Open My Eyes | Tim Dilena

right now there are two wars that are simultaneously on the horizon that are that are at the boiling point a war is looming over as the world is standing in anticipation as two hundred thousand russian troops are literally at the border of the ukraine people wondering what is going to happen in fact we we don't even know what that even entails for the united states the people that are in this church that are both from the ukraine and russia are literally just been praying and believing that god we need a miracle to take place but there is another war that's also looming that's not been being talked about but is now beginning to start from the north and over to the west and there's a war that's happening against christianity in the church right now right now i'll get to the specifics of that and what i am asking god to do today is not only for us individually not only for myself but for this church and for the church that god would open our eyes again that god would begin to take the vision of the church there is a church in the book of revelation called laodicea and the thing that god began to speak to that church about was lukewarm laodicea the lukewarm church was told how to get back on track because this is a church that was failing because they saw themselves i am rich i am wealthy everything was about them and they couldn't see further than the congregation or the sanctuary and in revelation 3 18 jesus says to them jesus says i need you to anoint your eyes with ointment with salve so that you can see again because church i want you to understand this from pulpits to christians what we see determines really what we say and if we only see ourselves then you end up like relayed to see i'm rich i'm wealthy but if you see the way god sees then something begins to happen that we've got to believe that god is going to open the eyes of his people again and that's what i want to believe today god opened my eyes today open my eyes today he had to do it for a prophet in the old testament that i want to talk about but for a moment can we pause with open eyes and even pray for what is happening around the world today and specifically can we just pause for a moment and i want to believe for a miracle in ukraine and russia right now let's believe that father in the name of jesus god we it's not about us it's not about what's happening on 51st and broadway god keep our vision so clear for what is happening around the world let us not be a church that sees everything within ourselves but god we are praying right now for our ukraine brothers that father that literally families in this church are wondering what's going to happen to families overseas and god as i was talking to even russian brothers yesterday that are just in distraught not knowing what's gonna happen their friends and family being called into service oh god to to begin to to to invade a country but we thank you today proverbs 22 1 says the heart of the king is in the hands of the lord that we believe that it's not putin but it's god that can stop this it's god that can do this we don't trust nato we don't trust we don't trust biden we don't trust putin and it's not that all these people are somebody we just say we trust god today god we believe that a phone call between two presidents can't even stop it god can turn the heart today and we are believing for a miracle god father we're believing for a miracle hold back hold back oh god those troops from going in right now give keep our eyes open for what's happening not only in ukraine but give us god give us 20 20 vision again open up our eyes to see beyond 51st and broadway let us not be zip code christians that just see what our world has i'm wealthy i'm rich god anoint this place within i sat to see the way jesus sees today in your name we pray and everybody said amen hallelujah inevitably there are names in the bible that have associations to it that if i was to mention a name there's probably just one word you can put with that name and know the whole story and know the narrative that the bible tells about that person if i was just to mention the name jonah you would say what of course even though the bible doesn't say whale it says great fish but that's another thing if you say david you end up with goliath of course and the bible does say goliath three hebrew children you think of a a furnace our story today has that feature the prophet has an animal associated with him his name is balaam and his name is associated with what a donkey but not just any donkey this is a talking donkey lord help us because what i've realized is this is that god will invoke all of creation to get his servants to their god-given destination god is not god is not only are not a respecter of persons he's not even a respecter of animals he will god god will take get a rooster to crow for a denying disciple he'll get a whale with a big mouth to get a runaway prophet who won't open up his mouth he will send ravens to feed a prophet in seclusion and god will give vocal cords to a beast of burden to stop a prophet from heading in the wrong direction the placement of this story of balaam and a talking donkey is so unusual and unexpected because i want you to get this for a moment it's an outlier story it just as you're reading the book of numbers it seems to just show up for this reason because it's not a jewish story this is the part i want you to get for just a moment balaam is a perimeter prophet he's in fact he's a non-jew we call that a gentile prophet balaam the story of balaam is a sub-story of the exodus story it's not it's not so much embedded while the exodus is happening there is a little thing happening over here called balaam and this talking donkey he is on the outskirts of israel's journey and god chose to put this story in the bible it's god giving us a glimpse on how he protects his people when we don't even know it can i just tell you something today you have no idea what god is doing on your behalf right now and they and and to a jew they have unless god records this in the old testament they have no idea about the story of balaam in a talking donkey all they know is they're wandering and walking through a wilderness and over on the outskirts you see this whole narrative take place and while the israelites are journeying the enemy there is an enemy that is wanting to attack them but god has a prophet in the right place at the right time that he wants to use here's the story in a