                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                    Are you Ready For The Coming Storm?

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By David Wilkerson
March 4, 1996
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          Isaiah prophesies that God will one day rise up and
          shake the Whole earth. The prophet writes: "Behold, the
          Lord maketh the earth empty... and turneth it upside
          down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof...
          all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone....
          When thus it shall be in the midst of the people, there
          shall be as the shaking of an olive tree..." (Isaiah
          24:1, 11, 13).

          God is going to shake the earth as if it were an olive
          tree - till every bit of fruit falls! "...for the
          windows from on high are open, and the foundations of
          the earth do shake... the earth is moved exceedingly.
          The earth shall reel to and fro...and shall be removed
          like a cottage..." (verses 18-20).

          The entire earth shall appear to be a mere cottage when
          God begins His shaking!

          Other prophets concur with Isaiah's word:

          Ezekiel says that when God's fury arises, He will shake
          terribly all that can be shaken: "...all the men that
          are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my
          presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and
          the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall
          to the ground....and I will be known in the eyes of
          many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord"
          (Ezekiel 38:20-23).

          Joel says: "The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and
          utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the
          earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his
          people, and the strength of (His) children..." (Joel
          3:16).

          Haggai writes: "For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet
          once, it is a little while, and I will shake the
          heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
          and I will shake all nations..." (Haggai 2:6-7).

          The writer of Hebrews says: "...Yet once more I shake
          not the earth only, but also heaven... that [only]
          those things which cannot be shaken may remain"
          (Hebrews 12:26-27).

          God is going to shake everything in sight - so that He
          alone is revealed as the only unshakeable power!

                      -------------------------------

                        We Have Seen the Beginnings
                              of God's Shaking
                          in the Past Few Years!

                      -------------------------------

          The Lord literally began to shake the earth with
          earthquakes in the late 1980s. A quake in Armenia wiped
          out almost that whole province. A quake in Japan
          measuring 6.9 nearly destroyed an entire city. Then
          came the horrible quake in San Francisco - and others
          followed almost daily in that area. Quakes hit the west
          coast constantly, from northern California to San Diego
          and down into Mexico. At one point, a New York
          newspaper headline asked, "Is God Trying to Quake Us
          Up?"

          Let me ask you something: What does a loving parent do
          when a child is sleeping but must wake up? That parent
          takes his child gently by the shoulders and shakes him.
          If the child doesn't wake up immediately, the shaking
          then becomes a bit more firm and serious - because the
          parent knows the child will suffer is he doesn't wake
          up.

          That's just what God is doing right now - both to
          America and to the world! At first, He shook us very
          tenderly. But now His shaking has become violent -
          because He has still not succeeded in waking us up!

          The prophets I mentioned weren't just speaking into the
          wind. When the Lord says, "I'm going to shake the earth
          one more time," He means it! He will literally shake
          our economy, our education system, our government -
          everything we put our trust and confidence in,
          everything that seems safe and secure.

          Could you ever have imagined the greatest nation on
          earth closed down because of bipartisan politics
          flirting with national bankruptcy, threatening payments
          of our international debts?

          I have had a very vivid, recurring dream about the
          President of the United States - which President, I
          don't know. In the dream he is looking out the window
          of the Oval Office, shaking his head in disbelief and
          saying, "How did it happen? What went wrong?" None of
          his solemn Cabinet members or aides could explain
          America's collapse to him.

          And that's just the way it will be when God does His
          shaking: No one will be able to explain it! I think of
          the stock market crash eight years ago. Overnight it
          went down 500 points - and there was no reason for it.
          Indeed, things will be going along nicely when suddenly
          a quake will hit - not a physical quake, but an
          unexpected economic quake. God will shake our very
          foundations!

          The Bible also warns us that, simultaneous to God's
          shaking, a great demonic flood is descending upon
          humankind. The devil is about to bring a fierce
          downpour of filth, wickedness and testings beyond
          anything our minds can conjure. He knows his time is
          short - and he is preparing to unleash overwhelming
          winds and waves of evil!

