One On One | Tim Dilena

Father we praise your name this morning we thank that you are our strength and our reward just as we were sung about and I thank you for every person that's here every person that's in this building every person that's watching online every person in our home fellowship groups at every campus and we pray today be their strength today let them know God let all of us know that we are not alone yet God we don't do this life without on our own but we have your help we have your Holy Spirit and God I thank you for every person that's here nobody is here by accident nobody is listening by accident God you do nothing by accident and so god today by your Holy Spirit would you do something fathers didn't in in the sense of freedom in this place set people free here today where God set people free here today we didn't come to a church service we didn't come to your music we have come to have an encounter with the Living Jesus today the resurrected Jesus and so God I'm believing that if you if you able to conquer death hell and the grave you can conquer anything that's happening you can conquer Lord God in a marriage that just seems to be going south where divorce right now is even in the working and God you can resurrect a marriage today you can resurrect Lord God couples today you can do a mighty work so God when we leave this place let nobody say with great music let him not say what a great church or what a lovely church would even great preaching let them say what a great God they serve at that place in Jesus name and everybody said amen could you put your hands together let me tell you this I just want to make sure you're alive today that you're here today before you sit down look at at least one person say are you losing weight you look really skinny just asking that right now just grin asking and you may be seated now you're happy aren't you [Applause] all right let's get ready to jump in this I'm so excited about being here today and I know God wants to do something really special I want to talk to you about one-on-one one-on-one in in view and in honor of March Madness today they're gonna find out who's in the Final Four we're just finishing up the Elite Eight but I want to talked about one-on-one which really more is that stake here than wins and losses and whether Albarn is gonna beat Kentucky or we know Michigan State will beat Duke we understand that today okay I just called you skinny don't don't be a hater but here's here's what I want to do I want to take it from a different standpoint today what people don't realize is this that most of what you hear from this Pope whether it's pastor card or Pastor David this afternoon you hear from Pastor Nick and and pastor Patrick do you know that most of the things that we preach here the red letters that we preach from the New Testament are not sermons that Jesus preached but they're one-on-one conversations think about that for just a moment we don't look at the sermons of Jesus then preach them we're preaching from his conversations one-on-one conversations when you take the most amazing verse that has ever been penned in human language John 3:16 that was a one-on-one conversation Jesus didn't unpack John 3:16 so we could preach it and what we're invited into is literally his one-on-one conversations and this is so important for us to understand this because we're living in a time now we don't really do well with one-on-one conversations today and let me give you my opinion I think technology today is as valuable as it is has harmed one-on-one conversations let me say it like this technology and listen I'm all for it helps with reaching the masses but hinders us in one-on-one conversations I know people listen to me I know people who literally that that technology has taken away their ability to talk to people they are thumb and keyboard savvy but conversationally awkward they can if they could just look at you and use their thumbs they're good they don't even spell out words anymore it's called emojis they'll just send you an emoji they don't even tell you they're happy they just send you a happy face because we don't even know how to communicate very very much which was the bulk of Jesus's ministry I was reading an article that was called how have smartphones destroyed a generation what they said was is that we have we have a generation now that have our seals that are the safest generation because they have found their space is cyberspace and not a physical place they said they are physically safer but they are dying mentally and conversationally that when we grow up you'd go to a beach or you go to play stickball you go to a park today you just stay on a computer and you look at a screen that you can begin then to interact with thumbs and keyboards but we don't even know how to interact with one another and if this is the bulk of jesus's ministry i think we need to learn how to talk to one another in fact if i could just pause for a second because I want to help some of you for just a moment before we jump into one of Jesus's one-on-one conversations because I want to help you but you're gonna have to put a little work at this I was I went to the gym the other day just to just just to kind of get a little bit of a workout so while I was working out in a cardio room the person next to me was reading the newspaper on the machine and the other person was whistling and I'm going if you're reading a newspaper or whistling I don't think you're working out in my opinion because I just so you're gonna have to put away the whistle and you're gonna have to just work can I just give you three quick things just for a moment here just pause for a second because I want to help you with your one-on-one conversations this is just me trying to help you to be good at one on one conversation jot these three things down because I think this can help you this is not this is not a millennial thing this is all of us so I want to help you with this number one is this I just I tell this to our staff I tell the story people choose to be a purse and asks questions and not just one that answers questions so many people they just sit there and wait for you to ask something and it becomes this awkward silence that literally nobody asks questions you know why because we're not interested in people today when you ask questions people think you're interested in them and so what's so important learn to ask questions even when they show up at church go I mean you can instead of just going in and just shaking hands just asking how did you get here today I mean how did you get it which stayed Ephraim has been coming long any question lets you think or lets them think that you that they're more important than you just having a venue for you to talk to them and so I'm I try to teach my children I try to teach our staff I try to teach our church ask people questions because people I'm just telling you people today don't even know how to ask questions but I'm gonna tell you the second thing that