nutshell this non-jewish prophet this gentile prophet balaam is asked by a fearful king of a country called moab to curse the people of god he says i need you to curse them in a sense he's going to try to fight fire with fire because he sees i can't beat them at their own game so i'm going to use in a sense i'm going to use supernatural weapons and the king is trying to get an upper hand on them and balaam this non-jewish prophet has to go to god and say should i curse them because the israelites this group of millions of people coming out of egypt is new news even to balaam he doesn't that's why he asks god who are these people and he is given money by this king to curse them but he refuses because when balaam prays about this this is what god says god tells balaam do not go with these men you are not to curse these people the jews for they have been blessed the king comes back again after this refusal with more money and prestige and says you can write here's a blank check whatever you want you get it and somehow balaam goes for it and on the way in his disobedience let me say this on the way in this disobedient journey god stops him with a talking donkey that sees angels that balaam couldn't see i want to say this again what inspired speech from this donkey was a vision of three angels probably the same angel it all of a sudden it brings out these vocal cords let me give you as a side note and say this about disobedience keep this in mind jot this down disobedience is always more costly than obedience i'm just telling you folks it obedience is hard but disobedience is painful walk with god obey what god wants and i believe after many almost four decades of ministry i start to realize that today's problems sometimes with a lot of people i talk to are often the result of yesterday's disobedience that what people are facing today can usually go back to a moment that god says i need you to do this i need you to walk with this and his obedience balaam's obedience would protect the nation of israel his disobedience would just get him a paycheck that if he would obey if he would obey he could protect the nation if his eyes were open he would see larger than himself but remember what we talked about the problem with the laodicean church is that they couldn't see more that they couldn't see beyond themselves i'm rich i'm wealthy they just saw them and god needed to open their eyes and all of a sudden i want you to see how this begins to play out there's something i want to talk to you about that i'm asking god to open my eyes for and i'm going to ask him to open up our eyes as a church listen to the story of what the angels saw that balaam neglected to see but god was angry this is numbers 22. god was angry because he was going god told him not to go but he goes anyway disobedience is more costly than obedience and the angel of the lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against balaam and he was riding on his donkey and his two servants with him and when the donkey saw the angel of the lord not balaam the donkey so the angel in the way with his drawn sword in his hand the first thing the donkey does the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field but balaam struck the donkey to turn her back into the way verse 24 then the angel of the lord stood in a narrow path of the vineyards with a wall on his side and a wall on that side he's going through an alley and here's what it says when the donkey not balaam saw the angel of the lord she pressed herself to the wall and pressed balaam's foot against the wall so he struck her again god bless this donkey i'm just telling you right now god bless this donkey and if there's any animal i'm going to talk to in heaven guess who it is then the angel of the lord went further this is amazing that instead of god this is the relentless love of god over us that instead of going you didn't get it when when i drove you into the field you didn't get it when i pressed your foot now the angel of the lord begins it says when the angel went foot further and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right or to the left and when the donkey saw the angel time number three she laid down under balaam so balaam was angry and struck the donkey with his stick and the lord opened the mouth of the donkey i'll add the next verses i got something to say now that donkey was about to talk isn't it amazing that three times it says when the donkey saw the angel of the lord the donkey god's creation saw the angel it never says when the prophet saw the angel of the lord it talks about a donkey seeing it and then in verse 31 here's the part i want you to see then the lord opened the eyes of balaam and he finally saw the angel of the lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand and bowed all the way to the ground folks i want you to hear me for just a second this is what i've learned when you're living in disobedience and sin you can't see clearly when sin overtakes you all of a sudden nothing becomes clear listen to psalms i want you to get this listen to psalms 40 verse 12. this is what it says my iniquities have overtaken me so that i'm not able to see look at that verse when sin and disobedience becomes part this is no longer clear and all of a sudden now your face think about this you can't see god you can't see angels you can't even see yourself that you're going on the wrong direction you can't even see what's next the worst thing to do is take a step into the future and you're living in sin and disobedience because you don't know what's next because when sin overtakes us everything becomes unclear at that moment see balaam can't speak to what he's supposed to speak from god because balaam can't see balaam can't speak because balaam can't see his own greed blinded him he didn't get back on track until he until he said these words listen to verse 34 balaam said to the angel of the lord i have sinned for i did not know that you were standing in the way against me in order to open up his eyes he had to start with the sin issue he had to start with with really this selfish issue this greed issue whether it was with whatever that thing that seems to overtake us those are the things that begin to blind us this is what caught my attention when finally his eyes when finally his eyes are open and he sees what got within a donkey saw but he couldn't see and this is my launching point and that's why i needed to spend a little time on this for just a moment this