The Anointing Of God by Jim Cymbala

conference that I want to thank there's ago before the bombing but all the folks over here have been so gracious to my wife and I in case you don't know anything about the Brooklyn Tabernacle or our ministry 26 years ago my wife and I came to a rundown building in downtown Brooklyn depressing situation with less than 20 people in the church the first offering I took on a Sunday morning was $85 that was the total tithes and offerings for that service we were in the ghetto inner-city drug and alcoholism all around us but on top of that I had never been to seminary I was a basketball player in high school in college and came into the ministry in the unusual way which I won't belabor now and my wife although she's won two Grammy Awards now my wife has never learned to read or write music technically she's not trained so she can't read or write the music that she's producing where other people are singing it so next to that verse in the Bible God uses the foolish things of this world and the weak things my picture is right there in the Bible next to that verse along with my wife because God's not used looking for talent God's looking for availability God's not looking for geniuses because he knows everything already the Lord is just looking for somebody who he can break and make and fill and use for his glory so it's a real honor for us to be here we had four services yesterday in in in New York City and we got on that airplane early this morning but we really counted as I said an honor to be here to Minister the Word of God I'd like you to turn in your Bibles if you would to the book of first Thessalonians and I want to read some portions of Scripture and if you don't mind I'm going to ask you to read little clumps of verses because it's not one particular sentence I want to focus on but it's it's in a Roma it's a it's a fragrance it's an atmosphere that I want to direct your attention to today in first Thessalonians the second chapter Paul is talking about his ministry among the people there in Thessalonica and we pick it up in verse 5 as easily viewing his time with them you know I'm reading from the NIV you know that we never use flattery nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed God is our witness we were not looking for praise from men not from you or anyone else as apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you but we were gentle among you like a mother caring for her little children we loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well because you had become so dear to us then look down at verse 17 same chapter but brothers when we were torn away from you for a short time in person not in thought out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you for we wanted to come to you certainly I Paul did again and again but Satan stopped us for what is our hope our joy or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes is it not you indeed you are our glory and joy so when we could stand it no longer we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens and we sent Timothy who is our brother and God's fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ to strengthen encourage you in the faith and then in the third chapter verse 6 he's giving the account now of Timothy's return but Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love he has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us just as we also long to see you therefore brethren in all of our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith for now we really live since you are standing firm in the Lord now ladies and gentlemen brothers and sisters in the ministry people on the platform let's talk will cut all the preachers talk and let's just cut to the chase because the hour is late here and I want to really open my heart to you about something of real concern you know this conference is so important and what happens in each session is so important because the calling that we have and what we're involved in we're not selling thumbtacks we're we're not we're not slinging hash somewhere we have been entrusted with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ if you're here in this building and you're involved in service for God you have been entrusted by God chosen before the foundation of the world not because of anything in you but just God's sovereign choice you've been entrusted to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ in in the part of the vineyard where he's put you and I want to remind all of you here today that at the end of your life you and I are all going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ and the quality of our work is going to be reviewed why these sound guys and guys who are helping from the church why they're really doing it are they doing it for a buck are they doing it to be noticed or are they doing it out of a real service for the Lord the Bible says God's going to check and look into the motives of the heart why is Jim symbol of preaching why is he in the Brooklyn Tabernacle what kind of preparation goes into those sermons why is he preaching what's his relationship with those people you're not going to be reviewed by your peers it won't matter who thinks you're hot your sunday-school numbers won't mean a bit of interest to God because he's not looking at quantity one of the disturbing things about the ministry today is that when you talk to 99 out of 100 pastors and you say how is your church doing they talk about three things the attendance the budget and the plans the attendance how many they're running the budget how much money they're taking in and how big their building is and how extensive it is and none of those three things are mentioned in the New Testament none of those three things are even mentioned our religion began meeting in caves and upper rooms in Jesus's seven letters to the church in