Raising the Dead — David Wilkerson

This message is one of the Times Square Portrait Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P .O. Box 260, Linville, Texas 75771 or calling 214 -963 -8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends.

Open your Bibles to Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel 37 and just, I'm going to trick preach out of this. Valley of Dry Bones. You know this chapter very well. In fact, there was a time everybody in America was singing them bones, them bones, them dry bones.

You ever heard of the word? What bones connected to the head bone and the head bone and the shoulder bone and the knee bone, the leg bone and All it was was a song. It's more than a song, folks. It's prophecy.

Powerful prophecy. Raising the dead. Now, just keep your Bible open there because I'll be taking you through this chapter tonight. Before we begin I want to read to you an article. Just leave your Bible open there.

We'll get to that in just a moment. Anarchy in the streets. You've heard my message. The last days of America. This is my song. This isn't a new song. It's just been released. The lyrics from a song called Hold On.

Anarchy in the streets. Just listen to these words. There's blacks with knives and whites with guns fighting in Howard Beach. There's no such thing as human rights when you walk through New York streets.

A cop was shot in the head by a 10-year-old kid named Beta and sent to court last week. Their fathers and daughters are lined up by the coffins, by the Statue of Dignity. You better hold on. Something's happening here.

You better hold on. Meet you in Thompson Square. A broker sent a message to the cops last weekend. Then they shot him in the car where he sat. There's a rampage in waves rising up like a plague of bloody fires washing up on the beach.

It'll take more than angels or Iron Mike Tyson to heal this bloody breach. A joker ran down a lady, a pregnant dancer. She'll never dance, but the baby was saved. He shot up from China White and nodded out at the wheel and he doesn't even remember a thing.

They shot that old lady because they thought she was a witness to a crime she didn't even see, whose home is in the home of the brave by the Statue of Dignity. You've got a big black .38 and a gravity knife.

You still have to ride the train. There's the smelly essence of New York down there, but you ain't read the line yet. There's no mafia lawyer to fight in your corner for that 15 minutes of fame. The haves and the have-nots are bleeding in the tub.

That's New York's future, not mine. All you people, you better hold on. Something's happening here. You better hold on. Now, folks, this is secularism. This is not from a spiritual mind. Now, what's it like living in New York City?

And when I talk about New York City, I'm talking about the megaplex, including New York, New Jersey, the entire megaplex. The Prophet Ezekiel, Chapter 37, says New York is born city. Born city. The Valley of Dry Bones, as Ezekiel called it.

Verse 1, Chapter 37, the hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord and sent me down in the midst of a valley which was full of bones and caused me to pass by them on the boat.

They heard there were very many in the open valley and learned they were very dry. Very many, very dry. Now, this vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, it's been known by most of you. You know this, you've heard it in Sunday school.

Now, some preach that this chapter, it goes only to the restoration of natural Israel. That's all that they say. They don't go any further because they take this from Verse 11. Then he said unto me, he said, O man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.

Now, keep in mind, the whole house of Israel. Spiritual Israel and natural Israel. You see, it's not a prophecy just to natural Israel. It's a prophecy that's good. It's a prophecy that's good for Israel and natural Israel.

Are you having trouble with that? Are you hearing me all right? Okay. Okay. But you see, Ezekiel 37, Verse 21. Let's begin to read. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the children of Israel from the month of Eden, whether they be gone, and will double them on every side and bring them into their own land.

Now, I'm going to show you that that land is not just a natural land, but that has to do with a place in Jesus Christ. You know that the land you and I are going to is Jesus? That He is our inheritance?

How many other men inherit other than Jesus Christ? Do you have any other inheritance other than Jesus? I don't. Jesus Christ alone is my total inheritance. I don't want anything other than that. And I will make the one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel.

So that means the middle of the earth will just be broken down, and we'll be Jew and Gentile, and we'll be one in Christ. One king shall be king to them, and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.

Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions. But I will save them out of all their dwelling places. That's what He did for every sinner that's in this place.

We've all been saved from our dwelling places of sin. I will save them out of their dwelling places when they've sinned, and will cleanse them so they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And David, my servant, shall be king over them.

Now look at this. In this passage given, David's been dead many, many years. What does it mean, David shall rule over them? Does that mean David's going to be raised from the dead and be a naturalist?