is what caught my attention this week this is what gripped my heart in as i was reading the word of god when it was time for finally balaam to prophesy what god was going to say to him i want you to see how the prophecy starts this is the part i want to leap from i needed to get you there because he couldn't speak until his eyes were open he couldn't talk unless he saw the way god spoke until his eyes are open i want my eyes to be opened this way listen to how the prophecy starts in numbers 24 verses 3 and 4 and it says this the utterance of balaam the son of bjorn this is what he was supposed to say the utterance of the man here it comes whose eyes are opened listen to it the utterance of him who hears the word of god who sees the vision of the almighty who falls down with eyes wide open folks in two verses before he even prophesies it keeps saying over and over again the man who saw the man who sees the man whose eyes were opened that all of a sudden what god was going before you can speak i need you to see the way that i see before you can announce i need you to see with my eyes numbers 24 3 in the good news version says like this the words of the man who can finally see clearly that sin is no longer overtaking him or how about this one i love this i want to just say i'm i'm sorry for for for just staying here but i need you to see this i love the way the message begins to do this it says the decree of balaam yes the decree of a man with 20 20 vision and then it says this the decree of a man who hears god speak who sees what the strong god shows him who falls in his face in worship who sees what's really going on folks look at me for a second if there is ever a cry that i think from the heart of god for our country it for for his church for his bride is that even his his pastors his preachers starting with me would see clearly again not just see and hear not just see us but to see the way god sees again we need our eyes open it's not about us we need people that are not so keyed in on this is what our church is this is what we're doing this is what's going on we need to hear what god is doing what god is saying again i want that distinction i started to pray for that god opened my eyes i don't want to speak with blind eyes i don't want to you know what happens when you speak with blind eyes you don't even know what god is thinking you know god you think when you speak from blinded eyes you are speaking from your little world and you're missing what god wants to do i'm so thankful that two weeks ago so cindy and i took a week off and it was perfect timing when it snowed eight inches we went south to the heat god is risen from the dead and i'm so thankful to our general overseer pastor carter that message on we watched it the real jesus doesn't burn powerful word and then last week dr os hawkins on walking in the fear of the lord while away cindy and i had this real god moment while we were away dr rt kendall introduced us to an old general in god he was a 92 year old that has this incredible gift of intercession and he said he said i want you to meet with him for lunch it was so funny cindy and i started laughing the 86 year old dr kendall is introducing us to the 92 year old pastor and i'm going with he can't get much older than these guys right here um and we're so thankful we drove about 30 minutes we drove 30 minutes just to be prayed for while we were resting and this is what we were told dr kendall said if you go it will be the highlight of your trip let this man just pray for you he prayed for us for you and for our children as soon as he finished praying for us i just said i did i told him i said pastor charles just just we just want you to lay hand we drove just to be prayed for just to be prayed for and then this precious man just said let's go out to lunch and so we went to this cafe that's just just called the banana boat um right on the right kind of on the water and it was just just a nice little sandwich place of seafood but this is the part that was amazing to me in this little uh these little canals these boats would go to get to the ocean and you're sitting right there eating we're eating there with with pastor charles we just finished our time and it was it was it was a bala moment for me that all these little ships all these boats were pulling in to go eat because you can dock there and go eat and this one little boat was coming in with this husband and wife on it was it was not big it was they were pulling in and as they were there everybody started waving because right behind them was this massive yacht going by it was like jeff bezos who can't get it out of amsterdam and this giant boat is coming behind them and these two people on their little bogus boat thought everybody was waving to them and this couple was going had no idea behind them this jeff bezos thing is this massive and people are waving at all these people going yeah and this couple never looked behind them i'm sitting there going you have no idea what's happening behind you because you're so fixated on you that you have no idea this massive thing that is happening behind you and church i kept going they they can't even see it to know what's there because they never saw that's what we have to begin to do this is not about us looking at each other and going there is something massive happening and we need to see what god wants us to see or we're going to find ourselves on our little boats like this and also it's about us i'm rich i'm wealthy that's laodicea talk i want i want to i want my eyes to be open i want to see what god sees i want to open a open heart that's why the goal here is not to simply to say god just just get people here we want to see the kingdom of god advance or as the great revival as duncan campbell said he said the kingdom of god is not going to be advanced by our churches becoming filled with men but by our men in our churches becoming filled with gods that's how it happens oh lord help us to see the way he sees think of the prophecy again the words of a man who began to see clearly even jesus said this to his people listen to luke your eye is the lamp of your body when your eye is healthy your whole body is also full of light but when it's unhealthy your body is also full of darkness see to it that the light within you is not darkness god opened my eyes not just to the ukraine border but folks even happening right now it's not just a war on the ukraine but listen to me there is a war on the church