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God promised the prophet Zechariah that in the last days he would be a protective wall of fire around his people: “For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about” (Zechariah 2:5).

Isaiah also testifies to this: “For thou hast been a…shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall” (Isaiah 25:4). “There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain” (4:6).

In John 2, Jesus and his disciples were invited to a marriage supper in Cana. Evidently, the Lord’s family received the invitation, too, because Jesus’ mother was there. Mary came up to him with a request: “The hosts have run out of wine.”
Jesus’ response to his mother seems a bit strange. He told her, “My hour is not yet come.”
What was this “hour” Jesus was referring to? He wasn’t talking about the moment of darkness he would face three years later, before his crucifixion. At that time Jesus did say, “My hour has come.”

All of us know what afflictions are. They’re those times of trouble and stress that keep us up at night. They can be so painful and debilitating that we lose sleep because of the anguish and anxiety.

Yet, as painful as afflictions are, God uses them to achieve his purposes in our lives. David writes, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous” (Psalm 34:19). Moreover, Scripture makes clear God can use afflictions to heal sinners as well as saints.

One of the best ways to lose friends and be rejected is to go all the way with God. Get serious about spiritual matters; forsake all your idols; turn to the Lord with all your heart and become possessed with Jesus; get your eyes off the things of this world — and you have suddenly become a religious fanatic! And you are in for the worst rejection of your lifetime.

According to Paul, we who believe in Jesus have been raised up from spiritual death and are seated with him in a heavenly realm. “Even when we were dead in sins, [God] hath quickened us together with Christ…and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6).

In the early years of the church, a great persecution took place. During that awful period, the apostle John was taken prisoner and sent to Rome. The Roman emperor at that time (either Nero or Diocletian) banished John to the Isle of Patmos. This island was a small, desolate, uninhabited place. Its only populace was a few prisoners who'd been banished there to live out their days. Like them, John was sent to Patmos to die.

Throughout the Bible, God's people are commanded to pray at all times. We're to pray when we're low, in good times and bad. And we're to pray in all seasons -- periods of joy and health, as well as sickness or depression; seasons of rest and prosperity, as well as sadness or grief. No matter what our sitiuation or condition, we're to pray without ceasing.

In a letter to the Christians at Thessalonica, Paul speaks of a future event he calls "the day of the Lord." He writes:

"We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition" (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3).

The Holy Spirit has prompted me to bring a solemn warning to the body of Jesus Christ! The warning is this: There is a sin raging in the church right now that is causing the fall of multitudes of Christians. This particular sin is leading many believers to the very brink of the abyss!

Here at Times Square Church a number of dear, Christ-loving people have already begun slipping left and right. Others are on the brink of a serious slide. I pray this message will open your eyes to your condition — and that the word God has given me here will set you free.

According to Scripture, we are never to think of God as a cold, unfeeling Father. Our God feels deeply! He is touchable. His heart can be moved upon. In fact, He is touched with the feelings of our infirmities (see Hebrews 4:15).

God not only feels pain, but grieves as well. You remember that Jesus wept at Lazarus' tomb. Here is a picture of God in flesh weeping! It shows us that the Lord feels with us and weeps with us. After all, Jesus said, "...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father..." (John 14:9).