          For example: Many people now own a computer. What
          better way could Satan invade people's homes than with
          a demonic flood through the information superhighway?
          This superhighway could become a direct line to hell.
          It's already a purveyor of pornography. I realize this
          great information development can be used to produce
          many wonderful services. But it has the potential to
          become a powerful tool of Satan!

          In fact, it may be the very tool the Antichrist uses to
          usher in his kingdom and power. For example, it might
          become the source of a cashless society. Already, Chase
          Manhattan Bank has instituted computer banking in New
          York, with no paperwork involved at all - only numbers.

          I believe the flood of evil is now reaching critical
          mass, where everything has begun to spin out of
          control. And, tragically, we don't know it - because we
          have become inured to it! Things that once bothered us
          now have become commonplace. We've seen and heard so
          much evil that nothing moves us anymore.

          I wonder: When the storm comes - when everything begins
          to spin out of control - how many Christians will be
          able to stand? How many will have the foundation of
          faith necessary to endure that time?

          I believe that is the Lord's great concern for His
          people at this moment. And it is my great concern as a
          shepherd: "Lord, how many of Your people will fall when
          the storm strikes with full fury? How many will stand
          unmoveable? And how can I prepare them for the great
          shaking?"

                      -------------------------------

                       Jesus Has Given Us What I Call
                      the "Parable of Preparedness"!

                      -------------------------------

          During my time of prayer, the Lord gave me a revelation
          of Jesus' parable of the builders, found in Matthew 7.
          I believe this parable contains an incredible truth for
          us in these last days. Yet only diligent seekers will
          discover it! "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings
          of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise
          man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain
          descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and
          beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was
          founded upon a rock. "And every one that heareth these
          sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened
          unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the
          sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and
          the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell:
          and great was the fall of it" (Matthew 7:24-27).

          Jesus is saying that the only thing that will hold up
          in the coming storm is to be established on a rock
          foundation. One man built his house upon a rock,
          "...and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock"
          (verse 25).

          Now, the builders of these houses represent two classes
          of Christians in these last days - the wise and the
          foolish. They built two different kinds of houses and
          people were already living in both kinds when the storm
          hit.

          On one hand, it is encouraging to know there will be a
          body of believers who will not fall. They will be able
          to withstand every demonic onslaught that comes out of
          hell. Nothing will be able to move them when the storms
          rage. That's what Jesus wants us to know from this
          parable: A person who builds his house upon a rock will
          survive everything that's coming!

          Yet, sadly, there will be another group of Christians -
          people of whom Jesus says, "Their fall will be great!"
          "...and great was the fall of it" (verse 27). This
          means a total, complete, devastating collapse of
          everything.

          At this point, you may be wondering: "What does it
          mean, exactly, to 'build a house'?" It is important to
          know what Jesus is referring to here - because He says
          the house each of us is building will face a
          devastating flood.

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                         The House We Are Building
                         Is About Loving Obedience
                                to Christ!

                      -------------------------------

          The house Jesus is talking about here is our walk with
          Him. We are building a foundation of getting to know
          Christ, of understanding His ways. We are building into
          our faith certain characteristics that will determine
          how we react under pressure.

          Many Christians may say, "I'm a believer. I've built on
          the rock." Yet they don't truly understand what this
          phrase means. And they will have a great shock and
          surprise when their relationship with Jesus does not
          endure the storm. They will be exposed as having no
          foundation!

          We can't understand what this parable is talking about
          unless we understand this: *This parable is about
          obedience!* Jesus is speaking of a person who hears His
          Word and does it - who obeys Him, who acts upon His
          commands. He is describing a lifestyle - a walk of
          total, absolute obedience to His Word. That is to be
          our foundation!

          Of course, Jesus Himself is our Rock. But that is not
          the full meaning of "rock" as used by Him in this
          parable. Some who claim they have built on Christ as
          their rock may not be building properly. It is because
          this rock is a condition of the heart! It represents
          the foundational motives from which our obedience to
          God originates.