that's happening right now there is a war that's coming against us that we need to have our eyes open happening right now because not just some pastor a parliament member of a friendly christian nation finland posted romans 1 24-27 because they had a concern what was happening with what was taking place with same-sex marriage just literally took a picture of romans 1 and put it on instagram and she is now on trial and could face two years for hate speech to hear it's a parliament member a parliament member this isn't even a pastor and folks and we're sitting here as a church going like hey look at us let's do this it's the people on a boat and god goes open your eyes there's a war looming on the ukraine there's a war looming against the church and we'll still have churches so focused on what they're doing some preaching schedule or some personal thing and god's going to the church today in america open up your eyes and see the way that i see what's going on here folks do you understand we can sit here and and and have church and doing all this but this this is moving this persecution is moving our way it's moving our way i heard one christian leader say it like this christians are no longer the home team we lost home field advantage decades ago if you're a serious christian you are now on the visiting team public opinion is not on our side any longer and the more serious you are the more targeted you are going to be for being biblical in your worldview folks let me explain it to you like this your biblical definitions alone forget this folks listen i send all the emails you want i don't care just listen to me whatever you want to say about a vaccine and whatever you're going to go at 666 and when they put the needle in you're getting antichrist say whatever you want i i'm not here to debate a vaccine i'm not here to debate mass i just want to go back to biblical definitions and when you and if you listen just defining marriage defining gender defining the unborn defining those things through the scripture now makes us a target today open our eyes just defining it from the bible standpoint that's why we need god to open our eyes and i'm just going to let you know folks if this this place 33 years ago 34 years ago i'm so thankful for pastor david wilkerson i'm so thankful for pastor carter conlan that have stood on this word and i'm telling you 34 years later we are going to stand on this word and this is what's going to guide us today this bible is going to guide us folks you don't have to make it this divisive all you have to do is define it just define what the bible says and all of a sudden we begin to find ourselves and that's why if i could say this to you so as today we launch as we launch connect groups whether it's theology connect group whether it's the with dr rt kendall the freedom connect group that is that is coming out that some of you have seen or prison letters listen carefully the connect groups many of you who have grown up in church like i have whenever you wanted to do something you started a ministry and then everybody would go to it now we're saying it's not starting a ministry it's starting a connect group so you're going like what's the difference connect group makes it mobile even if we're shut down do you understand what's happening this is a strategy some of you going like i have a burden for israel we need an israel pray for israel we are for that but it's not a ministry that meets in a room of the church it start a connect group to keep us mobile no matter what happens against us does that make sense so don't fight against this word connect group do you know what that is that sounds like the devil because if you spell it backwards come on come on our purpose when you look at the stage when you look at all this the cameras it's to keep us mobile that you can lock the doors we'll be online you can shut it down we're still doing connect it doesn't matter so some of you while you're fighting the wrong thing we're trying to get us mobile that you can't that whatever you go it's going back to the book of acts you can call it a house church whatever you want to do i believe we've got some good we've got a few years left that we're going to be able to do this but we're just getting mobile we're getting thank you you know it's the best amen i got all day some guy just goes smart move pastor god bless you we're going does that make sense raise your hand if that makes sense so when we say okay hold your hands up i just want to make sure i count that's too many to count put them down okay this is what i'm asking you to do so when we say go sign up for connector we're saying we need you to be mobile we're preparing ourselves the worst thing you can do is to prepare yourself when the battle already comes we see what's coming let's get ready for it that's what we're doing are you all in favor say aye okay and even if you said no it doesn't matter here we go i've asked god to help me open my eyes for three things drop these down three things open our eyes open our eyes to see people to see our protection and to see god that's what i'm asking god to do open our eyes let me just go through these fast to see people to see our protection in the midst of all this and to see god in the midst of all this let's start with to see people for just a moment this happened right after the church was birthed in in acts god needed his church to not stay in an upper room but he needed them to go see people the way he sees people isn't it amazing that after the upper room takes place in acts chapter 2 you never hear about the upper room again because you wouldn't let him stay up there because you had and isn't it amazing that the first man to be set free and to be healed was a lame man that if the church stayed in an upper room which means stairs a lame man can't walk up the stairs to get there he needs the church to come down the stairs to get to them does that make sense and so when god goes he goes hey i'm going to let the first miracle of the church be a lame man and the only way you're going to get to the lane man is gonna have to walk down the steps yourself he says because i'm gonna need you to see people differently and that's exactly what he does so in acts chapter 3 peter and john see a man that they have seen every day of their life that they've gone to the temple to pray but the day after pentecost and the infilling of the holy spirit they see the man differently now the bible says this man has been