Revelation we don't know what one of them was running on Sunday morning it could have been layered to see it was running for a thousand but it didn't matter because they all were going to be vomited soon out of the Lord's mouth Smyrna or one of those other churches might have been running only a faithful couple hundred but they were people who were really in tune with God God was reviewing not quantity or numbers big buildings God gives to cults we know that by being here in this city big buildings don't mean anything large amounts of money don't don't mean anything God gives that to people who curse them the Brooklyn Tabernacle is going to be reviewed my ministry is going to be reviewed by what kind of people are in the Brooklyn Tabernacle what are we making of the Christian Church and this is an awesome day that we live in because the Church of Jesus Christ has been invaded by technicians not men of God not men of prayer not men of the scriptures but clever people people are better with computers than the Word of God and on their knees and they have brought in a revisionist theology that has now revised what the church is and I want to remind all of you today nobody has a right to change the Church of Jesus Christ you didn't found it Jesus founded it you don't have to reinvent it just do what the book says God doesn't need any creative thought how many say amen so the Bible tells us that days like this would come men have come in now and revise what the church is instead of a spiritual organism they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and in the fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers we have made how can you get people for one hour on Sunday morning into the building that's the church I want to remind you tonight that is not a that's a meeting of people for one hour and now it's dimensions in space user-friendly seeker-sensitive nonsense that will never wash when we stand before the one whose eyes are like fire it's never going to wash when we stand before him so what has happened ladies and gentlemen is we have this pathetic situation where pastors tell me they can't let the run meeting run past an hour because everyone's looking at the clock they'll walk out even while you're serving communion to go home and watch an NFL game that's going to go on for three hours or an NBA game that's going to go on for three hours and doesn't somebody think this is not what God intended when he started the church I mean doesn't that dawn on anybody that the people today don't want to be in the presence of God they're shortening the meetings shortening the meetings prayer meetings died out decades ago Sunday night services are going the way of high button shoes and we're hiding behind doctrinal statements and the fact that we've programmed these little Protestant masses for one hour and people come but listen trouble is looming when I play basketball you didn't do it by faith you had a scoreboard and when you were playing for eight or nine minutes and if the score was twenty two to six the coach called a timeout and we go over there and nobody looked and said isn't this fun we've got nice uniforms with gold trim the coach would say we're going to change we have to change we're going to press or we're going to go into a zone press or we're going to run the ball or slow the ball down or go to man-to-man or do something but we're losing so we change we are now divorcing in the church at the same rate as outside the church the divorce rate is just as high people professing Christ in the church as outside of the church and last year evangelicals ministers divorced at the highest rate than the history Church means it meetings are getting smaller and there's less mention of sin because pastors have F yielded to I've got a I've got to accommodate the lowest carnal denominator because some of these people give big money and if I offend them by following the Holy Spirit and letting the meeting go too long or really step on their toes their leave and my budget of go down so I'm going to have to dance with them and and sacrifice the teaching of the true Word of God but brothers and sisters I plead with you in the name of the Lord your work is not going to be reviewed by people your work is going to be my work is going to be reviewed by the King of Kings and the Lord of lords and we cannot compromise to keep the numbers up I mean what does it matter what the numbers are if the people don't want to be in the house of God I talked to well-known ministers well-known ministers who write books who are famous who tell me over a cup of coffee privately off the record Jim I couldn't have a prayer meeting in my church nobody would come they'll pay $15 for a Christian concert to hear a Christian singer and for free they won't come into the presence of God and call upon the name of the Lord for free and yet every revival has been characterized by what great teaching great pulpit earing eloquence never prayer when God people's when it went is people begin to pray something good begins to happen and and am I the only one embarrassed in America that's a minister when you hear ministers pressing these political buttons and saying isn't it terrible we don't have prayer in schools are you kidding we don't have prayer in the church the Bible the Bible never indicates there was prayer in the Roman Empire in schools but the early church seems to be doing pretty good because they had permittees in the church why should they pray for pray in school I'm all for prayer in schools but wouldn't it wouldn't be better to begin in church and wouldn't that say something about my ministry would not say something about anybody's ministry here if the people don't want to be in the presence of God how good could your sermons be how sound is your doctrine your doctrine might be sound but something's missing ladies and gentlemen we're in a position now where people