In Season and Out of Season

Father Tom DiLorenzo: If then you ask for miracles, life, death, or calamities, the leprosy and demons fly, and health succeeds, infirmities. The sea obeys and fetters break, and lifeless limbs thou dost restore. Though treasures lost are found again, then young and old thine aid implore. Do the best I can.

If then you ask for miracles, life, death, or calamities, the leprosy and demons flee, and life succeeds, infirmities. Miracles. If we took the miracles out of the ministry of Jesus, we wouldn't have very much. Miracles.

And he said it's better for you that I go away. If I go away, I'm going to send you the Holy Spirit. Miracles. Don't have to go to Medjugorje. Don't have to go to Lourdes. Don't have to go to Fatima. You have to go to Jesus, the miracle worker. Miracles. No one talks about that anymore. We don't want to have people think about miracles and if they don't happen, they lose their faith. Listen. Miracles.

He's the miracle maker. His name is Jesus. And I believe in miracles. Miracles of the body, miracles of the soul, miracles of the spirit. Oh, I believe in miracles. As a matter of fact, I count on them. This radio broadcast is a miracle. Who would ever think that in 1984 we'd still be preaching Christ Jesus today, in the new year? What year is it? 2026. 2026, Year of our Lord, Anno Domini.

Who would ever think when we started in '84 that we'd still be here? But I'm going to tell you a secret. Don't tell anybody, but bury it in your soul: God is faithful. God is faithful. God is faithful.

Anthony: And he's looking for souls who will be faithful to him. One of the last commands Jesus gave to the disciples before he was ascended, in the last chapter of Luke: "And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you. But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high."

We need to learn how to tarry with the Lord, tarry in the Spirit. What does that mean? Go to the upper room with the Lord, go into the secret place with the Lord, and don't stop praying, don't stop fasting, don't focus on the Lord until you are imbued with power on high. The Lord wants to put his power on each and every one of us.

But there's a price to pay to walk in the power of God. Why does God make us pay that price? So that he knows that we can walk in that power in purity, not for our own goodness or so people look at us, but so that we can release the kingdom everywhere we go for the glory of God. With power comes suffering. And when we suffer for the Lord, we share in his glory.

It's not always easy to fast. It's not always easy to pray and pray. It's not always easy to discipline ourselves to read the word. But with sacrifice comes responsibility. With sacrifice comes power. And you just need to decide in this life: Do I want to be used as a vessel for God's power? And am I willing to pay the price to be used for God's glory?

Now, this isn't salvation. We're saved because Jesus died on the cross for us. Hallelujah. Me and Father aren't going to heaven because we preach, because we pray, or because we prophesy. But there's a next level where it's no longer about me, it's no longer about my salvation, but it's about the salvation of other souls.

God's not impressed with our gifts. He gave them to us. But those gifts are tools to bring people into the kingdom. What happened when Jesus did a miracle? Everyone began to follow him. What happened when Father Tom prayed for someone to be healed of cancer? Word gets out and people come to the meeting, and they begin to give their life to the Lord Jesus Christ. They begin to repent for their sins.

God's first priesthood wasn't the proclamation of the gospel of Adam and Eve; it was a demonstration of power. The gospel is not only about words, but about power. Saint Paul said, "I didn't come preaching wise and persuasive words of human wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power." To be a great evangelist, once you get the power of God in you and you can show someone tangible and real about the Lord Jesus Christ, people begin to come to the Lord because they know there's something more.

But we've got to have dominion over the spiritual realm. To have dominion over the spirit, we need to have dominion over ourselves first: over our bodies, over our words, over our thoughts. And then we begin to learn how to tarry in the Spirit with the Lord. All right, Lord, I'm going to do a one-day fast. All right, Lord, I'm going to do a three-day fast and I'm going to fast and pray. Maybe if you can't do water, do water and bread. Maybe you can't do a day, do a meal.