I have learned that is one of the most important things in having conversations I'll do this on a plane today I'll do this at an airport I'll do this wherever I go at a coffee shop and and that's this job is because I think this is the most important thing is listen carefully and ask a follow-up question do you know what people usually do they'll ask one question they pay the toll and then they're gonna tell you their life story for 20 minutes I thought people just go how you're doing today I'm doing great okay now let me talk to you like they just paid the toll ask questions and then listen to them and ask a follow-up question I mean ask a question hey did you know front row did did he spit on you as he spit on me okay follow-up question do you think that's a physical problem do you think there's a saliva issue or is he just excited follow-up question you think you'll pay for your dry cleaning or do you think he's just gonna walk out and leave you in the lurch with a garment that has been stained by spit that has come from a problem that our speaker has today you understand what I'm asked a question how long have been coming through how did you get to the church and I'm just telling you when you do something like this you are opening up doors and let me just be spiritual then the other thing I always do is this isn't listen for what I call prayer prayer pauses because sometimes when people when people start talking they're gonna share something with you just and just ask them hey can I pray for you about that right now can I just ask God just to touch you right now it's amazing in my entire life from airplanes to coffee shops I think I've been rejected one time on the streets and in the air one time that person said no you can't pray people always want prayer and so I'm just telling you this just help systems having one-on-one conversations with people and that's exactly what Jesus did when you look at the one-on-ones and you start seeing what Jesus did you could see he deals with tragedy tragic death when his cousin John the Baptist was beheaded he deals with failure when he deals with Peter he deals with racism in John chapter 4 he deals with addiction he deals with sickness see this is what makes Jesus amazing let me put it to you like this Jesus is called the great physician and let me tell you why because he knew what to prescribe to each individual to the woman at the well he didn't talk about new birth and to Nicodemus he didn't talk about living water but he knew what each person needed and it's so easy for us in our religious ways to get stuck that we're not listening or conversing with people and I've done this I've been in these situation and sometimes God has let me failed so I can listen to what Jesus wants to say in the situation instead of just going through my my religious background and just keep spouting off stuff sometimes God will just go listen to what I want to say to a person ask them questions let them respond and I'm telling you every single time it seems that God opens up the door and God begins to begin to let you know what to say and sometimes I we we it's so easy for religious people to get stuck starting with me we just get stuck on our language we get stuck on just saying certain things God and God showed me that from the very beginning of ministry when he first went to Detroit one of the things in Detroit for the 30 years that we've been there is been just like New York you're just dealing with and we weren't me I wasn't making very much money I was there at 19 years old was there for 30 but I didn't make much money and one of the things that was so hard is all the people that were begging on the streets and so I didn't want to lie and say I didn't have money but I just going like how do I deal with all that I don't even have much money and now I'm got to give my money away I didn't know what to do so I remember driving home one night and it was coming through the projects of the truck we live just right two streets over from the projects in Detroit and so I was gonna pull up to this convenience store and get a soda it was about 11 o'clock at night and I saw a man waiting outside that store I knew what he wanted I had $2 left and I was just going I can't like I can't go I don't have any money because that's lie and I got a preach tomorrow and so I've got to think what do I say to a person like this what do I say to in it so I got out of the car just said God just help me you're the Great Physician give me a word I walked up to the sir and the man looked at me because I need two dollars I'm thinking that's all I got he goes I need two dollars for bus fare and immediately the Great Physician gave me something I said I'll tell you what I'm gonna give you the two dollars but if you're lying to me I'm gonna pray like Ananias and Sapphira that God kill you right here in front of this convenience store I'm thinking no I think I'm gonna die here it's I'm here in the projects that I'm it's 11 o'clock at night this is it and pastor car will be doing my eulogy and I'm just thinking and the man is looking at me and he goes I'm lying because would you pray for me and I'm going this is awesome god the line around the country and around the world I am gonna teach ministries and people around the country about the Ananias and Sapphira line when you meet up with beggars they'll be I mean there'll be a lot of the your pockets will be a lot bigger and people will be dying but here's what's amazing is that I'm going this is the line this is it Anna anybody now who asks me for money gets Ananias and Sapphira days later I walked up to the church and there's a man waiting there with a gas can and I know that trick I've seen that trick before he goes my car broke down or my car ran out of gas I need five dollars to get gas in the tank so I can get off the highway I said let me tell you something I'm gonna give you the final sign I'm bold now cuz I got the line so I just go I'm gonna give you the five dollars but and then I got a little bolder I said but it's your ally and then just the smoke coming out and I just go if you're a line I pray now like Ananias and Sapphira that you're gonna go straight to hell and the gas can that you have is gonna make the fire even hotter this man as I am expounding the SIS mans looking at me and he's listening intently and when I was done he goes I still need the five dollar and this is what we miss is that sometimes we get stuck and God sometimes lets us fail to know that these are people and they don't need some church line they need to have an encounter with Jesus and I want to take you to a one-on-one and in this one-on-one conversation Jesus is about to deal with the past of somebody whenever I think of the past I think of what the the great fourth century of church father Agustin said he said this he says trust the past to God's mercy trust your present to God's love and trust your future to God's providence and so I think today when I started to see this woman in Luke chapter 7 