it"
And then he says "go to prayer"
And folks that is where I go everytime
Fear tries to rise in my spirit
Everytime there's another news report that seems
To just be overwhelming
I go to the Lord, I go to my knees
And that's the answer to all of the stress problems
I just saw in the Wall Street journal yesterday
That all of the Wall Street now
They have a whole hour
And many of the corporate leaders are into yoga
And into Chinese mantras
And they are trying to calm their stress
And in some offices now it's mandatory
That you go and take yoga so that you can calm yourself
But folks, we have a Saviour
We have a promise
And we are going to be a testimony that we know how to handle stress
We've got a little room we go into
It's called the secret closet
Tell that to the world
Here's the world looking at crystals hoping
Beams will come out of these crystals
And there are people doing yoga and quoting
Chinese mantras that they don't know what means
Then you tell them you have a secret closet
Where you go and you come out strong
And they are going to say
You're crazy!
Stupid!
What do you mean as secret closet?
What do you know about yoga?
I've got Somebody that takes all my stress away
King of kings
I meet Him, right in that room
You mean you meet God?
Yes
We meet God in the secret closet of prayer
And above all things
Above all things, above all preparations
Above everything you think about how to survive
In the end times
He said I'm gonna give you a word, this is the issue
And you have to deal with this
And this is mind boggling at first
He says, above all things
Have fervent, on fire, mercy and love
For your brothers and sisters
What he's saying is, if you want to really know what survival is about
If you know where God is taking His people
You have to have this unconditional love for your brothers and sisters
Where race has no barrier
Knowing that this church has over 100 nationalities
Of all colors and all nations
And I want you to know this church is under attack for that very reason
Many times, we wouldn't be under attack if we were just
All white or all black or all Hispanic
There are churches like that, thank God for them
But this is a special thing that God is doing here in New York City and has done
A hundred or more nationalities loving one another
Without racial prejudice
The reason for this is because this kind of love
Covers a multitude of sins
What you're saying what God is about to do cannot happen
It will be hindered, unless these things are dealt with in the Body of Jesus Christ
Anything of prejudice, any member of the Body of Christ
Now we can't forgive those who sin against God
We can't forgive those sins
We can't cover those sins
But He said "I can't move"
The Holy Spirit is going to come in a great rain upon this earth
It can't happen in a church, it can't happen among a people
Where there are those who are holding grudges
When there are those who say they love one another
But they can come and they can worship
They say I'm a part of the Body of Jesus Christ
And yet they come week after week and they have not forgiven
They have not forgiven somebody who hurt or wounded them
They have not hurt, they have not resolved this issue
It just stays there day after day and week after week
And in the Bible says we are not only to forgive but we are to cover
The sins of those who sinned against us
And there are those sitting in this church now
And I say it with love and compassion
I'm telling you this will hinder what God is going to do in the church
It's gonna hinder what He wants to do in your life and in your home
This has to be dealt with, is there anyone that
You have a difficult time forgiving
You say "well I've forgiven but I can't forget"
Well then you haven't forgiven
The Bible says that this love that God expects of us
Is so vast, is so all en-compassing
He said "you not only forgive but you do everything you can to cover their sin"
Don't broadcast
And this is what happens
Somebody raises us, someone wounds us, someone rejects us
And we tell it everywhere, we get on the phone
I just have to get this off of my heart
You'll never know what they did to me
And we name names and we name places
And we go down deep into this pit
And then we say I'm only telling you this so you can pray with me
I'm only telling you this because I'm concerned about them!
And they may lose the touch of God!
For what they did to me
You should be more concerned about whether you lose the touch of God
Because you didn't cover the sin
Peter is talking about, he is seeing something coming
And he wants the Church to be ready
If all you want is for God to give you food and shelter
Now as a father I want that for my children and grandchildren
And I want Him to provide all my physical needs
He has promised to do that
You see, Peter didn't go there
He didn't go there by advice or on physical preparations
He didn't go there because, you see, he knew poverty
He knew what is like to not have a cent, a shekel
In his pocket because the only money he had at times
Came out of a fish's mouth
This man had one change of clothes
He had one pair of sandals
This man had proven God's faithfulness so
That wasn't an issue with him
That he can't even imagine Christians not believing
That the Lord will provide
I've been down that way
He said "this is the preparation I want you to talk about"
"I want you to focus on"
"There is an issue here"
I want you to look into your heart
You're gonna love even your enemies as Scripture says
Jesus didn't give advice on how to prepare physically
Other than, in Jerusalem when you see the armies coming
Flee from Jerusalem
You don't find Him that way
He says "don't give any thought about tomorrow"
"Because is going to take care of itself"
"I'm gonna take care of you"
Don't worry about what you're gonna eat, what you're gonna drink or how you're gonna be clothed
Don't give it any thought
You won't find Jesus going there
You won't find Peter going there
The apostle Paul doesn't go there
They had proven God
You have proven God already
You have proven God faithful up to this hour
He has never failed you yet
He has brought you out of every situation
He's taking care of you financially
You are not in poverty, you have a roof over your head
Your food on your table
And He's gonna see you through
He said there is a great rain coming
You find that all through the New Testament
You find it in the Prophets especially
There is a prophecy in the Old Testament
That there's been a former rain and there is a latter rain
The Bible talks about two rains
And Moses told Israel
He said that there can be no harvest unless there is a latter rain
The first rain, the early rain came in the spring
Before the harvest, before the full grain of corn
There has to be another rain
It's called the latter rain
Moses said there's an early rain but there can be no harvest
Until there is a latter rain
Here's the Scripture
He will give you the rain in your land in due season
The first and the latter rain
So you may gather in the corn, the wine and the oil
He said you're gonna have a rain
That ripens the harvest
Beloved
The early rain came at the Pentecost in the upper room
That was the rain that watered the seed of the Word
That watered the message of Jesus Christ
And it began to grow and spread
But now folks, in the last days when the world is trembling and gross darkness
Covers the world
There is no way Jesus would come without...