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                    Just as Water Sprang and Flowed Out
                       of the Rock in the Wilderness,
                             This Rock Also Has
                           a Spring and a Flow!

                      -------------------------------

          There is a flow of obedience in our lives - a flow that
          springs from the motives of the heart. It is important
          to understand the motive out of which our obedience
          springs - because if the spring is not pure, everything
          that flows out of it will be polluted.

          There is a kind of obedience that actually makes God
          weep. This is when people do His Word with reluctance!
          It is a legal obedience - a cold, technical formality,
          based on fear of consequences.

          Consider the father who needs to correct his teenage
          daughter. He tells her, "I can see in your boyfriend's
          eyes he's using drugs! I don't want you ever to see him
          again. And I don't want you coming in at one or two
          o'clock in the morning anymore. If you do, I'll put you
          out of the house!"

          The next night, the girl comes home at ten minutes
          before twelve. She hasn't been with her boyfriend - but
          he is still in her heart! Now she's in her room,
          pouting. She has been obedient to her father - but only
          because she's afraid she'll be kicked out.

          This is the obedience of a disgruntled child! Her heart
          is not in her actions. She's obedient only because she
          fears her father's wrath. She does not obey him out of
          pleasure or because she loves him. On the contrary -
          she's angry at him for restricting her freedom and
          limiting her lifestyle.

          The sad truth is, many Christians in these last days
          obey God only because they are afraid to go to hell.
          They fear their Father's wrath! Their obedience to Him
          is "legal" only. They have no genuine desire to please
          Him!

          Yet, Jesus did everything out of pleasure for His
          heavenly Father: "...I do nothing of myself; but as my
          Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he
          that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me
          alone; for I do always those things that please him"
          (John 8:28-29).

          This was the rock, the foundation, upon which Jesus
          built a life of obedience! It was the spring, the
          motive, out of which the flow of His obedience came.

          And it is to be our rock also. It must be the
          foundational motive of all our obedience: "I do it
          because I want to please my Lord - to bring Him great
          pleasure!"

          Jesus' desire was to do His Father's pleasure! He shut
          Himself up in prayer on the mountaintops, in quiet
          places, often all night long. And His one great prayer
          was, "Father, what do You want? What will bring You
          pleasure? What can I do to fulfill the desire of Your
          heart?"

          And that is the attitude of a person who has the Spirit
          of Christ - one who builds on the rock!

                      -------------------------------

                         The Person Who Builds His
                             House on the Rock
                          Is Not Held by Some Kind
                           of Legal Obligation.

                      -------------------------------

          The law isn't intended for the person whose obedience
          springs out of a desire to please God. He is not
          concerned about what is legal or illegal, what is
          permitted or forbidden. He has only one criterion:
          "What does my Lord desire?"

          You can lay out all the law before him - all the rules,
          regulations and prohibitions - and he will say, "You
          don't have to tell me not to do those things. I
          wouldn't do anything to hurt my Father. I love Him!
          I've already forsaken the world and its lusts to go
          after Him whom my heart desires.

          "Show me what He wants, not just what He forbids. I
          want His heart's desire to become my actions. I want to
          know His mind, and to obey it. Sure, I love His law.
          But that's for the lawless - for those who haven't come
          into a knowledge of intimacy with Christ. I have
          another law at work in my heart. It's the law of love -
          one that says, 'Lord, what can I do to please You
          today?'"

          Such a Christian lives a very straight life. Others
          often accuse him, saying, "You don't even do things
          that are allowed. You're in bondage to legalism. You
          seem so different!"

          This person looks at them dumbfounded and says, "What
          do you mean, bondage? I have great freedom *because* I
          love Him. I don't do any of the things you're talking
          about because I have everything in the Lord. My source
          of happiness is pleasing Him!"

          Such a person isn't moved by threats of hellfire, or
          even by rewards. He needs no prophet to shake him, no
          warnings of judgment. He is in love with Jesus - and
          his obedience to God's Word is a natural outgrowth of
          his love. It is as natural to him as breathing!