do not want to be in the house of God but they're renting filthy videos they're watching television hours on end watching sports they know more about the Michael Jordan than the Apostle Paul this is not the church that Jesus had in mind when he died on a cross this is not the church described in the book of Acts and you can write me off as a fanatic but I'm trying to stick with the Word of God now I've often asked the question why would God send two people why would God send two heaven the people in our churches when that's the last thing they want to do is be in this presence no I'm serious I believe in justification by faith I know Reformation theology but I'm asking you a question if mr. and mrs. Jones are looking at the clock after one hour one time a week and then are going to go to their real life to do the things they really enjoy why would heaven be heaven to them why would they want to be there and why would God send them there I think it's time for us to humble ourselves and look at some of these things because you know what if I'm doing something wrong I won got to break me now and change it I don't want to find out at the judgment seat of Christ that I was I was I was just building on puff this American church system is so skewed that sometimes when we read the Bible this is like a foreign element to us every time there was a crisis they just gathered to pray and God would send His Holy Spirit and something wonderful would happen so we live in a very challenging day right now a very very very challenging day because these revisionists have come in and are telling us that the that the that the numbers and the building and the budget means you're doing well when it doesn't mean you're doing well all my wife and I will be able to present to the Lord is the quality of these people are they really hooked up and want to live holy lives are they living in the word every day do they have an appetite for prayer are they really filled with the Holy Spirit or they lukewarm and ready to be vomited out of the mouth of the Lord and I don't want my life to go to waste my wife and I are killing ourselves in New York City for meetings on Sunday eats at least two hours long yesterday was a long day for me but I don't want to find out at the end of the day that I was building something that God say who asked you to build that the people don't even know me who asked you to build that oh well I got that from the tradition I got growing up I didn't ask you to do your tradition I asked you to do the Word of God so ladies and gentlemen paul's reference in second corinthians three jumps out at me right now for he says I don't need letters of recommendation from you or to you your my letters of recommendation I don't need credentials you are how do what did he mean you Christians are the result of my ministry God wrote by the Holy Spirit not with ink on the tablets of stone but by the Holy Spirit in the tablets of your heart God wrote through my ministry because he's made me a competent minister of the New Covenant I would say the greatest need today in America is for a revival to hit the ministry so that we would become competent ministers of the New Covenant not of the letter that kills but of the spirit that gives life in other words from what I can ascertain Paul would come into a place and had a ministry in God where he could take pagans with no Bibles no New Testaments he couldn't exegete the book of Hebrews hadn't been written yet with no New Testaments no money no leverage with the government no moral majority none of that other stuff that we complain is the problem oh that is to me it's ludicrous to say that mr. Clinton or the Democrats or the Republicans are the problem what or cults or demons what could stand against a church that's full of Jesus Christ how many believe that say Amen you don't you don't see Paul you don't see Paul complaining about Emperor Caligula or Nero in the New Testament let them do what they want to do but let the church arise let's be filled with the Spirit of God and the Word of God so Paul was a competent minister of the New Covenant that means that you can be an incompetent minister of the New Covenant by definition if he said God made me a competent minister that means I could be an incompetent minister I could mix law or Mickey Mouse organizational stuff instead of the pure Word of God and be an incompetent minister of the New Covenant and I could get people into the building but not into God here's the problem in New York City how are you going to get a crack addict into God Church won't change you guy has to change him competent Minister of the New Covenant not of the letter but of the spirit that gives life somehow he led them into God where they opened their hearts and got filled with the spirit and they were transformed a lot of the preaching we to do today is nothing but New Testament legalism or old Old Testament Christianity we're telling people what God's Word says and how many will come up and promise you're going to do it now make a commitment make a promise and promise you'll keep it that's not Christianity Christianity is not a commitment religion it's not a it's not a promise religion it's a supernatural religion it's Christ in us the hope of glory it's God working in us both to willing to do according to his good pleasure so that brings me to this today when I would like to leave with you I've been studying for a lot of years now God how can I become a competent minister of the New Covenant I don't want to be a preacher I saw that growing up manipulate the microphone and press buttons of what people want to hear and glad and everybody and you can so easily become mechanical and worse than that just phony because you're running the church game just keep it going but how do you be how do you make a difference and when God put my wife and I in downtown Brooklyn that's not exactly the Bible Belt