Prayer in the Square and Spiritual Confrontation

I begin my blog entry this week with soberness of mind and much contemplation. I haven't updated in 2 weeks because I haven't had a day off in almost that long. Last Sunday was "Prayer in the Square" and as you can imagine, Times Square Church has been busy over the past month preparing for that monumental occasion.

May the Lord help me as I try to convey to you the details of the past two weeks.

The spiritual atmosphere in this nation has become quite tense as of late, and many are aware of it. There might even be a confrontation taking place. I say things like this with tentativeness because I don't want to be presumptuous about what I believe God is showing me. Such revelation about our times can certainly be corroborated by the rest of the Body of Christ as we seek Him and He reveals His plans and purposes to His servants. What I look for as confirmation is consistency of revelation among the Church at large. When God reveals His plans to different, unassociated members of the Body and that plan is found to be consistent among members, you can be fairly sure that it is God speaking to His people; it is the one Spirit enlightening the one Body. So regarding the things I am about to relate to you, consider how such a plan is consistent among the Body and in all things search the Scriptures to confirm whether these things are true--Acts 17:11.

The day before Prayer in the Square (you can watch Prayer in the Square at http://www.nycprayer.org/media_center_facebook.html) I was bombarded mentally with a rather typical attack from the enemy. Helen and some of her friends in Auburn prayed as I prayed here, and I began to be relieved. But thereafter, Satan tried to put a wedge between Helen and me, which has since been abolished. Helen also has been attacked recently, not only through that, but also with extreme physical ailments. She had surgery to remove a lump this Thursday. The operation went well, but she is now recovering in pain and dealing with additional discomfort from nausea and cramps!

Before I go any further, let me epitomize the intensity of the spiritual atmosphere over the past week: 1) Prayer in the Square was Sunday, September 20th and gathered a following of over 200 churches with around 30,000 people on Times Square. 2) The Islamic 40-day fast of Ramadan is ending this week. This Friday, Sept. 25th, an unprecedented event occurred when some 50,000 Muslims gathered on Capitol Hill for a day of prayer and fasting to close Ramadan (see http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/). 3) The radiant prayer and fasting ministry, The Call, posted an urgent message on their website this week (see http://www.thecall.com/#Urgent), calling all Christians to a week of concerted prayer with such evangelical leaders as Lou Engle (of The Call), Shirley Dobson (of Focus on the Family and The National Day of Prayer), and Tony Perkins (of the Family Research Council). The week is to end with a day of concerted prayer and fasting for the Church in America and for Muslims to come to Christ. 4) This year, on September 27-28, the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, will be observed. This too is a day of fasting and repentance for all Jews. (for more information on Yom Kippur from a Jewish perspective see http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Yom_Kippur.shtml).

What we are seeing in the religio-spiritual climate of America just this week is truly a brewing storm of religious fervor and conflicting worldviews. It is cause for the Church to get serious about our faith and about evangelism! Contrary to what atheists would prefer, America is still very much a religious nation. The the most prominent religions in the world--the Big Three Monotheistic religions--are at a crossroads of spiritual confrontation in this nation. It is because of THIS that I believe God has offered us His plans and purposes in and through these things, to act accordingly.

The following is what I believe the Lord is revealing to me:

First and most importantly, God is calling the Church to a renewed, consecrated vigilance in prayer. I believe God is in the process of setting apart a "Zadok priesthood;" a "righteous" remnant (Zadok means "righteous" or "just." For more on Zadok read 2 Samuel chapter 15 and 1 Kings chapters 1-2.) of praying and interceding saints who will be able to stand in the gap on behalf of unbelievers and have favor with people. This remnant will be able to believe and see God's promises fulfilled, for "the just shall live by faith."

Secondly, I believe God has confirmed to me a particular of my calling. Namely, that I (and many others) must be prepared to give an answer to Muslims and people of other worldviews in order to convince them of the verity of the Gospel. I believe that God specifically "told" me that knowledge is increasing, but assurance is decreasing. Our task as apologists (defenders of the faith) in this time is to provide the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ and to persuade people of its certainty. We are to reason with people from the Scriptures, just as the apostle Paul did--(Acts 17:2, 17; 18:4; 19:8-9). We are to persuade, convince, correct, and rebuke--2 Timothy 3:17. I have been interested in apologetics for a long time and I have thought that it would be a useful discipline in helping to clear the rubble of doubt so that the Gospel may be presented unhindered to people, but never before has God confirmed to me specifically that I should be equipped to defend the truth against the myriad of conflicting worldviews. It is an answered prayer to know with certainty and specificity to what God is calling me.

And finally, I believe God has shown me in prayer recently that "the fullness of the Gentiles"--Romans 11:25--is coming into the Church, and soon the "blindness in part," that has been on the Jewish people for centuries, will be totally removed (for more, read Romans chapters 9-11 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%209-11&version=NKJV). I pray this means that there will be a great influx of the remaining Gentiles (especially including Muslims) coming to Christ and then there will also be a Jewish revival which the world has never seen, where millions of Jews will come to believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah! I get emotional every time I think or pray about this. I believe it is God's heart and God's plan, but His children must be co-workers with Him in this endeavor! What blood will be on our hands if we are just content to do nothing! We can be witnesses of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us for this very purpose!

Jesus said, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."--Matthew 24:14.

The end will not come until the gospel is preached to ALL nations, Gentile and Jew alike. When the fullness of the Gentiles has come into the Church and the subsequent mass conversion of the Jews to true Judeo-Christianity has occurred, then the Lord Jesus will return to receive His completed bride, and thus all Israel will be saved!

May it be.

Bedbugs, Bistango, and Brooklyn Tabernacle

Greetings from Times Square!

I am now approaching the 2-month mark of my stay here at TSC. Next Sunday I start the Ministerial Intern Program with Pastor Will.