No. This is speaking of Christ. In fact, the Midrash we've built is clearly speaking of Christ. And Christ, David, my servant, shall be king over them, and they'll also have one supper. Now that's not happened in Israel yet.

It didn't happen when Israel was restored from Babylon. And the chapter is, this has never been fulfilled in the way the prophet is speaking of here now. They'll have one supper. They shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them.

All right, here it is, please. My servant David shall be the prince over them. I'll set my sanctuary, verse 26, I'll set my sanctuary in the midst of them forever, verse 27. My tabernacle also shall be with them, where I will be their God and they shall be my people.

This is clearly speaking of Jesus Christ, of a people who are coming into the fullness of Jesus Christ. So the value of dry bones, brother and sister, is still with us. Now, Israel is certainly that value of dry bones.

I still believe this church has a place in its heart for Israel, for national Israel. This coming Sunday we'll have our first conference focused on Israel. And God has put a heart of love in this church and all of our people for national Israel.

But you see, he's also speaking about a backslidden church. He's talking about dead Christians. He's talking about sinners that are dead in trespasses and sin. There was a time everyone in this building was dead in trespasses and sin.

Now Jesus came and resurrected you. Saved you out of your death. Now there are two dangers in interpreting Old Testament doctrine, especially prophecy, and especially that which is relevant to Israel.

Now, some interpret everything in the Old Testament, especially Israel's having to do with national Israel, they don't see the church, they don't see the building, but all they see is national Israel.

And all they see is Israel being a little piece of real estate, they make derogatory remarks saying God is no more concerned with Israel, that he isn't hating any other, that he isn't as interested in hating as he would be in Israel.

It's true, God has no respect for persons. But God does have a place for Israel, national Israel. There is a restoration coming. There's going to be a breathing in the Holy Spirit, not just on the dream, but on, I'm going to say from the Scripture tonight, upon our flesh, the Scripture says, the prophets, John, Amos, Abed-Gha 'at, all said, upon our flesh.

And then there's another problem in interpreting Old Testament prophecy, and those are those who see only nationalism, there are others who see only the church. They don't see any place for nationalism whatsoever, they see only the church.

But it's doing, the Lord said to us as Gentiles, don't you be proud and lift it up, lest you also be cut off like the Jew. He said there's no place for pride, lest you also be cut off. Any Jew and Gentile pride will cut you off the vine.

But we can't miss what God is saying to his church in these precious Old Testament prophecies, like Ezekiel 37. I don't want you to turn there, but in the first chapter of Acts, when Jesus commanded his disciples at the Ascension Tree to go to Jerusalem and pray, to be redeemed of the Holy Ghost, the first thing that came to their mind was the natural.

They couldn't interpret the Scripture whatsoever. In fact, they said, Master, will you at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel? All they can see is Kingdom now. All they can see is reign, and they're going to come to office right now.

They're going to see everything I am and pray there. And Jesus said, is this the time you're going to restore naturalism? Is this the time you get the Kingdom back from the Romans? And in fact, I'm going to turn there, and I'll read it to you.

I'll read it word for word. It's in the first chapter of the book of Acts. And this is very, very familiar. The Lord will thou at this time restore again the Kingdom of Israel? Now you see, the Lord was trying to get their mind that something very spiritual was going to happen.

He's telling them, in essence, you're going to work now and not reign now. There's a time to reign, but now's the time to work. The Lord's not calling them to be precinct workers or politicians. He's calling them to be witnesses.

Witnesses unto me, He says. I'm going to read this answer. Jesus said unto them, it's not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father has put in His own power. It's not for you to even think about the political side right now.

Get the spiritual impact of this prophecy. Get the spiritual impact, Jesus says, of this whole matter going to Jerusalem. You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem.

If you do so now, you'll be the most powerful in the world. I got a letter last week from a lady in the Midwest. And she said, good Mr. Wilkinson, I just read your newsletter, The Last Days of America.

How hopeless you sound. We need to get together with some of the television evangelists that have a vision for the kingdom. She says, don't you know and have you not heard that America's just been rescued?

Pastor. So-and-So, if you may know him, has got thousands of people in America praying now. He's got an army raised up. And they have stopped the judgment. In fact, a woman just got a vision of a black cloud that was about to fall on America.

But she chased it away. And God has now saved America. And we want you to know that America is now safe. Then, I got another letter. In fact, I got a telephone call from a group of preachers who took some exception.