so I realized that I can't live with this song and dance that I heard growing up of people talking about what God once did in the Welsh revival what God once did in the great awakening of the second great awakening or in Moody's meetings or Finney's meetings in upstate New York and all of that or I've heard sermons growing up about the great move of God that will come one day before Jesus comes but I've noticed that some men have been in the ministry 30 40 50 years and never seen a move of God talking about what once was and what once will one day be but you know your life can go by like that and I figured now why would God put my wife and I in downtown Brooklyn surrounded by all this neat surrounded by drug addicts and by pimps and prostitutes and straight people and crooked people in black and white and brown and yellow and red why would God put us there just to hold the fort with 40 people or 20 people no there must be something better I mean what's that versed in Acts mean and the hand of the Lord was with certain men from Cyprus and Cyrene when they went to Antioch and the hand of the Lord was with them and multitudes turned to the Lord knew nothing about Jesus no Bibles no press no choirs nothing no church buildings no legal religion how did they do that I'd rather live just one year and see God's hand be with me then live 40 years and just be shuffling cards well there's there's there's this from the life of Paul because Paul is our model as a preacher the Lord gives us so much about him in the Word of God so that we can study about him and I I think two things about Paul's life have been studied and analyzed a lot first of all Paul's message and that's important Paul preached the word he told Timothy preach the words don't give people your opinions preach the words don't go buy novelties pastors preach the words there's all kinds of stuff out there being blamed on the Holy Spirit when anybody tells you the Holy Spirit made them do something that's not in the Word of God say bye-bye because it has to be in the Bible how many are with me say Amen the word I was at a recent conference a couple years ago in fact part of it helped me instigate me to write this book fresh wind fresh fire and I heard this this technician this minister saying that he has a new insight into demons and there see there's territorial spirits but if you get his books and learn his formula you can bind the spirits for an entire city or an entire area he told he said in this conference Paul didn't even know how to do that oh that got me mad when I heard that the New York came out in me I was like what what did you just say so I later send a message to him if you're so smart and you know all these things why don't you come to New York and Chicago and do it just don't write books and sell it do it I'd like to learn de vacas inner myself and a lot of other pastors we're preaching and praying and plotting there in New York asking God for a breakthrough but if you can just bind all the spirits by some formula come and do it just don't write books do it that's what everyone gets quiet but that's not in the Bible if that was in the Bible Paul would've told us he would have bound all the spirits in all those cities that were whooping him and throwing him in prison but today we live in novelty so I just want to remind you let's follow what Paul's dictate is preach the word preach the word let's understand law let's understand gospel let's understand the difference between the old and the New Covenant let's remember that the just shall live by faith not by making promises we're supposed to lead people to trust not to try number two a lot of studies have been done on Paul's methodology not just his message but its methodology and that's very illuminating to us because you can't follow his method you study the life of Jesus you'll never know what he'll do next you went if you would go to Paul and say how long are you going to stay here how long were how would he possibly know no some ministers think it's the greatest thing in their computer to have a three-year plan Holden even have a three-hour plan he never knew when he would get arrested or when the spirit would call him someplace else or what he would get busted or thrown out of city or stoned in other words the methodology of the Apostles was they were led by the Holy Spirit don't you think we need a little bit of that in our churches today here ladies and gentlemen listen there's never been a revival if you follow the bulletin there's never been a revival if you follow the bulletin how many wait wait wait wait wait how many believe if God could lead the Israelites for forty years he could help us through one meeting say Amen in other words what is with this over organization like the Holy Ghost is dead I'm not for emotionalism shooting from the hip but what this is so unnatural you go into church no wonder people aren't getting converted it's not even the way anyone lives you came to my house would I end you a bulletin and tell you what we're going to do every five minutes oh listen some of the most wonderful things that have ever happened in our church have happened as we meet we have a we have a general outline but we want to say breathe on this Holy Spirit lead us show us what chorus is to say show us what what songs what hymns to sing show us who should testify and God if I'm supposed to stop in the middle of the sermon I'll throw my notes away but lead us by your spirit the earmark of every revival is the wind blows where it listeth you can't control God you can't put him in a one-hour box and say you got one hour to work you can't tell god what to do he tells you what to do so beside Paul's method message and Paul's methodology I want to get to what I think though is the missing thing his message was the word his methodology was led by the Holy Spirit he had some goals but even when he had goals sometimes