          On the other hand, the person who builds his house on
          sand does so only for show. It is a temporary
          lifestyle. He reasons he'll live in that house for five
          years, then sell it and leave the problems to someone
          else. It's only a facade - with no real foundation!

          You see, this person doesn't believe a storm is coming.
          He doesn't want to think that things are going to get
          hard. Yet that is the way the world deals with
          eternity: They simply don't think about it! A Christian
          celebrity once asked Johnny Carson, "What do you think
          about eternity?" He answered, "I try to put it out of
          my mind."

          Tragically, a lot of Christians try to put eternity out
          of their minds. They try not to think that judgment is
          at the door. They don't want to believe that one day
          they'll stand before the Lord and answer for everything
          they've said and done.

          I had a horrible, vivid dream about hell recently. I
          was on one side of a veil that was impassable. Yet I
          saw people on the other side walking around, moving -
          but going nowhere! They were paired up (not in
          marriage) with someone who represented the one thing or
          person they desired most here on earth. They had gotten
          the very thing they'd thought they wanted - but now it
          brought such terror and torment to their soul, they
          were weeping and gnashing their teeth. It was a
          never-ending source of torment!

          The thing that frightened me most was, I saw some
          people I knew - some whom I thought had been holy. I
          shouted to them, "Let me pray you out!" But they looked
          at me and answered, "You can't." Then they turned and
          walked away. I tried to go after them, but an invisible
          wall came down between us.

          I woke up in bed, trembling and crying out, "Oh, God!
          If that's what hell is like, let me never fail to warn
          the people. Keep me awake! Every time I stand in the
          pulpit, let it be a life-and-death matter, with no
          coddling, no jokes. There's a hell - and it's real!" I
          will never forget the utter hopelessness I felt in
          hearing the damned say, "You can't help me."

          Yes, there is a righteous fear of God. And we need to
          fear hell and the wrath of God! Paul said, "Knowing
          therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men..."
          (2 Corinthians 5:11).

                      -------------------------------

                          Those Who Build on Sand
                           Have Never Truly Known
                                  Christ!

                      -------------------------------

          Jesus describes this person in Matthew 7:21-23: "Not
          every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
          into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will
          of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in
          that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
          name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy
          name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess
          unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that
          work iniquity."

          I call these people "In the name of Jesus" people.
          They're going to stand before God's throne and say,
          "Lord, in Your name we cast out devils, we healed the
          sick, we did many wonderful works for You!" But the
          tragic truth is, they built their houses upon sand.

          These people did not have a divided heart. On the
          contrary - their heart was never the Lord's! It
          couldn't be divided - because it was never given to Him
          in the first place. They didn't backslide or turn back
          - because they didn't know Jesus from the beginning!

          Many great works have been done by those who have never
          been intimate with Christ. They cried, "Lord, Lord!"
          throughout their lives - coming to Him for relief, for
          power, for rewards. But they never stopped long enough
          in His presence to get to know Him! I can think of
          entire ministries and churches about which this is
          true. They use His name without knowing Him!

          They are busy for Him - but they don't obey Him with a
          love that flows from enraptured hearts. They simply
          haven't taken the time to know His heart and what
          pleases Him. Jesus says such people work iniquity -
          because they use His name without ever becoming
          intimate with Him! And He will tell them, "You say you
          did all these things for Me. But you built your house
          upon sand - because you never knew Me. You were never
          obedient to Me!"

          If you say you're a Christian - that you love Jesus,
          that your house is built upon a rock, that you walk in
          obedience to the Lord - yet you neglect Him day after
          day in prayer, then you don't know Him! Your house is
          not on the rock. It's on sand - and it's going to
          collapse completely in hard times!

          You can't get to know Jesus by going to church alone.
          You've got to have a day-by-day, hour-by-hour
          conversation with the Lord. You've got to get to know
          Him, to grow to love Him, to desire to know what
          pleases Him!