And they said, have you not heard of the prophecies that we have secured the borders of America? From the East, the West, the North, and the South. We have secured all of our borders. And it didn't want to be so sad.

Don't preach such gloom. The kingdom is coming. We are now electing mayors. We are moving into the arts. We are moving into the sciences. The kingdom is coming because we are getting very strong politically, spiritually, and other ways.

Soon, we will bring in the glory. Brother David, you are too sad. The kingdom is coming. You should be redressed. That sounds very good, doesn't it? I still hear people say, is this the time to bring in the kingdom mayor?

He said, this is not the time to talk about that. This is the time to go and get filled with the Holy Ghost and be witnesses underneath. He said, there is a lot to do for the church. Lot of abandonment getting in the vote.

We have had two so-called Presidents over there that hasn't stopped the judgment. Hasn't stopped with whatever. I want to show you some things that God has been doing about Ezekiel 37. First of all, God puts this prophet in the middle of an immense holocaust.

This is the down end of the holocaust. We don't even know how it happened. He is made to walk through a nightmare of death. He is told to look at the death and look at the bones all around him. He caused me to pass by them around the boat.

The hand of the Lord was upon me. Carried me out of the school of the Lord. And set me down in the midst of the Holy Ghost. Set him down in the midst of the valley which is full of bones. Now the original Hebrew says that he caused me to walk round and round.

In other words, Ezekiel, just go around and look at the death that's all around you. And all I could see was bones. There wasn't one beating heart. There wasn't one tongue that could say hallelujah. There wasn't anybody that could respond negatively or positively to anything he preached.

There was nothing but a scene of death. And what a cure this was. There was no sign of life anywhere. Very many bones and all the bones were very dry. Now here stands the man of God. Get the picture please.

A man who has the hand of God on him. God's hand is on him. Not only that, the Spirit is leading him. In other words, he's in the clear divine direction. He's been perfectly led by the Holy Spirit. And he's put down smack in the middle of the worst recorded scene of death in all the world.

And the Holy Spirit has put him here. God has put him out in the midst of it. And God didn't ask him, Ezekiel, how did they die? What was the cause of all this death? You see, the Lord showed me a danger.

I don't want to get involved in this kind of trap. There is a trap and it has to do with all. If this is a trap set, the enemy sets off then for apostasy preachers, for those who preach holiness or whatever.

They're like doctors who know how to diagnose but don't have any solutions. I don't want to be one who can analyze why America's dying. I don't want to be able to spell out all the steps. And the Lord is showing us clearly.

He's showing us some of the things how America has wound up where it is. But the question is not, how did they die? The question that was posed to this man right in the middle of this death scene is, Ezekiel, can these bones live?

It doesn't. Look what cigarettes have done to you. Drugs have done to you. Alcohol has done to you. It's just, he didn't even ask him how. Now, if you read another chapter, I can show you a chapter how they died.

They actually died sitting in front of their idols. There's a whole chapter on it. They all died sitting in front of their idols. The spirits of life just oozed out of them. They died sitting in front of their double ended eating boxes.

They died in front of their idolatry. Not just terrorism, but whatever your idolatry is. They so touched their idolatry, they sat there and starved to death. And I bet if we dug in the sand, we could find writers.

But you see, God was not interested in what caused the death. He said, you see, look. Tell me. Look at this man. What are you going to do about it? What's going to be done about the death all around you?

What is your sense? What is your plan? You see, if you look at the death, no matter if God the Spirit of the Lord is on you, what's your plan? No matter what, is there any way that there's going to be life out of all of this death around you?

And it isn't. We live in Dane City. I said it before, repeat it. There's death all around us here in New York City. It's a death. We're in a valley, a dry beach. Birds. Birds. There's death spinning all around.

Here we are, a church and pastors that have their hand of God upon them. Full of the Holy Ghost. And the Reds put a smack down in the middle of the world's biggest boneyard. This is the biggest boneyard on the face of the earth.

They call it Babylon. Right here is New York City. It's the biggest scene of death caused by greed anywhere on the face of the earth. We are right here in Slimes Square. New York Daily News calls Slimes Square, Slimes Square now.

That's not mine, that's from the New York Daily News. I had some fans recently from California. And they kept boasting about all the beautiful cemeteries in Los Angeles. And I met them at Trinity Airport.