the spirit of Jesus would forbid him and he couldn't go someplace where Jesus called him someplace else you you but that's where that's where that's where the power of God is to trust him we're asking people to trust God with their lives we can't trust God with a meeting now here's the real point though the missing element that that came to me years ago on a hotel room floor in London was this we studies Paul's message and Pels methodology but the secret of his power and his ministry was in something else that not many people talk about and that is his heart in other words when a woman gives birth to a baby there's an umbilical cord and there's a lot of mess but that's the way babies are born and there's a bonding between a mother especially and the baby dad too but especially the mom and we have made the ministry so professional and so mechanical and three points in a poem and a clever thing and a polished thing and then we're just punching these things out but not too many folks are being changed and one of the secrets of Paul ladies and gentlemen was that he had a baptism of love from God even the love of of Jesus Christ like he showed on the cross that was able to make Paul to be able to say things like this to the church at Thessalonica you remember when I was with you I did everything I worked day and night so I wouldn't be a burden to you tell me how many times you've heard pastors talk about their churches this way you can judge the accuracy of my remarks for you remember when I was with you I was like a mother nursing her baby the picture in the Greek language is a mother taking down her dress and bringing the baby to her breast and the very life of the mother going into the baby when I was among you I wasn't some two-bit preacher giving you that something and then looking for a check or a love offering I was like a mother nursing a baby I wanted to give my very life to you for he said I wasn't ready to just give you the gospel I was ready to go down for you I was ready to give you my life how many of us have that kind of relationship with our congregations I made a lot of Ministers who their congregations are like a burden to them were a pain in the neck the Board of Elders another burden and here's Paul saying you remember when I was with you I was like a mother nursing you had my breast I was not just going to give you a sermon I didn't have a sermon for you I was going to give you my life I wasn't there for a dollar or for you to think oh what a great preacher you think any mother thinks about her baby that way and see what that kind of passion of Prayer is born that you can never teach when it when a mom has a baby I was watching one of I think pastor Thomas's children holding one of the grandchildren when that baby was little let's say it was three months old and it had 105 degree temperature you think air to wake that mother up in the morning and say now pray for the baby today and at night walk with the baby if the baby cries do you think you got to tell her mother that that mother's gonna walk with that baby and tray why because there's a bonding see we're trying to teach people to pray who don't even care about other people and we passed us unless we have a baptism of love listen I've been there I know what this is about I preached loveless messages more about that later but when you don't have a baptism of love you just preach to look good in the pulpit and get through another meeting that's what I did for months when I first went in the ministry just get through another Sunday but like a mother nursing a baby ready to go down and give my life for the for the for the congregation one day my way one day it looked like I was going to give my life of the congregation a number of years ago a man drew a gun on me and one of the Sunday services he was in the back Jewish fella troubled in his mind and I got through with the message and I was standing right here and I closed my eyes and I started to just entreat the people I got such a baptism of love I started to plead with the people to come to the Lord he was under conviction but we didn't know it and he just drew out a 38 and and and he held it pointed toward me walked out came down the aisle and walked up on the platform before the ushers could react with the gun drawn on me and my wife was playing the synthesizer being a piano behind me and she held up my name Jim Jim twice and I'm telling people come to Jesus meanwhile I'm on my way to Jesus and he walked across the stage my eyes were still closed and he took the gun and he just threw it down and I heard the noise I was startled I opened my eyes and there's a gun on my pulpit this is not something I was looking for he started to run off the platform I began to chase him and he just got off and down the road started yelling Jesus help me because he had planned to hurt some with that gun and God's love so convicted him that he made up in his troubled mind the idea I got to give this gun away to the preacher he's the only one I can trust with it so he walked up and threw it on my pulpit and how we wept over him oh I know what it is to preach when there's love in my heart and I know what it is to just talk I'm so sick of just talking see Paul had this ability this bonding that made him to have an a passion when my daughter was away from God 11 years ago and my wife and I went through a two and a half year nightmare when I entreated my daughter I didn't say dearly beloved could you turn to Jeremiah 11 before and I entreated her that's my girl that's how Paul must have talked to them remember what he said in acts 20 when he's giving a review of how he was to the Ephesian elders day-to-day with tears I pleaded with you to cleave to the Lord we've lost that passion now we're we're interested in more what works in Sunday school what's the new bus thing we're never gonna build a church with buses because God never intended