          We make the Lord's commandments out to be something
          burdensome, impossible, restricting, damaging to our
          personal freedom. And, rather than embracing His words
          to us, we look for ways to escape doing them.

          We distort God's grace in this way - making it out to
          be some kind of tunnel out of the prison of His law.
          But grace is actually a teacher of holiness: "For the
          grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to
          all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and
          worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and
          godly, in this present world" (Titus 2:2-3).

          The man on the rock embraces and joyfully fulfills the
          Lord's commands. He doesn't see God as someone with a
          belt in his hand, always ready to chastise him. No - he
          sees the Lord as One with arms outstretched to him,
          saying, "Come to me and receive life, receive strength.
          I'll carry you through!"

                      -------------------------------

                        God's Word Clearly Shows Us
                              What It Takes to
                           Build Upon the Rock!

                      -------------------------------

          Enoch obeyed God with the sole objective of pleasing
          Him! "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not
          see death; and was not found, because God had
          translated him: for before his translation he had this
          testimony, that he pleased God" (Hebrews 11:5). Enoch
          was translated because he pleased the Lord!

          The apostle John says: "And whatsoever we ask, we
          receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and
          do those things that are pleasing in his sight" (1 John
          3:22). "...for thou hast created all things, and for
          thy pleasure they are and were created" (Revelation
          4:11).

          Paul writes: "...even so we speak; not as pleasing men,
          but God, which trieth our hearts" (1 Thessalonians
          2:4). "...(fulfilling) all the good pleasure of his
          goodness..." (2 Thessalonians 1:11).

          Dear saint, you are not building on the rock if you
          need a preacher to thunder at you to obey God - if you
          need a set of do's and don'ts, if you need to be
          constantly convicted and reminded of His Word. No - you
          don't need a rule book! You need a passionate love for
          Jesus. You need to be so in love with Him that you know
          what pleases Him. Knowing His desires should become
          second nature to you!

          The more you love Him, the easier it is to serve and
          obey Him. You'll no longer care what the world says
          about you. You can answer, "I've heard from my Father -
          and I'm doing the good pleasure of His heart!" A flow
          of obedience must come out of your heart. It cannot be
          extracted from you or threatened out of you. It has to
          freely flow out of you!

          And when your heart is enraptured with Jesus, such
          obedience naturally flows out. You won't have to
          constantly go before the Lord, crying, "Oh God, break
          the power of the devil over me!" No - all those chains
          will begin to fall off as you get to know His heart!

          Are you in love with Jesus? If your answer is yes, then
          I have a question for you: How can you go throughout
          the week without spending time in His Word? How can you
          not yearn to get alone with Him in prayer? How can you
          not have a time of love talk with your Father, praising
          and worshiping Him, seeking to learn what pleases Him?
          These are foundational to obedience!

          Jesus tells us, "He that hath my commandments, and
          keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that
          loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love
          him, and will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21).

          What an incredible promise - all based on an obedience
          of love!

          So, search the gospels. Get to know Jesus' words. Read
          the red letters recorded in Matthew 5-7, beginning with
          the Sermon on the Mount. And as you learn His words, do
          them! God's commandments are not grievous; they are not
          a heavy burden laid upon us. On the contrary - obeying
          them becomes easier the more you grow to love Him.

          That is building your house upon the rock! Then, when
          the storm comes, you can stand unafraid. Nothing will
          move you - because you are walking in loving, pleasing
          obedience to the Father.

          But it is most important that you understand obedience
          is possible only by faith in the finished work of
          Christ. Only those living by faith in the perfect
          righteousness of Christ can obey Him in love. Obedience
          does not save us; that is possible only through the
          shed blood of Christ. Obedience flows out of our
          gratitude to God for having imputed to us the Lord's
          perfect righteousness. This is truly building on the
          rock. Amen!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

          This material is solely for personal use and is not to
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          on its web page. You are free to download, copy, print
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          post it on a different Internet site. You may, however,
          link this site to reference these messages.

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