literally she began to trust God's mercy just like a gust and said let me read to you a one-on-one conversation that Jesus had with a woman with a really horrible past that would not leave her alone it was part of her DNA and maybe today some of us are gonna walk out of here set free today let me read this to you this is Luke chapter 7 I'm reading from verse 36 on now one of the Pharisees was requesting him to dine him and he entered the Pharisees house and reclined at the table and there was a woman in the city that who was a sinner now some versions as they get updated they will call her an immoral woman and even as you go further wrong they'll literally just call her a prostitute this woman that you're reading about is a woman that was known in that city as a prostitute and she is there while he's reclining at the table the Bible then goes on to say same verse verse 37 when she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisees house she brought an alabaster vial of perfume and standing behind him that'll be important in a second standing behind him at his feet weeping she began to wet his feet with her tears and kept wiping them with her hair of her head and kissing his feet and anointing them with perfumed verse 39 and when the Pharisee who had invited to Jesus saw this he said to himself if this man were a prophet he would know what sort of person this woman is who is touching him that she is a sinner listen to the rest of this and what happens in the story so Jesus then at that point answers him and says Simon I have something to say to you and he replied say a teacher verse 41 a moneylender had two debtors one out 500 Denair I the other fifty when they were unable to repay he graciously forgave them both so which one of them will he love more Simon answered and said I suppose the one who he forgave more and he said you've answered this correctly judged correctly verse 44 turning toward the woman he said to Simon I love that part what a great image Jesus goes she's my focus now I'll talk to you but I'm not interested in you I'm interested in her right now and says Simon he says do you see this woman I entered your house and you gave me no water for my feet she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair you gave me no kiss but ever since I have come in here she has not ceased to kiss my feet you didn't anoint my head with oil but she anointed my feet with perfume which these are just normal things that you do for a guess that would come into your home verse 47 a couple more verses for this reason I say to you her sins which are many have been forgiven for she loved much but whoever is forgiven little loves little let's pause there for a second let's just get something straight Jesus says this he says those who have been get forgiven of much will love much those who have been forgiven of little will love little can we just pause this is not a reality this is a perspective that Jesus is talking about there is nobody in this room starting with me that has not been forgiven of a bunch of stuff how many no let me just ask you this how many would say I've been forgiven of much how many would say that today if you don't feel that way by the end of the service we'll fix that so let's just keep going for a moment here then he said to her verse 48 your sins have been forgiven those who are reclining at the table with him began to say to themselves who is this man who even forgives sins and he said to the woman your faith has saved you go in peace or I love what they an places-- but jesus said to the woman your faith has saved you go enter into your peace go enter into freedom I love this part from all the de-stresses that you experience as the result of sin this is so powerful that's why I really sign off on what CS Lewis said the Christianity is he said Christianity get this is true fairytale think about that because what he was saying was is this you have impossible odds and then the unexpected happens it's basically it's Lewis was showing us it's kind of like the the the little girl locked in the dungeon one day becomes a princess it's the ugly frog by a kiss is going to be turned into a beautiful prince which reminds all of us on these one-on-ones that we have to be in the frog kissing business because we never know who's in that individual that God is about to call out of that person every one of us has been kissed by mercy not religion not Church not a service not by Times Square but when your lips touch resurrected Jesus you never know what can happen to any one of us that's in this place I love the way it's worth reading it's take 90 seconds I love the way Chuck Swindoll describes this moment let me read this to you he says it like this while families gather for dinner and closed their door for the night this woman worked work day begins with saffron scarves and lavender veils dangling earrings and a dab of perfume she dresses herself for show she survives by her looks and looks she'll get she'll get a leer a scowl a wink and a sneer she will get all sorts of looks except one and that's a look of love she is a prostitute how many times her heart is eight and wanted for more than one night to be valued instead of evaluated to be prized instead of priced her Scarlet Letter will never be clean this day though she will meet what she hardly dared to hope for she will meet love she will meet kindness and this day this woman will meet Jesus that's who she's about to meet this one-on-one is about to change her life and can I tell you those in our home fellowship groups those at the Jersey campus the summit those who are watching this online those that may be listening to a podcast during the week and whether you're running to this in a park or on a treadmill I want to tell you something a one-on-one conversation a one-on-one interaction with Jesus can literally be set you free and with this woman who was a prostitute I want to do something that I want I want to I want to take some margin here with this with this verse was not sounding crass or breaking boundaries here well everybody else looked at this woman a with one way and different different parts of her one way I think Jesus saw her differently I know Jesus saw her differently he looked at her like no man has looked before in fact I want to just tell you what I think he saw and I want you to write this down because I want to give you three things that I think Jesus saw I think one chop this down I think he saw her back I think he saw her hair and I think he saw her eyes and I want to walk you through this for just a second I think Jesus on that day looked like no other man looked and was about to see the little girl and the dungeon about to be set free to be who she's supposed to be and that will be the case for some of you sitting in this place today he saw her back he saw her hair and he saw her eyes let's just take and unpack those for just a few moments here let's take her back for just a second there are two ways that you can actually see yourself it's either