But once you do that, you begin to empty yourself out of yourself because most of us are living from the flesh. We're living from the problems of the world, the problems of our childhood, the problems of our neighbor, and we never take the time to get into the spirit realm where everything is handled. When I don't fast, I can feel it. I can feel myself becoming carnal, I can feel myself being oppressed, I can feel myself being fleshly.

Then when I do fast, it's hard in the moment, but you know what happens? The veil starts to tear. The veil starts to tear between the soul and the spirit, and I start to live in the Spirit. I start to be able to hear God, I start to be able to get revelation, and I start to be able to really walk in authority. I begin to be able to pray better, feast on the word of God. This is what the Lord calls us to do. He said not if you fast, but when you fast. It's all about tarrying into the Spirit until you are clothed with God's power from on high.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: Power from on high. "You shall receive the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes, he shall teach you about me. He shall lead you into exploits. He shall do miracles through you." I tell you, we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We need Pentecost. In 1968, in front of the Blessed Sacrament, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

I didn't even know what it was, but I knew something happened to me as I was before the Blessed Sacrament. I knew that there was a power that was given to me, and I knew it was just a beginning. This is real. And if it was good for me in '68, it's good for you now in the new year. Power. You've received confirmation. Hallelujah. Let the power come out from that great sacrament.

The power of Jesus Christ and his powerful resurrection. We are not called to be powerless. We are called to be men, women, and children of power. *Dunamos*, dynamite. Leading people to Christ, leading people to give their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we're here today. That power of the gospel, that power of the Holy Spirit that draws people into the person of Jesus Christ.

And I tell you, we preach nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified and raised from the dead. Nothing. I don't preach the church, but preach Christ and the church is built up. That's the issue. Preach Christ and the church is built up. I don't have to preach the church. I need to preach Christ. "Go into the city," Jesus said. "Go into the city and pray until you are imbued with power from on high."

Anthony: That word is just as alive today as it was 2,000 years ago for the apostles. That's a word for me and that's a word for you to learn how to tarry with the Lord until his power comes.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: And this power is demonstrated when we pray with people. Just last night I was with Father Joseph, and there were people that came to be prayed with. Tonight it will happen again at the church called St. John the Baptist. Didn't even think of my church. 7:00.

Anthony: It's all right. You're living in the Spirit. Sometimes people get a little taken back when it's time to pray and people come up and we pray and I touch their head and they just go... the Holy Spirit wipes them out and they lay on the ground and God heals them, and they get slain by the Holy Spirit. But that's power. That's a witness.

I remember when I was preaching in Salem and all the witches were around and people wanted the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I started laying hands on people and I was like, "I need someone to catch," and they all started going by the power of God. They were laying on the ground. It was a witness to all the occultists. What is this power? It's the power of Jesus Christ, no power of mine.

The police officers came like, "Anthony, what's going on over here?" I said, "It's okay. Everyone's all right. The Lord Jesus is moving." That's power. Words, words, but God wants to give you power. And you know what the great news is? God will use anyone. He doesn't call the qualified; he qualifies the called. Or maybe I got it back, but point is he'll use you if you'll make the sacrifice, if you'll do the Lord's will.

Acts 10:38: "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him." Not every sickness is caused by demons, but where demons are, there's sickness always. There's oppression always. There's fear always.

So we're called to drive them out. We're called to lay hands on the sick and watch them be healed, not by us, by the Lord Jesus Christ. But we need to learn how to empty ourselves out of ourselves so we can be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. When we fast, it empties us out.

You know what also happens when we fast? Or for me, I stop worrying about all the sins of everyone else and being critical of everyone else, and I come to a real place of repentance. I realize the evil that's in me. I have no right to look at anyone else. I begin to repent and repent and want to go to confession. You get down to who you... you begin to know yourself when you begin to fast.

When you take away the consolations of the world, so all you have is yourself and Jesus and prayer, you begin to really see who you are in and without Christ and how much you need him. Dependence on Christ creates power. See, when you walk in humility, which is not relying on yourself but the power of God, you walk in boldness because you know in myself there's no goodness.