And I just got kind of tired of it. And I thought, there's a spirit in me. God's healing. But there's a spirit in me. Who said I'm laughing? Someone said I'm laughing. My wife, she's not here tonight.

You've got to learn. I met them at Trinity Airport. And I said, listen, you've been telling me about all these cemeteries. And I said, we've got the most beautiful cemetery in America. Right here in New York.

And we're going to drive right past it. And I kept building up this thing. And if you know what I'm talking about when you drive along on an expressway in Queens. What's the name of that ugly, horrible cemetery right off the...

Huh? God, can I be blamed? It's right off... It's the ugliest, the most horrible death scene. And they've got all these tall, spinning things. Boy, you talk about a nightmare. And so I kept building up this mess.

Dude, you are... Ain't nothing in California like it. I went, why? He said, you don't have anything like it. It's incredible. And we got mad. And I said, just look all the way. Isn't that something? And they looked at me.

And said, I just said, isn't that something? You don't have anything like that in California? I started laughing. I gave it away. He said, it's not really anything to laugh about. But I want to tell you something.

Right now, as depressing as that place was. It's one of the most gray, insidious, horrible cemeteries I've ever seen. What we're seeing in the spiritual realm in New York is even worse. It's much worse.

Last week, the Holy Ghost took me on the same kind of thing. He took Ezekiel. He took me to Central Park. And I had been studying and praying. And he just made a message. And I just said, go to Central Park.

And the Holy Spirit led me there. And I was sitting there on the park bench. And you know, you sit in a house in Central Park, you can see anything. It's incredible. You see bad ladies. You see pushers.

You see witches. You see poor. You see everything conceivable. And I'm sitting there watching this parade of hundreds and thousands of people going by. And it got to me. It started overwhelming me. I got to looking at this mass of people, Jews, Jewish friends with their little caps.

And all nations, all peoples represented. And I thought, oh, Lord, there's not a handful that know Jesus. There's not a handful that know such a spiritual death. And look in their eyes. I saw people sitting on benches, just their head down.

The despair. Let alone aggressive and conceivable despair. People were praying. You know, the people selling beer everywhere. They were having a field day selling beer. And you just hear them chugging beer everywhere.

And I was looking at this scene. And then I said, David, which ones are you willing to purge? To give up on? The drug addicts or the alcoholics or these bad ladies? What about all of these abortion people that are praying up there with their signs?

Are you willing to give up on them? What about those agnostic and Christ-haters that just as soon spit on you and talk about Jesus? Are you willing to give up on them? Because it was in my heart Jesus said he's not willing to give up on anyone.

He's not willing to give anyone some purge. And the Lord said, do you have a heart that's big enough to take it all in? Do you have a heart big enough to reach out and love the ugly, the unlovable? No matter what race, the color, whoever it is.

Is there enough love in your heart to reach out? And I said, I don't think so, Lord. We've been here almost two years in New York. And we thank you for a church that's full of people who love you. But, oh God, if we had 10 ,000 people, that represents one city block here in Versailles.

One city block. In fact, there's one block over there, about a two feet block there. And there's 25 ,000 people in that section. 25 ,000 people living in just one people block area there. It's incredible.

There's high rises. And I'm sitting there with my head down. And I looked up. There's a lady standing in front of me. There's a smile on her face. And she said, hello. I said, Lord, I thought you came to Times Square Church.

It was one of our people I didn't recognize. She said, now sit down. And there was an older gentleman with her. And she said, my name is Claire. And I said, why are you talking to me? I found she didn't come to this church.

She didn't know me. And she said, well, something told me that I could talk to you and you would listen. And I said, well, do you have an interest in walking with me and talking? And she said, yes. And Angel said it was all right.

She said, now, I'm not too bright, but I'm not stupid. She is on social welfare, I suppose. Yes, I believe it's welfare. And she said, this gentleman, she has a one-room apartment about five blocks from the church here.

She may be here tonight. We called and asked her to come here tonight. And she sat down and said, this is a friend of mine. He has no place to sleep. It's not a sexual thing. In fact, he's an old man who has a heart condition.

You might have not seen him on the street. We kind of watched over him so nobody would attack or hurt him. And it was just a friend. And it bore witness that she was telling the truth. There was no involvement there.