there since his birth they've been laying him there and all of a sudden now they see him differently how come all those other years before they were filled with the holy spirit how come all those other years they walk right by him but all of a sudden god opens up their eyes to see this man differently and peter and john have been to the temple but peter of john now have been to an upper room they've been filled with the holy spirit let me just continue to remind you acts 2 37 and 2 38 we are praying people to be born again people to be baptized in water and people to be filled with the holy spirits because when you're filled with the holy spirit you see differently and that's exactly what took place this beggar wasn't the same person on this day he wasn't just a beggar but with their new eyes from being filled with the holy spirit they saw him as a potential miracle listen to it the bible says they used to set this man down every day at the gate of the temple which is called beautiful acts 3 and it says and a man who had been lame from his mother's womb so he's been there every day which means that they've seen him was being carried along whom they used to set down at the gate of the temple in order to beg arms of people who were entering the temple then when he saw he saw peter and john about to go into the temple he began asking to receive alms that's begging for money but peter along with john fixed news new eyesight new eyesight for these two guys that they've never had before and they said look at us and he began to give them intention expecting to receive something from them but peter said i don't possess silver and gold but what i do have to you in the name of jesus christ get up and walk folks let me just tell you what you did what this church did we got this puppy god help us so one of the nights i get the night shift just as protection for the girl so i'm walking that puppy and some guy at 10 30 at night before i go to bed goes hey you're the pastor of times square church i've never seen this man before i just and and i was already going like i'm sorry if he's done this puppy has done anything um if he's bar he goes no no he said let me tell you something he said um i used to have an apartment my wife and i had an apartment right down here by the church and every day every day we used to walk by a beggar on the street on eighth avenue and he said one day we walked by and he no longer was there and we found out that people at times square church came to this man shared jesus with him got him a place to stay and he says he's no longer there because your people saw something in him when everybody walked by and he looked at me says i'm coming to that church think of that just for a moment folks you saw not a guy asking for money in the same place you saw like peter and john not just the beggar asking for alms you saw a potential miracle and you didn't even know it was touching this young man and god would begin to do something but it wasn't god just opening up our eyes for us to see the the streets and the homeless again as potential miracles but can i tell you what i think god has to do for us today even as we talk about connect groups i think it's god opening up our eyes not just see the homeless but to see the people that you're sitting next to to see them differently even the people that are next to you that those people next to you are critical to your growth in faith they really are listen i get it you can come to church and as you're sitting close and we've got almost a full house here i know as people are worshiping and freddie's going lift your hands and and their hands are are coming over into your air space and they're coming over and you're going like we don't do that times square we go this way we don't go nor west east and west we go north and south either put your hands up or you put them down we don't go this way around here wherever you've come from you better learn real quickly let me just tell you raise your hands any way you want to but listen to me carefully because what god is wanting to do is god is wanting us to see the importance of the body of christ the importance of the people that that are here you know what that you know what you'll never hear in the news no matter what news station you write i was reading this a harvard a harvard doctor he's the he he's the professor at harvard um of epidemiology of epidemics and he said this he wrote this whole study on what happens he was doing it on the health care workers during the pandemic and he was wanting to see he had this thought he said why are the people that are connected to a church and relationships lasting longer than those that are not harvard study this isn't some christian study this is what he found out listen to this he spent he spent the the last couple years doing this and he says those that are in attendance and have relationships how it impacted health care workers he said those that attend frequently and are part of relationships in the church he said they are 30 less likely to become depressed 50 percent less likely to get a divorce five times less likely to commit suicide and in perhaps the most striking uh fashion he said this health care professionals who attend church weekly 33 of them were less likely to die when he followed up on them a couple years later he said they even live longer join a connect group and you get to live longer we'll keep you alive join a connect group and listen this is what's so important as we launch connect groups you're going to see it for so many different ones whether you're going to attend whether you're going to lead one cindy and i are doing this it's our greatest joy to work with stan and natasha and bring together some of the young adults and have a chance to invest in them this is our hearts why pastor tim because when when the battle comes this way we will be mobile we will still have a church even if you lock the doors of the church we get to still have church and that's what god is doing that's why we're encouraging you to begin to do this but we have to see people differently we have to see the way god sees them i wonder there was a verse that stood out to me as i'm reading through the book of exodus i wonder how big of a part moses's parents the way they saw that child began to become part of this child's destiny listen i was reading this just two days ago and it says this in exodus 2 2 the woman became pregnant as moses his mom and she had a son she saw there was