Now He can come at any moment
But He promises there will be a latter rain
And He says "ask rain" in the time of the latter rain
We are to ask rain the prophet said
You to believe God and ask Him
And believe that this latter rain
Is promised in the Scripture and that is to come
The prophet Zachariah saw the outpouring of the Spirit
In the last days
He said "ask ye the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain
And the Lord shall make bright clouds
And He will give you showers of rain
And everyone shall have grass in their field"
Everyone shall have grass, there's going to be a harvest
He said the field is gonna be ripe
Jesus said they're white unto harvest
Now satan knows this
He knows what it is written in the Scripture
He knows that there's a tremendous, incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Before the harvest
And he is going to come against the Church of Jesus Christ
Knowing what is coming
He saw what happened in the early rain
He saw the growth of the Church around the world
Every kindred, every tongue and every nation
He saw the power of the Holy Spirit, he saw what happens when the Holy Spirit comes down
Satan knows what is about to happen
Folks, there is no way that the Lord is going to take His Church out of this world
Limping
And broken
And fearful
Broken in spirit, in mind and soul
No, no, no
He's not coming and allow Islam to take over the harvest
He's not going to let anybody, the harvest is His!
The harvest as the Bible says is the end of the world
And we've come to the end of things
We've come at the beginning of the end
I know from what I'm reading in the Scriptures
And the more I read the more my faith rises
There is a coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Beyond Pentecost, beyond what happened in the upper room
But you see, Peter knew what had to happen
In the early day Pentecost they had what they called "Waiting on the Lord"
In the upper room they waited on the Lord
They weren't waiting just for a calendar day
The Pentecost has fully come
But God was doing something, He's doing just what Peter is talking about
There had to be forgiveness, Peter had to be forgiven
Because he wounded the Body of Christ
He wounded everyone of them
And there had to be enough flow of love in that upper room
And God's dealing with things
Peter could not stand up there and be anointed of the Holy Ghost
He can't stand there if people, later some of the apostles
And there's James and John
Who boasted that they were better than the other disciples and had this pride
And they have to be cleansed
They have to be forgiven by the Body of Jesus Christ
And their sins have to be covered
They have to be able to look at Peter later when the Holy Spirit gives him the authority
And he preaches what the Pentecost is all about
And there can't be something in their heart
"Who made you the leader?"
"Who made you the pastor?"
"Who made you...?" "Who gave you this special anointing?"
No they sat back, they didn't care who got to honor
They knew the Holy Ghost was there
And they were covering, nobody dare to speak against Peter
Because Peter was safe now in the House of God
He's among people who don't blab what Peter did
Nobody is talking about this in the upper room
They are talking about the Holy Ghost
And they are getting free because they are loving, they are forgiving and they are covering
Do you understand where Peter is going?
He said there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit
And He comes only to those who are prepared
They were prepared in the upper room
Oh folks, I still believe on waiting on the Lord
Yes the Holy Ghost was given
But there is something about waiting in the presence of the Lord
Where He is allowed to deal with these issues in our hearts
And so we can have this forgiveness
And we can have the strength and power
It takes power to forgive
It takes even more power and grace
To cover somebody's sin after they've wounded
Or rejected or hurt you
God wants to pour out His Spirit in this church
As we have never known or seen
He wants to save multitudes
And He's gonna do that
But first He's coming
To purge His Body
He's coming to cleanse
And He's not doing it with a rod or a whip in His hand
He's doing it through brokeness
And a humble word, a compassionate call
Don't let anything hinder
The Glory of the Lord that's coming
Don't let anything hinder the moving of the Holy Spirit in your family
Don't let anything!