She needed someone to talk to. She said, Mr. Nixon, do you know what it's like to have talent that's wasted? Do you know what it's like not to be able to take care of yourself like you want to? That's the reason I can't even handle a dog or a cat.

And she said, the worst thing of all is to be in a city like this and not have anybody to talk to, no family, lady friends, nobody to talk to. And she said, even worse than that's the thought that you might die.

I get sick. You might die. Nobody knows you're dead. There may be days and weeks before they find you. She said, have you ever known that feeling? She was there for probably 20 minutes just pouring her heart out.

And it broke me. And I finally, I said, I want you to telephone number I have. In fact, people have always been calling and talking and calling her. And she said, if I came, would you be able to, is there any way to give me some clothes so that I could at least be able to come to church as a guest?

And I listened to the heartbreak of that woman. And the Lord had sent her. If you sat her down right there, I believe what you said in Angel prompted her. If you sat there. And finally, I took about as much as I could take.

I made provision for her to be able to call and get clothes and some help. But, you know, this is what they made me some. I was walking down 67th Street right off of Park West toward Broadway. I had these tears rolling down my cheek.

And I thought, oh, God, every one of these highways is full of prayers. Every one of these places. Wait a minute. These ladies are bent over and no one to talk to. This whole city is full of lonely people.

There are so many drugs that it's not cracked out. It's this city is so full of sin and crime and loneliness. So many millions just like everywhere all over the city. And then the spirit of God came to me just like you did.

You believe these bones can live again. Yes, there's definitely when you look. Brother and sister, we're in a graveyard just as bad and worse. Worse than what the prophet Ezekiel is saying here right now.

Because the Bible says even men will watch worse and worse. Right? I had to answer the way Ezekiel answered. When God said, can these bones live again? And he said, oh, my God. God knows. He wasn't trying to cop a plane.

He wasn't trying to get out of it. Answering God. What it was actually saying was only you can do it. Oh, God. There's no human way that there can be life out of this death scene. Except you do it by your power.

And he's saying, God knows. He's saying, humanly, it's impossible. Humanly, there's no way. And I look at the ministries of many sincere people even in this city. Trying to bring a bit of life out of the death that's all around us.

And it's incredible the things that men try to win the lost. We've got what they call networking now. People think we're just networking. We're people together. And they're going to be all right. We've got strategizers now.

We've got charts. How-to books. We've got one-year programs, two-year programs, three-year programs. We've got five-year plans now. We've got slogans and banners and balloons and graves and T-shirts and concerts and plans and programs and research programs and formulas.

And all in spite of all that, the bombs aren't moving. There's no great noise. There's no shaking. There's no strain. The death keeps coming on. There's just death in spite of all the Christian activity all around us.

We've had prayers, New York, Jesus loves you. And all the thousands in blue going up, Jesus loves New York. And the bombs don't move. And there's no sign of life. In spite of all of our strategizing and our networking and our slogans and our families and all of our books.

Someone sent me a book. These were in church grove where I read them suffering. Threw it down in a basket and kept. I slammed it as hard as I've ever slammed any book in my life. And I read garbage. What does that have to do with a graveyard?

What does that have to do with opening up graves? What does that have to do to each car and the bag women and the crack addicts? What does that have to do? We've got some dear people in this church that have been impatient with the pastors.

Because some of our plans have not matured yet. We don't have a Hannah house for unwed mothers yet. We've just now begun to hear from the world about what to do for the college students. We've been praying for a year on that.

We've been praying for almost a year and a half about a breakthrough in the Jewish community. Because we're 4 million Jews in New York City. And this church can't sit by and let 4 million Jews go without hearing the word of the Lord.

But you see, we've got some people that have been impatient with the pastors. But you see, none of us as pastors are willing to do anything just to meet human needs. We're not going to do anything just because there's death facing us on all sides.

Just because there's something about it that drives us. There's something in you that says, I've got to do something about this. Something's got to... What are you going to do? Tell me what you're going to do to resurrect the drive back from New York City.

How can you do it sitting in a committee meeting? How can you do it strategizing? How can you do it reading books? No way on earth. That's what Ezekiel said. Oh God, only you can do it. There's no other way.

We don't... We refuse to do it in Philadelphia. Only those churches have. And when we refuse to make a move, we don't even have a youth pastor in this church. Because we've been praying for a year. We think we're close to heaven, Lord.