something special about him and hit him for three months she looked at that boy and said there's a calling on your life there's something here i want to see people that way i'm going to look at a beggar on the street like and and and on 8th avenue and go you don't deserve to be here god has something special for you peter and john looked at a man at the gate beautiful and said i know the doctor said you're crippled for life but god has something special for you and that's what god does we have to see people that way and that's what i think god begins to do that i don't want to sit on my little boat waving while the big thing is passing me by god help us i want to see people the way god sees them number two i want to see i want you to have open eyes to see your protection i'm not sure if we live like we're protected by god one of our elders who's sitting here today ends every text this way every single text i get he says this to me god is with you he's reminding me of my protection every single time i don't take those words for granted it brings confidence to me i'm asking god to open up my eyes to know that no matter if i'm walking to church if my girls are walking to church whatever happens i'm believing god you're surrounding us we're surrounded by protection we're surrounded by by those people you know there's a story where literally two guys one is a prophet and one is a is is an assistant one has open eyes and one has closed eyes one's in peace and the other is distraught and all of a sudden an entire army surrounds them and they're sitting there and the man with peace just goes you don't see what i see what does he see listen to it second king 6 15 now when the attendant of the man of god this is elisha had risen early and got out behold there was an army with horses and chariots circling the city and his servant said to him master what are we going to do so he answered and said don't fear and i love this phrase those who are with us are more than those who are with them what happened then elisha prayed listen to the prayer oh lord i pray what what does it say open his eyes that he god open our eyes today and the lord opened the servant's eyes and saw and behold the mountains was full of horses and chariots of fire all around elisha i love that all around elisha you know what happens when you hang out with the right people if they're protected by god you get some of that protection you better hang out with the right people you better hang out let me tell you what i used to pray over our household every single night when we were in detroit i don't pray it enough because we're in an apartment but i still need to pray it more every single night where we lived in detroit my children heard it my wife heard it every night god stationed angels on four corners of our property that no wicked thing can come near our house some of you better adopt that prayer god said we've prayed that over our church god stationed angels on all four corners of our property here that no wicked thing can come near this house i'll never forget the day that my neighbor told me he said come over here come over here i walked over to my neighbor's home he goes look look at the head rest of my car and look at the window two bullets went through his window from the alley and were lodged in his head rest and i just looked i'm just going like i'm surrounded i just knew i'm surrounded i knew god so because i'm surrounded guess what you get to be protected too because my protection goes larger than my property let me just tell you something folks i believe in the protection of god i believe that god is able to protect think about this these streets have changed the cities around in our country is changing the enemy is going to come but we have god's protection upon us i don't care if you've just been born again last week you are protected by god i folks you can ask her yourself cindy just became a christian we were downtown detroit at a at a christian it wasn't a concert it was a it was some preaching thing down downtown detroit and i had to stay and she was walking by herself we weren't married at this time but she but she left we said goodbye she had a walk from joe lewis arena to her car in detroit at the renaissance center and it was not just a long walk but at this time in detroit it was a dangerous walk she will tell you this story she said she was walking to her car and her footsteps behind her she looked around and some man came right up and said hey i'm here to walk you to your car that's all i'm here to do to walk you to your car and all of a sudden my wife just goes thank god they walked to the car she said thank you for doing this she just assumed he was from the conference she put her key in the car turned around i'm just telling you what i heard cindy doesn't lie there was no more man there let me just tell you something if you don't know what that is the angels of god are encamped around us and can protect us folks i'm telling you they're pushing people on subway tracks the enemy is coming against us but you are surrounded by god you are protected by god you are encamped by god he has god god open our eyes that we can see his protection over us oh my goodness i told our elders this i said before we came out i said there's this verse i've been living by this whole week and it says this this is how i know you're pleased with me because my enemy doesn't shout and triumph over me let me just say the enemy will attack me the enemy will post things against me the enemy will talk about me but you can't shout and triumph over me when god is on my side let me just tell you something i trust in god i trust in him and if there's a shout that's going to go up it's going to come from this camp to say god is with us that's the shout that's going to be in this place okay let's close with this god open my eyes i want to see people the way you do god open my eyes i want to see the protection that you've given to us and let me close with this god open my eyes to see you to see god and this is where we close today i'm convinced that our country can't see sin because we can't see god sin doesn't exist in our country because you remove god because in order for there to be sin you have to have a righteous standard so if you remove god out of the public places that it's no longer sin it is a it is it is a habit it is uh it is uh um a something that needs to be fixed or something that need that you were born with it's not called sin anymore because