Don't be a hindrance to the work of God and what He wants to do
To be able to walk through these doors and sit here and raise your hands
And worship Him. And you know there's nothing there
Between you and the Lord. There's no hindrace
That your heart is open
And if you've been sitting, if you felt God
You come to the Blood of Jesus Christ
Folks, the Blood has never lost its power
And I have to believe that He will give us through the power of His Blood
The cross is not in vain!
It has not been in vain
If there's no pouring of the Holy Spirit in these last days
Why was there an early Pentecost?
Why was there an early rain?
Look at all of these many years
Since the first outpouring
The early rain
Do you mean to tell me that the Lord when we need the Holy Ghost the most
When we need the Holy Ghost to survive daily
When we need the power of the Holy Ghost to be His witness
When everything is shaking and the darkness is here
We have got to have an anchor
The Holy Spirit comes to reveal Christ
He comes to dig deep into our spirits
To make us vessels
Made worthy through the righteousness of Jesus Christ
Hallelujah
And what Zacharias said is
Wake up Church
The Holy Spirit
And the Glory
Is gonna fall upon nations
So many people feel helpless
But folks, this can't be worked up
This is a prophetic word and you have to allow
And ask the Holy Spirit
To increase your faith
To believe and stand on His Word
Haggai stands before a discouraged people
They are remembering the glory of the old Temple
The old tabernacle is gone
And now God is doing a new work
They are building a Temple now that seems so insignificant
To what God did in the past
And they are standing there weeping and the prophet Haggai
He says "I see you looking at what God is doing here now"
He said "some of you lived then"
"Who is 60 to 70 years apart"
"And some of you are still living "
"And when they were young the saw the glory of that first work of God"
"What a great work God did back then"
You hear that a lot about the revivals of the past what God did back then
And all the glory we had and all the wonderful meetings we had
And people got saved and we tarried half the night
And that's wonderful, thank God
I have those wonderful memories hidden in my heart
The prophet looked at these people downcast
And he says
"Who's left among you that
Saw the house in its first glory?"
"And how do you see it now?"
"Is it not in your eyes in comparison as if it's nothing?"
Do you understand what this is saying?
Some of us who walk with God for years
We remember the movings of the Holy Spirit
We remember the great things God did
But the prophet Haggai says
Look at that, you're discouraged
And you think that this is nothing
And that we are just waiting and zeal
That there's no glory left and we've been overwhelmed
Overwhelmed with the darkness
We've been so overwhelmed with what is happening
We get overwhelmed at the fury of the devil
We get overwhelmed of the homosexual militancy
And our courts making laws that we don't agree with
We never asked for, we never voted for
And we get overwhelmed with the fury of satan among us
We get overwhelmed with the darkness
Overwhelmed with the thought we've sinned away our day of grace
Overwhelmed with fears and doubts
And that's what happened
They say, in their minds are saying "this is nothing"
We've nothing to rejoice about
God's not doing anything!
This is so insignificant!
Oh Haggai
He says "fear not!"
And God said this in Haggai 2:5
My Spirit remains among you!
My Spirit is still at work
And he turns to the people and says
I'm telling you
The glory of this house
Is gonna be greater than the first house
The rain that's coming is greater than the early rain
There's a latter rain
So, take away that frown
Lift up holy hands
Because the rain is coming
And God's Spirit is moving
And I'm not going to let the devil let me be downcast
I don't want my eyes on what God is doing and say it's so insignificant
America has not sinned away its day of grace
The world has not sinned away its day of grace
The revival has just begun
The rain is beginning to fall
Hallelujah
And the Scripture says in Revelation 14:15
"Thrust in the sickle and begin to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe"
And then I went on and I read this
In Revelation 14:14
The verse prior to what I've just read to you
And I got so excited, I went into the bedroom when I was retiring
I've been in my study last night
And I said, when I am shouting inside
And I walked back and forth in our apartment down the street
Behold He comes in the clouds
A crown on His head and a sickle in His hand
What's a sickle? That long harvest thing got a big and sharp blade on it
Where you just mold down the harvest
And the Bible says of our Christ
Hallelujah
He's not there just hoping the saints, so hold on
He's not there surprised at the darkness
Behold, He comes in a white cloud
Say with me, a crown on His head
And a sickle in His hand
That makes me wanna jump
A crown on His head!
And a sickle in His hand!
Folks, it's harvest time!
On the Wall Street
In the Bowery uptown, downtown New Jersey
And all over this nation and around the world
Glory to God!
It's harvest time
It's beginning to rain
Hallelujah
Do you believe this?
Do you see what Peter is saying now folks?
Remove everything that hinders because
The glory is coming
Like you've never seen or no experienced, the glory of the Lord
And you know what that glory is?
The manifest presence of Jesus Christ
We will know His presence as we've never known it
We will know Him as we have never known Him
And people are going to be open to the Gospel
He's going to melt hard hearts
And many others He's going to bring through calamity
Where they have no place to turn
But to God
We will be ready
With a message of hope, and not despair
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