In myself I can do nothing. There is no power. But you know what? I have nothing to fear because I'm walking with Christ. Greater is he in me than he that is in the world. You stop fearing hell because you know who your God is. You don't even fear death. Death is the only way to heaven. So if I die, I'm going to be with the Lord. If I live, Saint Paul said, I'm here to just proclaim the goodness of the Lord.

Saint Paul said, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ." Saint Paul said the way to witness is I make people jealous by what I have. When's the last time you made someone jealous by the love and the grace and the power of God that is in you? And it's for you.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: For you. Yes, it was for me, too. I learned that in front of the Blessed Sacrament in 1968. It was in the seminal form, in a seed form, but something happened that day as I was before the Eucharist. Something happened. I saw the glory of God literally. And he said, "You see this glory? How much more glory can you give me?" I said, "Much." Little did I ever know I'd be here talking to you years later.

Little did I ever know that I'd be a priest. Little did I ever know that God would change people through the proclamation of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection in me and for me and through me. I didn't know any of those things. But God had planted it in my heart. And you know what, "Greater things than these will you see," Jesus said, "because I go to the Father."

Greater things than these. We need to see the greatness of God. We were made to see the greatness of God. It is God's will to pour out Pentecost on you, me, and us. And when people don't find it in the church, when people don't find it in the Christians, they go into the world, they go into the occult, and they go into witchcraft to try to find the real thing, to try to find power.

Anthony: That's right. It's up to us as Christians to pay the price so we can demonstrate the power of God.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: That's right. And when you go to these fortune tellers, they have power. Witchcraft people, you're doing it and enjoying yourself to the devil. And you know what? The devil doesn't come out with horns and a red suit. He comes out with Mrs. Foo-Foo who is going to tell your future.

Anthony: Because you're hearing from a demon. But the truth is they have power. People in the occult, they'll pay a price in their priesthood to their demons. They'll fast, they'll be in their services, they'll give money, and they'll give sacrifices. In the spiritual realm, there's a law: where there's sacrifice, there's power.

But as Christians, we can't be in church for two hours a week and we can't fast for one hour a day. We need to get real. We should have the power. We should have the spiritual authority in the spiritual realm. We should be demonstrating the kingdom of God wherever we go. But do we know who we are in Christ? And maybe it's not your fault. I was never taught who I was in Christ until I met Father Tom when I was 29.

I never heard, "Anthony, you need to fast. You need to give 10 percent of your money. You need to pray. You're in a war. First you need to overcome yourself, then you have authority over the spirit, over the devil, and over sickness." See, salvation is a full inclusive package. Not that I'm going to just go to heaven when I'm dead, but I walk in the authority of the power and the love and the glory of Christ right now.

Right now. But I still need to be able to do what the word of God teaches me to do and sacrifice for the kingdom of God so that I could walk in the authority that Jesus created me, you, and Father Tom to walk in. You know what Saint Paul says about us? "You are the aroma of God unto Christ." You smell like Jesus. You smell like Jesus. You are the aroma of Christ unto God.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: We don't know who we are. That's the big problem. The devil has shielded it from us. We think we're so weak. If you're weak, depend upon Jesus. I'm weak myself. I depend upon Jesus. I have no strength in myself. I depend upon Jesus. I've got no place else to go, so I depend upon Jesus. When God started moving in my life in 1968, I'll tell you, I didn't have people around me. I didn't know what to do.

I didn't know how to do it. No one taught me. And I'm going to tell you, someone did teach me, and it was the Holy Spirit. There were no people to teach me. But God the Holy Spirit began to teach me and led me to people so that we could pray together and pray that mountains would move. And you know what? They did. Mountains moved. Jesus said it.

And it's up to us to do what God tells us to do. And what does he tell us to do? He tells us to go out. He tells us to go out and pray. He tells us to go baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. He tells us to be imbued with power, Pentecost power. When the Spirit comes, you'll be filled with the Holy Spirit. You'll be filled with the proclamation of Jesus.