by photograph or by mirror the two ways that you can see who you are see photos isn't as how we wish we would always look nobody takes a photo without fixing their hair and taking care of things no one's taking a selfie looking ugly they're always fixing everything and putting stuff on them and then it's you know then they're doing the fish face at that point that's what you know you're fixing everything but the mirror shows you exactly what's there when you went woke up this morning hopefully you went in front of me or saw the damage that night did to you like no other thing can do and going how can this happen and all of a sudden you're looking at this but that is the real us this is not the real us that's not real but the mirror shows who we actually are and let me say this to you until we see our real self we aren't we begin then to never understand our need for God when all we see ourselves is as the photograph and thinking I'm good I've got it together we never know how much we really need God and so that's why when this woman was at this place she didn't see a photo she knew who she was in a mirror and this woman shows up and all of a sudden at this place is standing on outskirts of this dinner that was about to change her life here's what's crazy about those times when there was a guest of honor at the house those the best seats in the house obviously were reclining around the table and there was only that was an invited position those are box seats those are the those are the high-priced suites that you're not going to a Yankee Stadium or at Madison Square Garden these are the high-priced high ticket prices right there but what's interesting is that there was a general admission mission section in these meetings in these dinners that the town to kind of fill up the house for for the excitement that people can come as part as in a sense observers but not participate errs and what they can do is they can stand on the outer part of the wall but you can't participate you can listen you can observe but you can't take part of what was happening at that table this woman somehow gets a position on the wall with her back on the wall and I can imagine that day men in that table going what is she doing here how did she get it and maybe one of her clients were at that table and there she is at the wall could care less about anything else all she knows is that man that sitting at that table may have the answer that I've been looking for and she's sitting there or standing there her back is against the wall as an observer but she is now beginning to find herself in a conflict how do I begin to leave the wall take my back off the wall and get close enough to that one that's sitting there at that table why would she be standing there at that meeting because when you read a few verses back I think when Jesus walks into that town she heard what just took place let me read it to you a few verses back in Luke chapter 7 in verse 11 listen to these words because has happened right down the street from the varices house here's what it says verse 11 Luke 7 soon afterwards he went to a city called nain and his disciples were going along with them accompanied by a large crowd now as he approached the gate of the city a dead man was being carried out the only son of his mother and she was a widow and a sizable crowd from the city was with her when the Lord saw her he felt compassion for her and said to her do not weep he came up and touched the coffin right in the middle of a funeral and the bearers came to a halt and he said young man I say to you arise the dead man sat up I'm gone at that point right there he began to speak I'm in the coffin at that point and Jesus gave him back to his mother do you see what just took place in the city that the dinner is going on that Jesus stopped a funeral think about this for a second if I could just paint the picture think of this Jesus is walking into the city and coming over the road is a funeral of a dead young man that died too soon and all of a sudden you are about to have a clash of death and life are about to intersect ending that day I have this sense if we can see the spirit world and what was going on in Hell at that point that Jesus walked in a town there thinking we took that boy out now they see Jesus coming I could see hell going oh shoot here is Jesus this is about to get messed up at this points now you have Jesus resurrection and life about to hit death and there is about to be a clash of the titans at this point going on and if you don't know what exactly is about to happen resurrection and life always defeats death every single time what makes this even crazier is there were three things you weren't allowed to touch you couldn't touch a leper because they were afraid that that that the disease would get on you and then you're unclean you couldn't touch an immoral woman because her impurity would get on you and you couldn't touch a dead person because then you would be unclean I don't know if you know a lot about Jesus here today but Jesus touched every single one of those people he touched the leper he touched that woman and he touched the dead because here's the issue what they thought is that what was on them would get on Jesus if I Jesus touches a leper leprosy gets on him immorality gets on him death gets on him but you don't know this resurrected Jesus because when he touches you you don't get on him he starts to give and that prostitute is her back against the law thought maybe just maybe if he did that to the dead man maybe he'll rub off on me and I could be set free today that woman did but no one ever thought she would do her back comes off the wall and all of a sudden she says I'm not observing anymore I'm about to participate because if that man raises the dead I know he can erase my past I know he can set me free I know he can deliver me but she had to make a decision do I stand here with everybody else or do I go forget y'all that's I'm southern now you forget y'all I'm about to go meet the man that raises the dead that's her back let's talk about her hair for a second number two I was the probably the hardest part of ministry in Detroit wasn't the danger of where we were it was just the difficulty the hurdles was being a senior pastor for seven years but being single that was difficult being a single senior pastor in the one of the hardest inner cities in the country because I'm thinking to myself my parents wanted me to get married how do you get married I mean how do you do it if you're like a pastor I mean like I mean when i was when i was single there was no match.com there was no there was no singles dot-com it was Jesus calm I mean that was there if Jesus doesn't show up you don't have a shot in fact let me can I just help you today if you're single here don't raise your hand because I know you're dying to raise your hand raise it I'm gonna help you with something here for just a moment because some of you going like there's no I mean I heard all the time girls are gone