to be built that way but then there's more than that Paul goes on talking about this relationship and he says now you know when I was torn away from you notice this is love talk like a boyfriend and a girlfriend when I was torn away from you not when my itinerary caused me to leave you when I was torn away from you but not just in person not in thought I was always thinking about you I tried many times to come to you but Satan stopped me for in the day of Jesus Christ what is my crown what is my joy what is my glory is it not you preachers listen to me pastors when Jesus comes the only thing you can show him are the people who love God who have come in under your ministry what are you going to show Jesus when he comes your building what am I going to show him my book he already wrote the Bible when the Angels come I'm going to say look at the carpet and the lighting we have in this new facility you think any of that matters to God no Paul says my crown is not my visions that I had I couldn't share with anybody or not that I wrote a good part of the New Testament my crown my joy my glory is this here they are Lord my people not your sermons or your books people that's all you can show pastor that's all my wife and I are worth we have to present Kelvin's and people and say Lord here they are how many pastors you think think that way how many pastors and Sunday school workers are thinking this is my crown this is my glory this is my joy you see you can't teach this brothers and sisters if there's anything that has to change in our country if we can have a revival is we can't teach things that only the Holy Spirit can do you can't teach love we have right now the cult of the teacher the Bible says there's room for teacher but after the teacher teaches you got to get before God and get filled by his spirit he's the only one who can produce love how can you teach love you can teach about love but you can't teach love into someone because God is love God's love is should have brought in our heart by the Holy Spirit so in many times we have congregations who are in a comatose state loveless prayerless libelous and we're telling them to do things that they don't have the life to do and we think we can teach him to do it you can't they need to be revived by the Holy Spirit we got a couple somewhere here in one of these rooms somewhere in this building Timothy and Esther Arthur she's from Africa he's from the Caribbean they're one of the choice couples in the church they came to me when they knew I was coming here and they said pastor could we fly with you we'll just lock ourselves in a room and pray the whole time you're preaching they've been here since Saturday praying for this conference and right now while I'm speaking they're interceding to the throne of grace you think I taught him that you think they would do that because I told them no God put that in their heart hey man let's give God glory for what he did [Applause] Carolee and Jonathan would go to the instruments so you are my crown you are my joy that's it not where I've been invited or Awards from my book or Carol's Grammy Awards when Jesus comes it's going to have to be the Saints that's all I can show later he says the most amazing thing I haven't seen this in ten people in my life I was brought up around church my dad back slid and became an alcoholic for 20-some years Carroll's dad was a preacher he passed on wood to be with the Lord a few years ago I met a lot of famous ministers now I've been around a number of good men of men and women of God but I haven't I haven't seen what I'm about to tell you now this is stranger than fiction Paul says when I could take it no longer being away from you I mean that's low when I could take it no longer being away from you people Paul you're famous no no those are my children I can't stand being away from them I sent Timothy to see how you're doing and now he came back and he told me and then the talk gets mushy he told me that you remember me just like I remember you and you miss me like I miss you and you love me even as I love you and he says and now I really live because you're standing firm in the Lord now I'm really I'm under persecution I'm in a bad situation but I don't even think about it now I really live and I rejoice because my children are standing firm in the world the ones I've nurtured and preach the gospel to and led them into the things of the Spirit I don't think that's common in the ministry today I don't want to be judgmental I'll tell you about myself because I'm on this one of the sander cases when I went into the ministry I told you how difficult it was just stay focused with me here and we're closed in a moment when in the ministry Carol and I are struggling we're just we're young we got one little kid we're working second jobs because you know you make thirty eight hundred dollars the first year in the ministry that's not going to cut it made fifty five hundred dollars the second year in the ministry well in that first few months there at the Brooklyn Tabernacle you know twenty people sometimes two or three under than the Tuesday night meeting which is supposed to be a prayer meeting but there was no prayer well in the midst of all of that I began one day one Tuesday the weather was bad I knew three or four people would be coming that night so I went into the sanctuary by myself and I started to just walk around and pray you know sometimes it's good to just walk and pray so as you get tired with your just kneel in one position and it's not the position it's you're opening your heart to God and I begin to tell God God you know money's missing money's been missing from the offering baskets one of the ushers was on the take there's a lack of cohesiveness I don't think the people listening to my preaching and even though I'm an experienced that haven't been to Bible School there seems to be no spirit of cooperation