What the church needs now is a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. What Father Tom needs now is a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And that's available through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's available for the weakest of the weak people. Don't rely upon your weakness. Cash it in to the heart of Christ.

Cash in your weakness and put it in the heart of Christ and you'll see God move. God do things that only God can do through weak people like you and me.

Anthony: And God's waiting on you. You're waiting on God; he's waiting on you to move. Don't be afraid to do hard things for the kingdom of God. Don't be afraid to not be comfortable in our spirit and in our flesh. Don't be afraid. Jesus said if you want to be my disciple, daily you must pick up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me.

So I'm asking myself: What have I denied myself of today? Am I picking up my cross or am I running away from my cross? Am I leaning into the sufferings of Christ so I can share and partake in his glory, or am I trying to escape discomfort? It's really not our fault. Father says we've grown up on bonbons. We have. Me too.

But when I came to Christ, it was time to get over it. It was time to outgrow that, and I still work on it. It's wired in every human, our innateness to want comfort. But if you want to be effective in the kingdom, you need to allow yourself to become uncomfortable with the uncomfortable. Because the Lord is always going to call us to do uncomfortable things because it's breaking down our flesh.

So we can live a life in the Spirit totally obedient and submissive to the word of God and the commands of God interiorly. It's uncomfortable to go witness to someone on the street. It's uncomfortable when you don't have much money to begin to take your first 10 percent, your first fruit, and give it to the Lord and budget from there. It's uncomfortable to go to mass every Sunday. Even that little thing. Some Sundays you don't want to.

But God calls us to do these things. And we need to submit to God. Maybe today, think of something that you want to deny yourself of and then supplement it with God. And watch what happens. In that moment, you'll be uncomfortable, but the Bible says this: Like those who put in a good day's wage in the kingdom of God will sleep peacefully.

It doesn't matter how you feel in that moment; we've got to get over that. When we lay our head down at night to bed, if we've done violence in the kingdom, if we had this day dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ, we will sleep in peace. Sacrifice and joy are intrinsically linked. The more you sacrifice, the more joy you have.

People think freedom is the ability to buy whatever I want to do whatever I want. It's not, because you become enslaved by the flesh. You know who the happiest, most joyful people I know are? The monks. What do they do? They own nothing, they pray all day, they fast all day, they sacrifice for the Lord Jesus Christ, and the joy of God is imbued within them.

Now, we're not called to be monks; we're called to be in the world. But it's a lesson. The more we sacrifice for the Lord Jesus Christ and the more we die to our flesh and live for the Lord Jesus Christ, the more joy we will walk in, the more power we will walk in, and the more we will walk in destiny. And like Saint Paul said, that joy will lead other people to conversion and jealousy.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: And you know who we're talking to? We're talking to you and to us. Yes, to us, too.

Anthony: I'm preaching to myself.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: Exactly. Last night I was on my way from Father Joseph's. We put the radio on and I had to hear the word of God that we gave, Father Tom and Anthony, because I needed to hear it. I had just given it for an hour and a half to people. Now I needed something, so we listened to me. And I was blessed because when someone preaches in the power of the Holy Spirit, it's not you who preach really. It's the Spirit of God using you.

I know it's... I don't do it 100 percent. I know that's true. Maybe one day, the day before I die, I'll be 100 percent doing it in the name of Jesus. But it's now. God wants to do something to you, in you, and through you. Not me. He's already doing it in me. It's you. Pick up your mat and walk away. Pick it up. You're not crippled. Pick it up and know God's got a plan for you.

And just ask the Lord: Just one person bring to me today. One person so I can love them and pray for them. That's all I want, one person. And you know what? He'll do it. How do you think it all started with me? After I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I started going to nursing homes and found ladies that had nobody visiting. So I would take them in my car, we'd go to the beach, and we would walk and sing or whatever we did. That's how it started. Nursing homes.

Anthony: And it's funny because I thought I was going into the jails and the Lord took me to nursing homes too. Today the Lord says: Don't just be a hearer of the word; be a doer of the word.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: Do it and you'll be transformed. God bless you.