there is no good-looking sphere filled men in the entire state of new probably the United States they think that and guys think of the same way and literally they begin to think of themselves this will never happen I mean I've been and then until God gave me hope he says let me tell you about the worst single adult situation in human history ready for this Adam there is nobody every time every single time he goes on a Christian mingle nobody responds here's why there are no humans there's no humans on the planet who's gonna respond you know you know I like walks in the park I like to read my Bible I like I like the message version of the Bible there's there's none of that I like to take walks in the cool of the day with Jesus none of that how do you do what do you do I'm really good at naming things there's nothing for Adam nobody's there but here's what's amazing when God said it's time he said I can make a human even when you didn't think that nobody was there don't tell me there's nobody out there God can do whatever he wants to do so I have to be careful as a single pastor I'm a single senior pastor I can't have people raise their hands and you're up there going how you doing okay you can't do that that's just creepy they think when you go to jail for things like that but let me tell you what single people do in the church because they're scouting don't pretend this is honest now you know what it's like you're going like God just give me somebody it's gonna be and then you spot somebody and you go all they're worshiping oh but they're worshipping with their right hand I don't need the right hand and go up I need the left hand to go up because if there's nothing on that finger Jehovah [Applause] as some of you ago it tell you why how does he know that I was single and too many people worship with their right hand I need to know I need to know if God has provided because what we're looking for is what a ring because that tells me you've been married you're taken you belong to somebody well in that time it wasn't the ring that determined if you were taken or not no one looked on the left ring finger but what they said was if you wanted to know if a woman was taken or not you wouldn't look at their finger you would look at their hair because they said if her hair was up she was available and if her hair was down she was taken some you fixing your hair right now don't do that 21st century 21st century's 21st century okay let's all just be careful here we're in church which meant if your hair is up you're available if your hair is down it means it means watch this I'm taken so what happened was when that woman went out at night her hair was up and all of a sudden she realized this that man raises the dead that man can fix my past that man may rub off on me I'm not gonna be an observer I need to be a participant all of a sudden she takes her back off the wall but at that moment before she gets to his feet she takes her hair down what she just said at that moment is I'm unemployed I'm not available to you to you to you to you to you I've just been taken that man right there that's my knee man he's my only man he's the one that can set me free and give to me that nobody else can give to me so on that day when her back came off the wall and her hair came down she says I'm unemployed but I am smitten because that's the one that can set me free back off the wall hair down and let's close with this I think he saw her eyes or more specifically he saw her tears I was thinking about this as I was reading this passage let me read to you verse 38 one more time and standing behind him at his feet weeping she began to wet his feet with her tears and kept wiping them with the hair of her head and kissing his feet anointing them I kept thinking to myself how do you can anybody actually cry that much to wash someone's I mean these are feet from the Jerusalem dirt roads nothing's paved and and the basins to wash feet these are large water basins I mean like how do you how do you wash feet like we just I mean I've cried five there's been moments that I've wept but not that much not that much and I'm talking about painful situation you've cried but not that much the science tells us medical field tells us that the most you can cries maybe one two CCS in a bottle that's it that's not enough that's enough just to kind of spread the dirt but not enough to wash your feet okay I picked up a book that they just reprinted I bought it probably 20 years ago and went online and found out oh man they have it back in print on Kindle but 99 probably one of the most what one of the most informative hundred page books I think I've read in a long time and it's and I've read it many years ago and revisited it when I was looking at this chapter again the name of the book is called strange scriptures that perplex the Western mind trin by a lady named Barbra Bowen and Barbra Bowen in strange scriptures that perplex the Western mind talks about this verse in fact what she does is it literally takes probably about 50 different things from testament to New Testament and say us and the West really don't understand what was going on in that culture and what was happening there both first century and in that culture and she points out something that not only that I read but something that was confirmed some years ago when I was in Israel and Jordan with with David Wilkerson and it was basically this she said what this woman did was she didn't cry on his feet she brought to his feet and this is what Barbara Bowen said and I saw them and bought one they said this is a tear bottle that she poured on his feet in fact Bowen says this she said at that time whether you were a prince or a pauper whether you were royalty or the town prostitute everyone had a tear bottle it was used in the most in the in the hardest paths journeys and seasons of your life that literally was just a little ceramic bottle that fanned off the top enough to rest upon your cheek that you could weep and then you'd catch the tears and bottle them I saw them I bought them there they excavated thousands of them they don't even cost hardly anything if you walk the streets of the Middle East and you're buying any art of it it's nothing because every tune every everything that they have excavated and found they find thousands of them because when you were buried in your coffin probably that boy that in in Luke chapter 7 verse 11 probably had one with him because everybody was buried with their tear bottle which represented every situation that brought pain into your life think of that woman think of what was in that bottle every man that are abused her every man that kicked her to the side every man that says I love you and then walked away every man that began to to go ahead and maybe physically abuse her think of maybe that she went through a home life or her dad left her and she had no father that would even protect her and every single night this woman is crying herself to sleep and all the sudden catches the tears