there doesn't seem to be much love there's not much worship and I began to just complain to God about everything and as I was praying there after a while the Lord began to draw near to my heart as I brother was sharing what happened to him after he lost his wife and the Lord began to indicate to me that he would show me what was wrong with the church the main problem so that I could really address it and then out of nowhere like a bolt the Lord just said the main problem in the church is you you're prayerless you don't love my people those are my people and you don't love them you're just reaching down to them [Music] your your phony your artificial in the pulpit you're afraid to just talk and be natural you think you have to act like a preacher and I abhor you acting like a preacher I don't want you to be a preacher I want you to be you I'll make you a preacher you just do you well I remember dropping on my knees and then I went on my face and I was there for a long time you know whom the Lord loves he chastens and anybody bears fruit was connected to the vine that branch is cleansed and pruned so that they are more fruit and God began to do it overhaul early on in my ministry of which there's a today many because I have the tendency to slide back into mechanical just get through just preach in other words sometimes the burdens are so great the activities are so great if I'm not careful and don't spend time with God I become a professional I become a two-bit preacher with sermons new york city does need sermons it needs God you got to bring God to the people [Music] a couple years ago was one of the clinchers though for me church has grown we've started over 20 churches throughout the city and around the country choirs working so hard producing albums you know we've seen God blessed in so many ways and on Easter Sunday night we're having a big outreach and a girl who was a crack addict and a heroin addict and has the virus of HIV positive she's giving her testimony and the choir of what the Lord has done in her life and and it's the end of a long at that time we only had three meetings in the day but at the end of a long Sunday I've been there some from early in the morning that evening service at that time was at 7:30 so it's now 9:30 20 to 10:00 and I'm so tired that I make an invitation after the choir sings and she gives her testimony there's people all over the front of the church the personal workers are working with them everybody's doing their thing and I'm just so exhausted I pull my tie down and I just put my feet like if I would drop on the floor now and just let my feet dangle over the platform and just go god I'm so tired inner city everything is rushed the subway runs under our church it's not an easy place to be so as I'm sitting there I'm just saying well God thank you I got through the day there's a guy I see looking at me down the center aisle about the 4th row up he's in the aisle everybody's see Jonathan's playing that's just the way Jonathan was playing that night he's playing the organ and people are praying and we're giving counsel because when they come in with problems you can't rush them in and out you got to pray through kicked him a little memory verse and say on your way now that they're dealing with problems you can't imagine so this guy is looking at me a black guy I thought it was 50 he was only 32 gives you an idea how he looked and and he's looking at men he's kind of sheepish he got a cap in his hand he's looking at me look filthy and us thing in the inner city the doors are open to everyone you know anybody could come through the door because that's what a church is supposed to be Church is not supposed to be a nice place for the family where did you find that in the Bible it's supposed to be a Holy Ghost intensive care unit supposed to save lives that's what's a nice place for mom and dad and junior that's nowhere found in the Bible it's supposed to be a place where no matter how messed up you are you can come and no matter what color you are you can come and someone will love you and give you the gospel of Jesus that's what the church is supposed to be well I'm down here and I'm my feet are dangling off and this guy goes there and I say to myself what a bummer I'm going to end Easter Sunday after all this work handing money to some God panhandling because that happens in our church people come in and look to hit somebody up for money that what can you do come here he walks toward me and he got as God is my holy witness he got within six feet of me seven feet of me and I smelled a Snell and I've smelled a lot of smells in my life I smell to smell an odor that was horrific feces urine Street sweat [Music] in fact it was so bad that is this guy stood in front of me just right there and I might like it legs are dangling off I would breathe in when I looked away and then I would talk to him exhaling I would go what's your name homeless he said yeah smelled horrible face hair matted filthy clothes I didn't know that he had been laying on the side of our building he said lay in his own urine out there so as I looked at him I said how long you been in the street he said I've been homeless six years where'd you sleep last night in a deserted truck what's your name David what are you into well I didn't I didn't need to see too much his eyes were glasses breath was reeking from liquor besides a little crack - so I reached just like I'm reaching now to give them some money you know and guys down Easter Sunday the least you could do is something good as I took out my money just like I did now he got close to me and Preston and put his finger in my face and said preacher I don't want your money I want that Jesus you were talking so don't clap wait and when he said that the lights went out for me I totally forgot about him and I got so convicted because here I am a pastor of a church and I'm not only not in the