there is no god when god exists and he does that means there's a righteous standard but and then you can have sin there is no such thing as sin without god and because god exists we see when you see god then you see sin when people in the bible had a vision of god they also had a vision of their sin that was the difference if you can remove god then you can remove sin and that's why if there's ever a time for the church to preach about the greatness of god of who god is os last week the fear of the lord pastor carter jesus doesn't burn see it happened all over the bible it happened to job he said i've heard of you by the hearing of the year but now my eyes what see you therefore i retract and i repent when he sees god he repents when peter is fishing and sees the miracle it says when peter saw he fell down at jesus's feet fell down there he sees jesus and says go away from me lord for i am a sinful man isaiah is the same thing isaiah he said woe is me from undone i'm a man of unclean lips for my eyes have what seen the king the lord of hosts or then you have john the revelator when i saw him i fell at his feet as a dead man the job of the church the job of this pulpit is to show the real jesus because without it then the pulpits and the preachers listen carefully our job is to preach this word and show the living resurrected jesus if you don't then we have communic we don't call them preachers anymore they're communicators they're motivators folks i'm not a communicator i'm not a motivator it is i'm i'm going to preach this word and when you preach this word i'm just telling you then i have a responsibility as an ambassador to show people god when you preach jesus then men encounter who they really are see as the apostle paul grew in the knowledge of god over the years he grew more disgusted with himself isn't that funny the more he grew in god the more he discovered like i'm nothing see in the beginning i want you to see this is what paul said i want you i want you to get this just follow this journey with me for just a moment because in galatians chapter one i want you to listen to paul talk about himself the first letter he writes after his first missionary journey is in galatians one and he calls himself an apostle you know what paul was doing he was on the little boat going six years later he writes first corinthians 15 9 and realizes his little boat's not that great and he just says paul i'm the least of the apostles six years the more i see god the more i see myself because when you don't see god listen to me balcony listen to me when you don't see god those watching online listen when you don't see god you end up like leia deceil lukewarm going i'm rich i'm wealthy i have need of nothing oh how deceived can you be it's little boat churches little boat christianity little god help me i never want to live on the little boat i want to just go look at the big boat that's what those people should have did so paul starts off with i'm an apostle then he goes seven years later he goes i'm the least of the apostles and all of a sudden he starts to see god even more and six years later in ephesians 3 8 he writes paul i'm the least of the saints he said in this big room of people i'm the lowest one on the totem pole and folks when he ends it all just before he dies his last thing he says is this paul i'm the chief of sinners he goes from little boat christianity i'm an apostle i'm the least of the apostles i'm the least of the saints i'm the chief of sinners he kept look at him not my little boat look at me look what i got got opened my eyes i don't feel like i'm breaking confidence here elder jerry and sister glenn i'm going to put you on the spot elder jerry told me a story cindy and i have been praying for them and we and we've prayed for them as a church when they tragically lost their son a little over a month ago and elder jerry told me about the funeral we saw at a very intimate setting of a funeral about 50 people eight people respond to be born again eight people respond but elder jury told me my favorite story he said pastor tim you don't know the after story that happened he goes when after pastor carter shared you came up and folks i'm just telling you exactly what i did here on the abc's i did it right there and eight people came to christ and here's what's amazing elder jerry goes pastor tim let me tell you what happened when we were leaving the three funeral directors looked at one of our people and said hey you go to that church can we talk to you walks into the office of the three funeral directors and say can you talk to us about those abcs again shared the gospel those three guys get born again in their office and elder jerry said and he may be there right now was at the jersey campus last week why is it how come that how come they hear thousands of moments of funerals they're in a better place they're in this because it's little about funerals our job is to point people to god that's what our job is our job is to point them there because when you see god you see yourself and when you see yourself you see you need god because of yourself that's what happens if i can point people to god then they see themselves but if i'm sitting there going look at me look at my bow look at my boat then you get stuck in galatians 1 1. tim a pastor in new york come on the more i see god the more i realized i'm the chief of sinners i'm the chief of sinners it's not about this little poet it's about god and today there is a god who loves you there's a god who cares there's a god who is because he's god if we don't realize listen let me just say it like to you like this when you see god you see yourself and when you see yourself you realize i need god to fix me to change me because i can't fix myself today that can happen today you can be changed today your life can be changed when i look at a sanctuary like this i don't see people i see potential miracles when i look online i'm going i see potential miracles today could be a miracle day for you a miracle day for you this is the day that can change everything this is the day when you see god you see yourself and you're going man how does how do i change what do i need to do i'm so glad you asked jesus said you can start over even now he calls it just as you had a first birth you can get a second birth a spiritual birth because some of you are sitting here going like man i've messed up my life and and god goes you can get a duel you can be born again while