bottles enough and when she is standing against that wall and deciding that man that's over there she began to realize I can sit here like everybody else being some religious service and there's Jesus she takes her back off the wall if he rubs off on a dead man maybe he can rub off on me if I take my hair down I'm unemployed I'm no longer available that's gonna be my man and now she has to make a decision with that tear bottle do I leave the meeting with my pain my tears with the abuse with everything in my hand and what am I gonna do take it with me to my grave or is there another place that I can take my pain another place that I can put these tears is there another person see those tears were her past those tears were her painful stories and I think this woman got to the point that simply said I don't want to hold on to this anymore I can't do this anymore I've got to find a place to put it and at that moment hair down back off the wall the bottle unplugged she poured them at the only place that those tears belong at the very feet of Jesus she wasn't pouring out water to clean his feet think about this this wasn't water to clean his feet this is every painful story this is every time she cried and said the only person that can begin to take the pain I can't hold it anymore and all of a sudden I thought to myself why his feet why his feet why his feet Hebrews 2:8 says this you have put all things in subjection under your feet which means when something goes under his feet it's under his authority see you sang it but you didn't realize what you were singing when Greg led us in that final song of shout hallelujah the devil is what under my feet what do you think those feet not only is the devil under his feet the tears of every person that poured it on his feet said I got the devil I've got your painful stories I've got everything underneath my feet because when it's under his feet it's under his authority because it belongs to him and sometimes all you have are tears let me just say some tears or prayers - they travel to God even when you have no words to express yourself God goes I know that story I know that abandonment I know that you've been abused I know that you've I've got scars upon you I know that you're worried about money you're worried about being a single mom goes I see those tears but if you keep walking out of this place and walk out of that home fellowship group or walk out of summit or walk out of the jersey campus trying to hold on to that bottle all by yourself you don't have the capacity you don't have the ability to take those back on the subway take that back to your car take it through the toll booth you don't have the ability but today you can go it only belongs one place and that's at the feet of Jesus only out of his feet understand how important this is worn Weir's be the great Baptist preacher said it like this the past is a rudder to guide you not an anchor to drag you and this past was dragging this woman I just kept thinking to myself how do you turn an anchor into a rudder how do you begin to go I'm not doing this anymore and all of a sudden that rudder pointed right to Jesus and she went there here's all I thought about you get kiddin let me just close with this as Gregg comes in the team how do you turn an anchor into a rudder how do you change that past let me just I just jotted this down real fast number one like this woman if you and Jesus are in the same place great things can happen and here's the great thing about this Jesus doesn't live in churches he's everywhere that means he can meet you on an F train he can meet you on the Jersey Turnpike he can meet you in your apartment you don't have to be in this building to meet Jesus he can meet and if you meet Jesus great things can happen there but let me tell you the second thing I learned from this woman this is the part one of the Parts I loved the most is this only Jesus can close the chapter on a tough past get this with immediate forgiveness he looked at that woman and he simply said he didn't say you're on probation he didn't say I want to see if you're gonna do better he looked at her and said your sins are forgiven listen to me close when God forgives you you don't have to think about it you don't have to decide was it true was it's not you that begins to make God love you God loves you in the condition that you're in already you don't the sin ago I at the crime I have to do this more have to show up a church when I've got to stop doing this I've got to stop doing this let me just tell you something if you've got to stop something to get to Jesus listen to me close then you'll be trying to get to him for the rest of your life and all of a sudden here the religious people Oh all their income so that means you're saying you can sit at that table you can come with all your sinning that come on that's why no one likes you stop with the religious stuff what you're telling me that I gotta I've got to clean my life to get to Jesus I don't have the capacity that's why I need him holy mackerel so stop it already I'm telling you you're on drugs you smoke cigarettes you're sleeping with you but come to Jesus today are they still in the apartment yes they are but I'm telling you when you come to Jesus he'll start dealing with stuff I'm not worried I'm not the one to go all religion let me just take some that's why when you come to him and say you're in charge of my life it's amazing he loves you just the way you are listen to me but loves you so much he won't keep you the way you are tweet that religious people [Applause] and finally I'm not able to handle a tear bowel I have to empty it at the feet of Jesus I can't I can't I can't hold on to it when when I hold on to it when I hold on to a tear bottle when I try to manage my own pain let me tell you what happens I become cynical I become bitter and I become resentful I don't trust people I don't trust churches I don't trust religion I don't trust pastors I don't trust and I'm telling you when you go to bed every single night and I'm saying to you today there is a place for your pain there is a place that you can uncork a bottle and pour it at his feet today there's a person I watched I for 30 years on the streets of Detroit because we were meeting in a theatre not a Broadway theater but it was a theater that was a 900 seat pornographic theater and we turned it into a church it was it was we when we renovated it we didn't tell anybody a church is coming here we just thought to renovate men used to come thought we were renovating it to show the movies and they go into the movie start we said Sunday's 10:00 and 6:00 and they would show up thinking they're gonna get a scream and men that used to sit in that seat in bondage came to a church and now the very screen that they used to watch porn on now they're reading hymns and they're seeing scriptures on that and being set free the woman that one day I'll see you again was our first convert that we ever saw at that theater because on one side of us was a prostitution hotel that posted hourly rates on the next next next to our church in Detroit there was the the deja vu strip club and across the street was worldwide pornographic videos and we brought we bought the flagship pornographic theater so there are prostitutes all around us but the girl that is most memorable to me was the girl that worked our theatres for 10 to 15 dollars a trick she weighed less than 90 pounds or her name was Camus she that was her prostitute named Camus Qi her real name was Diane and I'll never forget the day that we walked into this place and said we're buying it and turning into a church she used to call me Father Tim so she I've never forget the day she walked in and said to me she goes father Tim and wasn't a Christian she was father Tim I need you to pray for me and so I was just about to put a hand on her shoulder just so she could feel a male touch with knowing that it's just I love her and that I just want the best for her and just what about to put a hand on her shoulder she goes don't touch me I said and she said I said what is it for she says all the other pastors that pray for me charge me $25 and what they do is they charge me $25 they pray and then they give me a scripture and those numbers in the scripture are the numbers I'm supposed to play for the lottery for the three-digit lottery that's what was happening in religion so the pray a prayer John 3:16 and then she'd go that night because she got a religious leader and she played three one six for the lottery she told me I looked at I looked at Camus Chi and I just said I want to show you something and I took her in the Bible and I said look at this Matthew 7:20 says not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will and the kingdom of him she looked at that verse and she goes huh that's how you do it so what are you talking about she goes the numbers folks this is the 21st century she was I never knew what the numbers men on top of the page so you're saying seven is chapter and twenty is verse I said yeah she's looking at me and she goes give me another one so I go okay Romans 3:23 so she looks and she turns 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God this is the me I got it now give me another one I go Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus she goes this is incredible I'm on a row give me one more I said Romans 10:9 she had no idea was walking her through the Romans road that was doing Romans 10:9 and 10 and all of a sudden if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you shall be saved and she's looking at this so she goes okay father Tim let me ask you a question is what you're telling me is this that if Jesus comes into my heart and changes me she said I'll never have to cry again she said you're telling me I want to stay on the streets anymore she goes he's saying to me that when I die and go to heaven I won't have to think of my past anymore and I said Mooji it's my turn and I brought her Revelation chapter 21 it says he will wipe away every tear from your honor and I watched that young lady I prayed with her I didn't know what was happening until that Sunday as I'm preaching i watch Camus Qi in the middle of preaching walk down and we've got security like you guys I mean if you start coming out we're gonna tackle you take you out we're gonna do you're not going to get up here pastor Carter's gonna be safe pastor David's gonna be safe pastor Patrick Nick I don't think it's the one o'clock let him go and she's coming down and all the security's about to get him they go no I go this let it let her go let her go and she's twirling down the aisle she gets on stage and she goes look this is what she said look how long my dresses look how long my dresses she goes i'm saved i'm saved look how long my dress the only way listen to me now religious people the only way she could define salvations she said I used to wear dresses this short but when Jesus came into my heart I get to wear long dresses then and she literally just began to talk and I just tell you something kamut she didn't need an encounter with the religion she need an encounter she didn't need an encounter with the church she didn't need an encounter with Time Square charge David Wilkerson Carter Conlan or Tim Delina or Nicky Cruz she needed an encounter with Jesus that says leave you take your back off the wall when you take your hair down and saying that's my man then you can uncork that bottle put it at his feet and I'm telling you from that point on your life has changed I'm telling you one of the first people and that day let me just say something coochi didn't know that her body was full of AIDS from working the streets it wasn't just two years later she died I was already in New York at that time but I'll never forget that woman not only got saved long dresses she married some deacon from a church and she sold lawn mowers the rest of her life lawn mowers I don't even know you know is this and would tell her story to those ladies on the street and the part that I can't wait for I know I'm gonna see my dad in heaven I'll see David Wilkerson but I'm looking for a little 90 pound prostitute in heaven with a long dress that the gates going I made it I made look how long my dresses there's on that belly on that day she knew I can uncork the bottle pour it at his feet because I can't leave this place knowing that I'm gonna do this all by myself would you bow your head with me please as we close in the next few moments here just as that woman needed to use her back to get off a wall just as she needed to make a commitment and pull hair down and say I'm not going out back the way I came in I'm taking now and just as she said about her eyes that they would never shed a tear alone anymore doesn't mean when you come to Christ you won't shed tears it means you won't shed tears alone he is there tonight this this afternoon I want to challenge you to do what that woman did because you may be sitting here watching in our annex maybe even watching online or on a phone or on a computer with every head bowed and every eye closed I want to just challenge you today listen we're all Christians we all have pain in our lives I get that part and every night mic urgent to you is pour them at the feet of Jesus but I'm not I'm not though you're not the ones I'm interested in right now I'm interested in the people that maybe didn't understand that this Jesus can rub off on you the most important question we can ask you before you leave this place today is is really the question that was posed to Jesus is another one-on-one conversation in John chapter 3 and when Jesus responds to a religious person and just simply says today today you can be born again you could know today that by just coming to church you could still leave here with all your tears you could still leave here with all your past but I'm here to tell you today to have an encounter with Jesus not this church not a denomination not a religion I'm not talking about Protestantism Catholicism