spirit I don't even sense that Jesus is sending me somebody for the King I'm ready to give him five dollars to get rid of all and at that moment as the Lord is my holy witness right now I forgot about him and I lifted my eyes and my hands to heaven and I said o God forgive me please please forgive me for being so insensitive I become the very thing I don't want to be Oh God help me please I just totally forgot about him but I'm telling you whatever your theology is I'm just telling you what happened God gave me a fresh filling of his spirit at his love his love began to just well up inside of me like incredible and David picked it up in a moment he knew something was happening to me it all is happening like this and as I just sat there legs dangling over weeping with my hands up he fell against me and leaned against my chest and I put my arms around him and he began to weep and I was weeping what a picture and ladies and gentlemen I said this for the glory of God God took that snow and made it like the most beautiful perfume than I had ever smelled in my life I began to breathe it in and God spoke to my heart and said you smell that smell that's what you and your wife have been called to do love that smell that's the smell of the world and I sent my son to die for if you want nice smells and nice people you'll never work for me but if you're willing to go and love them in my name I can use you for my glory David Ruffin that day found the Lord Jesus as his Savior we got him into a hospital he detox for a few days that Thanksgiving we had already fixed his teeth he had a gaping hole here she should have died several times he was once in a crack house and laying in a mattress and accidentally and a stupor dropped his cigarette butt and the mattress went up and he was so so out of it it took somebody else pulling him out at the last second I would even he would have burned to death but God kept him alive so he could hear the gospel that Thanksgiving he sat on my in my table with my children and my wife when his teeth fixed handsome shaved clean he works for the church he the doctor said you know you'll never be able to have children because of something though he was living he got married to a girl from Africa a few years ago she just gave birth to their second child he goes out now and gives us testimony he preaches like Billy Graham I'm telling you when I hear him I I don't even want to go up and follow him he's so eloquent and it all began when God sent a smelly drunk and this Minister was not ready but God had mercy on me now this thing cannot be taught and I'll tell you why Paul couldn't teach it Paul could not produce this in people in the second chapter of Philippians he tells them I'm sending Timothy to you he's the only one I have that will care for your interest everyone else seeks their own interest he's talking about the preachers that were with them said I only have 1 Timothy who's like me he'll care for you and be ready to go down for you and and live for you and cry for you and pray for you everyone else here they're interested in their own interest what's the next Church in their career and does somebody notice how good they preach and all that but only got 1 Timothy like a son he laboriously see this thing can't be taught he's got to be caught by the Holy Spirit the brothers and sisters guess what I'm still alive which means God's not done with me and he can begin a new work in my ministry tonight I'm not preaching down to you I'm preaching to myself I mean going through a little transition now in my own life because I'm hungry for God to do a new thing I know he's blessed me in the past I know he's used me in some small ways but something inside of me is saying that there's a whole world of something out there that if I'll just let God get ahold of me and fill me with this kind of love and anointing and how about you these people have been so kind to say fast assembler close the meeting any way you want see I'm a personal believer that lectures and then close the meeting with a benediction that is not a New Testament meeting I don't want to argue with anybody but if you don't get to the throne of grace I don't know how you can have a Christian meeting the Bible does not say therefore let us come boldly to the servant it says let us come boldly to the throne of grace I don't know about you I need mercy and grace to help me tonight and I'm not going to get that from past assemblée I got to get that at the throne of grace that's why in our services we leave time at the end for people to just pray you know Jesus didn't say my house shall be called a house of preaching he said it should be called a house of what house of prayer for all people why because the sermon is an arrow that's supposed to direct you standing on God's Word to the throne of grace so you can you can receive what God has free and I believe there's people all over this building here that's the answer you to your discouragement is to come and say Jesus Here I am with my wife I want you to give me a fresh touch in my ministry and I'll wait here and I'll pray here great Gus humble us do whatever you have to do but god bless our church bless our ministries I don't want to just spend my time spinning my wheels I want to see you do something glorious in my life so that your name might be praised in Arkansas in Georgia New York City in Florida all over the world let's close our eyes together there's a little chorus just listen to how it goes with your eyes closed you where [Music] you [Music] with your eyes closed which is singing with me you're the planner [Music] Holden [Music] though every eyes

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 74,549

Rating: 4.8785834 out of 5

Keywords: Jim, Cymbala, Revival, Repent, God, Sermons, Jesus, SermonIndex

Id: CuuntoE7V_s

Length: 55min 27sec (3327 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 28 2009