This week has been a bit inconvenient. I lived in Alabama for 27 years, in eight different locations and I have never even seen a bedbug. I’ve been in New York for less than two months and I’ve seen dozens of them! I also saw advertisements on the subway against them and even a large awareness billboard about them in Times Square! This place has a serious bedbug problem, among other things. So in our war against the bloodsuckers, we, the men of the maintenance ministry on the third floor, have taken drastic measures. Earl instructed us to move out all of our things, rip up all the carpets, bag up all our clothes, and then he would send the exterminator. Yesterday (Saturday), the exterminator came (actually for the second time in two weeks!) and sprayed four of our rooms and the whole hallway. He will return in a week to spray the rest of the rooms because we couldn’t all fit our belongings in the hallway at the same time. My carpet was glued down to the cement subflooring with epoxy glue. Just in case you don’t know, it was nearly impossible to get up. Thanks to whoever did that. It took me 5 or so hours to do just half of the room! And these rooms are small! If it weren’t for my friends Ramesh and Billy I never would have finished the room in time. There was something about the difficulty of the carpet, the bedbugs crawling on me at night, and moving for what will be the eighth time since last August, the fact that all my belongings were in disarray, and the fact that I had no privacy—all these things combined to stress me out quite a bit and make me irritable and full of worry. In an act of God’s perfect timing I visited the Brooklyn Tabernacle this morning and the theme of the message, which was preached by a pastor friend of Jim Cymbala’s from Michigan, was “Worry.” But before I go into that, let me tell you the side story.

Laura Fuller who is on the board of directors for Harvest Evangelism, called me on Friday to let me know that she and her husband Gary, who is the mayor of Opelika, Alabama, were coming to New York and wanted to visit me and take me out to eat. We met up, and after I gave them a brief tour of the church we took a cab over to E. 23^rd Street and 3^rd Avenue to an outstanding Italian Restaurant called Bistango (www.bistangonyc.com). The manager of Bistango is a brother here at Times Square Church named Anthony. Anthony was extremely friendly and accommodating, as it was Gary Fuller’s birthday that day, so I asked Anthony if he could do something special. Turns out Anthony had already been informed by Pastor Rick about Gary’s birthday; he had called and made reservations for me and the Fullers. The food was delectable, and Gary received two different kinds of chocolate desserts (Mayor Fuller loves chocolate) and was sung to by the Bistango staff. This outing was a very welcome retreat from the insecticide ridden, carpet-less halls of the third floor. I had a great time. This morning I also accompanied the Fuller’s to Brooklyn Tabernacle. WOW! What an amazing, spirit-filled service that was! I can’t believe there are two powerhouse churches within 20 minutes of each other in New York City, and maybe more. I guess the darker the city, the brighter the beacons must be. And also, the larger the population, the larger the churches should be. Times Square Church and Brooklyn Tabernacle are like sister churches. They are both located in old theaters and they both have a unique worship and teaching style. But I must say that the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir, under the direction of Carol Cymbala, blew my mind. They sang a new song this morning which I think is called, “You are the Sovereign God.” The song goes: “You are the Sovereign God! Bigger than all my problems, and every situation.” I had such a wonderful time of true praise. Not only that, but I felt exhorted and comforted by the choir. And that’s what a church choir is meant to do: not to entertain or build up unnecessary emotional hype, but to exhort the congregation and to lead them in authentic praise to God. I needed to hear both the message of the choir and the preacher. But something worth mentioning also happened when we first arrived at Brooklyn Tab. We got there fairly early and sat pretty close to the front on stage right. Then one of the most uncanny and improbable occurrences happened. We overheard the three people sitting directly in front of us talking about Alabama! I whispered to Laura, “They can’t be from Alabama.” So she asked the gentleman in front of us and he said, “Yes we are! We’re from Guntersville!” In response to that remark I just about lost composure. I am from Albertville, Alabama, the next city over from Guntersville! I have relatives in Guntersville and my dad volunteers for the Guntersville Rescue Squad. I grew up swimming and boating on Guntersville Lake! And sitting in front of us were Lisa Beam, and Coach Rick and Sandra Moody, all from Guntersville. Ms. Lisa is a P.E. teacher at an elementary school in Guntersville, and the Moody’s are originally from Guntersville and are moving back there soon from Syracuse, NY. Coach Moody was the women’s basketball coach at the University of Alabama, mine and Gary’s favorite team, and Gary knew the guy! This was a very pleasant gift and surprise for me, as I love my home state and was glad to meet Christian people from my hometown who know my relatives. But it took us having to meet at Brooklyn Tabernacle, some 900 miles away from home, in order to make acquaintance. This was a Divine appointment. Nobody can tell me that it was a coincidence; it was a precious gift of God to me. I am extremely thankful to God for that little gift and glimpse into eternity. What a family reunion THAT will be! Now, on to the message.

Pastor Jim Cymbala was at home with the flu today, but he invited his friend Brad from Michigan to preach in his stead, and Brad felt led of the Lord to bring a message against worry, a sin with which we are all familiar.

The talking points of the message are these, taken from the text of Matthew 6:25-34:

Worry is 1) Unreasonable, 2) Unnatural, 3) Unnecessary, and 4) Un-Christ-like. Worry and faith are mutually exclusive. If you want to overcome worry, apply these four principles from the text as spoken by Jesus: 1) Look to your Father in heaven, just like Jesus did. 2) Learn how valuable you are to Him. 3) Live one day at a time. 4) Apply Philippians 4:6: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God,” for our Father knows what we have need of before we ask it. He will provide.

In light of the fact that Helen and I are planning to be a family and share life together, I would be well advised to take this important message into consideration daily, especially to the Lord in prayer.

Grace to you all,

David

*Patio*