you're alive because the first time you were born physically but the second time it's a spiritual change first time in a hospital but right now inside the heart because jesus says this no man can see the kingdom of heaven unless they're born again how does that happen pastor tim it is as simple as abc what is it pastor tim it's starting with admitting that we're sinners i see who god is i see what i see that there is a condition that i have and it's called sin i have it it's called sin i can't fix it with a priest a pastor a promise a program only god can fix it it's admitting that i'm a sinner i'm broken on the inside it was broken when i was born but god didn't leave me in that condition he says i can fix you i can change you and that new relationship with god is not about simply getting you to church it's not getting you in church but it's getting god in you and living in you how does that happen pastor tim that's the be word believing that god sent a son to die for your sin god can't walk with people that are not that are not forgiven that will not believe that god can come in and change them from the inside out that folks i'm here to tell you this if we could fix ourselves then god would never have had to send his son but we couldn't fix ourselves we couldn't fix ourselves god had to send the son to become our burden-bearer he would die the die the death that we were supposed to die live the life that we couldn't live and give us a reward heaven and forgiveness that we don't even deserve and it's for you it was for me it's for all of us in this place but it has to be received like a gift and then it says c a admit b belief c confess confess him as lord not confess a church a denomination a religion it's confessing him as the lord that word means you're in charge now romans 10 9 and 10. it's not just believing that god raised jesus from the dead but it's also confessing him as lord and saying you don't just get sundays for two hours you get every day every hour every moment you're in charge of my life do you actually think jesus died on the cross went through that pain so he can get you to sit in the seat on sunday no no no no no no that's religion religion asks for a couple hours a week but a relationship wants to walk with you every single day that's the relationship and you can have that relationship today in the balcony main floor online i want you to bow your heads and close your eyes just for a moment this may be the first time you're in church today this may be maybe some of you walked in here and going i haven't been i haven't been to a church a synagogue a mosque i haven't been to anything for for decade but today you're in the right place because today you can be born again today god can walk into your life and change you from the inside out i admit that i'm a sinner i believe that god sent his son to die for my sin and today i want to confess him as lord today if you're sitting here and say pastor tim i want to start that journey with god my eyes have been open i'm starting to see the way i've been on this like balaam on this disobedient journey but today my eyes i think i see clearly now i want to start a journey with god today well here's what i'm going to do i'm going to pray a born-again prayer and in about in about maybe 30 seconds i'm not going to make you stand i won't make you walk forward but in about 30 seconds not yet with every head about whenever i close i'm going to ask you to raise your hand in just about 30 seconds if you say put me in the prayer you're about to pray because i'm going to pray a born-again prayer i'm going to pray a prayer that will just start you on your journey it's not a magic prayer it's just a prayer that says god i want you to i want you to come into my life maybe your eyes have been opened today to say that's what i need i need a relationship with god today if you're here today you feel like my eyes are open i see the big boat behind me pastor tim when you pray that prayer would you put me in that i want to be part i want to start a journey with god today i'm not inviting you to be a member of a church i'm inviting you to change your forever your eternity and in balcony main floor every head bow and every eye closed i'll be looking around if you're here today and say pastor tim when you pray that prayer and we'll all pray together put me in that without any hesitation if that's you i want you just to hold up your hand as high as you can hold it up as high as you can i want to make sure i see every hand keep them up there's one two three four five six keep them up i wanna make sure it's seven eight nine 10 11 12 13 got you in the back over there 14 15 16 17 18 19 balcony 20 21 22 23 24 keep them up i want to make sure i see everything 25 all the way in the back row and 26 got you over here 27 i see over there 28 over there and 29 30 got you over there you could put your hands down thank god for that come on can we do this together i want us to pray right now come on say this with me out loud those online you're going to make you're going to say the same thing with me come on say this with me dear lord jesus i believe you're the son of god i believe that on the cross you took my sin my shame and my guilt and you died for it you faced hell from me so i wouldn't have to go he rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven 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 it with me now loud god is my father jesus is my savior the holy spirit is my helper i like this part my favorite part and heaven is my home in jesus name come on can we all say amen and thank god for those that have made that decision today hallelujah come on put your hands together stand with me as we close today it's good to be in god's house now listen if you made that decision today i want you to text the word decided to 51 000. decided we're going to start you on a journey let me tell you what we're working on right now there's going to be some massive things happening for discipleship going into 2022. this is a really important moment connect groups are happening you can go online tsc.nyc forward slash groups there's so many to lead and also to be part of we also rejoice not only with the 30 people here six people online responded 36 folks have given their heart to jesus christ eyes were opened

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 63,154

Keywords:

Id: z_pDliUkBbg

Length: 61min 22sec (3682 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 21 2022