But we've had our times. We've had men come in and say, God told me that I'm to be the man. And the Lord has not said that to those here on our face. We're a face before Almighty God. And he hasn't said it.

We're a power. Hands come up and say, Lord, I'm not telling you this. I'm not telling you that. We're a face before God. But we're not going to get out and check the door. Now, their hands are their own strength.

It has to be a work in heaven. It has to be life from God. Unless the Holy Ghost originates it, you can't bless it. Unless it's right out of his own heart, it's not going to work. Secondly, God knows how to bring life out of death.

He's got all the power that's needed. But he won't do it without us. He's not going to do it. The death is going to hold us grip until we begin to obey God. The word came to the prophet and said, prophesy upon these birds.

And so to them, O birds, hear the word of the Lord. He couldn't have stood in the midst of that drought of dry birds with God's hand on him, led by the Holy Ghost. A broken heart over what he saw. And nothing would have changed until he did exactly what God told him to do.

He said, I want you, God, to prophesy on top of these birds. I want to prophesy over these birds. He could have fasted. He could have prayed. He could have wept. And the death would have not been challenged.

He had to prophesy God's word to the birds. The birds had to hear what God was saying. They had to hear what God was saying. Well, at the time that he gave this prophecy, Israel no longer existed as a nation.

It was in captivity. The people had false prophets before this time telling us there'd be peace and prosperity. And they'd listen to these false prophets. They told Jeremiah to get lost. They wouldn't listen to Ezekiel.

They wouldn't listen to these prophets who said there's going to be disaster. And then a total calamity came. There was a collapse. They go into captivity now. And now they're not willing to hear anybody.

And that's what's going to happen soon. Because if you're somebody who's been sitting listening to prosperity so long, you've been listening that everything's going to be so great. And then when the judgment starts, you won't want to listen to any creature.

You won't want to listen to anybody. You won't be willing to hear the word of God. These bears have not heard the true word of God. There was death all around, nothing but the true word of God. And it had to be preached by the prophet.

God is saying, Ezekiel, I'm commanding you to tell these bears they're going to live again. I'm going to bring life out of death. Well, what kind of obedience did that take? What kind of obedience to have that man stand right out there and nobody can respond, nobody anywhere.

I've heard preachers sitting there in congregations like that. He's out there saying to these dry bears, oh bears, hear the word of the Lord. You're going to live. What's that kind of obedience when a homeowner about to face divorce and when your family is split up and you're living in a valley of dry bears?

At what point do you say, do you believe I'm able to heal this situation? Do you believe I'm able to bring life out of this death all around you? And God is saying it's not going to happen until you proclaim my word.

Until you take a step of faith and you say, God, I believe you're going to bring life out of this death around me. And I'll tell you what, if this church and any other church in this city has the name of Christ, if we don't have this kind of faith, we might as well shut the doors.

If you don't have that kind of faith in your family and your children, your children are not going to make it. They're going to be drenched in sex and alcohol and hell around them until you've got this spit upon you like Ezekiel says, even though you see death all around you.

I proclaim the name of the Lord Jesus. Be bold as I am. To walk the streets of New York, I've done that. I've been right down here, two blocks down here on 39th Street. And they're driving around, just knocking around and saying, God in Jesus' name, raise up the holy remnant.

God, I believe there's going to be life come out of the death that's all around us. And you see here on Assembly Mayor, hundreds gathered right here in the middle of Times Square because he's bringing life out of death.

But that has to happen for every one of us, for every one of our homes and the job where it is that you face death. Because I serve a Christ of life. He can bring life out of this death all around me.

But you've got to have the word of God, not be the prophetic word. And it was not just the word, it was the prophetic word. He said, we prophesy with these bones. Your prophecy is, it's a revelation of the true heart of Jesus.

If someone is set in with the Lord, he is the name of God. And as Bob brought it out so clearly this morning, his words don't fall to the ground. He's not just saying words hoping somebody will find Jesus.

We've got all kinds of witnesses coming into this city soon. And nothing's going to happen if they just go out like little mice, little mice. And give their cute little scriptures of whatever they may be.

And their little spirit. No, it's got to be more than that. There has to be a spirit inside that says, I come in the name of the Lord. I serve a Christ of life. I serve a life-giving, resurrecting Savior.