or Judaism I'm not talking about Islam I'm talking about the resurrected Jesus today but today your life can be changed your past forgiven listen to me and your future secure you can know today my past is forgiven and I'm going to heaven that when my life is over some of you don't have that assurance today and Jesus said it like this these are Jesus's words Jesus who cannot lie unless a man is born again he shall not see the kingdom of heaven those aren't my words that's not TSC that's Jesus's words and then says in John 3:5 you must all be born again that's Jesus and so what you have to answer today is am i part of the all and I know you're in church I know you may be a good person I know that you you may watch this but I'm here to tell you have you been born again because those that is the criteria that Jesus says that's how you forgiven of your past and that's how you secure your future for heaven it's not a matter of saying I went to church it's not a matter of saying I'm a good person how does that happen pastor Tim it's as simple as ABC what do you mean pastor Tim it we use those words in those letters ABC we're saying it's simple it's simple and we try to make it simple for you it just goes like this a the word is associate with his admit that you're a sinner admit that I have to be forgiven of much and what we talked about that Jesus that there's some people think they've only been forgiven of a little so they love little but Jesus says we've all we have all sinned John 3:23 we've all sinned that means every one of us has a condition that cannot be fixed with a priest a pastor a program or a promise only God can fix it and he fixes it from the inside out it is called forgiveness how does that happen it's the B part believe that God's loved you so much to send his son and said if there had to be a cause for sin but you're not gonna pay for it because God loves you he wants to pay in your place but but he's asking you to realize that it's you not trying to get better for God to love you he loves you and died for you it's you believing that Jesus was your sin bear on the cross if you could fix yourself then why would God have to send your son if you're just getting better then that would be the worst case of child abuse in human history God allowing his own son to go through that abuse and you can you can make it to heaven on your own by carrying a briefcase or going going overseas on a bicycle or or or becoming a martyr I'm just telling you there's no other there's no other thing in the world like Jesus and Christianity everyone else trying to get you to get good Jesus says I'm good and I'm gonna begin to die in your place and he's gonna rub off on you believing that Jesus died for you and si confessing him as Lord which means come with all your hurts your hang-ups and habits and he'll fix it he'll go through it but just pour those tears at his feet if you're here today in the annex on this bottom floor and just say pastor Tim and I want to start that journey with God I don't have it all together and I've been walking out of here with a tear bottle but today I want to start a journey with God I'm not inviting you to join a church I'm not inviting you to a religion I'm inviting you to a relationship that will change your life your past gets forgiven and your future gets secured forgiven sins heaven becomes your home and my goodness your present gets really exciting and if you're here today and go pastor Tim when you pray that born-again prayer when you pray that and I want to be part of that today I want to start a journey I want to start that journey with God and I want to be part I want to begin that's if I don't have it together got some things messed up it doesn't matter or you can have it all together and go if there's still an emptiness inside but I realize I need God in my life if that's you today annex home fellowship groups summit Jersey campers are right here in the same tree and say pastor Tim I want to start that journey today I want to be born again not at ESC or not a Protestant a Catholic or a Jew I want to be born again those are Jesus's words and that's what I want to do when you pray that prayer I want to start that journey today with God that's you every head bowed every eye closed that's you I want you to raise your hand right now so you put me in that prayer I want to be part of hold it up high I'm gonna make sure I see every hand balcony keep them up keep them up I want to make sure I see every hand that's there okay that's fair keep them up I want to give you another chance gotcha over there look at a whole group over there that spin okay so here's what I want you to you could put your hands down I'm gonna ask you to do what this woman did for a second I'm telling you you're gonna have a place that is going to cheer for you because they're excited because they've done it themselves if you raise your hand and say hey pastor Tim I'm all-in backs off the seat hair down he's my man now breaking that to your bottle I want this to be that table where Jesus if that you raised your hand I want you to stand to your feet right now quickly just stand your feet when you had a bunch of people in about to clap for you quickly I want you to come on down come on come I want you to come on down wherever you're at make your way down your balcony and it's I want you to meet me down it but you all stand while they come down come on come on I want to pray with you and we're all gonna pray together come on balcony if you raised your hand I want you to come down cuz this is gonna be a day those tear bottles this is the day that forgiveness comes this is the day that God changes everything we're gonna pray this together let me just tell you this this is you just praying this is this is not a magic prayer this is just heart calling to heart it's just you going Jesus I put my tears at your feet change me from the inside out and you're not gonna pray this alone you've got two thousand people that about to pray this with you today and we're gonna celebrate together I want to make sure everybody's coming down this is except can I just tell you something what excites me is this today that's what gets me excited hey can we all pray this come on close your eyes pray this out loud if you'd say dear Lord Jesus I believe you're the Son of God I believe that on the cross you died for my sin my shame and my guilt you faced hell for me so I wouldn't have to go you rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven hallelujah a purpose on earth and a relationship with your father today Lord Jesus I turn from my sin to be born again come on say this with me God is my father Jesus is my Savior the Holy Spirit is my helper and heaven is my home in Jesus name and everybody said amen [Applause]

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 18,026

Rating: 4.8388624 out of 5

Keywords: Tim Delina, Sermon, Times Square Church

Id: JmhKTQH17PI

Length: 65min 17sec (3917 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 05 2019