Episode Details

A Lighthouse in Darkening Times

I'm so thankful for Pastor Tim, and I know you are too. I'm thankful for the clarion call that is going out from this pulpit and going all over the world. By God's grace, we're going to continue to lift up our pastor and pray for him. And for the burden — you have no idea, I do. Many of you don't have any idea the weight that this pulpit puts on a man. It's a phenomenal weight. I used to say years ago when I came through the Lincoln Tunnel — when I lived in New Jersey — I would pick up my baby grand piano when I came through and put it on my back for the whole time I was here. There's just a weight you cannot describe. But God has given this church a prophetic word that was given to David Wilkerson in 1987, when it was first initiated by the Holy Spirit, that this church was going to be a lighthouse. This pulpit would be a lighthouse, and the darker it got, the farther the beam was going to go around the world. And we look at the screen during all of our services and we see that prophetic word — that the Holy Spirit gave to David Wilkerson — now being fulfilled right before our eyes. And the darker it gets, the more people are going to start coming in. I don't know what it is that's going to happen in our country, or maybe in this city, that's going to bring an influx — and maybe worldwide — but it's going to bring an influx of people in uncounted numbers. Just before I turned the pulpit over when Pastor Tim first came in 2020, I had a word from the Lord and I passed it on to him. The word was from John 21, where the disciples had been fishing all night and caught nothing. And Jesus said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat. What the Holy Spirit spoke to me was: cast the internet on the right side of the boat. The Scripture intimates that he sent the fish into the net. And Pastor Tim, for six years, has been casting the internet on the right side of this church and it has gone all over the world. Now God is going to send the people in. They're going to come. I don't know what the catalyst will be. We're living on the edge of instability in this world in an ever-increasing measure. We don't know what some of these foreign nations are going to do. We don't know what kind of calamity we're going to wake up to in the morning, if at all. But I do know that God promises he will have a people. And I do know that he will give his people strength — if we want to have the strength that God is willing to give us. We have to desire the strength. It doesn't just fall on us without any initiative on our part. We have to love the word of God. We have to want the things of God. We have to go in the direction of God. And if we commit to that, he will give us the strength. Thank God for the promises of God.

A New Passion for This Generation

I'll be 73 on Wednesday and I feel a new lease on life. I honestly do. A new passion — a passion for him, a passion first for Jesus Christ and for his word, and then for his work and his calling, whatever it is. And then for this generation — a generation that has largely been robbed of truth. A generation that maybe doesn't yet fully know how God longs to give his power to those who turn to him. But I believe that we will, as we open our hearts to it. It's an amazing thing. As Jesus once said to the churches in Revelation, he who has ears to hear, let him hear — or let her hear — what the Spirit is saying to the churches. He wasn't speaking to the church to harm her. He was speaking to the church to strengthen her and to take her into the future with a sureness in her step and an influence that can cause good to happen around us. Each one of us has a sphere of influence. Whether it's in our own families, it can go from there to the hallway of our apartment buildings, into the workplace, or wherever it is we travel. We've all been given a sphere of influence. And every last one of us is a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ.